THE HEART BRAIN
Many believe that consciousness originates only in the brain. Recent scientific research suggests that consciousness emerges from the brain and body acting together. Growing evidence suggests that the heart plays a particularly significant role in this process. Much more than a simple bomb, as was once believed, the heart is currently recognized by scientists as a highly complex system, with its own functional "brain."
Research in the new field of Neurocardiology shows that the heart is a sensory organ and a sophisticated center to receive and process information. The nervous system within the heart (or the "brain of the heart") enables it to learn, remember, and to make functional decisions regardless of the cerebral cortex. On the other hand, numerous experiments have shown that the signals that the heart constantly sends to the brain influence the functions of the most important centers of the brain, those that involve the processes of perception, knowledge and emotional ones. Apart from the extensive network of nervous communication that connects the heart with the brain and the rest of the body, the heart transmits information to the brain and the body interacting through an electric field.
The heart generates the most powerful and most extensive electric field in the body. Compared to that produced by the brain, the electrical component of the heart field is something like 60 times larger in amplitude, and penetrates every cell in the body. The magnetic component is approximately 5000 times stronger than the magnetic field of the brain and can be detected several feet away from the body with sensitive magnetometers. The heart generates continuous series of electromagnetic pulses in which the time interval between each beat varies dynamically and complexly. The ever-present rhythmic field of the heart has a powerful influence on some processes throughout the body. We have shown, for example, that the rhythm of the brain is synchronized with the rhythmic activity of the heart, and also that during the manifestation of feelings such as love or appreciation, blood pressure and respiratory rate, along with other systems oscillators, embark along with the heart rhythm.
We propose that the heart field acts as a wave of information that provides a global synchronizing signal for the whole body. Specifically, we suggest that as well as what they are, energy waves transmitted from our heart, these would interact with other organs and systems. These waves encode or record the characteristics and dynamic activities of these systems in the form of waves of energy patterns that are distributed throughout the body. In this way, the encoded information acts to form (literally shapes) the activity of all bodily functions to coordinate and synchronize processes in the body as a whole. This perspective requires an energy information concept, in which organizational patterns are wrapped within waves of systematic activity energy distributed throughout the system as a whole.
Research conducted at the HeartMath Institute shows that information pertaining to a person's emotional state is also communicated via the heart's electromagnetic field. The rhythmic patterns of the heartbeat change significantly while we experience different emotions. Negative feelings, such as anger or frustration, are associated with an erratic, messy and incoherent pattern in the heart rhythm. In contrast, positive feelings such as love or appreciation are associated with a smooth, orderly and consistent pattern in heart rhythm activity. In turn, these changes in the heart rhythm pattern create the corresponding changes in the structure of the electromagnetic field irradiated by the heart, which can be measured by a technique called spectral analysis.
Specifically, we have shown that positive and uninterrupted emotions seem to give rise to a different model of functioning, which we call psychophysiological coherence. During this model, the heart rate exhibits a wave with sinusoid patterns and the electromagnetic field of the heart becomes much more organized.
· At a physiological level, this model is characterized by an efficient and harmonious increase in activity and in the interactions of the organism's systems. (1)
· Psychologically this model is associated with a notable reduction in internal mental dialogue, reduces the perception of stress, increases emotional balance, and improves mental clarity, intuitive perception and cognitive performance.
In sum, our research suggests that psychophysiological coherence is important in improving awareness for both the sensory awareness of the body required to execute and coordinate physiological tasks, as well as to optimize emotional stability, brain function, and our actions.
In addition, as we will discuss later, there is experimental evidence that psychophysiological coherence can increase our awareness and sensitivity towards others around us. The HeartMath Institute has created technologies and practical tools that all people can use to increase consistency.
Interactions between Individuals through the Cardiac Field.
