The Balance between Heart and Brain Intelligence

Mind is not physical and so its not commensurate with the brain. Mind is our soul or spirit. Moreover, 3D science has already ascertained that 60-65% of the cells in our heart are neural; in effect, identical to brain cells.(1) Presumably that is why we are often exhorted to follow our heart and `think from the heart.' Arguably then, our mind is the 'intelligent force' behind the intuitive thoughts and feelings we all experience and those intuitive thoughts and feelings come to us through our heart. In other words information coming to us from Source is transmitted to us via our heart neurons rather than through our neural brain networks. 
 (Ron Chapman)

Throughout the ages, the heart has been referred to as a source of not
only virtue and love, but also of intelligence. One of the most
prevalent themes in ancient traditions and inspirational writing is
the heart as a flowing spring of intelligence.

Many ancient cultures, including the Mesopotamian, Egyptian,
Babylonian, and Greek, assert that the heart is the primary organ
responsible for influencing and directing our emotions and our
decision-making ability. Similar perspectives of the heart as a source
of intelligence are found in Hebrew, Christian, Chinese, Hindu, and
Islamic traditions. For example, the Old Testament saying in Proverbs
23:7, "For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he," is further
developed in the New Testament in Luke 5:22, "What reason ye in your
hearts?"

The characteristic of psychic and spiritual balance and the attainment of physical bodily equilibrium are recognized as the essence of Yoga traditions, which also identifies the heart as the seat of individual consciousness and the center of life. In traditional Chinese medicine, the heart is seen as the connection between the mind and the body, forming a bridge between the two. And so it is.

Despite all these traditions and colourful heart metaphors, Western science and society persist in proclaiming that the heart is just a ten-ounce muscle that pumps blood and maintains circulation until we die. Medical science asserts that the brain rules all of the body's organs, including the heart. Medical science does not bother to explain how this situation can occur despite the fact that it has been scientifically demonstrated that the heart starts beating in the unborn fetus BEFORE the brain has been formed.

Neuroscientists have recently discovered exciting new information
about the heart that makes us realize it's far more complex than we'd
ever imagined. Instead of simply pumping blood, it appears that it may direct and align many systems in the body so that they can function in
harmony with one another.

These scientists have found that the heart has its own independent
nervous system – a complex system referred to as "the brain in the
heart." There are at least forty thousand neurons (nerve cells) in the
heart – as many as are found in various subcortical centres of the brain.

The heart communicates with the brain and the rest of the body in
three ways documented by solid scientific evidence: neurologically
(through transmissions of nerve impulses), biochemically (through
hormones and neurotransmitters), and biophysically (through pressure
waves). In addition, growing scientific evidence suggests that the
heart may communicate with the brain and body in a fourth way –
energetically (through electromagnetic field interactions). Through
these biological communication systems, the heart has a significant
influence on the function of our brains and all our physical systems.

The scientific evidence shows that the heart uses these methods to send our brain extensive emotional and intuitive signals. Along with this understanding that the heart is in constant communication with the brain, scientists have discovered that our hearts seem to be the "intelligent force" behind the intuitive thoughts and feelings we all experience.

Accepting that heart intelligence, with its premise of the heart as a primary source of emotions, gives us a new paradigm for understanding our emotions. It also establishes a strong scientific tie between our psychic and physical wellness and our emotional management. The more we learn to listen to and follow our heart intelligence, the more
educated, balanced, and coherent our emotions become. And it naturally
follows that the more balanced and coherent our emotions become, the
less likely we will be to experience stress, sickness and disease.

Because of the ever growing scientific research on heart intelligence,
it may be time we developed a new personal attitude about following
our hearts."
See: http://www.therealessentials.com/followyourheart.html 

Joseph Chilton Pearce (2) puts it this way:

`The idea that we can think with our hearts is no longer just a
metaphor, but is, in fact, a very real phenomenon. We now know this
because the combined research of two or three fields is proving that
the heart is the major center of intelligence in human beings.
Molecular biologists have discovered that the heart is the body's most
important endocrine gland. In response to our experience of the world,
it produces and releases a major hormone, ANF—which stands for Atriol Neuriatic Factor—that profoundly effects every operation in the limbic structure, or what we refer to as the "emotional brain." This includesthe hippocampal area where memory and learning take place, and also the control centers for the entire hormonal system. And
neurocardiologist have found that 60 to 65% of the cells of the heart
are actually neural cells, not muscle cells as was previously believed. They are identical to the neural cells in the brain, operating through the same connecting links called ganglia, with the same axonal and dendritic connections that take place in the brain, as well as through the very same kinds of neurotransmitters found in the brain.

