How Stress Affects the Body

Posted on | by HeartMath
How Stress Affects the Body

Stress Facts

Understanding the mechanics of stress gives you the advantage of being more aware of and sensitive to your own level of stress and knowing when and how to take proactive steps. This increased awareness also helps you to better care for your family, friends and colleagues. Here are a few stress facts that many people are unaware of:

Fact #1: Your body doesn’t care if it’s a big stress or a little one.

The human body doesn’t discriminate between a BIG stress or a little one. Regardless of the significance, stress affects the body in predictable ways. A typical stress reaction, which most of us experience dozens of times each day, begins with a cascade of 1,400 biochemical events in your body. If these reactions are left unchecked we age prematurely, our cognitive function is impaired, our energy is drained, and we are robbed of our effectiveness and clarity.

Fact #2: Stress can make smart people do stupid things.

Stress causes what brain researchers call “cortical inhibition.” The phenomenon of cortical inhibition helps to explain why smart people do dumb things. Simply said, stress inhibits a small part of your brain and you can’t function at your best. When we are in coherence – a state where we are cognitively sharp, emotionally calm, and we feel and think with enhanced clarity – the brain, heart and nervous system are working in harmony. This state of coherence facilitates our cognitive functioning – we are actually operating at peak performance mentally, emotionally and physically.

Fact #3: People can become numb to their stress.

We can be physiologically experiencing stress yet mentally numb to it because we’ve become so accustomed to it. Some have become so adapted to the daily pressures, irritations and annoyances of life that it starts to seem normal. Yet the small stresses accumulate quickly and we may not realize how much they’re impairing our mental and emotional clarity and our overall health until it shows up as a bad decision, an overreaction or an unwanted diagnosis at the doctor’s office.

Fact #4: We can control how we respond to stress.

We don’t need to be victims to our own emotions, thoughts and attitudes. We can control how we respond to stress and we can become more sensitive to stressful situations and how they are affecting us before it manifests as a physical, mental or emotional complaint. There are simple, scientifically validated solutions to stress that empower people to rewire their own stress response.

Fact #5: The best strategy is to handle stress in the moment.

The best way to manage stress is to deal with it the very moment you feel it come up. Millions of Americans unsuccessfully use the binge-and-purge approach when it comes to stress. They stress out all day, believing that they can wait until later to recover when they go to an evening yoga class, go to the gym or chill out when they take the weekend off. Unfortunately, when we put off going for our own inner balance our bodies have already activated the stress response and it’s our health that suffers.

HeartMath’s research shows how emotions change our heart rhythm patterns. Positive emotions create coherent heart rhythms, which look like rolling hills – it’s a smooth and ordered pattern. In contrast, negative emotions create chaotic, erratic patterns. Using a heart rhythm monitor, you can actually see your heart rhythms change in real time as you shift from stressful emotions like anger or anxiety to positive feelings like care or appreciation. Coherent heart rhythm patterns facilitate higher brain function, whereas negative emotions inhibit a person’s ability to think clearly. Coherent heart rhythms also create a feeling of solidity and security.

Today’s Stress Is Different

Posted on | by HeartMath

Today’s Stress Is Different – What Can Help?

By Deborah Rozman, Ph.D., and Jorina Elbers, M.D.

Cultivating a new ability to handle things, take charge of our reactions, increase self-empowerment, and release accumulated stress as we go

National Geographic Magazine’s June 2024 lead article* reports that the perceived level of psychological stress has risen dramatically across the globe due to a combination of factors: the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, environmental disasters, economic uncertainty, the escalation of political instability across nations, constant news about gun violence, terrorism, wars, and other threats. The article goes on to say, “The consequences of this broadscale increase in stress are only beginning to be appreciated, but the evidence suggests that we are facing a second pandemic of mood and anxiety disorders, including major depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).”  

We are facing a second pandemic of mood and anxiety disorders, including major depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Secondary Trauma

Temporary stress ends once a perceived threat passes. But what’s happening today is different — the perceived threat isn’t passing.

Secondary traumatization (here broadly includes vicarious trauma and compassion fatigue) occurs when a person is exposed to traumatic events through another person’s firsthand narrative. This used to only apply to first responders, mental health workers, or family members of trauma survivors.

With the increased exposure to traumatic events through social media, graphic news clips, and personal stories, many more people are being deeply impacted by trauma inputs simply by opening their smartphones.

Like the frog who doesn’t jump out of slowly boiling water, we are adapting to this ongoing stress and trauma and perceiving it as normal without recognizing its negative impact.

These days, almost everyone is experiencing trauma input from the news or their social media feed, in addition to ongoing stress from work, family, and relationships. This cumulative exposure can lead to chronic symptoms of anxiety, fatigue, and depression, along with changes in beliefs and attitudes about the world, such as increased cynicism or a loss of hope. Cumulative stress or trauma may also be fueling the rise in political extremism and conspiracy theories we’re seeing today.