Most people think of social communication only in terms of manifest signals expressed through language, voice, gestures, facial expressions and body movements. However, there is now evidence that a subtle but influential electromagnetic system or energy communication system operates just below our consciousness. Energy interactions are likely to contribute to the attraction or repulsion of individuals between individuals, which also affects social exchanges and relationships. Moreover, it seems that the field of the heart plays an important role in communicating physiologically and socially to individuals.
Experiments carried out at the HeartMat Institute have found remarkable evidence that the electromagnetic field of the heart can transmit information among people. We have been able to measure the exchange of cardiac energy between individuals separated by up to a meter and a half distance. We have also found that the brain waves of one person can, in fact, synchronize with the heart of another. Moreover, when an individual is generating a consistent heart rhythm, synchronization between that person's brain waves and another's heartbeat is more likely to occur. These findings have intriguing implications, suggesting that those individuals in a state of psychophysiological coherence become more aware of the information encoded in those around them.
The result of these experiments has led us to deduce that the nervous system acts as an antenna, which is oriented and responds to the electromagnetic fields produced by the hearts of other individuals. We believe that this ability to exchange information is an innate ability that intensifies awareness and mediates important aspects of true empathy and sensitivity towards others. In addition, we have observed that this energy communication ability can be intentionally improved, producing a much deeper level of nonverbal communication, understanding and connection between people. . There is even intriguing evidence that heart interactions can occur between people and animals.
Finally, energy communication through the heart facilitates the development of an expansion of our consciousness in relation to our social world.
The Field of the Heart and the Intuition.
There are also new data that suggest that the heart field is directly related to intuitive perception, through a link with an energy field of information that transcends the limits of space and time. Using a rigorous experimental design, we have found strong evidence that both the heart and the brain receive and respond to information about a future event before it happens.
Even more surprising was our finding that the heart seems to receive this "intuitive" information before the brain. This seems to suggest that the heart field can be associated with a more subtle energy field that contains information about remote objects and events in space or the future. Called "spectral domino" by Kart Pribam and others, this would be a fundamental arrangement of potential energy that unifies space and time, and is thought to be the basis for our consciousness as a whole.
The Social Field
New data suggests that the area of the heart is directly related to intuitive perception, and could receive this information before the brain.
In the same way that the heart generates energy in the body, we propose that the social collective activates and regulates the energy within the social system. A recent set of avant-garde works show that the field of socio-emotional interaction between a mother and her child is essential for brain development, the emergence of consciousness and the formation of healthy self-esteem. A consistent organization of the mother-child relationship to shape this field is essential. This occurs when these interactions are charged, and this is important, with positive emotions (love, joy, happiness, excitement, appreciation, etc.) and are within the patterns of reciprocal exchanges between these two individuals as something highly synchronized. These patterns are printed in the child's mind and will have an influence on his psychosocial function throughout his life.
On the other hand, in a longitudinal study of 46 social groups, one of us (Bradley); He documented about how the global organization of a group group collective consciousness seems to be transmitted to all members through an energetic field of socio-emotional connection. Data were found on the relationships between each pair of members that provided a very accurate picture of the social structure as a whole. A coherent organization in the social structure of the group is associated with a network of positive emotions that connects all members.
This network of positive emotions seems to constitute a field of energy connection within which information about the social structure of the group is coded and distributed through it. Surprisingly, a precise picture of the social structure as a whole was obtained only from information given only from the relationship between pairs of individuals. We believe that the only way to make this possible is if the information of the total organization of the group is distributed to all its members through an energy field. Such correspondence to information between some parties and the whole is consistent with the principle of holographic organization. (2)
Implications and Synthesis.
