Happy Mind: Meditations from the Ancient World to Modernity

Your Heart Chakra is located in the center of your chest towards your spine, behind your sternum. Blockage of this chakra will manifest in your life as dysfunction in your relationships with others (think codependency, marital or friendship difficulties, jealousy, neediness or withdrawal, loneliness, etc.). Relatedly, it is said to govern the love of oneself and others, as well as the important sensibilities of compassion, forgiveness, grief, and wisdom. In traditional Buddhist or Hindu tantric traditions the Fourth Chakra is called the Anahata Chakra. Anahata means "unhurt, unstruck, and unbeaten". As the translation suggests, Anahata is associated with balance, calmness, and serenity. The Fourth Chakra is also sometimes labeled the Air Chakra: the foundation of your life giving breath, lungs, heart (oxygen), and your sense of spaciousness. It is even credited with hormone production and playing an important role in the regulation of the immune system.How can you imagine what the Heart Chakra is like? One way that humans perceive and talk about physical energy is through the form of energy we call light. Thanks to the principle of "as above, so below" we can use a similar framework when talking about the parts of your energetic body. When a prism splits a ray of light you see the familiar spread of colors: the fast, tight bandwidth of violet on the top of the rainbow stack, followed by indigo and then blue, green and yellow and then finally down on the very bottom, orange light fading into the slow, wide band wavelengths of the color red. Your energetic body is like this rainbow of light. In this way of visualizing your energetic body, the heart chakra lies at the center of this light body just as green lies in the center of the rainbow. The root, naval, and solar plexus chakras lie below your heart chakra and correspond to the red, orange and yellow colors of the rainbow spectrum. Your throat, third eye and crown chakra lie above it and correspond to blue, indigo and violet or white light.From the perspective of the human brain, something strange happens in the center of the light spectrum. And the same goes with your energetic body. The heart chakra is the gateway between the higher and lower self, i.e. the physical world most of us experience as all there is and the spiritual dimensions that lie above. Thanks to this special positioning, the heart chakra not only bears the color green in typical understandings and visualizations of your energetic body, but it also can be described as pink. Strangely enough, pink doesn’t exist as a color in the light spectrum; that is to say it doesn’t have a frequency like the other colors or appear in a rainbow. Pink is the mixture of the Red light dominance of your first chakras and the white light dominance of your crown chakra. The center reflects the mixing of the two ends. The energetic realm is difficult to comprehend and doesn't precisely correspond with the physical form of light but using rainbow colors helps visualize our energetic bodies For example, the way that there is not top or bottom or middle or higher or lower when it comes to light helps you not get stuck on dimensionality of our energetic body. The radical and confusing nature of this truth pops out in this strange combination of green and pink in the fourth chakra. Let’s call pink green’s secret twin. You can play with these features of your heart chakra in this guided meditation. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Every major spiritual tradition has this same metaphor of the heart as the point of connection with God or the higher self. In the Hindu and Buddhist tantric traditions this heart-bridge is called the Anahata or Fourth Chakra. In the Koran the heart or Qalb is referred to over 100 times and in the Bible, heart or Lebab, is mentioned over 1000 times and is also seen as the seat of intuition or the throne of God. It clearly isn't the physical heart that is being referenced. So what are they talking about? Each of these great traditions recognized that if we want to get in touch with our higher self the best place to turn is the energetic bridge to that connects our higher and lower selves: our heart. But to do that you can't just read about it. You have to silence your emotions and still your thoughts long enough to hear your heart’s wisdom. it will speak to you if you are still enough and patient enough--and courageous enough to hear what it has to say (which is often not what you want or expect). You have to let go of needing to be right or wanting to be heard or needing to control situations or expecting your version of justice to prevail. Slowing down and handing over your decisions to the wisdom of your heart will unlock your best life. But you have to let go and trust in its wisdom. This is not easy. