Mind-Body Intelligence: How to Manage Your Mind Using Biofeedback & Mindfulness

317 Pages·2017·2.33 MB·English

by  Glyn Blackett

Mind-Body Intelligence
How to Manage Your mind Using Biofeedback & Mindfulness
by Glyn Blackett
Copyright © 2014 by Colin Glyn Blackett
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or
used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the
author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Table of Contents
1 Introduction: How To Manage Your Mind
1 Introduction
2 The Problem: Being Out of Control
3 The Solution: Mind-Body Intelligence
4 Overview of the Book
5 About The Author
6 Summary of Key Points
PART 1 Foundations of the Mind-Body Connection
2 What Is The Mind?
1 Introduction
2 Mental Contents
3 Appetites, Desires and Motivation
4 Faculties
5 Emotion
6 Summary of Key Points
3 Biology of the Mind-Body Connection
1 Introduction
2 Self-Regulation and Emotion
3 Three High Level Emotion Systems
4 The Brain and Self-Regulation
5 Simulator Mode
6 The Biology of Desire and Craving
7 The Biology of Arousal
8 Psychoneuroimmunology
9 Putting It All Together – An Account of Addiction
10 Emotional Hijacks and Trauma
11 Summary of Key Points
4 Breathing
1 Introduction
2 Biology of Breathing
3 Breathing and Emotions
4 Breathing and Meditation
5 Practical Considerations
6 Summary of Key Points
PART 2 Practical Implications of the Mind-Body Connection
5 The Nature of Self-Control
1 Introduction
2 Resistance, Avoidance and Acceptance
3 Inaccessible Resources and Abilities
4 The “Quicksand Effect”
5 The Serenity Prayer
6 The Limits Of Control
7 Control Strategies
8 Conscious Control Versus Automatic Pilot
9 Flow States
10 Primary Versus Secondary Suffering
11 Conclusion: The Serenity Prayer Revisited
12 Summary of Key Points
6 Useful Models
1 Introduction
2 The Relationship Between Thoughts and Feelings
3 The Dual Intelligence Model
4 The Human Performance Curve Revisited
5 Summary of Key Points
7 Accessing Mind-Body Resources
1 Introduction
2 How We Learn
3 Attitude of Trust
4 Imagination
5 Attention
6 Accessing Flow
7 Summary of Key Points
8 Arousal, Stress & Relaxation
1 Introduction
2 What Is Stress?
3 What Does Stress Actually Feel Like?
4 Stress and Polyvagal Theory
5 Loss of Regulation
6 Varieties of Arousal
7 Relaxation
8 Summary of Key Points
PART 3 Tools for Training the Mind
9 Mindfulness & Meditation
1 Introduction
2 What Is Mindfulness?
3 Mindfulness as Meditation Practice
4 Mindfulness And Purpose
5 Mindfulness and the Mind-Body Connection
6 Loving-Kindness Meditation
7 How Mindfulness Creates Change
8 The Nature of Distraction
9 Summary of Key Points
10 Biofeedback
1 Introduction
2 How Biofeedback Creates Change
3 EMG or Muscle Tension Biofeedback
4 Breathing Biofeedback
5 Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback
6 Galvanic Skin Response
7 Skin Temperature
8 Hemoencephalography
9 Evidence Base for Biofeedback
10 Summary of Key Points
11 How Biofeedback Supports Mindfulness Practice
1 Introduction
2 What Is Effective Mindfulness Practice?
3 Optimal Conditions for Effective Mindfulness
4 Biofeedback, the Quicksand Trap and Acceptance
5 Mindfulness As Flow
6 Combining Biofeedback and Mindfulness Practice
7 Summary of Key Points
PART 4 The Skill-set of Mind-Body Regulation
12 Attention
1 Introduction
2 What Is Attention?
3 Neuroscience of Attention
4 Attention and the Mind-Body Connection
5 Styles of Attention
6 Resistance and Avoidance
7 Attention and Positive Emotion
8 Attention Training
9 Summary of Key Points
13 Motivation
1 Introduction
2 What Is Motivation?
3 The Inner Dialogue of Motivation
4 Resisting Temptation
5 Summary of Key Points
14 Thinking
1 Introduction
2 Thinking Challenges
3 Solutions
4 Summary of Key Points
15 Positive Emotion
1 Introduction
2 What Are We Aiming For?
3 Cultivating Positive Emotion
4 Emotional Intelligence
5 Creating the Conditions for Positivity
6 Values
7 Summary of Key Points
16 Conclusion
1 Introduction
2 The Skill-Set of Self-Regulation
3 What's Missing
4 Where Next?
Appendix Spectral Analysis of HRV Data
Acknowledgements
About The Author
Recommended Further Reading
Science and the Mind-Body Connection
General
Self-Help and Therapy Books
Video and Audio Resources
