try sensing your heartbeat

This is a meditation, and you should do it sitting silently in a place where there is not too much noise, and where you won't be disturbed.

A classic meditation method is to watch your own breath: either sense the air going in and out through your nostrils, or the rise and fall of your abdomen, of the diaphragm. And with this meditation that I'm suggesting, you might like to start by watching your breath. And when you feel some stillness in your being, when your thoughts have subsided a little, bring your awareness to the area in your chest that is your heart. Don't move your hands; don't put your hands on your chest. Just bring your awareness to your heart. See if you can be aware of your own heartbeat.

It requires some sensitivity but with practice, this will come. And if you notice, as your heart is beating, it sends a little pressure wave through your body. You'll notice it in the chest, I expect. You might, if you're very sensitive, notice that other parts of your body move very, very slightly with the heartbeat. Of course, imagine that heart: it's enlarging and contracting, and it doesn't create a vacuum around it, everything else in your chest is going to move too. And this can be felt, sensed directly.

So with this meditation, we are simply bringing the awareness to the heartbeat. If you can't sense it in your chest, if you don't notice anything there, then have a little scan through your body, and see if you can notice the pulse elsewhere in your body – perhaps in your neck. Perhaps you can hear your heartbeat in your ears, the pulse at least. Perhaps you notice it in your fingertips. Have a feel around inside your own body and see where you can notice the pulse. And if you find somewhere, just allow your attention to rest there with the pulse.

Just as with a meditation where you watch your breath, you can sense your heartbeat or your pulse for as long as you like. You might try ten minutes to start with, or longer if you are a practised meditator: half an hour, one hour.

It's quite a comforting meditation: the rhythm of the heart, it feels so reliable. And it is, really. It's a miracle: this heart beating away for a whole lifetime, decades, never failing. What a miracle! But don't get caught up with these thoughts during the meditation. Whenever thoughts arise, just bring your awareness back to the heartbeat.

This is a beautiful meditation also because when we are in the womb, one of the sounds that we hear, through that amniotic fluid, is the mother's heartbeat, very strongly. Fluid – water – it carries sound very well. So for those nine months when we are in the womb, we are hearing our mother's heartbeat. And it's very reassuring, because it's always there, day and night; during sleep, during rest, during activity, always there.

And I guess, as a foetus, as a baby in the womb, we also start to hear or sense our own heartbeat. Mmm. So this meditation – sensing the heartbeat – unconsciously, it's taking us back to that time when we were in the womb. And that's a beautiful place to go back to, because it was before language, before we used words; before we got caught up with concepts. In a way, every newborn is a buddha. And we just lose touch with that somewhere along the way. Returning to that time in the womb takes us back to our buddha nature.

So try it: try a meditation where you are sensing your heartbeat.