Mindfulness Biofeedback Overview

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M I N D F U L N E S S T E C H N O L O G Y

w w w . m i n d f u l n e s s - t e c h . c o . u k G l y n B l a c k e t t

Mindfulness with BiofeedbackAn Overview

1 Introduction

Mindfulness is a way of applying the mind, as a means of achieving personal change. It's my

personal experience that biofeedback is a tool extremely well suited for supporting mindfulnesspractice. I developed the Mindfulness Technology suite of software applications with this in mind.

How does biofeedback support mindfulness?

My short answer is this: the qualities of mind we wish to cultivate need to be embodied. A part of

our strategy needs to be to focus on developing the physiological basis for the qualities we wish to

develop. In Reginald Ray's words, we need to meditate with the body. By reflecting back to us

physiological changes, biofeedback enables us to see more objectively not just how we are but the

results of our efforts to change. This is how we can learn to be more effective.

Let me give an example of how this is useful in a practical way. A key aspect of mindfulness is

noticing when the mind has wandered into distraction. Like any other states of mind, distractionsare physiologically embodied. Biofeedback technology can register distractions as physiological

changes, and flag them up for us. In other words, biofeedback works as a distraction detector.

The rest of this essay is a longer answer to the same question.

Though I don't have space to give full practical instructions on how to practise mindfulness there

are many other resources available for that I do present a conceptual framework for working with

biofeedback in the context of mindfulness practice, and in particular for working with the

Mindfulness Technology applications. The User Guides and training videos build on this foundation

and give you the practical information you need to get up and running with biofeedback.

2 Mindfulness

2.1 What Is Mindfulness?

A useful place to start is with John Kabat-Zinn's definition: mindfulness means paying attention in a

particular way; on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally. This draws out three

main features of mindfulness:

Mindfulness is the practice of applying conscious intent. The intent is to maintain directed

attention, and to keep gently returning the attention to the chosen object whenever it wanders.

This capacity to wander into distraction seems to be inherent in the nature of the mind, as no

doubt you've experienced if you've ever tried to meditate.

Mindfulness with Biofeedback An Overview, copyright Glyn Blackett page 1


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The object of focus is whatever we are experiencing in this present moment. By contrast,

distraction usually takes us off to either the past or the future.

Paying attention non-judgementally means accepting experience just as it is, with openness

and equanimity and without resistance or struggle. It doesn't mean being non-discerning or

non-discriminating, nor does it mean passive resignation (rather there is openness to change).

The opposite of this is craving after some other experience, and attempting to suppress or

otherwise avoid experiencing aspects of ourselves that we don't want.

We can balance this somewhat technical definition with a more figurative description. Mindfulness

has an ancient lineage in the eastern traditions, and has particular prominence in Buddhism, where it

is described as the direct path to enlightenment. The Buddhist scriptures give us several

metaphors for mindfulness, such as these:

Being mindful is like walking with a bowl filled to the brim with oil balanced on your head.

Moving with smoothness, grace and precision, not a drop is spilt. In other words this

metaphor emphasises the balancinginfluence of mindfulness.

Mindfulness practice is like climbing a tower, enabling you to see a long way. With

mindfulness we gainperspective, and perhaps detachment.

Mindfulness is like a strong post to which a wild animal is chained. The wild animal is the

unruly mind. This metaphor emphasises thestabilisinginfluence of mindfulness.

2.2 Mindfulness and Goals

Mindfulness is simply the intent to be aware. There is no stipulation about the particular mental and

emotional states we are to be aware of. In other words in isn't about achieving any particular feeling

or state of consciousness. Yet in the introduction I suggested mindfulness has the purpose of

effecting change. I think this is true for virtually everybody who practises mindfulness, at least

implicitly: we are cultivating certain qualities of mind, and definitely not cultivating certain otherqualities of mind.

Qualities we want to move towards include: peace, tranquillity, stillness, contentment, openness,

clarity, steadiness, freedom, love, kindness; states of awareness that are expansive, spacious, stable.

We want to move away from: agitation, disturbance, restlessness, craving, negative emotions such

as anger and ill-will; states of awareness that are dull, foggy, narrow and confined, rigid, chaotic,

constrained.

