The power of the heart comes up over and over in our lives. The beat of our mother’s heart is the first thing we hear in the womb and we reference our heart when we experience some of life’s most emotional experiences like falling in love, heartbreak, having a child, etc. We say things like “My heart is completely broken” or “My heart is so full.” We see our heart as the place from which love emanates. Many view it as the seat of the soul and inner wisdom. When you are on a healing journey, the power of the heart and love come up quite a bit. Many prominent authors and speakers in the field of healing, both physical and emotional, emphasize the importance of being connected to your heart and experiencing positive emotions such as love, peace, and joy. This is viewed as vital to restoring health in one’s life. But, why? What is so magical about the heart that it is core to who we are and the vitality we experience as humans? This article hopes to uncover some of the mystery around the heart’s importance and how it supports one’s healing journey.
We often think of the brain as the control center of our mind and body. However, you might be surprised to learn that the heart and brain have more nerve connections to each other than any other system in the body and that about 90% of those nerve connections actually flow from the heart to the brain. This means that the brain is getting a lot more information from the heart than the heart is getting from the brain. So, what type of information does the heart send the brain? Well, the heart is a complex, highly evolved information processing center. Given the complex neural network of the heart, the heart is considered to have its own functional brain that can communicate with the brain in our heads in various ways. This communication comes through nerve impulses, hormones, neurotransmitters, pressure waves, and electromagnetic fields.
One way the heart communicates with the brain and other systems of the body is the heart rhythm, or pattern of heart beats, and heart rate variability (HRV), or variation in time between each heartbeat. The heart rhythm can be regular or irregular and fast or slow and optimal health is associated with greater heart rate variability. The pattern of both the heart rhythm and HRV reflects our current emotional state and insight into what an individual is feeling at a given time can be gained from these two measures.
Heart rate variability is controlled by the autonomic nervous system (ANS). The ANS is a vital system in the body that controls involuntary physiologic processes like heart rate, digestion, respiration, to name a few. The ANS also gets a lot of attention because of the parasympathetic and sympathetic branches housed within it. In a culture and world overrun with stress, we talk a lot about this part of our nervous system. Our parasympathetic nervous system is our rest and digest system. This is the branch we are trying to activate through stress regulation exercises and to support overall relaxation in the body. The sympathetic nervous system is the fight, flight, freeze system. This is activated in times of stress, fear, and anxiety. The sympathetic nervous system is necessary for survival, however, chronic activation of this system, or as we commonly call it, chronic stress, can lead to poor health. So, negative emotions can create disorder, or incoherence, in the ANS, while positive emotions can lead to order, or coherence, in the ANS. This has a direct impact on our HRV which then impacts signals being sent to the brain. Oof, you still with me?
This is important for healing because, by finding coherence or order in the heart, we can have an overall positive effect on our mind and body. Coherence or a coherent state in the body occurs when there is a shift in the autonomic system toward more parasympathetic activity (rest/relaxation), allowing for more rhythmic and ordered heart rhythm and greater HRV. This allows for more sync between the heart and brain and greater harmony among different physiological systems. From this place, the body functions more efficiently and is able to engage in its natural healing and regenerative processes. We also experience greater emotional and psychological resiliency when our body is in a coherent state. This frees more cognitive and emotional resources for healing.
The heart is also a powerful source of energy, producing the largest field of electromagnetic energy of any organ in the human body. Whoa! The heart’s electrical field is about 60 times greater than that of the brain and the magnetic field is 100 times greater than that of the brain. It has been found that the heart’s magnetic field can be measured up to 3 feet away. Oof, okay, now we are really starting to see some hard data for the power of the heart! When we experience positive emotions, the energy field around our bodies is greater. Our positive energy can be felt by others, it is contagious, and it draws more of this energy into our field. This is a space from which we can bring in more love, light, and opportunities. In contrast, when we are in negative emotions, this energetic field shrinks, stifling our ability to create, heal, and bring in new positive experiences.
It is clear that when we are on a journey of healing, staying connected to and bringing coherence to our heart through positive emotions is an important key in the process. This has a profound impact on the messages being sent to the brain as well as overall harmony in the body. Staying positive and heart-centered can be hard when we are trudging through loss, grief, depression, sadness, anger, etc. An important part of a healing process is going through, not away from or around, these painful emotions. However, by doing so, you begin to open up more space for positive emotions to come back online. In the meantime, the Heart Math Institute, the leading institute on the science of the heart, has developed easy exercises to help you feel more heart-focused at any point on your journey.
One of my favorite Heart Math exercises is heart-focused breathing. This simply involves focusing on the center of your chest and imagining your breath flowing in and out of the chest. To bring feelings of warmth and love into this area of your body, imagine a person, animal, experience that brings you feelings of love. Continue to keep this image in your mind as you focus on your breathing in your chest. Allow yourself to breathe at a rate of 5 counts in and 5 counts out. You can start with just a few minutes each day. To find more heart coherent exercises or learn about their handy sensor and mobile app, visit their website at heartmath.com.
References:
Heart Math Institute. (2015). Science of the Heart (Volume 2). Heart Math Institute.
Dispenza, Joe. (2017). Becoming Supernatural: How Common People Are Doing the
Uncommon. Hay House.