Practices for the Heart
Practice of the Four Immeasurables
Turn within. Relax while maintaining vigilance. Pay attention to the rhythm of the breath. Breathe more deeply: the breath bathing the heart, washing away all residues, just as if you were to take the heart in your two hands and dip it into the cool brisk water of a mountain stream so that the heart shimmers and springs awake. One sees that one’s distraction and disorientation was a cover over the continually abiding presence of the heart and its action and that this action is the emanation of loving kindness, tender feeling, hence the mind has perhaps interfered /obstructed this flow but the heart’s own motivation is simple, pure, undiscriminating like the light of the sun, it shines on everything, on all beings. We use the words of the Buddha for each form of love.
Meta
We are sending out waves of meta, unconditional love, into the environment. Send out meta to all the beings before you in the garden, city, countryside, across the planet, into the cosmos. To all beings behind you. To all beings above you. To all beings beneath you. To the right. To the left. All are contained within your heart and your heart surges with the liquid substance of unconditional love. To express love is to bear witness, and in bearing witness one observes the condition of beings.
Karuna
And one recognizes that many beings are in pain. When love encounters pain it naturally becomes sympathy, empathy, compassion. There is in the world injury, illness, decay, sorrow, brokenness, the shattering of hopes, fragmentation and despair. When the heart awakens we cannot ignore these things. In this second movement of love one does not hold oneself aloof: resonate in sympathy, enter into the condition of all beings and share their suffering with compassion and goodwill. Every thought becomes a prayer for healing. It is not merely the imposition of a wish that things should be different, but attending with direct presence, with vulnerable open communion with each and every being in its condition. The archetypal image of this consciousness is the image of Christ bearing the pain of the entire world. [Let compassion flow out in the 6 directions].
Mudita
Of course, all is not suffering and despair. There is pleasure, laughter, celebration, fulfilment: The third movement of love. Reach out sharing in the joy rising up from all across the world. Then one reaches beyond the polarity of joy and pain. The waves of emotion rise and fall, conditions continuously change for all beings. [Let Mudita flow out in the 6 directions].
Upeka
Beyond all these fluctuations one discovers an abiding communion, abiding solidarity of all beings who represent life itself in its wholeness. One acknowledges all beings as each of them another manifestation of one’s own eternal nature. This is Upeka: the communion of life in its essence.
Now sensing the breath flowing in and out of the body. Feel the hard ground under your feet. Return to your outer senses with the intention of retaining the atmosphere of the enlarged sense of the sphere of the heart. Open your eyes.
Source
Edited from the meditation given by Pir Zia 2010
based on the Buddhist practice.
for attunement and for healing,
using the 3 heart lataif of the Zikr of the Broom.
- The Qalbiya: the heart, in the left breast. Awaken its vibrations, feel it vividly, establish a connection with the other person through that level.
- Exhale: extend the field of your qalbiya diagonally to the qalbiya of your partner, thinking ‘Jalil’ (the omnipotent divine power that manifests in each and everything).
- Inhale: ‘Jamil’ ‑ receptivity ‑ feel in your heart the condition of the other ‑ it is a dialogue, it deepens with each breath ‑ creates harmonization between the two hearts. The heart of the other becomes tuned to a certain pitch.
- The Ruhiya: the Spirit in the right breast. Deeper, more subtle and pure, less individuated, less personal. Establish a diagonal line of breath with the Ruhiya. One may think ‘Ruh’, divine Spirit, on each inhale and exhale.
- The Sirriya: the secret, in the centre of the chest. This makes a direct line to the centre of your partner’s chest (whereas the breath from Qalbiya and Ruhiya cross over to your partner’s Qalbiya or Ruhiya). One may think ‘Ya Azim’. Sometimes one has to work a long time to establish a dialogue. Rest there. Don’t move on till you have done what needs to be done.
Sphere of the Heart ‑ Practice of Tawajjoh
Tawajjuh means turning your face to the faces of those who occupy your heart. The word, tawajjuh, comes from the word wajh, which means face.
The practice of tawajjuh, then, is each day to turn within, to the domain of the heart, and to reach out within that sphere of connections, that ‘Internet’, and face each face that is there and send forth a blessing. It’s not that we ourselves bless the person, it’s that we allow ourselves to be a channel through which the divine blessing is always flowing forth. Meeting these persons on the inner planes, one begins to see that there are concentric circles. There are those who are nearest and dearest, there are some that are more distant, and then, as your heart expands, you begin to recognize the presence even those who are acting against you, your enemies, and you send them a blessing too: the wish for the fulfillment of their truest desires. And then the circle extends out to include whole populations that one does not know. One does not know them personally, but one is aware of these expanses of the planet, these communities of being, and one sends out prayers of blessing. One is holding in one’s heart the whole earth, and then the solar system, and then the whole galaxy. And one extends the horizon of one’s heart as far as one can. This has been the work of the Sufis down the ages, and it is regarded as a sacred obligation. It is a mode of service, serving the divine providence, by opening one’s consciousness to be a channel of blessing and prayer.
This living from our hearts, from the place where we feel, is something that has a great healing power. To not only be mindful, but also ‘heartful’, is what is needed now.
Source
A practice given by Pir Zia.
