Author Archives: Tamera

What is the Feedback in Neurofeedback?

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Feedback is the essence of neurofeedback (not to be funny, but it’s basically the name—feedback for brain cells is neurofeedback). Too often, though, it’s confusing to people even after they’ve begun training and are experiencing it for themselves, so I thought I’d try to explain what feedback is.

If you’ve been reading the copy on my website or anyone else’s who does neurofeedback, you know that the process of doing brain training involves attaching sensors that we call electrodes to the scalp. These sensors pick up the very faint electrical signal that the brain gives off and makes its way through the bones of our skull.

The sensors then send the information to an amplifier. The amplifier’s job is literally to amplify the signal so that the computer software can detect and use the signal.

The computer software receives and filters the signal, then processes it through programs that feed back to the brain what it is doing. It gives a signal that something is going well and is always, always reward-based, meaning that the brain gets some kind of reward for going in the direction the computer software is programmed to reward it for going. So, feedback is basically a reward that tells the brain it’s doing a good job.

This feedback can occur in many ways.

The earliest feedback was just watching the software’s display screen as it projects the signal into bar graphs called bins, or a spectrogram, or one of several other ways of graphically representing the electrical signal. Trainees were asked to try to modify what they saw on the screen. It worked, but whew, was it tedious.

Even though I don’t ask clients to do this type of work, I do keep my screen—the software screen that shows what’s happening—in the line of sight so that people doing training can see in real time a graphic representation of what their brain is doing.

The field evolved beyond using a simple screen in to providing audio and visual feedback.

Audio feedback often comes in the form of tones that play when the software detects that the brain’s electrical patterns are moving in the direction the software is programmed to make it go. These tones are novel to the brain, so it tries to make sense of them.

This part is difficult for many to understand: the MIND does not need to be involved in the process of understanding the tones, because the neurons in the brain are themselves working at an unconscious level to make sense of what the brain is hearing.

Believe me, that is a relief—knowing what all those tones are doing and why would be overwhelming!

Music or other forms of continuous feedback also are used. This is a gentler form of feedback, and it often involves the sound getting louder or quieter, depending upon what the brain is doing.

Visual feedback comes in many ways. Usually the software is set to make the trainee’s computer screen go darker or lighter, depending upon what the brain is doing. With people who are exceptionally stressed, the visual on the screen may simply be the computer wallpaper, and as they progress, we set the wallpaper image to change every minute or so. The wallpaper fades in and out as the brain approaches, then recedes from its training goals.

Most people will use video of some sort for their visual feedback, and the video will get lighter or darker (and sometimes louder or quieter) depending upon what the brain is doing.

Finally, there are video games. The feedback to let the brain know what is happening and how it might change is usually a complicated combination of visual and audio, with the game moving faster or slower, targets being reached, etc. It depends upon the game and how it is set up. There is usually a scoring mechanism involved in games, so the mind is getting some feedback, too.

Regardless of whether the feedback is audio, visual, or gamified, it is all basically holding up a mirror to the brain so that it can see what is happening, then offering an “atta-boy!” in the form of reward every time the brain moves even in a small amount toward the desired goal.

Feedback is pleasant. The tones tend to fade into the background of one’s awareness while training with eyes open. If one is training with eyes closed, the tones become almost musical and are quite relaxing.

It is never necessary to understand or analyze the feedback. In fact, trying to create feedback often paradoxically gets in the way of the brain doing what it needs to do. Children tend to grasp this concept better than adults; they go with the flow and just allow feedback to happen.

Feedback is also usually quite gentle, especially when the goal is calming. Feedback may be harder to achieve when we’re trying to make the brain use more energy to do something, but it is still gentle.

If you choose to try neurofeedback, I encourage you, too, just to go with the flow and allow the process to happen. The brain knows what to do with what it is being shown.

Community Care IS Self-Care

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Around 10:30 pm on December 25th, I received a text wishing me a Merry Christmas and many blessings. I had to look twice, because the text came from a person I’d only met once for about an hour, for business purposes, several months ago.

