BIOFEEDBACK AND THE HIGHER STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS
C. Maxwell Cade
Maxwell Cade Foundation  Biofeedback and Higher States

Publisher ' s note
The workshops for training in biofeedback devised and led by C. Maxwell Cade consisted of talks  with exercisee. The Foundation is publishing selected talks, with associated exercises, for those interested in Max’s work and as material for those devising their own training courses.

In this publication, the introductory notes provide the context for understanding the subsequent talk. The contents of the introduction outline Max’s approach but are not taken verbatim from a specific talk. Most of the biofeedback technology described is relatively new, and the correlates of bodily measurements to states of consciousness were mostly established in the
latter part of the 20th Century. The traditions from which the references to transcendence, Samadhi and illumined consciousness are taken have been recorded in the East, if not in the West, for millenia.

Introductory note: What is biofeedback ?
Biofeedback  learning about ourselves
Biofeedback provides a new way of learning about ourselves, or a way of re­learning what the body already knows  how to be attentive, how to respond, even how to " heal  if we listen to it and techniques allow one to develop the art of listening to one’s internal cues and acting on them. Before one can have choice, one must first have awareness. Biofeedback provides the means to become aware - acutely aware  of oneself and thereby to gain the possibility of se1f­control and with it, choice of action.

The Biofeedback Principle states: "If one is able to perceive a bodily process that one is not normally aware of, then one can learn to control it". 
The biofeedback instruments monitor changes in the body and reflect them back, like mirrors. They are an aid to the process of self­-discovery and self-mastery. By practising changing one’s attention or behaviour and using the feedback signals from the instruments to discriminate and discover which changes are helpful, one soon learns (or re­1earns) the ability to direct and
choose the pattern of changes. Because the mind and body are but two aspects of the same living being, a change in the mind  a thought, an emotion produces a corresponding change in the body. The biofeedback instruments monitor changes in the body and with training, one learns to associate the bodily changes with the changes in the mind which accompany or precede them.

The applications of biofeedback
The scope of biofeedback is restricted only by the scope of the bodily changes which can be monitored by the biofeedback instruments and by the creativity and perception of those who use them. The applications range from the simplest, like using the bathroom scales to help maintain a certain weight, to learning deep relaxation and relief from stress, improving circulation, attaining
meditative states, improving creativity and developing the intuition.

The formula for good biofeedback
Whichever instruments are being employed, the formula for effective biofeedback~ is always the same, and has three elements:

1. Identify the internal process one wants to develop more choice or flexibility over, and recogńise how this increased ability will be shown by the measurements of the biofeedback instrument(s)
2. Practise a method or technique to develop this ability in oneself and monitor the bodily changes using the biofeedback instrument(s)
3. Check whether the practice of this method or technique is effective using the feedback signââlës from the instrument(s). Then continue with it, adìust it or even discard it and find another technique according to whether the changes in oneself are moving towards those desired, moving away from them, or there are no real changes at all.

The Biofeedback Principle makes no implicit claims as to which methods or techniques are effective for encouraging a particular change, and indeed, different people setting out to achieve the same changes, apparently using the same method, may meet with quite different degrees of success2 Biofeedback allows each individual to discover for himself the effectiveness of the approach he uses, regardless of its success when used by anyone else.

Out growíng the instruments
The aim ultimately is for the individual to develop an increased awareness of the inner signals which are present, but often unnoticed when the biofeedback
instruments are signalling change, and to establish the connections which allow conscious choice of the "subconscious" processes. When these messages are
recognised and understood, and the individual has learned what the instruments are showing, he has outgrown the need for the instruments.

Published by The Maxwell Cade Foundation
9 Chatsworth Road, London NW2  , England

Copyright Mrs I. D. Maxwell Cade 1990

Exercise two - Concentration on the hands of a watch

This exercise needs a watch with a second hand, not digital display. 
Alternatively, a clock with a second hand can be used provided it can be placed fairly near.

"Holding the watch before you, allow your attention to focus on the face of the watch and the movement of the second hand...... maintain an awareness of your body, breathing easily, from the abdomen, relaxed. Without words, keep  your concentrating on the face of the watch for 1 minute........"
(once the attention can be maintained, without internal dialogue or distraction, the time for the exercise can gradually be lengthened.

Exercise 3 - Zazen

(Participants seated in chairs)

"Draw yourself up as if a piece of string were attached to the back of your head and pulled upwards towards teh ceiling. Now, gentrly allow the tension to release, keeping the spine quite straight and relaxed - the shoulders in line with the ears, the nose in line with the navel. This prevents unnessary tension on the neck............

"Breathe out - through the mouth - just this first time, getting the lungs completely empty of air....Let the air bounce back, thus setting the level of air in the lungs.....Now breath out slowly and steadily, counting 'one' to yourself as you do so.  Breath in again and out, this time counting 'two' on the out breath and continue until you get to ten. Then you start again at 'one'.

Breath always through the nose, inhaling just as much as you feel you need, pushing forward the lowest part of the abdomen - at the level of the naval - to draw the air in on the in breath and pulling the lowest part of the abdomen in to expel the air on the out breath. The rib cage should remain still while breathing in this manner. If necessary, loosen tight clothing to allow this movement freely. This breathing is called 'diaphragmatic breathing' or 'abdominal breathing'.

See your breath as forming a circle, like the rotating wheel of a bicycle. Imagine a point on the rim of the wheel. As this point moves upwards, you breath in, until at the top of the inhalation is complete......and the out breath begins. This continues as the air is expelled until, when the point reaches the bottom of the cycle.... the next inhalation begins. This way, the in breath and out breath are of the same length and there is no sustained holding of breath between.

"To check the manner in which you are breathing, place on hand lightly on the top of the rib cage, just below the throat and the other on the abdomen, at the level of the naval, and become aware of the movement while you breath. For Zazen, the top of the chest should remain quite still. The abdomen moves out on the in breath and moves in on the out breath, like a pair of bellows causing the air to be drawn into the space vacated by the movement of the diaphragm and expelled by its return movement.

"Continue counting on each out breath, from 'one' to 'ten' and then starting again at 'one'. There is no need for thinking.....just be aware of the gentle easy breathing.............the eyes can be open or closed, but to start with, the meditation is normally easier with eyes closed.......

"Gradually, you will become able to concentrate with more and more success on the numbers of your breaths. Your mind may wander, and you may find yourself carried away on trains of thought, but it will gradually become easier and easier to bring your mind back to the counting of your breath.

(continue for 5 or 10 minutes Max often played a tape of 'Zen' Japanese music, with no words or overt rhythm. With those new to this way of breathing , it is well worth checking the pattern of breathing and correcting if necessary).