This presents something of a paradox. On the one hand we are cultivating qualities, but on the other

hand mindfulness is about accepting our current experience, regardless of what it is in other words

the very opposite of being goal-focused.

The paradox is in some way resolved by considering that mindfulness is about travelling more than

it is about arriving at any particular destination. The above-listed qualities are directions rather than

outcomes. How successful we are in cultivating them is one more context for being non-

judgemental. These ideas are at the heart of mindfulness practice, and I shall have more to say in a

later section.

Mindfulness is an effective means of change, and that's because of an inherent feature of awareness:

that whatyou give your attention to (whether desirable or not) tends togrow within your awareness.

Positive qualities will grow by feeding off the light of awareness but so will negative qualities. So

deciding what to pay attention to is crucial.



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2.3 Objects of Attention

In mindfulness practice we pay attention to ourpresent-moment experience, but even in one

moment there's a vast range of possible objects of awareness. In the formal practice of mindfulness

meditation, it's common to choose a single object of concentration, such as the breath, but

mindfulness doesn't have to be confined to meditation practice we can potentially be mindful all

the time.

Experience is made up of firstly sensory experience, where we become aware of information

coming from the external world or from our body through our physical senses, and secondly mental

activity, where the object of experience comes from within for instance memories, thoughts,

images, fantasies. By 'thought' I mean mental contents taking the form of words inner self-talk.

One class of mental content has particular significance: emotion. What actually is emotion? The

term is somewhat vague, covering a set of propensities:

The propensity to act and behave in certain ways. For example in anger we may shout and

bang our fists.

The propensity to think in certain ways (meaning along particular lines of content, and also in

particular styles). For example in anxiety we tend to think of things that could go wrong, or in

sadness and depression thinking is slow, dull and repetitive.

The propensity to pay attention in particular ways. For example in anxiety we tend to be more

self-conscious while in happiness we may lose ourselves in a state of flow.

Lastly, and importantly, emotion involves a set of bodily reactions, such as a pounding heart

or butterflies in the stomach or a broad grin.

The term 'feeling' is often used synonymously with emotion. However neuroscientist and author

Antonio Damasio makes a distinction between the two terms that I think is useful to follow.

Damasio uses 'feeling' to mean something like theperception of an emotion, and especially the

perception of the sensation of bodily changes that are part of the emotion.

It's common to speak of emotions as either positive or negative. There's a danger of confusion over

the sense of 'negative'. Sometimes it's used to mean unpleasant, but in this essay I'm using it to

mean unhelpful, or even destructive. (An emotion may feel unpleasant but may actually be

appropriate or helpful in some sense remorse is an example.

2.4 The Mind-Body Connection

This discussion of emotion brings us naturally to a concept that is the foundation of biofeedback:

the mind-body connection. It's the idea that any subjective mental state is reflected in, rooted in or

manifested as a physiological state. (I don't mean to imply anything about causation here.)Awareness of the mind-body connection is a key aspect of mindfulness.

Emotions are mind-body phenomena. We've seen that emotions involve both thoughts and physical

responses. The mind-body connection points to a relationship between thoughts on the one hand,

and feelings and sensations on the other. These two mutually condition each other. An example will

help to illustrate how. Consider an emotionally laden situation, say you have to give a presentation

to a large group of work colleagues a challenge likely to engender anxiety in a lot of people.

Suppose you're thinking that it's really important to show your boss that you can do a good job.

Your body responds with increased sweating. You notice this, and reflect that it means you're

anxious. The thought that the boss might notice your anxiety serves only to heighten it. Your

attention narrows onto your feelings of anxiety. Maybe now you start to blush. In a spiralling

process you may arrive at a thought, such as 'my boss must think I'm useless', which later you can



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realise to be baseless but in the heat of the moment you believe it.

Returning to mindfulness practice, the mind-body principle implies that mental qualities such as

clarity, stillness and tranquillity are underpinned by certain physiological states, while less desirable

qualities such as dullness or restlessness are connected with different (and mutually exclusive)

physiology.

This suggests a kind of strategy for developing positive states of mind: to give attention to (and lookto develop) more favourable physiological states. Of course this is where biofeedback can help.

3 Biofeedback

3.1 What Is Biofeedback?

In biofeedback:

We measure physiological parameters that correlate with or bear some relationship to

subjective experience, and of which we may be only dimly aware.

