Mind Body Seminars

Although more people are now interested in mind body techniques like meditation, mindfulness, and yoga, there is still a great lack of clarity as to what the real effects of these techniques are.  It is also often difficult to know if a person practicing a technique is doing it correctly or getting the maximum benefit they can from it.

Several months ago, I was at a university in New York city visiting a meditation group.  The two people who were leading the group were interested in using EEG biofeedback equipment to measure the brainwave activity of people who were meditating.  They were interested in comparing the EEG activity of a novice meditator with that of a very experienced one.  This is one example of how technology can be used in combination with mind body techniques.  The idea was to see if there is a difference in what is going on in the brain while a person is meditating and does that vary depending on their experience level.

If a person attends a seminar to learn how to meditate, they might be doing their best to follow imagery instructions given by the teacher and may have difficulty experiencing what is being described.  They might also have many distracting and intrusive thoughts. During the training a person’s mind might be distracted and, or their body might be holding tension.  With biofeedback or neurofeedback instruments, evidence of this could be measured and used to help train the person more effectively.

If you are going to conduct any kind of mind body seminar it just makes sense to at least be able to demonstrate the changes that occur in the brain (EEG) as well as the body (biofeedback – breathing, muscle tension, heart rate, sweat, and skin temperature).  The whole program doesn’t necessarily need to incorporate technology but it can be helpful and instructive to both the students and teacher of the class.  Learning how to use this type of technology can be helpful for anyone who teaches any kind of seminars related to mind body work.  It also can be used as an intervention itself.  Biofeedback and Neurofeedback are interventions that use the technology and education therapeutically for symptoms including headaches, insomnia, anxiety, depression, ADHD, and pain.  They are an excellent adjunct for people who teach diaphragmatic breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, guided imagery, autogenic relaxation, meditation, and mindfulness as well as other mind body techniques.

For more information on biofeedback and neurofeedback visit: www.biofeedbackinternational.com

Our nervous system is constantly at work partly as an interface between our mind and body.  It reacts to our environment, physical activity, and our thoughts.  It causes changes heart rate, blood pressure, blood circulation, contraction level of our muscles, our breathing, and many other things.  When the changes are appropriate and useful for the situation this is a very good thing.  When the changes are due to an overreaction related to stress then it can be harmful.   There are many ways that stress can cause problems with health and I have discussed these in other places.  Here I want to focus on effects on performance.  This type of negative stress reaction can happen with various types of performance including athletes, singers, speakers, students, business people, and actors to name a few.

When a performer becomes anxious the same kinds of changes happen in their brain and the rest of their body that would be helpful to get them out of physical danger in a situation where there is no need for the type of physical reaction the body is prepared for.  That state is usually not what is ideal for a high-quality performance.  Let’s go through a few examples.  A basketball player who has practiced thousands of free throws for years and has an excellent percentage of making them, say 85% is in position to win the game by making only one out of two free throws, misses them both badly, not even hitting the rim or backboard.  Maybe before he went to the line one of the opposing players made an insulting comment (trash talking).  His reaction might be to become angry and think about getting revenge.  His brain and body are now in fight mode which is not ideal for the task at hand.

Another example is when Greg Norman lost the Masters golf tournament after having a comfortable lead.  After making a few mistakes it seems as though he lost focus and never recovered, missing several easy short puts along the way.  This type of performance may have been due to the brain going into more of a fear rather than focus mode. Read more...

Harry L. Campbell

Author of What Stress Can Do, Available on Amazon.com

914-762-4646

See more related blogs:

https://biofeedbackinternational.blogspot.com/2020/02/adding-intelligence-of-heart-in.html

 https://www.merchantcircle.com/blogs/american-biotec-ossining-ny/2020/2/Attention-Or-Sleep-Problems-with-Sleep-related-to-ADHD/1809962

https://biofeedbackinternational.tumblr.com/post/190894757071/emwave2-charcoal-gray

The Hidden Challenge in Alcohol and Drug Abuse

“Alcohol and drugs are essential to my creative process” is a thought, sometimes a confession made, usually privately, by millions of creative people, many of them at the pinnacle of success in their fields. Yet, I have heard very little serious discussion by substance abuse professionals about the profound implications of this phenomenon.

Some say that psychoactive drugs will be with us forever and maybe they will. However, my life improved immensely and was probably saved by my liberating myself from the pleasures, enthusiastic bursts of creativity and agonies of alcohol and smoke.

In fact, our society has declared a “war” on drugs and a sort of “police action” on alcohol. Humorous, isn’t it since far more damage is done in the aggregate by alcohol than by all other drugs combined?
As a society we believe that we must solve this catastrophic problem; or at least understand it enough so that we reduce the destructive pressure on our culture. Having come from a family of beautiful people who have been tragically impacted by alcohol and other drugs, I have had an intense interest in how and why this disaster happened to my dearest loves and beyond that to our civilization as a whole. What is the most effective way to heal the damage already done and reduce the problem in the future?

This led me into one of the most fascinating investigations of my life. I delved deeply into all of the conventional wisdom I could find… and I did most of my investigation while continuing to drink and smoke. I was what you call a highly functional substance abuser. In fact, my problem was never diagnosed by a professional or even a friend. I had to come to the realization that I had a substance abuse problem through self study.

Self study which involved a lot of EEG biofeedback and meditation.

Read the complete Blog here...



Harry
Bio-FeedBack Resources International Corp.

