In many instances, we just can’t make something happen by asking for it. You can say to yourself over and over again, “I can fly. I can fly. I can fly.” But, I guarantee you that the next time you jump off a roof, you will not fly.
In a similar, although not so ludicrous vein, you can tell yourself again and again to “relax”. You can listen to meditation tapes and videos which tell you to relax; but, "relax" is just a word. If you don’t know how to relax, it just won’t happen. Unless you find a “performance metric” that actually measures your degree of relaxation, you may be wasting your time.
This is the real power behind the biofeedback technique. Biofeedback provides the tools necessary to show your progress. It points you in the right direction, trains and enhances your skills, and in the end, allows you to actually remove the tool, and still maintain the result.
Conscious Control of the Autonomic Nervous System
As you sit and read this document, your body is feverishly working in the background. Pumping blood through the heart, breath through the lungs, digesting food, blinking your eyes, sensing your surroundings, and on and on, and on. The nice part about all this is that you don’t even have to think about it. It just happens. And, it keeps you alive.
The question is, “How much of our autonomic nervous system can be consciously controlled?” Certainly, breathing comes to mind as one of our controllable functions. You can consciously, and quite easily, increase or decrease the rate of your breath, and its volume. It’s true that there is a definite comfort range you must adhere to, (you can only hold your breath for so long; breathe too fast and you will hyperventilate) but even then, with practice, this range can be extended.
Your heart rate can also “be adjusted” by the conscious mind. It has been shown that heart cells will expand and contract, and the heart itself will beat outside the body. But it is the autonomic nervous system that triggers and synchronizes the heart to provide the proper beat, based on the body’s specific activity.
Unlike the breathing exercise, you cannot consciously, make your heart speed up or slow down by just willing it to do so, not directly, anyway.
As I mentioned, controlling one’s breath is an easy thing to do. The biological effects of controlled breathing have been well documented for stress reduction.
The human body is a system of systems. Change one system parameter and the effects can not only be seen in that system, but in other bodily functions as well. Neural feedback signals return to the brain, which, in turn, triggers other good things to happen. Breath represents an open channel into our minds.
If it were only as easy for us to open and control other channels into the autonomic nervous system.
The Wild Divine System hardware accurately measures the pulse in the finger, and the skin conductance level of the subject. More extensive biofeedback devices may look at respiration rate, eye movement and dilation, EEG and other brain activity, and even MRI.
Using more exotic and expensive sensors may provide additional information, but it is how the system analyses and interprets the results that may be of more importance and value to the user. Thus, when the Wild Divine software calculates Heart Rate Variability from the pulse rate and incorporates that result into the program examples, and on the Iom (LightStone) Grapher, the user may have better control of his breathing exercises and the resulting effects.
Biofeedback- Three Orders of Sensor Indirection
Although the sensors in the Wild Divine hardware are self-calibrating, there are tremendous differences in the sensitivity and variations seen by users. Some folks have had problems detecting pulse rate. Others, more notably, cannot raise their skin conductance levels (SCL) for usable and consistent results.
An even bigger problem for some people seems to be the conscious control of skin conductance level in the biofeedback exercises.
As I said at the beginning of this article, it would be nice if all you would have to do were to say, “Skin conductance, INCREASE!” But, unless you are a Buddhist monk, or a Yoga Master, this will not happen. So, what must the average person do to change the SCL?
At the bottom end of indirection there is “Sensor Manipulation”. The measure of skin conduction is the reciprocal, or inverse of electrical resistance. Passing a minute electrical current through an electrical resistor, like your skin, can be measured and analyzed. Resistance is measured in ohms, while conductance is measured in mhos. This seems appropriate. To check your sensors, touch a bare wire between the finger pads while in Grapher. The SCL level should shoot up to 40.
Folks have been able to increase conductivity by wetting their fingertips, with conductive liquid like salt water, heating their hands by rubbing them together, or using a heating pad, hot water, or gloves. Using different fingers, or your other hand may also produce different results, as will squeezing the fingered sensors. You can also try making wire extension probes and attaching them to other parts of the body (just be careful with this).
