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

A quirky self-help book for those wishing to enhance or improve the work of the heart. The authors have some oddly-named procedures to help, which do seem practical and practicable. It's a bit repetitive and verbose, however.

This is a wonderful guide-book or "owner's manual" to navatating the challenges and heart-aches of living these troubled and challenging times. It is useful to find contemporary ways to tune into to the emotional wisdom of our heart/mind to heal our bodies and our lives together.

This book was highly recommended and I was so excited to start reading it. The problem - I can hardly read the small print!! Yes, I'm wearing my glasses! I'll write a better review after I locate a magnifying glass.

The book is terribly written in my opinion. I tried to read this with an open mind, and heart ; ) for about 50 pages and eventually felt I would be foolish to trust anyone who would write in such an unscientific way. I will admit that I may be wrong and I will miss out on a great idea but that said - I really felt the writing sounded like a bunch of BS and had the writing style of an average high-school paper. The "scientific studies" are mentioned constantly (all the time) but they are not clearly explained. This is ridiculous. I did look at the bibliography eventually, and it was also not very clear. I was incredulous after the 100th or so mention of "as proven in our studies at HearthMath".... To leave it at just that, and NOT go into how the studies were conducted is truly a joke. It just sounds wrong, and sleazy, For me personally, if someone is ever going to say anything like "this was proven in studies" (conducted by us, or so-and-so), the author should then CLEARLY explain the study - who was involved? How many people? Blind study? Double-blind? ect.... The fact is - in the first 50 or so pages of this book, the authors again and again introduce ideas as "proven in a study". Then they do not go in to the details of the study. This of course is something that huxters and shysters always do and is not something you see in any reputable books which are introducing new, big ideas. I have quite a few "self help" books (most are useless!). The good ones ALWAYS give clear info on studies conducted. Why? Because that is science. Science is the truth. This book to me sounded like someone saying "Trust me, I guarantee it" "This guy did a study", "Or we did a study...". I did look in the bibliography, and the mentions of the studies were vague.

I really like hearing about Heartmath from Howard Martin on-line, but this book is heavy with testimonials that their stress management techniques work for some people. If this is about heart, the techniques should involve the heart more.

Absolutely love this book. I know they have a newer edition and I am looking to get that as well. I've been interested in spirituality and read many books on the matter but I'm also a very scientific person so it was great to find a book that merges the two and shows that the fields of spirituality and science can coexist.

I am building a library for myself and am collecting books for the library that I will have some day. This is one such book. I haven’t read it yet but I think it will be fascinating and am looking forward to reading it.

The main exercise in this book is to imagine that you are breathing from the centre of your chest, where the energetic heart is located. And when there, to calmly ask yourself, "What would be a wiser and more mature response to this situation?" The idea is to move from a "head reaction" into one's heart intelligence. The authors believe that science has now demonstrated that the heart has a "brain" of its own and that with awareness and practice one can access it more often. They believe that from this place, alternatives to dealing with upset stemming from hurt feelings (present or past reminded) by acting out (one-upping, belittling, etc) or in (self-berating, overeating, etc), become more available.

The book is not about the heart as a pump and the "math" refers to the idea that there is a significant amount of mathematical and scientific data available to support the idea that the energetic heart exists and that it has thousands of subtle nerve endings. The speed the heart beats between each beat is more important than the number of beats per minute. If the speed between each beat is regular, inner coherence/calm will occur leading to a variety of health benefits.

I heard of heartmath through Joseph Chilton Pearce, who highly recommends this inner work.

Love it! Heartmath is the best technique I have ever found to release stress and improve communication and augment healing (mind, body and relationships). Terrible name though - I would not have bought it except someone I trusted highly recommended it to me. It should have been called Heart Wisdom or something along those lines. Don't let the "math" in the title put you off - it is not overly mathematic, scientific or intellectualized at all, but scientist figured this system out, so I think to give it some credibility they came up with Heartmath instead of Heartwisdom, Heartlove or Hearthealing which is what this book and program is really all about! A bit boring to read but easy to understand and employ with immediate results (you will definitely need to skim over parts to get to the heart of the matter - the exercises!!!). It just makes you feel better to practice heartmath techniques. I've given this as a gift to many friends and family who needed an emotional lift and it always worked. Heartmath is one of those things that once you learn how to do it you never stop. I think it should be on the 8th grade curriculum of required reading to give all children quick and easy techniques to calm and improve their own feelings about themselves and the world before they get to high-emotion high-puberty high school!

Please read my commentary under Lynn Lynn's review... as I am not in the mood to type it again... the Publisher tried to destroy this book -- I am having to force myself to read it because the content is so important to me... but the experience of the tinsey-winsey print and the dusty Cheap Cheap Cheap Woody Yellow Paper that stops up your sinus's - and the narrow size of the book...[makes it hard to hold] -- is HORRID!!

Honestly I can't believe the author let it go out this way... it hurts him too!