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Everyone has heard the phrase "follow your heart". But what does that mean? And where does it come from? It turns out that regardless of place or time, all the major spiritual traditions have this same metaphor of the heart as the point of connection with God or the higher self. In the Hindu and Buddhist tantric traditions this heart-bridge is called the Anahata or Fourth Chakra. In the Koran the heart or Qalb is referred to over 100 times and in the Bible, heart or Lebab, is mentioned over 1000 times and is also seen as the seat of intuition or the throne of God. It clearly isn't the physical heart that is being referenced. So what are they talking about? Each of these great traditions recognized that if we want to get in touch with our higher self the best place to turn is the energetic bridge to that connects our higher and lower selves: our heart. But to do that you can't just read about it. You have to silence your emotions and still your thoughts long enough to hear your heart’s wisdom. it will speak to you if you are still enough and patient enough--and courageous enough to hear what it has to say (which is often not what you want or expect). You have to let go of needing to be right or wanting to be heard or needing to control situations or expecting your version of justice to prevail. Slowing down and handing over your decisions to the wisdom of your heart will unlock your best life. But you have to let go and trust in its wisdom. This is not easy. This guided meditation will help you. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

"Follow your heart" is an oft repeated piece of advice. But why do people say that? And where does it come from? It turns out that regardless of place or time, all the major spiritual traditions have this same metaphor of the heart as the point of connection with God or the higher self. In the Hindu and Buddhist tantric traditions this heart-bridge is called the Anahata or Fourth Chakra. In the Koran the heart or Qalb is referred to over 100 times and in the Bible, heart or Lebab, is mentioned over 1000 times and is also seen as the seat of intuition or the throne of God. It clearly isn't the physical heart that is being referenced. So what are they talking about? Each of these great traditions recognized that if we want to get in touch with our higher self the best place to turn is the energetic bridge to that connects our higher and lower selves: our heart. But to do that you can't just read about it. You have to silence your emotions and still your thoughts long enough to hear your heart’s wisdom. it will speak to you if you are still enough and patient enough--and courageous enough to hear what it has to say (which is often not what you want or expect). You have to let go of needing to be right or wanting to be heard or needing to control situations or expecting your version of justice to prevail. Slowing down and handing over your decisions to the wisdom of your heart will unlock your best life. But you have to let go and trust in its wisdom. This is not easy. This guided meditation will help you. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The life of Jesus holds a profound mystery within it that can be used to unlock an experience of peace and contentment for you. Broadly speaking, Easter commemorates four key parts of the Jesus phenomenon: 1) his Incarnation; 2) his Passion (betrayal, trial, torture and death); 3) his Resurrection; and 4) his Ascension. This guided meditation loosely follows this four part sequence minus the Christian overtones. The first part takes inspiration from the first line of the Christian and Jewish bible "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." (Genesis 1:1). There was darkness and then there was light. The second part extrapolates from the story of Jesus' suffering into a contemplation of our own experience of physical pain or mental anguish. Mirroring the experience of Jesus transcending the pain and resurrecting back into his physical form but unburdened of his suffering, the third part of the meditation takes advantage of your inherent power to move your awareness from pain and suffering to peace and love. And the final part, in keeping with the idea of Jesus' return to the godhead, guides you through a series of exercises to unleash at least a small taste of what that ascension is like. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Even though this is not a religious podcast, the religions of the world contain within them profound secrets to human existence: to its purpose and meaning. The life of Jesus is a great example of a mystery that can be used to unlock an experience of peace and contentment. Broadly speaking, Easter commemorates four key parts of the Jesus phenomenon: 1) his Incarnation; 2) his Passion (betrayal, trial, torture and death); 3) his Resurrection; and 4) his Ascension. This guided meditation loosely follows this four part sequence minus the Christian overtones. The first part takes inspiration from the first line of the Christian and Jewish bible "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." (Genesis 1:1). There was darkness and then there was light. The second part extrapolates from the story of Jesus' suffering into a contemplation of our own experience of physical pain or mental anguish. Mirroring the experience of Jesus transcending the pain and resurrecting back into his physical form but unburdened of his suffering, the third part of the meditation takes advantage of your inherent power to move your awareness from pain and suffering to peace and love. And the final part, in keeping with the idea of Jesus' return to the godhead, guides you through a series of exercises to unleash at least a small taste of what that ascension is like. