Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: If everybody was just feeling okay, feeling fine, there wouldn't be a lot of transformation. So I think that these generations that we're speaking about here, we're meant to do that transmutation work so that we awaken, so that we stop being disconnected from our true nature, which is that state of connectedness, of oneness.
[00:00:23] Speaker B: Hi, I'm Deborah Rosman, and a warm welcome to our listeners each month for the Ad Heart podcast, I have the privilege of interviewing individuals who are contributing to the creation of a more heart based world.
My guest this month is Christina Furia, a 30 something year old millennial who is a transformational coach guiding others, especially millennials, during this time of collective upheaval. Christina was a mental health counselor before hearing and answering an inner call to become a self transformation coach and help people learn how to lean into their true purpose, be free of the confines of a harsh inner critic, and experience each day as unique gift. Welcome, Christina. So glad you're here.
[00:01:16] Speaker A: Thank you. Thank you so much for having me.
[00:01:19] Speaker B: Well, Christina, you talk about the heart as a tool for discovering your true north. What does true north mean to you?
[00:01:30] Speaker A: Yeah. So for me, the idea of using the heart as a means of connecting to the true north is sort of another way of saying using your heart as a compass to guide you forward as you navigate life. And not just forward in sort of like any old way, but forward with intention and consciousness and really a claiming of the highest path and timeline for your life. You won't find that path or that timeline without using the heart.
[00:02:09] Speaker B: And how do you encourage people to use their heart in that way?
[00:02:16] Speaker A: Well, heart mass, in many ways, has been a part of my training and how I have come to facilitate using the heart space with the folks that I support. So heart breathing is a big one for sure, as is really just teaching folks to notice the heart space. Right? So many of us, almost everybody, I think, really, at least in the west, we tend to exist or move through the world almost like we're floating heads, right? It's like we have these bodies, but we're not super conscious of them. So a big part of what I encourage people to do is to simply take their awareness and move it down. Right. Taking it from the headspace down into the heart. And through that shifting of awareness or focus, the heart begins to awaken and become more enlivened.
[00:03:16] Speaker B: Love that. Of course, as you said, that's what Heartmath has been teaching for years and all our books and training programs. And one of the questions people often have, which we address in all of our programs. But I'd like to know how you dress it specifically and what kind of questions you get from people, because we are so floating heads as a society, how do you know when it's your heart talking versus your emotional desires or your concepts and beliefs?
[00:03:48] Speaker A: Your head.
Yeah, so that's a great question. And I think that the answer almost reveals itself to people the more time that they spend being in the body. It's one of those things. It's kind of a felt knowing more than it is an intellectual understanding. But to the extent that it can be intellectually explained and understood, I think for me, the answer is that information that comes from the heart space, it comes through with the kind of clarity and easefulness that the mind very rarely, if ever, offers. Right. When you're really leading from the heart and receiving information from the heart, it's not something you're inclined to question. It just is. And, you know, and I think that's the biggest piece of information that I'm inclined to share with people for the most part.
[00:04:51] Speaker B: Yeah.
My own discovery of how to distinguish between my heart and my emotional desires and my beliefs, which can often feel very real, was a process you learn through testing, like putting your foot in the water, learning how to swim, and taking steps to really experience what your reference is of your heart signals. And for me, that was an inner confirmation. I like to, when I teach it, talk about, like, a traffic light, when I feel a compression or a hesitation, something that's feedback inside, like a red stop. And when I feel like I'm not sure, that's when I go to pause, step back and pause till I really get the green light, a signal, a feeling to go forward. And through process, you test that because it's a refinement. And then the heart talking, when you do step into it, the confirmation that comes back is, yes, this is the direction, this is the way that voice of the heart, or signal or feeling of the heart, that heart space grows stronger. So that's my experience. And I think sharing experience of that discovery process can be very helpful to people.
[00:06:18] Speaker A: Yeah. And I love that analogy that you just gave, too. I think that makes it feel just concrete and easily understandable for folks. And just in general, I think this idea of learning to listen to the signals of your body, it's so important.
