Our Heart Has Many Facets
Jan 28, 2019 ● By Sharon M. Vogel
When it comes to heart health, let’s contemplate the multifaceted role of the physical, electrical, etherical and emotional heart. Most of us probably feel that our heart is healthy until symptoms arise, which we attribute to heart disease or other common diseases. The physicality of the heart is that it is a muscle which needs an environment rich in a steady stream of blood for pressure, nutrients, oxygen, hormones and more. Muscles need fundamental care to perform and flourish, including exercise for oxygen and nutrient-rich foods.
Harvard Health offers a monthly newsletter instructing that the health of the heart can fail, being brought down by a poor diet and lack of exercise, smoking, infection, unlucky genes and more. So it is smart to consider the types of foods that we eat and our overall dietary pattern, rather than focusing on individual nutrients such as fat, dietary cholesterol or specific vitamins.
The Mayo Clinic advises that many forms of heart disease can be prevented or treated with healthy lifestyle choices. It is interesting to note that allopathic medicine states that disease can be treated with healthy lifestyle choices. Besides the physical, the heart is also electrical, as its sinus node sets the beat.
Billie Topa Tate, a Native American Mescalero Apache, NCBTMB CEU educator and founder of MSI Wellness Center, in Evanston, recently held a native drumming event to clear away stress and energy blocks. She states that the heart is an individual’s personal drum that holds the heart chakra energy source.
Another source for heart wisdom is His Holiness The Dalai Lama, who emphasizes compassion and kindness, and has written, “Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”
So the physical heart needs nutrients and exercise, and its electrical source gives the beat and holds energy that can clear away stress, perhaps allowing more compassion with which to really live in the present. Whether we are considering the physical heart or the energetic or the emotional heart,
let us use the wisdom of these good sources as a well-rounded template for heart health.
Sharon M. Vogel, BCTMB, is a licensed bodyworker of 28 years, holds a BS in biomedical sciences, is nationally board certified in therapeutic massage and bodywork, a certified lymphedema therapist, licensed massage therapist, and the founder of National Lymphatic Centers, located at 5002a Main St., in Downers Grove. For more information, email [email protected]
