The Heart Brain Earth DNA Interpersonal
Spiritual Health Connection: A survey
Neurocardiology
Almost a century ago, Rudolph
Steiner said the greatest discovery of 20th century science would be that the
heart is not a pump but vastly more, and that the great challenge of the coming
ages of humanity would be, in effect, to allow the heart to teach us to think
in a new way. [1]
In the 1970s a small group of cardiovascular
researchers joined with a similar group of neurophysiologists to explore areas
of mutual interest. This represented the beginning of the new discipline of neurocardiology.
One of the early pioneers in neurocardiology, Dr. J. Andrew Armour,
introduced the concept of a functional “heart brain” in 1991. His work revealed
that the heart has a complex intrinsic nervous system that is sufficiently
sophisticated to qualify as a “little brain” in its own right. The heart’s
brain is an intricate network of several types of neurons, neurotransmitters,
proteins and support cells like those found in the brain proper. Its elaborate
circuitry enables it to act independently of the cranial brain – to learn,
remember, and even feel and sense.
Hormonal, chemical, rate and pressure
information is translated into neurological impulses by the heart’s nervous
system and sent from the heart to the brain through several afferent (flowing to the brain) pathways which enter the brain in an
area called the medulla, located in the brain stem. These signals have a
regulatory role over many of the autonomic nervous system signals that flow out
of the brain to the heart, blood vessels and other glands and organs. They also
cascade up into the higher centers of the brain, where they may influence
perception, decision making and other cognitive functions. [2]
Heart Rate
Variability
A healthy heart has a natural variation, from minute
to minute, beat to beat, even at rest. This phenomenon is known as Heart Rate
Variability (HRV). It’s a sign of health – the greater the variability the
better.
Maximal heart coherence
results when breathing and heart rate become perfectly synchronized.
In states of stress, anxiety, anger and sadness the
variation tends to be disordered and chaotic. In positive emotional states such
as love and gratitude, the variation tends to be ordered and rhythmic. This
state of rhythmic variation is known as Heart (Rate Variability) Coherence.
Left side: Three types of Heart Rate Variability.
Right side: Corresponding power spectral density (PSD)
Figure from http://www.livingwisdomschool.org/newsarticles/heartmind.html
A plot of PSD
shows the degree of mediation between sns and pns. Activity in the Very Low Frequency band (.0033-.04 Hz)
is an indicator of sns function. Activity in the High
Frequency band (.15-.4 Hz) is an indicator of pns
function. Activity in the .04-.15Hz band reflects a combination of both sns and pns activity. When
respiration is entrained with
heart coherence, peak activity occurs near .1 Hz. [3]
Note the PSD
peak power output for appreciation in the plot above is almost four times that
for relaxation.
Heart Brain
Entrainment
In addition to
the extensive neural communication network linking the heart with the brain and
body, the heart generates the body’s most powerful and most extensive rhythmic
electromagnetic field.
When the brain entrains to the heart, an
electrocardiogram of the heart brain combination shows that the brain wave
patterns, including alpha are, in fact, embedded within the larger field of the
heart. When brain neurons entrain to the heart’s ECG activity, research shows
that the timing of neuronal firing conveys several times more information than
the brain alone.
When the heart is entrained to the brain’s
oscillating wave-form, the heart begins to lose coherence. The more the heart
entrains to the brain, and the longer it does so, the lower the HRV, the less
fractal its processes are. The more predictable and
regular the heart becomes, the more diseased it is. To be healthy, the heart
must remain in a highly unstable state of dynamic equilibrium.[4]
Psychophysiological Coherence
It is generally
believed that conscious awareness originates in the brain alone. Recent
scientific research however, suggests that consciousness actually emerges from
the brain and body acting together. A growing body of evidence suggests that
the heart plays a particularly significant role in this process.
IMH proposes that
the heart’s electromagnetic field acts as a carrier wave for information that
provides a global synchronizing signal for the entire body. This perspective
requires an energetic concept of information, in which patterns of organization
are enfolded into waves of energy.
IMH has demonstrated that sustained positive emotions (ie Heart Rate Variability Coherence)
appears to give rise to a distinct mode of functioning,
which they call psychophysiological coherence. In this state, heart rhythms not only exhibit a sine wave-like
pattern, but also the heart’s
electromagnetic field becomes correspondingly more organized.
IHM research suggests that psychophysiological coherence
is important in enhancing consciousness– both for the body’s sensory awareness
of the information required to execute and coordinate physiological function,
and also to optimize emotional stability, mental function, and intentional
action.
