I have always believed in the mind-body connection since my days as an athlete in the sport of ski jumping. This integrated connection describes how these separate human aspects are linked together. In our culture as with most Western cultures, we like to speak of the body and mind as separate entities just like with our medical system. But truly, this more about money, convenience, and frame of reference. The mind is not separate from the body any more than a toe or liver is separate from the body. Everything is integrated together which is the pattern of creation and of nature.
Ancient cultures and their people understood that a healthy mind helps create a healthy body and a healthy body is important if you want a healthy mind. To emphasize this point, I will introduce you to heart rate variability which I mentioned in my last newsletter on the vagus nerve.
“Heart rate variability” refers to the naturally occurring beat-to-beat variations in the heart. We have always known there was a normal variability due to the synergistic or cooperative action of the two branches of your central nervous system (CNS) called the autonomic nervous system (ANS). That part of your CNS that regulates most of your body’s internal functions. The sympathetic nerve acts to accelerate the heart rate while the parasympathetic or the vagus nerve discussed in the last newsletter slows it down.
Most of us have been taught that the heart is constantly receiving and responding to the messages of the CNS and ANS. However, it is probably not known that your heart actually sends more signals to the brain than the brain sends to the heart. In fact, these signals from the heart have a significant effect on your brain function influencing your emotional processing as well as affecting your higher cognitive or thinking faculties such as attention, perception, memory, and problem-solving. I am sure most of you have not thought of this connection, but not only does the heart respond to the brain, the brain continuously responds to the heart.
The effect of your heart on brain function has been researched over the past thirty years by HeartMath Institute. Their research has shown that monitoring the heart and its variability during our daily activities produces measurable benefits to well-being. It has shown that larger-scale patterns of heart activity actually affects the functioning of the brain.
This research demonstrated that different patterns of heart activity seen with different emotional states have distinct effects on cognitive and emotional function. During times of stress and negative emotions, the heart rhythm is erratic and disordered and the corresponding pattern of neural signals traveling from the heart to the brain inhibits your high thinking functions. Therefore, your ability to think clearly, remember, learn, reason, and make effective decisions is affected.
Why do you think that we often act impulsively and unwisely when under stress? The heart’s input to the brain during stressful or when you have negative emotions also has a profound effect on your brain’s emotional processes so that your emotional experience of stress is reinforced.
When there is a period of more ordered or a stable pattern of your heart’s input to the brain as with positive thoughts and emotions, it has the opposite effect. It actually enhances and facilitates cognitive function and reinforces these positive feelings and emotional stability.
What this research is showing is that learning to generate increased heart rhythm coherence as with positive thoughts and emotions not only benefits the entire body, but also profoundly affects how you perceive, think, feel, and perform. In the case of musculoskeletal pain that I see you for, it can help in the management of your pain.
During my competitive years in the sport of ski jumping, I strived to be in what is often called being in the “zone.” The concept of being in the zone during an athletic performance is best described as being in the “flow” where the mind and body are one.
This tunnel-vision phenomenon I strived for is not only reported by athletes, but also artists and psychologists alike as being hyper-focused and sometimes even a spiritual state of mind where anything seems possible. It’s where we become most productive, creative, and powerful. The focus can become so intense that you know exactly what you want to do during the athletic performance of a skill without thinking about it. The performance becomes reflexive in nature without interference of the conscious mind. Everything comes together where the mind and body are one.
It was once believed that the human heart at rest operated much like a metronome, consistently and faithfully beating out a regular, steady rhythm. But with this research from HeartMath Institute, we know this is not the case. Rather than being monotonous and regular, the rhythm of a healthy heart even at rest is irregular, with the time interval between consecutive heartbeats constantly changing.
This natural beat to beat variation noted is what is called heart rate variability (HRV). Now, HRV is considered to be a vital indicator of your health and fitness and a significant marker of your body’s physiological resilience and behavioral flexibility. It reflects your ability to adapt effectively to stress and the environmental demands of your life.
Think of it this way! Just as the shifting stance of a tennis player about to receive a serve may facilitate swift adaptation, in a healthy individual the heart can be trained to be responsive and resilient. Ready for action and react when needed.
I have found the HeartMath Experience to be especially appropriate during these times of high stress and anxiety related to the ongoing pandemic with Covid-19. It can help you maintain emotional balance, mental clarity, and sustain resiliency no matter what life may throw your way. The HeartMath program can be an effective tool in the prevention of acquiring stressful attitudes and feelings, and for connecting with your heart’s intuitive directions that help you make the best choices.
By working with this program, it can bring your mind and body connection into balance and homeostasis which your body strives for. In fact, many of the bodily symptoms you have experienced day to day can also be attributed to the mind-body connection and your reaction to stress. This can be just another tool for you to use in the management of your musculoskeletal pain. For more information about this program, check it out at http://www.heartmath.org.
Most of you that know me and those that have received treatment from me over the years, know that my favorite phrase about the human body is that “everything is connected.” The heart-mind and body-mind connection is no different. In looking at the following information about the heart, keep this in mind.
•Scientific evidence shows that the heart sends us emotional and intuitive signals to help govern our lives.
•Many ancient cultures maintained that the primary organ responsible for influencing and directing emotions, morality, and decision-making is the heart.
•The heart starts beating in an unborn fetus before the brain is formed. Scientists still don’t know exactly what makes it start beating. The heartbeat is generated from within the heart itself and doesn’t need a connection to the brain to keep beating.
•The heart has its own independent nervous system, referred to as “the brain in the heart.” There are at least forty thousand neurons in the heart-as many as are found in various subcortical centers of the brain.
•Core heart feelings reduce the activity of the central nervous system (CNS) and more specifically the sympathetic branch that speeds up the heart rate, constricts blood vessels, and stimulates the release of hormones in preparation for action and increases activity of the parasympathetic branch that slows the heart rate and relaxes the body’s inner systems, thereby increasing its effectiveness.
•Positive emotions such as happiness, appreciation, compassion, care, and love improve hormonal balance and immune system response.
•From research, it has been concluded that both intelligence and intuition are heightened when we learn to listen more deeply to our hearts.
•New scientific discoveries are giving us a radically new and different view of the role of the heart in the functioning of the human body.
•Information sent from the heart to the brain can have profound effects on your higher brain centers.
•Your emotional states are reflected in your heart rhythms, as seen with heart rate variability measurements. Our heart rhythms affects the brain’s ability to process information, make decisions, solve problems, and experience and express creativity.
In closing this newsletter, I want to thank all of you for wearing your masks. I know it is hard, but we can’t let our guard down against this virus. Even though I have been vaccinated twice, I will continue to wear my mask and would ask you to do the same. Again, thank you for your cooperation. Be well.
Terry