Transformation Abstracts

From past meetings organized by Futurehealth and Rob Kall

Abstracts from the 2000 Futurehealth Meetings

Optimal Functioning Central

 

WS2 Buddhism, the Yogic Self, and Neurofeedback

Al Collins, Ph.D.

Neurofeedback, like all biofeedback, is a technology of self regulation. The word "self" in this definition is crucial in understanding what neurofeedback is. The kind of self that is understood to be doing the regulating (or being regulated) differs from one theory of neurofeedback to another. I will propose a taxonomy of neurofeedback theories based on how they understand the self and its role in the process. Because the deepest and most accurate analysis of the self has been done in the Indian and Chinese psychologies of bondage and self realization, I will use these ideas as a basic grid or framework for understanding the self's place in neurofeedback. Western psychological theories of the self will also be briefly reviewed, including Bandura's self efficacy theory, Rogers' and Gendlin's anti-self theories, Jung's distinction between ego and self, and Kohut's biploar self theory. Finally, I will apply Western and Eastern self ideas to the controversy over whether the brain, and therefore neurofeedback, is "linear" or "chaotic."

There are at least three types of self in neurofeedback theories:

1. Self as ego (gaining self efficacy or self control)

2. Self as witness (learning to act while not claiming the "fruits" of action)

3. Self as no-self (reorganization outside self awareness)

In yogic and Buddhist terms, these correspond to the Sanskrit words ahamkara, Purusa, and Buddha. We will discuss these concepts and apply them. At this point I believe that most neurofeedback based on QEEG, decreasing theta/beta ratios, and frontal lobe mastery falls into the self as ego category. Val Brown's and Len Ochs' theories, and perhaps ROSHI, seem to fall into the self as no-self group. Jeff Carmen's HEG, possibly ROSHI, and Anna Wise's Mind Mirror seem to belong in the self as witness category. I will discuss the role of the frontal lobes (especially left prefrontal) as the locus of the self (ego, possibly witness) and contrast this with the "global synchrony" no-self ideas that are not interested in localization and in fact implicitly subordinate the self to a wider organization. It is the no-self perspective that most naturally aligns itself with chaos theory and nonlinearity of the nervous system and neurotherapy.

Goals: To clarify what "self regulation" means in neurofeedback (and biofeedback generally) and to make explicit the implications that different understandings of "self" have for theories and practice of neurofeedback.

Love is a Way of Paying Attention

Les Fehmi and Susan Shor

A stockbroker, viewing his stock picks and talking to his clients in paying attention. A musician playing jazz is paying attention. An athlete who is immersed in his sport is paying attention. Someone who experiences anger or sadness is paying attention.

All of these forms of attention are important in our everyday lives. Love seems to most of us to be one of the more fleeting states of mind. Is it because we don’t bring the appropriate forms of attention to support the experience of love?

 

Objectives:

-discuss various forms of attention according to a quadrant model

-to illustrate the appropriateness of the various forms of attention in each of the quadrants for various human activities

-to recommend an inclusive form of attention that engenders compassion and love.

WS4 Managing Self, Managing awareness ; realizing your true nature through Attention Training.

Les Fehmi

One can spend a life searching for one’s true nature. One can miss altogether the nature of the searcher. Of all the variables associated with the searcher, the way he attends-- the attention he brings to the search --is most critical. If he goes chasing his true nature with a narrow focused atention, he’ll never get to realize other forms of attention, which is the object of the search. The object of the search is to realize his self. but Self is a composite of a multiplicity of forms of attention.

The participant will be exposed to various parameters of attention and will be guided through experiential exercises which enable participants to actually experience forms of attention discussed in the didactic part of the lecture. Attentional flexibility and its applications to personal and clinical settings will be discussed.

Objectives:

-didactic and experiential understanding and realization of various forms of attention according to a quadrant model

-to illustrate the relationship of the various forms of attention in the formation and search for self.

-learn practical exercises which can be used or taught to clients for daily use in practicing attentional flexibility

Transformations of Consciousness: Spiritual Milestones

Rhonda Greenberg

This presentation will address how to expand dimensions of consciousness and facilitate spiritual growth in everyday psychotherapy. Learn how to effectively support, explore, and effectively use the spiritual transformative techniques and recognize the phases of transformational change. Inner transformation requires one to feel keenly and have a sheer experience of the aspects of self that we hold back and then, begin to discover the truths about ourselves. The integration of the dimensions of the soul into our healing work helps individuals to emerge from the dark nights with a inner knowledge that deepens and enriches ones' life. Release of emotional distress and all kinds of psychological problems can be obtained through traditional psychotherapies and the new energy psychotherapies.

Learn how to employ these techniques in the service of growth, healing and optimal wellness.

Objectives:

1. Understand the major theoretical paradigms that describe the developmental milestones of spiritual and transformational growth.

2. Learn how psychotherapy can support spiritual emergence in order to help the client achieve optimal inner healing and performance goals.

3. Introduction to the new energy meridien-based therapies and their integration of these techniques with the more classic psychotherapies.

 

 

Optimal Functioning & QEEG 30 minutes

Jay Gunkelman

The concept of optimal functioning has been one which has had many protocols designed to create such a state. These protocols have included many one-size-fits-all fixed state protocols, such as the frontal lobe generalized suppression or the varieties of alpha based protocols. There are others which are a universally applied protocols with multiple steps, from the two chanell work of Anna Wise, to the Chaos theory expounding works of Val Brown.

I will attempt to show the use of the qEEG to customize the NF intervention to the individuals own EEG profile to optimize the effect desired by the client, rather than accepting these more commonly expounded neurofeedback approaches to optimal functioning. The arbitrary separation between clinical treatment and optimal functioning will be discussed. Individual cases will be reviewed.

This is not a "weekend wonder" (one seminar gets you into a practice) approach, but requires a depth understanding of the brain's physiological systems and their EEG/qEEG signatures. The seductive nature of the less intellectually taxing interventions will become obvious. A serious long term committment to the field is required to attain independent mastry of the techniques, but with the modern information technologies these advanced interventions do not have to be done independently.

Soma Sound: The Voice of Memory

Jane Gutman

An introduction to the "memory body," both as the embodiment of cellular

history and the expression of your mental/physical/emotional and spiritual

experience.

Meet an ancient practice that will re-align the collection of your bodies,

i.e. mental, physical, emotional, spiritual and memory bodies. This process

addresses the cellular memory system. It is a system that allows you to

access the library of memories that has accumulated from the moment of

conception to the present. Through a combination of energy balancing, breath

and "sounding" you will begin the process of gently releasing the material

that has collected in the cells and tissues of your system. As you begin to

address this collection you will allow the accumulated material to clear and

release.

The Soma Sound™ experience can be a catalyst for release, for clarity, for

re-shaping the cellular structure. As this structure is re-formed, at the

level of the conscious experience, we are able to establish new thought form,

new insight, new perception to the conditions that have formed the blueprint

for our life experiences.

