THE HEART AND ELECTROMAGNETIC EXCHANGE IN THE TREATMENT PROCESS
The electrical activity of the heart has been studied since the late nineteenth century, and ECGs are routinely used to monitor its electrical activity on the body surface. So far, so mainstream. What is less well-known is that, like all the organs in the body, the heart has an electromagnetic field which extends beyond its own borders. In the case of the heart, this is by far the most powerful and extensive field of all the organs in the body and has been demonstrated to extend beyond the surface of the body to more than one metre.
Emotions have been demonstrated in clinical settings to affect the rhythm of the heart. Negative emotional states are associated with more erratic ECG results and positive thoughts with more coherent patterns. Following on from this, some researchers have tried to investigate how the emotional state of the complementary, or conventional, medical practitioner during a treatment can influence the effectiveness of that treatment.
McCraty et al in 2003 showed how compassionate healing intent by the practitioner can cause interpersonal non-contact synchronisation of heart rates and brain activity. Bair (2008) carried out experiments with a large sample of 91 people and found higher heart rate synchronisation when the healer focused on compassion and the greater good than in a control group where the healer did not have such intention in their own thoughts. Bair explained that this synchronisation implies a resonance entrainment facilitated by the healer’s cardiac EM field being coherent due to positive, empathetic emotions. Another study, however (Morris; 2010) found that consciously trying to impose a positive emotional state on another did not work and actually disrupted the coherency of the practitioner’s EM field. It worked best when the practitioner simply maintained a positive and caring attitude.
The McCraty study also seemed to indicate that physical contact could also work as a conductor of EM fields and found greater convergence of ECG patterns between people who were holding hands. They also found intermittent heart rate synchronisation in sleeping couples, who claimed to have happy, caring relationships. This would seem particularly interesting with regards to acupuncture, which involves touch and also the use of metallic needles, which can be seen as conducive to the conduction of electromagnetic forces.
McCraty concluded that compassionate healing intent by the practitioner can cause interpersonal non-contact synchronisation of heart rates and brain activity, which can induce beneficial physiological changes in the patient.
The observed cardiac energy exchange & interpersonal synchronisation parallel classical Chinese medical descriptions of the importance of the physician’s emotional outlook. For example, the Tang dynasty physician, Sun Simiao (581 – 682 AD) wrote of how, during treatment, the physician has to be mentally calm and firm without wishes or desires. They have to develop an attitude of compassion and be willing to try to save every living creature, words that echo verses 27 and 67 of the Daoist classic, the Dao De Jing. The fact that this intention has to be passive rather than overt and attempting to enforce change, as the Morris study demonstrated, does not work echoes Daoist principles.
