How to Heart BreatheRevised June 15, 2017
Since this revision, Heart Breathing has been practiced daily and expanded. That experience has not yet been integrated into this page. For a more complete view of Heart Breathing, with daily life application, please see the blog posts on the Heart Breathing Contents page: Heart Space Breathing is a simple, effective practice for personal development and spiritual awakening. It is available without any commercialization. There is nothing to pay, nothing to join, no hidden strings attached.
No philosophies need to be believed to practice HSB. Yet, one can go as deeply into it as one feels to go, as it is unlimited. HSB is customized to and by the individual and continually evolves as a daily practice. Practitioners experience broadened awareness, deeper peace and feelings of connection and resonance with the whole of existence. 
This 'How To' goes together with the blog post, Heart Space Breathing.
These steps are not meant to necessarily always be linear. They may be practiced in any order and in your unique, individual, intuitive, creative way. Feel free to modify them, such as by toning 'long E' instead of 'long A.' I continue to experiment and play with HSB and have also tested 'E' to see how it feels compared to 'A'. The 'A' and 'O' came to me in a dream and were confirmed by a trusted friend who said they are the vowel sounds of the heart. I feel the difference between toning 'A' and 'E' and now use only 'A' - 'O'. But that is me and I encourage individual experimentation to find what feels best. Still, it may be helpful to follow the steps a few times as they are written and in a linear way, in order to start with an initial structure and experience each step in a progressive sequence. Heart Breathing can also be continued as a regular, more structured practice without modification. Be guided by your inner wisdom and nothing is wrong. Attending to the breath throughout the day is part of Heart Breathing. Attention is drawn away by thoughts, but always returns to stay with the breath. Feel the breath, be moved by the breath, be the breath. Ask yourself, where does this breath come from? Where does it go? How is it who I am? Look more deeply than the oxygen or air. Being emotionally connected and grounded are essential for the practice to be fully effective. What prevents connection is contraction. What causes contraction is resistance. What underlies resistance is often anxiety. What generates anxiety, some say, is the primitive brain. Anxiety may also be a symptom of dissonance or fears of disconnection. The post, 'Emotional Connection,' on the Whole Human blog is a place to start gaining mastery of contracting emotions. Heart Space Breathing/Heart Breathing is simple and requires nothing but attention and intention to practice: 1. Attention is on breathing. 2. Feel the heart space while keeping attention on the breath. 3. Do deep breathing while feeling the heart space. 4. Add words (more on this is coming.) 5. Chant 'long A' and 'long O'. 6. Send heart energy. 7. Write one word. 8. Make emotional connection. 9. Integrate mystical practices which attract you, into your HSB. 10. Share your journey of transformation with others. 1. Attention is on breathing. With eyes open or closed, move your attention to your breath. Observe your breathing without changing it. 2. Feel the light in the heart space while keeping attention on the breath. Now move your attention to the heart space in the center of your chest while remaining aware of your breathing. The heart space is silent. Feel the light you are, while your attention is on the heart space. Feel the warmth of your light. This is not using imagination - generally, when attention is placed on the heart center with the intention of feeling it, the qualities observed are warmth and light. Adjust your body posture as needed to fill your lungs. Breath normally and without forcing, and keep your attention there. 3. Do deep breathing while feeling the heart space. Now breathe deeply, filling first the diaphragm, all the way to the top of the lungs. Exhale as slowly as possible. Feel the light and warmth of the heart space as you breathe deeply. 4. Add words. Now add words by thinking these while deep breathing -- I am of the present moment. I feel the heart space. I act from loving kindness. I trust the grand design (and the grand designer, which is what I am within.) Continue to feel the heart space. 5. Chant 'long A' and 'long O'. Now tone on the outbreath, while deep breathing, alternating: 'Long A' - the vowel sound of 'space' 'Long O' - the vowel sound of 'source' Continue to feel the light and warmth of the heart space. 6. Send heart energy. Now breathe naturally. Feel the heart space and send that energy wherever your intuitive feeling draws your attention. 7. Write one word. Now write one word, the first which comes to mind. Write more as you feel. 8. Emotionally Connect. Make feeling your emotions your 'standard pattern.' Be with them, hear their message, and allow them to dissipate. Listen to your body wisdom to bring balance and grounding to your experience. 9. Integrate mystical practices into your HSB. Whatever mystical practice may attract you, listen to intuitive feeling and body wisdom to integrate it with HSB. It may be a unique combination of some of the practice. For example, I lay on my back, relax deeply, hold Heartstone to my chest and tone long 'A' and long 'O'. This has felt very powerful, yet there are times when I feel drawn to have a conversation with Heartstone instead, and 'talk' about 'cooperative networks of conscious particles.' 10. Share your journey of transformation with others. In ways you are led, express to others what you are experiencing in the practice. Deep breathing can be very beneficial on its own and even more when integrated with Heart Space Breathing.
