The HeartMath Solution: The Institute of HeartMath's Revolutionary Program for Engaging the Power of the Heart's Intelligence

I have always loved self-help books, as I am one of those bullheaded people who hate to seek assistance from anyone else and firmly believe I can learn how to do almost anything from a book. Ever since I was old enough to read I've preferred the practical, instructive book over fiction. So I know whereof I speak when I say that this is one of the most valuable self-help books out...more

I have always loved self-help books, as I am one of those bullheaded people who hate to seek assistance from anyone else and firmly believe I can learn how to do almost anything from a book. Ever since I was old enough to read I've preferred the practical, instructive book over fiction. So I know whereof I speak when I say that this is one of the most valuable self-help books out there. I first learned about The Institute of Heartmath from a conference in Washington D.C. where Joseph Chilton Pearce was the keynote speaker. His insight into how our brains and hearts are vitally connected struck a rich chord with me, so when he emphatically endorsed Heartmath and the work they do there, I had to check it out for myself. The website has a lot of free material, encouraging tools, and information about work with schools, hospitals and businesses, all with the intent of creating more peace in our own hearts. And though I found lots of products there to buy you don't need any more than the instruction in this book to practice the helpful, healing techniques. The Heartmath Solution is the basic manual that gives you practical, easy to employ tools to be able to think and live intelligently from your heart, rather than allowing lack of emotional management to cause dysfunctional chaos. For me the style of writing is a bit too simplistic and anecdotal. I like to just hurry up and get to the nuts and bolts of things but I realize for some people this type of over explanation is necessary to convince them that what they're reading is worthwhile. I was already convinced, so I found myself flipping impatiently over some pages that might have been helpful, thinking this book could have been written with half the ink. I wasn't disappointed though as my flipping brought me to step-by-step instructions for simple methods to tap into and work with the intelligence of heart. For people who practice meditation, these techniques will seem familiar, but with a little more structure aimed at producing specific results. There's nothing woo-woo or weird about this stuff, just breathing, focusing, cutting through the baggage and listening. The techniques have no-nonsense, descriptive names like Freeze-Frame, Cut-Through and Lock-In. So, you may ask, has it changed my life? Just like yoga, deceptively simple exercises are often surprisingly hard to fit into the well-worn grooves on our path. But I'm trying, and when I've been successful the results, yes, inspire me to keep it up and make this a way of life.   hide