This information is fed back in real time, typically via computer.

The feedback creates an opportunity for enhanced self-awareness, in particular for mind-body

awareness.

Based on this awareness we can learn to influence our physiological state in a direction more

favourable to positive mental states.

3.2 What Physiological Parameters Can Be Measured?

Of most interest are parameters which correlate with emotions or emotionally-laden thoughts.

Emotions are complex phenomena and we can't hope to measure every aspect or even most. Themost expedient biofeedback parameters will meet the following criteria:

easy to measure

clearly recognisable relationship to subjective experience

relatively easy to control.

Mindfulness Technology's applications focus on three main parameters.

3.2.1 EMG / Muscle Tension

EMG (short for electromyography) is an electrical correlate of muscle tension. It occupies a usefulmiddle ground between being on the one hand quite controllable (consciously), and on the other

hand subject to involuntary (subconscious) influences, especially emotional influences.

Muscle tension relates to the key phenomenon of inner resistance, or non-acceptance. When we

have an experience we don't like, we literally hold ourselves against it, as though bracing ourselves.

To get a sense of this, think of something you really dislike, such as a wasp crawling over your skin,

or a dentist picking at your teeth and gums, and notice how even the idea of it makes you tighten up.

This tightening up happens at incredibly subtle levels. Having an awareness of this kind of inner

resistance is a pre-requisite to working with it in meditation.

A further aspect of the relationship between muscle tension and subjective experience is that inner

self-talk generally involves some sort of subliminal usage of the speech muscles. Thought processestaking the form of inner dialogue can thus be detected. Keeping these muscles relaxed helps keep



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the mind still and quiet.

3.2.2 Heart Rate Coherence

Heart Rate Coherence (HRC) is a pattern of synchronisation between breathing and (variation of )

heart rate, such that the heart speeds up when we breathe in and slows down when we breathe out.

It is less directly controllable than EMG rather it is a reflex-like response. However it is ofconsiderable interest because negative emotions such as anxiety and anger tend to block it, while

positive emotions such as kindness and gratitude tend to enhance it. Working to allow the body to

express HRC is a means of predisposing ourselves to positive emotions.

3.2.3 Infra-red Temperature

In infra-red (IR) temperature neurofeedback, we measure changes in infra-red heat radiation coming

from the head. (Recall that neurofeedback is a form of biofeedback based on a measure of brain

activity.) These changes in IR heat radiation are attributable to changes in the brain's metabolic

activity. By 'metabolic' activity I mean simply energy-consuming activity in brain cells. The brain

consumes more energy when it works harder, as it does for example when you focus intensely.

The region of the brain behind the forehead is called the pre-frontal cortex (PFC). More highly

evolved in humans than in any other species, the PFC endows us with our uniquely human abilities,

traits and intelligences. It has been described as the brain's executive control centre. It plays a key

role in the following functions:

The ability to hold the mind steady in its focus.

Body regulation by modulating the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) the PFC influences

many of the body's automatic visceral responses.

Emotional balance the ability to temper over-arousal and over-stimulation, and to summon

and maintain energy and clarity in the absence of external stimulation. Also the ability to

modulate emotion-triggering signals coming from other brain regions such as the amygdala

(which triggers fear and anger).

Motivation and emotional drive the ability to formulate values, goals and purposes.

The ability to formulate a considered plan of action, and to hold to it in the face of

distractions, as well as to update it appropriately. The ability to check impulsiveness.

Empathy the ability to appreciate the minds of other people, and to understand how our own

behaviour impinges upon them. Ultimately this includes our moral awareness.

In neuroscience these skills are collectively called executive function. IR neurofeedback offers us

a means of fine-tuning executive function.

The relevance to mindfulness is clear. If you made a list of the benefits of mindfulness practice, it

would probably look a lot like a list of functions of the PFC. We could almost sum up mindfulness

as the cultivation of executive function.

Data suggests that training with infra-red temperature biofeedback produces lasting benefits it's

thought that it stimulates structural change in the brain. In other words it stimulates the brain's

neuroplasticity. That would hardly be surprising: research has shown that meditation leads to

structural change in the PFC.



