What Is Biofeedback?

Biofeedback creates a powerful, positive, permanent impact on your emotional and physical well-being. You learn how to alter your brain activity, blood pressure, muscle tension, heart rate/rhythm, and breath patterns to direct your body into self healing and expanded awareness.

You reduce stress and perform better in every area of your life and your gains are cumulative. Once you know you know.

See how the rhythmic changes in your heartbeat reflect your emotions and learn how to synchronize your nervous system and experience a happy, healthier you. You will achieve improved mental and physical performance as well as increased relaxation and energy.

Biofeedback shortens the learning curve to the experience of relaxation.

Biofeedback Methodology

Tina uses ‘state of the art’ Biofeedback technology which easily connects to your physiology (heart rhythm, respiration, etc.) and displays it on a computer screen in an easy to understand format.

This allows you to see how your body is responding to your physical, emotional, and mental habits. The computer screen mirrors for you that which is happening below your skin.

During your sessions you will learn how you can direct your usually unconscious physiology, into health creating and enhancing habits through conscious awareness of what’s happening inside your body.

Tina says:

“I chose the best equipment available to make your sessions fun, interesting, and informative, including the highly acclaimed ‘HeartMath’ and ‘Wild Divine’ programs. Biofeedback shortens the learning curve to the experience of relaxation.”

How I Work With You
to Reduce Stress & Anxiety

Your sessions can be in-my-office, on-the-phone, or Zoom.

The 1st session is an assessment session. It is 45 minutes long. During this session you tell me your particular concerns and goals. Within this 1st session I will also determine which biofeedback unit will best serve your needs and determine a treatment plan. The treatment plan will include the number of sessions I recommend and a beginning home practice plan to manage your stress and anxiety.

During the following sessions you will be seated in a comfortable chair and be coached by me on how to use the ‘feedback’ from a sensor (that is placed on your body and displaying feedback information on a biofeedback unit) to direct you into a relaxed and calm zone.

Each session is tailored for you to achieve success at lowering your stress and anxiety and feeling more at ease and in control.

Number of recommended sessions varies depending on the assessment and your goals and typically ranges from 3-10.

Biofeedback Units I recommend

The Respirate to Reduce Stress & Anxiety

Now, more than ever, managing the impact of stress is clearly recognized as a key factor to leading a balanced and healthy long life. And without a doubt, anxiety reduces the quality of our daily experience. With biofeedback you become aware of, and learn how to control your responses to stress. Biofeedback shortens the learning curve to the experience of relaxation. Sensors placed on your body monitor heart rate, blood pressure, muscle tension, sweat, brain waves, and breathing patterns. During a biofeedback session you actually see how your biology/physiology responds to an action like slowing your breathing rate displayed on a computer screen.

I am much impressed with the Resperate as a supportive relaxation/meditation training tool. Harvard Medical School’s research continues to illustrate that deep relaxation has a remarkable effect on a wide variety of medical conditions and there is much that can be said for developing a meditation practice. More on that in another article.

Using the Resperate takes the ‘work’ out of learning how to relax. It makes home practice between biofeedback sessions easy. They report simply breathing with the tones presented by the Resperate lowers their stress and anxiety with little effort.

After only a few minutes on the Resperate I start to relax and feel calm.
Sheena T.

Tina worked with me using biofeedback, and helped me with the not so simple act of breathing. Using the Resperate daily at home, my blood pressure was actually normalized without medication. I use what I have learned from my biofeedback sessions daily, when I play tennis, drive, and walk.
Wendy Gronsky

Biofeedback shows you how to reduce and rewire your automatic, and often unconscious, stress responses. The Resperate is an easy to use system that supports one in learning to manage stress and direct the body towards greater health and well-being.

The HeartMath System

Biofeedback has come a long way over the 20 years that I have been a Practitioner. Now, more than ever, managing the impact of stress is clearly recognized as a key factor to leading a balanced and healthy long life. It has been well documented that stress increases and multiplies the risk factors for numerous life threatening illness’ such as heart disease, hypertension, and stroke, to name only a few. My clients are most often referred to me by their doctors to learn how to lower their risk for disease, and I often hear them say they hope to improve their quality of life. Many report they are also struggling with depression and anxiety contributing to sleepless nights and a constant state of overwhelm.

There are numerous Biofeedback programs available these days, and I work with many of them. I am much impressed with the HeartMath System. I find it to be one of the most effective and innovative stress reduction programs available. HeartMath is a well thought out system which addresses the mind, body, and emotions.

A growing body of research is beginning to provide objective evidence that positive emotions may indeed be the key to optimal health. They have been demonstrated to improve health, increase longevity and performance. In my experience watching the heart rhythm relax (less beats per minute and form a sine wave) when a client genuinely feels an emotion such as appreciation, care, love, and compassion really shows how our biology experiences positive emotions.

Biofeedback shows you how to reduce and rewire your automatic, and often unconscious, stress responses. Seeing your heartbeat pattern (or respiration, muscle tension, etc) displayed on a computer screen and learning how you can change it to a more relaxed, healthier, rhythm is empowering. The Bio-feedback increases the learning curve. HeartMath has created an easy to use biofeedback system that supports one in learning to manage stress and direct the mind, body, and emotions towards greater health and well-being.

For further information or to contact Tina Lerner:
805-450-1115 or tina @ tinalerner.com

All of these units can be purchased directly from the Biofeedback Institute of Santa Barbara.

HeartMath EmWave 2

Monitors the pulse over time, giving positive feedback when the heart rhythm is relaxing indicating the body and emotions are calmer.

Resperate Unit

Monitors breathing and using tones slows the breath rate to support the body relaxing and mind calming.

GSR Unit

Monitors sweat gland activity in the hand. As tension increases sweat gland activity goes up and the unit emits a a tone, and with relaxation the tone goes down.

Temperature Unit