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Articles of the Heart

A Field View of Reality to Explain Human...

A Field View of Reality to Explain Human

Interconnectedness
June 13, 2016 Articles of the Heart 32310 Views = 6
It is remarkable how closely the history of the apple tree is connected with that of man. Henry David Thoreau

A Field View of Reality to Explain Human

Interconnectedness
Is it true the physical world we see with our eyes is the essence or nature of reality? For
much of human history, this is what scientists and most people around the world have
believed. More recently, however, another view of reality has emerged, one the authors
of HeartMaths new e-book, the Science of Interconnectivity, contrast with the historic
view.
Classical physics conceived of reality as elementary building blocks made up of solid
objects, separated by empty space, the authors explain. This view continues to be
most peoples view of reality, including scientists.
In contrast, they write, Physical objects cannot be understood, or observed in isolation,
but rather must be viewed as part of a holistic web of interconnectedness in which fields
and relationships are pivotal.
This new view, which HeartMath Institutes Dr. Rollin McCraty and Annette Deyhle,
Ph.D. refer to in their e-book as the field view of reality, is shared by a growing number
of scientists around the world who are engaged in actively researching it.
The understanding of the world we live in profoundly shifted, McCraty stated for this
article, after the discovery of electromagnetic fields and the experimental validation of
modern quantum physics. These have helped to give rise to the field view of reality.
We can no longer think of reality as little building blocks separated by an empty space,
he said. We now know there is no such thing as empty space and that physical objects,
including us, do not exist in isolation, but are part of this holistic web of
interconnectedness in which fields and relationships are primary.
HeartMath and the Field View of Reality
The field view ties in closely with research at HeartMath Institute (HMI). The institute
has conducted experiments for a number of years to demonstrate the ways in which
people are connected with one another through their own individual magnetic fields,
which are generated primarily by the brain and, although much more so, the heart.
Examples of these experiments include measurements of an infants heart rhythm
registering in the brain waves of its mother, and the heart-rhythm coherence of a boy
corresponding to an increase in his dogs heart-rhythm coherence.
In the latter example, a boy and dog were placed in a room together. Then the boy
moved to a separate room, which resulted in the dog experiencing chaotic and
incoherent heart rhythms, in contrast to when it and the boy were in the same room.
The boy was instructed to use a coherence technique to consciously feel feelings of
love and care for his dog, which he did after re-entering the room with the dog, while
having no physical contact with it. The dogs heart-rhythm coherence increased
significantly.
Through its Global Coherence Initiative, HeartMath also has had success in
demonstrating some of the health and behavioral effects of activity in Earths magnetic
fields.
Other scientists have studied solar and geomagnetic activity and correlated it to
changes in blood pressure, blood composition and the physical and chemical state of
humans. There are many documented cases in which researchers have attributed
increased rates of depression, heart attacks and debilitating conditions to solar and
Earth magnetic field activity. (You can learn more about the Global Coherence Initiative
and its work at GCI Research.)

Field View of Reality and A Theory of Everything

Besides being the title of the popular 2014 film about physicist Stephen Hawking, a
theory of everything also arguably is the Holy Grail of modern physics. Simply
explained, physicists hope such a theory, which is more formally referred to as a grand
unified theory, would fully explain and link together all physical aspects of the universe.
Now, such an ambitious endeavor, which many physicists project may actually be
successful within decades, naturally is far more complicated than the brief description
above. The notion of a link, or connection between everything, however, suffices to
convey one of its primary purposes, which happens to be a shared purpose with
HeartMaths own research.
Connectedness, or what HMI calls interconnectedness, is an important and primary
area of interest today at HeartMath and its Global Coherence Initiative (GCI). This
interest has led their scientists in several directions as they explore and seek to validate
the central hypotheses they have formulated in their interconnectedness studies.
1. Human and animal health, cognitive functions, emotions and behavior are affected by
planetary magnetic and energetic fields.
2. The earths magnetic fields are carriers of biologically relevant information that
connects all living systems.
3. Each individual affects the global information field.
4. Large numbers of people creating heart-centered states of care, love and
compassion will generate a more coherent field environment that can benefit others and
help offset the current planetwide discord and incoherence.
As todays physicists pursue a unified theory that would explain and link together all
physical aspects of our universe, HeartMath will continue expanding on its work in the
realm of a field view of reality and the interconnectedness of all living things.
New perspectives are emerging that suggest nonmaterial fields organize and in-form all
organisms, including key aspects of our thoughts, emotions and intuitions, McCraty
said. It is exciting to see new data coming out of our research that shows that we really
are deeply connected with each other and with fields of the earth.
https://www.heartmath.org/articles-of-the-heart/field-view-reality-explain-human-
interconnectedness/#more-19123

The Heart An Agent of Transformation

June 30, 2015 HeartMath Tools & Techniques 17469 Views = 5

The Heart An Agent of Transformation

It is no secret that our world is changing fast. As you face this period of accelerated
change, do you feel you have the tools you need to deal with and adjust to all that is
happening?
Historically, there is evidence the heart could help us navigate the ever-shifting terrain
we experience daily. HeartMath Institutes research shows the heart possesses a
unique intelligence that can help you adjust to accelerating change. When you access
this intelligence, you will have more clarity and power to quickly clear away unwanted
thoughts and feelings and adjust to rapid change with confidence.
Its no coincidence that ancient cultures from Greece to China looked at the heart as a
primary source of feeling, virtue and intelligence. Many faiths and traditions refer to the
heart as the seat of the soul and pathway to spirit, or the higher self.
Western languages refer to the heart as both a physical organ and metaphor for feeling
and intuition and the center of personality, or being. People often describe the place
where they experience emotions such as joy, love, hurt and sadness as the e heart
area. Many languages use variations of these English expressions: take heart, heartfelt
and look within your heart for the answer.
Scientists discovered only recently a connection between the physical and
feeling heart. For example, research at HeartMath Institute shows, someone feeling
positive emotions like compassion or appreciation has smooth, balanced heart rhythms.
In contrast, someone feeling negative emotions such as anger and anxiety display more
erratic and unbalanced rhythms.
HeartMath and other organizations research shows the heart can be a powerful agent
for emotional transformation. This research provides hope for people with depression,
anxiety, and other stress-related disorders. HeartMath has developed powerful, yet
simple techniques people can use to improve how they feel, think and perceive life.
These techniques help you connect with your deeper heart, increase mental clarity,
regulate brain chemicals and hormones and, according to many people, produce a
natural high.