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4 Using Biofeedback in Meditation

Meditation is a term that means different things in different contexts, but here I'm using it to mean

the formal practice of mindfulness. In mindfulness meditation there is usually a chosen object of

concentration, and the practice is to maintain mindful awareness of that object, returning to it

whenever the attention is found to have wandered.

There are many possible objects of concentration. Perhaps the most commonly used is the breath,and indeed it is an especially useful object for reasons considered in section 4.2. Other objects

include the body more generally, the activity of walking, and feelings of loving kindness. Other

practices are more formless in the sense that there is no specific object of focus, rather the practice

is to maintain self-awareness regardless of what contents come into the mind. Biofeedback can

support all these types of practice.

4.1 The General Role of Feedback

In most activities that have an on-going objective, feedback plays a key role. Suppose you are

driving on a motorway. This involves steering the car so that you keep in lane. In this context there

is immediate and clear (visual) feedback you can see when you're drifting out of lane.Furthermore, when you make adjustments to correct your position, you again get immediate and

clear feedback on the effects of your actions you can see when your correction is enough, or when

you've over-compensated, etc.

Meditation is in some sense analogous we have an on-going goal and need to keep on-track by

making corrective adjustments in terms of how we are applying the mind. But meditation isn't easy

(at least for a lot of people) because it's hard to notice when you've gone off track (become

distracted) and also hard to notice how effective particular adjustments have been. Biofeedback

helps in this sense: it gives us some objective feedback. It doesn't obviate the need to apply the

mind, nor does it change the nature of the application needed, nor does it in itself change our mental

or physiological states it just makes it easier.

4.2 Mindfulness of Breathing

The breathing is traditionally used as an object of concentration, and is especially useful as it

provides a unique window on the mind, insofar as the style of breathing reflects our emotional and

mental state.

The role biofeedback can play in the mindfulness of breathing specifically is worth consideration in

more detail. The mind-body principle suggests that certain configurations of breathing physiology

(or breathing styles) are more conducive to a calm, clear, still mind than others. Since it's easy to

measure several aspects of breathing, we can use biofeedback to help induce more favourable

breathing.

Again we have something of a dilemma, because in traditional Buddhist teaching, one does not try

to alter the breathing deliberately, one simply observes it. Remember my earlier point: our purposes

in mindfulness practice are directions, to be held lightly, rather than outcomes to be grasped after.

Specifically what factors in breathing physiology are conducive?

Firstly, recall that Heart Rate Coherence is a pattern linking breathing and heart rate. HRC is in

some ways a resonance effect, with a kind of resonant frequency at which the degree of coherence

tends to be maximised. This happens to be around 6 breaths per minute, which is rather a slow pace

of breathing. To recap, HRC makes positive emotion more accessible and negative emotions less so.

Secondly, if you've ever watched a sleeping baby breathing, you'll appreciate that diaphragmaticbreathing is a more natural and relaxed style of breathing. (All the baby's movement is in the



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abdomen.) By contrast, shallow upper chest breathing is associated with stress and what I

sometimes call defensiveness. In anxious and defensive states we tend not to let the breath fully

go out. Think of the startle response where we take a sharp in-breath and hold it as an extreme

example. The difference between these two styles of breathing is reflected in the pattern of muscle

tension. That's why EMG biofeedback is particularly useful for developing diaphragmatic breathing

indeed the EMG & breathing application was designed for just this purpose.

I will briefly touch upon another, critically important, aspect of breathing physiology, which is whatwe may call breathing chemistry. More specifically this means the balance between oxygen and

carbon dioxide. Hyperventilation is the most common cause of imbalance, and it has profound

consequences for physiological functioning. Since the standard Mindfulness Technology

applications don't measure it, this is not the place to go into a detailed discussion. Suffice it to say

that optimal breathing isgentle breathing the air exchanged per minute is low. Don't make the

mistake, as so many do, of thinking that diaphragmatic (or deep) breathing means taking big

breaths. Many people have experienced peak states of meditative concentration in which the breath

is so light that it is hardly perceptible. There's a clear physiological explanation for this observation,

involving the oxygen-carbon dioxide balance. (It is possible to train this aspect of breathing using

capnometry biofeedback contact the author for more details.)

