Returning to the Heart
Over the New Year, I sat a ten-day meditation retreat at IMS in Barre, MA called Embodying the Heart of Wisdom. One thing I came away with was a renewed awareness of how fractured my attention has become—something I’m pretty much always reminded of on retreat. During those days of silence, absent of phones and technology, my mind widens and my attention regains its dignity.
I find that when my attention is fragmented—when I’m living in my head, zipping from one idea to the next, doom-scrolling, or spending too much time aimlessly distracted on screens—I become a much less appealing version of myself.
I’m less present, less compassionate, less thoughtful with my loved ones. My nervous system moves into overwhelm, anxiety, and freeze.
I’m also less effective—my actions become chaotic, like I’m running around with my head cut off in a winding labyrinth that doesn’t actually lead anywhere.
Right now, I’m reading How to Break Up With Your Phone, which has been illuminating the impacts our devices have on our attention, brains, and overall health. It’s both startling and motivating. I feel a growing desire to reclaim my attention, because attention is powerful—and I want more agency over the direction of my own mind.
Most of us spend a large—sometimes excessive—amount of time on our phones and computers, switching rapidly between apps, searching the internet, and scrolling on social media.
Often we turn to our screens when what we might actually be needing is a pause, a moment of self-connection, or connection with others.
We may be looking for self-soothing or a hit of dopamine that offers a brief sense of relief, but more often than not leaves us feeling disconnected and even further from happiness. We get caught in a perpetual state of mindless distraction.
This state of mindfulness distraction breeds disembodiment.
What would it be like to instead turn towards our bodies, our hearts, and each other for resourcing?
Connecting with the Heart
In Buddhism, there’s the concept of the “boundless heart”—an energetic heart field that can meet the moment with kindness, compassion, equanimity, and joy.
The heart is not just a symbol of love. It’s a physical organ, beating rhythmically, moving blood through the body, connecting every system. It is also a powerful energetic field that syncs up with other hearts around us.
When we return to the heart, we return to warmth, sensation, vulnerability, and aliveness. We remember that we are not only thinkers or vision-holders—we are animals with bodies that need touch, rest, safety, and care.
Connecting with the heart can guide us back into presence and relationship.
A simple practice you might try is sitting quietly and placing a hand over your heart. Let your heart know that you’re here, listening. Notice any sensations that arise. Continue to breathe. Whatever you notice, extend a gentle welcome—perhaps silently saying, I welcome this.
Keeping your attention with your heart, you might ask, What do you need from me? Notice what sensations, images, or words emerge. This practice invites you to turn toward what’s actually here—which is powerful, especially since we so often try to distract ourselves from what’s happening inside.
Your truest power lives within your own body—in your heart, in your attention. Mindfulness and embodiment practices help us return to presence, allowing compassion, creativity, curiosity, and joy to move more freely through our lives.
The Embodied Path
In my three month coaching container, The Embodied Path, part of what we explore is creating the ability to turn towards our own experiences and to meet ourselves with compassion and presence.
This helps with all sorts of things such as
cultivating more self trust
getting out of destructive habit patterns
Creating less emotional reactivity which improves our health and the health of our relationships
Navigating the challenges of anxiety and grief
Finding more clarity in our day to day lives
The Embodied Path begins in March and includes 1:1 75 online sessions, support in between appointments, and a monthly group call which will include somatic resourcing, tools for reflection and intention setting, and connection with others on the healing path.
