Stefanie Dumont offered a one-hour session about the coherence advantage for parental support, featuring HeartMath® tools and techniques. You can watch the replay below. Please note that you will be asked to provide your email address at the 30-minute mark to continue viewing the replay.
Being a Parent of a Child with a Chronic Health Condition Is Stressful
Parents of children with chronic health conditions deal with a lot of stressful situations — advocating for your child, navigating systems, making endless decisions — all while trying to show up with patience, love, and strength. Some days, you feel grounded. Other days, it’s hard to catch your breath.
What Is HeartMath®?
HeartMath® is a biofeedback system of scientifically validated techniques that helps people improve emotional well-being and enhance performance by fostering a state known as coherence. This psychophysiological coherence is a state in which a person’s heart, brain, emotions, and nervous system are synchronized, leading to optimal functioning and reduced stress. It can be measured with heart rate variability (HRV) sensors.
Numerous studies have documented (see Sources & References, below) that the HeartMath® system can lower anxiety, reduce the effects of stress and shift a person out of the “fight or flight” state of the sympathetic nervous system and into the healing “rest and digest” state of the parasympathetic nervous system.
In This Session
Stefanie Dumont is an Executive Coach, HeartMath® Certified Trainer, and dedicated parent of four. Over the years, she has supported leaders and families in building tools for lasting calm and resilience — not through willpower, but through something called coherence: a gentle alignment of the heart, mind, and body that comes from using HeartMath® tools and techniques.
Join us for a one-hour experience designed specifically for parents, like yourself, who are navigating complex situations or high-stress environments. In this session, Stefanie helped us explore simple, science-based practices that can help you to:
- Access calm and clarity in moments of overwhelm
- Make thoughtful decisions when things feel uncertain
- Recover faster from stress
- Strengthen your daily sense of balance and presence
This is not about fixing or doing more. It’s about aligning your heart, brain and emotions — so you can keep showing up consistently for the people you love. Parents who prioritize their own well-being can be better equipped to care for their children.
Key Discussions
The Power of Coherence and HeartMath® Techniques
Coherence—a state where the heart, brain, and emotions are in alignment—can dramatically improve emotional regulation, resilience, and overall well-being. HeartMath® offers research-backed techniques to achieve coherence, even in stressful or chaotic moments, providing parents with practical tools to manage their energy and stress.
Identifying and Managing Energy Leaks
Daily stressors, whether external (like news and global events) or internal (family routines, transitions, mealtimes), deplete our inner “battery.” Becoming aware of these energy drains is the first step to managing them. Through regular coherence practice, parents can better recharge and sustain their energy, leading to improved patience and presence with their children.
The Role of Breath and Awareness in Emotional Regulation
Most people unconsciously hold or shallow their breath during stressful situations, which interrupts the heart-brain connection and emotional clarity. Learning specific breathing techniques—like heart-focused coherence breathing—enables parents to shift quickly from stress to calm, improving responsiveness and decision-making rather than reactive outbursts.
Building Resilience Through Practice, Not Perfection
Resilience isn’t about avoiding stress but about preparing for, adapting to, and recovering from it. Regular, “stacked” coherence practices (like pairing breathing with daily habits) help build new, more adaptable emotional baselines over time. Progress comes from gentle consistency rather than sudden, unattainable transformation.
Modeling and Co-Regulating for the Family
Parents’ emotional states directly affect their children through coregulation. When parents access calm and coherence, their children are more likely to feel and mirror these states. Being open about self-regulation—admitting overwhelm and demonstrating real-time coping strategies—normalizes healthy emotional responses for the whole family, fostering collective resilience and compassion.
Timestamped Overview
09:19 HeartMath®: Heart and brain alignment
11:09 Identify daily energy leaks
21:29 Heart-based breathing tips
22:23 Circular breathing technique guide
28:49 HeartMath®’s depletion to renewal tool
35:17 Understanding your emotional grid
38:59 Creating awareness and renewal
46:54 Quick coherence breathing technique
55:07 Heart rhythm coherence graph
58:25 Boosting resilience with heart rate variability
01:07:24 Benefits of coherence breathing
01:13:06 Practice coherence breathing regularly
01:14:41 Parenting challenges: autism and self-compassion
01:21:12 Modeling positive behavior starts home
About Stefanie Dumont
Stefanie Dumont is a transformative Executive & Coherence Coach, Leadership Development Facilitator, and the passionate founder of Coherence Leadership Coaching — an innovative platform that helps leaders, executives, and conscious parents, shift from pressure to presence. With a heart-centered approach, Stefanie helps her clients shift from overwhelm to empowerment, fostering clarity, calm, and sustainable resilience in both their personal and family lives.
Drawing from over two decades of experience coaching Olympic athletes, CEOs, creatives, conscious parents, and mission-driven entrepreneurs, Stefanie masterfully blends the power of leadership with neuroscience, emotional intelligence, and embodiment practices. Her tailored coaching programs empower individuals to cultivate a mindset of growth, alignment, and coherence, even amidst the pressures and uncertainties of life.
As a #1 Amazon best-selling author of Yes First: Taking Action in Uncertain Times, Stefanie provides us with a transformative coaching guide to courageous decision-making and aligned leadership. Her heart-driven philosophy fosters insight, resilience, and lasting transformation.
If you would like more information on Stefanie or her upcoming series, please visit coherenceleadershipcoaching.com
Disclaimer
This expert interview is not a substitute for medical advice, treatment, diagnosis, or consultation with a medical professional. It is intended for general informational purposes only and should not be relied on to make determinations related to treatment of a medical condition. Documenting Hope has not verified and does not guaranty the accuracy of the information provided in this expert interview.
Still Looking for Answers?
Visit the Documenting Hope Practitioner Directory to find a practitioner near you.
Join us inside our online membership community for parents, Healing Together, where you’ll find even more healing resources, expert guidance, and a community to support you every step of your child’s healing journey.
Sources & References
Edwards, S.D., et al. Empirical and Heuristic Phenomenological Case Study of the HeartMath Global Coherence Initiative. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019 Apr 8;16(7):1245.
Elzohairy, N.W., et al. Effectiveness of a Nurse-Led HeartMath Training Program on Resilience, Emotional Adjustment, and Treatment Motivation Among Patients With Substance Use Disorder: A Randomized Control Trial. Worldviews Evid Based Nurs. 2025 Aug;22(4):e70061.
Lloyd, A., et al. Coherence training in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: cognitive functions and behavioral changes. Altern Ther Health Med. 2010 Jul-Aug;16(4):34-42.
Lutz, B. An Institutional Case Study: Emotion Regulation With HeartMath at Santa Cruz County Children's Mental Health. Glob Adv Health Med. 2014 Mar;3(2):68-71.
McCraty, R. Following the Rhythm of the Heart: HeartMath Institute's Path to HRV Biofeedback. Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback. 2022 Dec;47(4):305-316.
Miller, A., et al. The Influence of HeartMath® on Resilience and Empowerment in Female College Athletes. J Holist Nurs. 2021 Dec;39(4):382-392.
