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Explorations in Awareness: Respiration & Relaxation
A Technology For Mind Development And Spiritual Awakening
[A Chapter in a book edited by Rob Kall, Gary Schwartz, and Joe Kamiya]
James V. Hardt, Ph.D.
"... a fully developed feedback model
can do what no behaviorist model has been able to do: It can restore
purposes and goals to our concept of human behavior, in a way that
does not violate direct experience or scientific methods." William
T. Powers (1973)
"What interests us for the design of an
anthropological physiology and what has to be investigated explicitly,
are the actual functional changes, the altered physiological
regulations which occur when the pathically-tuned body is no longer
marginally co-present, but becomes a theme of objectifying
consciousness." F. J. J. Buytendijk (1974)
We shall now consider some details of these alpha
feedback experiences to focus attention on the meanings of
physiological and psychological processes which were discovered, and
we shall sketch briefly some objective evidence of the relationship of
alpha activity to two other physiological systems: muscle activity
(EMG) and respiration. It is obvious that the extreme sensitivity of
feedback enhanced alpha activity to the amount of egoicity in specific
thoughts makes it possible to study the structure of thinking
processes and thought formation in a new way. Seeking the structure of
the thinking aspects of consciousness is an entirely new area for
phenomenological study. Not only will its development enhance the
psychology of cognition, but by virtue of the permanent physiological
record of the feedback scores, it will also further
psychophysiology. A direct subjective and objective understanding is
also achieved of the interdependence of multiple physiological
systems. The patterning of physiological responses was understood
almost effortlessly by noting the interactive effects of changes in
muscle tension, breathing activity and alpha activity. A brief formal
analysis will serve to increase our confidence in the validity of
insights derived from subjective sources during the alpha feedback
McDowall (1950) has suggested that the state of
consciousness of an organism is highly dependent upon the amount of
oxidation taking place in the brain. This process is facilitated by
high concentrations of arterial oxygen so that both the state of
consciousness and the brain electrical activity arising from brain
cell metabolic processes depend critically upon arterially supplied
oxygen. This is not to deny Moruzzi and Magoun's (1949) identification
of the brain stem reticular formation's influence on the level of
activation and the activity of the EEG, but rather to add that proper
functioning of the reticular activating system (RAS) depends on oxygen
delivery to the RAS. Kriendler, Poilici, and Marinchuscu (1967)
reported that chronic hypoxia of deep central structures, particularly
the mesencephalic reticular formation, resulted in a non-alpha EEG
record characterized by bilateral delta activity. Soulas and Sternberg
(1967) reported that children hospitalized for respiratory
disturbances and suffering from hypoxia, which is characterized by
abnormal brain electrical activity, has been successfully treated my
Flügel (1967) with vaso-active agents which improve blood and
thus oxygen supply. This treatment brought increased continuity and
definition of the alpha rhythm to hypoxic patients [as well as
improvements in intellectual function and psychic drive], which
benefits lasted as long as the vasoactive drugs were dilating the
blood vessels. However increasing the blood supply will be effective
only if the blood is sufficiently oxygenated. The breathing process is
therefore very important.
Deep breathing is usually slow breathing and fast
breathing is usually shallow. Best and Taylor (1945) have shown that
arterial oxygen saturation is higher during slow, deep breathing than
during shallow rapid breathing, even though a larger minute-volume is
inspired during shallow, rapid breathing. Slow breathing is important
for other reasons. Grim (1971) found that a slowing of breathing
decreased muscle tension toward relaxation levels. This finding has
important implications for levels of alpha activity because of Malmo's
(1959) report that alpha activity is related to activation level
through an inverted "U" shaped function. Since slower breathing
decreased muscle tension, it could also enhance alpha activity by
mediating activation level through relaxation of muscles. We should
consider some possible means of this mediation.
