Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: One moment of heart can change a day. Many moments of heart can change a life. Many people practicing many moments of heart can change a planet. And we really believe that as people practice their own heart connection, it cascades into helping others. And collectively, it won't take that many of us practicing a heart connection to start to shift the trajectory of the planet.
[00:00:27] Speaker B: Hello, everyone, and welcome to the at Heart podcast. I'm Deborah Rosman, and I'm delighted to be able to interview each month and have the privilege of talking with leaders and individuals who are contributing to creating a more heart based world this month. February is heart month, and I thought I would invite Howard Martin, executive vice president of heartmath, and Owen Ward, chief strategy officer of heartmath, who are so committed to the mission of bringing more heart to the world to talk about what heart means to them.
So welcome, Howard, and welcome, Owen.
[00:01:07] Speaker C: It's good to be with you, Deborah. And good to be with you, Owen. It's going to be fun for us to do this together. And I want to greet you, the viewer, and all the folks around the world who are listening to this podcast. Hope you enjoy our conversation today.
[00:01:21] Speaker B: Absolutely.
So, Owen, let's start with you.
What does heart mean to you, and how has it changed, if it has, over the last few years?
[00:01:32] Speaker A: Well, first, I also wanted to just say a big thank you to everyone who's listening. We really appreciate it. So thank you for taking your time to listen to us. The journey has been incredible for me. It's been much longer than five years, but the last five years since I joined Heartmath actually has just accelerated.
There are so many layers in there. It's moved from what heart means to me to an understanding of what heart means to others, to ultimately an understanding of what heart means to the planet.
And it's ever changing and ever growing. But where I am today, I pondered this earlier this morning in a heart lock in. And there are just three things I want to share that I really want people to hear from my heart and where my heart is.
People are in a hard spot. On the planet's in a hard spot.
A lot of stress, a lot of hurt, a lot of conflict, a lot of overwhelm.
I think underneath a lot of these problems, a lot of these challenges, is a disconnection from heart, from love, a separation from our heart. And what I want people to hear is that I believe that the solution, or at least a solution, is a reconnection to that sense of heart and that sense of love.
Second, Einstein said something like, you can't solve a problem from the same level of thinking or consciousness that it was created.
And I believe that what he was saying there for me, how I translate that, how my heart translate that, is we need more heart energy to reveal the solutions to the problems that we have in ourselves and the problems that we're facing as a society. In a way, the answers are blowing at a higher level of consciousness. And I believe that the route to get to those answers is through the heart. And the last thing I wanted to share is that I have a lot of hope. I have more hope than I've ever had, because everybody has a heart.
And in a way, the answers, Doc childray says this, are hidden in plain sight.
It's practicing the qualities of the heart. It's bringing in more kindness, more care, more compassion.
One moment of heart can change a day. Many moments of heart can change a life.
Many people practicing many moments of heart can change a planet. And so I'm so deeply committed, more committed than I ever have been to bringing more of my own heart into my daily life and into helping others. And I'm more hopeful than I've ever been. And I see more heart, and I feel more heart on the planet than I've ever felt.
[00:04:52] Speaker B: Thank you. Ellen. That was really deep from your heart, and appreciate it. Howard, what about you? How do you see adding heart and how that can help the world at this time of extreme separation?
[00:05:07] Speaker C: Sure. I'll be glad to. First of all, let me just sort of tie this into some things that Owen just said.
Everybody does have a good heart deep down inside. It's the core essence of who we truly are. It's there, and people do get disconnected from it through the course of life, through the events of life, the ups and downs, the challenges, the hurts, the pains, all that. At times, people do just get. Whether they're disconnected from their true core.
The good news is that the reconnection can happen. It can happen relatively quickly. And that's what heartmath really has been about, if you think about it, for these 30 some years, is providing tools, techniques, concepts, and technology, all underpinned with scientific research. To do what? To help people reconnect with something they already have inside, with a beautiful and magnificent intelligence of their heart.
Right now in the world, we're seeing the separations divide, the polarizations. We're seeing tremendous amount of distortion and chaos and confusion in the world. And I think what's really happened in those, it's actually, in a way, moving people towards reconnecting with their hearts. I know that sounds counterintuitive, but as the stressors increase, people began to look a little deeper within themselves and what they're thinking and what they're feeling and what they can do to make changes. And when they do, their own best friend is waiting for them right there, their heart.
And so we need that today, in today's world, in order to build these bridges between people, we have to learn to reduce the biases and the judgments and the fears and the separation that's so prevalent. The only way I know that that's going to happen is through the power of love.
