HeartMath Biofeedback
Since 1991, the HeartMath Institute has researched and developed reliable, scientifically based tools to help people bridge the connection between their hearts and minds and deepen their connection with the hearts of others. HeartMath Institute’s long years of scientific research and clinical
trials have helped improve thousands of people’s lives worldwide. Whether you are seeking help for job stress, anxiety, fatigue, sleeplessness or another stressful condition, you will find proven, easy-to-use solutions during this retreat.
One of the most important core principles you will gain is in the understanding that heart intelligence is the flow of intuitive awareness, understanding, and inner guidance we experience when the mind and emotions are brought into coherent alignment with the heart. It can be activated through self-initiated practice. The more coherent we are and the more we pay attention to this deeper intuitive inner guidance, the greater our ability to access this intelligence more frequently.
Heart intelligence underlies cellular organization, and guides and evolves organisms toward increased order, awareness and coherence of their bodies’ systems. From a physics perspective, when we are in a coherent state, virtually no energy is wasted because our systems are performing optimally and there is synchronization between heart rhythms, the respiratory system, blood-pressure rhythms, etc. Among the many benefits of personal coherence are increased composure, more energy, clear thinking, enhanced immune system function, and hormonal balance.
Thoughts and emotions can change heart-rhythm patterns, and these changing heart rhythms can affect other bodily systems as well, including the brain and its ability to process information, decision-making, problem- solving and creativity.
Heart rhythms also can directly affect how you feel, and how you feel can affect your heart rhythms. A significant finding in this area of research is that we can intentionally experience positive feelings such as care, compassion, courage, and love, to advantageously affect our heart rhythms and overall well-being.
Coherence: A State of Optimal Function
The HeartMath Institute’s research has shown that generating sustained positive emotions facilitates a body-wide shift to a specific, scientifically measurable state. This state is termed psychophysiological coherence, because it is characterized by increased order and harmony in both our psychological (mental and emotional) and physiological
(bodily) processes. Psychophysiological coherence is state of optimal function. Research shows that when we activate this state, our physiological systems function more efficiently, we experience greater emotional stability, and we also have increased mental clarity and improved cognitive function. Simply stated, our body and brain work better, we feel better, and we perform better.
Physiologically, the coherence state is marked by the development of a smooth, sine-wave-like pattern in the heart rate variability trace. This characteristic pattern, called heart rhythm coherence, is the primary indicator of the psychophysiological coherence state, and is what the emWave and Inner Balance technologies measure and quantify. A number of important physiological changes occur during coherence. The two branches of the ANS synchronize with one another, and there is an overall shift in autonomic balance toward increased parasympathetic activity.
There is also increased physiological entrainment—a number of different bodily systems synchronize to the rhythm generated by the heart (see figure below). Finally, there is increased synchronization between the activity of the heart and brain.
Research for the Institute of HeartMath’s effect on PTSD:
Institute of HeartMath Helps Our Nation’s Protectors Overcome PTSD Meditation, Wellness & Health by Ed Decker April 27, 2015
No one who hasn’t experienced combat on the battlefield or the stresses and unpredictability of military life can truly know what service members go through to serve our country. Even after they come home from tours of duty, their ordeals can stay with them in the form of post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD). And the current era of terrorist threats has increased their emotional and psychological burden, making it more essential than ever for them to have tools and techniques for coping with a high stress load.
Drawing on cutting-edge research on heart rhythms and heart-brain communication, Institute of HeartMath (IHM) scientists have teamed up with members of the military to create stress-control programs customized for service members. Under the direction of Dr. Rollin McCraty (IHM Director of Research and Director of Military Training) and Major Robert A. Bradley (USAF, Ret., Director of Veterans Outreach), IHM Military Resilience Training programs are giving service personnel the tools they need to prep for expected stressful situations, to sustain resilience through those situations, and to reset their emotional state as needed through adjustments to and from military settings. Programs and resources are customized for different sectors of the military, including those on active duty, officers, veterans, and the families of service members.
Coherence: The Key to Optimum Performance and a Balanced Emotional and Cognitive State As with its programs for civilians, IHM training for the military is based on coherence: when heart, mind, and emotions are operating in sync and balanced physiologically—a state especially important to service members. The IHM Coherence Advantage program teaches service members skills for building coherence and resilience.
Participants learn to interrupt the body’s typical stress response of agitation or panic, so they can maintain operational readiness under extreme battlefield conditions and a proper balance for deployments and other day-to-day challenges.
Coherence is based on achieving optimum heart rate variability (HRV), a measure not just of pulse rate but of how this rate varies from minute to minute. A steady heart rate used to be thought of as a sign of good health, but actually a high level of heart rate variability is better both for health and performance. HRV is an important measure of our resilience and directly relates to emotional flexibility, which enables us to better deal with stress and perform well under pressure.
IHM Military Resilience Training involves three key practices, which all feature breathing as a key element:
1.
