Product Description

Freeze-Frame.: One Minute Stress Management unfolds the remarkable science and practical tools of "HeartMath"-a system that addresses how our emotions profoundly affect our health, mental clarity and productivity. The five simple steps of Freeze-Frame are taught, with easy practice sheets for applying and resolving personal and organizational issues from work, family and relationships. Explains HeartMath's breakthrough research on emotions and health, with new information on the function and intelligence of the heart, that has been published in top medical journals. The book also contains summaries of corporate and educational case studies, illustrating the effectiveness of the technique. HeartMath has conducted studies with corporations such as Motorola and Boeing, and state and federal government agencies that show dramatic improvement in productivity and attitude with reductions in stress, depression, anxiety and tension. The book includes guidance and tips on how to get best results with physical health, emotional management, mental clarity, business effectiveness, family and relationship harmony.

Note: Freeze-Frame is a Book of the Month Club selection for their One Spirit catalog

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #116913 in Books
• Published on: 1998-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 150 pages

Review
"..the advantage of Freeze-Frame is that it works immediately-in the moment of stress." -- Vogue Magazine

"Freeze-Frame is a unique stress reduction technique that is unusually effective for reducing anxiety and improving performance. Unlike many other services and products that make similar claims, it has a solid scientific basis, and has been thoroughly tested in the workplace and other settings that have clearly demonstrated these benefits." -- Paul J. Rosch, M.D., F.A.C.P., President of the American Institute of Stress and Clinical Professor of Medicine and Psychiatry, New York Medical College

"I've been surprised to see how powerful a tool the Freeze-Frame technique is in unpleasant situations. ..it helps you go into battle feeling calm, thoughtful and happy." -- Men's Fitness Magazine

"My experience using IHM's Freeze-Frame technique to conquer my pre-TV-appearance jitters was also enlightening....As I waited for my cue... I followed the instructions for Freeze-Frame. ..[My fear] receded to the edges of my awareness as surely as if I'd drawn an imaginary line in the sand of my consciousness....By the end of the interview, I was actually enjoying myself." -- Country Living's Healthy Living Magazine

"The background physiology and the scientific underpinning of this [Freeze-Frame] technique are absolutely sound." -- Graham Bridgewood, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Shell International

"The single most valuable, most effective and especially useful tool because people can do it in real time. Freeze-Frame can be done anywhere..." -- Richard Podell, MD, Internist, Clinical Professor in Family Medicine, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey

"Their objective demonstration of the Freeze-Frame interventions for managing "stress" on the psychological and biological level is a landmark achievement." -- Gerhard Werner, M.D., Former Dean, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Former Assistant Chief of Staff, V.A. Medical Center

"There are not many interventions. But this [Freeze-Frame] is one that has profound consequences. The implications of this are huge." -- T. Gregory Quinn, M.D., Cardiologist , Oakland, CA

"These techniques have made an amazing difference to team morale. Before trying it, 46% said they often felt exhausted; after the training, this figure fell to 9%. Some staff members even said they felt kinder." -- Carol Mortimer, Director of Healthcare, Hewlett-Packard, (U.K.)

From the Back Cover
Learn How to FREEZE-FRAME . and * Make better decisions * Reduce high blood pressure * Enhance creativity * Improve heart rhythms * Improve communication * Relieve tension, anxiety and * Increase personal and worry organizational * Decrease sleeplessness and productivity fatigue

"If you're upset, the heart feels it . . . What you can do in the moment to calm yourself down is called Freeze-Frame." -Dr. Donna Willis, NBC News' "Today" "Freeze-Frame is a unique stress reduction technique that is unusually effective for reducing anxiety and improving performance." -Paul J. Rosch, M.D., F.A.C.P., President, The American Institute of Stress "Freeze-Frame is very exciting and very necessary in anything we do with government or intergovernmental work, like NATO . . . the experience was profound." -George Land, Founder and President, Leadership 2000, Co-author, Breakpoint and Beyond

