I Heart Meditation

A half-hour meditation on moving from fear to inspiration. 

John Happel gives a meditation that tunes us to the basic steps of Heart Rhythm Meditation and using them as a tool to address some of the obstacles we face in achieving success in life.

A powerful meditation on the four elements, Earth, Water, Fire and Air and the element that underlies all things, Ether. In this 25 minute meditation Susanna Bair gives an excellent example of some of the most basic and useful tools in Heart Rhythm Meditation.

Puran Bair guides a meditation on the fire element and feeling the call of your purpose.

Susanna talks about how an individual can rise with purpose and how purpose relates to the whole.

Meditation with Susanna Bair - The Qualities of Earth

Susanna Bair gives a 10 minute meditation the will help you embody and experience the qualities of earth.

Susanna Bair leads a shorter meditation for those who have never meditated on their heart, which culminates in an experience of the heart.

How can we dicern the true murmurings of our heart's guidance as opposed to acting from a place of fear, wounding or of protecting ourselves?

A question from the community inspires a meditation on the question.

Susanna Bair leads a meditation on the Divine Feminine using the Four Element Breaths in ascending order. In the Earth Element we experience Healing Energy, Creativity with the Water Element, Courage with Fire, and Clarity through the Air Breath.  Susanna helps us to connect with our unique feminine purpose and power through this 30 minute practice.

Meditation is more IN than ever, and rightfully so.  Relaxation and restoration, in a sense, have become quite "counter-culture."  But Heart Rhythm Meditation is not only restorative and soothing, but also strengthening and empowering.  It's for this reason among the many forms of meditation out there, we begin process of focusing an entire podcast on this practice.

It's common knowledge that meditation (generally speaking) is a power tool for self-development, but why is this and why is learning it such an uphill climb for so many people? What's going on there? What does sitting still have to do with developing yourself? Can't one just go running or get into the zone somehow else? Puran and Susanna Bair, masters of Heart Rhythm Meditation, illuminate these questions and help to set the stage for anyone considering making meditation a tool they can rely on to support their life aspirations.

In "shopping around" for a meditation practice, they explain, one should not only consider the short term effects, but also the long-term results.  What can one become?  They explain how integrating a powerful breath with the heart can have the most profound of effects on one's sense of self and mission in life. 

Go to our podcast page for the episode notes.

If you enjoyed this discussion, CLICK HERE for a 10-minute guided practice from Susanna.

In this guided meditation from Susanna Bair, she helps you to establish the first basic tools for Heart Rhythm Meditation: 1) Posture 2) Conscious Breath 3) Rhythmic Breath.  She'll help you to visualize your breath as a stem and become firmly rooted in your body.  She invites you to search for you heartbeat and bring your heart to the front of your attention.

"You want to make your breath your closest friend in life," she says.

This meditation recording occurred in July of 2016, as the opening meditation 2016's two-week long residency intensive of the iamU - iamHeart's two year long intensive meditation studies program. 

Seeking the truth, especially in a world saturated by a divisive media, can be tricky.  Seeking the truth about what's going, even with a keen intellect, will only carry one so far. 

Puran Bair, chancellor of IAM-University and iamHeart co-founder, speaks aptly about seeking the truth in this speech given as a commencement address to the IAM-U class of 2016:

"It 's difficult for us to get a sense of what 's really going on because it 's fed to us through something called a media - which means something in between us and what 's going on, right? A medium. So we ‘re actually reacting to the presentation rather than through reality of the events."

The solution he offers lies within the techniques of heart-rhythm meditation and specifically in a practice called "Contemplation", where you learn to connect with the hearts of others in a way that the intellect can't reach.  The hidden potential in others and in ourselves does not need a medium. You experience that person or situation direction.  By opening our heart, connecting to the hearts of others, we reconnect to something much more universal.  Something is revealed that wasn't evident before.

Join Susanna Bair in a longer meditation that explores the subtle realms within.  Tuning into the field around the physical body, you might observe the boundaries of the body merge with the vastness of the universe as you become more away of the breath and your heart.  Tune into the unconditional shower of light and love available to you at all times.  This is an intermediate level meditation presented in August of 2016 in Phoenix, Arizona. If this topic interests you, a retreat will be given in November of 2016 in Sedona, Arizona.  CLICK HERE to find out more.

