Introduction

In recent years there has been substantial support for heart rate variability biofeedback (HRVB) as a treatment for a variety of disorders and for performance enhancement (Gevirtz, 2013).

HRVB is efficacious as a treatment for anxiety (Moss, 2016), depression (Shaffer & Zerr,2016), hypertension (McGrady, 2016), Irritable Bowel Syndrome (Stern et al., 2016), chronic muscle pain and asthma (Lehrer, 2016).

This course is designed for therapists, interested in utilizing HRVB in their practice. The course content covers all items of the BCIA 16-hours didactic training in HRV, offered as an online course plus a 2-day workshop, focused on hands-on practice and case reports. The NeXus-10 multimodal biofeedback system, Kyto heart rate monitor with Elite HRV app and Firstbeat Life are used in the hands-on practices and case reports. 

Faculty

Daniëlle Matto
Psychologist, biofeedback therapist BCIA-BCB/HRV

Erik van den Top
Health & Performance coach, HRV practitioner/researcher specialised in behavioural change and lifestyle

Class format

 Day 1:

• Introduction to Heart Rate Variability
• Influence of respiration on heart rate
• Hands-on: Measuring ECG, BVP (PPG) and respiration
• HRV analysis
• Hands-on Resonance Frequency assessment and HRV analysis
• HRV home training with Kyto heart rate monitor and Elite HRV app
• Treatment of hypertension (a full protocol)

Day 2

• Why HRV training is not so simple: solutions for common problems
• Demonstration: biofeedback stressprofiel
• Hands-on coherence check with Elite HRV app
• Firstbeat Life HRV measurement
• Treatment of sleep problems: enhance your treatment with HRV training and Firstbeat Life

Online part of the course

This course comes with an online self-study module, containing the following chapters:

• Introduction
• Anatomy and physiology of the autonomic nervous system
• Anatomy and physiology of the respiratory system
• Anatomy and physiology of the cardiovascular system
• Heartrate variability (HRV)
• HRV assessment
• HRV training
• HRV analysis
• Literature

One month before the course you will receive an email with the login code for the online part of the course. Completion of this online part is not mandatory, but it will give you a headstart in order to get the most out of your participation in the practical course days.

Location

Conference center Eenhoorn
(opposite Amersfoort train station)
Barchman Wuytierslaan 2
3818 LH Amersfoort

Travel information

Amersfoort is easily reached by train from Schiphol Amsterdam airport (direct train connection, 45 minutes). 

By car: enter “Amersfoort, Barchman Wuytierslaan 2″ on your navigation, you will automatically end up at the parking lot (15 euro per day) with 114 parking spaces, 8 of which have an electric charging point.