Notes
1
Introduction: How To Manage Your Mind
1 Introduction This book is about the mind and how to manage it,
or how to be in possession of it, or even how to control it.
Happiness and well-being are intimately connected to the mind –
to feel happy and well you need to be able to access positive
emotions, energy and motivation, and you need to be able to
direct or focus the mind at will, and sustainably. These qualities
aren't simply givens, but are complex abilities that develop to a
greater or lesser extent as we move through life.
In this book I use the term self-regulation to sum up these abilities. I also use the
term self-control, though it does have a somewhat negative connotation of “mind
control” (on the other hand self-regulation may sound a little mechanistic and
even automatic).
The core idea of the book is that self-regulation or self-control is a hierarchical
set of skills that can be developed and trained. In its essence, self-regulation is a
mind-body skill, which is to say that to manage your mind you need to
simultaneously manage the physiology (both body and brain) that is the
concomitant of your mental experience. Hence the words used in the title,
“mind-body intelligence”, are another way to describe the skill-set.
The book is an attempt to lay the groundwork for a practical project of learning
or developing mind-body intelligence. I describe the science behind the mind-
body connection as an important basis for understanding this project, and then I
present a set of models or ways of thinking about self-regulation and challenges
to it, and a set of tools and practices for developing and training it.
I see three core domains for the skill-set of self-control:
i. Emotional balance and resilience
ii. Energy, drive and motivation
iii. Attention, focus and concentration
2 The Problem: Being Out of Control Being out of control feels
bad. When people seek help from a psychotherapist or coach, it's
bad. When people seek help from a psychotherapist or coach, it's
because something feels out of control, or is unmanageable.
2.1 Case Vignettes
The following vignettes are made up but they all represent typical problems I
encounter in my therapy / coaching practice. Throughout the book I refer to
these types of problem collectively as self-control challenges or self-regulation
challenges.
2.1.1 Anxiety Barbara had quite senior job as a manager in a public sector
organisation. She was intelligent and capable and for the most part enjoyed
her job, except for one thing: giving presentations. As soon as she knew she
would have to present at a meeting she would start getting anxious.
In meetings she would feel tense, her heart would pound, her hands would feel
cold and clammy and her breathing tight and restricted. She knew she was likely
to blush and her voice crack. When she stood up she felt everyone could see she
wasn't up to it and expected her to fail, though later when she'd calmed down she
knew this wasn't the case.
Barbara did everything she could to avoid having to give presentations but it
wasn't always possible. Anticipatory anxiety started to build even days before.
She couldn't stop thinking about the coming presentation. She'd try to calm
herself down, telling herself she'd done presentations before and always got
through them. She'd read books on stress management techniques and could
even do them quite successfully – if she didn't have a presentation coming up.
But when the heat was on, these skills would frustratingly desert her. Her
anxiety was out of control.
2.1.2 Anger Tim liked playing tennis but his Achilles heel was his temper.
On good days he could get into “the zone” and loved the feeling of his body
timing shots well. But good days were probably more the exception than the
rule. At other times he couldn't understand how he could play so badly
when he knew he could and should do better. On bad days his rage would
build to a fever of self-contempt. He'd tell himself to focus harder on his
grip, or his foot work, but if anything things would get worse. His temper
explosions had led to physical damage on more than one occasion, and
tennis racquets weren't cheap. Socially he was aware that other people at
his club didn't like to play with him.