Biofeedback Games
Games, gains & growing pains
By Cate Montana

It started as a fad in the late sixties. By 1985 biofeedback training was helping fighter pilots stay conscious during high altitude flights where toxic fuel fumes often induced seizures and blackouts. It also worked for the control of gastro-intestinal motility for astronauts, helping the guys and gals with the Right Stuff to keep from losing their lunch in free-fall.

But no matter the purpose (or incentives!), spending hours hooked to an electromyograph (EMG) measuring electric current in the muscles, or an electroencephalograph (EEG) measuring brain waves and attempting to change the pitch of an audio tone was BORING. So Patrick Doyle, a NASA psychologist, developed a more interactive and interesting format for the pilots and astronauts – the biofeedback game.

Bio-Ball™ was the first generation multimedia video game invented by Doyle, and is an interactive baseball game where players hit the ball when muscle relaxation is achieved. The game enabled people to learn how to control subconscious physiological processes such as heartbeat, muscle tension, skin temperature and respiration rate. This type of biofeedback game soon made its way into corporate wellness training programs, hospitals and larger clinics. Applications included management of a wide array of physical symptoms, from high blood pressure and tension headaches, to chronic insomnia and fatigue, Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and even addictions.

The development of personal computers capable of processing real time brainwave activity has now made biofeedback programs practical for private health practitioners such as Judy Chiswell of Williamsville, NY. A cognitive psychologist with twenty-five years of professional biofeedback experience, Chiswell uses biofeedback programs to assist clients suffering from head traumas and Autistic Spectrum Disorders, which run the gamut from epilepsy to ADD and ADHD. She also helps amateur athletes improve their sports performances.

“The brain is extremely plastic in its ability to reform itself and shift states through training,” says Chiswell. “Biofeedback is like taking your brain to the gym.”

Today, numerous companies such as Creative MultiMedia, Inc., which produces Bio-Ball©, Bio-Golf©, Clutch City© and 3-D Space Pilot©, have gotten into the market, producing games for practitioners and in-home health-addicts alike. Digitalmill, Inc. out of Portland, Maine creates games specific to a variety of health projects, including the Dance Dance Revolution, a dance game that reports calorie burning from game sessions; Iceworld and Splash, two 3-D environments that help patients cope with severe pain from burns and cancer treatments; and VR Phobia, a game designed to help people over the more common terrors of heights, spiders, flying and snakes.

But the program destined to bring biofeedback gaming into the popular public domain and keep it there, belongs to last year’s release, Journey To Wild Divine. Run by Ph.D. biomedical engineer Kurt Smith and animator/developer Corwin Bell of Eldorado Springs, CO, the Wild Divine Project has produced a profoundly lush game that aspires to nothing less than personal transformation for players - and a lot of FUN.

Click here to purchase a copy now

“It seems to me that we’ve lost the inner technology—the mystical mind/body connection—that was known to the ancient sages and shamans (or yogis),” says Bell. “I’ve always wanted to find a way to re-integrate those teachings into our daily lives. That’s what we tried to do with Wild Divine.”

Using advanced 3-D computer imagery, Journey to Wild Divine guides gamers, who are hooked up to a biofeedback module that measures heart rate, electrical impulses and other body functions, through the intricate world of the Sun Palace. Filled with temples, magical beasts, power objects and intricate landscapes, this archetypal realm is populated by wise Guides and an Eastern Buddhist monk ready to assist. Over 40 interactive experiences, from juggling balls, to levitation, to spinning mandalas are accomplished through learned breath control, relaxation and energy manipulation. All this is accomplished to the haunting, relaxing melodies of Nawang Kheochog, one of Tibet’s foremost world musicians and composers, and recording artist Chris Berry.

“The journey that Corwin has developed is very profound,” Smith says. “I’ve seen people sit down with the game and have transformational experiences.”

With health and potential transformation in a high-tech entertainment package, who could resist? Forget Jane Fonda’s admonition “no pain, no gain.” Whether a simple gaming sport model, or a rich and complex journey into meditative states of mind, the bottom-line purpose behind the biofeedback process -personal change – has never been so simple, or painless. Indeed, advanced technology and imagination have made the journey to change positively inviting.

Click here to purchase a copy now