Quick & Easy Stress Reduction Solutions – Part 3

Sometimes you don’t have anything with you, no essential oils, no smart phone with relaxation app or relaxation music or biofeedback instrument.  You may not be able to go outside for a nice walk or sit by the lake to relax.  You could be in an office on the 25^th floor or in the subway feeling stressed.  What can you do to relax now?

In my previous article I talked about how spending time in nature can reduce stress and I shared a free relaxation video link.  To read that article and view the video click on this link: https://biofeedbackinternational.com/quick-easy-stress-reduction-solutions-part-2/#more-3637

Today we will discuss how breathing can be used relax.

Stress Reduction Solution #3 is Breathing to Relax
Since you were born you have been breathing.  If you believe in God and creation, when God created man He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and then man became a living soul.  When you stop breathing, you stop living.  So breathing is important, right? If breathing is so important then how you breathe might also be important.  Have you ever heard someone tell you to take a deep breath when you were upset about something?  You may not have believed them.  In fact you may have wanted to tell them to shut up or worse.  What if I told you that it can be shown scientifically that changing your breathing can directly affect your nervous system and change the activity of your heart.  The effect is measureable.  We can measure the changes in your heart rate and heart rate variability pattern when you change your breathing.  There are professional and home devices that can be used to show this.  Some of them connect to PCs, Mac computers, and smart phones and tablets.  These devices are very helpful for doing diaphragmatic breathing training because you can see the measurements of what you are doing and the responses that your heart has when you change your breathing.  There are also biofeedback sensors that measure your breathing.  A belt goes around your abdomen which stretches when you inhale and then goes back to normal when you exhale.  It measures how deep you are breathing and how fast you are breathing (breaths per minute).  Again, they are very helpful.  If you want to learn more about these devices and where to get them contact me.  What I want to do here is show you how you can use breathing exercises to calm and relax yourself quickly where ever you are.

Although our brain automatically monitors and regulates our breathing so that we don’t have to think about it, we do have the ability to override that control and change our breathing pattern.

Official Website: Stress Minimizing Books

More Info: Popular Stress Management Books

WHAT STRESS CAN DO | Stress Minimizing Books

WHAT STRESS CAN DO: Harry L. Campbell - Whether it's your daily dealings at work or a pervasive concern for your physical safety, the stress you regularly experience may actually be more harmful than the threat that triggered it.

Book Price: $14.95

About biofeedbackinternational

Biofeedback Resources International ... Providing quality biofeedback instruments and professional training for over 25 years.

Mission: Foster self-knowledge and improve lives through innovation, continuous improvement of products, services, employee productivity and relentless efforts to deliver highest values at lowest prices.

Welcome! Since 1971, thousands of professionals and organizations have chosen our team for training, equipment and technical support. Word of mouth from satisfied clients has made us an international, full service leaders.

Add To Cart: https://tinyurl.com/ybak38f4

For More Info: http://biofeedbackinternational.com/books/

WHAT STRESS CAN DO

WHAT STRESS CAN DO: Harry L. Campbell - Whether it's your daily dealings at work or a pervasive concern for your physical safety, the stress you regularly experience may actually be more harmful than the threat that triggered it.

 About Biofeedbackinternational :

Biofeedback Resources International ... Providing quality biofeedback instruments and professional training for over 25 years.

Mission: Foster self-knowledge and improve lives through innovation, continuous improvement of products, services, employee productivity and relentless efforts to deliver highest values at lowest prices.Welcome! Since 1971, thousands of professionals and organizations have chosen our team for training, equipment and technical support. Word of mouth from satisfied clients has made us an international, full service leaders.

Add to cart: Reduce Stress Book

More Info Click Here: Books on Stress

Quick & Easy Stress Reduction Solutions – Part 1

Stress is a real problem that we must all deal with every day of our lives. We cannot afford to ignore it because it has real negative effects on our health, relationships, performance, work, and lives in general. I discussed much of this in book, What Stress Can Do, (available on www.createspace.com/3839220 ).

My next goal is to give people simple stress solutions so that you can quickly and without much effort rid yourself of the problems stress could cause in your life.

Some stress management programs require a lot of time, commitment, and expense which discourages many people from using them. People want things that work fast and don’t take much effort. That is one of the reasons that medications are so popular. Just take a pill and get better is the message. Don’t worry about the long list of potential side effects. Don’t worry about having to continue to take the medication over a long period of time, maybe for the rest of your life.

It can be more effective to go into in-depth training for stress management but if you are not willing to stick with it then you won’t benefit from it. This is where many people find themselves. I want you to have several tools that you can use quickly and regularly without working too hard so that you will actually do it and stick with it. These tools work. Use them and gain control over stress. Share them with your family and friends. Notice the changes in your health, the changes in your life, your work, and relationships. After a period of putting these tools into practice you will probably have people in your life comment on the changes they see in you. They will say things like “How can you be so calm while this is going on?”.

Solution #1 – Essential Oils

What could be easier than putting a couple of drops of oil in your palms, rubbing them together, cupping your hands together around your nose, and then inhaling? It takes only a few seconds to do this and the scent reaches and stimulates your brain almost instantly through your sense of smell. You can also rub the oils on certain areas of your body including the wrists, the temples, earlobes, or neck.

Official Website: Manage Stress Without Drugs Or Alcohol

More Info Click Here: How To Reduce Stress And Anxiety