What is Biofeedback and How Does It Work?

The next time you notice you feel anxious, pause to ask yourself: “How do I know that I’m anxious?”
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Our emotions begin as physical sensations in the body. These sensations, paired with our thoughts, are quickly understood as emotions. This process usually happens subconsciously. But there are clear indicators of our anxiety in the body: the pace of the breath, amount of tension in the muscles, and heart rate.

However, when we feel anxious much of the time, it can become difficult to feel these things, even when we practice mindfulness. We become desensitized and anxiety just feels like “the new normal.” And if anxiety is very intense, it can feel like breathing or meditating does nothing to alleviate it.
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Can you relate?

There are many forms of biofeedback that treat both physical and emotional difficulties. Biofeedback involves receiving live, moment to moment feedback on your body. Biofeedback can track your heart rate, muscle tension, or skin temperature. For today, let’s focus on one form of biofeedback that is very helpful for anxiety – heart rate variability biofeedback (HRVB).

When you place a HRVB device on your body – typically on your fingertip or ear lobe – you can see your heart rate variability on a screen which gives you instant feedback. When we breathe, there are natural fluctuations in our heart rate. The HR increases on inhalation, and decreases on exhalation. There are a lot of reasons why the heart does this, and if you are interested in the science behind it, you can read more about it here.

When you practice different forms of breathwork while using an HRVB device, you can see the immediate impact these practices have on your heart. This is important. It takes the breathing from a “mind knowing” where you know logically that breathing deeply can calm you down – to a “body knowing” – where your body understands on a deep level that breathing will regulate your heart.

And that’s important if you are experiencing chronic anxiety.

Many people start to feel lasting benefits after just a few HRVB sessions. HRVB can also be paired with exposure therapy, to help you learn how to regulate your emotions when distressed.

If you are interested in trying out HRVB, consider scheduling a consultation call with me to discuss further. I offer HRVB at my San Francisco and Oakland offices. If you are working with me online, you can also purchase your own biofeedback device for about $100 to use during and between our sessions. Contact me today to learn more.