Our mission, our story
A global shift is under way and more people are sensing it involves a deeper connection with their heart. This desire for more heart connection is a growing movement, one that people are drawn to by a nudge from their own intuition or conscience to listen to their heart more and to connect with their inner guidance.
We are passionate about helping individuals, organizations, and the global community incorporate the heart’s intelligence into their day-to-day experience of life to develop innovative solutions to challenges, increase cooperation and live healthier more fulfilling lives.
We help you to discover the power of your heart. By increasing your heart coherence you balance stress and emotions while deepening connection and communication with yourself and the world around you.
What we want everybody to know
Heart coherence is contagious. It starts with yourself and has a positive effect on others. You will not only empower and inspire yourself, but also those around you. Higher heart coherence is tangible, visible, measurable and trainable.
Our vision (since over 30 years)
A more humane, heart-centered world where we care for each other and live harmoniously in peace. It's a grand vision, but HeartMath believes in it, as well as in the many personal and societal benefits that working with heart coherence will bring.
Our mission
To help activating the heart of humanity. By enabling that as many people as possible can live with a calm mind and an open heart.
Specifically, this means we are committed every day to:
- Conducting scientific research in the field of heart-brain communication and its individual and social effects
- Providing accessible biofeedback devices and apps to let people experience what higher heart coherence can mean for their resilience, health and happiness
- Educating coaches and trainers in the field of heart coherence
- Providing training in business, (healthcare) organizations and governments
Our story
HeartMath came into existance in 1991 out of a deep desire to care for people and the planet. American founder Doc Childre foresaw that the heart would take on a decisive role in regulating emotions, and together with our research director Dr. Rollin McCraty he began a quest to find out exactly how this works. Soon they discovered the importance of coherence in heart rate variability (HRV).
To make their findings visible and understandable they developed biofeedback equipment for research purposes and doing structural scientific research became a major part their business. Subjects in the studies asked if they could continue measuring and regulating at home. As a result, HeartMath began developing low-cost biofeedback equipment for use at home, resulting ultimately in the current Inner Balance Coherence Plus sensor.
The original team of 40 inspired professionals from diverse backgrounds combined their expertise. Books were written and trainings developed to bring as many people as possible into the discoveries. During the day they worked and in the evening they got together to further open their hearts and develop new heart coherence techniques under the guidance of Doc Childre. They still do that today: they walk their talk.
Doc Childre is a visionary who continues to inspire his team and us in Europe today from his barn on the HeartMath USA property in California. He says that the emergence of greater heart awareness or heart intelligence is one of the most important aspects within current developments, with which we can support ourselves and care for future generations.
HeartMath's contribution to science
- Although more scientists were already researching heart rate variability (HRV) in the 1980s, it was our research director Dr. Rollin McCraty who discovered that emotions affected the course of the pattern of HRV. And that experiencing pleasant emotions like love and gratitude caused a more harmonious sinusoidal pattern in the HRV curve. He called this pattern heart coherence. Thus it became clear to him that through our breathing - precisely in combination with consciously evoking pleasant emotions - we could regulate our nervous system. An innovative method for strengthening resilience was born.
- In addition, he devised a mathematical formula to calculate the correlation in a HRV curve and converted it into one simple number. He named this number, which represents the degree of harmonic arrangement in the HRV and thus a person's resilience, the coherence score.
- HeartMath's biofeedback equipment has been used in many areas of scientific research around HRV, resilience and stress for more than 30 years. Over 500 peer-reviewed or independent studies utilizing HeartMath techniques or technologies to achieve beneficial outcomes have been published.
To the Heart of HeartMath
In this video, six HeartMath USA colleagues give an insight into what their mission and work means to them.
The HeartMath system empowers people to self-regulate their emotions and behaviors to reduce stress, increase resilience, and unlock their natural intuitive guidance for making more effective choices. This enables people to break through to greater levels of personal balance, creativity, insight and health.
HeartMath Family
Today, the HeartMath family includes the nonprofit HeartMath Institute and HeartMath Inc* and over 8,000 certified HeartMath trainers, coaches and health professionals. Together we serve people of all ages and walks of life around the world in their homes, communities, and organizations. HeartMath’s research on personal, social and global coherence shows how we can become more empowered directors of our future and the quality of our lives. As more of us cooperate and connect from the heart, together we can create a more compassionate world filled with true care and harmonious interactions. (Practical Spirituality.)
HeartMath Benelux
HeartMath Benelux is the official alliance of HeartMath in the Benelux and has been founded by Rob Erdbrink to stimulate the use of HeartMath techniques in the Benelux countries (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxemburg) and to offer a platform for all users. Since 2008 HeartMath Benelux has also offered trainings and service in Germany, since 2014 HeartMath Deutschland has been founded in close relation with HeartMath Benelux to provide HeartMath trainings and service in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Since 2020 HeartMath Benelux is also responsible for the French speaking markets in Belgium, France and Switzerland.
HeartMath Benelux provides in-company trainings, open workshops for individuals and train the trainer workshops for professional users. Clients are organizations like Shell, DSM, Philips, Unilever, Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Deloitte, and many others. Since 2012 HeartMath Benelux has trained over 55.000 Dutch police officers. For more information click here.