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Journey to Wild Divine was a biofeedback video game system promoting stress management and overall wellness through the use of breathing, meditation and relaxation exercises. The graphics and interface resemble Myst . The designers refer to the product as "biofeedback software", considering it an entertaining training tool for mind and body health, rather than a "game".
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The Journey to Wild Divine is published by Wild Divine, founded in 2001 by Kurt R. Smith and Corwin Bell. Smith is a research scientist specializing in biomedical engineering. A serial entrepreneur, Smith started six medical device startup companies, two of which are now owned by Medtronic. After his tenure with Medtronic, Smith began to pursue a passion "to provide integrative healing tools and services to people in an effective way".
Corwin Bell, a game designer, was studying at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington when he realized that computer animation was a format that he could use to manifest his ideas and images. After receiving a master's degree in Communications, Bell moved on to work in the movie industry where he did set design and cinematography. Bell turned to working on children’s software, including The Pagemaster for Turner Interactive and Super Safe Kids, a CD tool that teaches awareness of abduction issues in an animated environment. He also became an instructor at the Art Institute of Colorado.
Smith and Bell met and began exchanging ideas while rock climbing in Eldorado Canyon, Colorado when Bell told Smith about an idea he had to combine a computer game with biofeedback in order to help people. They proceeded with this entertainment-based model intended to benefit people by providing both preventive and integrative care.
Other experts who assisted in the development of Journey to Wild Divine’s products include Jean Houston, a pioneer researcher in human development and extending human capacities, and Nawang Khechog, a former Buddhist monk, who’s studied with the Dalai Lama and is one of Tibet’s foremost world music composers and musicians. Ocean Summer was one of the composers. From the start, Liana Mattulich, a biofeedback expert in Denver, Colorado helped the project see completion. Other experts consulted on the project were Bob Whitehouse and Sunny Turner.
The first program in the series, The Journey To Wild Divine: The Passage, comes with a USB-based biofeedback reader. The device attaches to three fingers, and measures heart rate variability and skin conductance level. Heart rate variability measures the amount of variability between heartbeats, which has been reported to be associated with various pathologic conditions. Skin conductance level indicates the amount of perspiration on the skin surface, which is a measure of stress in the body.
In The Journey To Wild Divine: The Passage, users navigate through a series of adventures in a video-game type interface.
The user must adjust these levels in their body to move through the game. The purpose is to develop meditation skills and to gain greater control of unconscious bodily processes by observing and reacting to the changes in the game's various activities, which reflect the body's current state.
The second title in this series is The Journey To Wild Divine: Wisdom Quest. Wisdom Quest also utilizes the same proprietary Iom biofeedback hardware. It retains the same game format while building on the adventure game format.
The third title, Healing Rhythms, is a 15-step program of deep breathing and meditation, along with the Iom biofeedback hardware. In this program experts in the field of health and wellness including medical doctors Andrew Weil, Deepak Chopra, and Dean Ornish guide the user through 15 separate lessons designed to teach stress management in an easy to use format with no navigation required.
Current research suggests that stress management can be beneficial to individuals with a variety of physical and mental ailments including high blood pressure and Raynaud's disease, according to the Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback. [1] [2] Research by EEG Info Research has shown it to be effective for helping individuals with ADD/ADHD, PTSD, autism and chronic pain. [3]
Several companies make other in-home, biofeedback stress management devices. These include: emWave (previous name: Freeze-Framer), Stone Biofeedback a computer based software with finger/ear sensor. The pocket-portable version emWave PSR and StressEraser with finger/ear sensor, LED display and sounds. Resperate which is a portable device regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) designed to lower blood pressure.
Other non-biofeedback alternatives used in stress-reduction include meditation, deep breathing, and yoga.
Meditation is a practice where an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state. Scholars have found meditation difficult to define, as practices vary both between traditions and within them.
Biofeedback is the process of gaining greater awareness of many physiological functions of one's own body, commercially by using electronic or other instruments, and with a goal of being able to manipulate the body's systems at will. Humans conduct biofeedback naturally all the time, at varied levels of consciousness and intentionality. Biofeedback and the biofeedback loop can also be thought of as self-regulation. Some of the processes that can be controlled include brainwaves, muscle tone, skin conductance, heart rate and pain perception.