Van Slyke (1934) has shown that the pH of the
blood fluctuated with the respiratory phase, and Friedell (1948)
indicates that the breathing rate can influence these pH
fluctuations. Friedell finds that blood acidity, which increases
during inhalation, increases more during slow (deep) breathing than it
does during rapid (shallow) breathing. The higher blood acidity of
longer inhalations is viewed by Friedell as inhibiting the action of
cholinesterase, which destroys acetylcholine. In addition to retarding
the destruction of acetylcholine, Friedell indicated that a longer
inhalation period affords more acetylcholine production by the nerve
endings of the parasympathetic system. Acetylcholine is seen to be a
smooth muscle relaxant. Since the effect of muscle relaxation is to
increase alpha activity, we have another mechanism whereby the rate
and depth of breathing can influence the brain's electrical activity
and the state of consciousness. Slow breathing brings increased
acetylcholine production as well as periodic elevations of blood
acidity levels which inhibit cholinesterase, both of which effects
lead to relaxation of smooth muscles and presumably an increase in the
abundance of alpha activity.
Localized muscle tensions can also play a role in
determining alpha activity. Malmo indicated that local muscle tensions
could increase an individual's general activation level with
subsequent elevation of heart rate and blood pressure and a decrease
of EEG alpha activity. Other muscle activities, such as the deep
tendon reflexes, are also related to alpha activity. Kennard and
Willner (1945) found that six different tendon reflexes, including the
knee jerk, were related to alpha activity through ease of
elicitation. If the deep muscles were relaxed and the reflexes hard to
elicit, the human subjects showed much alpha activity and only little
beta activity. On the other hand, with tensed muscles, and therefore
easily elicited reflexes, there was very little alpha activity but
considerable beta activity. Kennard and Willner even reported that the
low alpha subjects appeared to be "tense." Relaxation training has
been shown to be capable of reducing deep tendon reflexes like the
knee jerk (Jacobsen, 1938) and given the findings of Malmo and of
Kennard and Willner it would seem that relaxation training could help
increase alpha abundance. On the other hand relaxation training was
shown by Johnson and Spielberger (1968) to significantly decrease
anxiety as measured by the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List
(MAACL), and Stennet (1957) indicated that subjects having little
alpha activity were generally "anxious," though he did not test for
anxiety. Grim (1969) has pointed out that the assumption that muscle
tension will increase anxiety and that relaxation will decrease it is
the basis of desensitization therapy and somatic approaches to
psychotherapy in general. Since relaxation and alpha activity are
positively related, the logical inference is that alpha and anxiety
(or fear) are negatively related. Costa, Cox, and Katzman (1965) found
this to be the case in a study of the EEG and the Minnesota
Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). Alpha amplitude was
significantly and negatively correlated with the Welsh A
anxiety scale, which is the first factor of the MMPI's clinical
scales. And Hardt (1974, 1976, 1977, 1978) has shown that high Welsh
A males do more poorly at learning both alpha enhancement and
suppression that do low Welsh A males.
Coming full circle back to respiration, which was
seen capable of influencing muscle tension, we note that Grim (1971)
found breathing rate to be positively correlated with MAACL
anxiety. This correlation helps explain Pitt's (1969) report that
anxiety neurotics increased their breathing rates more than normals in
response to pressor stress and actually utilized inspired oxygen less
efficiently than normals. Grim has suggested that attention to
breathing slows its rate, and he employed the breathing feedback
technique of Kuble and Margolin (1944) to insure full attention to
breathing by his subjects. This technique involved the presentation of
amplified breath sounds to the ears by a system involving a
microphone, amplifier, and earphones. And Grim found that feedback of
breath sounds slowed the breathing rate significantly more than a
control sound of electronic hum.
This technical excursion has shown that the
scientific literature of objective experimentation both validates the
experientially derived insights regarding the interrelationship of EEG
alpha, EMG, and respiration activity, and also supports the discovery
of the effect of fear (anxiety) in suppressing alpha activity. With
this kind of cross-validation in hand we are emboldened to postulate
an Ecology of Consciousness and to consider the special significance
of the subjective experience of ego disintegration.
 Read about the Ecology of Consciousness ...
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