Emotions, the helm of our living.
When mind and heart agree, the goal is the truth of our feelings.

 Who we are, how we function, are existential questions that unite everyone. What we think, feel, how we behave every day depends on the functioning of the most complex and mysterious organ in our body: the brain.

But how does it manage to support the vastness and the operations of our mind? And what role does a mysterious character called the heart have in all of this?

The purpose of this article is to offer a series of useful tools to understand the internal processes of our mind and, if necessary, learn how to intervene to modify them, harmonizing them with the conductor of our daily life: the heart.

First of all, let’s specify what are the cognitive processes underlying the mind and its reference organ, the brain:

Perception, Learning, Language, Thought, Attention, Memory, Motivation and Emotion.

Cognitive neuroscience is the discipline that addresses this fundamental scientific question, how does our brain work? A branch of knowledge that is now experiencing its full, so to speak, adolescence. And just like adolescents, cognitive neuroscience is also restless and creative, at times arrogant and mysterious, sometimes even naive. But it is also socially engaged, visionary and revolutionary.

This article offers curious readers some tools to approach the study of how our brain generates the mind.

To understand, it is necessary to provide some details and specialties of the brain itself, examining concepts and mechanisms that are also complex, but essential. We must first explain that there are two types of cells in the brain: neurons and glial cells.

Neurons are involved in the communication of information; glial cells instead have a variety of roles, including that of helping neurons to carry out their work.

Neurons are able to communicate with each other, over short and long distances, with equal effectiveness. Neuronal communication is based on two messaging systems:

  • one is the transmission from the soma (it is the central part of the neuron, consisting of the periphery in which the nucleus and the other organelles responsible for the main cellular functions reside, Golgi apparatus, neurofilaments, microtubules, pigment granules, tigroid substance, mitochondria, nucleus, smooth endoplasmic reticulum), to the ends of the axon;
  • the other task, instead, is the communication between axons and other neurons, often through their dendrites.

This process begins when an electrical storm called an action potential is generated by the soma. Action potentials cause the release of chemical neurotransmitters from the axon terminals. The space between two neurons is called the synaptic cleft or synaptic cleft and briefly synapse. This all happens thanks to chemical mediators that are neurotransmitters.

NEUROTRANSMITTERS

  • GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) is a substance naturally secreted by our cerebral cortex, whose role is to reduce emotional tension and limit the increase in stress towards the excito-motor areas of the brain.
  • Glutamate is one of the most important neurotransmitters in our nervous system. It acts as an authentic fuel for 80% of our synapses. It intervenes in the formation of memories, in the management of attention and in the regulation of emotions. We produce it thanks to the proteins we consume and it is the main excitatory neurotransmitter. The brain also responds to commands called “programs”. Among these, the affective ones are very effective.

AFFECTIVE PROGRAMS

These affective programs are to be found in some subcortical areas of the limbic system that constitute an affective program for each basic emotion, that is, they are wired circuits that control the innate responses triggered by biologically relevant stimuli. For example, consider the affective program of fear:

Threat with subsequent control of the fear response, threat detection and expression of the fear response, and the feeling of fear and obvious innate fear response.

THE UNCONSCIOUS BRAIN

Today, neurosciences are able to offer an anatomical-functional substrate to some functions that constitute the cornerstones around which the psychoanalytic theory of the mind revolves. Here, in this context, the concept of the unconscious in relation to memory and dream work is of primary importance, as is that of the unconscious in relation to the functions of consciousness.

Therefore, psychoanalysis, today, must take into account the great progress that experimental and clinical neuroscience have made in the last 30 years, contributing to clarifying the language of neurons and the plastic capacities of the brain, which play a fundamental role in the processes that concern the basic functions of the human mind.

So, one wonders what role the unconscious and, therefore, psychoanalysis play in this scenario?

Let us always keep this in mind: a large part of our mental life is not conscious, as demonstrated by the psychology of the second half of the twentieth century, which is largely a psychology of non-conscious mental processes, confirming in some way Freud’s intuition.

Memory and the unconscious have proven to be two functions of the mind, inseparable from each other: memory, in fact, is the place of our unconscious, as Freud had already intuited in 1912.

