Your Dollars at Work

HeartMath helped a high school student in Stoughton, Mass., learn to relax before taking tests. The result: "My grades have improved greatly."

A Connecticut doctor who treated many children with loved ones that died or in some way were affected by the 9/11 terrorist attacks utilized a HeartMath tool while working with them: "The tool is exactly what I need to help these children. Thank you, too, for the work you do."

An executive with a large North Texas health system of hospitals and medical centers said the HeartMath program had a great impact on the health system’s staff. How? "Our employees’ success in this program will help us reach our goals of reduced sick time, increased employee morale, more coherent communication, optimum mental clarity and creativity and, ultimately, greater patient satisfaction."

These are just a few of the thousands of thanks the Institute of HeartMath has received over the years for its life-changing tools and techniques, learning programs and scientifically developed technology, and HeartMath in turn would like to extend its heartfelt gratitude to all of our members and donors whose generosity has made it all possible. We couldn’t have done it without you.

Together we’ve brought hope into the lives of so many people suffering from stress, anger, anxiety, depression and other debilitating conditions and delivered award-winning educational learning and training programs to thousands of students around the world. We’ve conducted internationally recognized scientific research, accumulated a wealth of highly informative and useful information and put it online for all to see. And we’re reaching out across the U.S. and beyond its borders to lend a helping hand where we can and to promote personal and global coherence around the world.

Your Dollars at Work is a presentation we’ve put together especially for you, the members, donors and other supporters who’ve put your faith and trust in the Institute of HeartMath to do good work for people. We’re doing just that and this is our tribute to you for helping us succeed. We think you’ll agree our current strategies portend an even greater and more productive future. Now we invite you to look at what you and HeartMath have accomplished!

HeartMath Today…

Tens of thousands of children and adults from North and South America to Africa and Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia have used HeartMath methods and products to tap into the vast intelligence of their hearts and experience life-changing results. Doctors, nurses and therapists, athletes and coaches, students and teachers, leaders in education, medicine, business and religious organizations and many others offer high praise for the Institute of HeartMath’s dedication to helping people lower stress levels, learn to control and manage their emotions, recover from fear, anger, anxiety and depression, achieve mental clarity and improve their overall well-being.

… Look at what you and HeartMath have accomplished!

The Promise of Education

Education provides hope, clarity and communication in human relations and leads to dreams realized. For these reasons and more education has been and will continue to be a central focus of the Institute of HeartMath. We take very seriously the mission with which you have entrusted us: ensuring that people of all ages are afforded the opportunity to gain the most successful and rewarding experience from their years of learning. To achieve these aspirations, the HeartMath Education Division has spent many years researching the science and physiology of learning and developing appropriate solutions. Here are some of the results:

• TestEdge^®: The highly acclaimed and scientifically researched and tested TestEdge^® learning programs for young students through adult learners and classroom teachers are rapidly spreading to schools across the nation and overseas. TestEdge’s down-to-earth language and easily learned and implemented methods have received resounding approval from students, teachers, administrators and parents. Go to TestEdge.

• HeartSmarts^®: IHM’s HeartSmarts^® character education program for third- through fifth-graders was more than a decade in development and is helping students in many parts of the country to manage stress, improve academic motivation and focus and reduce conflict – in school and at home. Go to HeartSmarts.
• Resilient Educator^®: The Resilient Educator^® program helps teachers cope more effectively with the stress of today’s classrooms. This training program, praised by educators for its new ideas and solid foundation in neuroscience, helps educators boost their performance, improve school relationships, strengthen resiliency and help rekindle motivation and energy. Go to Resilient Educator.
• Qualified Instructor^® Program: This train-the-trainer program, goes a step beyond by teaching and licensing professional trainers, educators and consultants to provide HeartMath skills to teachers, administrators and other school staff. These trainers are being licensed to provide Institute of HeartMath workshops within educational settings in cost-effective ways. Go to Qualified Instructor Program.