Sounding is profound in its form and in its energetic structure. Know that

in practice and in principle, it will serve as a bridge to wholeness and to

holiness. Sit in the arms of its Light. Integrate the concept of memory as

a driving factor in the current status of our life and our health.

All healing includes the "surrendering" of old ways… Surrendering what is

stored in memory, surrendering what is held in the cells and tissues, and

releasing thoughts and behaviors that direct us away from the full expression

of perfect health and joy. Soma Sound™ is one system that assists the

mind/body/spirit as it journeys to wellness and wholeness.

An array of feelings and sensations are experienced as you "sound" out this

material: Joy, sorrow, fatigue, clarity, heaviness, lightness, despair,

inner strength are among the feelings and sensations others have reported as

they express the inner collection of grief and distress. Material has

collected throughout your life and so it is usual to experience a sense of

exhaustion and exhilaration. Both are frequently reported

Your system will actually prioritize material and will "select" the most

appropriate material to release. The body/mind/spirit, in its innate wisdom

will release only that which is within the range of your comfort and safety.

Know that as you move into the core of your pain, cleansing and healing will

come forth and your holy and whole self will emerge. This will come

incrementally for some and transformationally for others.

The influence of memory will reveal itself to both the scientific and healing

communities as we are directed to the resolution of lifelong wounds.

Jane Guttman © 2000

760 323-0307

GiftJGDC@aol.com

 

Jane Guttman

The Gift Wrapped in Sorrow

Soma Sound: The Voice of Memory

Channel for Athelia: The Unseen Healer

"For many, the future is blind without a sight of the past."

Judge Wade S. Weatherford, Jr.

 

 

The Unseen Healer: Listen for the Higher Voice

Jane Gutman

Explore the healing presence of spirit guides/teachers as profound models and directors to the physician within, your inner healer. Awaken to the guidance of these "unseen healers" and be propelled toward a higher vibratory energetic experience. Listen to/for the "higher voice," a transforming communication that will assist you in bridging the space between your mindbody experience and that of the energetic, spiritual expression; bringing a poignant integration of mind/body/spirit.

Jane Guttman, D.C. will share her personal introduction with Athelia, an eloquent, powerful, learned spirit master. She has joined Jane as an extraordinary voice in speaking to the wounded being and the powerful master that each one is. Athelia has come as a gifted, articulate, wise, tender, gracious healer to assist in our quests for healing and wholeness. Her guidance is remarkably aligned with our inner truth and outer expression.

Share in this stirring opportunity to explore the path to your spirit guide, to the higher vibration that can bring you to the door of mindful clarity and true transformation.

Accelerated Spiritual Growth Through The Advanced Biocybernaut Process

James Hardt

The Biocybernaut Training Process is a high tech intensive vision quest that evokes transformation of personality and accelerates spiritual growth.

Participants will learn the required technology and be introduced to the methods for the experiential application of this advanced brain energy training.

The means of achieiving spiritual growth are well known: quieting the mind, stilling the internal dialogues, and opening our hearts. The benefits of the ancient wisdom are made virbantly real and personal in your life when you actually quiet your mind and open your heart. But exhortation and meditation are both very slow routes to these attainments. We know that technoogy speeds things up, and now there is an optimized technology for spiritual growth that assists you in rapidly quieting your mind, stilling your internal dialogues, and opening your heart. This powerful technology and method offers many of the attainments of 20 to 40 years of meditation in a 7-day brain energy feedback intensive. Joy, peace, love, and exhilaration are the natural results of the Biocybernaut Training Process along with increased creativity, happiness, motivation, and possibily also significant increases in IQ.

Information about the brain energy patterns underlying halos, the perception of astral plane beings (e.g. angels), forgiveness, happiness and mind skills such as creativity, IQ, and ESP will be discussed. When the underlying brain energy patterns are known, training the associated mind skills becomes easy with Biocybernaut technology.

Workshop Objectives:

1. Participants will identify a causal relationship between changes in brain energy patterns and changes in dimensions of personality.

2. Participants will identify the relationships between effective forgiveness and non-attachment and how these contribute to opening the heart and quieting the mind.

3. Participants will describe the experiential research data linking

spiritual growth to learned changes in brain energy patterns.

4. Participants will distinguish between effective and ineffective feedback technologies.

5. Participants will describe the requirements of effective feedback

methodologies.

 

Sat. Talk

 

ADD: There is a Light at the End of the Tunnel

Thom Hartmann

In his six books on attention deficit disorder, best-selling author Thom Hartmann has characterized ADD as scanning or "Hunter" traits, which can present a problem for children and adults living in a world taken over by "Farmers." In this inspiring and informative presentation, Hartmann shares ADD Success stories with the audience, re-frames ADD in a way that is useful and therapeutic, and provides specific suggestions and strategies for success with ADD. Thom Hartmann gives adults and children with ADD an opportunity to recapture their self-esteem and take control of their lives.

 

Two hour workshop

Waking Up To Personal and Global Transformation

In this passionate yet thoroughly researched presentation, author Thom Hartmann proposes that the only lasting solution to the crisis we face in to relearn the lessons of out ancient ancestors--who lived sustainably for thousands of generations. When you touch this new yet older way of seeing the world and hearing the voice of all life, you will discover that you, personally, hold the power of personal and planetary transformation.

 

Fri. Talk:

 

Edge of God: The Psychology of Transformation

Thom will touch on how western thinking legends and myths have caused global problems and what we can do about it. Individual actions and changes in conciousness -- lessons we can learn from ancient cultures -- can save the world from impending ecological and cultural crises. Touching that place where the survival of humanity may be found is the focus of this workshop.

Find out about:

* Understanding responsibility for yourself and your actions: how to regain your personal power

* Rediscovering love in yourself, others, and the divine

* How to recreate community wherever you are

* Discover Self-Actualization is possible both individually and culturally

 

 

Bio

Thom Hartmann is an award-winning best-selling author, international lecturer, teacher, and psychotherapist. His books have been written about in Time magazine, the Wall Street Journal and numerous radio and TV shows including "All Things Considered." A former journalist and editor, he lives in Vermont with his wife, Louise. His most recent books are Healing ADD and The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight.

CV for Thom Hartmann

Thom Hartmann, a psychotherapist, is also an internationally known speaker on psychotherapy and communications, an author, and an innovator in the fields of psychiatry, ecology, and the intersection of spiritual and cultural transformation.

Hartmann is the award-winning, best-selling author of nine books currently in print (and two more to be released in 1999). He is the former executive director of a residential treatment program for emotionally disturbed and abused children, and has helped set up and support hospitals, famine relief programs, schools, and communities for orphaned or blind children on five continents. Rostered with the State of Vermont as a psychotherapist, he was the originator of the revolutionary "Hunter/Farmer Hypothesis" to understand the psychiatric condition known as Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD). He also synthesized the Younger/Older Culture model for describing the underpinnings - and possiblesolutions - to the world's ecological and political crises. His most recent books (1998) are "Healing ADD," with a foreword by Richard Bandler, and "The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight," with a foreword by

Joseph Chilton Pearce and afterword by Neale Donald Walsch.