Susanna and Puran Bair discuss from their view and their experiences in teaching meditation what one can reasonably expect from short, medium, and long-term practice of Heart Rhythm Meditation.  The benefits start at the level of revitalizing the bio-rhythms and expand into almost every facet of life when practiced in the long-term.

This recording is also available as a video-collage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFzKVMQXlpg

music from bensound.com.

Building loving relationships, especially romantic relationships, is a progressive process analogous to the three stages of human development (Mind, Heart, and Spirit). Relationships pull us from our own view of how the world works and enable, maybe even necessitate, a shift in our perspective to accommodate the perspective of our partner. This process usually is painful and the mind resists it, but the process catalyzes growth for both participants in the relationship and eventually leads to intimacy. As Puran Bair discusses in this presentation from March of 2016, relationships are central to becoming fully human.

Puran Bair gives a short meditation inviting you to expand your sense of self by tuning into the inner emotional qualities of the heart. 

In the search for a partner or a relationship, one recognizes the qualities of another by understanding that attraction comes from the shared qualities of two hearts.  The mind sees differences, but the heart sees the radiance of the other because it too radiates.  Puran Bair leads a meditation which guides us between the interplay of the mind and heart in intimate relationship.

IAM Heart co-founder Susanna Bair leads this guided meditation to help you apply meditation to your life. It is possible to improve your life in three primary areas: Health, Relationships, and Accomplishments.  In what area is the most pressing need of your life right now? Wherever your pressing need lies, there too you will find your growing edge.  Susanna shows us how we can connect with the wave-like ebb and flow of our breath to allow inspiration to bubble-up to the surface.

Reaching the third stage on the path of the heart - the stage of Spirit - means a surrender into the majesty of one's being.  The individual reaches the state where one realizes the unity of all things with themselves.  In relationship, this state is the recognition of the eternal beloved expressed in the individual they share life with.  The ideal of who one could be becomes expressed fully and the universe and the individual harmonize in speech, thought, and action.  The individual who reaches Illumination finds within themselves the capacity to decode the message which constantly comes from within (from the heart), and feels emboldened to act on those messages with a certainty of their necessity for the improvement of the whole.  Upon reaching this stage, the life of service begins. 

A through "Map to Illumination" can be found in the book Follow Your Heart by Puran and Susanna Bair.

After the first three steps on the path of the heart [Stage 1 - The Mind], a person begins to become restless after a period.  Harmony does not satisfy a deeper longing for greatness and so from the dissatisfaction emerges a new ideal and a new vision of who or what one can become.  This process begins Stage 2 - The Heart and the journey continues until expertise develops.  Things people can accomplish while in this expertise step become most remarkable, and the intentional focus and concentration one has required to perform a certain goal become as second nature; the heart leads the way! In one's career or in one's relationship, expertise can feel like one has reached the zenith and it certainly can be appealing to remain on this step because control, creativity, power, and intelligence are coordinated; one becomes the wielder of their own destiny.  When one dares to peer from the peak of personal accomplishment into the abyss of personal abandonment, one finds there is no bottom.  Some might call this "the Dark Night of the Soul."  In the path of the heart, the step is called "Unlearning."

All are travelers, and the destination is the same for everyone: Illumination.  The goal of human development is to manifest in one's body, mind, and behavior the pure qualities of Love, Harmony, and Beauty; to explore the potentials within one's being; to accomplish the purpose for which one was created.  The map is universal, though it has been charted by the wise in all traditions in all ages.

Time is limited in this world. Because of that limitation, some people are reluctant to commit to things, others commit to things easily, but fall away from their commitments easily also. Commitment is the beginning to a heart driven movement toward completion of goals, wholesome relationships, meaningful careers, and even spiritual realization.  Before Harmony is reached in any of these places, one experiences testing.  These three steps comprise the first stage on the path of the heart.

Puran Bair speaks gives a mystical interpretation of the symbols presented in the Christmas Story.

Susanna Bair guides you in a deep meditation of beauty, surrender, and majesty.  This meditation is will touch your heart.

Are you having difficulty sleeping?  This talk may put you one step nearer your recovery of deep and heartful rest.  Puran Bair, co-founder of IAM Heart, discusses the many factors that influence irregular sleep and provides a powerful collection of tools and practices to recalibrate your bio-rhythms, calm your nerves, and ultimately energize your heart.  The subject of sleeping has never been so enlivening!

