Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
w w w. m i n d f u l n e s s - t e c h . c o . u k Glyn Blackett
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.
page 1
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 balancing influence of mindfulness. Mindfulness practice is like climbing a tower, enabling you to see a long way. With mindfulness we gain perspective, 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 the stabilising influence of mindfulness.
page 2
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 look to 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.
3.2.1
EMG (short for electromyography) is an electrical correlate of muscle tension. It occupies a useful middle 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 processes taking the form of inner dialogue can thus be detected. Keeping these muscles relaxed helps keep
Mindfulness with Biofeedback An Overview, copyright Glyn Blackett page 4
3.2.2
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 of considerable 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.
page 5
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 what we 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 is gentle 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 of mutually 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 as psychological.
Mindfulness with Biofeedback An Overview, copyright Glyn Blackett page 7
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, undercontrolling 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
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 selftalk 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.
page 8
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 in infra-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
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 sense let 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 we have the mind-body connection.) You'll get a very different response than telling yourself you must
Mindfulness with Biofeedback An Overview, copyright Glyn Blackett page 9
relax.
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.
page 10