Doc Childre is president and CEO of HeartMath LLC, a training and consulting organization specializing in innovative approaches to the problems of human stress, quality, creativity and effectiveness. Doc is also the founder of the Institute of HeartMath and is a consultant to Fortune 100 companies on Intui-Technology . FREEZE-FRAME, a system designed to create quantum time shifts in decision-making and productivity. Research studies demonstrating the results of the FREEZE-FRAME techniques have been published in peer-reviewed medical journals including The American Journal of Cardiology and The Journal of Stress Medicine.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
From Introduction: The pressure's building. You feel so steamed up that your gauge has hit the danger zone and your lid is about to blow. It's been one thing after another today and you just can't take it anymore. You have to get away-take a walk on the beach, a hike in the mountains or a drive in the country.

Once you "get away from it all," you feel yourself begin to cool down and let a little steam out. Your racing mind begins to slow to a reasonable pace. As you look out across the landscape, you feel soothed and calm. You think back to your last vacation-how relaxed and energized you felt. That peaceful memory allows you to experience a shift in perspective.

While you were feeling the intense pressure, there seemed to be no way out, but now, in this relaxed state, things don't seem so bad. In fact, a few creative solutions that you hadn't thought of before start to seem like real possibilities. You realize how much more productive, creative and healthy you'd be if you could have this same clarity and insight throughout the day-even in the moments when stress is happening.

Until recently, that might have been just wishful thinking, but since FREEZE-FRAME was first introduced, thousands of people have experienced just that-a more consistent state of high quality living, inner balance and reduced stress.

The world has become a pressure cooker with the burden of stress growing daily. One researcher has measured life as now 44% more difficult than in 1964. It's hard to ignore stress these days, especially with media reports constantly reminding you just how frightening and tough life has become-violence, drugs, floods, earthquakes, a decaying educational system, economic turmoil and the challenge of globalization. Your mind and emotions are bombarded daily with information that reinforces a perception of just how stressed you should feel. Even the statistics can be stressful:

* 75% to 90% of all doctor visits in the U.S. today are for stress-related disorders.

* Job stress has become "the 20th century disease" and is considered a global epidemic.

* Depression was the fourth leading cause of disease-burden in 1990 and by 2020 it will be the single leading cause.

* The number of workers feeling highly stressed has doubled since 1985.

* 61% of people surveyed in the U.S., U.K., Ireland, Germany, Singapore and Hong Kong believe information overload is present in their workplace, with 80% predicting the situation will worsen.

* "Karoshi"-death from overwork, is said by Japanese health activists to kill some 30,000 workers every year.

* Acute stress ("fight or flight" or major life events) and chronic stress (the cumulative load of minor, day-to-day stress) can both have long-term consequences.

* As much as 80% of all disease and illness (in the U. S.) is initiated or aggravated by stress.

Science has shown that we pay a serious price for our stress. A twenty year study conducted by the University of London School of Medicine has determined that unmanaged mental and emotional reactions to stress present a more dangerous risk factor for cancer and heart disease than cigarette smoking or eating high cholesterol foods.

So, with a growing list of things to feel stressed about, what do you do? Fold up your tents and go home? Give your boss notice and not go back to work? Sell the car so you don't have to deal with rush hour traffic anymore?

The central message of this book is: There is hope because there is a solution. Recent scientific research has proven that you can learn not only to manage your stress, but even to prevent much of it before it happens. The key is within your heart. As you learn to prevent stressful reactions, you save a tremendous amount of energy-energy that can be used to develop creative projects, build fulfilling relationships, solve family problems, make more effective decisions and have more fun.