HeartMath Online

We live in a world that is "wired" these days, with more and more people sitting down at home, work and community computers to conduct an increasing amount of the business of living over the Internet – their jobs, shopping, correspondence, banking, learning, play, entertainment and more. Today the Institute of HeartMath has integrated the Internet as an international stage for communicating with millions of people about the wonderful possibilities of heart-based living. Our Web pages tell people about HeartMath’s life-changing programs, tools and technology and serve as a help bank of important information to direct people to the appropriate resources for managing stress levels and emotions, getting a better night’s sleep, overcoming their anxiety, scoring a high mark on that big test coming up in math class and much, much more.

Our Web site was revamped in early 2008 to provide people a lot more detailed information about the Institute of HeartMath, what we offer, our work and to make navigation easier and more efficient. We’ve made tooling around HeartMath’s Web pages easier and more enjoyable and rewarding than ever. New interactive applets allow users to measure and monitor their stress levels right on the site. Our new Solutions for Stress pages provide valuable information to people seeking answers to depression, fatigue, overwhelm and more. But you’ll still find favorites like HeartQuotes^®, IHM newsletters and the HeartMath Report right where they’ve always been – just a click away. We’ve also revamped the entire HeartMath store: It’s more inviting, has new features and contains a lot more information, and we’ve made it easier to get around the store, shop and check out.

… Look at what you and HeartMath have accomplished!

Free Services For All

IHM offers lots of free services and information on its Web site that are only a link or two away to help people reconnect with their hearts, achieve heart coherence and begin experiencing the joy and fulfillment of heart-based living. We encourage you, your family, friends, co-workers or clients to take advantage of these free services.

• Stress Well-Being Survey™: Users of this survey will discover their levels of stress at work and in their relationships and then be guided until they can easily achieve the "Zone of Performance" on their own. The survey is a thorough assessment tool for the state of the mind and heart and can be used as often as desired to assess oneself, especially during key periods of life. Go to Stress Well‑Being Survey.
• Community Tracker™: The Community Poll is like a shorthand version of the Stress and Well-Being Survey. It focuses on three aspects: physical vitality, emotional vitality and overall well-being. Think of it as a stethoscope for the heart of the community and how it is feeling in real time – over the previous 24 hours. Users can see how they compare to the community of those who’ve filled out the survey in the last 24 hours. They can even see where others live – in their same city, state or country. Go to Community Tracker.
• Personal Tracker™: In Survey 1 of your Personal Tracker, you can follow over time your Five Aspects of Well-Being: Physical Vitality, Emotional Vitality, Social Connectedness, Spiritual Connectedness and Overall Well-being. This amazing tool will track your last 20 sessions and report your trend with graphs. It will compare your last session with the average scores of all your previous sessions and then lets you see your progress visually. In Survey 2, you can hone your skills with the emWave^® PSR or emWave PC/Mac and watch the change in your performance and state of well-being as you score. Go to Personal Tracker.
• HeartQuotes™ – HeartQuotes™, an amazing collection of interesting and inspirational messages from the world’s greatest thinkers that is compiled by the Institute of HeartMath’s sister company, HeartMath LLC. A carefully chosen quote is sent each day, five days a week to tens of thousands of people around the world and archived here for their enjoyment and use. Begin receiving HeartQuotes today.
• Solutions for Stress: For people having difficulty getting a good night’s rest, suffering from fatigue and needing a natural way to boost energy, for those who always seem to have problems in relationships or anger for little or no reason, HeartMath’s Solutions for Stress can help. IHM’s many years of research have led to the development of tools, techniques and technology that can help overcome many of life’s challenges, and each Solutions page contains a discussion of various topics, rundown of which HeartMath tools to use for relief and a HeartMath TIP to start feeling better immediately. Go to Solutions for Stress.
• IHM Newsletters: Each quarterly issue covers IHM’s major activities in the fields of education and research and gives information about reducing stress and improving personal performance. Readers learn about the latest scientific findings from our ongoing research activities and techniques, including some that have yet to be published in the HeartMath books, as well as updates on our products and services and how they’re being incorporated in schools, businesses, hospitals, the military, social-service programs and elsewhere. Go to IHM Newsletters.
• The HeartMath Report: This online journal is devoted to developments relating to how thoughts and emotions affect our health, performance and relationships. New perspectives can be gained by reading what people from a broad range of disciplines have to say about these and many other topics related to heart-based living. Go to The HeartMath Report.
• Notice and Ease^® Tool – Once you name and then identify and admit unwanted feelings such as anxiety, tension, anger, worry and sadness, you’ll find it’s a lot easier to neutralize and release them. The simple steps of Notice and Ease will guide you, teaching you to take the intensity out of negative emotions, ease them out and experience more good feelings such as joy, compassion and vitality. These positive emotions will increase the biochemical DHEA, which promotes emotional vitality, slows the aging process and offsets the stress hormone cortisol. Go to Notice and Ease Tool.
• Quick Coherence^® Technique – Adult: Create a coherent state in about a minute with the simple, but powerful steps of the Quick Coherence Technique. Using the power of your heart to balance thoughts and emotions, you can achieve energy, mental clarity and feel better fast anywhere. Use Quick Coherence especially when you begin feeling a draining emotion such as frustration, irritation, anxiety or anger. Find a feeling of ease and inner harmony that’s reflected in more balanced heart rhythms, facilitating brain function and more access to higher intelligence. Go to Quick Coherence Technique – Adult.
• Quick Coherence^® Technique – Ages 12-18: Quick Coherence is a powerful technique for refocusing emotions, connecting with the energetic heart zone and releasing stress. With practice, it can be done routinely in about a minute. Quick Coherence’s three easy steps, Heart Focus, Heart Breathing and Heart Feeling, can be applied first thing in the morning; during school or at work; in the middle of a difficult conversation; when pressed for time or feeling overloaded; or to get in sync any time. Go to Quick Coherence Technique – Ages 12‑18.