And love and heart are synonymous to me in terms of what heart means to me. So we increase the capacity to love, not just in a sweet and sentimental way, but in an intelligent way. Apply the aspects of love, like care, compassion, understanding, and non judgment, to daily situations. It begins to create sort of a viral momentum. One thing leads to another, leads to another, and more and more people begin to operate and live their lives that way, or at least more that way. And as that happens, it begins to heal some of the differences. And the separations allows for these new, amazing, intuitive possibilities to emerge that can allow us to see solutions to challenges, to allow us to see what's already there that we haven't seen yet, that can help to create a new and better and more sustainable world for all of us. So that's what I see. It's happening. It's not just something nice to do. It's needed right now. It's necessary. It's in essence, it's essential. And the good news, again, as I said, is something that Owen said. It already exists within us. We all have good hearts.
[00:07:57] Speaker B: Yeah. You reminded me of my journey of heart. I used to think heart was just sweet Valentine's day, but I also knew it was a source of love. And when I'd feel love, I'd feel my heart, the energy of the heart. And then sayings like, put your heart into it, care more, feel more connected with someone, to love them and understand and listen deeper, that compassionate quality. And so these qualities of heart unfolded for me until I realized, not just because of heart math, but even before we started heart math, I realized that as I felt that heart energy, I would have different perceptions, I would have intuitive insight or promptings to what to do. And if I followed that, it usually led to more fulfillment. So when we started Heartmath Institute to research what this process was, I really understood that this is intelligent, and that heart is really awakening. The heart is really the next level of intelligence for the mind to be not scattered or to see bigger picture perspectives. And that was so exciting to me. To understand the heart had to do with vision and creation and bigger picture perspectives. So adding heart, this podcast is all about how we can do that, how we can share and talk about how others do it, and why adding heart to the world right now is so important. And people do feel that people I talk to, they know intuitively somehow the world needs more heart, more love. But it all sounds so sweet. So one of the things I wanted to ask you both is that's been the purpose and vision of heart math is to take the math of the heart to the street for so many years. What's about this year? This is such a pivotal year for the planet.
We don't know what's going to happen in terms of a lot of the political situations throughout the world.
What is the role of heart math this year? Owen, you're the chief strategy officer. What's your vision for how heart math can help awaken and activate more of the heart of humanity this year?
[00:10:07] Speaker A: Well, the saving you just said awaken and activate the heart of humanity.
If we just pause and consider what that actually means, it's a big statement, can pass by us without us really considering what that means. But what that means to me is the word activate. Sorry, the word awaken, first word is to awaken people to their heart connection, get them started on their heart connection journey. The word activate to me means help them stick with it, help people practice their heart connection each day so they have more love running through their system, more heart running through the system.
The heart is a key part of it, and then humanity is lots of people. So in a way, what we're really saying with that vision statement for heart math and what we all wake up each day to do is we want to get lots of people across the planet starting their heart journey, sticking with it.
And we really believe that as people practice their own heart connection, it cascades into helping others. And collectively, it won't take that many of us practicing a heart connection to start to shift the trajectory of the planet. And so this year, for us from a strategic level, is what's it going to take to get more people starting their journey and sticking with it. And we have two things that we're focusing on that I think are really meaningful to help in those two goals. The first is we created and released a new technology that I think is pretty amazing, that allows a person to place their finger on the camera of their mobile phone and to measure their coherence. So we found a way to have the video camera actually video the flow of blood moving through your finger and calculate a coherence score. But what's really exciting about that is that means that now anybody on the planet who has a mobile phone can now measure their coherence, whereas in the past, you had to have a sensor that was pretty expensive. So that's a really important, meaningful barrier that we've brought down to allow more people anywhere on the planet to access coherence measurement.
The second thing is that many people don't know this, but in the 30 years that heart math has been around, there's been some incredible wisdom generated on everything around how you can deepen your own heart connection, understand what that even means to yourself, others and the planet, and how to apply that in so many ways. Heartmath has written over 30 books, for example, that I think very few people know that what we've started to do is take a lot of that wisdom and translate it into experiences that are engaging and bite size so that people can measure their coherence. Sure, and that's great. That's a great starting point, but can start to learn the meaningfulness of heart and what it means in all of its expansiveness and how to apply it throughout life. So it can start with maybe a health challenge, and it can spill into how do I improve my relationships? And ultimately, it can elevate into an understanding that when someone practices heart personally, they're actually contributing globally. And so we're working really hard to curate the best of all of those pieces of wisdom into journeys, into experiences that can just become more accessible and meaningful to people, to help them really accelerate and deepen their own heart journey. So I think the combination of those two makes me, and I know all of us really excited and those we've already released. And so now it's just about bringing it to more and more people and then continuing to call it, tune those experiences into resonance with what humanity needs, what people really need, which we're really committed to.
