New frontiers in heart rate variability and social coherence research
Article subtitled “Techniques, technologies, and implications for improving group dynamics and outcomes.” It’s part of this Frontiers in Science ebook. In the introductory chapter here’s what the ebook’s editors had to say about it:
“In closing, McCraty is a well-known person throughout the HRV community, having been a proponent of HRV Biofeedback for decades. His experience in the field can be traced to the very roots of awareness of the power and plain excitement of HRV engagement. Among his many areas of study and advocacy can be found the concept of ‘social coherence.’ These ideas springboard off simple group HRV Biofeedback infused with the basic scientific notions of social nervous system and its role in social engagement a la Porges’ polyvagal theory, past the newly emerging field of scientific study of interoception, and lands in the field of electromagnetic potentials in the evolutionary dynamics of ecosystems. Sound thinking prevails in the article’s central thesis that feedback of individual and group HRV will increase group cohesion, thereby promoting pro-social behaviors, such as kindness and cooperation among individuals, improved communication, and decreases in social discord and adversarial interactions. ‘Biomagnetic fields produced by the heart may be a primary mechanism in mediating HRV synchronization among group members’ he writes. Peripheral, implicit, and embedded in this message is the ‘Global Coherence Initiative’ (GCI). GCI takes social coherence to its farthest limits and into the frequency zone that is shared by solar-geomagnetic field synchronization and Schuman Resonances, where it has been noted that these resonant frequencies directly overlap with those of the human brain and cardiovascular system.”