Every time we’re hurt, every time we’re wounded, every time we’re traumatized, we close our hearts a little more.

Over time, our hearts can become entirely closed off, blocked, and we can no longer feel the love that is all around us. We lose touch with our connection to the universe and to everyone and everything in it. We no longer feel our place in the world.

Instead, we feel alone, separated from love. We develop a hole, a void in our soul, and we try to fill it with other things—relationships, houses, gadgets, clothes, cars—you name it. Or we try to distract ourselves with parties, exotic travel, overwork, adrenaline, alcohol, drugs, sex—choose your poison.

The reason we can never find what we so desperately seek is that it’s already inside us, locked away in our closed-off heart, buried underneath pain and repressed emotions.

Here is a simple, gentle, heart chakra meditation to begin the healing process, to open our hearts and allow us to feel the love that surrounds us.

Find a comfortable seat, any position is fine, as long as it helps you sit with a straight spine and isn’t physically distracting. Sitting in a chair is fine, there’s nothing beneficial about contorting yourself into an uncomfortable position if it distracts you from meditating. The most important thing is to be comfortable, with a straight spine—or as straight as possible while still feeling comfortable. Your hands can be anywhere—in your lap, on your legs, it doesn’t matter, as long as they’re not distracting you.

Close your eyes, inhale deeply, filling your lungs with nourishing, purifying air. As you exhale, settle into your seat, settle in your body. Feel the weight of your bones. Feel your connection to the earth, through your feet or legs.

Continue breathing deeply, fully.

Feel your hips over your legs, feel your chest, stacked above the hips. Roll your shoulders up to your ears, then back and down again, keeping them soft and relaxed. Stack your neck above your shoulders, slightly tuck your chin, and reach the crown of your head toward the sky.

Keep breathing deeply, filling your body with prana, that life-giving energy.

Now visualize cupping your heart in your hands, in front of your chest. On each exhale, imagine gently blowing warmth, love, and tenderness into your heart, as if you were warming your hands on a chilly winter day. On each inhale, breath in the love that’s swirling all around you and then kindly, passionately, exhale that love into your heart.

As you continue doing this, feel the loving warmth begin to thaw your heart. Feel the healing love seep into the cracks and fissures of your heart, bathing your being in caring compassion.

Feel your true nature: love—radiating from your soul.

Continue doing this for a few minutes, as long as is comfortable. Listening to a beautiful song, especially with headphones, can help create your own little insulated bubble of love in which to steep your soul. Any song that evokes love for you can work. If it’s a romantic love song, imagine singing those words to yourself, instead of another person. Imagine loving yourself like that, instead of a partner. (A great song for this meditation is The Power is Here Now, by Alexia Chellun, but any song that works for you is perfect.)

If that felt good, consider doing it once a day, every day.

We are all made of love, all the love we want is available to us at any time, but the world teaches us otherwise, the world teaches us to look outside ourselves for love.

Let’s all find that love within us, that’s how we change the world.

You can watch the heart chakra meditation here: