When you decide to try meditation, you may not understand that there are different kinds.

Heart Rhythm Meditation (HRM) stands out in the world of meditation and mindfulness because, the heart becomes the focal point. With the heart as a focal point, both cardiac and emotional health benefits arise.

With traditional mindfulness and mind-focused meditations, you strive to “quiet thoughts” or “empty the mind” and to observe yourself as if outside yourself.

This approach can provide you immediate relief by creating a mental distance between yourself and situations, helping you observe without judgment.

However, over time, this distance can lead to a feeling of separation from situations, from loved ones, and from yourself. In psychology, this is known as a dissociative effect, where a person feels disconnected from their thoughts, feelings, or sense of identity.

Heart Rhythm Meditation on the contrary, strengthens your sense of connection by focusing not on mind, thought, or awareness, but on the heart and its beat. This approach brings you into your heart and body, allowing you to increase your sense of identity and helps big emotions feel smaller.

The benefits of moving meditation out of the mind and into the heart are both physical and emotional.

Physically, evidence-based results include improved Heart Rate Variability (HRV) and Vagal Tone—both metrics used to gauge someone’s ability to lower stress and increase emotional resilience. This helps those suffering from symptoms of cardiac or stress-related illnesses. Research shows that this can be achieved with as little as 10 minutes a day, over time.

Emotionally, Heart Rhythm Meditation becomes an accelerating agent for change. By learning how to confront life in the moment instead of detaching from it, you gain clarity, courage, and creativity.

You are also able to begin the process of healing old emotional wounds, using the heart to lead your path forward while reconciling past relationships, addressing past traumas, or creating such strong personal connections that they lead you to a vivid sense of purpose in life.

We know that collectively, feelings of isolation and detachment are on the rise. Common mindfulness and meditation styles can enhance this sense of detachment.

We believe the future of living well is heart-centered. By using Heart Rhythm Meditation to expand the physical and emotional faculties of the heart, we can come to a more connected sense of self and community.

All meditation can bring us relief, but we find that Heart Rhythm Meditation brings us closer to joy—living in the beauty of our lives instead of just observing it.

Peer-reviewed study published online April 12, 2024. 

Study Abstract: 
Many studies have examined the effects of meditation practice focused on the normal breath on vagal tone with mixed results. Heart Rhythm Meditation (HRM) is a unique meditation form that engages in the deep slow full breath, and puts the focus of attention on the heart. This form of breathing likely stimulates the vagus nerve with greater intensity.

The purpose of this study was (a) to examine how the practice of HRM affects vagal activity as measured by heart rate variability (HRV); and (b) to examine how it affects participants’ well-being. 74 participants signed consent agreeing to: (a) take a six-week course to learn the practice of HRM; (b) engage in a daily practice for 10 weeks; (c) have their heart rate variability read through ECG technology and to take two validated well-being instruments at the beginning and end of the 10 weeks; and (d) participate in a focus group interview examining their perceptions of how the practice affected their well-being. 48 participants completed the study. Quantitative findings show the effect of the practice of HRM approached significance for multiple measures of HRV and vagal tone. An increase in well-being scores for those who did the meditation more than 10-minutes per day did meet statistical significance. Qualitative data indicate: (a) the positive effects of HRM on stress and well-being; (b) the develop-ment of a more expanded sense of self; and (c) an increased awareness of the interconnection of the body-heart-emotions and HRM’s role in emotion regulation.

Key Outcomes: 

Heart Rhythm Meditation Helps with Stress: Quantitative results showed Heart Rate Variability (HRV) and measures of vagal tone improved with the amount of time meditating. In separate studies HRV has been shown to be an excellent indicator of a person’s capacity for stress.

Good for Beginners: The study showed that regular practice of Heart Rhythm Meditation for more than 10 min a day over ten weeks, improves well-being in novice meditators.

Improves Heart Rate Variability & Vagal Tone: The study found that multiple measures of Heart Rate Variability and Vagal Tone showed a consistent trend towards improvement in proportion to the time spent practicing Heart Rhythm Meditation daily over ten weeks. These measures were done while not meditating, thus reflect encouraging persistent beneficial changes to the central nervous system. Among the benefits that can be expected from these changes are enhanced emotional stability and resilience to stress.

Source: Tisdell, E.J., Lukic, B., Banerjee, R. et al. The Effects of Heart Rhythm Meditation on Vagal Tone and Well-being: A Mixed Methods Research Study. Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback 49, 439–455 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10484-024-09639-0

Yes, it easy to begin Heart Rhythm Meditation, even if you have never meditated before.

All that is required is a chair for sitting up straight, please alert your teacher if sitting in a chair is prohibitive to you.

Many people come to us because they have struggled with 'concentrating' or 'sitting still' in other meditation practices. Heart Rhythm Meditation gives you an immediate focal point — the heartbeat. Positive results are therefore more accessible because what is happening in the mind or shifting body is of lesser importance. 

Heart rate is the number of heartbeats per minute. Heart rate variability (HRV) is the fluctuation in the time intervals between adjacent heartbeats.

HRV indexes neurocardiac function and is generated by heart-brain interactions and dynamic non-linear autonomic nervous system (ANS) processes.

HRV reflects regulation of autonomic balance, blood pressure, gas exchange, gut, heart, and vascular tone, which refers to the diameter of the blood vessels that regulate blood pressure, and possibly facial muscles. 

An optimal level of HRV is associated with health and self-regulatory capacity, and adaptability or resilience. Higher levels of resting vagally-mediated HRV are linked to performance of executive functions like attention and emotional processing by the prefrontal cortex. Afferent information processing by the intrinsic cardiac nervous system can modulate frontocortical activity and impact higher-level functions.

Higher HRV is not always better since pathological conditions can produce HRV. When cardiac conduction abnormalities elevate HRV measurements, this is strongly linked to increased risk of mortality (particularly among the elderly). Close examination of electrocardiogram (ECG) morphology can reveal whether elevated HRV values are due to problems like atrial fibrillation.

Source: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5624990/