When we think of the heart we think of a bodily organ that is responsible for pumping blood through the circulatory system providing nutrients and oxygen to organs, tissues, and cells. However, there is growing knowledge that proves the heart is actually as intricate, if not more so, than the brain. The heart and brain actually send more communication to the head-brain than the other way around.
The heart is truly a mysterious organ of our innate intelligence. The foetus’ heart, beats before the brain forms. When the brain is dead, the heart continues to beat so long as it has oxygen. In fact, the heart has 40,000 neurons and the ability to process, learn, and remember as well as has its own emotions.
Thanks to the field of neuro-cardiology, we are learning more about the intuitive nature of the heart and how we can apply this wisdom to the relationship we have with ourselves and others to generate happiness and wholeness. The Heartmath Institute has been leading research related to heart-brain coherence. According to Research Director Dr. Rollin McCraty, “Coherence is the state when the heart, mind, and emotions are in energetic alignment and cooperation. It is a state that builds resilience.”
When the parasympathetic and the sympathetic system are out of sync from stress-inducing emotions such as anger, anxiety, or frustration, this produces an erratic rhythm or incoherent state. The brain receives this incoherent message and signals the body to act in an incoherent state.
Positive Emotions
Positive emotions such as compassion and love generate a harmonious pattern in the heart’s rhythm, leading to coherence and greater emotional regulation. Harmonious interactions among all the body’s systems create physiological coherence. As this increases, so does the brain’s alpha activity which is a brain wave pattern that supports stress relief and creativity. This calmer yet focused state increases our ability to :
- Enhance learning
- Make better and more appropriate choices
- Expand the ability to perceive more of our options
Focusing on increasing our heart’s harmony is the key to happiness. With an electrical component about 60 times greater and an electromagnetic energy field 5000 times greater than the brain’s, the heart has a significant influence on the body down to the cellular level. The brain’s rhythms along with the respiratory and blood pressure rhythms entrain with the heart’s rhythm. This is the optimal state for human functioning.
The heart’s energy is said to reach about three feet outside of the physical body and can be detected in another person sitting nearby via an electrocardiogram. By focusing your attention on your loving heart thoughts, you are creating a positive energy field that has a profound influence on people.
Additional benefits of heart-brain coherence include:
- Reduction in stress
- Adaptability to change
- Psychosocial well-being
- Higher cognitive capacity
- Performance improvement
- Resilience/Problem-solving
- Mental Clarity/Emotional stability
- Access to intuition and creativity
- Regenerative process/Anti-aging
How to Increase Heart Coherence
How to Increase Heart CoherenceAs the brain is able to be re-trained through neuroplasticity, so, too, can the heart be trained to go into coherence. In the same way, we build mental habits, we can develop new heart habits. Whatever the heart informs the brain, the brain responds accordingly. It takes changing what we have hard-wired in the communication exchange between the heart and the brain, and between the neurons in the heart, just like rewiring the communication between neurons in the brain.
If it has become the “norm” for the heart to feel chronic stress or anger, it is accustomed to communicating this to the brain. The brain triggers the body’s response in the form of stress hormones, constricted blood vessels, increased blood pressure, chronic inflammation, and basically makes the heart work harder. Putting the heart through constant emotional distress disrupts the body’s balance and can lead to physical disease. Happiness truly is a choice that must be cultivated daily.
We can train our hearts using positive emotions so that the brain can more consistently release chemicals that support healing and well-being. By increasing awareness of what we are “feeding” the command centre, we can be intentional about what we allow in, what we give permission to spread to the rest of the body, and even how we inspire others to feel around us.
Meditation
The following simple heart coherence meditation will help to stimulate positive emotions for greater heart-brain coherence:
- Bring focused attention to your heart. You can also place your hand(s) over it for a physical connection.
- Breathe in for four seconds, hold for seven seconds, and exhale slowly for eight seconds. Repeat four times. This lowers the heart rate.
- Bring to mind something that makes you feel love, joy, or thankfulness. You can also create this in your imagination such as spending time with a child, a pet, or in spiritual
- Amplify positive emotions that come forth such as amusement, hope, or inspiration. You can even give them happy or soothing colours. Allow a smile to form as you savour the moment.
- Visualise sending these feelings from your heart to your brain. Be as creative as you would like, such as picturing them as healing light energy or shooting stars as your brain tingles.
- Expand to other areas of your body including cells and organs. Notice how they respond. Perhaps your cells are now vibrating with the energy of joy.
Our heart is truly the centre of our wise, loving and creative self. It is an intelligence that brings forth all the experiences of what it is to be a truly, loving human living is a world of inner peace and harmony. Our heart intelligence needs to be cultivated daily. Choosing loving, kind and grateful thoughts every day and practising the simple heart coherence meditation, will restore your connection to the heart’s secret power to happiness. Why not try it for 30 days and see how your world will change?
Sherrill Sellman, ND is a Naturopathic Doctor, best-selling author, women’s health expert, a contributor to health magazines worldwide, lecturer and host of two weekly podcasts. She can be found at www.drsherrillsellman.com and @sherrillsellman.
To learn more about Heart Coherence, visit https://www.heartmath.org
To explore further go to https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/basics where you will find a definition and information relating to these concepts at described in this article…
Intuition – Emotional Stability -Attention -Thankfulness -Imagination -Spiritual -Hormones
category/healthandwellbeing/wellness/
