Health Beyond the Blog: Dr. Mimi Guarneri and “The Heart Speaks”

Dr. Guarneri’s best-selling book provides insight on the dynamic nature off the human heart.

by Manju Karthikeyan

On Valentine’s Day, we think about chocolate, cards, and, of course, our hearts. Beyond romance, however, our hearts carry unique emotions, stories, and stressors that ultimately dictate our ways of life. Dr. Mimi Guarneri, a renowned cardiologist and founder of the Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine, explores this connection in her best-selling book, The Heart Speaks.

The Heart Speaks begins with a discussion of her upbringing in Brooklyn with a religious, Italian family. Dr. Guarneri reflects on the death of her mother, who died of a heart attack at a young age, and her father’s heart attack a decade later. It is these experiences, along with the narratives she shares about her patients, that help her transition from seeing the heart from purely a biological organ to a beautiful entity full of unique layers. The heart is constantly shaped by different cultural contexts and the complexities of the human experience like grief, pride, and isolation. Dr. Guarneri’s reflection on these experiences, her shift toward truly listening to her patients and their stories, and her growth as a physician are raw– making this a great read for patients and their providers alike.

Dr. Guarneri’s book provides genuine insight into our current healthcare system. She provides a perspective to medical care that the public may forget to consider: from explaining how listening to patients is discouraged during medical training, to showcasing unique disparities that each of her patients has experienced, to demonstrating how Western medicine often operates like a business. Dr. Guarneri then introduces us to the power of alternative medicine treatments such as meditation, prayer, and yoga, and how they each have improved outcomes for many of her patients. Overall, The Heart Speaks balances both reflections and medical insights with its emphasis on holistic, compassionate, patient-centered care. 

The Heart Speaks: A Cardiologist Reveals the Secret Language of Healing (2006) can be purchased on Amazon or at a bookstore near you.