Friday, February 11, 2011

The Heart, Contd.



In relation to my newest learning curve, how the heart may actually have a mind of its own, I've learned a few things I thought I would pass along. But first let me say - I have been finding more and more references to the heart and how it will play a very different role in the future then it does now. Most of us see the heart as an organ, nothing more. It pumps blood throughout our system and keeps us alive - without it, we die. That is certainly true.

But for years we've heard stories of people with heart transplants having the memories of the donor through Cellular Memory. This theory postulates that the brain is not the only organ that stores memories or personality traits. In fact there are documented cases where transplant recipients awaken with mild personality changes, cravings, opinions, and tastes, that they didn't have before the surgery. One classic example of this is Claire Sylvia, who after a heart and lung transplant in the 1970's wrote the book A Change of Heart.

So if we entertain the idea that the heart may also be more than just an organ that pumps blood and keeps us alive, what else might that mean? Here are a few things to consider:

  • A new discipline of neurocardiology has confirmed that the heart is a sensory organ, and can actually learn, remember, and make independent functional decisions that does not involve the cerebral cortex. 
  • Emotions that we once thought only originated in the brain are now known to be a product of both the brain and the body acting together.
  • Feelings of appreciation are good for your heart. 
  • Our nervous system acts as an antenna and responds to the magnetic fields produced by the hearts of others.
  • Data has shown that it is possible for the magnetic signals of the heart to influence the brain rhythms of others at conversational distances.
  • We can learn techniques that can help us stabilize internally in order to be less vulnerable to being affected negatively by the fields coming from others.
  • Your heart can synchronize with your loved one in your sleep.

    So I will continue my study, but I hope I've piqued your interest. There are several websites out there that talk about this subject. My favorite so far, mostly because it is scientifically based, is the Institute of HeartMath, which had been referenced in other reading I've been doing lately. I bought their book on Transforming Anxiety for someone else, and I downloaded The Energetic Heart for myself. Most of the above information comes from that e-book. I would highly recommend it for anyone wanting to understand more about the heart and its effect on your overall health, and the health of others.

    All of this reinforces my belief that we are so much more than we ever could have imagined. We only use 10% of our brains,  so maybe the other 90% actually comes from our heart...

    22 comments:

    Lori said...

    I have been going for intense therepy for my neck and the therepist has been talking to me about how every single cell in our bodies holds our memories. As she has been working on me I have been experiencing very strong emotions and it's bring out blocked painful memories. So this post really resinates with me...your posts are very timely for me...thank you!

    DJan said...

    How amazing! I didn't realize that is really true about heart transplant recipients, I thought it was a myth. It makes sense, though, that all of us would be holding memories in our hearts. Very interesting research you're doing here, Nancy!

    Trish and Rob MacGregor said...

    I remember that book and loved it. Cellular memory makes so much sense to me.

    ellen abbott said...

    Well, I have certainly subscribed to a mind/body connection for a long time. some interesting info about the heart. the heart as a sensory organ. gives new meaning to the term 'heartsick'.

    luksky said...

    Interesting. After I had my daughter I had congestive heart failure from toxemia complications. While the docs were treating me they asked me if I had every done drugs (heart damaging ones like cocaine, etc.) Of course I had not, but their x-rays showed my heart with some extensive damage that was not done by the heart failure. I remember wondering when he asked me about the drugs if it could have been caused by the years of heartbreak I endured from my abusive first love...

    Nancy said...

    Lori - Maybe going through the therapy for your neck will also help you heal the other things you wanted to work on this year.

    DJan - I kept reading about the heart being the way of the future, so I thought I would try to find out more about it. A fascinating look at an organ I took for granted. It may very well be our next step in evolution.

    Trish & Rob - It relates back to the concept of the holographic universe in a way. "The world in a grain of sand."

    Ellen - And a better understanding of how people can actually die of a "broken heart."

    L'Adelaide said...

