Latest / The Everyday Awesome Project / 99: Heart-Brain Coherence: A 3-Minute Practice for Calm and Clarity

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99: Heart-Brain Coherence: A 3-Minute Practice for Calm and Clarity · The Everyday Awesome Project

• 0:26
  Polly Mertens: Hey superstars, welcome back.
• 0:28
  Polly Mertens: Polly here and no Samantha Pro today.
• 0:31
  Polly Mertens: It is a solo episode.
• 0:32
  Polly Mertens: Samantha is taking care of her well-being.
• 0:34
  Polly Mertens: If you listen to our previous episode, she is dealing with a little bit of um or a lot of bit pain.
• 0:40
  Polly Mertens: So we wish her the best and can't wait to have her back on a future episode.
• 0:44
  Polly Mertens: So we're thinking of you, my dear.
• 0:45
  Polly Mertens: And today we're talking about my inner alignment, my three-minute inner alignment secret or practice that I wanted to share with you.
• 0:54
  Polly Mertens: And, you know, it's one of my well-being secrets.
• 0:57
  Polly Mertens: It's the single most powerful tool for, I would say, emotional regulation, you know, finding focus and just overall freaking well-being.
• 1:05
  Polly Mertens: Like I way do you see?
• 1:07
  Polly Mertens: I've pulled together a lot of background on this because I've adopted this and discovered this over many years.
• 1:14
  Polly Mertens: And um I just want to share it with people.
• 1:16
  Polly Mertens: You know, I'm going to be sharing it more and more with people to help get the word out about this.
• 1:20
  Polly Mertens: So I call it my three-minute inner alignment practice or, you know, tuning into your true north.
• 1:26
  Polly Mertens: And it's backed by decades of neuroscience.
• 1:29
  Polly Mertens: I mean, like this stuff works.
• 1:30
  Polly Mertens: It's not just, you know, ooh, woo-woo, you know, I'm I'm the woo-woo queen on our podcast.
• 1:35
  Polly Mertens: But um, yeah, if you really look into it, this stuff is based on science.
• 1:40
  Polly Mertens: Um, and so we're talking today about the science of heart-brain coherence.
• 1:45
  Polly Mertens: Okay, so if you haven't heard that, maybe you've been told that the brain is a command center, right?
• 1:50
  Polly Mertens: That's your command center, right?
• 1:51
  Polly Mertens: And a lot of us in Western culture, we walk around like that's the source of everything.
• 1:56
  Polly Mertens: We actually think we live up here in this brain, like in this skull of ours, you know, because that's where our view is and we think a lot up there.
• 2:04
  Polly Mertens: But, you know, if you if you study, you know, the first organ that's created in a baby in a mother's womb is the heart.
• 2:15
  Polly Mertens: There's no brain present, there's no mind brain present.
• 2:21
  Polly Mertens: The heart starts beating before the brain is even formed, right?
• 2:24
  Polly Mertens: So what if I told you that the heart is actually a dominant communicator in your entire body?
• 2:32
  Polly Mertens: Your heart is sending more signals to your brain than your brain is sending to your heart.
• 2:38
  Polly Mertens: That I think changes things.
• 2:40
  Polly Mertens: That changed some things for me.
• 2:42
  Polly Mertens: I was like, whoa, and you know, we've gone on to discover that there's a heart in your gut.
• 2:46
  Polly Mertens: I'm sorry, there's a brain in your gut.
• 2:48
  Polly Mertens: There's a heart in your gut.
• 2:49
  Polly Mertens: Well, there's probably a heart in your gut, too, with all those little belly bugs down there.
• 2:53
  Polly Mertens: But really want to talk about, you know, the brain in your heart.
• 2:58
  Polly Mertens: And yeah, it's just fascinating.
• 3:00
  Polly Mertens: So we won't go too much into it, but by the end of this episode, you will understand the profound science of why your heart holds the key to lowering your stress levels and the hormones, helping you make better decisions, more sound decisions aligned with your soul, right?
• 3:16
  Polly Mertens: Your heart's true wanting, right?
• 3:18
  Polly Mertens: And even longevity.
• 3:19
  Polly Mertens: I mean, like, hello, if I just said, like, who wants some of this, right?
• 3:22
  Polly Mertens: Like we'd be handing it out on the corner.
• 3:24
  Polly Mertens: People are like, give me some of that.
• 3:25
  Polly Mertens: Yeah, yeah, give me some of that.
• 3:26
  Polly Mertens: Right.
• 3:27
  Polly Mertens: So we will walk you through, or I will walk you through, the three-step technique.
• 3:32
  Polly Mertens: And we'll actually like, I'll tell you what it is and then I'll walk you through it.
• 3:35
  Polly Mertens: So if you're listening to this, you might want to like pull over or go somewhere.
