Mission

Mission

BEHAVIORAL PHYSIOLOGY INSTITUTE

"Behavioral physiology” is a behavioral approach to understanding physiology, that physiology is fundamentally psychological in nature. It is about the principles that govern how physiology acquires and processes information, information about “itself” and information about its environment, and how it makes use of this information for self-regulation, homeostasis. In behavioral terms this processing constitutes what is known as “learning,” which includes the principles of attention, motivation, emotion, memory, sensation, perception, and reinforcement.

Learning is a fundamental life process. It means physiological reconfiguration. In fact, all living things, including cells, learn. Physiological reconfiguration, learning, is a creative process giving rise to an intelligent evolvement of immediately useful new biological mechanisms, a kind of adaptation that does not rely on long-term genetic reengineering. It also speaks to emerging new principles beyond that of simple survival, ones that involve consciousness, experience, and meaning.

An impressive example of biological learning and its effects is “overbreathing,” a learned behavior that may cause, trigger, exacerbate, and perpetuate a wide variety of emotional (anxiety, anger), cognitive (attention, learning), behavioral (public speaking, test taking), and physical (pain, asthma) changes that may seriously impact health and performance. These symptoms and deficits are real, not imagined, and typically go “unexplained,” or are mistakenly attributed to other causes. Millions unwittingly suffer with the consequences of learned overbreathing.

CapnoLearning®, developed by the Institute, is about the application of the principles of behavioral analysis, behavior modification, biofeedback, cognitive learning, and awareness training to breathing behavior. Clients learn about how they have learned to breathe, how their breathing affects them, and how to effectively self-regulate breathing behavior based on learning rather than prescriptive exercise. Good breathing can bring about immensely beneficial physical, mental, and behavioral changes based on proper regulation of carbon dioxide, the key player in moment-to-moment acid-base regulation.