Customer Reviews

Beyond biofeedback

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Elmer and Alyce Green were pioneers in the field of Biofeedback and this book shares their extraordinary vision. It was their work and vision which attracted me to the field almost thirty years ago-- their transpersonal approach to biofeedback as a tool which can help one achieve not only relief from symptoms, but perhaps most important, higher consciousness, awareness and personal growth. The Greens traveled to India and studied the psychophysiology of yogis, and they set up Psychophysiology program at the Menninger foundation, where they along with Patricia Norris, Steve Fahrion, Dale Walters, Joe Sargent and others blazed the trail that led to the establishment of the field of biofeedback.

This book goes beyond looking at biofeedback as a treatment and enters the realm of wisdom, consciousness and spirituality. For example, Elmer believes that EEG theta training at OZ is a former of "instrumental Vipassana" which enables the trainee to access planetary consciousness.

Elmer and Alyce Green were highly involved in starting a number of visionary organizations which have made their mark on this planet. These include:

Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback (aapb.org) International Society for the Study of Subtle Energies and Energy Medicine (ISSSEEM) Association of Transpersonal Psychology

Elmer has a new book out titled The Ozawkie Book of the Dead. It goes much further in exploring the spirit world, consciousness and levels of being beyond those we ordinarily know. It is only available from the publisher at this time...

During the 1970s I was living in Kansas City,Missouri, while the Greens were conducting their experiments on Yogis at the Menninger Foundation which was then located in nearby Topeka, Kansas. I really knew very little about yoga,but I became fascinated by the reports about the Menninger Foundation's experiments on the local TV stations. One of the primary subjects of the experiments was a yogi named Swami Rama. http://www.geocities.com/swamiramabio/.

At the conclusion of the Menninger Experiments I will never forget the way that they summed up the definition of yoga,"Get into a relaxed state and visualize the desired bodily result." Up to that time my total experience with the mind/body effect had been as a competitor in high school and college sports together with being trained by the US Army Rangers during the Cuban Missile Crisis and later attending the US Army Intelligence School at Fort Holabird, Maryland.

I have continued my interest in mind/body training and have since come across demystified versions of yoga using similar internal projection and visualization techniques to achieve various desired bodily results such as the use of Isometric Exercises to develop mental, physical, and emotional strength. Although I can find no connection between him and yoga there was an individual who taught a similar technique to the intelligentsia ot America during the turn of the century named Alois P. Swoboda in a course that he called Conscious Evolution. His course was directed at teaching the individual to develop their internal latent powers to help them adapt to the ever changing Universe. Currently John E. Peterson has authored a book titled "The Isometric Power Revolution" which takes the same approach although directed more toward the development of physical and mental strength.

I would definitely recommend "Beyond Biofeedback" to anyone who has an interest in the power of the mind over the body.

For someody interested in the art and science of biofeedback, Beyond Biofeedback by Elmer and Alyce Green is a very impressive book. It takes a comprehensive look at what goes on in the heads of several swamis when they do spectacular feats of self-control such as slowing their heartbeats down or even a demonstartion of psychokinesis-- moving an object through brain power alone.

However, in a way this book is a real disappointment. I was hoping that such a comprehensive book would take a few moments to explain just *how* each swami entered the elusive theta brainwave state that made so much of their miraculous feats possible, but instead we get basically a line in the book about breathing, visualization, and of course biofeedback being the technique or method for achieving theta. What kind of explanation is that? None, really. Okay we can guess it's some form of yoga breathing, but what kind of visualization did they use-- that's the big question that's never answered in this book. Over and over again this "technique" is mentioned but it's a useless and empty phrase that has no meaning to anybody who really wants to enter the theta state. It surprises me that such thorough people would be so vague about such an important issue.

This book is much more interesting and comprehensive about biofeedback than many books on the market, incluing Anne Wise's books on the subject. But it misses a vital aspect, a true way to get into theta so that one can see for themselves the benefits of theta. Aside from that rather big sticking point, the book is otherwise pretty detailed and interesting. So I give the book three stars out of five. The book could have been so much more comprehensive and better.