This recording was given at the Osteopathic Medical Foundation on "March 13, 2013"

-A gentle and encouraging Intermediate-Level Meditation.

Susanna Bair brings gentleness, compassion, and beauty to the awakening process. This is an ideal practice to do in the morning, as it brings you from the ethereal realm of sleep into embodiment for the day.  This is I Heart Meditation's first introduction to the four fundamental energies: AIR, FIRE, WATER, and EARTH. Instead of discussing them conceptually, we thought be ideal to experience them from within. How is this done? By inhaling and exhaling in different patterns through the nose and mouth.  Susanna will guide you!

When breathed in this order (Air, Fire, Water, Earth) sequentially, the practice is called "Creation-Order" breathing.  The practice brings spaciousness, vitality, softening, and groundedness to the practitioner.  Susanna then extends this practice to draw into one's heart the healing energy of "Hurqalya."

This meditation was recorded on November 14, 2025 in Sedona, AZ at the IAM Heart retreat "Light On Healing."

Concentration is the first "stage" on the way toward creating a meditative state of consciousness.  First concentration, then contemplation, THEN meditation!  Engaging the mind with the various tasks which are required to breathe rhythmically, powerfully, and with control, we inherently build stamina for concentration.  Susanna explains how without the faculty for concentration, we may not get very far in our aspirations - whatever they may be.

Believe it or not, "enlightenment" is a real thing.  Yogis, sages, and mystics of many traditions have presented different methodologies for attaining this great state of consciousness marked by inner luminosity, stillness, and radiance.  Not many people know, however, that there are further stages of realization beyond enlightenment.  Many traditions call this further stage, Illumination.  Attaining one of these levels of consciousness may give a temporary experience of the heights of one's inner greatness, but in this episode, Susanna Bair draws our attention to how these great states of attainment might influence us in our personality, priorities, and experience of everyday responsibilities.

Meditation is not a religion.  Meditation is not a belief system.  Meditation is a methodology for changing one's outlook on where the boundaries of the "Self" really lie. Practitioners often notice subjective or even measurable improvements in health and may use it for stress management and use meditation as a retreat from modern overload.  Susann Bair describes how the benefits of meditation go much further than benefiting the individual practitioner.  Hear from her how an individual's meditation practice has the capacity to positively affect the global consciousness.

Puran Bair discusses the psychological and physiological forces at play when an individual incurs stress and the biological symptoms thereof.  Heart Rhythm Meditation is the tool to help correct and restore our cells from stagnancy and other imbalances which become stored within bodily tissues when our sympathetic nervous system remains "ON" from influx of stressors.  Proper breath reignites these unconscious metabolic processes.

This presentation was given on April 11, 2013.

A guided meditation leading you into the next step in proper instruction for meditation: the Full Breath. Deepening the breath allows one to rejuvenate, circulate, and de-stress.  Powerful, controlled, and slow contraction and expansion of the abdominal muscles and diaphragm soothes the central nervous system.  Specifically, it massages the Vagus nerve, the nerve most responsible for the "flight of fight" response.  By smoothing and deepening our breath in this way, we communicate to our central nervous system that we can relax, slow down, and harmonize inner rhythms from chaotic to rhythmic.

Holding your breath in meditation is just one of many techniques to purposefully intervene into the breath.  Susanna Bair uses the analogy of deep-sea diving to explain how Heart Rhythm Meditation can be used to gain awareness, even mastery, over fears which usually are held within unconscious realms of our psychological or emotional bodies.  Breath, we learn, has the capacity to sooth and transform our relationship to trauma.

Meditation requires attention and builds focus.  The first thing in beginning meditation practice is to attend to one's breathing: noticing the inflow and outflow.  Then we give the mind something to focus on: in this practice we bring the inhale and exhale into balance so that the duration of each mirror one another.

All meditation instruction in the world involves at least an awareness of the breath.  Instruction to pay close attention to the intricacies of the in-flow and out-flow of breath is central to any meditation practice.  Heart Rhythm Meditation not only involves breath awareness, but the added intervention to build stamina toward breathing with energy, balance, and power.

Puran Bair - author of three books on meditation and co-founder of the Institute for Applied Meditaiton - discusses scientific discoveries in quantum mechanics to describe inner experiences long understood by mystical traditions of the world. Puran continues his lecture and answers questions from the audience. This is Part 2 of a 2-part series.

