Biofeedback Training

Biofeedback means "feedback from the body." Biofeedback can be particularly useful in increasing our capacity to relax. This type of feedback from our body is usually ignored unless it becomes quite intense like a sick stomach or a painful headache. Biofeedback training allows the student to become aware of the body's signals before they become too intense and take action to relieve the stress before it becomes debilitating.

During each session at the stress management lab, the student's stress response will be monitored on a set of biofeedback instruments. The biofeedback instruments are used to reveal the degree of tension or relaxation that is being experienced by the student at any given moment during a session. These instruments pick up signals from the body and feed them back in the form of meters, sounds, and digital readouts.

Being aware of this ongoing information about the body helps the student in learning how to regulate some of the internal tension they are experiencing. The instruments will also show how successful the student is in controlling that tension. For a detailed explanation about the types of biofeedback instruments used in the lab, please see the Frequently Asked Questions page.

Learning to control body tension requires a passive form of attention, rather than the active form we normally use in everyday life. When using this passive mode and learning to flow with the body's natural systems, the ability to influence those systems is increased.

Biofeedback training involves the development of a skill. We suggest you come in for a weekly Biofeedback session and then practice relaxing a few minutes each day.

For a recorded audio introduction to the Stress Management and Biofeedback Lab in MP3 format, click the link below.

"Introduction to Biofeedback"
Written and read by Dr. Mike Maughan, Counseling Psychologist