Neurofeedback for Peak Performance

Neurofeedback for Peak Performance:

Training Your Brain to Enhance Your Abilities

Much of the news and scientific literature surrounding neurofeedback therapy in the broader New York area has been focused on its promising applications for treating a range of brain-based conditions, including ADHD, autism, anxiety, insomnia, and more. However, treating abnormalities and pathologies is not the full extent of neurofeedback’s usefulness. Neurofeedback therapy can actually be used to enhance a person’s abilities, facilitating what is called peak performance. Neurofeedback has been successfully used for peak performance within a number of disciplines, including sports performance, musical performance, and even to enhance the abilities of surgeons. 

Alpha-Theta Training: Neurofeedback for Relaxation and Optimization 

The form of neurofeedback therapy most often used for peak performance training is called Alpha-Theta Training. This is often carried out using auditory stimulus, rather than the moving image displays used in most neurofeedback therapy. Alpha-Theta training is geared toward increasing and enhancing alpha and theta wavelengths. The protocol for Alpha-Theta neurofeedback training guides users into a deeply relaxed, trancelike state called the alpha-theta crossover state, which is similar to being in the very early stages of falling asleep. In this mentally relaxed state, repressed memories and old anxieties sometimes resurface and can be resolved. Many patients report having deeply transformative internal experiences during the course of alpha-theta neurofeedback training. Indeed, alpha-theta neurofeedback protocol is very similar to both hypnosis and to historically traditional methods of meditation found in Zen Buddhism, Taoism, and other spiritual philosophical systems around the world. The alpha-theta state of calm neutrality has been shown to enhance performance in a variety of areas.  

Applications of Alpha-Theta Neurofeedback Training 

Alpha-theta neurofeedback training in the New York area has numerous implications. Alpha-theta training has successfully helped:

·         Increase endurance and strength for sports and athletics by increasing mental relaxation and attenuating the effects of fear of failure, unpleasant memories of past failures, and other barriers to excellence

·         Musicians perform at their optimal capacity

·         Surgeons perform delicate procedures; in one study, the time surgeons took for microsurgical tasks was reduced by 26%

·         People manage stress and pressure in their jobs

The main benefit of alpha-theta training for these purposes is to facilitate a state of calm mental focus. This helps athletes and performers to avoid “choking up,” and can help reduce performance anxiety and test anxiety, and to enhance memory and recall abilities.

Like other applications of neurofeedback therapy in the New York area, alpha-theta training for peak performance generally begins with a qEEG (quantitative electroencephalography) brain mapping session, as well as a performance test to evaluate reaction time, speed, error frequency, and other parameters. It is usually performed over the course of several weeks, in 45-minute sessions, several days a week. This allows the neurofeedback provider to help you to encourage brainwave states that are associated with better performance, and to discourage states that correlate with reduced performance quality.

NEUROFEEDBACK IN NEW YORK