Living with an Open Heart
“How can my heart be healed? How can my heart find relief?” People frequently ask questions such as these when they are suffering with physical, emotional, or psychological issues of the heart.
Although we might think that heart ailments affect just the physical body, new medical research has proven that our thoughts and emotions play an important part in the development of heart disease. In fact, studies have shown that certain emotional states - social isolation, anxiety, depression, and anger are actually risk factors for heart disease.
Dean Ornish, M.D. a prominent cardiologist from the University of San Francisco has shown that healing our emotional and psychological state is critical for preventing and reversing heart disease.
What can be called “An Open Heart” is a way of living that can be learned. It’s my experience and belief that learning to live with a more open heart can have a profound affect on heart disease.
What is an Open Heart? Why is it important?
An open heart is a heart that is willing to give and receive love. It is a heart that is willing to be intimate and open. Although we might think we can do without love, countless medical studies have shown that love is one of the keys to healing heart disease. Love in all of its forms: kindness, compassion, and even friendship are extremely important for overall heart hearth.
People who lack friends and are socially isolated have a much greater chance of having a heart attack or a stroke when compared to people who have a broad circle of friends. They are even more likely to die when compared to people are not socially isolated.
As a friend of mine, Philip Schmucker, has said, “Love is the magic ingredient. If you have love you have everything.” It’s very clear that we all want love. I’ve never met a person who hasn’t wanted to be loved. People have an actual physical need for love. Studies of babies have shown that if a baby doesn’t receive love (if it isn’t stroked and touched) it cannot thrive and grow.
Yet, sometimes we look for love in things that really can’t give us what we want. We seek money, security, sex, a good job, reaching the top- all things that on the outside make us believe we should be getting love, but in reality lead us to something else. This is not to say that these things aren’t enjoyable, but they don’t really give us love.
Purchase The Book.
How do emotions raise the risk of heart disease?
It isn’t really clear how emotional illness causes heart disease. It has been shown that emotions have a profound affect on the levels of adrenaline that circulate through the body. Many research studies have show that when emotions are high such as when a person has anger or severe anxiety the levels of adrenaline circulating in the body will also sky rocket. The body reacts to what it perceives as threatening situation by releasing many hormones and chemical to try to adapt. These various hormones sometimes will produce unwanted effects. They can lead to high blood pressure. They may cause cholesterol deposits to form in the arteries of the body. In a rare case they can even cause a heart attack or what is called “sudden death.”
How do I begin?
The first step for learning to live with a more open heart is to recognize that we have a problem. Many people have no idea that their hearts would benefit from learning to open more fully. They suffer from denial, and truly believe that they are fine. You should know, however, that if you have heart disease or a heart illness, there’s a very good chance that you may harbor deeper feelings and issues of the heart.
Having Heart Disease is a sign that you may need deeper healing of the heart.
So the first step for learning how to live with an open heart is to recognize that we may have a problem. Once we are aware that we could be harboring deeper issues, we need to then search for a solution.
Purchase The Book.
How Can We Be Helped?
Everyone can learn to live with an open heart. It's something we were born to be able to do. In many ways it can be considered a skill that can be learned. Much like learning to exercise or learning a technique for relaxation, we can learn to give and receive love more fully.
Many methods are available for learning this skill. Counseling, psychotherapy, yoga, deep relaxation, and meditation have all been shown to be helpful. A method that I have found particularly helpful is a skill called “Practicing Remembrance.” Practicing Remembrance is a technique for learning how to open the heart to greater love. It is a form of meditation that teaches a person how to bring more love into their hearts.
I have taught this technique to hundreds of patients with great success. In my book, “How to Heal Your Broken Heart,” I explain the background and method for “Practicing Remembrance.” Click here to learn more about the technique.
What is Practicing Remembrance?
Every heart needs love. Every heart yearns for intimacy and compassion. Unfortunately, life’s difficulties and challenges sometimes lead people to shut down emotionally. When people’s hearts close down it can create a vicious cycle that leads to heart disease.
Medical Research has shown that our emotions directly affect the heart. The American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology now list depression as a risk factor for heart disease. But other emotions are also damaging. Anxiety, loneliness, social isolation, and anger have also been shown to help create heart illness
Fortunately a technique exists for healing the heart. It’s called Practicing Remembrance. Practicing Remembrance is a simple and easily taught technique. Although the basic skills can be readily learned in twenty to thirty minutes, I prefer to teach remembrance in a four to eight hour seminar. Because openness to using the technique is essential, an expanded teaching format is often useful for addressing questions that arise
Practicing remembrance is simply the technique of repeating the Name of God in a very specific manner. The skill is done in a repetitive fashion. To some people familiar with Eastern religions, the technique might seem similar to a mantra. But practicing remembrance is not a mantra in the traditional sense.
