Healing with the Energy of the Heart
by Carlos Warter, M.D., PhD.
There is a place in each of us that is like a desert oasis reflecting the sun, or a beautiful garden of white flowers glowing in the moonlight. It is like a crystal clear lake where not even the breeze ripples the waves, or a mirror on which there is not one speck of dust. This is the heart of hearts, and it lies at the inner core of our very being, between heartbeats.
This place is where we activate our realization of essence. It is also the place where we receive the divine energy of the universe. Through this place the natural intelligence of which I spoke earlier flows. Just as tuning into the outer energy of the universe around us helps us access the present moment, accessing this place and learning to dwell there is the beginning of inner awareness.
The power of experiencing the heart of hearts is that it gives us the freedom of choice. Of course, this freedom has always been there. First it was forgotten, obscured by temporary identities and our tightly woven cocoon of self-limiting thoughts, beliefs, and perceptions. Then the stress and inner conflict caused by clinging to this web closed us to it even further. But now, through learning to rest in the present moment without judging, learning to accept, and letting go we have the key to this quiet inner place. We see that it is quite possible to freely be, and that the choice is always ours to make.
Having even a glimpse of this space is like taking a baby-step to the greater reality of dwelling in essence. We can hardly expect ourselves to instantly strip off our layers and layers of habitual patterns and jump into it. For most of us, remembering our heart of hearts only engenders the longing to live there always. This place is imminently accessible through certain techniques and practices—focusing on the breath and heartbeat, for example, or relaxing into a field of light that we visualize emanating from our chest. Remembering situations for which we are grateful also serves to open the heart.
At the beginning we can hardly expect to dwell there throughout chaotic and stressful events that by their very nature trigger all our old defensive patterns. However, at this point what we can do is recognize our longing and aspiration to dwell in this place, and commit ourselves to it.
Our aspiration might take the form of finding a way to access this place in a protected atmosphere, where we are naturally free of interruptions and outside demands. Try sitting quietly and relating to the most basic aspect of your physical being—your breath or your heartbeat, for example—so that you create a space in which you can see your thoughts arise. Then practice simply seeing them as thoughts. When your monkey-mind chimes in with a comment or judgment, you can label that "thinking" as well. If you do this just a few minutes each day, you can train yourself in nonjudgmental observation by learning to recognize that you are thinking.
Continuing this practice on a regular basis will help you train in acceptance by resting with what is. Even if the thoughts keep coming—five, ten, fifty times—you can accept them for what they are by seeing them without judgment. Occasionally a really enticing thought comes along and sucks us in for awhile. Emotions in particular seem to have greater power than ordinary thoughts to hook us in and keep us going. Sexual fantasies, anger at the boss, anxiety about the children—these are very powerful thoughts.
But even if we jump into the river of our thought stream and swim there for quite a few minutes, the container of discipline allows us to see what we are doing and accept the thoughts for what they are. We don’t try to push the thoughts away; our goal in moving from head to heart is not to stop thinking. We need to think. The point is to combine the wisdom of the heart with the clarity of the head. And we can’t know clarity of the head until we’ve learned to master our inner world, moment by moment. The knowledge it takes to do that comes through the heart, not the head. Trying to clear our heads by stopping our thoughts would be like getting stuck in one of those Chinese finger-puzzles that are woven out of straw: the harder you pull, the tighter it gets.
I’ve used the example of meditation to demonstrate the efficacy of a formal technique, but there are many other ways to merge with the clear, quiet place we’re talking about, where thoughts are obvious when they arise. These include prayer, gardening, flower arranging, and creative writing.
When my wife Carolina was learning to sculpt, she experienced tremendous openness and flow, similar to what others describe in meditation. It is important for each of us to access our essence and our hearts by discovering our own way. The secret is passion. Musicians, athletes, and dancers all know about this connection between the heart and the head. Ultimately, it is from their hearts that optimal performance—peak performance—flows. Any golfer knows, for example, that thoughts get in the way of a good putt. When a dancer dances, she is totally merged with the fluidity of the dance; any arising thought must simply pass through. When a pianist plays, he is completely at one with the music; if a thought arises, his playing is likely to falter.
The point here is that there are many ways to train ourselves to dwell in inner stillness—and they don’t all require physically keeping still. Wherever we feel a strong connection to the heart, that’s the path to follow. The key to success lies in commitment and exertion.
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