What is HeartMath?
Stress has become an everyday occurrence in our lives. People have come to believe that it is inevitable and that they must just learn to live with it. Many might recognize that they have high stress levels but feel that they don’t have the time or willpower to make appropriate changes.
Stress comes from our perception and emotional reactions to an event or idea. It can be any feeling of anxiety, irritation, frustration, or hopelessness. Stress is not only created by a response to an external situation or event. A lot of daily stress is created by ongoing attitudes, recurring feelings of agitation, worry, anxiety, anger, judgments, resentment, insecurities and self-doubt. These emotions are known to drain emotional energy while engaging in everyday life. It is emotions—more than thoughts alone—activating physical changes that make up the “stress response.”
Emotions trigger the autonomic nervous system and in turn trigger stress hormones that cause many harmful effects on the brain and body. Stressful feelings actually lead to a chaotic pattern in the beat-to-beat changes in the heart’s rhythm–indicating that our nervous system is out of sync. When this happens, a cascade of over 1,400 biochemical changes are set in motion that have a wide range of effects on the body’s systems. Today’s stress is more of the wear and tear of daily life.
What used to work for stress relief before may not be as effective today because modern stress is more about the on-going stress levels people are experiencing. Daily life stress can be difficult to change because of how the brain works. Through repeated experiences of stress, the brain learns to recognize the patterns of activity associated with “stress” as a familiar baseline and it becomes the norm. Without effective intervention, stress can become self-perpetuating and self-reinforcing.
Most stress has an emotional source yet until now most of the widely used stress management methods have not focused directly on emotions. Instead, they focus on distraction methods, quieting the mind or trying to relax. While enjoyable, these practices – such as taking a hot bath, or treatments like massage and aromatherapy – do not address the root cause of stress. They need to transform the deeper, recurring emotional patterns that sustain stress-producing feelings. Without essential changes at the emotional level, any other stress-relief method is likely to be short-lived. Emotion regulation (or self-regulation) techniques are a direct and powerful way to override and transform underlying patterns of unhealthy psychological, behavioral, and physiological stress responses.
HeartMath® is a unique system of rigorous scientific research, validated techniques, leading-edge products and programs, and advanced technologies for people interested in personal development and improved emotional, mental, and physical health. HeartMath is internationally recognized for practical solutions that can transform the stress of change and uncertainty and build people’s heart coherence and energy reserves.
As a HeartMath® Certified Coach/mentor, I am able to provide mentoring for those seeking more resilience, energy, and awareness in their lives while reducing worry, stress and anxiety. I have been using HeartMath techniques and technology for over 15 years and offer it as part of my practice at Peace of Heart LLC.
Make an appointment for a one time or multiple HeartMath session(s) with Dr. Patel to reduce stress and feel better today.
HeartMath is a registered trademark of Quantum Intech, Inc.
