Neurofeedback & Biofeedback Treatment

Neurofeedback & Biofeedback Treatment

Assessment
Technique
Performance Coaching
Technology
Brain Music Therapy
Sounds of Healing

At Health and Performance International (HPI), neurofeedback and biofeedback treatment begins with an in-depth intake where an EEG assesment is conducted and goals are identified. A treatment plan is established following this assessement.

We provide training in relaxation techniques, self regulation, regulated breathing, mental image sequencing, meditation and the use of self talk as well as biofeedback, neurofeedback and other brain-wave technologies to enhance performance. These performance enhancement  techniques are used by competitive individuals throughout the world. Each technique can be used alone or in any combination to teach the performer to regulate the body during performance.

This EEG evaluation provides information on your brain waves, respiration, galvanic skin response, heart rate, body temperature, and muscle tension. Treatment is individualized based on the information gathered during intake and changes continuously as you meet your goals.

MindSuite™: An Optimal Performance Training Environment
 
MindSuite™ is a private and quiet environment that allows you to undergo optimal performance training measurements. This setting enhances the development of mind-body synchronicity—the sate of flow that is essential for optimal performance and optimal outcomes. In MindSuite™ you recuperate, replenish and gain the force you need to perform at your highest level.

Athletes, performers, CEOs, and other high achievers lie on a relaxing, purposely-designed reclining chair. You are connected to biofeedback/neurofeedback equipment that measures seven physiological signs—from brain waves and muscle tension to breathing rhythms, heart rate, skin temperature, perspiration, and oxygen volume. Within MindSuite™ we train you to use your mind to reach a meditative state. Once you are self-regulated and in the meditative state, we teach you to maintain that state while creating a mental image of a stressful athletic event, for example. Within the MindSuite™ environment we often show videos of performances to train you to maintain homeostasis.

If you have a particular problem—low stamina, mental confusion, or poor concentration, for example—we will train you to have optimal mind-body responses to your stressors.

The idea of the training is to teach you to be so focused, so mentally and physically prepared, that at time of performance you let go and don't miss. You will be able to bring down your heart rate, which conserves energy. And you will regulate your system to bring you to your optimal best, without thinking about it.

Learning relaxation will:
• Recharge the mind
• Lower risk of injury
• Decrease stress and fatigue
• Assist in recovery/healing
• Ease muscle tension
• Increase mental preparedness
• Enhance quality of sleep
• Help to clearly define your goals

Memory and Imagination
Memory is the ability to recreate the past. We recall shapes, colors, faces, emotions, voices, and smells. Past events live again in us, perhaps even more intensely than when they initially occurred. Through memory, events in our lives can be remembered and savored again.

Imagination is the ability to create. Breaking the bonds of the known, the mind generates new forms, ideas or images, music or prose, mathematical insight or mechanical invention. A gifted imagination, rather than recreating, originates positive thoughts.
-Reference: Michael Lardon M.D's "Finding Your Zone."

At HPI we help you maximize this process. We weave together information already stored in your memory and help you to clearly identify the vision you have. We all have memories. What counts is how we use them. Do we use them to console, distract or torment ourselves? At HPI we teach you to use your imagination to prepare for action.

Mental Imagery
Mental Imagery is the technique of creating a blueprint of achievement. Images are mental representations taken from our personal experiences. The process of visualization allows you to create mental images that enhance performance. You select positive images that affect how your body responds to certain situations. By controlling these images, you maximize your performance. This process can be used to decrease stress, focus attention, solve problems, develop skills, increase energy, control emotional states, motivate, and mentally rehearse performance.

How does it work?
Images can be a way of coding instruction for movement. We form an image of a particular movement and train that movement. At Performance International we help you form an image of a particular movement and train you to use that movement in imagery. This transmits electrical impulses to muscles and the nervous system, both involved in performance. The progress of this mental training is measured with biofeedback and neurofeedback.

Imagery is used to:
•Improve concentration
•Train/perform efficiently
•Increase learning
•Transform negative to positive (thoughts)
•Develop internal motivation

Self Talk
Self talk techniques are also called affirmations: strong, positive self statements, spoken in present tense about a goal to be realized. It is conscious and carefully worded to guide behaviors in a constructive way, and it is used to transform perceptions of daily events from negative to positive. Self talk helps to focus on personal strengths.

Deep Breathing
Proper breathing not only relaxes but enhances performance by oxygenating blood and energizing the brain and the nervous system. Deep breathing uses the diaphragm, allowing the abdomen to move out and the lungs to expand, filling the lungs from the bottom. For deep breathing to be effective, you must be in concentration, observing your own breath.

