Philosophy & Teachings at Heartcentre

Our philosophy is one of unity.

We welcome people from all paths and lifestyles, celebrating the differences between us and honouring the unique gifts that each person has to offer this world.

Our ideal is to be of service to humanity

through assisting people to live with passion, joy and congruence; through teaching how to receive and give love more deeply; through helping people find meaning and purpose in both the gifts and the challenges on their path.  And teaching people how to meditate and find that still point within where one can replenish and anchor oneself, and experience the pure peace and loving presence of the inner landscape.

Heartcentre’s spiritual work is focused on the formlessness of truth

and the development and awakening of the heart. Heartcentre’s philosophy is enlightening. We use a universal language which is free of dogma and is gender-inclusive.  We offer a broad selection of ideas and practices, and encourage people to only take to heart that which sits well within.

The integration of spiritual values

is central to our philosophy: the continuous clearing and healing of one’s heart so that the qualities of love can not only fill our own being but flow into this world through acts of kindness, generosity, compassion, forgiveness, service and gratitude. Rumi’s enlightening words, ‘Our task is not to seek love, but merely to seek and clear, all the barriers within ourselves that we have built against Love Itself’, expresses so perfectly the importance of the inner work necessary to keep ourselves as clear as possible as we travel this path of love with all its challenges and gifts and wonder.

In our Groups and Retreats, we draw deeply on Rumi and the Sufi poets.

Sharing, studying and discussing the extraordinary depth, insight and meaning in the poems and teachings has great relevance on one’s spiritual path. Mystical poetry has a way of speaking directly to one’s soul and the truth is recognised not only through one’s mind but also through one’s direct experience of the transmission.

Our experience is that as we create more peace and love within ourselves,

we are more able to give and transform this world which is in need of our love, and that spiritual practice is a key to maintaining the inner balance and reserves required to be able to give our love in action.

When we absorb the teachings from the Wise Ones

into the depths of our being, integrate them and give birth to them through the expression of our passionate hearts in daily life, and in our service to humanity, the purpose of our lives is fulfilled.

Heartcentre Teachings

Our Friend in Spirit

Since time began the Wise Ones have poured the guiding light of their wisdom and love, from the Unseen, into this world. This inspiration can manifest in various ways and be expressed in many forms.  In 1988 we had been praying for guidance through a very challenging time, spiritually, and received the most unexpected response from an unseen teacher, in the Sufi lineage, whom we began to call Our Friend – Our Friend in Spirit.  For a long this was a private experience where Our Friend answered our questions and guided us in a way that always led us back to our hearts and the inner resourcefulness of our own spirits. After much preparation there came a time when we both felt ready to share Our Friend’s wisdom and gentle guidance beyond ourselves.

Whilst Susan is in deep meditation she is able to open herself to the specific vibration of Our Friend and transmit the beautiful and inspiring guidance and teachings which have formed the spiritual foundation of Heartcentre.  Our Friend’s transmission is deep and practical, free of dogma, gender inclusive, and is filled with the vibration of unconditional love.  She is a true Friend on the path – her wisdom is universal and applicable no matter what path you may be on. Decades later our gratitude continues to deepen as we find ways to integrate the message into our daily spiritual practice and lives. Our Friend teaches on a particular theme in each of our Retreats and after the teaching answers questions from participants.

A collection of her inspiring sayings are contained in a beautiful book, Pearls from the Ocean of Love.  This book is a profound source of wisdom, love and practical guidance and can be used as an oracle, or to dip into whenever you need some spiritual sustenance.  These teachings and guidance help to awaken that divine spark within; help to strengthen the path that you are on; inspire you to see the essential equality of all human beings and religions; and help you to deepen your understanding of love – inviting you to integrate love it into every aspect of your life.

Practical Spirituality

A short Teaching from a Day of Renewal at Heartcentre

It is so important to be with others who are wanting to live a spiritually conscious life, a meeting place like this which is soothing to one’s being, and inspiring to one’s mind, and consoling to one’s heart.  Because the essence of the vibration of the One is that of love – manifested in loving kindness and compassion, it is necessary to have an awareness of how to actually receive this vibration into your being.  It is one thing to know this in your mind, but it is another thing to experience Divine Love through your whole being.  This requires a deepening of your receptivity, and a broadening of your understanding of how the Source of Love manifests through the whole of Creation.

