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The Ancient Taoist Practice of the Inner Smile & The Science of Heartmath



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For those of you who have been following my writings over the years, you know I am an advocate for Heartmath, which is a great way to stay healthy and to practice preventative disease and illness. I have written a more indepth article for those of you who want to know more about Heartmath and how it works.


For those of you who have not heard of HeartMath, it is a simple method where you place your awareness around your heart, then become aware of your breathing.  As you do this, you then experience and feel each breath as you breathe in and out and focus on something you appreciate in your ilfe.  The good thing about HeartMath is its flexibility.  You can focus other emotions such as unconditional love, gratitude, appreciation or any other type of similar emotion and feel these emotions flowing through your heart as you breathe in and out through it. 


While performing the Heartmath exercise, your mind and heart go into a state of coherence, which creates a deep state of relaxation, readiness and revitalization. In summary, this newly formed coherence improves performance, health and emotional well-being. 


The other good thing I love about HeartMath is that it has undergone rigiours scientific testing and training by the Heartmath Institute. These scientific studies prove that the changes caused by Heartmath are real and repeatable. You can view the complete library of research papers on Heartmath at the address below:
https://www.heartmath.org/research/research-library/


It is a scientific fact that the heart puts out more electromagnetic energy then the brain. Research by Heartmath has also shown that when a person goes into heart coherence, the signal radiated by their heart radiates out into the surrounding environment and the person becomes more sensitive to detecting information in the environment around them. This makes it a great tool to use to enhance intuition and we have been using it with success in our TimeCube project to enhance intuition.
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Out of all the organs in the human body, our heart generates the strongest and farthest reaching rhythmic electromagnetic field.  This electromagnetic field is approximately 100 times stronger than the brain’s electromagnetic field. It has been scientifically proven that the human heart's electromagnetic field can be detected several feet from the body with sensitive magnetometers. The electrical field of the heart when measured with an electrocardiogram (ECG) is approximately 60 times stronger in amplitude than brainwaves.
 


If you are new to Heartmath and want to learn how to create the coherent field, you can purchase electronic devices that help entrain your brain into this coherent state of mind. One device sold by Heartmath is the emWave2.  Many athletes have used this device to 'get in the zone'. Studies involving over 5,500 people have shown that after 6 to 9 weeks of Heartmath training caused the following benefits to occur -


60% drop in depression
50% drop in fatigue
46% drop in anxiety
30% improvement in sleep
25% improvement in listening ability
24% improvement in the ability to focus



Inner Smiling


It is very likely that the science of Heartmath originated on a centuries old practice known as "The Inner Smile". Heartmath has done the scientific research necessary to verify its effectiveness. Inner Smiling has been used by Taoists and other ancient cultures for centuries as a simple, quick and yet powerful way for preventing disease and ill health.  It reduces stress, improves the immune system, creates calmness in the midst of chaos, and helps one connect with inner clarity and their intuitive guidance.


Projecting a smile on your face and directing it inwards towards your organs (especially the 5 main organs) and inner body creates feelings of relaxation and enhanced awareness. Even if you don't feel like smiling, just pretending to smile into these organs is all you need to go to experience this energy. Thich Nhat Hahn and Balinese healers teach that smiles clear away negative energy and use smiling meditation to calm the mind and bring healing to the soul in a quick and effective manner.


The Heartmath Institute does not call their technique Inner Smiling (they instead call it Heartmath and use the term "core heart feelings"). The Heartmath technique teaches its students a meditation style technique in which the Inner Smiling method is obviously prominent.   Inner Smiling acts as the doorway towards experiencing your inner essence and creating a positive transformation of your life.


The basis of Inner Smiling is to generate gratitude, acceptance, care and trust. The Qigong techniques of energy meditation use this throughout the body as a whole. Heartmath focuses more on generating coherence between the mind and heart while generating these same feelings.


Benefits of Inner Smiling -


Lowers blood pressure


Calms the nervous system


Improves hormone balance


Improve your brain function


Creates an overall positive feelings of well-being.


Realigns the body's parasympathetic nervous system


By practicing the inner smile or Heartmath your body learns to develop an "Inner Relaxation Response" allowing it to let go of all inner stress and discomfort.  Your levels of muscle tension start decreasing, your digestive system begins receiving more blood for doing its job well, and your immune system stars receiving the necessary energy it needs to function at peak levels. This all results in a higher level of brain functioning. The opposite of this is the "fear and flight" response where your bodily systems begin shutting down due to feelings of fear and stress, which in turn deactivate your higher brain functions.


