Heart-felt Communications
Our heart communications are strong. During my recent explorations of the heart space, I came across the idea that the heart has more ways to communicate than the brain. This is an impressive shift from the traditional train of thinking that the brain is the hub of all communications. But after a Missing Links video on Gaia.com and further investigation on HeartMath.org it seems that science suggests that the energy of the heart may have a greater influence than previously thought.
Four ways our heart communicates with the brain:
- Neurological communication (nervous system)
- Biochemical communication (hormones)
- Biophysical communication (pulse wave)
- Energetic communication (electromagnetic fields)
Why is this important you ask? In a webinar with Rollin McCraty Ph.D., HeartMath Institute Director of Research, he spoke about how the heart rhythms directly affect your brain centers that are involved in foresight, decision-making, social awareness, and our ability to self-regulate. This is one of the reasons why we say things we don’t mean to say whilst experiencing anger. That emotion causes our heart to operate within a space of incoherence and actually inhibits brain function.
Being aware of the energy of our heart can allow us to exist in a state of coherence. One definition of coherence is the quality of forming a unified whole. The HeartMath Institute has done extensive research and determined that “heart coherence (also referred to as cardiac coherence or resonance) can be measured by HRV analysis wherein a person’s heartrhythm pattern becomes more ordered and sine wavelike at a frequency of around 0.1 hertz (10 seconds).” They say that when our heart is in a state of coherence we can function in harmony, increase our parasympathetic activity, and increase the synchronization between our heart and our brain. Positive emotions like compassion, love, and appreciation help us enter the state of coherence while those denoted as negative take us out of coherence. See the image below taken from the HeartMath.org website.
A graph of Heart-Rhythm Patterns taken from HeartMath Institute and is based on their extensive research.
I encourage you to just start becoming aware of your heart. Imagine your heart beating in your chest. Visualize it as an anatomical heart, as an emerald orb of Anahata energy, or in any other manner that makes sense to you. Introduce yourself to your heart. It beats for you.
