Four-chambered heart meditation,
A meditation for a full,
Open,
Clear,
And strong heart.
This was a meditation that was shared with me by a dear friend.
It was given to her by her teacher,
Hugh Milne.
It is called the four-chambered heart meditation.
In Chinese medicine,
The heart is called the shen,
Which translates as heart-mind.
In the West,
We think that only a full heart can create happiness.
In the East,
The belief is that a healthy shen will be at times full and at times empty.
The ongoing flux between the two yin and yang states gives us a clear understanding of both our vulnerability and our strength.
Close your eyes and consider the space that you're in.
See the four corners of the room and above them.
Place a pyramid of light over them.
Now visualize the light coming down into the four corners and spreading throughout the room.
Now allow that light to come down through the top of your head into your whole body and breathe.
Breathe in and circulate this light from your tailbone to the crown of your head.
Exhale from the top of your head down to the tailbone.
Keep repeating this at your own pace.
Now allow this light to move deeper into your body and into your heart space in the center of your chest.
To this place,
Bring an image of a red heart.
Expand it and allow energy to circulate there.
Acknowledge how you already feel more aware of the real you.
Breathe into the depth of who you are.
Now take a deep breath into the upper left part of the four chambered heart,
The upper left chamber called the left atrium.
This full heart resides there.
Consider how full your life is.
How wholeheartedly do you live your life?
Is it bubbling over with energy?
A full heart is joyful,
Laughing,
Smiling.
A full,
Nourished heart has the ability to give your gifts away generously and to pass on love generously.
Ask how are you today,
Full heart,
And wait for an answer.
Am I full?
Am I empty?
Am I halfway?
What do I need to do to fill up my full heart?
What part of my full heart am I ready to look at today?
Is there a spot where there are cobwebs in my heart,
And am I ready to look at that and deal with it?
Can I be honest with whether I can deal with this cobweb place without it overpowering me?
How can I best serve myself and you,
Full heart?
And wait for the answer.
What truth lies within my full heart?
What challenge am I ready for that will enrich me?
And wait for the answer.
That vision,
Image,
Sensation will most inspire me to become completely full hearted.
Now take three breaths into the full heart.
Move to the lower left chamber of your heart,
And with three breaths,
Sense how your open heart is sitting in the sacred circle under this pyramid of light.
Can I feel my own energy field?
Am I open to receiving and sensing the pain of another?
Am I open to the form that healing takes?
Or do I need to fill my desire to fix things or control things in order to deal with the pain of others?
Take a deep breath.
How open am I to myself,
To learning and expanding?
The heart is a people sensitive organ.
Who in my life am I most comfortable with?
See those people and see how does your open heart respond to that image of another person?
What does that do to my heart?
And then ask who is the most challenging person in my life?
The one that shows me my dark side.
And notice what that does to the open heart.
Can you accept the image of them mirrored into your heart?
This person is the one who most reminds us of what we don't want to see or hear about ourselves.
Look into that mirror so we can accept it and send it to the light.
Take a deep breath into your open heart.
Now breathe into the upper right chamber of your heart.
This is your clear heart.
This is the heart we all had before we left childhood.
This is the instinctual heart who warms to the person that we want near and shies away from the one we want to step away from.
Breathe into your clear heart and as you hold a sense of clarity,
Ask yourself,
Where am I in my life?
Am I muddling from one mistake to another?
Can I be on the higher ground of my soul and see the direction and set things right?
Can I allow my soul and the internal wisdom of my ancestors guide my path with clarity?
What's stopping me from being clear?
Who would I be if I were clear all the time?
Who says I can't be?
The opposite of a clear heart is confusion,
Loss of direction,
Desperately searching for material outside of myself so I can be happy.
Take a deep breath into your clear heart and honor your own clarity and create separation from the confusion so the path can be different now.
Now take a deep breath into your lower right chamber of your heart.
This is the strong heart,
Deep strong power breaths into your lower right chamber and see it,
Feel it as your breath comes in and out of your heart.
Here is the song of your heart,
Strong heart has the courage to fight for what he or she believes in.
Strong heart is not afraid of the consequences of doing what is right for the heart.
We have strong people living here among us now.
Breathe into your strong heart.
What do you have to do?
What are you here for?
How might you be avoiding the strength of your own heart?
How might we not be following our vision?
Now take three breaths into the whole heart.
Feel all of it as it comes together.
Focus on the love that you have shown for yourself today by taking the time to care for your own heart and feeling this completion,
Begin to close your four chambered heart meditation.