• 3:39
  Polly Mertens: We'll get there in a minute, but I'm gonna tell you some things in advance.
• 3:42
  Polly Mertens: Um, but you'll have an opportunity to experience it today.
• 3:44
  Polly Mertens: So uh look look forward to that.
• 3:46
  Polly Mertens: Um, it's ultimately a tool of self-mastery.
• 3:50
  Polly Mertens: I find that this is part of my morning ritual that has been in place for many, many, many years, and it's non-negotiable.
• 3:58
  Polly Mertens: You know, when you don't do it or when you do it erratically, you don't get all the benefits.
• 4:03
  Polly Mertens: You can definitely get the benefits when you use it as a tool, and I'll share with you like uh opportune times to, but I would say do it every day.
• 4:10
  Polly Mertens: Do it in the morning.
• 4:11
  Polly Mertens: So it's like non-negotiable, you always have it.
• 4:14
  Polly Mertens: But let's start with the science.
• 4:15
  Polly Mertens: Okay, so your second brain, or you know, which one came first, right?
• 4:20
  Polly Mertens: So your heart's uh, you know, it's private network.
• 4:24
  Polly Mertens: So, you know, we have to start with a foundational discovery in 1991.
• 4:28
  Polly Mertens: Um, they're called, uh they discovered a cardiac neuro neural network, and they made this incredible find that there are 40,000 sensory neurones that exist in the heart.
• 4:41
  Polly Mertens: Like, whoa, these are like brain cells inside your heart.
• 4:45
  Polly Mertens: They form an intricate, independent neural network.
• 4:48
  Polly Mertens: Your brain is a form of neural network, and well, guess what?
• 4:51
  Polly Mertens: You've got one in your heart as well.
• 4:52
  Polly Mertens: The heart literally has its own brain, it processes information, it learns, and it remembers.
• 4:58
  Polly Mertens: And I would say it stores, like it remembers that stuff, you know, without the head even being involved.
• 5:04
  Polly Mertens: Isn't that amazing?
• 5:05
  Polly Mertens: That's amazing.
• 5:06
  Polly Mertens: So, this network is what makes the heart the dominant communication center.
• 5:11
  Polly Mertens: The heart is constantly sending information to the head, um, you know, to the brain via the vagus nerve.
• 5:17
  Polly Mertens: We've talked about that here on this podcast before.
• 5:19
  Polly Mertens: The vagus nerve is basically the superhighway of your nervous system connecting the gut, the heart, and the brain.
• 5:26
  Polly Mertens: Super important, right?
• 5:28
  Polly Mertens: Super important.
• 5:29
  Polly Mertens: Samantha's dealing with some of this with some uh her back is out, and so it's it's damaging and it's causing a lot of pain in her nervous system right now and stress, if you will.
• 5:39
  Polly Mertens: The heart's rhythm is not just a pump.
• 5:42
  Polly Mertens: So think of that.
• 5:42
  Polly Mertens: Like the heart's rhythm, you know, if you see an EKG, you know, it's not just a pump, it's like a Morris code that's transferring signals up to your head and to your entire nervous system that tells it like what state you're in, right?
• 5:55
  Polly Mertens: And so this is like super primal stuff we're talking about here.
• 5:58
  Polly Mertens: We can talk about, you know, that um fight, flee, or freeze, you know, the the you know, panic system.
• 6:05
  Polly Mertens: When you go into the sympathetic nervous system, we call it, you know, you get out of rest and digest of the sympathetic nervous system, the parasympathetic nervous system, and you get into the parasympathetic.
• 6:16
  Polly Mertens: Am I saying that right?
• 6:17
  Polly Mertens: Yeah.
• 6:17
  Polly Mertens: Parasympathetic is the rest and digest.
• 6:19
  Polly Mertens: The sympathetic is the fight, flight, or freeze, right?
• 6:23
  Polly Mertens: So this is like a code that's being sent to your nervous system, to your brain, like all's well down here, all's well down here when it's in harmony, when it's in coherence, right?
• 6:33
  Polly Mertens: When it's got that nice rhythmic um pattern to it.
• 6:37
  Polly Mertens: But if it doesn't, it sends like freaked out, right?
• 6:40
  Polly Mertens: Like there's a there's a lion chasing me kind of moments, right?
• 6:43
  Polly Mertens: It might just be I'm on a Zoom call and somebody just said something upsetting to me.
• 6:46
  Polly Mertens: Whatever it is, modern day, you know, traumas or you know, triggers, right?
• 6:52
  Polly Mertens: So what is the heart telling the brain?
• 6:54
  Polly Mertens: You know, what is coherence and incoherence?
• 6:56
  Polly Mertens: It's communicating the this Morris code, is communicating your state of coherence or incoherence, right?
