Relaxing Can Take Practice

Posted on | by HeartMath

Believe it or not relaxing can take practice – especially if we are not currently using tools that help us learn how to quiet the mind and still the body. Some people may find that it can take a couple of days at the beginning of a vacation before they start to really feel unplugged and are experiencing the pleasure of downtime.

To help find and keep that relaxed feeling as soon as possible, experiment with the following tool from HeartMath called Notice and Ease. Use it daily during vacation to maximize time off. This exercise can be used for increasing personal balance whether we’re on holiday or at work.

The Notice and Ease Tool from HeartMath®

The simple steps of Notice and Ease teaches us to settle into the moment, take intensity out of any negative emotions and ease them out so we can experience more good feelings such as joy, compassion and vitality. These positive emotions can increase the biochemical DHEA, which promotes emotional vitality, slows the aging process and offsets the stress hormone cortisol.

Step 1: Notice and admit what you are feeling.

To gain more insight about your emotions, you will need to become more aware of what you are feeling. Noticing and admitting what you are feeling requires slowing down and taking stock. Periodically, throughout the day simply pause and notice how you feel. It takes only a few seconds to ask, “What am I feeling right now?” Don’t judge whatever you are feeling. Instead, observe what’s flowing through your emotions. You’ll discover new things about your emotional patterns and what triggers less desirable emotions in you.

Step 2: Try to name the feeling.

Simply by naming the feeling to yourself, whatever it is – worry, anxiety, frustration, anger, sadness, hurt, resistance or even a vague disturbance – will help you admit what you are feeling. Being honest about naming what we are feeling helps regulate our emotional energy, slowing down the emotional energy running through our system and giving us more power. We can then redirect emotional energy to work for us instead of having it leave us feeling drained throughout the day.

Step 3: Tell yourself to e-a-s-e…

As you gently focus in your heart, relax as you breathe and e-a-s-e the stress out. As you tell yourself to ease in your heart, relax and ease the stressful emotion out, feel as if the unwanted emotion is leaving your system. Don’t force it out; ease it out. Befriend the reaction by holding it in your heart, and then let the feeling ease out of your system. If you try to fight your feelings or push them away, they will gain energy. Befriending your feelings will help you clear.

Keep using the Notice and Ease™ tool for one minute or longer, until there is a feeling that something has lightened up, even if there’s not an immediate, complete release. Just keep practicing the Notice and Ease tool until there is a feeling of more inner balance.

The Right Start for Your Day

Posted on | by HeartMath

Your alarm doesn’t go off, you over sleep and you PANIC. You’re running late, can’t find your car keys and you’re FRUSTRATED. You get stuck in traffic, miss your exit and you’re ANGRY. You reach to change the radio station, spill your latte and you’re ANNOYED. You have 3 urgent messages from a client, an ‘I need to talk to you’ message from your boss and you’re ANXIOUS. You’re late for the staff meeting, the only empty chair is next to the guy you can’t stand and you’re IRRITATED. Hey, cheer up! It’s only 9:15!

Sound familiar? And even though a lot of us ignore these ‘little stresses’ and our emotional reactions to them (Hey, this is life!), our bodies don’t: adrenaline soars, extra cortisol is pumped into your body, the heart races, muscles tense up. Over time, our bodies adapt and eventually forget how to rest. It’s the reason why we don’t sleep as well as we used to, we’re on edge more often than not and when we finally get that week-long vacation on Maui, we need three days just to feel relaxed!

There will always be traffic, urgent messages and staff meetings. But we can change how we respond to these every day hassles and in the process, reduce wear and tear on our bodies.

First, don’t ignore how you feel throughout the day. When you feel angry, irritated, anxious, etc. bring your system back to balance, quickly, on demand, with the free Quick Coherence® technique. Heart focus. Heart breathing. Heart feeling.

Second, take 5-15 minutes a few times every week to practice sustaining the heart feeling. Over time you can retrain your system how to rest. Just like stress accumulates in our bodies, so does emotional resilience. You’ll find the little stuff doesn’t bother you as much and you’ll have more energy to handle the big things when they come along.

Take care,
Kim Allen

When Life Happens, Try This Ease Technique!

Posted on | by HeartMath

On a recent trip to visit my family, my husband and I were on our way to the airport and I felt like I might be getting a cold. The day after we arrived I woke up feeling much worse. As our vacation continued I also wasn’t sleeping at night. I thought okay, this isn’t what I had in mind for vacation, but I knew the quicker I could go to a place of acceptance the easier it would be for me to deal with being sick. I found myself using the HeartMath Inner-Ease™ technique (see below or click here for steps of Inner-Ease technique) throughout our trip. I knew it would help me to conserve my energy so I could use it for both healing and to put towards my family.

