The Heartmath Solution

One of my all time favorite quotes is ‘The longest distance you will ever travel is from your head to your heart.’   I think we can spend a lifetime trying to align what is in the heart with what is in our head and visa versa.  How often do we fight with ourselves?  Our heart says to follow our dreams and our head gives us 100 different reasons why, with 95 of those reasons not even being our own but what our mother says, what society says, what our friends say.   We have so much garbage running  around in our head that it really takes a trained person to sift through what information is actually helpful and what information holds us back.  You need to know that not all the information running through our head is truth or even helpful and a lot of what it is is preprogramming that we need to unlearn as adults in order to be happy.  The book Virus of the Mind is good at explaining how much of our subconscious beliefs are not our own and to really live the life we want we need to stop feeding those viruses.  The author calls them viruses because their contagious.  That’s how marketing is so successful. 

Not only do we need to sift through our thoughts and programmed ideas in our head but we also need to learn to listen to our heart and that the information in the heart is even more important than what’s in the head.  Yes, the heart should take precedence over the head.  in fact, The heart starts beating in the unborn fetus before the brain has been formed.  Scientists still don’t know exactly what triggers the beating, but they use the word ‘autorhythmic’ to indicate that the heartbeat is self-initiated from within the heart.  While the source of the heartbeat is within the heart itself, the timing of the beat is thought to be controlled by the brain through the autonomic nervous system.  But surprisingly ,the heart doesn’t need a hardwired connection to the brain to keep beating.  For example, when someone has a heart transplant, the nerves that run from the brain to the heart are severed and surgeons don’t know how to reconnect them to get the heart from functioning but they also don’t need to.  The new heart can beat on it’s own without the nerves to the brain.  The reason heart transplants work is that they have found that the heart has its own nervous system with at least 40 thousand nerve cells in the heart.  I think of this complex nervous system of the heart as the brain of the heart.  The heart’s inner brain sends information back to the brain, creating a two way communication between the heart and the brain.  When the brain communicates to the heart the heart doesn’t necessarily obey but research has found that when the heart communicates to the brain the brain does obey which makes me think that the heart is the one in control, not the brain.  

You also need to know that the heart beat is not just a mechanical throb but an intelligent language that significantly influences how we perceive and react to the world.  The Heart Math Institute was founded in 1991 by Doc Childre, and they see that intelligence and intuition are heightened when we learn to listen more deeply to our own heart.  Negative emotions throw the nervous system out of balance, they create heart rhythms that appear jagged and disordered.  They see that in a chronic state of nervous system and cardiovascular imbalance puts stress on the heart and other organs that can lead to serous health problems.  And positive emotions are not just neutral but actually increase order and balance in the nervous system and produce smooth, harmonious heart beats.  But harmonious heart beats do more than reduce stress they actually enhance people’s ability to clearly perceive the world around them and it is with that principle that Heart Math Institute found ways to enable people to generate a state of inner balance and harmony at will. 

The heart math solution has 10 different techniques to help you retrain your system to operate in a state of greater harmony, not just physically, but also mentally and emotionally.  It works because it’s a process that teaches people how to gain access to the heart.  

The first step is to acknowledge your heart intelligence and its importance for making choices big and small. The heart math solution book is a great book to get into the details of understanding the role the heart plays in health, perception, and overall wellbeing. Developing a new respect for the heart and its influence over the rest of the body helps in using the rest of the tools.  This first step involves feeling the difference between the head and the heart and observing how differently we perceive the world around us when we’re in contact with the heart intelligence.  The head that is the brain or the mind - operates in a linear, logical manner that serves us well in many situations but limits us in others.  sometimes we need more than logic to solve a problem or get through an emotional issue.  The heart’s intelligence provides intuition, a direct knowingness that’s an essential aspect of we operate in the world.  When our heart’s intelligence is engaged our awareness is expanded beyond linear thinking.  In this way our perspective becomes more flexible, creative and whole. 

