Have you ever heard the expression…. “Listen with your heart”?
The heart is where you’ll listen to your intuition which is also known as your internal voice. It’s the internal voice that guides the urge to take some type of action, lean in and listen deeply, or investigate curiosities through wonderment. It’s where healing, transformation, and personal development occurs.
Your heart is the center of your well-being. This is where our self-love, care, acceptance, and personal awareness lives.
The heart connects all of us through compassion and empathy. It allows us to see ourselves in the eyes of those who are suffering, but also recognizes that we do not need to take ownership in the suffering of others. That’s the beauty of listening to our heart, it provides us the ability to offer support and care without attachment.
You see…. the heart is much more than its physical function, which is to circulate nourishing blood throughout the body…. it’s the center of our spirituality.
How does all this fit in with Nurse Coaching? Well, let’s look at the evidence-based technique behind listening to your heart…. It’s called HeartMath through the HeartMath Institute, and what’s more is they are a strategic partner of INCA.
What is HeartMath?
HeartMath is an evidence-based system of tools and techniques designed to help you understand the power of the heart’s intuition and intelligence. It teaches you how to use tools and techniques to help you be the best version of you.
The founder of the HeartMath Institute, Doc Childre, and a team of experts in various specialties developed HeartMath in 1991 with a goal to bridge the connection between the heart and mind through the intuition of heart intelligence.
This program uses heart rate viability (HRV) software that monitors your heart rhythm and then is displayed as your physiological level of coherence. Although there are other ways to achieve inner balance like mindful meditation and other techniques, HRV software provides physiological metrics that allow you to pinpoint stressors and see opportunities for change when using the Inner Balance Trainer.
HeartMath has partnered with global leaders like the Integrative Nurse Coaching Academy who share their “passion for helping individuals and organizations reduce their stress levels, live with greater coherence, and function at a high level of performance and health.”
How does HeartMath Pair with Nurse Coaching?
The short answer is…. “Exceptionally well”.
Nurse coaches can use HeartMath for self- care, self-development, and in coaching.
- Self-care: What does self-care look like for you? What do you do when you are feeling overwhelmed and stressed? How do you embrace resilience? How do you center yourself?
Self-care may look different to everyone. It may be as simple as taking a hot shower at the end of the day, going for a walk to clear your mind, practicing meditation, or sipping that morning cup of coffee while envisioning your day ahead. Regardless of what you do for self-care, you are intuitively connecting your heart and brain. HeartMath simply the legitimizes the science behind this connection, but with intention.
- Self-development: Outside of the 90-minute free training course, the HeartMath Institute offers many course options to enhance your Nurse Coaching skillset. As you learn and practice these techniques, you develop an inner state of internal balance which in essence is coherence. This is something you can teach and share with others….and who knows….it may just inspire a wave of global coherence.
As a Holistic Nurse coach, you can stand out even more by becoming certified in HeartMath. Everyone experiences stress at different levels of intensity. Most, if not all, people have experienced trauma and grief. You can use these techniques to inspire a positive transformation and improve overall health and well-being within yourself and your clients.
- Coaching: Perhaps you are a transformational coach who works with nurses suffering burnout, trauma, stress, and/or anxiety. Maybe you work with company employees looking to be the best version of themselves. You might be a functional medicine nurse coach with clients who are wanting to lose weight and live a healthier lifestyle.
No matter what your specific niche(s) or coaching style is, the tools and techniques available in the HeartMath program can pair well with any Nurse coaching practice. One of the strong skillsets of a nurse coach is that they are intuitive listeners.
How do you see integrating the tools and techniques of HeartMath?
“As more of humanity practices heart-based living, it will qualify the ‘rite of passage’ into the next level of consciousness. Using our heart’s intuitive guidance, will become common sense based on practical intelligence.” ~Doc Childre
Lisa is an adult wellness nurse in a family practice by day and a freelance health content writer by night….and Saturday morning. She is passionate about her career because she gets to do what makes her happy, help others and write.
Lisa is still actively involved with her INCA alumni and meets monthly with her cohorts and pursuing her board certification in Nurse Coaching.
