Cardiac coherence is a neuroscience-based health tool that is mainly used for its anti-stress benefits. It makes it possible to influence the heart rate, a recognized marker of the activity of the autonomic nervous system and its balance.
The cardiac coherence is a practice resulting from neuroscience research carried out in the United States in the late 1990s. It is based on the principle that the heart and the brain are in constant interaction. When the heart races, the brain follows and vice versa. Therefore, the emotional state of a subject influences his heart rate.
What is cardiac coherence used for?
Very simple to learn and use, cardiac coherence has shown its beneficial impact on stress management and health physical, mental and emotional.
It plays an important role in the prevention of cardiovascular disease, anxiety, depression and eating disorders. Effective against stress, it can even replace, in some cases, the taking of anxiolytics or antidepressants.
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Cardiac coherence regulates and synchronizes other physiological rhythms (blood pressure, breathing), resulting in a great saving of energy for the organism. She allows to refocus your emotions, of regulate hormones and quickly alleviates states of anxiety, anguish and stress. As it is extremely simple to practice, it provides immediate benefit.
Dr David Servan-Schreiber was the first French to talk about it in his book ” Cure stress, anxiety, depression, without medication or psychoanalysis »Published in 2003.
Want to try cardiac coherence?
In a wellness situation, the average number of full breaths (one inhale followed by one exhale) is around 6 per minute.
6 full breaths per minute, this means the breathing cycle to adopt is about 10 seconds : 5 seconds of long and deep inspiration followed by 5 seconds of total expiration.
To practice cardiac coherence, you must modify your breathing to adopt this breathing rate (6 full breaths per minute) for 5 minutes. And repeat the exercise 3 times a day.
- We lie down in bed, arms at your sides, eyes closed.
- We take a few deep and full breaths, taking care to lengthen our exhalation.
- We breathe in deeply (about 5 seconds) imagining that the air enters into oneself not through the nostrils but through the heart. We let the breath invade him like a wind of calm.
- Then we breathe out slowly (about 5 sec).
- Gradually, the brain activity locks into the rhythm of breathing and the brain activity calms down.
- We continue to breathe in this way for 5 minutes, which corresponds to about thirty full breaths.
The second step
In a second step, we imagine a peaceful feeling that penetrates the heart at the same time as the air. It can take the form you want: love, happiness, fullness, tenderness … The main thing is that it provides a real sense of well-being.
After a few days of practice, breathing becomes instinctive and it is then possible to put oneself in a situation of cardiac coherence as soon as one wishes.
If you know the cardiac coherence and its benefits or if you want to practice it, especially tell us about your experience in the comments …
