Who’s the boss?

Did you know there’s an organisation that brings science and spirituality together? Its mission is to create a kinder, heart-centered world where we care for one another and live harmoniously. It’s called the HeartMath Institute and offers many free resources.

They have found that the heart is not just a mechanical pump. It contains thousands of nerve cells. That is probably the reason our memories and trauma are stored in various parts of our body, mainly the brain and heart.

We were taught in school that the brain is a master-organ but it’s the heart that tells it what to do. The intelligence of creativity, innovation and intuition resides in the cells of the heart. Brain neurons are the antennae that follow the heart’s desires. For example, I want to speak and understand Spanish says the heart. The brain follows.

We humans have a stunning ability to self-regulate. Our biology is engineered as a soft technology. Our fundamental physiology is made up of ion-potentials across membranes. We’re the only form of life that can harmonise its two major neural organs through Heart-Brain Coherence. We can alter the chemistry in our bodies. Once this coherence occurs, we can heal and be healthy. The immune system is strengthened, longevity enzymes rise and stress is reduced at a molecular level. Three minutes of this shift can produce beneficial effects for 6 hours.

3 steps:

  1. Shift in focus – into the heart
  2. Shift in breath – slow it so the exhalation is longer than the inhalation
  3. Shift in feeling – a positive feeling – initiate Gratitude on demand.

We are powerful self-regulators. It is a God-like ability that we have, to heal ourselves. We’re conditioned to feel helpless and think we need external help. Sometimes we do need interventions, but we can honour the gift of this body to heal ourselves.

Day 892

“Pay attention!” – I heard this thousands of times at school. Did anyone actually teach me how to pay attention? No. I did my best with whatever my understanding was.

Mindfulness seems to be the buzzword these days. And rightly so. It is about paying attention to what is. However, without ‘heartfulness’ it is incomplete. Not just ‘attention’ but ‘kind attention’. The softening of the heart is important.

The purpose of teaching mindfulness in schools is not mainly to achieve better focus and concentration in lessons but learning to recognise and express ones feelings and be respectful and considerate of other’s feelings. It is about using all our senses with intention and noticing the subtleties of our surroundings and ourselves. I learnt a new word and technique today – FOFBOC – Feet on Floor, Bum on Chair – a technique to anchor the ‘monkey mind’.

In school we were taught to get us to a point where we could make a living but we were not taught how to live. Now, children as young as 5 are being taught mindfulness and I think it is a life enhancing skill which will have a definite role in prevention and early recognition of mental ill health.

Sitting still for a few minutes is an activity and a precious one.
Mindfulness is being alive and knowing it.

Ref:

FOFBOC: http://www.dotbe.org/lessons/lesson-two/

DotBe: http://www.dotbe.org/

Mindfulness in schools Project: https://mindfulnessinschools.org/