[00:14:46] Speaker B: I think what you sparked in me was recognizing again, and I've been involved in all this, is how do you activate the heart for real health problems, to really help them? How do you activate and utilize your heart and heart rhythm? Coherence to transform stress, to get better sleep, to reduce anxiety, to reduce separation. So many people are separated from family and friends and have opposing politics, or can't meditate. They can't quiet the mind. All these things are challenging on the downward spiral. How can adding heart in this very specific, step by step, coherent way transform that bring us to a larger perspective, like the Einstein quote, another level of consciousness, take charge of ourselves and contribute to the energetic connection we all have with humanity. So again, that's, to me, what a lot of the purpose of this new app and sensor and all that we're doing this year is to help people see how specifically they can go on journeys to add heart for the real problems and challenges they have in their life, or to enhance their own intuitive connection and find fulfillment, which is what we all really want. Howard, how do you see this? You've been so involved in creating and collating and curating all this content for many years.
[00:16:15] Speaker C: Owen calls it wisdom. I prefer to call it like, maybe accumulated knowledge through trial and error over these 30 some years of putting all this together. But, yeah, I think here's the thing. Let me sort of answer this question in a different way.
Many people just simply can't feel their heart right now, and they certainly can't feel much of a feeling of love, and that's okay. I think the love and the heart and the intelligence we're talking about is not just about feelings. It's about insights, it's about perspectives. It's about the ways in which we make decisions. It's about how we sort of find the little flows in life and how we, I, like, almost term curate a sense of self security.
So why this year? Well, we can obviously see that the world is going through a continuation of accelerated change. We see that very clearly. But there's something else happening. More people are being called to change, to learn, to grow, and they are. And there are millions and millions and hundreds of millions of people around the world who are already making changes in themselves, who made choices about how they're going to live their life and the perceptions that they have. How do we bring those people together more? How do we create more of this momentum that can help to offset so much of the distortion and chaos that we see? Well, there are many ways to do that, and certainly there are many people that are already making those type of efforts. Not just heart math, but for know, creation of that new app is the key. Owen says it well, sometimes in meetings when he says, now, anybody in the world who has a smartphone can have a coherence experience through the new technology we've created. To me, that's a beautiful thing. Just about anybody in the world that has a smartphone can have a coherence experience. Now that along with the videos, the journeys, the audios, all the tools and techniques and things that are in the app that can help people get the fundamentals down, find a way to ground out an understanding of heart and apply it in their daily life in meaningful ways. So the passion that I have right now is not just heart math apps and products and sensors and all that. It's really about just staying committed to seeing a new world emerge, a world that has more heart infused into it and putting that forward every single day in whatever it is I do, whether it's in business or whether it's in my own personal life, making the continuation of changes that I know I need to make, I think that's the biggest contribution any of us make to creating a new world and the changes we make in ourselves. So you add all that up, and it's exciting. Year, in the midst of a troubling looking year, I am like Owen. I'm very hopeful. I'm very excited about the potentials and where we are going individually and collectively. And it's really about heart time on the planet, right?
[00:19:12] Speaker B: Know, we say heart connection matters first, the connection with your own heart. Because so many people feel separated from their own heart, they can't feel it. Like Howard was saying, their mind, their experiences, their traumas all have clouded that out. The separations create clouded thinking. And we wonder what's going on that can be turned around so quickly as people connect more with the techniques and tools, whether it's heart math or others, to connect with their heart. And the fact that a billion people or more have smartphones and that possibility for a deeper heart connection with your own love, your own care, your own heart. And then we're all energetically connected with each other. The research is showing that. So, as we awaken, activate our heart, our care, our compassion for ourself and others, we are actually transmitting that and helping others do the same thing. And that, to me, is what excites me. The hope of going viral so the heart can really go viral in the world. And we're not the only ones. There's others who are seeing that vision of love expanding that way and everything else we've tried with the mind, except this. So on a mission and passion to do this together.
And so I would love to start us all off by sharing a heart meditation that we can do together. And one of the things I'd love for you to do is think back in your life to somebody who really cared for you, where you felt really cared for. For me, it was my fourth grade teacher that started my journey on care. I mean, her care was so strong, it made these Kodak moments of care. And that opens my heart just to remember that. So think about that or some other loving, caring time in your life and just focus your tension on the heart. Pretend like breath is flowing in and out of the heart or chest area. Breathing a little slower, a little deeper than normal.