Journaling Change in Your World

You may find keeping a journal can help you deal with a rapidly changing world. Here
are some questions and a tool to help you get started. Write your responses and
thoughts in a journal.
1. List which world events in the last few months have caused you to feel the most
uncertain, insecure or stressed.
2. List which world events caused you to feel discouraged, overloaded, frustrated or
anxious?
3. Practice the Quick Coherence Technique, a type of emotion regulation researchers
developed so people could easily create a state of coherence in about 60 seconds.
Quick Coherence helps release stress and stop draining emotions such as frustration,
irritation, anxiety and anger. Thoughts and emotions become more balanced and you
experience greater ease and inner harmony.
4. After practicing Quick Coherence for a while, return to your journal and write how you
feel.
Do you have a new or more balanced perspective?
Do you recognize what drains your energy?
Have you begun to view the world in a new light?
Genuinely practicing Quick Coherence while maintaining a journal, may be so rewarding
that youll want to continue regulating your emotions and sustaining these good feelings,
which originate in the heart. Learning the Quick Coherence Technique will help you
unleash the transforming power and intelligence of your heart and improve the overall
quality of your life.
Explore HeartMaths Free Resources and downloadable materials for expanding your
heart connections, including practical solutions for your personal growth, health and life
fulfillment.
Id love to hear about any new perspectives you may have realized as you began to
journal?
https://www.heartmath.org/articles-of-the-heart/heartmath-tools-techniques/heart-agent-
transformation/#more-16866

Raising Our Vibration Through Compassion and

Unconditional Love
April 4, 2017 Articles of the Heart, Personal Development 19070 Views = 10

Raising Our Vibration Through Compassion and

Unconditional Love
Its becoming clearer to many of us that working together with kindness, compassion
and acceptance are the missing pieces for resetting humanitys fast and furious
trajectory into separation and division. Its also becoming obvious that we cannot create
solutions from the same consciousness level thats creating the problems. Raising our
consciousness vibration for drawing peaceful solutions is an undertaking that calls for
kindness, forgiveness and an inclusive love that respects our differences.

Vibrations
HeartMath and many systems use the term vibration in reference to the quality of
thoughts, feelings, emotions and attitudes that are generated and influenced by our
beliefs, memories, choices, environmental stimuli and more. For example, you often
hear people say, "I had to leave that office, the vibes were so low it was draining my
energy, or, "I felt a lift from being in her positive vibration."
The vibration of our moods, attitudes, thoughts and feelings can rise and fall throughout
the day, based on our actions and reactions to others, ourselves, or to lifes issues. The
vibes we emanate to others and to the environment vary, based on our resilience for
balancing our mind, emotions and disposition especially in todays dynamic emotional
climate.
Lower-level vibrations can occur at every turn in connection with frustration, anger,
disappointment, sadness, judgment, comparisons and much more. These emotions are
part of being human, but it is within our power to shift out of these debilitating feelings
into higher vibrational attitudes and perceptions.
An easy way to maintain a higher vibration is to interweave the qualities of our heart in
our connections and interactions. These heart qualities include love, care, compassion,
kindness, appreciation, forgiveness, and more. Anyone who experiences these qualities
knows their power to lift our feelings into a kinder and more stress-free outlook.

Raising Others Vibrations

For evidence that the heartfelt intentions of one individual can raise the heart vibration
of others, HeartMath cites studies it has conducted. You may be familiar with the study
in which a dogs incoherent heart rhythms became coherently aligned with a boys heart
rhythms as he radiated intentional love and care to his dog. Go to Josh and Mable to
read more.
Science tells us that human beings and all creatures radiate an electromagnetic field
produced by the heartbeat. Our feelings broadcast like radio waves through this field.
When you are in the presence of a group of friends, family or others, everyones
thoughts, feelings and attitudes are intermingling in your immediate area which
HeartMath calls the field environment.
Another study, with 40 participants, explored the effects of being in a coherent field
environment. The participants were divided into 10 groups of four people who were
seated around a table. They were all connected to equipment that simultaneously
measured their level of heart rhythm coherence. Three of the participants had been
previously trained in the Heart Lock-In technique and were instructed to get into a
coherent state at random times unknown by the fourth untrained person. Overall, as the
coherent vibration of the three HeartMath-trained participants increased, the untrained
persons coherence level also measurably increased from being in that more coherent
field environment.

Poised in Higher Vibrations

When poised in our higher vibration, we experience many benefits. Decisions and
solutions flow more easily due to increased access to our hearts intuitive wisdom; our
discernment becomes more inclusive and our choices become clearer and more
effective; it gets much easier to deflect frustration, anxiety, impatience and other chronic
stress producers that strain our critical thinking and reasoning.
Most all of us feel more self-secure when in our higher vibrational composure, yet it can
be harder to maintain in the midst of challenges and ramped up stress. We can learn to
lift our vibration to meet challenges by adding heart qualities of conscious care,
kindness, gratitude or compassion in our interactions. As these qualities of love move
through our system, it lifts our attitudes automatically for the highest way to deal with the
situation at hand.
Unconditional love and compassion are among the highest vibrations of love and are
not subject to preconditions, limitations, or requirements of others. They serve the
greater interest and benefit of all sentient beings and the environment in which they
exist. Many people are realizing that unconditional love and compassion are from our
higher consciousness potentials with the capacity for healing and attracting solutions for
social transformation.
Uncountable numbers of people have experienced the benefits of compassion and
more individuals are resonating with this powerful expression of love in these times of
robust change. Practicing compassion is something we can do that benefits all, yet it
takes heartfelt commitment to anchor this responsibility to the whole of which we are a
part.

Summary of Benefits From Raising Our Vibration Levels

Increased care and kindness flow more automatically in our connections.
We are more clear-minded and self-secure in our choices and actions.
Our mind and emotions interact more harmoniously to suit our needs.
We deflect common stress triggers frustration, impatience, intolerance, etc.
We are much more resilient and resistant to fears and self-doubt.
Our hearts deeper care is not overridden by our disruptive mind and emotions.
The lift in our attitude wards off anxiety, excessive worries and overwhelm.
We tend to lift others and the environment when our vibration is up.
We are less judgmental and intolerant with others and ourselves, which prevents
mega stress accumulation.
Lifting our vibration amplifies our intuitive heart feelings for better choices and
outcomes.

Simple Exercises to Raise Your Vibration

(Adapted from exercises in the Heart Intelligence: Connecting with the Intuitive Guidance of the Heart book.)