Before getting into this work, before my own spiritual awakening, I was very dissociated from my body, but also my body was constantly in a state of discomfort. And so without paying attention to the discomfort it just was that right? It was just uncomfortable. But once I started learning that I can actually tune in and allow the sensations in my body to kind of offer information one way or another, things started to shift and change for me as well. So I always recommend for folks, just to kind of piggyback on this idea you're sharing, just to start noticing, what are you feeling in your body? Where is there tension? Where is there contraction? Where is there some sort of discomfort? And even just tuning into that can then, I think, support in tuning into some of the more clear and desirable information, such as information that comes from the heart space. Right. We start to have that skill of discernment, which is so very important.
[00:07:44] Speaker B: Beautifully said.
There's so much information the body provides us, but so often we're just stuck in the information the mind feeds us, which can be projections or fear based experiences from the past that resurface, that keep us know. We see statistics now that say that the millennial and Gen Z generations are often depressed, that there's an epidemic of loneliness and depression. And the center for Disease Control found that one in three high school students in the US reported chronic feelings of sadness and hopelessness.
And even a quarter this blew my mind of teenage girls had actually made a suicide plan.
Now, social media has been blamed for a lot of it, but so is the uncertain state of the world in its future. So people are feeling victimized. And again, that's just what's being fed to them in the blame game of social media or school, or again, what the mind says or people around them. So it's so important to help young people, and I know that's what you're doing. Open the heart. I mean, Doc Childry, the founder of Heartmath, and I co authored a book called Transforming Depression, which looks at depression as a disconnection from.
So then everything does look hopeless. And to lift our spirit, we need to reopen our heart. And first it starts out as a feeling of repression, then goes to compression, and then depression. And I don't think people understand the downward spiral. And you and I talked about this briefly, and I loved your experience of how depression is actually, or anxiety disorder can be in. Loneliness can be a gift for many people, because in discomfort, as you're talking about, or the pain of it can cause many people to say to life, there has to be something else. And then when we really mean that, we start going deeper in the heart to find something, draw some new information or some help in your work, what have you found related to this?
[00:10:08] Speaker A: Yeah, so I agree with you completely. When we're feeling well, or at least feeling sort of acceptable, right. We're existing in kind of a status quo. And from the status quo, we're not really inspired to create big shifts to our experience. We're not really inspired to seek information in a big way. We just are kind of more or less coasting. And so it's not to say that you can't find a status quo while existing inside the experience of something like depression or anxiety. You certainly can, and many people do. But if your status quo or your comfort zone is actually so uncomfortable to exist inside of despite it being familiar, you're much more likely to try and change. So, for me, just in thinking about how the millennial generation, Gen Zers, even those younger than that, the fact that there is a high prevalence of depression and anxiety, it's almost like the world, the universe, all of the souls that chose to show up here in this current age range, it's almost like we're all saying, okay, we're going to deal with a higher prevalence of these things so that we can get inspired to transmute it, right? If everybody was just feeling okay, feeling fine, feeling even maybe happy, dare I say it, there wouldn't be a lot of transformation. So I think that these generations that we're speaking about here, we're meant to do that transmutation work so that we awaken, so that we stop being disconnected from our true nature, which is that state of connectedness, of oneness.
[00:12:06] Speaker B: Yeah. And finding the resources on social media, which is where a lot of young people hang out, I have found that over and over in my many years teaching about the heart, whether it's online or in person, there has to be at least a step into it, a step forward, to ask, to open the heart somewhat, to draw the social media contacts, the people, the coaches, that can help you go the next step and reopen the heart for hope, what do you see as the primary avenues to reach people of your generation?
[00:12:49] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, I think you're completely correct that social media is the number one tool, for better or for worse. It's just what's true. And while I don't necessarily think that this is happening as much yet, the vision that I really hold for young folks my age and younger is that social media really become the entry point. And then through the creation of community in the virtual space, it can then be taken offline and become real life community, right, where people are finding like minded folks that are in their same city or state. And beginning to actually come together because obviously these types of in person connections, it fosters more love and more aliveness, I think, within all of us, right, we're not meant to exist as islands, only connecting through computer screens. So I think that's something that's beginning to happen a bit more as the kind of age of learning through Instagram has evolved in recent years. But I believe that it can and potentially will, hopefully will become even more pronounced or more frequent that we're seeing that, like connections being taken offline, that's the vision.