I thought it was unusual, but I took it at face value and returned the Christmas wishes. I could’ve been suspicious that it was some sales-related thing. I could’ve thought it was hokey. I could’ve wondered whether it was appropriate to presume I even celebrated Christmas. I did not imagine those things until much later, because in the brief hour we’d met a few months ago, I had surmised that this was a kind-hearted, decent man. His intentions were earnest.

We exchanged a couple more short texts, and he ended up saying, “You never know what kind of impact a simple random text can have for [the other person] or you or both.”

He is so right. I must’ve been one of hundreds of people he texted. At 10:30 at night, on a holiday that can be fraught for so many, he spent what must’ve been a fair amount of time to extend a simple kindness. His gesture touched me, and who knows, it may have made all the difference for someone else in his contacts list.

You just never know what impact a small gesture of kindness might have.

Will a simple text cure depression or persistent anxiety? Will it alleviate symptoms of trauma or PTSD? Of course not. But that isn’t the point. It was a small reminder that we are all in community with each other. We are each responsible to watch out for each other, in ways large and small.

A new year is coming, and for so many of us, it’s a time for new beginnings and fresh starts. For me, this text that struck me so much has set the tone for the new year. My occupation is the work of caring for others, but now, because of this text, I am starting the new year by looking at my work with a slightly different eye: what small things can I do that might make a difference, however briefly, in the life of those I encounter? What can I do in daily life, outside of work?

I encourage you, even if you think a random late-night text on a holiday is a bit beyond what you would ever choose to do, to think about the small things you could do to serve your community. Serving others in healthy ways is, in the end, one of the best parts of self-care.

I wish you and those you care about a healthy, peaceful, and abundant-in-all-ways new year.

(For more thoughts on self-care, see my blog post here.)

Dr. Chris Palmer Speaks on Mental Health

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Two years ago, I wrote about Dr. Christopher Palmer’s book, Brain Energy. Palmer is a professor of psychiatry at Harvard. His work focuses on mental health and the disruption of metabolic processes that underlie common problems including depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, PTSD, etc. You may read that blog here.

Just this past week, Dr. Palmer was on a podcast called The Model Health Show to speak about the link between our metabolism and our mental well-being. There are ads on the podcast, but it is a fascinating and informative program that is well worth a little of your time.

You may find it on your own podcast app, but here is The Model Health Show link:  https://themodelhealthshow.com/chris-palmer/

When Self-Care Isn’t Just a Buzzword

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Media telling us we need to engage in self-care is seemingly everywhere these days. What they tend to mean by self-care is mostly all about taking little breaks for ourselves—a 10-minute meditation during lunch, or 10 minutes of journalling before bed, or maybe even a massage on an all-out-Me kind of day.

That’s one way to look at it, and goodness knows that in our overly stressed, overly busy, overly demanding world, little breaks matter a great deal.

But, there’s another way of looking at self-care that is longer-lasting and, in my opinion, more significant.

It involves doing the important daily tasks. Here’s what I mean:

Picture for yourself a cute toddler or preschooler. They’re usually absolutely adorable and utterly dependent on a loving person to care for them.

In a healthy situation, that loving caregiver probably structures the child’s day. There are regular times for getting up, taking naps, and going to bed. There’s bath time. There’s healthy, real food served at regular times of day. There is physical activity—maybe a walk or time at the park, or even just jumping around the room on a rainy, cold day. There are lots of snuggles. And story time. Creative time to draw, paint, or craft in some way. There’s music, most likely. There’s goofiness and giggles. There’s an authority figure to provide safety and, when things go wrong, comfort. That authority/safety figure also takes the toddler to a professional provider for care when needed.

That’s what caring for a child looks like at its finest.

But, if you’re reading this, I bet you’re not a child. Yet despite growing up, you remain worthy of good care.

Who’s taking care of you? In the end, it’s mostly just you. You are doing self-care every day, and my guess is that it doesn’t look nearly as wonderful or perfect as the care-taking I described above.