Neuroscientific researches on memory can, therefore, provide a significant contribution to the knowledge of the unconscious functions of the mind.

In particular, neuroscience is able, today, to identify those cortical and subcortical structures that are essential for memory and can therefore indirectly offer hypotheses on the anatomical-functional organization of the unconscious.

Neurosciences discovered in recent years that a double memory system operates in our brain: the explicit or declarative memory system and the implicit or non-declarative memory system (Squire, 1994; Schacter, 1996).

The first can be consciously evoked and verbalized; it concerns the autobiography of each person and makes possible, through memory, a reconstructive process of one’s personal history. This is an indispensable function for the process of repression to take place and
requires the integrity of the medial temporal lobe, the orbito-frontal areas and the bilateral hippocampus.

Implicit memory, on the other hand, is neither conscious nor verbalizable; it does not need the aforementioned brain structures and involves, in addition to the amygdala, temporo-parieto-occipital areas of the right hemisphere (at least with regard to speech), basal nuclei and cerebellar structures; finally, it does not allow memory (Scachter 1996).

The dimensions of implicit memory that are of greatest interest to psychoanalysis are:

  • the procedural one
  • the emotional and affective one

as they characterize the child’s first relationships with the mother and participate in the organization of his Self (Stern, 1985).

Physical contact with the mother, in fact, stimulates emotions and conveys affections that will constitute central elements of relational learning deposited in the implicit memory of the newborn.

It is in this pre-symbolic and pre-verbal phase that the problem of early “relational trauma” arises, which will condition the affective, emotional, cognitive and sexual life of the child even when he is an adult (Stern 1998).

Not only positive experiences and emotions, but also frustrations and disappointments will be deposited in his implicit pre-verbal and pre- symbolic memory. All emotions, positive and negative, will constitute the structural elements of an unconscious nucleus of the non-repressed Self (Mancia, 2003; 2004).

These experiences cannot be subjected to the mechanism of repression, since the structures of explicit memory essential for the process of repression are not mature before 2-3 years of life (Siegel, 1999).

This concept of the unrepressed unconscious is very different from that described by Freud in 1923, in which a part of the Ego is unconscious as a derivation from the Id by external reality through the perception- consciousness system (P-C): it is the result of an archiving in the implicit memory of experiences, fantasies and defenses that belong to a pre- symbolic and pre-verbal era of development and, therefore, cannot be remembered, even though they condition the affective, emotional, cognitive and sexual life of the adult as well.

Therefore, although current neuroscience research is confirming that much of our mental activity is unconscious, as Freud claimed, the fact that we are largely guided by unconscious thoughts is not sufficient to prove Freud’s claim that unpleasant information is actively repressed, a claim that is supported by clinical cases.

The most famous research comes from a 1994 study by behavioral neurologist Ramachandran on anosognosic patients.

In fact, the observation of these patients allowed him to verify that memories can indeed be selectively repressed and that the phenomena of repression that are central to psychoanalysis are real.

For Ramachandran, the left hemisphere clearly uses Freudian defense mechanisms (Ramachandran 1994).

Freud, however, goes further, and not only he stated that a large part of our mental life is unconscious and repressed, but also that the repressed part operates according to a principle different from that of reality, which presides over our unconscious.

Unconscious thinking is an illusorily utopian thought, which ignores the laws of logic and time.

If Freud is right, then damage to the inhibitory structures of the brain, where the repressive ego resides, should release illusory and irrational ways of functioning of the mind: this is exactly what has been observed in patients with damage to the frontal limbic region, responsible for controlling critical aspects of self-awareness.

However, neuroscientists do not accept Freud’s classification of instinctual life as a simple dichotomy between sexuality and aggression.

Thanks to research on lesions and the effects of drugs and artificial stimulation of the brain, they have replaced the aforementioned dichotomy with four instinctual circuits, some of which overlap:

  • the appetitive or reward-gratification system, which causes the pursuit of pleasure;
  • the anger-rage system, which presides over choleric aggression, but not predatory aggression;
  • he fear-anxiety system and the panic system, which includes complex instincts (Panksepp 1998).