Mental and Physical Health Consequences

Many people think of stress as a worn-out topic because it is so widespread, and the standard stress solutions don’t seem to be working. When people feel they have less control over their lives or their future, the stress can take a toll on their mental, emotional, and physical health. Financial strain is a chronic stressor for many; loneliness is another. Some types of stress may seem so “normal” that we don’t recognize them as stress until they’re harming our health, such as a toxic work environment or conflicts at home. 

In a recent survey conducted by the American Psychological Association (2023), a third of respondents reported they “feel completely stressed out no matter what they do to manage their stress.” Over time, stress accumulation causes nervous system dysregulation, which leads to mental and physical health problems and disease. In addition to increasing the risk of high blood pressure and heart disease, stress has been shown to play a role in obesity and diabetes. Stress accumulation also disrupts our immune function, leaving us more vulnerable to infection, cancer, and autoimmune disease. 

What Can We Do?

It’s time for us all to wake up to the seriousness of what’s going on and find effective ways to start helping ourselves. This is why HeartMath has been researching stress and designing self-empowerment techniques for the past 30 years. The HeartMath® system provides accessible tools for people to build their inner management skills so they can take charge and feel more confident in their ability to address what’s going on.

How HeartMath Can Help

HeartMath’s science-based heart rhythm coherence techniques and technologies have been shown to help people regulate their nervous system and emotions to transform accumulated stress and trauma.

The HeartMath system empowers people to bring their heart, brain, and nervous system into coherent alignment and harmony.

HeartMath coherence practices help in many ways and provide many benefits, including the following:

  1. Coherence practice helps people make more effective choices and experience greater ease, clarity, and purpose. 
  2. Coherence practice helps people gain more benefits from relaxation and meditation exercises.
  3. Daily practice improves sleep, emotional well-being, focus, and confidence.
  4. One of the main benefits of heart rhythm coherence practice is it helps to re-open the heart and have more compassionate latitude for yourself and for what others may be going through. 
  5. Heart coherence also helps you feel more connected to people you may have felt disconnected or separate from. 

Many people are tired of feeling separate from people they really love in their lives (family, friends) over issues like politics or religion. Others want more sanity through today’s constant chaos, where they can feel like they’re living rather than just surviving. Some are feeling radical changes happening within their own emotions, so they repress them and become numb, cutting off their own self-awareness and diminishing what care they have left. Feelings of hopelessness can translate into a perception that “this is the way the world is now.” When belief in the collective drops, so does the motivation to contribute to the greater good. This is how we become a society of “each person for themselves.”

Increasing our care and compassion for others helps us to reconnect with our hearts and feelings of hope. With hope comes greater emotional stability and resilience to “weather the storms.” The HeartMath system was created to help people during times of accelerated stress — to connect to the power within themselves to make things better. That power lies within their own heart. HeartMath techniques and coherence technology are designed to help lift people above their stress or overwhelm, which often provides them with a totally new perspective.  

No matter what system anyone uses for stress management, adding heart to their practice raises its effectiveness. More and more people realize that now is not only a time for more heart, but they recognize the urgent need — a need for hope, a need for reconnection, and a need for love to go viral. It’s time that we create an infusion of kindness and compassionate care in our interactions, which will help to reduce stress and bring about greater emotional strength within ourselves, our families, our communities, and our society. In this way, we will more effectively navigate the stressors of the day or the week — and be in a better place to respond to any of the larger challenges that may come our way.

To help yourself and those you care about:

  • Enhance your self-regulation skills and support your clients’ healing journeys with HeartMath’s The Resilient Heart™ course. Learn more.
  • Discover the transformative power of heart coherence and build emotional resilience with the new HeartMath app.

*The New Science of Stress – The defense mechanism affects our health at every age—and researchers are striving to understand precisely how.
National Geographic Magazine, June 2024

Feeling Out of Sorts Today? 

Posted on | by HeartMath

It Might Be a Modulation Day (Not a Bad Day!)

Did you ever have a day when you woke up feeling out of sorts, grumpy, or maybe a bit blah and low on energy? This is what HeartMath calls “modulation days.” Everyone has them. This isn’t necessarily a cause for concern or a sign that something is “wrong.” We don’t have to feel bad about these natural ebbs and flows in our emotional rhythms.

All of nature has rhythms, just as ocean tides have rhythms of highs and lows, so can our emotions have rhythms. Our responses and behaviors can change depending on whether we’re in a higher or lower emotional vibration. Sometimes these modulations create shifts in our moods or perceptions that can cause us to feel like we are at times two different people in the same body. 

During a modulation day, many people find it more difficult to connect with warm-hearted feelings of care or gratitude. There are simple ways to shorten the duration of modulation days with a proactive approach. One powerful tool is reminding yourself to have acceptance. Here’s how that inner dialogue might go: 

Ugh, okay, today I feel foggy, like my rhythm is off. I definitely don’t have my usual spark. Since I’m feeling a bit edgy, I need to be extra gentle with myself and everyone else, too. I’ll take some pauses during the day and do heart-focused breathing to help things feel less edgy.