• 7:02
  Polly Mertens: Like, am I is all well down here?
• 7:05
  Polly Mertens: Or should we be like in panic mode?
• 7:07
  Polly Mertens: Should we be in stressing, if you will, modern day word?
• 7:10
  Polly Mertens: So incoherence, incoherence is like this jagged alarm.
• 7:15
  Polly Mertens: When you're stressed, you're anxious, you're frustrated, your heart rhythm looks choppy, irregular, it's jagged.
• 7:22
  Polly Mertens: So the signal being sent to the vagus nerve is literally like teaser, like run, you know, like something's not right here, right?
• 7:30
  Polly Mertens: So it floods your brain with a threat signal, it shuts down your personal core, you know, your prefrontal cortex, the place where all of your like logic and your access to wisdom, and I would say the captain of your ship goes into like hijack mode, right?
• 7:44
  Polly Mertens: So thinking is the rational part of your brain, you know, you go into anxious mode, your body gets inflamed, inflammation signals get sent to your body, um digestion gets shut down, all sorts of you know things.
• 7:56
  Polly Mertens: Coherence, on the other hand, is like a nice smooth sine wave.
• 8:01
  Polly Mertens: Just thinking of like, I was gonna say like waves in the ocean, but they don't really look very often as sign light.
• 8:07
  Polly Mertens: Like just think of like a nice smooth loop up and down, not loop, but like up and down, up and down.
• 8:13
  Polly Mertens: So that's what a sine wave looks like.
• 8:15
  Polly Mertens: Just rhythmic, same peak, same trough, just like nice and steady.
• 8:20
  Polly Mertens: Um, this is the signal to your brain like all's well, internal safety, all systems check, you know, whatever you want to do.
• 8:28
  Polly Mertens: And um, I would call it a state of like peace and harmony, all is well.
• 8:32
  Polly Mertens: This is a state your nervous system goes into and during repair and regeneration.
• 8:38
  Polly Mertens: You have access to creativity and higher consciousness, I would say.
• 8:42
  Polly Mertens: So that's where you want to be, right?
• 8:44
  Polly Mertens: Doesn't that sound great?
• 8:45
  Polly Mertens: And a lot of us walk around not knowing, you know, Samantha and I talk about emotional intelligence, and really it comes down to nervous system regulation, right?
• 8:54
  Polly Mertens: Because that's ultimately what is causing all the signals to the brain and the body via you know our thoughts and also by our nervous system.
• 9:02
  Polly Mertens: So something I wanted to share with you that I thought was just freaking amazing when I looked into this.
• 9:08
  Polly Mertens: So there's a guy by the name, so a lot of this comes from Heart Brain Coherence, which is from an organization called Heart Math Institute, which you can definitely look them up, doing amazing work.
• 9:18
  Polly Mertens: Um, they were nominated for the Nobel Prize.
• 9:21
  Polly Mertens: Um, Greg Braden and Joe Dispenser are the people that I follow the most that talk about this and share about this the most.
• 9:27
  Polly Mertens: So if you want to do deeper dive research, please go check them out.
• 9:31
  Polly Mertens: Um, so Bray Greg Braden talks about the 0.1 hertz alignment.
• 9:36
  Polly Mertens: So he says that, you know, I would say like this is mind-blowing.
• 9:40
  Polly Mertens: Like scientists found that the optimal frequency for heart-brain synchronization, like that, you know, the sine wave that we're talking about, this like harmonic sweet spot, you know, like a fine-tuned piano, when the heart rhythm oscillates at around 0.1 hertz.
• 9:55
  Polly Mertens: And I was like, what is that?
• 9:56
  Polly Mertens: And it's like I say a 10-second cycle.
• 9:59
  Polly Mertens: Well, that's the frequency has been found to be the best fundamental magnetic resonance for you.
• 10:07
  Polly Mertens: And guess what?
• 10:08
  Polly Mertens: It's also the Earth's frequency.
• 10:09
  Polly Mertens: Like, hello.
• 10:10
  Polly Mertens: Hello, like you're in tune with the earth, like this big old planet that we're all sitting on, standing on.
• 10:17
  Polly Mertens: So when you achieve coherence, you're not just aligning your heart and your brain, you're aligning your body with the fundamental harmony of the planet.
• 10:25
  Polly Mertens: I mean, come on, talk about tuned in, tapped in, and turned on.
• 10:30
  Polly Mertens: I love that.
• 10:31
  Polly Mertens: I was like, that's magic right there.
• 10:33
  Polly Mertens: There's something about that.
• 10:34
  Polly Mertens: Like, there's something when those little numbers all line up, like you're the earth is 0.1 and you're 0.1.
• 10:40
  Polly Mertens: Okay, come on, right?