All of these systems are modulated by specific neurotransmitters.

The appetitive system, regulated by the neurotransmitter dopamine, bears a remarkable resemblance to Freud’s libido: in fact, according to Freud, the libidinal or sexual drive is a pleasure-seeking system that fuels much of our goal-oriented interactions with the world, and current research shows that its neural equivalent is deeply implicated in nearly all forms of compulsive seeking and addiction.

THE GREAT CONDUCTOR ARRIVES:
THE HEART – THE DOOR TOWARD BEING “ONE”

The heart not only symbolizes the emotional center of the human being but also his spiritual center and many believe it is the source of life. Just as in the Christian religion the heart has a predominant sacredness.

Let us pause for a moment on the importance of the heart in the traditions of wisdom and transmitted to us mostly with esoteric teachings.

In the Gospel of Mark chapter 11 verse 20-26 we find:

“In the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots.” Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look, the fig tree that you cursed has withered.” Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God! Truly I say to you that whoever says to this mountain, “Get out of there and throw yourself into the sea,’ and if he has no doubts in his HEART, and believes that what he says will happen, that will be done for him. Therefore I tell you: whatever you ask for when you pray, believe that you have received it and you will have it…. Whenever you pray, if you have anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your wrongs.”

We can remind ourselves of some symbolic phrases that have the heart as their central element:

  • “You did steal my heart”;
  • “I lost my heart for you”;
  • “Before making a revolution, reform your heart”. (Chinese proverb)
  • “Follow your heart, listen to your inner voice, stop worrying about what others think”. (Roy T. Bennett)
  • “One can only see clearly with the heart – what is essential is invisible to the eye”. (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)
  • “The purpose of life is to make the heartbeat in tune with the beat of the universe, so that our nature is brought closer to Nature”. (Joseph Campbell)
  • “Two things fill my heart with admiration and reverence: the starry sky above my head and the moral law in my heart”. (Enrico Fermi)
  • “True beauty, after all, consists in the purity of the heart”. (Mahatma Gandhi)
  • All I want is to reach out and touch another human being, not just with my hands, but with my heart. (Tahereh Mafi)
  • Listen to your heart. It knows all things. (Paulo Coelho)
  • If you have a passion for sacred happiness, throw away your arrogance and become a seeker of hearts. (Rumi)
  • The most moving and strange dramas do not take place in theaters, but in the hearts of men. (Carl Gustav Jung)

It seems, therefore, that Science was preceded by the Knowledge of the ancients. They were already aware of how much the feeling of our heart creates our life experiences.

However, many similar expressions acquire a meaning if we interpret them in functional terms, that is, connected to the influence that the heart exerts on our feelings. This happens when there is a state of excitement in the organism and this makes us feel light and, in its absence, heavy and depressed. When the excitement concerns love, in particular, we feel it more directly, precisely through the heart. This state of excitement in the person manifests itself in the body, becoming visible to the observer. In the sense that the blood flows to the surface and in particular to the eyes, which become bright, lively. Muscle tone improves, movements are more spontaneous, hands are warmer, the brain is more active, and the heart beats is faster. Negative excitement does not manifest these effects. Therefore, love and its excitement produce highly healthy effects in the human body. It seems that those who feel love have a special light, a more lively complexion, and a more coherent whole body.

 CARESSES

Caresses develop self-esteem and are defined as a unit of recognition. Each person needs caresses, recognition and if they do not get them they feel deprived. We can have verbal, non-verbal, positive, negative, conditioned and unconditioned caresses. In childhood, we seek positive caresses and if they do not arrive, we SEEK NEGATIVE ONES. The latter are as effective as positive ones and therefore equally push us to repeat the behavior patterns that produced them. The search for caresses can take many forms and varies from person to person, in relation to the experiences they have had. Therefore, each person has their own quotient of caresses. To give an example, let’s mention the fact that to survive, a child, at birth, needs about one hundred caresses a day such as care, food, warmth, hugs, kisses etc.