It’s important to remember we have a choice in how we handle a modulation day. We can view modulation time as an opportunity to exercise patience, self-care, and self-compassion. Even if our feelings are at low ebb or we’re kind of grumpy, making time to connect with a heart attitude can provide a smoother ride through the day. 

As we ride the modulation wave with acceptance and care for ourselves, before long, the tide will turn, and we’ll find ourselves on the uplift once more.

Actionable Tips for a Modulation Day:

Be Kind to Yourself—Practice Self-Compassion:

Modulation days aren’t a reflection of your worth. Instead of worrying or being hard on yourself, offer yourself kindness and understanding. Remind yourself, it’s okay to have modulation days. They are natural fluctuations in your rhythms. 

Take a Moment to Connect with Your Heart:

Throughout your day, take a few moments to do heart-focused breathing. Simply breathe through the heart area, a little deeper and slower than usual. Shift your focus to heart attitudes of kindness, appreciation, or calm as you breathe. Even brief moments of connection with your heart can bring a sense of inner ease. Don’t expect instantaneous results—be patient with yourself.

Enjoy the Beauty of Nature—Prioritize Self-Care:

Modulation days are a good time to nourish your connection with nature. Make time to go for a walk, sit outside for lunch. Appreciating the little things can add a gentle gratitude lift to your day. Make a point to notice the vibrancy or fragrance of a flower, or the beauty of cloud formations, or the sound of birds in the distance. Think of other ways to care for yourself, perhaps listening to soothing music, meditating, writing in a journal, or making a favorite meal. 

Practice: The Inner Ease™ Technique

Using this heart-focused technique is an effective practice on modulation days when you are a little more prone to impatience or frustration. These steps can help add a lift to our vibration, helping us to generate feelings of inner peace and “flow” in our day.

Inner-Ease™ Technique

  1. If you are stressed, acknowledge your feelings as soon as you sense that you are out of sync or engaged in common stressors—feelings such as frustration, impatience, anxiety, overload, anger, being judgmental, mentally gridlocked, etc.
  2. Take a short time out and do heart-focused breathing: breathe a little slower than usual; pretend you are breathing through your heart or chest area. (This is proven to help create coherent wave patterns in your heart rhythm—which helps restore balance and calm in your mental and emotional nature while activating the affirming power of your heart.)
  3. During the heart-focused breathing, imagine with each breath that you are drawing in a feeling of inner ease and infusing your mental and emotional nature with balance and self-care from your heart.
  4. When the stressful feelings have calmed, affirm with a heartfelt commitment that you want to anchor and maintain the state of ease as you re-engage in your projects, challenges, or daily interactions.

Bonus

Listen to the guided version of this technique in the HeartMath app, along with several other helpful techniques. In the HeartMath app “Learning” section, go to “Guided Techniques.” 

Additional Bonus

Hear more about how to raise your vibration in the audiobook Heart Intelligence, also included in the HeartMath app. Listen to chapter five. Go to the “Learning” section and tap “Audiobooks.”

 

HeartMath Institute: Empowering Students with Tools for Emotional Well-Being

Posted on | by HeartMath

HeartMath Institute’s innovative school programs are gaining traction across the US.  

The past few years haven’t been easy for kids. Studies show that roughly 1 in 6 children aged 5-16 experience some form of a mental health issue. 

Between the social isolation of COVID-19, constant changes to schooling, and a world full of uncertainty, it’s no wonder many kids are struggling with anxiety and feeling down. War, climate warming, and political turmoil can add another layer of worry and fear for them.

Social media can facilitate connection but can also fuel feelings of inadequacy with all the comparisons and potential for cyberbullying.  

Building Confidence and Self-Regulation

HeartMath Institute’s school programs, based on over 30 years of research, are showing promise in addressing these rising student mental health concerns.   

The programs focus on building “heart-brain coherence,” a state where the heart and brain are in sync, resulting in feeling calmer, more focused, and better able to handle challenges. 

These skills translate into tangible benefits for students, including:

  • Improved Mental Health: Learning to manage their emotions brings children closer to improving their mental well-being.
  • Enhanced Academic Performance: Studies show that emotional regulation skills can lead to better focus and concentration in the classroom.
  • Stronger Social Connections: Understanding and regulating emotions fosters better communication and builds healthier relationships with peers.

Cool Tech

Kids love the technology because it lets them actually see their emotions. As they begin to feel calmer and more focused, the app images calm down, too.   

“I previously did not have control of how I felt, but now I do. That unlocked a whole new world for me, where even in stressful situations, I can still feel good.”

