THIS IS THE LAST BLOG ON THE HEART AND LOVE

There will be no blog next week.

 

 “The heart has reasons that reason cannot know.” 

Blaise Pascal

Broken heart syndrome, also called stress-induced cardiomyopathy or Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, can strike even if you’re healthy. (Tako tsubo, are octopus traps that resemble the pot-like shape of the stricken heart.)

Women are more likely than men to experience the sudden, intense chest pain— the reaction to a surge of stress hormones — that can be caused by an emotionally stressful event. It could be the death of a loved one or even a divorce, breakup or physical separation, betrayal or romantic rejection. It could even happen after a good shock (like winning the lottery.)

Broken heart syndrome may be misdiagnosed as a heart attack because the symptoms are similar. In fact, tests show dramatic changes in rhythm and blood substances that are typical of a heart attack. But unlike a heart attack, there is no evidence of blocked heart arteries.

In broken heart syndrome, a part of your heart (the ventricle) temporarily enlarges and doesn’t pump well, while the rest of your heart functions normally or with even more forceful contractions.

 Broken heart syndrome can lead to severe, short-term heart muscle failure. Broken heart syndrome is usually treatable. Most people who experience it make a full recovery within weeks, and are at low risk for it happening again (although in rare cases in can be fatal). The most common signs and symptoms of broken heart syndrome are chest pain and shortness of breath which can be experienced even if you have no history of heart disease.
Tests show ballooning and unusual movement of the lower left heart chamber (left ventricle) but no other signs of a heart attack. Recovery time is quick, usually within days or weeks.

"The deliciousness of milk and honey is the reflection of the pure heart:

from that heart the sweetness of every sweet thing is derived.

The heart is the substance, and the world the accident:

how should the heart’s shadow be the object of the heart’s desire?

Is that pure heart the heart that is enamored of riches or power,

or is submissive to this black earth and water of the body,

or to vain fancies it worships in the darkness for the sake of fame?

The heart is nothing but the Sea of Light:

is the heart the place of vision of God–and then blind?"
~ Mevlâna Jalâluddîn Rumi

 

When you fish for love, bait with your heart, not your brain. Mark Twain

Most of this information below has been taken from research done by the HeartMath institute. I have added some insights of my own (in bold) and those from ancient wisdom. 

Contrary to opinion the heart actually sends more signals to the brain than vice versa influencing emotional processing as well as higher cognitive faculties. The heart respond to the brain, but the brain also continuously responds to the heart.

During stress and negative emotions, when the heart rhythm pattern is erratic and disordered, the corresponding pattern of neural signals traveling from the heart to the brain inhibits higher cognitive functions. This limits our ability to think clearly, remember, learn, reason, and make effective decisions. The heart’s input to the brain during stressful or negative emotions also has a profound effect on the brain’s emotional processes reinforcing the emotional experience of stress.

In contrast a more ordered and stable pattern of the heart’s input to the brain during positive emotional states has the opposite effect—it facilitates cognitive function and reinforces positive feelings and emotional stability. 
Hence the emphasis on the heart in ancient wisdom.

The Ancestors

 

The heart at rest was once thought to operate much like a metronome, faithfully beating out a regular, steady rhythm. Scientists and physicians now know that this is far from the case. Rather than being regular, the rhythm of a healthy heart—even under resting conditions is actually surprisingly irregular, with the time interval between consecutive heartbeats constantly changing. This naturally occurring beat-to-beat variation in heart rate is called heart rate variability (HRV). Heart rate variability is a measure of the beat-to-beat changes in heart rate. 

The normal variability in heart rate is due to the synergistic action of the two branches of the autonomic nervous system (ANS)—the part of the nervous system that regulates most of the body’s internal automatic functions. The sympathetic nerves act to accelerate heart rate, while the parasympathetic (vagus nerve) slow it down. 

Sympathetic override invokes a stress response and even a full blown flight or fight reaction. 

The sympathetic and parasympathetic branches of the ANS are continually interacting to maintain cardiovascular activity in its optimal range and to permit appropriate reactions to changing external and internal conditions. The analysis of HRV therefore serves as a dynamic window into the function and balance of the autonomic nervous system.

