When I was a child, my mother suffered from horrible migraine headaches. Sometimes they were so bad that she’d have to close herself up in her bedroom for days with the shades drawn. Traditional pain medications didn’t work, so she began to search for alternative methods of relief.
Eventually, she found biofeedback, which is a technique of gaining awareness and control of certain body functions – such as heart rate, muscle responses and breathing – in order to relieve pain or reduce tension.
People perform biofeedback unconsciously all the time. My mother began to intentionally do biofeedback through daily practice during which she would try to clear her mind of everything and enter a deep state of relaxation. Today, this form of such relaxation, which involves focusing your attention on the present moment and practicing an awareness of your thoughts without judging them, is what we call mindfulness.
