I had done a lot of gardening when I lived in New Mexico on an organic farm, and here living more of the “city” life I missed it. So when I saw the Craigslist ad for help with gardening at The Mother Ranch I was intrigued. Especially since when I read the website about her farm, I was introduced to NeurOptimal, which Julia offered at the ranch. I had never heard of neurofeedback and all it could do to help people, but I was always on the lookout for anything related to the proper functioning of the brain. In fact, my personal experiences as a child led me to study Physiological Psychology as my major in graduate school.
In any case, I responded to the ad, and when I went to the ranch for a tour Julia showed me all her wonderful animals (goats, horses, dogs) and everything she was doing on the ranch, and told me about the neurofeedback. I asked if there was any possibility of trading my gardening skills for an experience of the system, and she said yes!
I enthusiastically proceeded to help with the thistles and bindweed, in all of her flower gardens. And I had my first session of NeurOptimal neurofeedback.
I have to say I was blown away. I came out of that session feeling as if I had done the deepest meditation I had ever done. I was not unfamiliar with meditation, I had lived in a spiritual community for 35 years where it was a daily mainstay of our lifestyle. I was impressed that a short session of listening to music while hooked up to her computer could produce a similar effect.
I proceeded throughout the summer to garden and do sessions of neurofeedback every week. I rarely missed a week, and found each time that whatever my level of stress/anxiety/or imbalance might be that day, whether it was physical, mental or emotional, I left feeling more grounded, centered, relaxed, and in myself. Even if I was not feeling out of balance, it always gave me a more cohered sense of myself. I looked forward to having a session and got depressed when the seasons started to change and there was not much more gardening to do!
All this led to my continued research and exploration regarding NeurOptimal. I proceeded to purchase a system of my own, and to pursue setting it up so I could offer this premier method of training the brain to many others who might also benefit from it.
One of the reasons I was attracted to NeurOptimal neurofeedback was because I have been suffering with migraine headaches for over 25 years. I have done a lot of things to help me work with them, however I still experienced them at least once a week if not a little more often. And I was hoping this might change something in my brain to help me more.
I didn’t notice anything right off from the sessions, except what I’ve already described as the lessening of anxiety and pretty much de-stressing any stresses I happened to have. But over the months during and since the sessions I had, I have to say that my headaches, if not less frequent, have been easier to manage. I hesitated to attribute this wholly to NeurOptimal because some other things changed in my life which could have contributed to the effect of easing the headaches, but I believe the NeurOptimal was a key factor that led me on the path towards better brain balance, fewer headaches and less stress from them.