Hello everyone.
This is Coach Tan with a guided meditation for healing the heart with a story which we call Returning of the Song.
Settle into a position that feels steady,
Supportive.
Let your body be held by whatever is beneath you.
If it feels safe,
Allow your eyes to close.
If not,
Just soften your gaze.
Take a slow breath in through your nose.
Pause gently and exhale through your mouth.
And again.
With each exhale,
Imagine releasing the pressure to be healed already.
Nothing needs to be solved here.
This meditation is guided by a story inspired by Native American traditions.
Stories shared quietly across generations to help people understand how the heart heals after great loss.
This is not a lesson.
It is a remembering.
Now,
Let's bring your attention to where your body meets the surface beneath you.
The chair,
The floor,
The bed.
Feel the support that is already here.
Notice your breath moving in and out.
No forcing,
No correcting.
Slowly scan your body from the crown of your head down your face,
Your neck,
Your shoulders.
When you arrive at your chest,
Pause.
Notice what lives there today.
Is there a tightness,
An ache,
Tenderness,
Numbness?
Whatever you find is welcome.
A heart that hurts is a heart that loved.
Place one hand over your heart.
Breathe into that space.
Soften just a little.
The elders tell this story when someone says,
I feel like I've lost my heart.
Long ago,
A person came to an elder after a heartbreak that rearranged their life.
Not a clean ending,
Not a simple goodbye,
But the kind of loss that follows you into the morning.
They said,
I wake up and I do what needs to be done.
I speak,
I eat,
I move.
But inside,
Something has gone quiet.
The elder listened without interrupting.
They did not rush to reassure.
They watched the fire until it settled.
Then they said,
When the heart is wounded deeply,
It does not break,
It travels.
They explained that the heart knows when it is given more than it can hold.
When love has been torn away too quickly,
When grief arrives before the body is ready.
So the heart steps back,
Not to punish,
Not to abandon,
But to rest.
The elder said,
You have not lost your heart.
It has gone somewhere quiet to recover its strength.
In the story,
The elder asked the grieving one to walk to the river before sunrise.
Do not go to ask for answers,
The elder said.
Go to remember how to listen.
Each morning,
The person walked while the world was still dim.
The air was cool.
The ground steady beneath their feet.
They sat by the river.
They did not bring their story.
They did not replay the loss.
They listened.
They watched the water move around the Some mornings tears came.
Some mornings nothing came at all.
The elder said both were part of the way.
The elders say healing does not announce itself.
There was no moment where pain disappeared,
No sudden peace.
Instead,
There were small signs.
One morning the grieving one noticed their breath reached their belly.
Another day,
They felt warmth from the sun on their hands.
And another morning they laughed and did not know immediately feel guilty.
The elder explained the heart returns the way animals do slowly,
Carefully,
Only when they put when the place feels safe.
Healing they said cannot be demanded.
It cannot be invited.
And as you sit down,
Imagine your own heart.
If it is pulled away,
Allow that to feel with each breath silently say you are safe here.
Again,
You are safe here.
The story says that one morning while sitting by the river,
The person noticed something subtle,
Not outside but within a quiet rhyme,
A gentle hum.
The elders call this the heart song.
It does not erase loss.
It does not forget love.
It carries both.
The heart has not been gone.
It has been listening.
Place one hand on your heart.
Feel your breath.
Notice any hint of movement,
Even the smallest one counts.
The elders end the story this way.
They remind the listener,
You are not separate from the story.
You are the one who walked while the world was quiet.
You are the one who sat by the river.
You are the one whose heart stepped away to rest.
And you are the one creating the conditions for it to return.
Now your healing does not need to look like anyone else's.
Your timeline is not wrong.
If you feel your heart distant,
It is not lost.
It is protecting itself.
If your heart feels tender,
It is not weak.
It is waking up.
Take a final slow breath.
Feel the steadiness beneath you.
The life still moving through you.
When you are ready,
Gently move your fingers,
Your arms,
Your shoulders,
Your toes.
Now open your eyes when it feels right.
Carry this with you.
You are not broken.
You are in the middle of a return.
Thank you for listening today.
Namaste.