Perhaps it’s time to change that, because self-care at its deepest level isn’t just about candles or bubble baths or even just regular massages. It’s about creating structures and following healthy habits for sleeping, eating, moving, working, and tending to one’s spiritual and mental well-being.

Those are hard things when the world both pushes us to be perfect and simultaneously drives us crazy.

A few years ago, my favorite nutritionist gave me good life advice without meaning to do so. She said that when she has clients who are eating the Standard American Diet (which is pretty horrific), she starts their enormous shift by adding in one small thing a day instead of demanding that they go cold turkey and never eat anything non-nutritious ever again. She advises them to start the habit of just eating an apple or other piece of fruit to their day, as many days as they can, until enjoying fruit becomes a habit. Then it might be to add a yummy vegetable of their choice. And, it snowballs from there so that within a year, that person is eating well (not perfect, but well) and experiencing better health.

I think this advice of adding in one small thing makes sense in creating any new habit, and I’m sure you can use your imagination to apply this idea to any area in which you want to improve your true self-care, those places where you have to do hard things to be good to yourself, like sticking to a reasonable bed time.

My world, of course, is stress reduction. My approach to neurofeedback is nurturing, not just technology. If you’ve reached the breaking point and know that true self-care is what you need, contact me. I have a full toolkit of ideas to help you take better care of yourself, from brain training to technology-guided relaxation to hypnosis and more.

Adding in some kind of work with me may be just like adding in an apple a day for better dietary habits—it could and usually does lead to a cascade of changes.

If you’re not sure and aren’t ready to contact me yet, please read through my blog posts. They’re categorized so you don’t need to read all 350-ish posts.

In the meantime, I wish you a healthy and calm new year.

Using fMRI for Learning and Neurofeedback

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A researcher from the University of Rochester, along with colleagues at Princeton and Yale, has been exploring how subject can learn to move objects with their brain using fMRI feedback, according to an article in Neuroscience News.

Many neuroscience laboratories have been exploring using fMRI, but neurofeedback—literally providing feedback to the brain via a mirror of its own activities—seems to be of especial interest to those trying to find novel solutions to neuropsychiatric and developmental disorders.

You can read about the research at Neuroscience News or a recently published article here.

fMRI is too cumbersome and costly for use in private offices at this time, and its applications are still in early stages, but there is a great deal of enthusiasm about its many potential uses.

Coming Soon! Remote Neurofeedback

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There’s a gaping hole in the world of neurofeedback.

Over the past year, several people have come to me to ask if I could help a friend or relative who lived somewhere in which there were either no professional neurofeedback practitioners or the choice of available practitioners was substandard. I would look at their choices and reluctantly agree.

Despite exponential growth in the world of neurofeedback just over the past five years, the gaps in what’s available to the general public in some places are so bad that earlier this year, I found myself supporting a practitioner in Australia who was helping a family in a major US city who were unhappy with the local options. Australia.

It’s time to do better.

I did my part up until the pandemic. I taught neurofeedback in my office. Families came from around the US to learn to do brain training at home for their loved ones. All that travel was a cumbersome way to do things, but it got the job done. That ended with the pandemic, and I phased out my rental systems around that time, too.

Now, though, I am revisiting the option of distance neurofeedback. I’m excited that I will no longer have to tell people outside the Northern Virginia area that I cannot be of help. Even better, people will not have to travel to my office for lessons.

Beginning in mid-January, I will be renting equipment and teaching people throughout the US and Canada how to do brain training at home. My new gear is even better than before, and instructions on how to use it are simpler and more streamlined. As a result, most people who want to have the option of neurofeedback for themselves or a loved one will have the option of providing it in the comfort of their own environment.

Who is Right for Distance Neurofeedback Training?        