In any event, fooling with the sensors may show you a variation in SCL, but it certainly does not fulfill the objective of biofeedback as a tool to lower your stress or pain levels.
A higher form of indirection would be to change your SCL by body motion. Examples of this that have worked for people are laughing out loud, snapping the fingers of the opposite hand, or rubbing your shoulders or the back of your neck. What works for me is rubbing my bare foot against a rug…go figure… Try some things and see what works for you.
The highest form of indirection is, of course, to train your mind to control your SCL. Visualization is the key, but it is a really tricky lock for some. While my SCL looks like a flatline, I have seen others produce incredible variations and squiggles on the Grapher’s screen.
The Channels Within
I must admit that, as a scientist, I wasn’t enthralled with The Wild Divine program when it was first introduced. This was not because it was considered, “just a game”. On the contrary, gamers are probably one of the few groups with enough patience to sit at the computer for the hours, days, weeks, or months it would take to complete the game. To them, here was something completely different, with a unique “mind-body” interface connection. I was happy to see that it represented something other than the same old, “shoot-‘em up”, and could leave the gamer, a better, healthier, and calmer person than when he started. The game had “socially redeemable qualities”.
No, the reason why the program turned me off, to some degree, was the fact that it incorporated the Far Eastern mysticism motif. From its name, “The Wild Divine”, to its hardware sensor, “The LightStone”; the game seemed just a little bit too hokey for me. I remember viewing the program’s demo. It started out with a soothing feminine voice, explaining the purpose and properties of the game. But, when the game actually started, the voice switched to a foreign guy with a heavy accent. I’d rather have had the girl guide me through!
Not that there’s anything wrong with alternative and Eastern medicine and meditative techniques. See:
There is certainly much of literature on treatments such as acupuncture, aromatherapy, massage, reflexology, and the like. My problem is with the rationalizations and operative theories which some of these treatments embrace. There are just too many unmeasurable energy fields, auras, magic crystals, and discs for me.
Nonetheless, some of these treatments have been shown to work, or at least have an affect on the body. Whether these results are physical or psychosomatic, some claim that the operating theories behind them really don’t matter. The results do.
Before continuing with Skin Conductance Level Response, I would like to point out that the artistry, animation, and music in Wild Divine is superb, absolutely "First Rate!" The combination creates a soothing fantasy world where one's mind can unwind and wander. I'm sure it has a relaxing affect for most people.
Now, coming back to the real world...
Even with a somewhat skeptical view of alternative therapies, the first thought that came into my own head, after seeing my dramatic SCL response was, "Reflexology! Maybe there really is something to this foot thing, after all!" I knew it wasn't static electricity. A simple electrical discharge experiment was proof of that.
Looking on the Internet to see if SCL variations could be explained by foot reflexology produced little information from the charts I found:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReflexologyI really couldn't say if my pancreas, or my liver felt any different, but my SCL had risen.
The Grapher's window:
SCL Response
shows my SCL rose very quickly from approximately .23 to over 1.0 umhos. Done on a different day, these levels may have been different. The effect shown, represented a saturation level. In other words, the conductivity reached a peak value and would no longer increase.
If you are interested in shooting at moving targets, as in the Wild Divine, "Bow and Arrow" Exercise, some finesse is needed in terms of foot stroke pressure and duration in order to modulate the SCL, and place an arrow on the target.
By the way, I was unable to duplicate any SCL result using Ear Reflexology.
Moving back to my paragraph entitled,
"The Channels Within", if we use a computer metaphor, we can say that a computer has a keyboard input channel, a mouse input channel, possibly several USB channels, etc. A modern TV, with cable box, might have several hundred channels. But, how many input channels does the human body have? One might ask, how many neurons are in the human body. The answer is about 100 billion.
http://www.camillasenior.homestead.com/files/neurons.pdf
Of those, about 10 million are considered sensory neurons.
That's alot of channels!
Also, check out
The Sensory homunculus This model shows what a man's body would look like if each part grew in proportion to the area of the cortex of the brain concerned with its sensory perception."
The skin itself, as an organ, can detect temperature, pressure, and pain. Combined with analysis from the brain, attributes of vibration, as well as very accurate positional data detection can be made. In other words, if you stick your finger, you know it's your finger and not your elbow.
