Voice of the Heart
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The Voice of the Heart
The fundamental element of the universe from which we are all created cannot be found on the periodic table. It can, however, be felt at the very core of our being and is stronger than what our 5 senses can detect: it is love. Everything else is optional and transient: love is essential and unchanging.
So why don’t we feel and reflect this basic building block of our being all the time, every day? Why, instead of always being loving and kind, are we often petty, fearful, angry, and all kinds of other negative behaviors? Because of Avidya: the great forgetting.
We have at our core our ‘Self – that time transcendent piece of us that is made up of the basic element, love, and knows that we are so much more than the body in which we reside. I love this way of visualizing it: the universal energy it the ocean and each of has a bucket worth of the ocean at our core. But wrapped around it is our body and mind, a mind equipped with an ego that tries to run the show and easily forgets who we really are. Instead of knowing that we are perfect, hand-crafted by the universe, we instead think we are the thoughts that pass through our mind, the emotions that we experience, the body that we inhabit. This attachment to things of this earth, impermanent things, causes fear, stress, anxiety and more; it causes forgetting, and with it, suffering.
Yoga Nidra helps us realize that we are so much more; that we are love. It helps us get in touch with our true Self and break through the barrier of avidya, or forgetting.
Did you know that your heart is 100 times stronger electrically and 5000 times stronger magnetically than your brain, and that it’s electromagnetic energy can be measured outside the confines of your body? The energy emitted from your heart affects those around you. It can also affect other living things, like plants, water and more. You can literally transmit love. You also have more nervous system pathways from your heart to your head than the other way around. Your heart can think – and if you quiet your mind, you can heed its voice.
“The human heart is now documented as the strongest generator of both electrical and magnetic fields within the body. We’ve always been taught that the brain is where the action is, but the brain is comparitively weak… The heart is 100 times stronger electrically and up to 5,000 times stronger magneticallly than the brain. The reason this is important is because the world as we know it is made of those two fields. If we can change either the magnetic field of an atom or the electrical field of the atom, we literally change that atom- we change the stuff our bodies are made of. And the human heart is designed to do both, to change both the electrical and magnetic field of our bodies and our world, and it does so in response to the emotions we create between our heart and our brain… Every thought in the human mind sends out an electromagnetic wave from the base of the heart that has a measurable effect on the world in which we live.”
– Greg Braden
This month, endeavor to do the following:
Take 3-5 minutes each morning to sit and listen to your heart.
Breath from your heart center to your head, exhaling from your head to your heart. With each inhale, flood the mind with love and healing energy from your heart. With each exhale, let go of the thoughts in the mind and remember who and what you really are.
Listen to your short yoga nidra recording every other day
Listen to your long yoga nidra recording once a week
You will likely be doing other wonderful yoga related work – going to studio classes, doing the asana practice provided at home, reading the blog posts – but let the list above be your minimum baseline.
Get super comfy and ready for your February intention-focused practice. We’ll be planting the intention “I am radiant light. My heart is safe and open to give and receive love.” This is a 20 minute fusion style practice (a bit more Saraswati). Enjoy!
This generally Satyananda Saraswati style 27 min meditation centers on your heart and its energy. Get yourself completely comfortable and ready to go before starting the recording. Enjoy!
Relax and enjoy your weekly February, ‘Listen to Your Heart’ yoga nidra recording. This Amrit-style meditation is 30 minutes long. The recording starts right in, so make sure you are super comfy and read to go before starting. Also, consider doing one of the asana practices before you meditate.
Reminder: Any poses or breath practices I cue in an asana practice are merely suggestions. Your body and your doctor know more than I do, so only do what makes sense, and is recommended for you.
Your first asana practice will gently open your heart and leave you feeling buoyant and spacious. It is intended to help you ready for yourself for meditation, but can also be used in the morning or mid-afternoon for a nice pick-me-up. I note in it that is ‘fiery’, but really that’s just the breath technique at the end. This practice is 19 minutes long.
Props: Mat. Props for meditation if you are going directly into your yoga nidra practice.
Your second asana practice is a nice heart opener. Remember to enjoy a 5 – 10 minute savasana when its done, or listen to your guided yoga nidra meditation. This practice is 45 minutes in length.
Props: Mat, 2 blocks, blanket. Props for meditation if you are going directly into your yoga nidra practice.
The heart is that place where the lower chakras meet the upper chakras. The lower three chakras are more earthen and generally focus on cares of this world: safety, grounding, passion, reproduction, power, control and self image. The upper three chakras are more spiritually focused, honing in on things like communication, wisdom, connection to our higher self and connection with the universe. The heart, that place where we find love for our self and others, is aptly the bridge point from focusing on ourselves and our needs to connecting outward and to all that is.
Start by standing or sitting firmly connected to the earth. Take several breaths and feel, with each inhale, the energy moving up from the earth through your feet or sit bones into your heart. With each exhale, feel it returning down into the earth. Earth to heart on the inhales, heart to earth on the exhales.
Next, take several breaths following your inhales in through the crown of your head down to your heart, and exhales from your heart out through the crown of your head. Feel the beautiful energy being created at heart center.
Lastly, take several breaths feeling both channels active: energy traveling back and forth between the earth and the heart and energy traveling back and forth between the crown and the heart. Notice how your heart feels before and after this exercise.