Neurofeedback (NFB), also called neurotherapy or neurobiofeedback, is a type of biofeedback that uses real-time displays of brain activity—most commonly electroencephalography (EEG)—in an attempt to teach self-regulation of brain function. Typically, sensors are placed on the scalp to measure electrical activity, with measurements displayed using video displays or sound. The evidence supporting neurotherapy for generalized treatment of mental disorders is currently limited.
Raynaud syndrome, also known as Raynaud's phenomenon, is a medical condition in which spasm of arteries cause episodes of reduced blood flow. Typically, the fingers, and less commonly the toes, are involved. Rarely, the nose, ears, or lips are affected. The episodes result in the affected part turning white and then blue. Often, numbness or pain occurs. As blood flow returns, the area turns red and burns. The episodes typically last minutes, but can last several hours.
A brain-computer interface (BCI), sometimes called a neural-control interface (NCI), mind-machine interface (MMI), direct neural interface (DNI), or brain-machine interface (BMI), is a direct communication pathway between an enhanced or wired brain and an external device. BCI differs from neuromodulation in that it allows for bidirectional information flow. BCIs are often directed at researching, mapping, assisting, augmenting, or repairing human cognitive or sensory-motor functions.
Yoga nidra or yogic sleep is a state of consciousness between waking and sleeping, like the "going-to-sleep" stage, typically induced by a guided meditation.
A mind machine uses pulsing rhythmic sound, flashing light, electrical or magnetic fields, or a combination of these, to alter the frequency of the user's brainwaves. Mind machines can induce deep states of relaxation, concentration, and in some cases altered states of consciousness, which have been compared to those obtained from meditation and shamanic exploration. Photic mind machines work with flickering lights embedded in sunglasses or a lamp that sits on a tripod above your head or facing you. You then "Watch" with your eyes closed.
Hemoencephalography (HEG) is a relatively new neurofeedback technique within the field of neurotherapy. Neurofeedback, a specific form of biofeedback, is based on the idea that human beings can consciously alter their brain function through training sessions in which they attempt to change the signal generated by their brain and measured via some neurological feedback mechanism. By so doing, participants increase cerebral blood flow to a specified region of the brain, consequently increasing brain activity and performance on tasks involving that region of the brain.
A relaxation technique is any method, process, procedure, or activity that helps a person to relax; to attain a state of increased calmness; or otherwise reduce levels of pain, anxiety, stress or anger. Relaxation techniques are often employed as one element of a wider stress management program and can decrease muscle tension, lower the blood pressure and slow heart and breath rates, among other health benefits.
Neurofeedback (NFB), also called neurotherapy, neurobiofeedback or EEG biofeedback (EEGBF) is a therapy technique that presents the user with real-time information about activity within their brain, as measured by electrical or blood-flow sensors on the scalp. Brain activity is monitored and processed to provide feedback to the user in one of several ways, for example a video game rocket ship might accelerate when desired brainwaves are produced, or a film or music might pause when undesired brainwaves are produced.
The Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback (AAPB) was founded in 1969 as the Biofeedback Research Society (BRS). The association aims to promote understanding of biofeedback and advance the methods used in this practice. AAPB is a non-profit organization as defined in Section 501(c)(6) of the Internal Revenue Service Code.
The David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace (DLF) is a global charitable foundation with offices in New York City, Los Angeles, and Fairfield, Iowa. It was founded by film director and Transcendental Meditation (TM) practitioner David Lynch in 2005 to fund the teaching of TM in schools. Over the years it has expanded its focus to include other "at-risk" populations such as the homeless, U.S. military veterans, African war refugees and prison inmates.
