Biofeedback testing can be described as taking any measurable function of the body and gauging the response of this function to a stimulus to determine whether the stimulus has a harmful, neutral or beneficial effect on the body depending on the change in the function being tested.
This can be seen in kinesiology where often muscle testing is used. A baseline level of muscle strength is found via testing a certain movement such as shoulder abduction. Then a stimulus is applied to the body via a kinesiology practitioner and the person's shoulder abduction strength improves, stays the same or gets worse.
In the biofeedback method that I have been using, ANY function of the body can be used as a testing method such as heart rate variability, grip strength, reflex time, or, most simply and easily performed, range of motion (ROM) testing. This method does not require another person and can be performed by someone individually anywhere, anytime.
Using this method one can simply find their baseline ROM and then apply a stimulus and then re-test their ROM and see what effect the stimulus has on their ROM. The easiest way I have found to do this is via the toe touch. Here is an example video of how this can be performed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAMC_k3DAgQ
This method can be applied to diet, medications and really any modality that causes an effect on the human body and can be tested by its influence on the body’s function, most easily assessed via ROM.
I’m sharing this method because I think it can help to better realise one of the aims of this forum to improve the health of its members and humanity in general. For example in the Automimmune disease caused by an infection? Thread https://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,38053.0.html many members were experimenting with different antibiotics and herbal treatments to see whether or not they would have a positive benefit. With biofeedback testing you can determine your baseline ROM then hold the treatment in your hand or simply touch it and then re-test your ROM. If your ROM improves, then you know that the treatment is good for you at that moment in time.
An explicit example is you bend down to touch your toes and on the first sign of tension you stop. This is at mid shin level. You then hold your potassium iodide in your hand and bend down to touch your toes and once again stop at the first sign of tension. Your hands have now reached the top of your foot. There is a measurable, positive benefit associated with the iodine in your hand. You can then focus your attention on the quantity of iodine by testing differing amounts and finding the dose that gives you the optimal ROM improvement.
If there is a negative change in ROM, then you know not to use this Potassium Iodide at this moment in time. In this way we are able to avoid experiencing the harmful effects of something that is not good for you without, in this case, actually ingesting the substance.
To further determine the legitimacy of this method you can perform the test and still take the substance anyway. From here you can keep track of whether the biofeedback protocol is providing you with accurate information based on the results derived from the substance. Then determine if the testing and results correspond.
Originally this method was designed to improve exercise selection and performance and its founder is Frankie Fairies who has written a concise PDF book on the subject called The Biofeedback Solution which can be found here:
http://areyouthemovement.com/thebiofeedbacksolution/
Ultimately I have found this to be the best way to optimize my health as this is a completely individualized approach. Every single thing you do can be tested in terms of quality and quantity and real-time moment to moment feedback can be given to help decide the best implement to utilize for your body.
In addition to the remarkable intellectual centre work that has been applied to the subject of health on this forum this method can be a supplementary movement-centred approach. Can there be something that knows what’s better for your body more than your body itself?
What are the possible mechanisms of action of this method? The aforementioned progenitor of this method, Frankie Fairies, describes some possible insights in his book the Biofeedback Solution:
“Why does biofeedback work?
Biofeedback describes the sensorimotor loop, or how “feeling” (Or sensing in a third way meaning) and “doing” (actions) affect each other. The use of the word “feeling’ is a bit of an imprecise metaphor. Feeling is often used to describe a bodily experience, more specifically: proprioception.
There are many fancy definitions of proprioception but the simplest, most accurate one is: The body’s sense of itself. The body sense itself with “proprioceptors.” But is that all proprioceptors do?
To understand proprioception, we need a deeper understanding of the nervous system. “...an organ that can allow or disallow sensation and motion.” Proprioceptors not only act as sensors but can act as facilitators and/or inhibitors of actors. They can move us or keep us from moving.
Let’s take a look at two particular proprioceptors (specifically mechanoreceptors) of our neuroanatomy which intersect interestingly with our musculoskeletal anatomy: the Muscle Spindle and the Golgi Tendon Organ.
The Muscle spindle becomes activated when the muscle experiences a change of position, especially a quick or an extreme change in position. The Golgi Tendon Organ (GTO) becomes active when there is a change in tension, especially a quick and/or extreme change in tension.