Hartmanns books have been written about in Time and many other magazines, he has been on NPR and BBC radio and CNN television (among others), mentioned on the front page of The Wall Street Journal, and has spoken to hundreds of thousands of people on five continents over the past two decades. One of his books was selected for inclusion in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian for its "visionary use of information technology to produce positive social, economic and educational change in medicine." As a result of his book "The Prophet's Way," he was invited in August, 1998, for a personal audience with Pope John Paul II at the Pope's summer palace on Lake Gandolfo, and to participate in a workshop in September, 1999 with His

Holiness The Dalai Lama at the residence of The Dalai Lama in India. Recently the Premier of Canada's Northwest Territories, Don Morin, brought Hartmann in to conduct a workshop with Inuit and Dene people on education and cultural transformation which was so successful he then asked Hartmann to address the Legislative Assembly of the province.

A recurrent theme in Hartmann's work is that most true and lasting cultural change begins with personal change propagating through enough people to reach a critical mass. Thus, he urges us all to be conscious and open to the world, showing that doing all you can to save the planet and improve the human condition requires both personal spiritual connection and global intent. History demonstrates that the tiniest and most anonymous actions can have world-changing ramifications.

Hartmann holds several degrees in various aspects of complimentary medicine (1971-78), studied acupuncture in Beijing (1986), and is a licensed and certified NLP Practitioner (1994) and NLP Trainer (1996) with the Society of NLP. For this latter, he was trained by Leif Roland and Richard Bandler.

RECIPES FOR ENCHANTMENT, Beginning to Live a Life of Joy.

Barbara Holstein

In this two hour workshop participants will learn the core RECIPES for ENCHANTMENT. These recipes encourage the utilization of a positive action

combined with positive cognitions and /or

feelings. For example, working in a soup kitchen while at the same time feeling in a pleasant mood would be a very simple recipe. A discussion of these "recipes" will then lead into relevant components of THE ENCHANTED SELF: l. How to use memory to access the positive parts of yourself. 2. How to recognize what gives you pleasure and joy in your life. 3. How to begin to make necessary changes to permit positive actions to succeed.

Several mind/body exercises will help the participants begin to design unique recipes that fit them, based on personal interests, history, and recognition of pleasure.

Goals: Each participant will leave understanding the core components of THE

ENCHANTED SELF and well as what makes a workable ENCHANTED RECIPE.

Each person will leave with an individual ENCHANTED RECIPE based on his or her uniqueness to begin to implement.

Each person will be given follow-up materials and ways to converse with me for follow-up feedback and support.

 

THE ENCHANTED SELF, A Positive Therapy

Barbara Holstein

In this 30 minute presentation I will share THE ENCHANTED SELF paradigm

shift that takes the focus off of pathology in the treatment room and places it where it should be: on the client's strengths, positive aspects of her

past, talents, coping skills, interests and potential. This shift allows for more hope, optimism and the experience of joy, for both the client and the

therapist, while still encouraging effective psychotherapy.

Goals for this presentation are: 1. The attendee understands THE ENCHANTED

SELF paradigm shift. 2. The attendee leaves with some clear notions has to

how to begin to make that shift in the treatment room. 3. The attendee understands the importance of focusing on the postive aspects of a client rather than the pathology.

Positive Experience Work: imagery, recall, analysis , as a positive psychology coaching intervention.

Rob Kall

Positive experience training is a process of skill building based on a model which posits that positive experiences and good feelings are the basic building blocks of self esteem, positive attitude, the ability to face challenges, experience happiness and express good feelings and the capacity to cope with adversity and stress.

Some of the elements involved in building these skills include positive experience (PE) recall, analysis and imagery. By working with these, clients can build a permanent, accessible inventory of PEs which can be used:

- to balance cognitive distortion

-to analyze PE patterns

-for personalized imagery exercises

The presentation will include didactic and experiential components, including a guided PE recall exercise, followed by a detailed analysis of some PEs. A very brief overview of the anatomy of Positive experience will be described.

Objectives:

-understanding of Positive Experience Skill model

-ability to guide a client through a PE recall exercise

-know three ways to incorporate PE exercises in work with clients (diary keeping, personalized imagery, PE pattern analysis to identify underutilized PE activities)

 

Self regulation and enlightenment

Rob Kall

This introductory discussion will explore the variety of self regulatory approaches used by biofeedback practitioners to aid individuals on their path to enlightenment. Definitions and models of enlightenment will be discussed, and practical ways that practitioners working with clinical populations can include consideration of the path to enlightenment in their own practice with patients as well as with seekers of enlightenment will be discussed. A model will be presented which suggests that any client receiving biofeedback training is developing skills which can be used in ways which go beyond the need for symptom elimination.

The following issues will be discussed: Is it the practitioner’s responsibility to inform the client of these potentials? How can the practitioner present the self regulation and biofeedback skills being offered as tools which can be used throughout life, rather than Band-Aids for the presenting symptoms. How can the client be oriented, right from the initial intake, to perceive the learning process as one which will have lifelong impact?

objectives:

-describe a model which re-conceives intervention as empowering and lifelong skill building rather than symptom and pathology eliminating

-impart specific strategies for implementing the model

-impart an understanding of the philosophical issues involved.

Toward a Science of Consciousness"

Joe Kamiya

From the perspective of most contemporary biology and much of experimental psychology, human consciousness is a thorn in the side of scientific

progress. Common solutions are to regard consciousness and its cousins awareness, subjective experience and mind and their infamous "contents" like feelings, emotions, thoughts, hope, dreams, etc., in various dismissive ways. They are non-existent as a scientific problem, irrelevant

to an understanding of behavior, simply examples of muddled thinking, or devoid of meaning except as verbal reports. One researcher in the pharmacology of pain stoutly denies that it is our headaches that cause us to reach for the aspirin bottle.

What is proposed in opposition to this prevailing view is the acceptance of subjective experience as a biological attribute of awake humans, with the

possibility of being indexed by the convergence of measures at the behavioral, physiological or social levels of description. The critical role that biofeedback can play in advancing the science of this field will be discussed, first with examples from early studies of the discrimination of the subjective correlates of the EEG alpha rhythm, and then with biofeedback's use in an approach employing multidimensional psychophysics and multi channel psychophysiology.

Given time and energy to pursue an experimental program in subjective experiences of all sorts, the science of human life has hope of being adequate for addressing a key feature of what makes us human.

 

WS4: Toward a Science of Consciousness and Knowledge

Joe Kamiya

The science of human life will be grossly incomplete until human subjective experience, consciousness and knowledge are understood in a unified theoretical framework that encompasses both the physiological substrates of subjective experience as well as the social interaction network of which the person is a part. The task of developing such a unified theory is daunting; some say it is in principle impossible.