How to replace lower vibrational feelings, such as sadness, anger, insecurity, anxiety,
self-judgment, rejection, etc.
1. Exercise: Find a quiet place where, for a few minutes, you can breathe easily,
imagining with each breath that your mind, emotions and body are becoming still inside.
In this stillness, desire the uplifting feeling you would like to have, and as you breathe,
imagine breathing this new feeling into your being for a while. Imagine you are creating
it with your breath.
2. Another Exercise: When feeling low, just sit quietly and imagine radiating love,
compassion and stillness into your mental and emotional nature. Self-care is often
allowing ourselves to have a low moment without compounding it with self-criticism.
When our light is dim, it helps to give ourselves the feeling of compassionate heart
warmth that we would give a child or a pet that is infirm. Even if it doesnt stop the pain,
we know it can help energetically. If we feel awkward while trying this, it helps to ask
ourselves, "Whats the difference in nurturing ourselves with compassionate intention
than taking the vitamins and health foods we consume for self-care?" Or, "Why do we
teach kids to put their hand over a hurt area and radiate sunshine from their heart to
help it feel better?" We do this because its a natural expression of self-compassion,
with benefits to their mental, emotional and physical nature.
You can soon feel a difference when doing these exercises, unless extremely
challenged. If it doesnt work the first time, be patient and simply try again later. Being
genuine makes a difference. This activates your heart energy. Practicing for a few days
in a row strengthens your capacity to reset unwanted feelings and lower vibrations.
Simple exercises such as these can do more to lift your vibration than you may think.
Make it fun to consciously reset your vibration throughout the day and watch your spirit
lift and the stress accumulation diminish.
We would love to hear about your heart-felt experiences in raising your vibration.
Written by Sara Childre, Pres. of HeartMath Institute and Doc Childre,
HeartMath Founder
https://www.heartmath.org/articles-of-the-heart/raising-vibration-compassion-unconditional-
love/#more-20661

You Can Change Your DNA

July 14, 2011 Personal Development 143288 Views = 36
When we are born, the deoxyribonucleic acid/DNA in our bodies contains the blueprints
for who we are and instructions for who we will become. For example, it can tell our
eyes to eventually turn from blue at birth to hazel later on, our length to grow from 20
inches to 70 and direct a multitude of other changes over the course of our lives.
Many people have mistakenly believed that the DNA with which we are born is the sole
determinant for who we are and will become, but scientists have understood for
decades that this genetic determinism is a flawed theory.
The field of epigenetics refers to the science that studies how the development,
functioning and evolution of biological systems are influenced by forces operating
outside the DNA sequence, including intracellular, environmental and energetic
influences.
Since the 1950s scientists have accepted that epigenetic influence is critical in our
development. Epi Greek for besides combines with the word, genetics, to
essentially mean something more than genetics. That something more is widely held
today to refer to our environment thus meaning that our genetic code and the
environment in which we develop determine who and what we are.
Researchers have shown through studies that epigenetics entails even more than DNA
and the places where we live, the climate around us and all the twists, turns and hard
knocks of our lives.
HeartMath deems integral elements of the model for who we are and what we can be
are the thoughts, feelings and intentions we have every day. After two decades of
studies, HeartMath researchers say other factors such as the appreciation and love we
have for someone or the anger and anxiety we feel also influence and can alter the
outcomes of each individuals DNA blueprint.
Stem cell biologist and bestselling author Bruce Lipton, Ph.D.,says the distinction
between genetic determinism and epigenetics is important.
The difference between these two is significant because this fundamental belief called
genetic determinism literally means that our lives, which are defined as our physical,
physiological and emotional behavioral traits, are controlled by the genetic code, Lipton
said in an interview with the online magazine, Superconsciousness. This kind of belief
system provides a visual picture of people being victims: If the genes control our life
function, then our lives are being controlled by things outside of our ability to change
them. This leads to victimization that the illnesses and diseases that run in families are
propagated through the passing of genes associated with those attributes. Laboratory
evidence shows this is not true.

A Steady Diet of Quantum Nutrients

When we have negative emotions such as anger, anxiety and dislike or hate, or think
negative thoughts such as I hate my job, I dont like so and so or Who does he think
he is?, we experience stress and our energy reserves are redirected, an article on
HMIs website explains. This causes a portion of our energy reserves, which otherwise
would be put to work maintaining, repairing and regenerating our complex biological
systems, to instead confront the stresses these negative thoughts and feelings create.
In contrast, the article continues, when we activate the power of our hearts
commitment and intentionally have sincere feelings such as appreciation, care and love,
we allow our hearts electrical energy to work for us. Consciously choosing a core heart
feeling over a negative one means instead of the drain and damage stress causes to
our bodies systems, we are renewed mentally, physically and emotionally. The more
we do this the better were able to ward off stress and energy drains in the future.
Heartfelt positive feelings fortify our energy systems and nourish the body at the cellular
level. At HeartMath we call these emotions quantum nutrients.
In simple terms most people can relate to, what this means is that when we are having
a bad day, going through a rough period such as dealing with the sickness of a loved
one or coping with financial troubles, we can actually influence our bodies all the way
down to the cellular level by intentionally thinking positive thoughts and focusing on
positive emotions.

Changing DNA Through Intention

The power of intentional thoughts and emotions goes beyond theory at the HeartMath
Institute. In a study, researchers have tested this idea and proven its veracity.
HeartMath researchers have gone so far as to show that physical aspects of DNA
strands could be influenced by human intention. The article, Modulation of DNA
Conformation by Heart-Focused Intention McCraty, Atkinson, Tomasino, 2003
describes experiments that achieved such results.
For example, an individual holding three DNA samples was directed to generate heart
coherence a beneficial state of mental, emotional and physical balance and harmony
with the aid of a HeartMath technique that utilizes heart breathing and intentional
positive emotions. The individual succeeded, as instructed, to intentionally and
simultaniously unwind two of the DNA samples to different extents and leave the third
unchanged.
The results provide experimental evidence to support the hypothesis that aspects of
the DNA molecule can be altered through intentionality, the article states. The data
indicate that when individuals are in a heart-focused, loving state and in a more
coherent mode of physiological functioning, they have a greater ability to alter the
conformation of DNA.
Individuals capable of generating high ratios of heart coherence were able to alter DNA
conformation according to their intention. Control group participants showed low
ratios of heart coherence and were unable to intentionally alter the conformation of
DNA.

Heart Intelligence, the Unifying Factor

The influence or control individuals can have on their DNA who and what they are and
will become is further illuminated in HeartMath founder Doc Childres theory of heart
intelligence. Childre postulates that an energetic connection or coupling of information
occurs between the DNA in cells and higher dimensional structures the higher self or
spirit.
Childre further postulates, The heart serves as a key access point through which
information originating in the higher dimensional structures is coupled into the physical
human system (including DNA), and that states of heart coherence generated through
experiencing heartfelt positive emotions increase this coupling.
The heart, which generates a much stronger electromagnetic field than the brains,
provides the energetic field that binds together the higher dimensional structures and
the bodys many systems as well as its DNA.
Childres theory of heart intelligence proposes that individuals who are able to maintain
states of heart coherence have increased coupling to the higher dimensional structures
and would thus be more able to produce changes in the DNA.
Read more about quantum nutrients at Solution for Energy.
https://www.heartmath.org/articles-of-the-heart/personal-development/you-can-change-your-
dna/#more-5743

Stress and Cognitive Decline

January 21, 2014 Science of the Heart 29202 Views = 4

Having a well-functioning memory is something we all think about more and more as we
age. Memory and other cognitive processes gradually diminish as we grow older, but
research in the last several decades shows those who experience persistent or high
levels of stress are especially vulnerable.
Although much remains to be learned about the causes of mental decline, it has been
well documented recently that stress is an important contributing factor, including to the
development of Alzheimers disease and other dementia. A research team in Sweden
observed in a recently published 38-year study of 800 women that psychosocial
stressors in midlife were associated with incidence of AD (Alzheimers disease) and
long-standing distress, over several decades. The study, conducted at the Sahlgrenska
Academy at the University of Gothenburg, concluded this suggests that common
psychosocial stressors may have severe and long-standing physiological and
psychological consequences.

