Welcome to the Stress Resilient Mind Blog

PART 1: Blog Articles

N=1 Experiment: Effect of Paced Breathing on Blood Pressure

Psychologist William Tracy describes the results of his n=1 experiment to test whether paced breathing can lower blood pressure

The Best Way To Measure And Track Mindfulness?

Most mindfulness research studies use self-report questionnaires to measure mindfulness, but these have significant flaws. Here I discuss an alternative and more objective way to measure and track mindfulness.

Personal Experiments in Fasting Mimicking, Nutritional Ketosis, Meditation and Heart Coherence

Recently I followed three days of fasting mimicking, which amongst other things is designed to trigger nutritional ketosis. I wanted to experience the effect on my meditation practice. In this article I describe what happened.

What Causes Chronic Hyperventilation And What To Do About It - Part 4: What You Can Do

Final part of a series of articles exploring the questions of what might be causing chronic and resistant over-breathing or hyperventilation (showing up as stubbornly low carbon dioxide readings from a capnometer) and secondly what we might do to address such problems

What Causes Chronic Hyperventilation And What To Do About It - Part 3: Causes Of Low Carbon Dioxide

This article is part 3 in a series examining the causes of chronic hyperventilation or over-breathing (manifesting in stubbornly low carbon dioxide readings from a capnometer. Here we examine causes in greater depth.

What Causes Chronic Hyperventilation And What To Do About It - Part 2: Underlying Physiology

This article is part 3 in a series examining the causes of chronic hyperventilation or over-breathing (manifesting in stubbornly low carbon dioxide readings from a capnometer. Here we investigate acid production and acidity regulation in the body.

What Causes Chronic Hyperventilation And What To Do About It - Part 1

An introduction to a series of articles examining the questions of what causes chronic persistent hyperventilation (showing up as stubbornly low carbon dioxide readings from a capnometer) and what you can do about it.

The Man Who Couldn't Feel Anxious

Is anxiety a brain-based or body-based experience? A recent BBC documentary sheds some interesting light on this question.

How To Stop Falling Asleep in Meditation - Experimenting With The Inhalation To Exhalation Ratio

I describe an experiment on myself - what happens to skin conductance (GSR) when I shift my breathing to a high inhalation to exhalation ratio?

Are Panic Attacks Really Out Of The Blue? Predictive Biomarkers Of Panic

Do panic attacks really come out of the blue? Evidence suggests there are physiological warning signs up to 45 minutes in advance.

PART 2: Stress Resilience Blueprint Series

These articles all relate to the initial article, on my Stress Resilience Blueprint, and form a coherent sequence.

Stress Resilience Blueprint

A short but radical view of what you need to effectively manage stress - anxiety, panic, fatigue, insomnia - focusing on skills and resources, also mindset, and the best tools for developing resililence

Stress Management: the Right Goals and the Wrong Goals

First of a series of articles on stress resilience, looking at what can and can't be changed about stress and anxiety

Stress - What Is The Real Problem?

What is it that amplifies minor stress into major problems - painful emotions like anxiety and panic? In this article I suggest it's an avoidant coping strategy - trying to push difficult feelings out of awareness.

Why Trying Harder Often Makes Things Worse

This article presents the well-known Human Performance Curve as a way of thinking about stress and ineffective coping - trying harder takes you further away from the point of peak performance. Effective stress management means learning different skills.

How June Overcame Her Short Fuse And Emotional Volatility

Case study of how biofeedback helped a client learn to control her volatile anger much more effectively - by letting go of over-control and avoiding the quicksand trap

What's Your Model Of Well-being? (And Why It Matters)

Happiness or wellbeing takes different forms and this article looks at the major aspects, as defined By Martin Seligman's PERMA model from Positive Psychology

How You View Stress Matters, And How To Change Your View

Your view of what stress means conditions how you respond to it. Reframing is a coaching technique that shifts your view of what stress is, and hence how you try to manage stress.

What Do We Need For Emotional Well-being?

This article looks at the conditions humans need for emotional well-being - or in other words what are our emotional needs

Five Key Stress Resilience Skills

Stress resilience is a skill-set based on mind-body skills or the ability to regulate the mind-body connection. In this article I explore five skills that are the foundation of resilience.

The Starting Point For Success In Stress Management (& Any Other Project)

Growth mindset and fixed mindset describe different attitudes towards learning and intelligence - but what is your mindset when it comes to stress management?

PART 3: Articles For Professionals

Gaining Clarity On Your Client's Journey - Setting Developmental Goals

Developmental goals are one way that therapists and coaches can frame their client's journey - instead of specific outcomes we focus on skills and resources the client needs to develop, to feel better.

The Quicksand Trap: A Key Reframe In Stress Management Coaching & Therapy

The quicksand trap is a reframe used by therapists and coaches to shift focus from the impossible goal of suppressing anxiety to developing resilience. It's also an important metaphor for biofeedback work.

