Heart Meditation

Often in my classes I have drawn our attention to the heart space and particularly feeling your heart beat, and the feeling of blood moving and being pumped around the body. This is a beautiful practice which enables us to become more aware of ourselves, our human-ness and thread of internal landscape of our body becoming part of our kinaesthetic* experience. Especially as the practice progresses, the energy of the heart shifts to accommodate the movement and breath: the heart beat and blood movement will become more apparent and visible in sensation. It will also be a good reflective point/tool in the class for students to compare one point in class to another.

( kinaesthetic* relating to a person's awareness of the position and movement of the parts of the body by means of sensory organs (proprioceptors) in the muscles and joints)

“Last Year, new research was released on what is called the interoceptive* awareness of the heart. This is the ability to be consciously aware of the movement of the heart in combination with the blood in the middle if the ribcage. It turns out that this ability to sense the heart movement reduces anxiety and depression. I teach this practice in my classes and notice a substantial reduction in fear, especially for those students who have any kind of heart condition. So I recommend whenever possible, whether awake at night lying in bed or standing in a line checking out at the grocery store; that you spend time each day sensing the movement of your own heart. If at first you are not able to sense this, take your pulse at the radial or carotid artery and just tune into the power present in the artery and the blood.”

(Interoception* is defined as the sense of the physiological condition of the body)

Micheal Shea phd, Craniosacral teacher and author.

This journal entry is inspired by my enquiries as a dancer and Jessica Johnson a Shiatsu & Craniosacral Practitioner, based in Bristol.