What I will try to do is help specify the kind of scientific problem we are confronting, point out likely strategies and tactics that would help provide improved ways to describe subjective experience, and suggest how the physiological data can help in ordering the subjective information. I believe that considering the evolutionary origins of human consciousness and knowledge will help provide perspective, and some speculations are offered. The topics to be covered are:

(1) The conceptual status of subjective experience in the world of objective reality.

(2) The role of convergent indicators in supporting inferences about subjective experience.

(3) The dethronement of verbal report as the sole indicator of subjective experience.

(4) The central role that certain kinds of biofeedback training can play as a basic science tool in the science of consciousness. Example: EEG alpha discrimination training.

(5) The tools needed for refining in a quantitative way the dimensions of human subjective experience: multidimensional psychophysics aligned with multidimensional psychophysiology.

(6) The social aspect of human consciousness and methods for gaining new insights into this central feature of the scientific problem.

(7) The question of whether all processes of consciousness, including the most profound spiritual experiences, can be understood as having evolved from more primitive forms of life. How spiritual experiences have

influenced social interaction and organization, particularly in the

education of the young.

(8) Speculations about evolution and awareness and knowledge.

The potential for all knowledge, including mathematical and scientific (but also including self-awareness and the direct perception of the subjective states of others) appears to have evolved since the Big Bang from the interactions of the components of an orderly material world and later social world. Retention of that orderliness in the central nervous system through evolutionary processes has at the human level produced a payoff in survival rates via the capacity for reflection and introspection. Special attention will be directed to the proposition that mathematical knowledge is discovered by both observation of the external world and introspection of relevant regularities built into brain processes in the course of evolution. On this view mathematical discovery is a process of recognition of patterns of orderliness built into brain, with the triggering of recognition being facilitated by education. The delight experienced from "elegant solutions" may have much more ancient origins than we have suspected.

(9) The application of the same line of thought to science, both objective and personal. Research is needed to expand our information on how far evolution has endowed us with latent knowledge of the physical world, knowledge waiting to be triggered by the experiments we conduct. The fact that our bodies conduct the equivalent of differential equations when we learn to catch a ball may help explain how we have developed laws of motion. We have universal capacities for recognizing emotion. What else in social perception and cognition has genetics given us? The conditions

favoring personal knowledge development are another area for study.

Meditation may be fruitfully considered along these lines, with the aid of those who have done it for a substantial part of their lives.

(10) How advances in biofeedback technology of the future may help us come closer to understanding the knowledge and awareness processes and the social matrix in which they reside. Just as the source of the Nile was found, why not the source of consciousness and knowledge? We may need to expand our view of the natural selection process to proceed further. If only we could find a way to live long enough to see how credible these speculations are!

Inner Key to Optimal Performance

Liana Mattulich

 

Inner Key has carefully selected the best from the precision tools of modern science and has distilled them with the greatest truths of ancient wisdom in a unique blend of interactive and transformative power. This workshop offers the participant a rare opportunity to learn a method of extraordinarily skillful and compassionate healing/ transformation for oneself and for one’s clients. Our overall purpose at Inner Key is to allow individuals to create new paradigms of vital transformation, providing the best potential for developing optimal states of being.

 

The training of Inner Key combines eastern techniques with cutting-edge biofeedback technology. This integration allows individuals to actualize their awareness to improve quality of life.

 

The Inner Key system consists of:

 

 

balancing the autonomic system bilaterally at the meridian points as monitored with biofeedback. Its purpose is to store the right energy in preparation for transformation.

 

with the right intention, harmonizing the breath and the heart rate rhythms and the phi ratio (golden proportion) in frontal EEG sites.

 

considering EEG frequencies individually to find what is unique to each person.

 

attaining phi ratio (golden proportion) between frequencies at EEG cranial meridian points (similar to 10-20 International System sites, but individualized).

 

utilizing audio-visual aids to give the individual scientific information for clear understanding of what he/she is working toward.

 

using analogies and metaphors to access and process subconscious materials and occupy the "monkey mind." Also, to open Inner Keys of optimal functioning.

 

boosting the immune system by using tactile vibration in special mathematical sequences.

ancient symbolic language, for integrating a person as a multisensory dimensional being into the optimal toroidal energy field pattern.

 

implementing a superior capacity for awareness and flexible action in daily life by using specific movements that link the quality of energies with the right timing.

 

 

The workshop will offer experiential and didactic material that can be introduced in your daily professional practice and personal life. Theory, criterion in the stages of training, exercises, proper hookup sites and case examples are included.

 

We will see Inner Key as a tool to empower self, clients and community with a greater sense of connection and clarity of purpose.

 

We will consider Inner Keys for vital transformation as our human right to choose a healthy, efficient, flexible and happy quality of life in communion with the larger reality (the Web of Life).

 

 

 

 

Biography: Dr. Liana Mattulich.

 

From 1963, practiced as a physician providing medical care and prevention in Argentina. Founder and Director of Biofeedback Center in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1980. Worked as a biofeedback therapist in Florida and California, as well as Family Service specialist in San Francisco, California 1987 to 1995.

Founder of the Latin American Biofeedback Association (LABA), a chapter of the Association for the Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback (AAPB) in 1995. Currently she represents the Latin chapter of AAPB.

Dr. Mattulich has studied extensively in advanced brainwave biofeedback, including work with the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas. For over 25 years she has practiced Zen and Tibetan meditations, and exercises from native South American cultures and the Sufis.

She was Director of Neurotherapy and Biofeedback Services for two years at the Center for Inner Change in Denver, Colorado. In 1998 she was elected president of the Colorado AAPB, and has organized several conferences and educational workshops. She was re-elected for the 1999-2000 term.

Since 1998, she has been in private practice with national and international clients with the Inner Key program in Colorado.

She is a Fellow in BCIAC and was Grand Parented in EEG.

Dr. Mattulich has published a number of articles in professional magazines and newspapers in Argentina and Brazil. She has conducted seminars and lectures in schools, colleges and community centers in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay, and has lectured at Miami Dade Community College in Miami, Florida; San Francisco State University, California; Colorado Association for the Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback, Colorado; and the 1998-1999 seminar series "Ancient Wisdom Meets Modern Sciences," Denver, Colorado.

Empowering the Brain

Sue Othmer

SOthmer@aol.com

Neurofeedback is presented as a means of empowering the brain to function optimally. Optimum performance training is often thought of as training high achievers, but it also applies to optimizing the performance of underachievers and those with diagnosed problems. Neurofeedback training can improve the ease of performance and allow all of us to achieve at a level that more closely matches our ability and expectations.

Outline:

Empowering the Brain

Sue Othmer

EEG Spectrum Institute

Encino, California

All Neurofeedback Training is Optimum Performance Training

Neurofeedback empowers the brain to function optimally

Ease of Function

Achievement Matches Expectation

Ability

Skill

Execution

Self-regulation of Attention, Mood, and Physical Tension

Sleep Regulation

Endurance and Stress Tolerance

Motivation and Satisfaction

Who is the Peak Performer?

Reason to Seek Training

Are we defined by our disabilities?

"Oh by the way, I ‘m bipolar."

