02/16/2026
Linda Graham, MFT and author of Resilience: Powerful Practices for Bouncing Back from Disappointment, Difficulty and Even Disasters, says "the 'Hand on the Heart' exercise is one of the very first exercises I always teach my clients as a powerful stress reliever.
Simply place your own hand on your own heart, breathe gently, softly, deeply into your heart center. If you wish, breathe in a sense of ease or safety or goodness into your heart center. Then remember one moment, just one moment, when you felt safe, loved and cherished by another human being. Not the entire relationship, just one moment. This could be a partner or child, a friend or therapist or teacher; it could be a spiritual figure; it could be a pet. As you remember this moment of feeling safe and loved and cherished, let yourself feel the feeling of that moment, let the feeling wash through your body, and let yourself stay there for 20 or 30 seconds.
When we do this exercise, the warm, safe touch of our hand on our heart center begins to activate the release of oxytocin, the brain’s hormone of safety and trust, bonding and belonging, calm and connect. Warm, safe touch anywhere that feels comfortable on our body can release the oxytocin, but there are neural cells around the heart that communicate directly with the brain and more quickly begin the activation of the release.
Breathing deeply into the heart center activates the calming branch of the nervous system, the parasympathetic branch, and our body begins to relax. Breathing a sense of safety or ease or goodness or any positive emotion into the heart center puts the brakes on our very fast, very automatic survival responses of fight-flight-freeze. Remembering a moment of feeling safe and loved and cherished with someone really activates the release of the oxytocin."
TFor more info to to https://loveandlifetoolbox.com/mitigate-the-stress-response-with-a-hand-on-your-heart/