While still sick and fatigued, my spirits were good from having quality time with my family. If nothing else sharing physical space together for several days was enough to be grateful for. On the last day when my husband and I stopped to drop off our rental car it became obvious that the weather was quickly turning bleak. Once at the airport we immediately checked the flight schedules and saw that our flight was on time.

As soon as we arrived at our gate the airline announced the flight would now be a little delayed due to severe weather. No problem, it’s that time of year we thought. My husband and I set our intention to stay positive knowing soon we’d have our plane and be off. With delay announcements continuing every 60 minutes for several hours, nine hours later we finally had a plane. All the passengers lined up to board only to now be told we had no pilot. Apparently, the pilot was now off duty.

The immediate shock of this news, still feeling quite poorly, and being extremely tired meant we weren’t going anywhere until the next day — and we were going to miss work as a result. By this time it was after 11:00 pm. We quickly arrested our fatigued frustration using the Quick Coherence technique and returned to our attitude of inner ease. We did a quick survey of local accommodations – what luck, we got a room!

A little after midnight, as our shuttle pulled up in front of the hotel, my husband’s cell phone rang. It was the hotel calling to inform us they no longer had our room available even though we had given a deposit to hold it and we were right out front. Again, we were presented with an opportunity to go even deeper in the heart and hold our inner ease.

Gaby and JimBack to the airport we went. By this time sleep deprivation and lack of food, having been fifteen hours since we last ate, were adding to the surreal feeling of it all. Everything in the airport was closed; it was like being in a very weird dream. Again, I found myself referring back to my heart tools. Quick Coherence and Inner Ease were my tools of choice throughout our trip.

On the flight home I reflected on the experience and appreciated just how well these tools worked. I also appreciated myself for my efforts to keep a casual ease attitude with what could have been a very stressful situation. It also further confirmed for me the power within each of us to choose and create how we want to respond to life and its unpredictable events.

The Inner-Ease™ Technique

The simple steps of Notice and Ease teaches us to settle into the moment, take intensity out of any negative emotions and ease them out so we can experience more good feelings such as joy, compassion and vitality. These positive emotions can increase the biochemical DHEA, which promotes emotional vitality, slows the aging process and offsets the stress hormone cortisol.

 

Focused

Step 1: Heart-Focused Breathing

Focus your attention in the area of the heart. Imagine your breath is flowing in and out of your heart or chest area, breathing a little slower and deeper than usual.

Suggestion: Inhale 5 seconds, exhale 5 seconds (or whatever rhythm is comfortable).

 

Lungs

Step 2: Draw in the Feeling of Inner Ease

With each breath, draw in the feeling of inner ease to balance your mental and emotional energy.

 

Anchor

Step 3: Anchor and Maintain the Feeling

Set a meaningful intent to anchor the feeling of inner ease as you engage in your projects, challenges or daily interactions.

 

Quick Steps

  • Heart-Focused Breathing
  • Draw in the feeling of inner ease
  • Anchor and maintain the feeling

Benefits of a Vacation

Posted on | by HeartMath

Ahhh, vacation time! While this might be how you’re feeling, not everyone feels this way. Many people are skipping vacations though a vacation might be the best thing for heart, mind and body health.

While scrapping vacation time might seem easier than all the preparation, research suggests it can put unnecessary strain on our health.

Giving ourselves permission to slow down and make time to practice self-care is vital to the mind, body and spirit. Vacations allow us to replenish our personal energy, they allow for some inner-reflection, and it’s an opportunity to nurture our heart connections with family and friends. Vacation time can help us increase our overall wellness.

Mind/Body Benefits of Vacation

1. Making time for family and friends strengthens connections and helps to nourish our mental and emotional health.

2. Allowing for casual downtime gives our mind and body time to rest.

3. Temporarily ditching our routine allows our adventurous side to step out and explore.

4. A change in scenery can usher in a fresh energy and perspective about life.

5. Vacations allow us to be outside more and enjoy nature – revitalizing our sense of wonder.

6. Stepping away from work and routines can often inspire ideas, solutions and new ways of handling complex situations.

If you’re ready to make this summer a season for reclaiming your self-care and balance, the next step is to look at how you can use your time wisely so you don’t end up needing to recuperate from a vacation. Stay tune for more fun vacation stories and tips…..

