The world was a very different place when I first sat down to pen this article. I was looking forward to a year of travelling, teaching and sharing around the world; all the things I would define for myself as living \u201cheart forward\u201d. In an instant, the world changed. Now, here we are living in a time that asks us to live into our hearts more than ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To live \u201cheart open, love forward\u201d sounds like a whimsical quote to hang on your wall. For me, this is a concept I\u2019ve been exploring for many years and one that continues to evolve. Practically speaking, it\u2019s not all sunshine and rainbows. So you might wonder, what does it actually mean to live heart forward?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The heart in its essence is unbounded. Within the chakral system it\u2019s known as the anahata chakra, meaning \u201cunhurt, unstruck and unbeaten\u201d in Sanskrit, and is associated with balance, calmness and serenity. By its very nature the heart is infinite in its capacity to express love. Love, as I\u2019ve come to understand it, is an internally referenced phenomenon. It must be experienced first in the self before it can be directed outwards. It\u2019s here where many people are misguided in their experience of love.
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Do you love yourself? Could you look in the mirror and repeat over and over, \u201cI love you, I love you, I love you\u201d and truly, deeply mean it? We so often look outside of ourselves for validation in love. But love is who and what you are. All great wisdom traditions teach the path of self-discovery; it\u2019s within where we discover our power. Once we are able to step through the gate of vulnerability, we are granted access the greatest superpower we have: love. In all its unbounded, unconditional glory. Light, dark and everything between.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Living in the heart unlocks the power and potential of our personal self, merging with the universal self. Which is the true meaning of yoga: union. As my teacher, author, founder of 1 Giant Mind and Vedic meditation teacher Jonni Pollard puts it so eloquently, \u201cWe experience yoga as a sensory experience that is tangible to us when we\u2019re able to interpret universal intelligence with our individual nervous system. We interpret it through our individuality, and express that through the heart.\u201d Living into your heart is to live by universal intelligence \u2014 to be in a state of flow and allowing that love and innate wisdom to flow through you and into every aspect of your life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The root of the word courage is cor \u2014the Latin word for heart. In one of its earliest forms, the word courage meant \u201cto speak one\u2019s mind by telling all one\u2019s heart.\u201d We often link courage with some big dramatic act, but to me courage is subtle. It\u2019s your ability to allow love to lead in every aspect of your life. To share what\u2019s on your heart freely without fear. To step into your purpose and passions as your unbounded self.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I asked Jonni, \u201cHow do you lead with love?\u201d He responded, \u201cHow do you wet water?\u201d with his typical cheeky laugh. He went on to say, \u201cLove by its nature is leading \u2014 it is the elevating force. A true leader is always moving in the direction of a more expansive and elevated state. That\u2019s what love does \u2014 that\u2019s its nature. If we are talking about leading with love, we are talking about embodying it.\u201d So perhaps the real question should then be, how do we embody love and what impact does this have on our lives?
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When exploring this topic I found that most wisdom traditions and fables teach a similar thing. It comes back to you and your heart. Every great hero\u2019s journey through time is an example of someone following their heart, their truth, and, ultimately, through some dramatic twists and turns, creating a positive outcome for humanity because of it.
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There\u2019s a teaching in the Buddhist tradition that talks about having a \u201cstrong back and soft front\u201d. Buddhism teacher Joan Halifax explains that having a strong back and soft front \u201cis about the relationship between equanimity and compassion\u201d. Aka, balance between the masculine and feminine aspects of yourself, the yin and yang. This concept enables us to cultivate the ability to maintain a calm mind with emotional and mental stability, simultaneously \u2014 for us to feel grounded and strong, while remaining flexible and open. Being in this balanced state of equanimous awareness we are able to show up in our lives and love fiercely with grace. We become the embodiment of love.\\<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This concept of balance speaks to wholeness and our desire as humans to live a whole, full life. When we prioritise living in the heart and begin making decisions from a place of deep love, empathy, courage and compassion, this desire is enhanced. Jonni takes this a step further, revealing, \u201cThis means living with a sense of responsibility for the greater good. With an understanding of the impact on the environment and the world around it \u2014 our responsibility to life and our serving of it.\u201d It\u2019s here where we start to see the relevance of living in the heart. Not for our own personal experience on this planet, but for the collective experience of which we are all a part of. The more self-aware, kind and compassionate we become inside of ourselves, the more kind and compassionate we become with those outside of ourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shelley Laslett, a social scientist and neuroscience coach explains it like this: \u201cYou can\u2019t have a conscious impact on your outside world unless you have a conscious impact on your internal world. For us to raise the collective consciousness and lead with love and kindness, we need to lead with love and kindness within ourselves first.\u201d This calls in yet another Buddhist teaching of metta \u2014 the practice of love and kindness, which is often taught through a guided meditation. Shelley continues, \u201cThis is where meditation comes in. Loving-kindness meditations connect people to the world around them through empathy and less individuality or selfish thinking.\u201d In a space of metta we start to look for similarities rather than differences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To live heart open, love forward is one of the greatest gifts you can give humanity. But it must first start with you and your experience of love within yourself. As Shelley says, \u201cWe must become self-aware before we become socially aware.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I set out to write this article to encourage you to live into your heart, to live your best life, but what I\u2019ve come to realise is that living in the heart is a radical form of activism. But it\u2019s one that requires no protests or letters. Rather it\u2019s the simple acts, choices and a relationship with yourself that develops through daily practice. The stronger the love within you, the stronger the love around you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Words EMMA MAIDMENT<\/p>\n\n\n\n