Remote Services

The Covid-19 pandemic lockdown required that all our services to clients in our office in Peterborough, Ontario be delivered remotely.  The transition to phone and online sessions was not a problem for talk therapy, meditation coaching, and hypnosis; in fact, there is every indication that these services can be delivered remotely just as effectively as meeting in person.  However, for biofeedback and neurofeedback, remote delivery can be a challenge. 

Fortunately, we have provided home biofeedback and neurofeedback training in the past so we are experienced in this approach.  There are many advantages to doing home training.  During the pandemic, there is no additional risk of infection if you stay home and receive treatment remotely.  Even though we are no longer in lockdown, there are distinct advantages to home training.  For one, you don’t have to come to the office or fit into our schedule quite as much.  For another, because you have the equipment and software in your home, you can train whenever you want and as many times as you want.  Typically, in-office treatments are weekly.  Most people simply cannot find the time or have the money to do twice-weekly sessions despite the fact that the effects of training are not seen nearly as quickly when you only train once a week.  In sum, remote training is safe, convenient, and efficient.

 

The Mind Mirror

The Mind Mirror grew out of a tradition within neurofeedback that investigated meditation and altered states with the objective of monitoring and enhancing those states.  It was originally developed in England in 1976 by a physicist and Zen Master, Maxwell Cade,  with the assistance of electronics engineer Geoffrey Blundell.  At the time, it was unique, a frequency analyzer that could monitor both hemispheres of the brain across different brainwave frequencies.  It resembled a modern-day computer tablet but it used analogue electronics and displayed 14 frequency bands using 16 LEDs.  It was enclosed in a wood cabinet with a handle for carrying about.  Its portability allowed those using it to take it directly to people that the developers were most interested in studying– meditators, mystics, psychics and healers.  It provided moment-to-moment pictures of mind states and graphic profiles of these states.  It was also a feedback device that could guide the user to achieve these advanced states.  Anna Wise was a follower of Cade and through books (The High Performance Mind:  Mastering Brainwaves for Insight, Healing, and Creativity, and The Awakened Mind:  A Guide to Harnessing the Power of Your Brainwaves) and workshops popularized this approach as an aid to meditation and the development of an awakened mind.  

As computer technology evolved, the original Mind Mirror morphed into a digital sampling unit that interfaces with a computer and software to do sophisticated analysis of brainwaves and associated states of consciousness.  Versions of the Mind Mirror can be found in all major neurofeedback softwares, but the original concept is most fully developed in the Vilistus System that has a clear lineage back to Cade and Wise.  

Alpha-Theta training

Alpha-Theta training has been a mainstay of neurofeedback treatment since its earliest days. It grew out of a tradition within neurofeedback that investigated meditation and altered states with the objective of monitoring and enhancing those states.  One clinical application of it was with Vietnam veterans with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and alcohol addiction.  It is considered a deep-state training much like hypnosis in that it can resolve entrenched trauma and dislodge dysfunctional patterns of behaviour.  In preparation for the training, basic biofeedback training in diaphragmatic breathing and hand warming as well as stabilizing neurofeedback protocols are used.  In addition to its clinical applications, Alpha-Theta protocols are used in peak-performance training.  

In Alpha-Theta training the intention is to induce a hypnogogic state, which is a state commonly experienced between waking and sleep.  During our waking hours beta (b) brainwaves predominate; they are associated with an external orientation and active thinking as well as hypervigilance and anxiety.  When we close our eyes with the intention to go to sleep, alpha (a) brainwaves predominate.  We feel calm and relaxed and thoughts and images flow.  As we become more relaxed and we increasingly let go of control, we go into a theta (θ) brainwave state.  We are more internally oriented, memories and image emerge unbidden and our mind seems to drift off on its own.  Very soon we may be asleep and delta (d) brainwaves predominate.  

Alpha-Theta training is much like other neurofeedback protocols.  Typically, a single active electrode is placed at the back of the head, and reference and ground electrodes are placed on the ear lobes.  During the training, the client’s eyes are closed.  The feedback is auditory.  Before beginning the training, the therapist identifies the sounds associated with three brainwaves–delta, theta and alpha– and the crossover in which theta is greater than alpha, which is associated with the hypnogogic state.  The sound associated with the delta state is a sign that the client is going to sleep or has moved.  Delta is inhibited by a sound such as “uh-oh.”  Alpha is indicated by a high melodic tone and theta by a lower melodic tone.  The crossover state is indicated by  the same lower melodic tone as theta but it becomes louder the more predominate theta is over alpha. 

Most people find this training very relaxing and enjoyable.  Often they have vivid memories of things long forgotten.  An example would be recalling the smell of baking bread in their grandmother’s wood stove, perhaps visualizing what the kitchen looked like and the mood they felt.  Clients may also see connections between issues in their life that had not occurred to them previously.  A client might see that an issue they have in their personal relationships is similar to an issue that they have at work. 

However, sometimes the memories that emerge are not so pleasant.  For someone who has experienced severe trauma, they may have vivid flashback-type memories.  This can result in an abreaction, which is a cathartic release of emotion.  This can be healing or, without the proper guidance, retraumatizing.  This is the main risk of this procedure and why it should only be done with a therapist equipped to deal with it.

Typically, after the training, the client is debriefed.  The therapist might ask about what the experience was like for the client and anything that it might have brought to mind.  Clients often report that afterwards things look sharper and sounds clearer.  They feel more energetic and as if blockages had been removed.  Memories seem more accessible and may emerge more easily.  Most commonly, clients report more vivid dreaming, even lucid dreaming in which they are aware that they are dreaming and can control what occurs within their dreams.  For those who have unpleasant dreams, they feel more detached and less emotionally affected by the dreams than they thought possible.  For instance, whereas they might have previously awoken from a nightmare drenched in sweat and in full-flight panic, they may have an unpleasant dream but not awaken or wake up only briefly and without great anxiety an not drenched in sweat.  

When Alpha-Theta is used in peak performance training people feel that they have opened up a channel to resources within them that had previously been unavailable to them.  Musicians and dancers are more creative and perform better as a result of this type of training (see Gruzelier, J., Egner, T., & Vernon, D. (2006). Validating the efficacy of neurofeedback for optimising performance. Progress in brain research, 159, 421-431.) and athletes more “in the zone.”