What do you think happens when these proprioceptors sense a change and become active? Do you think the y move us or keep us from moving? They keep us from moving. Muscle spindles and GTOs are inhibitory. They shut down their associated musculoskeletal structures when speed, tensile and positional limitations are approached. But why? Why would the body shut down parts of itself?
Just like governors on a car keep it from exceeding a speed, classes of proprioceptors keep us from exceeding our bodily limitations. They keep us from breaking ourselves.
How your nervous system reacts to your movement can be measured. If performing a movement negatively impacts musculoskeletal length, tension and speed relationships, the nervous system “puts the brakes” on movement.
If performing a movement positively impacts musculoskeletal length, tension, and speed relationships, or are within our limitations, I believe the Nervous System reflexively “takes off the brakes.” I believe this is why Movement Quantity Testing can be used to see the effect movement has on our bodies."
I have had tremendous success with this method. Initially I utilized it in the form which I first found it which was to improve exercise performance. In agreement with research uncovered by the forum, heavy resistance training utilizing large movement patterns tested best for me and I have made great strides with these. Aerobic rarely, if ever, tests well. Like many forum members I began to have abdominal pain, bloating, fatigue, diarrhea and constipation with the SAD and based on the advice of the forum and elsewhere began to try out dietary and lifestyle changes. I then came upon this method and have tested various diets and supplements and found myself heading in the same direction as the forum by eating a largely ketogenic diet.
This has helped to allay many of my symptoms; however, I still had continued problems with blurry vision in my right eye. Over the last couple of months I have experimented via this protocol with various treatment methods mentioned on the forum such as probiotics, mineral supplementation, blood letting, heavy metal detoxification as well as herbal remedies suggested on the autoimmune thread such as easy to acquire and easy to make bio film destroyers such as beet juice. These treatments have almost completely restored sight to my right eye and testing has allowed me to know which treatment was right for me at the right time and in the right amount.
I am very grateful to the forum as without the input found here I would never have been able to learn of all the raw material and information which is available to know what to test. Many of the methods of regaining our health mentioned on this forum have been personally validated for me both by being in agreement with the testing protocol and by the results I have achieved.
In the past week I have been experiencing increased negative thoughts and slight headaches with lowered energy, seemingly coinciding with the recent attacks espoused in the most recent session. Then I remembered a session where Ark was having headaches and it was suggested that he have some whiskey:
A: One shot of whiskey per day will help.
Q: Well, that is a bizarre thing to say! A shot of whiskey?! That will help his brain chemistry?
A: Some.
I therefore tested some generic whiskey and there was a mild improvement in my ROM. I also tested some other forms of alcohol such as vodka which all tested negatively. Then I tested some aged 12 year old scotch whiskey and this evoked a marked improvement in my ROM. From here I tested for the optimum amount and have been consuming this whiskey over the last week when it tests well. I have noticed some improvement in my mood and cessation of the headaches I was experiencing.
This is an example of how items that are not generally considered healthy can be assessed and implemented via testing for maximum benefit without the associated cost. This is superior to, for example, having to drink various different types of whisky to find which is best and experiencing possible negligible or even negative side-effects from those which are not beneficial and could have been avoided by testing.
I think it is important for members to at least experiment with this method as soon as possible in order to hopefully benefit from it as I have so this may not be useful for everyone but, in extension to what I have written above, there have also been some more esoteric discoveries that I have made in conjunction with my education using this method. I have developed to the point where I no longer need to perform the actual ROM test and can simply think about whether something is good for me or not and my mind will tell me yes or no.
I have further tested less physical activities such as meditative techniques as well as spinning and have seen benefits from using these. I testes which direction to spin in, with spinning to the right being a preferred option, as well as hand positioning with my right hand over my left and palms facing together. I also experimented with how many revolutions were best and testing concurred with the 33 times mentioned by the Cs.
Following from this I have found that touching objects is not necessary and I can simply be in a near-enough vicinity in order to test for their benefits. I also began to notice that I can sense broad outlines of the feelings and thoughts of those around me if I pay special attention to them and ask questions in my mind in the form of a test. For example one time I was with a female friend and asked myself where to look at her when I talked to her I then sense that it would be best to look at her in her right eye. I then sensed how far to stand from her and various other movement sand postures throughout our conversation and could sense her becoming more and more drawn to me. I did not pursue this any further but it did give me an idea of how psychopaths and “black magicians” may lure in women with their moving centers.
