Why I've Added HeartMath® as a Tool in Whole System Healing

What if the key to healing pain isn’t just in your muscles, joints, or even your breath - but in how your entire system communicates and responds to stress? Over the past 19 years, I’ve worked with people seeking relief from physical pain. But what I witnessed, again and again, was that true healing rarely stopped at the body.

My early work focused on physical alignment: releasing fascia, decompressing joints, restoring healthy posture. These interventions brought fast relief. But something deeper kept happening. When clients experienced better physical alignment, other seemingly unrelated pains—mental, emotional, even existential - began to ease as well.

I started noticing a pattern. The process of coming into alignment physically often sparked awareness of other misalignments: in relationships, work, self-worth. And when those were addressed, real and lasting healing followed.

Often it began with cultivating self-compassion. Sometimes it looked like setting boundaries. Other times it meant leaving a dysfunctional relationship or switching to a job more aligned with their sense of purpose.

As these shifts unfolded, I noticed something else: my students were accessing a kind of inner wisdom that wasn’t driven by logic. It felt grounded, intuitive, and deeply authentic. It felt like it came from the heart.

Recently, I was a contributing author in a book called Healthy for Life. A hidden gift of that project was meeting several co-authors who are HeartMath® trainers. As soon as I learned about the HeartMath System, I knew I had found the missing piece. It gave me the scientific language to describe what I had been seeing for years.

What is HeartMath®?

HeartMath is a system of simple but powerful techniques developed through 30 years of research. It investigates the connection between heart rhythms, brain function, emotional regulation, and physical health.

The core concept is heart-brain coherence, which is a measurable state in which the heart, brain, breath, and emotions work in sync. You know the feeling: grounded, clear, present, and calm. I had seen my clients enter this state again and again - without knowing it had a name.

Being a HeartMath Certified Professional gives me a way to help them get there faster.

It also offers something I deeply value: biofeedback. HeartMath’s Inner Balance™ technology gives you instant insight into your nervous system, showing in real time how your breath and focus are affecting your internal state. This is not just about relaxation - it’s about training your nervous system into flexibility and resilience.

How HeartMath® Impacts the Nervous System

In my last blog, Understanding Your Nervous System, I described how the autonomic nervous system (ANS) governs nearly everything in the body - from digestion to sleep to immunity. When you’re under constant stress, the ANS stays stuck in fight-or-flight, making healing impossible.

Heart-brain coherence directly supports ANS regulation. Research shows that HeartMath® techniques increase heart rate variability (HRV) - a marker of nervous system adaptability. High HRV is associated with better emotional control, faster recovery from stress, and improved cognitive function.

Here are a few studies that support this connection:

• High resting vagally mediated HRV correlates with superior cognitive performance

• Greater HRV linked to stronger connectivity between the prefrontal cortex and amygdala—key for emotion regulation

• High HRV supports better emotion regulation and adaptive responses during stress

• HRV as a biomarker of cognition and potential therapeutic target

Why This Matters for You

If you’re on a healing journey - whether that’s from chronic pain, anxiety, burnout, or a vague sense of not feeling like yourself - your nervous system is at the center. You may eat well, exercise, journal, even meditate and do breathwork. But if your body is stuck in survival mode, those efforts don’t always reach.

This is where the HeartMath System comes in. It’s not meant to replace movement, breathwork, or rest. It’s a complement - a way to anchor the nervous system into a state of healing and receptivity.

When you regularly practice coherence:

• You sleep more deeply

• You respond, instead of react

• You start to feel like yourself again

This is the kind of resilience I want for you.

If you’re curious how HeartMath tools fit into your healing process - or if you’ve already tried everything and still feel stuck - I’d love to show you how they can help.

When your nervous system feels safe, your whole body responds in kind. And that’s when real change begins.

YOU CAN BUY THE TECHNOLOGY HERE using my affiliate link to get 10% off, lifetime access to the app, and free domestic shipping in the US.

HeartMath is a registered trademark of Quantum Intech, Inc. (dba HeartMath, Inc.). For all other HeartMath trademarks go to www.heartmath.com/trademarks.