Heartmath researchers report that humans continuously emit energy fields into their environment that can have positive or negative psychophysiological consequences for persons who enter them. The heart is a major source of these electrical fields, but thoughts, attitudes, and emotions also make an important contribution. Amazing too is that these electrical fields can be detected by others up to 5 feet away. This gives new meaning to “I feel your vibe” or sensing “negative energy” from those near you. A reasonable hypothesis derived from this data is that a healthcare provider’s electrical field may be an important process variable in treatment outcome – more on this later. Although the original study was published in 1998, Heartmath recently posted an easy to read summary that I hope our readers will enjoy. Check the end of this review for links to the online Heartmath summary and to download a PDF of the original 1998 study.
Hearthmath researchers discovered that a coherent breathing style will lead to a positive electrical impact on the environment and can significantly influence the emotional state of all persons within this field. Moreover, human electrical fields become more organized during “positive emotional – heart-coherent – states.” Hearthmath offer guidance on how to “Prep Your Field Environment.” You can also read more on this phenomenon at the BMED Report article, “Coherent Breathing And Mental/Physical Health (Part 1).”
Heartmath summarizes the affects of coherent breathing as:
“Attitudes of coherent genuine love, appreciation, care and compassion change a field environment – both locally – say in a meeting you are in – and throughout the world. Coherence is a highly efficient state in which all of the body’s systems work together in harmony. Increasing personal coherence creates an alignment of mind, body, emotions and spirit through the power of the heart. Heart coherence serves as a facilitator, adding strength and effectiveness to your care, compassion, intentions and actions to help the world.”
This Heartmath research calls to attention why psychologists and other healthcare personnel need to maintain psychological and physical well-being. Having a bad day? Stressed out? Marriage problems? Incoherent breathing (the opposite of a coherent breath), which often characterizes anxious or negative mood states, leads to disorganized electrical fields, as well as emotional moodiness, tension, anxiety, high blood pressure and heart rate, poor interpersonal communication, and muddled thinking. Moreover, this Heartmath research suggests that your patients can detect this “negative energy” despite your best efforts to conceal it, and even worse, they may actually mirror your electrical and emotional state. Patients can further “infect” family, friends, and colleagues with this acquired negative electrical state when they leave your office. The central message is that healthcare personnel should adapt lifestyles that lead to emotional and physiological balance so that they may have a positive influence on others, especially their patients, and to maximize treatment outcomes.
References:
Read Hearthmath’s online article “Each Individual Impacts the Field Environment.”
Download the PDF document “The Electricity of Touch: Detection and measurement of cardiac energy exchange between people” (1998).
Enjoy.
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