FROM HARD WORK TO HEART WORK
As the old Buddhist saying goes…
the mind is an excellent servant, but a poor master - and though I believe that this wisdom always applies - it feels especially relevant at this moment in time.
While we're in the midst of an intense, but also very natural, process of transformation on this planet - our minds are prone to constantly looking outside of ourselves for answers and assurances. When our sense of safety and security feels shaky - the nervous system switches into a state of fight-or-flight, which disconnects us from our inner resources and focuses all of our energy on scanning for, and escaping from, threats in the outer world.
And while fight-or-flight is an epic tool for keeping us alive when danger’s looming, it's not a state that allows us to thrive - because it disconnects us almost completely from our inner world, and maybe most importantly, the deep well of wisdom and magnetic power that resides in our heart.
♥︎ Over-identification with the mind and disconnection from the heart feeds illusions of separateness instead of nurturing the truth of interconnectedness.
♥︎ Connection to the heart lifts the veil of illusion to ground us in the truth of unconditional love and our innate oneness.
The most beautiful part of this is that the soft, yielding strength that emanates from the heart is always at our disposal - and we can choose in any moment to both access and amplify it, as we see fit. This shifts us from the hard and futile work of trying to control life with the mind - to the transformational heart work of surrendering to, and trusting in, the present moment and the unfolding of our life path.
There are all sorts of different ways to do this, but I wanted to offer up a beautiful little practice today that never fails to bring me back home to my heart, my truth, and my inner resources. This is like the perfect trifecta of my most-loved tools: breathwork, acupoints, and essential oils - and it’s a super-portable practice that you can use pretty much whenever, wherever.
That said, let’s dive in…
Acupoint Location
Conception Vessel 17 (aka REN-17 or CV-17) is one of my most-used acupoints - it calms the mind and emotions, balances the heart chakra, regulates qi, releases constriction in the chest, centers us in the heart space, and so much more.
And don’t worry, unlike acupuncture, working with acupoints and essential oils is a totally needle-free situation - all you’ll need is the location of the acupoint (shown in this diagram), a bottle of essential oil (which I’ll cover below), a finger, and your breath, and you’re ready to rock.
Essential Oil Application
For this particular practice, I love to use a floral essential oil - as they have a beautiful ability to bloom and expand the heart space open, infuse us with compassion, and provide us with sweet nourishing and harmonizing energetic benefits.
I’ll typically choose an oil like Rose, Geranium, Helichrysum, or Magnolia - but feel free to freestyle with what you have on-hand - citrus oils work great too when you’re in need of some clarification and release.
Once I have my oil, I’ll apply less than a drop to my pointer finger by just pressing my finger tip to the top of the bottle (add carrier oil for sensitive skin), and then rest my finger with the oil ever-so-lightly on CV-17 while I settle into a Heart Coherence Breath patten (details below).
If you don’t have any essential oils on hand, no stress - you can hold the acupoint without an oil, or you can invite the spirit of the plant (Rose, for instance) in on an energetic level through setting an intention to connect with it.
Heart Coherence Breath
All you need to do to practice it is:
♥︎ While holding the above oil and acupoint combo, drop your attention down to your heart center, and imagine your breath flowing in and out of that space
♥︎ Breathing through the nose, take a deep, full inhale into your belly, and then a full exhale
♥︎ This breath is slow - usually a minimum of 4 seconds on each inhale/exhale - feel free to use the animation below, which stretches it a bit longer
♥︎ While breathing, start conjuring up an elevated, regenerative emotion - like love, peace, or gratitude (you can even bring to mind someone/something that you love deeply, if that helps), and let it infuse each breath
♥︎ I like to practice this for a minimum of 5 min (but typically go longer)
Heart Coherence Breath Animation
And for some quick deets re: why/how this breath (which was developed by the HeartMath Institute) works:
♡ The heart sends far more neural signals to the brain through the nervous system than the brain sends to the heart
♡ The heart is the most powerful source of electromagnetic energy in the body - its electrical field is about 60x greater in amplitude than the electrical activity generated by the brain
♡ The magnetic field of the heart is more than 100x greater in strength than that of the brain + can be detected up to 3 ft. away from the body, in all directions
♡ The quality of the signals between the heart + brain have huge effects on both brain function + personal experience - influencing things like memory, perception, intention, problem-solving, decision-making, performance, and emotional processing
♡ We want is for there to be coherent signals being sent between the two, rather than incoherent signals, so we can return to a natural state of harmony - and that's what Heart Coherent Breathing does for us