Relaxation decreases the production of the stress hormone, cortisol, and increase production of DHEA, which regulates your body's ability to heal and repair itself.


In a January 2013 study titled: Effects of mindfulness meditation on serum cortisol of medical students, and published by W. Turakitwanakan and colleagues, the study concluded that regular practice of mindfulness meditation lowers cortisol levels thus contributing to lower stress and the decrease of the risk of diseases arising from stress; including psychiatric disorders, peptic ulcers and migraines.


How to Practice the Inner Smile


While I have written that HeartMath is a great way to experience immediate relief from stress and to rapidly increase energy levels, the Inner Smiling technique is similar, but has a few added steps to it.  Here is a simple method to practicing the Inner Smiling Technique.


 
1. After closing your eyes, take several slow deep breaths.


2. Let yourself become aware of your breathing. 


3. Center your awareness at your heart.


4. Visualize yourself breathing in and out through your heart and imagine every molecule in each breath you take flowing in and out of your lungs as you breathe in and out.


5. Next smile into your heart.  As you do so, do it with appreciation, acceptance, gratitude and care.


6. Next imagine the "Inner Smile" expanding from your heart, and as it does so, infusing every cell in your body.


To send the Inner Smile to someone or something, bring to mind someone whom you care for unconditionally.  This could be a spouse, parent, someone you care about or a child or a pet. You could also recall something that you love to do or someone who makes you smile. Shower this appreciation upon those people, pets, or events, as you smile into your heart, sending it outward.


If you are new and just starting out a good method that simplifies the process to get you started is to spend a little time focusing on breathing deeply in and out through your heart. As you do so, just imagine any feelings of tension or irritation dissolving in your breath. Next imagine something you effortlessly appreciate, someone or even simply accept yourself and whatever is happening unconditionally and be grateful for "what is." The EMWave2 is one way to learn to learn coherence if you want to do Heartmath. 


Emotional Balance is the Key to Evolving


As I write about extensively in my 2016 published book Eternal Youth via Tao Te Ching. Longevity Secrets via Universal Energy, the Tao teaches that balance in all things provides all things. Because we are affected by emotion on a daily basis, what if we could bring balance to our emotions? How much faster would be evolve then?


Too much of anything is not healthy.  That is why we automatically experience both negative and positive emotions without us having to do anything.  By having the right balance between the two, it can help us greatly build lasting resilience.  Resilience is key to overcoming life's obstacles. It is one of the key core aspects I show in my book Secrets to Creating Money Effortlessly using Lucid Dreaming .


A couple years I wrote a book on Cognitive Therapy titled: Cognitive Therapy for the Solitary Practitioner. A Guidebook to Living Well , which shows a non-pharmaceutical approach to wellness. Cognitive Therapy is very popular in Europe and slowly starting to gain widespread acceptance in the United States.


Scientific Studies on Emotions and Health


Let's take a look at the scientific data regarding emotions and health.  Even through there is not a lot of published data on this subject, it is growing.  This is due to new technology allowing researchers to measure a person's real time brainwave activity and the thousands of chemical reactions that occur in the body, including the changes that take place during the 24 hour circadian rhythm cycle. 


Dr. Barbara L. Fredrickson, psychologist at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill states that both positive an negative emotions help us to adapt to the circumstances that are occurring at the time. The key is finding a balance between the two. Positive emotions tend to expand awareness, opening us up to new ideas.  This causes us to grow and evolve, acting as a toolkit for survival. Without negative emotions we wouldn't be able to adapt quickly to difficult situations and respond effectively to them.  The downside of negative emotions is constantly dwelling on negative events from the past or excessive worry about the future.  This is because these emotions are not relevant to what is actually going on here and now.


Experts state that emotionally healthy people have fewer negative emotions and bounce back from difficulties faster (resilience). Emotional wellness is also having the ability to hold onto positive emotions longer and to have appreciation for the good times. This in turn allows one to develop a sense of meaning and purpose in life.


Dr. Richard J. Davidson, a neuroscientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison states that the early research is showing an association between positive emotions and health; however the underlying mechanisms (the underlying brain circuits) are still to be revealed.