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This is not a religious podcast but the life of Jesus holds a profound mystery within it that can be used to unlock an experience of peace and contentment. Broadly speaking, Easter commemorates four key parts of the Jesus phenomenon: 1) his Incarnation; 2) his Passion (betrayal, trial, torture and death); 3) his Resurrection; and 4) his Ascension. This guided meditation loosely follows this four part sequence minus the Christian overtones. The first part takes inspiration from the first line of the Christian and Jewish bible "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." (Genesis 1:1). There was darkness and then there was light. The second part extrapolates from the story of Jesus' suffering into a contemplation of our own experience of physical pain or mental anguish. Mirroring the experience of Jesus transcending the pain and resurrecting back into his physical form but unburdened of his suffering, the third part of the meditation takes advantage of your inherent power to move your awareness from pain and suffering to peace and love. And the final part, in keeping with the idea of Jesus' return to the godhead, guides you through a series of exercises to unleash at least a small taste of what that ascension is like. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jesus' life story holds a profound mystery within it that can be used to unlock an experience of peace and contentment for you. Broadly speaking, Easter commemorates four key parts of the Jesus phenomenon: 1) his Incarnation; 2) his Passion (betrayal, trial, torture and death); 3) his Resurrection; and 4) his Ascension. This guided meditation loosely follows this four part sequence minus the Christian overtones. The first part takes inspiration from the first line of the Christian and Jewish bible "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." (Genesis 1:1). There was darkness and then there was light. The second part extrapolates from the story of Jesus' suffering into a contemplation of our own experience of physical pain or mental anguish. Mirroring the experience of Jesus transcending the pain and resurrecting back into his physical form but unburdened of his suffering, the third part of the meditation takes advantage of your inherent power to move your awareness from pain and suffering to peace and love. And the final part, in keeping with the idea of Jesus' return to the godhead, guides you through a series of exercises to unleash at least a small taste of what that ascension is like. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

From Palm Sunday, through Good Friday and Easter Sunday, the Christian Easter week celebrates the life of Jesus. This Holy week holds a profound mystery within it that can be used to unlock an experience of peace and contentment for you, regardless of your religious convictions (or lack thereof). Broadly speaking, Easter commemorates four key parts of the Jesus phenomenon: 1) his Incarnation; 2) his Passion (betrayal, trial, torture and death); 3) his Resurrection; and 4) his Ascension. This guided meditation loosely follows this four part sequence minus the Christian overtones. The first part takes inspiration from the first line of the Christian and Jewish bible "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." (Genesis 1:1). There was darkness and then there was light. The second part extrapolates from the story of Jesus' suffering into a contemplation of our own experience of physical pain or mental anguish. Mirroring the experience of Jesus transcending the pain and resurrecting back into his physical form but unburdened of his suffering, the third part of the meditation takes advantage of your inherent power to move your awareness from pain and suffering to peace and love. And the final part, in keeping with the idea of Jesus' return to the godhead, guides you through a series of exercises to unleash at least a small taste of what that ascension is like. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Thich Nhat Hanh is a revered Buddhist monk from Vietnam. One of his more memorable Dharma talks is based on the buddhist notion that beauty and filth are concepts in our minds. They are representations that we use to affix a skin to the surface of reality. The truth is that beauty and filth are two halves of single whole. If you look deeply enough at a rose and rubbish, you will see that they are one and the same. We can uncover this truth through a mind training technique known as ‘cognitive dissonance’. The mind naturally holds onto energies. It uses emotions to unconsciously sustain tension and fear. It is doing this to keep us at the ready, to protect us from harm in the short term. But over time, this tension or fear can result in ill health and harmful negativity in our life. But the mind and the body can also let go. It’s just that sometimes it takes a little coaxing, a little bit of brain hacking. ‘Cognitive dissonance’ is just such a technique. The mind can’t hold on to two opposite ideas or instructions simultaneously. This is why in this meditation we instruct it in these opposites using the images of roses and garbage. Try it and experience your tension melt away. Like a gentle massage back and forth on knotted muscles, this guided meditation will help release the tension in your emotional and physical self. