A WHITE PAPERWOMEN
LEAD WITH THEIR HEARTS
Intui-Technology® -- The New Paradigm and New
SolutionFor
the 21st Century
by
Doc Lew Childre President and CEO of the Institute of
HeartMathEdited
by Deborah Rozman, Ph.D., Executive Director
Part
1
Empowerment
The
empowerment of women is a global issue in the '90s. The
concept of empowerment evokes many reactions. It's viewed
as increased freedom but is also met with fear and threat.
Often "empowerment" in business has meant bestowing someone
with responsibility and authority - but not necessarily
giving them the training or resources needed to carry out
that responsibility. This frequently has resulted in an
overload of stress, exhaustion, and burnout - the very
opposite of what "empowerment" programs were trying to
achieve. The root problem is this: Real empowerment comes
from within - it cannot be given to another. "Powering up"
is an internal process which is why I call it
self-empowerment. Self-empowerment is receiving the power
to amplify awareness and clear perception so you can take
personal responsibility and control over your life. It
involves recognizing the inner power available to you and
directing your energy in ways beneficial to yourself and
the whole. In
my book,
Self Empowerment, I discuss what's involved in
"powering-up" and provide simple tools to achieve it.
Intuitive skills have to be developed to access inner
power. This is the first paradigm shift - inside oneself.
Simple, proven tools that anyone can use are required to
make that internal shift. Wholeness power impacts what
counts - in terms of personal, family, work, social
benefits, health, clarity, and time effectiveness. As women
make the inner paradigm shift, a multitude of difficult
issues facing women in the '90s can be resolved.
Key
Issues
Women's
rights have advanced in many nations, yet for most of the
globe, women are still second class citizens.
Underdeveloped countries look to the West for leadership.
Yet the breakdown of the modern American family and the
challenges American women face today are not necessarily
the future that developing countries envision nor want to
embrace. How women in the U.S. address these issues will
determine whether or not they will be a positive role model
for the rest of the world. Key issues which impact the
modern woman include time conflicts between personal,
family, and work demands; equal pay for equal work; lack of
day care; lack of elder care; the "glass ceiling";
conflicts with co-workers; sexual harassment and abuse;
repeal of Affirmative Action; increased anxiety,
depression, fatigue, burn-out, and other health problems
such as hypertension, heart disease, and breast cancer.
Rapid and profound individual and social change in the U.S.
over the past decade has brought rising poverty, crime,
violence, a deteriorating educational system, environmental
problems, and a society in crisis and confusion. Many women
feel out of control and losing their grip on life. Other
women who have made it to the top are asking themselves,
"is this all there is?" How the modern woman addresses
these issues now, will be critical to everyone's future.
Let's take a deeper look at some of the key issues.
Life feels like it's
continually speeding up and many say they can't keep up.
According to a nationwide poll of women in the U.S. ages 18
to 55 by the Families and Work Institute, 88% of women are
experiencing a "time famine"
and feel heavily
pressed for time. Most mention not having enough time with
family as their greatest concern. Polls also revealed that
in 45% of dual-earner households, now earn half or more of the
family income. But being the top money earner
was not what interested most women. Nearly a third wished
they could trade full-time work for part-time. Institute
director Ellen Galinsky commented, "The women's movement
has been too focused on equal pay," arguing that we have to
make life work better for women and their families.
Although many women
say things are going pretty well on the home front, they
admit that always rushing, stress, and personal struggles
have lowered their threshold of fulfillment. The inner
weather report is "partly cloudy" and most women have
become so used to that, it seems normal the sun's not out.
Many are adapted to foggy being a good day. Expectations of
what should be different are just mind-attempts to change
the inner weather, but it's not going to change until women
learn self empowerment. The "glass ceiling" in business
refers to the high expectations, but frustrating limits,
that women (and other minorities) experience in promotions.
Although more women are climbing the corporate ladder,
there remains a gender bias in promotions. Many feel they
can only advance so far, then men in control put a cap on
it. Men complain that women want it both ways. They want to
be taken care of, have their car doors opened - and also
have all the corporate perks and control as well. This is
seen by many men as a double message that is confusing and
often threatening to the male ego. Sexual harassment,
physical aggression, rape, and abuse are all on the rise.
