In the system of Reiki, Animal Reiki or Human Reiki, we often speak of making a heart to heart connection. What does that mean and how do we know if we are really connecting with our hearts? In today’s world, it can be hard to tell if we are making heart connections, but it wasn’t always that way.
When humans were tribal and indigenous societies, we communicated from our hearts more than our brain. There was a wisdom stored in our hearts that we easily accessed for survival, but as our society industrialized, things changed. We moved away from the heart wisdom and moved toward the wisdom of the brain, and when we did, we forgot how to thrive when life handed us extremes.
Recently, I attended a seminar on the wisdom of the heart by Greg Braden, where he spoke of research on the heart. He suggested that we are going through a time of change unlike any other in history. It’s hard to know what to do because we have never been here before, but he believed, as do I, that it is possible to thrive in today’s extreme events. All we need to do is listen to our hearts.
In 1991, a scientific discovery was published in a peer-review journal entitled, “Neurocardiology.” The study was led by Dr. J Armour of the University of Montreal. He discovered that there were approximately 40,000 specialized neurons in the heart that were sending and receiving information electronically. Neurons are also found in the brain where they send and receive information. The discovery of neurons in the heart has become known as “the little brain.”
It was always thought that the brain was the master of the body, but with the discovery of “the little brain,” it appears the heart may play an even larger role than the brain when it comes to controlling the body, including:
- Providing heart-based wisdom known as “heart intelligence”
- Promoting intentional states of deep intuition
- Allowing for intentional precognitive abilities
- Directing the heart’s communication with other neurons in organs in the body
The hearts “little brain” can also function independently of the cranial brain to think, learn, remember and even sense our inner and outer worlds on it’s own, and it can function in harmony with the cranial brain.
Greg Braden shared a great deal of research on the heart’s “little brain,” it’s electrical field, sensory neurons and memory transference, but the most important thing he shared may be how to connect to your heart.
Connecting to Your Heart
- Become aware of your heart by focusing on it or lightly touching the area of your body
- Slow your breathing signaling to your body that you are in a safe place
- Feel – think of someone or something that makes you feel joyful or grateful or caring and that you have compassion towards
- Ask your heart an intelligence questions – short, simple questions are best
We were taught to begin by first discovering how our heart communicated with us. After connecting with our hearts, we asked several questions – some were true and some were not. Then we paid attention to how our heart responded to the true and false questions. The reaction would be our guide when we asked questions seeking an answer.
The entire audience was led through the discovery of connecting with their heart wisdom. When questions were silently asked, the answers came fast and were usually in the form of one or two words. By the end of the day, the room was bursting with heart energy and there was a feeling of compassion for everyone present. Another term for the energy in the room would be Reiki.
Reiki is the spiritual energy that makes up everything. It is in all things, it is everywhere, and on this particular day, it was flowing from and through everyone in the room. We were all making a heart to heart connection.
So the next time you are struggling to make a heart to heart connection, remember that your heart already knows how. All you have to do is ask.
