Heart Rate Variability and Heart Rhythm Meditation

October 23rd, 2007

One of the developments in medicine and biofeedback that we’re excited about is the study of Heart Rhythm Variability (HRV); HRV is a measure of the minute differences in time between the beats of your heart. While your heart rate measures the average number of times your heart beats per minute, HRV measures change in the time between beats. HRV is one of the hottest areas of health and biofeedback research because studies have found that a low HRV is an important leading indicator of heart disease.[1] Heart Rhythm Meditation is a very effective way known to increase HRV.
The pattern of your HRV also shows the state of your emotional-energetic heart. The below graph shows the HRV of a subject who experienced 4 periods of emotional distress (a, b, c, and d), due to being asked about a stressful subject (his finances).

The emotional distress causes a spike in the heart rate, which is very stressful for the heart. When the same subject practices Heart Rhythm Meditation, a very different picture emerges.

This pattern of HRV is called coherence; physically, it has been shown to activate the parasympathetic nervous system, lowering blood pressure, stress hormones, respiration rate, and heart rate.[2] Emotionally, the benefit is that the same subject was repeatedly asked about his finances with no physical stress effect.
By energizing your heart you can increase your ability to handle stress, while harmonizing your body’s rhythms into a coherent pattern.

Puran

Notes

1. European Heart Journal (2000) 21, 475–482 doi: 10.1053/euhj.1999.1875, “Depressed low frequency power of heart rate variability as an independent predictor of sudden death in chronic heart failure” M. Galinier, A. Pathak, J. Fourcade, C. Androdias, D. Curnier, S. Varnous,
S. Boveda, P. Massabuau, M. Fauvel, J. M. Senard and J. P. Bounhoure

2. An organization that has done some pioneering work in this field is the Institute of HeartMath, as the link indicates. See also McCraty, R., B. Barrios-Choplin, et al. (1998). “The impact of a new emotional self-management program on stress, emotions, heart rate variability, DHEA and cortisol”. Integrative Physiological and Behavioral Science 33(2): 151-170.

Entry Filed under: Heart Rate Variability, The Heart