The '90s have become a period of frustration and rage
between the sexes. "Crude, rude, anger, let it all hang
out," have become social release valves. However, release
is not relief. The ongoing trend of women and women's
groups has been to blame men, parents, government, society,
or anyone for these problems. But blame is disempowering
and increases feelings of victimization.
The preferential
hiring of women under Affirmative Action is being repealed,
creating fear that the uphill progress women have made
toward equality will be in jeopardy. For every dollar men
earn, women now earn 70 cents. While women make up 46% of
the U.S. workforce, the percentage of women occupying top
level jobs is still only 5%. Most women have no choice but
to be both breadwinners and housewives, yet the price they
pay is often lack of job satisfaction along with the
exhausting merry-go-round of trying to juggle work, family,
household, and personal needs. As a result, a recent
CNN/USA Today Gallup poll reports that 48% of women think
the "progressive" changes brought on by the Women's
Movement have actually made things harder for women; 41% of
men agree. Why is this? More people working creates more
spending, generating more demand for products and services,
driving up prices and the cost of living. That's why most
women have to work - to pay bills. Yet they still do the
majority of the cooking, cleaning, shopping, household
chores, and child-rearing. While some men share these
tasks, most still retreat to the TV and let their wives do
the work. It's understandable why women are emotionally and
physically drained. In response to a poll announcing that
exhaustion among women is at an all time high and taking a
toll on women's health, one woman exclaimed, "They had to
do a poll to figure that out? Ask most any woman and she'll
tell you she's burning out!" Millions are also single working
mothers or welfare mothers who feel the added burden of
raising children alone with inadequate child care. Many
feel tremendous guilt. Society has blamed working mothers,
welfare mothers and absentee fathers for the cascading rate
of juvenile crime, violence, sexual promiscuity, drug and
alcohol abuse, and illiteracy, that plague today's teens.
There is no quick fix to these complex issues. "Cut-thru"
solutions demand new intelligence.
Heart
Intelligence
The
importance of taking personal responsibility for one's own
balance and empowerment is acknowledged by many women, but
without tools to achieve that, it will remain an idealistic
concept.Institute
of HeartMath, a nonprofit research and
educational organization and think-tank in Boulder Creek,
California, has uncovered scientific evidence on how women
can generate the balance and the power they need to take
control over their lives. What's required are tools that
activate the power of the heart and creative intelligence.
Common sense says it will take a power and intelligence
stronger than people's habitual thoughts and perceptions to
transform our personal and our social stresses. New
research is showing that within the heart
resides the place of contact for this source of power and
intelligence. Heart power is the
electricity of one's inner strength and
potential. This is the power that activates
intuitive clarity and establishes the self-motivating
ability to manifest and complete oneself in achieving
balance and fulfillment. The new paradigm is a joint
venture between head and heart intelligence, which
generates a continuity of intuitive creative intelligence.
Intuition cuts time and effort. As you gain intuitive
intelligence, you become more energy and time
effective. Women's intuition is not just an
old wives' tale. It's inner power, once women know how to
access it with continuity. This increases magnetic
effectiveness, particularly in a male-dominated
environment. Power doesn't just come from an increase in
ego drive. It comes from developing the power of your whole
system, especially the power of your heart. The negative
backlash associated with power comes from strong ego drive
without the heart directing the intention. To power-up the
whole system involves learning to bring the heart and mind
into a creative joint venture. Heart intelligence supplies
balanced ego strength and allows more of your individual
spirit to come "on line" regarding male/female issues, work
issues, family issues, health issues, or social issues.
Heart power is the conduit for real spirit to manifest in
any area. Learning techniques to develop
heart power frees the spirit of the complete woman, which
is the real affirmative action. Attempts to activate spirit
from the mind alone often create more problems while
attempting to solve one and this represents the current
psychic environment of male/female muddle and disarray.
Both genders are trying to be achievers but fall short
because of trying to activate the spirit from the mind
alone without the heart. This activates unbalanced ego
drive, without the needed sensitivities and mutual respect.
