Humming and my Heart Event

Humming and my Heart Event

Several weeks ago I had a heart event, involving CPR, defibrillation, and eventually a catheterization to install a couple of stents. A couple of weeks later they installed a couple more stents and now we are planning for an ablation that should help with irregular heartbeat.

This is in no way a complete story of everything that was done to treat me because I don’t understand parts of it and I’m not a medical professional.

But after defibrillation, I do remember one specific thing after they told me that they had just brought me back. I noticed that I started to hum as I was breathing out. I would take a deep breath into my stomach, then I would breathe out with an audible hum.

This wasn’t an accident because I have at various times incorporated some type of hum or “OM” sound in my meditation. I don’t do any practice everyday, and I don’t have any strict religious guidelines that I follow, but I do like to learn about things that are helpful for me and incorporate them in ways that work.

The OM sound is considered a sacred sound by some people. It represents the vibration of the universe and invokes a deep focus and calmness. It promotes a quiet mind which is helpful in meditation and it is believed to harmonize the internal with our external environment.

Vibration is very important, even though we don’t recognize it as much in the Western world, even though scientists hear a faint pervasive hum that sounds like OM in the universe. Some believe this is leftover radiation from The Big Bang. Some believe culturally that this frequency, 432 Hz, is the natural pitch of the universe. As you know, I understand all beliefs to be assumptions, so although I consider all these things, I don’t get dogmatic about any of them.

The Vagus Nerve

The vagus nerve is the longest cranial nerve in the body and it is connected to the parasympathetic nervous system which regulates our “rest and digest” system to calm us down after stress. The vagus nerve connects the brain to organs like the heart, lungs, and digestive tract. It regulates involuntary functions like heart rate, breathing, and digestion.

How is this connected to humming?

Among other things, the vagus nerve passes by the voice box and the inner ear. Humming increases the vagal tone and activates the parasympathetic nervous system, especially when combined with things like deep breathing and coldness. Essentially, it could take us out of the reactionary sympathetic nervous system (fight, flight…) and help us relax.

Why did I do it?

After defibrillation, humming is not a normal response or actions that we would do. I am assuming that I did it because I had rehearsed it before. I was especially interested in how lower and higher pitches of humming seem to affect different parts up and down the center of my body. For example, a higher pitch might affect more of the head and throat, where a lower pitch would seem to move more towards my heart.

After defibrillation, I didn’t say “OM” but I seemed to be deliberately humming on my out breath. It was like I needed to take a deep breath and then I hummed to somehow calm everything down in this traumatic situation.

As I said before, I don’t do anything religiously everyday. My mind gets bored with routines, even though I have to do some things regularly to survive and thrive. To me, these types of things are tools that I can use when I need them. The perfect way to regulate my vagus nervous system and find a sense of calm would be to place an ice pack on my upper chest near my neck, and hum on my out breath and concentrate on relaxing my body.

I don’t want to be dramatic, but I used to be afraid of meditation, but in this case because I had practiced it ahead of time, it was part of what helped me regain my life and survive.

Be where you are,

Be who you are,

Be at peace.

Karl Forehand

After defibrillation