Heart-centered living and Middle Dan Tien precautions

[CrunchyChocolate555]

It seems now more and more people, especially as part of the "new-age", are advocating focusing on the heart-center, "living in the heart", breathing through the heart, and overall address it the same way as us Taoist cultivators address the lower Tan Tien.

 

From all the Taoist literature I have read however, it is said that it is unwise to overly focus and gather energy in this mmiddle center, as it can quickly cause unbalances, particularly emotional imbalances.

 

I suppose the distinction should be made between simply bringing awareness into a certain area and actually storing energy... which is kind of tricky. I mean, doesn't sustained awareness automatically make the energy accumulate?

 

So how would one "live in the heart" without making the heart/middle tan tien energy accumulate/stagnate?

 

Any thoughts and ideas, I'm open to discussion.

[Jetsun]

I also heard if you focus on the physical organ or area it can cause bad health problems, yet often when people talk of the heart they don't mean the organ. I have heard a lot of people talk about there being an opening or portal behind the heart, which might be worth investigating energetically or with enquiry.

[Clarity]

Focusing too much on any one 'center' will bring about imbalance.

 

Also, for people who already have too much energy going into their thinking and conceptual mind, focusing on the heart (especially when there are blockages) will tend to increase anxiety.

 

Bringing awareness to an area is fine. Sensing an area is fine. But repeated practices that focus on one area to the exclusion of all others (and doing too much of it) is a pretty good recipe for trouble.

[h.uriahr]

I pray deeply inside my heart daily and I am LOVIN life

 

I use the hesychasm branch of prayer.

[Jetsun]

One exchange I heard recently was a student asked their teacher "I hear everyone talking about the heart and aligning with the heart but I don't really understand how to do it" the teacher replied "how do you align with the heart?" Student: "I don't know!!!" Teacher: "that is how"

 

And yes Jetsun there is a portal there. Gets bigger every day.

So it changes and grows, that's interesting. One tip I heard is that if you want to align with a teacher look beyond their personality and look for the freedom behind their heart, which can be done with a photo and even with some dead people

[Daong]

What sort of emotional imbalance I wonder?

 

 

[skydog]

Actually a few times doing strong heart practices I noticed that there was so much joy it was like my heart couldnt take any more and I would just explode lol, or I felt so sensitive/about to get emotional at the slightest provocation. So I just changed around a bit, more grounding less heart work, after hours of heart practices one can feel what an open heart feels like, and notices when one doesnt have an open heart, but then leave the practices for a while, but learn much from the time when one was doing heart practices and go back to it later.

 

When people say the heart, I actually feel my physical heart and it changes, not so sure about the area in the middle of the chest.

 

Sometimes working on the root or grounding etc is good for the heart, sometimes working on the third eye/throat is good for the heart etc, it seems to be all related to each other somewhat.

 

I prefer to not concentrate on chakras with my mind, rather through the body, spontaneous movements or through some natural stuff, like dancing, being in nature etc. Heart work can just be doing good deeds, not doing bad things, horse stance can on one level block the heart but be good for the heart if one is too impulsive etc, paying attention to the way one thinks about things or memories and beliefs can strongly affect the heart, contemplating animals. Living life in a way that pleases the heart, even being assertive and not repressing oneself or being courageous seems to affect the heart. One is usually doing what is instinctually the most appropriate thing for their soul anyways.

[i am]

Multiple times in my life I've had periods of overwhelming urges to DO GOOD. As in be over the top honest, let everyone know exactly how I feel and why I do the things I do so they understand, never do anything that hurts someone's feelings or, if I feel I have, to go to them and explain and correct it. To not do anything negative to anyone and not leave any loose ends, to do the good things the little voice in my head tells me to, even if it seems silly or unnecessary, but that most people in our society would avoid because its outside social norms. To be completely fair even when it's awkward or unpopular.

 

To basically be a good person.

 

I always feel this to some extent, but don't always act on it as much as other times.

 

And I feel like some of this stuff IS blockages. When I get used to not going out of my way to be nice or do something for someone when something is telling me I should, just because it might seem "weird" or something, so I talk myself out of it.

 

I suppose part of having open channels and being clear is not having the little emotional blockages that are almost a prerequisite to living in modern society and fitting in. And I guess I'm probably creating blockages, or strengthening them, when I ignore the voice...

 

Not sure if this is in line with the heart or something else...

Edited September 27, 2013 by i am

[skydog]

Thought I would share some info.

 

Imo one of the best ways of opening the heart is through ecstatic dance in a group whilst focusing on strong feelings of love, appreciation and forgiveness.

