“ The heart may well be the center of our cellular universe, holding together energy in shape of a soul. The heart may define the essential character of our whole existence. The heart is the body’s largest rhythmic generator, emitting an electromagnetic signal 5,000 times stronger than the ones buzzing around our brain. It was only in 1991 that the medical literature recognized that the heart has its own brain – a network of different kinds of neurons, and neural networks that the brain in our head has. The current consensus among researchers is that the body’s neural system is a distributed parallel processing operation with different levels of hierarchy and control. In other words, we just don’t think in our heads!
Heart transplant recipients inexplicably take on the tastes, attitudes, and even memories of their donors – people they know nothing about. In one example, a man who received the heart of a woman hit by a train began to have recurring dreams in which he was driving a truck or a train. In another, a woman whose donor had been shot in the back began complaining complaining of shooting pains in her back after the operation. In a third, the recipient suddenly began prone to bouts of depression and the donor had been a young woman who was prone to depression. An eight year old girl was given the heart of a murdered child, after surgery she began to have nightmares of her donor’s death complete with exact details of the killer, which enabled the police to capture him.
Over a prolonged period, the relaxed electromagnetic and pressure pulses of the heart entrain to the weaker electromagnetic operating signals throughout the brain and body to throb in synchronization with the heart. This is called ‘flow,’ a state of relaxed and energized concentration when you perform at your best. It is similar to what athletes call ‘the zone.’
A peaceful heart helps you think not only more clearly, but more creatively. When alarm signals from the heart are flashed to the head, they don’t go straight to the cortex. They go first to the more primitive parts of the brain that organize subconscious impressions. One of these regions is the amygdala, whose job is to recognize familiar incoming emotional data and establish habitual unconscious responses to it. Thus some people are quick to anger, others become frustrated, yet others worry about every little thing. The amygdala is where those circuits are wired. As one develops the ability to maintain coherence through sustaining sincere, heart-focused states of appreciation or love, the brain’s electrical activity is also brought in entrainment with heart rhythms. When you focus your heart on love and appreciation, you increase the likelihood that all kinds of cells within your body, including the brain, become synchronized around the hear’s electrical signal. The heart’s electromagnetic signal can be measured several feet away from the body. One person’s heart signal can entrain another person’s electrical brain patterns and alter the recipient’s moods. Taking an instant dislike to a person is the result of clashing heart rhythms, while love is a matter of two hearts beating in harmony. Each heart is as personal and as distinctive as a fingerprint. ”
- Excerpt from the Heart’s Code by Dr. Paul Pearsall
