Contents

Foreword

Introduction: Learning to Transform Stress

chapter 1: Resilience: The Key to De-Stressing and Becoming the Real You

Why Manage Stress?

The Real You Beneath the Stress

What Is Stress?

Stress: Warning Signs

Resilience and Your Inner Battery

Heart-Focused Breathing Technique

chapter 2: Your Heart and Brain: The Power of Working Together

The Heart-Brain Connection

Heart Rhythms

Coherence: Heart and Brain Working Together

Quick Coherence Technique

Transforming Stress: Heart-Brain Coherence in Action

The Challenge of Emotional Memories

chapter 3: The Emotional Landscape: Understanding How Emotions Affect Your Body

Understanding the Emotional Landscape

Range of Emotions: Depleting and Renewing

Heart Rate

Hormonal System

Your Emotional Landscape

Using the Techniques to Shift on the Landscape

Heart Rhythms and Your Emotional Landscape

The Difference Between Relaxation and Coherence

chapter 4: Positive Change: The Stress-Busting Power of a Shift in Attitude

Attitude Breathing Technique

Replacing Negative Attitudes with Positive Attitudes

Attitude Breathing and the Emotional Landscape

Attitude Breathing in Daily Life

Prepping with Attitude Breathing

Prepping for Your Day

Using Attitude Breathing with Painful Experiences

Transforming Negative Attitudes

Building Inner Security with Positive Attitudes

chapter 5: Intuition: Listening to Your Heart

Intuition: The Intelligence of the Heart

Three Types of Intuition

Implicit Knowledge

Energetic Sensitivity

Nonlocal Intuition

Intuition Research: The Role of the Heart

The Role of Intuition in Daily Life

The Freeze Frame Technique

When to Use Freeze Frame

Step by Step: How to Do the Freeze Frame Technique

What’s Different About Freeze Frame?

chapter 6: Invisible Communication: The Unseen Effect of Emotions and Attitudes

Feelings in the Air

The Electricity of the Heart

The Heart’s Magnetic Field

Feeding the Field

How We Can Affect Others

Josh and Mabel, His Dog

Ellen and Tonopah, Her Horse

Heart Lock-In Technique

Step by Step: How to Do the Heart Lock-In Technique

A Few More Helpful Hints

When to Do a Heart Lock-In

chapter 7: Coherent Communication: Taking the Stress Out

Everyday Communication

Communicating is a Two-Way Street

Speak from Your Heart: Honest Communication

Deep Heart Listening

When Are You Deep Heart Listening?

When Are You Not Deep Heart Listening?

Technique: Coherent Communication

Step by Step: How to Do the Coherent Communication Technique

Challenges to Coherent Communication

A Gap in Communication: Not Feeling Understood

Communicating with Your Parents

Communicating with Other Adults

Communicating with Peers

Drama

Two Levels of Drama

What to Do When Drama Engulfs You

chapter 8: Relationships: Building Deeper Connections

Speaking from Your Heart

Develop Compassion for Yourself and Others

Avoid Judgments

Handle Histories with Care

Watch for Makeovers

Provide a Solid Foundation for Romantic Relationships

Soften Your Expectations

chapter 9: Three Key Strategies: Building and Sustaining Your Resilience

First Key Strategy: Prep

The Prep Technique

Step by Step: How to Do the Prep Technique

Practicing the Prep Technique Right Now

Second Key Strategy: Shift and Reset

Shift and Reset in Difficult Situations

Third Key Strategy: Sustain

When Will You Apply Sustain?

The Value of Prep, Shift and Reset, and Sustain

Lasting Change: Give Yourself Time

Extra Power: Stay Genuine and Earnest

The Real You

What’s Next?

Acknowledgments

—Rollin McCraty, Jeff Goelitz, and Sarah MoorHeartMath Institute

—Stephen LanceYouth Learning InstituteClemson University