Arms of Love

It's once again that time of year where we are prompted and incentivized from a retail perspective to declare our love (or like if it's early stages) to someone special around us.  Valentine's Day is upon us.  Cards, flowers and chocolate if you're following the usual route but perhaps this is the year you've colored outside the lines and done something different.  If so, please send me a reply as to what it was that you were inspired to do for your beloved.

Being a time of the year when we a drawn into thinking about love and heart shapes, I am compelled to share my thought of the week around the energy of the heart.  If you take a moment and center your awareness into your heart, notice what's present.  Do you connect with its beat?  Do you have a strong emotion such as love, grief or melancholy?  Do you sense that this is where your soul lives?  Do you feel your breath?

Simply notice what comes up when you focus your attention here. And recognize that what you sense in this moment is most likely to shift.  When I was falling in love with my beloved Ed, my heart felt like it was flying out of my chest.  A popping of excitement seemed obvious to me and perhaps to others as my new love felt radiant and expansive.  When our dog Yindi passed away, it felt as though an elephant had sat on my chest.  The feeling was one of such heavy grief, I wondered if I would ever be free of it.

My point is that our emotional heart changes with the ebb and flow of our dynamic lives.  Yet, there is something that is lying below the emotional sensibility of the heart and it's an energetic current.  I'm not referring to the electrical activity within the heart that can be detected on an EKG (although that alone is a nothing short of miraculous).  I'm referring to the energetic body, that esoteric aspect of our being that can be described as prana or chi energy.

The heart has major meridians that run from it out through our arms and to our hands.  You can close your eyes and draw your attention to the sensation of a buzz, heat, pulsation or tingling emanating from the heart center outwards.  When I do this I most definitely get a buzzing sensation that can amplify the more I focus on its energy.

And think of the many things we do to express love through the use of our arms and hands.  This expression is seen as we prepare food for ourselves and others; reach out to "lend a helping hand"; giving and receiving a hug; holding hands; writing a love letter; gently pushing a child on a swing; digging into the soil to plant a garden; playing patty-cake with a child; caressing someone's face or body; and blowing a kiss.

All of these acts involving our hands and arms are nothing but pure expressions of love.  Reach out and hug someone.  Squeeze them tightly so that the energy of your heart connects and melds with the energy or theirs.  We've all had the experience of that unspoken connection and this Valentine's Day is a great opportunity to launch yourself into doing more of it.

Your heart and soul will thank you!