You are in the Heart - and the Heart is in You.
I have not been able to write for a few days due to a flurry of activities, and the next few days will be equally busy...
I had the amazing gift and opportunity to take a workshop with Paul Muller-Ortega this weekend. He is an internationally known Siva and Sanskrit scholar. This was my third opportunity to imbibe from his wisdom, and I am looking forward to spending a week with him in Denver, and continuing to study the Siva Sutras in greater depth.
At the end of the second day, Paul said this to us:
This is the essence of the Tantric teachings. And yet all spiritual paths talk about the heart and it's place in one's spirituality.
As one raised Catholic, I am very comfortable with such images and devotions to the Sacred Heart of Jesus - something that was often very mysterious to Christian friends of other traditions. As a theologian, I immersed myself in the Patristic writings and Desert Mysticism of the early Church - delighting in references to entering the cave of the heart where we encounter the Divine.
In Tantric studies, the heart is not actually a physical space. It is known as "hridaya" - or the Great Heart. This is the place of essence within us - the space of imminent transcendence that is inside of everything. As Paul noted - this is a place that is always breathing and pulsating within us - and where we experience the gleaming luminescence of consciousness.
I thought of this, after a session I had today with an internationally known and very gifted craniosacral therapist. We focused on the heart and the thymus gland, and other places we zeroed in on - working on a very deep cellular level.
Paul spoke of the heart as being always alive, breathing, immortal and incandescent. His discourse was poetic, sensual, and passionate - and I got lost in it.
I used this theme in my classes this week:
I was also reminded of stories I read years ago, in The Heart's Code, by Dr. Paul Pearsall, who described fascinating accounts of heart transplant recipients who often inherited the memories, or tastes of the donor - indicating that memory truly resides in our cells - and that the heart is the seat of so much of who we are.
The heart is the playground for the Divine. This is where we live, and breathe, and move - and have our being. The heart invites us to heal and to be most fully who we are meant to be - and when we get lost or feel we are in exile, it guides us back home...
Years ago, in a flash of deep insight, a Soul Name came to me, and it was Antara. I learned it's meaning only recently: "The innermost place in the heart..."
Yes, truly -
I had the amazing gift and opportunity to take a workshop with Paul Muller-Ortega this weekend. He is an internationally known Siva and Sanskrit scholar. This was my third opportunity to imbibe from his wisdom, and I am looking forward to spending a week with him in Denver, and continuing to study the Siva Sutras in greater depth.
At the end of the second day, Paul said this to us:
"You are in the heart - and the heart is in you."
This is the essence of the Tantric teachings. And yet all spiritual paths talk about the heart and it's place in one's spirituality.
As one raised Catholic, I am very comfortable with such images and devotions to the Sacred Heart of Jesus - something that was often very mysterious to Christian friends of other traditions. As a theologian, I immersed myself in the Patristic writings and Desert Mysticism of the early Church - delighting in references to entering the cave of the heart where we encounter the Divine.
In Tantric studies, the heart is not actually a physical space. It is known as "hridaya" - or the Great Heart. This is the place of essence within us - the space of imminent transcendence that is inside of everything. As Paul noted - this is a place that is always breathing and pulsating within us - and where we experience the gleaming luminescence of consciousness.
I thought of this, after a session I had today with an internationally known and very gifted craniosacral therapist. We focused on the heart and the thymus gland, and other places we zeroed in on - working on a very deep cellular level.
Paul spoke of the heart as being always alive, breathing, immortal and incandescent. His discourse was poetic, sensual, and passionate - and I got lost in it.
I used this theme in my classes this week:
"You are in the heart - and the heart is in you."
I was also reminded of stories I read years ago, in The Heart's Code, by Dr. Paul Pearsall, who described fascinating accounts of heart transplant recipients who often inherited the memories, or tastes of the donor - indicating that memory truly resides in our cells - and that the heart is the seat of so much of who we are.
The heart is the playground for the Divine. This is where we live, and breathe, and move - and have our being. The heart invites us to heal and to be most fully who we are meant to be - and when we get lost or feel we are in exile, it guides us back home...
Years ago, in a flash of deep insight, a Soul Name came to me, and it was Antara. I learned it's meaning only recently: "The innermost place in the heart..."
Yes, truly -
"I am in the heart - and the heart is in me..."
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