2018 Humanitarian Heart Award Recipients Named

Thoughts from this year’s Humanitarian Heart Award recipients:

“I live everyday focused on others’ healing journey and living the quote from Albert Einstein "only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.”

“My most heartfelt wish for the planet is that we … fulfill our obligation to take care of the whole Earth, including plants, animals and the atmosphere, instead of just looking out for the next way to make a dollar.”

“… it’s the heart that one needs to be educated on, the heart that can bring emotions into alignment, the heart that will take your learning, your community’s learning, our planet’s learning to the next level and beyond.”

HeartMath Institute presented its 2018 Humanitarian Heart Awards to the individuals above in recognition of their energetic care and work toward the healing, enrichment and well-being of others.

Steve Sawyer is a psychotherapist who, after years of working within the confines of HMOs and the space restrictions of traditional office-based outpatient therapy, co-founded an alternative therapy option for youth.

The nonprofit New Vision Wilderness (NVW) Therapy, launched in Wisconsin in 2007 and since expanded to Oregon and North Carolina, combines challenging wilderness experiences that include backcountry backpacking expeditions with intensive clinical immersion for struggling preteens through young adults. NVW’s therapeutic model integrates various body-mind therapies, among them Brainspotting, canine therapy and a HeartMath self-regulation regimen.

Sawyer’s involvement with HeartMath spans many years. "I have supported many populations with implementation of HeartMath," he said, including consulting for five school districts and 15 treatment programs. He was one of the authors of the HeartMath Interventions training program.

"HeartMath is an intervention set that a person can feel and see when using the accompanying additional technology. These tools have helped me help others more effectively in finding their inner world of stress physiology. HeartMath has helped NVW’s clients see their inner turmoil, and most importantly facilitate managing it more effectively."

Ann Linda Baldwin gave up her fulltime tenure nine years ago at the University of Arizona, where she remains a professor of physiology and psychology, to start her business, Mind-Body-Science. She uses Reiki, equine therapy and the latest technologies and techniques of biofeedback and HeartMath to help people and animals reduce stress.

Baldwin, a certified HeartMath coach and trainer, became interested in stress reduction at the university. Why? "Well, it was the rats!" she said. About 16 years ago she moved her labs and the rats became very stressed in their new environs. "They were stressed by the excessive noise and the business of people coming in and out of the rooms all day long."

Baldwin realized the extent to which stress could affect the body and the importance of controlling it.

"… I help people learn how to cope with stress of all types by teaching them how to regulate their emotions, using HeartMath programs and devices, and/or by giving them and teaching them Reiki, an energy-healing modality," Baldwin said.

David P. Parisian, a public school science teacher for 30 years and visiting assistant professor at State University of New York (SUNY), Oswego would like to uproot the notion that human bodies are merely machines and the heart is just a pump.

Parisian said HeartMath research "sheds light as to the energetic nature of who we are. (HeartMath is) quantifying what sages have been saying for thousands of years."

HeartMath tools have helped students in his SUNY teacher-preparation courses and high school science classes. For a sophomore honors biology student experiencing severe test anxiety with a state exam approaching, Parisian described the science behind HeartMath and the fight-or-flight stress response.

"We practiced (HeartMath’s) Quick Coherence Technique using the emWave^® Pro (self-regulation) software," he said. He told the student to do a Quick Coherence before the exam, then at the start, to draw a heart around every fifth question. Upon reaching a "heart" question, she should do another Quick Coherence.

"A couple of weeks later the mother called, thanking me for helping her daughter and going on to say that she earned a 94 on the exam," Parisian said.

We would love to hear stories about the good works you and others are doing.

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