Improving Workplace Performance: How To

The key to transforming stress lies in your power to regulate
your emotions and perceptions. That power comes from your heart.

“Like many organizations, the organization I work for is performance driven—its data driven—and people like to see the proof that something works. HeartMath gives you that proof.”

Chris Roythorne, MD, VP Health, BP

Achieving success while remaining resilient and healthy has become increasingly difficult. An important step to creating personal and professional excellence is developing the ability to generate more coherence--the highly ordered state in which your body’s systems are synchronized for maximum efficiency. Coherence is a state of calm, focus, heightened awareness and balance. When in a high state of coherence you are operating at peak performance. Decision-making, communication skills, relationships, mental clarity, and leadership effectiveness are all enhanced.

The emWave PC provides a window through which you can observe and measure your coherence—the physiological state that supports peak performance and good health.

Coherence is a progressive state: the more we build it, the more we have in reserve. The aim of using the emWave PC is to increase the ratio of time spent in coherence. Increased personal coherence yields greater flexibility, adaptability, creativity and less stress.

Getting Started

The Tutorial offers detailed information about the emWave PC system’s, features and functions. It also explains the scientific research behind the technology and teaches you to build coherence with the Quick Coherence® technique.

With practice, once you’ve learned how to record a session, how to do the Quick Coherence technique and record a session while you ‘get coherent’, you’ll start to see the heart rhythm pattern change. When you shift to and sustain a positive emotion, the beat-to-beat changes in your heart rate will create a smooth pattern and your coherence score will increase. You can use the Coherence Coach™ to fine-tune your coherence building skills.

Once you are able to achieve 50% or more medium or high coherence, you are ready to add another entertaining way to practice your skills with one of the emWave games or the Emotion Visualizer sessions. You’ll want to save your sessions and track your progress.

It is recommended that you do 5 to 15 minute sessions on the emWave PC, five days a week. Of course you can do longer or more frequent sessions if you’d like, or if situations are particularly challenging or stressful. With practice you will increase your coherence scores. This is evidence that you are re-training your system so that you have a new internal baseline that is more naturally coherent.

Suggested Applications

∙ In the morning before you start your work day to set a baseline for increased clarity and performance

∙ Take a five-minute break during the day to recharge your system.

∙ After a particularly stressful experience to bring you back to balance mentally, emotionally and physically.

∙ Before a meeting to increase your mental acuity and emotional balance.

∙ Before and during creative projects to give your system a boost.

∙ While traveling—at the airport, on the plane, in your hotel—to maintain balance and stay energized.

∙ Before going to bed to facilitate deeper, more regenerative sleep. Bringing your system into coherence can help you sleep more deeply and wake up refreshed.

"Thank you for the excellent contribution the HeartMath program has made to the Stanford Executive Program over the past seven years. I have seen that the HeartMath tools provide our executive participants with very important and highly relevant skills for managing large, complicated organizations anywhere in the world, and for managing oneself. In this increasingly competitive global environment, the skills you have taught these leaders provide them with both the confidence and the strategies to transition back to their environments with a minimal level of stress and an optimal level of effectiveness."

Beverly H. Smith, Administrative Director, Stanford Executive Program

"This is a great set of leadership tools. I can now recognize and deal with stress as it comes. I find myself much more aware of when I have become angry or frustrated... I recognize and use the tools to restore balance and a more positive attitude. Another benefit of using HeartMath is I don't wake up tired anymore. I plan better, and am able to be more direct with people."

Sam Ruffing, MS, RN, Vice President, Methodist Health System

Enjoy using your emWave PC system and experience the benefits of coherence for your mind, body and heart.

Return to the Mind Modulations Main emWave PC page.