Transform Your Anger: Try Attitude Breathing

HeartMath has demonstrated that negative emotions create disordered heart rhythms which then trigger increased levels of emotional distress. In addition, HeartMath has proven that people who learn to generate balanced coherent heart rhythms will experience more balanced emotions. Thus, HeartMath provides you tools to slow down your emotional reactions.

The heart is a primary generator of rhythm in the body. It influences brain processes that control cognitive functions, the nervous system, and emotions. The heart provides an access point from which these system-wide dynamics can be profoundly impacted.

When you shift your heart rhythms into more coherence, you also shift your emotions into more coherence which then brings the autonomic nervous system into balance. By practicing shifting heart rhythms right when you feel anger or frustration, you can harness the physiological power of anger. In other words, you change the information going from the heart to the brain. As a result, you learn to access your higher brain functions and think more coherently.

HeartMath has developed a tool called Attitude Breathing. It is suggested to practice this tool whenever you feel frustrated, angry, or agitated. Attitude Breathing can lessen the intensity of negative thoughts and emotions so they have less power. It requires you to plan ahead by choosing a positive emotion to focus on, like appreciation, love, or compassion. Trying to shift to a positive attitude of appreciation, compassion or love will increase your coherence.

Attitude Breathing

1. To prepare to use this tool, take a moment to build an attitude of appreciation for someone or something in your life. Imagine you are breathing that feeling of appreciation through your heart for 2 or 3 breaths.

2. Focus on your heart and solar plexus (abdominal area) together while you breathe appreciation through that area. Ask yourself, “what would be a better attitude for me to maintain in this situation?” Next, set up an inner attitude like “stay calm,” “breathe,” this too shall pass,” “practice compassion” or whatever attitude you decide is appropriate.

3. Gently and sincerely pretend to breathe the new attitude in through the heart. Breathe it out through the solar plexus and stomach to anchor it in your body. Do this for a couple of minutes until you feel the new attitude has set in.

It is recommended to practice Attitude Breathing when:

1. You wake up in the morning. Negative thoughts and emotions like anger, sadness, or hurt can often creep in as soon as you wake up in the morning. Practice Attitude Breathing for 30 minutes or an hour while you’re getting ready. You can do it while your showering, getting dressed, or commuting to work. Choose attitudes like care or appreciation that would benefit your day.

2. You’re feeling tense. A build-up of tension is an indicator of being out of balance emotionally. Some accumulate tension in the chest area and may experience shortness of breath while others can experience tension as a headache or knot in the shoulders or neck. Use Attitude Breathing to help release tension in your body. While you’re breathing, ask yourself “what would be a more balanced feeling?” Once you feel more emotionally balanced, pretend to breathe the feeling of balance through the area of tension.

3. You want to stop emotional reactivity. During stressful times, remember that many people are experiencing negative emotions such as frustration, uncertainty, anger, or fear. As soon as you notice you are feeling irritated or frustrated, use Attitude Breathing to take the excess negative emotion out of your reaction and to shift into heart rhythm coherence.

Source:  Transforming Anger by Doc Childre and Deborah Rozman.

For more information on HeartMath, please call me at 858-243-2684.

The Heart-Focused Breathing Technique

HeartMath has developed a research-based system of scientifically validated techniques, tools and technology to increase emotional and mental self-regulation. The tools can help us gain greater self-regulation and a new perspective.  Most of the HeartMath techniques include an intentional shift to a positive emotional state to help gain coherence.  The Heart-Focused Breathing Technique is a powerful tool to practice and gain an ability to neutralize emotions such as anxiety, and anger.   

The Heart-Focused Breathing Technique is an easy to use, energy saving self-regulation strategy.  It is designed to reduce the intensity of a stress reaction and to establish a calm, but alert state. The technique allows you to take a time-out where you can step back and neutralize your depleting emotions. We can benefit from conscious breathing, if we use it to help us shift into and sustain a more balanced state.  Breathing is only the start of what is known as a coherence building process.  

In addition, the Heart-Focused Breathing helps reduce the impact of stress on your mind and body.  It helps us reduce the energy drain in order to feel a bit more renewed.  By going to a neutral state, it helps us to detach from our emotionally charged feelings and racing mind. By practicing this technique, it gives us an opportunity to pause our thoughts and feelings long enough to consider the possible options and consequences.  

Step :

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

Try and inhale for a count of 5, and exhale for a count of 5.  

Once you have become familiar with this step, all you need to remember is the quick step to neutralize stress.  

Suggestions for when to practice the Heart-Focused Breathing Technique:

1. Stop the impact of stress on your body.

2. Help neutralize emotional reactions in the moment.

3. Eliminate the energy drain.

4. Remove the drama or significance of a situation.

For more information on HeartMath or anxiety management, please call me at 858-243-2684.

Source:  Transforming Anxiety by Doc Childre and Deborah Rozman.

3 Ways to Reduce Anxiety with HeartMath

HeartMath is a research based system of scientifically validated techniques, tools and technology to increase mental and emotional self regulation.  You can learn various HeartMath techniques that can create a sustainable emotional shift by shifting the heart rhythm into a coherent pattern.  Coherence is when both branches of the autonomic nervous system, the parasympathetic and sympathetic, become synchronized.  Shifting our attention to the physical area of the heart, combined with generating a sincere positive feeling like love, gratitude or appreciation, is how the heart rhythm pattern creates coherence. 