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Buddhist master Thich Nhat Hanh teaches thatt the beauty of a rose and the filth of garbage 'inter-be". Beauty and filth are concepts in our minds. They are representations that we use to affix a skin to the surface of reality. The truth is that beauty and filth are two halves of single whole. If you look deeply enough at a rose and rubbish, you will see that they are one and the same. We can uncover this truth through a mind training technique known as ‘cognitive dissonance’. The mind naturally holds onto energies. It uses emotions to unconsciously sustain tension and fear. It is doing this to keep us at the ready, to protect us from harm in the short term. But over time, this tension or fear can result in ill health and harmful negativity in our life. But the mind and the body can also let go. It’s just that sometimes it takes a little coaxing, a little bit of brain hacking. ‘Cognitive dissonance’ is just such a technique. The mind can’t hold on to two opposite ideas or instructions simultaneously. This is why in this meditation we instruct it in these opposites. Try it and experience your tension melt away. Like a gentle massage back and forth on knotted muscles, this guided meditation will help release the tension in your emotional and physical self. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Buddhist Master Thich Nhat Hanh used to give a Dharma talk about the beauty of a rose and the filth of garbage. He taught that these are concepts in our minds. They are representations that we use to affix a skin to the surface of reality. The truth is that beauty and filth are two halves of single whole. If you look deeply enough at a rose and rubbish, you will see that they are one and the same. We can uncover this truth through a mind training technique known as ‘cognitive dissonance’. The mind naturally holds onto energies. It uses emotions to unconsciously sustain tension and fear. It is doing this to keep us at the ready, to protect us from harm in the short term. But over time, this tension or fear can result in ill health and harmful negativity in our life. But the mind and the body can also let go. It’s just that sometimes it takes a little coaxing, a little bit of brain hacking. ‘Cognitive dissonance’ is just such a technique. The mind can’t hold on to two opposite ideas or instructions simultaneously. This is why in this meditation we instruct it in these opposites. Try it and experience your tension melt away. Like a gentle massage back and forth on knotted muscles, this guided meditation will help release the tension in your emotional and physical self. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The beauty of a rose. The filth of garbage. These are concepts in our minds. They are representations that we use to affix a skin to the surface of reality. The truth is that beauty and filth are two halves of single whole. If you look deeply enough at a rose and rubbish, you will see that they are one and the same. We can uncover this truth through a mind training technique known as ‘cognitive dissonance’. The mind naturally holds onto energies. It uses emotions to unconsciously sustain tension and fear. It is doing this to keep us at the ready, to protect us from harm in the short term. But over time, this tension or fear can result in ill health and harmful negativity in our life. But the mind and the body can also let go. It’s just that sometimes it takes a little coaxing, a little bit of brain hacking. ‘Cognitive dissonance’ is just such a technique. The mind can’t hold on to two opposite ideas or instructions simultaneously. This is why in this meditation we instruct it in these opposites. Try it and experience your tension melt away. Like a gentle massage back and forth on knotted muscles, this guided meditation will help release the tension in your emotional and physical self. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The mind naturally holds onto energies. It uses emotions to unconsciously sustain tension and fear as a basic survival mechanism. It is doing this to keep us at the ready, to protect us from harm in the short term. This has been an evolutionarily successful strategy. But over time, this tension or fear can result in ill health and harmful negativity in our life. Evolution selected for more genes produced over happier, more contented minds. Fortunately, the mind and the body can also let go. It’s just that sometimes it takes a little coaxing, a little bit of brain hacking. ‘Cognitive dissonance’ is just such a technique. The mind can’t hold on to two opposite ideas or instructions simultaneously. This is why in this meditation we instruct it in these opposites. Try it and experience your tension melt away. Like a gentle massage back and forth on knotted muscles, this guided meditation will help release the tension in your emotional and physical self. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The great masters of old taught that each of us has a divine self within us. It is a beautiful, bountiful, and joyful part of our self that awaits awakening. One of these great masters, harkening from Persia in the second millennium BCE, was Zarathushtra (Zoroaster). The wisdom he gained from his awakening resonates with us even today, thousands of years after he penned the famous "Gathas" tome. While this meditation is not at all religious, it is Zarathustra's wisdom that undergirds and inspires this 60 minute guided meditation. The imagery and fundamental truths expounded in the Gathas are set here in the context of a personalized journey that allows you to experience and identify with your higher self, your true, beautiful self. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.