THE SCIENCE OF ACTIVE FEEDBACK
The most effective tool to transform
your life to be more productive, less stressed,
and learn first hand WHY it works
THE SCIENCE OF ACTIVE FEEDBACK | WILD DIVINE
1
Our Brains and Nervous Systems
OUR BRAINS AND BODIES ARE CAPABLE OF MUCH THAT WE ARE STILL
currently expanding our understanding of. New studies and information
continue to give scientists new ideas of what immense capabilities exist
within our own brain power.
The nervous system we have within ourselves is
basically still set up to function much the same as it did
when we were living in caves. The Limbic system of our
brains is sending signals constantly into our bodies,
getting us ready to react to various situations at all
times. This “reptilian brain,” as it’s often called, provides
us with instincts allowing us to respond to situations
instantly. Our bodies are still trained to react to these
overpowering instincts for survival, just like when a cave
man had to run away from a saber toothed tiger.
What you commonly know of as the “flight or fight”
mechanism is within each of us. It is the way we
respond to what our minds have registered as being
potentially threatening situations. Ever been in traffic
and blown a tire suddenly on the freeway? A terrifying
experience, to say the least. But once it is over, and you
are safely on the side of the road, is it not somewhat
amazing to realize how quickly your mind and body
were able to react? This is the nervous system at work.
The Sympathetic and
Parasympathetic Nervous Systems
The autonomic nervous system unconsciously
regulates our internal organs and glands. It is constantly
relaying information from the brain to our bodies. This is
broken down into two parts: the parasympathetic, and
the sympathetic nervous systems.
The parasympathetic nervous system is the part of
ourselves that allows us to function daily; our resting
state of being lies here. When this part of our brain is in
the lead, we are capable of all routine functions. We
sleep, eat, exercise, read, and digest food. Breathing is
at a normal rate. The ability for our minds to engage in
higher learning, analysis, thoughts, speech and
emotional expressions are possible only when this part
of our brain and nervous system are in charge.
The sympathetic nervous system is what kicks in
when we need to respond to our environment. We need
this for more than running away from saber toothed
tigers. The skill to compete athletically depends on our
body’s ability to respond to challenges. Positive stresses
such as goals at work or sports sometimes require our
nervous system to temporarily put some of our body’s
needs on hold. Pull an all-nighter to study or prepare for
a presentation–your sympathetic nervous system helped
to keep you engaged and functional beyond your
normal abilities.
However, when you find yourself in danger, this part
of our nervous system is set up to literally help save our
lives, like when you blow a tire on the freeway.
Immediately, your heart rate accelerates, pushing
massive amounts of oxygen, adrenaline and stress
response hormones into your body. You see more
clearly, reflexes and strength are maximized. However,
non-essential activities like digestion, speech, memory
recall and all other higher functions of the brain simply
shut down. This is a completely sensory-based state, and
all of these senses are heightened while you deal with
the threat. You run away from, or stay to fight, the saber
tooth tiger.
Assuming you survive this threat, you now have to
recover your body’s normal state. Return the controls
back over to the parasympathetic nervous system, in
order to regain regular operation. Heart rate resumes
normal levels, muscles relax, brain functions resume, and
the other non-essential body functions come back on line.
THE SCIENCE OF ACTIVE FEEDBACK | WILD DIVINE
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Our Brains and Nervous Systems
Sleep becomes possible again. Emotions return to their
previous state, although probably grateful to be alive!
Modern Man vs. the Cave Man
With all of our technologic advances, we live life
with these instincts and the realities of our brains,
bodies and nervous systems firmly in place. One of
the biggest differences between us today and our
former Cave-Man selves, is that when the cave man
was finished surviving the saber tooth tiger incident,
he went back to his cave. He ate, slept, and recovered
in peace. There was no 24-hour news coverage, no
additional pressures of a career, financial worries,
relationships, or any of the other blessings or burdens
of our modern lives.
Today’s society is overloaded with stimulation,
information and pressures both real and imagined
about now, or the future. We’ve lost the ability to
recover effectively, causing people young and old to feel
more stress, anxiety, isolation, fear, and other emotions
than ever before. Even more troubling is that
accumulated worry or anxiety can activate the same
cycle of engaging our sympathetic “reptile brain” all
over again, further diminishing our ability to fully
recover from stressful situations in life.
Breathing is the Bridge
Our breath is an amazing variable within our own
bodies. This is the only biological function that happens
both involuntarily and also that we have the complete
ability to control at will. When the sympathetic nervous
system is engaged, it can be either because we just had
a fight with our spouse, or made it safely over to the
side of the road with our blown out tire. It is the same
system, protecting us from a real or perceived threat.