Effects of Stress on Memory and Cognitive Functions

The negative effects of stress on memory and other cognitive functions has been widely
explored for decades in numerous research projects using a wide range of
methodology.

A study out of the Netherlands published in 2007, The effects of cortisol increase on
long-term memory retrieval during and after acute psychosocial stress, examined short-
and long-term memory.

Students were tasked with retrieving/recalling emotionally negative and neutral word
associations in this study, which is referenced by the National Institutes of Healths
National Center for Biotechnology Information website. The 70 male participants
learned some of the words one day before the tests and other words five weeks earlier.
Within the stress condition, retrieval of negative words, 5 weeks after learning, was
impaired both during and after the stress task, compared to the control group, the
researchers wrote.

A University of California, Irvine study, Mechanisms of late-onset cognitive decline after

early-life stress, correlated memory dysfunction in young adult rats that experienced
early-life psychological stress with humans. These findings constitute the first
evidence that a short period of stress early in life can lead to delayed, progressive
impairments of synaptic and behavioral measures of hippocampal function, with potential
implications to the basis of age-related cognitive disorders in humans.

In another study, cited by Prevention magazine, German scientists conducted two

separate experiments in which 60 participants were subjected to mild forms of emotional
and situational stress. The results showed that women who were stressed took 10%
more time to recall recently learned information. The reason, the article explained, is
because the hormones, cortisol, often referred to as the stress hormone, and
noradrenalin, flooded the prefrontal cortex of the brain, which controls working memory,
where new information is processed and retained.

Our ability to focus, concentrate and remember has a lot to do with how much
emotional stress we are experiencing, write the authors of the book, HeartMath Brain
Fitness Program, newly released. Emotional stress has a major impact on our
immediate and long-term cognitive functions, and underlies many of the mental health
problems in society today.

Keeping Your Brain Fit with Positive Emotions and HeartMath

Techniques
Even as research has intensified recently on how and why cognitive abilities, especially
memory, deteriorate with age, so too has the quest to preserve these vital processes for
as much of our lives as possible. While various drug therapies provide varying degrees
of success, an increasing number of people, including health professionals, are turning
to nondrug interventions that have proved to be a more desirable alternative.
With stress identified as a primary contributor to memory and other cognitive impairment
and low heart coherence, reducing and controlling unhealthy stress levels is a major
focus of many research organizations, among them HMI.

Positive Emotions
HMIs intense focus on optimal function research since its founding more than two
decades ago led its researchers to make an important discovery: Intentionally invoking
positive emotions is one of the fastest and most effective ways to reduce unhealthy
stress.
Research has shown that sustained positive emotions lead to a highly efficient and
regenerative functional mode associated with increased coherence in heart-
rhythm patterns and greater synchronization and harmony among physiological
systems, HeartMath Institute Director of Research Dr. Rollin McCraty writes in his
paper, Heart Rhythm Coherence An Emerging Area of Biofeedback.
One of the most powerful and effective of the positive emotions is appreciation,
HeartMath researchers found. Heart-monitoring technology such as an
electrocardiogram or HeartMath's emWave Pro (Desktop) to measure heart-rhythm
patterns typically displays a nearly instant transformation from erratic to smooth patterns
when a subject intentionally experiences appreciation. Smooth heart-rhythm patterns
indicate lower stress and greater heart coherence and thus a range of
psychophysiological benefits that include improved memory, focus and immune system
among many others.
HMI researchers have conducted many trials in which participants realized significant
reductions in stress levels and improvements in cognitive functions by intentionally
feeling other positive emotions such as care, compassion and love.

How Stress Affects Heart Coherence

When we are angry, frustrated, anxious, depressed or feel other negative emotions
frequently and for long periods it is likely we are experiencing unhealthy levels of stress,
which adversely affect heart coherence.
Coherence, HeartMath Institute Director of Research Dr. Rollin McCraty has written,
is the state when the heart, mind and emotions are in energetic alignment and
cooperation. It is a state that builds resiliency personal energy is accumulated, not
wasted leaving more energy to manifest intentions and harmonious outcomes.
Negative emotions like those noted above can cause our heart-rhythm patterns to
become erratic. These erratic patterns affect our mental processes, including blocking
our ability to think clearly. They are sent to emotional centers in the brain, which
recognizes them as negative, or stressful feelings.
Learn more about appreciation in the article, An Appreciative Heart Is Good Medicine.
Interested in knowing more about positive emotions and the science behind HeartMath?

HeartMath Techniques
In tandem with its research into the effects of stress on emotions, HeartMath has
developed and continues work on a variety of tools to help people reduce stress.
Hundreds of thousands of people have used these tools, among which are the Neutral,
Quick Coherence , Heart Lock-In and Freeze Frame Techniques, and the

emWave technology.

All of these tools, which you can learn more about at free resources, are designed to
reduce stress by raising heart coherence. HMI researchers have found this to be highly
effective, even in the moment, at restoring both a physical and psychological sense of
balance and calm, much like meditation, which HeartMath also highly recommends.
HeartMaths tools have been used in multiple measures studies to quantify their
effectiveness among various groups of people, including students in the federally
supported TestEdge National Demonstration Study.

Results of the study, in which students participated in a program to learn HeartMath

techniques, showed substantial reductions in the key stress symptoms students were
experiencing, including feelings of loneliness, sadness, anger, depression, and
disappointment. Significantly, of the students who suffered test anxiety (a primary focus
of the study), 75% had reduced anxiety by the end of the program.

Alzheimers, Stress and the Decline in Memory and Other Brain

Functions
Deterioration of memory and other brain functions are hallmarks of Alzheimers disease,
which, according to the Alzheimers Association, affected an estimated 5.2 million
people in the United States in 2013. The figure includes about 5 million people 65 or
older and 200,000 under 65 who have what is called younger-onset Alzheimers.
Whereas short-term stress, which raises cortisol levels for short periods, can be
beneficial, long-term stress can lead to prolonged increases in cortisol, which can be
toxic to the brain. Scientists suspect high levels of cortisol, the so-called stress
hormone, over long periods are key contributors to Alzheimers and other forms of
dementia, which severely impair short-term memory and other cognitive functions.
While today it is common to know or know of someone with Alzheimers, it may be the
norm in the future. In just five years, the Alzheimers Association predicts, there will a 40
percent increase in the number of people 65 or older afflicted with the disease and
nearly a 300 percent increase by 2050, providing there is no breakthrough in treatment
to slow or cure it.
HeartMath Institute President Sara Childre is among the many people who have been
touched by a disease the Alzheimers Association says is the only cause of death
among the top 10 in America without a way to prevent it, cure it or even slow its
progression.
My father had Alzheimers for eight years, Childre said. It is a tough disease. He was
quite brilliant, had an economics degree and was a three-star general in the Marines. It
was so disheartening to see his cognitive functions just melt away. I do believe all the
stressors of wars WWII, the Korean War and two tours in Vietnam added to the
severity of the disease.