Practice of the Four Immeasurables
Turn within. Relax while maintaining vigilance. Pay attention to the rhythm of the breath. Breathe more deeply: the breath bathing the heart, washing away all residues, just as if you were to take the heart in your two hands and dip it into the cool brisk water of a mountain stream so that the heart shimmers and springs awake. One sees that one’s distraction and disorientation was a cover over the continually abiding presence of the heart and its action and that this action is the emanation of loving kindness, tender feeling, hence the mind has perhaps interfered /obstructed this flow but the heart’s own motivation is simple, pure, undiscriminating like the light of the sun, it shines on everything, on all beings. We use the words of the Buddha for each form of love.
Meta
We are sending out waves of meta, unconditional love, into the environment. Send out meta to all the beings before you in the garden, city, countryside, across the planet, into the cosmos. To all beings behind you. To all beings above you. To all beings beneath you. To the right. To the left. All are contained within your heart and your heart surges with the liquid substance of unconditional love. To express love is to bear witness, and in bearing witness one observes the condition of beings.
Karuna
And one recognizes that many beings are in pain. When love encounters pain it naturally becomes sympathy, empathy, compassion. There is in the world injury, illness, decay, sorrow, brokenness, the shattering of hopes, fragmentation and despair. When the heart awakens we cannot ignore these things. In this second movement of love one does not hold oneself aloof: resonate in sympathy, enter into the condition of all beings and share their suffering with compassion and goodwill. Every thought becomes a prayer for healing. It is not merely the imposition of a wish that things should be different, but attending with direct presence, with vulnerable open communion with each and every being in its condition. The archetypal image of this consciousness is the image of Christ bearing the pain of the entire world. [Let compassion flow out in the 6 directions].
Mudita
Of course, all is not suffering and despair. There is pleasure, laughter, celebration, fulfilment: The third movement of love. Reach out sharing in the joy rising up from all across the world. Then one reaches beyond the polarity of joy and pain. The waves of emotion rise and fall, conditions continuously change for all beings. [Let Mudita flow out in the 6 directions].
Upeka
Beyond all these fluctuations one discovers an abiding communion, abiding solidarity of all beings who represent life itself in its wholeness. One acknowledges all beings as each of them another manifestation of one’s own eternal nature. This is Upeka: the communion of life in its essence.
Now sensing the breath flowing in and out of the body. Feel the hard ground under your feet. Return to your outer senses with the intention of retaining the atmosphere of the enlarged sense of the sphere of the heart. Open your eyes.
Source
Edited from the meditation given by Pir Zia 2010
based on the Buddhist practice.
for attunement and for healing,
using the 3 heart lataif of the Zikr of the Broom.
- The Qalbiya: the heart, in the left breast. Awaken its vibrations, feel it vividly, establish a connection with the other person through that level.
- Exhale: extend the field of your qalbiya diagonally to the qalbiya of your partner, thinking ‘Jalil’ (the omnipotent divine power that manifests in each and everything).
- Inhale: ‘Jamil’ ‑ receptivity ‑ feel in your heart the condition of the other ‑ it is a dialogue, it deepens with each breath ‑ creates harmonization between the two hearts. The heart of the other becomes tuned to a certain pitch.
- The Ruhiya: the Spirit in the right breast. Deeper, more subtle and pure, less individuated, less personal. Establish a diagonal line of breath with the Ruhiya. One may think ‘Ruh’, divine Spirit, on each inhale and exhale.
- The Sirriya: the secret, in the centre of the chest. This makes a direct line to the centre of your partner’s chest (whereas the breath from Qalbiya and Ruhiya cross over to your partner’s Qalbiya or Ruhiya). One may think ‘Ya Azim’. Sometimes one has to work a long time to establish a dialogue. Rest there. Don’t move on till you have done what needs to be done.
Sphere of the Heart
Practice of Tawajjoh
Tawajjuh means turning your face to the faces of those who occupy your heart. The word, tawajjuh, comes from the word wajh, which means face.
The practice of tawajjuh, then, is each day to turn within, to the domain of the heart, and to reach out within that sphere of connections, that ‘Internet’, and face each face that is there and send forth a blessing. It’s not that we ourselves bless the person, it’s that we allow ourselves to be a channel through which the divine blessing is always flowing forth. Meeting these persons on the inner planes, one begins to see that there are concentric circles. There are those who are nearest and dearest, there are some that are more distant, and then, as your heart expands, you begin to recognize the presence even those who are acting against you, your enemies, and you send them a blessing too: the wish for the fulfillment of their truest desires. And then the circle extends out to include whole populations that one does not know. One does not know them personally, but one is aware of these expanses of the planet, these communities of being, and one sends out prayers of blessing. One is holding in one’s heart the whole earth, and then the solar system, and then the whole galaxy. And one extends the horizon of one’s heart as far as one can. This has been the work of the Sufis down the ages, and it is regarded as a sacred obligation. It is a mode of service, serving the divine providence, by opening one’s consciousness to be a channel of blessing and prayer.
This living from our hearts, from the place where we feel, is something that has a great healing power. To not only be mindful, but also ‘heartful’, is what is needed now.
Source
A practice given by Pir Zia.