In his exclusive MysticMag interview, Puran Bair, co-founder of iamHeart, shares the inspiring journey behind the creation of this unique school dedicated to practical mysticism and heart-based meditation. Discover how Puran and his partner Susanna transformed their spiritual insights and teachings into a global movement that enhances health, relationships, and personal growth. You don’t want to skip this one!
What’s the story behind iamHeart and how was it founded?
I met Susanna when we were students and teachers in the spiritual tradition of Universal Sufism beginning in 1971. In 1987, our teacher, Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, asked us to continue his work through a new school that would emphasize a scientific and professional approach to teaching mysticism and meditation.
For 35 years we have taught a practical mysticism that helps people improve their health, relationships, and accomplishments. Initially, we called this school “The Institute for Applied Meditation on the Heart” to emphasize the practical benefits that come from the wisdom and power of a person’s heart. Later we shortened it to the acronym “iamHeart.”
The basis of our method is documented 2000 years ago by the Desert Fathers of Christianity. The methods of breathing and chanting in synchronization go back to ancient Hindu meditation techniques, and forward to Islamic and Eastern Orthodox mantras. Our focus on the heart comes from the teachings of Hazrat Inayat Khan (d. 1927), optimized in the last 50 years by bio-feedback.In the last year, we’ve published research in a peer-reviewed journal on increased vagal tone due to Heart Rhythm Meditation (HRM). Previously, we released our mobile app for both Apple and Android phones. The app, called “Breath and Heart,” contains hundreds of meditations, all based on Heart Rhythm Meditation.
You organize mystical retreats. What can you tell me about that part of your work?
In-person gatherings are one of the highlights of what we offer at our school. We have a variety of programs that meet online and in person to create a supportive community for meditation. We have events that are open to the public and we have multi-year trainings that build progressively.
Our retreats give us the opportunity to practice practical mysticism in a group. We begin at sunrise by staring into the sun for half an hour, with a safe meditation technique that brings the sun into the heart. We demonstrate and strengthen our stress resilience by immersing an arm in ice, which would normally create unbearable pain within a minute. But we stay pain-free for five minutes or more by consciously directing heart energy into our arms. For entertainment, we use HRM to change the pH and improve the taste of wine. We also use HRM to feel, blindfolded, the bag that has food and not poison. We enjoy the evenings when we walk, and dance, on red-hot coals. The favorite sessions are those using HRM to identify the greatness in the heart of a random partner. A wonderful community of deep knowing is developed as we repeat this process with person after person.
What is the Heart Rhythm Meditation method?
In practicing the Heart Rhythm Meditation method the practitioner begins by closing the eyes and focusing on their breath. As the breath draws our attention inward, with some practice we notice the heartbeat. To begin with, the practitioner often will put their hand on their heart to feel their heartbeat, or might even put an additional hand on their wrist to feel their pulse. By breathing in time with the heartbeat, one synchronizes the breath and heartbeat, the two fundamental rhythms of the body, that can be affected by our conscious efforts.
The study recently conducted by Penn State Health showed not only the physical benefits of HRM but also the emotional wellness that comes with it. We lean into this in our school, allowing people space to share while deep emotions come up which we encourage. We consider emotional healing to be part of the spiritual work, which leads to overcoming shame and having an “unguarded heart.” With supervision in a trusting and trusted community, learning the practice of breathing and connecting with one’s heart puts the practitioner in a calm, centered, and connected state.
In HRM we coordinate our breathing with our heartbeats to produce a state of cardiac coherence. This greatly increases one’s Vagal Tone, the best measure of stress resilience.HRM creates an ideal condition in the brain for emotional regulation and creativity.
The many methods of meditation can be divided into two types. There are the meditations that produce a transcendent state of consciousness and those that create a highly energized, somatic experience. We call them upward and downward.HRM is the second type; it avoids the dangers of dissociation that upward methods can have.HRM uses one’s mental, emotional, and spiritual energy to produce illumination.
Meditation is not a one-size-fits-all; it has to fit the kind of person you are and where you are in your process of self-discovery. So we have many versions of our basic meditation and many next-step meditations that allow you to continue to unfold your experience and human potential.
We use scientific instruments to document the physiological changes produced by HRM. The results we find are slower, more rhythmic heartbeats, lower blood pressure, increased oxygenation, increased vital capacity of the lungs, decreased fatigue, and much better stress resilience.
What can people hope to learn through your mentoring?
Mentoring is a one-on-one spiritual development process that focuses on the client’s pressing needs in their life, through a personalized meditation instruction process. Focusing on the current pressing need helps the client progress on their spiritual path in a practical way. In this process, we consider the wounds and traumas clients are facing as well as their archetypical approach to life. The mentor offers instruction and suggestions for practices including breath, visualization, sound, affirmations, and invocations, and tracks the effect of these practices on the client. Though it has some similarities to therapy, we do not make a psychological diagnosis, and no drugs are used, ever.
Our emphasis in mentoring is building up the basic elements of mysticism so that the mystical powers unfold naturally. A mystic needs powerful concentration, breath control, an acute sense of inner awareness, and a heart that is powerfully energetic.
What is the “Connecting with Heart” program?
Connecting with Heart teaches Heart Rhythm Meditation our certification program in teaching Heart Rhythm Meditation while also offering the fundamentals of the method in a supportive environment. By the end of the program, the student has a reliable meditation practice and the ability to teach HRM to others. The program first offers the foundational practices of awareness of breath, awareness of heartbeat, and connection with the senses as well as theory, such as an overview of the six basic powers in meditation which are your intention, placement of attention, inspiration, and expiration of breath, physical posture position, self-produced sensation, and one that people rarely use: invocation, as in prayer. We give the student tools to approach all of thesepowers at least in a basic way, with prayer receiving the least attention, as we are a non-denominational school and are keen to allow the students to stay within their wisdom tradition while allowing them to enrich that tradition with the practice of Heart Rhythm Meditation.
To learn more about iamHeart, you can visit www.iamheart.org
