Body Freedom Foundations
Pillar 7: Mindfulness
The Transforming Stress System

Welcome to the Transforming Stress System! These simple, yet powerful activities I outline below are among the most powerful tools at your disposal for transforming stressful moments into health-giving mini-vacations. It is based on the principles of HeartMath™. Learn these strategies to share with your clients, to help them shift into a body state that’s conducive to healing.

1	Learned Quick Coherence aka "mini-vacations"
2	Practiced the power of appreciation
3	Practiced Heart Lock-In
4	Read about the emotional landscape
5	Registered for the 30 day transforming stress messages or downloaded the audios
6	Began to listen to the 30 day stress transformation messages
7	Outlined a plan for incorporating this information into client sessions

Action Steps

#1: Learn “Quick Coherence” (aka “Mini-Vacations”) Technique and Teach to Your Clients

HeartMath Imagery Introduction: Quick Coherence

Start by listening to the audio. Be sure to save a copy of this audio and play it often. Follow along using the transcript to reinforce the instructions in your brain. Then listen again to the audio and take a short trip to a peaceful and blissful place.

Downloads: Audio (Mp3) | Transcript

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#2: Learn to Transform Stress Through The Power of Appreciation

Transforming Stress: The Power of Appreciation: Discover the physiological benefits of connecting with positive emotions. Use the exercises provided to help you connect to gratitude and learn a HeartMath™ stress transformation technique that has benefits for hormones and emotions. This e-book represents a more complete version of the instructions on the page below.  Learn these techniques so you can teach them to your clients.

Preparation:

Recall a time when you felt really good inside. This could be a feeling of appreciation or care towards a special person or pet, a place you enjoy, or an activity that was fun. Recall as many of the details as you need to be able to recreate the good feeling of appreciation, care, or fun.

Repeat this 2 or 3 times and write a brief description of these positive feeling times so that you can memorize them. Refer to these memories when you are in a situation that you would like to transform.

Step 1: Shift Your Attention

Focus your attention on the area around your heart. If this sounds confusing, try this: Focus on your right big toe and wiggle it. Now focus on your right elbow. Now gently focus in the center of your chest, the area of your heart. If you like, you can put your hand over your heart to help. If your mind wanders, just keep shifting your attention to your heart. Do this for 30 seconds to a minute.

Step 2: Directed Breathing

As you focus on the area of your heart, imagine that your breath is flowing in and out through that area. This helps your mind and energy to stay focused in the heart area and your breathing and heart rhythms to synchronize. Breathe slowly and gently “in through your heart” to a count of 5 or 6. Briefly hold the in breath, and then breathe slowly and easily out through your heart to a count of 5 or 6. Do this until your breathing feels smooth and balanced, not forced.

You may discover that it is easier to find a slow and easy rhythm by counting “one thousand, two thousand” rather than “one, two”. Continue to breathe with ease until you find a natural inner rhythm that feels good to you.

Step 3: Appreciation

Continue to breathe through the area of your heart. As you do so, recall one of the positive feelings you wrote down during the preparation stage. Be as vivid as you can in your recollection. Your goal is to re-experience the feeling, not just visualize the situation. Feel it, taste it, hear it, and smell it. The more fully you bring it back to your experience, the deeper the experience of relief.

Your nervous system can’t tell the difference between reality and recreating the experience. The same neural pathways are activated. The same chemistry is activated in your blood. Your heart rhythms synchronize the same whether it’s real or imagined.

Allow yourself to feel this and linger with this good feeling for as long as you can.

Follow-up: Repeat This Process 5 Times a Day

1. Before you get out of bed in the morning, to set the tone for your day.
2. Right before you eat breakfast, to facilitate efficient production of digestive enzymes.
3. Right before you eat lunch, to allow your food to fully nourish you.
4. Right before you eat dinner, to take a break from the chaos and calm and relax your digestive tract.
5. As you lay in bed at night, ready to go to sleep, to encourage a peaceful and sound slumber.

HeartMath Centering: Guided Example

Close your eyes and listen to the audio below as I guide you through the process. Save a copy of this audio to your iPhoned or other portable device and play it often. You can also read the transcript to reinforce the instructions in your brain.

Downloads: Audio (Mp3) | Transcript

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#3: Learn Other Stress Transforming Processes and Teach them to Your Clients

Heart Lock-in

Heart Lock-in takes the relaxation and positive feelings from the Quick Coherence, or “Mini Vacations” and sustains the feeling for 15 minutes or more, all the while radiating the feeling throughout your body and to others. It’s described on the daily transforming stress audios.

How to do Heart Lock-in 

1. Shift your attention to the area of your heart and breathe slowly and deeply.
2. Activate and sustain genuine feelings of appreciation or care for someone or something in your life.
3. Send these feelings of care towards yourself and then to others. (This benefits them and especially helps recharge and balance your own energies.)
4. When you catch your mind wondering refocus to your heart and re-connect with the feelings of care and appreciation.

Emotional Landscape

Your Emotional Landscape: Tools to observe and map stress and emotions that lead to an understanding that sets the stage for making changes at a pace that will last.

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#4: Access 30 days of Transforming Stress Daily Audio Messages

This 30-day process can guide you and your clients to transform stress by devoting about 10 minutes a day to “mini-vacations” and learning to “freeze-frame” during stressful circumstances.

Listen to the Welcome and Introduction

Downloads: Audio (Mp3) | Transcript

 

Access the Daily Messages

Download Daily Audio Messages and Transcripts

For your convenience, we’ve created a zip file that contains all 30 days of messages and transcripts.  The transcripts can be especially helpful to you in creating your own stress transformation handouts and resources for your clients.

Consider creating your own messages to guide your clients through mindfulness practices, in your own voice.  Or, if you prefer, sign up as an affiliate and send your clients to the Transforming Stress System Registration page.  This can be a powerful tool that will continue to help your client for many years to come.

Complete the form below to automatically receive these messages daily in your inbox.Each day you will receive an e-mail with instructions and a daily audio message.