A: There is a kind of art to the rhythm of it. When you find your concentration is good and you seem to be "with it," push on to more advanced practices. If the meditation seems to be a great effort, stick to the basics: make your breath conscious, rhythmic and full, find your heartbeat, then direct your breath through your heart, so that every out-breath seems to exit directly from your chest, and every in-breath is drawn right into your heart. If, after ten minutes, you still don't feel energized and powerfully alive, try asking your heart with the Swinging Breath what it needs to tell you before you can go on.

(The Swinging Breath is a way of communicating between your mind and your heart. As you breathe out, send your breath away from you like a swing you push into the distance. Place a question on the swing, always with the same wording, and let the swing carry the question to your heart. As you breathe in, draw the swing back to yourself. On some inhalation, quite unexpectedly, your answer will appear, drawn from your heart's wisdom.)

At some point the practice will "take over," and you can be passive. Just let it happen. These are the best moments in meditation. They happen after you've prepared, "set the stage" so to speak, by your concentration and breath. In the passive stance, don't be concerned about the technique or the instructions. Go where it takes you -- there is an internal wisdom. This is literally following your heart. The Sufis call it the "Magic Carpet" -- letting your heart carry you where it wants to go.

The Magic Carpet ride can end quite suddenly. Don't fret. Just go back to the practice. Pump up your energy system with breath and turn your attention to your heartbeat and other internal sensations. This is the part of the meditation for which the instructions are designed. As soon as the instructions work, you can drop them again.

A time will come when the instructions are no longer inspiring, the signal that either (A)something has happened in the meditation that has frightened you, or (B)you need to go to the next stage of whatever method you're using. The first case will require you to identify your fear as clearly as you can. You see your resistance; can you find what's behind it? For Heart Rhythm Practice, the second case means identifying what stage you've been experiencing and then beginning the practice of the next stage.

In the last part of the hour send your breath out to the people you know who depend on you. On your inhalation draw those people closer to you. Think of one at a time, and be specific. Make a list ahead of time so you can easily remember. Stay with each person for a few breaths.

Lastly, think of the situation that is most challenging in your life at this time. See yourself in that situation, but not as you have been, as you are now, full of heart energy. See how you naturally behave. Your thoughts, words and actions will be markedly different with your identity in your heart.