Heartfulness Course - Day 1 - Intentions

my intention for this course is to see myself more clearly, to notice when i am in heart and when and what takes me from that space of openness. I know that is often fear, fear of rejection, ridicule,
the intensity of that love that overwhelms and creates clinging, and i want to know those fears, see them, taste them and create enough space for myself that i can stay in heart even if i am fearful…just a small ask :heart:

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Beautiful!

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I desire deeply to let go of all my fear of what lies ahead. To trust, and to allow myself to feel everything, and not to let it get to the place of thinking- to be gentle and loving with my self and others.
I recently got an auto immune diagnosis, and I am trying to let myself fall into it rather than resist and sometimes I struggle a lot with acceptance of things that are very difficult.

I am so deeply honored and grateful to be here among other soul seekers it is such a beautiful connectedness, and that makes me very happy

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My morning practice is quite simple. I want the practice to be enjoyable so I keep with it, and so far it’s been working. I get up at 4:30 and without engaging with my cellphone, move to the livingroom and meditate for 30 minutes. The 30 minute mediation is usually sinking into my body, following the breath, and then lately focusing on heartfulness. After the 30 minutes, I read for about an hour, something spiritual. Now I’m reading a book called, “The Five Invitations” by Frank Ostaseski. Then at night I do Yoga Nidra (listening to the practice) and usually fall asleep while doing that yoga.

I like the morning practice because it does set the intention for the day. Not perfectly, but I’m much more present having the consistent practice. What have you been doing for practice?

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Hello my name is Tania and I live in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. I am so grateful to be on my first Ram Das course, even though I have loved and followed Ram Das for about 20 years!

My intention is bring me back to KNOWING, to REMEMBER. We are all a collective of souls. We are ONE.

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I hope to move through life in my heart space more often than in my head space. I find this relatively easy in quiet moments of reflection or meditation, but much more difficult in busy, loud and chaotic places. So I hope I can extend loving awareness to these busier places more often too.

Something that might get in the way of achieving this is a tendency for judgement of others based on my beliefs as well as a tendency to get distracted by other tasks.

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My intention is to acknowledge (again) that “grief can be the garden of compassion” which Ram Dev Dale mentioned in the class video.

Hanuman is one of my favorite guides. Ram Das, KD and Raghu are also close to my heart. Happy to be here in Heartland.

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Have you got KD’s book and CD? I learned the Chalisa with KD’s CD. It was really helpful!

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II signed up for this course so I can open my caloused heart and live my life treating myself unconditional love. I hope that by the end of the course I will embody heartfulness and know in my soul what it means to me. I hope I will have learned how to show up in my life in all dimensions with more acceptance, ease, compassion, and deep inner knowing that who I am, as I am is whole, enough, and worthy… So that what radiates and ripples into the lives of the people in my life (strangers, acquaintances, friends, etc) is heartfulness and loving kindness. What will get in the way is that I have “other things to do” or I’m “too _________” which is complete BS!! (excuses/fear)

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My intention is to move beyond my fear of being open, to merge with my soul that already knows it’s all ok, every little thing is gonna be alright to quote the great mystic Bob Marley. Despite this deep chasm i experience when I’m stuck in ego, the story line of a little boy who turned into a big man who still feels like a lost little boy who just wants acceptance and to be connected to those around him and to see love and peace in the outside instead of war and separation, etc. and I know all I truly control is the effort to get back to that place “inside”, which is the best way to have the influence I want to have and then see “outside”. Anyway, to put it simply, I want to remember to love, serve, remember to live, serve, renew, and on and on and in…spell check is hilarious and sometimes actually very deep!. Peace y’all

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That’s great, personally I would love to have a morning practice like that to start every day off right, but as it is I’m pretty horrible at getting up early :sweat_smile:

My practice has been to meditate when I have the time, usually in the evening as the day’s winding down, and to set aside a little part of my evening meal into a small offering dish that I lay before a picture of Maharaji on my prayer table.
When I had a couple weeks of downtime while I was arriving at my new duty station, I started incorporating pranayama breath work into my daily routine - I would do 3 sessions a day at 6am, 12, and 6pm and coordinate my meals so I had an empty stomach for each of those. Ultimately stopped doing that when my work schedule started to pick back up, and also because I hear it’s possible for beginners to seriously hurt themselves if they don’t know what they’re doing. Figure I’ll find a teacher first before picking that back up!

Besides this course, I’ve been tuning into Krishna Das’ kirtan livestreams on Thursdays, and listening to Ram Dass lectures during chores and while driving. Most recently I’ve been reading through Whisper In The Heart - and on that note I’ve got to say, before this book (and this course) I felt like my feelings of love and devotion toward NKB were a sort of weird private secret I was keeping… I know we all have different spiritual paths and not everyone here identifies as one of his devotees, but being amongst people who do and having the space to talk about it has really given another dimension to my faith :sparkling_heart:

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I have his book on Audible! I’ve just been using Apple Music and Youtube mostly to listen to KD. Did the CD come with lyrics? I’ve been giving it at least 1 listen per day, I figure repetition will be the most valuable tool!

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I just looked up his lyrics on other songs here: Lyrics Archive - Krishna Das

:pray:t2: :green_heart: :star_struck:

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The CD is with a book and all the words are in there. One side of the CD is KDsinging it very slowly so you can learn it verse by verse. The other side has a bunch of versions of the Chalisa. The book is Flow of Grace by Krishna Das. Available on his web site.
https://krishnadasmusic.com/collections/books/products/flow-of-grace-book-cds

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My intentions are to further enrich my connection with the heart- allowing the course teachings to show me where I am choosing to stay stuck, and then use the guidance to gently detach those cordings; centering myself in a peaceful, healing space.

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My intentions are to develop a daily Sadhana and to explore and experience Ram Dass’ teachings and to find answers to some of my own spiritual questions.

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Ohhh thank you! I was thinking of Chants of a Lifetime :joy:
That’s exactly what I need!

Hi all. I just started and listened and meditate all day yesterday and wow, I already love this course so much. My intention is to meet myself in the heart and to believe/accept that I’m just as lovable as I find others :slight_smile: I really want to rest in self love and feel the peace in the spiritual heart. Send you love.

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I signed up in the end because I felt I have lost touch a bit with this path - been more peripherally. engaged - though I have still been doing spiritual practice and connected to other teachings. So my intention in a simple sense was to reconnect with Ram Dass and his teachings. So I intend by the end to be more engaged and in tune with his energy and this community. Now that I have started it - I think my intention is self love to nourish my heart - because I have been a very hungry ghost for a long time imprinting on shadows of possible lowers and receiving little to any real nourishment. So I would love to become what I just heard RD say in the first teaching that one who stands firm in herself even when in love. Not addicted. Sanely in love with the spirit - and like a whirling dervish my joy in being love and in love is not dependent on someone loving me or any of that while then I become more like an opening that rushes out to meet everything with my big beautiful heart.

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How to love, what on one level, is unloveable in this world. I find the incredible darkness that permeates all aspects of human systems, and which continues to grow darker, difficult to love.

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