The human gut is a long tube that runs an intricate course on its’ passage through the body. It has many components and compartments and a myriad of complex functions to perform. The gut must perform these functions correctly and synchronize them collectively or the unlucky owner will experience the common distresses of heartburn, indigestion, constipation, and bloating for example. A malfunctioning gut can give rise to leaky gut syndrome, Crohns’ disease or colon cancer, and an inability to digest and absorb nutrients eventually leads to death.The gut is one of the first lines of defense for the body and is monitored vigilantly by the immune system. In fact, the contents of the gut are not considered to be ‘inside’ the body proper until they cross through the gut lining, pass by the immune system and enter the blood stream. With digestion, absorption, assimilation of nutrients and immune response all dependent upon the efficient function of the gut it is accorded a whole brain of its’ own.

The human gut is under control of the Enteric Nervous System (ENS), the third and often forgotten or ignored branch of the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS). The ENS is an independent site for neural integration and processing, and possesses cells that are more similar in structure to the brain than any other peripheral organ. The ENS produces and uses a vast array of neurotransmitters similar to the brain, which allow the gut to communicate intelligently with itself and others. The gut is actually the site of greatest production for Serotonin, the feel good hormone, thus giving rise to the expression ‘gut feeling’.

So the gut cells look like a brain, act like a brain, use the same chemical language as the brain, and if the gut is severed completely from the brain in the cranium it still functions and mediates reflexes under its’ own command.

Recently cell biologists have recognized that each one of our trillions of cells and their component parts act as if it has its’ own intelligence and its’ own brain. In fact, they postulate that the first cell in nature was a brain unto itself.Cells show characteristics of intelligent behavior that allow them to come together cooperatively and form ever greater and more organized structures. Cells form communities, then tissues, then organs, then systems. At each level of organization individual cells display awareness of their environment, and react to that environment in a way that demonstrates deliberate and direct responsiveness.

Research goes so far as to indicate that the much acclaimed DNA molecule, and the genetic engineering industry that has sprung up around it, are really secondary to what controls and conducts cell function, the cellular environment.

The all conquering, magic bullet DNA molecule that resides in the cell nucleus is not ‘self emergent’, meaning that it can not turn itself on and off, and must therefore respond to the cues from the environment. The environment signals the cell and the cell responds by telling the DNA molecule what it needs. The DNA simply facilitates the wishes of the intelligent cell responding to its’ own environment.

The ability of a cell, tissue, organ and ultimately system to interact intelligently with its’ environment is mediated by the cell membrane in terms of cause and effect. Each one of our trillions of cells have a cell ‘Mem – Brain’, that receives and responds to emotional and chemical cues, and just as single cells are controlled by their awareness of the environment in which they live, so too are human beings on the larger scale.

The heart is the single biggest producer of electromagnetic energy (EM) in the body. It produces fields of energy more than 50 times larger than those of the brain, and the hearts’ EM fields can be picked up anywhere on the body surface, even up to 12 feet away. Energy and information from the heart is transmitted to every cell in the body and allows the heart to encode messages and influence distant cell function.

More remarkable, however, is that the heart is the only organ that has the ability to influence the brain through hard neural pathways, so that information signals from the heart can directly affect the function of the brain in the cranium. This gives the heart unique status in the hierarchy of control within the system and confers upon it a brain of its’ own.

The heart itself is thought to be comprised of more than 50% neural cells like those in the brain, and many of the neurotransmitters, special proteins that carry messages and information in the body, that operate in the brain are also found in the heart ganglia. While there are many fascinating scientific insights emerging, the bottom line here is that the heart can control the head, and the emotions that you think of as ‘heart felt’ are influencing your neural control centers whether you are aware of it or not.

There is so much interconnectedness of the heart and brain that a new science of ‘Neurocardiology’ has recently emerged. Research in this field shows that, when the fields of the heart and brain entrain, they develop a synchronous, resonant and coherent wave pattern. When you feel positive love and gratitude in the heart, brain waves and heart beats show a beautiful smooth pattern, and when anger and frustration dominate the opposite is true, with jagged, chaotic incoherent wave forms present. Smooth coherent waves relate to good health, as unsmooth incoherent waves relate to stress and dysfunction.

Protected within your cranial vault is a 3lb organ called the brain. It has 4 lobes, 2 hemispheres and almost limitless neuronal interconnections that allow it to process and command your daily living in a smooth and coordinated fashion.Many areas have been identified in the brain that relate to specific functions like sight and speech, but from an embryological and evolutionary developmental perspective there are four main areas of brain function to consider.

The Brain Stem – the Reptilian Brain
This is the oldest of the four cranial brains, it is found in all animal species, and develops first in the human embryo in the first trimester.

The brain stem is comprised of the sensory – motor system and the primary neural control systems in the heart. The brain stem is where the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) lives, which regulate health and the daily activities of survival, breathing, digestion, organ and gland function etc. It is a cause and effect, real time regulatory area that deals in quick, reflexive, patterned activities. The ANS represents the peripheral nervous system of the subconscious mind, and this is the level of ‘Action’.

The Limbic Brain – the Old Mammalian Brain
Next to develop is the limbic system which deals with those behaviors and capacities that are common to all mammals such as nurturing of young and establishing relationships.

This ‘Emotional – Cognitive’ brain colors the primitive reflexive behavior of the reptile and is a mediator between instinctive reaction and the logical, rational workings of the third brain. The limbic system creates a ‘context’ for the action of the brain stem and this is the center for ‘Feeling’.

The Neocortex – the New mammalian Brain
This higher level is thought of as the ‘thinking’ brain. This is the brain that humans revere the most, the ‘Verbal – Intellectual’ brain. This is where language and thought live, imagination and creativity. This brain coordinates and interprets the activities of the other levels, and as a result of the hundred billion neurons and their vast interconnected networks, takes up five times more space in the skull than the other two levels combined.

The Neocortex can easily interchange between logical, rational thought and imaginative creativity. This gives the human being unlimited capacity for growth and development, but at the same time is a double edged sword allowing the owner to become addicted to the endless creation of new thoughts, leading to unnecessary stress and noisy chatter. This is the level of ‘Thinking’.

The Pre Frontal Cortex – the Higher Intellect Brain
The Pre Frontal Cortex is an area behind the brow and in front of the neocortex. Neuroscientists generally attribute this area with the higher human virtues of love, compassion, empathy and understanding, as well as the higher intellectual capacities of reasoning and deduction. In this respect it is interesting to note that the location of this brain is analogous to the Eastern reference to the spiritual center known as the ‘third eye’

While these four areas have been described separately they all work together, with and through each other. Signals from one area excite and inhibit another area and behaviors and processes are constantly initiated and modified by the ongoing interaction between the various parts, the principle of Coherent Entrainment TM at work.