The moment-to-moment variations in heart rate are generally overlooked when heart rate is measured. 

Spiritual practice invokes a parasympathetic relaxation response which is heart and brain healthy. This accounts for the popularity in the West for Eastern techniques of meditation and yoga. Most, however, are using these methods for stress busting and not for spiritual transformation or health.

 

 HRV may be an important indicator of health and fitness. As a marker of physiological resilience and behavioral flexibility, it reflects our ability to adapt effectively to stress and environmental demands. HRV is also a marker of biological aging which is another reason it seems to be catching on. Meditative practices are known also to lengthen the telomeres in our genes which control longevity. 

 Having an abnormally low HRV for one’s age group is associated with increased risk of future health problems and premature mortality. Low HRV is also observed in individuals with a wide range of diseases and disorders. By reducing stress-induced wear and tear on the nervous system and facilitating the body’s natural regenerative processes, HeartMath claim that regular practice of coherence-building techniques can help restore low HRV to healthy values.

The Ancestors

Emotional stress—including emotions such as anger, frustration, and anxiety give rise to heart rhythm patterns that appear irregular and erratic or incoherent. Physiologically, this pattern will indicate that the signals produced by the two branches of the ANS are out of sync with each other. 

In contrast, positive emotions send a very different signal throughout our body. When we experience uplifting emotions such as appreciation, joy, care, and love; our heart rhythm pattern becomes coherent. When we are generating a coherent heart rhythm, the activity in the two branches of the ANS is synchronized and the body’s systems operate with increased efficiency and harmony. It’s no wonder that positive emotions feel so good. They also help our body’s systems synchronize and work better.
Spiritual practice can induce positive emotions.
 

The Maharishi university did research on a more global type of coherence some time ago  and showed that if a critical number of meditators in a city meditated the crime rate actually dropped.
 

Neuroscience is also showing that joy, "meaning" and gratitude are  heartfelt and healthful and also spiritually transforming.

 

"Joy is not incidental to ones spiritual practice it is vital."
Rev Nachman

The Ancestors

The Ancestors

 

Another important distinction involves understanding the role of breathing in the generation of coherence and its relationship to the techniques of the HeartMath System. Because breathing patterns modulate the heart’s rhythm, it is possible to generate a coherent heart rhythm simply by breathing slowly and regularly at a 10-second rhythm. 

This speaks again to the power of pranayama or the yoga science of breath in spiritual transformation.

Kabir says; What is God - the breath within the breath." 

 

 Historically, in almost every culture of the world, the heart was ascribed a far more multifaceted role in the human system, being regarded as a source of wisdom, spiritual insight, thought, and emotion. Intriguingly, scientific research over the past several decades has begun to provide evidence that many of these long-surviving associations may well be more than simply metaphorical. The heart appears to play a key role in intuition. Although there is much yet to be understood, it appears that the age-old associations of the heart with thought, feeling, and insight may indeed have a basis in science. 
Ancient wisdom and science are coming together.

 

HeartMath are essentially talking about the physiology of the heart but there is hardly any mention of the word "love." We know there are basically only two emotions love and fear. Love causes coherence and fear, incoherence. The most effective way to attain coherence, heart or other, is with some form of regular, enjoyable spiritual practice. The heart chakra, yoga concedes, is one of the most vital energy centers to open before the prana, (life force, chi, reach or moya) can flow to the higher chakras above and ultimately to the seventh chakra. Once this happens for brief moments we can all experience unity consciousness and oneness - the ultimate coherence with each other and the cosmos. The heart and love which cannot be separated from joy, meaning and gratitude is key to this and we have known this for eons. The Ancestors remind us of love; 

"There is only one real truth."

Ultimately we are all heading toward spiritual perfection and getting off the relentless wheel of samsara. When we cross over to the other side we will also be accountable for how much we loved and for whether we had joy. Good health and coherence helps us get there but are not the ultimate priority.

