Embodying the First Heart Medicine
SONG (Howl at the Moon - Nidala)
You can move to this song however you feel is most authentic to you. Here’s my suggestion: Begin lying on your back on a yoga mat, carpet or the grass. Place your hands on your heart and breathe in and out to the phrase “I am sorry”. Allow your arms and legs to extend and move the way that phrase and the music encourages you to move. You cannot do this wrong and the way you know you are doing it right is that it feels good in your body.
The First Heart Medicine: I am sorry.
Humility is the first gateway of the heart. We can’t find connection (one of our deepest human desires) without an embodied recognition of interconnection. Can you sense into the tree outside as your next of kin? Do you notice the shapes of clouds passing above you, seeking messages in their shapes? Can you see that the human relationships you have are direct reflections of your own psyche? We are intricately interwoven. Every being has something to teach us, if we are open to learn.
Meditation
Place your hand on your heart. Feel the beat. Breathe into the whole chest cavity. Notice especially the movement of the lungs. Stay with the sensations.
You are separated from a truly openhearted life by a succession of shields. You put one up when you learned you had to act a certain way to receive approval and love as a child; one was erected when you lost your first love; more went up as natural and wise defenses against a harsh environment which you didn’t yet feel equipped to handle, and so on. Each layer keeps you more distant from the vulnerable heart. Everything you want to be to others has to begin within.
Mentally say the phrase “I am sorry”. Imagine the most tender, unconditional mother part of yourself (your Higher Self) saying this to a child (your Heart). I am sorry I have a tendency you leave you alone. I am sorry I judge you. I am sorry I don’t trust you. I am sorry I tend to think my feelings instead of growing quiet and allowing you to speak in the language of sensation. I have been doing the best I can. I am sorry.
Sink into the space this opens. Be with it. Feel the phrase. Don’t allow your mind to do much of the work.
As you integrate the quality of humility as a way to feel connection, and use the phrase "I'm Sorry," to call back disowned, orphaned parts of yourself into wholeness and freedom, you are allowing the first heart medicine to work its way into your being. Please be very kind to yourself and take good care as you move into your day or night from here. Much love.
Embodying the Second Heart Medicine
SONG (Walk with You - Autograf)
Choose to come to seated on your heels or crosslegged or stand all the way up. Return your hands to your heart and again internally whisper the phrase “Please Forgive Me”. This is your chance to allow your heart to dance. You can move to this song however you feel is most authentic to you. Here’s my suggestion: Begin my shimmying the shoulders side to side and then circle the chest. Extend the arms and circle them. Let your arms be extensions of the heart energy and allow the heart to move you any way that feels good.
The Second Heart Medicine: Please forgive me.
Deconstruction: The Spiritual Path is really about dismantling the structure you call “you”. What shapes your identity, everything you believe is “who you are”, are invasive weeds choking out the garden of a heart centered life experience. Change is permanent - what is true today might not be true tomorrow. When we soften into the first heart medicine of humility, we are ready to admit when we have not seen fully, and we show up ready to alter our perceptions. This opens us to limitless possibility. Our heart space responds by expanding.
Meditation
The second heart medicine is a prayer to your own heart. Please forgive me for not knowing what I didn’t know. Please forgive me for adhering to ideas and ideologies that don’t seem true anymore. Please forgive me for not following your guidance. I did not know better. I did the best I could. I am ready now to listen. Your heart will respond to this sincere phrase the more you feel it to be true for you. As you move into the embodiment activity, allow the heart to speak and be open to all of its sensations and truths in the moment.
Dancing with the 2nd heart medicine of receptivity and building trust with yourself means that you are in dialogue with your heart. Keep amplifying your heart connection through the first two phrases. See you in your inbox tomorrow. Much love.
Embodying the Third Heart Medicine
SONG (Thank You - Beautiful Chorus)
How does your body yearn to express gratitude? Do you want to curl up in a nest made out of cushions and listen to this song? Do you want to begin on hands and knees, moving your spine through cat and cow, until your energy begins to express gratitude through you in a completely heartfelt way? Maybe you want to dance outside under the trees for this one. Allow the intention of gratitude to be your guide through the song
The Third Heart Medicine: Thank you.
Gratitude: Thankfulness is a natural condition that arises from sincere embodiment of the first two heart medicines. Gratitude comes in many forms. When we can give gratitude for an experience, we know we have completed it and we can hold on to the lessons our soul signed up to learn, discarding the rest. What would it look like if we lived with gratitude for the natural world, and engaged more often in giving thanks to the elements and the earth? What if we had a practice of touching our bodies and giving thanks for each part? How could we live in gratitude for loving relationships in our lives, whether that is a friendly smile from a stranger, someone offering you something you needed but didn’t ask for, or those who supportively walk beside you regularly in this phase of your life?
Meditation
Journal or reflect about the gifts you’ve received recently. Just before Diwali, in India, devotees of Lakshmi reflect upon wealth in eight ways. Here are a few questions that might help expand your perception of wealth:
When have you happened to be in the right place at the right time? How did this make you feel?
Recently, when have you had courage to overcome an obstacle or emotional block?
When have you had discernment to see the truth of a situation or relationship despite appearances?
Have you had delicious food recently, or a playful experience with a child?
Bring other experiences of wealth to mind; you can think creatively about what makes your inner and outer life rich.
See through the lens of gratitude for the rest of your day or night. Make an experiment of saying "thank you" for everything that comes up. Open to the idea of releasing ideas about how things should look. Create the intention that your eyes be opened to everyday miracles in your life. Much love.
Embodying the Fourth Heart Medicine
Sit comfortably for this first song. Repeat your yogic intention internally: “I open to receive love”. Deepen your breath as the first experience of love in your body. As the song plays, stay connected to your breath as you picture a circle of loving beings surrounding you, protecting and celebrating you. I call this your invisible cheering squad. Perhaps you will be inspired to make small movements and then let the song lead you into whatever physical expression feels good.
SONG (Philakanzima - Bongeziwe Mabandla)
The heart longs to give love. Begin to allow the love you felt during the first song to spill out from you. Express this with any form of movement. Picture those you love. Send energy from your heart to theirs. Picture animals, plants, bodies of water, and mountains you love. Send them energy from your heart. Allow this overflow of love to move your body, and send it love, just as it is.
The Fourth Heart Medicine: I love you.
Love: It’s no mistake that there are four heart medicines - two to receive and two to express. That is the secret of the heart - we must open to receive as much as we open to give. Opening to receive can sound easy but sometimes we experience it as difficult, even as the most difficult thing we’ve ever done. Luckily, the yogic intention has power beyond what we’ve been able to achieve on our own. Create a clear intention: I open to receive love.
Now that you've had a chance to explore the four heart medicines. You can choose to use these phrases together as a meditation moving forward and let them continue to work their magic within. Please look for a special email invitation from me soon. Much love.