There are also other ways to establish a warm contact between people. Sound, for example, is a physical force that affects the body. Children feel the warmth and comfort of a mother’s lullaby, which they perceive as an expression of love. A warm voice certainly expresses love, just as a cold and stern voice expresses hostility. To be emotionally effective, the sound must be heard and the look must be seen. Even the look can say a lot and give nothing. When the eyes of two people meet, two things can happen: a door can open onto an infinite world of possibilities or, on the contrary, one can close oneself in two unapproachable glaciers. So we are talking about love. And love pushes towards intimacy. The parts where blood flows most consistently are the lips, the nipples, the genitals. Let us clarify that love is not limited to the mere sexual act, between man and woman. Love is present wherever there is pleasure and the desire for intimacy. To love means:

Feeling united and not only in an abstract way as in the love for our fellow man, but physically through intimate union.

In order to return to the origins of life on this planet, we can say that children have two objects of love: the MOTHER and the FATHER. By loving them, they know the happiness that comes when you love and are loved in return. Unfortunately, in childhood and adolescence, children experience real storms (including the pregnancy period), which will ensure that the reality of love will be destroyed if not completely, certainly at least in part. Obviously, people keep, like children, the dream of love, without which life would be gray and empty. It is the hope of a rediscovered paradise that gives meaning to our lives. The hope of a regained paradise.

So, when we meet a person who reminds us of the one we loved and lost in childhood, it seems that a miracle happens: the dream could become reality.

Unfortunately, in most cases, hope fades away and what seemed like hope turns into the worst illusion.

We can now hypothesize, with a high percentage of success, that the intensity and fullness of a person’s love should be reflected in the nature of the heart muscle. And just like any other muscle, the heart can be tender or hard, affectionate or cold. A heart that is soft from a working point of view, even if it could not support great emotional loads, works better because of its mobility. That is, it acts with a better power of contraction, with a faster and more complete response. But how can a heart become cold and stiff? The answer is in the relationship between love and hate. We can represent hate as a cold love. Love, instead, is a source of immense heat. For example, with anger, or with rage, the muscles contract. With love, however, the muscles relax and are softer. Thus the impulse given by love reaches the entire surface of the body, which benefits from a multiplicity of beneficial sensations.

The inability to express anger, for example, leaves the muscles in a state of tension and contraction, making them stiff and hard. Love can still reside in the heart, but the instinct to open up cannot penetrate through tense and contracted muscles, so that the surface remains cold (cold hands and a warm heart). Let’s clarify with some examples: thinking that even the most hateful Nazis had positive relationships with other Nazis and felt affection for Hitler, can give us an idea of how complex internal human mechanisms are. These great torturers said, about those tortured, that they saw in their faces a request for love and understanding.

We must ask ourselves, at this point: in short, what are the levers that move the heart? We can say that sexual activity has a considerable effect on our cardiac muscle.

Research does show that the inability to reach an orgasm or experience emotional satisfaction during sex can have a detrimental effect on the heart.

A global study looked at the link between women’s health problems and their sex lives. The research highlighted the following:

100 women, hospitalized for acute myocardial infarction, aged between 40 and 60, were compared to a control group of women of the same age, hospitalized for other disorders. Frigidity and sexual dissatisfaction were found in 65% of the coronary patients, compared to
24% of the others. This demonstrates that in women, the lack of sexual satisfaction can have an impact on heart diseases.

From a study conducted by Whare and Burchell on a sample of 131 men between the ages of 31 and 86, hospitalized for heart attacks, it turned out that two thirds had encountered significant sexual difficulties in the weeks and months preceding the heart attack. The authors of the study established that 64% were impotent, 28% had suffered a significant decrease, about 50%, in the frequency of sexual intercourse and 8% suffered from premature ejaculation. In short, what counts is a healthy emotional sexual response and not the ability to ejaculate. During total orgasm, self-awareness disappears in a symbiosis with the loved one; therefore, love reaches its final goal and can be identified with cosmic processes, so to speak. feeling immersed in the stars.

In short, we can dare and say that deep down in our hearts we are still children. We can also say that we fear true LOVE and we fear being surprised to see life, still with the eyes of that child who is still immersed in our heart, in the deepest space of the human body, home to many unconscious activities in our life.

So, we are talking about the first organ that informs us that life exists in the mother’s womb and it is also the last one that leaves us.