Heart-focused breathing. This involves imagining your breath flowing in and out of your heart area, then taking slow, deep breaths (inhale for 5 seconds, exhale for 5 seconds). This can help service members invite a state of calm when an environment triggers unpleasant memory, when dealing with civilians who don’t understand their mission, and handling many other stressful situations.
2.
Inner Ease Technique. In this exercise, one imagines that each inhalation draws in a feeling of inner calm, with balance and self-care coming from the heart—a process scientifically proven to activate beneficial hormones and boost immunity. Service members can use this technique to help adjust to redeployment or service transition issues, or when feeling overwhelmed by deadlines, unexpected disruptions, disturbed sleep, or high-pressure decision-
making situations. In a state of inner ease, it’s much easier to choose less stressful perceptions and attitudes, as well as experience more of an even “flow” in daily life. This technique can be especially beneficial for veterans after leaving active duty, when the residue of experiences in war zones can compromise quality of life.
3.
Quick Coherence Technique. This technique combines the breathing exercise with conscious activation of a positive feeling, such as appreciation, or the recollection of an enjoyable occasion or special place that always makes you feel happy or calm. These positive feelings can be re- experienced anytime and anywhere to prepare for or defuse stressful situations.
Coherence Training Helps Veterans Improve Cognition and Reduce Pain. A 2014 issue of Global Advances in Health reports a study showing that HRV coherence training reduced perceived pain, stress, negative emotions, and limitations of activity in veterans suffering from chronic pain. In another study discussed in Alternative Therapies Journal, training with visual HRV feedback, breathing techniques, and induction of positive emotions resulted in major improvements in emotional control, attention, and other cognitive functions. Although these were small studies, they have important implications for the benefits of HRV training.
Coherence Advantage training also utilizes IHM’s innovative emWave®2 Technology, which includes the emWave®2 handheld device and emWave® Desktop computer-based program. The emWave technology enables users to focus on their breathing and positive emotions as they observe changes in their HRV on a monitor or cell phone. This feedback loop helps them learn how to shift to a more coherent state as needed and react more calmly and rationally to stress, anger, and anxiety. By signaling comfort and discomfort levels as users imagine different scenes, for example, it allows them to lock into a scene that is especially calming. This ideal scene can then be called upon during times of stress to defuse the situation and maintain a stable emotional state.
The Benefits of a Consistent HeartMath Practice
The Benefits
As Dr. McCraty and Major Bradley point out, none of the techniques taught in this training program is an instant fix; it takes practice to make the positive responses automatic. But once mastered, these skills can be life- changing for service members and veterans by helping them to:
Considering the types of stress faced by today’s armed services, the emergence of resilience training as a tool for optimizing behavior and maintaining one’s composure is especially important. Thanks to IHM and dedicated military officials, this training is bringing the power of positive emotions to more and more service members each day. And it’s helping them draw on one of the most powerful emotions there is for helping not only others but themselves.
An emotion they have in ample supply that commands our continual respect and admiration: courage.
Many of the changes in bodily function that occur during the coherence state revolve around changes in the heart’s pattern of activity. While the heart is certainly a remarkable pump, interestingly, it is only relatively recently in the course of human history—around the past three centuries or so—that the heart’s function has been defined (by Western scientific thought) as only that of pumping blood. Historically, in almost every culture of the world, the heart was ascribed a far more multifaceted role in the human system, being regarded as a source of wisdom, spiritual insight, thought, and emotion. Intriguingly, scientific research over the past several decades has begun to provide evidence that many of these long-surviving associations may well be more than simply metaphorical. These developments have led science to once again to revise and expand its understanding of the heart and the role of this amazing organ.
In the new field of neurocardiology, for example, scientists have discovered that the heart possesses its own intrinsic nervous system—a network of
nerves so functionally sophisticated as to earn the description of a “heart
brain.” Containing over 40,000 neurons, this “little brain” gives the heart the ability to independently sense, process information, make decisions, and even to demonstrate a type of learning and memory. In essence, it appears that the heart is truly an intelligent system. Research has also revealed that the heart is a hormonal gland, manufacturing and secreting numerous hormones and neurotransmitters that profoundly affect brain and body function. Among the hormones the heart produces is oxytocin—well known as the “love” or “bonding hormone.” Science has only begun to understand the effects of the electromagnetic fields produced by the heart, but there is evidence that the information contained in the heart’s powerful field may play a vital synchronizing role in the human body—and that it may affect others around us as well.
Research has also shown that the heart is a key component of the emotional system. Scientists now understand that the heart not only responds to emotion, but that the signals generated by its rhythmic activity actually play a major part in determining the quality of our emotional experience from moment to moment. As described next, these heart signals also profoundly impact perception and cognitive function by virtue of the heart’s extensive communication network with the brain. Finally, rigorous
electrophysiological studies conducted at the HeartMath Institute have even indicated that the heart appears to play a key role in intuition. Although there is much yet to be understood, it appears that the age-old associations of the heart with thought, feeling, and insight may indeed have a basis in science
Article made available by HeartMath LLC. www.heartmath.com.
