Biofeedback 2.0

This New York Times article reads as one more reason that mental health integration plays a critical role in the future of healthcare. Their summary of mindfulness and the impact of this practice on physical pain is certainly compelling, but I have to wonder if it is just putting a new coat of paint on a therapy that has been around for decades - biofeedback.

I'm not an expert in either one, but it seems like mindfulness is biofeedback without the electrical sensors. In both methods, a person is guided to focus on body awareness in a way that will relieve pain and stress and then taught self-regulation techniques to achieve this relief outside of treatment. It would be very interesting to see research done on the efficacy of one over the other, or the results when both methods are combined.