The Best Thing I've Done for My Heart and Brain Health
Understanding the connection between the two
Heart and brain connection is becoming a more popular topic as people understand how important the link is between the two.
When the two organs reach a state of coherence, their connection will align with your emotions and help reduce stress, anxiety, and limiting health problems.
According to HeartMath research, heart activity demonstrates different emotional patterns that affect emotional and cognitive functions in the brain. When you begin to practice positive emotions for a prolonged period, you can help improve the harmony of the mind and body.
When in a stressful or negative situation, the heart rhythm pattern becomes erratic, profoundly affecting the brain's emotional response. Therefore, we might not be able to make proper decisions or are unable to think clearly.
When the heart and brain are coherent, we can live a more expansive life from our soul's purpose. The mind, body and spirit are in a state of flow, allowing us to connect with others and ourselves deeply.
A quick lesson on the ANS — SNS, PNS
The autonomic nervous system is responsible for controlling involuntary actions such as breathing, body temperature and blood pressure to name a few. The two main subcategories of the ANS are sympathetic and parasympathetic.
Parasympathetic is your rest and digest system which most of us achieve when we sit down to relax. Sympathetic is your fight or flight response and is beneficial if a bear is about to attack you because you will run.
Today, most of us live in a sympathetic state because of our stressful lives, which in turn is causing health problems, anxiety and therefore, the heart and brain are incoherent. When these two are not in balance, negativity and lower vibrational thoughts seize to exist more.
Luckily, you can make changes yourself by understanding the simple science of how your heart and brain connect. When you start to understand the connection between the two organs, you will be able to take yourself out of stressful states and rebalance your mind and body with a bit of practice.
Aligning your heart and brain into coherence
#1 — Begin your day with breathing exercises
Practicing being present first thing in the morning before picking up your phone or making your coffee is an excellent first step in taking control of your health and bringing the heart and brain into balance.
As soon as you wake up, start your day with some deep breathing exercises while you're still under the covers. As simple as belly breathing while inhaling for five seconds and exhaling for five seconds, it will help you be able to shift into a coherent state.
Take notice of the first thoughts you have. Are they stressful ones? Are you ruminating about past conversations or conflicts? Or are you worried about the workday before it's even begun? With practicing breath work, your mind won't wander as much.
By becoming aware of your thoughts, you begin to reframe and redirect your life, and by focusing on your breathing, you can help slow down these morning thoughts. Use this practice throughout your day.
#2 — Start your day off with affirmations
When you first wake up, your body is still in a parasympathetic state, which means your heart and brain are connecting coherently. Stress can begin as soon as we jump out of bed when we start thinking of all the stuff we must do for the day, and now our body is moving into a sympathetic state because this is how we are used to living our lives.
By practicing affirmations, you start to reprogram your subconscious mind, which holds 95 percent of your thoughts. Within these thoughts are the old beliefs and habits that we have attained throughout our life as early as childhood. Sometimes when we react to certain situations in our lives, it could be due to old trauma that hasn't been resolved and can be stored in the subconscious mind, which can lead to projection onto others.
One of the reasons people are in a negative loop is the disconnect between the heart and brain. You have the power to change the way you think and view your life, and practicing affirmations can rewire your brain by having you choose new thoughts.
Some examples might be:
— I am going to have a fantastic day.
— I create a life full of abundance.
— Money comes to me with ease.
— I am healthy and happy.
I’m a bad person — this thought produces a feeling, and you buy into the feeling. However, if you don’t have the thought, you won’t have the feeling. And thoughts can be changed. Change the thought and the feeling must go — You Can Heal Your Life, Louise Hay
Even if you try this practice for the first five minutes of your day, the heart and mind will automatically start to achieve a coherent state, which will help you stay more present and have a more positive emotional frame of mind.
#3 — Practicing meditation
Meditation can help with both heart and brain health. According to Harvard University, meditation can reduce anxiety, stress and lower blood pressure while changing brain activity such as memory, attention, and learning.
Practicing meditation throughout your day, even for five minutes, will help connect your heart and brain. If you start with breathing, as I already mentioned, followed by affirmations, the meditation will be much easier to achieve because the practice is to be present with your breath and not focus on wandering thoughts. You can also throw in a phrase or mantra if that helps you to stay focused.
Conclusion
When the heart and brain live in a coherent state, this is the feeling of wholeness. As a society, we all should be achieving this holistic lifestyle when it comes to our mind, body, and soul connection to limit our stress and start living healthier lives.
By understanding how the heart and brain are connected, you have now stepped into a new awareness that can help you take charge of the life you want to live.
If you enjoyed this article, you might enjoy:
Copyright © 2021, Jennifer Pitts. All Rights Reserved.