I have added inversion (hanging upside down on an inversion table) and the Five Tibetan Rites (a simple yoga routine) to my practice and chant the vowel sounds of 'Heart space' (long A) and 'Heart source' (long O) to recall the feeling of the heart space. The 'way of seeing' behind Heart Breathing is brought out in a conversation which began with the question, 'What makes magic black or white?' -- especially in the later segments: Applied Magic An Idea
You do not have to believe the following or in any philosophy in order for Heart Breathing to be effective for you. If you feel resistance upon reading, you have an opportunity to send your attention more deeply to the underlying emotion and dissipate it using the practice of Emotional Connection. You can, of course, put terms which trigger discomfort into your own words or set that portion aside, to align with your way of seeing.
Consciousness expands when two resistance points merge over the awareness of unconditional love and actions are from kindness and compassion. Each stimulus which brings up resistance carries in the ensuing challenge a gift of opportunity to expand consciousness. The heart space surrounds and fills the heart in the center of the chest. It is the localized awareness center of the infinite, felt as light and warmth, and its quality is unconditional love. Oneness awareness grows in daily life experience when the conscious mind relaxes its conditioned boundaries and releases its preconceived ideas, to unite with the heart space. Heart space breathing/heart breathing is a way to merge with the boundless. It is meant to be varied by the individual over intuitive feeling. The absolute, undifferentiated, infinite, silent, oneness heart space is also the present moment and the I AM. One idea of heart breathing is to expand and experience higher consciousness in the body/mind. Ultimately it is to experience limitless pure consciousness while still in the body. All steps along the way, which bring peace, wisdom, equanimity and all qualities of unconditional love into daily life, are beneficial. The persona does not aim for any outcome but trusts in the process and observes as it unfolds. That way, persona does not lead by expecting results from the practice but allows the heart space to guide. The eight steps of heart breathing can be followed for one minute or more each as a 'sitting' practice. Any of the steps can be brought into the practice over the day, in the moment, as one feels. For example, in a situation of stress, when the mind brings up judgment or other resistance of any kind, focus attention on the breathing and heart space. Think or say 'heart space' or tone long A and long O. Find what works for you. Please comment to me and share this page using the social icons on the left side. Affirmative Heart Breathing
Put in the first person, the following guides or life principles serve also as affirmative thoughts while heart breathing and throughout the day: I am of the present moment. I feel the heart space. I act from loving kindness. I trust the grand design. Be of the present moment.
The present moment refers to consciousness. 'Not of the world systems, but of the present moment.' Feel the heart space. The heart space is the center in the body which, when felt, expands human awareness to universal consciousness. Act from loving kindness. Loving kindness is meant here as the full spectrum of qualities which radiate from unconditional love. Acting from the qualities of unconditional love is the evidence that the principles are being lived. Loving kindness is our true human nature, and acting from it is living authentically. Trust the grand design. Being grounded in the heart space and in the present moment while 'seeing' the larger picture and trusting its intelligent design brings balance and inner peace. The grand design is not only 'out there' in the starry sky or the intricate, inter-connected patterns and cycles of nature. It is also in the human body and can be recognized, for example, in the DNA blueprint. Trusting the grand design can be applied to trusting the grand designer, which is what I am within, and to accepting the 'what is,' the mystery of life and the unknown.
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