HEART 4 LIFE

  "If there is anything through which we feel ourselves or know ourselves - know what we are - it is the heart and what our heart contains. Once we understand the nature, the character and the mystery of the heart we understand, so to speak, the language of the whole universe"  -- Hazrat Inayat Khan

I rely upon Shinzen Young for what constitutes mindfulness meditation, and am grateful to have been doing regular retreats with him since the mid-1990s. See more at basicmindfullness.org.

Mindfulness meditation develops sensory clarity and concentration power, which increases our baseline level of equanimity. HRM develops our concentration power and sensory clarity through precise moment-by-moment focus on the sensations of the heartbeat and of the breath.

HRM is a superb tool for building equanimity as we learn to be fully present to the rhythm of heartbeat and inhale-exhale. These sensations are continuously available to us for our entire lifetime and become reminders to meet life circumstances with an open matter-of-factness, so that our choices and behaviors can arise from fresh insight rather than old reactive patterns.

With practice, we learn to maintain equanimity through focus on heartbeat and breath under all life circumstances, on behalf of ourselves and of others who are in need of presence and assistance. We literally radiate waves of peace – both as we move through an ordinary day and in the midst of crisis and challenge.