— SB, high school student

Real-World Examples:

  • Florida: Teachers are utilizing the emWave® Pro technology to help students process and manage trauma.
  • Portland, Oregon: A special education teacher is equipping 200 preschool teachers with HeartMath® techniques for fostering emotional well-being in young children.
  • Houston, Texas: A CDC grant program is incorporating HeartMath’s self-regulation techniques to support students struggling with agitation and focus issues.
  • Canada: In a four-week study, students reported:
    • Enhanced emotional stability
    • Increased self-esteem
    • Improved interpersonal relationships
  • HeartMath’s programs, HeartSmarts Adventure®, WiseHeart®, and Smart Brain Wise Heart™, have received grants in recognition of their effectiveness in addressing student mental health challenges. 

How You Can Help:

There are several ways you can contribute to supporting children’s mental health:

  • Watch and Share: If you have or care about kids, check this 5-minute video out and share it. It can help kids navigate their lives, schools, and social worlds. This is an indispensable skill set that all children should have access to — easy-to-learn, science-based, proven benefits. 
  • Advocate for School Programs: In a world that is unsure of what makes sense, learning how to connect to the heart, turn around a negative situation, and love themselves and the people around them is essential. If this inspires you, help us connect the dots by getting these tools to all children and schools.

By working together, we can equip children with the tools they need to thrive emotionally and navigate the complexities of life with confidence.

You can learn more about HeartMath Institute’s activities in education in their quarterly newsletter, Heart Smarts, here.

Care Focus: Putting Love into Action

Posted on | by HeartMath

Putting Love into Action

We are all deeply affected by the suffering of people from the wars in Gaza and Ukraine and the armed conflicts in Darfur, Haiti, and elsewhere. Our deepest compassion goes out to all who are enduring violence, displacement, famine, and fear.

We all can make a difference by energizing the global heart awakening. This can help shift the trajectory of separation and hate with the transformative power of love and kindness. The increasing political and societal polarization creating separation, even among friends and family members, is calling for us to better understand each other’s needs and concerns. Deeper listening with care can help with this.

Increasingly, more people are realizing that the warmth of kindness and care is needed for people to get along with each other. Increasing our care and genuine connection raises our vibration to access higher choices and actions that benefit the whole. This helps raise the planetary energetic field, which helps lift human consciousness to make it easier for more of us to connect with the heart’s intelligent guidance.

Practicing heart qualities, such as compassionate care, kindness, appreciation, deep listening, and forgiveness, cultivates an inclusive love that respects our cultural and personal differences. If even a small percentage of us commit to practicing compassionate understanding, the heart can go viral across the planet. As we write, more and more people are becoming aware that the planet is in a serious drought from the lack of heart energy. It’s time for love to hit the street. That is the awakening.

The Global Field Environment

GCI is demonstrating — through a Worldwide Network of Magnetometers, Random Number Generators, and Tree Monitoring Sensors — that we are all far more interconnected with each other, nature, and Earth’s magnetic fields than previously understood. Earth’s magnetic fields interconnect and distribute information to all living beings and organisms on our planet — that’s why it’s important for each of us to feed the energetic field environment with love and compassion. This will help offset the stress waves, create a viral momentum of heart awareness, and lift the consciousness of humanity.

The vibrations of our moods, attitudes, thoughts, and feelings rise and fall throughout the day, based on our actions and reactions — especially in today’s dynamic emotional climate. The “vibes” we emanate to others and into the environment vary based on our mind, emotions, and disposition. An easy way to maintain a higher vibration is to practice going back to the heart when we get triggered or feel stressed and then interweave qualities of love, care, kindness, appreciation, or compassion into our interactions. That’s putting love into action. Anyone who experiences these heart qualities recognizes their transformative value.

Most of us know that love is the missing piece, but still, to break the inertia, we have to step into it to move forward. After a week of practice, it gets easier, especially as we start to experience the benefits. During these times, remember to have compassion for yourself, as most of us are doing the best we can based on our situations while the planet is going through heightened intensities.

Care Focus: Putting Love into Action

  1. Center in the heart and breathe love and appreciation. This warms our heart and increases coherence in our heart’s intention.
  2. Breathe easily and imagine with each breath that your mind, emotions, and body are becoming still inside. This helps with focus.
  3. Next, visualize more of humanity connecting with their heart’s love, kindness, compassion, and respect in their interactions to reduce separation and draw in new solutions that serve the greater whole.
    As the collective heart awakens, this can eventually transform the civil unrest from separation and clear the way for people to get along with each other — a first step toward creating a better and more harmonious world.
  4. Now, let’s radiate our inclusive love and compassion to all who are suffering throughout the planet from wars, famine, and many other hardships. Let’s remember to send focused care and compassion to help ease the suffering of people in Gaza, Israel, Ukraine, Darfur, and Haiti.

You can continue to do the Care Focus, if convenient, after the full moon period, as this will help raise the vibratory rate of the personal and collective field environment.

Thank you for your participation in this Care Focus.

GCI Steering Committee and Staff

It Starts with the Heart: Could Your Heart Hold the Key to Better Mental Health?

Posted on | by HeartMath

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, which offers us a unique opportunity to consider not only what goes on in our minds but also the profound connection between the heart and our mental health, especially during these challenging times. 

