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What is your earliest childhood memory?

My mother says that when I was born I was smiling with such a big smile. Right fresh out of her belly: first mission accomplished! I guess… I was so happy about it.

The one in the photo it’s me, a few hours after being born. Can you see it? I was already wondering… What is this all about? I can’t remember…

Some say that we live life as we are born. Here I am. With a big smile, wondering, and looking for temporary answers to the BIG questions in life.

Did you know that the heart forms and starts beating before the brain begins to develop?

Right after the spermatozoon and the ovum became one, cells started to multiply and you became… a heart.

The cardiovascular system is the first system to form and function in an embryo, and the heart is the first functional organ.

“The human heart develops on day 18 or 19 following fertilization. For the next 50 days, your formation took you on a journey across 1 billion years of evolution. ”

Dr. Gerald D. Buckber, M.D.

As Dr. Gerald D. Buckberg explains in his 2001 public lecture at the 81st American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) annual meeting, it was Spanish cardiologist Dr. Francisco Torrent Guash the one who connected the dots to fully understand the significance of the human heart’s shape and embryonary development.

• On day 20 the human heart’s cardiovascular system mirrors (has the shape of) the one of a 1 billion years old worm.

• On day 25 it mirrors 400.000.000 years old fish.

• On day 30 it mirrors 200.000.000 years old amphibia and reptile.

• On day 50 it mirrors 100.000 years old aves and mamarian.

Isn’t it fascinating?!?

Well, there is something else. The shape of your heart, the one in the middle of your chest, is different from what you might believe. The (true) anatomy of the human heart: one single muscle, folded in a helical structure.

After more than 500 years of debate, it was Spanish Cardiologist Francisco Torrent-Guasp the one who found out how to unfold the heart. This is its true shape:

The double helix (double-folded spiral), like the heart anatomy, is a very common shape in nature, in plants, in animals, and in the whole universe. Yes, it is the shape of galaxies and our DNA information molecules, this is the instructions stored inside each of your body cells.

Looking at the heart’s shape and its development we have to acknowledge that, literally, the whole planetary evolution is contained at the heart of who we are.

Remember, when you listen to your biological heartbeat, each and every being on this planet and the whole universe is resonating within it.

Yes, you are right, the sinus node of the heart is in the center of your chest a little bit to the right. Might this be the so-called spiritual heart?

Ramana Maharshi, Indian Hindu sage and jivanmukta (liberated being) said:

“The godly atom of the Self is to be found in the right chamber of the heart, about one finger-width distance from the body’s midline. Here lies the dynamic Spiritual Heart. It is called Hridaya and is clearly visible to the inner eye of an adept on the Spiritual Path. Through meditation, you can learn to find the Self in the cave of this Heart.”

You are invited to stop and observe:

Place a hand on your chest. Close your eyes. Take some deep and slow breaths.

Can you feel the whole universe beating at the center of your chest? 

Boom Boom Ba Boom.

Open your heart and connect with that deep and infinite sense of universal faith.

Yeah! In the beginning, it was heart.

That is the journey that for millennia mystics and ancient cultures have been inviting us to take.

What if the door to connection with infinite universal existence was right in the center of your chest?

What if in intentionally living and leading from the heart you would be able to unfold your true creative potential to generate a positive impact in the world? 

What if joy, inner peace, happiness, and love were already inside you to be found? 

This is what this journal is all about.

You are invited to join.

There is more to explore and re-discover.

This is The Journey to the Heart.

Start Here. Start now. 

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Bibliography

Rushmer MD, Dr. Robert F.; Blandau MD, Ph.D. , Dr. Richard J.. Heart embryology video, 2011 (9:34 mins). Extracted and restored from “Congenital malformations of the Heart Part 1”. University of Washington School of Medicine, 1951. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DIUk9IXUa Accessed August 2, 2022.

“Ancestral Movement | Spiral Anatomy.” Accessed August 2, 2022. https://ancestralmovement.com/spiral-anatomy/.

“Gerald D. Buckberg, M.D.” Accessed August 2, 2022. https://www.geraldbuckberg.com/about-gerald-buckberg/.

Wagner, Michael, and M. a. Q. Siddiqui. “Signal Transduction in Early Heart Development (I): Cardiogenic Induction and Heart Tube Formation.” Experimental Biology and Medicine (Maywood, N.J.) 232, no. 7 (July 2007): 852–65. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17609501/

David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Helix and the Heart Lecture: Presented by Gerald Buckberg at the 81st AATS Annual Meeting. (49:45 mins). 81st Annual Meeting of The American Association for Thoracic Surgery, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wCKaUzoM-U.

Männer J. When Does the Human Embryonic Heart Start Beating? A Review of Contemporary and Historical Sources of Knowledge about the Onset of Blood Circulation in Man. J Cardiovasc Dev Dis. 2022 Jun 9;9(6):187. doi: 10.3390/jcdd9060187. PMID: 35735816; PMCID: PMC9225347.

Image 1: Illustration: Cell reproduction and human heart development in the human embryo. ClipArt ETC. The University of South Florida.

Image 2: Dr. Gerald D. Buckber, M.D. 

Image 3: Biological Heart 1 billion years of evolution across species.

Image 4: The helical heart by Francisco Torrent Guasp

Image 5: nature, DNA, and galaxy visualization collage by Marie Reig Florensa

Image 6: Anatomy and physiology of the heart. The heart contraction http://en.heart.erasmusnursing.net/contents/2-2the-hearts-contraction/