Obviously I did this for selfish reasons of experimentation and have since stopped using my new found “sensing powers” for any sort of interpersonal manipulation. I only mention this because the experiences I have with this remind me of how Gurdjieff describes how he can sense things about people and am wondering if I am possibly reading people’s “vibrations”.
Whilst doing this I have come across some people in whom I cannot sense anything. I began a closer study of these people and found that they exhibited many of the traits of psychopathy. I then made a purposeful meeting with an individual who I can almost certainly say is a psychopath form extensive observation and attempted to sense anything coming from him and, once again, was unable to sense anything. This seems to mesh with a segment of Gurdjieff’s the Herald of Coming Good in his Gurdjieff’s Ponerology https://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,38987.msg588726.html#msg588726 post by Data where Gurdjieff mentions two individuals in his group with whom he can sense nothing inside them at all and calls evil "nothing".
Another example of this sensing ability is when I was in a group consisting of this psychopath he was enacting a pity-ploy over a supposed shoulder injury by giving a heavily exaggerated sob story about how he would “Never be able to use his arm again”. Of course his arm is completely fine to this day, but what I noticed at the time was that those around of who perhaps did not know what he was, were giving large amounts of sympathy to his plight and I could literally sense energy being drained from them to him and it was actually incredibly sad and even frightening to witness!
A more practical example of testing with this sensing function in my mind is with my cat. I can ask myself where my cat would most like to be pat and I will sense a certain place, say on the back of the neck. I will then pat my cat on different places and assess their response and without fail my cat will always give the most favorable response to the place that I pat that tests well. This is not always the same place but each time, even without being in physical contact with my cat I can sense not only where but also in what manner to best pat my cat.
I have recently read Meetings with remarkable men and he references a man who can spell people’s names by holding their arm and I wonder if that was via a similar mechanism.
I am sorry for possibly going off on a tangent from the original intent of this post which is to provide another tool for people who wish to optimize their own health and that of others. Hopefully also this knowledge can be expanded by those who are more proficient in the scientific literature as I have conducted some searches in the past but have lost my findings and am only now able to devote more time to this subject.
I urge people to at least try out the toe touch method today with their meals to provide an extra piece of the puzzle as to whether what they are giving their body is actually right for them at this point in time. It is something that can be easily attempted by anyone and one can document their findings and see whether it may be useful for them.
This can be seen in kinesiology where often muscle testing is used. A baseline level of muscle strength is found via testing a certain movement such as shoulder abduction. Then a stimulus is applied to the body via a kinesiology practitioner and the person's shoulder abduction strength improves, stays the same or gets worse.
In the biofeedback method that I have been using, ANY function of the body can be used as a testing method such as heart rate variability, grip strength, reflex time, or, most simply and easily performed, range of motion (ROM) testing. This method does not require another person and can be performed by someone individually anywhere, anytime.
Using this method one can simply find their baseline ROM and then apply a stimulus and then re-test their ROM and see what effect the stimulus has on their ROM. The easiest way I have found to do this is via the toe touch. Here is an example video of how this can be performed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAMC_k3DAgQ
This method can be applied to diet, medications and really any modality that causes an effect on the human body and can be tested by its influence on the body’s function, most easily assessed via ROM.
I’m sharing this method because I think it can help to better realise one of the aims of this forum to improve the health of its members and humanity in general. For example in the Automimmune disease caused by an infection? Thread https://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,38053.0.html many members were experimenting with different antibiotics and herbal treatments to see whether or not they would have a positive benefit. With biofeedback testing you can determine your baseline ROM then hold the treatment in your hand or simply touch it and then re-test your ROM. If your ROM improves, then you know that the treatment is good for you at that moment in time.
An explicit example is you bend down to touch your toes and on the first sign of tension you stop. This is at mid shin level. You then hold your potassium iodide in your hand and bend down to touch your toes and once again stop at the first sign of tension. Your hands have now reached the top of your foot. There is a measurable, positive benefit associated with the iodine in your hand. You can then focus your attention on the quantity of iodine by testing differing amounts and finding the dose that gives you the optimal ROM improvement.
If there is a negative change in ROM, then you know not to use this Potassium Iodide at this moment in time. In this way we are able to avoid experiencing the harmful effects of something that is not good for you without, in this case, actually ingesting the substance.
To further determine the legitimacy of this method you can perform the test and still take the substance anyway. From here you can keep track of whether the biofeedback protocol is providing you with accurate information based on the results derived from the substance. Then determine if the testing and results correspond.
