Coherence is a term used across all of the sciences. It always implies harmony, connectedness, stability and an overall efficient use of energy. It's where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts all the way from the sub-atomic level to the universe.
On a personal level, coherence describes the degree of order, energetic coordination and stability in the body's systems - cardiovascular system, hormonal system, immune system, nervous system. It's a dance. It's a rhythm and an order. It's where everything is in sync and working very efficiently. It's open flow and harmony.
Heart-Brain Coherence is an optimal state where the heart, mind and emotions are in sync.
How often are your heart, mind and emotions in sync?
How do we get more in sync?
How do we create more coherence in our bodies?
How do we know if it's working?
What's the side effect of heart-brain coherence?
The how will be explained in my free class on Wednesday at the Moab Library and demonstrated further in my upcoming 6 week class beginning the second week of October. You can learn more here.
HeartMath research shows that the heart produces the largest oscillating rhythm in the entire body, more than any other organ. The heart beat literally produces electricity and we know this because we can measure it. An electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG) is a test to record the electrical signals in the heart. It shows how the heart is beating. When we have electricity, we have magnetism and we can measure the electromagnetic field around the body with sensitive magnetometers, up to several feet away from the body.
Now emotion is literally energy in motion. Research at the HeartMath Institute has shown that one of the most powerful factors that affect our heart's changing rhythm is our feelings and emotions. When our varying heart rate is plotted over time, the overall shape of the waveform produced is called the heart rhythm pattern.
Emotions such as anger, irritation and frustration create incoherent heart rhythm patters and emotions such as appreciation, care and love produces coherent heart rhythm patterns. This is measurable, repeatable and something we can all learn how to do with practice.
So, if the heart produces the greatest rhythm in the body and we can learn how to shift our emotional state and therefore shift our heart rhythms, and we know that a coherent state implies harmony, connectedness and efficient use of energy, we could say that prioritizing time to spend practicing heart coherence could have a wide range of side effects on all of our systems in the body, our organs, our tissues, our cells, chemicals and molecules within our body.
All of those contain atoms and we know that atoms are 99.99999% energy. And we know that emotions are energy in motion.
For those who tend to over manage, over control, over react, over eat, over everything because we're trying to get some sense of control, could we say that focusing instead on controlling where you place your attention, where you place your energy, where you place focus - in this case on creating heart coherence - could actually empower you to truly have control instead of just chasing the illusion of it?
If you chase a butterfly, it will run away from you. If you plant a garden, the butterfly will come to you.
Practicing heart coherence techniques where we create greater levels of coherence, of order, of rhythm in our body is just like cultivating a garden in our hearts, strengthening that magnetism, that synchronization for synchronicity to come to us.
When we have energy in the heart, that gives us more energy in the brain and in the body. The side effect is greater clarity, greater cognitive function, more composure, greater spatial awareness, more active calm, more efficiency in the rest of our systems like our digestive system and reproductive system, and more vitality overall. Things just work.
We start to work with our body instead of being separate from it. We're sick less, we start to trust ourselves, we stay emotionally regulated in the face of challenges and daily interactions. We become more connected with this deeper sense of who we are.
The greatest source of all of our stress across the world is the mis-alignment between our heart and our mind. And by this I mean the heart as this deeper sense of ourselves and our mind being the habits of thinking and doing that we default to on a daily basis.
This is from the smallest of decisions to the bigger ones.
For example, a few weeks ago was my daughter's first soccer practice. She did awesome. She gave it her all and after the practice was over, she said "Mom, I don't want to play soccer." I was riding bikes home with her and her brother. I said, "Ok, is that what your head says or what your heart says?" She said "Both." I said, "Ok, well, honey we do these sports and get exposure to different things so we can start to learn what our passions are, what we want to spend time practicing because that certain activity is written on our hearts."
She said "Soccer is definitely not written on my heart."
I laughed. Now her brother Bobby is not quite 2 years younger than her and he tends to mimic her in pretty much everything. We have mirror neurons in our brain and kids are operating with slower brain wave patterns. They learn so much through mirroring using these mirror neurons. They don't do what we say as much as they do what we do.
Bobby had not yet had his first soccer practice. But he pretty immediately said, "Yeah, I'm not going to play soccer either." Now I know he loves soccer and I know he mimics Rosie. So as I'm doing Heart Focused breathing (because these techniques are made for life, in the moment, on demand life) I said, "Ok, I hear you, Bobby. Could you take a moment and bring your attention to your heart, take a couple of breaths a little slower and deeper there..."
He's doing it. We're all quiet.
Then I said, "Now, what does your heart say about playing soccer?" and he smiled and said, "My heart says that I do want to play soccer!"
Now, that was a win. That was a brilliant execution of pausing, and asking the heart. Because the mind thinks, but the heart knows.
If he wouldn't have checked in with the deeper sense of himself and he would have went with his initial mental habit of copying, then that could have resulted in behavioral issues, confusion, going back and forth, instability, disharmony, discord, division.
When you practice personal coherence, and your heart, mind and emotions are all in sync, then you have more energy to do what you love and be who you want to be. You trust yourself more and that is a life-giving kind of energy.
I get so much joy of practicing this in my life and with my children. I can see how incredibly vital and divine they are and I love guiding them back to their heart's intelligence over and over and over again. Like one brilliant coach said, "Only always."
If you're a parent, a partner, a leader, an artist, a romantic of life. If you're in business or a health care worker or you have some ongoing affliction happening in your body, then this work is for you. These are life skills.
Health is our birthright. Magnificence is our birthright. Love is our birthright. It's where we come from and where we can connect to, only always, to keep our batteries charged and enjoy the life we were born to live.
I'll be sharing a free class at the Moab Library this Wednesday October 2nd at 5:30 pm sponsored by Moonflower Market. It'll be an hour long class that teaches a little bit more about the science of heart-brain coherence followed by an interactive self-awareness tool that illustrates the role that emotions have on our physiology - specifically our nervous system and our hormonal system. We'll do two heart coherence techniques together and my prayer is that through knowledge and information and experience, you'll leave a little more empowered to work with your body for greater vitality and enjoyment.
This will be a great intro to my up and coming 6 week class. This 6 week class is HeartMath signature program used by the military, hospitals, athletes and fortune 500 companies. I'm delighted to bring it to parents, partners and anyone with a beating heart that would love to enjoy life a bit more, especially in the face of these challenging times of division and incoherence.
I hope you'll consider investing in yourself, in your heart, your brain, your body and your quality of life.
With Heart,
Sarah