If you’ve ever asked yourself:
- “How can I feel more joy in my life?”
- “How can I experience a rich and deep intimacy with my partner?”
- “How can I make a profound impact and an income through facilitation and coaching?”
- “How can I provide an education for my child that honors not just academic ability, but also emotional, social and creative skills as well?”
- “How can I connect with others who are passionate about being more real, aware and heart intelligent in their lives?”
- “How can I upgrade my business to be more heart intelligent and socially conscious?”
- “How can I find my life’s purpose and make the biggest difference with my gifts?”
…You’re in the RIGHT place!
Heart IQ™ is the practice of meaningful, heartfelt and authentic connection with yourself and others.
As a child, you probably went to a school where you learned mostly academics, leaving your emotional-energetic development in the hands of your parents, teachers and other primary caregivers.
Even though our society has evolved in many amazing ways, such as technology, we seem to have forgotten how to feel connected with each other and ourselves through compassion, depth, authenticity and love. Instead, it’s become more common to operate from a head-driven, emotionally-disconnected place where we relate as though we are separate from the world around us.
Hi, my name is Christian Pankhurst and I created Heart IQ™ to offer another option that gives us a safe, enjoyable and easy way to connect back to who we really are and to build a heart intelligent community filled with individuals who are authentic and real, and committed to living a fully inspired life.
“I can’t imagine my life now without Heart IQ. My friends and family can’t believe the transformation! I’m a completely transformed person. After years of just ‘getting by,’ I finally feel like myself again and that everything is possible. My heart cannot thank you enough!”
Amy, USA
Here’s How Heart IQ™ Can Help You To Get Ahead In Life
Heart IQ™ is the integration of two primary skill-sets:
- Expanding Your Emotional-Energetic Range
- Creating Authentic Connection With Others
Expanding Your Emotional-Energetic Range
This part of the work is centered around you as an individual. The focus is on you feeling more joy in every area of your life, including those parts of your life that you have judged as negative or ‘wrong.’ Joy is the result of you being free to feel and express yourself authentically. Through childhood conditioning, many of us developed the defense mechanism of a ‘head-bubble’ which monitors and filters all of our actions and responses, numbing us from our spontaneous, heart-inspired, more natural way of being.
It’s natural to express yourself in many different emotional states - what we call ‘ranges’ in Heart IQ™. As our head-bubble suppresses the expression of our seemingly riskier ranges, we adapt into a more limited version of who we really are. Eventually, you encounter feelings that you want to express, but your defensive system does such a good job of protecting you, it prevents you from connecting to those feelings. In Heart IQ™, we refer to these inaccessible states as your ‘unavailable ranges.’
See if this example helps: Someone crosses a boundary and you feel angry, but instead, you smile pretending everything is okay. You judge anger as being a harmful emotion that will hurt others. In this example, being able to express anger in a healthy way is your ‘unavailable range.’ The result of expanding this range is that you will eventually develop a healthy relationship to your anger, not through suppression or control, but by learning how to authentically and naturally transform this ‘fuel’ so that you can use it to empower your ideas, creativity, sexuality, and who knows what else!
The aim of expanding your range is not to heal, fix or deal with your past. Instead, the purpose is to realize that joy is hidden in your unavailable ranges, and when you dare to tap these areas of your life, you regain the gift of feeling empowered and incredibly alive.
Joy is the result of accepting who you are, as you are, without making any part of you wrong.”
Christian Pankhurst, Founder of Heart IQ™
One of the most essential ranges that all practitioners of Heart IQ™ need to master is what we call the ‘vertical range.’ There are two primary vertical ranges: Vertical UP and Vertical DOWN. Vertical UP refers to your connection to Source (which you may call God, Universe, etc.). Vertical DOWN relates to your connection to your body. When you don’t have access to your Vertical UP range, you will feel unsafe, pulled toward addiction and lost in life. When you don’t have access to your Vertical DOWN range, you will feel disconnected from your body, which is your grounded sense of ‘home’ and belonging. This type of disconnection can produce excessive emotional and physical pain or an emotionally numb existence that interferes with your capacity to feel joy.
