Author's Review

This book is about the heart, both the poetic heart that is the instrument of deep feeling and the physical heart that synchronizes all the cells of your body to a common beat. The development of the heart is the great goal of life, both a practical goal and a spiritual goal. Everyone is attracted by the heart of another; the heart is the agent of creativity and the source of inspiration; the rhythm of the heart is the key to physical, mental and emotional health. Although everyone aspires to living from their heart, it isn't clear what this means, and there seems to be no method for learning it. This book describes a model of heart-centered life and a method for attaining it.

The principle that the book unfolds is that concentration on the physical heart leads to awareness of the poetic heart, and that leads to a higher quality of life. When one is aware of the beating of the heart in the chest, and the echoes of pulse throughout the body, the foundation for the discovery of the heart's magnetic field is laid. The heart has a measurable magnetic field, extending for at least several yards in all directions, according to the sensitivity of the instruments of today, and the whole field pulsates with the heart beat. Actually, the magnetic field of the heart has no boundary, and our fields interact with the fields of all those around us, all the time. Thus the magnetic field is both a metaphor for the poetic heart and a physical reality.

The sense of the heart's magnetism can be developed by the simple breathing techniques given here. This is not a book of philosophy; it's an instruction workbook that teaches a method, called "Heart Rhythm Practice," to bring about a more heart-centered life. Avoiding platitudes about what you "should" do, the book lays out, step-by-step in great detail, a method that you can learn and practice to achieve tangible and practical results that improve your health, relationships and achievements. You already know about the wonders of the heart: courage, compassion, joy, love and peace. What you perhaps do not know is how to access the heart easily, naturally and reliably. One needs a method.

Learning Heart Rhythm Practice is about as hard as learning how to swim, and at least as enjoyable. Some people do learn to "swim" without any instruction and without following any method. They are the ones with the hearts we admire whenever we meet them. For the rest of us, living from the heart is something to be learned, a further development beyond adult maturity. Learning to swim gives you access to a new mode of living in harmony with water. Heart Rhythm Practice has that same excitement that swimming lessons had, and the result is also a life-long skill that you'll enjoy whenever you want and never lose.

A section at the end of the book shows how to establish a Heart Rhythm Practice group to share discoveries, give encouragement, and celebrate the results of living from the heart. I wish I had found a book like this 25 years ago, when I was learning meditation. I studied under the guidance of a master Sufi teacher, Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, in a time when the methodology was a privileged secret, revealed but never written down. Now the time has come for the secrets to get out -- the power of the heart is so wonderful, so great, and so needed that the benefits far outweigh the risks of misappropriation.

The format of the book is unusual, and people have said it seems very friendly. There are five kinds of paragraphs that are intertwined throughout the book. First is my text, printed plainly. The many stories are shaded so they stand out from the text and you can easily find them or skip them. Borders offset the actual instructions for Heart Rhythm Practice so you can jump from one instruction to the next to form a sequence for meditation. None of these instructions are original. They are well-worn techniques, as illustrated by the fourth kind of paragraph, the quotes in Italics from some of those who have explored the human depths and heights before us. And fifth, there are occasional milestones by which you can self-assess your progress. If you can do what's described there, you've learned the steps so far. Just the milestones themselves form an interesting description of the path of the heart.

I think meditation is the most worthwhile thing you can learn. I'd love to hear from you about your problems with it, your discoveries, and your application of the power of the heart. The best way to contact me is by [an error occurred while processing this directive] e-mail.

I hope you enjoy the book.

Puran Bair

Praise for
"Living from the Heart"

"Living From the Heart is a river, exquisitely gentle. It carries the tremendous blessing brought to consciousness by those heart-masters that are sometimes called Sufis. I'll be going back to it again and again for a long time."
--Coleman Barks, translator of "The Essential Rumi"

"Puran helped me open the doorway to my unconscious power through Heart Rhythm Practice. Daily, I use that power in meetings and all my business affairs. My successes have flowed from my heart. Yours can, too."
-- John Humphrey, 1998 Chairman, American Society for Training and Development and Founder of the Forum Corporation

"Here is a spiritual method that addresses the reality of day-to-day challenges by opening up new perspectives for people in our time and culture, unleashing the valuable potential that lies in wait within us."
--Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, Noted Sufi Teacher and author of "The Message in our Time"

"It is wonderful to find a meditation as simple and as universal as the Heart Rhythm Method. Following the clear guidance of the Sufi saints, Puran Bair offers us a way to remember and reclaim our essential unity with God, with the planet, and with each other. This is a much needed gift to the world."
--Rabbi Rami M. Shapiro, author of "Minyan: Ten Principles for Living Life with Integrity"

"The author captures the essence of spiritual healing through prayer and meditation in this insightful work adapted from Sufi mystics, but able to be used by people of all religious persuasions. I would gladly recommend this book to anyone interested in tapping their inner source of power through the practicing of heartfelt prayer."
--Ron Roth, author of "The Healing Path of Prayer"

"Living from the Heart is both a down-to-earth guide to using meditation as the valuable tool in everyday life and an inspiring expression of profound mystical truths. Puran Bair has long experience in helping people bring his unique meditative techniques into their lives, and the details of their experiences give this book a solid ground underneath its brilliant analysis of the ways of spiritual development. This is a rare and important book."
--Luke Rhinehart, author of "The Dice Man", "Long Voyage Back" and "The Book of EST"

For anyone interested in meditation or handling stress more successfully, Bair provides a manual. Without sacrificing the intricacies of Eastern philosophy, Bair deftly presents the ancient practice of meditation as a modern tool for coping with life's tribulations and makes meditation more accessible by showing that a person doesn't have to retreat to a mountain top or a meditation center to enjoy meditation's benefits.

Living from the Heart introduces an innovative, Sufi-based meditation method for improving daily life. Through becoming mindful of the heartbeat readers will be able to create a deep state of stillness and alertness, improve physical health, enhance intuition, and concentrate personal power. Bair illustrates the effectiveness of his program with stories of clients he has helped and with ancient teaching stories from the Sufi masters. Heart Rhythm Meditation is suitable for beginners as well as experienced meditators looking to expand their practice.
--"Publisher's Weekly"