Many people aren’t aware of how their heart rhythm affects their brain and mental health. However, research at the HeartMath Institute has uncovered the powerful role heart rate variability (HRV) plays in our overall well-being and mental health. The good news is there are ways to bring your HRV into a smooth and coherent state, improving your emotional balance and mental clarity.

Understanding Heart Rate Variability

Heart rate variability (HRV) measures the interval between heartbeats. It’s essentially your heart rhythm. Measuring HRV opens a window into our mental and emotional state as well as our autonomic nervous system, which controls 90% of our body’s involuntary functions, such as digestion, sleep, and hormonal and immune responses. 

Research at the HeartMath Institute shows that when we’re worried, anxious, stressed, or depressed, the heart’s rhythm becomes erratic and disordered. The more stressed you are, the more irregular and chaotic your heart rhythm pattern looks. 

However, HeartMath Institute research also shows that positive feelings like kindness, gratitude, appreciation, compassion, love, and joy help create order and coherence in the heart’s rhythm. And you can learn simple techniques to help shift your heart rhythm into a more coherent pattern that enhances positive feelings and promotes a calmer, more emotionally balanced, and clearer state of mind.

Tips to Enhance Heart Coherence and Improve Mental Health

To help support you during Mental Health Awareness Month, here are two effective tips and techniques you might like to try to bring your heart rhythm into a more coherent state, improving your emotional well-being and mental clarity.

  1. Unplug from the digital world. When you feel anxious about personal concerns or global events, taking a break from the influx of news and social media posts can be beneficial. Use this time to engage in nurturing and relaxing activities, such as being in nature, listening to soothing music, or connecting with loved ones. Also, try practicing a heart-focused breathing technique (provided below) to bring your heart rhythm into greater coherence. 
  1. Use the Quick Coherence Technique for better sleep. If you have a hard time falling asleep or struggle to fall asleep again once you wake up during the night, take a few minutes and try resetting your heart rhythm with the Quick Coherence Technique (provided below) while lying in bed. Research shows that practicing heart rhythm coherence can help you fall asleep and wake up more rested and refreshed. 

By embracing these simple yet powerful heart-focused practices, we can not only take steps to reduce stress and enhance our mental and emotional health but also create a more balanced and fulfilling life. Remember, it starts with the heart. 

For more insights into heart rhythm coherence, watch this short video. 

Compassionate Latitude: A Powerful Heart Quality for Healing Separation

Posted on | by HeartMath

Compassionate latitude is a powerful combination of important heart qualities. Compassion involves caring for others amidst their challenges, while latitude gives allowance for those “human” moments when people may not be at their best. When we apply compassionate latitude especially in times of busyness and tension, it creates a warm-hearted connection where we all feel more at ease, accepted and cared for. We invite you to watch our video for a deeper understanding of compassionate latitude and how to apply it in your life for maximum benefit.

Activating the Intelligence of Love

Posted on | by HeartMath

Life seems to be calling for humanity to understand the intelligence of love — what we call heart intelligence. Everyone talks about love and wants love, but understanding love and the heart has remained a mystery for most people.

Love as intelligence is a synergy of heart and mind, expanding perception and higher cognitive faculties. It’s not just about feeling love but about practicing love in ways that are beneficial both for ourselves and others. It’s understanding that practicing love in the form of heart qualities, such as patience, kindness, forgiveness, compassion, gratitude, and more, is highly intelligent.

Practicing heart qualities moves love through our system, which facilitates emotional balance, clear intuitive thinking, and, importantly, reduces feelings of separation.

With all the intensities and stressors happening in the world, more people are feeling separate from family and friends who support different religious or political beliefs or policies. It’s now estimated that about 1 in 4 adults have a family estrangement, and an increasing number of young adults are choosing to go “no contact” with their parents. For most, family rifts are a source of chronic stress.

We are all energetically connected, and the experience of separation from family or friends can create health problems and brain fog, making it harder to think clearly. It’s hard enough to make decisions with effective outcomes in uncertain times, but it’s even harder when we’re processing separation, hurt, or guilt. It can destroy our capacity to discern with balance.

Love as intelligence is recognizing our shared humanity. It’s time to get more heart and love moving through our system. More heart is needed to renew relationships or get along with each other without feeling awkward or separate when we disagree. Here are some key heart qualities that are important to practice during this time. They will contribute to more effective communication, conflict resolution, and building stronger relationships. Increasing our heart qualities is how we can begin to heal separation and solve problems that seem to have no solutions.

Patience

Love in the form of patience supports our ability to manage our energies from a place of ease in the heart, especially when people say things we don’t agree with or we’re in situations we don’t like. We often forget to practice patience when we need it the most in relationships.  

Kindness

Love is being kind to people, even when we disagree. Kindness feels good to our heart and to those who receive our kindness. Practicing kindness helps to ease separative thoughts and feelings and often makes situations better.