Many systems of personal development focus on one of these two ranges, but rarely are they developed together as an integrated whole. In Heart IQ™, we focus on developing these ranges simultaneously. It’s not enough to stop at simply being aware of both your connection to Source and your connection to your body. This work goes the next step to explore how life can be different when we can bring our sense of connection with the divine into sacred union with our physical humanity. This integration results in a phenomenon I call divine embodiment and creates a new foundation from which to live your life through stillness, intuition and a greater sense of being held and guided in life while feeling the freedom to spontaneously follow your heart’s longings with deeper conviction.
“As a rational thinking guy, I was a little cynical at first. Within hours of being in my first retreat, I knew I was experiencing the ‘real deal.’ Words simply can’t do it justice. It’s been six months since the event, and I feel more confident and self-assured. My relationship with my partner has got better too, and I feel closer to my kids. We now all practice Heart IQ™ around the dinner table together!”
Brian, UK
The work of expanding your emotional-energetic range, although focused on you as an individual, can only be achieved in the presence of others in a group setting. Heart IQ™ is NOT an individual spiritual or personal development practice as it requires others to ‘activate’ the very ranges that are often hidden in your blind spots and which cannot be accessed, or sometimes even seen, without the amplification and focus that is provided by a Heart IQ™ Amplified Field.The Heart IQ™ Amplified Field is the primary tool that the Heart IQ™ Practitioner uses to expand their ranges. Just like a microscope is used to see things too small for the human eye, and a telescope allows us to see beyond the stars, the Heart IQ™ Amplified Field is a vehicle that provides a safe environment for all the hidden aspects of the psycho-social-emotional-energetic aspects of the self to be revealed.
You can only change that which you are aware of.
The Amplified Field helps you to become aware of how you show up in life, and more importantly, what holds you back from being who you really are. With this new awareness, you can become clear on what ranges you need to embody and integrate to achieve the life of your dreams.Creating a Heart IQ™ Amplified Field requires a trained professional to facilitate effectively. The Heart IQ™ Network has a coaching directory that lists all of our officially certified practitioners. If you would like to learn more about becoming a Heart IQ™ Circle Coach or Facilitator, you can find out more here.
Creating Authentic Connection With Others
The second set of skills that Heart IQ™ develops is called the ‘Horizontal Range.’ This range focuses on your ability to connect intimately, authentically and vulnerably in relationship to others.
Most of us do not feel safe enough to be authentic and vulnerable. Instead, we speak from a defensive, heady space while strategically communicating in code so we can stay in a position of strength because we think it will protect us from getting hurt or feeling diminished. A common misunderstanding for many of us is that we think we’re at risk for being wounded in our present-time relationships, when in reality, our wounding stems from the past. Our current relationships are the places where we reactivate the memory of our past pain with those who carry a similar energy to the person and/or scenario in our past. When we confuse our experience of people in our life today with others from our past, this is called a ‘projection’.
“I have finally found my people! I always knew in my heart that a community like this was possible. I’ve never felt so loved, accepted and supported in my life. The Heart IQ™ Community is the family I’ve always wanted to have, and I’m so grateful to have finally found home.”
Jessica, Netherlands
Wounding and trauma, which come from the undigested experiences of overwhelm and pain held in your nervous system, are the result of others in your past either violating a boundary or neglecting your needs. No matter how it happens, the damaging dynamics always occur in the interaction between you and another.
Often our lives are incapacitated when we interact with specific people that remind us consciously or unconsciously of those who did us harm. In the presence of these individuals, we may lose control and become uncontained, or we might also go in the opposite direction, feeling paralysed and numb. Additionally, we can quickly regress to a younger version of ourselves or ‘check-out’ altogether and go into what is known as a ‘New Age Bypass,’ using spiritual philosophies to avoid feeling pain.
