Heart Sessions

When doing a Heart session, you're entered into an immersive soundscape while Muse monitors your heart rate using a PPG sensor located in the middle right of your forehead.

The soundscape of a drumbeat or crickets, for example, reflects your real-time heartbeat. When your heart rate increases, the sounds gently become faster and noisier. As your heart rate slows, the sounds will slow and quiet.

These guides can help you gain awareness of how your emotions, focus, physical state, or breath can influence your heart rate.

Learn more about Heart sessions and the data that you get access to once a session has been completed.
 

Starting a Heart Session
Saving Heart Biofeedback Experiences
Understanding your session results
Muse, heart rate variability (HRV), and electrocardiograms (ECG)

 

Starting a Heart Session

To find and start a Heart session:

1. Open your Muse app and sign in to your Muse account.

2. Tap the Train tab tab.

3. Tap Heart in the Biofeedback Soundscapes section of the Train tab.

4. Tap one of the soundscapes to download or play the content.

5. Select a session duration and tap the Next button.

6. Connect your Muse by Bluetooth (if not connected already) and tap the Start Session button.

 

Saving Heart Biofeedback Experiences

To save or pin Heart Biofeedback experiences to your Today screen for quick and easy access:

1. Find and open the Heart Biofeedback experience.

2. Under the description, tap the Pin button to pin it to your Today screen.

3. Done! It will now be pinned to the top of the Today screen, ready for the next time you open the Muse app!

When you pin Muse biofeedback experiences (Training or Sleep), the Today screen shows the last completed session type (for example - Heart: Healing Drum) so you can quickly return to your favourites.
 

To remove or unpin Heart Biofeedback experiences from the Today screen:

1. Find the Heart Biofeedback experience.

2. Tap the arrow or the Continue button to go to the Heart Biofeedback experiences screen.

3. Under the description, tap the Unpin button to remove it from your Today screen.
    

 

Understanding your session results

Your Heart session results give you a visual representation of your heart rate over the course of your session.
 

Heart rate graph

After each biofeedback session, your heart graph shows your heart rate in beats per minute (Bpm), along with the average, lowest, and highest heart rate in this session. As you finish more Heart biofeedback sessions, Muse will show you average heart rate data on the session graphs.

• Historical Max/Min: The average of the highest and lowest heart rate you reached during any Heart biofeedback training session. You'll need to complete several heart sessions over a period of time before this data appears on the session graph.

• Historical Average: A measure of your usual heart rate range during Heart training session.

Tap your bpm number to compare that session’s time spent under your average heart rate of the last few sessions. Your average Bpm during the session is a critical data point, suggesting your overall ability to regulate your heart rate. All of these points combined help give you a clearer picture of how your heart rate changes over time and how your body responds to the session.

Looking to improve your Heart session scores? See our Improving Your Muse Biofeedback Scores article for suggestions.

Zoom in on your data for a closer look.

• Zoom in or out by spreading or pinching two fingers on the chart.

• While zoomed in, swipe left or right to scan through your graph.
   

Heart Biofeedback stats

Another way to understand how your heart rate changes over time is to look at your stats. The birds and recoveries you acquire in a heart biofeedback session are reflections of your heart's performance during the session.

• Birds: When your heart rate drops to a new low or if you consistently maintain a low heart rate during your practice.

• Recoveries: When your heart rate goes from high to low compared to your usual rate, you will earn a Recovery Star. This transition demonstrates your ability to control and optimize your heart's performance, an essential skill in stress management and relaxation.

• Muse Points: You are awarded points for every second spent training. You receive 1 point per second.
   

Other data

• You also see graphs for Mind, Stillness, and Brainwave Powerbands data after each session. This can show you how your focused state and movements also impact your heart rate. For more information, see our Brainwave Powerbands article.

• If you have a premium subscription, you'll see data for your cognitive performance. This data can help you identify trends in your cognitive performance over time, allowing you to make proactive lifestyle choices focused on your brain health. For more information, see our Cognitive Performance and Alpha Peak article.

• You can gain Awards for key milestones. Earned a few birds for the first time? Maybe you’ll get the Birds of Eden Award!

• If you added notes after your session, you can review your feelings, patterns, and insights in the Journal section of the screen.
  
   

Muse, heart rate variability (HRV), and electrocardiograms (ECG)

Muse, unlike wearable devices that maintain constant contact with your body, is used periodically for sleep or training sessions. This means we don’t provide comprehensive Heart Rate Variability (HRV) measurements or perform Electrocardiography (ECG) readings, as Muse isn’t worn continuously.

While each of our sessions guides you to explore ways to lower your heart rate, our central focus isn't on how your heart rate fluctuates over time or is designed to detect abnormal heartbeats. That’s the realm of HRV & ECG.