Measuring the Unmeasurable: How I Used Wearable Technology to Measure the Effect of Visual Journeying on Stress
For decades, energy-based healing practices have been criticized for one central reason: their effects were largely subjective. Experiences such as altered states of consciousness, energetic shifts, or deep emotional release were meaningful to participants—but difficult, if not impossible, to measure objectively. The effects of these practices on chronic stress, in particular, has been hard to track beyond self-report.
My thesis research was one of the first to use wearable technology to measure the effect of one shamanic practice: visual journeying.
Bringing Objective Data to Subjective Experience
Participants attended four shamanic journeying sessions over approximately one month. During each session, EEG devices recorded brainwave activity, while wearable sensors continuously measured HRV and heart-brain coherence—key indicators of stress regulation and nervous system balance. Participants also reported their perceived stress levels before and after each session.
What makes this study noteworthy is not simply the practice itself, but the ability to objectively measure physiological changes during altered states of consciousness—something that was previously inaccessible. EEG data confirmed that participants entered distinct non-ordinary states, while wearables captured concurrent shifts in cardiovascular regulation associated with relaxation and stress recovery. The data showed measurable improvements in HRV and coherence for many participants, suggesting reduced stress and improved autonomic flexibility.
In other words, experiences that were once considered purely internal or anecdotal could now be tracked in the body, in real time.
AI and the Evolution of Data Analysis
Historically, interpreting EEG and HRV data required specialized software and time-intensive manual analysis. In this study, AI tools were used to clean, organize, and visualize the data, allowing researchers to more easily correlate brainwave states with changes in HRV during shamanic journeys.
This combination of wearables and AI represents a significant shift: subtle, transient physiological changes—once too complex to track—can now be analyzed with greater clarity and efficiency.
A New Model for Integrative Health
My small pilot study begs for larger study in what we can now see is a shift in health research. Practices once considered “unmeasurable” are becoming quantifiable, not by reducing them to numbers alone, but by placing them in dialogue with the body’s own signals.
By integrating ancient mind-body practices with modern wearable technology, we can now observe how consciousness, stress, and physiology interact—moment by moment. While larger and longer studies are needed, the implications are clear: wearables may be the bridge that finally allows science to measure what was once only felt.
The future of stress management and integrative health may not lie in choosing between tradition and technology—but in using both, together, to reveal what has always been there.