The point that becomes important to understand is that if ‘others’ were the source of your wounding, and ‘others’ still trigger your pain today, then ‘others’ will be necessary to heal it.
It is for this reason that Heart IQ™ is practiced with others. Through guided interactions in a group, you get to practice what it means to open, listen, follow and communicate from your heart more authentically than ever before.
In Heart IQ™, ‘others’ will be the key to unlock your healing. You’ll finally have a chance to recognize the defensive strategies that you’ve always used to protect yourself and unwind the dynamics that have blocked you from creating the relationship intimacy that you’ve always wanted. This awareness is the beginning of a multi-layered process that culminates with you re-wiring your nervous system and giving yourself an emotional-energetic upgrade that can change your perspective and alter the course of your life for the better!
When practicing the art of Creating Authentic Connection, there are two ranges you must master. They are called Horizontal IN and Horizontal OUT. Horizontal IN describes your capacity to receive from others, and Horizontal OUT is your capacity to speak your truth and show your true colors to others.
In order to practice the Horizontal IN range, you must learn to acknowledge your human needs and then take the courageous step of asking for those needs to be met by others. Then comes the difficult task of receiving the help you’ve asked for and fully letting it in. This is usually challenging because most of us find it easier to give than to receive. However, the skill of receiving is critical for healthy relationships to flourish.
In order to practice your Horizontal OUT range, you must learn to speak your truth and express yourself authentically with a full and diverse emotional range. This means being willing to reveal things that are either hard for you to share, or are hard for others to hear, while showing your true feelings through your body language and emotions, not just your words.
“I thought my relationship was over and so, as a last attempt at saving it, my partner and I attended a Heart IQ™ Relationship event. When we got home, we ripped up the divorce papers and committed to the practices we were shown. One year later and things have never been better! Our kids are so much happier too!”
Sharon, Scotland
Creating Authentic Connection is not only a verbal communication practice. It’s a blend of using powerful verbal skills along with matching non-verbal communication tools, combined with the capacity to feel others emotionally and energetically, as well as being able to apply conflict resolution practices, and most importantly, the well-timed use of silence, presence and spaciousness, so that real intent can translate and land. The net result of this horizontal range practice is nothing short of transformational. Learning this integrated skill will give you the resources to create healthy, thriving relationships with your friends, partners and family.
When you combine all four primary ranges (Vertical UP, Vertical DOWN, Horizontal IN and Horizontal OUT) and understand how to integrate them together, an intelligence emerges that is greater than the sum of the separate parts. In it’s essence, this is Heart IQ™. From this place, instead of operating from a head-driven state, you can use your mind’s insight and combine it with the wisdom of your body, the intelligence of your emotions, the power of your intuition and clarity of your energetic read to connect with the world around you. It’s like suddenly being able to see for the first time after having been blind your whole life.
An added advantage of doing these heart-opening practices together in a group is that a bond is created between the participants that is hard to describe. Many attendees leave our events having made lifelong friendships and often continue their connection and sharing through on-going Heart IQ™ Practice Circles. [link to practice circle event description page]
In fact, creating and contributing to community is a large part of our mission. The Heart IQ™ Community is a rich source of real people and authentic support. It exists in both virtual and in-person forms and continues to grow globally all around the world. If you haven’t joined the Heart IQ™ Community, you can do so by clicking the link below. It’s free, and you’ll receive complimentary training as well as being invited to live webinars where you can connect with me and my team.
What Makes This Work So Powerful?
- What are you feeling?
- What do you want?
- What do you need from others?
- What’s holding you back?
In essence, the answers to these questions, if answered openly and honestly, can take anyone from a place of not feeling good in life to a place that instantly feels better. The Heart IQ™ Method does not focus on finding issues and ‘stuff’, but rather puts the attention on finding your heart’s true joy in the moment. Doing this work in small groups allows the individuals in the circle to benefit from the powerful amplifying effects of the Heart IQ™ Amplified Field. In an amplified field, as you can guess, whatever you pay attention to gets magnified. This is the power that your focused love and attention wields.
