Heartfulness is a simple and subtle practice of meditation that connects each of us with the light and love in our hearts.
Through our network of thousands of global HeartSpots and one magnificent smartphone app, we offer the world a daily practice that awakens our potential for simple, joyful existence.
Heartfulness Institute is a non-profit global organization offering simple and effective relaxation and meditation practices, creating a lasting sense of fulfillment and well-being
Our mission is to help develop peaceful, healthy and holistically educated individuals and children, families and communities, organizations and businesses, and government organizations with a spirit of human well-being and oneness.
Confucius once said, “If you feed a man fish, you feed him for one day. If you teach him how to fish, he can feed himself for the rest of his life.” Heartfulness Institute offers the following programs and services with the goal of teaching humanity fundamental skills based on personal well-being, mental health and conscious living:
Heartfulness Institute offers a variety of simple, gradual relaxation and inner-journey solutions to help us solve our problems and be the best we can possibly be in all walks of life. Whether a teacher or a business executive, a student of science or art, we can all pursue the path of fulfillment, excellence and perfection. The Institute engages in activities that further the practice of Heartfulness inner journey, including education, wellness, research and training. These practices are based on the teachings of the Sahaj Marg (Natural Path) system of Raja Yoga, which has been modified to suit the needs of modern life.
Meditation is a tool. The intention we make during meditation of “the Source of divine Light is already present within my heart, and is attracting me from within,” and the lifestyle we adopt in day-to-day life, will either be in sync or at odds. A conscious lifestyle and positive regenerative values will complement a meditative practice. When we adopt a positive lifestyle, including an interest in the evolution of our consciousness, Heartfulness practices become much more effective.
The path of Heartfulness has stages and destinations, but let’s look at this from another perspective: are they things to be “achieved”? For example, suppose that a son stands to inherit the fortune of his mother. Should the idea of receiving the inheritance ever become his goal? Should that be his motivation for maintaining a good relationship with his mother? Receiving an inheritance may eventually happen as a result of the relationship, but it is not the basis of that relationship. The basis of the relationship is love and connectedness, which is beyond value. It is something sacred.
At the outset, we may be happy enough to experience greater levels of relaxation, calm, emotional maturity and focus. This is the aspect of stress management and emotional intelligence. As we incorporate more refined lifestyle choices, which are consistent with our evolution of consciousness, we start to develop higher aspirations. Our goals continue to expand. As our mind becomes regulated, and our thinking, intellect and identity are refined, we embark upon a new life of balance, excellence and higher aspiration, towards the loftiest ideals of enlightenment.
As wayfarers on the path of enlightenment, we receive bountifully throughout our journey. There are innumerable stages and conditions of being—peace of mind, joyfulness, lightness, subtlety, expansion of consciousness, egoless-ness, humility, simplicity, purity, a sense of liberation from within, the state of God Realization, and so on. Yet, if receiving those benefits were to become our goal or our motivation for continuing on the path, the path would somehow lose all of its meaning and beauty. We start to appreciate that the journey is not about getting or achieving anything. We could perhaps say that it is about entering into a simple and pure relationship with the Source within.
As a result of that state of deep connection or communion, all states and stages come to us automatically, and we become eligible for that spiritual inheritance. The path back to the Source is an infinite one, in which the path itself becomes the destination, and moving along that path becomes the greatest joy.
In this way, we can say that the goal of Heartfulness is ever evolving and ever expanding, without limits or restrictions. The goal continues to grow as we grow. We are offered our highest potential as human beings in the Heartfulness way and this is one of the great wonders of Heartfulness—the journey continues infinitely.
We must make the choices that enable us
to fulfill the deepest capacities of our real selves.
—Thomas Merton
Scientists have been studying meditation empirically for the last 60 years, and the impact of meditation on neuroplasticity, brain health and overall well-being has been established. We have sufficient proof that meditation improves stress management, sleep management, decisionmaking, emotional intelligence and relationship-building. Meditation has been shown to improve individual well-being, and this in turn positively impacts communities and society in general. With the help of Transmission, Heartfulness accelerates this process of transformation by positively altering various brainwave frequencies associated with individual consciousness.
