Kirk Laman

The way of the heart is the way to be healed. As a cardiologist with a special interest in a holistic approach to heart disease, I have witnessed this time and again. Much of what ails people--physical illness (particularly disease of the heart), relationship issues, and even the inner crying of the soul--begins in the heart.

Within our hearts lies incredible beauty and knowledge. Many times we think that the mind is the center of our being. Although the mind is important, in reality the heart holds the key to becoming well. The heart is really a deep, deep ocean. Within the movement of this immense ocean are many things. As we listen to the tides of ourselves we find our memories and feelings--our pain, our tribulations, our elations and joys. Everything about us swims in this ocean. Such a vast sea contains not just emotions but our longings, our knowings, and the essence of our truth as human beings. If we can know our hearts, we can begin to really know ourselves--know ourselves at every level. And in this knowing we can discover the way to be healed. It is a path that leads through the heart.

In the past twenty years medical science has documented that when people begin to learn to live with an "open heart," it can have a profound effect on their lives. What do we mean by having an "open heart"? When our hearts are open, we are filled with love. We are willing to get close to people and be intimate. In addition, we allow ourselves to feel all of our emotions--pain, sadness, joy--everything. In a sense, "learning open-heartedness" lets us learn to be ourselves. It gets us in touch with what is rolling beneath the surface of the ocean of our heart. As we begin to touch and open and bring love to this deeper part of ourselves, then the healing can begin. Not just emotional healing but even true physical healing can occur when we begin to live with an open heart.

The respected cardiologist, Dean Ornish, M.D., has shown this quite clearly. In his book, Love and Survival, Dr. Ornish documents many research studies that have show that what is in our hearts affects not just our emotions, but can have a real influence on our health, the illnesses we get, and even if we live or die.

In one study reviewed in his book, called the Alameda County Study, researchers explored the influence of social and community ties on longevity. After looking at 7,000 men and women over a seventeen-year period, they were able to show that a direct relationship exists between a person's contact with friends, relatives, marriage and community membership, and how long they live. What was clear was that when people lived with an "open heart," meaning they were willing to get close to people and develop intimate relationships, it directly influenced their lives.

Amazingly, such interactions of the heart were more powerful predictors of how long a person would live than many of the things we normally think of as being important. Key risk factors for longevity and heart disease such as obesity, smoking, drinking of alcohol and physical inactivity were less important for determining longevity than whether or not a person had a friend.

In another study reviewed by Ornish called The Beta Blocker Heart Attack Trial, researchers interviewed more than 2,000 men who had survived a heart attack. Those who classified themselves as being socially isolated (meaning closed-hearted) had more than four times the risk of death as men who were not.

What goes on in a person's heart, their inner heart, meaning whether their heart is closed or open, can be more important than what happens in the physical body.

An example of this can be seen in one of my own patients. I saw a woman a few months back in her early sixties. I'll call her Jane (I've changed her identity to protect her). She came complaining of chest pain. It was unbearable. A dull pain in the middle of her chest. It wouldn't go away. It made her very fearful. She was afraid to go to sleep at night for fear that she would die. As part of her evaluation we obtained a stress test and echocardiogram (ultrasound of the heart). Thankfully they were both normal, and although she didn't have any physical heart disease, she still had the chest pain. What became clear over the next few visits was that the deep sadness she carried over her husband's death was playing a major role in her chest pain. She had the feeling that she would never know love again. In addition, she was afraid to open her heart to love.

The treatment for this type of ailment, an illness with mild physical components and other emotional and spiritual dimensions, was prayer and healing work. She needed to connect deeply in the heart to love and let it wash the parts of her that were sad and angry. It is the deep calling to love, again and again, that is the medicine for the heart. The process of moving deeper and deeper into the love is called the Remembrance. It is the process of using sound and breath with a sacred Name for God to open the heart to love.

Over the course of a few months as she practiced the Remembrance, her symptoms began to improve. Amazingly, her chest pain completely resolved. Much of her sadness lifted, and she had a heightened sense of becoming alive. She was healed.

Her story is not unique. Many, many people who use the Remembrance find that they get better. If they aren't completely well physically, they gain inner peace and contentment.. Although that statement, "Love is the medicine for what ails the heart" seems almost too good to be true, in reality it is the truth. Love is what heals us.

I believe that all illness, particularly heart disease, happens at many levels. We cannot deny the physical aspects of illness. But often there's more to illness than the physical. Mental, emotional and spiritual influences all come into play to create disease. Many, many people are crying on the inside. Their voices resound with the cries of loneliness, anger and despair.

The important thing to know is that you can be healed. And one of the ways is to learn open-heartedness. "Learning Open-Heartedness" is more than an idea. It is, in many ways, a door. A door to the heart. Not just a door to the physical heart, but a door to a part of our hearts that carries and contains what we need. Hope is waiting just inside. And if you walk this way, the way of the "opened Heart," you will not be disappointed. You will find what you are looking for.

Is your heart crying? Do you have an illness or an ailment of the heart? Know that you can be helped. You can be healed. The medicine is an open heart. It is the path to the deep heart and the deep love.