By Learning to Locate Consciousness in the Heart, we can begin to know the world!

I've been studying and working with Heartmath for a couple of years now and having been an over-analytic, living in my head kind of gal I can tell you it has truly made a difference for me--even over and above my long-time meditation practice!

Just want to give you a little more info on what that heart that's keeping us alive is really for and all about:>) The article sounds a little cold and scientific considering I'm talking about living from the heart though......

Many believe that conscious awareness originates in the brain alone.

Recent scientific research suggests that consciousness actually emerges from the brain and body acting together. Evidence suggests that the heart plays a particularly significant role in this process.

Far more than a simple pump, as was once believed, the heart is now recognized by scientists as a highly complex system with its' own functional "brain".

Research in the new discipline of neurocardiology shows that the heart is a sensory organ and a sophisticated center for receiving and processing information.

The nervous system within the heart (or "heart brain") enables it to learn, remember, and make functional decisions independent of the brain's cerebral cortex.

Moreover, numerous experiments have demonstrated that the signals the heart continuously sends to the brain influence the function of higher brain centers involved in perception, cognition, and emotional processing.

The heart can act as a "mind" or an organ of perception because approximately 60% of heart cells are "neural cells", which function similarly to those in the brain.

In addition to the extensive nerural communication network linking the heart with the brain and body, the heart also communicates information to the brain and throughout the body via electromagnetic field interactions.

The heart generates the body's most powerful and most extensive rhythmic electromagnetic field. Compared to the electromagnetic field produced by the brain, the electrical component of the heart's field is about "60 times greater" in amplitude, and prmeates every cell in the body.

The magnetic component is appproximately "5000 times stronger" than the brain's magnetic field and can be detected several feet away from the body.

It has been demonstrated that brain rhythms synchronize to the heart's rhythmic activity, and also that during sustained feelings of love or appreciation, the blood pressure and respiratory rhythms, among other oscillatory systems, entrain to the hearts' rhythm.

The Institute of Heartmath proposes that the heart's field acts as a carrier wave for information that provides a global synchronizing signal for the entire body.

As pulsing waves of energy radiate out from the heart, they interact with organs and other structures, encoding information to actually "in-form" (give shape to) the activity of all bodily functions--to coordinate and synchronize processes in the body as a whole.

Basic research shows that information pertaining to a person's emotional state is also communicated throughout the body via the heart's electromagnetic field......and that sustained positive emotions appear to give rise to a distinct mode of functioning, called "psychophysiological coherence".

Heart rhythms exhibit a sine wave-like pattern and the heart's electromagnetic field becomes correspondingly more organized.

These waves are exhibited in real time and can be encouraged by using the "em-wave" handheld unit. Using Heartmath tools you can learn to recognize how it "feels" when you are functioning in a coherent pattern so that you can apply this to real-life situations.

At the "physiological" level, this mode is characterized by increased efficiency and harmony in the activity and interactions of the body's systems.

"Psychologically" this mode is linked with a notable reduction in internal dialogue, reduced perceptions of stress, increased emotional balance, and enhanced mental clarity, intuitive descernment and cognitive performance.

In sum, the research suggests that psychophysiological coherence is important in enhancing consciousness.

There is experimental evidence that psychological coherence may increase our awareness of and sensitivity to others around us.

Communication via the heart field facilitates development of an expanded consciousness in relation to our social world and in a longitudinal study of 46 social groups, it was documented how information about the global organization of a group--the group's collective consciousness--appears to be transmitted to all members by an energetic field of socio-emotional connection.

Information and excerpts from "the Resonant Heart" by Rollin McCraty, Raymond Trevor Bradley, Dana Tomasino