You and IHM – Reaching Out

… Look at what you and HeartMath have accomplished!

HeartMath’s Very Special Funds

• Heart-Based Education Sponsorship Fund: Your financial contributions to this fund are helping the Institute of HeartMath put our life-changing educational programs such as TestEdge^® and the Resilient Educator^® and our scientifically developed and tested technology into the hands of students and teachers who otherwise would not have access to them. Learn more about the Heart‑Based Education Sponsorship Fund or contribute today.
• Military Service Appreciation Fund: Recognizing the tremendous hardships and psychological problems faced by troops returning from combat and the growing number of requests for HeartMath tools and technologies from overextended military and Veterans Administration facilities, IHM launched this important fund in 2007. We are using your contributions to address this critical need. Learn more about the Military Service Appreciation Fund or contribute today.

Lending a Caring Hand

• Kevin Shuey, an instructor at the L.I.F.E. Tech transitional facility, teaches women in their 20s through 50s who have committed nonviolent felonies and have transitioned out of prison. He’s been using TestEdge and the emWave PC/Mac with excellent success. When he told HeartMath he wanted to train others in his facility and in the state of Alabama to do the same, IHM awarded him a full scholarship to the October 2007 Qualified Instructor Program’s Resilient Educator workshop.
• Personnel with James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va., ran a pilot project with the emWave^® PC/Mac technology. They had very limited funds, so they did a small pilot with nine students who were trained in the use of the emWave, then practiced five times a week for 20-minute sessions. Results indicated a profound reduction in four measures of anxiety over four weeks, so the James Madison personnel wanted to expand the study and help many more students. IHM provided equipment nearly at cost and a scholarship for a professor to attend a Resilient Educator train-the-trainer program.
• For economic reasons, HeartMath extended substantial discounts on workbook costs to the following people: Resilient Educator trainer Patrice Khan, who spends time in the United States and Pakistan training educators and students in HeartMath methods; and Monterrey, Mexico Resilient Educator trainer Eugenia Doria, whose organization serves public and private schools and universities in that area.
• When the Rasur Foundation decided to expand its outreach of HeartMath training in Costa Rican schools, IHM granted it substantial discounts in the cost of putting on a Qualified Instructor Program event to train nine new Qualified Instructors.
• The Institute of HeartMath supplemented a Kalliopeia Foundation grant to develop the "HeartSmarts" character education program, which is helping third- through fifth-grade students across the country manage stress, improve academic motivation and focus and reduce conflict, at school and home.
• The IHM Research Division spends considerable time each year assisting graduate students at a number of academic institutions with their doctoral dissertations.
• HeartMath supplemented a federal grant for IHM’s RETAIN project to reduce student dropout rates and increase teacher retention by developing, implementing and evaluating a comprehensive multiyear, whole school-system program to build a strong positive, nurturing social and emotional environment in the school system. A virtual classroom and Web-based emWave PC/Mac (formerly Freeze-Framer^®) capability were incorporated into the project.
• Mille Lacs Academy is a residential juvenile sex-offender treatment program that is part of a Minnesota school district for males, ages 10-19. IHM provided one of its teachers music and a teacher CD Rom of HeartMath’s award-winning guide, The Inside Story: Understanding the Power of Feelings. The teacher has reported great results.