    I completely believe this is true, we are much more than we think...we are the stuff of stars and more but do we honor that, believe it, walk that path of knowing? not many can as they have not been taught. i love your krishamurti quote, btw, and love this info about the heart having memory...why there would be a question when people die of broken ones is beyond my understanding...

    i have a fused cervical spine and as the vertebrae/discs were so badly damaged, they used cadaver bone for part of the reconstruction and since then, i have been unwell...i don't believe in much i have been diagnosed with but i do believe that now that i have another's cells, tho they be dead and disinfected and practically plasticized, still they were once in a living soul. i wonder of the health of her, i know it was a woman... well, too wordy am i but thank you for posting this..your posts are always so pithy! :)
    xoxo

    Nancy said...

    Luksky - Wow, that is a very good question. Can our hearts be physically damaged by continued assault on our feelings and emotions?

    Nancy said...

    Linda - Another good question! Can we be infected with another's diseases when parts are used as transplants? I'm sure there is info out there on this - I may have to order Sylvia's book...

    Nancy said...

    Okay, so my next question would be - if you can be infected with another's illnesses - how can we circumvent that? Maybe we need to put into the research going on right now about growing our own body parts.

    Brian Miller said...

    nancy please continue to share your learnings and links this really is fascinating stuff...

    Kathryn said...

    You HAVE piqued my interest!
    This is fascinating, and I believe it. We have so much to learn...

    Marguerite said...

    Such an interesting post! I read "A Change of Heart", too, and found it fascinating. I also read a book called "The Healing Codes" which is all about cellular memories and how they relate to and create illness and disease. Thanks for the great links!

    Natalie said...

    Nancy ~ I see every part of us holding memory aka cellular memory.
    For example : Amputees who have itchy bits which are no longer there!
    It is kept through our many energy bodies, right down to the physical body, like a hologram as you suggested.
    Reiki, and other energetic healing modalities have the ability to 'reboot' the system. Maybe this is the way forward?

    Reya Mellicker said...

    It kind of cracks me up that modern medicine has just discovered what healers of all stripes from everywhere on the planet have known forever: the power and the intelligence of the human heart.

    I've never thought of it as merely a pump, have you?

    Reya Mellicker said...

    Luksky: Yes.

    Nancy said...

    Brian - Thanks, glad you're as intrigued as I am.

    Kathryn - I agree.

    Marguerite - Thanks for the additional book to put on my list.

    Natalie - I think it will play a part, that's for sure. I don't know much about Reiki, but my daughter is studying it now.

    Reya - Well, Im a neophyte to some things, so I would have to say yes and no. I've always known the heart plays a huge part in emotions, but I didn't know how it did that. So mostly I thought of it as just a physical organ - necessary - but not something that could store memories or think without the brain.

    Rosaria Williams said...

    So much to learn! Very interesting.

    Hilary said...

    Our instincts have always been to speak of the heart when sad, happy, content, excited.. etc so this doesn't really surprise me that the heart has taken a medical backseat to the brain.. so to speak. But I've also heard tales of cornea transplant patients taking on some of the interests of the donor, too. I think this "cellular memory" is quite possibly not restricted to any one or two organs, but the mind, body and spirit of the whole.

    susan said...

    I read a fascinating book by Reginald Ray last year called 'Touching Enlightenment: Finding Realization in the Body'. He's a long time Tibetan Buddhist and a professor at Nalanda University who's written 5 books about Buddhist practice. This one is about how to enter fully into communion with your embodied nature and discusses why 'rejected' experience becomes imprinted in the body and how to receive it anew to reconstitute your human way of being in the three bodies - the physical, the interpersonal, and the cosmic.

    Deborah said...

    Aaaah, fascinating, Nancy! When I got to the HeartMath reference, I realized that yes, I have heard about this and had forgotten about it. Thank you for the reminder.

    A number of years ago I went to a practictioner of healing touch - a woman with her doctorate in nursing - who pretty quickly determined that my heart was bound tight and not functioning very well at its 'other job' of giving and receiving love. I couldn't discount her because she was a very educated person with an awful lot of experience - so I went along with her and found myself feeling better, more open, more generous. And the original reason I went to her, which was to try and find a way to stop getting sick all the time, was addressed so well that I did not get sick with so much as a cold for the next 7 years.

    I'm off to take a look (again) at the HeartMath website.

    gayle said...

    This is so very interesting to me!! Please share as you learn more!