Resting in the Heart

I recently began a series of teachings called “resting in the heart.” During one of my classes this past winter, a student asked me that if someone is not able to rest in their heart then where could they rest? As a class we pondered this. There is a truth that sometimes our hearts are simply just full to brimming over with feelings, emotions and life.

There are several other embodied possibilities. One student suggested that as a woman she could rest her attention in her uterus and I found that as a man I could rest my attention in my prostate. Certainly there are other areas and locations of our body that can be a resource or resting place.

Then I was just reminded in a correspondence with a friend of mine who just had an aortic valve replacement, that he could still place his attention before and after the surgery in the very back of his heart. Recent research has indicated that our heart develops from two fields. There is a posterior field that is very fixed with relative stillness because of its association with the esophagus, nervous system and spine. Then there is an anterior field that is more like a balloon expanding and filling up which is what we usually feel when sensing our heart. But we can also learn to place our attention in the very back of the heart and sometimes that is just a small point of reference between the lungs. I have had other students who have significant cardiac problems say that this practice of locating attention in the posterior heart is very helpful. It is a place of little movement but surrounded by movement.

One of the most common practices I do for resting is what the Japanese call “forest bathing.” This is simply taking a walk in nature and allowing nature to bathe us with its serenity, grandeur and at times it’s ferocity. Sometimes all we can do for rest is attend to the natural world and be in it. Since I live by the ocean, I frequently take my beach chair to the edge of the ocean and simply stare at the waves, the horizon and the clouds as I bathe in the breeze coming from the ocean. I’ve made two more movies recently about this new form of ocean bathing. Click the links below to view.
Stay Strong North Easter
The Wind – The Tide

I would like to remind people about the Breath Of Life conference coming up in May in London. This is a spectacular group of presenters that will enhance our knowledge and understanding of craniosacral therapy for years to come. Click HERE for information.

Finally, I recently posted an abridgment of a fabulous book on cardiac development on my website including some of the images from the book. This is for personal study only. Click HERE to view.