Physical Benefits of
Heart Rhythm Meditation

Heart Rhythm Meditation increases your body's ability to handle stress.

See also, What is Physical Heart Health?

Heart Rate Variability (HRV) is a measure of the minute changes in time between heartbeats. HRV is one of the hottest areas of health and biofeedback research because studies have found that a low HRV is the single most important leading-indicator of heart disease.*

Heart Rhythm Meditation is the most effective way known to increase HRV. We do this by synchronizing the breath rate to a multiple of the heartrate, resulting in an interlocking and stabilizing breath rate and heartrate. Many benefits result, including the increased ability to cope with emotional stress without physical stress, faster healing, increased learning speeds, and general feelings of well-being.

HRM is the only method that actually synchronizes the two fundamental biological oscillators (heart rate and breath rate) because only HRM makes the heartbeat conscious. Even a beginning student of Heart Rhythm Meditation is able to make the HeartMath instrument register 100% entrainment consistently.

In advanced HRM, we also synchronize the brain waves to the heartbeat, giving a three-way entrainment. This has the added advantage of calming the mind and increasing concentration ability.

* Ponikowski et al., (1997) "Depressed HRV as an independent predictor of death in chronic congestive heart failure secondary to ischemic or idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy." American Journal of Cardiology, 79(12):1645-50
Tsuji et al., (1996) "Impact of reduced HRV on risk for cardiac events. The Framingham Heart Study." Circulation, 94(11):2850-5

The conscious heartbeat and the entrainment of heart rhythm reduces irregularities in the heartbeat and increases the heart's power function, which improves circulation and decreases fatigue.

Heart Rhythm Meditation also creates a full breath, increasing lung function, raising the oxygen level of the blood, and further reducing fatigue.

Heart Rhythm Meditation restores the electrical charge on the cell membrane of red blood cells, which overcomes red-blood cell clumping, called Hemagglutination. Hemagglutination causes anemia by the inability of the red blood cells to exchange their oxygen with surrounding tissue. Anemia causes chronic tiredness. HRM causes the cells to separate magnetically and thus restores energy levels.

The Thymus gland is part of an expanded heart-center that we focus on in Heart Rhythm Meditation. This concentration on the heart affects the Thymus gland, which creates the T-cells that trigger the immune system. Studies at Harvard have shown that increased immune system function results from heart attention.

Central Nervous System Activity (CNA) is increased during Heart Rhythm Meditation, which is the opposite effect of TM and Vipassana meditations. At the same time, Alpha waves are as high as with TM. This causes an alertness with relaxation, a peaceful but energized state. In contrast, a study of TM meditators in Scientific American showed that one-third were actually in a state of sleep with decreased CNA.

Heart Rhythm Meditation increases metabolism, similar to a slow-paced exercise. It also improves digestion due to the rhythmic squeezing of the abdominal muscles and lowered stress levels.

In Heart Rhythm Meditation attention is placed on the pulse in all parts of the body. The sensation of pulse requires both a strong circulation system, to create the pulse, and a strong nervous system, to return the sensation to the brain. By feeling your pulse in some area you can strengthen your pulse, thereby increasing both the circulation and the nerves in that area, which reduces arthritis and neuropathy.

We have seen that sleeplessness is helped by HRM, which makes one adept at changing states of consciousness. Because the full breath of Heart Rhythm Meditation tends to train the unconscious breath rhythm, and since a full exhalation will automatically trigger an inhalation, we have seen that HRM is helpful in the treatment of sleep apnea.

Advanced stages of Heart Rhythm Meditation have been shown to greatly increase bioluminescence. That is, visible light is emitted from the chest and can be measured by a photon counter. There is also indication that the physical magnetism of the heart is increased. We see these observable effects as symptoms of the increased power of the heart.