 

Click on the link to highlight and then play to your heart

Be in Joy

_Tzahal_Hashem.mp3

Be Holy

_Kodoshim_Tihiyu_-_Holiness.mp3

THESE ARE THE LAST OF THE BLOGS ON THE HEART & LOVE & HOW IT HELPS MANAGE THE DEADLY SINS OF KARMA

Why the emphasis by spiritual masters and ancient traditions on the heart?

Ramana Maharshi teaches ; 

"When the mind stays in the Heart

the I which is the source of all thoughts will go, 

and the Self which ever exists will shine."

The Ancestors teach that sadly the mind controls the heart which is one of our greatest spiritual challenges and Alfred Adler reminds us to;

"Follow your heart but take your brain with you."

The Ancestors

The Ancestors

"Brain is an apparatus which with we think, we think. Mind a mysterious form of matter secreted by the brain."  A. Bierce

Neuroscience is now coming into alliance with ancient wisdom's teachings. The heart is the organ responsible for feelings and emotions and not just a muscular organ that pumps blood to the body. The electrical signals emanating from the heart in a ECG are far more powerful than those emitted from the brain in an EEG. Moreover the heart sends more information to the brain than vice versa.  If by sensations Aristotle meant emotions he was correct a long time ago.

"And of course the brain is not responsible for any of the sensations at all. The correct view is that the seat and source of sensation is the region of the heart." Aristotle

Certainly the dorsolateral part of the frontal lobe of the brain as well as the amygdala and insula cortex have a part to play in experiencing our emotions but the heart initiates them. The heart uses neurological, biochemical and biophysical ways to connect to the Limbic system. The heart may be the intelligence behind our intuitive thoughts, feelings and emotions. 

The heart's rhythms are directly affected by our emotions - good or bad. These can even lead to arrhythmias, the so called "Broken Heart Syndrome which simulates a heart attack but is not one and even sudden death in someone who already has heart disease. 

We cannot separate our health from our Self or spirit any more than we can our heart from our brain. Emotions can destabilize the heart. The brain is responsible for memory and learning but erratic emotional signals sent by the heart to the brain recognized as negative or stressful block our ability to think clearly.

Apart from spiritual transformation spiritual practice is a way of modulating these negative feelings arising in the more primitive centers of the brain (Monkey/Narrow mind) by allowing the higher frontal brain centers (or Spacious mind) to predominate thus helping us with our emotional intelligence, our happiness factor and assisting us on the path to "Becoming." Our frontal lobes with the help of spiritual practice help us to get out of the fear driven emotions and the survival responses of Monkey mind.

The risk of heart disease is greatly increased in those who have no inner directed way of handling the hardships of life. Unhappy heart felt emotions also increase stress hormones coming from the adrenal gland, raise the blood pressure and depress the immune system as well as the bodies abilities to handle the deleterious effects of sugar or carbohydrates leading to pre-diabetes and diabetes. 

Spiritual practice creates a parasympathetic nervous system or relaxation response to help modulate this excessive sympathetic nervous system override. This helps our heart and brain stay healthy and more in line with Self.

Healthy spirit - healthy heart - healthy brain but it best begins with intention for Spirit and some form of spiritual practice.

As the Ancestors teach; 

"Information is not to be equated with knowledge, knowledge is not to be equated with understanding, understanding is not to be equated wth wisdom and virtue (purity) is not to be equated with holiness."

Mind stuff is information, knowledge and even understanding and can get in the way.

The heart, however, is the key and the high road eventually to wisdom, virtue and holiness and becoming into a Causal vibration.

This is my religion. There is no need for temples, no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple. The philosophy is kindness.

Dalai Lama

Click on the link below to highlight and then play. Remembering that "the way to God is through the senses."

The Golden husks, the harvest of the Mind refer to Spacious Mind of the frontal lobe.

Be in Purity

-_MP3s/11_Golden_Husks.mp3

MORE ON HEART AND LOVE AS THE ULTIMATE REMEDY FOR KARMIC SINS

The most difficult challenge for us all is the love vibration. Awareness and Truth can take us just so far. Because they often have to do with "mind," they may be limited by lack of heart and love. The yogis confirm that the most challenging chakra to open is the heart chakra.