And as you continue this heart focused breathing or heart coherence breathing.
Breathe in the quality of that care, that love that you felt.
Breathe it in and help yourself get still in your heart.
It. And when you breathe out, radiate that love and care throughout your mental, emotional and physical system.
See your heart, brain, nervous system, body aligning in harmony and coherence, making that deeper heart connection with yourself.
Now, radiate that love and care to people you love and care for, feel that energetic connection with their heart.
And now envision yourself moving more love through your system during the days by practicing heart qualities to reduce separation or improve a relationship.
And ask your own heart's intuitive guidance which heart qualities are most important for you to practice at this time?
Kindness?
Compassionate latitude for others?
Gratitude?
Patience?
Forgiveness?
Or is there another heart quality to increase your love or heal separation?
Next, breathe in the quality of love that your heart is guiding you, prompting you to practice more.
And as you breathe out, radiate that particular heart quality, that aspect of love, into the energetic field or radiate it to a relationship or a situation to improve it's and importantly, commit to acting on any heart promptings that come from your practice of this heart quality and see it leading to all sorts of benefits in your life.
Now, let's close by cocreating a reservoir of heart energy, collectively a reservoir that each of us can access as needed over the next month when we feel stressed or when we need support to follow through on our heart's direction.
Just breathe your own commitment and heart quality into that reservoir.
Thank you for sharing that with me, Howard, Owen, anything else you'd like to share with our listeners? Howard, let's start with you.
[00:26:36] Speaker C: It's a great time right now to make changes within ourselves that lead to more fulfillment. It's easier right now than it may appear. It's a great time to create and not wait.
We have the ability to do that. The facilitation forward is there.
We do have to look at the challenges. As I mentioned earlier, I don't want to talk about that so much right now. I want to talk about the adventure of life instead, about the opportunity that we have right now to make some changes that, again, lead us to more fulfillment. And that's my true hope for any one of you that's listening to our podcast right now, is you find that next level of fulfillment in your life, you find that sparkle that exists within your heart, and you turn life into a really interesting and fun adventure. That's my true wish, and that's what I'd like to leave anyone listening right now with.
[00:27:26] Speaker B: Thank you, Owen. How about you? Anything you'd like to leave people?
[00:27:32] Speaker A: You know, a lot of this podcast was about the bigger picture of everything.
And what I recognize, even in myself sometimes, is what's going on in my life might be so present that it's hard to connect to that bigger picture. And so what I wanted to share was, for those of you who are in that place, and I think we all go in and out of those places, that's okay. And what I really want you to hear is that when you connect your heart to solve whatever it is that you're facing, whether it's a sleep problem, an emotional challenge, a mental challenge, a physical health problem, wanting to do better at work, wanting to improve harmony in a relationship, when you use your heart to solve those things, you are contributing to the overall field environment. That's the planet. And that contribution of heart does find its highest, best use. And I really, truly believe that that contribution meaningfully adds to the trajectory of where our planet's going and is a helpful contribution to solving some of these bigger picture problems. And so it's not that we all have to be thinking of those all the time or directly trying to contribute them. The trick is to understand that when you connect to your heart, for whatever the reason is, you are already contributing, whether you know it or not and whether you like it or not, that heart energy is moving out into the world. And so I would just say to people, do what you can. Have compassion for yourself. It's not always easy to connect to your heart. It can be much harder sometimes than others. But just even trying is an act of heart. And so I'd encourage people to just try and then keep trying.
[00:29:32] Speaker B: Well, thank you both for sharing your insights today. And thank you for everybody listening to this. Because you're listening with your heart, and that is contributing to the world. You are an important contributor. Each one of us is. As we add drops of heart throughout the day to our own system, to each other, it does impact the planet. And that is our vision at heart math and our goal, to add heart to the world. So, in closing, as a gift to you, our listeners. I want to remind you, you can get free access to a video course of Heartmath tools and techniques to add heart called the Heartmath Experience.
It's online, it's free. It's amazing. It gives you a lot of background of the heart's research and things you can do. Or check out the new Heartmath app that Owen was talking about in the App Store, the Google Play Store.
Experiment with it, see what it feels like. And I want to remind you that on the third Tuesday of every month, we publish a new episode of this Adheart podcast. Be sure you subscribe so you don't miss our next guest and topic. Thank you so much and take care.
[00:30:50] Speaker D: 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 Heartmath and also the Heartmath Institute. Both organizations are committed to helping activate the heart of humanity.
