Who is this Gregg Braden?
Is Gregg Braden..
- A spiritual guru with a silver lion’s mane
- A priest
- A hipster
- A prominent artist from the 80s
Before I give out the answer, let me back up and explain how I first heard of him. Veronica was dissatisfied with Amazon Prime’s video selection, so she got a subscription with Gaia the beginning of this year. Since then we have been enjoying the series, Missing Links with Gregg Braden immensely. Braden is an author, researcher, and speaker who connects cutting edge science with modern spirituality. He has a passion for ancient civilizations, and together with his background in science, he blends them together for a refreshing take on spiritualism for the modern person.
What Is the Feeling Prayer?
In his book, Secrets of the Lost Mode of Prayer: The Hidden Power of Beauty, Blessing, Wisdom, and Hurt, he talks about four broad categories of prayer:
- Colloquial
- Petitionary
- Ritualistic
- Meditative
Many use one or a combination of these, but Braden reveals that there is a fifth “lost mode” that is based on feeling the prayer. Braden’s rediscovery comes from his explorations into places like Tibetan monasteries and experiences like witnessing a rain-dance in the high desert of northern New Mexico.
He goes on to explain that this Feeling Prayer is the language that the higher power (the Divine Matrix?) can be communicated to. Instead of vocally asking for, say rain, you would instead feel with your body that you had already been given what you asked for; you would feel the rain hit your body, you would smell what it smells like when it rains, and so forth.
There is a very simple meditation called the Quick Coherence® Technique that utilizes the Feeling Prayer. You can use this method almost anywhere at any time; though I find the best results happen in a peaceful and safe place. You can also incorporate it into other existing meditations; I like to incorporate it into my Inner Smile practice. Here are the steps for the Quick Coherence:
- Focus your attention in the heart area while you breathe slowly and deeply.
- Experience or feel in your body a positive feeling, such as re-experiencing the feeling of love for someone or focus on the feeling of peace.
The Heart & the Divine Matrix
One aspect that I really like about Gregg Braden is that he brings interesting scientific studies into his highly engaging and articulate talks. As for the Feeling Prayer, he talks about the discovery and research about the heart’s intricate network of neurons, neurotransmitters, proteins and support cells like those found in the brain. The heart brain can sense, feel, learn, and remember independently! What we understand now, even though it isn’t widely taught, is that the heart brain constantly communicates to the head brain through the nervous system, hormonal system and other pathways. It was previously thought that the communication was more one-sided from the head to the heart, but now we are finding out that it is a dynamic two-way dialogue. The heart is able to influence the brain and major organs in order to carry out its role in mental and emotional experience. According to a study on how the heart affects the DNA in our bodies, some emotions (such as love) relax the coil of the DNA while other emotions (such as anger) contract and tighten the DNA. Furthermore, relaxed DNA has a healthy effect on your body while tight DNA has the opposite. By changing the emotions they felt, test subjects were able to change their bodies. You can see how the heart plays a vital role in the Feeling Prayer as it is the source of where our emotions are translated into feelings, which affects our beliefs and thereby our actions, body language, and how we exist in the world.
Braden has another book called The Divine Matrix: Bridging Time, Space, Miracles, and Belief, where he compares widely accepted, outdated scientific beliefs to modern scientific discoveries. It is becoming more and more accepted that the universe isn’t empty, for example, that there is a field that connects matter on a quantum level. This is what Braden describes as the Divine Matrix. The Divine Matrix is another component or aspect of the Feeling Prayer that in theory makes this prayer/meditation work. Max Planck, regarded as the father of quantum theory, said “all matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force…we must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent Mind…This Mind is the Matrix of all matter.” In the Divine Matrix all possibilities already exists–all of the greatest peace and suffering already exists in the quantum possibilities. We can with our minds reach into these possibilities and with our hearts we give that possibility life. Thought happens in the upper chakras (Crown, Third Eye, and Throat) and emotion comes from our creative center (Solar Plexus, Sacral, and Root). Feelings come from our heart chakra. When thought, emotion, and feeling combine, our beliefs translates the quantum possibilities that we imagine into our physical reality. As Braden posits, the Divine Matrix, or the field that holds everything together, is also made up of electrical energy and magnetic energy. Braden also follows up with that the heart creates the strongest electrical and magnetic field in our bodies; this means that the heart is generating waves of energy when we have a feeling. With this understanding our feelings are not only changing our bodies, but also changing the world around us.
The Difference Between the Mind and Heart
Did you ever forget how to smile? I did! I remember going to the mall to get these pictures. This was the first time I had professional pictures done with a professional background and a professional stranger taking our pictures. I felt the pressure to look good for the camera, and I couldn’t remember how to smile. There was no mirror around for me to figure it out, so I took my thumb and index finger and traced my lips to feel if it was making that arc in the shape of a smile. What I got is what you can see in the two pictures. It is pretty funny to me how inauthentic the smile came out. Looking back on it, my smile ultimately failed because I was smiling with my mind and not my heart. Though as I got older, I learned how to fake it long before selfie sensation became a thing. Whether you are smiling from your brain or your heart, smiling is good for you. There are many studies on smiling and its positive effects on your body. Mantak Chia teaches the Taoist meditation called the Inner Smile to generate loving, healing energy in the body, focusing on the major organs and sending loving thoughts to each one.
I have been practicing Mantak Chia’s Inner Smile meditation supplemented with the Feeling Prayer and have had very powerful effects. Perhaps the Inner Smile is supposed to be done this way. After understanding the way Braden described the feeling prayer it has given me greater understanding of the Inner Smile. It makes me feel really good and it is how I always practice the Inner Smile meditation now. I’ll go over how I like to practice these techniques in detail in the future.
In Closing
While I cannot say that I have experienced any miracles or witnessed anything that would fall into the paranormal, I can say that these meditations do have positive results. If nothing else the meditation and the information covered here help me feel really good and optimistic about our future. I honestly believe that if more people took the time to meditate on a regular basis there would be more happiness in our world. You don’t have to believe in a higher power and/or the scientific points that Gregg Braden shares. People from all walks of life and belief systems will benefit from it. The only requirements is an open mind, the will, a bit of time and space to practice regularly. Thank you for taking the time and allowing me to share this with you. I wish you the most kindest success!
Shopping at Amazon? Please support Regroove Meditation by using our link, we get a referral commission on anything you purchase.