Breath is a fundamental aspect of our being. Susanna Bair explains through practice of conscious breath in meditation, one may gain clarity and understanding of the breath's role in our lives.  Conscious, diaphragmatic breathing in rhythm with our heart-beat not only gives us physical rejuvenation, but also rejuvenates our deep inner resources enabling us to take on challenge and stress more gracefully.

Inhalation and Exhalation; Expansion and Contraction;  Rising and Falling; Tension and Release.  Susanna takes us into a space where we can listen to the "music of life" by following the breath's connection to the heart.

The human heart is so much more than a pump!  Susanna Bair reminds us of the heart's connection to thoughts, emotions, and the unconscious.  Where does the heart come from and what becomes of it when we pass away? This mysterious answer cannot be wholly understood with the mind, but we can begin to uncover an understanding of the answer by carefully listening to the messages coming from our hearts.

Puran Bair - author of three books on meditation and co-founder of the Institute for Applied Meditaiton - discusses scientific discoveries in quantum mechanics to describe inner experiences long understood by mystical traditions of the world. Is the Universe digital or analog?  Puran explains the implications for the exciting scientific identification of the "microcosm."  Puran continues by describing how our physical hearts, as generators of electromagnetic fields, act as both input receivers AND output amplifiers like the incoming/outgoing capacity of radio-tower to transmit and receive simultaneously.  He then explains how we might draw upon the field of energy which surrounds us constantly and direct it consciously toward oneself or another for the purpose of healing.  This is Part 1 of a 2-part series.

Susanna elegantly calls your attention to the fundamental rhythms of life - breath and heartbeat - in this guided meditation for beginners.  An inner experience of connection and stillness involves a welcoming attitude toward thoughts and emotions.  Concentration can be strengthened and emotional centering can be cultivated through harmonizing our breathing rate with our pulse.

Heart Rhythm Meditation is a powerful meditation technique which honors and appreciates our emotions and keeps our consciousness centered in our body.  Susanna Bair describes the benefits of meditating with the goal of aligning heart with breath.

Susanna Bair addresses you with a welcoming introductory-level meditation.  Posture is of key importance in this meditation and all you need is a sturdy chair to begin.  Discover how five minutes of conscious breathing can harmonize your atmosphere.

Susanna Bair, co-founder of the Institute for Applied Meditation and traveling lecturer on contemporary spirituality and heart-centered living, presents a general overview of the goal of meditation practice throughout history and how meditation can help our lives today.  She presents the idea that meditation is a tool with the capacity to integrate the relationship between the physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects of our being.

Led by Asatar Bair. Day 8 Meditation:See the truth. Feel the truth. Be the truth. Let's face it, there are certain messages in our culture about the holidays that are nothing more than lies. There is the idea that if we just get more stuff, we'll be happy. There's the idea that if we give people stuff, then we'll be able to make them happy. And then there's the idea that if we can just make everything in our life right, we'll be loved, respected, and accepted. We need to come to a place of truth within ourselves. We need to see what is truth and what is lies. We need to fan the flame of truth within us so that it burns brightly enough to illuminate every corner of life, not to judge others or tell them what to do, but to know who we are and have the strength to be our true selves, even when everyone seems to be against it. Meditation is about discovering the infinite and perfect Truth within your heart, where your heart becomes the Heart of Truth.

Led by Asatar Bair. Day 12 Meditation: Make your heart a vast, wide-open space. The heart we know as our own can be a small place. Make it bigger. Make your heart a vast, wide-open space, filled with the spirit of love. Stress will not touch your vast heart. Meditation brings you into the subtle dimension of being, eventually bringing you to the realization that your heart is as large as the universe. This brings us to the conclusion of this series. I hope you have found it helpful in reducing holiday stress and making this a time of light and joy.

Led by Asatar Bair. Day 11 Meditation: Bring a sense of sacredness to the holidays.Remember that every contact you have with another person is an opportunity to give a blessing. But don't lay a trip on another person. People don't always share the same beliefs, and words like "blessing" can raise flags or be misinterpreted. Meditation gives you a sense of sacredness that turns your atmosphere into a blessing, regardless of what you say or don't say.

