I enjoy silent meditations on a cushion. Sitting in place, observing my breath and becoming aware of the very moment. This meditation may be the only one coming to people’s minds when hearing the word meditation. Based on that, they may think meditation wouldn’t be for them. Too difficult.
And I understand it is not for everyone.
When I started practicing this technique, I felt antsy, with a restless mind. And the worst part was that I constantly felt my leg going numb. Actually I still feel it up to this day, but I got okay with it, I know it will wake up some minutes after I get up.
Active Meditation
It actually was not until I went to my first retreat that I discovered active meditations, meaning meditations that include dancing, moving, shaking, twirling and/or walking.
Those meditations are a wonderful way to „spice things up“. Depending on the practice chosen we will be left in an ecstatic state or feeling connected to the wonders of this world – maybe you will dissolve your ego. The possibilities are endless.
One of my favorite active meditations is the Osho Heart meditation.
For this meditation we will be standing, facing north, and with the sound of the music, we offer our heart to this direction. We start feeling our own pain, we allow this pain to be felt.
In a later stage we will take in the pain and all the suffering from this world. On our exhale, we offer the pain that will then be transformed to pure love. Just like we exhale Carbon Dioxide for the trees to use- who offer us their Oxygen in return.
We continue this transformation with all other directions, Still facing North.
You can see how it will look like in this video:
The meditation is about 50 Minutes long and ends with the inner Mandala, where we will be laying down and integrate what we have done.
This mediation shares lots of similarities with the Tibetan „Atisha’s Heart Meditation“ and also some similarities with the Tonglen Meditation, where we also absorb all the suffering of this world. Just that in the heart meditation we are transforming it (and move our body).
When we do this meditation, just like with any other meditation, it is important that we trust our intuition. It is good to have some guidance, but when we drift off, we want to follow our own path. This is where true transformation happens. Because in the end, you are your best Guru and nobody knows better than you what it is that you need. Trust yourself!
This is the soundtrack for the heart meditation
You can also find it on Spotify. It is called Osho Heart Meditation by Karunesh.
What is the philosophy behind it?
The heart is seen as a transformational force; misery can be transformed into bliss and sadness into joy. The heart is one of our energy centers; our chakras. It is the strongest force, for without it we would not be walking this earth. Every day it exhales CO2, offers it to the trees who then transform it into Oxygen, which we use to replenish our bodies. This alchemy, this transformation happens every day and we see the interdependence we have to our earth; We need the Oxygen, while the trees need the CO2. Our heart does all the work for this process. It is there for us every day, 24 hours and we can strengthen this connection even further by releasing pain that is deep within us as well as the pain outside of us.
When we offer our heart, we invite love.
I like to think of offering my heart to the different directions; North, associated with the Earth element, East and South are the Air and the Fire and finally to the West, the element of water that brings purity. This thought is part of my personal journey and association with it and it helps me to think of the elements offering guidance throughout the meditation. The earth brings grounding, allows me not to loose the connection of the place I am in right now, the air brings the freshness and sets the stage for the journey. The fire burns off all that does not serve me, it transforms while the water brings purity and cleanses all that had been left, so there will be place for pure love.
Again, this is my personal integration of this beautiful meditation and it may, or may not be something you want to integrate into your own journey.
What the Heart meditation has done for me
I got to admit that I like to see myself as a “tough cookie”. And it is true, I AM a tough woman. Strong, bold and resilient. But I also am a sensitive soul. Some things just hurt, no matter how small they may be. A movie scene might be touching or painful to watch. A thought may bring up emotions. Seeing certain events in this world may be painful. Knowing about the suffering of others -humans and animals alike- is something that is still hard for me to process.
This meditation obviously does not change the way others treat their surrounding, but at least it helps me to find my pain being absorbed by what I see and sense.
Do I practically make a difference? Yes, with the decision not to take part in it, I do make a difference. The rest is not onto me. What this meditation does to me is finding health within. Finding love in a world that can be so cruel.
The Osho Heart meditation helped me realize that even though I can not change the world, I contribute to do good, in my own personal way. It helps me set boundaries and allow in the positivity while letting out the hurt.
I believe we are feeling souls – and it’s time for us to feel again. I mean everything; The suppressed emotions, too.
We may sometimes think we are untouchable – but deep within, I think many of us do feel hurt. And if we do not release this hurt from time to time, we become a barrier – to ourselves and those we love.
Letting it all out from time to time allows me to fill my happy and loving cup again.
Try for yourself 🙂
