The One Who Beats the Heart

A guided meditation for those listening beyond the breath.

Let the body be still. Let the breath soften. And for a moment… do nothing at all. Let the silence rise up from beneath you.

Let it settle around your shoulders, like a robe made of dusk. Feel your heart. Not with your hand — but with your awareness.

With your presence. As if listening to something ancient and holy within the cave of your chest. Let this truth return: I do not beat this heart.

It beats within me — as if from somewhere else. Somewhere closer than breath. It began long before I had a name.

Before story. Before time. Before I forgot.

It moves without asking. It moves without question. A quiet rhythm, calling me from the unseen into this moment. And back again. Not a machine. Not a task. But a signal. A remembering. A vow kept by something that has never once left.

Listen… Each beat is a whisper: I am here. You are here. We are not separate.

Even now, as you sit in stillness, the heart continues. Not because you command it, but because you are still being loved into existence.

When the last beat comes, you will not be lost. You will be returned — to the One who’s been with you all along.

And until then…let the heart be enough. Let the breath be enough. Let this silence be enough. Rest here, as long as you need. The Presence will keep beating within you.

Nigel Lott teaandzen.org

This is a work of the soul — an offering of presence through Tea & Zen, tending the unseen spaces of love and awakening. Your support allows these streams of silence and grace to continue flowing into the world.