These states of consciousness are experienced every day by all of us, and can also be measured with an encephalogram (EEG), which is a test that detects electrical activity in the brain. Our brain cells communicate via electrical impulses and are active all the time, even when we are asleep. An EEG detects changes in brain activity. Brainwaves keep changing all the time based on how fast we are thinking. The faster the thinking, the more activity in the mind, and the higher the frequency of brainwaves. For example, when children have never-ending questions, the frequency can be very high. Here is a common categorization of the different types of brainwaves:
Beta waves, 13-30 Hertz, occur when we are active in conversation and other activities.
Alpha waves, 8-12 Hertz, occur when we are relaxed, contemplative, absorbed in a beautiful piece of music or when we are starting to meditate.
In the waking states, consciousness moves outward in search of knowledge, whereas when the brainwave frequencies slow down, it indicates that we are turning inwards and moving into deeper states of consciousness. The consciousness of the dream state is between the waking and deep sleep state. It is related to the inner world, the inner realms of the mind. In the deep sleep state, consciousness gravitates towards its Source, the soul.
In research studies, meditators experience Delta frequencies, normally found during deep sleep, the dream-like Theta frequencies, the relaxed Alpha states, and high-frequency Gamma brainwaves, in patterns not normally associated with wakeful states. In fact, for yogis who meditate regularly, Gamma oscillations are found to be much more common and significantly greater in amplitude than those who do not. So the spectrum of brainwave frequencies expands in both directions as a result of meditation.
TerraBlue XT has been studying the effects of Heartfulness practices on the Autonomic Nervous System of trained practitioners, as well as on newcomers to the practices, for the last few years, using the company’s wearable medical detection device. Here are some of the findings:
“Heartfulness Meditation has a balancing effect on the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS). Our studies on experienced practitioners have shown that Heartfulness practices enable them to exert great control over their ANS, leading to a better ability to manage stress and maintain homeostasis, that is, the state of balance, for greater lengths of time.
“The ANS is ‘a component of the peripheral nervous system that regulates involuntary physiologic processes including heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, digestion, and sexual arousal. It contains three anatomically distinct divisions: sympathetic, parasympathetic and enteric.’1
“Activation of the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) leads to a state of overall elevated activity and attention, known as the ‘fight or flight’ response. The SNS is known to be the inducer of stress response in the human system. The Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS), on the other hand, promotes the ‘rest and digest’ processes, helping restore the body to a state of calm.
“Heartfulness Meditation has been shown to increase the parasympathetic tone in practitioners and decrease sympathetic activation, leading to sustained levels of calmness
“Our combined study of Heart Rate Variability (HRV) and Electrodermal Activity (EDA) provided useful insights about the physical and emotional states of individuals, especially in respect to their ANS.
“Some of the results are given here:
Even if you have never meditated in your life, when you are exposed to Heartfulness Meditation with Transmission, your consciousness expands so that your body becomes fully relaxed, while your mind has heightened awareness and perception. You are not sleeping, but you are so relaxed that it is as rejuvenating as deep sleep.
And then you learn to take this same condition out into daily life with eyes open. The day will arrive when you will carry that deep meditative state with you all the time.
The fastest response can be immediate. You do not have to wait five years or ten years or even until the next day. The effect can be felt instantaneously, right then and there. It is like sunlight; when you expose yourself to the sun, you immediately feel warm. When exposed to yogic Transmission, you may feel its effects instantly. But not all of us are the same, so some of us take longer to notice. The effects are surely there from the beginning, but it is fine if it takes longer to feel what is happening, as the process is still working in any case.
Over time, there are a few indicators of progress:
Comparison is not the only way to assess value. For example, before you can enjoy a mango, do you first sample five or six other pieces of fruit to conclude that the mango is good? No, you simply enjoy the mango. You are happy to eat it. Similarly, when your heart is convinced by your experience with a particular practice, is there a need to continue searching and comparing? We only search and compare when our hearts are not yet satisfied. When our hearts are content, we need no further proof.
At times, however, the mind requires its own confirmation. In that case, please feel free to conduct your own experiment in which you compare various approaches. It is best to adopt a systematic approach. First, meditate on your own, using a method you already know or would like to try, including Heartfulness Meditation if you wish, but do it on your own, without the assistance of a Heartfulness trainer.
You can continue experimenting in this way for as long as you like with as many methods as you like. When you feel ready to experience the effects of Heartfulness with yogic Transmission, then meditate along with a trainer. This will allow you to verify the claim that yogic Transmission is the catalyst for the transformation experienced through Heartfulness.
Along with yogic Transmission, the other Heartfulness practices are also unique and have their own special value, but despite their uniqueness it is up to you to assess that value.