Compassionate Latitude

Compassionate latitude understands that most people (including us) are doing the best they can based on their upbringing, stress overload, and the clouded thinking many are experiencing during these unpredictable times. Practicing compassionate latitude can quickly begin to reduce reactivity and prevent stress build-up. Having compassionate latitude can help us get over communication challenges more easily and manage disagreements without cutting off our love or holding others accountable for our stress.

Forgiveness

Many people separate from a family member or friend because they felt hurt by them and, therefore, won’t forgive them. It’s understandable why we can feel it’s appropriate to hold onto bitterness and anger. But as we practice forgiveness and get more heart energy moving in our system, we release pent-up hurt or animosity and its negative effects on our mental, emotional, and physical health.

Unforgiven feelings can quietly drain our energy, creating shades of flatness in our joy and happiness. The genuine practice of forgiveness increases the love flowing through our system and releases neurochemicals and hormones that soothe and improve well-being. Forgiveness often happens in stages.

Gratitude

Many books recommend practicing gratitude daily for mental, emotional, and physical health. They suggest practicing gratitude first thing in the morning to set a positive tone for your day or before bed to reflect on people and events you feel grateful for and enjoy the heart-opening it gives you. Sincere gratitude is one of the quickest ways to heal feelings of separation. Tuning our heart to gratitude provides an uplift or warmth that soothes the nervous system. It’s like a tonic for our soul, just as expressing gratitude to another uplifts their spirit.

Moving love through our system with acts of kindness, compassionate latitude for different beliefs, forgiveness, patience, and gratitude is activating the intelligence of love. As more of us practice these heart qualities, it puts more love into the energetic field, making it easier for others to do the same and eventually nations. We’re all connected energetically. This is how love can go viral. Love activated is the only thing that will change the world.

Meditation: Moving More Love Through Our System

  1. Breathe in love and get still in your heart. As you breathe out, radiate love into your mental, emotional, and physical system. See your heart, brain, and nervous system aligning in harmony and coherence.
  2. Now, envision yourself moving more love through your system by practicing heart qualities to reduce separation or improve a relationship. Ask your heart’s intuitive guidance for which heart qualities are most important for you to practice now, e.g., patience, kindness, compassionate latitude, forgiveness, gratitude, or another heart quality to increase love and heal separation.
  3. Next, breathe in the quality of love that your heart is guiding you to practice. As you breathe out, radiate that heart quality into the energetic field or to a relationship or situation to help heal separation.

It’s beneficial for each of us to take a week to practice a few of these heart qualities in different situations. Being genuine in your approach often brings a lift in spirit that can help you move through challenges that may arise. The main benefit of this exercise is that it helps to integrate more love into your system, which increases the connection with your heart’s intuitive guidance and direction.

Out With the Old, In With the New

Posted on | by HeartMath

“Out with the old, in with the new” is not just for the new year. It’s how we can create a new and better life. Within the process of moving from old to new, many of us are experiencing old issues we thought were healed or cleared coming up again. This is natural, especially during times of accelerated change in society. Rather than feeling discouraged, there is a more hopeful view. We can see these as traces of old patterns we no longer need coming up for more complete clearing. And here’s the best news: As old issues get cleared, this creates room for new heart-based perspectives and guidance to come in, which we all need in today’s times of intensity and change.

So How Do We Release Old Patterns as They Come Back Up?

First, it’s important to know that you are not alone, or wonder if you’ve done something wrong, or think that change is impossible when an old pattern resurfaces. Know that the shift energies on the planet are bringing up old programs for most people. No matter how real it feels, see whatever is coming up as not bad but simply as remnants of old stuff ready to release. 

The key to releasing old programs is self-acceptance and self-compassion, rather than resistance, self-criticism, or self-doubt. The power to release unproductive thoughts and emotions comes from your heart. Draw on your heart energy with meaningful intent, and the same old perceptions and programs will ease out. The heart is stronger than negative patterns or stuck energies; it just takes some practice to let them go.

Another important approach is to not add more mental and emotional stress to an old perception and reaction, wondering why and wherefore, or adding significance to it. For example, if you tend to get irritated or triggered by what someone says or does, and you get out of balance, that can bring up other old issues and you may feel anger or feel sorry for yourself. Recognize the process but try not to over-identify with it. This can be hard to do at times when it feels so real – again. Instead, have acceptance of whatever comes up, make peace with it, and then move on. You’ll find if you do this with meaningful heart intent, most often it will release. It may come up again, but likely with less intensity. It’s worth it to just keep practicing, as new insights and a new you will awaken. You’ll become more of your true self.

Here’s another hopeful perspective that can help explain the process that’s going on. The rapid societal and global changes we’re all going through are creating a global stress energy. At times we can feel uncertain, anxious, or depressed, not knowing why or where it’s coming from. Just as we are clearing out old to make room for new, so too is our planet going through a clearing. Old structures are breaking down and old societal issues are coming to the surface to clear so that new effective solutions that serve the whole can come in. Without releasing the old, there isn’t space for new solutions. More people are realizing this and feeling the prompting of their hearts to release the old and come together to co-create a new world that works for all. 

