Heart disease covers a wide range of conditions from heart attacks, to vascular issues, high blood pressure to strokes. In fact, heart disease is the number 1 killer in many developed nations. There are many promising lifestyle interventions that can help treat heart disease, but it is important to understand the energetics of it as well. We speak of the heart often in emotional terms, because on some level we appreciate that the heart is more than a pump or an organ. In fact, it is the point of intersection that connects us to all living things.
The Biology of Heart Disease
The function of the heart is to move the blood through the body. In this continual transport process the blood delivers much needed oxygen, nutrients and Prana to the body. Over time, with continued vascular constriction, an increase in pressure and workload, the heart is no longer able to satisfy the metabolic requirements of the body. From a purely physiological standpoint, the heart becomes ineffective in energy production, transfer and utilization. Interesting how energy implications exist on every level, however, this isn’t the whole story. While these biological mechanisms play a key role, it in itself does not guaranteed heart disease.
In fact, research has been around for decades that love and social relationships have a protective effect when it comes to heart disease. You can take two evenly matched individuals, with the same background and risk factors with one difference. One has a loving home to go to at the end of the day and the other goes home to an unloving and emotionally toxic environment. The person with the loving home will have a lower incidence of heart disease. As we explore this connection we can begin to understand why the energetics are so important.
Following Your Heart
The brain and the heart interact in a very interesting way. If you were to consider the question, ‘where does emotion reside, in the heart or the brain?’ The answer is both. The heart and the brain are inextricably connected; many of the same neural structures that exist in the brain are also present in the heart. Imagine that emotions are pulses of pure energy that do not originate from the body, but rather sensed by the heart from the outer field of consciousness. The brain then interprets those pulses of energy and assigns judgment based on previous experiences stored in the subconscious.
The emotion itself is a frequency that exists somewhere on a continuum. The reason this is important is that those value judgments change the frequency and coherence of our heart based on the interpretation rendered by our minds. Now what happens if we were to bypass the ego mind or the trickery of the subconscious and just tune into the frequency sensed by the heart? Is this not the source of our pure intuition? Conversely, what effect does it have when we don’t listen to our hearts?
Bringing Down the Vibration
One of the tenants of Energy medicine is that all disease starts out in the energy field first and moves its way toward the body. Once it reaches the body, this is where we begin to see physical manifestations or symptoms. Disease is a result of continued vibration at a less than optimal frequency. So you can imagine there is nothing more detrimental to the heart than thoughts of isolation, jealousy, hostility and loneliness. Remember, if those feelings are a combination of a heart/mind interaction, what role did your subconscious and/or your ego play in the creation of those low vibrational thoughts? When the heart, mind and body are all in alignment that is called Coherence. The heart cannot be in coherence without a loving intention. Research done by HeartMath has shown us that we strive for coherence not only within ourselves, in our relationships, but with the earth as well. So when a person lives out of alignment; a life without joy and purpose or meaningful relationships, you can see that those low vibrational frequencies will weigh heavy on the heart. From an energetic perspective this is the foundation of heart disease.
Are You Creating a Bridge to Nowhere
Coherence between the mind/body and heart cannot be achieved without a heart focus, a conscious breath and a loving intention. In Yoga, breath is the bridge between our conscious and unconscious. It is a union of body, mind and spirit. In Energy medicine, the heart is the bridge between the material and the spiritual. The center of our energy body. When a break down in communication or incongruence exists between our physicality and our spirituality, we limit our ability for coherence and higher vibrational frequencies such as love.
Why Lifestyle Matters
You may ask yourself, why making enduring lifestyle changes can have such a positive impact on the heart, if it is a matter of energetics? The answer is that the lifestyle choices are a matter of energetics as well. One of the best lifestyle choices someone can make is a change in diet. If you look at the energetics of a heart healthy diet, it primarily relies on lighter, higher vibrational foods. Creating a better vibrational match between the food, our bodies and the heart. Whole foods have far more life force in them then processed ones. Since our hearts are connected to the earth, we should also consider the impact of our inhumane methods of food production, which greatly degrades the Earth’s energy field.
Exercise and stress reductions are other important interventions when it comes to heart disease, and there are good energetic reasons for this as well. Exercise can have the most profound impact when it is done mindfully. For example, in exercise physiology, there is something called Steady State. You may have experienced this while running; that zone where you feel like you could run forever. In this state of active coherence there is a perfect balance between our oxygen needs and our demands. We are in perfect alignment in that moment as long as we are mindful. Stress reduction usually revolves around mindful breathing, awareness development and calming the mind. We bring our awareness into the present which mitigates the impact of our mind made anxieties. Anytime we are present we decrease the impact of the ego mind. There is also a commonality that exists amongst all three because by consciously engaging in self-care, there is no higher act of self-love.
Opening the Heart
Being able to give and receive love openly is imperative for the health of the heart. Self-love is where it all has to start. Our hearts cannot be healed, if it holds no love for one’s self. The second quality of an open heart is one that forgives. Anytime we create resistance or congestion with lower vibrational thoughts we move ourselves out of coherence. Acts of service are another way to boost empathy and compassion and it creates an energetic investment that has a very high return. So appreciate your heart as more than a pump and consider the ways in which you can bring more coherence into your life and consciously heal your heart.
Angela Levesque is health educator, writer, exercise physiologist and energy healer. She hosts a weekly online radio show called On Health & Healing with Angela Levesque on a2zen.fm. Angela teaches several classes on self care, meditation & weight loss. Visit www.hestiahealth.com for more information. Follow her on https://twitter.com/HestiaHealth and http://www.facebook.com/hestiahealth