Our brain allows us to do amazing things. It is a complex muscle, full of miles and miles of connections that intertwine throughout your brain, connecting one area of the brain to another. It also limits us when it thinks we are in trouble.
By using neurofeedback, scientists have found that a person is able to free up their mind from negative emotions and attitudes that limit the ability to move forward. Fear is one of these emotions. Through changing our brain patterns, neurofeedback frees our emotions from being stuck and moves us along, opening up new potential.
If you have ever heard the cliché, “It’s just mind over matter,” this is what it means. Your brain has set up roadblocks, due to faulty wiring in the connections that holds you back from moving forward. Your brain is capable of blocking your reactions just as much as causing them to move forward. By changing these patterns you are allowing yourself the freedom to take a step forward, and not missing opportunities that present themselves due to fear of consequences.
Neurofeedback, a form of biofeedback, has been around for over 30 years. Psychologists and psychiatrists have used it to improve brain function, boost awareness, and cut back or enhance emotions. The doctors use specialized monitoring equipment, in a non-medical and non-invasive way, to retrain the brain and free the mind of negative responses. Basically, it is a form of self-regulation that allows a person to empower himself or herself and focus on improving their physical and mental achievements.
Neurotherapy or EEG (Electroencephalogram) Biofeedback uses auditory and visual feedback of information when the brain encounters too many changes going on. A burst of ampage from the machine will interrupt the feedback and allows the brain to take note of a change in mental state. This allows the brain to become more focused and alert, as well as more relaxed.
The neurofeedback process is painless. Some people have associated it to a child’s “potty-training,” where a person learns how to control their organs through reinforcement, like praise from the parents. Sensors are applied to the head and a computer measures the activity and progress that is taking place.
The subject learns to control their behavior through signals at a frequency level set by the lab technician. They will play music, and when the brain performs as they want they will turn the music off and stream a picture across a computer screen. This will be like giving positive reinforcement or praise.
Over the years this process has been very successful in the treatment of such disorders as panic attacks, anxiety, depression, migraine headaches, ADD/ADHD and brain injuries. Athletes have even used neurofeedback in training and before a big event to achieve peak performance. And even more gratifying, marked improvement has been shown in patients with autism or Asperger’s syndrome in attention, communication, socialization and recall as a result of the neurofeedback treatments.
About the author:
Ron White is a two-time U.S.A. Memory Champion and memory training expert. As a memory keynote speaker he travels the world to speak before large groups or small company seminars, demonstrating his memory skills and teaching others how to improve their memory, and how important a good memory is in all phases of your life. His CDs and memory products are also available online at BrainAthlete.com.
Sources:
Cognitive Connections – Neurocognitive Processing: http://www.cognitive-connections.com/NFWebpage.php
Mid-Michigan Neurofeedback – http://www.mmneuro.com/?gclid=CJiuucHV-akCFQzHKgodtjMIZA
