An Antidote for a World in Chaos
The innate wisdom of our body to heal itself and become stronger in the process is known as salutogenesis (the origin of health). The “heart” is central to this salutogenic process. The heart is connected to how our body regulates itself. Especially, through the autonomic nervous system which is connected to every organ, gland, neurological and immune function in our body. This occurs optimally when coherence is established between the heart and mind.
Science has confirmed when our heart and brain are in “coherence”, self-regulation via our autonomic nervous system is heightened. This means our blood pressure, nervous system, mood, sleep cycles, immune system, and hormones achieve a more optimal balance. However, breakthroughs into quantum physics are also suggesting that coherence can also occur between sentient beings of all types, and that nature and may even be a key to the mysteries of consciousness itself! Even the latest science of neurobiology has proven that the biology of consciousness depends on the heart and brain connection1. In fact, scientists are fascinated to find that “heart intelligence” exists and is involved in an intricate dance with our nervous system2.
Rudolf Steiner, the founder of Spiritual Science, suggested that the heart is also a perception organ for a higher level of intuitive truth. He wrote a book called Knowledge of Higher Worlds and its Attainment with exercises to develop the heart as a basis for spiritual enlightenment. It turns out that the science of coherence has determined that “honesty” is one of the key requirements to achieve coherence of heart and mind. Further, truthfulness is a key basis for heart intelligence and the regulation of neuro-endocrine chemistry and immune function. It is no wonder the impact of untruthfulness is being linked to a new pandemic of anxiety, depression, chronic illness and even suicide in our modern times, especially in young people. Building coherence between our heart and mind is emerging as a key to “resilience” and whole-body health. In other words, an “antidote” for the challenges of our day.
Today, the coherence of the heart and mind is challenged by a fragmented state of the soul. This is brought on by untruthfulness both within and around us; technology addiction and over-stimulation of the senses. How prevalent is it in our everyday life to think one thing, feel another and act in a way foreign to our true beliefs and feelings? In other words, there is an increasing fragmentation in our soul life these days! The transactional demands of a material world are making truthfulness to our ideals an enormous challenge and this disrupts coherence.
If interested, you can learn much about the role of coherence in my upcoming book and course on resilience. There is also much literature on this subject to be found. Hopefully, I have given you a good reason to take the practice of coherence seriously. I say “practice” because “knowing” and “doing” are two entirely different activities. Today I will present a short exercise we could call “Heart-Presencing.” This exercise is a significant step towards coherence and resilience. This will help you to achieve coherence in the actual moment you encounter “negative stress” and gradually train your capacity to overcome harmful stressors and increase both coherence and resilience in your body and soul. While there are forces of illness beyond our control, the inner attitudes and beliefs we forge within ourselves are a powerful antidote. I would dare say that the extent to which we create our own illnesses we can also create our own medicine through the wisdom of a coherent heart and mind.
There is another powerful statement to be made. Within the wisdom of the heart and mind, there also lies a secret about “love”. Love opens up our interest and connection to each other and the world we live in. This leads to meaningfulness and fulfillment. As great psychiatrists and thinkers like Viktor Frankl discovered, when studying survivors of concentration camps during World War II, meaningfulness is a strong and mysterious ingredient of health and long life.
Aaron Antonovsky, the founder of the salutogenic idea, also found that three main qualities separated out a special group of survivors of the concentration camps during World War II. This group contained many octogenarians and this group also showed amazing resilience as demonstrated by good physical and psychological health. Their ability to achieve coherence was especially high. These were the three main qualities he found despite the harshest of situations these survivors endured. It certainly can give us pause to comprehend how this was possible and the great strength and wisdom these people possessed.
- Comprehensibility: The ability to understand events around you and put them in a perspective that makes sense. Even if the event is traumatic.
- Manageability: The perception of one’s potential to modify or solve an event or stressor. This could be accepting a circumstance or finding creative ways to cope to maintain coherence.
- Meaningfulness: Finding personal meaning in all situations for your life. Finding purpose in all things even if difficult.
Next you will find a heart awareness exercise from my resilience course which helps us rise above “stress” in the very moment it occurs and it will improve your capacity for coherence. Our capacity to achieve coherence increases with practice and radiates out into our life like a stone causing ripples in the still water. The more you can let go of intellectual thoughts and reactiveness and search for comprehensibility, manageability and meaningfulness through your heart wisdom, the more coherence will emerge. This further leads to a healthy integration evolving between your thoughts, feelings, heart and mind. You find resilience and coherence as your actions increasingly represent your inner balance and ultimately your inner truth.
We could also say that through coherence we can can act out of a more loving heart. This helps us to create new moral imaginations, moral inspirations and intuitive wisdom which guide and protect us. This represents a path to a new kind of morality that arises out of one’s own perception of truth and appreciation for beauty, and it develops a capacity to act out of the ever-stronger goodness that emerges from a coherent heart and mind. As people live together in this improved state of being, they also have the potential to manifest a deeper social coherence between themselves and others. This is achieved through improved communication, community and mutual understanding.
The coherence of heart and mind can lead us much further into a greater universal coherence and understanding between all living things upon the Earth. In this way a new universal love becomes possible. Also, a new morality based on the wisdom of the heart.
Submitted by:
Dr. Steven M Johnson, DO About
Collaborative Medical Consulting, Chatham, NY.
1Current Research in Neurobiology, Volume 3, 2022, 100050
2McCraty, R., Atkinson, M., Tomasino, D., & Bradley, R. T. (2009). The coherent heart: Heart-brain interactions, psychophysiological coherence, and the emergence of system-wide order. Integral Review, 5(2), 10-115.