By Thomas McConkie, adapted from an episode of the Mindfulness+ podcast.
When I work with students in a mindfulness capacity, something I often have them do early on in the process is shift their attention to the emotional tone in their own body as well as the emotional tone around them. I'll have them get into small groups of three or four and notice what they can be aware of in terms of the subtle information that's flowing through the air, so to speak.
What I find when I ask students to do this is that they often have a moment of self-doubt, especially if they've never done the practice. They wonder if what they're sensing is just a part of their imagination — if there's anything they can actually sense at all — when they tune their awareness to this more subtle bandwidth of experience.
We're used to seeing with our eyes and feeling sensation through the body, but when we tune into the more subtle elements of human experience, it takes a little more time to adjust and start to sensitize ourselves to this new kind of information. But as we practice tuning into our own emotional state, our own subtle rhythms through the body and heart, we spontaneously become more sensitive to the environment around us. Ultimately, this practice of shifting our attention slightly to pick up on a different wave-length of experience is something we can get more and more proficient at. And as we get better at it, we start to trust ourselves more and realize just how much information is available to us when we pay attention in a slightly different way.
Not only are we giving influence throughout the day just by walking around with this human body and this human heart, but we're receiving influence deeply as well. I've mentioned in the past how permeable we are, how vulnerable we are, and in a different light, how connected we are — how much influence we have over one another. Heartfulness is just a slightly different way of talking about that.
You can experience this right now if you put your hand over your heart. Take a breath. And just notice that your awareness has already become more subtle. Tuning in to this different wavelength, you can sense into the environment around you. Just notice how it feels.
*Start Practice
I want you to start by focusing on the breath. And for a moment here, we're going to have an intention to breathe rhythmically. You can just choose your own adventure here. If you feel like it, you can do four counts on the in-breath, four on the out-breath. Or maybe you want to do six counts on the in-breath, eight counts on the out-breath. I personally like to do a little bit longer of an out-breath, so I'm going to do the six counts in and eight counts out.
So go ahead and start with this breath, breathing rhythmically. And if you need to adjust your counts, maybe extend the out-breath a little more or the in-breath, just make the adjustment you need to. And as you do this I also want you to focus on the quality of evenness in the breath, so that you're breathing in a steady stream of oxygen and expelling a steady volume of oxygen. Evenly breathing in and evenly breathing out, according to your own rhythm. Just trust yourself with this. Find what's comfortable to you. The important thing with this exercise is to hold the same ratio, meaning maybe six counts in and six counts out. Eight counts in and ten counts out, just see what feels best for you. Try this for a while.
Good. Stay with that just another couple of breaths. Feel the body softening, coming into coherence. Less of a ragged feel, like you're burning energy, and more of just a smooth flow. All of the organs — all of the systems in the body — coordinating with the energy field of the heart. Like the London Philharmonic Orchestra playing together in unison.
The last step I'll ask you to take, here, is to focus on the heart. Just bring your awareness to the physical heart and notice how it feels in this moment. You can continue to breathe. Don't worry about the count, the ratio, so much at this point. Just trust the intelligence and wisdom of your body to find its own rhythm. Just notice how the heart feels in this moment. Notice the emotional tone of the body. And feel the influence, the energy of your own heart extending out several feet away from your physical body in every direction. If there are people nearby you in the moment or other forms of life — a house pet, a plant — whatever it is, you can just extend your influence to all of life around you. And notice the environment around you. It's quality, it's subtle energetic. Notice what you can sense when you shift your awareness one degree and tune in to this more subtle wavelength.
You can stay with this practice as long as you want. You can come back to it as often as you want. Breathing rhythmically, evenly, bringing awareness to the heart, inviting the body into coherence. Sending out a loving influence all around you. Blessing other’s lives — human beings, other forms of life. I encourage you to stay with this practice. Stay embodied through the heart, and as you walk around the world you can know yourself to be a human love machine, sending out your influence, receiving influence from others, all in a seamless exchange.