Testing - Measuring Performance

Training for Physiological Self-regulation

Training to Resolve Psychological Blocks and Release Bad Habits

Ease of Performance

Enjoyment of Process

Stress Tolerance

Success - Reaching one’s Potential

"It’s easier to be me."

If you have a physical disability, you do physical therapy.

If you are physically well, you do physical fitness training.

Neurofeedback as Brain Exercise

If you are identified as an underachiever because you have a diagnosed disability, you do neurofeedback training to remediate your disability.

If you are identified as a high achiever, you do neurofeedback training to improve your already superior performance.

All Neurofeedback Training is Optimum Performance Training

WS2 Writing in Flow -

Susan K. Perry, Ph.D.:

Many writers claim their best work emerges from a state of flow. Flow for writers is an altered state of consciousness in which the writer feels merged with the writing, self- and audience-awareness are forgotten, time becomes irrelevant, and the writer feels challenged sufficiently, though not too much, so that there is a sense of control (based on the original flow theory of M. Csikszentmihalyi). Seeking to discover how creative writers, in particular, make and experience this shift from ordinary reality to the altered reality of a flow state, I interviewed a convenience sample of 76 regularly writing and publishing novelists and poets. Subjects were asked what leads up to their becoming fully absorbed in writing, including writing rituals, thought processes, audience awareness, whether they enter flow more than once in a writing session, and other probe questions. It was determined that five key factors are involved in the crossover into flow during creative writing. Two conditions are predisposing: personality factors (emotional resilience, openness to experience, absorption as a trait, looseness of boundaries in thinking), and motivational factors (intrinsic motivation to write that is strong enough to overcome anxiety and fear, or a combination of motivators). Three conditions are concurrent: loosening up, focusing in, and balancing among the opposites of willing/not willing, thinking/not thinking, and audience awareness/unawareness. Writers use a variety of idiosyncratic routines and techniques to fulfill these conditions. They reframe writer's block and other periods of non-writing and non-flow as necessary components of the creative process. Subjects described their experience of shifting into flow in terms of personally relevant metaphors. Writers learn to optimize flow entry over time with increased knowledge and practice. In the course of this two-hour workshop, based on this research and on my bestselling book WRITING IN FLOW: Keys to Enhanced Creativity (Writer's Digest Books, 1999), participants will learn details of useful writing routines, practical and reflective ways to think about their own writing process, and will experience and discuss various exercises, recommended by highly successful writers, designed to propel them into flow. for more information about the book and the presenter's background, see http://www.bunnyape.com.

 

 

CREATING IN FLOW -

Susan K. Perry, Ph.D.:

Creators from numerous domains, from scientists and performers to poets and painters, experience a shift into a altered state of flow during one or more points in their creative process. This talk is based on the psychology of optimal experience first studied empirically by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and colleagues, and further explored by myself via in-depth interviewing of writers. Flow appears to be a universal experience, yet it is unpredictable and is itself no guarantee of an outstanding product. Nevertheless, creating in flow is itself highly intrinsically motivating, and thus predisposes those who know how to enter it to do so often, thereby increasing the odds of producing steadily. Creators also frequently claim that their flow sessions are among their favorite experiences, highly satisfying regardless of the eventual decision as to the quality of the results of any one session. The following conditions are required for flow to occur during a creative endeavor: focus is intense, consciousness is altered so that time stops or becomes irrelevant, the creator feels himself or herself merging with the activity and perhaps feels part of something even larger ("cosmic"), self-awareness and awareness of one's surroundings are extremely diminished, and the creator has a sense of control due to the challenge of the activity matching the creator's skills in an appropriate balance. A flow activity becomes self-rewarding. This talk will mention a variety of other factors that enter into the flow equation: the necessity for emotional resilience, the ability to loosen up and focus in on a particular activity, and the need to learn how to balance a variety of paradoxical factors, including willing/not willing, thinking/not thinking, and audience awareness/unawareness. The presenter will illustrate each aspect of flow with relevant quotes from eminent creators in a variety of domains. For more on the presenter and her book WRITING IN FLOW, see her Internet site: http://www.bunnyape.com

Workshop:

 

Brain and Conscious Experience: Where are We? Adventures in Brain Science: The First 50 Years

Karl Pribram

Highlights of discoveries in my laboratory and the theories that have emerged from them will be presented for active discussion.

The following points will be raised for discussion: 1. All knowledge originates from conscious experience. So why do some philosophers insist

that only selective aspects of conscious experience pose a "hard problem?"

2. At least three levels of consciousness can be made out, and to some extent brain processes have been determined for each. The evidence for these processing levels will be discussed.

 

What I Learned from the Brainwave Trainers -- The Coming Revolution of the Central Nervous System."

Jim Robbins

The human nervous system is the most complex and exquisite piece of "equipment" on the planet, yet we are functional illiterates when it comes to understanding, maintaining and enhancing its performance. We know more about our cars and computers. I will talk about how that is about to change for the following reasons: 1. The growing body of experience with neurofeedback. 2.Research projects on how the brain is affected by emotion at places such as the Healthemotions Research Institute at the University of Wisconsin. 3. The new generation of technology, including functional MRIs, other subcortical imaging systems and advances in neurofeedback training. 4.

A growing awareness among the press and those in power that such an approach is a panacea of sorts for many of the most intractable problems in our society. All of these things will create a huge shift in the next three to five years: a de facto Manhattan Project of the Central Nervous System.

BIO: Jim Robbins is a free-lance writer in Helena, Montana and a frequent contributor to the New York Times. He has written about neurofeedback for

the New York Times Science Section, Parade and Psychology Today and is the author of "A Symphony in the Brain: The Evolution of the New Brainwave Biofeedback" to be released by The Atlantic Monthly Press in May.

 

 

 

Consciousness Beyond the Brain; The Living Energy Universe

Keynote: Gary E. R. Schwartz

Dept. of Psychology, The University of Arizona

Box 210068 Tucson, AZ 85721-0068

Phone (520) 6215497 Fax (520) 621-9306

Email GSCHWART@u.arizona.edu

What happens to our models of brain and consciousness when we consider the integration of systems theory with the concepts of energy and information? Predictions of the nature of reality, from physics and chemistry to biology, psychology, medicine and ecology, take on new and dramatic implications. In the new book THE LIVING ENERGY UNIVERSE (Schwartz and Russek, 1999, Hampton Roads Press), we illustrate how the theory leads to the conclusion that everything in the universe, including light itself, is eternal, alive, and evolving. The theory not only predicts that all dynamical systems "remember," but that the "info-energy" systems that exist inside "material" systems exist and have a "life of their own" that continues even after physical deconstructions (e.g. physical death.) New research from our laboratory, featured on the October HBO documentary LIFE AFTERLIFE, examines the plausibility of survival of consciousness after death. It includes the recordings of 19 channels of EEG and ECG's from both the "mediums" and the "sitters." A video segment of raw footage demonstrating the phenomenon will be shown. Implications for neurotherapy and "spirit assisted medicine" will be considered.

