Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephen Elliott.
Stephen, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I was employed as a telecommunications engineer by Northern Telecom in 1980 and became a Member, Scientific Staff of Bell Northern Research in 1982, the R&D subsidiary of Northern Telecom Limited. An electrical engineer by profession, I was assigned responsibility for the growing DMS-100 Hardware Development group at the Bell Northern Research (BNR) Research Triangle Park (RTP) laboratory, including functional and electrical design and development of electronic subsystems, boards, chips, and firmware. During my tenure with Bell Northern Research, I held technical and managerial assignments in the RTP (North Carolina), Maidenhead (U.K), Ottawa (Canada), and Richardson (Texas) laboratories. In 2002, I was appointed to the position of Chief Technical Leader, Wireline Networks 1 of 4 positions reporting to a Line of Business President and the Chief Technology Officer, responsible for setting strategic product and technology direction for what had become Nortel, the integration of Northern Telecom with Bell Northern Research. I resigned in 2004 and formed COHERENCE – The New Science of Breath.
My resignation from Nortel and founding of COHERENCE occurred after about 4 years of intense study into the topic and science of Heart Rate Variability (HRV) – what I knew instinctively to be an important subject. As an engineer by profession and scientist by training, I found that “the state of the art” understanding of the matter (circa 2004) to be very incomplete and to a large extent “mythical”. I became committed to understanding the scientific truth of the matter, such that others might also – understand the significance and use that understanding to change their health and their lives for the better.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Yes, but a slow road, as in the parlance, “it is the path less taken.”
There is a conundrum at work in humanity, this being that in order to understand something one must experience it for themselves, but in order to experience it, one must be open to trying it, but to be open to trying it one must be in a state of mind that allows open-ness to trying it, but without trying it there isn’t open-ness to trying it. Hence, while my work addresses a large audience, it is only there for those that are open to trying it.
The endeavor is really one about changing consciousness via conscious movement of the diaphragm. Who has ever heard of such a thing – yogis of course, but who else? In fact, there is a way for everyone to maximize their health, well-being, longevity, and performance…. by learning how to move their diaphragms in a healthful manner.
Moving the diaphragm results in the phenomenon of Heart Rate Variability or “HRV”, and it is really an indication that the circulatory system is functioning correctly – which includes blood flow to the brain.
The reason that moving the diaphragm is important to humans is because we have evolved to stand upright, “erect”, which means that our blood must flow upwards against the force of gravity. My theory is that the diaphragm evolved with vertebrate life with erectness. You can see this evolution in land dwelling reptiles, amphibians, mammals, and of course humans.
Please tell us about COHERENCE.
COHERENCE – The New Science Of Breath is known for asserting a new paradigm regarding the importance of breathing to health, well-being, performance, and longevity. It is also known for developing the scientific understanding of why this is true and to a large extent mitigating the mythical understanding of heart rate that stood in the 2004 timeframe.
The crux of it is that breathing promotes healthful circulation, where unhealthy breathing patterns and consequent unhealthy circulatory status is the root cause of many diseases. This is the quintessential understanding that is true.
As a researcher, myself and colleagues have busted a number of myths regarding breathing, some of which are thousands of years old. We have accomplished this via advancements in biofeedback technology which allows us to observe what was not previously observable or understandable.
I am pleased to be the “modern day rediscoverer” of a physiological phenomenon known as “the respiratory arterial pressure wave”, a phenomenon observed by the Yellow Emperor of China more than 5000 years ago, and I hold the US patent on its detection and biofeedback.
This invention detects that fact that blood rises in the venous circulation when we inhale and rises in the arterial circulation when we exhale, blood flowing in a circle (hence “circulation”) when we are breathing correctly. The patent is the basis of the biofeedback instrument “Valsalva Wave Pro”, a COHERENCE product.
At this time, COHERENCE has many thousands of users of its products spread across 30 nations. We are also proud that our products and methods are employed by the United States Veterans Administration.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I’ve learned a huge amount in pursuit of this “science”, more than from COHERENCE as a business, and have received friendly criticism from friends for this “science before business” orientation. But, my interests have remained scientific, with the intent that “understanding” is more important than money.
Pricing:
- Prices on these products range from $9.95 each to $1895.00 each.
Contact Info:
- Address: COHERENCE
417 South Jefferson Street,
Pilot Point, Texas 76258 - Website: www.coherence.com
- Phone: 866-441-0707
- Email: customerservice@coherence.com
Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
