Heart Wisdom: Tuning into the Vibrations of Your Heart

Your heart has a mysterious way of knowing. Knowing what, you may ask? Everything.

We live in a hurried culture—doing more, moving faster, working harder, always on our way to somewhere else. Overload of technology, media, and stimulus masks our ability to connect, be intimate, and listen. With all this excess information coming at us from the outside, how can we begin to shift our focus to hear the revelations and guidance that come from inside—the language of the heart? As the poet Rumi asks, “Do you pay regular visits to yourself?”

Many mystics, philosophers, and ancient medicine disciplines view the heart as “the seat of the soul,” “the supreme self,” “the secret cave,” or “the ruler”—a source of great intuition and wisdom. The yogic tradition refers to the spiritual heart as hridaya, or pure consciousness, a great inner guide that reveals ultimate truth.

Awakening to the heart's intelligence is an unfolding, a remembering, and a process of discovery. Through practice, it becomes a series of shifts that rewire the entire mind-body operating system, with the potential for awakening, freedom, and liberation from suffering and from our limiting thoughts, stories, and beliefs.

Research shows that the heart has more than 40,000 neurons that can sense, feel, learn, and remember, and that it is constantly in communication with the brain. When we intentionally savor positive emotions, such as caring, compassion, and appreciation, the heart processes these experiences, and the heart’s rhythm becomes smoother and more harmonious—what’s known as coherent. According to the HearthMath Institute, heart intelligence is “the flow of awareness, understanding, and intuition we experience when the mind and emotions are brought into coherent alignment with the heart.” This information is then sent to the entire body—neurologically, biochemically, biophysically, and energetically—which profoundly affects how we perceive, think, feel, and perform. All sorts of benefits arise, including increased vitality, decreased stress, a deepening of relationships, and greater mental clarity and intuitive ability, including better decision-making.

Aligning your body-heart-brain into a state of harmonious function offers a portal to the kingdom of your heart. Through these sacred doors lies the innate wisdom and intelligence that live within each of us, that support us in living with greater freedom, wholeness, and loving connection; accessing more of who we truly are, including new ideas, desires, and purpose; and fearlessly creating and stepping toward the authentic life that beckons us.

Heart Practices for Daily Life

The heart as an object of meditation: Use your heart as an anchor for your mind's attention. Pause and make a conscious shift out of your thoughts and into the heart. Place your hand on your heart as a gesture of care and connection. Rest at the heart center with curiosity and interest. Simply sit and listen, without an agenda or expectations. This is a practice of being intimate with your own heart in an effortless way.

Heart-focused breathing: Imagine that you could breathe from the center of your heart. Encourage each breath to be long, slow, and steady. Begin to imagine and feel things that bring you pleasure, appreciation, and joy. Breathe in these positive emotions and breathe out negativity and suffering.

Heart-based journal prompts:

• What does your heart have to say?
• What does your heart care about most?
• Identify one lifestyle change you can make to move closer to what matters to you most.
• What happens when you follow the call of your heart and let it go in any direction it wants?

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