• 10:41
  Polly Mertens: Like we're made of the earth.
• 10:42
  Polly Mertens: So we're just little stardusts.
• 10:45
  Polly Mertens: So let's talk about the hormones, right?
• 10:48
  Polly Mertens: And like some of these benefits.
• 10:49
  Polly Mertens: So you don't need to practice for weeks to see changes.
• 10:52
  Polly Mertens: That was the good thing about this, but like it feels so damn good.
• 10:55
  Polly Mertens: Uh hello, why not?
• 10:56
  Polly Mertens: Right?
• 10:56
  Polly Mertens: Why would you stop taking your vitamins if like vitamins were free and this is free?
• 11:01
  Polly Mertens: So research shows profound chemical shift.
• 11:03
  Polly Mertens: Um, it happens in just three minutes.
• 11:05
  Polly Mertens: So it's really cool.
• 11:06
  Polly Mertens: Okay.
• 11:07
  Polly Mertens: So you can get sustained coherence and finding your way back.
• 11:10
  Polly Mertens: Like, once you find this frequency, once you find how good it feels, you're like, why don't I do this all day?
• 11:15
  Polly Mertens: And I and I kick myself sometimes, but I know that it's possible because I practice this every day.
• 11:19
  Polly Mertens: And I know when I'm out of resonance, like I know I'm like, oh, I got my frequency up, you know, and I don't mean up like in a good way, like high frequency, like high vibration.
• 11:28
  Polly Mertens: I mean like out of whack, you know, like that jagged, you know, like, you know, resistance, let's call it, right?
• 11:36
  Polly Mertens: So a couple things I want you to know.
• 11:39
  Polly Mertens: So cortisol, right?
• 11:41
  Polly Mertens: So um, you'll see a significant decrease in the stress hormone cortisol.
• 11:46
  Polly Mertens: This immediately cuts the wear and tear stress um is placing on your body.
• 11:51
  Polly Mertens: So let's talk about cortisol, right?
• 11:55
  Polly Mertens: So you will see a significant decrease in stress hormone cortisol.
• 11:58
  Polly Mertens: Hello, love that one.
• 12:00
  Polly Mertens: I love that one.
• 12:01
  Polly Mertens: Cortisol, not not good, not good.
• 12:03
  Polly Mertens: You don't want any more of that.
• 12:04
  Polly Mertens: So this immediately cuts, you know, having lower cortisol cuts the wear and tear and stress is placing on your body.
• 12:12
  Polly Mertens: So it's usually like 23% less cortisol produced in the body when you practice this.
• 12:18
  Polly Mertens: I'm like, hello, right?
• 12:19
  Polly Mertens: Like I can do that.
• 12:21
  Polly Mertens: Um, there's something called DHEA, which is a long word, don't want to say it, but this is often called the master hormone of vitality.
• 12:30
  Polly Mertens: Hello! It's a precursor to all your vital hormones.
• 12:34
  Polly Mertens: It's directly linked to anti-aging, immune strength, and metabolic function.
• 12:40
  Polly Mertens: Hello.
• 12:42
  Polly Mertens: Okay, like give me some more of that.
• 12:43
  Polly Mertens: Where do I?
• 12:43
  Polly Mertens: I mean, I actually have bottles of that.
• 12:45
  Polly Mertens: Like, you know, like, but practicing this, like we our body is a chemical fractory.
• 12:50
  Polly Mertens: It produces this if we just give it the right coherence, the right alignment to do it.
• 12:54
  Polly Mertens: So longevity and immunity.
• 12:57
  Polly Mertens: So coherence acts as a biological signal to the body to activate longevity enzymes.
• 13:04
  Polly Mertens: And it dramatically strengthens your immune system function.
• 13:07
  Polly Mertens: And Greg Braden and Joe Dispenser could tell you all the fancy words and the science words about it, but just know you'll feel better, you'll have a stronger immune system, which means ward off all that yucky bugs and stuff.
• 13:17
  Polly Mertens: Your body is entering a state of system-wide regeneration.
• 13:21
  Polly Mertens: Like, man, you know, it's like a reboot, like like a like an instant wellness ticket.
• 13:27
  Polly Mertens: Like, give me a ticket to that, right?
• 13:29
  Polly Mertens: So if you find yourself in the ADHD loop or you're confused or stuck, or just, you know, you you you resonate with some of that resonance, uh, that resistance I was talking about, and you want some clarity, like you want a like a dose of like, I don't want to, you know, my mind is so confused and I get in stress and then I make poor decisions or I say the wrong thing or I don't know what to do, or I'm stuck because I'm not sure, right?
• 13:52
  Polly Mertens: Because we've just got all this buildup of this inner resistance.
• 13:55
  Polly Mertens: So let's let that go.
