Today, February 14th, when much of the world celebrates the notion of love with a holiday called "Valentines' Day" I'd venture a guess that there are a great many unhappy people out there who have love problems. Some may wish they could write to a twenty-first century Dear Abby for "heart help" because they don't feel loved enough to be happy day after day. If they were honest they might even describe the feeling of unhappiness as constantly pervading rather than just fleeting moments of misery.
When our heart physically hurts we usually have it checked by a licensed medical doctor or a heart specialist in cardiology. Yet when the pain is not in the machinery itself but seems to emanate from deep within and beyond the physical pain, then where do we go for help?
While I do not claim to be a trained psychologist or psychiatrist, I do have an opinion on matters of the emotional and spiritual heart based on 66 years of personal experience and 42 1/2 years of marriage to my college sweetheart. (Oh yes, those seven months plus one day, seven hours and 57 minutes count because I'm learning more every minute!) I've learned that I feel happy when I decide that I'm happy! It is not my husband's, nor my children's, nor my grand children's responsibility to make me happy or to fulfill me. This is mine alone. I may not have complete control of my initial response to life's situations, but if my mind is in control of my ongoing emotional state, then I alone can grant myself permission to be happy, sad, frightened or whatever, once that first response is experienced. Therefore, the emotional state of happiness must be a decision of the mind at some point. The mind rules; the body serves.
I truly hope that each one of my readers will decide to give unconditional love for all creatures a chance. This divine type of love (called metta in Sanskrit and agape in Greek and Latin) means loving whether or not we are loved in return! (I believe that it is better "...to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.") We do have the power to experience God's perfect love flowing through us to others, a love not based on receiving anything in return other than the joy of loving.
I pray that each of you will find your "heart help" in a love relationship with your Creator. Who else could possibly fill that God-sized void that was installed during our creation? Who else but God could take on the enormous task of "completing" us so that we "feel happy?" There aren't many flawed humans out there who would suffer and die in our place just to enable an ongoing love relationship. This week try finishing each yoga practice, no matter if it's for five minutes or fifty minutes, with this heart-opening variation of "Corpse Pose" or Savasana with a prop.
- Physically---End your physical practice (asana) by lying on a firm, flat and level surface in "Corpse Pose" with a prop. (For the traditional "Corpse Pose" see also the November 29, 2010 blog.) Prepare the prop by rolling a blanket or towel into a bolster-shaped tube about three feet long and at least three inches thick. Sit on one end of the roll with the tail bone just over the end, but the sacrum (the triangular-shaped bone just above the tail bone) will be supported fully at the bottom of the roll. Then slowly exhale while lying down with the full length of the spine supported all the way up to the back of the head. Then relax the diaphragm (the done-shaped muscle that separates the lower abdomen from the upper) to draw in a deep, three-dimensional "breath of life" through both nostrils and into all corners of each lung as the legs and arms are extended out away from the hips. This external (away from center) rotation of the hips and arms will feel very open and vulnerable physically. At the end of a long and slow exhalation release the shoulder blades over each side of the bolster or blanket roll and allow the fingers to curl softly with the palms facing upward. Close the eyelids softly and with each exhalation release a different part of the physical body, scanning from the forehead down or from the toes upward, but pay close attention to releasing the rib cage and chest area where the physical heart resides. Allow time to remain here in this restorative pose for five minutes or more before slowly rolling onto the right side in a fetal position for a few moments or even minutes.
- Mentally---While lying in this "Corpse Pose" variation focus the attention on releasing tension across the entire chest and upper back at the end of each exhalation. If the mind wanders outside of the physical body, simply return to conscious breathing by establishing a smooth and easy rhythm to the breath (pranayama). Let go of any emotional response such as annoyance. Count the number of seconds for each inhalation and be sure to equal that for each thorough exhalation, beginning at four seconds and increasing the duration by one second for each segment of the breath. Wait for each breath to come naturally without any sensation of rushing or concern. Stay present with each breath.
- Spiritually---As the lungs fill with positive energy (called prana) allow God's unconditional and divine love to flow freely into your body, mind and soul. During the exhalations, choose to let go of any negative thought or emotional response to your current situation. Decide that each breath will bring forgiveness, happiness and joy as you connect fully to experience your Creator's deep love for you. Memorize God's affirmation of love in John 3:16. Read and ponder the Sixth Chapter of Luke, especially Luke's direct quotes from Jesus, before your next yoking experience. Open your heart to unconditional love and forgiveness. Let God help your heart.... Namaste, plf
(Luke 6: 31-37, KJV)
"Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son in the world, that we might live through Him... If God so loved us, we ought also to love one another." (I John 4:7-9 and 11, KJV)
