Radiating love: reflections on the role of the heart in indigenous and global healing

Abstract

Heart and breath based meditation, prayer, contemplation and related actions are time tested, evidence based healing methods. The goal of this conceptual article is to review some essential roles of the heart in indigenous and global healing, with special reference to Africa. As indigenous healing has been the traditional province of the major religious, wisdom and spiritual traditions, such as ancestral consciousness, Shamanism, Hinduism, Vedanta, Taoism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, discussion is focused on the heart as centre for such core healing variables as consciousness, spirituality, ubuntu, energy, coherence, care, compassion and/or love.

Keywords: Heart, indigenous healing, global healing, consciousness, spirituality,
coherence.