• 13:56
  Polly Mertens: So beyond the biochemistry, coherence has a massive impact on your decision making.
• 14:02
  Polly Mertens: Wow, I just think about that.
• 14:05
  Polly Mertens: Like the difference it would make to be aligned with your sorrow, your soul, your heart, mind and heart in alignment and then choosing, right?
• 14:16
  Polly Mertens: And then speaking, then deciding, then moving ahead, then making that big decision.
• 14:21
  Polly Mertens: When you shift out of that incoherent stress state, like allow yourself to get back into alignment, right?
• 14:28
  Polly Mertens: You're quieting that emotional static that doesn't, you know, translate well.
• 14:34
  Polly Mertens: It doesn't turn out well.
• 14:35
  Polly Mertens: I don't know about you, it doesn't turn out well for me, but I make decisions from that point of like, ah, right.
• 14:40
  Polly Mertens: So it creates more of a clear channel for your reliable, non-judgmental, your intuition, and just your clarity, your inner clarity, your soul's true north, right?
• 14:54
  Polly Mertens: It's what allows you to make decisions from your wisest self, not your stressed out self.
• 15:00
  Polly Mertens: Let's do that, right?
• 15:02
  Polly Mertens: So let's talk about this anti-stress tool.
• 15:05
  Polly Mertens: So it's not just a feel-good meditation.
• 15:07
  Polly Mertens: This isn't just about feeling good, although you will feel good.
• 15:09
  Polly Mertens: I think you will.
• 15:10
  Polly Mertens: It is a rapid response anti-stress tool.
• 15:13
  Polly Mertens: Like, boom, we should box this stuff up and put it on some shelves.
• 15:17
  Polly Mertens: In fact, maybe I think I'm gonna turn this into a downloadable because everybody needs this, everybody needs to be doing this.
• 15:24
  Polly Mertens: So you have the power to shift your biochemistry and your emotional state regardless of the chaos in your life or what's going on.
• 15:30
  Polly Mertens: You do have that power.
• 15:32
  Polly Mertens: You may not feel like it or be able to access it in the moment, but I promise you you can the more you practice it.
• 15:38
  Polly Mertens: So this is a skill of self-mastery, right?
• 15:41
  Polly Mertens: So, what I'm gonna teach you and what I'm gonna have you go through is this something you can do with yourself.
• 15:46
  Polly Mertens: You can do this each morning.
• 15:49
  Polly Mertens: Um, there's lots out there, and I think I'm gonna be creating one of these specifically just for this, but I want to share it on our podcast because I want to get this out there, right?
• 15:56
  Polly Mertens: So don't wait until you're already in crisis.
• 15:59
  Polly Mertens: Use this alignment for optimization, right?
• 16:02
  Polly Mertens: Like all those yummy benefits as health benefits, anti-aging, immune defense, right?
• 16:06
  Polly Mertens: So before decision making, use it before you're signing a lease or taking a job or making an important phone call.
• 16:14
  Polly Mertens: Crucial moments before a difficult conversation, a negotiation, public speaking, all sorts of things, right?
• 16:19
  Polly Mertens: Where could you use this?
• 16:21
  Polly Mertens: And high performance, right?
• 16:23
  Polly Mertens: Like get into hard coherence before you go out and crush it.
• 16:26
  Polly Mertens: So enter a state of flow because we're all like that when we're working out and pumping our bodies, right?
• 16:32
  Polly Mertens: All right, so let's just go over what these three steps are and then I'll walk you through it, or I'll take you through it.
• 16:37
  Polly Mertens: So the practice is simple, but the results are profound.
• 16:41
  Polly Mertens: So, you know, just the precursor, like, get ready.
• 16:43
  Polly Mertens: It's pretty cool.
• 16:44
  Polly Mertens: And it seems so simple, but like you'll be like, oh, I get it.
• 16:48
  Polly Mertens: It's only three steps, and we're gonna do it together in a moment.
• 16:51
  Polly Mertens: So if you give me three minutes of undivided focus, um, when we go through it, you'll walk away with an immediate, tangible change in your system.
• 16:59
  Polly Mertens: Like you will have a reboot.
• 17:01
  Polly Mertens: Find a comfortable seat.
• 17:03
  Polly Mertens: I encourage you if you're driving or if you're listening to this, you may need to come back to it.
• 17:06
  Polly Mertens: And I highly encourage you to listen again, listen as many as you'd like.
• 17:10
  Polly Mertens: But find a comfortable seat.
• 17:12
  Polly Mertens: And when you do, uh, I'll get I'll tell you the three steps and then we'll go do it.
• 17:16
  Polly Mertens: So you'll take a deep breath and then we'll get started.
• 17:18
  Polly Mertens: So, first step, I'm gonna have you put your hand on your heart.
