“The human heart has hidden treasures, in secret kept, in silence sealed.” — Charlotte Brontë
Did you know that your heart sends more signals to your brain than your brain sends to your heart? That means your brain responds to your heart more than your heart responds to your brain.
That’s why the saying “When you get in your head, you’re dead,” is so apropos when you are overthinking a situation.
Your heart influences emotional processing and cognitive faculties – attention, perception, memory, and problem-solving.
When your heart rhythm is erratic, the neural signals from your heart inhibits higher cognitive functions in your brain.
Rollin McCraty Ph.D., one of the founders of the HeartMath Institute, said, “The biggest hidden source of stresson the planet is the disorganization of heart/mind, causing lack of resonance. Lack of alignment eats the life force and happiness out of humanity.”
The more stable your heart rhythm, the neural signals from your heart facilitates cognitive function.
Practicing heart rhythm coherence massively affects how you perceive, think, feel, and perform.
According to the HeartMath Institute, “There are four keywords for coherence: appreciation, gratitude, care, and compassion. When we practice moving into states aligned with one of these words, or some combination of the four, we create communication between the heart and the brain. This practice takes about three days to establish new neural network habit patterns supporting the heart/brain connection and communication.”
So what’s one simple way to achieve heart/brain coherence and apply this to your life now?
Put your hand/s on your heart and breathe into your heart. I like to do this while I meditate in the morning and I also take a few minutes throughout the day when I start feeling like I am in my head and caught up in the busy-ness of all that’s going on.
- Set a timer for 1-2 minutes
- Close your eyes
- Put your hands on your heart
- Breathe into your heart