Home training neurofeedback might be a great option for you if:

  • You cannot find a trusted practitioner near you. Even now, so many places in the United States are too far away from anyone they would want to trust with brain training. Distance neurofeedback overcomes that hurdle—you can be practically anywhere as long as you have internet access.
  • You or your family need more than a typical number of sessions. Sometimes, especially if a person is neurodivergent, a large number of sessions is appropriate, with even years of training making sense in some cases. What does not make sense is that so many extra sessions can get prohibitively expensive. Home training solves that problem.
  • You have multiple family members who need training at the same time. If you’re up for the challenge of learning to do home training, distance neurofeedback is an excellent way to save money. Instead of paying the full professional rate for two people, your only extra cost for extra trainees beyond the normal rental and support fees will be the cost of an additional brain map/custom training plan.
  • Your schedule is erratic. Coming to an office twice a week is often not an option for people who travel on business regularly or have other distracting obligations. Doing neurofeedback from home means that you can fit brain training sessions into your life at times that work for you, even if those times are outside regular business hours.
  • You just want to. Sometimes, people just prefer doing things from the comfort of their own home or office, without having to deal with traffic and weather hassles.

What You’ll Receive with Home Training

The most important thing you’ll receive if you decide to do remote neurofeedback with me is personal support. Each home trainer will receive extensive online training on how to use the equipment (or, you may have in-person training if you’re local to my office and prefer that), plus ongoing support through online Office Hours. Office Hours is a feature in which we meet online, perhaps alone or perhaps with other practitioners, and you can both receive answers to your questions and learn from anyone else who also wishes to participate in Office Hours that day.

Each person who does neurofeedback at a distance will receive a personalized training plan based on what is actually happening with their electrical brainwave activity. The brain map that determines where on the brain to train and how to train is extensive–measuring 20 spots on the scalp–so training at home gets at the whole brain without shortcuts or superficial exercises.

The physical gear you’ll receive as a renter includes a full kit: EEG amplifier, saline-based cap and electrodes, headphones, software, and e-manual. The only thing you need to provide on your own is a windows-based computer (no Apple) and secondary monitor.

Who Can do This?

Learning to do neurofeedback at home is easier than ever. If you’re committed to doing the work and know how to use a laptop, you can make this happen.

My one caveat is that people with serious mental illness are not good candidates for neurofeedback and definitely should not be doing this at home (I’m talking things like a history of psychotic breaks, schizophrenia, etc.).

Want to Know More or Want to Reserve a Rental Kit?

If this is something you’re interested in for yourself or someone you know, reach out to me via email at Tamera at BrainShapeVA.com.  We can talk more about whether doing distance neurofeedback makes sense for your specific situation. If we agree that home training is a good fit, you may have a spot in the queue and a guarantee that rental equipment will be available for you to get started as soon as the virtual doors open in the new year.

Brain Network Creates Calm Through Breathing

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A study published in Nature Neuroscience and summarized this month in Neuroscience News indicates that researchers at the Salk Institute have found a circuit among parts of the brain that together help regulate anxiety through breathing. This discovery helps underscore how slowing one’s breathing or breathing with purpose can help reduce stress and anxiety.

The three areas of the brain—called the anterior cingulate cortex, the pons, and the medulla, together work to provide calm with slower breathing and anxiety with faster breathing rates.

The circuit helps researchers understand how practices such as yoga, meditation, and mindfulness practices can be so beneficial.

You may find the Neuroscience News article here, and an abstract of the journal article here.

Workplace Stress Management 

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Forbes recently published an article entitled “3 Stress Management Tips for High Achievers.” It recommends that businesses offer in-house, short-duration sessions to its workers, including reflexology, Access Bars, and yoga. You may find the article here.

Reflexology and yoga are not services I provide, but I DO offer Access Bars, and I receive it myself for stress management. (My massage therapist officemate offers reflexology, so contact me if you’d like to be put in touch with her for a session).

I agree with the Forbes article that Access Bars is a great way to achieve immediate relaxation and stress relief. My office is conveniently located at the intersection of 123 and Hunter Mill in Oakton, just minutes from the Tysons area and Reston, and I offer evening hours, so it’s possible to come in after work for a session.

