The Heartmath® Solution – The Ultimate Partnership

“Without the guiding influence of the heart, we easily fall prey to reactive emotions such as insecurity, anger, fear, and blame, as well as other energy-draining reactions and behaviors.” – Doc (Lew) Childre

HeartMath® technology is an innovative approach to improving emotional wellbeing. Learn to change your heart rhythm pattern to create physiological coherence; a scientifically measurable state characterized by increased order and harmony in our mind, emotions and body. – Taken from https://www.heartmath.com/science/

Well, folks, this one’s a doozy!

I almost want to start with the granddaddy of all links pertaining to Heartmath®. In fact, I will:

Heartmath® Institute <<< There is a TON of excellent info here. Take your time going through it all, seriously!

What you need to know: There’s almost a religious following of this Heartmath® thing.

I heard about it first from my mother – the therapist, you may recall – and then it was mentioned in no less than 3 of the books I’ve recently read. Given that, would you believe it was originally published in 1999? Wow, I thought, this book must be something special!

It is!

And when I said it was like a religion – I guess what I should have said is that it has a cult following. A fervor. But let me be clear – and make no mistake! – this book is based on SCIENCE. And it has the potential to BLOW YOUR MIND.

Not surprisingly, The Heartmath® Solution by Doc (Lew) Childre and Howard Martin with Donna Beech begins with a premise that the book proves out…

… and that is …

Your heart – not just your brain – influences your hormones, emotional clarity, and physical and mental health. This means that you can get some added input that you may not have known exists. In short, the heart has its own intelligence. 

In the past, we thought that the heart had a job, of course, and an important job, too! But this book and program take it a step (or 100 steps) further…

“When subjects focus in the heart area and activate a core heart feeling such as love, appreciation, or care, this focus immediately shifts their heart rhythms. When the rhythms become more coherent, a cascade of neural and biochemical events begins that affects virtually every organ in the body.” 

I feel like the idea is ancient. Do you feel that, too?  I think we’ve gotten so busy that we just want to make problems go away as quickly as possible and in that quest, we’ve forgotten that the heart has more than one job. Think about how when you say certain things, your hand naturally rises to your chest… in protective mode… maybe both hands, holding your heart. It’s a primitive thing. What do you think?

Also, isn’t this the same thing as intuition? In a way, yes! And, in a way, isn’t it what our prehistoric brothers and sisters used for pretty much everything? See? Ancient.

One of my favorite parts of the book is the section on FREEZE-FRAME®… which is a way to STOP your reaction of the moment and shift your perception. 

Freeze-Frame® – is the simplest of the HeartMath® tools. It is a one-minute technique that allows a major shift in perception. More than positive thinking, it creates a definitive, heartfelt shift in how we view a situation, an individual or ourselves. <<< Taken from PBS Body & Soul (Also a great link to visit. It was in conjunction with the Heartmath® folks.)

“You achieve the best results from FREEZE-FRAME® when you focus in the area of the heart; take a few slow, full breaths; sincerely feel emotions such as love, care, or appreciation; and then forget about breathing while maintaining that feeling state.” – Doc (Lew) Childre

Yes, it’s a kind of meditation, if you will. As you know, I hate meditation. Oh, that’s too strong. I don’t hate it but I have trouble with it. This particular type of mediation, however, is helpful for people like me because it’s focusing on another part of the body (the heart). What’s so neat about this is that most of us – me, included – haven’t been listening to the heart. We may *think* we have been but chances are, it isn’t something that’s come naturally. By focusing on the heart, we allow it to thrive and it will get louder and easier to hear. Win/win!

Another favorite is the HEART LOCK-IN. What is it? A way to focus into the heart, not the head, which will help you stay balanced and grounded. The book says that they are like vitamins for your immune system.

Here’s how they work, from a scientific viewpoint – “HRV, the measurement of the time intervals between adjacent pairs of heartbeats, or simply the beat-to-beat changes in heart rate, reflects autonomic nervous system (ANS) dynamics. Among other uses, it can help assess a subject’s heart-rhythm coherence level. The published study explains that “higher levels of HRV are associated with resiliency, capacity to self-regulate and to adapt to changing demands,” and lower levels of HRV ‘indicate pathology, chronic stress, or insufficient functioning in regulatory systems … and is associated with all-cause mortality.'”

Okay, look… I know I’ve shared a lot and it doesn’t make a whole lotta sense because I’m trying to find a way to say it all. Can’t be done. That’s because this book is stuffed with information. It’s nearly 300 pages of everything you need to know.

Can it be distilled? Kinda.

• “Care is a powerful motivator. Care feels good.” <<< That comes from the heart.
• “Signals from the heart let you know when your care has become over-care.” <<< If not controlled, over-care can harm. It’s called, “Overload” and will keep “all of us – rich or poor, educated or uneducated – imprisoned in over identity with all that’s going on. It’s a sleep state that perpetuates survival-level living.” <<< We do NOT want to live like that.

Readers, this book is a MUST HAVE but be prepared. If you’re a scientist, you will feel right at home. If you are a regular Joe or Jane, like me, you’ll have moments of eye-crossing and babbling but it’s not all like that.

It’s not written in a difficult way but the CONCEPTS… are deep. <<< And, not to put too fine a point on it, but also no, not that deep. I don’t even know how to explain it anymore. I probably made this much more difficult than it needed to be. LOL <<< That’s SOOOOO me. Ha!

PS: Thanks, Mom. (◔‿◔) ♥