Meditation
Meditation describes the techniques used to discipline your attention. It involves the practice of uncritically focusing attention on one activity, learning to be in the present moment, while clearing the mind of all other thoughts. Through meditation, you learn that being in the present moment is more important than focusing on one task. Meditation can sharpen your perceptions and allow you to see more clearly what is happening during your performance. Meditation is passive relaxation with a positive focus.

The state of performance edge
* Being in sync with the performance
* Sense of being in complete control of that moment/experience
* Feeling of strength
* Totally focused and in the present moment
* Feeling of being totally absorbed in activity, in tune with task at hand
* Sense of power from new source within self
* Expectation that you will meet the goal/challenge
* Balance, focus, discovery and wellness

Makeup of highly motivated performer
* Enthusiasm/desire for your art/sport
* Daring to succeed
* Motivation/self directed
* Pursuit of excellence
* Discipline, consistency, organization
* Focused yet relaxed (Alpha)
* Ability to handle stress/adversity/challenges

Concentration
* Focus on one small task/action
* Focus on the precise detail of that event
* Be in the moment
* Be able to describe peak performance

Evaluation
The integration of biofeedback and neurofeedback into the common practices of performance will be used to assess and teach the performer to maintain appropriate breathing, relaxed muscles, coherent heart rythms and dominant alpha brain states. With a complete bio/neurofeedback evaluation, we are able to pinpoint areas in your system that serve or block you. We use  physiological assessments to master the zone of optimal functioning.

The assessment and training of body and mind responses is routinely done by monitoring EEG (electroencephalograph), EMG ( muscle tension, electromyography), temperature, heart rate variability, blood volume pulse, EDA (electrodermal activity), and respiration, while we guide you through a series of relaxation, open focus, and meditation exercises. This data, along with a personal inventory questionnaire, gives us vital information to bring you to a state of optimal functioning.

Our coaching techniques have successfully been used for stage performers, athletes, and professionals who struggle to reach comfort and success in there lives.

Coaching practice includes:
Maintaining or enhancing motivation (goal setting, reinforcement, etc.), controlling body responses (relaxation, energization, repetition for automatic skill), controlling mind responses (arousal, attention, non thinking), and preparing for performance under stress (preparation, critical moments performance, mental recovery, etc.).

The techniques include:
Relaxation, psychophysiological assessment, biofeedback, neurofeedback, cognitive restructuring, imagery simulation, sound therapy, meditation and mental focus.

Cognitive Restructuring
Learn to reframe conversation.

•Neurofeedback: Learn a state of open focus (a relaxed yet alert state of mind).
•Biofeedback: Learn to self regulate your nervous system.
•Sound therapy: Sound vibration and music is used to restore the inner balance of mind and body. The method is rooted in the musical principles of entrainment, resonance, toning, and harmonics.

These methods will help you achieve overall wellness, greater energy, and the realization of your higher spiritual potential. This is mastery of optimal performance.

of a new brain-wave pattern emerges. By making information available to the brain about how it is functioning, and asking it to make adjustments, you teach it to do so. 

When the brain does a good job of regulating itself, the brain waves (EEG) show a particular pattern. This pattern is closer to what is observed in individuals whose brains operate efficiently. Neurofeedback training challenges the person to maintain this "high-performance" state, staying more alert, attentive and calm. The process can be compared to any other coaching or training in that the brain learns to access useful brain states and to respond to momentary demands without becoming exhausted. Neurofeedback gets the brain in shape, so the brain becomes more resilient and flexible.

How is it done? An initial interview is performed to obtain a description of symptoms and goals. Usually, a brain map or quantitative EEG is performed. By measuring electrical activity at 19 locations on the scalp, adjustments in the training protocol can be made to select the best frequencies and sites for neurofeedback. Each training session lasts about 40 minutes, and is conducted from one to five times per week. Some improvement is generally seen within ten sessions. Once training is in place, the benefit appears to be permanent in most cases.

Neurofeedback training is a painless, non-invasive procedure. One or more sensors are placed on the scalp, and one to each ear. The brain waves are monitored by means of an amplifier and a computer-based instrument that processes the signal and provides the proper feedback. This is displayed to the trainee by means of a video game or other video displays, along with audio signals. The trainee is asked to make the video game function with his or her brain. As activity in a desirable frequency band increases, the video game moves faster, or some other reward is given. As activity in an undesired band increases, the video game is inhibited. Gradually, the brain responds to the cues that it is given, and a "learning" of new brain wave patterns takes place. The new pattern is one that is closer to what is observed in individuals with normal brain functioning. 
"Thought Technology." 