 

Objectives:

1. To explain how systems theory can be integrated with the concepts of energy and information.

2. To illustrate how the prediction is reached that everything in the universe is eternal, alive, and evolving.

3. To show how research on systemic memory and consiousness beyond the brain can be researched.

 

 

Workshop Human Energy Systems Research: The Living Energy Laboratory

Gary E. R. Schwartz, Ph.D.

This workshop will present the latest research from our laboratory on (1) electrostatic body movements and the human antenna / receiver effect, (2) heart focused attention and heart-brain synchrony, (3) gamma radiation absorption and emission as measures of loving energy and healing, and (4) effects of consciousness and Qi Gong on random event generators and mechanical devices. Implications for the clinical practice of energy medicine and neurotherapy will be discussed.

Objectives:

1. Describe the measurement of electrostatic body motion and its relationship to healing touch.

2. Describe the measurement of energy cardiology and its relationship to attention.

3. Describe the measurement of gamma ray spectrometry and its relationship to loving energy.

 

 

.

Workshop: Researching Life After Death: The Last Frontier

Gary E. R. Schwartz, Ph.D. and Linda G. S. Russek, Ph.D

This workshop reviews the latest research from our laboratory on the possibility of survival of consciousness after death. Research includes (1) "from here to there and back again" - a study involving two mediums and four

"departed hypothesized coinvestigators", (2) research using energy cardiology measures, involving 5 members of our "dream team" of superstar mediums, and (3) possible spirit communication using random event generator-type devices. Implications for spirit assisted medicine and what Linda Russek calls "soul

family therapy" are discussed.

Objectives:

1. Explain how research involves collaboration between here and there.

2. Explain how EEG and ECG measures can be used to explore alternative hypotheses.

3. Consider implications for clinical work in psychotherapy and energy medicine

FEMININE SPIRITUALITY AND THE ROOTS OF BALANCE

By Barbara Soutar

Anthropological studies indicate that feminine aspects of spirituality are also different than the masculine aspects. Joseph Campbell found that tradiitonal cultures typically acknowledged that each of us has masculine as well as feminine aspects that come together to define who we are as an individual. Carl Jung called them the anima and the animus. Learning to still the mind as in meditation is a powerful tool for the masculine aspects of mind, but there are other important aspects which are often overlooked and which reflect the feminine aspects of spiritual transformation. It is important to take these into account to insure a balanced growth of the spirit. From a shamanic perspective spiritual growth encompasses the "all that we are." Both the masculine and the feminine aspects. The ying and the yang. The positive and Negative. They must be nurtured equally.

 

 

 

A Quantum Interpretation of Ancient Paradigms of Transformation

By Richard G. Soutar, Ph.D.

The scientific method has propelled us technologically to a levelof physical world mastery only imagined of in ancient times. However it has also lead us into an intellectual arrogance that has caused us to profoundly devalue the knowledge of our ancestors. Many individuals cling tenaciously to a scientific methodological paradigm which began to dissolve with the emergence of relativity theory and quantum mechanics. Although this scientific positivist agenda failed, it is still being taught in graduate schools as if it is the only valid perspective to take. At a time when we should be opening ourselves to a new paradigm and seriously reevaluating and integrating traditional paradigms, many of us are discounting them and basing their arguments on a seriously flawed scientific methodology which emphasizes quantitative over qualitative data. The implications of this emerging scenario will be discussed with regard to the developing field of neurofeedback and its relationship to more ancient technologies of human transformation.

 

A SHAMAN’S GUIDE TO NEUROFEEDBACK

The Convergence of Ancient and Modern

Technologies of Human Transformation

Barbara & Richard Soutar

Through the explorations of investigators such as Carlos Castenada and Lynn Andrews the paradigms of shamanism are being recoverd and made accessible to modern man. What they reveal is a previously unsuspected sophistication with regard to their intent, their technology, and their ontology. As modern psychology has begun to focus more intently on states of consiousness and their neurological correlates, surprising parallels have emerged between ancient and modern systems of thought. Such convergences are noted by Elmer Green between his work and that of Patanjali. Many ancient systems provide maps to consciousness and tools for transformation that we are only beginning to be able to interpret and impliment. These include the use of trance states, visualization, guided meditation, and psycho-acoustics. Also of importance are symbolism and dream interpretations as well as how these phenomena relate to synchronicity.

In this workshop Barbara and Richard Soutar will explore the relationship between modern theories of psychological disorder and their neurological underpinnings and relate them to traditional theories involving chakra systems, the four directions, and energy balancing. Neurofeedback and biofeedback in conjunction with AVS will be discussed as tools for balancing the energies of the human nervous system from a shamanistic perspective with a special focus on alpha and theta training. There will also be considerable discussion of the rational for this approach based on neuropysiological considerations for those who wish to brush up on brain anatomy as it relates to neurofeedback.

Workshop Objectives

Participants will review the history of traditional techniques of counseling and human transformation and learn why neurofeedback as a technique also requires a comprehensive and cohesive cognitive program of training and development for greatest effectiveness.

Participants will learn how to effectively interpret traditional and religious perspectives from a modern psychological perspective and identifiy how they can compromise or facilitate neurofeedback processes as they relate to human transformation paradigms.

Participants will learn specific visualization exercises and techniques for integration of traditional modalities of intervention with modern neurofeedback protocols.

Participants will learn new methods for interpreting hypnogogic imagery and abreactions resulting from neurofeedback interventions.

Participants will learn what the traditional tools of intervention are and how they can be used in conjunction with neurofeedback training.

 

About The Workshop Leaders

Richard Soutar received his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Oklahoma State University and did his dissertation on the implication of quantum mechanics for research methodology in the social sciences. He underwent alpha theta training at the Arkansas Recovery Group and also received neurofeedback and biofeedback training at the Biofeedback Institute of Los Angeles as well as American Biotech Health Training Seminars. He presently teaches Psychology and Sociology at Arizona State University and the Maricopa County Community College System. He is also Director of Neurofeedback and Biofeedback for the Neuro Performance Center in Phoenix.

Barbara Soutar is a Psychiatric Nurse and Certified Hypnotherapist. Barbara underwent alpha theta training at the Arkansas Recovery Group. She recieved her training in biofeedback at the Los Angeles Institute of Biofeedback and her neurofeedback training with Adam Crane at American Biotec Health Training Seminars. She has also worked personally with Lynn Andrews over the last four years learning and practicing ancient shamanistic techniques.

Barbara and Richard are members of the SSNR, BCIA certified, Certified Peak Performance Specialists, and presently have a practice in Phoenix Arizona where they utilize the perspective they will be discussing. Neurosystems Consulting, P.O. Box 2139, Litchfield Park, AZ 85340. 602-925-1851 E-Mail: Quiff@AOL.COM.