• 17:21
  Polly Mertens: You're gonna shift your focus to your heart and your chest.
• 17:24
  Polly Mertens: So you're gonna get out of your mind and down into your heart by putting your hand on your heart.
• 17:28
  Polly Mertens: You signal to your your focus, your consciousness goes where your attention is focused and on your hand.
• 17:32
  Polly Mertens: Once you put your hand on your body, your body's like, what's that?
• 17:35
  Polly Mertens: And then you'll breathe through your heart.
• 17:37
  Polly Mertens: Step two, so first step, out of your head into your heart.
• 17:41
  Polly Mertens: Put your hand on your heart.
• 17:42
  Polly Mertens: Step two, breathe in with control.
• 17:45
  Polly Mertens: Maybe for a count of three or four seconds, whatever's comfortable for you, and then a longer exhale.
• 17:50
  Polly Mertens: Again, whatever's comfortable for you.
• 17:52
  Polly Mertens: So if you're three, then make it six or five or something like that.
• 17:56
  Polly Mertens: Just so long as the inhale is shorter than the exhale.
• 17:58
  Polly Mertens: And I would like to add, do it with a sigh, like like enjoy it.
• 18:03
  Polly Mertens: Like, ah, I have found that that signals to my biggest nerve.
• 18:08
  Polly Mertens: My biggest nerve goes, I got you.
• 18:10
  Polly Mertens: I know we're good, everything's fine.
• 18:13
  Polly Mertens: No tigers, no bears in the in the woods.
• 18:16
  Polly Mertens: So step three, imagine, recall, or picture in your mind a moment that you could feel really grateful for.
• 18:24
  Polly Mertens: And I'll ask you, like, who were you with?
• 18:26
  Polly Mertens: Where were you?
• 18:27
  Polly Mertens: What did you see?
• 18:29
  Polly Mertens: What did you hear?
• 18:30
  Polly Mertens: What do you remember?
• 18:31
  Polly Mertens: What did you feel?
• 18:33
  Polly Mertens: What did you notice?
• 18:34
  Polly Mertens: Right?
• 18:34
  Polly Mertens: So that's the three steps.
• 18:35
  Polly Mertens: First step, get out of the head, get into your heart.
• 18:38
  Polly Mertens: Step two is do that focused breathing, do a couple sighs if you'd like, and then we begin to imagine, right?
• 18:45
  Polly Mertens: And so with that rhythmic breathing in the background, then we go into step three and we imagine and we feel, really like take yourself there.
• 18:53
  Polly Mertens: So, like the difference is I like to think of it as, you know, so if I said, Oh, like look at that um, that roller coaster over there, like, look at those people like going off the top of that roller coaster, they're going up, up, up, up, up, and then they're going down.
• 19:04
  Polly Mertens: And like from looking at them, you will have one experience of being like, wow, that looks kind of scary.
• 19:09
  Polly Mertens: Oh, they look like they're having fun, actually.
• 19:12
  Polly Mertens: But if I said, now you're in the roller coaster, and I said, Okay, put yourself in that front seat, and you're like, Oh my god, we're going up to the top, and then put yourself as you go over it, like you see everything that you see, you feel everything that you feel, like you're replaying that movie and you're the actual character in it.
• 19:29
  Polly Mertens: Okay, so I was giving this coaching to one of my um come a live program coaches, and she's like, Yeah, I remember this moment I was grateful for when we're sitting at dinner and stuff.
• 19:38
  Polly Mertens: I go, Okay, well, what restaurant were you in?
• 19:39
  Polly Mertens: Okay, got it.
• 19:40
  Polly Mertens: All right, where were you and where who was sitting next to you, right?
• 19:43
  Polly Mertens: Oh, my daughter was over here, and this was over here, and I said, Was there food on the table or not yet?
• 19:48
  Polly Mertens: Uh no, you know, and then I was like, Okay, who was across from you?
• 19:51
  Polly Mertens: What do you what else do you remember, right?
• 19:53
  Polly Mertens: And just really she could just like get back into that moment, right?
• 19:56
  Polly Mertens: So that's how it works.
• 19:57
  Polly Mertens: All right, so let's do this instead of just talking about doing this.
• 20:02
  Polly Mertens: So if you're driving or not somewhere, you can close your eyes, then do this.
• 20:09
  Polly Mertens: Or if you'd like, you can pause and save this episode and come back to it.
• 20:14
  Polly Mertens: So for now, we'll move ahead as if you're ready to begin.
• 20:17
  Polly Mertens: So start by making your making sure you're in a comfortable position, releasing or letting go whatever thoughts you were thinking or you were doing, or anything that you need to do.
• 20:29
  Polly Mertens: Trust that you can come back to it in a few moments.
