Whether intentionally or unintentionally, most people develop baseline thought patterns over time that shape how they feel emotionally and how they respond to life events. While it may seem that these thought patterns are produced exclusively by the brain, the heart also plays a major role – and in order to change thought patterns that are no longer serving you, it’s essential to shift the rhythms of the heart.  As the Director of Research of the HeartMath Research Center at the HeartMath® Institute, Dr. Rollin McCraty has extensively studied the connection between the heart and the mind, as well as the physiology of emotion and how emotions influence cognitive processes, behavior, and health. In Episode 85 of The MINDSet Game® podcast, Dr. McCraty discusses some of his findings as he shares: How the brain’s amygdala functions, and the role that the heart plays in processing thoughts and emotions How your heart’s energy can affect those around you, and why heart-centered change is the key to improving dynamics in families, organizations, and other groups Simple tools for shifting your physiology into a calm, coherent state and gradually replacing maladaptive thought patterns with ones that will serve you more effectively The benefits that these heart-centered practices can have for you, your relationships, and the world at large  Dr. McCraty’s research interests include the physiology of emotion, heart-brain communication and the global interconnectivity between people and the earth’s energetic systems. Findings from this research have been applied to developing tools and technology to optimize individual and organizational health, performance, and quality of life. Dr. McCraty has acted as Principal Investigator in numerous studies examining the effects of emotions on heart-brain interactions and on autonomic, cardiovascular, hormonal, and immune system function, and outcome studies to determine the benefits of positive emotion-focused interventions and heart rhythm coherence feedback in diverse organizational, educational and various clinical populations. He has been featured in several documentary films such as I Am, The Truth, The Joy of Sox Movie, The Power of the Heart, Solar Revolution, The Living Matrix, and many others. To learn more about the tools and principles of HeartMath, visit https://www.heartmath.org. To subscribe to The MINDset Game® podcast, visit www.TheMINDsetGame.com.