Quite literally, in other words, there is a "brain" in the heart, whose ganglia are linked to every major organ in the body, to the entire muscle spindle system that uniquely enables humans to express their emotions. About half of the heart's neural cells are involved in translating information sent to it from all over the body so that it can keep the body working as one harmonious whole. And the other half make up a very large, unmediated neural connection with the emotional brain in our head and carry on a twenty-four-hour-a-day dialogue between the heart and the brain that we are not even aware of.

The heart responds to messages sent to it from the emotional brain,
which has been busy monitoring the interior environment of dynamic
states such as the emotions and the auto-immune system, guiding
behavior, and contributing to our sense of personal identity. The
emotional brain makes a qualitative evaluation of our experience of
this world and sends that information instant-by-instant down to the
heart. In return, the heart exhorts the brain to make the appropriate
response. All of this is usually on a non-conscious level.

In other words, the responses that the heart makes, effect the entire
human system. Meanwhile, biophysicists have discovered that the heart
is also a very powerful electromagnetic generator. It creates an
electromagnetic field that encompasses the body and extends out
anywhere from eight to twelve feet away from it. It is so powerful
that you can take an electrocardiogram reading from as far as three
feet away from the body.

The field the heart produces is holographic, meaning that you can read
it from any point on the body and from any point within the field. No
matter how microscopic the sample is, you can receive the information
of the entire field. The intriguing thing is how profoundly this
electromagnetic field affects the brain. All indications are that it
furnishes the whole radio wave spectrum from which the brain draws its
material to create our internal experience of the world.
http://www.ratical.org/many_worlds/JCP99.html 

Perhaps most importantly, we now know that the radio spectrum of the
heart is profoundly affected by our emotional response to our world.
Our emotional response changes the heart's electromagnetic spectrum,
which is what the brain feeds on. Ultimately, everything in our lives
hinges on our emotional response to specific events.' See:
http://www.ratical.org/many_worlds/JCP99.html 

END NOTES

(1) In recent years, neuroscientist Dr. Armour made the exciting
discovery that the heart has its own intrinsic brain and nervous
system. This helped to explain what physiologists at the Fels Research
Institute* found in the 1970's — the brain (in the head) was dutifully
obeying messages being sent from "the brain in the heart." Doc Childre
and colleagues at the Institute of HeartMath take these discoveries
even further. HeartMath researchers have established the heart's
capacity to "think for itself." Their aim was to determine how the
heart formulates logic and influences behavior. HeartMath researchers
believe that the heart communicates with the brain and the rest of the
body through four biological communication systems. Through these
systems, the heart has a significant influence on the function of our
brains and all our bodily systems. IHM's extensive research led to a
number of published studies in medical journals such as The American
Journal of Cardiology, Stress Medicine and Integrative Physiological
and Behavioral Science.

…. According to co-authors Childre and Martin, as we learn to become
more heart intelligent and increase the emotional balance and
heart/brain coherence in ourselves, new enhanced levels of mental
clarity, productivity, physical energy, overall attitude and quality
of life may well surprise us.'
http://www.deepplanet.com/articles.asp?ArticleID=52&SectionID=4 
http://www.heartmath.org/research/our-heart-brain.html 
http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Heart_and_Brain/id/1961 
http://www.therealessentials.com/followyourheart.html 

*http://www.temple.edu/medicine/departments_centers/research/fels.htm 

SO, 3D research confirms that the advice we get from the Celestials
and our Space Brethren is SPOT ON! We become what we think and what we
think depends on what we feel. And our feelings can be intuitively
intelligent. Thus we find that 3D research is rapidly confirming the
truth of the basic spiritual message we receive from the Celestials.
Blessed are those who have not seen, yet believe: BUT ultimately we
will not have to believe – we will KNOW, both intuitively and in reality.

Source; http://abundanthope.net/pages/Ron_71/The_Balance_between_Heart_and_Brain_Intelligence_4123_printer.shtml