 

The ancients had it right, almost all them worked with ecstatic dance, gospel singers, sufis, celts, bushmen, native americans etc

 

Playing to listening to music eg the flute of a high vibration.

 

Drumming activates the heart and other things (if you wana be all scientific about it)

 

dancing is a form of qigong especially if your channels are open, it becomes more spontaneous.

 

Shamans imitate animals frequently in this process, similar to animal play qigong.

 

Then with the mind people pray strongly. Eg think of and conjure up strong feelings of love, by thinking of loved ones, sending love to others and oneself, forgiving self and others, imagining one is in heaven now, and this would be it, joy appreciating desires as if one has it, appreciating things, laughter.

 

In a group activates the heart better because by oneself one can feel less together and sharing the love etc.

 

One of my Qigong teachers methods for developing the heart is singing, I think...because it lets go and works with surrender and the soul takes over,

 

 

Also when one focuses on feelings it can also bring up a lot of bad stuff, eg a poor person focusing on thinking they are rich conjures up feelings of being rich and not being rich etc, so one can delete the weaknesses too, it can also help, to have a more natural open heart all the time. But I find conjuring up emotions very powerful too.

 

Also one can get carried away with deleting weaknesses and become unnatural, being one with nature has some relevance to the heart.

 

Love..lol

[doc benway]

The heart is simply a portal, a concept in many ways, a convention. It is an opening through which we can view the world and other living things.

It is only one perspective and it is not stagnant. It is always in flux.

If we allow ourselves to open and connect to others through the heart, we still allow our full presence to engage.

Everything is moving through us, we are not locking in on something or limiting anything.

So there is nowhere for anything to get stuck or overly concentrated.

The heart is just a gate, and there are others, and I think we use the different gates as we need to based on what the universe is doing through us at the moment.

[suninmyeyes]

It seems now more and more people, especially as part of the "new-age", are advocating focusing on the heart-center, "living in the heart", breathing through the heart, and overall address it the same way as us Taoist cultivators address the lower Tan Tien.

 

...

In many traditions focusing on the heart is not necessary the same as Taoist focusing on LDT and storing energy there .

It is usually a different practise all together . Spiritual work and paths can be very different although sounding similar .

 

All Sufi literature is full of talk about Heart ,however Sufis do not necessary breathe through the heart or similar but pray God with that loving feeling in the heart . Paying attention to what is happening there . That is what the emphasis is on , to invoke that feeling that is familiar to all of us and let it take over . When we fall in love there is a feeling in the heart , right ?

 

Teacher I have learned Yogic practises from , told to pay attention to heart and what goes on in there . This is very different than storing energy or focusing on heart . He would say that there is "lower" and "higher " heart energetically speaking . The "lower" one is worldly love , jeleousy ,anger,spitefulness and when that is refined a shining heart comes through and the inside of practicioner lits up .

 

My Capoeira teacher tells me to play from the heart all the time . He does not mean to store energy there or concentrate on some spot in the heart , but I feel what he means .

 

I agree with what is said in other posts (and some really good stuff has been shared ) that it can be harmful to mindlesly focus on some part of body and also that focus changes as life goes on .

Edited September 29, 2013 by suninmyeyes

[baiqi]

As another person said, focusing on the heart is not new age (but as usuall, they stole the idea). You have it in many traditions, including the Christian one. (Statues of saints with a burning heart)

 

Buddhism also focuses on it greatly.

 

Taoism isn't so much focusing on this center - very generally speaking- but they do consider it an important one anyway. My own experience is that it is important to "open" it, but you need to balance it (by focusing more on the lower dan tian from time to time, linking with the earth etc.) to avoid being too emotional and sensitive.

[4bsolute]

The Heart is considered to be the Portal to Pure Awareness.

 

The one gate to pure consciousness itself. Meaning God/Tao in Pure Existance. Untouched by dualities.

 

That is why it is called Holy Fire. Because it purifies everything.

 

And it is not the Heart Organ or Heart Chakra that is here refered to - it is the Spiritual Heart Energy Center.

 

I have yet to regain greater experience with this particular area, but I instinctly noticed by focusing on it an tremendous increase in being able to anker my awareness/consciousness in the here and now moment.

 

Makes sense since Past and Present are all a product of the Mind. The Upper and the Lower Mind. Brain and Gut. Inbetween we have what is out of time, timeless.

 

 

Remember that one can not reach Tao/God with thought. And the Mind is thought. Both the upper and lower Dantien are the mind. The heart is Pure Spirit.

 

We will soon find out that when we remain in this state, we naturally balance all of our lower centers and increasing the energy for unlocking the upper. No work needed other than remaining in this heart presence.

 

Yes, this is a new state of awareness.

