"Like many organizations, the organization I work for
is performance driven--it's data driven--and people like to
see the proof that something works. HeartMath gives you that
proof."
Chris Roythorne, M.D.,
Chief Medical Officer, BP
"Provocative and highly practical approach at the heart
of business and personal success in the next millennium...
[HeartMath is]
a potent combination of biomedical and research validation
with heart-based technology."
Ken Blanchard,
co-author, The One-Minute Manager and Gung Ho
"Being at the vortex of the high-tech industry is very
stressful. Using the HeartMath techniques...have literally
added ten years to my life!"
Patricia B. Seybold,
CEO, the Patricia Seybold Group, and author, Customers.com:
How to Create a Profitable Business Strategy for the Internet
and Beyond and The Customer Revolution
"The background physiology and the science underpinning
[HeartMath] are absolutely sound, which is why we went ahead
with pilot studies at Shell. Seeing a self-induced change in
their own heart rhythms impressed the company's otherwise skeptical
engineers."
Dr. Graham Bridgewood,
Chief Medical Officer, Shell International (U.K.)
"HeartMath is significant both as a discovery and as
a definition. Thanks to [From Chaos to Coherence by Doc Childre
and Bruce Cryer], this remarkable internal technology of the
human body is unlikely to again be forgotten. As news of the
techniques spread, HeartMath will become part of the (lexicon)
of human behavior, part of everyone's life."
Scott Shuster,
Founding Director, Executive Programs, Business Week
HEALTH LEADERS MAGAZINE
To ease the effects of job pressures, employees at Methodist
Health System in Dallas are being schooled in old-fashioned
stress-reduction techniques, and learning about how the heart's
rhythms affect their physiology. Started in January, the HeartMath
program using Freeze-Framer has been piloted to 220 nurses
in high-stress units. Dawn Sorenson, vice president of organizational
effectiveness, discusses the program's approach.
HealthLeaders Magazine: How does the program work?
Sorenson: It is based on research by HeartMath in California,
which focuses on the role of the heart and emotions in health
and performance. Nurses are taught basic stress-relief tools
such as how to settle down and focus on your breathing and
physiology. We show them how they can change their heart rate
and blood pressure. We also teach intuitive listening techniques.
Often when others are talking to us we get defensive and it
sets us up for failure.
HL: What was the impetus for offering this program?
Sorenson: Nursing is a high-stress career and the shortages
are getting worse. We are doing everything we can to eliminate
that stress so nurses not only feel more productive but also
are not burned out.
HL: What have been the results?
Sorenson: We have seen a marked improvement in how they feel
about their jobs and patients. One nurse said she is actually
falling in love with her job again. Before the workshop, 55
percent said they felt tired all the time but afterwards only
25 percent said the same.
Dawn Sorenson
Vice President of Organizational Effectiveness
Methodist Health System
When an anesthesiologist told vascular surgeon Joseph F.
McCaffrey that he wouldn't give his high-risk patient
anesthesia because the patient hadn't been evaluated
properly, McCaffrey almost lost it. This was the second such
incident in less than a week. "I was ready to blow up.
I just about had my finger on the anesthesiologist's
chest," he says.
But then McCaffrey made himself do the Freeze-Frame technique,
an exercise designed to restore calm in less than a minute.
Using a specific sequence of steps, McCaffrey "froze" his
anger. He imagined himself breathing through his heart. Then
he conjured a good memory strong enough to evoke feelings of
love and appreciation.
According to the folks at HeartMath who teach this technique,
shifting to these feelings dramatically affects the heart's
rhythm. In fact, if McCaffrey had been hooked up to an ECG
at the time of this episode, he'd have seen the frequent,
jagged peaks in his heart rhythm smooth out as the anger gave
way to more positive feelings.
HeartMath Research Director Rollin McCraty says that smoothing
out the heart rhythm changes the nature of the signals the
heart sends to the brain, effectively stopping the body's
stress cascade and facilitating clearer thinking.
As McCaffrey's agitation cleared, he asked himself–still
following the technique–"What would be a more productive
response to this situation?" That's when he realized
that the anesthesiologist was "as interested in taking
good care of the patient as I was."
Keeping that common ground in mind, McCaffrey was able to bring
the anesthesiologist around to his point of view–without
exploding. "I could have been the typical obnoxious surgeon," he
said, "but that wouldn't have made for a very collegial
relationship."
The Freeze-Frame is one of three main exercises HeartMath teaches.
It's designed for use at the moment stress flares up.
The other two–Cut Thru and Heart Lock-In–are meant
for regular use to prevent stress.
EXCERPTS FROM RECENT ARTICLES
HeartMath:
useful in the heat of the moment