I want to offer you a technique, a simple one for you to use to help to open your heart to life, love and all those other things that from time to time we tend to close ourselves off from.

This technique guides you into a deeper awareness of your own heart. Using a range of different applications throughout this technique, the aim is to increase awareness and energy in the heart. The idea is that this increased energy makes us feel secure and safe within ourselves and not needing to close off, hide or protect our heart from life in any way.

Ok, so simple follow these simple steps:

Step One: Get your body in a comfortable position and in a place where you are going to be undisturbed. Take a slightly deeper breath and hold it in for a couple of seconds, then as you let it out, let it nice and slowly and allow your eyes to close at the same time.

The idea in step one is to get your mind and body into a receptive state. Of course, I recommend you go read my book on Self-Hypnosis for the best way to do this. Alternatively, use whatever trance inducing method, relaxation method or mediation technique that you prefer.

Let your body relax, imagine the muscles softening. Engage in the moment - by that I mean that you notice your thoughts, notice what you are seeing in your mind, notice what sounds you are hearing and the various sensations in your body. Keep breathing nice and gently and slowly and allow your body's natural systems to trigger the relaxation mode within you. Take as much time as you feel is necessary to get yourself really nice and relaxed and in a receptive state of mind.

Step Two: With each breath that you breathe in, imagine that you are breathing directly into the centre of your heart. As unusual as this may sound, imagine that you are breathing into the area right in the middle of your chest. As you breathe in, really connect and tune in to that breath and feel your breath come directly into your heart.

Begin to feedback to yourself. By that, I mean you tell yourself, using your internal dialogue what the first thing is that you are aware of as the breath comes into the heart? Advise yourself of what it is that you actually feel. Let yourself know consciously what you notice as the breath comes into the heart? Just continue to tune into your breath, and as you do become more and more aware of your heart, connect with it.

Step Three: As you breathe in, imagine that you are breathing in a light of your favourite colour, maybe a golden glowing colour or a colour that you feel safe with and that resonates well with you. With each breath that you inhale, experience, sense and imagine that light coming into your chest. Imagine creating a reservoir of this light in your chest area.

With your conscious mind, continue to follow this light in with each breath and feel it come all the way into your heart. Feel, imagine and sense your chest beginning to fill with light. Imagine that the light is just right for you, the right feeling, the right temperature, feeling safe, comfortable and secure in whatever way is best for you. Just spend some time very gently, filling your chest with this wonderful pleasing light.

Trust your unconscious mind here. Imagine and trust that this light has all the healing knowledge and wisdom of your unconscious mind within it. So, as the light comes into your chest there is a sense of a healing touch upon your heart.

As you become more aware of your heart, really tuning in to it, you may also become aware of places in your heart that are protected, closed, or wounded.

While you are breathing in that light, you can allow yourself to become aware of places in the heart that may be closed. We all tend to have places of armoring in and around the heart, places that seem to shy away from the light as it enters. Be aware of any of these places that seem tight and be aware if there are none.

As babies, we came into this life totally open, totally vulnerable, and totally alive. Your body and mind have experienced being open before.

Throughout our lives, for whatever reasons, these innocent trusting hearts of our much younger selves had experiences that maybe taught us to fear or to close down. You might find that you remember some of these experiences that taught your heart to protect itself; that made you in some way feel like the world was not safe for an open heart. If so, just let those thoughts come and go naturally without lingering on them, just let your mind process them without you giving them too much thought.

Step Four: Continue, as we have done throughout this exercise, to breathe into your heart. Breathe in that lovely light. As you breathe in, be aware of some of the armoring, for the heart carries with it the memories of a lifetime.

Let the light continue to illuminate any places of darkness, of tightness, of numbness or anywhere that might be closed. Keep breathing gently.

Whatever you experience or see just let it happen and let it pass without conscious involvement. Now trust yourself and let your own heart now reveal to you some place in your heart where healing is needed. Let your own heart show you this place and know you are available for healing in your heart. Trust the wisdom of your own heart and let it show you this place. As you breathe in, breathe right into this place in your heart.

Step Five: As you continue all the time breathing into your heart with the light, be aware of any ways in which your heart may have given up, any ways in which your heart may have shut down or closed down in order to protect itself. You see, in opening your heart to love, you must open your heart up to all of life, and in doing so you must be willing to take risks. Sometimes you may experience pain and disappointment. This is something that when you choose to accept it and no longer fear it, allows you to experience such liberation and allow you to get so much more from your regular experience of life - without an open heart, the richly rewarding things happening in my life would not be anywhere near as amazing as they are.

You could end this exercise there and proceed to step seven. However, if you really want to take this to another level, follow this additional step.

Step Six: Now in your mind, allow an image to arrive. Place in your mind an imagine of the face of a person who in this lifetime - past or present - has been a great teacher of the heart, maybe a person living or dead from whom you have been able to receive love. See their face now sitting just a few feet in front of you. In your imagination, look up and you see their eyes looking into your eyes and remember what it feels like to be seen by these eyes that loved you in this way. As you breathe in, feel their presence right here with you in the place you are in and remember what it feels like to be in the presence of this person who loved you in this way.

Now begin speaking to them. Speak out from your heart; holding nothing back. Tell them what is in your heart at this very moment; feel their presence there with you and let the words flow out of your heart like a river. Speak to them and say whatever is true and present in your heart at this moment. As you listen now, you can hear their voice. Remember the sound of that voice. They are speaking to you. They have come today to bring an important message... a message that your heart needs to hear. Listen and receive the message and take this message right into your heart.

Now you see that this face is being joined by other faces, one by one, lots of faces of people of this lifetime, past and present, living and dead, who have loved you, who have been a part of the fabric of your heart and your life. They are all joining you now. You see their faces begin to appear one by one.

You may receive these messages and bring them into your heart, and there will be some to whom you may wish to say things from your heart. You speak these words to their faces as they appear.

Imagine that these beings gather in a circle around you. They form a circle of love, a circle of healing, and some of them reach down their hands to touch you and you feel surrounded and held by their love. Then, you could even imagine one or more of these beings begin cradling you, cradling you and rocking you and feel yourself being held, nurtured and reassured.

Step Seven: Finally then, in your imagination, see an image of your own heart at this moment. Feel your heart. Breathe into your heart. Breathe light into your heart. Let your own heart speak to you now. Receive the wisdom of your own heart. It may be in words. It may be a feeling. Open and receive the wisdom of your heart. Imagine that your heart is open and truly feel the fullness of your being.

Whenever you feel you are ready to do so, you then just open your eyes and allow yourself to be relaxed and become aware of your surroundings and go about your day and your life with an open heart and feel how wonderful it feels. Really take some time out to invest in yourself and open your heart to love, life and the world around you and really notice what a difference in makes to every aspect of your life.



Adam Eason is a UK based, renowned consultant, speaker and best-selling author. Please visit his website for a vast range of personal development resources and to receive your amazing free, instantly downloadable hypnosis session for ultimate relaxation and the sensational free ebook 'The Happy Brain Manual' filled with techniques, tips and strategies to make more of your brain: http://www.adam-eason.com Thank you.