Are you meditating from the mind or from the heart? Different spiritual paths use different meditation techniques. One of the most powerful methods involves using the energy of love to go beyond the mind. Love is, after all, the essence of the Divine and therefore it is the most powerful force in this universe.
Energetically speaking, love has a faster and higher vibration than the mind and it therefore has the ability to overcome the mind and ego. We see evidence of this when we experience “falling in love”; we lose rational perspective and oftentimes cannot even think clearly.
In terms of cultivating inner spiritual connection, during spiritual practices like prayer or meditation, we can set an intention to surrender ego and to give ourself in love to the Divine. The rational mind convinces us of our separation but the heart is the holder of the truth.
When we drop our attention to the heart, our meditative experience is amplified many times over and we lose ourselves to the truth that Divine light and love is within us and all it requires is attention to be cultivated and become a more powerful reservoir in our life.
Our spiritual connection to the sacred is not rational, it is mystical in nature. Your rational mind cannot fly that high. For this reason Sufis are oftentimes called “idiots of God.” They are so devoted in their connection to the holy that they lose their ego mind and fall into ecstatic love. This is also reflected in the saying, “When love comes reason disappears. Reason cannot live with the folly of love; love has nothing to do with human reason.”
So how do we make meditation of love practical? Instead of using meditation to still your ‘monkey mind’ and attempting to dilute thoughts by focusing on the mind, try bringing your attention to your heart instead. Set an intention to focus on the feeling of love within the heart and you will find that this helps you quickly leave your mind behind. As you centre your attention to FEELING love, your thoughts will slowly dilute and your emotions will also follow suite and be stilled.
I have coined the following meditative technique “meditating on love” because it is a practice that essentially drowns out the mind and the emotions so you can blissfully swim in love’s ocean.
MEDITATION ON LOVE:
Make yourself comfortable, either sitting or lying down is fine. The first thing to do is to breath calmly and rhythmically, in through the nose and out through the mouth. As you gradually rest your body, drop your focus to the gentle rise and fall of your chest. Continue breathing in and out but shift your focus so that you feel your breath is being drawn in and out through your heart.
Once comfortable, begin by evoking the feeling of love within which will activate the heart chakra. The best way to bring in love is to think of someone who you truly love and have deep affection for. It could even be a pet. This can be The Divine which is the ultimate aim but often at the beginning The Divine is more abstract or just a concept or mental idea, so it may be easier to think of a person you love.
The feeling of love will be different to different people but it is often accompanied by feelings of calm, joy, peace, tenderness and softness. Then simply allow yourself to really immerse in the feelings and place all of yourself in the energy of love within your heart.
Once you have evoked this feeling of love and you can sense it in your being, it is likely that intrusive thoughts will come and the mind will attempt to pull you into memories of the past or apprehensions of the future. Just notice them without following their lead and bring yourself back to thinking of that person you love and merge your thoughts back into the feeling of love.
You may find it is easier to get into this space in the morning before your psyche is imprinted by the happenings of the day or you can practice it before falling asleep. The main thing to avoid is forcing it. Go with the flow. You might find that you are unexpectedly drawn to go within which tends to happen once you get used to this process. It’s like your heart, awakened from within, calls you inwards… like you’re being called by love and the pull of your own heart.
Practiced regularly, this meditation will become part of your inner self. You may also like to think of your guardian angel or even repeat a mantra or prayer to help you inwardly align with the energy of love.
Just know that resisting the mind gives it more energy – what you resist persists. You can use your will power to ignore the inner chatter, but it is likely it will fight back because ego does not like to be controlled and so it will throw up thoughts that it knows will most fully disengage you from your practice further. An untrained mind/ego does not want to lose control so it will attempt to distract you from immersing in the spiritual chamber of your heart. Hence it is best to just let love do the magic of conquering the incessant mind. This is essentially a letting go process as you learn to surrender you mind in the heart. As you do this you are offering your ego consciousness up to be replaced by soul consciousness.
This shift in consciousness allows for a Divine spark to light a spiritual flame in your heart that will be the true gift of this inner practice. Over time, this ritual will slowly build a pathway from your ego, back into your essential self, your soul.
Each time we move inwards and sacrifice our ego self, we slowly build a stronger and more permanent alter of love within us. More importantly, in doing this we create a scared space within for the Divine to reveal itself. I liken it to entering your secret room and preparing it for a mystical and holy encounter.
♥ ERYKA STANTON
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