Researching Stress, Emotions and the Heart

HeartMath’s research forms the foundation for the development of practical, scientifically validated, emotional refocusing and repatterning technologies that enable people to significantly improve their health and vitality, performance and quality of life. The IHM Research Center is committed to increasing the world’s body of scientific knowledge and promoting heart-based living and global coherence – the mental, physical, emotional and spiritual well-being of the greater community of human beings.

Your support has enabled HeartMath to become a recognized, global leader in stress management and the physiology of heart-brain communication through its cutting-edge research. The Research Center is engaged in scientific research, clinical, workplace and organizational intervention and treatment outcome studies in psychophysiology, biophysics, neurocardiology, the physiology of learning and optimal performance and more. Areas of particular interest include stress management, heart-brain interaction, emotional energetics, intuition, heart coherence, organizational coherence and epigenetics. Go to HeartMath Research.

Here are some research studies undertaken by the Institute of HeartMath that are completed or were under way in 2007:

… Look at what you and HeartMath have accomplished!

• Intuition Research: There is evidence that people around the world have believed in the existence and power of intuition dating back through antiquity and one can imagine that the earliest humans depended on it greatly for survival. Intuition has been pondered by great thinkers, scientists and philosophers – Aristotle, Kant, Einstein among them – relied upon by leaders of nations and, as a great number of the world’s people today will attest, is applied daily in a multitude of life’s decisions.
  
  The Institute of HeartMath has gradually expanded its interest in heart intuition as our researchers learn more about the intimate relationship between the heart and the intuitive process – the perception of or knowing things to a high degree of certainty without conscious reasoning, such as an event or act of nature that has yet to happen. There are a growing number of studies exploring intuition and IHM has made them available online.
  
  One such project, Stability of Pre-Stimulus Intuition Response: A Repeated Measures Study Using Electrophysiological Instrumentation, was being conducted in 2007 by the Institute of HeartMath at its Boulder Creek, Calif., Research Center to examine the stability of the heart and body’s intuitive response in eight trials over several months. Learn more about IHM’s Intuition Research.
• TestEdge^® National Demonstration Study: Test Anxiety: This landmark study proved the efficacy of the TestEdge program in reducing stress and test anxiety and improving emotional well-being, quality of relationships and academic performance in public school students. IHM members and supporters helped fund production of the 348-page report, Reducing Test Anxiety and Improving Test Performance in America’s Schools: Results from the TestEdge^® National Demonstration Study. This comprehensive e-Book, discusses all aspects of the study and its implications. It is now available online in the HeartMath Store. To read the TestEdge^® National Demonstration Study Abstract or Executive Summary.
• The Efficacy of the HeartMath Stress Reduction Program in Reducing Stress and Improving Hormonal Health and Well-Being: An Evaluation Study of University Employees, by the Institute or HeartMath in collaboration with Kathleen Matt of Arizona State University. This randomized, controlled study is assessing the impact of the HeartMath stress-transformation program on a wide range of hormones and neurotransmitters associated with changes in stress, resiliency and positive emotions in a group of highly stressed university employees.
• Impact of the Power to Change Performance Program on Stress and Health Risks in Correctional Officers: Read how a group of correctional peace officers, who work in one of the most stressful occupations, responded to interventions in a study that investigated the impact of HeartMath’s Power to Change Performance stress- and health-risk reduction program on physiological and psychological stress and other health problems. Read a PDF version of the Correctional Officers Study.