For example when two people are in love and out walking  and get caught in a downpour, the rain is no big deal.  It’s just rain, they get wet and go back home and dry themselves off.  The rain may even be fun.  Because the couple are connected in the heart its easy for them to accept this spontaneous event with a playful spirit.

But if the same couple are walking and fighting, feeling frustrated, disconnected from their heart their attitude within it starts raining is very different.  They see it as annoying another reason to feel frustrated.  The difference between these two scenarios is only the perception of the rain.  Seen from the heart, the rain is a natural, spontaneous event.  Seen from the head it’s a frustrating problem.  

So how can you be in a state of heart connection at all times to keep a perception that is expanded in order to not let things bother you? The rest of the Heartmath solution steps will help you do just that so that your life can be full of new possibilities  and a sense of hope that when connected to the heart you can use that intuition to find solutions to your problems.  

Second step is to reduce stress which i know is easier said than done.  When stress of any kind whether physical, emotional or mental stress is on the body the heart’s rhythm goes out of balance and can be seen on EKGs.  When there is no stress, there is a flow to the body and mind where no energy is wasted.  In this state it’s easier to do everything and thrive mentally, emotionally and physically because your body’s power is maximized.  It’s no longer wasted on trying to survive the day, or on insufficient thoughts and reactions.  The mind nor body have to struggle to keep focused and productive.  When in a stressed state not only does the mind and heart struggle but your hormone balance is compromised too and your health and quality of life are compromised.  So what can we do about stress?  That’s where step 3 comes into play

Step 3 is to learn a technique called Freeze-Frame.  It is a simple five step process that takes you out of the stress of situation by creating a balance in your nervous system.  The more balanced your nervous system is the the more efficient the brain works.  Freeze frame is useful for making in the moment shifts in perception and attitude.  When you need clarity to make a decision- big or small- or to reduce stress use freeze frame to modify neurological impulses from the heart to the brain.  When you do the technique you watch yourself get stressed and actually stop your thinking and putting focus on your heart, purposely think about a happy moment and try to recreate it in your mind.  You then go back to thinking about the stressful situation while continuing to put focus on your heart and I promise you it's amazing how you think of the stressful situation differently now.  You feel more at peace, you're able to let go of the stress and you often find a solution that you didn't think of before.  Freeze frame helps manage your thoughts and reactions thereby reducing your stress.

Step 4 is all about managing your energy.  In this key step you develop a new awareness of how effective you are at using your mental and emotional energy.  For this energy is a determining factor in the quality of our lives.  Internal power translates into vitality and resiliency.  You need to know that positive thoughts and feelings actually add energy to our body.  An optimistic perspective, a feeling of gratitude or a kind gesture are energy assets.  Negative thoughts and feelings deplete our energy.  Anger, jealousy and judgment are energy deficits.  By learning to observe your thoughts and feelings you can learn where you are losing or gaining energy or internal power.  The heart math book has a worksheet to help you record and see where your mental and emotional expenditures are to show you where you gain energy and where you lose it.

Step 5 is the ability to activate what is called the core heart feelings.  There are many core heart feelings including courage, love, patience, sincerity, forgiveness, compassion, nonjudgement, and appreciation.  All these feelings synchronize the heart’s rhythm patterns and help the body.  The main core feelings are appreciation, nonjudgement, forgiveness and care.  These feelings are the main ones because they are essential for the other core feeling to unfold.  Each core feeling has a powerful benefit.  Through daily life these feelings are usually random but this 5th step is all about how to activate these feelings consciously and on demand to facilitate your personal growth and happiness.

Step 6 is managing your emotions.  So you have some emotions you want to cultivate like appreciation and you have others you want to learn to manage so they don’t get the best of you.  Emotions can be intense and complex.  Learning to manage them is key to a happy, healthy life.  Positive emotional states are rewarding and regenerative to the heart, hormone system and immune system while negative emotions drain these systems.  For most of us every day is an emotional roller coaster so unless we learn to manage our feelings and look at the root cause of them by taking responsibility for our feelings and asking ourselves, ‘why do I feel this way?’ What is the real fear of what I am feeling? we will continue to be on that emotional roller coaster our whole life. By learning to manage our emotions we can gain the ability to harness the power of emotions and use the power in ways that benefit us and not drain us.

