What are coherence meditations?
Coherence meditations are a powerful tool that can help you achieve a state of harmony and balance within your mind, body, and emotions. By practicing coherence meditations regularly, you can experience increased focus, reduced stress, and improved overall health.
What does heart-mind coherence mean?
When a person has heart-mind coherence, it means that they are able to send information from their heart to different regions of the brain. This occurs as a result of the heart's ability to synchronize its own rhythms (electric pulses) with those of the rest of the body. In other words, when a person is in a state of heart-mind coherence, they are more likely to be able to control how they feel.
Evidence suggests that fluctuations in the oscillation patterns (electric pulses) of the heart are related to fluctuations in brain activity, rather than neural connectivity (Jansen et al.: 2015). Simply put, this means that when you can make your heart rate and blood pressure levels stay in sync, it reflects an orderly state of being. This concept is known as self-organized temporal criticality (SOTC). And this is where breath control and meditation can come into play--and be essential for improving how you feel and improve your ability to obtain success.
What does heart-mind coherence do?
When someone has a high heart-mind coherence, they tend to feel better, and even have a greater sense of confidence. In fact, studies have shown that people with this type of coherence not only have better feelings of well-being but are more resistant to stress.
Heart-mind coherence is a relatively new concept in neuroscience. This change in perspective came about from research looking at how meditation affects emotional control. Studies have found that meditators show a stronger Executive Control which indicates an increase in their ability to regulate their emotions.
How do we establish heart-mind coherence with meditation?
Heart-mind coherence is the idea that good feelings are a result of "information from the heart" being communicated to other parts of the brain. This theory was first proposed in the 1970s by Dr. Bucha and has been studied extensively by others, like those at HeartMath Institute and Dr. Joe Dispenza.
Certain techniques, such as breathing exercises and meditation, use breath control and observation of one's thought process to improve emotional regulation. One way to think about this is that we can use breathwork and meditation to calm or energize our emotions. For example, if you're feeling overwhelmed or stressed, you might use breathing techniques and observation of your thought process, like those I've shared in my previous Newsletters and courses, to try and get your emotions back under control.
Heart-mind coherence is the idea that our heart and brain are constantly in harmony with each other--and research suggests that this may be thanks to something called phase coupling. Studies have found that people who meditate regularly show stronger executive control (Conscious observation of one's thought process - or simply put, shift of perspective) than those who don't, and that this is, likely, due to increased coherence between heart and brain.
What is good heart rate coherence?
In order to have good heart rate coherence, you need to be in a relaxed state (no, not sleeping, but a "zen" observation state). This can be achieved through practices such as meditation and deep breathing exercises. Once you are in a relaxed state, your heart will begin to beat in a more coherent manner.
When your heart is beating in a more coherent fashion, this indicates that you are in a better position to handle stress. In addition, peak performance can be achieved when your heart is working cohesively. (Professional athletes often use this technique before competing in high-pressure situations.)
Heart rate variability (HRV) training is another way of achieving good heart rate coherence. This type of training is based on the idea that when we experience stress our heart rate variability increases and vice versa. By using HRV training, we can reduce our overall level of stress and improve our health as well. (More on this in another Newsletter. But feel free to DM me or take my 4-week self-paced course.)
How do you get heart and brain coherence?
Heart-Mind Meditation, which is what I use and teach and, also, refer to as Mindfulness Meditation, can help individuals feel happier. The idea behind Heart-Mind Meditation is that people can learn how to control their physiological responses--such as heart rate--by observing their thoughts and breathing. This method has been found helpful for reducing stress levels and improving mental health overall.
According to some research, stronger executive control is linked with consistent meditation. For example, one study found that meditation practitioners who practiced daily showed increased activation in certain regions of the brain. This suggests that the practice of meditation can lead to long-term changes in the brain.
What is heart coherence meditation?
Heart-mind coherence meditation, or Mindfulness Meditation, is a practice that encourages individuals to focus on their breathing and quiet their emotions in order to achieve a state of inner peace. This type of meditation has been found to increase the intensity of coherent oscillations (electric pulses), which leads to better communication between different areas of the brain. Additionally, heart-mind coherence meditation has been shown to improve executive control.
Article was co-written with Coco des Rosiers, M. Ed. and Seth Leaf Pruzansky.
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