Independent Research

In addition to long-term collaborative relationships with numerous researchers and research institutions, the Institute of HeartMath encourages and offers some support for outside independent studies. Proposals for an increasing number of independent studies are being put forward to investigate the effectiveness of IHM’s emotion-regulation tools and technologies with various populations and areas of need. Each is investigating the application of particular HeartMath techniques and/or technologies as they ap­ply to specific groups of people. The following are examples of the many HeartMath-related independent studies completed or under way in 2007.

Studies in Progress

• Effects of Stress Management and Anxiety Reduction Training Using Heart Rate Variability on Pregnant Women and Their Fetuses in Utero: University of North Texas – First-time mothers are being trained in this study on the use of HeartMath tools combined with heart-rhythm coherence feedback using the emWave^® PSR. This research investigates potential correlations between fetal heart-rate-variability patterns and a mother’s heart rhythms and coherence levels. Other measures included in the study include Apgar scores and difficulty of labor.
• The Implementation of the Stress Management Program for Cardiac Patients: Catholic University of Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium – This dissertation study will investigate the implementation of HeartMath’s stress-management program on cardiac patients’ recurrence rate of illnesses and hospitalization, and also will assess predictive biomarker variables such as heart rate, blood pressure and psychological conditions over two years.
• Evaluation of HeartMath and a Portable HRV Coherence Device in Reducing Anxiety Disorders in College Students: James Madison University; Harrisonburg, Va. – Researchers at James Madison are examining the effectiveness of heart-rhythm coherence biofeedback training for anxious undergraduate students. About 300 students will be screened for anxiety. About 50 students with high anxiety will then be assigned randomly to a treatment group and 50 to a control group.
• The Effects of Heart Rhythm Biofeedback on the Athletic Performance of Women’s Collegiate Volleyball Players: Azusa Pacific University, Azusa, Calif. – This is a dissertation study evaluating the impact of HeartMath tools on the performance of Azusa Pacific’s women’s volleyball team. Fourteen players are receiving individual coaching on how to use the tools over six weeks. The expected outcomes include improved sports performance, improved ability to manage stress in other areas of their life and increased team cohesion during game play.

To view more Independent Research Studies in progress click here.

Completed and Published Studies

The Institute of HeartMath and other related entities have accumulated extensive, cutting-edge data over many years of research and development and have published papers and scientific abstracts that include basic research, clinical, organizational and educational studies of diverse subjects, including those mentioned above. Please feel free to peruse these documents in HeartMath’s Research Publications.

… and Tomorrow

As HeartMath’s science-based, proven programs, tools and technology teach heart-based living to tens of thousands of people today, our researchers, in collaboration with professionals and consultants from a broad range of disciplines, already have the vistas of tomorrow in sight. New programs, tools and technology hold the promise of reaching even greater numbers of people in the near future. Our research is exploring beyond the boundaries of our common knowledge and perceptions about the relationship between our energetic hearts and the world and universe around us. Here are some of the projects that are part of the Institute of HeartMath’s vision for the future:

… Look at what you and HeartMath will accomplish!

• Global Coherence Initiative: People worldwide are experiencing increasing levels of stress and anxiety over their future and the future of our planet. This increased stress is causing many people to take a closer look at their inner resources and find deeper connections with others. An increasing number of people are turning to their hearts for guidance and listening to their hearts’ intelligence. As a result, more people are becoming aware of the planetary shift taking place – the emergence of heart awareness and intelligence in the individual that is evolving into a collective consciousness of the world’s peoples.
  
  The Global Coherence Initiative is a scientifically based initiative to facilitate this shift through heart coherence and heart-based living. A key objective is to enlist the collaboration of individuals and groups of people to intentionally generate heart coherence to help increase global coherence.
• Global Coherence Monitoring System: The planetary shift that is occurring prompted the Institute of HeartMath and astrophysicist and nuclear scientist Elizabeth Rauscher to enter into partnership in 2007 to design, build and implement the Global Coherence Monitoring System to measure and explore fluctuations in the magnetic fields generated by the earth and ionosphere. Among the GCMS project goals are determining whether the earth’s field is influenced by or reflected in human heart-rhythm patterns or brain activity and whether this field can indicate earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other planetary events.
  
