The Helical Heart

March, 2025

Exploring the heart space can be done in many ways. On the physiological level, we can observe the miracle of this organ moving our blood through the 96.500 kilometers of blood vessels - which is ‘just’ two times around the globe, all in your body!

On the developmental anatomy level, dissecting the heart along its natural fibre structures, as Dr. Fransisco Torrent Guap shows in his video on the helical heart, literally unfolds the spiral of our physical heart into the tubular structure that was developed through the flow of the fluids. It begins with the movement of the fluids, and the anatomy is formed to accommodate the movement that was there first.

In the developmental process of the heart in an embryo, we can see it visible from day 22, migrating down and being received by the pericardium. We can see how the movement of the fluids with their natural rhythmic pattern and flow structure shows itself first as a tube, then creates an S-shaped curve and turns further into the form of the spiral, the heart shape of a human. This is analogous to the development of different heart shapes of worms, fish or mammals (which is illustrated in the book "Sensitive Chaos" by Theodor Schwenk). Our body goes through all these developmental stages and holds the wisdom of all species.

A beautiful relationship is also the heart in the heart-sac, the pericardium, in connection with the diaphragm: With every breath the fascial connections attached to the diaphragm and sternum have an impact on the rhythm of the heart. With every inhale the diaphragm moves down, elongating the heart-sac in a more vertical shape, inviting the heart to move quicker. With the exhale, the diaphragm moves upward again, giving more space to the heart, so it slows down its pace. All of this happens in perfect alignment to keep our body  balanced..

Keeping this in mind, we can understand the direct relationship of stress or trauma, which heightens tension in the diaphragm and breath, and with that, its influence on our heart - physical as well as emotional. Or is it the other way around: do the emotions tighten our breath through their influence on the heart?

The heart can also be felt and approached through our emotions. What do you feel in your heart region, thinking of a beloved person or your dearest animal? Do you feel expansion? Warmth, increased flow of energy? How does the vision of a sunset over a vast ocean (even in your mind's eye), feeling the warmth of the sun on your skin or standing in front of a powerful waterfall affect the space of your heart?

And then we have the mystical approach of the heart. Why is the heart the central point of many religions or spiritual practices, mystical paintings, poems or symbolism? Can this be connected through the radiance of the heart? It is said and studied by many researchers, including The Heart Math Institute, how the electromagnetic field of the heart is far more advanced and expanded than that of the brain. Turning our attention into our heart space expands our capability of perception. We could experience this with the little practice I described before, thinking of our beloved person or animal.

In some traditions, every living being, including before birth and after death, are considered to be alive.  Even all objects can be understood to be  alive. The centre of all beings is the heart space. In that way, our heart can, and actually does, connect with everything. Creating coherency when we consciously connect, we can also encompass the heart of the earth or connect with the heart of the cosmos.

This can be your Continuum practice for today:

• Sit comfortably on a chair or cushion.
• Place your hands around your heart space. Feel into it, the front side - and also the backside - of your heart. (Baseline)
• Observe the relationship of your most gentle breath on the effect of your heart space. If you know the Lunar-breath, you can make 3-5 of those.
• Start making a gentle vocalized WOWOW, exploring the heart space with lemniscates (figure 8s or infinity symbols), remembering the helical structure of the heart and the support layer of the pericardium. The sound creates the shape of the lemniscates, and your attention into the heart field shapes the sound expression.
• Then let the figures become bigger, spiraling from your heart down in the direction of the heart of the Earth, and back to your heart. And then from your heart into the heart of the Galaxy and back again. In that way you create a bigger lemniscate.
• Having that spiraling in the different directions creates the shape of an organic Torus (bagel shape), with you as the heart of the Universe.

Enjoy!

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