Access Bars is a technique that involves touching 32 points on the scalp and usually results in relaxation that can last from hours to weeks. I realize that most people have not heard of Access Bars before. It’s not acupressure, Reiki, or massage. It is its own thing. Access Bars happens while reclined, fully clothed, on a massage table. It can be done on all ages–I’ve worked with people as young as age eight–though I think teens and adults probably do best with Bars.

Sessions in my office generally run 60 minutes. I am willing to do 90-minute sessions upon request.

If you’re curious and would like to give it a try, you may sign up for a session on my calendar, here.

How Neurofeedback with Children is Different

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Brain training with younger children is different from training adults in many ways. The process is the same—decide what to train and how, then do the training—but the details vary depending upon the age of the child.

Children Sometimes Cannot Tolerate Brain Maps

Most of the time, depending upon one’s philosophy of training, neurofeedback begins with conducting a brain map, called a Trainers’ qEEG. This is a measurement of 20 sites on the scalp that correspond to specific regions of the brain, and the measurement serves as a guide to know where and what to train. It requires either wearing a cap with electrodes in it or having electrodes directly placed on the scalp, then measuring electrical activity while the eyes are closed, the eyes are open, and the eyes are open while doing a small task such as recounting numbers or quietly reading.

Children from about age 10 and up are almost always capable of completing a brain map. Younger children, however, are often too wriggly to sit still long enough for the measurements. This is especially true for the type of children whose parents want them to do brain training.

Being little and wriggly isn’t a deterrent to training, however. It simply means that one must get clues about brain function from watching the neurofeedback software carefully. It also helps to get clear instructions from a parent or caregiver about training goals.

Kids’ Brains are Different

Our brains all have different electrical speeds that we have given names.

Delta refers to very slow frequencies that are associated with sleep and unconsciousness. Theta is a bit faster and is associated with creativity, imagination, day-dreaminess, and sometimes inability to focus. Alpha is a bridge between internal and external awareness, and it serves as a meditative frequency. Beta is the frequency of awareness. It involves everyday focusing up through unhelpful hypervigilance. Gamma is the fastest frequency that neurofeedback measures and trains, and it involves binding learning experiences, as well as spirituality.

The dominant frequency in the brain changes as we age. In babies, that delta frequency of sleep is dominant, which is really no surprise given that babies sleep as much as they do. Up through late elementary school, theta is the dominant frequency. This helps us understand the incredible state of imagination and imaginary play we see in children as they develop. By around age 10 (more or less depending upon the individual child), the alpha frequency—which should peak at approximately 10 Hz—is dominant and remains so until there is aging or cognitive decline in the mix.

What this means is that protocols meant for adults with adult-level electrical frequencies usually are not right or helpful for younger children. It also means that special care is required for tweens and younger teens, whose brains may look either more like adults or more like younger children, depending on their physical development.

If you have tried neurofeedback for yourself, understand that younger children will be training in different ways and with different frequencies than you did. It is still the same software, and it still involves the same principles. Your practitioner simply must detect where the child’s brain is and adjust the software to meet childhood needs.

The philosophy of experienced practitioners is to meet the child where he/she is at electrically, but to train adults where they should ideally be. You as the parent do not need to worry about this but should ensure that your practitioner is skilled enough to know how to adapt to children’s brains.

Client-Led Sessions

Brain training can be tiring work, even though to a person not doing the training it simply looks like someone is sitting quietly with eyes closed, playing a game, or watching visual media with doo-dads attached to their heads. The brain uses more glucose than any other part of the body, and it uses a lot of energy trying to understand and respond to the reward sounds that the neurofeedback software provides the person doing training.

Children in particular can become quite tired, especially when first starting a round of brain training, before the planned number of minutes of training is finished during any given session. Until you get used to it, neurofeedback is hard work for the brain! It’s always important to customize training to the individual, but it’s especially important to observe and respond to kids. Doing neurofeedback is usually fun for them (who doesn’t love getting extra screen time during the school week), but it’s important to stop if they ask to stop. Not only does it prevent over-training, it fosters trust in the child that they have some agency in what is happening.

