Coherence is the alignment between heart, mind, and emotions. The feelings we label as positive reflect a coherent state, while the emotions we label as negative reflect a negative coherent state. Higher coherence is a healthy state that regenerates and balances us. This state can be tracked by measuring heart rate variability (HRV), which is a measure of the variation in time between each heartbeat. This can be tracked on an EKG, or the many HRV tracking apps now available.

The heart and brain communication is bidirectional

While scientists used to believe that the brain communicated with the heart and not the other way around, science is now confirming that communication between the head and heart is bidirectional–it is a dynamic, two-way communication. Research has shown that the heart communicates with the brain in four ways–neurologically (through nerve impulses), biochemically (via hormones and neurotransmitters), biophysically (through pressure waves) and energetically (through electromagnetic field interactions). Remarkably, the bioelectricity produced by the heart goes to every cell in the body and produces an electromagnetic field that is measurable up to about 3 feet outside the body.

Resilience and emotional regulation

The heart is responsible for some of our highest emotions–love, appreciation, kindness, empathy, and care. These emotions determine what we care about and how we show up in the world. Our emotions are also connected to our state of resilience at any moment, as they affect our ability to self-regulate and bounce back in hard times. By learning how to tap into our heart’s intelligence, we can learn to better regulate our emotions and become more resilient.

Enhanced cognition

Neuroscientists have discovered that the heart sends signals to the amygdala–the emotional processing centre of the brain–and the hypothalamus–responsible for synchronising our cortical functions. This means that bringing our heart, mind and emotions into alignment can give us access to greater wisdom, intuition, creativity, listening ability, mental clarity, and better decision-making. When the mind and emotions are in sync, we make decisions that are aligned with our core values and feel more self-secure.