Anāhata (Sanskrit: अनाहत, IAST: Anāhata, meaning "unstruck") is the fourth primary chakra described in Hindu yogic, Shakta, and Buddhist tantric traditions. The term refers to a sound that is produced without two objects striking together, an idea linked in tantric texts to a subtle inner resonance perceived by practitioners during meditation.
In the classical scheme of the chakras, Anāhata is traditionally located in the region of the heart. It is positioned between the lower chakras, which are associated in these traditions with material and bodily concerns, and the upper chakras, which are associated with subtler dimensions of awareness. This intermediate placement is often presented in yogic literature as symbolic of a meeting point between the embodied and the transcendent.
Within classical yoga and tantra texts, Anāhata is linked with concepts of balance, emotional regulation, compassion, and relational awareness. Practices associated with the heart chakra include meditation, visualisation, mantra recitation, and breath-based techniques (prāṇāyāma) intended, according to these traditions, to refine the practitioner's inner state. The chakra also features in Shakta tantric ritual frameworks and in Buddhist tantric systems, where comparable subtle-body concepts appear with their own doctrinal interpretations.
As with other chakras, Anāhata is described in traditional iconography through symbolic imagery, including a lotus, a geometric figure, and associated seed syllables (bīja mantras), with details varying across textual sources and lineages. Such descriptions are part of the meditative and devotional vocabulary of these traditions rather than empirical anatomical claims.