Find out more about yourself by meditating on the heart...

When we refer or gesture towards ourselves, we generally point towards the middle of our chest, because we feel that inside there is something there that embodies the 'me' that we are referring to. Therefore, if one wanted to find out more about oneself, the middle of the chest would be the most natural place to meditate on! In spiritual terms, this place is called the heart centre, and it has been used as the focal point of spiritual practise by cultures and religions all over the world for thousands of years.

Meditating on the heart centre brings you to a much fuller view of life. Much of the time we live in the mind, we operates by separating, dividing and classifying. In contrast, the heart only wants to empathise and identify itself with the object one is seeing. When we are in the heart, we do not feel like we are cut off from reality; instead everything is experienced with much more vibrancy and immediacy.

The heart centre is one of several energy centres in the human body, called chakras in Indian spirituality. Each chakra has its own particular qualities; when we meditate on the heart centre, the most predominant quality is divine love. Love is a word that is nowadays used in so many contexts that it is necessary to divide it into two types - human love and divine love. By human love, we mean a kind of love displayed in many human relationships which is a little like a negotiation or a contract - it is a love that is dependent on the other person loving them in return or fulfilling some emotional expectation of theirs. It is also a love that is very narrowly focused on one person or object to the exclusion of all else. In contrast, when we bring our awareness to the heart centre, we experience a love and goodwill for that is totally unconditional, and that is for humanity as a whole. We feel we are connected to the world and to the Source of creation, and we feel our place in the universe. This love we can refer to as divine love, for it is a love that takes us out of our narrow little selves and helps us become truly infinite.

How does one begin meditating on the heart centre? Contemporary meditation teacher Sri Chinmoy suggests a number of simple techniques you can use. One technique is to identify yourself with the heart rather than the mind by imagining you have no mind at all. "Say to yourself, 'I have no mind, I have no mind. What I have is the heart.' ", Sri Chinmoy writes in his best selling book, Meditation: Man-Perfection in God-Satisfaction. "Then after some time feel, 'I don't have a heart. What I have is the soul.' When you say, 'I have the soul,' at that time you will be flooded with purity. But again you have to go deeper and farther by saying not only, 'I have the soul,' but also 'I am the soul' At that time, imagine the most beautiful child you have ever seen, and feel that your soul is infinitely more beautiful than that child."

Another way is by imagining a flame deep inside the recesses of your heart. "Right now the flame may be tiny and flickering; it may not be a powerful flame. But one day it will definitely become most powerful and most illumining. Try to imagine that this flame is illumining your mind."

Many beginners find that they have most success entering into the heart centre by using mantras. Mantras are words or phrases that are repeated again and again. The mind is occupied with singing, and so the inner meaning of the mantras can melt into the heart. The most used mantra is the mantra Aum, which is often called "the mother of mantras" and is said to embody the universal consciousness. When saying mantras, it helps to place your hand on your chest, or fold your hands over your chest in prayer position. This allows you to feel a physical vibration of your voice in the heart centre which helps to draw your attention to the heart. Try to feel that you are chanting the mantra from your heart, and that you are going deeper and deeper within to find the source of the mantra within your heart.