  We at HeartMath believe the Global Coherence Initiative is vitally important to the emotional health and future of our planet. It can inspire millions of people to connect with their deeper heart intelligence and promote the collaboration of groups of people to intentionally create and amplify outgoing coherent heart energy fields that interact with planetary fields to help achieve global coherence. As increasing numbers of people learn to practice heart-rhythm coherence, they can collectively help shift the global stress momentum into a global coherence momentum and eventually transform global consciousness.
  
  IHM needs the support of its members and donors for the exciting, ongoing Global Coherence Initiative and Monitoring System. To learn more or make a contribution.
• Tools for Resilient Living: Transforming Stress, A HeartMath Qualified Instructor Program: State-of-the-art methods for reducing stress and improving performance will be taught in this program to college and adult-education students, noncertified school staff, parents, youth-based organizations and correctional institutions. Instructors will learn how to customize the application of HeartMath tools for a variety of types of audiences. HeartMath expects development of the program to be completed in 2008.
• HeartMath Interventions for Counselors, Therapists, Social Workers and Health Care Professionals: Establishing a New Baseline for Sustained Behavioral Change: A new HeartMath certification program for licensed counselors, therapists, social workers and other healthcare professional will be completed in 2008. The program focuses on the specific information and protocols needed to incorporate HeartMath techniques and technology into therapeutic settings. Practitioners will learn how to use HeartMath’s tools and technologies to empower their patients and clients to effect and sustain changes in behavior and improve health and overall well-being. It is intended for use by practitioners who work in mental health, family and child-support or social-service agencies, medical facilities and outpatient clinics, schools and universities, correctional institutions and private-practice clinics.
• Intuition Research: HeartMath wants to learn more about the exciting field of heart intuition so we can help people begin utilizing this hidden region of the "heart brain." IHM researchers have shown that the human heart is a wellspring of intuitive capacity and actually receives intuitive information before the brain. We will be devoting resources so our Research Division can explore more deeply the intuitive process in coming years. In the rapidly changing and highly complex world of the 21st century, we believe intuitive perception can play a critical role in the decisions and choices of virtually every aspect of human life.
  
  Through scientific research, we can gain an understanding of how and under what conditions intuition occurs and learn to harness and develop it. Research by IHM and others suggest the heart, brain and possibly other bodily systems are involved in receiving, processing and decoding intuitive information. In coming years, IHM researchers will explore a theory based on holographic principles that explains how, through intuitive perception, a field of energy in which information about future events is spectrally enfolded can be accessed. For completed intuition research studies.
• HeartMath Universe: HeartMath programs and methods already are being utilized in more than 50 nations across five continents, and IHM is committed to extending them even farther in the future, to connect more people with heart-based living and let them know there are scientifically proven methods for dealing with stress and managing emotions. Among the ideas for achieving this are the creation of new Web sites by HeartMath and related companies. Tentative plans call for one of these sites to include the Heart Portal, through which people may enter the HeartMath Universe. Stay tuned. To view HeartMath Universe.
• HeartMath information technicians are working on making the emWave^® PC/Mac software compatible with Apple systems and Bluetooth wireless products.
• Even as the online Personal Tracker was being introduced in winter 2008, new features were in the works for enhancing these innovative, interactive stress monitor/reduction applets on the new HeartMath Web site.
• Additional Web-based tools are in the early stages of development, including one for managing the stress associated with financial pressures and another for workplace stress.
• Eventually, the handheld emWave PSR will be redesigned with new features to make it even more effective for monitoring and reducing stress at home, work, school or on the go, and a more basic and affordable model also was in the works.
• New downloadable games that can be purchased on HeartMath’s Web site are being created for the emWave PC/Mac.
• The IHM Research Division is developing an online heart-rate-variability data system and survey for healthcare professionals.
• A second pilot study of the new pre-kindergarten HeartSmarts program is planned for February 2008, and HeartSmarts for first- and second-graders should be ready in 2009.
• An exciting project that will get under way in the near future involves teaching HeartMath tools to an entire community – through a hospital, college, schools and churches and to government officials, etc., to help them manage stress, communicate better and become a more coherent community.

… and a HeartMath Dream – One day IHM hopes to open a HeartMath school …