Ritual · “Repetition Rewires”
Heaven Rushing In
A short standing sequence of breath, sweeping arm gestures, and a heart-centred scooping motion — done outdoors under the sky if possible — intended to ‘connect you with the larger forces that surround you,’ open the heart, and lift despair, isolation, or a hunger for meaning.
Heaven Rushing In, honestly: Outdoors if possible, stand tall, feet grounded, breathe deep. Sweep arms up into a circle overhead (inhale), draw hands down to prayer at the chest (exhale), then open arms wide and look to the sky and “receive”; finally scoop both palms onto the centre of the chest and let the heart take it in. Feinstein calls it “half prayer, half energy work,” for despair, isolation, or a hunger for meaning. The “energies of the heavens / radiant circuits” mechanism is unproven; what actually lifts you is real and ordinary — deep breath, open uplifted posture, nature and awe, a hand-on-heart gesture, and a meaning frame. A ritual, not medicine.
What it is
In Section III of his Energy Psychology Interactive Self-Help Guide (2003), “Uplifting Your Mood,” David Feinstein teaches a handful of moves for stimulating what Donna Eden’s energy medicine calls the “radiant circuits” — the body’s “joy” energies.
Heaven Rushing In is the most ritual-like of them, which Feinstein describes as “half prayer, half energy work” that “connects you with the larger forces that surround you” and is “particularly reviving when you are hungering for more meaning in your life or feeling despair or isolation.” You stand tall (outdoors under the sky if possible), ground through your feet, then on the breath sweep your arms up into a circle overhead, draw them down into a prayer position at the chest, open outward and look to the heavens to “receive” the energy, and finally scoop that gathered energy with both palms into the centre of the chest — a spot “traditionally known as ‘Heaven Rushing In’” — letting the heart receive it.
This is a distinct technique from Feinstein’s tapping protocol, his energy-priming primer, and the Daily Energy Routine — it is a stand-alone mood-lifting / meaning-restoring ceremonial gesture, which is why it earns its own entry.
Stated plainly, as the brief requires: there is no scientific basis for “radiant circuits,” a chest “vortex,” or “receiving energies of the heavens”; held honestly as an embodied awe-breath-and-gratitude gesture, it is harmless and can genuinely lift mood.
The Method
Feinstein’s published sequence, faithfully described (move slowly, breathing deeply throughout):
- Step outside under the sky if possible, and stand tall.
- Ground yourself by focusing on the sensation of your feet on the earth.
- Inhale deeply and exhale fully.
- Spread your fingers on your thighs.
- On the next inhalation, sweep both arms out to the sides and up, forming a circle overhead with the hands touching, palm to palm.
- On the exhalation, bring the hands slowly down in front of the face, coming to rest at the chest in a prayer position.
- With another deep breath, extend the arms outward to either side, lift them slightly, and look up to the heavens.
- Sense the vastness above and the energy around you — “receive the energies of the heavens,” allow yourself to “open to a larger story,” feel the sense that “you are not alone,” and let the arms “accumulate this energy.”
- Scoop it into the heart. At the centre of the chest is the vortex “traditionally known as ‘Heaven Rushing In.’” When ready, scoop the gathered energy with both hands into this vortex, placing both palms over the centre of the chest, and let the heart receive it. (You can also direct it to “any part of your body that is tired, hurting, or that needs a boost.”) Feinstein situates this among the radiant-circuit practices and notes related moves that also “turn on the radiant energies” — e.g., a deep spontaneous smile, the Third-Eye Tap (gently tapping between the brows when already feeling good to “imprint” a joyful state), the Crown Pull, and “Blow Out and Zip Up.” Heaven Rushing In is the one framed specifically for despair/isolation/meaning. (Sourcing note: the nine steps and Feinstein’s “half prayer, half energy work” framing are from his published Self-Help Guide, attributed and faithfully described — not reproduced verbatim. Short quoted fragments are fair-use. The move originates in Donna Eden’s energy medicine.)
Source & Lineage
The technique appears in David Feinstein’s Energy Psychology Interactive Self-Help Guide (InnerSource, 2003), Section III, drawn from Donna Eden’s energy-medicine “radiant circuits” (her term for meridian-adjacent “joy” energies).
Eden teaches “Heaven Rushing In” in her own Energy Medicine; Feinstein presents it as part of the mood-uplift toolkit keyed to his professional program (advisory board of 24 energy-psychology clinicians; foreword by Candace Pert).
The gesture’s form echoes universal prayer / sky-reaching ritual postures. The “radiant circuits” framework is part of the contested field of energy medicine.
The Traditions' versions
Prayer / supplication postures — open arms, uplifted gaze, hands to heart; Feinstein himself calls it “half prayer.”
- Sun salutation / qigong “gathering heaven and earth” — sweeping the arms to draw in “energy” on the breath.
- Awe / self-transcendence practices — deliberately evoking vastness (sky, nature) to shift mood and shrink the self.
- Gratitude / “receiving” rituals — a bodily gesture of taking in good and placing a hand on the heart.
- Eden’s other radiant-circuit moves — Blow Out & Zip Up, Third-Eye Tap, Crown Pull (companion mood-lifters in the same section). → (the related Crown Pull / Zip-Up live in the DER).
Common refinements
Mistaking the metaphor for the mechanism. You don’t have to believe energy is descending; do it as “a breath-and-posture awe gesture, outdoors, hand to heart” and get the lift honestly.
- Doing it indoors and rushed. Two of its most active ingredients are being outdoors/sensing vastness and slow breath — give it the open sky and unhurried breaths if you can.
- Skipping the grounding and the heart-scoop. The bracketing — feet on the earth at the start, palms on the chest at the end — is what makes it feel complete and self-soothing.
- Expecting it to fix clinical depression or grief. It is a mood-lifter, not treatment (Section 7).
- Forcing the gaze/balance. Look up gently; don’t crane the neck or risk losing balance.