In the session you will have some sensors attached to your head, two on your scalp and three on your ears, these will be attached with a water based conductive paste, which wipes off easily at the end of training. You will also be wearing headphones so that you can hear the feedback delivered via a piece of music (the feedback sounds like little skips in the music recording). The feedback is information that the brain uses to re-orient its activity to the present moment, so that it makes a choice about what to do next. If your nervous system tends to be a little too ‘switched on’,  with stress or anxiety or a little too ‘switched off’ with depression or dissociation then the training will help to regulate these patterns over time.

During the session you sit back and relax and let the system and your brain do the work for you. There is no conscious effort needed from you, even if you fall asleep the training still takes place.

 

Anyone with a brain! We all live in a world that can take its toll in different ways because of stress, a constant fast pace, adverse experiences, constant distractions, imperfect relationships etc. These circumstances influence our brain and nervous system and, over time, tend to mobilise us into defensive, survival states and suboptimal performance.

This type of training helps your brain perform at its best again, whatever that best may be. The training is the same for everyone regardless of whether you come to improve sporting performance, struggles with emotions or concentration. The training doesn’t treat specific symptoms but upgrades brain and central nervous system performance through better self regulation, it can therefore bring many and varied improvements across your physical and mental functioning, even those you weren’t expecting. I had one trainee swear their parallel parking had got better!

NeurOptimal does not work on specific symptoms or issues because it is working on the central nervous system and brain as a whole system at once. It can therefore bring many changes and improvements across many areas, even those you weren’t expecting.  Here are a number of general areas it ca be helpful with:

• Peak Performance and concentration enhancement
• Stress reduction
• Feeling grounded and present
• Emotional Resilience (ie better recovery from stress and challenges)
• Less emotional reactivity
• Less engagement with unhelpful thinking processes
• Facilitate return of veterans into home and work life
• Academic and job enhancement
• Athletic and sports training
• Optimising your intelligence with improved brain function
• Academic /  learning performance: Improved focus, attention & retention, reduction of test anxiety
• Enhancing creativity and awareness
• Enriching partner, family and work relationships

No, you dont. While they can be complimentary and allied, they are doing different things.

Therapy is very good for making sense of your world, your self and your expereinces, which can help you to feel better. Neurofeedback is a non verbal approach to train your brain and nervous system become more steady, regulated and resilient. It tends to help regualte deeper brain structures that cannot be accessed by talking. By calming deeper brain structures that hold our more primal fear reactions, what people gain access to is much clearer thinking and mental sharpness in the present moment.

Many people come to neurofeedback becasuse they have done a lot of therapy but still feel that their nervous sytem is unsteady and reactive. In this case neurofeedback can be the icing on the cake and deliver what therapy could not. For others, neurofeedback can prepare them for therapy or run very helpfully along side it.

I typically advise people to observe the changes in their life to gauge this. Each brain and nervous system is different so it is impossible to predict accurately in advance. However, you will know pretty quickly when it is helping you. Some people notice an effect in the first training session, but for many, despite sensing things are changing, it usually take 6-10 sessions to define more concretely what the effects are. For others it just takes a bit longer.

I find that many people come to neurofeedback because they are looking for specific changes in one or two areas. NeurOptimal trains the brain as a whole, so if you are only looking for only a narrow set of results, it can be easy to miss all the other shifts and changes that occur across other areas. I encourage clients to keep an open mind about all the ‘green shoots’ of change because, even if you haven’t yet experienced the exact results you are looking for, these shifts in other areas are good evidence that change is happening and that your specifically desired results will come in time.

When you stop your training will depend partly upon your goals. If you are training to feel better quickly, you might decide after 10-15 sessions that you have made enough gains and stop. On the other hand, if you are looking for lasting changes, 25-35 sessions is a better ballpark. For some the journey will  be longer still, as it was for me. For people that I see with life long struggles, I encourage them to understand the high level of internal reorganisation that is happening in their brain and that finding enduring stability after lifelong challenges will just take time. The good thing is you can stop at any time and always pick it up again later if you so choose. Any training you have done in the past will always serve you well should you do more sessions in the future — no session is ever wasted. The training and changes your brain make will be remembered, so future sessions will add to the learning and act as a good way to get back on track when life’s challenges push you off balance.

Yes, absolutely! Many people use neurofeedback to enhance their performance at work, in sport, in an educational setting and for greater creativity.

We all live at a faster pace and in a more complex world than the human brain developed to deal with. There are many competing demands and stresses that even the highest functioning brain will still sometimes become worn down by. It isn’t always possible to have all the recovery time our brain and body need to get back to their best. Neurofeedback is an excellent tool for resetting and sharpening our performance.

In person training sessions take place in the office in central Hove, East Sussex.

No problem. We offer rental systems which are shipped out to your home. The beauty of NeurOptimal is that the expertise is in the software, so it is easy and safe to use from the comfort of your home. You will receive everything you need to achieve brain training at home. The package includes the NeurOptimal system plus training videos, plus a training manual with all the information you will need. You will have remote support from us to help with any queries you have along the way. You will also have technical support available to you from the NeurOptimal manufacturers should there be any technical problems during your rental period.