- Patients will be excluded if they have: 1) valvular heart disease (as a primary cause of their HF; can have it if the primary cause is ischemic, hypertensive or idiopathic), peripartum heart failure, myocarditis; 2) history of cerebral vascular accident (CVA) within previous 3 months or major stroke sequelae; 3) history of major extremity vascular problems; 4) recent (within 3 months) myocardial infarction (MI); 5) coexisting terminal illness; 6) systolic blood pressure less than 80 mmHg; or 7) previous experience with biofeedback, relaxation .