MiniMed Paradigm is a series of insulin pumps manufactured by Medtronic for patients with diabetes mellitus. The pump operates with a single AAA battery and uses a piston-plunger pump to infuse a programmed amount of insulin into the patient through a length of tubing. The Paradigm uses a one-way wireless radio frequency link to receive blood sugar measurements from select glucose meters. The Paradigm RT series adds the ability to receive data from a mated continuous blood-glucose monitor. Although the pump can use these measurements to assist in calculating a dose of insulin, no actual change in insulin delivery occurs without manual user-intervention.
The Biofeedback Certification International Alliance was created in 1981 as a non-profit organization. BCIA is a member of the Institute for Credentialing Excellence (ICE). BCIA certifies individuals who meet education and training standards in biofeedback and neurofeedback and progressively recertifies those who satisfy continuing education requirements. BCIA certification has been endorsed by the Mayo Clinic, the Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback (AAPB), the International Society for Neurofeedback and Research (ISNR), and the Washington State Legislature.
The Transcendental Meditation technique or TM is a form of silent mantra meditation, developed by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The meditation practice involves the use of a mantra and is practiced for 20 minutes twice per day while sitting with one's eyes closed. Beginning in 1965, the Transcendental Meditation technique has been incorporated into schools, universities, corporations, and prison programs in the United States, Latin America, Europe, and India. In 1977, a U.S. federal district court ruled that a curriculum in TM and the Science of Creative Intelligence (SCI) being taught in some New Jersey schools was religious in nature and in violation of the First Amendment. However, the technique has since been included in a number of educational and social programs around the world.
In medicine, monitoring is the observation of a disease, condition or one or several medical parameters over time.
Transcendental Meditation in education is the application of the Transcendental Meditation technique in an educational setting or institution. These educational programs and institutions have been founded in the US, United Kingdom, Australia, India, Africa and Japan. The Transcendental Meditation technique became popular with students in the 1960s and by the early 1970s centers for the Students International Meditation Society were established at a thousand campuses in the US with similar growth occurring in Germany, Canada and Britain. The Maharishi International University was established in 1973 in the US and began offering accredited, degree programs. In 1977 courses in Transcendental Meditation and the Science of Creative Intelligence (SCI) were legally prohibited from New Jersey (USA) public high schools on religious grounds by virtue of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. This "dismantled" the TM program's use of government funding in U.S. public schools "but did not constitute a negative evaluation of the program itself". Since 1979, schools that incorporate the Transcendental Meditation technique using private, non-governmental funding have been reported in the US, South America, Southeast Asia, Northern Ireland, South Africa and Israel.
Music as a coping strategy involves the use of music in order to reduce stress, as well as many of the psychological and physical manifestations associated with it. The use of music to cope with stress is an example of an emotion-focused, adaptive coping strategy. Rather than focusing on the stressor itself, music therapy is typically geared towards reducing or eliminating the emotions that arise in response to stress. In essence, advocates of this therapy claim that the use of music helps to lower stress levels in patients, as well as lower more biologically measurable quantities such as the levels of epinephrine and cortisol. Additionally, music therapy programs have been repeatedly demonstrated to reduce depression and anxiety symptoms in the long term.
Mindfulness and technology is a movement in research and design, that encourages the user to become aware of the present moment, rather than losing oneself in a technological device. This field encompasses multidisciplinary participation between design, psychology, computer science, and religion. Mindfulness stems from Buddhist meditation practices and refers to the awareness that arises through paying attention on purpose in the present moment, and non-judgmentally. In the field of Human-Computer Interaction, research is being done on Techno-spirituality — the study of how technology can facilitate feelings of awe, wonder, transcendence, and mindfulness and on Slow design, which facilitates self-reflection. The excessive use of personal devices, such as smartphones and laptops, can lead to the deterioration of mental and physical health. This area focuses on redesigning and creating technology to improve the wellbeing of its users.
Trauma-sensitive yoga is yoga as exercise, adapted from 2002 onwards for work with individuals affected by psychological trauma. Its goal is to help trauma survivors to develop a greater sense of mind-body connection, to ease their physiological experiences of trauma, to gain a greater sense of ownership over their bodies, and to augment their overall well-being. However, a 2019 systematic review found that the studies to date were not sufficiently robustly designed to provide strong evidence of yoga's effectiveness as a therapy; it called for further research.