[00:14:21] Speaker B: So, Christina, regardless of our age, we're all having to navigate this transitional time where our older life has ended, whatever that was, and a new one is yet to take shape. We're in process and we don't know what the future holds, but there's an awakening going on. For some people, this is an adventure because they're secure enough, and for others it's really scary. But we're all being asked to help create the new. Like you talked about, the need for community online has to emerge into real connection face to face. And the whole conversation now about workspaces, people wanting to bring companies wanting to bring people back to work, but in the office, but people enjoying the comfort of home, the hybrid seems to be the direction.
But then the younger generation feeling going from victim to awakening and co creating, how do you see this happening? And maybe you just answered it in terms of online and social media leading to groups. Anything else you'd like to say about that?
[00:15:34] Speaker A: Yeah. For me, I always trust that we're all always playing our perfect roles. So right now, the younger generations might be kind of like whining and complaining about the idea of going back into the workplace, but maybe that's just what needs to be happening right now as things evolve, I think that again, we're all playing our perfect parts. And so folks, these younger folks or whoever will start to be guided in a different direction, because maybe isolation stops being fun, right? Maybe getting to work from the couch no longer feels so comfortable. And I guess really through this idea, this point I'm making is we can't know the how, I don't believe, but we can all sort of hold this trust, hold this vision that we're going to keep being guided to where we're meant to go and that in that guidance or through that guidance, we're going to continue on this upward spiral of awakening earth, healing earth, and becoming just profoundly more connected, actually tapping into the interconnected nature that we have, regardless.
[00:16:55] Speaker B: No, I totally agree, and my heart goes out with deep compassion to the people who are stuck in that lower vibration. And there has to be enough heart opening to start that process of what you're talking about. You know, in our book, Heart Intelligence, there's a chapter there where Doc childry, our founder, talks about higher and lower frequencies, or vibes. When we're in our different lower and higher vibrations, they're really frequencies. And how our perceptions and thoughts and feelings and intentions are actually all energetic frequencies influenced by our experiences, our environment.
And when we are in a higher vibration, we're feeling connected with others in life. We don't have to try to be positive because those uplifting feelings and thoughts flow and our heart opens and our heart energy helps us be more authentic and then be on that upward spiral that you mentioned. But so many people are stuck in a lower vibration where the downward spiral, the negative thoughts and feelings just roam. And, as he says, feed from our life force and can run our life.
But people understanding that we have choice and then getting together with others, I do believe to inspire each other is so important. You also talk about, you use the term your new frequency.
What do you mean by that? And how do you know when you're in it?
[00:18:29] Speaker A: So, for me, so that's actually the name of my business. When I decided to name the business that I really felt like that kind of just came through. Like, I sourced it and I think I selected that name, or it chose me because it embodies what we're all meant to be doing right now, which is learning to claim a higher frequency.
But like you kind of just touched on not through thinking positively, instead through first generating an inner feeling, which then creates a different energetic state that then very naturally creates the shifts to our thinking. Right. In the west especially, I'm a trained therapist. Most of us are taught, just think positive, just think positive. And then, like I spoke about earlier, we're also simultaneously disconnected from our bodies. And therefore, any endeavoring to think positive, it's going to have very strong limits. So your new frequency is about beginning from the level of the body, the level of our energy, and then trusting that there will be a ripple effect that impacts both our minds, but also that impacts the people around us, and then that ripple effect keeps going and going and going further and further out.
[00:20:04] Speaker B: Absolutely. That is how the human system works. And I know I'm a behavioral psychologist myself, I found limitations with the most helpful type of psychology that we used to use, which was cognitive behavioral therapy, because the feelings didn't always go along with the intentions of the mind. You really need the power of the heart and body to make some of those shifts to combine heart and brain intention. So we're going to do a little heart meditation together to do that together. And I'm going to share a heart meditation from the Heart Intelligence book on how do we replace those lower vibration thoughts and feelings when we feel stuck in them.
