Ok, this will be a review and I’ll try to be balanced, but it’s about a book I really wasn’t down with but it’s not void of value either.

I read The Heartmath Solution by Childre and Martin because I’m in a book club and my book lost the vote. But I’m a team player

This book is anchored in some really good research about the connection between the heart and the brain and even the body. Some of the research is similar to what has been used in family systems theory (see Healthy Congregations by Peter Steinke and Failure of Nerve by Edwin Friedman). The research was my favorite part of the book, because I think it’s legit stuff that does affect how we view life, relationships, and the concept of self-control and stress management. Issues like regulating heartbeat and self-regulating emotions I’ve found to be new and somewhat helpful ways of staying calm and objective in situations as well as avoiding stress behavior. That’s the main thrust of the book – thinking clearly and being a more unified individual between head and heart through the power and brain of the heart.

Some of that makes me want to hurl, but some of it’s legit. It’s the attempt to use science to legitimize the “follow your heart” philosophy of decision making that makes me queezy. I like the research for the most part, but I don’t like what they do with it and some of the jumps they make. There’s some helpful stress management and emotional self-regulation exercises that I think can be helpful. I’ve actually tried a couple and have found when I put some of their stuff in a more theocentric framework it’s good times for Beav. But they act like the heart is the source of all true wisdom and that’s a bunch of…well you know what.

If stress management is really your thing it might be worth a read, but it needs a lot of work to put some of the stuff that is legit into a framework that is palatable for me. I’m not down with the book, but I’m somewhat ok with having read it because it’s at least given me a couple things to chase down in my mind that are interesting to think about in terms of emotional intelligence and the physiology of life in the Spirit and self-control.