Isihast Meditation - The Prayer of the Heart

Isihast meditation is Christian, has authentic foundations and a wonderful efficiency explained at length by yogic methods.
Obviously, it’s just about principles here, because otherwise, certainly traditional yoga does not speak of Jesus Christ because when yoga appeared, the Savior had not begun his mission as Savior.

We have synthesized here the yogic method verified, compared and completed with details related to the way in which it is practiced on Athos and in some monasteries in Romania.

Prayer of the Heart Abheda variant

The Prayer of the Heart the Classic Version

The advantages of this practice are:

• Achieving a very high spiritual efficiency due to the engagement in unison of a large number of people
(the effect obtained is much greater than the sum of the individual effects)

• Purification and elevation of the spiritual ambience of our life, of our home, of our family, or even of the locality in which we live and even of the country and the planet (depending on the number of participants and their spiritual power)

• Meditation is done much easier and deeper within this collective effort, because there was spontaneous mutual support. So we have the opportunity to make important progress using this true spiritual springboard.

• It is a practice that can be achieved in the middle of life,
even if we have an activity that needs to be done in that very time frame (provided that it is an activity that does not require the use of a special mental focus – e.g. while we are at the movies, driving the car or walking, etc.).

Effects on the human being

• amplification of will and intelligence;

• living, more always, a state of calm and relaxation, even in the middle of a hectic activity;

• contributes to the achievement of bodily health and harmony;

• practical wisdom, inspiration and inner ability to always and unselfishly do good, divine intuition and spiritual inspiration manifested in any field and moment of life;

• ease in living purity and spirituality in the midst of life;

• ease in feeling “ourselves” more always;

• the fulfillment of pure desires and especially of the high ones – even without ever asking for it precisely;

• the possible difficulties of life that we have become accustomed to face sometimes will gradually disappear, being, however, replaced by other, higher and more spiritual trials;

• our inner state and the many significant coincidences that will appear abundantly in our lives will make us feel especially lucky;

• the whole life, both in the waking state and in all the other states, will be impregnated with the divine nature of the primordial state or the perfect state; we will live life with intensity, easily centered in the present moment, noticing the miracle in ourselves and in others;

• increasing at very intense levels the power to love, a state of intense affection without object; harmony and success in love;

the surrounding sparrows tend to manifest an intense love and easily fall in love with the person who successfully practiced the Prayer of the Heart;

• the appearance of an exceptional personal charisma, which can be an obstacle for the unprepared (it can generate the appearance of pride and the exacerbation of hubris) or a beneficial tool for the trained;

• physical, mental, mental, spiritual health and strength

• blurring and, then, eliminating the evil influences from our being;

• the appearance of paranormal powers (which, even if they are a temptation to fall from the spiritual path, if they will not amplify the pride and if they do not constitute a spiritual obstacle, they certify us a part of the success of the practice);

• the appearance of bright white light phenomena (the so-called taboric light) but also other intense and pure colors;

• ease and efficiency in the realization of any practices, regardless of the authentic spiritual path to which they belong;

• the awakening of the soul, followed in the higher stages by the revelation of the Self or the divine spark within us;

• an ever-deeper identification with the spiritual archetype of Jesus Christ;

• the deification of being.

Practical method

1. A meditation posture is approached, even on the chair, with palms facing face down on the knees.

2. A better interiorization is achieved, removing our attention from the information that comes to us from the sense organs and from the subtle perceptions;
attention should be focused on the area in the middle of the chest, inside the physical body;
We refer to the most concrete existence of the living Christ in us, intuiting Him as a special personal and energetic presence, miraculous, at the level of the subtle space of the Heart.
(images of Jesus Christ crucified are not as effective);
it is good for it to remain as a background attitude throughout the practice.

3. We say “Lord Jesus Christ…“, we inspire with the mental utterance,
we consciously relate more intensely to the Space of the Heart, and we can even make a more intense relation to the living presence of Jesus in our Heart; we grasp the special quality of the inspired air, which we associate with the subtle nature of Jesus Christ;

4. We achieve a full retention of the breath (we retain our breathing with the lungs filled with air), of a natural duration, so without forcing.

5. We exhale, saying, at the same time, “have mercy on me.”
From the perspective of Abheda Yoga, it is much better to say “give me your supreme grace”.

6. We become aware of a very pure, luminous and very high energetic outpouring, which floods our entire being with a special state, corresponding to the presence of the energy of the Christ plan in our being, and which accumulates mainly at the level of the Spiritual Heart.

7. The breath becomes slower and, in the end, it becomes very subtle, almost imperceptible and our role is to accept this paranormal aspect, not to resist breathing vigorously.

We can leave the rhythm of breathing (when we feel the need), by performing the prayer faster than this one and by becoming aware of the two main times without a special effort.

We can then give up even the longer utterance by addressing only the mental utterance of the name of Jesus.

In the advanced stages of practice it is no longer necessary to speak the prayer mentally, it “flows into the heart” as if it were still uttered on a very subtle level.

THE FUNDAMENTAL STAGE – the famous “ORA ET LABORA”

We can continue the process in the waking state, in everyday life, in all the activities in which we do not need a special concentration or it is not necessary to maintain a mental process to solve a problem.
Of course, it is not the case to do this during activities that require special attention and which are also characterized, possibly, by a certain degree of dangerousness.