4.3 Distraction

Anyone who has meditated will know about the mind's tendency to repeatedly wander into

distraction. For many people at least, the practice of mindfulness meditation is all about returning

the attention again and again to the object of concentration, after it has wandered off. So a key skill

is the ability to notice when distractions have arisen or are arising. How can we develop this skill?

It helps to be able to characterise different ways in which we can become distracted, so that we can

devise counteracting strategies appropriate to each form of distraction. Each of us as individuals

tends to have habitual styles of distraction. (These styles of distraction are traditionally known as

hindrances.)

Relating this to biofeedback, we can say that each biofeedback modality has strengths in countering

particular distractions. Knowing which hindrance(s) we are most likely to come up against can

inform our choice of which biofeedback parameter to work with. As an example, consider that

many of us find that at certain times of the day (especially late afternoon) we are prone to the

hindrance of sleepiness in our meditation. Infra-red neurofeedback is a better modality for working

with sleepiness than muscle tension, for reasons that will become clearer.

4.3.1 Dimensions of Distraction

I find it helpful to think in terms of a series of distinctions or dimensions. These are not a set ofmutually exclusive categories, rather any particular distraction can be characterised in terms of all

the dimensions.

High Energy versus Low Energy

Low energy distractions are sleepiness, mental tiredness, slothfulness, laziness, boredom,

daydreaming. They need to be countered with energy-rousing mental application.

High energy distractions include restlessness, anxiety, fretting and worrying, and craving. They

need to be countered by relaxing and stilling the mind.

Another way to describe this distinction would be high arousal versus low arousal. Again we touch

upon the mind-body connection the distinction is one of physiological arousal, at least as much aspsychological.



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A related distinction is between chaotic and rigid functioning. When we are over-aroused we tend

towards chaotic mental states, while under-arousal often goes with repetitive and inflexible

thinking, and feeling stuck.

Thinking versus Feeling and Sensing

Thinking activities of the mind include planning, speculating, worrying, reminiscing, doubting.

Thinking usually involves inner dialogue (self-talk).Feeling and sensing includes fantasising and craving (around sensory experience, for example

sexual craving).

Emotional Quality Positive versus Negative

Negative emotional distractions include anger, resentment, ill-will, anxiety, gloominess and misery.

Positive emotions are less clearly distractions, but they can be if they lead us away from the object

of concentration into excitable frothy mental activity.

Over-controlling versus Under-controlling

This is a way of characterising not so much the distraction as our way of working with it.Sometimes we can be wilful to the point of being counter-productive we end up at war with

ourselves. It is as though our inner rebel plays up all the more. At the opposite pole, under-

controlling means being overly passive, not making much effort.

This dimension is dependent upon our beliefs about what is possible. If I believe that I should be

able to stay focused on my breath all the time, then I'm likely to become wilful. If I believe my

mind is never going to change, I'll be overly passive. Both positions are unhelpful.

4.3.2 Biofeedback as Distraction Detector

As mentioned, a key skill in mindfulness is the ability to notice or detect distraction. This isn't easy.

Biofeedback can give us a lot of help here in effect the biofeedback software applications act (in

part) as distraction detectors.

Each biofeedback modality has its own strengths and weaknesses in detecting particular forms of

distraction.

EMG

Useful for detecting high energy distractions energetic mental activity tends to manifest as

muscle activity (the mind-body connection again). Conversely, stilling and quieting the mind

means stilling the body's muscles.

Also useful for picking up thinking distractions insofar as thinking is a process of inner self-talk involving the speech muscles.

Conversely EMG is weak at detecting low energy distractions, as the muscles naturally go

loose when we drift towards sleep.

Being strongly wilful is unlikely to be effective in lowering muscle tension in fact it may

increase it.

Heart Rate Coherence

Useful for detecting negative emotions such as anxiety and frustration as they disrupt the

HRC rhythm. Working to develop positive emotions is an effective antidote to unhelpful

emotions as they tend to be mutually exclusive.



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Being over-controlling or overly wilful is actively counter-productive to developing HRC. It's

not the conscious will that creates HRC, but rather your body intelligence. The kind of

mental application needed is one of allowing and entrusting, rather than will-power.

Infra-red Neurofeedback

Useful at detecting low energy distractions because the pre-frontal cortex (the brain's

executive control region) tends to deactivate. (However we shouldn't assume that all drops ininfra-red temperature are necessarily a bad thing.)