Meditate More
While research to understand, alleviate and cure Alzheimers and other forms of
dementia and cognitive impairment has intensified in the last decade, great strides have
been made toward interventions that focus on reducing stress without drugs. Along with
the kinds of positive emotion-based techniques HeartMath has been developing since
the early 1990s, is a heart focused meditation.
Meditation has been shown to have positive effects on the brain and can help reverse
memory loss as well as help improve psychological and spiritual well-being, which are
both important for healthy brain aging, explains the HeartMath Brain Fitness
Program. The book is co-authored by McCraty and Deborah Rozman, Ph.D., president
and CEO of HeartMath Inc.
A team of researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center explored whether
meditation could prove to be a viable intervention for halting the progression toward
dementia in people diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). We wanted to
know if stress reduction through meditation might improve cognitive reserve, said
Rebecca Erwin Wells, MD, MPH, who led the team.
Following the trials, the basis of which was a program utilizing meditation and
mindfulness nonjudgmental awareness in each moment the researchers observed
positive results in adult participants with mild cognitive impairment. "These preliminary
results indicate that in adults with MCI, MBSR (mindfulness-based stress reduction)
may have a positive impact on the regions of the brain most related to MCI and AD
(Alzheimers disease," they stated in the studys abstract.
Do you feel stress can accelerate memory decline and meditation can help slow
down Alzheimers disease?
https://www.heartmath.org/articles-of-the-heart/science-of-the-heart/stress-and-cognitive-
decline/#more-5699

Finding Social and Global Coherence

August 12, 2008 Global Interconnectedness 4119 Views = 3
Most people understand that certain people in our lives can have a profound influence
on us: our parents, friends, teachers, co-workers, spiritual and world leaders,
philanthropists, musicians and artists among others. There are, however, more subtle
interactions between us that also affect us.
Whether it is merely someone sitting beside us, or the person who is in a bad mood that
turns a conversation or a party sour, we all are having an effect on one another.
We are learning much more about how and why our presence, and especially our
moods and emotions can affect others and how we can sense how others are feeling.
Our mere presence can help others feel better and more comfortable, or ill at ease and
anxious. Researchers at the HeartMath Institute and other independent researchers
using HeartMath techniques and technology have conducted several studies to verify
and better understand this phenomenon. Their findings show we not only can affect
each other in these subtle ways, but we can do so intentionally.

Making a Coherent Connection

Here's what independent researcher Steve Morris found when he conducted such an
investigation. He wanted to know whether study participants skilled in achieving high
states of heart rate variability (HRV) coherence could raise the HRV coherence levels of
unskilled participants when in close proximity to them. (Coherence is an optimal state
characterized by smooth, or balanced heart rhythms and the harmonious function of the
body's mental, emotional and physical systems.)
Morris, who founded a Singapore-based firm that helps corporate executives and their
staff generate coherence, recruited 15 adult volunteers who he trained in HeartMath's
Quick Coherence Technique. He conducted 148 10-minute trials in which three of the

trained participants were seated around a table with one untrained participant. The
trained participants were signaled at random times to shift into a coherent state to
determine if their collective coherence could promote a higher HRV coherence level in
the untrained person.

"The HRV of the untrained subject was found to be higher in approximately half of all
matched comparisons when the trained participants focused on achieving increased
coherence," according to an article Morris wrote about his study. The article, Achieving
Collective Coherence: Group Effects on Heart Rate Variability Coherence and Heart
Rhythm Synchronization, was published in the July/August 2010 issue of the peer-
reviewed journal, Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine.
HMI has had similar results in what researchers call "energetic experiments":

The heart rhythms of a boy's dog became more coherent when the boy
intentionally shifted to a coherent state using a HeartMath technique. This was an
"energetic level" effect, which means the boy was not petting or interacting with
dog.
A woman, who was in a corral with her horse, but not petting or touching it,
consciously shifted into a coherent state, thus raising her HRV coherence. When
she did this, the horse's heart-rhythm pattern, or HRV coherence, shifted to a more
ordered pattern.
Using a technique called signal averaging, researchers were able to detect
synchronization between a mother's brainwaves (EEG) and her baby's heartbeats
(ECG). The pair were not in physical contact, but when the mother focused her
attention on the baby, her brainwaves synchronized to the baby's heartbeats.

Are all Things Interconnected?

"Of the many new scientific perspectives that emerged from the 20th century, one of the
most profound is that the universe is wholly and enduringly interconnected and
coherent. Complex living systems, including human beings, are composed of numerous
dynamic, interconnected networks of biological structures and processes."
Those comments, from HeartMath founder Doc Childre and HMI Research Director
Rollin McCraty, are from their article, Coherence: Bridging Personal, Social, and Global
Health. The article appeared in the July-August 2010 edition of Alternative Therapies in
Health and Medicine magazine.
Childre and McCraty make the case that as people increase personal coherence by
learning to more consistently "self-regulate their emotions from a more intuitive,
intelligent, and balanced inner reference," they affect families, workplaces and the world
at large.
"It is postulated that as increasing numbers of people add coherent energy to the global
field, it helps strengthen and stabilize mutually beneficial feedback loops among human
beings and with the earth itself," they wrote. (Read the abstract or download
the complete paper.)

The Quest for Social and Global Coherence

Findings from energetic experiments like those described above have led the Institute of
HeartMath and other entities to explore the depth and extent of interconnectedness in
our universe.
The Global Coherence Initiative (GCI), established by HMI in 2008, is working on a
model in which thousands of skilled coherence practitioners could gradually raise other
individuals' coherence levels worldwide. Eventually, intentionally generated coherence
will generate a massive collective coherence wave, GCI officials say, ultimately, a more
coherent global population could help solve many of society and Earth's greatest
problems. GCI is actively engaged in helping to improve society by teaching people the
benefits, importance and need for social coherence.
https://www.heartmath.org/articles-of-the-heart/global-interconnectedness/finding-social-and-global-
coherence/#more-5548

Heart Qualities For Re-Setting Our Lives

January 23, 2017 Articles of the Heart, Personal Development 11784 Views = 10
Heart Qualities For Re-Setting Our Lives
Increasing numbers of people are commenting about a heightened attunement in their
hearts and minds, to the need for increasing their care, kindness and willingness to co-
create peacefully. People are feeling that the timing for heart-based cooperation is in
alignment with the changes Earth and humanity are experiencing. Many of us believe
that the global waves of chaos and tension can be repurposed into expanding our
collective awareness of the need for unconditional love to help resolve our differences.
Spiritual practices that explore the deeper benefits of unconditional love and
compassion are increasing. There is also a rising interest in learning to connect more
with our hearts intuitive wisdom for higher choices and guidance. This is a giant step
forward. Along with a little practice, people are finding it easier to sense their hearts
intelligent suggestions for navigating lifes situations with clearer discernment and much
less stress.

