NeurOptimal® is a Neurofeedback system created by the Dr.’s Val and Sue Brown in Canada. Their Zengar Institute has been in operation since 1996, where they created and administer the software in this system. It’s been in use for 17 years and has had well over 3 million hours of use worldwide. NeurOptimal is time-tested, safe, and effective as a brain training system.
Zengar Institute Inc.’s mission is to create, deliver and support the most effective and safe brain training system available in the world today. The purpose of this endeavor reflects the mission of its founders — to relieve suffering.
The NeurOptimal software trains the brain by introducing small interruptions in the audio/visual stream in response to small, subtle changes in the electrical signal of the brain. This “information” given to the brain helps the brain adjust and come back to the present. The Dr’s say that this is the way the central nervous system normally reacts to changes in its environment. NeurOptimal is communicating mathematically in the same way that the central nervous system normally reacts to change in its environment, in the same way the central nervous system intrinsically talks to the body.
Every time someone does a session, it is a totally different brain, and session. Every brain is different at different times, and will never be the way it was before.
When you are connected to the software, via sensors placed on your scalp with conductive paste, the “zAmp” provided by Zengar amplifies the electrical signal and turns it into a digital signal. All you do is sit there and relax, listen to the music, watch the screen (if you want), close your eyes if you would rather, read, or fall asleep! The software, responding to your brain’s electrical activity, does all the training.
Who can benefit from NeurOptimal? How does it do this?
Anyone who feels they need a step up can benefit. As life can hit hard, our brain isn’t always able to respond quickly. Instead, it will repeat the same pattern and the same story. Telling the same stories – will usually create a persistent/consistent electrical pattern in our electrical signal of the brain. We often find ourselves worrying about the same things- over and over, not able to flexibly move through our thoughts, or daily tasks. Our sleep can be affected, our moods can be affected, our relationships can be threatened, our performance can suffer.
What NeurOptimal does is provide the central nervous system with information about what it is doing. This way it helps create flexibility in our customary responses to life. NeurOptimal creates an interruption anytime there is a ‘difference’ in the electrical signal, in terms of Duration, Intensity, Frequency or Shift. When reading this electrical signal from the brain, the NeurOptimal system mathematically measures the Duration, Intensity and any Shifts/Changes that occur. This means that both the strength of the signal and the timing of the signal is being measured (where most other Neurofeedback systems measure in Amplitude/Strength only). The speed of NeurOptimal’s software and the idea of measuring ‘timing’ is unique to only NeurOptimal.
NeurOptimal measures these aspects of your brain’s electrical activity and analyzes it 256 times per second, detecting changes in the activity in Duration, Intensity, Frequency and Shifts. (It then offers a small interruption to the audio and video stream.) Your brain perceives these slight interruptions as a notification that something changed and then the central nervous system ‘adjusts’ to that information.
Our brain’s job is to keep us alive. Because of this, it always is moving towards a place of comfort.
How can I benefit from this process?
The system can help increase my ability to gain flexibility and resilience and allow me to easily and effortlessly make decisions without concern. Everything we do in life has the potential to add stress and as the body is able to self-heal, this process presents the information so the individual can regain that ability. It is diagnostically agnostic (it doesn’t matter what the diagnosis is, and it doesn’t need a diagnosis). NeurOptimal reminds the brain to self-regulate or ‘re-adjust’ to the external environmental turbulence. Remember, nothing is put into the brain (no electricity, no strong frequency or vibration, or light/sound).
What are some common ways NeurOptimal might affect me?
Some people have noticed that their sleep patterns change – many times people feel more rested in general. For instance, most of the time they find themselves sleeping through the night, and waking feeling refreshed. The restless and internal frustration you ordinarily experience may dissipate. Many times we see that people become more involved in family and discussions, more communicative, sharing personal ideas. Often people improve their mood – over all content and happier – feeling more internally balanced. Sometimes people feel less impulsive, stay focused longer, or notice visual and auditory details they missed before. Some people have more energy than before doing the training, and even listen better and with more intent. Other benefits that have been observed: more compassion and empathy, being less obsessive and compulsive, less distracted, and having better memory. Some people become more patient, and less reactive. You can roll with life’s “punches” more easily!
