EP 417: How to Reduce Stress Through Heartfulness

When we experience chronic stress, as 77% of American adults do, we put our bodies through a very dangerous level of hyper arousal that will ultimately lead to devastating health consequences. So how do we protect ourselves and reduce the chronic stress we experience? Stress is caused, at the most basic level, by the emotion of fear. The basic emotion of fear is opposite the basic emotion of love - our emotions exist to drive us away from what we fear or towards what we love. So when we ‘practice’ fear, we develop dangerous chronic stress in our bodies. What then do you think will happen when we practice love? This is the question that the practice of Heartfulness answers. Heartfulness is very much like mindfulness with a focus on compassion. Because as complex and as awesomely powerful as our brains and nervous systems are, we can not experience these opposing emotions at the same time. So if chronic fear causes chronic stress, then chronic love (compassion) will help us reduce the stress and encourage equanimity and homeostasis in our bodies. And I am living proof of how this will improve the health and wellbeing of our bodies and all our relationships. Want to learn more?