Heartbeat
Meditation
By Amy Martin
(This is done to the
accompaniment of a slow heartbeat pattern on a
buffalo drum. One person - if they're
co-ordinated! - can do both drumming and
speaking, or it can be shared. Others can drum
along, pat their legs or chant softly, mimicking
the heartbeat sound. Start and end the
meditation with 30 seconds or so of
drumming.)
This is the sound of
your heart, that muscular pump that resides deep
in your chest, moving the life force of blood
and oxygen throughout all of your body. It is
the sound of life. When the sufi dances, when
the Jew and Moslem touch their foreheads to the
floor in prayer, it is to hear in the rushing of
their blood the rhythm of their heart, the drum
of their body. This is your
heartbeat.
But it's more than that.
This is your mother's heartbeat. It is the very
first sound you heard. Even before you had ears
to hear, you felt this rhythm. When you were
just a developing mass of cells in your mother's
body, this vibration was imprinted on each and
every one. It is the gift all mothers, whatever
kind of mother they are, give to us. This
elemental imprint, this essential pattern, is
the core of our lives. This is your mother's
heartbeat.
But it's even more than
that. This is yours and your mother's heartbeat.
Think of the moment when your heart finally
formed, that moment it first began to beat.
Though tiny and fast like a hummingbird's heart,
it began to pulse in sync with your mother's.
Her heart, your heart, beat as one, and they
beat in sync still. This is your's and your
mother's heartbeat.
And it's more than that
still. This is your heartbeat, your mother's
heartbeat, your grandmother's heartbeat, your
grandmother's grandmother's heartbeat, and so on
and so on, all the way back to the heartbeat of
the mother goddess. All these hearts beat as
one. This heartbeat has never stopped; this
heartbeat will never stop. And should your heart
ever weary under the weight of its burden, know
that these hearts beat with you always in the
rhythm of life.
Amy Martin is a women's
activist; she hosts a Women's New Moon Circle,
co-leads the Diana Drummers and operates the
Goddess List email service. She lives in Dallas.
She can be reached at
moonlady@onramp.net
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