The Way of the Heart

What is The Way of the Heart?

The Way of the Heart 4-week course is an opportunity to come together in a community of practice, to learn and develop essential, embodied skills of heart-based living.

Weekly gatherings, focussed practice, daily prompts and timely contemplations will provide us with a trustworthy container and gentle structure to support our individual explorations.

You will receive skilled guidance and support for your practice and unique life circumstances. You will also be part of a community of wholehearted practitioners, each one of us committed to developing our capacities and contributing to a harmonious, wise, and peaceful world.

As we deepen our primary relationship to ourselves, we will be exploring the territory of the heart from an embodied perspective, developing a deep trust in our ability to follow the thread of our lives with love and clarity.

Together we will be learning, deepening and refining our skills to balance and ground our energies, gently kindle the warm flame of the heart, and find a reliable steady ground in our own heart-mind.

Why is it important?

As old structures, institutions, and ways of doing things are crumbling, many people find themselves disoriented and confused, scrambling for a foothold in a deeply uncertain world. Things that have traditionally offered safety and comfort are now being drastically reconfigured. This is causing a huge degree of fear and anxiety in the collective field, and we are all feeling it.

People of heart and conscience, like you and I, know that there is another way to live, one that is not driven by stress, fear, division, ignorance, and a false sense of separation. This time is asking of us a responsiveness that is not fixed to a particular outcome or destination. It is not about knowing all the answers, but about asking the questions and being willing to listen, and be guided by what we find.

Our shared existence and future is not pre-determined. It is crafted and built with every moment of awareness, every choice made by each and every one of us, together.

We have the capacity for tremendously loving and wise living, but we need training to develop these skills. With guidance and practice, we can use our minds to look within, and develop the capacity of the heart to live with kindness, courage, clarity and purpose. 

Who is it for?

The Way of the Heart is for anyone who :

• wishes to develop or deepen their meditative practice, with a particular emphasis on learning, practicing and trusting the wisdom and intelligence of the heart.

• wants to develop their gifts, to trust their intuition, to grow their confidence, capacity and inner compass for wholehearted living.

• appreciates that we live in an interdependent world of relationships. That everything is connected, and we deeply need each other. That what we do, and how we do it, matters.

• has an interest in learning embodied practices as a key to unlocking the potential of our human lives in a grounded and practical way.

• wants to learn to work with challenging emotions, circumstances, and people with integrity and clarity, leaning into the heart’s capacity for healing and integration

• wants to learn from, and contribute to, a community of practice where each person’s unique experience and perspective is a gift and inspiration for all.

We will be drawing on tried and tested methods of enquiry, from ancient and modern wellsprings of wisdom, combining traditional meditative approaches with modern understandings in neuroscience, trauma healing and integration, human development and evolutionary biology.

This course will be best suited to those who have some experience in focussed meditation, or those with a genuine willingness to learn and practice as you go.

With gentle rigour and loving precision, we will apply the tools of awareness and love to explore and embrace every aspect of our lives.

Over 4 weeks of The Way of the Heart

We will be building foundations, developing skills, and deepening our capacities to commit to ourselves and our inner lives, in the midst of our work and worldly responsibilities. We will be exploring the relationship between our inner and outer life experiences, and the power of wholesome individual and shared intention to fuel our growth and unfolding.  As we walk, step by step, we build the very path on which are walking - a path with heart.

We will be exploring universal heart-based practices from a thoroughly embodied perspective. Our bodies show us exactly where we are, and also the next step we need to take along our path. They are also the most direct line of communication to the wisdom and life of the earth. These are skilful and compassionate practices that allow us to build our capacity and confidence gradually and consistently, by plugging into profound levels of support both inner and outer.