Independence Day

Posted on | by HeartMath

We talk, and sometimes even brag, about the amount of stress we’re experiencing these days. Yet, I still hear the same excuses for not doing something about it.

I just don’t have the time! We’re all busy and as long as we believe stress reduction requires time, we continue to reserve it for Saturday morning in the garden or 9:00 pm in the bathtub or late August in Maui! The truth is stress doesn’t wait until you have time to ‘manage’ it. You need something that works 24/7, QUICK! It takes less than a minute to stop the stressful feeling with HeartMath’s basic Quick Coherence® technique: Heart focus; heart breathing; heart feeling. Five times a day takes less than five minutes!

Nothing’s going to change anyway. Don’t expect life to suddenly transform around you every time you shift into coherence. Do it for your own sake. Don’t ignore the impact you can have on others when you are more balanced or calm.

It’s not working. Be patient. Like learning any new skill, this takes practice. And simply thinking about it won’t have the same benefit. You need to focus on and engage the heart; shift how you feel. Anytime you learn something new, the least line of resistance has the tendency to win out. The time it takes to find an excuse can be better spent to:

Recharge your batteries. Make a shift before you feel stressed. Pause for 15-30 seconds and find something in your life to appreciate. Each time you do this, you boost your whole system.

ave fun with your practice. If you approach your practice too seriously, it will feel like a chore and create even more stress. Find ways to build coherence into your daily routines.

Finally, recognize your stressful feelings one more time today than you did yesterday and then do something about it. Just one extra shift to coherence a day can save wear and tear on your body.

This July 4th, liberate yourself from your stress, once and for all.


Take care,
Kim Allen

Enjoy Life!

Posted on | by HeartMath

PaintDo you ever feel like life needs a fresh coat of paint or a little dusting off? Some days we can wake up feeling like the sheen seems to be absent from our life. As if something is different or something changed when we weren’t looking. These feelings aren’t uncommon and often can be an inner heart signal telling us it’s time to refresh our attitudes and try new ways of doing our routines and breathe fresh energy into everyday events.

Over the summer we will be sharing some helpful insights and tips that can help you get more out of life—useable suggestions that we hope will add a little sparkle to your summer! So let’s get started.

Enjoy Life! Tip – Appreciation

SmileThink about how different life looks when seen through the eyes of appreciation. Appreciation is one of the most effective core heart feelings for giving you an energy boost and changing your perspective. When you appreciate yourself and the wonderful bounty of your life, your own value increases, both for yourself and others. Take some time today and remember to appreciate.

10 Ways to Extend the Vacation Feeling

Sunglasses

Don’t settle back into “the usual” so fast. We can keep the feeling of vacation a little longer by slowly returning to routines, especially while the weather is good and the days longer. Be creative — there are plenty of simple, fun activities that have a little vacation feeling. Read Article

A Most Memorable Adventure

Eiffel Tower

Traveling can be stressful—find out how Howard dealt with some challenging situations while on a business trip. In forty hours he had been in two different countries, met many new people, delivered a program, had four amazing meetings, experienced new fellowship — and had a most memorable adventure. Read Article

When Life Happens, Try This Ease Technique!

Anchor

On a recent trip to visit my family, my husband and I were on our way to the airport and I felt like I might be getting a cold. The day after we arrived I woke up feeling much worse. As our vacation continued I also wasn’t sleeping at night. I thought okay, this isn’t what I had in mind for vacation, but I knew the quicker I could go to a place of acceptance the easier it would be for me to deal with being sick. Read Article

Benefits of a Vacation

Passport

Ahhh, vacation time! While this might be how you’re feeling, not everyone feels this way. Many people are skipping vacations though a vacation might be the best thing for heart, mind and body health. Read Article

When Stressed—Apply Self-Care

Posted on | by HeartMath

Doesn’t it feel good to be appreciated? When someone shares with you their appreciation, whether about you or something positive that happened to them, the feeling is palpable. That’s because appreciation is a powerful emotion that positively impacts our entire system. Science has shown that this single emotion can positively enhance our attitudes, our immune system, our heart rhythms – even our mental clarity.

There’s a wonderful quote by Robert Brault that goes, “appreciate the little things in life for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.” Rather than waiting to look back, we can intentionally add more of this powerful and beneficial energy in our lives by just taking a couple moments every day to genuinely feel the appreciation we have for our friends, loved ones and even the kindness we may have received from someone we don’t know.

Consciously applying appreciation adds value to that which is important in our lives and reminds us that life is good!