Once engaged and we are safe, we can then regain
control, and move into the “recovery zone” by simply
breathing. Even taking 3 or 4 slow, calming breaths
begins to put the parasympathetic nervous system back
in charge. It can be just that simple. (1)
The Mind-Body Connection
The concept of mind-body wellness springs from the
widely held belief that our mental, emotional and even
spiritual selves are connected to our physical, flesh and
blood selves. They are deeply interconnected on levels
that we are not all fully aware of yet. While we may
accept the idea that physical pain can have emotional
repercussions, the reverse is also true. Emotional
disturbances can have an equal consequence in our
physical minds or bodies. Ever gotten a cold during a
time of acute stress? Additionally, when stress builds up,
have you ever felt that your ability to think and reason
normally was compromised? Memory recall slips, you
feel “fuzzy-headed”, and even when exhausted sleep
becomes fitful or elusive? This response is true for adults
and young people alike, and the impact that chronic
fatigue has on our minds and bodies is real. One
example of this is visible in the test anxiety that many
students experience. This is a consequence of this stress
response within the nervous system. If the student fears
the testing process, then those same stress responses
that are at times so critical, now kick into gear at the
wrong moment, inhibiting memory recall–even when
the student knows the material. This is the way the
stress response can inhibit performance, and is true in
young children as well as adults.
But we can learn to recover–both children and adults
alike–by learning breathing techniques and tools to help
us relax, recover and restore our minds and bodies.
(1) “Alternative Remedies to Reduce Physician Stress” by Elizabeth B. ‘Libby’ Stuynt, MD – CPHP ASSOCIATE Medical Director
THE SCIENCE OF ACTIVE FEEDBACK | WILD DIVINE
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Active Feedback Training
Biofeedback Training
At the simplest definition, biofeedback training uses
feedback from the body to train an individual to gain
control over what we generally think of as being
involuntary responses, and making them voluntary.
Professional biofeedback therapists use sophisticated
electronic equipment to measure and monitor changes
in ones internal states. The measurements offer insight
into what’s going on energetically in the body, and
provide a platform on which a therapist coaches a
participant to make changes that impact the physical,
mental and emotional states.
Active Feedback Training
The Wild Divine system for teaching Active Feedback
Training is for educational or entertainment purposes,
and should never be confused with professional
biofeedback therapy. What the system does allow for is
to personally benefit from basic levels of understanding
of your own unique energy levels, and by interacting
with the computer technology within the system, learn
ways to impact your physical energy using your
thoughts, breathing and relaxation techniques and
better understand how these variables interact within
yourself. Through this training, you can learn to better
respond to stressful situations.
This impacts your daily life in many positive ways:
• Stop blindly reacting to stressful situations, and
instead take the time to respond more positively and
thoughtfully
• Improved focus and concentration
• Better memory recall and problem solving abilities
• Increased performance and creativity
• Greater self-confidence
• Relaxation and sleep routines can be restored
• Personal relationships improve
How the Wild Divine Active Feedback
System Works
Wild Divine uses its proprietary Iom Training
Hardware to provide the feedback from the user to the
computer program, and through this give the user
feedback on their current physiological states.
The Iom plugs into any standard computer USB port.
The sensors use an ear clip which has a small infared
sensor that measures the heart rate. The computer
program is then taking this reading and interpreting
them into the program, and the actual “game play” is
providing the feedback of the user’s physical state. Think
of these readings from the Iom as being the equivalent
of a “joy-stick” or other directional gaming tool–this
creates the interaction for the use of the program itself.
Feedback from the state of the user causes different
reactions on the screen.
THE SCIENCE OF ACTIVE FEEDBACK | WILD DIVINE
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Meditation, Mindfulness Training and Breathing
THERE ARE MANY WAYS TO MEDITATE. AT ITS CORE, MEDITATION IS ABOUT
emptying the mind of the constant flow of thoughts to quiet and focus
the mind, and thus provide a way to clear and restore us.
Think of a “reboot” button for our brains. The focus
of Wild Divine programs are to bring the benefits that
come from a meditation practice into a relaxing and fun
environment that is easy to understand and accessible
to everyone.
One of the most fundamental ways to learn to
meditate is to focus on the breath. Many people who do
not currently meditate wonder if there is some trick to
learning it, or wonder if they are doing it right. The
feedback you receive using Wild Divine programs, let
you see the feedback on the screen instantly, helping
with this process of understanding what you are
learning. But the true benefits that come from learning
meditation, is to be willing to do this regularly, and to
focus less on doing it “right”. There is no wrong way to
meditate. The benefits of meditation and breathing
come from consistency.
Mindfulness is a very specific practice, and is built
around the concept of being fully present in your daily
activities and thoughts. Mindful breathing has shown
many benefits and is currently being studied for help
with chronic pain and many other physical health
benefits.(2) Becoming mindful helps teach you to detach
from your thoughts and thus become less reactive.
Mindfulness can be part of your daily life when eating,
taking a walk and many other daily activities. For other
articles showing the benefits and studies being done
around Mindfulness, visit page 10 of this book’s
Resources section.
