I am familiar with these workshops called "living in the heart", "opening the heart", "awakening the heart" etc.
There is a lot of it about and it is a con man's dream.
Basically vulnerable, naive people are told that "big changes" are going to happen in 2012 and that the "old ways of being" (thinking with the brain / mind, being concerned about the future, worrying about money and material things, worrying about what other people think) are bad.
In order to survive 2012 people need to awaken the heart / live in the heart / open the heart / whatever.
This means
1. living in the "now" and not worrying about the future (effectively relinquishing your mental capacity for discernment and critical thinking)
2. relinquishing material things - who needs money and material things when 2012 is just around the corner?
3. understanding that what we think is reality is just a dream / illusion
4. becoming "open" to new realities (no matter how incredible they sound)
5. rejecting external pressures from society, friends and family so you can be your "true self"
6. following a spiritual guru / leader (who kindly agrees to relieve you of the burden of your material things). You learn unconditional love from obedience and devotion to your guru regardless of whatever bad things he or she may do to you.
7. burning karma / working off your karmic debt. The guru will give you tasks, challenges and ordeals to undertake that will help to cleanse you of bad karma accumulated over many lifetimes, in preparation for the big changes in 2012.
8. going to live in a spiritual community so as to devote yourself to spiritual pursuits. By this time you have no money, no home, no car, nothing. Your guru has everything that was once yours and now he owns you too. You can be put to work in a factory, picking cotton, even working in a brothel, all unpaid and all in the cause of paying off your karmic debt. If you don't like it, tough. You have nowhere to go to and no money to get there even if you did. Welcome to slavery, 21st century style.