Serious head trauma & Neuroptimal® Neurofeedback Brain Training Video

Take a few minutes to hear what this Mom shares about her son who had a serious motor vehicle accident and how his recovery was aided greatly by Neuroptimal® non-linear, non-invasive neurofeedback brain training. It is very touching and real. I still don’t think that most people have a clue about how plastic our brains are and how this approach can bring people back from all sorts of situation from serious anxiety to what is discussed here.  Simply bu mirroring the brain’s energy expenditure back to it in real time, it is capable to re-normalizing itself.

“Best Biohack Ever…”- Dr. Val Brown’s interview with Bulletproof’s Dave Aspery

This episode is all about the most effective biohack I’ve experience yet – NeurOptimal® brain training. Dr. Valdeane Brown, Founder of NeurOptimal, came on the show to explain how this technology takes your performance to uncharted levels! The NeurOptimal brain trainer is the most powerful and affordable neurofeedback technology available. You will get to hear about the EEG technology and how it transforms your brain, upgrade athletic performance, and even help with migraines, PTSD, and abusive relationships. Does this sound too good to be true? Listen for yourself… Dr. Valdeane W. Brown is an internationally recognized “trainer of neurofeedback trainers”, who has taught and consulted widely on personal and organizational transformation. With a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and a background in math, physics, computer programming, philosophy, yoga, meditation and martial arts, Dr. Brown brings a presence and precision to his work. This is further informed by a profound sense of compassion, a facility with energy dynamics and a deep commitment to revealing the elegant simplicity inherent in learning and transformation. Developer of the Five Phase Model and co-creator with his wife Sue of the Period 3 Approach to Clinical Neurofeedback, Dr. Brown has realized his vision of a truly comprehensive training system in NeurOptimal. His vision in bringing NeurOptimal to the world is to make personal transformation effortless and available to all.

 

The Pressure of Intimacy Can Trigger Big Reactions

Having worked as a psychotherapist offering couples therapy for years, and having been in a long term, committed relationship for a few decades myself, I know what intimacy can dredge up in us.  Actually, it is fine, so long as it stays healthy.  It is when we can’t reflect and learn and grow from the pressure and reactivity that it can eventually cause a rift that is very difficult to heal.

For myself, I have always sought out support for the conflicts that sharing a life with another person can bring up.  Old family of origin patterns are the basis of our reactivity, combined with the pressure that life puts on us.  Add to that illness, financial challenges, environmental concerns, mental, emotional and physical vulnerability and it is no wonder why at times we react the way we do.

In a recent conversation with someone who does regular Neuroptimal® Neurofeedback brain training sessions, while speaking about the couple process, he shared very eloquently about his personal experience of being in a long term relationship and was able to beautifully express what he noticed since he has been doing this unique form of brain training.

Here it is:

“Since beginning Neuroptimal, the space between first beginning an energy charged interaction with my partner and when a reactive emotion arises has widened. Decades of meditation certainly helps, but Neuroptimal has added a significant factor of increased clarity to this space. In that space, the underlying or initiating emotions have become visible. Before the anger there is often fear or sadness.  Energizing the fear and sadness (there) is always caring. I have yet to see an emotion arise that is related to something that I do not deeply care about. The more deeply I care, the more intense the emotion. This occurs both for positive and negative emotions.
Within the space between the deep caring and the resultant reactive emotion, I can make a choice. I can choose to focus my attention on the underlying or the resultant reactive emotion. When I choose the underlying deep caring, the true causes of my emotional reaction to the situation become clear. This clarity is a game changer. Speaking and interacting from here, opportunities for healing and closer relationship become possible as the truth of why I am emoting is in the foreground not the background.
Further, my heart energy, and the wisdom that comes with it, is now engaged; which brings compassion and love to the interaction. My spouse of forty years sees, hears and feels the difference. We have become closer as the result.  Of course sometimes the reactive emotion has already taken off and all this must be seen in reflection. Even then the follow up with her has become much more authentic, meaningful and helpful.
Thank you for the opportunity to express this and gain clarity in the process. And as always, deep gratitude for Neuroptimal.”

Dr. Val Brown professional trainer webinar on NeurOPTIMAL®

Val Brown, Ph.D. and developer of NeurOPTIMAL® Neurofeedback presented this webinar to the professional trainer community. In it, you hear from the horses mouth what NeurOPTIMAL® does and how it does what it does.  Let us know if we can answer any further questions.

What is the difference between linear & non-linear neurofeedback?

Princess Leia from Stars Wars speaks to Obi Wan and Luke in the form of a hologram that R2 is projecting on the table.

 

The difference between linear and non-linear neurofeedback is ‘huge’ (as Bernie would say). And there is only one system that I know of that utilizes non-linear physics and math and that is NeurOptimal®.  As I understand it, the traditional field is reading only 4% of the electrical activity (often throughs away 96%), based on the Shannon math that is utilized.  And then there is the digital signal processing which is the same that was used from the 1960s.  It is all based on linear physics and math, or a reductionistic science model. The idea that we are not a machine with parts but a unitary organism is key to understanding the chasm that exists here.

