Fast forward thirteen years. I had shifted away from allopathic orientation into alternative and Spiritual forms of healing, as I supported myself in marketing while working on a book and a screenplay seeking to articulate my experiences as a medic. A central question continued to live inside of me: How could a person experience the heart of healing without having to go through what Ive gone through? If I could access this, then anyone could. Life is a journey of the unexpected and in the next few years I found myself working in improvisational and stand-up comedy, ultimately devoting nearly three years of intensive study to the Meisner Technique, a seminal approach to modern American acting. I was drawn into the class out of respect for my friend and teacher, Jose Angel Santana. Hed studied with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse, in New York City. I never really wanted to be an actor. Rather, I developed an attraction to the discipline in it that helped me be fully present and alive, moment to moment. The course helped me learn to do truthfully under imaginary circumstances. Those moment to moment choices were largely by-products of intuition, developed and strengthened by the sequential exercises of the Meisner Technique. Next step: I found my way to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, working with a Lakota Medicine Family there and gazing out beyond the edge of the prairie. It was there that I was taught to see the world through the eyes of the heart. In 1998, I attended an event called Network for a New Culture Summer Camp, a twelve day Experiment in Intimacy and Community outside of Portland. There, one of the featured speakers (along with Bruce Lipton, a Cellular Biologist, and Patch Adams, M.D.) was Joseph Chilton Pearce, a well-respected researcher and author of The Magical Child, The Crack in the Cosmic Egg, and Evolutions End. He had been compiling information from scientific studies on the heart. Here is a Cooks Tour of some of what he reported over the four days he spent with us: In early embryonic development, a clump of cells (requiring the electromagnetic field of the mother for activation) begins pulsating. After time passes, two streams of these cells migrate from the central clump to a more peripheral area of the fetus. There, they begin to coalesce into an organel. These cellsboth the ones that initially began pulsating, and the ones that stream to the peripheryare called Atrial-Neural cells. That means each one can function as either a heart or brain cell. Further studies have found that the central clump of cells, the one that eventually develops into the heart, also has much to do with directing the formation of the rest of the developing embryo. What this said to me was that the heart is truly the center of our being. Essentially, our brain comes from IT. Beyond that, Dr. Pearce reported that about 65% of the cells of the heart (in the adult!) are neurons. A neuron is the basic cellular unit of the nervous system both the central (brain and spinal cord) and the peripheral (nerve) system. This relatively small piece of information rocked my world. Here was scientific evidence that my sense experiences as a medic, backed by years in alternative approaches and working with the Lakota Medicine Family, were correct. Indeed, there were times when my actions were the result of utilizing the brain in my heart. And it had happened enough for me to suspect that I could enter that state of being at will. Acting Exercises & Heart Mind Ive been exploring and experimenting with this concept since 1998. I have tested it against my past experience in the back of an ambulance, and on the Pine Ridge Reservation. I have used it working in deep process work with others in my community, and also in personal counseling sessions using a form of muscle-testing I call Heartjourney. I realized that some of the acting and improvisation games and exercises, while originally designed to strengthen your ability to choose to be intimately and honestly in the moment, are virtually custom-made to help you access a heart-directed consciousness as well. Indeed, shifting your consciousness to your heart, and perceiving the world through itat willis attainable. It just takes practice. When you do so, much more comes in to you and much more moves out through you than occurs under brain power alone. Heres a fifteen minute exercise that will help you see for yourself. Find a quiet space and time. Sit, or lie down. Breathe. Just breathe for a while. If a thought or an image or a word comes in, just let it go. Dont hold on to it or resist it, just let it pass through you. Breathe. Breathe for a while, and when you feel ready, shift your attention to your heart as you breathe. You may experience this as feeling your heart beating in your chest, feeling your blood pulsing through you, or, perhaps as a feeling of expansiveness in your chest. Once you know youre there, keep breathing into your heart for a bit longer. Now, while continuing to breathe and keeping your awareness on your heart, pick up a decent-sized hand mirror. Look at yourself for a while. Dont forget to spend time with your eyes. Id be interested to hear what youve learned. Poets, Saints, Indigeneous Traditions of all continents, Monks and Visionaries have all alluded to this, if not claimed it outright. By all means, cultivate your relationship with the brain that lives in your heart. |