Like a mantra a sacred sound is repeated, but the focus for engaging in remembrance isn’t to alter our consciousness or have a spiritual experience––although frequently this occurs. Rather, remembrance can best be described as an invocation. The person practicing remembrance is invoking the presence of God. Remembrance is a deep prayer to God, a petition for His help and support. It is done in a reverent, sincere manner with deep humility.
Occasionally, people inquire about the repetitive nature of the technique. I had a woman, who attended one of my workshops question whether this might be some type of “brain washing.” A common fear of people from some religious backgrounds is that they could somehow be programmedto do things they shouldn’t do by engaging in repetitive prayer––like the remembrance. My response to her was, “I hope certainly hope that I am being brain washed––that God who is tender and loving hears my fervent, continual calls and really does wash out my brain. I hope that He cleans out all the junk that’s rattling around inside of me. Maybe then He can fill me with something precious and holy.”
The repetitive nature of the practicing remembrance of God isn’t bad. It isn’t brain washing, unless you consider discovering more peace and inner contentment welling up inside you brain washing. No, the redundancy contained in the practice of remembrance is actually one of its major secrets. As I mentioned earlier, only recently has this special knowledge of remembrance as taught by the Sufis been disclosed to the general public. Its methods reflect a new way of confronting old problems. Anger, heart illness, anxiety, depression––all are troubling issues that have plagued people for centuries. Practicing remembrance offers a unique approach to bring healing to the heart.
The practice of remembrance is a unique approach for heart healing.
It’s been my experience that the practice of remembrance deeply engages the body, mind, and perhaps most importantly––our spirit. Its benefits can be striking. Most people discover a calmness that they didn’t know existed coming over them after incorporating practicing remembrance into their lives. One woman suffering with inflammatory bowel disease went from having ten to twenty bloody stools a day to practically none just by following the teachings outlined in this book. I’ve had abnormal heart rhythms disappear from patients. I’ve seen weakened heart muscles improve. Anxiety, panic attacks, and depressions––I’ve witnessed all of them resolving through the practice of remembrance of God.
Will everyone improve? I can’t make that claim. It would be irresponsible for me to suggest everyone will become well. Even the best medical minds in the world can’t say with certainty why certain people develop heart disease. It is impossible to know what truly causes illness. Nor one can anyone predict who will be healed.
I can only say that every single person who has practiced the remembrance exactly as prescribed has improved in some fashion. Emotional and psychological issues are the easiest to heal, but I have seen many physical ailments also get better. Again, I should make it very clear that practicing remembrance doesn’t take the place of traditional medical care. No one should stop their medications or discontinue any treatments they are receiving when engaging in this technique.
Purchase The Book.
How do I Practice Remembrance?
The technique of the Remembrance is repeating the name of God over and over. The first thing you should do as you start this practice is to find a quiet comfortable place. You’ll want to be sitting in chair with your feel firmly on the floor. You’ll want to be comfortable but not so comfortable as to fall asleep.
Next, find a word that means God. Some people use the word “God,” some people us the word Abba (father). The word that I give to people is the word, Allah (All-lahh). I suggest this word because I have seen it work. I believe that the ahh sound moves into the heart. The Lahh sound feels grounding to me. It connects us to the earth.
Many Christians have difficulty using the word Allah for God. You should know that Allah means God in the Arabic language, but it is not specific for Islam. Christians who speak Arabic (Many Lebanese Christians live in the United States and in Lebanon) also use the word Allah. Allah means, “The One God.” Also note that Jesus didn’t speak English. Jesus spoke Aramaic. In Aramaic the word for God is Allah-ha. So you will actually be walking in the footsteps of Jesus by using this word.
I would suggest experimenting with different words for God and see how each makes your heart feel. Does one word feel different than another. Does one word lift the heart? Regardless of the word you use, the important thing is to remember the love - to remember God.
After you have chosen a word, sit quietly in a chair and begin slowing repeating the name of God- ALL-lahh, ALL-lahh, ALL-lahh, ALL-lahh. You should get a feeling that the breath is entering the chest area. Some people report a warm sensation in the chest. Others report profound peace. Most people who do this technique feel an opening of the heart when they practice it regularly. You’ll want to spend 20-30 minutes in the morning and evening doing the Remembrance.
The more you do Practice Remembrance the more benefit you will derive. It’s like exercise. No one gets into shape and stays in shape without regularly exercising. We all know that it takes effort and practice to get good at something. Practicing Remembrance is no different. If you want to obtain the benefits you have to do the technique.
The patients of mine who have been completely healed have given themselves over completely to doing the Remembrance. They practice it faithfully morning and evening and often throughout the day.
Purchase The Book.
Where can I get help in Practicing Remembrance?
Practicing Remembrance is a special technique that is best taught by someone trained in its use. In Southeastern Michigan (Oakland, Wayne, Livingston and Washtenaw Counties) I often teach seminars periodically on the technique of Practicing Remembrance. If you are interested you can contact me on this web site, and I can direct you to upcoming seminars.
How To Heal Your Broken Heart