Led by Asatar Bair. Day 10 Meditation: See things from another point of view. And another. Much of our stress and suffering comes from our narrowness, the self-imposed limitations we have created on our viewpoint, attitude, and understanding. If we could adopt another point of view, how different things would look! It can be small things, like asking how does this experience feel from my child's perspective, or that of my parent, or my friend? Meditation offers a very profound way of seeing through the eyes of another, of feeling deeply what another person feels.

Led by Asatar Bair. Day 9 Meditation: Focus on the important, not just the urgent. Cut out the frivolous. Sometimes you can be your own worst enemy. Sometimes the most stressful times are due to your own loading on of additional tasks that aren't really important, they just seem to be at the time. Getting a lot done can be addictive, and it can add to things that aren't necessary. Meditation can help you prioritize, giving you discernment about what is necessary and what is not.

Led by Asatar Bair. Day 7 Meditation: Hold your ideal high. The holidays are stressful partly because the reality of the holiday season may reveal how far we are from the ideals of love, friendship, harmony, generosity, and We may feel like giving up, like it would be easier to just forget about all this, and not try so hard. The problem is, giving up is a defeat. The longing behind these ideals doesn’t simply go away, either. It gets distorted into cynicism and bitterness. What we need is to hold the ideals high. An ideal is like a star -- let it shine brightly in the sky. Let the sense of idealism drive you on, even while you recognize that it's unattainable. That is the nature of ideals; if we could attain an ideal, in this limited existence, it wouldn't be ideal. Nonetheless, an ideal reminds us that there is a perfect reality in the world of spirit, a reminder that we sorely need, for it is human nature to strive for perfection. Meditation offers a chance to explore the height of your ideal within your heart.

Led by Asatar Bair. Day 6 Meditation: Create a feeling of abundance and possibility. When we feel a sense of abundance, giving to others is easy. Out of that feeling, holidays become a true celebration of the blessed bounty of life. Easier said than done, huh? Heart Rhythm Meditation works with a full, rhythmic breath to create the experience of giving (on the exhalation) and receiving (on the inhalation). As you take a long, deep, full breath in, you will experience a sense of abundance unlike anything you have known.

Led by Asatar Bair. Day 5 Meditation: Give more to others. Focus on what you're giving rather than what you're receiving. When you feel stretched, the last thing you want to hear is that you should give more. You're probably saying, "don’t I already give enough? What about my needs?" We often give in a tactical way, as in, "I'll give you this, so that you will then give me that." This isn't really giving, it's more like a transaction. Not only that, it's probably not going to work, because this, so that you will then give me that." This isn't really giving, it's more like a transaction. Not only that, it's probably not going to work, because it's not focused on the real issue at hand. Other people are unlikely to do what we want or expect, leading to disappointment and frustration when your needs are not met. Meditation provides a way to give your heart and soul what you truly need at the deepest level, so that you don't look to the outside to fill inner needs.

Led by Asatar Bair. Day 4 Meditation: Allow yourself to be loved. The holidays can bring a frenetic sense of seeking to take in more, which can come from a place of feeling the lack of attention and energy, which is, at its root, a feeling of not being loved. Meditation allows you to take in love, to truly allow yourself to be loved The goal of meditation is to experience infinite, unbounded, eternal love, to become Love itself.

Led by Asatar Bair. Day 3 Meditation: Help others be calm by bringing more peace to your heart. Calmness and peace come when you have brought yourself into a slow, stable rhythm. Our culture has many aspects that seem to encourage a rapid, unsustainable rhythm: we stay up late, eat at odd times, eat foods that over-stimulate our senses, and watch TV and movie screens that show us different scenes with increasing rapidity. Heart Rhythm Meditation makes your breath deep, full, and rhythmic, slowing yourself down on all levels, bringing a durable sense of peace that has an impact on others.

Led by Asatar Bair. Day 2 Meditation: See the best in others. In this meditation, you'll experience a technique for experiencing the pure qualities of other people, so that you can appreciate people more and experience less aggravation.

Led by Asatar Bair. Day 1 Meditation: Be thankful for all that you have. In this meditation, you'll experience a sense of thankfulness deep within your heart, which will retune your expectations of the holidays and bring those around you into a state of gratitude.

Led by Asatar Bair. This is an introduction and overview of the ways that meditation can help reduce holiday stress and give you more joy. A new meditation will be introduced each day over the next 12 days.