Even if these were the only rudimentary attributes of skin sensors, the brain, acting on those stimuli, interprets and reacts in such a way as to affect our entire body. Remember, our body is a system of systems. Furthermore, not all our nerve channels need be hooked up to the brain or focused externally. Our organs have their own nervous systems and react internally and independently due to visceral events.
How the Body Heals
It’s not like they show on TV, where the hero gets shot in the shoulder, and comes back the next week “no worse for the wear”, and doesn’t even have a scar from the wound. In the real world, when we are hurt, it’s for life.
Fibromyalgia may result from a trauma or an assault to the body. This can be in the form of an injury, a car accident, surgery or childbirth, or even from an illness like the flu. There can also be a hereditary factor associated with a predisposition for Fibromyalgia susceptibility.
Knowing what we do about the Mind-Body connection, Fibromyalgia can also be attributed to severe mental trauma caused by situations such as rape, mental and physical abuse, post traumatic stress disorder, or depression.
The ability of the body to heal itself is truly miraculous. From the minute we cut our flesh, there is an immediate and sustained reaction beginning with constriction, coagulation, and continuing through inflammation, and the formation of scar tissue.
Wound HealingA number of the body’s systems are involved in this procedure including the Immune System which brings to bare a variety of chemicals to fight off infection. Our bodies can recognize what is happening to it even if the surgical site is anestitized and feels no pain.
Nerve healing, on the other hand, does not seem to enjoy the same “body design” benefits as tissue healing. Perhaps there is a similar protocol, but its existence seems to be veiled from view. Ask anyone with peripheral neuropathy.
Peripheral neuropathyOverview of Nerve Injury
“Nerves in the arm and hand are extensions from the spinal cord. Each nerve contains millions of tiny fibers called axons. These microscopic structures are the "wiring" of the nervous system. When a nerve is cut, the axons that are on the side towards the hand and away from the spinal cord are no longer connected to the central nervous system. These axons degenerate and leave behind only the hollow tube in which they used to travel. After a nerve is repaired, the axons have to grow down these tiny hollow tubes to reestablish function. Of the millions of axons injured, not all are able to regenerate successfully. The axons that do regenerate will generally not travel down exactly the same path that they once took. For this reason, recovery after nerve repair is not perfect and depends upon many variables.
The most important part of nerve regeneration to emphasize is the difference from repairing electrical wiring. In other words, after nerve repair the connection is not immediately established. Regenerating axons grow at an average rate of one inch per month. With this information, you can predict the length of time required after nerve repair to regain function. A nerve repair at the wrist takes five or six months to recover sensation in the fingertips.”- from
Nerve Injury In his book, “The Dry Eye Remedy”, Copyright 2007, Hatherleigh Press, Dr. Robert Latkany, describes the LASIK eye surgery technique. During this procedure, more than 70 percent of the superficial corneal nerves are severed, resulting in a large reduction of a patient's ability to blink, increasing dryness in the eye. According to Dr. Latkany, it takes several years for the nerves to regenerate and "get back to normal".
If this is truly the case, and there is no other mechanism in place, then what is the brain to do or think? The brain has lost communications with a part of the body. This communication is two-way. There are no signals coming to the brain from the severed nerve, and the brain cannot transmit signals down to reach the affected area. So what happens? A few interesting phenomena can be shown in the following sites. In the first, the brain is fooled into thinking that a limb still exists.
Phantom LimbsMusical Memory-MechanismsHere, the brain can actually generate music.
Brain-controlled 'robo-arm' HopeIn this example, the brain still triggers the nerve cells it can reach.
Although conjecture on my part, I think the brain tries to reconnect. Like a military drill sergeant yelling at his recruits,
“I CAN’T HEAR YOU!”, does the brain “turn up the volume” by sending chemical messengers throughout the body to “sensitize” nerve cells? These chemical messengers may not have specific targeting abilities and so, the whole nervous system may be affected.
See
Substance P.
But how long will the brain keep trying? Will the brain continue to send signals, like a telephone, ringing off the hook when no one is home? Or, will it eventually “Hang up”?
To be continued....