We’ve all heard the advice to eat well, get plenty of exercise, and avoid smoking to help prevent heart disease. But there’s more to that heart-healthy equation than most of us know. Since the heart is the seat of ojas (the vital sap within us that gives us strong immunity, intelligence, compassion, and our “aura” or energetic body), any time we feel out of balance with our essential self in any way (through stress, through unhealthy relationships with others and/or the world around us), our bodies, and particularly our hearts, suffer. “As the heart is an organ of emotion, emotional causes of heart disease should always be considered first,” says David Frawley, author of Ayurvedic Healing. This is not just the stuff of philosophers; scientists and researchers have found direct links between what has typically been considered more esoteric advice and heart disease.