Absolute Love – A Meditation on Hara

Beloved Sangha,

The threshold of a new year invites a natural opening for our practice. A time to nourish our hearts to begin again, witnessing fresh what it means to be human in these times. Which, to be honest, is not always easy even for the most privileged among us.

To help ground myself in purpose, I cast my anchor in the Belly Centre. Across both Eastern and Western contemplative traditions this domain is recognised as our main spring of inner wisdom. Without a clear connection this home-ground, our Heart-Mind can feel fragile, scattered, and ill equipped to steward the world it inhabits.

“True openness of heart asks for courage. It requires an inner confidence that is paradoxically rooted in an undefendedness.”

It arises from letting the world move our heart, without resistance or avoidance. So much of what we long for – love, compassion, intimacy – all grow out of this open, unguarded heart. This is a love that is not conditional. It doesn’t belong to any one person or circumstance. In Buddhist thought, it is known as Ultimate Love. It is accessed through Relative Love – our everyday experiences of connection, care and friendship – all of which softens our heart, preparing it to notice a deeper belonging.

“Love not as an emotion directed outward, but as the natural tenderness of awareness itself.”

This organic openheartedness is intuited rather than obliged, and it finds its root in our Deep Belly Centre, the Hara.

To open this new year, our first Podcast Episode of the season invites us for a Meditation on Hara. A practice to ground ourselves deeply to allow a tender, undefended heart to fully open to this world so worthy of our love.

With Love and Blessings

/kia, Paris January 2026