 

 

I highly suggest that you do not put a label "new age" on it, since it would be the same as if Taoism would be invented right here and right now (which it is, in this very moment) and you would hear the first time of it.

 

In the end, you can start in the mind, work to the "lower" centers - aswell as you can start in the "lower" center and work "up" - or start straight in the middle.

 

 

But I noticed immediatelly, the middle one, the Spiritual Heart, is the most DIRECT but also the most difficult one. Because you can not reach it with thought, since it is free from thought.

 

So you must allow yourself to quiet your thoughts.

 

This can be done by witnessing thoughts literally coming out of your Spiritual Heart Center, streaming up or down, regarding future or present and then "leading" them back into your Heart, by asking the question "Who am I?" (to whom this thought arose..) and by doing so you will notice that you anker yourself again in your heart.

 

Apparently, this is truly the most direct way to attain God/Tao. But also the most "difficult" one, since it requires you to completely drop your entire personality. You essentially return your Soul home.

Edited October 7, 2014 by 4bsolute

[ralis]

I also heard if you focus on the physical organ or area it can cause bad health problems, yet often when people talk of the heart they don't mean the organ. I have heard a lot of people talk about there being an opening or portal behind the heart, which might be worth investigating energetically or with enquiry.

 

Sri Aurobindo did state the portal is behind the heart and Mirra Alfassa 'The Mother' was in agreement. However, given the close association with the physical heart, it is very easy to put too much stress in that area and cause heart problems. 'The Mother' had a number of heart attacks and noted that she had problems with palpitations. She did say it was from the stress of focusing in that area. Tricky business!

 

Ken Wilbur has discussed the prevalence of heart and cancer problems among meditators in his book 'Spiritual Choices'.

 

Irina Tweedie notes heart issues in her book.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Daughter-Fire-Spiritual-Training-Master/dp/0963457454/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1412709461&sr=1-1&keywords=daughter+of+fire

 

http://www.amazon.com/Spiritual-Choices-Problem-Recognizing-Transformation/dp/0913729191/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1412709691&sr=1-1&keywords=spiritual+choices

[sillybearhappyhoneyeater]

I have much to say on this subject but will keep it as brief as possible:

 

I have been practicing qi gong and meditation since 2002-

at that time, i was recovering from ptsd symptoms incurred during an accident that had happened the previous year when I was 19 years old.

for the first several years I practiced, the meditation mitigated the effects of ptsd to the point that within several years I was brave enough to kick prescription medicine and get back to a normal lifestyle.

After i kicked the meds, my mind went wonky again, due to the fact that quitting meds is difficult for the nervous system to get used to.

At that time, I began to practice heart breathing methods very seriously and began also to have some very interesting effects.

I started having enligthenment experiences (or what I thought at the time to be enlightenment experiences) and states of total clarity and calm.

of course, i thought that I was really on to something, and also my taijiquan practice went crazy- as I started to launch people with virtually no strength at all- just like my heros in the ancient taiji classics had said.

I eventually started to experience some serious problems though- I became emotionally unstable and socially far too honest. I was willing to pour my entire heart out to total strangers and it was somewhat of a clensing and cathartic experience- but I am sure that many people thought i was totally nuts.

I also began becoming hyper happy and sad without obvious reason.

the up down thing, plus a return of ptsd symptoms and lack of sleep made me into a total looney toon.

eventually, I started realizing that after I did this heart qi gong, I usually ended up feeling very peaceful, but within an hour, began to show problems more obviously.

At this time, i began to put my focus on the lower dantian and practicing more exrercises to root myself, as well as paying serious attention to eating healthy and sleeping well.

 

eventually, the problems went away, and i had a small jump in physical strength and emotional toughness.

 

The following year, my teacher showed me how to correctly cultivate the dantians and small heavenly orbit. From that time on, my practice has gotten better and better.

Remember that in all things, balance is a virtue- if you neglect other areas of the body and mind in favour of one, you will also lose your ability to use those areas while you take in harmful effects from unbalanced cultivation.

[Trash Filter]

The middle dantien or heart chakra for the serious practioners is a dangerous, miserable place if you don't know what you're doing. Stay away from it as much as possible, stick to the lower dantien safer like most people use. In Tummo they say this is the most knotted point, and they hold their breath on it according to books. What a load of crap, you will end up damaging yourself getting a heart attack and/or palpitation.

[cihan]

 

So how would one "live in the heart" without making the heart/middle tan tien energy accumulate/stagnate?

 

Any thoughts and ideas, I'm open to discussion.

 

Hi Chruncy,

Good old prayer mudra, do it and be still for 10 minutes each day, and increase the time gradually if you wish. My experience, does exactly what you asked to me.

Best