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Respiratory Biofeedback Procedures

Once you have a better understanding of brain waves and normal breathing, you can then perform respiratory biofeedback. While it’s important to relax the body as much as possible during this process, if this procedure is new, you may be a little tense as you go through each step. But soon, you’ll be able relax and obtain the maximum benefits of respiratory biofeedback.

While each of the steps below can produce some alpha wave activity, combining all of them can be a very potent five-minute therapy. Here are the five steps for respiratory biofeedback:

 

 

It’s best performed relaxed, in a lying position, although slightly reclined while sitting is also effective.Place your hands or arms on the middle of the abdomen and keep them relaxed. This sensation and weight provide a biofeedback effect on the diaphragm and abdominal muscles during movement.Close your eyes.Listen to enjoyable, relaxing music—popular or classical. The tunes that are your favorites work best, especially if headphones are used, which keep out distracting noise.Breathe easy and deep. Most people can comfortably, slowly inhale for about five to seven seconds; then, exhale for the same five to seven seconds. If five to seven seconds makes you feel out of breath or dizzy, adjust the time—try three to four seconds during inhalation, for example, and the same for exhalation.

Continue respiratory biofeedback for about five minutes.

Caution: It’s very important that you do not fall asleep, or even start drifting into sleep, which produces delta waves. If you start getting sleepy after two minutes, perform respiratory biofeedback for just less than that time and gradually work up to five minutes—but always avoid getting sleepy. If you consistently get sleepy during respiratory biofeedback, there may be other sleep-related issues such as sleep deprivation or sleep apnea (often caused by carbohydrate intolerance).

As a powerful self-therapy, respiratory biofeedback can be performed once or twice daily, or more if necessary. It’s also a great pre-workout and pre-race routine, helping to balance the nervous system and muscles. And by correcting muscle imbalance and improving the nervous system, it can also help control pain.