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. (It’s scientifically proven that radiating love and self-care through your system activates beneficial hormones and boosts your immunity. Practicing will increase your awareness of when the stressful emotion has calmed into a state of ease.)

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.

Appreciating What Is—Reminds Me that Life is Good

Posted on | by HeartMath

Doesn’t it feel good to be appreciated? When someone shares with you their appreciation, whether about you or something positive that happened to them, the feeling is palpable. That’s because appreciation is a powerful emotion that positively impacts our entire system. Science has shown that this single emotion can positively enhance our attitudes, our immune system, our heart rhythms – even our mental clarity.

There’s a wonderful quote by Robert Brault that goes, “appreciate the little things in life for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.” Rather than waiting to look back, we can intentionally add more of this powerful and beneficial energy in our lives by just taking a couple moments every day to genuinely feel the appreciation we have for our friends, loved ones and even the kindness we may have received from someone we don’t know.

Consciously applying appreciation adds value to that which is important in our lives and reminds us that life is good!

The Best Tools Available!

Posted on | by HeartMath

All the latest tools and gadgets won’t help you build a house unless you know when to use the power drill or the screw driver.

The HeartMath® system includes a variety of tools and techniques designed to use any time to create the mental, emotional and physical state we call coherence. We know that coherence is the foundation of good performance, optimal health and a better quality of life. We also know coherence is a great stress buster. However, if we only wait until we’re stressed to reach into the tool box, we can miss an opportunity to improve just about everything we do during the work day.

Troubleshoot throughout your day. Get coherent and reap the benefits of building a solid foundation.

When you… And you want to…
Have to make an important decision Think more clearly; reduce confusion; take a different approach; see the big picture
Are in a meeting Improve communication; stay on track; be more creative; stop the blame, judgments and contentiousness that can divide teams
Are faced with change Shift your perspective; be more flexible and less resistant; reduce feelings of anxiety
Are in a challenging situation Listen better; stop jumping to conclusions; be less reactive or defensive
Feel tired Reduce fatigue; get an energy boost; improve focus and mental clarity
Have too much to do and not enough time Improve your ability to separate the important from the urgent; improve your focus; save time: align your actions with what’s most important
Are in information overload Calm your mind; increase mental clarity and focus; have a clearer view of your priorities; reduce anxiety
Are bored Energize your system; expand your perspective; be more creative

Take care,
Kim Allen

Tom’s Story of Recovery

Posted on | by HeartMath

Tom’s brain injury recovery goals were to use heart coherence tools to help relieve anxiety, to help his attention, memory and reading comprehension, and have more clarity in using the Quick Coherence® technique. He was able to make the heart-brain connection, noticing that he felt less anxiety and stress in his body, felt calmer and able to think more clearly. He liked the feeling of being in a calm neutral feeling place. It gave him a feeling of having more control when so much of his brain injury deficits were beyond his control. Tom was excited to go home and look up the word Neutral in the dictionary.

To help his brain retain the steps of the Quick Coherence technique he needed to say it, write it and read it in his notebook which he carries with him at all times. Tom reported on his second session that he practices getting Neutral a lot during the day and its becoming a habit. His anxiety is better, he feels calmer and he’s sleeping better. His notebook and cue cards were very helpful to remind him to practice—he posted them around his apartment. At our fourth session, Tom indicated that he was ready to practice getting coherent on the emWave® PC! It was a challenge for him because of his attention deficit issues to look at the HRV pattern and get coherent. Considering all the challenges he was able to get 20% high coherence in less than 5 minutes!

Tom’s embarrassed feelings about being judged for his brain injury deficits often prevented him from communicating with others and getting the help and information he needs. He often misses going on favorite outings because of this. He was very excited to tell me that this time he recognized his embarrassed feeling, moved through it by getting neutral and was able to make the call to get information about a special outing. Recognizing this shift gave the confidence to do it again when the embarrassing feeling came up. He became so successful that he was able to advocate for himself and get the speech and language rehabilitation he very much needed.

By Tom’s seventh session, he was able to maintain coherence on the emWave Balloon Game while listening to the music, an indication that his multi-tasking attention deficit issues were improving. Gaining more control of his attention issues seemed to be the gateway to using coherence to help improve his memory. In subsequent sessions, Tom would practice sustaining coherence hooked up to the emWave® Pro while playing memory games with a deck of cards. Appreciating himself and his accomplishments became part of his daily coherence practice. His ability to think more clearly and make decisions was getting better. He felt confident enough to consider vocational rehabilitation.”