While women dislike insensitive male ego drive, they have
to be careful not to copy the same method in their efforts
to achieve equality. Equality without "quality" equals
fatigue and stress. This is no real achievement. What's the
use of trying to achieve if you lose balance, fulfillment
and health? Then you're just living to survive, which is
not really living. New scientific research is showing that
through increasing heart intuition, women can generate the
power, magnetism and intuitive intelligence that draws
respect and cooperation, rather than trying to force
respect through stance-taking.
Heart
Balance
Balance
is the missing social keynote. Women seem to have come out
last in the past, but that's an advantage in the new.
There's really nowhere else for women to go, but to
self-empower and come on line. It's time. The problem is
that women can't come on line through taking a "mind
stance." That's having a goal in mind of what changes are
needed and fighting your way to achieve that goal. That's
just more of the same male-dominant approach. It's been
tried and many women are weathered and worn and torn. This
is why people fear a new aggressive women's movement would
make things even harder. Most women agree on the need for
personal empowerment. However, they don't agree on the
method. There are women's groups who don't want to be
lumped together and resent each other speaking as if their
particular views represent all women. Some feel if they
don't agree with the loudest group's methods, they're
viewed as betraying women. To avoid repeating the same
energy-draining fights and accomplish more, the
self-empowered woman learns to bypass the reactive,
energy-draining mind stance. She recognizes it's more
intelligent and effective to do so. Taking a "heart stand"
goes into a whole new level of power and renewal by
actualizing much-talked-about core values or family values.
Family values have broken down in society and need to be
restored. Taking a heart stand comes from conscious heart
intention instead of mental and emotional reactiveness.
Conscious heart intention is derived from the intuitive
link and balance between mind and heart, increasing the
power of both. A heart stand may not change laws right away
or change men or society overnight, but men will take a
new, respectful "stop, look, listen" approach.
The balancing approach
to male/female issues is achieved through the intuitive
domain. That's where women will have their time. As a man,
I don't believe women are trying to take over, just asking
men to move over and let both drive and point the way
together. I'm dedicated to the manifestation of
equalization, while respecting the different strengths of
both genders. Women want to be players not conquerors, and
have an equal part in the scheme of things. This doesn't
need to be a threat to the male ego. The female fruit is
not a registration of female supremacy. It's the fruit of
recognition of balance. It takes both female and male to
make the whole. Women's nurturing sensitivities tend to use
power and intelligence to try to make a difference in the
lives of other people and the world. Men tend to be more
absorbed in structures and plans. Men are not bad. Men are
learning just like women are. They're just having to mature
into releasing a handed-down old dinosaur of convenience -
the male-dominated society. The mark of the new players are
those who have the capacity to use the strengths of both
male and female potentials for the betterment of the whole
through balance. That would be new intelligence. Future
balance dictates empowerment for all concerned. That is the
new paradigm from which new solutions will be born and
there is a scientific basis for this and scientific
research to support it. Understanding and actualizing
the science of empowerment is crucial to the future of
women, society, and the globe.
The
Science of Empowerment
The heart
has generally been considered just a mechanical pump;
however, this view is being seriously re-evaluated by
scientists. When the electrical patterns of the brain
entrain to the electrical patterns of the heart, more power
and intuitive intelligence become available to the
brain.
Research at the
Institute of HeartMath is showing that the heart has
unusual perceptual and intuitive information-processing
capabilities. The heart has its own frequency range of
intelligence that is not controlled by the brain or the
autonomic nervous system. The heart is autorhythmic, which
means that it beats on its own without requiring input from
the brain or nervous system. It is well known that the
brain communicates to the heart via the autonomic nervous
system and hormonal system. What is not so well known is
that the
heart also communicates back to the brain providing a
two-way communication system that directly affects
perception, reaction speeds, balance, intuition and
decision-making ability. There are nerves and hormones that
originate in the heart which carry information to the brain
and this two-way information system forms an information
highway between heart and brain. If there is gridlock on
the inner information highway, you have stress. If the
electrical signals between heart and brain are ordered and
coherent, you have mental clarity and intuitive perception.
The real paradigm shift is an inner one first, aligning
heart and mind in balance. This will lead to the outer
paradigm shift that will beneficially transform society.
