Finding Our Way To The Heart of Heart Health, An Alternative Understanding

Pa-dum Pa-dum Pa-dum …

That vital rhythm, the beating of our own internal symphony-maestro, the heart.

The beating heart is the quintessential sign of life. Our heart starts to beat long before the brain starts to think. And, fascinatingly, there's such a symbolic wisdom in how the brain evolves embryologically in what looks like a bowing to the heart, almost as though the brain recognizes the hearts as the guide, the compass, the core of life's being.  Could this developmental process suggest that the heart is meant to guide the brain and is the source of our primary intelligence?

The heart muscle is the longeset working muscle in the body, beating every day, 100,000 times a day, nonstop, until our dying day. When the heart stops, a “cardiac arrest”, the blood stops circulating and rivers of life force energy come to a halt. When the heart stops, death is imminent, a matter of minutes, and speedy action is needed to prevent fatality. Trained professionals perform high-quality CPR and use defibrillation to deliver shock waves to the chest to get the heart going again. Luckily, many people can continue to live a good life after experiencing a cardiac arrest. Nevertheless, the World Health Organization has identified cardio-vascular diseases as today's leading cause of death worldwide (WHO). 

So, the question naturally arises, what helps to keep the heart healthy?

When we speak of heart health, there are three important elements to attend to: our emotions, our exercise and our food.

EMOTIONAL STRESS & GRATITUDE

Although being able to manage physical stress is Western Medicine's signal that the heart is strong, does that necessarily mean it is healthy? A strong heart includes qualities of courage, sincerity, generosity and kindness. Meanwhile, fears, grief and bitterness can physically weaken the heart. People can die of heart break and yet, it is not a physical injury. We know that emotional stress and physical stress are interlinked. 

One important way to measure a healthy heart is by coherence or by Coherent Heart-Rate Variability. This tracks how the natural variations in heart-rate rhythm become smoother, which is thought to reflect a state of harmony and alignment between the body and mind. When there is no internal dissonance, the heart as maestro of our inner symphony, can function optimally. 

An important impactor of heart harmony is the tendency to which we may feel certain emotions over others. Studies by the HeartMath Institute have shown that “as we experience feelings of anger, frustration, anxiety and insecurity, our heart-rhythm patterns become more erratic…as we experience heartfelt emotions, such as appreciation, love, care and compassion, the heart produces a very different rhythm – one that has a smooth pattern” (Heartmath.org). So while all emotions are natural and serve a purpose, if we have a pattern that keeps us stuck in longer periods of emotions that stimulate an erratic heart rhythm, our heart health is being tipped off balance. 

A common expression today is “super food”. What about “super emotions”? A ”super emotion” of amazing “heart vitamin boost” is gratitude. Isn’t it inspiring to consider that, well before the science presented it’s case, ancient sages have long practiced gratitude as a way to cultivate internal alignment, harmony and wellness. New age positive psychology also picked up this theme. But did you know that science has linked gratitude to improved heart health? A landmark review of 19 different studies conducted from 2005 to 2023 demonstrated that “gratitude not only promotes mental health and adherence to healthy behaviors but also improves cardiovascular outcomes” (Frontiers in Psychology, 2023). 

So a lack of gratitude puts the body’s inner systems under severe stress, while an experience of gratitude eases that stress. This is a reality that many civilizations and spiritual practices have known and have taught, through acts of prayer and expressions of appreciation. A visceral sense of gratitude allows an immediate release of tension, even in the most challenging of life circumstances. It has been the key for survival for many. Modern technology allows us today to scientifically measure the effect of shifting one’s attitude towards gratitude, but it is a fact that has been known long since the beginning of time.  

So what happens when people have difficulty cultivating and experiencing a true felt sense of gratitude? Untangling such blocks and clearing this path for the heart’s frequency to expand harmoniously is necessary. However, let’s pause this for a moment and have a look at other natural factors that are important for promoting a healthy heart. 

PHYSICAL FITNESS - THE 20 MINS KEY

A sedentary lifestyle that is devoid of exercise does not do the heart any favors. Fitness allows the human body to perform beautifully. Yet, we’re not saying that you have to be an Olympian athlete to maintain a healthy heart. Did you know that just 20 minutes a day of a workout improves health and wellness? 

It’s pretty straight forward. Moving the body needs muscular activation, which needs oxygen, which needs more blood flow, which needs more heart. A high intensity workout (which can be low impact to protect joints) is good for challenging the heart to ‘shift gears.’ The euphoria after a truly effortful workout, be it a run, a swim or some other cardio activity, is part of the natural high that the body experiences from exerting itself to its fullness. In addition to the release of certain chemicals - like endorphins, dopamine and serotonin – which are associated with the phenomenon of the ‘runner’s high’, the increase of blood flow in the brain is known to improve cognitive function and mood. 

