When we have days where everything flows, and everything feels in sync, it is easier to stay centered, responding, instead of reacting to what comes up. Did you know that your heart is partly responsible for this? More specifically, it is what HeartMath researchers call heart coherence, which is where our heart, mind, and other systems are aligned. 

Heart coherence is a state we all aim to reach and maintain, but it can feel difficult to know where to begin. After all, there is often advice to connect with your heart or return to your heart- without a roadmap on how to reach the destination. 

The good news is there are many ways that can help you connect with your heart center and discover its incredible intelligence. We are grateful to work with experts on Heart Technology, which inform many of our workshops and practices at our Ayllu Medicina plant medicine retreats, especially on our Medicine of the Heart retreats. 

Here are some things to know about Heart Intelligence to help you get started.

Your Heart Has Its Own Nervous System

Your heart is more than a biological function that pumps blood around the body. Did you know your heart is also classified as a functional brain? Researchers have discovered that the heart has 40,000 sensory neurones. These can sense, feel, learn, and remember. 

Many ancient civilizations, such as the Egyptians, focused on the heart as the center of emotions, intelligence, and thoughts. Now science is catching up, discovering the heart’s intelligence through research. Connecting to your heart intelligence allows you to connect with your true essence, acting from this space to reach your highest potential.

Your Body’s Most Powerful Electromagnetic Field

The heart is the most powerful electromagnetic field in the human body, producing a field that spans around several feet outside of you. Researchers found that the electric field is 60 times greater in amplitude than electric activity in the brain. 

Connecting to this field allows you to connect with others on a deeper level, connect with the Earth, tune into your own knowing, and influence your own body in a positive way, down to the cellular level to support your functioning. 

Your Heart’s Intelligence Guides You

Have you ever got a feeling about someone, or a situation, which turns out to be correct? This was probably your heart talking. Another example is that many retreat participants speak about feeling a call to come to retreat, without their mind being able to give a specific intention as to why.

It is the call of your heart – communicating your inner knowing. 

Discoveries around heart intelligence help explain intuition, empathy, and other skills that humans have, such as clairvoyance. It is important to align your emotions and mind with the heart to tap into your own guidance. Your heart is constantly communicating with the brain, and sends signals to help guide our lives – the key is to be in coherence to tune into these signs. 

Emotions Impact Your Rhythm

Research has found that your emotional state impacts your heart’s rhythm, with positive emotions bringing balance and a steady pace. It has also been found that the feelings that often come from the heart- such as gratitude, love, and compassion, stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system, also known as the ‘rest and digest’. When you activate this system, you promote well-being in the body and conserve energy. 

In contrast, emotions such as fear, jealousy, and anger, which we do not usually associate with the heart, can cause irregular heart rhythms and disorder. These emotions and rhythms can increase the risk of a variety of health problems, which is why connecting to your heart and its natural state of emotion can help enhance your well-being physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Learning how to reach states of appreciation and forgiveness allows you to move back into a space of well-being. 

There Are Practices to Help You Gain Coherence

Learning about heart intelligence is the first step. The next step is connecting to your own heart’s intelligence and discovering the many benefits it will bring to your life. Heart coherence offers benefits such as:

• More self-awareness
• Reduced stress levels
• Increased energy
• Creativity 
• Clarity of thought 
• Better sleep

There are many physiological, psychological, and spiritual benefits of working with your heart’s intelligence. It is common to experience conflict between the heart and the mind. What should you do when your mind says one thing, and your heart the other? 

Connecting to these heart intelligence practices helps enhance coherence and find peace between systems. Then you can live in a flow state, with systems working together. This allows you to listen and act from your heart with clarity, confidence, and awareness. 

You can train the heart to develop new habits and find coherence. There are many different practices that can help you begin. A great place to start is to bring attention to your heart space, and even place your hands there for a physical connection. 

You can also think about someone or something that brings you feelings of gratitude, joy, or love, then slowly expand this feeling throughout your body.

To go deeper into the teachings of the heart, join us at one of our Ayllu Medicina plant medicine retreats in Ecuador. Our Medicine of the Heart Retreat and Journey to the Heart Retreat specifically focus on Heart Intelligence, with daily Heart Technology workshops, the sacred master plants of Ayahuasca and San Pedro, and other ancient healing practices.

The next chance to join us is in June 2024 for our Journey to the Heart Retreat, which you can learn more about here. 

Discover Heart Intelligence and Find Alignment 

There is so much to learn about your heart and its intelligence. Learning how to connect to this space and live from it brings harmony, presence, well-being, and other healing benefits. Most importantly, it allows you to find alignment within, allowing all systems to work together, freeing energy and space to connect with your true essence.

The heart is formed and beats long before the brain is formed. It then remains in constant communication with your brain throughout life. It is time to listen to this communication once more and remember the incredible intelligence and power that comes from centering back into the heart space.

Join Ayllu Medicina in June 2024 for our Journey to the Heart Retreat to learn more. There will be daily Heart Technology workshops, plant medicine ceremonies, sweat lodges, meditations, daily yoga classes, and other healing practices to help you find alignment.

We would love for you to join us around the heart center of our fire, on the beautiful coast of Ecuador. If you have any questions, please contact us! Our team will be happy to discuss our retreats and offerings in more detail.