activity, information is alsocontained in the interbeat intervals of the pressure waves produced by the heart. Given that thesepressure waves can modulate brain activity and affect vital processes even down to the activityof biomolecules at the cellular level, this represents yet another, potentially important pathwayby which information contained in changing heart rhythm patterns orchestrates system-wideeffects.Thus far we have discussed the role of the heart in information processing and communicationin terms of neurological, hormonal, and biophysical interactions. In this section we explore howthe heart also communicates information to the brain and throughout the body viaelectromagnetic field interactions.To understand how communication occurs via these biological fields requires an energeticconcept of informationone in which data about patterns of organization are actually enfoldedinto the waves of energy generated by the bodys activity and distributed throughout the bodyselectromagnetic field. This concept is quite different from the lock and key concept ofbiochemical interactions, in which communication occurs through the action of biochemicals,such as neurotransmitters, fitting into specialized receptor sites, much like keys open certainlocks (McCraty et al., 1998). To explain how energetic communication occurs in biologicalsystems, we take Pribrams holographic approach. He believes, as we do, that thecommunication of energetic information in biological systems is best understood in the terms ofthe information processing principles of holographic theory (McCraty et al., 1998; Pribram,1991; Pribram & Bradley, 1998).Of all the organs, the heart generates by far the most powerful and most extensive rhythmicelectromagnetic field produced in the body. When electrodes placed on the surface of the bodyare used to measure the ECG, it is the electrical component of the hearts field that is detectedand measured. This electrical voltage, about 60 times greater in amplitude than the electricalactivity produced by the brain, permeates every cell in the body. Thus, the ECG can be detectedby placing electrodes anywhere on the body, from the little toe to the top of the head. Themagnetic component of the hearts field, which is approximately 5,000 times stronger than themagnetic field produced by the brain (Russek & Schwartz, 1996), is not impeded by the bodystissues and easily radiates outside of the body. This field can be measured several feet away fromthe body with sensitive magnetometers (McCraty et al., 1998). These energetic emanations andinteractions provide a plausible mechanism for how we can feel or sense another personspresence and even their emotional state, independent of body language and other signals(McCraty, 2004).INTEGRAL REVIEWDecember 2009Vol. 5, No. 2The hearts ever-present rhythmic field has a powerful influence on communicative processesthroughout the body. As already noted above, brain rhythms naturally synchronize to the heartsrhythmic activity, and the rhythms of diverse physiological oscillatory systems can entrain to thehearts rhythm. There is evidence that the hearts field may even play a regulatory role at thecellular level, in that we have found that changes in the cardiac field can affect the growth rate ofcells in culture (McCraty et al., 1998).As can be seen in Figure 20, (Appendix D) the electromagnetic waves generated by the heartare immediately registered in ones brain waves and can have quite a large effect on the heartbeatevoked potential. This same effect has