  • The brain of the heart contains about 140,000 neurons, called sensors. These neurons have two types of memory, short-term and long-term, like those of the hippocampus. The neurons of the heart have plasticity. They can change and rewire, like neurons in the brain
  • The heart and the brain exchange information continuously. Crucial information that influences the functioning of the body and the brain itself. The heart sends far more information to the brain than the brain sends to the heart: 90/95% of the nerves that connect the two organs, in fact, are afferent neural fibers, that is, ascending, which carry information from the heart to the brain. Furthermore, the heart communicates with the brain in four other ways:
    • neurologically, through the transmission of nerve impulses,
    • biochemically, with the action of hormones and neurotransmitters,
    • biophysically, through blood pressure waves,
    • energetically, through the interactions of the electromagnetic field.

The communication between these pathways influences the activity of the brain and research shows that the messages that the heart sends to the brain influence a wide range of mental functions and our performance. It was the Lacey couple between the 60s and 70s, the first to understand that the heart sends information to the brain that not only understands it, but accepts and obeys it. The information is such that it influences perceptions and behaviors: mechanisms have also been discovered through which inputs from the heart to the brain can inhibit or facilitate the activity of the brain itself. The heart is also an endocrine gland. In 1983, the heart was included in the hormonal system after the discovery of ANF, the atrial natriuretic factor nicknamed the hormone of balance, which acts on the blood vessels, kidneys, adrenal glands and in many regions, deposited in the brain for regulation. In addition, ANF inhibits the release of stress hormones and influences motivation and behavior, also producing significant amounts of oxytocin, which has a strong influence on emotional and hormonal behavior.

 HEART, ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD AND CARDIAC BRAIN

The heart’s electromagnetic field, which is always present, has a powerful influence on communication processes throughout the body. This electrical power of the heart is 60 times greater in amplitude than that of the brain and permeates all the cells of the body. In fact, the heartbeat can be detected by placing electrodes anywhere in the body, even in the big toe. The magnetic component of the heart’s field is about 100 times stronger than that produced by the brain. It was a pioneer of neurocardiology, Dr. Armour, who in 1991 disclosed in scientific circles that the heart has a complex intrinsic nervous system, sophisticated enough to be qualified as a small brain. This is an intricate network of different types of neurons, neurotransmitters, proteins and support cells, such as those present in the cranial. Its elaborate circuits make it possible for this brain of the heart to act independently of the cranial brain and learn, remember, feel and perceive. It is the interaction between the brain in the head and the little brain in the heart that impacts how well we function mentally. Information is sent from the heart to the brain through several ascending neural pathways. These ascending pathways enter the brain in an area called the medulla, located at the base of the brain. The heart’s signals then spread throughout the higher centers of the brain, influencing perception, decision making, and other cognitive processes. Think of the heart rhythm as a kind of Morse code, containing instructions for the brain. The neural signals the heart sends are continuously monitored by the brain and help organize perceptions, feelings, and behaviors. The heart thus directly impacts the way the brain perceives and processes information. Of significant significance is the influence of the heart’s input on the activity of the cortex, the part of the brain that governs our advanced thinking and reasoning ability. Depending on the nature of the heart’s input, it can inhibit or facilitate attention, working memory, cortical processing, mental function, and performance.

Studies by the HeartMath Institute

In 1993, the Heartmath Institute (IHM) began exploring the psychological mechanisms by which the heart communicates with the brain, influencing focus, information processing, perception, emotion, and health. HeartMath explores how the heart is a highly complex, autonomous information processing and decoding center that influences the function of the brain and many organs, and ultimately the quality of life.

The heart is the most powerful generator of rhythmic patterns in the human body. With each beat, the heart not only pumps blood, but also transmits neural, hormonal, blood pressure, and electromagnetic information to the brain and the entire body.

HeartMath studies have shown that while the heart and brain are in constant communication with each other, each of us has the ability to consciously and intentionally allow our heart to communicate with the brain in ways that enhance our cognitive function and health.