Holistic health is revealed by this reality. Physical activities that call on the body to exert itself, not only strengthen the body but also give a cognitive and psychological boost, improving sense of confidence, satisfaction and happiness.  

That said, remember the necessity of warming up and cooling down to stay safe and avoid injury. And remember, it’s not about competition with others, but about playful and joyful competition with our own self to really stay steady when the going gets harder, and maintain the effort for those 20 minutes to invigorate our magnificent heart to grow stronger and more resilience. 

TO NOURISH WITH AWARENESS

Now let’s consider food. We all know that what we eat impacts our health. Yet, often times, the focus on food can be about calorie counting and body sculpting rather than choosing to eat nutritiously. Proper nutrition is fundamental for our cognitive capacities, physical capacities, emotion regulation capacities and so on. Our body-mind functions more optimally, and thrives wonderfully, when properly nourished.

However, today we face a nutritional challenge unique to modern times. We know that food is meant to be found in nature. It grows on trees or in the earth, it comes from plants and animals. However, mass production has introduced all kinds of artificial preservatives and genetically modified ingredients into our food. Do you know what that does? The body has to work harder to digest all these unnatural foods that we regularly eat. It has to deal with extra elements that have no part of the natural world but are rather alien, such as excess sugar and chemical preservatives and the genetically modified organisms. These significant and unwholesome changes in our human eating behavior have caused a rise of all kinds of mental and physical imbalances, not only in heart disease. And the impact is yet to be fully understood. Bottom line, the best kind of food is natural, seasonal, and eaten fresh. So what do we do?

It can seem disheartening to tackle the challenge of nutrition when we are also trying to navigate the fast pace of modern living as well. A lot of times people feel overwhelmed trying to find their way around this. Thankfully, resources are becoming more and more available. Nutrition has become a hot topic again, as it should, and many useful tips and recipes are found online providing guidance on best ingredients, cooking techniques and recipes, and even on farming and learning how to keep a vegetable garden. It’s also possible to connect with a health coach or dietician and get guidance to develop a more empowered and nutritious eating plan. 

Figuring out what to eat and creating a healthy eating habit can be challenging, but rather than think of it as a daily chore, consider it an awareness practice. When in doubt, take a deep breath and feel your body from the inside out. Know that there’s no need to rush and take things one step at a time as you grow your resources and muscles around this. 

ENERGY MEDICINE FOR THE HEART

In Dr. Thomas Cowan's book on heart health, "Human Heart, Cosmic Heart: A Doctor’s Quest to Understand, Treat, and Prevent Cardiovascular Disease," he explores a holistic and unconventional approach to understanding and treating heart disease, challenging traditional views, and advocating for treatments that consider the patient's overall well-being and life story. This includes emotional wellbeing, healthy eating, exercise, as well as an orientation towards energy medicine.​

People with concerns for their heart will understandably seek medical support and treatment. It is important to consult with specialist doctors and get all the information available on options that will best support treatment and recovery of heart disease. From a preventative perspective, it is also important to ask about what helps keep a heart healthy, and this may broaden the specialist team to include, in addition to a cardiovascular physicians,  nephrologists who can help with blood pressure issues and dietitians who can advise on what to eat, as well as psychotherapists and/or homeopaths. 

Allopathic medicine has a lot to offer, but did you know that energy medicine has a lot to offer to heart health as well? A homeopathic physician can help to treat a multitude of cardiac diseases and their underlying causes such as hypertension, arrhythmias, high cholesterol levels, and so on.  The homeopathic approach is holistic and natural making it a helpful alternative that avoids the kind of serious side effects that are found in pharmaceutical medicine. A homeopathic remedy often used for the heart is the Strophanthus plant. This plant is effective in toning weakened heart muscles, regulating rapid and irregular pulse caused by muscular debility, reducing cardiac pain and taking the edge off of high cholesterol levels in the blood. 

Heart, Liver, and Energy Medicine: Did you know that one of the first indicators of serious problems with the heart is elevated creatinine levels from the kidneys. Allopathic medicine offers different categories of drugs that are quite complex and sensitive, some act on inhibiting certain enzymes, others on blocking the instructions on vascular constriction, both with the aim of reducing blood pressure to alleviate the strain on the kidneys. Would it surprise you to know that, Chinese medicine, calls the kidneys the grand vizier of the heart and considers them protectors of the heart.

Qigong, a Chinese Medicine practice involving coordinated body posture, movement, breathing, and meditation, has a long history that dates back several millennia.  One of the most recommended Qigong practices for a healthy heart is Baduanjin Qigong (Eight Pieces of Brocade). It is a practice particularly suited for those with cardiac issues and hypertension, and it is thought to have been developed during the Song Dynasty (960-1279 CE). In fact, its origins are traditionally attributed to General Yue Fei, who purportedly created these exercises to improve the health and strength of his soldiers.