NeurOptimal uses the math that Dennis Gabor developed during World War II that is all about the hologram.  So NeurOptimal is capturing 96% of electrical fluctuation (waveform) occurring within the person’s CNS holographically and feeding  that back to the brain in real time, showing it what it is about to do.  Since the CNS is a complex, adaptive system, it knows how to use that information to advance its own agenda: survival, energy conservation, problem solving).

NeurOptimal utilized the Orienting Response to great efficacy here.  Because we are a mammals, with instincts, we do not  ‘think’ when we perceive a threat.  We respond instinctually and based on how we have been programmed by past experience and training.  NeurOptimal’s software takes 256 samples of energy change per second and then anytime the system is about to ‘jump’ (this is the essence of  a non-linear system: water to steam: water to ice), the software provides an interruption in the audio signal the client is listening to and the CNS must drop the event it is about to generate and return to the present. Return to the present!  This is where life happens since there is not past or future except in our thoughts and imagination. We could speak about evoking Hippocampal dominance but that will be in another post.

The link below is to a wonderful site developed by student scientists that educated about the fallacy’s inherent is utilizing a reductionistic science that will not explain our current reality.  Enjoy!

http://knowingneurons.com/2014/02/12/re … t-fallacy/

Neurofeedback brain training for the performing artist

One of the biggest benefits I have seen from neurofeedback brain training for the performing artist, be it musician/singer, dancer or actor, is enhancement of cognitive and physical resilience, reduction of anxiety and ability to more in the moment, more present.  I have had clients who are on the road many weeks and months during the year and this can be very difficult, even for someone who loves the lifestyle.  The travel alone is tedious, not to mention food and sleep issues, lack of daily routine and loss of social life- to name only a few.

Stress is a biological effect that is produced when having to push past our capacity.  Hans Selye, endocrinologist, coined the term ‘stress’.  It refers to a biological response which he defined as “the response of the body to any demand for change”. Each person has natural limits in their ability to adapt to life changes based on constitution, genetics, past and present health, diet, environmental conditions, mental and emotional set, and much more.

We all must constantly find and refine effective strategies to improve our resilience in the face of stress (read more here on the current understanding of resilience) especially in our fast paced, technological world.  Below is Selye’s graph of biological response to alarm.  When we go into fight of flight, be it mild, medium or severe, our organism must respond energetically to resist the condition.  We can resist only for so long and if the alarm (fight, flight, freeze) continues, we will find ourselves in a default state of exhaustion.  Few of us do well when we are constantly having to adapt and adjust to ongoing, non stop change.  There is a consequence for most of us and it has degenerative effect on our energy and health.

The neurofeeedback field has a good reputation for being able to improve overall resilience by  improving brain function which is Central Nervous System function. It has been used for more than 50 years by those in the performing arts, sports, academia, business, families, etc.  Our  nervous system consists of the brain, spinal cord, sensory organs, and all of the nerves that connect these organs with the rest of the body. Together, this system is responsible for the control of the body and communication among its systems.  Neurofeedback can have a direct positive effect on how well the brain functions, improving efficiency and effectiveness.

The type of neurofeedback that I have used for the past 11 years with clients takes this another step further. We are able to help the brain recognize and respond to its own generation of perturbation (root is perturb) or responding to events that are unresolved and in the past.  Our brains have evolved to learn through direct experience when they have accurate information.  With this approach that I use with those in the performing arts, we can help the brain return to its own inherent and original resilience and flexibility, the key to being able to handle change, improve spontaneity, creativity, and an overall state of calm through evoking the Relaxation Response, which reverses the flight or flight response. We do better when we are on a state of calm.

Those with tight performing schedules, those who are on the road, or those with long days on the set or on location will find that regular neurofeedback brain training has a definitive impact on their health, well being, and effectiveness and satisfaction in their work, all based on what clients tell us about their own experience. Your focus is clear, anxiety minimized. And with our approach, anyone can own the equipment and hook themselves up and run sessions wherever they are, and get as good or better results than if you were to spend the time and money to go see a professional because we are the state-of-the-art approach in the field, completely non-invasive and auto-navigation which means the computer can responds better to what is happening moment to moment in your brain than an individual.

Below is an abstract on neurofeedback optimizing performance.

EEG-neurofeedback for optimising performance. II: creativity, the performing arts and ecological validity.
Abstract

As a continuation of a review of evidence of the validity of cognitive/affective gains following neurofeedback in healthy participants, including correlations in support of the gains being mediated by feedback learning (Gruzelier, 2014a), the focus here is on the impact on creativity, especially in the performing arts including music, dance and acting. The majority of research involves alpha/theta (A/T), sensory-motor rhythm (SMR) and heart rate variability (HRV) protocols. There is evidence of reliable benefits from A/T training with advanced musicians especially for creative performance, and reliable benefits from both A/T and SMR training for novice music performance in adults and in a school study with children with impact on creativity, communication/presentation and technique. Making the SMR ratio training context ecologically relevant for actors enhanced creativity in stage performance, with added benefits from the more immersive training context. A/T and HRV training have benefitted dancers. The neurofeedback evidence adds to the rapidly accumulating validation of neurofeedback, while performing arts studies offer an opportunity for ecological validity in creativity research for both creative process and product.