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

Brain Training with Binaural Beats: Using Sound to Train Your Brain

Many people in the broader New York area are interested in using methods of brain training to reduce anxiety, increase creativity, and otherwise augment their mental capabilities. There are several methods of brain training, including neurofeedback therapy and computer games such as those found on Lumosity.com. However, one of the most accessible brain training methods is the use of isochronal tones and binaural beats. In fact, you can try this right now by searching “binaural beats” on YouTube, or checking out the links at the end of this post. Isochronal tones and binaural beats are proven brain training methods to change your mood and thought patterns using brainwave entrainment. 

What Are Binaural Beats? 

Binaural beats were discovered in the 19^th century, although it was in the 20^th century that their applications for brainwave entrainment were fully recognized. Binaural beats can be used to induce relaxation, creativity, and other positive mental states. They use two tones at different frequencies that combine together and are best experienced when using headphones. When two tones of slightly different frequencies are played, one into each ear, the brain will actually perceive them together as a beating tone. This effect results from the way the brain processes interaural time differences between each ear in order to localize sounds.

Binaural beats are known to have a relaxing effect, and different frequencies may facilitate different effects through an effect called brainwave entrainment. When a stimulus, such as a binaural beat, is a frequency in the range of brain waves, the predominant brainwave frequency is thought to move toward the frequency of the stimulus. Although auditory stimuli, such as binaural beats, are used most often, this effect can also apply to visual stimuli. Binaural beats with frequencies corresponding to alpha, beta, delta, gamma, or theta brainwave frequencies can facilitate a person’s brain to move into those brainwave states. Different brainwave frequencies correlate with different mental states. For example, beta brainwaves are associated with active thinking and willful concentration, while alpha brainwaves are associated with rest, mental tranquility, and peaceful Zen-like meditative states.

By using binaural beats, you can help move your brain into an alpha state to relax yourself, into a beta state to enhance alertness and concentration, and otherwise help facilitate certain mental states. Delta-frequency binaurals can be used to help you sleep, and theta and gamma binaurals have been associated with inducing out-of-body experiences and lucid dreaming.

Where Can I Find Binaural Beats Online? 

Finding binaural beats online is quick and easy. For best results, you will want to use a pair of high quality headphones. Since many people find the tones by themselves to be somewhat unpleasant, they are often superimposed onto a white noise background of soft music or nature sounds.

You can find a range of different binaural beats by simply searching “binaural beats” on YouTube. One good YouTube channel for finding binaurals for brain training is MindAmend, a channel run by Jason Lewis that contains a wide range of audio for brainwave entrainment including binaural beats, isochronal tones, whale songs, and more.

You can get to MindAmend by clicking this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrpFW99zAUaJT8cKmqeagkg

Different binaural beats have different frequencies and different effects. You may want to try several to find the ones that work best for you. The effectiveness of a given binaural beat can vary from person to person, and you may find that some have little effect, whereas others prove to be quite powerful. Try experimenting with several to find which ones work best for you. You can listen to binaurals while working or doing other activities; however, one of the best ways to use them is to put your headphones on, close your eyes, breathe deeply, and begin to enter a meditative state.

For Broader New York Area residents interested in brain training, binaural beats are an easy, accessible, and effective way to experiment with altering your brainwave frequencies and with them, your state of consciousness. Using binaural beats is relaxing, therapeutic, and can have beneficial effects. Depending on the state you want to achieve and which beats you use, you may find it easier to enter meditative states, to enhance your concentration, or even to enter out-of-body experiences (OBE), although OBEs can be jarring if you have never had one before, rest assured that yes, you do come back from them!

BRAIN TRAINING WITH NEUROFEEDBACK