Meditation in the Heart
according to
Dora van Gelder Kunz
In daily life, our auras are constantly exchanging energies with others, and our attention is usually engaged with what is going on around us. The result of this is that our focus is outside ourselves. In meditation we intentionally shift that focus within the heart center, thereby creating a concentric flow of energy which is just the opposite of the scattering of diffusing tendency that so much of our daily activity demands. . . . This is why the practice of meditation not only gives us the feeling of peace, but also energizes us. The experience speeds up the activity of the heart chakra, and this slowly begins to affect the connection with other higher centers. When this occurs, it opens us to influences from a higher dimension and establishes and emotional pattern which is integrative, in contrast to the conflicting patterns which pull us in different directions during the day. Thus it produces a state of wholeness and inner serenity which can stand us well in times of stress.
( . . .)
I have stressed the importance of focusing in the region of the Herat, which I call centering, because the Heart is the seat of spiritual as well as physical life. We may ordinarily think that focusing implies a narrowing of attention or awareness, but the opposite is true when we center. The heart chakra is capable of almost unlimited expansion; an analog might be the circle whose center is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere. So focused, we experience a sense of unity with nature and with the universe as a whole. This stretches the aura and breaks down restrictive patterns, and the feeling of unity can sharpen, giving a new dimension to all our relationships.
When people are uncertain about their ability to meditate, I usually give them a visualization exercise to help them get started. For example, I suggest that you first withdraw your energies into the heart, and associate this with a feeling of unity with the timeless self. This inner self should be visualized as a light within your heart, within which you consciously withdraw. Feel a sense of peace, and think of yourself as one with the light. Then, if you have a painful memory that bothers you, recall it and deliberately visualize it as being slightly detached from and in front of you. You should try to see it s being outside yourself. Then visualize rays of light shining out from the center of light within your heart, pouring tight through that painful memory until it is dissolved.
Many people have found this exercise has given them a wonderful sense of freedom from their anxieties. Moreover, if you want to help someone who is ill or in distress, it is effective to visualize the person surrounded by this light within the heart, and then reach out to him or her on that level.
The Personal Aura, Ch X "Meditation and the Growth of Intuition", pp. 185-90
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( . . .)
I have stressed the importance of focusing in the region of the Herat, which I call centering, because the Heart is the seat of spiritual as well as physical life. We may ordinarily think that focusing implies a narrowing of attention or awareness, but the opposite is true when we center. The heart chakra is capable of almost unlimited expansion; an analog might be the circle whose center is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere. So focused, we experience a sense of unity with nature and with the universe as a whole. This stretches the aura and breaks down restrictive patterns, and the feeling of unity can sharpen, giving a new dimension to all our relationships.
When people are uncertain about their ability to meditate, I usually give them a visualization exercise to help them get started. For example, I suggest that you first withdraw your energies into the heart, and associate this with a feeling of unity with the timeless self. This inner self should be visualized as a light within your heart, within which you consciously withdraw. Feel a sense of peace, and think of yourself as one with the light. Then, if you have a painful memory that bothers you, recall it and deliberately visualize it as being slightly detached from and in front of you. You should try to see it s being outside yourself. Then visualize rays of light shining out from the center of light within your heart, pouring tight through that painful memory until it is dissolved.
Many people have found this exercise has given them a wonderful sense of freedom from their anxieties. Moreover, if you want to help someone who is ill or in distress, it is effective to visualize the person surrounded by this light within the heart, and then reach out to him or her on that level.
The Personal Aura, Ch X "Meditation and the Growth of Intuition", pp. 185-90
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