Monday, June 9, 2014

Knowing Your Heart

The Institute of HeartMath has done some amazing research on the heart revealing how much the heart actually influences the quality of our lives on so many levels.  As I was doing my research (and after reading this post I encourage all of you to go to HeartMath's website and do some of your own research on the scientifically-based, consciousness expanding work they are doing), I felt this information would be so informative and helpful to the readers of this blog.  Knowledge is power, and when we understand the influence and power our hearts have over our entire bio-system, we can then consciously take that information and with the right tools, put this knowledge into practice and create a whole new experience for our lives.  As we become more and more aware of how much we are in control of how we react and respond in our given circumstances, tapping into the true nature of our hearts and the immense energy emanating from it, we can affect the fields around us and change our experiences.  We can move from victim consciousness to creator consciousness, learning that we have the power within us to affect the changes we wish to see in our lives.  Connecting to the intelligence of the heart is paramount for this transformation to occur.

In the book, The HeartMath Solution, authors Doc Childe and Howard Martin explain how the electromagnetic fields radiating from the heart affect all the fields around us, and they also show us how to move into sensing and experiencing with the intuitive nature of the heart's brain rather than just operating from our cranium's brain of limited linear thinking.  They say that
"Heart intelligence is the intelligent flow of awareness and insight that we experience once the mind and the emotions are brought into balance and coherence through a self initiated process.  This form of intelligence is experienced as direct intuitive knowing that manifests in thoughts and emotions that are beneficial for ourselves and others."  (p.6 HMS)
 Here are some interesting facts and bits of information HeartMath research shows about our hearts:

  • "Because the heart is the strongest biological oscillator in the human system, the rest of the body's systems are pulled into entrainment with the heart rhythms."  (p. 46 HMS)
  • How do you harmonize your heart rhythms?  The quickest way is to focus on the core heart feelings such as care, love, and compassion.
  • The heart has its own independent nervous system.  It's called "the brain of the heart."
  • There are at a minimum forty thousand neurons-nerve cells in the heart alone.  These relay information back and forth to the brain and allows for a two-way communication between the brain and the heart.  The heart, though, beats independently of its connection to the brain.
  • Research by Joel and Beatrice Lacey at the Fels Research Institute in the 1970's discovered that when the brain sent signals to the heart through the nervous system, our hearts didn't automatically obey.  The heart's response depended on two factors:  the nature of the task and the type of mental processing it required.  However, what they also discovered was that the brain obeys all messages and instructions sent to it by the heart!  Messages that could influence a person's thoughts, actions, and behaviors.
  • The Fels Institute also discovered the heart is not just a mechanical throb, but a language, a system of intelligent language influencing our perception and reactions.  Other research has found that the quality of the hearts rhythmic beating influences the higher brain centers governing emotional problems.  When we're coming from a place of love, gratitude, and appreciation, instead of a place of anger, resentment, or blame, we open up these higher brain centers which help us to solve our problems.
  • Research at the Institute of HeartMath have found that the heart rhythms become jagged and disordered when the person was experiencing negative emotions.  Positive emotions, on the other hand, produced smooth, harmonious heart rhythms which enabled the individual to have increased mental clarity, clearer intuition and enhanced ability to perceive the world.  It also improved and enhanced their ability to communicate with others.
  • When a person is able to sustain balanced and harmonious heart rhythms, they are then able to sustain a positive life perspective, experience an increase of intuitive flow, and easily access positive emotions whenever they need.
  • The electromagnetic field of the heart is approximately 5000 times greater in strength than the electromagnetic field produced by the brain!  This electromagnetic field not only permeates every cell of our being but is strong enough and powerful enough to radiate out into the field around us, a radiation which can be measured by magnetometers.  (Wow!)
  • What is the difference between head and heart intelligence?  The head is open to linear, rational, logical solutions while the heart is open to intuitive solutions.  The idea is to get them to work together.  When our hearts and heads are in alignment, cooperating with one another, working together, we have more choices in life, and we gain a clear vision of our dreams and how to fulfill them.  Coherence between our head and heart grants us the freedom to operate and move more effectively through all fields and aspects of life - a fact the Institute of HeartMath has tested repeatedly.

Knowing your heart, understanding its intelligence, and learning how to connect to this intelligence on a regular basis, could be one of the most important things you do for yourself.  This information alone can help you to see the world differently; and perhaps, when enough of us have this knowing and start to live from our hearts, emanating from our essence the core feelings of love, care, and compassion in all that we do, our world will change.  


  
Institute of Heartmath
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Charlie Pacello is a PTSD and Healing Trauma Recovery Expert and Life Coach, a former US Air Force Lieutenant, and creator of the program, 'Lt. Pacello's Life Training Program.'  He can be reached by visiting his website at www.charliepacello.com