Have read many, many books on spiritual psychology, and personal growth over the years, and this book is a real treasure! One that I intend to read over a few times. It's a comprehensive manual about our emotional landscape, which is written with a lot of insight and understanding. I love the purity and authenticity that shine through. Though I have yet to start working with the Heartmath techniques, I'm certain that they can cause lasting and genuine shifts which can be so elusive with more one sided therapies, that are based mainly on intellectual insights... This book is a must for anyone who is looking to find inner balance at all levels, connect with one's innate wisdom and intuition, to rise above one's subconscious programming and to grow in love, joy, and peace. It has definitely anchored itself in my heart forever!

This is a very well thought out and presented book on the nature of the heart, and has many implications for the body/mind principle.

Someone mentioned that the authors did not provide research outside their own internal findings. That doesn't mean that the research is wrong.

Someone mentioned the focus on marketing their own products. I'm 80% done with the book and not one mention of buying any products, although I'm already aware of their personal biofeedback devices which by themselves have great value.

The information provided in this book will enable anyone to step back and reassess how they are responding and reacting to the world around them and inside them. It is a great first step for many of us looking to eliminate our reactions to the stress we experience, and is complimentary to every other form of self-help stress reducing techniques out there.

The hard part is, as with any type of improvement course, is to find the courage in yourself to take action and to actually PRACTICE the methods that may have benefit for you. And then to maintain that practice until you have reached the point it becomes automatic, and practice has become perfection.

If you have read or watched "The Secret" which has garnered worldwide media attention, then this book will answer many of the "whys" we are left with after being introduced to the power of intentions.

I have only tried to put into effect the techniques in the book for a few days and already have seen improvement in how my own stress is being handled. Granted, it will take many days and weeks, maybe months, to rewire my automatic responses to my outside AND inside world - but I'm confident that this little book will be a great roadmap in addition to all my other traveling tools.

A+

The Institute of HeartMath is at the cutting edge of systems theory research as it applies to human physiology and behaviour. Their ideas challenge many old belief structures in science. As such their views form part of a much broader and rising awareness amongst scientists that the old assumptions on which much of science and medicine is based requires a significant review. The HeartMath Solution is perhaps their clearest exposition to date of their views, and is rightly supported by their own research. The books is perhaps insufficiently supported by the sizeable body of evidence which indicates that emotions are critical to health and in particular positive emotions can play a very significant role in enhancing health and well being. As an MD and HRV researcher myself I welcome HeartMath's attempt to promote this understanding. If only more scientists would concentrate on what human beings can do to help themselves rather than chart the detrimental impacts of poor health practices and disease we might be further forward in our fight to promote a healthier and more balanced world. I recommend this book to all open-minded scientists and clinicians.

"Care is an oil that lubricates the entire mental, emotional, and physical system. If you run your system without care, it's like running your car without oil - resulting in friction and breakdown."
If you've read many personal development books, you know that to find a truly original idea is rare. The best authors have the gift of saying something old in a new way that makes it more accessible; the worst simply have the temerity to say something old the way it's always been said and stick their names on the front cover.
What sets Doc Childre and the Heartmath team aside is that they actually came up with something new, and then back it up with a set of simple techniques to put their findings into practice.
Their discovery is that the physical heart has a lot more to do with our health and well-being than we ever thought possible, and that the simple act of "activating heart energy" by focusing attention on your physical heart and feeling sincere feelings of love, care, and appreciation reduces stress, strengthens our immune system, and gives us a reliable means to access our intuition.
The Heartmath Solution is a great overview of their work, yet practical enough to begin benefitting from immediately. As an added bonus for those of you tired of the "fuzzy science" that many new-age tomes use to "prove" reincarnation, alien abduction, and the existence of Lemuria, the "math" part of heartmath actually stands up to some examination. Studies measuring ECG, HRV, IGA, DHEA and just about every other set of initials you can think of help satisfy the part of our brain that cries out for a rational explanation for something we all intuitively know - that love is good!
Highly recommended.

This book gave me tons of insights. For the first time I'm putting techniques into action. I'm that kind of person that needs insight, understanding, ... to put things into action. The work of the hearthmath-team is preparing us for this century !

Extra tip : I linked this book with NLP-anchoring-techniques and the "change your questions, change your life" book.

The 3 heart exercises were worth the price of the kindle book. Very good ways of dealing with stress and even long term major problems. Some interesting facts about the electromagnetic properties of the heart.

Hearthmath is a great book by great authors. I often ask myself why Howard Martin would not write an updated edition since much has happened since 1999. My suggestion why not re-issue the book and have Howard Martin team up with Gregg Braden.

Doc Lew Childre is one of the most inovative writers and thinkers in this country. His words have proven out to be the most believable of anything I have found. His attempt to save the planet and change the world boils done to just loving all people and loving ones self. His teachings to save us from ourselves is profound. I love you Doc Lew Childre.