The Ancestors

It is easier to connect to the heart chakra through Big or Spacious Mind. Hence the need for spiritual practice which can help get us there.

Ego, judgment and desirous attachment connect more easily to Monkey or Narrow mind.

Lincoln knew that the heart had to do with the "high road to one's reason" or Spacious Mind.

Love is self accruing and has no limits. When we pay things forward good things follow to the giver especially if there is no ulterior motive and it is done for its own sake. Hillel taught that 

"a single candle can light a thousand more without diminishing itself."

Love does the same.

and the Ancestors confirm...

Sometimes what is socially or legally considered correct has nothing to do with the heart chakra and compassion, empathy or forgiveness.

The Ancestors

"Information is not to be equated with knowledge, knowledge is not to be equated with understanding, understanding is not to be equated with wisdom and wisdom is not to be equated with virtue." 

The Ancestors 

Spacious Mind relates more to wisdom, virtue and holiness, Monkey or Narrow Mind, to information and knowledge. 

But even with the most noble of these attributes - love may still be lacking.

The Ancestors

In order to hear the soft, still, silent voice of the Creator in whatever form it comes to us there are simple requirements; humility, an open heart and love. As Bushmen healers say; 

"to be a good healer you must love everyone no matter what you think of them."

Easier said than done.

That does not mean we have to like them - but to honor and love their humanity.  Then the healer is able to channel Divine Healing Energy - in essence that soft, silent, still voice that now comes in a healing form. 

The heart and love also have to do with soul talk...

We are all eventually striving for spiritual perfection whether we know it or not or on the journey or not. The Karmic process of "Becoming" is never finished - there is always a higher vibration to be realized. Until we come into the actualization of this Causal vibration we remain bound to the yolk of ego and the relentless wheel of Samsara and reincarnation.

When we pass over to the other side and have to reconcile with our karma we will not only be accountable for love but also for joy.

Rev Nachmann said; 

Joy is not just incidental to one's spiritual path, it is vital!"

The Ancestors

The only way to acquire this level of non duality is through awareness, truth as well as a regular, enjoyable, but individualized spiritual practice of being in the present moment. Our challenge is how to find it for our own unique selves since though; 

"we are all one - we are not the same."

The Ancestors

Click to highlight and then play and meditate on what is needed

_The_Mind_Controls_the_Heart.mp3

THIS WEEKS BLOG FOCUSES ON LOVE ITSELF  AS IT RELATES TO HEALING, TRANSFORMATION & THE "DEADLY SINS"

 This week we will look at the central sephira of the Tree O Life  - Tiferet - love, compassion, empathy which are balanced by the tension between the sephirot of Mercy and Judgment.
  The hexagon - the symbol of the heart chakra and also Tiferet helps us understand  love as it relates to healing and transformation as well as the three deadly sins.
The lower three apices point downward toward the lower three chakras and pull us away from healing and transformation towards fear, power, judgment and wants. 
The upper three; being in the moment with a regular, enjoyable spiritual practice and having truth and awareness of ourselves and spiritual truths help us move energy toward the crown chakra and the Divine or Keter on the  T.O.L. where healing is to be found.

Opening the heart to love is essential for us to heal. We never heal completely until we forgive both ourselves and others.

Shame, guilt, remorse, self-recrimination or self-condemnation have no place in the healing dynamic. These can lead to a form of self-hexing or a nocebo affect - the power of belief to hurt, harm, or even kill - all of which are fear based. Patients who believe they do not deserve to be well at a conscious or subconscious level probably will not get competely well. Nocebo from others or from ones self is a fear based response. Placebo is love based.

We must be careful of what we say to ourselves and our subconscious as well as what we say to others. Loving words have a placebo effect 
harmful ones - nocebo.

The Ancestors

Albert Schweitzer said; 
"I do not know what your destiny will be but I do know that the only ones among you who will be truly happy will have sought and found  how to serve."
He also said;
"Wherever you turn you can find someone who needs you. Even if it is a little thing, do something for which there is no pay but the privilege of doing it. Remember you do not live in a world all of your own."

