What is Biofeedback

We are truly “learning machines.” Our nervous system senses what is going on in the environment – the brain quickly processes and analyzes the new information – nerve cells fire and connect into performance circuits – we function and respond to what is going on in the world. This is “physiological” biofeedback defined: Information in – process and integrate – respond and interact.

Using the power of physiological biofeedback, our brain and nervous system quickly learns highly complex processes:

• When you were just a tiny baby, you started walking by rolling over in your crib. You were soon up on your hands and knees, rocking to and fro. In no time at all, you were crawling around the place, quickly finding the edge of the coffee table, and pulling yourself up. Then, to your parents delight, you tentatively put one foot in front of the other as someone held your hands high in the air. Finally, the big day: You took the courage to let go of everything and everybody and took your first step! From that day forward, there was no stopping you. You were all over the house, running from room to room, getting into all kinds of mischief.

• When you got your first bike/cycle, one of your parents probably helped by holding the bike upright and running along side as you turned the pedals. You glanced down to see where your hands and feet were, then up to see where you were going, all the while trying to keep the handle bars straight so you wouldn’t crash into something. In spite of having to learn so many unfamiliar and complex tasks all at once, you quickly coordinated everything you needed to do, and off you went on your own. In just a few hours, you had gone from walking to riding. You now whistled merrily along, waving to all your friends as you pedaled by.

Everyone physically and mentally able learns many complex tasks in his or her life. And, instruction manuals are not necessary. Billions of people have learned to walk and millions can ride a bike, for example, yet the local library has no “how-to” books on walking or riding a bike. The reason for this absence is that it isn’t “you” that learns these new tasks: It is your brain. All you needed was the desire to learn it, and the willingness to go through the motions.

Our brain is very smart. It quickly learns what it needs to do for us to live our life. And, whatever our brain learns and practices becomes an integral part of whom and what we are. We walk from room to room with no conscious thought, absent mindedly stick food into our mouth as we read a magazine, and, even if we haven’t ridden for years, we can probably hop on a bike, and, with a few wobbles, be riding as good as before. Unless damaged by drugs, toxins, physical or emotional trauma, or some disease process, our brain never forgets what we need to know: It remembers for a lifetime.

But, as we have all experienced, day-to-day stresses can cause our brain to go into overload, causing various systems to become compromised, even spin out of control. Examples are common: Severe headaches, low back, neck, and shoulder pain from chronic muscle tension, chronic digestive and bowel problems as the brain and body internalize gnawing stress, depression or anxiety can come from an over or under aroused autonomic nervous system (the “fight or flight versus relaxation” response), and, if the immune system turns on itself, allergies and autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. When our brain/body rebels from the stresses of our hectic world, we may discover that we have little or no idea of how to alleviate the
discomfort. The reason for this lack of direction is a lack of detection: It was our brain/body that learned how to control and manage these internal functions. “We” (our conscious “self”) probably don’t have the knowledge, the “insider information,” to take conscious control and change what is going on inside our body.

The discovery and development of “instrumented” (computer assisted) biofeedback gives us the power to work with our brain/body so it can re-learn what it learned in years past. When a sensor or electrode is placed on an appropriate location on our body and plugged into an appropriate electronic biofeedback device, we can use the built-in tones, lights, or meter to make us aware of what is going on inside our body. With this information, we can work directly with our physiology to change our internal terrain. By learning to raise our hand temperature with Temperature Biofeedback Training, for example, we can learn to calm an over-aroused and out of control nervous system to relieve migraine headaches, lower blood pressure, and better manage stress. EMG (muscle) Biofeedback, as another example, allows us to learn to manage tension headaches and calm various stress-related neck and shoulder pains. With the appropriate technology and proper instruction, these changes are remarkably quick and easy for most to learn: Mastery is usually accomplished in just a few sessions.

Once we learn self-regulation with instrumented biofeedback, we can normally recreate the experience years later without the biofeedback device. We have better life tools with which to deal with the negative effects of stress-related discomforts