Heart Coherence

Heartmath has discovered a different way of harmonious physical and psychological functioning that promotes emotional stability and optimal cognitive performance, called psycho-physiological coherence, or, more simply, heart coherence. It is a state where the interactions between the heart and brain, mind, emotions and nervous system are operating in synchrony and in energetic cooperation. Synchronized electrical activity in the brain and nervous system underscores our ability to perceive, feel, focus, learn, reason and perform at our best.

Researchers have found that synchronized activity may be much more important to optimal performance than how much brainwave activity there is in the brain. Even a small disruption in this synchronized activity can negatively impact our ability to focus, think clearly, and perform at our best.

Cardiac coherence occurs when the heart rhythm produces a harmonic wave pattern. This happens when we genuinely experience positive emotions. Gestures such as caring, compassion, kindness, appreciation, or kindness to someone or something work a miracle. The heart rhythm becomes coherent. The heart communicates this harmonic pattern to the brain and the entire body.

Cardiac coherence also increases heart rate variability (HRV), which results in more neural signals being sent from the heart to the brain. People with high heart rate variability tend to perform better on cognitive function tests.

Based on this research, HeartMath has created tools and programs to help us learn how to intentionally shift into a state of heart coherence and, after a short time of practice, achieve a new standard that enhances our reaction times and many other cognitive functions. This new standard is often experienced as increased ability to focus, greater mental clarity, better decision making, and increased intuition and creativity.

EMOTIONS AND COGNITIVE ABILITY

There is a strong relationship between emotions and cognition. When we experience stress and negative emotions, such as anger, frustration, sorrow, or anxiety, our heart rhythm becomes chaotic and disordered, creating an incoherent wave. This is indicative of inhibited executive functions in our higher brain centers. This chaotic pattern of heart and nervous system activity prevents the efficient flow of information through the nervous system and interferes with our brain’s ability to properly synchronize neuronal activity throughout the entire brain.

This desynchronization impedes the brain processes needed for focused attention, memory recall, abstract reasoning, problem solving, and creativity.

High levels of anxiety, frustration, or anger, and the internal noise that comes with inconsistency, compromise the very cognitive resources we need to train our brains.

In contrast, when the heart transmits a coherent wave to the higher centers of the brain, we typically experience more emotional stability, increased attention, memory recall, understanding, reasoning ability, intuition, creativity, and performance.

This is a crucial point in understanding the functionality of Inner Balance and HeartMath’s brain training technology. Positive emotions such as appreciation, caring, compassion, and kindness generate a harmonic pattern in the heart rhythm. When our heart rhythm is coherent, not only do we feel better, but the neural information sent to the brain facilitates cortical function.

With regular practice in maintaining cardiac coherence using HeartMath’s tools, a new coherent standard can be generated that optimizes cognitive function.

Coherence improves brain function. Here are the brain benefits of cardiac coherence:

  • increases the ability to self-regulate
  • 40% improvement in long-term memory
  • 24% improvement in short-term memory
  • increased ability to focus
  • increased ability to process information
  • faster reaction times
  • higher test scores
  • increased ability to learn.

When cardiac coherence is generated by a positive emotional state, not just a balanced breathing rhythm, it is called psychophysiological coherence. This state is associated with sustained positive emotions and a high degree of mental and emotional stability.

There is increased synchronization and balance between our cognitive, emotional and physiological systems, resulting in an effective and harmonious functioning of our entire being.

Other results are: reduced stress, anxiety and depression, increased feelings of well-being, improved immunity and hormonal balance, enhanced ability to focus and sustain focus, improved cognitive performance and improved learning ability, expanded organizational effectiveness, improved physical and mental health.

When cardiac coherence is generated by a positive emotional state, not just a balanced breathing rhythm, it is called psychophysiological coherence. This state is associated with sustained positive emotions and a high degree of mental and emotional stability.

DEFINITIONS OF COHERENCE

There are many definitions on the subject and all can be applied to this state of physio-psychological coherence:

  • the quality of being orderly, coherent and understandable
  • clarity of thought and emotional balance
  • a waveform between 2 or more waves that are joined in phase or frequency (e.g. laser)
  • an ordered distribution of energy in a single wave
  • synchrony between multiple systems (entrainment)
  • ordered patterns in a single system
  • coherence is different from relaxation

Coherence and relaxation are different and now we see how: coherence can include relaxation, but relaxation does not necessarily include cardiac coherence.

