The Yogabliss, Your Heart Life on-line Moving into Meditation classes met this morning.  Today we explored our heart wisdom: the inner light of the heart which shines with compassion.  We can attune to this inner wisdom through meditation and mindful movement.  We shine “heart light” though deep listening,  gazing with presence, and communicating with empathy.  We explored our body’s communication and relaxation pathways enlivened by the vagus nerve.  We focused on the relationship between our hearts and faces. These are the areas where we take in the world and reveal ourselves to the world. 

We explored movement and sound practices that were inspired by Stephen Porges‘ Polyvagal Theory.   The class was also informed by Deb Dana’s work in the therapeutic application of the theory – centering on self-care, compassion and connection.   I am very grateful for her book:  The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy.

Se drew inspiration from poet John O’Donohue’s prose:  There is a Quiet Light.  The poem is from the book To Bless the Space Between Us.

We drew from therapist and writer John Prendergast’s article, The 5 Keys to Trusting Your Heart and Acting From a Place of Inner Wisdom.

We ended with poet and Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh’s poem:  For Warmth.

Guided Reflection

How is to be in this human body today?  If you like, you can move your awareness along the pathways of the body’s inner relaxation channels along the vagus nerve.  You can begin by bringing your awareness to the base of your skull, the area of your brain stem.  You might sense your head’s position in space or how it is resting on the ground.  

From here you can move your awareness to your face.  You can explore the soft areas of facial muscle and skin; then your eyes, ears, nose and tongue.  These are the areas where we take in the world and reveal ourselves to the world.  We read faces to know that we are safe.  Bring awareness to your neck and throat. These are the areas where we breathe, make sound, eat and drink.  Sense the tension or relaxation in your throat.  Move awareness to your lungs and the movements of breathing.  Now rest your awareness at your heart.  What is your experience of your heart?  Is your awareness drawn to physical expression, energetic quality, emotional feeling or a subtle awareness here?   

You can continue relaxing and sensing your heart’s aliveness.  Can there be space for your heart to contract and relax in its own time?  Your heart has its own ways of responding to the world. The heart’s journey through life unfolds with experiences of connection and safety;  disruption and fear.  As babies we focus on the closeness of our mother’s face.  Over time, we learn to read faces and listen to our heart’s wisdom.  Poet John O’Donohue describes our heart’s wisdom in his poem:  There Is a Quiet Light.

There is a quiet light that shines in every heart.
It draws no attention to itself, though it is always secretly there.
It is what illuminates our minds to see beauty,
our desire to seek possibility, and our hearts to love life.
Without this subtle quickening, our days would be empty
and wearisome, and no horizon would ever awaken our longing.
Our passion for life is quietly sustained from somewhere in us
that is welded to the energy and excitement of life.
This shy inner light is what enables us to recognize and receive
our very presence here as blessing.
We enter the world as strangers who all at once
become heirs to a harvest of memory, spirit, and dream that has
long preceded us and will now enfold, nourish, and sustain us.
The gift of the world is our first blessing.

I invite you to relax, and attune to your heart.  You can open to your heart’s inner light. You can place a soft open palm over your heart and cup your cheek with the other hand.  Explore what you feel and sense between your face and heart.  You can reflect on how your heart expresses through your face.  Or how your face experiences the world and how these experiences are felt by the heart.   As you imagine or sense your heart’s light, let the in-breath nourish the flame and the out-breath shine its light out in all directions.  

As our heart awareness deepens our essential nature begins to shine.  We can think of it as soul or spirit.  We express it through intimacy, love, compassion and joy.  We sometimes feel part of the much larger “Great Heart.”  We can cultivate the conditions in which Great Heart consciousness is revealed.  We can aspire to live from this Great Heart.  What would it be like to think, speak and act through our Great Heart?  

Therapist and writer John Prendergast writes:

Openheartedness is one of the most easily recognizable markers of inner knowing. . . . Heart wisdom is a blend of deep feeling and understanding. Without discernment, love is easily blinded by desire. The heart area closes in the face of early emotional abuse and neglect, as well as in response to the normal challenges and stresses of daily life. It reopens when it is met with steady, attuned love. Self-acceptance, self-love, and self-care free us from our egocentricity and open us to the whole of life. The mind can only accept conditionally, but the heart accepts unconditionally. We do not need to try to love or accept ourselves; it is enough to attune with the love and acceptance that is already here.

Right now you can explore ways of trusting your heart.  How do you trust your heart physically?  

How does your mind hold attitudes or beliefs might obstruct your acceptance and love for yourself and others?

Can you attune to your Great Heart that loves and accepts unconditionally.  Can you embrace parts of you needing love?  Can you do this for others?  

Reflect on what it would be like to live openheartedly.  Free your imagination to explore your heart’s love, your inner light.  

We can only flourish in connection.  We connect when we feel safe.   How do I give my face to  you?  How do you give your face to me?  

I am thinking of Thich Nhat Hanh’s beautiful poem, For Warmth:

I hold my face between my hands.
No, I am not crying.
I hold my face in my two hands
to keep the loneliness warm —
two hands protecting,
two hands nourishing,
two hands preventing
my soul from leaving me
in anger.

I invite  you to feel your hands and heart.  Sense the light and life they hold.  May we remember them as we move out into the world.