• 20:32
  Polly Mertens: And for now, just allow yourself this focus time with you, giving yourself a sacred gift, feeling comfortable where you are, begin to tell your body and your muscles, all your muscles, from your head down to your toe, and it's okay to let go.
• 20:54
  Polly Mertens: Let go of any tension anywhere in your body that you're holding on to.
• 20:59
  Polly Mertens: Just be at ease all over.
• 21:02
  Polly Mertens: Gently place your hand over your heart in whatever feels comfortable for you.
• 21:09
  Polly Mertens: And this is you connecting with your heart, tapping in and signaling to yourself that you're going inward, that you're tuning in to your heart and coming out of your head.
• 21:21
  Polly Mertens: Just notice when you're down in your heart, keeping your awareness in your chest, down in your heart, and on your next inhale, imagine your breath is flowing in and out of your center of your chest, through your heart area.
• 21:41
  Polly Mertens: Let your mind settle its attention down there on the connection between your hand and your heart, and your breath and your heart.
• 21:52
  Polly Mertens: Now we'll begin to signal your safe to your nervous system with a slow, smooth cycle of breathing.
• 22:00
  Polly Mertens: Breathe in for a count of three to five, whatever's comfortable for you.
• 22:06
  Polly Mertens: And breathe out gently for a count of six or eight.
• 22:10
  Polly Mertens: In for a count of four, out for a count of six.
• 22:17
  Polly Mertens: Your exhale longer than your inhale.
• 22:21
  Polly Mertens: Sending that clear message to your vagus nerve.
• 22:25
  Polly Mertens: You're safe.
• 22:26
  Polly Mertens: All is well.
• 22:28
  Polly Mertens: Keep this rhythm going.
• 22:31
  Polly Mertens: Smooth, like a gentle wave.
• 22:36
  Polly Mertens: And if you'd like, exhale, take a sigh.
• 22:41
  Polly Mertens: Really enjoy it.
• 22:43
  Polly Mertens: Feeling so good now, so centered.
• 22:48
  Polly Mertens: While keeping that breath rhythm, gently activate a positive emotion.
• 22:57
  Polly Mertens: Gratitude, appreciation.
• 23:00
  Polly Mertens: Think of one thing, a moment you're truly grateful for.
• 23:04
  Polly Mertens: A special moment with someone important to you.
• 23:08
  Polly Mertens: Perhaps a beautiful sunset.
• 23:12
  Polly Mertens: A moment alone where you felt awe, wonder, beauty.
• 23:17
  Polly Mertens: Step into your body in that moment.
• 23:28
  Polly Mertens: Feel what you felt.
• 23:31
  Polly Mertens: Hear what you heard.
• 23:33
  Polly Mertens: Be there now.
• 23:40
  Polly Mertens: Feeling deeply gratitude for this moment.
• 23:44
  Polly Mertens: Sustain that feeling in your heart space as you continue the slow rhythmic breathing.
• 23:56
  Polly Mertens: Feeling appreciation.
• 23:59
  Polly Mertens: Love, gratitude.
• 24:02
  Polly Mertens: This special moment in your life.
• 24:04
  Polly Mertens: This beautiful memory, this time that you had.
• 24:07
  Polly Mertens: The gratitude is overwhelming.
• 24:10
  Polly Mertens: Double the feeling inside your body now.
• 24:12
  Polly Mertens: Just really bringing it up.
• 24:14
  Polly Mertens: What do you need to brighten the scene or listen more closely or really pay attention to to really feel that gratitude in your body?
• 24:22
  Polly Mertens: That's it.
• 24:25
  Polly Mertens: Just deepen that feeling now.
• 24:32
  Polly Mertens: Just feeling overwhelming gratitude.
• 24:35
  Polly Mertens: And if you'd like to think of a second moment that you feel deeply grateful for, I encourage you to find a second moment of deep gratitude.
• 24:45
  Polly Mertens: Where were you?
• 24:47
  Polly Mertens: Take yourself back there.
• 24:49
  Polly Mertens: Who were you with?
• 24:50
  Polly Mertens: What did you see?
• 24:52
  Polly Mertens: What did you feel?
• 24:55
  Polly Mertens: What did you hear?
• 24:58
  Polly Mertens: What did you notice?
• 25:00
  Polly Mertens: Just enjoying that moment.
• 25:07
  Polly Mertens: Either alone or with someone.
• 25:11
  Polly Mertens: Feeling that gratitude in your body.
• 25:14
  Polly Mertens: Deep, deep gratitude for this moment.
• 25:17
  Polly Mertens: And I'd like you to just notice how you feel in your body right now.
• 25:25
  Polly Mertens: Paying extra attention to the entire body, but most importantly, your inner core, your your heart center.
