Dr. J. Andrew Armour, one of the earliest pioneers in neurocardiology, introduced the concept of a functional “heart brain”. The heart brain is an intricate network of several types of neurons, neurotransmitters, proteins and support cells like those found in the brain proper. Its elaborate circuitry enables to act independently of the cranial brain – to learn, remember, and even feel and sense.
After 16 years, HeartMath research found out that the communication between heart and brain is a two-way dynamic exchange, one is continued to influence one another. However, research has illuminated that the heart plays a particularly important role. The heart is the most powerful generator of rhythmic information patterns in the human body. It functions as sophisticated information encoding and processing center, and possesses a far more development communication system with the brain than do most of the body’s others major organs. With every beat, the heart not only pumps blood, but also transmits complex patterns of neurological, hormonal, pressure and electromagnetic information to the brain and through-out the body. As a critical nodal point in many of the body’s interacting systems, the heart is uniquely positioned as a powerful entry point into the communication network that connects body, mind,
emotions and spirit.
Numerous experiments have now demonstrated that the messages the heart sends to the brain affect our perceptions, mental processes, feeling states and performance in profound ways. HeartMath research suggests that the heart communications information, relative to emotional state (as reflected by patterns in heart rate variability) to the cardiac center of the brain stem (medulla), which in turn feeds into the intralaminar nuclei of the thalamus and the amygdale. These areas are directly connected to the base of the frontal lobes, which are critical for decision making and the integration of reason and feeling. The intralaminar nuclei send signals to the rest of the cortex to help synchronize cortical activity, thus providing a pathway and mechanism to explain how the heart’s rhythms can alter brainwave patterns and thereby modify the brain function.
