Who Am I? You are the Heart | Mark Whitwell
Mark Whitwell | Heart of Yoga
Hatha Yoga
Hatha Yoga is the means to participate in the hridaya heart. Via participation in the intrinsic union of all opposites, the source of all opposites is revealed. The hrid, the heart, has no opposite and is the portal between the seen and unseen conditions of life.
It is deep in the traditions. Hr means to receive and Da means to give. The Hrid is the nature of reality itself; the perfect place of giving and receiving.
Through our practice of giving (exhale) and receiving (inhale) we participate in the heart’s function. By participation in the giving and receiving that Yoga asana allows, within and without, the heart is realized and the nurturing force of life moves in an unobstructed flow.
The Heart is Who You Are
The hridaya heart came into existing at the moment of your conception. It is the first cell of life that appeared when you appeared. In the union, intelligence, and beauty of the male-female harmony (your parents) you came into existence: spirit took form, source became seen. From this single cell the nurturing source of Life flows like a lotus blooming in all directions.
The heart on the right flows into the heart in the middle (anahata cakra) which flows into the beautiful physical heart and the flesh of the whole body. This is why we say that your whole body is the heart. The whole body is the bloom of the hridaya. And the mind is arising from the hridaya as its function. The heart is what you are. You are the nurturing flow of life.
There is no hierarchy between the hearts and we do not deny the physical or subtle hearts in an attempt to know the hridaya. In fact, it is the other way around. By the embrace of the physical body we know the body’s source. In the embrace of the body’s physical relatedness to its own experience, including human intimacy, the chakras and the hridaya heart are naturally felt.
The heart need not be concentrated upon, located or awakened because it is the substance of our Life — as ‘ordinary’ as the whole body, as your beautiful eyes reading these words. It is not a goal. You don’t have to try. And you do not have to discover anything.
But through the Yogas of participation in the given reality, including the physical embrace of one’s life, the heart is revealed as given. It is simply felt, like a lotus flower in bloom, when the whole body is relaxed and participating naturally in life and relationships.
This is why in Yoga the hands are always returning to the heart. Bring your hands to the hridaya heart with your palms so soft that you could hold a flower in your palms without crushing the petals. The cave in the hands is associated with the depthless cave in the heart.
It is everything to base a life on.
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