We all want to be healthy and happy, right? If so, we need to know that emotional self-regulation is a critical piece of the healing, health and happiness equation. Besides what we intuitively know to be true, the science coming out of the field of neurocardiology is validating the influence that our emotions have on our health and well-being. Much of the research has been done by the Institute of HeartMath. They have been doing heart-brain research for over 15 years. They have found that 60% of the heart is comprised of neural tissue and that there are major neural pathways between the heart and the brain.
Our heart, it seems, sends out a rhythmic, vibrational pattern that reflects the emotions we are feeling. The HeartMath researchers studied the rhythmic patterns of the heart, what they call heart rate variability (HRV), and found that negative, stressful emotions (anger, worry, fear, sadness) create incoherent heart rhythms and positive, uplifting emotions (love, awe, gratitude, compassion) create coherent heart rhythms. Emotional information is encoded into this field of the heart. This vibrational field goes to every cell in the body transmitting signals that are read by the cell membrane and influence cell functioning.
Coherent heart rhythms generate fields that instruct cells to heal and function optimally. This is one of the ways scientists now know that emotions affect our health. This emotional information sent from the heart also affects higher brain functions, influencing our thought processes and perceptions. What this means is that our emotions may be the strongest determinant of the perceptual lens through which we see the world. And that creates our reality!
The Institute of HeartMath’s research showed that feelings such as love, compassion, appreciation, awe, and gratitude actually synchronize the heart, brain and nervous system creating a “coherent psychophysiological state”. This coherent state has far reaching effects. In addition to turning on our cell’s self-healing capacities, it balances the autonomic nervous system; accesses our intuitive heart intelligence; and builds new neural circuitry from the heart to the prefrontal cortex of the brain in the area that registers positive emotions. This evokes feelings of security and well-being. The more circuitry built into the areas related to positive emotions, the more likely it is that we will feel that way more often, and see life through a positive, up-beat and optimistic lens more often.
A special note on the power of compassion. In addition to the research at the Institute of HeartMath, both ancient wisdom and new neuroscience research suggest the importance of this heart felt emotion, especially when evoked and experienced on a regular basis. In the Buddhist tradition compassion is one of the four “best abodes” that reflect the mind state of enlightenment. The other three are lovingkindness, sympathetic joy and equanimity. One form of Buddhist meditation is specifically focused on compassion and is a form of Metta Meditation practice.
New neuroscience studies are confirming the benefits of cultivating compassion. Researchers have been doing MRI brain scans on Buddhist monks, one of whom is Matthew Ricard. At the University of Wisconsin MRI scans showing brain activity revealed that he experienced extreme levels of positive emotions and few negative ones which led to him becoming known as “the happiest man in the world.” While engaged in his regular meditation on compassion the neuroimaging of his brain registered the highest level ever recorded (off the scale) in the area of the brain associated with positive emotions. In the clinical trials that have studied the effect of meditation here in the West, it is based on 30 minutes of meditation a day. This practice literally rewires and restructures the brain, while reducing stress, anxiety and depression and increasing feelings of ease, well-being and happiness. Jack Kornfield’s new book, A Lamp in the Darkness discusses this practice and comes with a CD that has a guided meditation on compassion.
Learning how to evoke positive emotional states at will is a potent form of emotional self-regulation and is a real game changer.