biofeedback / meditation/relaxation

[coin]

i'm not sure if biofeedback is the best word to use here, because there seems to be some "strangeness" in those circles, but just wondering who has used human/computer interface devices to demonstrate the physiological effects of meditation or relaxation (or other) techniques.

i know what results are typical and to be expected, and these come as no surprise, and i, like many, find it pretty funny when scientific studies "validate" particular practices...but really what i'm after is what gadgets people have used and the results

at the simplest level, i suppose, are the galvanic skin response (GSR) meters...i see some are stand alone units that emit a tone periodically that indicate a level of "relaxation" and the idea being that you learn to use whatever mental means necessary to lower the tone by inducing the "relaxation response". anyone used these?

i've been making a lot of progress in meditation recently and it's making a huge difference to me on all levels...it's changing my personality / chemistry for the better, and i'll just leave it at that because it's a secular practice

i'm very curious to now get some indication of physiological changes over time (duration of 1 hour practice) and to see how this sort of realtime feedback could enhance such practices. i know experientially that with one element of my practice i'm inducing very deep relaxation & to a lesser extent, concentration (always been scatter-brained) and there are other transformative parts of the practice that can only be measured psychologically (or perhaps physiologically, indirectly, over a longer period of time)

thanks - i hope you get the gist

Edited June 29, 2008 by coin

[Legba]

The nervous system can be divided into the sympathetic and parasympathetic.

S is fight or flight. this sets th body up for action so systems not needed are shut down, kinda. spleen is vented, digestion slowed or halted etc.

meditation turns S off hence turning the Para on. perhaps the doors to perception are more likely accessible?

[Undergrounder]

Hey coin... as stunning coincidence would have it, i just hired a book yesterday about biofeedback and meditation.. i don't know if you have it? Cade, C. & and Coxhead, N. (1979) The Awakened Mind: Biofeedback and the Development of Higher States of Awareness, Wildwood House Limited: London.

I've only flicked through it though so not sure exactly what happens, but as far as i can tell there are EEG-based devices, which to me sound like the best ones, and GSR or EMG (muscle tension) devices which to me looks like they measure relaxation/arousal but i don't know if they measure mental states? It sounds to me like an EEG machine would be infinitely more useful, for instance you'd be able to test the different brainwave states themselves instead of a one-way scale of how 'relaxed' you are.

This book has technical descriptions of all the machines they use, as well as patterns of EEG responses that they liken to different mental states. Their EEG they called the 'mind mirror', which i gather you can still get a hold of here.

[coin]

EEG would be very interesting also, but probably cost-prohibitive, though i'm interested to hear about any devices people have used....the simplest thing i have used is a hand/finger thermometer

Edited June 29, 2008 by coin

[Undergrounder]

EEG would be very interesting also, but probably cost-prohibitive, though i'm interested to hear about any devices people have used....the simplest thing i have used is a hand/finger thermometer

What dose that measure exactly? pulse? bloodflow or temperature?

This book reccommends something similar for beginners:

"The temperature meter with thermister proble indicates a change of half a degree Centigrade up and down. When the needle is set to the center of the meter scale, the balance control indicates the temperature. The detector is the small thermister which is taped to the hand. We find that this meter forms a very good introduction to biofeedback because beginners are surprised to find how much control they have over their bloodflow by means of visualisation."