In a podcast interview, Jeannie Zandi talks about her dark night of the soul and how it involved a lasting experience of a “chard” in her heart. That’s the same for me. It comes and goes, but is here more often than not these days. I suspect it’s fear and it does seem preverbal and related to a primal life and death issue.
Brief inquiry session on this sensation:
Feel the physical sensations in the heart area. Allow it as it is. Take your time.
Do you see an image of the sensations? Yes. It’s a bright white spot in the center of my heart area.
Look at the image. Is it a threat? Yes, my jaw tightens slightly.
Feel those sensations. Take your time. They are relaxing.
Is the sensation in the heart still there? Yes.
Feel it. Notice the boundless space around and inside of the sensations while you feel the physical sensations.Take your time. It feels more spacious. Less intense.
Try to make it stronger for 10 seconds. Then relax, breathe, let it go for 10 seconds. It’s changed now. It’s fainter, seems more like fear, and it’s spread over a larger area.
Repeat. It’s even fainter and seems more spread out. It also seems less threatening or less like a problem.
Repeat. Fainter and less threatening.
What would you label it? Fear.
Look at the word fear. Look at the space around it and between you and the word. Is it a threat? Yes, there is a tightening of my breath, in the chest, throat, jaw.
Feel those sensations.
And so on, feeling sensations, looking at associated images and words, asking simple questions to see what more is connected with this sensation in the heart area.