The Ancestors take this further with regard to transformation beyond healing...

Healing invokes Universal Healing Energy which is just Divine love acting mysteriously and magically on the Inner Healer. Everyone can be healed but not necessarily cured. With absolute faith, however, the odds of curing increase since this channels U.H.E. or the Creator's love.

If one studies the spontaneous remissions of incurable disease that occurred in Lourdes, (proven and documented by a medical panel appointed by the Vatican,) one can see a certain commonality. The most important of these were an 

abiding faith that they would be well combined with the will to live. 

Faith which resides at Daat or Grace on the Tree just below Keter also embraces hope, belief, trust surrender.

 Love and support both by the medical team, healers and close ones (human, animal or plant) were also a key factor. If we look at the energy anatomy of the T.O.L. and the Chakra system we can see where these polarities belong and how key the heart and love are to the healing process.

                            

                            

                                        

Why are we here, physicians or not?

Click to highlight then download and play

Here_For.mp3

 MORE ON LOVE & OTHER POLARITIES AS  REMEDIES FOR THE 3 DEADLY SINS

As we said in a previous blog each sephira on the Tree of Life has its light and dark side. We need to integrate both through their three basic horizontal triangles representing contraction of the left and expansion on the right. We balance the different polarities through the center of the Tree which holds the balance.

The top triangle of 

Understanding, Wisdom and Keter the Crown 

has a separate energy center just below it which is 

Daat - which depends on Faith. 

This is not a true sephira but can give one direct access to the Divine. 

Of Understanding and Wisdom the Ancestors say; 

"Information is not to be equated with knowledge, knowledge is not to be equated with understanding, understanding is not to be equated with wisdom and wisdom is not to be equated with virtue."

Faith, belief, trust, hope and surrender at Daat can supersede all these and gain access to Keter and Ayin - Nothingness (? similar to Buddhism's emptiness - beyond Keter.)

The sephira most central to the Tree is Love - the gateway to Keter. This energy center is balanced on either side by 
Mercy and Judgment, 
& key to managing the three deadly sins of karma. 

The Ancestors

Below Love we have the triangle of 

Attachment - Ego - Non Attachment 
to the object of our desire.

Balancing this triangle allows us to open our hearts more easily to allow energy to flow upwards. We have to give the power of Ego its rightful place but nevertheless it should not be allowed to rule. Doing things for their own sake will allow us to open up to the higher sephirot.

The Ancestors make distinctions 

between attachment and detachment 

very clear. 

"Detachment is hopelessness, resignation 

and not non-attachment"

Moreover, we can be attached to 

many tricky energies & not just 

material possessions such as; 

power, sex, pride and fame.

                              

To help us subordinate ego to non attachment 

we also need to understand 

   impermanence 

                                 

The Ancestors 

Non attachment also has many faces.

If done for its own sake...

If service to others has a personal agenda

 it is still preferable to no service 

but this will carry a negative

karmic implication

It is important that we do not 

become attached to 

& mortified by our failures. 

We should shake these off but 

resolve to do better next time.

Click on the link to highlight then download and play

 04_Love.mp3

THIS WEEKS BLOG WILL DIGRESS BECAUSE OF PREPARATIONS FOR A SHAMANIC CONFERENCE IN SAN RAFAEL ON THE ELEMENTS

Ancient wisdom has a lot to say about the power of sound which very much has to do with our fifth chakra - the chakra of creative expression - but here focusing on sound.

As we have said before the Ancestors are big on sensory meditation and sound is a huge part of this.

"The way to God is through the senses" 

and

"From my flesh shall I behold God."

and the Talmud tells us that 

"With sound one can open the gates of heaven."

The Ancestors add that the power of song...

and that

Others have endorsed its power

The Yogis talk about the music of the spheres and the Druids the Oran Mor - the sacred tune of the universe. One can hear this in nature.

Sound heals

Click on the link to highlight - then download and play

-_MP3s/01_Waters.mp3