A Heart of Greatness

The heart is essential to our life, pumping oxygenated blood throughout our body. But it’s also the place where we experience many of our feelings — from a quickening beat when we see our loved one step off an airplane after a long separation, to a painful pause that happens when we hear bad news. It is the sacred space within each of us where our GREATNESS lies. We just need to get out of own own way and tap into our heart space.

Okay heroes some fascinating science for you:

People have known for a long time about this intimate connection between the physical sensations of our body and the emotions that arise in response to the world. People who have a natural capacity to monitor the internal state of their own body have been shown “to be more intuitive, experience stronger emotional arousal, have better memory for emotional material, and perhaps be better able to control their negative emotions,” Vivien Ainley, a neuropsychologist at the University of London, told Psychology Today. (Mind Your Body: Inward Bound The mysterious connection between emotion and physical sensation is coming into ever-sharper focus. By Tori Rodriguez, published  March 9, 2015)

The Institute of HeartMath, a research center dedicated to the study of the heart and the physiology of emotions, has conducted numerous studies identifying the relationship between emotions and the heart. A number of their studies have provided new insight into understanding how the activity of the heart is indeed linked to our emotions and our health, vitality and well-being. Recent HeartMath studies define a critical link between the heart and brain. The heart is in a constant two-way dialogue with the brain — our emotions change the signals the brain sends to the heart and the heart responds in complex ways. However, we now know that the heart sends more information to the brain than the brain sends to the heart. And the brain responds to the heart in many important ways. This research explains how the heart responds to emotional and mental reactions and why certain emotions stress the body and drain our energy. As we experience feelings like anger, frustration, anxiety and insecurity, our heart rhythm patterns become more erratic. These erratic patterns are sent to the emotional centers in the brain, which it recognizes as negative or stressful feelings. These signals create the actual feelings we experience in the heart area and the body. The erratic heart rhythms also block our ability to think clearly.

Many studies have found that the risk of developing heart disease is significantly increased for people who often experience stressful emotions such as irritation, anger or frustration. These emotions create a chain reaction in the body — stress hormone levels increase, blood vessels constrict, blood pressure rises, and the immune system is weakened. If we consistently experience these emotions, it can put a strain on the heart and other organs, and eventually lead to serious health problems. Conversely, HeartMath’s research shows that when we experience heart-felt emotions like love, care, appreciation and compassion, the heart produces a very different rhythm. In this case it is a smooth pattern that looks like gently rolling hills. Harmonious heart rhythms, which reflect positive emotions, are considered to be indicators of cardiovascular efficiency and nervous system balance. This lets the brain know that the heart feels good and often creates a gentle warm feeling in the area of the heart. Learning to shift out of stressful emotional reactions to these heartfelt emotions can have profound positive effects on the cardiovascular system and on our overall health. It is easy to see how our heart and emotions are linked and how we can shift our heart into a more efficient state by monitoring its rhythms.

Now let’s shed some light on getting to our GREATNESS...!!!

Our yoga practice offers us the tool set and opportunity to go inward and cultivate our interoception. We learn to travel inward toward our soul and become ’the witness’. When this skill set is developed and mindfully practiced, we learn to understand why we feel the way we feel, what triggers us, and learn what is ours and what belongs to someone else.  Our yoga makes us more internally aware as we move from the outside in toward the soul.  Our practice is a challenge and opportunity  each time to go inward and be preset ….and be aware.

Backbending in our practice encourages a deep physical opening of the chest and heart center. They also elongate the spine; release tension and stress from the neck, shoulders, and back; create space for the lungs and deeper breaths; and energize our practice, body, and mind. In addition to backbends, focusing on love and gratitude while practicing will open our emotional heart. Opening the heart teaches us to be humble, vulnerable, and lead with our hearts in both practice and life. It allows us to tap into and OWN our GREATNESS.

Okay…so here we go….Shhhhhhhhh

Close Your Eyes….

Shhhhhhhh

Quiet your mind…

Slowly place your thoughts upon your heart. Shift your mind into your heart-space….Have you ever wondered why do we have to remind ourselves to treat ourselves well?

Why do we work so hard to make others feel better about themselves, but never afford ourselves the same blinding love and effort?  We do it with our co-workers and colleagues, the barista at the coffee shop, the waiter at the restaurant and the clerk in the department store, but why is it so important to us that others like us? Shouldn’t we be more concerned to know that we like ourselves? Why does this happen? Why do we do this? It happens because we are wired for connection and one-ness, we do this in an effort to reconnect to that core desire we all have inside, to feel loved.

What if we woke every morning and made a promise to love ourselves just enough today? Just enough that we remember who we truly are, just enough that we feel the deep warm stirring within our hearts that we matter, that we are good and kind and just enough that we remember we are important and filled with greatness.
What is greatness? Greatness is knowing that you are made in the image of God and that your life has meaning, no matter what profession you work in or how your life is graded by the status quo societal expectations of a spouse, two kids, a mortgage and a retirement fund.

Greatness….roll it around in your mouth.

Grrreaatness, grrreat like the Tigger character from Winnie the Pooh? No, softer, greatness, like the sacred seed of the lotus flower or the seed of the oak who knows its purpose is to bloom and bestow beauty upon the land or to grow tall and mighty. They do not seek acceptance from the world first in order to fulfill their legacies, rather, they are wired to fulfill their destinies.

You are already wired to fulfill your destiny. Hmmm…..Amen for dharma!  Woo-hoo!

Like a magnificent Botticelli or Monet, your cells already know what to do…you need only decide. Decide what? Decide to allow the process and assume you are already wired for your own unique brand of greatness. I was told often when I was young 'to be lady. It was expected of ‘us’.  I somehow had ingrained in me this idea of what was acceptable and ladylike--translation, 1950’s version of a well mannered, sophisticated woman who was a lovely cook, wife and hostess. Added modern ingredients of working and having kids and a clean home and oh yes….bake cookies and muffins and stuff. Was I still supposed to wear pearls and dress?

Where did this idea come from? Hmm.. Be a lady….After a few “what the?? Rolling around in my head and voicing to myself there is nothing about all that (circling my finger around this analogy) that even remotely interests me.” Ummmmm I’d rather be a Warrior. Period. I am strong, smart, driven, and independent. I don’t want the old ways to determine my opinions or path in life. I want to blaze a new world trail. Be humble. Be kind. Be nurturing. Be giving. Be a Trailblazer. Be a Warrior. Be a Power Lighthouse. I am a Lionesses. Hear me Roar.

Greatness makes space for others while we focus on ourselves.

Living from our Sacred Heart-space every single day is better than any diet, exercise regime, glass of wine, or hot bath with candles and essential oils. The frequencies of our greatness are wired into the field of our heart and when we tune in and pay attention, consciously, with presence, the whole world can shift on it axis for us.
Synchronicities line up and matching manifestations are drawn to us. Our heart blasts its unique frequencies. Frequencies that hold our deep desires that our consciousness keeps whispering to us in an attempt to get us to connect our mind consciously with our heart. The only thing that gets in the way of manifesting the dream desires that we hold is the lack of belief in our greatness which resides quietly and patiently in each of our hearts.

Yogis…it’s time to get out of the way and get into your own heart. Big love. All love. There is only love…and greatness.

Let’s get to it!

Onward and upward as usual...