How it works is that as you receive the group’s heart-centered attention in circle, in that moment, you will experience an amplification effect - of everything! Everything becomes clearer, more defined, and it becomes easier to feel yourself and others. It’s a wonderful feeling and a little overwhelming to the nervous system if you’re new to it. That’s why it’s the job of the facilitator to ensure that the space is safe for you to explore these four questions in an open-hearted field of possibilities, steering the group away from heady debates, judgements and attempts to ‘fix the problem.’ The group’s job is to stay present and focused on what matters to your heart.
In the hands of a great facilitator, the amplified field can create an experience of deeper presence, connectedness and joy that goes beyond what most people are used to experiencing. In this place, you can experience whatever you want - the possibilities are literally endless!
Do you want to amplify your charisma? Go for it! Want to amplify your femininity? It’s yours! Want to amplify your playfulness? You can have it! Want to amplify your depth and wisdom? … Hopefully, you get the picture! Once a resonant field has been created, the potential for awakening is unlimited. That’s why I love this model so much. It’s both profound and enjoyable - and completely transferable for upgrading the quality of your life!
Where We Come From When Working With You
- Finding your unique connection with the Divine
- Becoming fully embodied and alive, both emotionally and energetically
- Healing your past by rebuilding a loving, safe relationship with yourself
- Building Heart Intelligent relationships with others
- Being part of a resonant Heart Intelligent Community of loving, supportive friends.
The Heart IQ™ Method achieves this purpose by providing a safe environment to feel more of you and become self aware. Over time, you will begin to heal at a deep level, not through fixing your problems or focusing on your past, but through the practice of expanding your emotional-energetic range.
ACCEPTING ‘WHAT IS’
In Heart IQ™, we prioritize the acceptance of what is moving in any given moment - which means that we agree to the practice of not making who you are and where you are in the moment wrong or shameful. This creates safety, which is the most important aspect of our facilitation.
MAXIMUM IMPACT - MINIMUM INTERVENTION
When working with you, we act from the intention to make the maximum impact with the minimum amount of intervention - which means that we operate with the guideline of ‘less is more’ as a way to trust the intelligent life force that animates each of us.
LEARNING TO LISTEN AND FOLLOW YOUR HEART
Through your study of Heart IQ™, you will practice listening to and following your heart - trusting that life will provide you with the bread crumbs of wisdom you need to follow as you open your Heart and mind to receiving what is real and possible in the moment. As Heart IQ™ Coaches and Facilitators, we agree to support you by following the unfolding of ease and inspiration rather than moving toward a goal at all costs.
YOU ARE INTRINSICALLY GOOD
We live by the truth that we are all intrinsically good and that goodness lies at the core of everyone. All of us carry wounding, some of which will permanently change us. However, our intrinsic goodness remains intact and accessible in spite of our wounding
ALL PARTS OF YOU ARE WELCOME
We include ALL parts of the Self in this work - dark, light, painful, joyful, awkward, refined, tender, confronting, closed and generous. The purpose is to integrate and heal all the parts of you.
ALL HEALING HAS ITS OWN TIME
We believe that all healing has its own time; therefore, we allow you to be where you are in the moment rather than advising or counseling you to be in a different place. As a result, we don't push you where you don't want to go or hold you accountable for the changes you want to make in your life.
YOU’LL LEARN MORE QUICKLY IN A GROUP
We believe that healing is more powerful when experienced in a group. Even though the stories of our pain are different, pain itself is collective and requires others to digest it fully. Through this state of collective healing, life can spontaneously reorganize and transform.
“This young man, Christian Pankhurst, knows how to articulate this work as well as, if not better, than I can. He is a profound source of depth and understanding.”
Neale Donald Walsch, Best Selling Author of ‘Conversations With God’