• Explores the author’s contemplative model and techniques of Biodynamic Cardiovascular Therapy as a means to optimize heart function and heal spiritual wounds

• Examines the epidemic of heart disease as a physical manifestation of a worldwide degeneration of empathy and compassion

• Includes contributions from Michelle Doyle, Bill Harvey, Mary Monro, Cathy Shea, Ann Diamond Weinstein, Barry Williams, and Friedrich Wolf

Exploring the nature of trauma and spirituality as it relates to our cardiovascular systems, somatic psychologist Michael J. Shea examines the pervasive epidemic of heart disease as a physical manifestation of a worldwide degeneration of empathy and compassion. He presents therapeutic practices to bring our hearts back into greater balance. Sharing his own experience as a young Army officer who survived a terrorist bombing attack and the profound awakening of compassion that followed, the author looks at the interconnection between traumatic experience and metabolic functioning. Examining the metaphysical causes of heart disease, Shea explains that we must empty our hearts of complex and damaging emotions, particularly anger and hatred, and allow ourselves space for empathy, compassion, and the ability to fully grieve loss to awaken to profound love.

Providing techniques to directly address heart trauma and heal spiritual wounds, Shea explores in depth his contemplative system of Biodynamic Cardiovascular Therapy. He shares multiple hands-on tools, including visualizations, subtle perception methods, and manual therapy practices rooted in Eastern and Western traditions. Illuminating how to heal the heart at the spiritual level, the author reveals how to enter a state of harmony with the cosmos and restore love and compassion as a living quality of an embodied heart.

Michael J. Shea, Ph.D., holds a doctorate in somatic psychology from the Union Institute and has taught at the Upledger Institute, the Santa Barbara Graduate Institute, and the International University for Professional Studies. He is a founding board member of the Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy Association of North America and the International Affiliation of Biodynamic Trainings. He is the author of several books, including The Biodynamics of the Immune System, and lives in Juno Beach, Florida.

Foreword by Mary Bolingbroke

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction: The Four Intentions

PART 1

Ignition of Life and Death,
Conception and Birth

1 5/11

2 Igniting Compassion: Working with Babies

3 Understanding Sorrow and Death

4 What’s Inside?
BY ANN DIAMOND WEINSTEIN

5 The Boy and the Medicine Are One
BY BARRY WILLIAMS

6 A Compassion-Based Model of Pregnancy

7 Vascular Endothelium and the
Maternal-Fetal Relationship
BY MARY MONRO

8 Birth Transitions
BY MARY MONRO

9 Empty Arms
BY K. MICHELLE DOYLE

PART 2

Mindfulness and Awareness,
Empathy and Compassion

10 Beginnings of Healing PTSD: Diné Medicine

11 Self-Awareness as a Path to Compassion

12 Immeasurable Compassion

13 Mindfulness and Heartfulness

14 Working Heart to Heart, Brain to Brain

15 What Is Health?

16 The Mysticism of the Five Indo-Tibetan Elements

PART 3

Instincts, Metabolism, and Embodiment

17 Embodied Evolution

18 The Metabolic Functions of Human Instincts

19 PTSD: An Evolutionary View

20 Interoceptive Awareness of the Gut and Pelvis
WITH CATHY SHEA

21 Ignition, Midline, and Spiritual Aptitude

22 The Embodiment of Primary Respiration
and the Five Elements

PART 4

A Ministry of Laying On of Hands

23 Perception and Palpation in
Biodynamic Cardiovascular Therapy

24 Basic Biodynamic Cardiovascular Therapy

25 Intermediate Biodynamic Cardiovascular
Therapy Skills

26 Biodynamic Cardiovascular Therapy during Pregnancy
BY K. MICHELLE DOYLE

27 The Breath of Life and Fire in Biodynamic Practice

28 The Five Fulcrums of the Water-Earth Elements

29 Biodynamic and Trauma-Informed Care for Concussions

30 Reclaiming the Mystical Origins of Biodynamics:
Divinity Serves Divinity
BY BILL HARVEY

31 Igniting the Spiritual Heart

Postscript

Bibliography

Resources

Index