Researchers, including Dr. Davidson, have used real time brain scans to show that positive emotions are triggering the brain's “reward” pathways, which are located deeply within protective regions of the human brain, including a region called the ventral striatum.


When a person experiences a positive emotion, there is a longer lasting effect in the brain's ventral striatum which lowers the body's stress hormones.


The Amygdala


In my book Solar Visualization Tools for Health and Prosperity I show a number of exercises that can relieve unwanted and unnecessary fear and which immediately relaxes the amygdala.


Dr. Davidson's research has shown that the amygdala becomes stimulated when one experiences fear and anxiety. His research studies have shown that people who recover slowly from a stimulated amygdala are more at risk for a variety of health conditions compared to those who recover more quickly (resilience).


Dr. Davidson concludes by stating- “We’ve shown that there are big differences among people in how rapidly or slowly the amygdala recovers following a threat".


Published Scientific Research Studies Documenting the Effects of Meditation and Emotions


Dr. Barbara Fredrickson conducted a research study on the effects of meditation and emotions.  The study involved 2 groups; one group meditated on kindness and compassion and the other group did not. They discovered that after 6 weeks, the kindness and compassion meditation group showed increased positive emotions and enhanced social connectedness compared to the group that did not practice the kindness and compassion meditation. The kindness and compassion  meditation group also displayed enhanced functioning of a nerve that controls the body's heart rate (the Vagus nerve, which responds during Heartmath exercises). The study concluded that taking time to learn skills that self-generate positive emotions helps one become healthier more interconnected socially and most of all more resilient.


More and more research studies are concluding that people who can picture and find the right balance of positive emotions end up becoming more resilient.  Studies are also showing that cognitive therapy and self-reflection (thinking about the things you find important) also help one to generate positive self-emotions.


In Dr. Richard Davidson's meditation study, he also discovered that there were changes in the brain's reward centers after people meditated for 2 weeks on compassion and kindness. The participants in the study also showed increased generosity and positive social interconnectedness.


How to Motivate a Person by finding what's Relevant to them


Dr. Emily Falk, a neuroscientist at the University of Pennsylvania, studied how self-affirmation (thinking about what’s most important to you) affect's the brain's circuits. Her research studies concluded that when people were asked to think about meaningful items or things, that a region in their brain that identifies with relevant information becomes stimulated. This stimulation changed how people responded to health advice.


Dr. Emily states, "In general, if you tell people that they sit too much and they need to change their behavior, they can become defensive. They’ll come up with reasons why the message doesn’t apply to them, but if people reflect on the things they value before the health message, the brain’s reward pathways are activated."

In summary, although many of us think we are at the mercy of our emotions, like the weather, research is starting to show that we can exert some control over which emotions we choose to experience. The key is to have the right balance of emotions and a positive mindset, combined with being open to experiencing positive change which creates balance, helping us to evolve.


References:


Mind of the meditator. Ricard M, Lutz A, Davidson RJ. Sci Am. 2014 Nov;311(5):38-45. PMID: 25508292.


How positive emotions build physical health: perceived positive social connections account for the upward spiral between positive emotions and vagal tone. Kok BE, Coffey KA, Cohn MA, Catalino LI, et al. Psychol Sci. 2013 Jul 1;24(7):1123-32. doi: 10.1177/0956797612470827. Epub 2013 May 6. PMID: 23649562.


Happiness unpacked: positive emotions increase life satisfaction by building resilience. Cohn MA, Fredrickson BL, Brown SL, Mikels JA, Conway AM. Emotion. 2009 Jun;9(3):361-8. doi: 10.1037/a0015952. PMID: 19485613.


Compassion training alters altruism and neural responses to suffering. Weng HY, Fox AS, Shackman AJ, Stodola DE, et al. Psychol Sci. 2013 Jul 1; 24(7):1171-80. doi: 10.1177/0956797612469537. Epub 2013 May 21. PMID: 23696200.


Self-affirmation alters the brain's response to health messages and subsequent behavior change. Falk EB, O'Donnell MB, Cascio CN, Tinney F, et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2015 Feb 17;112(7):1977-82. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1500247112. Epub 2015 Feb 2. PMID: 25646442.


Beyond Brain Mapping: Using Neural Measures to Predict Real-World Outcomes. Berkman ET, Falk EB. Curr Dir Psychol Sci. 2013 Feb;22(1):45-50. PMID: 24478540.





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