The Procedure
1. The practitioner provides a brief evaluation.

2. The individual fills out two questionnaires: Beck Depression Inventory and Subjective Sleep Scale.

3. The individual's key brain-wave patterns are recorded using EEG equipment. The recording time is about 5 to 10 minutes, and the duration of the entire procedure is approximately 20-25 minutes. The procedure is painless and non-invasive.

4. For an optimal recording, the individual has to keep still and attempt to bring himself to a relaxed state.

5. The individual's brain-wave patterns are processed through algorithms, which extract key healing rhythms and translate them into a sound-based format of two musical compositions.

6. In approximately 7-10 days, the client receives their personal brain music CD, which includes recommendations by a licensed physician.

Years before scientists had ever thought to research the relationship between the mind and body, let alone the influence of sound on either, Sufi master Hazrat Inayat Khan wrote: "The physical effect of sound has also a great influence upon the human body. The whole mechanism, the muscles, the blood circulation, the nerves are all moved by the power of vibration. Healing can be achieved by restoring the normal vibratory frequency of the disharmonious, and therefore diseased parts of the body. We know that sound is vibration and we know that all matter vibrates. We know that vibration touches every part of our physical being."

We understand that sound is heard not only through our ears but through every cell in our body. The sound of our voices, entrained with the sound of the singing bowls, permeates our entire being. Our pulse rate slows and our breath is restored to its normal rhythm. We enter a state of consciousness that allows us to witness our lives from a calmer, more meditative perspective. Singing bowl and sound intervention influence our cells, tissues, and organs of the body.

According to Dr. David Simon, medical director of neurological services at Sharp Cabrillo Hospital in San Diego, California, and medical director of the Chopra Center for Well-Being, healing chants and music have measurable physiological effects. Simon points out that chants are chemically metabolized into endogenous o-piates that are both internal painkillers as well as healing agents in the body.

Current Research
Dr. Jeffrey Thompson, who teaches at the California Institute for Human Science and directs his own center for Neuro-Acoustic Research, has undertaken pioneering studies of the physical effects of singing bowls and other sound frequencies. Thompson has even shown that singing bowls produce a sound comparable in frequency and tone to the sounds produced by the rings of Uranus (emanations are measured with state-of-the-art instruments by NASA scientists). Thompson has translated his research into powerful treatments for learning disabilities and a wide range of physical disorders.

Mark Rider, Ph.D., a research psychologist affiliated with Southern Methodist University, has conducted the largest series of studies to date on the powerful positive influence of music, often combined with imagery, on the protective cells of the immune system, which fight invading pathogens and perform the task of regenerating injured tissues. 
-Reference: "Sounds of Healing" by Mitchell Gaynor M.D.

These findings, along with many others have supported the work Steve  Kahan has done for the past 30 years. At HPI we have developed specific approaches to well being, wellness, and optimal functioning, performance enhancement, that make use of the principles of sound vibration (resonance) and entrainment.

What is Entrainment?
Entrainment is a physics phenomenon of resonance, first observed in the 17th century, that has an effect on all of us. Entrainment is defined as the tendency for two oscillating bodies to lock into phase so that they vibrate in harmony. It is also defined as a synchronization of two or more rhythmic cycles. The principle of entrainment is universal, appearing in chemistry, pharmacology, biology, medicine, psychology, sociology, astronomy,and  architecture among other fields. The classic example shows individual pulsing heart muscle cells. When they are brought close together, they begin pulsing in synchrony. Sound waves entrain the human organism, causing that object to vibrate in resonance with the first object. 
-Reference: Sound Feeling Publishing.

On one level, sound wave entrainment alters our energetic states, leading to physiological transformations, often very subtle. On another level, sound entrainment can affect us emotionally, which can thus influence us on a cellular level. Numerous studies have shown the degree to which stress, pessimism, and feelings of hopelessness depress every aspect of our immune system. Through the process of entrainment, sound can transform negative emotions into a state of emotional equanimity that has direct and immediate effects on our physiology. Sonic entrainment can also restore harmony between our innermost selves, our essence and the universe, thus awakening the deeper sides of ourselves (spiritual consciousness).
-Reference: "Sounds of Healing" by Mitchell Gaynor, M.D.

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