Deborah Rozman

Dr. Deborah Rozman is President and co-CEO of Quantum Intech, Inc. the parent company of HeartMath, Inc.

Quantum Intech develops the emWave technologies while HeartMath LLC develops and provides HeartMath training programs to Fortune 500 companies, health care organizations, health professionals and individuals (www.heartmath.com). The HeartMath mission is to facilitate a fundamental shift in health, well-being and coherence globally.

Deborah helped Doc Childre start the non-profit Institute of HeartMath in 1991 and as Executive Director she was involved in overseeing the exciting research on the heart and creating the HeartMath training programs. Before HeartMath, Deborah was an entrepreneur, psychologist, business executive and founder of one of the first private children’s school in holistic education in Northern California. She studied at the University of Chicago and University of California at Santa Cruz, and has a master's degree in child psychology and a doctorate in the psychology of consciousness.

Since 1975 she has authored or co-authored over a dozen books, including HeartMath’s Transforming Series books (New Harbinger Publications) with Doc Childre: Transforming Anger, Transforming Stress, Transforming Anxiety and Transforming Depression, and Stopping Emotional Eating. She does keynote addresses for executives, scientists and conferences throughout the world, and is a key media spokesperson on the role of the heart in performance, wellness and personal growth.

So often HeartMastery members want to know how HeartMath was founded, so Sheva Carr interviewed Deborah to share about that journey in May of 2010.

Here are excerpts from that interview...

• How did you come to work with Doc Childre?
  • As a long-time meditator, I had been listening to my heart and following my heart (the best I knew how) for years. I knew from experience that the heart and the head are two different domains of perception and reality. As a psychologist, I discovered a form of gestalt therapy where I had my clients talk to their heart from the point of view of their head, then physically switch chairs and talk to their head from the perspective of their heart. It was mind-blowing to me and them how different the heart perspective was - more authentic, more real and actually more intelligent. This was the most effective form of counseling I found. Then when I met Doc Childre and heard him talk about the intelligence of the heart in 1987, I felt an immediate “yes!” He was the first person I’d ever heard use the term “heart intelligence.” Then when he talked about tools to connect with your deeper heart intelligence, I couldn’t wait to learn what they were. Doc suggested one simple tool (which I’ll share with HeartMastery students) for me to practice for three days, which I did. Even after years of practice listening to my heart, those three days opened me up to a whole new world of what the heart was. I was so inspired and all I wanted to do was keep unfolding that heart intelligence while bringing a deeper understanding of what the heart really is -- and tools to open the heart -- to people young and old. You have to understand that I’d studied in a committed way many forms of Western and Eastern psychology and spirituality, from Jung to Maslow, from Christian mysticism to yoga. And more than anything else, this awakening to the power and intelligence of the heart was the most important discovery for me. Most everything else I’d studied pointed to the heart in some way, or took me to the doorway of the heart, but this work took me right home to the heart.
• How were the tools developed?
  • Doc invited a number of people to begin to work with him to practice heart tools he'd developed to test their value within ourselves. This was important as we didn’t want to share something with others that we hadn’t developed within ourselves. Then in 1991, we started the Institute of HeartMath to research what was really going on in our physiology when we connected with our deeper heart feelings and intuition. We brought together a number of brain researchers, cardiologists, psychologists and engineers, and the HeartMath research lab began. It was a very exciting time. Doc refined the heart tools based on the research and that's how the HeartMath system was developed and brought to the world.
• It is rare in this day in age for people to stay committed to something for so long. What keeps you at HeartMath?
  • What keeps me staying with HeartMath for 20 years is it's an adventure that keeps yielding - it keeps on paying - it keeps adding new insight and new levels of growth and surprise and fulfillment. I get to do that with Doc's leadership and direction, alongside other people who have become like family. Delving into my own heart's guidance and wisdom is still an upspiraling, inspirational and fun ride.
• How have the tools benefited you personally?
  • The thing I love most about the tools is that they change, in positive ways, the way I perceive myself, others, and life. From there I make better choices, manifest more of my deeper heart, and more attunement with life, other's hearts and the universe, which brings to me more fulfillment. It is a great joy for me to be part of HeartMastery to share this with others.
• Is there anything you do besides HeartMath?
  • Well, my whole life is about unfolding the heart -- and the heart never ends! You want your mind aligned with your deeper heart in everything you do, and that unfolds your higher intelligence and blueprint for growth and fulfillment. Part of the Heart Empowerment process of HeartMastery is practicing heart balance in day to day life. Balance is different for everyone. My work is often very mentally focused on the computer or in meetings. I shift to specific heart tools in between work segments and find that balancing and regenerating. In this day and age, most people are engaged in lots of heady stuff (yes, even those of us at HeartMath), on a computer much of the time with never enough time to get everything done that’s on the to-do list. I also find balance and joy in maintaining a rose garden. Getting my fingers in the earth is very grounding and nurturing. I enjoy hiking in nature for the same reason. It takes practice and commitment to create balance in your life, where whatever you do becomes your hobby because your heart and passion are in it – but you can as you build the courage to listen to and follow your heart's directives.
• Is there anything else you want to share about yourself?
  • The most important things to me in life are the qualities of the heart or spirit: love, care, compassion, appreciation, forgiveness, non-judgment, and realizing that these qualities are all activators of heart intelligence – living life more intuitively and intelligently. If you keep going to your heart, your heart keeps nurturing you. Sometimes it is harder to connect with your heart, because of deeply engrained mental and emotional patterns. But what you get from practicing is not just conceptual or philosophical. It's tangible. Heart Mastery is a cumulative process. You keep adding to it as you act on your heart intelligence and it keeps adding to you and that brings great fulfillment in life.

 

“Dr. Deborah Rozman is such an inspired and inspiring teacher. I guess the thing that amazes me most about her is that she can answer any question about HeartMath practices with gentleness, wisdom and compassion and I always learn so much from her heartfelt answers.”

“Embodiment is the best way to describe Debbie's expression of HeartMath principles. As a speaker, facilitator, writer and educator, she conveys that loving touch that illuminates and inspires.”

“Debbie is a skilled speaker who has achieved that rare and delicate balance between mind and heart, allowing her to model that which she presents.”