September Indoor Gathering

Written By Ancient Hearts Collective .

September Message: The Call of the Heart

✧ Featuring Heart Leader Erin Gilbert of REiCOVERY Reiki, Spiritual Coaching & HeartMath® Certified Mentorship.

Erin has practiced professionally for 25 years and was born into this work as a second-generation Reiki-Intuitive Healer & Psychic Medium.  Erin is a HeartMath® Certified Mentor, Evidential Medium, Reiki Master Practitioner, and Reiki Master Teacher since 2000. Erin also holds over 10,000 hours of professional practice, a BS in Psychology & an AA in Human Development.

Erin contributed heart leadership to our opening meditation, the gathering message, and spiritual practice.

 Connect with Erin on her website, Instagram, or Facebook.

OPENING MEDITATION

The Heart Coherence™ Technique from the +❤HeartMath® Institute, led by Erin Gilbert.

GATHERING MESSAGE

“Everywhere we learn that love is important, and yet we are bombarded by its failure.” In the material realm, “we see little indication that love informs decisions, strengthens our understanding of community, or keeps us together. This bleak picture in no way alters the nature of our longing. We still hope that love will prevail. We still believe in love’s promise.”

The heart, as the bridge to the soul, as the portal to the invisible, eternal essence that is love…it is always calling, all we need to do is tune in. It sounds simple enough, right?

So, why don’t we all just do that? Take time every day to tune in to our hearts- to our inner depths. I can tell you as a meditation coach, I’ve had people tell me over and over again that they don’t have 10 minutes to meditate each day. And in some cases, this may be true; some people work 3 jobs just to get by. But in many cases, I think the truth is – we don’t know what to do with what is waiting for us in this unknown cave of our heart – in the stillness. We are afraid of what we may hear, sense, and feel when we tune in, and how it may impact our lives. We are conditioned that we must be productive, we must achieve, we must progress to belong, or be worthy. These messages are so ingrained in us that they become beliefs that drive our behavior – impacting us more from within, and then continually being reinforced in the messages we see and hear from our family, who are also conditioned just like us, and on social, on TV, all around us in this fast-paced modern world. The challenge is that this drive we have to be productive does not naturally lend itself to wandering into the territory of the slow, of the deep, of the heart.

But what if what was waiting for us here was simply love’s presence – the presence of love itself? What if we could truly open our hearts to that possibility? And what if attuning to the deep, the slow, and going into the portal of the heart wasn’t only about pausing and reflecting, or sitting still; what if it was about aligning ourselves with love? What if tuning into the call of our heart, and sitting in love’s presence, could help relieve our suffering, build resilience, and transform the quality of our lives? What if coherence with our heart could support us in connecting more deeply with others, broaden our connection to the greater collective, and align us with the natural rhythm of our planet? Would it be worth 10 minutes of your day?

Here is some perennial wisdom about the call of the heart from a passage in Mark Nepo’s book “Surviving Storms.”

Leaning In

“We are left with the never-ending call to know ourselves and love the world, in an effort to experience an indivisible Oneness of Heart as we move through the fullness that moves in all directions. This is what it means to be awake and thorough of heart.

“The courage, then, is to keep leaning into life. For the storms of circumstance will toss us afar from what is precious. By its very nature, events will bump us along and bruise us. Not because life is evil, but because, like swells in the ocean, the currents will push us to and fro. But we’re stronger and more resilient than almost any hurt that can come our way, if we keep moving toward what is precious with a commitment to be caring and real.

“The heartening way is that when the heart closes, we must vow to open it. When stalled and broken, we must help each other lean into life again and take the risk to say YES. How, then, do we gather strength from how this works, knowing that the next day, more obstacles and storms will stop us and lift us?

“When I feel small, I have to enlarge. When I feel distrustful, I have to take the risk to trust again. When I don’t know how, I have to ask for help. This is the long road to inner freedom that opens each of us when we can keep saying yes to life, even when we are bruised and fearful.”

The Call of the Heart, for me has been simply this…keep an open heart. Don’t let the fear take over. Feel the feelings, and allow grace to carry them through my being…to move me, to move in me, and then move on---like the breath moves my chest, moves in my lungs and then moves on out of the body. When I am hurting, I let the anguish, the hopelessness, the despair be seen, held, and felt, honor it, feel it, and watch it pass. When I am uncertain, I let the anxiety, worry, and stress move in and out. When I feel wronged, I let the anger, contempt, and disappointment come in and out. The call of the heart is the call of our times – it is the moment-by-moment commitment to return to our eternal nature that allows us to feel into the joy of this human experience and ultimately gives us the meaning of our lives. What is the call of your heart?

SPIRITUAL INVITATION FOR AUGUST

Attune to the call of your heart. We invite you to practice The +❤HeartMath® Heart Lock-in® Technique (see below for instructions), or another spiritual practice, daily, and notice how your practice impacts your life.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

What is the call of your heart?

What practice(s) do you want to integrate into your day to begin tuning in to your heart, to the loving presence within?

As you practice, make note of what you are noticing in your daily experience.

PERENNIAL WISDOM SOURCES

SPIRITUALLY UNBOXED

INDIGENOUS

  • “Spirit Wheel” by Steven Charleston - an Indigenous Elder of the Choctaw Nation

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

  • “A Course in Miracles” by the Foundation for Inner Peace

DIVINE FEMININE

  • "Wild Mercy: Living the Fierce and Tender Wisdom of the Women Mystics” by Mirabai Starr

 SPIRITUAL PRACTICE:

✧ The +❤HeartMath® Heart Lock-in® Technique with Erin Gilbert (practice for 60-120 seconds at a time).

Step One: Focus on the area of the heart

Step Two: Imagine your breath is flowing in & out of the heart

Step Three: Breathe a little slower and deeper than usual

Step Four: Find an easy rhythm that’s comfortable

Step Five: Make a sincere attempt at feeling calm or grateful

Step Six: Radiate that feeling, out from your heart, to the people around you (including yourself)

MUSICAL INSPIRATION:

  • Our musical director, Ashley Hirsh, led us in song. We are so grateful for Ashley’s inspired vision for the Ancient Hearts music.

  • Featured Song:

 

NEXT GATHERING:

  • Sunday, Sept. 21st, 10am-Noon

    • Location: Carver-Roehl Park

    • Map link: 4907 S Carvers Rock Rd, Clinton, WI 53525

    • What to know/how to prepare:

      • Join us for a Despacho Ceremony on this Autumnal Equinox led by Lori Frison, who is a trained Shamanic Guide. During our ceremony, we will honor and give thanks for the cyclical nature of life, the bounty of nature, and the many blessings we’ve received this year.

      • We are asking for a suggested donation on a sliding scale of $5 - $20 per person to cover the cost of the supplies for the ceremony.

      • Bring water and wear comfortable shoes and protective clothing. Apply sunscreen and bug spray as needed.

Ancient Hearts Collective . https://ancienthearts.org
Next

August Outdoor Gathering