Feedback/Tracking Changes is Different

One can simply ask an adult how they are doing and what they are experiencing with respect to training. Children often do not have the self-awareness to provide this information. Therefore, it is important if you are the adult bringing the child to provide feedback to the practitioner. Teachers are often the first to notice changes, so if a teacher says something, that is important information to bring to sessions. Parents will quite quickly notice things like improved sleep and awakening more refreshed in the morning, and this is also good to know.

For you as the parent or caregiver of a young person getting ready to do neurofeedback, these differences should not be a source of worry beyond ensuring that your practitioner knows how to adapt their work to their youngest clients through the mid-teen years.

I work with children beginning around age eight (I will consider younger clients on a case-by-case basis). If you are interested in learning more, give me a call or schedule a consultation.

Documenting Hope for Children with Autism and Other Chronic Health Issues

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The Model Health Show is a popular podcast hosted by a fitness and nutrition expert named Shawn Stevenson. I listen to a lot of podcasts, and I think his is among the best. I feel compelled to share one of his latest episodes with you, because it is a balanced and calm look at the current epidemic of autism, ADHD, allergies, PANDAS, etc. that is harming our children.

In this particular episode, Stevenson interviewed the head of a non-profit called Documenting Hope, Beth Lambert. Lambert explores about the current state of the autism epidemic and its potential causes…as well as potential solutions! Hers is, to me, one of the most reasoned voices in an area where there’s a lot of propaganda, very high emotions, and scientifically faulty “data.” If someone you love is affected by autism (or if you just care about the topic), give it a listen here. It’s about an hour long and well worth your time.

Calm Your Election-Related Stress

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Most of us are experiencing heightened levels of worry related to the election, regardless of political persuasion, and that’s not likely to change even after Tuesday.

If your stress and worry are reaching proportions where you want professional tools to help get you some relief, BrainShape has options for you.

Quick Relief. If you’re generally in good shape and just want some immediate calming, consider booking an Access Bars session. It’s an energy-healing modality that involves touching 32 points on the scalp. It’s not really a scalp massage, not acupressure, not Reiki, but it combines elements of all three.

I can see that this would be one of the best ways to help people achieve feelings of relaxation and calm—a true, temporary escape from the crazy. One reason is that it only takes an hour and offers days of renewal.

For the first 10 people who book a session before the end of December and mention this blog post, I will offer sessions at about one-third off–$95 for an hour instead of $145.

Medium-term Relief. Some people need more than just a one-off or once-a-month solution. That’s where hypnosis can be beneficial. One flash session of hypnosis can create a medium-term calm, but for those who want longer-term relaxation, just four-to-six sessions can create lasting relief. Sessions are $275, but for the first 10 people who book sessions before the end of December, I am offering a 10% discount.

Long-term Relief. For those who are realizing that stress and worry have been a constant companion for a while, neurofeedback is likely a good solution. It is longer-term, because a full course of brain training takes about five months. But, neurofeedback is a powerful tool that can give years, if not longer, of relief. I have never offered discounts for neurofeedback (except for first responders and active-duty military), but for the next 10 people who mention this post and book before the end of December, I am offering half off a brain map and a 10% discount off sessions.

The good thing about each of these brain-calming tools is that they affect all levels of functioning—work, home, friends, etc. All are benign, with no negative side effects.

You don’t have to walk around like so many people are—worried, not taking care of themselves, and maybe even self-medicating with food and drink.

Call, text, or email me to make an appointment. I have evening appointments and, although I don’t usually work on Saturdays, I am making myself available on Saturday the 9th.

Cannabis Harms Teenage Brains

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Popular use of cannabis has grown so much over the past decade or so that it seems like people believe that using marijuana products is safe and effective, regardless of whether it’s for recreational or medical purposes. The truth is, though, that long-term use of marijuana is known to slow the pre-frontal cortex of the brain—the place where executive functioning happens. The research just doesn’t match the enthusiasm, and this is especially concerning for our teenagers.

