The Heart Speaks
A Cardiologist Reveals the Secret Language of Healing
Chapter One
Introduction: Biography of the Heart
The heart I learned about in medical school was a simple mechanical pump,
a ten-ounce, fist-size organ that beat an average of 72 times a minute,
more than 100,000 times a day. It was a four-chambered muscle, similar to
those in whales and sparrows, whose sole purpose was to transport
oxygenated blood to the brain and other organs.
I was trained to view the heart as a distinct, isolated organ that could
be easily diagrammed and modeled in plastic, that could be regulated by a
pacemaker, transplanted with a donor's, and bypassed during open-heart
surgery with the help of a machine.
I was taught that while people might sing of broken or stolen or wounded
hearts, in fact this hollow muscle had no relationship to the emotions,
intellect, or soul.
My job as a cardiologist was to sit in my office and wait for someone to
have a heart attack, then rush in and try to save him. I was trained to be
a cool, heroic figure who swooped into the emergency r ... read full excerpt from The Heart Speaks: A Cardiologist Reveals the Secret Language of Healing ebook