Originally this method was designed to improve exercise selection and performance and its founder is Frankie Fairies who has written a concise PDF book on the subject called The Biofeedback Solution which can be found here:
http://areyouthemovement.com/thebiofeedbacksolution/
Ultimately I have found this to be the best way to optimize my health as this is a completely individualized approach. Every single thing you do can be tested in terms of quality and quantity and real-time moment to moment feedback can be given to help decide the best implement to utilize for your body.
In addition to the remarkable intellectual centre work that has been applied to the subject of health on this forum this method can be a supplementary movement-centred approach. Can there be something that knows what’s better for your body more than your body itself?
What are the possible mechanisms of action of this method? The aforementioned progenitor of this method, Frankie Fairies, describes some possible insights in his book the Biofeedback Solution:
“Why does biofeedback work?
Biofeedback describes the sensorimotor loop, or how “feeling” (Or sensing in a third way meaning) and “doing” (actions) affect each other. The use of the word “feeling’ is a bit of an imprecise metaphor. Feeling is often used to describe a bodily experience, more specifically: proprioception.
There are many fancy definitions of proprioception but the simplest, most accurate one is: The body’s sense of itself. The body sense itself with “proprioceptors.” But is that all proprioceptors do?
To understand proprioception, we need a deeper understanding of the nervous system. “...an organ that can allow or disallow sensation and motion.” Proprioceptors not only act as sensors but can act as facilitators and/or inhibitors of actors. They can move us or keep us from moving.
Let’s take a look at two particular proprioceptors (specifically mechanoreceptors) of our neuroanatomy which intersect interestingly with our musculoskeletal anatomy: the Muscle Spindle and the Golgi Tendon Organ.
The Muscle spindle becomes activated when the muscle experiences a change of position, especially a quick or an extreme change in position. The Golgi Tendon Organ (GTO) becomes active when there is a change in tension, especially a quick and/or extreme change in tension.
What do you think happens when these proprioceptors sense a change and become active? Do you think the y move us or keep us from moving? They keep us from moving. Muscle spindles and GTOs are inhibitory. They shut down their associated musculoskeletal structures when speed, tensile and positional limitations are approached. But why? Why would the body shut down parts of itself?
Just like governors on a car keep it from exceeding a speed, classes of proprioceptors keep us from exceeding our bodily limitations. They keep us from breaking ourselves.
How your nervous system reacts to your movement can be measured. If performing a movement negatively impacts musculoskeletal length, tension and speed relationships, the nervous system “puts the brakes” on movement.
If performing a movement positively impacts musculoskeletal length, tension, and speed relationships, or are within our limitations, I believe the Nervous System reflexively “takes off the brakes.” I believe this is why Movement Quantity Testing can be used to see the effect movement has on our bodies."
I have had tremendous success with this method. Initially I utilized it in the form which I first found it which was to improve exercise performance. In agreement with research uncovered by the forum, heavy resistance training utilizing large movement patterns tested best for me and I have made great strides with these. Aerobic rarely, if ever, tests well. Like many forum members I began to have abdominal pain, bloating, fatigue, diarrhea and constipation with the SAD and based on the advice of the forum and elsewhere began to try out dietary and lifestyle changes. I then came upon this method and have tested various diets and supplements and found myself heading in the same direction as the forum by eating a largely ketogenic diet.
This has helped to allay many of my symptoms; however, I still had continued problems with blurry vision in my right eye. Over the last couple of months I have experimented via this protocol with various treatment methods mentioned on the forum such as probiotics, mineral supplementation, blood letting, heavy metal detoxification as well as herbal remedies suggested on the autoimmune thread such as easy to acquire and easy to make bio film destroyers such as beet juice. These treatments have almost completely restored sight to my right eye and testing has allowed me to know which treatment was right for me at the right time and in the right amount.
I am very grateful to the forum as without the input found here I would never have been able to learn of all the raw material and information which is available to know what to test. Many of the methods of regaining our health mentioned on this forum have been personally validated for me both by being in agreement with the testing protocol and by the results I have achieved.
In the past week I have been experiencing increased negative thoughts and slight headaches with lowered energy, seemingly coinciding with the recent attacks espoused in the most recent session. Then I remembered a session where Ark was having headaches and it was suggested that he have some whiskey:
A: One shot of whiskey per day will help.