FREEZE-FRAME is also a powerful tool for creativity, innovation and problem solving. Creative thinking is an essential skill today with life's increasing complexity, data overload and time pressure. It's essential to keep the big picture in perspective, to be innovative and adaptive as the world changes. Being able to think "out of the box" has become a requirement for success in business, science or any creative endeavor. This implies a new kind of flexibility so that you can step back from your sense of overload or overwhelm and shift from a digital/ logical mental process to intuitive heart intelligence. Does that mean that if you learn this technique called FREEZE-FRAME, the boss will stop being so demanding, the company will reverse its decision to lay off 10% of the work force or your kids will suddenly turn into perfect angels? FREEZE-FRAME is not a quick fix for all of your problems. It is, however, a technique that can fix unnecessary stress quickly. Some things will change more quickly than others, but whatever life throws your way, you will have more strength, flexibility, common sense and insight to deal with it intelligently. As you will see in the many stories and case studies throughout the book, these changes can have profound, positive implications for personal health, productivity, family fun, organizational coherence and a healthier, more intelligent society. FREEZE-FRAME is the first tool in the HeartMath System. By learning this simple technique, you will strengthen your ability to make clear decisions and improve your health. You will learn how and why to listen to your heart to awaken more of your own intuitive intelligence. You'll hear about people who have transformed the quality of their lives and about organizations that function more creatively. And the next time you feel the pressure building-but there's no escape-you'll have a new solution. I invite you to try it out. It only takes a minute-a small price for a quality life with much less stress.

Customer Reviews

Simple solution to life stresses
We've all seen around us some people who, whenever things go wrong, seem to have this knack of riding over storms easily and picking themselves up again. Is it all in the mind? They must be able to curb the negative thoughts churning inside their heads. What allows them to do that? By looking on the bright side of things and appreciating what they see.

According to the author and the HeartMath Institute he heads, Freeze Frame is a technique that allows us to be like the resilient ones described above. Simply put, you take your mind off the stressful situation and focus on your heart. Then you think of something pleasant and feel it in your heart. Personally, I practice this technique and can attest to its effectiveness. It is simple and easy to do. It is scientifically proven. In fact, what this book has done is to explain in medical and scientifc terms what most of us have known intuitively - our heart needs to work with our mind so that we can have inner peace and harmony. When our heart and mind are entrained, we enjoy better health and relationships.

However, this technique's simplicity may also be its Achilles' heel. Some people doubt its effectiveness, while others may find it hard to remember to practice it regularly. Without regular practice, which is necessary to help build the heart 'muscle', one does not enjoy the benefits mentioned in the book.

An excellent technique to begin with
This new edition of Freeze Frame makes one of the first and key tools of the HeartMath system even more accessible and attractive. It offers a most valuable technique: recognize and freeze the stressful frame of life, shift away from the mind and focus on the heart, step into a resourceful state, tap into one's heart intelligence, and come up with alternative solutions. Much sound research by people like Rollin McCraty and William A. Tiller undergirds such simple techniques. It works and it is so streamlined and clearly packaged that anyone can learn and master. I hope it will continue to serve many people. That is why I rate the book with 5 stars. My one reservation in reading through all the seven books by the author and a few others by the staff of the HeartMath Institute is the authors'tendency to reduce all the beautiful research down to a few key techniques and concepts repeated over and over in most of the books. I long for further developments. Coming from a background immersed in NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), I hope people can be taught to generate their own techniques in changing their perceptions and develop a fuller and resourceful life by tapping into the unique role of heart intelligence.

Disappointing and shallow
Based on reviews on Amazon, I purchased this book expecting great things, but it left me very, very disappointed.

Having just read two wonderful books by the Arbinger Institute ("Leadership and Self Deception" and "The Anatomy of Peace"), I was very interested in the HeartMath approach to clear thinking, decision making, and leadership. I had hoped for a book that would challenge me to think differently about my approach and relationships with others. But, instead of deep thinking, this book merely features a handful of techniques designed to leave a person in control of a moment.

The techniques themselves are defined in just a few pages, and the rest of the book feels dedicated to convincing you that others believe the few tips are meaningful. And what really turned me off was the regular suggestion that a CD of music--composed by the author and available at additional expense, of course--would really help one achieve the state of Freeze Frame.

I found this book quite shallow. Maybe I'd feel differently had I not been somewhat profoundly moved and challenged by the Arbinger Institute books, but I have not and cannot recommend this book to anyone.