Keynote: Sunday

An Integrative Program For Peak Performance

Rae Tattenbaum, LCSW

Performance needs to be evaluated on a continuum. Critical to performing at one’s optimum is learning how to utilize the most effective balance of left and right hemisphere function. This presentation will offer a model for the development of peak performance which includes EEG Neurofeedback, Open Focus, Inner Journeying and Coaching Mental Rehearsal and Preparation

 

Objectives

Better differentiation of the characteristics of peak performers.

Identification of the building blocks of peak performers.

Identify some of the barriers.

Explain the basic phases of an integrated model

Peak Performance; An Integrative Approach Rae Tattenbaum, LCSW

My panty hose! When I am singing that's what I worry about!

Gwen, an attractive 17 year old entering her last year in high school giggled as she answered the question. Gwen honestly shared that she was not fully present or engaged when performing. Andrea said that she was outside looking at herself and others talked about the pre- recital jitters. Spontaneously they shared that their symptoms ranged from crying to bouts of irritable bowel syndrome to throwing up.

The participants in this first Peak Performance workshop, all gifted vocalists, were asked to identify their internal thought process during performance. It was apparent from their responses that they were not able to commit their whole attention to the changing content of the performance. These adolescents had the desire to excel but they were preoccupied, distracted or anxious during rehearsals and performance.

The program's director, Mitch Piper, believing that adolescents deserved top quality vocal coaching and training, designed a community-based program at the Hartt School of Music, bringing together a significant number of young people who possess a superior talent. Mr. Piper learned about the work I was doing and invited me to give this workshop. Since that time he has been an active collaborator.

Gwen's answer and this workshop would take me on a journey towards developing a peak performance program in which EEG Biofeedback plays a critical role. While Gwen's story is dramatic because she moved from suffering severe symptoms of a panic disorder to becoming a peak performer, I share the experience because the methodology developed to treat her became the basis of the Peak Performance program I now use. And Gwen's transformation was so exciting that others wanted to come and do peak performance training as well.

From an early age, Gwen and her parents were told that she had a powerful voice. Although well liked, Gwen's personal problems were viewed as a major liability.

On the day of her call, six weeks following that first workshop, she had experienced a panic attack. She was distraught that her panic episodes were getting worse. These panic attacks were so crippling that she frequently was fearful of leaving the house and had to be picked up by a parent at school. Without warning, she would experience feelings of light headedness resulting in such a terror that she would be terrified that she would begin throwing up. In late August when Gwen came to the office, all the symptoms were full blown. Yet she had to begin her senior year, apply for college, and prepare audition tapes. To add to the increasing pressure, due to family financial reverses, Gwen needed to secure financing for her college career.

Gwen's panic attacks had begun eight years earlier at the age of ten. The family physician recommended that she see a psychologist. The focus of the subsequent treatment was learning techniques to intervene with the onset of the attacks, which were primarily anxiety and not panic attacks at that time. At age 16 and a half her attacks returned, characterized by daily crying, nausea, obsessive fears. She returned to the psychologist. A minimal child's dosage of an anti depressant had been prescribed and was ineffective.

When Gwen came to me she received fifteen sessions of EEG Biofeedback within the first 30 days. But the 90 minute sessions also included teaching Gwen to still her mind, permitting thoughts to drift through while bringing her focus back to her breath. She learned to identify the sensations that might trigger breathing difficulties or panic. When she experienced such sensations, she learned to employ techniques similar to those utilized in alleviating seizures. We also used a combination of guided imagery and Ericksonian Hypnosis to begin an Inner Journey. With guidance, Gwen was encouraged to find a place where she felt safe. Once the place was identified, she was asked to experience the sound, smell and colors of that place. By touching her ring or by using a key word, she was able with practice to transport herself to this place of safety. Using this combination of Biofeedback, relaxation, meditation, guided imagery and Ericksonian Hypnosis, Gwen explored controlling the triggers of her anxiety and panic.

By November sufficient healing had taken place that our work shifted towards performance issues. Today, Gwen attends a conservatory in New England. She is the recipient of a fine scholarship. Her voice has improved, her musicality is significantly better, and she is present when she sings. Most of all, she has been able to live away from home in a dorm setting, travel back and forth, hold a summer job and develop a meaningful relationship. The power of Gwen's voice, its resonance, range and quality of sound, spoke to the effectiveness of the Peak Performance work. A model and process was evolving and this process began to attract more vocalists and their coaches.

So how do you attain peak performance? Greatness in athletics, business and the performing arts begins with talent and an inner drive to excel. Next comes the development of the skills specific to the form, through programs such as the one Mitch Piper organized. But it seems that the missing link is a systematized process for achieving an optimal internal state. While the mind/body connection is acknowledged to be critical in achieving optimal performance, there is little guidance in developing the internal resources or road map to what has been called "mental and emotional toughness".

What stands in the way of peak performance? Such obstacles need to be addressed in planning for optimal performance. Obsessive thoughts, for example, are a major inhibitor of performance. The inattentive or worried brain results in muscle tension, which though perhaps slight and unrecognizable, suppresses performance. Yet, the young artist or athlete rarely has developed the skills to make the necessary changes in their thought patterns or physiological responses.

What is Peak Performance? By nature performance is not static but continuously changing. So, are we looking for moments of greatness or consistency of quality?

The corporate world looks at peak performance, or "best in class", as the result of a series of competencies, composed of sets of skills, which allows the possessor to achieve consistently good performances.

What are the characteristics of Peak Performers?

· They have a Personal Vision.

· They accept their ability or talent.

· They are self directed.

· They challenge themselves.

· They are actively engaged in their process.

· They are able to sustain energy.

· They are planners.

· They have a personal muse or a spiritual connection.

· They are able to inspire or motivate a peer or support team

· They understand during the performance as well as in their life, that the recovery period or periods of rest are critical.

· They practice mental imagery.

· They are engaged and fully committed at the time of performance

 

Thus, a peak performance is accompanied, not by the fear of failure, but rather by a confident and optimistic attitude. It is accompanied not by an unsettled state of mind but rather by a sense of inner calm and a high degree of concentration, not by an acceptance of powerlessness but rather by a feeling of being in control of an (apparently) effortless, unforced result, not by unmanageable tension but rather by a learned techniques of physical relaxation and at the same time an extraordinary awareness of body and surroundings.

The building blocks of a peak performance are:

A confident and optimistic attitude.

A sense of inner calm.

A high degree of concentration.

A feeling of being in control.

A effortless and unforced result

A learned technique of physical relaxation

An extraordinary awareness of body and surroundings

This integrative model that began to emerge through my work with Gwen and others has four stages: Neurofeedback, Open Focus, Internal Journeying and Coaching the Mental Planning and Rehearsal.

