Thomas Cobb, MA, M.F.T.
Marriage and Family Therapist
Biofeedback Therapist
T'ai Chi Chuan Instructor

In this program, I have an opportunity to blend two strains of knowledge and training. Both have their origin for me in the early 1970's and both are approaches which teach empowerment through awareness and re-patterning of the body's responses. The first is T'ai Chi Chuan and Qigong. I had the opportunity to find a teacher knowledgeable and willing to teach this ancient art of body awareness. The practice of T'ai Chi and Qigong has given me an experiential window into my own physiology and a profound respect for our body's ability, even necessity, to be "patterned" for good or ill. In the late 1970's I was a counselor and psychological assistant administering psychological testing for a pain clinic in Santa Rosa, California. I was part of a multidisciplinary team which assessed the situation and needs of chronic pain sufferers.

The team consisted of myself for psychological testing, a psychiatrist for medication and therapy, an occupational therapist, a physical therapist and Ray Lambert, a biofeedback therapist. I mention Ray by name because he became my mentor for biofeedback therapy.

Ray had designed and sold biofeedback equipment in the 1970's and had the opportunity to both train and learn from various researchers who were on the cutting edge of biofeedback therapy throughout the United States. As part of the clinical team at this pain clinic, I was impressed by Ray's knowledge and expertise as well as his contribution to the improvement of our patients. After working together for a year, Ray invited me to join him in a private outpatient pain clinic he was forming and he offered to teach me biofeedback. I jumped at the chance since I was very interested in the mind/body connection.

We worked together successfully doing biofeedback for six years during which time we spearheaded the formation of a multidisciplinary outpatient pain clinic. But the heart of our work had always been biofeedback–using sensitive electrical monitoring equipment to teach people how to become aware of their physiological responses, relax and reverse the sometimes very negative effects of stress and muscle tension. In my own work I was able to incorporate insights from Chinese medicine, particularly the stretching and internal awareness aspects. We were well accepted by the medical community in Santa Rosa and were often referred patients who had not responded to any other form of treatment for their chronic, debilitating conditions. Our success rate with these patients who had not responded to years of medical treatment was impressive. We saw people with a variety of conditions: headaches, neck pain, whiplash, low-back pain, insomnia, irritable bowel syndrome, panic attacks, chronic anxiety, premature ventricular contractions, irritable bladder syndrome, incontinence and nonspecific abdominal pain.

Ray and I went our separate ways in 1986. He formed an incontinence clinic with a local gastroenterologist, and I took a four year training program in in-depth body oriented psychotherapy while continuing my T'ai Chi studies. I continued to see people for biofeedback as well as for psychotherapy, but I have been drawn principally to biofeedback. I can't forget how effective this work is for empowering people to be in charge of their bodies and for reversing debilitating chronic conditions. Ray and I had always wanted to publish our methods and results, but in a busy clinical practice there was no time. In today's world, where the cost of health care is an issue, the techniques Ray taught and the ancient methods of physical development in T'ai Chi are even more important. Based on over 20 years of clinical experience, I know it is possible to effectively teach people how to stop the chronic pain of headaches without medicine, easily and in a short period of time.

That is why we are starting this program. We want to share these techniques with as many people as possible, empower them to take charge of their health and get out of the medical system for these chronic conditions which respond best to education and re-patterning of behavior. – Tom Cobb