Three Ways Biofeedback Can Help Your Clients

Three ways in which biofeedback works as a tool to develop the skill-set of stress resilience

Stress Mindset: A Key Reframe For Therapists and Coaches Working With Stress and Anxiety

Mindset (a set of beliefs and assumptions, perhaps unconscious) conditions how we respond to stress. This article looks at how an unhelpful mindset can make stress worse.

Stress Mindset: A Key Reframe For Therapists and Coaches Working With Stress and Anxiety - Part 2

Part 2 of this review of stress mindset looks at how clients see stress and what it means. I show how you can enquire about stress mindset, and give some useful and interesting video resources.

Biofeedback vs. Neurofeedback: What's The Difference, & Which Is The Better Tool For Coaches & Therapists

Neurofeedback is one type of biofeedback. This article considers the differences in more depth, starting from a review of how we learn and how biofeedback and neurofeedback create change.

Five Key Stress Resilience Skills & How To Train Them With Biofeedback

Developmental goals frame the work of therapy in terms of developing and training new skills and resources. Here I look at five mind-body skills, or skills in managing the mind-body connection so that clients can create physiology that supports optimal mental states. Biofeedback is an ideal tool for training mind-body skills.

The Skill-set of Attention & How To Train It

Attention is a faculty that can be trained and developed. Attention is important not just for cognitive performance but for emotional well-being and stress resilience. Mindfulness, neurofeedback and biofeedback are tools that can help train attention and focus.

Making Sense Of The Quicksand Trap Part 1: The Human Performance Curve - Another Key Reframe For Coaches & Therapists

This article looks at the Human Performance Curve as a tool to help clients understand what happens in stress situations, especially when they make things worse by trying too hard (i.e. the "quicksand trap").

Making Sense Of The Quicksand Trap Part 2 - Another Key Reframe For Coaches & Therapists

This article introduces another model that helps clients to make sense of and move forward from the quicksand trap, i.e. stress situations where they are making things worse not better.

PART 4: General Articles

What Is Positive Psychology & How Can It Help Stress & Anxiety?

Positive psychology is the science of wellbeing, happiness and optimal functioning. It studies the conditions needed for humans to flourish and thrive rather than simply avoid suffering. Positive psychology coaching helps identify personal goals and develops skills and resources.

Optimal Breathing Training With Biofeedback

Dysregulated breathing can be a cause of problems such as stress, anxiety, panic, irritability, fatigue and brain fog. Optimal breathing can be a platform for clear focus and emotional wellbeing. This article explains why breathing is so important in stress management.

HRV or Heart Coherence Biofeedback For Stress & Anxiety

Training heart coherence with HRV biofeedback can benefit physical health (e.g. IBS) emotional wellbeing and cognitive performance (e.g. focus, concentration). This article defines HRV heart coherence, and explains how HRV biofeedback can benefit stress, anxiety, focus, etc.

Capnometry or Capnography Biofeedback For Stress, Anxiety and Emotional Resilience

Capnometry measures carbon dioxide in exhaled air and is the best way to detect over-breathing or hyperventilation. Over-breathing significantly impairs brain performance. Training breathing with capnometry biofeedback can help develop emotional resilience, focus and clarity.

EMG or Muscle Tension Biofeedback For Stress, Anxiety & Mindfulness Support

EMG is a measure of muscle tension and EMG biofeedback can help stress and anxiety management. This article explains how.

What Is EEG Neurofeedback & How Can It Help Stress, Anxiety, Focus & Emotional Resilience?

This article explains what EEG neurofeedback is, what it can be used for, and how it creates benefits. I discuss differences between some of the main forms of EEG neurofeedback, and compare it to peripheral biofeedback.

What Is Neurotherapy & How Can It Help Improve Brain Function

Article describing various forms of neurotherapy including neurofeedback, tDCS, CES and AVE and how they work to help anxiety, stress, mood problems, attention and focus, and brain performance gernally

What Is HEG Neurofeedback & How Can It Help Improve Focus, Attention And Brain Fog?

Hemoencephalography or HEG is a form of neurofeedback based on detecting changes in metabolic activity in the front part of the brain, the prefrontal cortex, which is a key player in executive function (focus, concentration, self-organisation etc.) and emotional regulation. This article explains how HEG neurofeedback works.

EEG Assessment As The Basis For Neurofeedback For Stress, Anxiety, Brain Fog and Mood Problems

EEG can give a useful assessment of brain function and can suggest ways of improving brain performance, such as neurofeedback and brain stimulation techniques (AVS, tDCS). This article explains how.

How Biofeedback Can Support Mindfulness-Based Therapy For Stress & Anxiety

Describes how biofeedback can make mindfulness meditation practice more effective (so you spend less time in distraction) by supporting the preconditions for flow

Four Key Principles For Effective Stress Management

Stress management can be seen as a project - you need clear, achievable goals and the right skills and resources. The major work of stress reduction is training and developing skills.