When people can’t release stress build up, it restricts the flow of their own spirit, followed by a feeling of compression. Some feel it as ongoing worry, anxiety, sadness, sleep problems, or they can’t think clearly. This also affects families and schools. As compression persists, it manifests in biological imbalances, such as nervous system or hormonal imbalances, and we can slide into depression. This happens in phases: 

  • Accumulated mental and emotional stress
  • Lack of spirit impression (restricting spirit flow)
  • Compression
  • Biological imbalances
  • Temporary or long-term depression

The Secret Hidden in the Open

The word “depression” means “low in spirit” or “dispirited.” Releasing depression and uplifting our spirit involves re-opening our heart.  The heart is where the gifts of spirit are activated within the human system. That’s the secret hidden in the open. The need for more heart in our interactions is accelerating in the world. More people are looking to their heart for direction and answers because most everything else has been tried. Now is the time for each of us to increase our love, care, and compassion for each other and ourselves. Doc Childre, founder of HeartMath, created the Cut-Thru technique to help us re-open the heart, so more of our spirit can come in for healing and mental and emotional support. The Cut-Thru® technique helps to lift our spirit and gain the objectivity needed to release over-identity with issues that keep us from feeling peace and the renewal of hope and direction. 

The Cut-Thru technique starts by helping us get into heart coherence to harmonize our heart and brain, which deepens our connection with spirit and intuitive insight. This powers up our ability to release old stuck programs. Harmonizing the heart and brain has many benefits, and one of the most powerful is it acts as a de-stressor on levels we aren’t conscious of yet. Instead of analyzing all the old hurts, resentments and judgments from our past, heart coherence lifts our awareness into new perceptions that help release compression and rebalance our mental, emotional, and biological systems, with practice. 

More and more health professionals are now including heart coherence in their treatment for hopelessness and depression, rather than focusing on the problems that cause people to turn on themselves and deplete their system. Sure, there will still be challenges, but we can get over them quicker once we know how to re-open the heart, uplift the vibration of our spirit, and see new – like children do. 

Letting go of Over-identity

Look at the Cut-Thru technique as a power tool to help us let go of over-identity. When we create excessive drama and over-identify with old stuff coming up, we can get pulled back into old perceptions, emotions, attitudes, and projections – creating a downward spiral of emotional stress. When we look at a relationship or the world situation through the lens of over-identity, we can take a judgmental stance often with partial information. People, politics, religions, and nations build belief systems based on identities and the result is often a blind refusal to understand another’s point of view. It prevents us from seeing a bigger picture so there can be no resolution or release. This is often the cause of chronic worry, sadness, lack of hope, and depression. It’s time to change and we can. Let’s start with our own challenges and activate the magic of the heart’s power of love, care, and compassion. 

Here’s the Cut-Thru Technique. Take your time with each step. You may have to repeat it a few times to release the old and bring in new hope and direction. We finally have to create, not wait for things to improve.

Cut-Thru® Technique

  1. Become aware of your feelings regarding the challenge or issue.
  2. Focus your attention in the area of the heart. Imagine breathing ease or appreciation slowly and casually through your heart or chest area.
  3. Assume objectivity about your challenging feeling or issue, as if you were considering it from a neutral observer’s perspective.
  4. Rest in neutral, in your objective, mature heart. Soak any disturbed or perplexed feelings in the compassion of the heart. This can help dissolve the significance a little at a   time. (It’s often the amount of emotional significance we put into an issue that creates a bigger problem than the issue itself.)
  5. After dissolving as much significance as you can, sincerely ask your heart’s intuition for appropriate inner guidance or insight for going forward. Ask your heart what really matters here. This is an important part of Cut-Thru.

Suggestion: If you don’t get an insight, find something to appreciate for a while and do Cut-Thru again at another time. Some things take longer because the emotional imprint was stronger—such as feelings of betrayal, abuse, trauma, etc.

The intensity of today’s times is providing a grand opportunity for us to wake up and realize that not a lot is going to change or clear without the heart’s power and intelligence being added to the process. More people are realizing that we really can help ourselves more than we think if we apply a genuine intention to our heart’s commitment. Humanity has just scratched the surface regarding the focused power of heart and love and its capacity for clearing and healing. Heartfelt alignment between our own heart, mind, and emotions is the foundation for getting along with our own self and with each other. With genuine practice, we can find within our heart the personal guidance and direction we need for our next steps along the path to becoming our empowered, true self.

Care Focus: Caring for Self; Caring for the World

Posted on | by HeartMath

Helping the World 

As we pause at times during the day to radiate our heart’s care and compassion to all the people suffering in Gaza and Israel and in the Russia-Ukraine war, we can wonder how much of a difference are we making and how else can we help the world. You’re not alone if you feel discouraged at times. With all the intensities going on, one after another, it can look like the world is falling into disarray. It’s important that we remember there’s a Shift happening on the planet. Old repressed energies have to come to the surface to release, or there wouldn’t be a Shift. It’s clearing the old to make room for the new.

