Your Heart-Brain Axis

Oct 17, 2025
 

After 50 Whole Health webinars and so much information gathered, it feels like the right moment to pull together some key insights. This week, we turn to the heart-brain axis, the constant two-way communication between the heart and the brain.

We’ve spoken many times about regulating the nervous system as the foundation for regulating everything else: the microbiome, blood sugar balance, and the HPA axis. All of this feeds into our capacity to restore tissues, return to baseline, and maintain healthy cognitive and emotional function - our ability to self-regulate on every level.

This theme also reminds us that we are deeply social animals. A huge part of our sense of safety comes from our place in the “pack” - how supported we feel, our relationships, our role, and the emotional landscape around us. We can truly feel this in the heart.

 


 

The Autonomic Nervous System and the Heart

The heart-brain axis is one of the most responsive pathways within the autonomic nervous system, which runs quietly in the background - balancing the sympathetic “fight or flight” response and the parasympathetic “rest and soothe” state.

This heart-brain pathway is a key route for regulation, linking directly to the enteric nervous system in the gut. The microbiome plays a major role in how we settle, soothe, regulate breath, and even shape our immune response.

 


 

Meditation and Cardiovascular Health

A 2022 study on Tibetan monks explored the connection between the heart-brain axis and cardiovascular regulation. It confirmed what has long been observed - that a stressful lifestyle increases cardiovascular risk, while long-term meditation offers measurable protection.

The research showed that even in obese or physically inactive individuals, daily or twice-daily meditation of just 13 to 30 minutes improved cardiovascular markers. Beyond 15 minutes, and especially toward 30, the brain begins to shift into more regulated, lower-frequency states. Still, even short, regular practice can be deeply transformative.

 


 

The Vagus Nerve and Compassion

The vagus nerve is central to this communication. When we are in the ventral vagal state, the socially engaged mode, we can access self-compassion, empathy, and relational safety. This is why the vagus nerve is often called the compassionate nerve.

In contrast, during stress, we move into the fight, flight, or freeze responses, which pull us into defensive, self-protective modes. When the ventral vagus is active, the neocortex (the “new” front brain) comes back online, allowing for broader perspective and tolerance. We can meet others’ viewpoints, stay open, and respond rather than react.

 


 

Touch, Oxytocin, and Connection

Touch plays a powerful role in this regulation. It releases oxytocin, the so-called love molecule, from the pituitary gland (sometimes referred to as the “third eye” region of the brain). This hormone connects directly to vagal tone and our capacity for trust and bonding.

Through safe, reciprocal touch and connection, we experience safety, creativity, joy, and belonging. These experiences reduce stress hormones such as cortisol and increase DHEA, the body’s natural anti-stress hormone. Touch has even been shown to reduce fear responses and improve emotional resilience.


 

The Wider Web of Communication

The heart–brain axis is just one of many interconnected pathways within the body. We also have the adrenal-brain axis, thyroid-brain axis, and gonadal (sex hormone)-brain axis - all influencing and responding to one another.

In naturopathy, functional medicine, and nutritional therapy, we look at how these systems interact. Blood sugar balance and microbiome health provide the foundations for hormonal and emotional stability, forming the base of the triangle between the adrenals, thyroid, and sex hormones.

 


 

This blog is taken from Chapter 6 of my Nine Foundations of Whole Health Natural Health Webinar, which is available to Whole Health Members.

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