ACHIEVIng CoLLECTIVE CoHEREnCE: gRoUp EffECTS on HEART RATE VARIABILITy CoHEREnCE AnD HEART RHyTHM SynCHRonIzATIon

In some studies related to decision-making, it has been suggested that an energetic pathway for communications is formed between two objects that share the same resonance frequency. In sports, when a top team is playing at its best, it often seems as though its members are communicating on a level beyond that of spoken words, orchestrated by a form of collective coherence. Is there a pathway connecting a group’s members that facilitates greater interpersonal understanding and group coordination? If so, what governs these exchanges, and can they be measured? Dr Eric Leskowitz, a Boston psychiatrist, has suggested that participants skilled in achieving high levels of heart rate variability coherence (HRVC) might be able to facilitate the achievement of high levels of HRVC in a non-skilled subject. He based this proposition on the results of a case he conducted at the Institute of HeartMath (IHM) wherein he was able to achieve high levels of HRVC when aided by several IHM staff members who were experts in achieving their own high levels of HRVC. Leskowitz hypothesised that a “facilitative field” of coherent energy was created and that this field enabled him to achieve high coherence. It was not possible to draw any conclusions from this case as it was only a single trial and had no controls. This current study examines whether groups trained to achieve high states of HRVC could facilitate increased levels of HRVC in an untrained subject. Underlying this question was an even more fundamental one: can hearts, human or otherwise, synchronize their rhythms without being in physical contact? And, if so, could heart rate synchronization be facilitated by one or more members in a group, increasing their own HRVC? If this were to be the case, it would certainly lend credence to Leskowitz’s proposition while also providing evidence of a heart-to-heart bio-communication mechanism at work. More importantly, if we could understand how collective coherence is brought about then perhaps we could improve the coherence of those around us and extend coherence to a larger community.