Erik Peper – författare

Biofeedback training is a research methodology and training procedure through which people can learn voluntary control over their internal physiological systems. It is a merger of mUltiple disciplines with interest deriving from many sources-from basic understanding of psychophysiology to a desire for enhanced self-awareness. The goals of biofeedback are to develop an increased awareness of relevant internal physiological functions, to establish control over these functions, to generalize control from an experimental or clinical setting to everyday life, and to focus attention on mind/body integration. Biofeedback is explored in many different settings. In the university, biofeed­ back equipment and applications can be found in the departments of experi­ mental and clinical psychology, counseling, physiology, biology, education, and the theater arts, as well as in the health service (student infirmary). Outside the university, biofeedback may be found in different departments of hospitals (such as physical medicine), private clinics, education and self-awareness groups, psychotherapy practices, and elsewhere. Its growth is still expanding, and excite­ ment is still rising as a result of biofeedback's demonstration that autonomic functions can be brought under voluntary control and that the long-standing arti­ ficial separation between mind, body, and consciousness can be disproven.

This workbook grew out of the practices assigned for self-growth and development for (1) Holistic Health: Western Perspectives, a course at San Francisco State Uni­ versity; (2) clients and participants at the Biofeedback and Family Therapy Institute in Berkeley; and (3) participants in peak performance training programs. The goals of this workbook are to offer experiences to facilitate life-long learning of skills to enhance health and growth. We hope the reader will experience increased autonomy and gain self-mastery skills through exercises that foster awareness and control. The cascading program is based upon uncovering, allowing, and encouraging the intrinsic drive toward integration, wholeness, and health. Each year many of our students report that practicing these skills has affected them deeply. The program offered them prag­ matic skills to master stress, set goals, and experience a deep change in their worldview and health. A number of them have said that this was the most useful course they had taken at San Francisco State University. The materials presented here are part of a course offered by the Institute for Holistic Healing Studies. It is also a requirement for a Holistic Health Minor and fulfills a part of the general education requirement for integrated and interdisci­ plinary learning. The development of this program at San Francisco State Uni­ versity is due to the foresight and courage of George Araki, Ph.D.

Biofeedback training is a research methodology and training procedure through which people can learn voluntary control over their internal physiological systems. It is a merger of mUltiple disciplines with interest deriving from many sources-from basic understanding of psychophysiology to a desire for enhanced self-awareness. The goals of biofeedback are to develop an increased awareness of relevant internal physiological functions, to establish control over these functions, to generalize control from an experimental or clinical setting to everyday life, and to focus attention on mind/body integration. Biofeedback is explored in many different settings. In the university, biofeed­ back equipment and applications can be found in the departments of experi­ mental and clinical psychology, counseling, physiology, biology, education, and the theater arts, as well as in the health service (student infirmary). Outside the university, biofeedback may be found in different departments of hospitals (such as physical medicine), private clinics, education and self-awareness groups, psychotherapy practices, and elsewhere. Its growth is still expanding, and excite­ ment is still rising as a result of biofeedback''s demonstration that autonomic functions can be brought under voluntary control and that the long-standing arti­ ficial separation between mind, body, and consciousness can be disproven.

Biofeedback training is a research methodology and training procedure through which people can learn voluntary control over their internal physiological systems. It is a merger of mUltiple disciplines with interest deriving from many sources-from basic understanding of psychophysiology to a desire for enhanced self-awareness. The goals of biofeedback are to develop an increased awareness of relevant internal physiological functions, to establish control over these functions, to generalize control from an experimental or clinical setting to everyday life, and to focus attention on mind/body integration. Biofeedback is explored in many different settings. In the university, biofeed­ back equipment and applications can be found in the departments of experi­ mental and clinical psychology, counseling, physiology, biology, education, and the theater arts, as well as in the health service (student infirmary). Outside the university, biofeedback may be found in different departments of hospitals (such as physical medicine), private clinics, education and self-awareness groups, psychotherapy practices, and elsewhere. Its growth is still expanding, and excite­ ment is still rising as a result of biofeedback's demonstration that autonomic functions can be brought under voluntary control and that the long-standing arti­ ficial separation between mind, body, and consciousness can be disproven.

This workbook grew out of the practices assigned for self-growth and development for (1) Holistic Health: Western Perspectives, a course at San Francisco State Uni­ versity; (2) clients and participants at the Biofeedback and Family Therapy Institute in Berkeley; and (3) participants in peak performance training programs. The goals of this workbook are to offer experiences to facilitate life-long learning of skills to enhance health and growth. We hope the reader will experience increased autonomy and gain self-mastery skills through exercises that foster awareness and control. The cascading program is based upon uncovering, allowing, and encouraging the intrinsic drive toward integration, wholeness, and health. Each year many of our students report that practicing these skills has affected them deeply. The program offered them prag­ matic skills to master stress, set goals, and experience a deep change in their worldview and health. A number of them have said that this was the most useful course they had taken at San Francisco State University. The materials presented here are part of a course offered by the Institute for Holistic Healing Studies. It is also a requirement for a Holistic Health Minor and fulfills a part of the general education requirement for integrated and interdisci­ plinary learning. The development of this program at San Francisco State Uni­ versity is due to the foresight and courage of George Araki, Ph.D.

You have just received your new biofeedback device with its instruction manual. You ask yourself: How can I personally use the equipment to encourage my self-growth? How can I help my patient to relax his spastic colon? How best can I use the equipment with my client who has chronic anxiety? How can I use this equipment in my research examining the correlation between location of muscle contraction and specific emotions? What is the best way to teach my students an understanding of the basis of the signal and the problem of artifacts? Should I have purchased this device or would I have been better off with another type of biofeedback equipment? How can I integrate the use of this device and other biofeedback equipment with such techniques of unstressing as progressive relaxation and meditation? Can I harm myself or others, either physically or emotionally, with the equipment? Where can I look for additional information regarding the use of biofeedback equipment? These questions and others have been raised over and over in our teaching of biofeedback to both students and professionals. This manual has been structured so as to provide both background information and experiences that will allow the user to answer these questions. The manual is based on the premise that the only way to really learn ('' ''know'' '') about biofeedback is through self-experience.