HeartMath has also developed user-friendly simple techniques to help you make quick, positive emotional shifts.  HeartMath tools can help release anxiety as well as transform familiar anxiety patterns into healthier baseline patterns.  As with any tool or technique, the key is to practice daily.   

3 HeartMath techniques for reducing anxiety:

1. Notice and Ease  

This basic tool helps you admit and name what you’re feeling.  Once you honestly admit you're feeling anxious, you start to diminish its power over you.  Even a  bit of ease can help bring a more balanced perspective.  You can learn to reduce anxiety or other stressful feelings which helps stop their energy drain.

Step 1:  Notice and admit what you’re feeling.

Step 2:  Try to name the feeling.

Step 3:  Tell yourself to e-a-s-e as your gently focus on your heart,relax your breath, and e-a-s-e the stress out.

2. Power of Neutral

This tool helps you learn a simple yet powerful tool for refocusing emotions.  This tool teaches you to use the rhythmic power of your heart to bring your mind, emotions and physiology to a state of neutral which can lessen many anxiety triggers.  This tool helps you to clear your mind and see more options with clarity. 

Step 1:  Take a time-out, breathing slowly and deeply.  Imagine the air entering and leaving through your heart area.

Step 2:  Try to disengage from your stressful thoughts and worried feelings as you continue to breathe.

Step 3:  Continue the steps until you have neutralized the emotional charge.

One thing you can ask yourself is “Do I really want to keep draining my energy and stressing about the situation?”

3. Attitude Breathing

This tool is designed to help you shift out of a negative emotional state into a positive emotional state. Attitude breathing helps you to learn to clear and replace negative attitudes in the midst of feeling stressed or anxious to gain a more intelligent perspective.

Step 1:  Recognize an unwanted attitude; a feeling or attitude that you want to change.  Some feelings or attitudes could be anxiety, anger or guilt.

Step 2:  Identify and breathe a replacement attitude.  Select a positive attitude slowly and casually through your heart area. Do this until you can experience the new feeling.  

Source:  Transforming Anxiety by Doc Childre and Deborah Rozman.

For more information on HeartMath or anxiety management, please call me at 858-243-2684.

Transform Your Stress: Try Quick Coherence Technique

Stress and Coherence

Stress impacts the body emotionally, physically and mentally.  What’s important to remember is that the situation does not create the stress, instead it is how we respond to it.  Emotions directly impact our body. Positive emotions like kindness, love and appreciation feel good and are good for us.  These positive feelings help the systems in our body work more effectively.

Research indicates that when we intentionally shift to a positive emotion, the heart rhythms also change.  This shift in heart rhythms creates a favorable impact on our entire body.

When we are feeling stressed, the body is out of sync.  Depleting feelings, like worry, anxiety and anger negatively impact our nervous system.  Renewing feelings, like kindness, care and appreciation create order. This order is termed coherence.  Coherence leads to self regulation, creativity, mental clarity and resiliency. 

How to Practice Coherence:

The Quick Coherence Technique

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

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

Step Two:  Make a sincere attempt to experience a regenerative feeling such as appreciation or care for someone or something in your life. 

Suggestion:  Try to re-experience a regenerative feeling you have for someone you love or focus on a feeling of calm and ease.   

I recommend practicing the Quick Coherence Technique at least 3 times a day for a few minutes each time.  Ideally try practicing in the morning before you get out of bed, during lunch time and before going to sleep at night. Over time, I encourage you to practice the Quick Coherence Technique multiple times a day.  With practice, you may experience better sleep, mental clarity and more calm.

For more information, please contact Dr. Madeline Polonia at 858-243-2684.

Want Help with ADHD? Try HeartMath

How Heartmath Can Help With ADHD

HeartMath can help people with ADHD identify ways to attain coherence. Coherence is an optimal state in which the mind, heart and emotions operate in sync and are balanced. This state of coherence has been proven to have numerous emotional, mental and physical benefits.

How Does Heartmath Work?

Heartmath is a research based system of scientifically validated tools, techniques and technology to increase mental and emotional self-regulation.  HeartMath includes heart rhythm coherence monitoring and feedback technology called emWave technology. The emWave desktop technology trains kids and adults to gain greater self control, reduce stress and increase resilience.  Using either a finger sensor or an ear sensor connected to a USB module running on emWave software, it monitors and displays an individual's heart rhythm patterns and coherence levels on a computer screen.  

By practicing self regulation techniques with the emWave Pro technology, people can change their coherence levels.  Each individual session is recorded and saved automatically in the program so users can track their progress over time.  

Learning the emWave technology is not done in isolation from real life.  The goal is to transfer what is learned in each session to specific life situations in which a child or adult is required to exercise self control.  Real life applications ensure a higher quality of learning.

HeartMath and ADHD

Behavior treatment for children with ADHD involves changing some aspects of the home and school environments to promote more successful social/emotional interactions and academic growth.  These adjustments typically include creating more structure, encouraging routines and implementing specific goals and daily positive reinforcement. The emWave technology ties in well with behavior management.  HeartMath can be a great addition to teaching kids with ADHD effective coping skills like self control and impulse control. 

Source:  Using emWave Technology for Children with ADHD, Institute of HeartMath