Q: Well, that is a bizarre thing to say! A shot of whiskey?! That will help his brain chemistry?
A: Some.
I therefore tested some generic whiskey and there was a mild improvement in my ROM. I also tested some other forms of alcohol such as vodka which all tested negatively. Then I tested some aged 12 year old scotch whiskey and this evoked a marked improvement in my ROM. From here I tested for the optimum amount and have been consuming this whiskey over the last week when it tests well. I have noticed some improvement in my mood and cessation of the headaches I was experiencing.
This is an example of how items that are not generally considered healthy can be assessed and implemented via testing for maximum benefit without the associated cost. This is superior to, for example, having to drink various different types of whisky to find which is best and experiencing possible negligible or even negative side-effects from those which are not beneficial and could have been avoided by testing.
I think it is important for members to at least experiment with this method as soon as possible in order to hopefully benefit from it as I have so this may not be useful for everyone but, in extension to what I have written above, there have also been some more esoteric discoveries that I have made in conjunction with my education using this method. I have developed to the point where I no longer need to perform the actual ROM test and can simply think about whether something is good for me or not and my mind will tell me yes or no.
I have further tested less physical activities such as meditative techniques as well as spinning and have seen benefits from using these. I testes which direction to spin in, with spinning to the right being a preferred option, as well as hand positioning with my right hand over my left and palms facing together. I also experimented with how many revolutions were best and testing concurred with the 33 times mentioned by the Cs.
Following from this I have found that touching objects is not necessary and I can simply be in a near-enough vicinity in order to test for their benefits. I also began to notice that I can sense broad outlines of the feelings and thoughts of those around me if I pay special attention to them and ask questions in my mind in the form of a test. For example one time I was with a female friend and asked myself where to look at her when I talked to her I then sense that it would be best to look at her in her right eye. I then sensed how far to stand from her and various other movement sand postures throughout our conversation and could sense her becoming more and more drawn to me. I did not pursue this any further but it did give me an idea of how psychopaths and “black magicians” may lure in women with their moving centers.
Obviously I did this for selfish reasons of experimentation and have since stopped using my new found “sensing powers” for any sort of interpersonal manipulation. I only mention this because the experiences I have with this remind me of how Gurdjieff describes how he can sense things about people and am wondering if I am possibly reading people’s “vibrations”.
Whilst doing this I have come across some people in whom I cannot sense anything. I began a closer study of these people and found that they exhibited many of the traits of psychopathy. I then made a purposeful meeting with an individual who I can almost certainly say is a psychopath form extensive observation and attempted to sense anything coming from him and, once again, was unable to sense anything. This seems to mesh with a segment of Gurdjieff’s the Herald of Coming Good in his Gurdjieff’s Ponerology https://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,38987.msg588726.html#msg588726 post by Data where Gurdjieff mentions two individuals in his group with whom he can sense nothing inside them at all and calls evil "nothing".
Another example of this sensing ability is when I was in a group consisting of this psychopath he was enacting a pity-ploy over a supposed shoulder injury by giving a heavily exaggerated sob story about how he would “Never be able to use his arm again”. Of course his arm is completely fine to this day, but what I noticed at the time was that those around of who perhaps did not know what he was, were giving large amounts of sympathy to his plight and I could literally sense energy being drained from them to him and it was actually incredibly sad and even frightening to witness!
A more practical example of testing with this sensing function in my mind is with my cat. I can ask myself where my cat would most like to be pat and I will sense a certain place, say on the back of the neck. I will then pat my cat on different places and assess their response and without fail my cat will always give the most favorable response to the place that I pat that tests well. This is not always the same place but each time, even without being in physical contact with my cat I can sense not only where but also in what manner to best pat my cat.
I have recently read Meetings with remarkable men and he references a man who can spell people’s names by holding their arm and I wonder if that was via a similar mechanism.
I am sorry for possibly going off on a tangent from the original intent of this post which is to provide another tool for people who wish to optimize their own health and that of others. Hopefully also this knowledge can be expanded by those who are more proficient in the scientific literature as I have conducted some searches in the past but have lost my findings and am only now able to devote more time to this subject.
I urge people to at least try out the toe touch method today with their meals to provide an extra piece of the puzzle as to whether what they are giving their body is actually right for them at this point in time. It is something that can be easily attempted by anyone and one can document their findings and see whether it may be useful for them.
