Students learn de-stress method
By Reid Forgrave
The
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![[photo]](Enquirer%20Story%20on%20HeartMath%20Project_files/image001.jpg)
That's why her students
spend some class time learning a biofeedback technique to deal with high
stress.
"There's a lot of applications for knowing how to de-stress
quickly in the operating room," said Baker, a professor in the associate
degree program that covers the art and science of surgical instruments.
"There's no cigarette breaks, no bathroom breaks in the OR. There's a lot going on to save a patient's life. You need to
think quickly on your feet, so it's great having this quick method to get back
to focus on the job at hand."
The method is
Freeze-Frame, which teaches students to achieve physiological balance and
mental clarity and to reduce performance blocks such as test anxieties and
emotional turmoil. Once trained in the technique - basically synchronizing
breathing and heart rates through focusing on positive emotions - it can be
used as needed.
Two professors,
trained in the technique at the
"Lots of
people are afraid of math," said Michael Vislocky, a mathematics professor
at the UC satellite campus. "Learning to relax in stressful situations can
help these students perform better on tests, and it also opens up their life
choices. So many people will switch majors just to avoid a specific math
class."
Vislocky and Dr.
Ron Leslie, an associate professor of psychology, hope to open a full-time
HeartMath lab at the college to help students with stress training.
Students use the
technique in everyday situations. When cardiac surgical technology student
Susan Auffart was driving recently and a man started
tailgating her, she said, she calmed herself by using the technique.
Surgical technology
student James Schweickart calls it a quick form of
meditation. "You get more focused," he said. "You can zone in,
just like an athlete."
E-mail rforgrave@enquirer.com