Now, researchers from the Université de Montréal Faculty of Medicine and CHU Sainte-Justine in Canada have reported study findings showing that the active ingredient in cannabis—called THC or tetrahydrocannabinol—causes shrinkage of the growing of branches on neurons in the brains of adolescents. Those job of those branches is to connect with other neurons, and a reduction in the ability to connect with other neurons is not helpful. Neuroscience News reported that this causes atrophy in the cortex (the outer layer of the brain that has the grooves and ridges we recognize), calling that “bad news at a time when the brain is maturing.” I do not have a link to the study, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, at this time, but the abstract is available here. Neuroscience News covered this issue in more depth, and in an easy-to-understand manner, here.

Let’s Talk Money

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How much does this cost?

It seems that no matter where on my website I have placed the cost of my services, people have trouble finding it.  (Right now, costs are mentioned under each modality.) I thought it would be a good idea to lay out the question of dollar cost to make it easier to find.

However, I don’t think that numbers tell the whole story. The actual cost of the service really ought to be compared with what you’re getting in exchange for payment.  My intention is that if you work with me, you receive good value and not just a financial bargain.

NEUROFEEDBACK

What you get:

  • The opportunity to work with a person who is among the most experienced in Northern Virginia. I’ve been doing neurofeedback for close to 20 years, and there are only a few of us in the area who have dedicated that much time to their craft. You get solid knowledge and skills, personalized and customized to your specific needs and wants.
  • A good environment. There are no white coats to scare you or give you high blood pressure in my office—the emphasis is on calming and relaxation. Sure, the science and technology are there, but my EEG device, HEG gear, and other equipment are purposely kept low-key. The vibe is good for stressed-out and anxious people to come make transformations peacefully.
  • Enough time in training sessions. I train for a solid hour. That hour involves set up and checking in on progress made, 40 minutes or more of actual brain training, and clean up. I’m not a big believer in 20 minutes of training being enough (though of course for children and those with neurodivergence, 20 minutes may be the maximum tolerable; I customize rather than bulldoze through).

The cost:

I begin with a brain map (called a Trainers’ QEEG) most of the time. That is $345. Individual sessions are $140. Insurance does not cover my services, but HSAs usually do. I typically charge 10 sessions in advance to keep bookkeeping overhead at a minimum, but I vary from that plan to help when requested—it’s one of the flexibilities that come from being in charge.

Because neurofeedback is a financial commitment, I do offer payment plans without interest for those who need other payment arrangements.

HYPNOSIS

What you get:

  • In-person or online sessions. I’m certified in both. You have the luxury of making change from the peace of your own home if that’s what you prefer, or experiencing quiet and privacy in my office. It’s your choice!
  • Structured experience, customized for you. I’m trained in 5-PATH hypnosis, which is a way of structuring sessions to get big- and long-term changes in just 4-6 sessions. I bring creativity and experience to sessions so that the structure works for you.
  • Appointments are scheduled for two hours. Not every appointment lasts that long—sometimes we’re finished in about an hour—but I set aside two full hours in case your needs require a bit more. Like everything else, it’s customized for you. And, this way, you know you’ll get everything done without feeling like you’re being rushed out the door.

The cost:

 $275 per session, each payable 24 hours in advance.

ACCESS BARS

What you get:

One hour of an internationally known, phenomenally relaxing session that provides touch to 32 points on the scalp.

The cost:

$145 per session, payable 24 hours in advance.

*Please note that these are the dollar costs as of October 2024. They are subject to change.

What is a Brain Map?

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A brain map is how I almost always get started with a round of neurofeedback training. It is a measurement of the electrical activity in the brain and is conducted to help the brain trainer know what and where to train to help a person reach their goals.

This is done using precise spots on the head. Neurofeedback uses the same address system on the scalp that neurologists use, called the international 10-20 system. Each of these sites on the scalp corresponds to brain functions in the area below it, so it matters where on the head we place electrodes. Most practitioners are like me and will conduct some kind of brain map.

