Do you let your intuition guide you? Researchers have been hard at work de-mystifying the role of the heart in our lives and seeing beyond its' function of pumping blood. In the womb your heart started beating even before your brain began forming. It has an electromagnetic field that can be detected across the room and it also has neurological synapses like your brain. The ability to tune into your heart is perhaps one of the most intelligent things you can do and here's why.

Feeling the Frequency of Love

Being present to a state of harmonic resonance between your heart, your mind, your body, and your surroundings is essential to health and well-being. There is a lot of chaos in the world so it is important to have filters. Yet we spend so much time tuning out the discord around us on a daily basis that it is important to make a conscious effort towards experiencing a sense of interconnectedness in order to stay balanced.

The New Frontier of Heart Research

There is an inherent wisdom in feelings and they are now being recognized as a form of intelligence. The heart is actually part of our cognitive system, sending more messages to the brain than the brain sends to the heart. Electrically, the heart is 40 – 60 times stronger than the brain and is many more times stronger than any other electrical impulse in the body.

"The sciences of psychology and medicine are in the midst of a major paradigm shift as research findings have uncovered that the heart is a sensory organ that can learn, hold memory and make independent functional decisions. Even more surprising is the fact that the heart displays qualities of neuroplasticity, and that it can reorganize itself by growing new neural connections, just as the brain can do." – Applied Consciousness International

Understanding our Heart Intelligence

Any Google search regarding heart and science will show a long list of links from the leader in this field of research, Heartmath. They are pioneers in scientific study yet more importantly they have created practical applications to this research that are helping individuals thrive. Increasing one’s heart intelligence can have a profound effect on personal relationships, productivity in the workplace, reduce stress, increase optimism and enhance problem-solving abilities.

"By using your heart as your compass, you can see more clearly which direction to go to stop self-defeating behavior." –Doc Childre and Howard Martin, HeartMath

We all know what it feels like to do something we really don’t want to do whether it’s taxes, a job we aren’t satisfied with, or acting out of integrity with our own beliefs. Naturally this creates discordance and stress internally. When we make a habit of blocking out uncomfortable these feelings we become unconscious of what is happening in our own body. Yet our body feels and reacts to this stimuli internally even if we have tuned it out. There is no way for us to receive the intelligence within if we don't make conscious effort to tune in and feel what is happening inside.

Finding Coherence Within Ourselves

The efficient, optimal, and harmonious functioning of the various systems within the body is known as coherence. Sometimes it is possible to achieve this state of consciousness just by slowing down, feeling the breath and tuning your awareness inward. There are numerous practices that we can use to restore a deep sense of balance, health, and well-being. This is how we tap into our deeper intuition and create a sense of inner knowing and wisdom.

HeartMath has a very simple and effective exercise called Freeze-Frame to help us develop greater coherence. It is a one-minute technique that allows a major shift in perception. It's more than just positive thinking. This practice creates a definitive, heartfelt shift in how we view a situation, an individual or ourselves.  PBS Body and Soul has a practice for you to try the next time you are under stress:

1. Shift out of the head, and focus on the area around your heart.
2. Keep your attention there for at least ten seconds.
3. Continue to breathe normally.
4. Recall a positive time or feeling you had in your life, and attempt to re-experience it.
5. Remember, try not simply to visualize it, but rather to feel it fully.
6. Ask a question from the heart: “What can I do in this situation to make it different?” or “What can I do to minimize stress?”
7. Listen to the response of your heart.

Hopefully this short blog will help send you on your way to increasing coherence within your system. Take some time to learn more about Heartmath and if you’d like to read more research on the topic you will enjoy this online PDF. The first step in healing the discord in the world is to heal it within ourselves. The science of the heart has the capacity to undo our stress and overwhelm as we transition to a more coherent, peaceful world.

*This article is written by Jacob Devaney (co-founder of UNIFY) and originally appeared on Culture Collective*