While IHM has
demonstrated that calm or tranquil emotions facilitate the ability to focus or
concentrate, it has also been shown that focus or concentration can calm the
emotions. [5]
A paper by Glen
Rein and Rollin McCraty provided the first
experimental evidence to support the hypothesis that positive (coherent) heart
states produce physiological results at the DNA level.
Knowing the Future
Using a rigorous
experimental design, they found compelling evidence that both the heart and
brain receive and respond to information about a future event before the event
actually happens. Even more surprising was the fact that the heart appears to
receive this “intuitive” information before the brain. This suggests that the
heart’s field may be linked to a more subtle energetic field. [6]
Heart brain and Earth
It turns out that the
geomagnetic field also has a profound effect on the heart/brain system. Just as
a tuning fork has natural frequencies for sound, the planet Earth has natural
frequencies for electromagnetic radiation, called Schumann Resonances, to which the human heart/brain entrains.
The nearly perfectly conducting terrestrial surface and the electrically charged ionosphere form an enclosed cavity. Electromagnetic impulses, like those from lightning flashes, bounce back and forth longitudinally (resonate) forming standing waves. These standing waves are called Schumann resonances, named after W. O. Schumann, the discoverer of the fundamental resonance of 7.8 Hertz in 1954. The nominal average frequencies observed are the fundamental at 7.8, with harmonics at 14, 20, 26, 33, 39, and 45 Hz, with slight diurnal variation. [7]
The Human Heart/Brain system also has natural frequencies for electromagnetic radiation which spans the frequency range of the Schumann Resonances; 7.8 to 40 Hz.
Dr. Herbert König,
Schumann’s successor at
The Schumann Resonance is important in synchronization of diurnal
and ELF brain rhythms. In one experiment, student volunteers lived for four
weeks in a hermetically sealed environment that specifically screened out magnetic fields of 7.83 Hz. These students started
suffering emotional distress and migraine headaches which were immediately
cleared after a brief exposure to 7.83 Hz. frequency. [8]
Interpersonal Connection
Experiments
conducted at the
The results of
these experiments have led HeartMath to infer that
the nervous system acts as an “antenna,” which is tuned to and responds to the
electromagnetic fields produced by the hearts of other individuals.[9]
Studies show,
as one might suspect, that
the more love and care a person has received in their life, the
more easily they receive cardiac signals from another.[10]
Results also suggest
that a coherent energy field can be generated and/or enhanced by the intentions
of small groups of participants trained to send coherence-facilitating
intentions to a target receiver. The evidence of heart rhythm synchronization
across participants supports the possibility of heart-to-heart
bio-communications. [11]
Based on these
interpersonal results, Heart Math has launched a Global Coherence Initiative,
which strives to positively affect the global electromagnetic environment by
enlisting the help of thousands of Heart Coherent volunteers. The stated goal
is to establish another set of monitor systems to measure earth’s magnetic
fields, and then to monitor human-earth energetic interactions. [12]
We know the
earth’s geomagnetic field has a major effect on our quality of consciousness.
This would suggest that the effect of the human EM field on the geomagnetic
field is very small. It is also not clear how the difference between
geomagnetic and human EM fields would be distinguished.
Heart Brain and Spirit
Olga Louchakova notes that the experience of heart consciousness
can be achieved through spiritual practices. [13]
Appendix
Heart consciousness: Name associations:
Rudolph Steiner, Glen Rein, Rollin McCraty,
William Tiller, Joseph Chilton Pearce, Olga Louchakova,
Organizations:
Heartmath, IONS, ISSSEEM
Other Links:
The heart, the first organ of the human body
to form, is the supreme theme of this year's ISSSEEM conference (2009):
The Living Matrix:
http://thelivingmatrixmovie.com/
Foundation for Mind Being Research
[4] http://peaceandloveism.com/blog/2010/04/knowing-our-hearts-creating-coherent-electromagnetic-fields/
[5] http://www.livingwisdomschool.org/newsarticles/heartmind.html
The value of Heart Math research has been validated in educational settings such as livingwisdomschool.
[6] http://www.laskow.net/articles/ModDNAbyCohHeartFreq.pdf ]
[8]
http://alternativespirituality.suite101.com/article.cfm/healing_properties_of_the_schumann_resonance
[11] http://wwwww.glcoherence.org w.heartmath.org/research/research-library/achieving-collective-coherence-group-effects-on-hrv.html
[13] http://www.fmbr.org/speakers/speakers-08-09.php This web page also includes many other related topics