Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.

Carl Jung

Heart is a space that holds many stories. It is the favourite of the poets, philosophers and mystics. According to science, this organ beats around 100,000 times a day, pumping 2000 gallons of blood, covering 12000 miles in the body each day without fail, day and night.

There is a rhythm to day/night, seasons, economic cycles, etc. The natural rhythm in the human body is its unique heartbeat. This is also an indicator of body going out of rhythm in stressful times. The heart beats faster to respond to the flight or fight mode caused by heavy emotions such as stress, anxiety or fear. Sending blood to the muscles to make the move.

This well-coordinated machine is ironically associated with love. Do you think ‘Big Heart’ or ‘Heart of gold’ are mere expressions? Broken-Heart, though a heart condition doesn’t necessary mean its actually torn apart. So much emphasis is laid upon this hardworking organ by poets, mystics, philosophers and language experts. Definitely not a coincidence.

When you encounter a stressful situation, the heart beats faster out of anxiety, which its detrimental to health. On the contrary, when you meet that special person who brings out the best version of you, even though you skip a beat, the heart beats faster. It is a heady feeling. Just that, this time those blood vessels are relaxed, sending 20% more blood to the body. Something similar happens when we laugh. Which means, the heart doesn’t have to work that hard.

Let’s honor, the heart is no feeble agent.  Note, it takes a lot of force to pump that blood around the whole body. Heart, which is a muscle, works twice as hard as the leg muscle of a sprinter. No matter how strong a muscle is, it needs to relax to optimise its power. How difficult is it to relax your heart?

Calming the heart is not that difficult. There is a barrage of info on the internet to check out. Here are a few simple tips which I would like to list out as I have personally practiced.

1. Breathe Easy: Breathwork is a simple and easy way to be in touch with your body. It brings relief to the overburdened organs. The internet is replete with myriad of breathing exercises, if you wish to experiment. For now, just find a comfortable and quiet place. By quiet I mean where you are not distracted easily.

Step 1. Mind your spine. Ideally, please keep it straight.

Step 2. Inhale slowly and comfortably from the abdomen. Which means, when you breathe in, the abdomen will fill with prana.

Step 3. As you breathe out, your abdomen will contract, sending the spent prana out.

Step 4. Observe your breath.

Follow this cycle 5-10 times. Go easy with this, as you practice this technique, abdominal breathing will become part of your skip.

2. Take cognizance of your heart as if it were your companion.

As the breath eases off, shift focus on to your heart. It has been beating since birth. Take this time to talk to your heart, acknowledge its feat, express gratitude. Feel the warmth. Feel the kindness spreading throughout your heart and the entire body. Your whole body is radiating gentleness. Be in this experience for as long as you wish to.

This is a simple exercise to relax your heart and connect with it deeply. Now, there are many different ways to take care of the heart given in the internet and medically proven, such as physical exercise or healthy diet and lifestyle. Please learn more and follow what goes with you. Our endevour is to expand the mind to infinite possibilities. There is never just one way of doing things.