8. Alchemy of the Heart – Lesson 8
Entering the Heart
Overview of Lesson 8 for Children Ages 3-6
- Your heart is the open door between heaven and earth.
- Your heart is the most important energy center in your body.
- Your physical heart pumps blood to nourish your body and your spiritual heart pumps light to nourish you.
- Deep in your spiritual heart is a secret chamber, where the spark of God lives.
SUGGESTED MUSIC: The harp is associated with the energy center of the heart, so harp music is recommended. For the meditation, you can use the largo movement of any of the well-known classical pieces.
CHAPTER: Entering the Heart.
MATERIALS:
- CD and the largo movements of classical music (optional)
- Chart of Your Divine Self
- Paper and colored pencils, crayons or paints
- Clay or papier-mâché if desired
- Pictures of tropical islands
- Real or costume jewels and crystals
- Pink felt cut into the shape of a heart, to be hung around your child’s neck with yarn (If you have a color printer, you may print the heart shown in the lessons and glue it to the felt.)
Lesson:
You can feel God’s presence when you meditate in your heart. When you go into your heart you meet your real self, and you become a new person. The only difference between the light in your heart and the light in the heart of a saint or a master is its size and intensity. We are all made of the exact same light of God, the same sacred fire.
We are going to do a meditation where we stop thinking about what is going on in the world and start to experience the light in our hearts.
Activity 1: Meditation
Many children enjoy meditation. It is generally easy for them to visualize what you describe and when they are in a receptive mood, they may remain fully attentive for many minutes. You will give your child some basic instruction and then lead her in a meditation that comes from ancient Sanskrit texts, adapted for children from “Meditation in the Island of the Heart” from Alchemy of the Heart.
As you slowly and carefully read this meditation aloud, use a soft and gentle voice. You may play soft classical music in the background to help calm and relax your child. The largo movements are most in harmony with the rhythms of the heart.
Children enjoy props that help them fully engage. You might begin with pictures of tropical islands and real or costume jewels for them to examine and handle, and show the images below. Have a picture of the Chart of Your Divine Self to initiate the meditation.
We are going to imagine we are going to visit an imaginary island in your heart. Here is a picture of a beautiful island to help you get in the mood.
Your island is going to be made of crystals, like these:
Let’s get comfortable and take a few deep breaths. We begin by looking at the chart of Your Divine Self that we saw in our last lesson.
Close your eyes and imagine your tube of light all around you and then see the flame in your heart. It is a beautiful flame spark of God that brings the love, the wisdom and the power of God into you. We are going to go into our hearts.
See the island, in the midst of a shimmering blue sea. This beautiful island is inside your heart, a place you can go whenever you want to feel its calm beauty. The island is shining with crystals. Instead of the ground we usually see, the island is covered in brilliant green emeralds, clear diamonds of white and yellow, blue sapphires and red rubies. You can smell heavenly scents from flowering trees.
You are arriving at this island and beginning to walk on its sand. You can see the pink sand and hear it crunching beneath your feet. You can hear the soft sound of the waves upon the shore. The sun is warm on your shoulders as you walk into the lush tropical trees and flowers of many delicate colors. The flowers smell like roses and carnations. Colorful birds perch on the branches of the trees. They are singing songs you have never heard before – songs of heaven that make your spirit sing.
As you walk onto the island you see a hill ahead that leads to the center of the island. You feel surrounded by love and comfort as you walk toward the hill.
At the top of the hill you see a beautiful carved gold, jeweled throne.
A soft velvet cushion rests upon the throne. You see the blue sky and the trees in the background.
As we see this beauteous throne, we pray:
O Lord my God,
Come and talk and walk with me
In this my paradise garden
My island in the sea!
Our Lord, the living Christ, comes to sit upon the throne. Feel the love of Jesus Christ fill your entire being as you see him there, at home in your own heart.
Allow your child to remain in the mediation as long as he is still and involved. When you see your child move or open his eyes, it is time to close your session with a prayer.
Activity 2: Saying a Prayer after Your Meditation
When we finish our mediation we are so drenched with light,
it is an especially good time to offer a prayer to God.
Offer the prayer of your choice.
Activity 3: Make an Island in the Sea
Provide materials for a drawing, a painting or a three-dimensional diorama of your child’s island in the sea.