You might ask, how do we know that NeurOptimal is working? Ask yourself these questions: How does the brain know how to walk? How does the body know when to send oxygenated blood to an organ? How does a body ‘self-heal’ a broken arm or a skinned knee? What happens when the central nervous system detects a change in the body’s temperature or any bodily function? The central nervous system knows how to do these things, through an internal communication system, and NeurOptimal is able to speak that same language, so the brain responds to it.
More about the brain
The brain is the most complex DYNAMICAL structure known to the universe! It is able to process massive amounts of information, develop responses and apply these responses for increased efficiency and mastery again and again. It can understand the chaos. How does the brain perceive incoming information? It can be helpful to know that. The brain attends to that which is most important at any time. Consciousness is self regulated meaning that processes not requiring our immediate attention often take place outside of our awareness.
Every brain has an innate ability to change. The central nervous system is constantly detecting changes, in our internal state and external environment. This is the same way NeurOptimal works, it is an incredibly dynamical process. NeurOptimal trains the brain by using the central nervous system’s unique ability to monitor change within the body and respond to that change. The communication of the NeurOptimal system is the same process that the central nervous system uses to communicate to itself.
Regarding our brain and the information it receives: our brain is infinitely cycling and self regulating. There are no ABSOLUTE values that are inherently ‘best’ or the “amount” of brain activity required for specific functions. It always varies from brain to brain and it always varies with time for that same brain. In the same way that our bodily system generally regulates to around a blood pressure of 120/80 or to a temperature of about 98.6, but this does not stay constant nor is it ‘fixed’.
How NeurOptimal will train flexibility and resilience: we look at what happens when our brain cannot smoothly detect change. We become rigid in our thoughts and deeds; we tend to become rigid, disorganized, or have persistent complaints. The electrical signal stays in a “fixed pattern”. By interrupting that pattern with a milli-second of silence or static (the interruption in the music) the brain will adjust and find a new place of internal comfort.
Some key distinctions about NeurOptimal: This is training (not therapy). It is diagnostically agnostic, does not require a diagnosis. It reminds the brain to self-regulate. Nothing is put into the brain (no electricity, no strong frequency or vibration, or light/sound). Because nothing goes into the brain and nothing comes out of the brain, we are ‘teaching’ the brain to respond differently… All we are doing is providing information to the brain about what it is doing. It sorts itself out on its own from there. There are no decisions being made by the system on behalf of your brain.
Training your brain is a learning process which works best with consistent sessions. You have the responsibility to decide on the consistency of your brain training sessions (1-2 times weekly, 3-4 times a week, whenever.) You can document shifts in your life with the help of your trainer. You need to understand that the ‘progress’ is something learned internally, your brain learns to adjust and you learn to self-heal. We have progress tracking tools which can help keep your process focused on internal shifts you notice as you continue with the training. The NeurOptimal process is a private dance between the software system and you. The internal responses you may have are always diverse and dependent upon your ability to observe and process this information.
Practical notes for a NeurOptimal Session:
Before your first NeurOptimal session, you will be asked to fill out a brief questionnaire describing how you are feeling and what you wish to achieve in coming to your training sessions. You will be seated in a comfortable reclining chair facing a computer monitor. You will be asked to fill out some paperwork. Two sensors will be placed on your scalp and another three are placed on your ears. Earbuds are then given to you so you can place them in your ears so that you can easily hear the music. Once the training begins, you will hear the music with very brief, occasional interrupts within it, and you will be able to watch a random visualization on a monitor if you desire. The interruptions are NeurOptimal’s way of drawing your non-conscious attention to the process, and this is how your brain is trained.
— Text on this page courtesy of the Zengar Institute