Heart Yoga: 5-Week Meditation Course to Heal and Awaken the Heart

A gentle 5-week meditation journey into loving-kindness and emotional healing. Learn the heart-opening Tibetan practice of 'Tonglen' and rediscover the natural warmth and joy within your heart.

Heart Yoga: 5-Week Meditation Course to Heal and Awaken the Heart
When? Tuesdays, 7:30–9:30pm
Dates? from 27th January – 24th February (every Tue for 5 weeks)
Where? Studio above Sleepstore Chester, Sealand Road, CH1 4LS
Ample parking. Climb the stairs to the left of the building to enter. Please aim to arrive 5-10 minutes early so we can begin promptly. Tea and biscuits available.
Led by Nataraja — an Acharya (instructor) for Amrita Mandala, a modern spiritual path of meditation, healing and awakening.

What is this course?
This 5-week course is a gentle yet transformative introduction to a loving-kindness and compassion practise called Tonglen, a Tibetan Buddhist meditation for heart centring and deep emotional healing.

Throughout life our hearts accumulate layers of tension, disappointment, stress, hurt and grief. Over time this creates a subtle hardness — a sense of heaviness or distance from our natural joy. We may feel ourselves withdrawing from life, becoming tired, guarded, or disconnected from others and even from ourselves.

This course guides you step-by-step back toward the softness, warmth, and inner safety that exist beneath those layers. Tonglen helps us rediscover the natural love and child-like wonder that is still present in all of us, waiting to be uncovered. It reconnects us with a simple truth: We are not alone in our suffering — and our heart can open again.

What is Tonglen?
Tonglen (meaning “giving and taking”) is a classical Buddhist practice of sending compassion outward and receiving difficult emotions with openness and love. It teaches us to:

• Soften emotional defences
• Reconnect with our innate capacity for kindness
• Feel less isolated in our struggles
• Experience a sense of spaciousness, safety, and joy in the heart

Though the method is simple, it works at a deep level and stirs deep layers. When practised regularly, Tonglen helps the heart gradually unwind and become more open and resilient. We also open to life more.

What to expect?
Over the 5 weeks we will explore:

• The essential components of Tonglen
• Guided heart-opening meditations
• Gentle “home practices” to integrate the teachings into daily life
• Supportive group sharing to help deepen understanding

Tonglen is both uplifting and honest. It can reveal warmth and bliss, but also moments where we meet our inner blocks, fears, or frozen emotional patterns. This is part of the healing process. Together we will approach these moments with patience, compassion, and a steady, grounded presence.

The Benefits?
As the practice settles into your life, you may begin to notice:

• A lighter, softer heart
• Greater emotional ease and resilience
• Reduced stress and self-protection
• A deepening sense of connection with others
• A growing, natural joy that feels authentic and unforced

Everyone is welcome including beginners.

We have chairs or cushions to sit on + blankets to stay warm. Wear clothing comfortable enough to meditate in, & bring open mind.

If you know someone who might benefit from this course, feel free to share the event link with them.

If you’re not ready for a longer course, you’re also very welcome to join our free meditation sessions listed in our upcoming events.

Click the sign-up bar below to reserve your place.