Brain maps can be cursory or thorough, and the results can be beneficial or sometimes needlessly overly specific. For example, some maps only measure activity at one or two sites out of the 20 on the scalp. Others take measurements that result in 150 or more pages of results, yet all this highly specific data result in suggesting training at just one or two sites on the head.

My approach to measuring is to take recordings of the electrical activity at 20 places on the scalp using something called the Trainers’ QEEG. Each recording captures a person’s state while her eyes are closed, open, and open while conducting tasks such as repeating digits, listening for content, etc. I process these recordings using software that involves many algorithms to help compare the person’s brain against itself. I review these findings, then generate a training plan that involves rotating through a series of what we call protocols—names of places on the brain, along with the electrical frequencies or connections that would benefit from training.  The process of brain mapping takes about an hour to an hour and 15 minutes, with extra time dedicated to analyzing the results.

The training plan that results from these measurements is called Whole-Brain Training. It involves training multiple sites on the scalp, almost like circuit-training the body. A person doing healthy physical training would not train just the quadriceps, because this could result in an imbalance and possibly a pulled hamstring. The same concept applies to neurofeedback. Training just one spot in the brain may sometimes be fine, is almost never harmful, but is usually not optimal.

I conduct Trainers’ QEEGs on almost all of my clients. The exceptions are young children, who can rarely sit still long enough to get reliable measurements, and on rare occasion the adults who also cannot tolerate the process of sitting with one’s eyes closed in an office.

To me, brain maps are foundational, because they entail looking at the brain rather than guessing based on a person’s complaints or goals. If you’d like to learn more about the brain map process and neurofeedback in general, give me a call, or schedule a consultation here.

Prescription Medications and Neurofeedback     

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One of the questions I’m often asked during consultations is whether a person can continue taking medications during brain training. The short answer is yes, but the longer answer to that is nuanced.

The first and most important thing to keep in mind before addressing the issue of brain training and medications is that no one should be going off or skipping medications that their doctor has prescribed unless they are working with that doctor to do so. Period. That means, don’t stop using your medications abruptly just because you want to do neurofeedback.

If a person decides to do neurofeedback while taking prescription medications, it is important to work with their prescribing doctor and learn about the signs of over-medication for whatever product they are consuming. Often, those who use neurofeedback find that they need to reduce the dosage or eliminate their medications. It is not my job, nor is it within the scope of my practice, to advise when and where to start lowering medications. Only a physician should be doing this, which is why I am rather adamant about the issue of over-medication and talking to one’s doctor.

All those caveats aside, from a neurofeedback perspective, using medications while doing brain training is fine. My neurofeedback software is set up to train a person’s brain right where it is at the time one arrives for training. This means that the brain is receiving feedback as it is in the moment. A medicated brain gets trained where it’s at, and an unmedicated brain trains where it’s at in any given moment, too.

Let’s say that I set the computer system to reward the brain 80% of the time. It is going to train 80% of a medicated brain’s state, just as it is going to train 80% of a fresh, morning brain or 80% of a tired-at-the-end-of-a-long-work-day brain. The brain is going to receive a good workout, but the workout is customized to meet the needs of a fresh, tired, medicated, or unmedicated brain. That’s part of the beauty of the software.

There is one caveat to this, and that is a category of medications called benzodiazepenes. They are quite a powerful class of drug, and they often overpower the gentle teaching tool that is neurofeedback. It’s still possible to get results if one is using a benzodiazepine-class medication, but whether those results “stick” depends upon the person’s individual physiology, as well as dosage and whether a person is taking it daily or only as needed. Again, do not change what you are doing without doctor approval, just know that with benzodiazepenes in the mix, it’s a trickier call as to whether neurofeedback will be as helpful and calming as you’d wish it to be.

The bottom line is that it is just fine to do brain training while taking your prescription medications as prescribed, but keep your doctor informed.