Step 7 is Care but don’t overcare.  IT’s critical to learn the difference between care and over-care. Caring for yourself and others is an important ingredient to a healthy, rewarding life.  Yet there is a fine line because caring can also be stressful.  When we feel stressed because of the caring the term is overcare. When the caring turns into a burden of responsibility accompanied by worry, insecurity or anxiety.  Problems occur when we allow our care to drain us including a lowered immune system, trouble sleeping, poor decision making and hormonal imbalance.  I think we get stuck in situations where we don’t even realize we are in overcare.  When we learn to distinguish between care and overcare we then can make the choice to choose care and avoid overcare.  

Step 8 is to learn and apply a technique called cut-thru which is to help you manage your emotions and eliminate overcare. Let’s say you are concerned about a meeting at work.  It’s okay to be concerned but if we get really emotional about it the concern can easily become anxiety or even panic which can cause a huge energy deficit.  The scientifically designed Cut thru method will allow you to stop experiencing emotions that create incoherence.  By practicing the heart math Solution the goal is to learn when you’re in stress and do something about it.  We are so used to the day  to day stressors that many times I ask patients what their stress level is and they say medium but when I muscle test their body the body’s biofeedback is telling me their stuck in high stress, for the adrenals which are the first organs to respond to stress are stuck in the fight or flight mode.  

Step 9 is to learn how to do a heart lock in which amplify the power of the heart.  It’s a way of quieting the mind to connect with the heart more intensely locking in to its power adds energy back in to your body.  The book explains scientific evidence on how this technique balances your nervous system and boosts your immune system.    Heart Lock ins take about 5-15 minutes. I suggest doing this in the morning because  when you spend this time strengthening your connection with your heart it is easier to stay in contact with your heart intelligence and it’s intuitive messages throughout the day.  So the 3 main tools of the heart math solution are Freeze frame, cut thru and heart lock in.  Freeze frame is used to manage the mind, cut thru is used to manage the emotions and heart lock-in is used to reinforce the practice of these other techniques and to activate a deeper connection with your core heart feelings and heart intelligence.  Using The heart lock in daily is beneficial for improving health, enhancing creativity and experiencing more intuitive insight.  It really can regenerate your system physically, mentally and emotionally.  

Step 10 is the last step and is about actualizing what you know.  You take all that you've learned from the first nine steps and apply that knowledge to different aspects of your life - personally, professionally and socially.  The book gives many examples of how others have used heart math solution to improve their lives  - their personal lives, their health, their families which helps give you insight on how you can use heart math. It’s very inspirational.  

So those are all the steps!  The formula is activating heart intelligence plus managing the mind plus managing the emotions = energy efficiency, increased coherence, enhanced awareness and greater productivity.  Now you just have to apply it to your every day life.  

 I highly recommend reading the book but if you just want the heart lock in, cut thru and freeze frame directions I have worksheets on them in my office so just ask next visit. at your next visit I want you to know that I will test your nervous system and look for any incoherence. It’s actually the first thing I do on every patient every visit is test their nervous system to see if it is strong or if there is a disruption.  If there is an incoherence then I muscle test to see what toxin is interfering with the nervous system and why the heart and brain are having trouble communicating with each other.  It could be due to a heavy metal toxicity, heavy chemicals, a food the patient is eating, a bacteria, mold or other bug or it could be a scar interfering with how the nerves are firing and communicating with one another.  The 6th stressor it could be is emotional and that’s where the heart math solution comes in.  Managing your emotions and emotional healing is just as important as detoxing the body and giving the body the right nutritional support.  To learn more on how stressful emotional affect our health listen to my podcast called Your body speaks to you: Stress Reduction and Detoxing Stress.  It’s so important mind, body, spirit.  They are all connected.