• 25:32
  Polly Mertens: Just noticing how rhythmic it feels in there, how aligned it feels.
• 25:38
  Polly Mertens: Like all is well.
• 25:40
  Polly Mertens: No worries.
• 25:41
  Polly Mertens: All is well.
• 25:43
  Polly Mertens: And take one final deep breath in, closing the doorway on the imagination.
• 25:51
  Polly Mertens: And when you're ready, take a nice exhale.
• 25:55
  Polly Mertens: And on the inhale, open your eyes.
• 25:57
  Polly Mertens: Maybe we'll get your fingers, make sure you're fully back in your body.
• 26:02
  Polly Mertens: Open your eyes.
• 26:04
  Polly Mertens: And just notice what you notice in your body right now, like how it feels different than when we started.
• 26:09
  Polly Mertens: And just noticing that kind of inner sanctuary, that inner peace that you have now.
• 26:16
  Polly Mertens: Or maybe just, you know, if you were at a level 10, now you're at a six, or if you were at a four, you're at a two.
• 26:22
  Polly Mertens: You're just like noticing where you are on a scale of peace, ease, gentleness, compassion, gratitude.
• 26:32
  Polly Mertens: That is a state that you want to be making decisions from.
• 26:38
  Polly Mertens: That is a state where anything is possible, right?
• 26:42
  Polly Mertens: Creativity, beauty, magic.
• 26:44
  Polly Mertens: So in just three minutes, you shifted your physiology.
• 26:47
  Polly Mertens: You just gave yourself the gift.
• 26:49
  Polly Mertens: You decreased your stress, activated your innate immunity system, vitality, regeneration.
• 26:57
  Polly Mertens: And the heart is key to living tuned in, tapped in, turned on.
• 27:02
  Polly Mertens: So three takeaways.
• 27:05
  Polly Mertens: All right.
• 27:05
  Polly Mertens: So your heart's the boss, all right?
• 27:07
  Polly Mertens: In case you haven't figured that out, like it sends the dominant signal.
• 27:11
  Polly Mertens: So manage those emotions, manage that nervous system, right?
• 27:15
  Polly Mertens: Not just your thoughts.
• 27:17
  Polly Mertens: Three minutes is an easy window.
• 27:19
  Polly Mertens: You can fit that in in a lot of places these days.
• 27:22
  Polly Mertens: You don't need the 30-minute meditation or an hour or whatever it is.
• 27:26
  Polly Mertens: Use this practice on demand, right?
• 27:29
  Polly Mertens: Every high-stakes moment, every like tension, if you're out of whack and you've got to, you know, move into this next phase of something in your day.
• 27:36
  Polly Mertens: Or for me, it's every morning, non-negotiable.
• 27:39
  Polly Mertens: Bring this into your daily life.
• 27:42
  Polly Mertens: And appreciation is the fuel, right?
• 27:45
  Polly Mertens: Gratitude.
• 27:45
  Polly Mertens: Your most powerful tool isn't your logic, isn't your brain.
• 27:48
  Polly Mertens: Not the best decisions get made up there.
• 27:50
  Polly Mertens: If that thing's out of coherent, if it's all jacked up, it's all stressed out, then L, you know.
• 27:55
  Polly Mertens: You can tell when you're like all scatterbrained and stuck and no momentum, like your answers are going to come from a different place.
• 28:03
  Polly Mertens: Your better brain, your bigger brain, your hard brain, I would say.
• 28:07
  Polly Mertens: So practice this for three minutes every morning this week, and you'll find clarity where there was confusion, calm where you had chaos.
• 28:15
  Polly Mertens: And thank you for joining me.
• 28:17
  Polly Mertens: And I want to say the one thing as we always like to remind our humans as we, you know, we have one thing from this whole session is you can reset your nervous system.
• 28:27
  Polly Mertens: Like you have that power.
• 28:28
  Polly Mertens: Like I just walked you through, like this works.
• 28:31
  Polly Mertens: This is how you can take that self-dominion, right?
• 28:35
  Polly Mertens: Ownership of your body, your emotional state, and bring yourself into the state anytime you'd like.
• 28:40
  Polly Mertens: Do it, use it often.
• 28:42
  Polly Mertens: Use it.
• 28:42
  Polly Mertens: It's free, right?
• 28:43
  Polly Mertens: It's a gift.
• 28:44
  Polly Mertens: Now the question is, will you?
• 28:47
  Polly Mertens: I hope you will.
• 28:49
  Polly Mertens: And as we close out today, as we do every episode, I wish our beautiful Samantha the best.
• 28:56
  Polly Mertens: And I say, how your life feels is more important than how it looks.
• 29:01
  Polly Mertens: And every day is your opportunity to find your awesome.
• 29:04
  Polly Mertens: Thanks for joining me today.