Conversations with Mirra and Aadil

The Heart Chakra has three main openings. In Purna Yoga we focus on the Heart Chakra that is in the center of the chest. Imagine a horizontal line connecting your frontal armpits. The center of this line is the Heart Chakra. An inch above this region is the opening in the Heart Chakra that stimulates the thymus gland, the master gland of the immune system. About 2 inches below this horizontal line is the portion of the Heart Chakra that begins to unite with the solar plexus chakra. The solar plexus chakra houses human emotions (all emotions other than pure love) and is the heart of the ego, the shadow.

The reason why we, in Purna Yoga, focus on the Heart Chakra on the horizontal line is because this is the doorway to the soul in the physical form. It is from this place that light flows into the body (where matter and Spirit unite), enters the organic heart, brings the heartbeat to the human form and activates the breath. Often, when people touch this place, they feel tightness, emotional numbness, hate, anger or tears. This is just the thin veneer that our ego has placed over the Heart Chakra, blocking our awareness of the spirit living in our body. When we do the Purna Yoga Meditation tapping and flowering techniques, we gently help lift these ego layers, so that the true feeling that our Heart Chakra holds, love, begins to flow. Our aim in Purna Yoga is to go approximately three inches deeper into the chest where we contact the ray or thread of light which is our Soul, that entered the physical form in our third month as a fetus.

When people think of meditation, they usually think of people sitting quietly for long periods of time in an attempt to remove or quiet any thoughts or activity of the mind.  The focus stays in the mind and thoughts. 

However, as Sri Aurobindo wrote, “Meditation is a process leading towards knowledge and through knowledge it is a thing of the head and not the heart….Concentration in the heart is not meditation, it is a call on the Divine, on the Beloved.” 

So, what is the difference?  Purna Yoga Meditation, revealed through years of inner exploration, teaches how to concentrate in the heart with the intention of opening the Heart Chakra , the seat of the soul in the physical body, our access to The Divine, and our connection to Wisdom, Truth, Love and Light.  Unlike traditional forms of meditation, we do not attempt to quiet the mind; instead, we work to bring the mind’s energy and its ability to focus and concentrate into the Heart Chakra, reminding us that the truth lies in the heart and not in the mind. 

Becoming still and quieting the mind and emotions are only the first steps toward true meditation. Purna Yoga Meditation teaches us how to move the mental energy down into the Heart Chakra and the emotional/pelvic energy up into the Heart Chakra. It reveals how to connect with the Pillar of Light (classically called the sushumna nadi), our central axis. By aligning these inner energies for transformation, Purna Yoga Meditation becomes an active and dynamic progression of self-discovery and personal evolution. By awakening the guidance from within, we learn to live from the dictates of the Heart Chakra, our connection with our soul.

An Ayurvedic teacher once told me a profound truth: “All illness is a function of the loss of the inner smile.” Hidden deep within the veiled recesses of the Heart Center is a smile that emerges from a sense of connectedness with all things. This unifying feeling is true love, far removed from the physical passions or even the sentimental attachments we label “love.” As the dreary burdens of life weigh us down, our communication with our heart is stifled, the inner smile is smothered, and the illusion of grief descends upon us. Grief is an illusion because the smile is always there, waiting for us to uncover it, and what we perceive as grief is only a form of forgetting. The adverse circumstances of our lives are simply various ways (some forceful, some mild) that remind us: “Go within yourself and rediscover your true nature, your inner smile, the bliss within.”

Bliss, then, is a decision. Do we choose to connect with our inner essence or continue to be pushed around by mere circumstances? Bliss does not depend on external factors. Bliss is not conditional. While events may bring happiness or sadness, there is no event that can bring bliss and no event that can take it away. Bliss is the connection with the heart, and is not to be merely a passing fever.

The gesture Namaste represents the belief that there is a Divine spark within each of us that is located in the heart chakra. The gesture is an acknowledgment of the soul in one by the soul in another. “Nama” means bow, “as” means I, and “te” means you. Therefore, Namaste literally means “bow me you” or “I bow to you.”

To perform Namaste, we place the hands together at the heart charka, close the eyes, and bow the head. It can also be done by placing the hands together in front of the third eye, bowing the head, and then bringing the hands down to the heart. This is an especially deep form of respect. Although in the West the word “Namaste” is usually spoken in conjunction with the gesture, in India, it is understood that the gesture itself signifies Namaste, and therefore, it is unnecessary to say the word while bowing.

We bring the hands together at the heart chakra to increase the flow of Divine love. Bowing the head and closing the eyes helps the mind surrender to the Divine in the heart. One can do Namaste to oneself as a meditation technique to go deeper inside the heart chakra; when done with someone else, it is also a beautiful, albeit quick, meditation.  For a teacher and student, Namaste allows two individuals to come together energetically to a place of connection and timelessness, free from the bonds of ego-connection. If it is done with deep feeling in the heart and with the mind surrendered, a deep union of spirits can blossom.

Ideally, Namaste should be done both at the beginning and at the end of class. Usually, it is done at the end of class because the mind is less active and the energy in the room is more peaceful. The teacher initiates Namaste as a symbol of gratitude and respect toward her students and her own teachers and in return invites the students to connect with their lineage, thereby allowing the truth to flow-the truth that we are all one when we live from the heart.