This will be augmented and supported by guided audio movement explorations, based on the Feldenkrais Method and meditative healing principles, to support your unwinding into deeper embodiment, clearer perception and whole body knowing

This course is suitable for both beginners and experienced practitioners. Whether you are just getting started and looking for trustworthy methods and support, or possibly already have a committed practice, there will be an emphasis on learning and refining skilful and proven effective methods for you to apply in your every day life. These will provide a reliable anchor of sanity and love in your life right now, and will support you in any retreat or deeper meditative work you might do in the future. They will give beginners a thorough and reliable base from which to develop their practice, and will give experienced people a chance to refresh and refine their practice in an enlivening and illuminating way. 

The unique perspective and life experience that each participant brings to this practice community is a gift. Through our natural and wholehearted presence we will each be contributing to, and drawing from, the nourishment, support and inspiration of the collective. This enriches and strengthens each of us in our respective lives and relationships, and offers a deep contribution to the wellbeing of our world.

What The Way of the Heart is NOT

It is not theoretical. The approach we will take is experiential. While we will draw on millennia of rigorous study and skilful methods to light our path, ultimately we are learning to trust our own direct experience. Using our body, heart and mind, and our own lives as our laboratory and studio, we will study, explore, question, experiment, create, and practice what it means to live and love fully.

It is not cheesy! This is not about simply making positive affirmations, wishful thinking, or having “nice” thoughts. There are very real skills we can and need to learn, to train our minds and reliably access the power of the heart. The approach we will take is grounded and connected to the 'nitty-gritty’ of human life. We will be challenging some assumptions, and may be busting a few myths along the way!

Is it not limited to any particular tradition or belief system. Though we will walk in the footsteps of wise ones who have left clear maps for us to follow, there is no dogma here - only the real-ness of human beings coming together to genuinely explore. There is nothing off limits, nothing outside the scope of our generous attention. Our questions and experiences are the path that we travel. People from all backgrounds and traditions are welcome here to explore these universal principles and practices.

It is not therapy. Because of the online nature of the course and because we are each doing our own home-based practice, this course assumes a reasonable degree of personal maturity and self-responsibility. 

Any body of practice done with a deep motivation is intended to be transformative, and the work of the heart is no exception. Sometimes the changes that take place can take us by surprise! Whatever arises is the very material we work with in our practice, and you are invited to bring any aspect of your life to this practice container. 

While you will be offered full support and clear guidance throughout this course,  as well as the support of the community, you are ultimately responsible for resourcing yourself with supportive structures and schedules for your practice, and with people who will support your commitment to this process.

Please continue reading for the course schedule, and considerations before registering. 

I am looking forward to your company in The Way of the Heart!

Warm wishes,

Chani

Course Schedule : 

The course commences on Sunday 13th October with our first live gathering,

7pm - 8pm NZT. Find your time zone here

We will practice together for 4 weeks.

Live gatherings will happen each Sunday at the same time, on October 13th, 20th, 27th, November 3rd, with a closing gathering on Sunday November 10th.

Once you register for the course, you will receive an email with further information including the Zoom link that will be the same for each of our weekly meetings.

10 days before the course begins, you will also receive an invitation to our dedicated online community space, where you can connect with other members of the community to share your questions and experiences.

Practice Commitments - Considering your intention before registering : 

Registering for this event is a commitment. To honour the intention of the course, and the people who will be participating in it, you are requested to please only register if you are willing to commit to the program to the fullest extent of your capacity. Imagine that we are entering a retreat together, where we make every effort to put down what is extraneous and unnecessary, and we endeavour to take up what is most wholesome, supportive, and fruitful. 

You are requested to commit to some degree of daily practice - either the brief daily prompts and contemplations, or one of the longer practices that are offered. This course is designed to be undertaken in the context of our daily lives, and so we make room for all the complexity of life, surfing the waves of what arises in the process. We might miss a day here or there, depending on what’s going on. That’s OK! But we keep our intention to practice every day, and to continually view our lives through this lens. The main purpose here is to orient the mind in the direction of your depth unfolding (what you most deeply aspire to or yearn for). As with any journey, our commitment invites us to set a course, and then make effort to stay the course, using the practice and the community as a steady anchor.