Let's start by finding a comfortable place to sit.
Lengthen your spine and without hardening,
Let your shoulders broaden and your chest open.
Feel the length across the front body and the back body.
And as you gently close your eyes,
Relax the muscles of your face.
Relax tension particularly around your forehead,
Your lips and your jaw.
Take a few deep slow breaths.
Really let these next few inhales and exhales allow you to arrive fully.
So that you are right here,
Right now,
All of you.
Allow your breath to return to a more natural and rhythmic pattern now and take a moment to become aware of the surface of your skin.
Notice your skin like an envelope around the body.
For the next few breaths,
Every time you exhale,
Imagine the skin sighing as though with each breath out,
The skin can relax,
Widen and soften.
Now allow your awareness to deepen beneath the skin to the level of your muscles.
And for these next few cycles of breath,
Every time you exhale,
Imagine the muscles are sighing as though with each breath out,
The muscles could melt and just release.
Now follow your awareness deeper in.
Notice your bones,
Your whole frame.
And each time you exhale,
Imagine the bones sighing.
They get heavier and heavier,
Denser and denser.
Now continue to move deeper inward,
Becoming aware of your heart and any tension around it.
And each time you exhale,
Imagine the heart sighing as though with each breath out,
The heart could soften,
Settle and rest more fully into the chest.
Stay with that area in this place deep within you where love and compassion resides.
Just observe anything that arises there.
Notice this place feels open,
Relaxed,
Expansive and receptive.
Or it may feel tender or soft or vulnerable.
Maybe there's a sense of guarding or protection and whatever is there,
Whatever emotions or sensations come up,
Just stay present.
Keep breathing into the area of your chest,
The area,
The area of your heart.
The term heart center is typically used in reflective practices and its meaning doesn't refer to our literal heart,
The beating muscle that pumps blood through our bodies.
It's a symbolic place within each of us where our most humane capacities originate.
It's the deepest truth of us.
Qualities like love,
Compassion and vulnerability live there.
In Sanskrit,
The heart center is often called anahata,
Which translates as unstuck,
Untouched or unhurt.
According to the idea of anahata,
Our heart center is always there waiting for us.
Even when we feel angry or fearful,
There's a loving place deep within us that never changes and never abandons us.
All we have to do is turn to it.
This idea can be especially helpful when we feel clouded by aggression or frustration or anger.
And if we can remember anahata,
We can reconnect to our loving,
Compassionate nature at any time.
So when you notice the heat of anger or frustration taking over,
Remain open to cues,
Little moments that might stir up a ripple of openness and quell those fiery emotions.
It might be the sound of a child's carefree laughter or the sight of latefully chasing a stick.
When your ears and your eyes are alert to the beauty around you,
Your heart also awakens.
So breathe mindfully and direct your awareness to the center of your chest.
And as the clouds of your aggression clear,
Let them be replaced by a tide of warmth and tenderness.
This brings you into a powerful state of being within moments.
That is from this open-hearted place,
You can act out of love and gentleness rather than unconscious reactivity.
The Sufi master Rumi once wrote,
Love is the bridge between you and everything.
Love is the bridge between you and everything.
You have the power within you.
Lead from a place of love.
Namaste.
Namaste.
Namaste.
Namaste.
Namaste.
Namaste.