So let's try it together.
[00:20:52] Speaker A: Beautiful. Let's do it.
[00:20:53] Speaker B: All right, let's focus our attention on the area of our heart and just do some heart focus breathing in through the area of the heart and out through the area of the heart. Breathing a little slower, deeper than normal.
Just find an easy rhythm that's comfortable.
This starts to bring more coherence into our heart and nervous system.
Now, as you continue this heart focus breathing, remember a time when you felt sad or insecure. Could be recent, could be now, could be long ago or disconnected from others or any lower vibrational feelings or attitudes that you'd want to replace and feel better.
Now, as you focus on your heart still, with each breath, imagine your mind, emotions, and body getting even quieter or more still inside from that place of stillness, imagine the kind of caring feeling or attitude you would like to have or have felt before, when you felt more self secure or uplifted.
So it's recalling or imagining a replacement feeling or attitude.
And as you breathe, imagine you're breathing this new feeling, new frequency into your being.
If you can't totally feel it, just imagine breathing the attitude of it. That works, too.
Now, the last step is to keep doing this. Keep breathing this feeling and attitude for as long as you enjoy this. To anchor it in with the intention of anchoring it into your cellular memory so that you can recall it when you need it.
With a little practice, you can surprise yourself with increased inspiration and heart power to change many unwanted feelings, emotions, and attitudes that bring you down, lower your frequency, or keep you stuck or stop your ability to feel good. This is using the power of your heart and body to shift the energy.
You can also use this simple heart meditation when you're feeling uplifting feelings and attitudes like gratitude, kindness, compassion to anchor these feelings so they'll return more often.
Just breathe that feeling and attitude into your body and cells into your intention to anchor it, and then reconnecting with these heart feelings, these higher frequency feelings throughout the day. Just recalling gratitude or kindness or patience flow.
Just remembering that and reconnecting with it keeps our vibration up and it helps to eliminate or prevent a lot of stress reactions.
Then our higher vibration of who we really are. True self can come through more and naturally generate the heart qualities, the core heart frequencies, that give us more sense of kindness and respect and create harmony and uplift in our lives.
Simple exercise, but it does require us repeating it and integrating it, anchoring it.
So, as we always do each month, let's close this heart meditation we're doing together by co creating a reservoir of heart energy, of building a collective reservoir of heart power that each of us can access as needed over the next month, when we want some help to reopen our heart or reconnect with our heart feelings and lift our vibration.
So just imagine that we're all co creating this reservoir of heart energy that any of us can tap into as needed.
Hey, thank you so much for sharing that heart meditation with me.
Christina. Is there anything else you'd like to share with our listeners?
[00:27:37] Speaker A: Gosh, now I'm just feeling very relaxed and very connected, so thank you for that.
I think I'll just actually, if it's okay, share what was coming through for me at the last part of that meditation, just in case it's supportive for other people, too. This idea of the reservoir, I was seeing a well, a water well, and just seeing all of these deposits and the well just getting more and more and more full. And I love the idea of all of us being able to just walk over to the well throughout the month and just take what we need. And then when we have something extra to give to, maybe add a little bit more again as well.
[00:28:26] Speaker B: Thank you for sharing. That's wonderful. I think we can all relate to that.
[00:28:31] Speaker A: Thank you.
[00:28:33] Speaker B: So also, as a gift to all our listeners, I want to remind you that you can get free access to an amazing online video course called the Heart Math Experience to learn several helpful techniques for connecting with your heart's intuitive guidance and your next steps.
And I also want to remind you that the third Tuesday of every month, we publish a new episode. So be sure you subscribe. Come to our websites, download the Hartmouth Experience, and subscribe to the Adheart Podcast so you don't miss our next guest and topic.
Thank you for sharing your hearts and take care.
[00:29:19] Speaker C: Thank you for listening to the Adheart Podcast. Be sure to subscribe so you can catch the latest episodes. If you're wanting even more heart inspired content, find us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn. Look for heart math and also the Heartmath Institute. Both organizations are committed to helping activate the heart of humanity.