A SIMPLE MEDITATION TO TRY NOW
The Basics of Diaphragmatic Breathing
The diaphragm is a major muscle used in breathing
and is located beneath the lowest two ribs. At rest, the
diaphragm muscle is bell shaped. During inhalation, it
lowers and flattens out. Optimizing the use of the
diaphragm is beneficial because it pulls air into the
lower lobes of the lungs where more gas exchange
takes place. Not only is the diaphragm the most efficient
of all respiratory muscles, but using it tends to be very
relaxing and calming. Along with our diaphragm, we
use intercostal and abdominal muscles in the work of
breathing. The intercostals (muscles between the ribs)
pull to lift the rib cage up and out. This causes the lungs
to open in all directions and air can be pulled down the
airways. To exhale, the muscles that have been pulling
relax and air is forced out. The diaphragm tenses, pulling
air in; and relaxes, letting the spring of the ribs push the
air out again.
(2) “The benefits of meditation – MIT and Harvard neuroscientists explain why the practice helps tune out distractions and relieve pain,”
Anne Trafton, MIT News Office, May 4, 2011.
THE SCIENCE OF ACTIVE FEEDBACK | WILD DIVINE
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10
Meditation, Mindfulness Training and Breathing
Resources
Conclusion
Mindfulness and Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder
Meditation and the Brain: Attention,
Control and Emotion
Susan L Smalley, Sandra K Loo, T. Sigi Hale, Anshu Shrestha,
James McGough, Lisa Flook, Steven Reise
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2827240/
“Self-directedness is a construct that has great importance in
psychological health and well-being. Several decades of
research have clearly demonstrated a strong association of
positive mental health and high scores on SD (Cloninger,
2004). All personality disorders and many Axis I diagnoses are
associated with low scores on SD (Cloninger, 2004). These
data suggest that any intervention that improves SD may have
a marked influence on treatment success for most, if not all,
psychiatric disorders. The current data support the hypothesis
that mindfulness and SD are strongly associated but the
present data cannot determine causality. Future studies
investigating mindfulness training on SD may help shed light
on the impact it can have on the self-to-self relationship.”
Gabriel Jose Correa Mograbi
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3115297/
“Meditation is an important form of self-control and a healthy
practice. It augments focus and attention and could be used to
enhance empathy and all attentional capacities. It is worthy of
practice and could lead to a better quality of lifestyle.”
As you learn more about the benefits of meditation,
breathwork and other types of mindfulness training, the
benefits become obvious. There is no one ‘right’ way to
learn these teachings. Some will find them easier to
grasp than others. What the Active Feedback training
from Wild Divine offers you, is the ability to see the
results of your meditation and relaxation training live in
front of you. There’s never any question of “is this
working?” or “am I doing it right?”.
By learning to meditate and incorporate these new
habits into your daily routine, you’ll being to see just
how profound the effects of mind-body training become.
To learn more, please visit us at www.WildDivine.com.
Attention Regulation and Monitoring in Meditation
Antoine Lutz, Heleen A Slagter, John D Dunne, Richard J
Davidson
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2693206/
“The neuroscientific study of meditation is clearly still in its
infancy, but the initial findings reviewed above promise both
to reveal the mechanisms by which such training may exert its
effects and underscore the plasticity of the brain circuits that
underlie complex regulatory mental functions. These findings
will need to be supplemented with more data, most critically
from longitudinal studies examining changes over time within
the same individuals randomized either to meditation training
or to an active control group.”
Meditation and its Regulatory Role on Sleep
Ravindra P Nagendra, Nirmala Maruthai, Bindu M Kutty
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3328970/
“It is evident from the literature cited that practice of
meditation brings about global changes. Many of these
alterations in physiological functions have great similarities to
the changes that are happening during sleep. It has been
proposed that sleep is an autoregulatory global phenomenon
(Kumar, 2010). It is also true that meditation influences sleep
and its functions. It appears that various components of sleep
generating mechanisms can be altered with meditation.
Meditation, with its global effects on body and brain functions
helps to establish a body and mind harmony. Thus meditation
practices as an autoregulatory integrated global phenomenon,
opens a wider scope for understanding the unique aspects of
human sleep and consciousness.”
Mindfulness Meditation:
A Primer for Rheumatologists
Laura A Young
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3045754/
“Although historically mindfulness meditation is ancient, as
described in this review, research in the field is in its early
stages though, rapidly expanding in both quality and quantity.
This is may be, in part, a response to a controversial AHRQ
review that called into question the efficacy of meditation for
improving health which cited the rigor of the current studies
of meditation as generally poor [89]. None-the-less, it is clear
that for many, mindfulness training can have powerful
psychological and possibly physiological effects. Many
questions remain unanswered and further investigation is
warranted. Studies of mindfulness do demonstrate that
training leads to improved quality of life, including in patients
with rheumatologic disease.”
Mindfulness Practice Leads to Increases in
Regional Brain Gray Matter Density
Britta K Holzel, James Carmody, Mark Vangel, Christina
Congleton, Sita M Yerramsetti, Tim Gard, Sara W Lazar
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3004979/
“This study demonstrates longitudinal changes in brain gray
matter concentration following an eight-week MindfulnessBased Stress Reduction course compared to a control group.
Hypothesized increases in gray matter concentration within
the left hippocampus were confirmed. Exploratory whole brain
analyses identified significant increases in gray matter
concentration in the PCC, TPJ, and the cerebellum.”
INVITE CALM
IMPROVE FOCUS
TRANSFORM STRESS
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