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How to create an oasis of calm inside your own heart

Wed, 12/05/2007 - 02:54 — Shane Magee


In today's fast-paced world, everyone from time to time looks for an 'escape' - time away in a place far removed from the hubbub of today's world. When thinking of such an escape usually some tranquil scenic location comes to mind far away from daily life . However, for thousands of years great sages and meditators have found that you can create a space of calmness inside yourself to take refuge in no matter where you are. What's more, this space of silence is nowhere else than inside your heart, the space in the middle of our chest we point to when we say 'this is me'. We have all been in this space from time to time, for example when we find ourself in a place of great beauty and suddenly feel at peace there; however, with practise you can enter into this inner refuge at will.

There are a number of techniques you can use to discover this inner refuge and be at home in it, we describe seven of those techniques here. Each of these techniques require a space where you can sit down undisturbed for ten or fifteen minutes. Ideally, you should try and decorate the space with things that help still the mind and induce a sense of calm, such as flowers, pictures of mountains or sunrises or statues; this is a space for your own inner discovery, so really value it.

1. A simple breathing exercise

Often the best way to make 'initial contact' with this inner space is through a breathing exercise. Begin by observing your breath in and out - don't force your breath, but notice how with it naturally slows as you observe it. Then imagine on the inbreath that your breath is flowing like a river deep into the middle of your chest, and again on the outbreath that a river is flowing out. In between the inbreath and outbreath, try to focus on that small space of absolute silence, deep inside your heart.

2. Breath in what you need

Inside this heart refuge, most of the beautiful qualities we have are located - empathy, kindness, love and peace. You can use a breathing exercise to invoke a particular quality you feel you need and watch it grow inside your heart. For example when you breathe in, feel that inner peace is entering into your heart, and when you breath out feel that its counterpart - worry, tension and restlessness - is leaving your body. Similarly you can breathe in joy and breathe out sorrow and depression, or breath in energy and breathe out lethargy and tiredness.

3. Heart identification

You can try a similar exercise with your eyes open, this time with a lighted candle or a flower in front of you. This time, feel that when you breath out, that you are moving out from the heart center and entering into the candle and flower. And when you breath in, all the beautiful qualities of the candle or flower are entering into your heart and becoming part of your own being. This exercise illustrates the difference between the heart and the mind - the mind separates and analyses, but the heart always reaches out and feels the good qualities of the thing it is concentrating on.

4. The heart garden

Many people have an aptitude for imaginative visualisation: if you are one of those, then you can try to imagine a beautiful location, such as a flower garden or a sea shore, right inside your heart. Imagine that you are walking into this space, and shutting a gate behind you, leaving behind all the problems of the outer world. Try and notice individual deatails of this beautiful space - sights, sounds, smalls - that all contribute towards a sense of harmony and well-being. There are many visualisation CD's that describe just such an exercise which might be of help to you.

5. The bottom of the sea

Often the mind interrupts our exercise and takes us out of our beautiful space. This is normal, especially when you are beginning. When you are distracted by a thought, just let it go and go back to the visualisation. Try to imagine the heart as entirely separate from the mind - one way you can do this is by imagining the heart like the bottom of an ocean. Up on the surface, the waves of the mind are all tossing and turning, but down at the bottom of the ocean, everything is all peace.

6. The art of gratitude

One quality that is especially associated with the heart is gratitude - when we are genuinely grateful for something, our heart comes to the fore and we can appreciate the good things that are happening in our lives as well as the bad. Every day at the beginning of your exercise, you can write down seven things you are grateful for, no matter how small. Even if you are going through a rough patch in life, this exercise can really help you see the forest for the trees, and bring the heart to the fore so you can get on with the rest of the exercise.

7. Pretend you have no mind

Often the main obstacle to getting into that heart space is your busy mind, so why not pretend you have no mind? Begin an exercise by repeating to yourself 'I have no mind, all I have is the heart' and really try to imagine that your mind does not exist, that the only thing that exists is this beautiful oasis of calm in the middle of your chest. When you do this exercise you can feel most powerfully that not only you have the heart, but that this inner space inside yourself embodies a reality far deeper than that of the mind.

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