Some characteristics of the organization of the heart field, identified by numerous studies in HeartMath, can also be shared with those about our hypothetical social field. Each one is an energy field where it travels in the form of waves through our system. This generates an arrangement of energy information where each field space contains an image displayed, at that time, of the total organization of the system. The processing and organization of information in these energy fields can be better understood in terms of holographic quantum principles. (3)
Another association is the role of positive emotions, such as love and appreciation, generating coherence between both fields, that of the heart and the social. When the movement of energy is intentionally regulated to form a coherent and harmonious order, the flow and integrity of the information are improved. This, in turn, produces a functional, effective and stable system which improves health, psychosocial well-being and individual or social relationships. Cardiac and social coherence also seem to act to help each other. While individuals within a social group increase their psychophysiological coherence, psycho-social harmony seems to increase as well, therefore it also increases coherence in social relationships. In turn, the creation of a coherent social field can help support the generation and maintenance of coherent psychophysiology among all its members. A consciousness and knowledge, expanded and deeper, is the result of the internal physiology of the body, of emotional and mental processes, as well as of a latent, deeper and more involved order within the energy fields that surround us. This is the basis for self-awareness, social sensitivity, creativity, intuition, inner spiritual vision and understanding of ourselves and everything to which we are connected. It is through the intentional generation of coherence, both in the social and in the heart fields, that a shift towards the next level of planetary consciousness can occur, one that brings us harmony with the movement of the whole.
For more information on research and publications of the HearthMath Institute, please visit www.heartmath.org.
Improving Consciousness with Cardiac Coherence
The HeartMath Institute's research suggests that psychophysiological coherence is important to improve awareness. Breathing with Attitude, it is a tool that helps you synchronize your heart, mind and body to give you a more powerful psychophysiological coherence. By using this technique regularly test 5 times a day you will develop the ability to make a lasting change in attitude. With Breathing with Attitude, you focus on your heart and the solar plexus while breathing with a positive attitude. The heart will automatically harmonize the energy between the heart, mind and body, increasing awareness and clarity.
The Technique of Breathing with Attitude.
1. Focus on your heart while inhaling. As you exhale focus on the solar plexus. The solar plexus is about 4 inches below the heart, just below the sternum where the right and left sides of the thoracic box meet.
2. Practice inhaling through the heart and exhaling through the ribcage for 30 seconds or more to help anchor your attention and energy there. Then choose some positive attitude or thought to inhale or exhale during those 30 seconds or more. For example, you can inhale an attitude of appreciation and exhale one of attention.
3. Select breathing attitudes that help you compensate for negative emotions and imbalances in the situations you are going through. Breathe deeply with the intention of heading towards the feeling of that attitude. For example, you can inhale an attitude of balance and exhale an attitude of mercy, or you can exhale an attitude of love and exhale an attitude of compassion.
Practice different attitude combinations that you would like to develop. You can say out loud Sincerity Breathing, Breathing Courage, Breathing Tranquility, Breathing Gratitude or any attitude or feeling you want or need. Even if you don't feel the attitude change at the beginning, making a genuine effort to change, at least it will help you reach a neutral state. In which, you will have more objectivity and save energy.
- This exercise of Breathing with Attitude has been quoted from the book entitled Transforming the Stress: HearthMath's solution to relieve worries, fatigue and tension., on sale soon (New Harbinger Publucations, Inc.) by Dr. Doc Childre and Deborah Rozma, available in bookstores since March 2005. Rollin McCraty, PhD, is the Director of Research at the HeartMath Institute. Research in HeartMath includes the physiology of emotions, and the mechanisms with which emotions influence cognitive processes, behavior and health. His research has been conducted towards educational programs and for the information of the general public.http: //www.heartmath.org
Final Notes:
1. The effects of psychophysiological coherence include: an increase in the synchronization between the gaps in two autonomous nervous systems, a change in the autonomous balance aimed at increasing activity
parasympathetic, an increase in synchronization between the heart and brain, an increase in vascular resonance, and an understanding between various physiological oscillatory systems.
2. The holographic organization is based on a concept of field order, where information about the organization about an object as a whole is coded as an interference pattern in the form of waves distributed across the field. This makes it possible to receive information about the object as a whole from any point in the field.
3. The term qu ntico, used in quantum holography, does not mean that this type of energy processing is understood in the terms of the principles of quantum physics. Instead, quantum holography is a special and indeterminate form of holographic organization based on a discrete unit of energy information called logon, or a The same information.
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