Key Movements of Baduanjin Qigong 

(you can follow along this video for a gentle daily practice)

• Two Hands Hold up the Heavens: Promotes circulation and opens the chest.
• Drawing the Bow to Shoot the Hawk: Strengthens the heart and lungs.
• Separating Heaven and Earth: Improves digestion and reduces stress.
• Wise Owl Gazes Backwards: Relieves fatigue and enhances circulation.
• Sway the Head and Shake the Tail: Balances heart and kidney energy.
• Two Hands Hold the Feet: Calms the mind and regulates heart function.
• Punching with an Angry Gaze: Increases strength and improves heart health.
• Bouncing on the Toes: Stimulates the cardiovascular system and promotes circulation

You might wonder, how does kidney health relate to heart health.  Kidneys – especially the adrenals – are the glands that stimulate the production of acetylcholine, the primary neurotransmitter of the parasympathetic nervous system. It is the parasympathetic nervous system that allows the body to release stress. Without a balanced engagement of the parasympathetic nervous system, the tension would be too much to bear and the body’s health will be significantly compromised. So, it is thanks to the adrenal glands that the signal for relaxing the body can be released and the heart can find ease rather than stress.

But that’s not all that this remarkable neurotransmitter does. Acetylcholine converts lactic acid  - which is otherwise toxic – into pyruvate, a key biochemical compound for healthy metabolism. To put it simply, this adrenal secretion is able to transform poison in an elixir of sorts. And, not only is pyruvate beneficial for the whole body, but specifically for the myocardinal cells of the heart itself. (Cowan, p. 59). 

BACK TO THE HEART OF HEART HEALTH - EMOTIONS

So, let’s circle back to emotions and heart health. Why? Because it is not uncommon for people who are quite fit and conscious of eating healthy to still display cardiovascular diseases that doctors do not have an explanation for. This is where recognizing the fundamental role of emotional pressure and life stress on heart health is important. 

Addressing emotional de-stress is critical for heart health. What we eat and how many calories we burn at the gym are very important but they do not heal our emotional pains. If we really want to heal heart disease, we have to bring healing to our emotional wounds as well. 

Emotional wounds are not easy to deal with because they usually involve our nearest and dearest. Common impediments to a happy and healthy heart are judgements. That incessantly critical voice in the head that blocks up the heart’s natural capacity to love. Another one is the inability to forgive, which can be very hard when the wounds are devastating, yet holding a grudge ends up constricting life even further. Traumatic grief, like when someone has had a broken heart through severe loss; or when someone shuts down their heart to protect themselves from being hurt, requires gentle care, compassion and the re-establishment of safety in the interpersonal field. The renowned trauma specialist, Dr. Gabor Mate points to these dimensions of life as main causes of heart problems. But most mainstream physicians do not typically enquire about their patients’ emotional aspects and experiences. 

To be fair, even if a physician were to ask about emotional stressors, it may not be obvious to the patients themselves since it seems to be just the way life is. One of the gifts of being human is the unconscious organic development of our defense mechanisms. To be truly successful, our defense mechanisms create blinders that shield us from being aware of certain pains we carry. These defense mechanisms are so helpful at a certain time in our life, but, in the long run, they can impact our health and keep us from self-awareness and growth. 

Dr. Aline La Pierre’s work, NeuroAffective Touch, presents a modality for healing developmental trauma. In her approach, she names ‘shocks to the heart’ as a way for understanding the impact of earliest traumas from our pre-verbal age, perhaps even in utero. She calls her approach ”healing the relational matrix”, and uses a gentle ‘listening’ touch as a way of mitigating the impact of shocks to the heart. Indeed, placing one’s own hands on the center of their chest and feeling that contact can create immediately a sense of presence and ‘being-with’ oneself. It can be relieving during difficult emotions, especially grief. 

With all this in mind, cardiovascular physicians would do well in referring their clients to benefit from holistic psychotherapists and somatic practitioners. Somatic Experiencing, for instance, eases dysregulation in the autonomic nervous system which is at the core of incoherent heart rhythm. Other modalities such as Emotional Freedom Technique (tapping) and Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy can also help shift patterns and release blockages. As  Dr. Thomas Cowan explains in his book: 

“heart disease, as we have learned, is not just the plaque in the coronary arteries. I am looking and listening for the events in their lives that have caused a suppression of their parasympathetic nervous system – their sense of well-being in their lives… This, in itself, is often cathartic and a first step toward healing an ailing heart.”

So, if you’re struggling with cardiovascular diseases, or have concerns for your heart health, consider the value of naturalistic and alternative approaches to increase your heart’s capacity and resilience. With the help of these therapy modalities and practices, gratitude can make its way back into the heart’s field of resonance and an appreciation and enjoyment of life can spontaneously start to flow, even amidst life’s challenges.