With all the information out there about the mind heart and body, I am writing this post to help clarify their relationship to each other.
Please read through the list that follows. It supports how incredible the mind, heart and body are..
Mind, Heart, Body factoids
- The “brain which is our “three-pound universe” contains 100 billion neurons, 50 trillion synapses and signals travel at 300 mph speed!.
- The mind is home to approximately 6200 thoughts per day
- We take 25000 breaths per day plus or minus.
- Our hearts beat 100,000 times per 24-hour period and about 35 million times in a year. During an average lifetime, the human heart will beat more than 5 billion times!
- Your heart generates the most powerful energetic field in your body.
- The electromagnetic field your heart generates is 5,000 times stronger than the field generated by your brain.
Pretty amazing spec’s , people may appear like the silent type, but inside there is a lot going on.
Mind and Brain background information.
The mind is the seat of consciousness, the essence of your being. Without a mind, you cannot be considered meaningfully alive.
There are those who still believe consciousness is like an unexplainable. ghost in the machinery of our brain.
Yet the mind is not made up of any cells and is hypothetical, according to the chart below. You also cannot touch the mind!
Does a thought exist? A thought exists as electrical and chemical activity in the brain which can be measured both with an EEG and CAT scanner. So yes, thoughts do exist as organized electrical activity in the brain.
This does not really explain how electrochemical activity is translated into what we perceive as a thought or part of our consciousness.
Emotions are electrical, chemical, and hormonal discharges of the nervous system.
Next is a table comparing the brain and mind, also raising more questions.
| Brain | Mind |
| Brain is the central organ of the human nervous system | Mind is a faculty that manifests itself in mental phenomena such as perception, thinking, sensation, reasoning, memory, etc. |
| It is made up of blood vessels and nerve cells. | It is not made up of any cells and is hypothetical. |
| It has a definite shape and structure. | It does not. |
| Brain coordinates, movements, feelings, and different functions of the body. | It refers to a person’s conscience, understanding and thought process. |
| You can touch the brain. | You cannot touch the mind. |
However, “neuroscientists sometimes say that we have one brain, but two minds: a mind that makes conscious choices, based on self-reflection and awareness; and a mind that makes automatic responses based on instinct and habit.”
“We are aware of a tiny fraction of the thinking that goes on in our minds, and we can control only a tiny part of our conscious thoughts. The vast majority of our thinking efforts goes on subconsciously. Only one or two of these thoughts are likely to breach into consciousness at a time.”
The mind is much more powerful than most people might imagine. Within our minds we have the ability to change our perception of reality as well as to gain a much deeper understanding of what underlies our thoughts and actions.
The Hearts Role
The heart communicates with the brain and body in four ways:
- Neurological (nervous system)
- Biochemical (hormones)
- Biophysical (pulse wave)
- Energetic (electromagnetic fields)
The way your heart beats affect all other processes in your body. Your heart rate is intimately tied to your bodily functions and mental, emotional states.
Heart rate variability (or “HRV”) is the variation in time intervals between consecutive heart beats averaged over time. Your heart rate speeds up during inhalation and slows down during exhalation. Variability in your heart rate is good and desirable.
Experiencing emotional or physical stress causes an increase in heart rate, elevation of blood pressure, and release of stress hormones. All these result in a greater workload for the heart, which can be dangerous.
Concsious breathing exercises are an essential skill to help slow down our heart rate and reduce the stress on our heart from poor breathing techniques.
“Hyperventilation and other incorrect breathing patterns are often the norms for stressful people. They breathe too quickly, too slowly, too shallowly, or hold their breath frequently. These unconscious breathing patterns can lead to many complaints, both physical ,mental and emotional.
“Cardiac coherent breathing is a form of coherent breathing that focuses on matching your breath to your heart rate. Over time this can help with increased cognitive and emotional functioning.
Some cardiovascular benefits of coherent breathing include:
- Lowers heart rate
- Lowers blood pressure
- Increases heart rate variability”
Establishing coherence is useful in almost any context, not just high-stress situations.
I recommend adding the following simple cardiac breathing technique to your toolbox, it can be used with meditation or on its own.
If you’re interested there are many videos online for cardiac or coherent breathing.
Cardiac Coherence - 5 minute exercise (breathing)
I also mention the gut or enteric system briefly to point out its relationship to our mind, heart and body health. It will be the subject of another post.
The gut or enteric system
Useful information next paragraph for learming where certain emotions and feelings are experienced in the body.
“Researchers have discovered that the gut and brain are closely connected; and that this relationship serves an important function not only in managing emotions and stress but also aiding digestion. Emotions are felt in the gut. Feelings such sadness, anger, nervousness, fear, and joy can be felt in the gut. The term “feeling sick to the stomach” describes a situation which involves mental or emotional anguish which can produce stress in the mind and the body. We can also feel excitement in our gut which can be described as “butterflies” in our stomach.”
The brain and the gut are connected and constantly in communication. In fact, more neurons reside in the gut then in the entire spinal cord, according to research published in the book Neuroscience.
The neural signals for your heart rate, breathing, digestion, and other bodily functions are carried by the vagus nerve which runs throughout your upper body ending in your brain where they’re assigned meaning. The health and function of your vagus nerve is referred to as “vagal tone.” Low vagal tone is linked to numerous physical and mental conditions.
Coherent breathing, in part works by improving the functioning of this nerve.
- “Vagus nerve: The vagus nerve is the biggest part of the autonomic nervous system, which controls many of the body’s functions, such as breath rate, digestion, and heart rate. It is also responsible for fight, flight or freeze responses. Coherent breathing can stimulate the vagus nerve, which moves the nervous system out of fight or flight and into a more calm state.”
There must be divine intelligence behind the creation of human beings!
