Alyce M. Green Biography

Alyce Green (June 14, 1907 to August 6, 1994) pioneered the field of biofeedback with her husband and colleague Elmer Green.   She co-directed the Voluntary Controls Program of biofeedback research at the Menninger Foundation with Elmer.  Together they wrote Beyond Biofeedback, a seminal book on the principles and applications of biofeedback training.  She was instrumental in evolving biofeedback in the 1970s from a subject of research to a clinical tool, thus creating the field of clinical biofeedback.

Alyce was instrumental also in founding the field of transpersonal psychology.  She was the first president of the Association for Transpersonal Psychology in 1972, bringing together her deep interest in both human potential and spirituality.  She also co-founded the Council Grove Conference on the Voluntary Control of Internal States in 1969.

Prior to joining the Menninger Foundation in 1964, Alyce raised a family, engaged in civic activities, and sailed a yacht across the Atlantic with Elmer.  In her graduate studies at the University of Chicago she focused on the roots of creativity, an aspect of human potential that fascinated her.  From her study of creative people and their spontaneous insights in dreams or waking reverie states, Alyce hypothesized that the creative process could be enhanced by learning how to enter the reverie state at will.  This hypothesis stimulated innovative research and clinical work at Menninger in theta brainwave feedback training for creativity and self-awareness.

In her professional career Alyce combined research, counseling, and teaching through professional societies, workshops and seminars.  In her personal life, she was “at one” with nature and had a gift for healing injured creatures.   She found a spiritual path in the teachings of Sri Aurobindo and The Tibetan, often reading for hours at a time, making notes as she read.  Speaking at the Council Grove Conference in 1981 she said, “Some time ago I decided it was time, in my life, to read more, to think, to meditate, to clarify my life.  I believe each one of us is on a path, a path of growth, a path toward greater enlightenment—a path of transformation.  I believe that treading the path is inevitable, it is a law, a truth.”  Alyce was dedicated to a path that, for her, integrated spiritual growth, healing work, and professional creativity.