In the state of coherence, there is increased synchronization, resonance and entrainment between the heart and brain and between multiple body systems, which shows a level of global organization that is not present in the state of relaxation. In terms of performance, to achieve the state of flow, it is important to be neither too relaxed nor over-stimulated. How do we learn to maintain the state of coherence? By sustaining a sincere positive emotion focused in the heart (gratitude, caring, kindness, love). In this way, the electrical activity of the brain goes into increased synchronization with the heart. This activates our cardiac intelligence, which Doc Childre, founder of HeartMath, defines as:

the flow of higher awareness, wisdom and intuition that is experienced when the mind and emotions are brought into synchronous alignment with the heart.

AMYGDALA AND THALAMUS

The heart rhythm pattern provides information about our emotional state to the thalamus and amygdala. These brain centers are directly connected to the base of the frontal lobes and the executive centers of our brain, which are crucial for making decisions and integrating emotion and reason.

The thalamus synchronizes cortical activity, and heart rhythms communicate with the thalamus and alter brain wave patterns, impacting brain function.

Amygdala

Signals from the heart also travel to the amygdala through different pathways than those that lead to the thalamus.

The amygdala is a center that processes emotions and encodes emotional memories. The amygdala is also a pattern matching system that searches for and processes anything that is familiar and known. For example, when a stressful situation is perceived, the amygdala responds by scanning its memory bank until it finds that emotion stored in a previous stressful experience, which it believes is similar. And so, it stimulates the same emotional response that was triggered that time, such as anxiety, grief, resignation, or depression. The amygdala is capable of paralyzing the neural pathways and activating a familiar emotional response before our higher brain centers receive the information and before we even have time to think about how to respond.

This is one reason why we often react by saying or doing things we regret.

The amygdala communicates what is familiar to the perceptual centers in the brain. So if anger has become a familiar pattern for the amygdala, then perceiving someone looking at us strangely may stimulate an angry response before we have time to consider whether that anger is an appropriate response.

Researchers know that survival programs hardwired into the brain cause the amygdala to place more weight on negative experiences than on positive ones.

The good news is that by activating cardiac coherence and positive emotions, such as equanimity, peace, compassion, and gratitude, we can install new programs in the amygdala, so that new, more balanced and appropriate response patterns can be established.

When we begin to practice heart coherence, we set up emotional patterns that support you as you move through life and you begin to let go of patterns that are not working.

A large part of your true nature comes when your mind and emotions are in coherent alignment with your heart. People can create a new familiar state and a new standard that can generate greater access to our full range of intelligence and reveal who we really are. This Heartmath program, called The Resilience Advantage, is designed to help us transform old survival programs and reactions that we now experience as familiar into perceptions and responses that are heart intelligence.

How does it work?

The heart is the primary player in establishing familiar patterns in the amygdala. Cells in the heart of the amygdala are synchronized with the heartbeat, thanks to the strong ascending neural pathway from the heart to the amygdala.

This means that if the heart rhythm is coherent, the amygdala recognizes this coherent rhythm.

If the heart’s cardiac patterns are often disorganized and incoherent, the amygdala learns to expect that incoherent rhythm: and so we feel at home with incoherence, which compromises our focus, our emotional balance, our learning and our memory.

Remember that the amygdala – and the brain in general – is a pattern recognition and storage system, and if we are very stressed, the amygdala recognizes the stress as a familiar pattern.

This is how we adapt to stress, to a certain degree of feeling anxious, or frustrated, irritable, which after a while becomes our new normal.

Many people are reluctant to let go of old, familiar moods. The familiar, even if sad and unhappy, is more comfortable, because it is known. It is like a fish living in a dirty river, which has no perception of clean water.

So our subconscious emotional memories can influence our perceptions, emotional reactions, thought processes and behaviors. In short, our whole life.

The exciting news is that our emotional patterns in memory can be reordered so that coherence becomes a more familiar and comfortable state. The heart can do the process of letting go of feelings and habits that no longer serve, quickly and easily.