An indication of the new is the wonderful momentum happening on the planet, with more and more people around the globe reporting that they are just tired of the separateness, the resentments, and of people, cultures, and countries not getting along with each other. Particularly among younger generations, there is a growing feeling of “enough is enough” and wanting to help the world by doing something different. Instead of waiting for governments or political parties to change, they realize they are the ones who have to create the change.

There is a heart-directed momentum developing in the midst of the wars and climate crises. More people are wanting to reduce the judgments and separation they have with each other. More people are practicing heart qualities — being kinder and having more compassionate care. It’s in the air. It’s a kindness and compassion movement across the planet and in different religions — a universal feeling that opening our hearts to each other is the one thing in the collective that hasn’t been tried yet. By allowing our hearts to lead, we can transform our care into actions that serve the whole. 

Caring for Self; Caring for the World 

The easiest way to both lift our spirit and help the world is to step up our outgoing care. As we focus on altruistically helping others, this helps to untie our internal knots and clear our energies to see new possibilities and feel reassurance. Sending heart energy and compassion to others helps connect us with intuitive heart feelings that can guide our direction, choices, and the best ways to turn our love and care into action. Here are a few examples: 

  1. A good start is having more care, compassion, and respect in our conversations. 
  1. When we think of the wars going on and problem areas in the world, we can radiate love, care, and compassion to the leaders making decisions and to the people affected. Radiating love into the field environment helps to dissipate clouds of density — making the Shift easier than it could be for humanity. 
  1. This holiday time can be extra stressful for many, so let’s remember to be kinder, less judgmental, and have more compassionate care. 

Putting care into action is called practical spirituality to create a better world — a world enriched with compassion and connection rather than separation. Practical spirituality involves consciously interacting with more love, care, and kindness. Practicing compassionate latitude helps to reduce our judgments and frustrations by realizing most everyone is going through challenges or brain fog that can distort our reasoning and choices. It’s especially helpful to open our hearts with compassion and respect for people who hold different views from us so we can learn to get along. Many people see this as a major missing piece for helping the world.

One of the most effective acts of service we can do is increase the heart energy moving through our system during the day. Pausing in the midst of activity to radiate gratitude, kindness, or compassion is a regenerative act of self-care that many of us forget (especially when we are pressed with stress, which is when we need it the most). It’s important that we do self-care maintenance, which strengthens our compassionate care going out to the world. Radiating heart care also helps to clear the way for sorting out our personal next steps. Often, our heart energies modulate up and down at times. When we feel down, it’s helpful to put out soft, genuine heart care — whether we can always feel it or not — as this helps ease our way through many challenging situations with much less stress. It aligns our heart, mind, and emotions for increased clarity on how we can best contribute, and draws more love and care to us.

As our hearts open more, we will sense more ways we can be effective in changing the world. Yet, the problem is that often we don’t sustain our initiative to practice the effective principles we aspire to until they become our new norm. It’s time for us all to stay meaningful with our practices and commitments to open our hearts more in our interactions and bring our much-needed love and care to the street. 

Care Focus: Caring for Self; Caring for the World 

  1. Breathe in love and get still inside. As you breathe out, radiate love and care into your cells. 
  1. While radiating love into your cells, see your mental, emotional, and physical health improving. Breathe light into your cells to clear density so more spirit can come in for healing and for mental and emotional support. 
  1. Now, envision yourself having more compassionate latitude for others, clearing miscommunications quicker, and listening to your heart feelings for direction in caring for yourself, others, and the world. Do this for a few minutes. 
  1. Now, breathe in what your heart guides you to do. Step into putting that care into action by breathing your intention into the earth. 
  1. Now, let’s radiate the collective heart energy to compassion and care initiatives that are facilitating the planetary Shift. See leaders deciding to cooperate more to increase peace and harmony in the world. 
  1. Let’s close by sending our deepest care and compassion to all who are suffering from wars, natural disasters, famine, and other major stressors. 

You can continue to do the Care Focus anytime it is convenient, as this will help raise the vibratory rate of the personal and collective field environment.

Thank you for your participation in this Care Focus.

Thank you for Caring. 

GCI Steering Committee and Staff 

(Reprinted with permission, HeartMath® Institute)

Heart Focus Event for the Holidays!

Posted on | by HeartMath

Deborah Rozman and Howard Martin present a live Heart Focus Event and Meditation this season.

Experience tapping into the heart’s wisdom for greater ease, intuitive guidance, calm, and flow. We share key practices for opening and expanding our hearts’ wisdom, as well as the daily life benefits of doing so for ourselves and others — followed by a 15-minute guided heart coherence experience with Heart Math’s CEO, Deborah Rozman.