TY - JOUR AU - Bowden, Pye PY - 2020/03/01 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Love as Regulator of the Life Force JF - Bioenergetic Analysis JA - CJIIBA VL - 30 IS - 1 SE - Articles DO - 10.30820/0743-4804-2020-30-85 UR - https://bioenergetic-analysis.com/article/view/0743-4804-2020-30-85 SP - 85-93 AB - The author proposes a role for love in the regulation of the body. Regulation of the life force is critical for a newborn baby because the baby cannot regulate itself and because early patterns of regulation have surprising longevity. A mother who loves her baby is regulated by her own loving, since pleasurable emotion is the consequence of a body that is regulated. She can then pass this regulation onto the baby, body to body. Lowen surmised that love was somehow connected to the organ of the heart and McCraty et al. from the HeartMath Institute have confirmed this connection and have demonstrated that the heart is also responsible for the central system-wide signalling that synchronises the body as a whole in pleasurable feelings such as love. The author shares a personal reflection that illustrates the power of love in the life and death struggles of early infancy. ER -