Anahata Meditation - Meditation as Prayer

I found myself after a persistent urge by a friend to first meditate on the heart chakra or "Anahata meditation". 
 

The space was made to give you a sense of peace and quiet... Low lighting and mystagogic atmosphere... A large circle of pillows bounded the area where the ceremony would take place. Each cushion and one squatting (around 20) and in the centre of the circle a large heart made of lighted candles and flowers. The spectacle was amazing and beautiful!!! 

Within this area of the formed heart, there was a double pillow for someone to sit there. 

Before the ceremony, a supervisor who would guide us in the steps of the meditation explained to us the process. 

Under the accompaniment of music, one of the circle members would enter this formed area of the heart for three minutes and would sit with their palms open, ready to accept the gifts of ritual. 

The surrounding human key would send the energy of love, compassion and acceptance to the person who sat in the heart region. 

All the meaning of this meditation was revealed through her words!!! 

It was, therefore, an opening of our energy of love to a person very often unknown to us completely but ready to accept this wonderful unselfish form of connection with us the rest. 

I was really eager to start the ceremony. 

The lights dimmed, and the presence of the sweet lighting of the numerous candles seemed even more intense. 

A very deep and eerie music began to spread to space and automatically travelled to places of serenity and existential joy, in places and years perhaps also coming from past lives. 

The energy of the circle tied around us and there was a gong sound that signalled the passage of the first person from the circle to the area of the formed heart. 

Entering this place, the member of this ceremony welcomed us by bringing his hands to his heart's heart and, having said his name, he sat on the pillow with open palms. The rest of us all with his closed eyes sent the energy of life and love, each in his own way and with his own vision of the particular energy
that was transmitted to us and by the person himself. 

After three minutes, and after this energy exchange had finished, the gong sound signalled the entrance of the next member of the mediation team to the formed heart. 

Some time came my turn. With a sense of deep humility and unity with all the participants, I also entered the heart area, sat down and mentioned my name, opening my arms and palms at the same time. 

The music attached me to a memory where I had felt love as the main ingredient of my being and my fellow human beings. 

I felt we were all One and that we did not have to worry or worry about anything. I was welcoming the circle prayers for me and my life. I accepted this unselfish love that was so generously given me. 

The three minutes were a trip to Paradise that you said and held for three hours. 

When I heard the gong I opened my eyes and with immense gratitude and thanks to all the eyes of the circle, I resurfaced in the circle, having in me the peace, quietness and silence and a sense that everything is OK as it is. 

Everything is as it should be right now. 

Sitting until the end of the Anahata Meditation ceremony, I was able to understand the meaning of prayer and how it relates to meditation. 

The empty space that emerges through the observation of my mind and its motives gives way to love, gratitude for our lives. Our existence is a gift we often understand only in moments of absolute inner silence like the one I experienced in Anahata. 

As for prayer, it is not a beggar of our ego but an unselfish intention that others around us live in conditions of harmony, health and abundance. This prayer is that which empowers us and gives us a heavenly well-being, an existential joy that only comes from our midst. 

So the round of wishes and my first experience with Anahata Meditation ended. 

Then he followed a deep group meditation for a few minutes and then everyone could stand up and leave the circle whenever he felt it was the right time. 

I have been grateful since I learned about the existence of this cycle and every time it's always like the first... 
 

Konstantinos Bochtis, Yoga Teacher RYT-500