The
Inner Information Highway
Breakthrough research is showing
that feeling and emotional perceptions are communicated
from heart to brain through the baroreceptor system and
magnetic fields, where they are integrated into
subconscious and conscious awareness, triggering chemical
changes in neurotransmitters and hormones throughout the
body. Emotions cause the most direct and measurable changes
in both the electrical rhythms of the heart and hormonal
responses. Emotions such as anger and anxiety result in
disorganized flows of internal energy, which in turn result
in a chaotic response in the brain and physiology of the
body. As negative emotions are not resolved, they distort
perception, create hormonal imbalances, and can lead to
anxiety or depression. Studies show that 1 in 5 women now
have a history of depression. Heartfelt emotions such as
care, love, and appreciation, on the other hand, have been
shown to create organized, coherent energy flows, resulting
in clarity, increased intuition, and renewal in the
physiology of the body. Changing one's standing wave
frequency to more heart coherence generates the power
necessary to change behavioral patterns. For example, by
increasing balanced care and releasing worry and overcare,
you shift the body's electrical flows into more efficient
and coherent rhythms that benefit the entire system. The
more balanced care we feel, the more coherence there is in
the system, which increases the coherent power flowing
through the whole system. This coherent power is your
spirit and the more it flows through you, the more your
entire system is regenerated and renewed. This allows you
to carry out your objectives with more coherence,
self-confidence and completion. You work smarter, not
harder, and are more productive.
Entrainment
Getting
the head and heart electrical systems in sync (entrainment)
causes a perceptual shift into a wider range of options.
More importantly, entrainment is a physiological state of
peak performance that increases the intuitive connection
within yourself. In my book Freeze-Frame,
the concept of entrainment is explained. There I show how
the biological oscillators or inner clocks that time the
body and affect blood pressure, respiration, heart rate,
brain waves, etc., can be either in or out of sync with
each other. By learning to self-manage-but not suppress-our
mental and emotional reactions, we balance and entrain the
rhythms and timings of these bodily functions, which
improves health and decision-making. Leading psychologists
and scientists are excited because the increasing body of
evidence that intuitive feelings commence in the heart and
then are transmitted to the brain provides a missing link
and answers questions relative to creativity and the
transformation of human consciousness. Business leaders are
interested because intuition increases performance and
productivity while improving job satisfaction. As a CEO
stated recently in Business Week
magazine, "Ultimately
the combination of head and heart will be the competitive
advantage." Women who have been using tools to activate
their heart intelligence have seen profound improvements in
family, work and personal interactions. Businesses and
government offices have seen work teams entrain to achieve
goals in record time with less stress and more harmonious
cooperation.
Head/Heart
Entrainment
Figure 1
(below) shows where the EEG (electroencephalograph) or
brain waves have entrained to the heart at the HRV (heart
rate variability) frequency. This state is accompanied by
clearer perception and heightened intuitive awareness. This
heart/brain entrainment occurs at a very low frequency
region in the brain waves. It is the region well below the
alpha and theta regions most people are familiar with. This
is the region where most of the power resides in the brain
waves. Changes
in heart rate and blood pressure are fed back to the brain
via the baroreceptor system. The baroreceptor input to the
brain has numerous effects on brain function. For example,
when one's mental or emotional state is causing the
sympathetic nervous system to go into overdrive in
stressful situations, the baroreceptor feedback inhibits
sympathetic outflow, increases parasympathetic neuronal
activity, and causes brain wave slowing to help to protect
the overall body. This is the body's defense mechanism
against stress to allow an immediate "fight or flight"
reaction, but it also inhibits higher perceptual brain
function.
Emotions
Emotions
and the heart have been equated for centuries. Sir William
Harvey, who was the first to demonstrate the function of
the heart and how blood circulates in the body, noted in
1628 that, "every affection of the mind that is attended
to, either with pain or pleasure hope or fear, is the cause
of an agitation whose influence extends to the heart."
Emotions flow through the body at a subtle electrical
level, much faster than information flows along nerve
pathways. Research is showing that when we
qualify
our perceptions and
feelings from the heart, the mind guides a different energy
flow than if we perceive and react from the mind alone.