The Increasing Collective Heart Awakening

Many are commenting that in the last few months, they have noticed themselves feeling
kinder and much more accepting of others than usual. From different parts of the world
people report they are feeling less desire to hold onto old hurts and distresses from the
past. These and more are positive symptoms of the collective heart awakening to the
need to get along with each other for the greater good regardless of the ongoing
resistances and separations taking place on the planet.
This growing momentum of increased heart awakening, many believe, will eventually
become the baseline for a paradigm shift from separation to compassion and
cooperation. It feels like an obvious time in our evolution to be kinder and more
openhearted to each other, while working together to find solutions for global challenges
to create a thriving world. Many of us feel that living from our heart is the "overlooked"
yet most practical approach for increasing individual and global peace, being that weve
tried most everything else already. The world picture may not reflect these possibilities
in the present moment, but more people are sensing that it can be done.
Practicing kindness, unconditional love and heart-based interactions can increase our
personal joy and fulfillment now, in the present, however long it takes for the whole of
humanity to shift. Practicing heart qualities assists humanity by creating a supportive
energy field that makes it easier for others to feel and respond from their heart. Some of
the primary heart qualities are unconditional love, care, compassion, connection,
kindness, forgiveness, gratitude, patience, acceptance, cooperation and many more we
all know, yet they often slip from our awareness when needed the most. We own these
heart qualities but its our job to awaken them and begin to show up as who we are.
Below are a few reliable practices for lifting your spiritual vibration and opening your
heart more to others. Many of you are probably familiar with these exercises, but for
these heart qualities to become instated, we have to remember to consciously re-boot
these practices for a while. Rebooting is fundamentally important for establishing a new
baseline.

Practicing Heart Qualities

Commit to three or four days of looking for opportunities to practice genuine
kindness to others, and sincerely connect with people, including some that you
dont usually connect with.
During these days, also find a few minutes of quiet time to radiate genuine
compassion to people suffering across the planet. Remember to radiate
compassion to yourself when needed and dont see it as selfish see it as an
intelligent choice.
Next, consciously radiate genuine appreciation to friends, family, work associates,
etc. Sometimes we adapt to and take for granted the people close to us and we
forget to feel just how much we do appreciate them.
Also, forgiving someone and releasing old hurt feelings can do wonders for lifting
our vibration and taking a load off. This releases stuck energy in our heart, and
helps to heal things we can see and things we cannot.

You can do these same exercises with other heart qualities, like patience, connection,
acceptance, cooperation, and more. Genuine is the action word in all of these practices
if you want to experience the deeper benefits.
Doing the practices a few days in a row creates a cumulative effect that encourages the
increased use of these empowering qualities. If you go most of a day without practicing,
then add on another day so as to dignify your commitment.
People report life changes in their interactions, and share how much they feel like their
true self when doing these practices. Even if we already practice heart-based attitudes,
its helpful to add a day or two each month of conscious exercises to refresh and
strengthen our forward momentum.
Practicing the qualities of the heart can be viewed as advanced common sense, and it
doesnt require being religious or on any particular path however this practice is
included in many religions, cultures, self-help, self-care and other systems.
We appreciate you deeply and hope you experience happiness and wellbeing through
2017. Lets remember to hold compassion in our hearts for the hardships people are
experiencing through these transitional times. Much suffering across the planet can be
reduced when more of humanity deeply understands that, Love matters.
Written by, Sara Childre, Pres. of HeartMath Institute and Doc Childre,
HeartMath Founder
https://www.heartmath.org/articles-of-the-heart/heart-qualities-for-re-setting-our-lives/#more-20360

Heart Intelligence
August 7, 2012 The Math of HeartMath 3958 Views = 5

Heart intelligence is the flow of awareness, understanding and intuition we experience

when the mind and emotions are brought into coherent alignment with the heart. It can
be activated through self-initiated practice, and the more we pay attention when we
sense the heart is speaking to us or guiding us, the greater our ability to access this
intelligence and guidance more frequently. Heart intelligence underlies cellular
organization and guides and evolves organisms toward increased order, awareness and
coherence of their bodies systems.
Throughout much of recorded history, human beings have understood that intelligence,
the ability to learn, understand, reason and apply knowledge to shape their
environment, was a function of the brain in the head.
There also is ample evidence in the writings and oral traditions societies passed down
through the generations that they strongly believed in an intelligent heart.
Research into the idea of heart intelligence began accelerating in the second half of the
20th century. During the 1960s and 70s pioneer physiologists John and Beatrice Lacey
conducted research that showed the heart actually communicates with the brain in ways
that greatly affect how we perceive and react to the world around us. In 1991, the year
the HeartMath Institute was established, pioneer neurocardiologist Dr. J. Andrew
Armour introduced the term heart brain. He said the heart possessed a complex and
intrinsic nervous system that is a brain.
Today, more than a half century after the Laceys began their research, we know a great
deal more about the heart:

The heart sends us emotional and intuitive signals to help govern our lives.
The heart directs and aligns many systems in the body so that they can function in
harmony with one another.
The heart is in constant communication with the brain. The hearts intrinsic brain
and nervous system relay information back to the brain in the cranium, creating a
two-way communication system between heart and brain.
The heart makes many of its own decisions.
The heart starts beating in the unborn fetus before the brain has been formed, a
process scientists call autorhythmic.
Humans form an emotional brain long before a rational one, and a beating heart
before either.
The heart has its own independent complex nervous system known as the brain
in the heart.

Although scientists say it is clear there is still much to learn, future generations may well
look back and cite another important discovery as one of the most pivotal of the 20th
century. The HeartMath Solution, the book that details the program used by hundreds of
thousands of people to access and utilize heart intelligence to improve their lives,
discusses this discovery.
Researchers began showing in the 1980s and 90s that success in life depended more
on an individuals ability to effectively manage emotions than on the intellectual ability of
the brain in the head, says The HeartMath Solution, by HeartMath founder Doc Childre
and his associate and longtime HeartMath spokesman Howard Martin.
This discovery naturally resulted in people wanting to know how to infuse emotions with
intelligence.
Scientists at the nonprofit HeartMath Institute , which had been conducting research into
heart intelligence and emotions posed the theory that heart intelligence actually
transfers intelligence to the emotions and instills the power of emotional management,
the book explains. In other words, heart intelligence is really the source of emotional
intelligence.
From our research at the HeartMath Institute, we've concluded that intelligence and
intuition are heightened when we learn to listen more deeply to our own heart. Its
through learning how to decipher messages we receive from our heart that we gain the
keen perception needed to effectively manage our emotions in the midst of lifes
challenges. The more we learn to listen to and follow our heart intelligence, the more
educated, balanced and coherent our emotions become. Without the guiding influence
of the heart we easily fall prey to reactive emotions such as insecurity, anger, fear and
blame as well as other energy-draining reactions and behaviors.
Early HeartMath research found that negative emotions threw the nervous system out of
balance and when that happened heart rhythms became disordered and appeared
jagged on a heart monitor. This placed stress on the physical heart and other organs
and threatened serious health problems.
Positive emotions, by contrast, were found to increase order and balance in the
nervous system and produce smooth, harmonious heart rhythms, Childre and Martin
wrote. But these harmonious and coherent rhythms did more than reduce stress: They
actually enhanced peoples ability to clearly perceive the world around them.
Learn more about heart intelligence and emotions in HMIs research section at Science
of the Heart.
https://www.heartmath.org/articles-of-the-heart/the-math-of-heartmath/heart-intelligence/#more-
5551

Heart-Brain Interactions
October 7, 2012 The Math of HeartMath 12120 Views = 4

What do researchers mean when they talk about heart-brain interactions?

