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Stress Free Holidays

Stress Free Holidays

Do you think it is possible to have stress free holidays? If you answered no to that question, please try the next question.

Is it possible to learn how to manage the inside of your body so effectively that the stress response is done for just the right amount at just the right time for just the right length of time?

If you answered yes to that question, then you may already be familiar with Heartmath, or heart rate variability biofeedback.

Heartmath is a great tool for managing the inside of your body literally heart beat by heart beat, and the feeling is wonderfully pleasant.

And if you have never heard of Heartmath, I am not surprised. The concept of heart rate variability biofeedback is new, growing out of research in a new field, neurocardiology, or the study of the heart's own nervous system.

Neurocardiology teaches us that the heart has its own brain so to speak, which means there are enough neurons in the heart that the heart's brain can learn and make decisions independently of any other brain we have, and neurocardiology also demonstrates that the heart has a tremendous impact on our emotional state.

Long story short, with a few practices using the Heartmath computer based biofeedback program, I can learn to manage the time between my heart beats, on demand, so I can establish a very coherent heart beat which impacts every cell in my body.

So How Does Heartmath Make for Stress Free Holidays?

Once we determine that our lives are not in danger, we are supposed to let the stress response go, and rest, but in our culture we have learned to keep the stress response going inside of our bodies, perhaps to use as a tool to work harder or produce more.

Ultimately, that stress response becomes a habit contributing to significant health problems down the road.

Heartmath gives me an antidote to an ongoing stress response.

Say I a hosting a family Christmas party and I am worried that I must ensure that everyone has a memorable time, so I create a powerful adrenaline and cortisol based chemistry inside my body.

One of the side effects of that kind of hormonal bath inside my body is that I become prepared for a contest, rather than a social connection based on appreciation and cooperation, and I know I need to make a change in what I am thinking in order to return to an affiliative and cooperative chemistry.

So I do my Freeze Frame process, which is where I think of my children and place their faces inside my chest next to my heart, and my heart has learned that when I do that (any heart beat is ok, whether you need it or not), it is to become very coherent and I can feel that happening, which restores a coherent heart beat, and a sweet feeling to my chest.

So within a heart beat or a few heart beats, I have changed my stress response to a cooperation response, which is the physiology of genuine appreciation.

When I greet my guests with genuine appreciation, I do make their visit memorable, not because of the ambience or entertainment or food, but because I notice them.

And the nice thing about Heartmath is that it helps me tap a deep energy resource and actually opens up the higher perceptual centers of the brain for exceptional problem solving, and again, if I choose to create a stress response, I can choose to re-create a Heartmath response, which makes my night much more memorable.

Does this Heartmath tool have any impact on golf or test taking of emotional eating? If fact, Heartmath is the peak performance alternative for any situation where stress could be an issue.

Can you imagine your staff at work getting on the same heart beat for staff meetings, and working to manage stress consciously?

I have used Heartmath with couples many times to help them get used to the idea that their marriage has a heart beat of its own which needs to be adjusted frequently to ensure a cooperative and affiliative heart beat. When in a coherent heart beat it is easy to adjust and negotiate mutually acceptable solutions for marital issues, even if the solution needs to be renegotiated the next day.

After all, addiction recovery happens day by day, why not marriage?

Here is a link to the Heartmath store, and a video demonstration.

Would You Share Something That You Are Grateful For?

When I was beginning my personal growth journey, a wise person told me that when I was feeling resentful or afraid or sad, that I should remember the phrase "gratitude is the attitude" when I was ready to feel better. That phrase has helped me feel better tens of thousands of times.

Would you share what you are most grateful for? Your story could be just what another person is searching for to renew themselves? Thanks.


Have a question and want to talk with a therapist? Call 815-316-2621 for Julie Logan, LCSW, RN. 7121 Windsor Lake Parkway, Loves Park, Illinois 61111 jlogan7264@myway.com