 

In your quieter moments you can calm your mind and be aware of the embrace of Presence.  Sometimes in the silence it is easier to hear the inner voice, and sometimes in your quieter moments you can feel the Presence of Love.  You may want to visualise it as an embracing energy behind your heart that you lean back into.  Or you may visualise it as an energy beneath you that supports you and sustains you.  Or you may visualise it as the dynamic space around your being bringing a sparkling, effervescent, healing vibration to you.

 

It helps to have an awareness of where or what in you is particularly needing that healing energy because then you can focus it like a magnifying glass, you focus Divine Light on that grief or physical discomfort – wherever the call or need is coming from.  And then allow some space for the response.  And then allow some more space for a deeper response.  And when you let yourself go to that next level of depth, of surrender, of receptivity, of openness, you will find that the oneness that you can experience is in fact an embodiment of the Divine within you!  And at this point there is something mysterious and marvellous that can happen because even if only for a moment there is a complete dissolving of all the constriction that goes with the pain of life – because your whole being is flooded in light, is flooded with healing – just for a moment you are free.  Then you have the opportunity to bring this fragrance of Love with you into your interactions with others, into the way that you think and relate to yourself.  When you’ve had an experience of absolute receptivity and surrender, something awakens within you that longs to have more of that experience.

 

So allow your heart to be awakened at that deeper level to its greatest need, its need to experience total oneness with the Source of Love Itself, and to then see that manifested in every detail of your life.  And then there is no separation because everything that you are looking at is the One – there is just One.

 

One naturally then has an inclination to be expressing this love through one’s being into one’s world, and whether you have a small sphere of influence or a large sphere of influence it cannot be quantified because all you have is your particular openness to the vibration of Love and your opportunity to maximise the expression of that in your world,  so any judgment of small or large becomes irrelevant.  The only question is being true to one’s self and doing the inner work that allows for a clear flow of love through your being into your world, your families, networks, neighbourhoods, country, world, planet – it all starts with One … and it finishes with One.

 

May you experience the great Unity of Love now, and forevermore.

Our Friend in Spirit ~ Heartcentre

Sufi Poetry

At Heartcentre we draw on the wisdom of the Sufi mystics and their glorious poetry that guides us, with such clarity and evocative imagery, to the deepest heart space where truth beyond all forms is recognised and absorbed.

It is a great passion of Susan’s to read, study and absorb the wondrous message and illuminating teachings that Rumi offers us through his extraordinary insights and experience.  Georgia has also recorded many of the songs she has written to Rumi’s words as well as other great Mystic.

 

WHAT A BLESSING

*Song recorded on ‘In the Garden of Flames’

Words of Mevlana Jalal’ud’Din Rumi 1207 – 1273.
Translation by Andrew Harvey ‘The Way of Passion’.

Don’t hide.  The sight of your face is a blessing.
Wherever you place your foot, there rests a blessing.
The Belovéd has come with love to our door, this knock is a blessing.
We go from house to house – seeking, any answer’s a blessing.
The leaf of every tree brings a message from the unseen
Look, every falling leaf is a blessing.
Once the seed of faith takes root it cannot be blown away
Even by the strongest wind – that’s a blessing.
I bow to You, for the dust of your Feet, is the crown on my head
And as I walk towards you, every step I take is a blessing.

Every vision born of earth is fleeting
Every vision born of heaven is a blessing.
The heart can’t wait to speak of this ecstasy
The soul is kissing the earth, saying oh Belovéd, what a blessing!

Fill me with the wine of your silence, let it soak my every pore
For the inner splendour it reveals is a blessing, is a blessing.

 

Rumi is considered to be the greatest mystical poet of humankind.  His outpouring of divine teachings flowed from his heart broken open by the passion of love.  Rumi gives us a poetic map for the journey.  Andrew Harvey says:  “The work of Rumi has the sacred power to initiate directly, that can only come from someone who is not only burnt away in the fire of Love but has become that Fire”.