Emotions qualified or directed only through the mind often
act like water that floods your kitchen, whereas
heart-directed emotions use that same water to quench your
thirst and give substance to life. Self-empowerment is
learning to call the shots on the water distribution and
disempowerment is being a victim of the random flows of the
emotional spills. Women are often accused by men of
being overly emotional and sentimental, which colors their
decision-making ability. This is feeling sensitivity
without self-management and balance. When balanced through
the heart, women's sensitivities enhance intuitive clarity
and decision-making. The feeling world is critical to
intelligent decision-making. Without feeling, the mind and
all its reasoning and thinking ability are not enough.
Antonio Damasio, a professor of neurology whose laboratory
is recognized worldwide for its research, has been looking
for the neural underpinnings of reason. He found that when
the parts of the brain which integrate feelings and reason
are damaged, then personal and social behavior are severely
compromised even though all the logical and other aspects
of the mind are unaffected. It's the balanced integration
of feeling and reason that brings the highest intelligence,
wisdom, clarity, and fulfillment.
Hormones
Hormones
are also associated with emotions. As emotions change, so
do hormones, and as hormones change, so do emotions and
perception. Hormones are chemical messengers that help
regulate most of the body's functions, including the way
the brain processes information. Hormones are involved in
digestion, mucus and milk synthesis, sweat production,
muscle contraction and relaxation, the reproductive
processes, growth, and sexual and aggressive behaviors.
When I refer to "hormones," this includes
neurotransmitters, neuromodulators and neurohormones, such
as serotonin. Prozac, a popular prescription drug used by
millions, affects serotonin uptake and helps relieve
depression. Due to stress-induced imbalances, increasing
numbers of women are suffering from anxiety and depression
and taking a variety of drugs to feel better. Stress,
anxiety (especially performance anxiety), fatigue, and
exhaustion are now the reason behind 80% or more of all
doctor's visits, increasing health care costs for all. But
drugs do not resolve the underlying problem and drug
dependency is not the answer for a healthy future.
Scientific research indicates that women and men need to
dramatically increase the time they spend in positive
emotional states and attitudes to balance the autonomic
nervous system and heart rhythms which control most of the
body's hormonal functions. Women or men who maintain
balanced attitudes also balance their internal hormonal
prescriptions. They are less likely to become ill and are
more likely to heal faster when ill than those with
negative attitudes. We can look at the human system as
having three primary hormonal zones. The lower body
produces steroid hormones which deal with responses to
stress; DHEA; and also the sex hormones estrogen,
progesterone, and testosterone. The upper body produces
brain hormones such as noradrenaline, serotonin, and
dopamine. Many of these brain hormones affect feelings,
perception, and attitude. For example, the pituitary gland
releases oxytocin and vasopressin which relate to emotional
bonding. Oxytocin has a longer lasting effect than most
hormones. Oxytocin is released when you fall in love.
That's why your first love is often so hard to get over. In
mammals that secrete high levels of oxytocin at first
mating, the emotional bonding created is for life. In
mammals with low levels of oxytocin, there's high
promiscuity. Upper and lower body hormones
impact the entire body. Cortisol is released from the
adrenals in the lower body. It is called a "stress" hormone
because it rises when we feel stress, especially emotional
stress such as anger, irritation, frustration or anxiety.
Too much cortisol is known to destroy brain cells. The
amount of cortisol produced is regulated by the sympathetic
nervous system and hypothalamus, which are both activated
by stress. An astounding 30% of women and men say they
experience "high stress" nearly every day. Under stress,
your glands churn out adrenaline and cortisol which cause a
rise in blood pressure, a speedup of breathing and heart
rate, and a release of sugar and fats in the body. Under
chronic stress, hypertension (high blood pressure) can set
in. It is now estimated that 1 in 4 women (and men) aged 18
and older have hypertension, the leading risk factor for
heart disease and stroke-and over half of those with
hypertension are overweight. The third primary hormonal zone,
the heart, lies right in the middle-between the upper and
lower zones. The heart also produces two hormones, BNP
(brain natriuretic factor) and ANP (atrial natriuretic
factor). ANP is often referred to as "the balancing
hormone" by scientists. ANP has receptors in both upper and
lower body. ANP impacts the brain's pituitary gland and the
kidneys. The heart helps to balance the upper and lower
hormonal zones. The parasympathetic and sympathetic
branches of the nervous system which travel from upper to
lower body are also balanced by the heart. Studies have
shown that positive heart-felt emotional states, such as
love, care and appreciation, balance the nervous system and
are an antidote to stress. These positive feelings
significantly reduce the sympathetic signals from the brain
and increase the parasympathetic signals which protect the
heart and body, lower blood pressure and increase immune
system activity.
