Quantum
HEALTH
Issue 9 February 2011
direct various aspects of the brain, and may even be the seat of our intuition of the future.
Some of the most rigorous studies of the heart as the seat of “knowing” have been conducted at The Institute of HeartMath, located in California, and it is their research that I draw on for this article. Let’s look at two of the most exciting aspects of heart research: the coherent heart and its influence on health; and the feeling, intuitive heart, which may forever change your perception of your heart and its role in your body and your life.
The Coherent Heart
HeartMath scientists, as well as researchers at other institutions, have discovered many ways that the heart’s function promotes good health, beyond its normal circulatory functions. They have found, for example, that heart-rate variability (HRV) is among the best indicators of overall well- being. Heart-rate variability refers to the measure of how heartbeats vary moment to moment. Picture the flowing sine wave of a beating heart, with the wave’s many peaks and valleys. A high HRV would show as a wave with a lot vertical movement, with high peaks and low valleys, indicating a healthy heart that is coordinating communication with the major organs and systems of your body. A wave indicating low HRV would look flatter, indicating a lesser state of health and, possibly, even serious health problems.
Heart-rate variability is an accurate indicator of overall health because the heart is the processor of nervous system signals—and just about everything that goes on in the body affects or depends on the autonomic nervous system. Our autonomic nervous system has two primary parts, the sympathetic nervous system, which is an “alert” or “quick response” system for flight-or-fight situations and is engaged during intense physical activity or sustained mental concentration. The parasympathetic system, in contrast, is engaged when we are relaxed. It protects us from stress and over-activity, and it is the primary aspect of our nervous system that is active when we are asleep. A high heart-rate variability indicates that the heart is receiving and sending the full range of these nervous system signals—from the highest frequency signals of the parasympathetic nervous system to the lower frequencies of the sympathetic nervous system—properly, swiftly and accurately. It means our nervous system is coherent and balanced in its energy and information flow. Low variability, in contrast, means that the nervous system signals are either not being sent or are not being processed properly. Almost everyone who is experiencing poor health or chronic disease, from cancer to diabetes, displays a low HRV, which is why heart-rate variability tests have become common in both mainstream and complementary medicine as a general diagnostic test for overall health.
Image Credit: Google Images/
optima-life.com 40 Quantum Health
The heart is responsive to our thoughts, intentions, level of concentration and state of being. You can influence your heart toward a state of greater coherence, where it is balanced in receiving the signals from both paths of your nervous system, with the waveform becoming regular and with a high HRV. Mental and physiological coherence can be imaged, just as HRV can. While a high HRV displays as large peaks and valleys in the heart sine wave, a coherent heart rhythm displays as a waveform with a high degree of regularity. In the image below there are three graphs of three different heart-health indicators: respiration, HRV, and blood pressure. In each graph, on the leftmost part is the measure in its baseline state, which is
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