(McCraty et al.,2004a, 2004b). The studys results provide surprising, even astounding data showing that boththe heart and brain appear to receive and respond to information about a future event. Even moretantalizing is the evidence that the heart appears to receive intuitive information before the brain.This suggests that the heart is directly coupled to a subtle energetic field of ambient informationthat surrounds the body, which, in turn, is entangled and interacts with the multiplicity of energyfields in which the body is embeddedincluding that of the quantum vacuum.In short, it would appear that we are only just beginning to understand the fundamental role ofa bioenergetic communication system in processing information from sources both within andoutside the body to in-form physiological function, cognitive processes, emotions, and behavior.In this system, it thus seems clear that the energy field of the heart plays a crucial role.The origin of feelings is the body in a certain number of its parts. But now we can godeeper and discover a finer origin underneath that level of description. . .(Damasio, 2003, p. 132)Damasio sums up the current understanding held by many of todays scientists of the genesisof feelings and emotions. This is the notion that the origin of the particular emotional feelings weexperience in each moment lies in the substrata of our bodys physiological processes. Positivefeelings emerge from body states in which the physiological regulation of the processes of life iseasy and free-flowing, while negative feelings reflect the strain of life processes that are difficultfor the body to balance and that may even be out of control. This general understanding has rootsin an earlier era in psychology and has recently reemerged in the scientific study of emotion.However, the geography of this realm is largely uncharted and has only just begun to be mapped.Needless to say, a more complete understanding awaits development. In this article we have thusendeavored to go deeper by offering an account of the finer origin of thepsychophysiological processes involved in emotional experience.In going deeper, we based our approach on the premise that the bodys physiological,cognitive, and emotional systems are intimately intertwined through ongoing processes involvingreciprocal communication. We hold that an understanding of the workings of these systems mustview their activity as emergent from the dynamic, communicative network of interactingSee also the Appalachian Conferences volumes.INTEGRAL REVIEWDecember 2009Vol. 5, No. 2functions that comprise the human organism. To describe these communicative processes weadopted an information processing perspective. From this viewpoint, communication within andamong the bodys systems is seen to occur through the generation and transmission of rhythmsand patterns of psychophysiological activity. This focus stands in contrast to the traditionalapproach, in which the amount of physiological activity is viewed as the primary basis ofcommunication. We believe a focus on rhythms and patterns of psychophysiological activityilluminates a more fundamental order of information communicationone that signifiesdifferent emotional states, operates to integrate and coordinate the bodys functioning as a whole,and also links the body to the processes of the external world.In order to understand the functional significance of the morphology of patterns ofphysiological activity, we drew on the concept of coherence from the physics of