The heart-brain coherence
Our medicalized culture has trained us to think of our hearts as an IED. It’s only a matter of time until the coronary arteries occlude and cause the big bang. Instead of enjoying a steak, we force ourselves to prefer chicken and fish. Since the worldwide primary cause of death is a cardiovascular event, that behavior isn’t entirely unreasonable. But could this fearful and mechanized view of our hearts deprive us of the extraordinary power that resides in the human heart? Power that our ancestors tapped into?
For centuries, folklore from every corner of the globe has held that a person’s psychological state can affect their physical health, sometimes suddenly and fatally. Apocryphal tales of death from fright or heartbreak abound, from the biblical account of Ananias and Sapphira both keeling over lifeless after being accused of lying to the Holy Spirit to Romeo and Juliet’s Lord Montague recounting how his wife’s “grief of my son’s exile hath stopp’d her breath.”
Mid-last-century Harvard Medical School’s Chair of Physiology, Dr. Walter Cannon, was the first to give scientific credence to these phenomena. Dr. Cannon reviewed so-called “Voodoo deaths” and explained the sudden deaths of healthy young adults who believed themselves cursed by their tribal leaders. “Shocking emotional stess”, Cannon declared, “could precipitate “sympathico-adrenal complex:” consctriction of blood vessels, low hypotension, rapid heart rate and cardiac failure.
A few decades later, Dr. Herbert Benson, pioneered the integration of mind and body into medicine. Over five decades of Dr. Benson’s research empirically demonstrate the beneficial effects of the discipline of mind control and of practiced relaxation.
And yet, we race to credentialed strangers asking for chemical relief from anxiety, depression or grief. Oblivious to the fact that we choose these terrible afflicitons by our thoughts, actions and words.
How is your heart?
The English translation to the Persian greeting, “Hello, how are you?” is “How is your heart doing at this very moment? At this very breath?”
Head of Islamic Studies Omad Safi suggests that is what we mean when we say “How are you?” We mean to ask, “How is your heart?”
I am not asking how many items are on your to-do list, nor asking how many items are in your inbox. I want to know how your heart is doing, at this very moment. Tell me. Tell me your heart is joyous, tell me your heart is aching, tell me your heart is sad, tell me your heart craves a human touch. Examine your own heart, explore your soul, and then tell me something about your heart and your soul.
Tell me you remember you are still a human being, not just a human doing.
From grade school kids to retired, too many consider life with what Safi calls “the disease of busyness. And are constantly scrolling phones and devices for news of what’s happening to others.
We do this at great peril.
The Heart Math Institute
In the early nineties, Doc Childres began studying heart-brain coherence. Several decades of research has produced a far deeper understanding of the “brain-like” function of the heart. Where before the neural-humoral direction had assumed to reside in the brain, Childre and his team proves the opposite.
“…Stressful or depleting emotions such as frustration and overwhelm lead to increased disorder in the higher-level brain centers and autonomic nervous system. and which are reflected in the heart rhythms and adversely affects the functioning of virtually all bodily systems…We also observed that the heart acted as though it had a mind of its own and could significantly influence the way we perceive and respond in our daily interactions. In essence, it appeared that the heart could affect our awareness, perceptions and intelligence. Numerous studies have since shown that heart coherence is an optimal physiological state associated with increased cognitive function, self-regulatory capacity, emotional stability and resilience.” Science of the Heart
So that means what exactly?
That our moment by moment decision to master our emotions, reject the anger and fear constantly spewing out from “influencers” as “news,” matters. And train ourselves to focus on beauty and goodness. To ape Saint Paul’s exhortation to the Phillipians:
“In everything you do, act without grumbling or arguing. Prove yourselves innocent and straightforward. Children of God living in the midst of a twisted and depraved generation, among whom you shine like the light of the stars.
Our decision matters so so much in fact, that it might save our lives. Furthermore, deep down, we know the danger, we can feel it in our accelerated heart rates and bodily tension, the impulse to fight.
The measure with which we measure
In a recent piece, Father John Riccardo writes about our “scandal and gossip loving culture.” If we make the mistake of looking and/or listening, the tone of the speaker is often indignant, morally superior. As if this behavior is unthinkable, unique and worthy of condemnation, dangerously enticing us to do what we know we cannot: judge another.
Jesus warns us, “The way you judge others is how you will be judged — the measure with which you measure out will be used to measure you” (Matthew 7:2). Once again, just to be clear, we are to judge actions. Jesus tells us that we judge a tree by its fruits (cf. Mt 7:16). But we cannot judge interiors. I have no access to anyone’s interior. I don’t know the way in which a person might be crying out to God for help, even in the midst of their terrible choices. Sin is, after all, a power, a dominion, an authority that we are powerless to escape on our own, thus our need for a Rescuer to deliver us (cf. Col 1:13)
In your own way, you too must be a missionary, like the apostles and the first disciples of Jesus, who went forth to proclaim the love of God, to tell others that Christ is alive and worth knowing. Saint Therese experienced this as an essential part of her oblation to merciful Love: “I wanted to give my Beloved to drink and I felt myself consumed with a thirst for souls”. [227] That is your mission as well. Each of us must carry it out in his or her own way; you will come to see how you can be a missionary. Jesus deserves no less. If you accept the challenge, he will enlighten you, accompany you and strengthen you, and you will have an enriching experience that will bring you much happiness. It is not important whether you see immediate results; leave that to the Lord who works in the secret of our hearts. Keep experiencing the joy born of our efforts to share the love of Christ with others.
Dilexit Nos
