“The Heart has been considered the source of emotion, courage and wisdom for centuries” – according to Heart Math Institute.

Did you know that your heart is more than an organ that simply pulsates blood throughout your body? Have you ever heard the saying “I let my heart rule my head again”, but not possess any understanding as to why this would occur? Would you believe me if I informed you that incredible scientists around the world have discovered that your heart has a brain? Until recently I never fully comprehended the science of intuition and the spiritual function of the heart (lets be honest, I still might not know), but this is what I have come to learn, and it is too great to share!

According to the Heart Math Institute, new research has indicated the “human heart is MUCH more than an efficient pump that sustains life”, magically the heart is also “the access point to a source of wisdom and intelligence that we can call upon to live our lives with more balance, greater creativity and enhanced intuitive capacities”. (if you stay with me, we shall explore intuitive intelligence later and how you can use your own superpowers to access your innate intuition).

In the early 1990s, inclusive studies that were carried out, utilising many different methods to test the human physiology i.e. EEG (brain waves), ECG (heart), blood pressure and hormone levels, consistently revealed that it was the human heart rate variability that stood out as the most accurate reflection of one’s emotional state. Consequently, this also reflected one’s current stress levels and cognitive processes. “This eventually led to a much deeper understanding of the neural and other communication pathways between the heart and the brain”. In addition to this, studies signalled “the heart had a mind of its own and could significantly influence the way we perceive and respond to our daily interactions”.

Thankfully we now have a much deeper understanding of how crucial our heart is and how the activity within this divine piece of matter can affect our mental clarity, creativity, emotional balance, intuition and personal effectiveness. The Heart Math Institute’s research, among others’, signifies the heart is more than a simple pump. As stated by Heart Math Institute, “The heart, is in fact, a highly complex information-processing centre with it’s own functional brain, commonly called the heart brain, that communicates with and influences the cranial brain via the nervous system, hormonal system and other pathways”. Historically studies that have been carried out, relating to the communication between the head and the heart have taken on a one-sided approach, predominantly focusing on the heart’s responses to the brain’s commands.  As cited by The Heart Math institute, “we have learned, however that communication between the heart and the brain actually is an ongoing dynamic, two-way dialogue, with each organ continuously influencing the other’s function”. The Heart has been confirmed to communicate with the brain through four major ways, neurologically, biochemically, biophysically and energetically. There is an incredible cluster of 40,000 neural cells in the anatomical heart that has been demonstrated to be precognisant, and with an electromagnetic field 500 times greater than the cranial brain! As documented by Ricci Jane in Spiritually Fierce, “when a new life is conceived in utero, something remarkable happens around day seventeen of gestation. Into the primitive kidney bean shape of the new life forming, down the primitive space that will become the throat, a cluster of cells appears from somewhere in the womb. Science does not know from where these cells come. The small cluster of cells moves into the primitive branches of what will become the lungs and the heartbeat begins. Quite literally, the substance of the heart is a scientific mystery. Its beginnings are of an unknowable origin. The heart is the bridge between the Infinite and the human.

Over 20 years of research carried out by John and Beatrice Lacey during the 1960s and 1970s, it was identified that the heart communicates with the brain in ways that significantly affect how we perceive the world. As Lacey’s research evolved, they found that the heart appeared “to have its own logic”. The heart was identified to “behave” as if it had a mind of its own and appeared to be sending meaningful messages to the brain that the brain not only understood but obeyed. YAY for the heart!! The “heart brain” as it is commonly referred to, or “intrinsic cardiac nervous system” is an intricate network of neurotransmitters, proteins and support cells and complex ganglia (a structure containing a number of nerve cell bodies, typically linked by synapses and often forming a swelling on a nerve fibre), the same as those in the cranial brain. “The heart-brain’s neural circuitry enables it to act independently of the cranial brain to learn, to remember, to make decisions and to even feel and sense”. What I have found particularly interesting is that the through extensive explorations conducted by neuro-cardiologists around the world have proven the following, “in terms of heart-brain communication, it is generally well-known that the efferent (descending) pathways in the autonomic nervous system are involved in the regulation of the heart. However, it is less appreciated that most fibres in the vagus nerves are afferent (ascending) in nature. Furthermore, these ascending neural pathways are related to the heart (and cardiovascular system) than to any other organ. This means the heart sends more information to the brain than the brain sends to the heart.

In conclusion, it has been proven that our heart can affect our awareness, perceptions and intelligence and there are many methods that can guide and support our full surrender to live optimally cognitively, emotionally and spiritually. So my question to you is, if your heart has a “mind of it’s own, has the capacity to perceive and respond” and in most cases can override our egocentrically driven cranial brain to allow us to live our life harmoniously, then how are you purposefully and congruently responding to your heart’s intelligence?