FAIM would like to introduce the HeartMath Institute and the work they are doing to make the world a better place. Following is an introduction to the Institute, their mission, cause, the HeartMath system, and vision.

Mission

The mission of the HeartMath Institute is to help people bring their physical, mental and emotional systems into balanced alignment with their heart’s intuitive guidance. This unfolds the path for becoming heart-empowered individuals who choose the way of love, which they demonstrate through compassionate care for the well-being of themselves, others and Planet Earth.

Cause: Awakening the Heart of Humanity

HeartMath Institute is committed to helping awaken the heart of humanity. We believe that when we align and connect our hearts and minds and connect with others, we awaken the higher mental, emotional and spiritual capacities that frequently lie dormant. HMI aspires to always conduct our operations with passion, compassion and a heartfelt desire to transform lives. This is in keeping with our desire to help usher in an era of ever-expanding heart intelligence.

HeartMath’s research, training and technologies are aimed at guiding all of humanity toward realization of its full potential and to rely on the qualities of the heart in its role as caretaker of future generations and our planet.

About HeartMath Institute

Since 1991, when Doc Childre founded the nonprofit HeartMath Institute, our vision has been to provide tools that connect us with “the heart of who we truly are.” Today HeartMath serves people of all ages and walks of life around the world in their homes, classrooms and communities – so they can live healthier, happier and more fulfilling lives.

We research and develop reliable, scientifically based tools that bridge the connection between heart and mind and deepen people’s connection with the hearts of others. This empowers people to greatly reduce stress, increase resilience and unlock their natural intuitive guidance for making better choices.

HMI’s simple, user-friendly mental and emotional self-regulation tools and techniques provide benefits in the moment and over sustained periods. They enable people everywhere to break through to greater levels of personal balance, creativity, intuitive insight and fulfillment. Our research has formed the foundation for training and education programs worldwide among diverse cultures. We’ve worked with major corporations, government and social-service agencies, all branches of the military, schools and universities, hospitals and a wide range of health-care professionals and law enforcement agencies.

HeartMath Family and HeartMath System

HeartMath was born out of a deep sense of caring for people and our planet and a desire to develop effective and scalable methods and technologies that help people self-regulate their emotions and behavior. The HeartMath family includes the nonprofit HeartMath Institute and for-profit HeartMath Inc.

The HeartMath System offers the hope of new, effective solutions for the many daunting problems that face society by restoring balance and maximizing every individual’s potential. We want to share the HeartMath promise and story in ways that inspire others to join with us in creating a more heart-connected world.

HeartMath Vision

A global shift is under way and people are sensing it involves a deeper connection with their heart. This desire for more heart connection is a growing movement, one that people are drawn to by a nudge from their own intuition or conscience to listen to their hearts more and to connect with their inner guidance. The voice or feelings of the heart have been referred to in writings and teachings throughout the millennia. HeartMath exists to help individuals, organizations, and the global community incorporate the heart’s intelligence into their day-to-day experience of life.

Whether people mention speaking from the heart, connecting with the heart, or following the heart, there is an increased energetic awareness of the importance of the heart’s intelligent input in life’s discernments and choices. It’s being experienced by millions who are coming into expanded global awareness and feel an inner need for the deeper resonance and nurturing of spirit that comes from heart-based connections. These connections can be between a person’s own heart and mind, or between people trying to build community through cooperative interaction.

HeartMath’s commitment is to help make these critical couplings possible. As these connections are established, the world we live in will be transformed. Coherent, heart-centered interactions will generate a higher vibrational consciousness field globally, increasing individual, social and global coherence and resonance. This will support co-creative alliances and draw in new intuitive solutions to our personal and global challenges.

HeartMath shows us a way to remake our world. It provides tools to connect with our inner guidance and technologies to help us be still enough to listen. Its research shows us how we can be empowered to become masters of ourselves and the quality of our future. Together, the tools, technologies and research enable us to realize our full potential as individuals and as a species to serve as caretakers for our planet and generations to come.

Introduction

New research shows the human heart is much more than an efficient pump that sustains life. Our research suggests the heart also is an access point to a source of wisdom and intelligence that we can call upon to live our lives with more balance, greater creativity and enhanced intuitive capacities. All of these are important for increasing personal effectiveness, improving health and relationships and achieving greater fulfillment.

This overview will explore intriguing aspects of the science of the heart, much of which is still relatively not well known outside the fields of psychophysiology and neurocardiology. We will highlight research that bridges the science of the heart and the highly practical, research-based skill set known as the HeartMath System.

The heart has been considered the source of emotion, courage and wisdom for centuries. For more than 31 years, the HeartMath Institute Research Center has explored the physiological mechanisms by which the heart and brain communicate and how the activity of the heart influences our perceptions, emotions, intuition and health. Early on in our research we asked, among other questions, why people experience the feeling or sensation of love and other regenerative emotions as well as heartache in the physical area of the heart. In the early 1990s, we were among the first to conduct research that not only looked at how stressful emotions affect the activity in the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and the hormonal and immune systems, but also at the effects of emotions such as appreciation, compassion and care. Over the years, we have conducted many studies that have utilized many different physiological measures such as EEG (brain waves), SCL (skin conductance), ECG (heart), BP (blood pressure) and hormone levels, etc. Consistently, however, it was heart rate variability, or heart rhythms that stood out as the most dynamic and reflective indicator of one’s emotional states and, therefore, current stress and cognitive processes. It became clear that stressful or depleting emotions such as frustration and overwhelm lead to increased disorder in the higher-level brain centers and autonomic nervous system and which are reflected in the heart rhythms and adversely affects the functioning of virtually all bodily systems. This eventually led to a much deeper understanding of the neural and other communication pathways between the heart and brain. We also observed that the heart acted as though it had a mind of its own and could significantly influence the way we perceive and respond in our daily interactions. In essence, it appeared that the heart could affect our awareness, perceptions and intelligence. Numerous studies have since shown that heart coherence is an optimal physiological state associated with increased cognitive function, self-regulatory capacity, emotional stability and resilience.

We now have a much deeper scientific understanding of many of our original questions that explains how and why heart activity affects mental clarity, creativity, emotional balance, intuition and personal effectiveness. Our and others’ research indicates the heart is far more than a simple pump. The heart is, in fact, a highly complex information-processing center with its own functional brain, commonly called the heart brain, that communicates with and influences the cranial brain via the nervous system, hormonal system and other pathways. These influences affect brain function and most of the body’s major organs and play an important role in mental and emotional experience and the quality of our lives.

In recent years, we have conducted a number of research studies that have explored topics such as the electrophysiology of intuition and the degree to which the heart’s magnetic field, which radiates outside the body, carries information that affects other people and even our pets, and links people together in surprising ways. We also launched the Global Coherence Initiative (GCI), which explores the interconnectivity of humanity with Earth’s magnetic fields.

This overview discusses the main findings of our research and the fascinating and important role the heart plays in our personal coherence and the positive changes that occur in health, mental functions, perception, happiness and energy levels as people practice the HeartMath techniques. Practicing the techniques increases heart coherence and one’s ability to self-regulate emotions from a more intuitive, intelligent and balanced inner reference. This also explains how coherence is reflected in our physiology and can be objectively measured.

The discussion then expands from physiological coherence to coherence in the context of families, workplaces and communities. Science of the Heart concludes with the perspective that being responsible for and increasing our personal coherence not only improves personal health and happiness, but also feeds into and influences a global field environment. It is postulated that as increasing numbers of people add coherent energy to the global field, it helps strengthen and stabilize mutually beneficial feedback loops between human beings and Earth’s magnetic fields.

For more information visit the HeartMath website.