The practice of recollecting and extending goodwill establishes stability of heart. Bring to mind your allies, warming the heart in response to the inferred hostility it experiences. Repel the ill-will knowing there is something beautiful here to be protected.
Practice with the gradual extension of the heart. Extend it in terms of goodwill. Include difficult places without withdrawal of warmth, regard or empathy. Without shutting down, allow things to be as they are. Remain open, extend from the center.
Relationship between manas and citta; excessive sexual images; what is the subtle body; breath as prana/breath of life; heart qualities that shift perception to vitality; opening energy centers; does energy discharge in standing meditation; working with psychological and emotional pain; resentment and anger arise when practicing at home; unlearning addiction to the clock.
Beginning at the abdomen – the center of the body, the energy center – use a combination of awareness and breathing to open, relax and release areas of the body.
The floods that wash over citta – floods of sensuality, kamma and unknowing – make it unstable, causing it to constantly search outside of itself for an anchor. The training is for citta to sit back in itself – remain embodied and use the tools within its range to gain strength and weaken the underlying programs.
In puja we align ourselves to the sacred. It gives our hearts a sense of purpose. Recollection of values and virtues are uplifted and sustained, giving rise to sappurisa – a person of integrity whose actions are for the welfare of all.