Biofeedback

Early research on advanced meditators in India indicated that they could exhibit
control over what are normally autonomic processes in the body—for
example, speeding up or slowing down the heart rate at will, stopping the
heart for up to seventeen seconds, controlling blood flow to different areas
of the body, and controlling brain-wave patterns at will. At first, these results
were met with skepticism, but it is now known that humans and animals can
learn to control previously involuntary processes by using a technique
known as biofeedback. Through biofeedback training, an individual who is
connected to a special measuring device can monitor autonomic events
such as blood pressure, skin temperature, and muscle tension. Having this
information can allow the individual gradually to gain control over these autonomic
processes. Biofeedback techniques have been applied to an enormous
variety of clinical problems. EEG biofeedback, for example, has been
used to train epileptics to emit brain-wave patterns that are incompatible
with those that occur during brain seizures. Other disorders that have been
successfully treated by means of biofeedback include cardiac disorders, high
blood pressure, tension headaches, anxiety, and neuromuscular disorders
such as cerebral palsy.