Inner
Quality Management
The
hopeful news is that simple, scientifically-proven
self-empowerment tools for "inner quality management" are
available that allow us to take charge of our mental and
emotional states. These tools do not require hours of
practice or withdrawal from the world. For instance,
studies have shown that the stress-relief tool
Freeze-Frame
lowers blood pressure,
balances heart rhythms, and improves the balance of the
autonomic nervous system and immune system. This can all be
done in less than one minute with just a little practice of
this tool. Freeze-Frame is designed to prevent stress
reactions in the moment and create more effective responses
to stressful events, resulting in increased mental clarity,
productivity, and satisfaction. Learning how to
Freeze-Frame, as stress is happening, helps you take charge
of yourself by bringing the heart and head into
entrainment. Cut-Thru
is another
scientifically-tested tool that rids your system of
emotional baggage and residue, such as energy-draining
overcare, anxiety, self-judgment, guilt, recrimination,
blame, jealousy, depression, even hatred. This is a long
list of negative attitudes and emotions that, if not
resolved, affect perception and health. People who
experience negative feelings and attitudes repeatedly,
often are trapped in "mind loops," recycling through a past
event over and over, arousing and amplifying the negative
feeling and stress reaction each time. This imprisons you
in self-victimization and a sense of hopelessness.
Cut-Thru is a
scientifically-proven technology on how to care without
becoming a victim. Laboratory studies have shown that as
women and men practice Cut-Thru, their hormonal system
comes more into balance. In a controlled study, people
practicing Cut-Thru significantly reduced stress, anxiety
and guilt by over 30% and depression by 22%. Distress
during PMS (nervous tension, mood swings, irritation,
worry, depression and inability to concentrate) was lower
in women after practicing Cut-Thru. Researchers observed a
significant increase in the anti-stress and anti-aging
hormone DHEA (average 100% increase), accompanied by a
corresponding decrease in the stress hormone Cortisol
(average 23% decrease) in both men and women. Dr. Norman
Shealy, a well-known stress researcher and expert in DHEA
believes, "DHEA is the single most important hormone in the
body; a measure of vitality and life force." DHEA is a
precursor to estrogen and testosterone, the sex hormones.
Clinical tests carried out at the University of California,
San Diego, have shown that increased levels of DHEA produce
increased feelings of well-being and vitality. Dr.
Etienne-Emile Baulieu, a French researcher, isolated DHEA
more than 30 years ago while working with testosterone and
estrogen. DHEA has since been linked with aging.
This white paper is
available from the Institute of HeartMath for $5.00 per
copy, including postage for U.S. purchases. Call
408-338-8700 to order. The Institute of HeartMath offers
a variety of workshops and seminars where individuals can
learn how to stop emotional drain and transform their
lives.
Authentic Leadership: Inner Quality Solutions for
Women helps women discover how to use
leveraged intelligence to:
- Stop inefficient mental and emotional "loops" to accelerate self-security
- Slow the aging process, increase your vitality and improve overall health and well-being
- Build and sustain personal power to make choices that align with your personal mission
- Increase personal magnetism and effectiveness
- Improve the quality of all relationships, especially the one with yourself
- Use intuition -- the conduit for your real spirit -- to cut through mental and emotional patterns and time constraints
- Map out a plan of action for personal and professional success
White Paper, Part 2Stopping
the Emotional DrainSustainable
Heart PowerRethinking
Self-EsteemInterview
with Doc Lew Childre - On the Next Step for
WomenAbout
the Author and EditorWomen's
Stories About Using HeartMath Tools
Articles
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Insitute of HeartMath Main Page
since 05/14/97
HeartMath
LLC
14700 West Park Ave.
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408-338-8700 / fax 408-338-9861/ info@heartmath.com
Last updated 07/23/97
© Copyright 1997Institute of HeartMath
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