Greetings.
I invite you to place your hands over your heart,
Facing south if possible,
Or simply orienting towards the light,
Whether moonlight,
Sunlight,
Or candlelight,
Feeling your heart space opening towards illumination.
Listen into the sensations in your palms.
Can you feel your heartbeat,
A drum circulating life throughout your entire body in tributaries and rivers all across the glory of you?
Listen within your being.
Are there any messages from your heart?
They might be communicated as physical sensations,
A thought,
A feeling,
An intuition,
A sound.
Is there something that you need to say?
Feel your center and begin to perceive a candle flame in your heart.
Notice how it shines and dances.
Notice what color your flame is in this moment.
Golden,
A tinge of sapphire at the heart,
A white flame,
Or orange as autumn leaves.
Notice this illumination,
Your passion,
Your compassion,
Your inspiration,
Your will to live,
The unique heartbeat of you that has never before existed in the exact way this incarnation does.
Send some gratitude and appreciation to this light.
And with your hands over your heart,
Imagine that you are cradling this candle flame so that wind cannot blow it out.
Protect that light from winds and cold,
From water.
Notice your capacity for joy.
Taoism teaches that our heart is classically aligned with the emotion of joy.
And our hearts also have the capacity to feel sorrow acutely.
How are they connected?
Where is the joy even in the sorrow?
Our hearts are muscles and they are strong enough to contain paradox.
Inhale deep into your lower belly and for the next three exhales you are going to make the sound,
Haa,
Spelled h-a,
The Taoist healing sound of the fire element and the heart.
Inhale all the way into your lower abdomen and exhale,
Haa,
Exhaling anything that you don't need to hold in your heart,
Shock,
Trauma,
Grief.
Inhaling and exhaling,
Haa.
Don't worry about how it sounds.
Trust that this vibration is aligning with your heart.
Again,
Inhaling and haa.
Throughout the rest of your day,
Notice when you can laugh,
When you can feel joy,
When you can express,
Haa,
Haa,
Haa,
Tonifying your heart with a sonic vibration that Taoist elders have known for millennia is associated with the heart organ and the heart meridians.
I hope that for the rest of your day you find joy,
You protect your heart and you radiate the light that you came here to shine.