Researchers with the HeartMath Institute and other entities have shown that the human
heart, in addition to its other functions, actually possesses the equivalent of its own
brain, what they call the heart brain, which interacts and communicates with the head
brain.
This heart brain communicates with the brain via a number of pathways, and the brain
in turn communicates with the heart. Between them they continually exchange critical
information that influences how the body functions.
Traditionally, scientists believed, it was the brain that sent information and issued
commands to the body, including the heart, but we now know the reverse is true as well.
Research has shown that the heart communicates to the brain in four major ways:
neurologically (through the transmission of nerve impulses), biochemically (via
hormones and neurotransmitters), biophysically (through pressure waves) and
energetically (through electromagnetic field interactions), HMI researchers explain in
Science of the Heart, an overview of research conducted by the institute.
Communication along all these conduits significantly affects the brains
activity, Science of the Heart states. Moreover, our research shows that messages the
heart sends the brain can also affect performance.
One important way the heart can speak to and influence the brain is when the heart is
coherent experiencing stable, sine-wavelike pattern in its rhythms. When the heart is
coherent, the body, including the brain, begins to experience all sorts of benefits, among
them greater mental clarity and ability, including better decision-making.
These changes come about because the heart, when it is coherent, sends out
information that causes the changes via the processes mentioned above
neurologically, biochemically, biophysically and energetically.
Although the heart and brain are automatically in constant communication, each of us
also has in our capacity to consciously and intentionally direct our hearts to
communicate in beneficial ways with our bodies.
When we intentionally experience sincere positive emotions such as caring,
compassion or appreciation for someone or something, the heart processes these
emotions and begins to become coherent and send out positive information throughout
the entire body.
Read more about heart-brain interactions, using positive emotions to benefit us and
HMIs research at Science of the Heart.
https://www.heartmath.org/articles-of-the-heart/the-math-of-heartmath/heart-brain-interactions/

Interconnection Between the Sun and the Earth

March 17, 2009 GCI Commentaries 4280 Views = 4
Because of Compassion Operatives many questions, I will cover some of the basics of
the science behind the Global Coherence Initiative in the first few GCI commentaries.
This will include sun-earth interactions and the ionosphere and how they affect our
health and well-being. I will also explain how the magnetometers at our sensor sites
work.
There is a strong connection between the sun and Earth. A rotating molten-iron core in
the earth generates a magnetic field that has fluctuated throughout history. The strength
of Earths magnetic field has been decreasing steadily, at a rate of about 5% per
century, since we began measuring it in the mid-1800s.
The sun has an 11-year cycle in which its magnetic field changes dramatically.
Especially during the solar maximum, sun spots and solar flares that form eject powerful
bursts of matter and energy into the solar system. Earth is surrounded by a bubble of
air, reaching 350 miles into space, and within it lies the ionosphere, which GCI monitors
at sensor sites. The solar wind interacts with Earths magnetic field by flattening the
magnetic field on the sunward side and stretching it out on the downwind side, causing
a so-called magnetotail (see image by NASA). The solar wind varies over periods as
short as seconds. When solar blasts, and their associated magnetic field, reach Earths
magnetosphere, highly energized particles can be extracted from the solar wind into the
magnetosphere, producing auroras and causing a geomagnetic storm, which in turn
creates magnetic-field variations and affects whatever lies within it.
Solar Flare and Impact at Earth, Courtesy NASA.
When Earths orbit and solar flares intersect, many disruptions are experienced in radio
communication, satellites, climate and our bodies. Life and the electrical potential of
Earth vary with solar activity. In turn, alternating electrical fields, like those generated by
geomagnetic storms, change bioelectricity, animals rhythms and blood dynamics.
Solar activity, geomagnetic activity and weather are correlated to changes in blood
pressure, blood composition and the physical and chemical state of humans, causing
higher rates of depression, heart attacks and deaths. This is reflected not only in
individual and group biologic and emotional systems, but in natural, social and political
systems as well.
Also, human aggression, as seen in national and international conflicts, terrorist attacks
and wars, occur in cycles that can be linked to solar and geomagnetic activity. (More
about social influences will be presented in an upcoming GCI report.)
Findings include the following:

There is a statistically significant increase in male hospital admissions for

depression the second week after geomagnetic storms. (Kay, 1994)
On days after a geomagnetic storm, the incidence of myocardial infarction heart
attack increases by 7%. (Cornelissen et al., 1999)
Over a 30-year span, approximate weekly, yearly and 10.5-year rhythms have
been observed in heart-disease related mortality in Minnesota. Medical officials
reported an additional 220 such cases per year during maximal solar activity a
5% increase compared to years of minimal solar activity. (Cornelissen et al.,
1999)
Approximate weekly and yearly rhythms are observed in heart disease-related
mortality. (Cornelissen et al., 1999)
 A Meta analysis of 47 studies shows the incidence of myocardial infarction
increased on Mondays with a secondary peak on Thursdays and Fridays
correlating with solar and geomagnetic activity. (Cornelissen et al., 1999)
The weekly rhythm in reduced heart-rate variability for middle-aged individuals,
characterized by decreases on Mondays and Fridays, correlates with the weekly
pattern of cardiovascular events and geomagnetic influences. (Cornelissen et al.,
1999)

