The Heart’s Wisdom and Tranquility
"IF YOU SUDDENLY FEEL JOY, DON’T HESITATE. GIVE IN TO IT. DESPITE DESTRUCTION AND LACK OF KINDNESS, LIFE STILL HOLDS POSSIBILITY. SOMETIMES LOVE BEGINS IN UNEXPECTED MOMENTS. DON’T FEAR ITS ABUNDANCE. JOY IS NOT MADE TO BE A CRUMB." - MARY OLIVER
How many idioms can you think of with the word "heart"? Our language is filled with the qualities we ascribe to the heart. In a recent search, I found over 50 idioms associated with the heart. We can be hard-hearted or open-hearted; we can find that our hearts are made of stone. We can be all heart or discover that our heart is no longer in it. We can learn words that inspire us by heart, or follow our hearts, we bare our hearts and we break our hearts. Mary Oliver tells us to embrace joy without hesitation, emphasizing that joy is abundant and not made to be a crumb. It seems our hearts are the seat of strong emotion and carry a heavy symbolic burden.
The Paradox of the Heart
Even in a world filled with pain and turmoil, the heart holds a remarkable capacity for peace and resilience. It can simultaneously experience sorrow and joy, fear and courage. Acknowledging this paradox is essential in our pursuit of inner peace and well-being.
The Truth Behind Heart Idioms
What is the truth found behind our idioms? What does it actually mean to have a limitless heart? Can our hearts be too open? Too vast? Finally, what does this all have to do with a movement practice and why should we care?
Nurturing the Heart
It’s crucial to tend to our hearts with compassion and mindfulness. Whether through meditation, movement practices, or simply moments of quiet reflection, nurturing our hearts allows us to navigate life’s challenges with greater clarity and strength.
The Heart-Mind Connection
In the West, we often pitch the head against the heart. We suppress our feelings and try not to be led by our hearts, but rather listen to the sense of our heads. In Eastern traditions, though, the line between head and heart is not so clear. The heart is often understood to be the ‘heart-mind’.
In yoga philosophy, the mind and thought patterns (what we might term the ‘head’) are not a single entity but have four parts: Buddhi (intellect), Ahankara (identity), Manas (memory), and Chitta (heart-mind). Each is nuanced, and chitta is sometimes translated as cosmic intelligence. When we begin to explore this possibility—that the heart carries its own intelligence to be heeded—then it makes greater sense to follow our hearts and listen to what they are telling us. By doing so, we tap into our innate joy and tranquility.
I have a habit of following my heart rather than my head, especially when my heart is no longer in something. In reality, I have come to understand the extent to which the heart can hold paradox—how you can simultaneously hold something in high regard and be frustrated with it. Our hearts can break at the cruelty of the world and yet rejoice in the beauty we see around us.
The Heart, Summer, and the Element of Fire
In Chinese Five Elements, each organ is associated with a season and an element. The heart is considered the supreme sovereign of the body. It is responsible for supporting us in finding both connection and boundaries. The element of fire, associated with this organ, governs joy and excitement. It is interesting to note that Chinese Five Elements also recognizes that too much excitement can make our hearts feel unbalanced. A burning passion can result in anxiety. What our hearts long for is ease and tranquility. Picture how the best bits of summer feel for you: warm, connected, easy, and fun.
Nourishing the Heart with Tranquility
The heart can often feel overburdened. Nourishing it with moments of tranquility is essential. Perhaps capturing those long, lazy days of summer we remember from our youth can be the feeling to summon up.
Tapping into Joy
Recently, I listened to a talk about joy. Somehow, joy felt like a lot to summon at the time, and it got me thinking about how we might brace against feeling joy or pleasure. There is much to disturb us in the world. And yet, what if we did tap into the joyful? What would happen?
In Buddhism, mudita, or sympathetic joy, is one of the Brahma-Viharas or qualities of the heart and is a quality to be cultivated. Sympathetic joy means delighting in other people’s well-being, which can be a source of our own delight.
What Delights You?
Many of us have rediscovered the things that delight us and give us joy. Perhaps our hearts have lacked the nourishment, calm, and ease they need to flourish. Yet our hearts are resilient. In "The Book of Delights," poet Ross Gay decided that "it might feel nice, even useful, to write a daily essay about something delightful... It didn’t take me long to learn that the discipline or practice of writing these essays occasioned a kind of delight radar. Or maybe it was more like the development of a delight muscle... I felt my life to be more full of delight. Not without sorrow or fear or pain or loss. But more full of delight."
I have been inspired by this to note my own delights. And, not only am I noting them and telling others about them and sharing them, but I’m also exploring practices of joy and ease through movement and meditation. So often, the things we do for our leisure, pleasure, and well-being become one more thing to achieve or get done. We begin to strive and not look for rest, joy, and ease.