Also useful for detecting negative emotions, as they tend to cause deactivation of the PFC.

Low energy states are not easy to turn around in the short-term. Working with IR

neurofeedback helps in the longer term as it works in part by an exercise paradigm, somewhat

like regular work-outs at a gym we are building up the muscle of our executive function.

4.3.3 Meditation, Biofeedback and Control

Earlier sections have touched upon the issue of control. It's a theme that's at the heart of

mindfulness practice, and worthy of further discussion.

In one sense, mindfulness meditation could be seen as an attempt to control the mind to hold it

steady on the object of focus. However mindfulness is also about accepting our experience, just as it

is. Distracting thoughts, images, etc. will pop into the mind unbidden it seems we can't control the

mind anyway. This is the apparent paradox that we touched on earlier: should we attempt to control

the mind or not?

In fact we potentially have something worse a problem: attempting to control the mind can

actually lead us in the opposite direction to where we want to go, just as the act of struggling in

quicksand actually causes one to be sucked even deeper.

We can develop our resolution in terms of two strands.The first is to appreciate that our control has its limits. Some things we can control, and some things

we can't. We should apply ourselves to the former, and accept the latter. Key to the skill of

mindfulness is knowing this limit, within ourselves as individuals.

The second strand is the idea that there are different forms of control some direct, some more

indirect. Direct control is through the conscious, thinking, problem-solving self, or the will-power.

If my nose itches I can move my hand up to scratch it. I will it and it happens. But we have other

abilities where this doesn't apply. For example we all know how to sleep yet we can't just turn it

on as though at the flick of a switch. Rather, it is as though the ability resides in another part of the

mind other than the conscious self. Falling asleep means allowing this other level of the mind to

come in. We can deliberately set up the right conditions for sleep, but then we need to in some senselet go.

Something similar happens in sport, and also in musical and artistic performance. Playing well

means allowing the body to do it, or allowing another part of the mind to do it, unencumbered by

interfering thoughts and judgements. We paradoxically gain control by giving up control. The sort

of mental application needed is perhaps more active than just letting go it's a kind of

entrusting. We put faith in this other part of ourselves the body intelligence as I put it earlier.

Another form of indirect control is imagination. Imagination is a faculty we all possess. It

represents a different way of relating to the body. For example, you can wonder what it would feel

like to be more relaxed, or even what it did feel like when you were relaxed in the past (imagination

and memory are closely related). The body responds to imagination as an invitation. (Again wehave the mind-body connection.) You'll get a very different response than telling yourself you must



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relax.

5 Overview of the Mindfulness Technology Applications

There are five applications in the suite.

EMG (Muscle Tension)EMG is perhaps the place to start if you are new to biofeedback and / or mindfulness, because it

most clearly shows the link between subjective experience and physiology.

There are two EMG applications the basic EMG application and the EMG & Breathing

application. The latter is designed more specifically to support mindfulness of breathing practice.

Heart Rate Coherence

There is only one HRC application. It is perhaps a more advanced application, exercising both

relaxed diaphragmatic breathing and positive emotion. Probably most users will benefit from some

experience with EMG first.

Infra-red Neurofeedback

The two IR application builds a quite different skill set. You'll be directly exercising the brain.

Generally the body is less involved than with other applications. One of the applications also

measures breathing, offering the opportunity to train the brain in the context of mindfulness of

breathing practice.

6 Conclusion

Mindfulness is a way of paying attention, and it is something we do with the body. Through

mindfulness we learn to experience the unity of mind and body in intimate detail.

Biofeedback is a tool capable of enhancing mindfulness practice. Founded on the practical reality of

the mind-body connection, it serves the implicit aim of mindfulness in cultivating certain qualities

of mind openness, clarity, stillness, expansiveness etc. It offers a strategy for this aim: it helps us

to embody these qualities at a physiological level. Furthermore, it helps us recognise when we have

moved away from such physiological embodiment.

In this essay I have not of course given detailed practical instructions for mindfulness practice.

Rather it has set out the conceptual framework for using biofeedback to enhance mindfulness. I

invite you to continue your journey of self-exploration using the Mindfulness Technology software

applications.


Mindfulness Biofeedback Overview

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