To better describe the sun-Earth interaction, Mitch Battros, a science writer, came up
with following equation for the relationship between the sun and the earth:
Sunspots => Solar Flares => Magnetic Field Shift => Shifting Ocean and Jet
Streams => Extreme Weather and Human Disruption
Solar cycle 24 has begun and it has been predicted by the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration (NASA), European Space Agency (ESA) and National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that it will be up to 50% stronger than its
record-breaking predecessor, Solar cycle 23. The sun is predicted to reach its apex, or
maximum (of activity) in late 2011 into 2012. What might this increased activity hold in
store for us?
Variations in Earths magnetic field are measured by magnetometers. For the Global
Coherence Initiative, HMI engineers have built a magnetometer nicknamed Maggie,
which is located in Boulder Creek, Calif. The GCI is establishing a network of global
sensor sites to study these and related phenomena and to expand the dimensions of its
research on emotional physiology, heart-brain interactions and the physiology of optimal
health and performance. The function of this network is to investigate the relationship
between the magnetic forces in the earth and ionosphere, as well as other more
established measures of solar/geomagnetic activity and human biologic systems.
This Global Coherence Monitoring System will utilize a network of 12 sensor sites
strategically placed around the world. Each site will include an ultrasensitive magnetic
field detector to detect ionospheric disturbances and resonances, a geomagnetic static
field detector and a random number generator (RNG). Data gathered from these
detectors will be integrated with NOAA data to provide a picture of the earths
energetics.
This is all the science behind GCI for this commentary.
Another area to be explored in a future GCI commentaries will be whether we are not
only affected by the sun and earths geomagnetic activity, but if we as human beings,
with our consciousness, might actually cause or influence the suns activity?
Edgar Cayce, the famous of the 20th century clairvoyant, once gave a reading about
sun spots in which he said:
Sunspots, as well as earth changes, are reflections of our own state of consciousness,
a result of our own actions, the boomerang of divine law. Sunspots are reflections of the
turmoil and strife that we ourselves have created, and our own mind is the builder.
The responsibility for earth changes lies squarely on our shoulders, and how we
conduct our relationships with others has everything to do with the changing face of the
earth. Earth changes are adjustments that have to be made because something is out
of alignment. Just as we create chaotic conditions by our own out-of-alignment
behavior, so we can create positive transformation by our loving attitudes and actions.
(Reading #5757-1)
Finally, well explore at greater length the effects of changes in geomagnetism and sun-
Earth interactions on natural phenomena such as earthquakes, volcanoes and violent
storms in an upcoming commentary.
Annette Deyhle, Ph.D. and GCMS Research Team
https://www.heartmath.org/gci-commentaries/interconnection-between-the-sun-and-the-
earth/#more-5851

Love as an Advanced Mode of Intelligence

July 18, 2016 Articles of the Heart 62665 Views = 11

Love as an Advanced Mode of Intelligence

What is love? It is a question sure to elicit a great many responses. Simply defined, love
is an affection, attraction, admiration or other strong, positive feeling for another person,
thing or idea. From a metaphysical or philosophical perspective, love is more of a
complex interweaving of many emotions, behaviors and intangibles whose origin,
influence and potential has been food for thought over thousands of years and likely will
be for thousands more to come.
People the world over can at least agree on what some of the most cherished forms of
love are: romantic love for another and the love shared by children and parents, siblings
and friends. So, too do such loves as love of life, nature and country rank high on a very
long list.
People today and perhaps in every generation likely would concur that love is
something we all could use more of in our lives and throughout the world. And, in our
heart of hearts, more than a few of us would concede to an inner desire to be more
loving toward others.

Isnt Love a Form of Intelligence?

One way of creating more love in ourselves and the world could be to have a greater
understanding of what love is.
Love has been called the greatest force in the universe, the answer to all things and the
stuff that makes the world go round. Certainly there are lots of good arguments to made
for any of these.
But what of the notion that love is an actual form of intelligence, some would say an
advanced mode of intelligence? How exactly would such an argument be framed?
Because, after all, isnt love merely a feeling that comes from within, albeit a strong or
deeply held one?
For instance, a common way people express their love for one another, this thing or that
thing is to do it with all their heart, not all their mind/brain (i.e. intelligence). Historically,
this line of thought assumes, of course, that intelligence is purely within the realm of the
brain in your head until relatively recently.
Researchers at HeartMath Institute and many others around the world now believe,
based on scientific studies, that a great deal of human intelligence is heart intelligence.
As numerous as the studies demonstrating this are, for most people, it only takes one
simple observation in their daily lives for a clear example of their hearts intelligence:
How many times has the brain in your head told you to do one thing while your heart
advised another? No doubt, experiencing an actual physical feeling in the heart when
torn between one direction or another has left many a skeptic of listening to your heart
at least somewhat skeptical of their skepticism.
How strong is the power or intelligence of love? Here is a scientific experiment HMI
researchers who wondered about this conducted several years ago.
A boy, Josh, and his dog, Mabel, were placed in a room together. Then Josh moved to
a separate room, the result of which was that the dogs monitored heart rhythms were
chaotic and incoherent, unlike with Josh in the room. Josh was instructed to use a
coherence technique to consciously feel feelings of love and care for Mabel, which he
did upon re-entering the room with her and while having no physical contact with her.
Mabels heart rhythms quickly became smooth and stable, or coherent.
How many millions of people with pets throughout history can relate to that?

To Love and Be Loved

Whether we learn to love because of how we are raised, or we are loving at birth, the
simple fact is that at some point in life, pretty much everyone has a desire to love and
be loved.
Love indeed was the guiding ideal and purpose for the creation of organizations like
HeartMath Institute. Twenty-five years ago HMIs founders set out with a guiding
principle that love should permeate everything the institute undertook in its research of
stress, heart intelligence, positive emotions and much more since then.
In the recently released HeartMath book, Heart Intelligence, the authors note in part,
As collective consciousness increases, this will eventually reveal that love is an
advanced mode of intelligent living. People have just scratched the surface of
awareness regarding the focused power of love and its capacity to create a heart-
based environment; one where individuals can transcend fear and what it brings, while
manifesting their undiscovered gifts and fulfillment.
Discovering love and how to be more loving have been the topics of countless books,
meditations, workshops, etc. HeartMath has always believed and advised a very active
approach to achieving greater love. All of its tools and technologies developed through
the years ultimately have been aimed at creating more love personally, in our families,
workplaces and communities and globally as well. This has been especially true with
the Global Coherence Initiative.
One of the best examples of these is the Heart Lock-In Technique, a powerful tool
included here not only to illustrate the point, but also in the spirit of love.

Heart Lock-In Technique

Step 1. Focus your attention in the area of the heart. Imagine your breath is flowing in
and out of your heart or chest area, breathing a little slower and deeper than usual.
Step 2. Activate and sustain a regenerative feeling such as love, appreciation, care or
compassion.
Step 3. Radiate that renewing feeling to yourself and others.
From HeartMaths Heart Intelligence book.
Consider this further thought from Heart Intelligence: Unconditional love is the next
vibration of love that humanity is transitioning into and this will eliminate much of the
standard complications and problems that seem to form around loves powerful
transformational energy.

The Benefits of Love

It makes perfect sense that ones life might generally improve when love in any of its
forms first enters. For instance in the case of romantic love for another, love for a
newborn, etc. But research shows there are some pretty great benefits that accompany
the experience of not only love, but also of appreciation, care, compassion and other
positive emotions HeartMath calls qualities of the heart. Among them are:
Longer life span

Lower stress levels

Decreased incidence of a number of heart-related maladies.

Lower rates of diabetes.

Improved mental capacity, including clarity of thought.

Improved test-taking ability for students and overall academic success

Here is a final thought as you contemplate the meaning of love in your life and how you
can create more of it:
You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection. Buddha

We would love to hear your heart-felt perspectives on Love.

https://www.heartmath.org/articles-of-the-heart/love-advanced-mode-intelligence/#more-19269