Stage one is the Neurofeedback. EEG Biofeedback permits the client to develop the infrastructures that support their skill and ability. The performance event requires that one is able to be attentive, engaged and emotionally present during an event in spite of multiple distractions. A key trait is managing one's arousal level and EEG training permits the client to develop that skill. It seems to me that the Neurofeedback makes everything else possible as it facilitates a balance of left and right hemisphere functions crucial in highly complex activities such as singing, dancing, music and athletics. There is a need to think logically and technically and to plan while simultaneously drawing upon imagery and exercising complete physiological control. EEG Biofeedback Training facilitates the achievement of a relaxed body and open state of mind.3

Recently, a new book Power Performance for Singers identifies that one of the most critical skills to acquire is learning how to use the correct brain function when needed during performance. As more clients seek out Neurofeedback for optimal performance, there will be an uncovering of undiagnosed "shadow syndromes". John Ratey has best described the inattentive or over focused brain or worrier as a shadow syndrome that impacts one's life without ever being assigned a name. Frequently, during the intake process it becomes apparent that the individual who wants to achieve this state of becoming their personal best has a shadow syndrome. This shadow becomes one of the barriers that needs addressing.

One such attractive young woman initially came to my attention when she was singing a dramatic ballet at a local high school event. She possessed many peak performance characteristics and was charismatic on stage. As I watched her, I became aware of the one deficit that might, if allowed to continue, eventually inhibit her career. She would lose her attention for a nanosecond. This has an impact on the audience because you are with the performer one moment and then discover yourself drifting, having to work to focus your own attention. Obviously, this puts a damper on the emotional impact of the performance. For this client, the Neurofeedback training is effectively providing her with a mirror and a tool for learning to hold her focus.

Stage two is Open Focus, developed by Dr. Les Fehmi. Dr. Fehmi perceived that the way one attends is critical to physiological control. The goal of using Open Focus for vocalists is to develop physiological control over a relaxed facial mask with the proper control over other parts of the body. The Open Focus process encourages the student to acquire the skills to distribute their attention to the vocal instrument, to the accompanist, to the audience, to the score, to the emotional content simultaneously without any one of the elements intruding. The original Open Focus process was further customized by me to include the idea of being able to sing in Open focus without one thought or element intruding on any another.

Open Focus does not specifically mention or encourage relaxation, but aids in the achievement of physiological normalization and control. Why then should the EEG Biofeedback be utilized if the Open Focus does the job? Interestingly, I had a natural control group with which to explore this question. A group of adolescents who were all vocalists began taking a 30-session program in performance. The Open Focus process was revised with suggestions from the voice faculty and a tape was made. The students who were doing the Open Focus in combination with the EEG Biofeedback were the most compliant. The EEG Biofeedback group elected to listen to the Open Focus tape at home five to seven times per week. The Open Focus only group l elected to listened on the average of three times a week. The EEG group had one on one encouragement to practice at home open focus. The Open Focus only group did not have one on one encouragement to practice. Eventually, a significant number of the students of the latter group stopped listening while the student who had this integrated program continued the process. Furthermore, the integration of the EEG Biofeedback and the Open Focus process facilitated the client to move on to the next phase.

Stage three is The Inner Journey. The goal of this stage is to develop a more solid sense of self and become conscious co-creators of success. Rather than remain limited by the expectations of family, coaches or traumatic experiences, the inner journey permits the client to expect success. This element of the model builds upon the work of Nancy J. Napier. Nancy Napier is a psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, author and a wonderful guide. Her work encourages the client to draw on the power of the imagination in healing. The books, her audio tapes and her willingness to coach me through integrating the elements for this model has been invaluable.

In this stage the client is taught breathing, focusing, and practices a series of steps that guide one to a safe internal space. In such a place one might both take risks and imagine success. Within this space the client is learns to identify and remove obstacles to success.

Over a period of time the barriers that have been in place begin to dissolve. The artistic soul, the athlete, or the entrepreneur within is allowed to be retrieved. As a result of the training, the client knows how to still the mind, slow down the breathing and to make the internal safe place vivid and distinctive. Encouragement is given to experience the colors, hear the sounds, smell the place, experience the air on one's skin. Over time the client develops the ability to create this state of being on demand for periods of peak performance. As a result of this inner work, the client fine tunes a vision of the future and of his or her optimal performance.

The objectives of the Inner Journey work are:

· To identify shadows or barriers inhibiting the use of the ability or skill. To eliminate barriers and suppression of the talent.

· To facilitate the identification and consistent use of an internal place of safety.

· To define the individual's inner mission. (Spiritual, physical, emotional)

· To confirm that the client has the inner desire to excel.

· To guide the client in their personal interpretation of optimal performance.

· To build Emotional Toughness and Mental Fitness:

Stage four is Coaching the Mental Planning and Rehearsal. This stage adds a performance dimension to the work. The client brings instruments, scripts, musical selections, business presentations, and speeches. Singers describe a performance which is effortless, where they are in complete control of their instrument without any internal criticism. The intention in this stage is to tap into a supportive internal mentor. Together, using a set of questions that focus on physiology and inner control, we evaluate progress. The goals of this phase are as follows:

· To plan before, during and after the presentation, competition or performance.

· To identify what tools are the most effective.

· To rehearse periods of rest and recovery.

· To be able during event to shift one's attention from a left hemisphere function to a right hemisphere.

· To rehearse being emotionally present and engaged.

Rodney is an African American in his senior year of high school. The Hartford Ballet had provided him with a rigorous training program and now he was asked to dance the pas a deux from Giselle. The peasant pas a deux is a happy and joyous dance yet Rodney's dancing style was the not. One of Rodney's mentors suggested he work with me. Rodney went through this entire program during a ten-day period. He had approximately six EEG sessions. I customized an Open Focus tape for him and a tape that identified a safe place. Rodney's mental rehearsal was exciting. Together, we analyzed the pas a deux and the different emotional intention for each sequence. Over the next six months, his dancing became more expressive and effortless. Today, Rodney is dancing with a major company and his work has shifted from left hemisphere to an integrated balanced approach.

More than 25 clients have gone through the program. The clients have been professional jazz musicians, a golfer, executives, dancers and singers. While Gwen's story is probably the most intriguing, there are others. There is a professional musician who was travelling with the company of a major Broadway show and wanted to improve and make time for his jazz. He went through a 10 to 12 hour intensive that he said created such a major shift that he now uses the work daily.

One of my favorite examples of using the Peak Performance program to benefit the overall quality of one's life and art is Andrea, a student with a strong desire to excel. As a result of the training, her academic achievement in her senior year soared. Andrea reinvented herself from being a dancer with some singing ability to a singer who also danced. Most of all, as she grew more grounded, her vocal quality and range became dramatically different, according to vocal coaches present at a master class where she performed. She utilized all her techniques to secure a scholarship to college. She had an inner drive to compete in pageants and on a daily basis saw herself winning. Competing in the state's Miss America Contest, she did not place as a finalist, but utilizing her EEG biofeedback, her Open Focus and coaching, she had a great experience and performed up to the level she envisioned attaining. Six weeks later, because of her over all quality and approach, she was invited to tour and perform in the Middle East.

This integrative model has four stages: Neurofeedback, Open Focus, Internal Journeying and Coaching for Mental Planning and Rehearsal.

resentation: "Neurofeedback: A Technology for Self-Transaction"

Richard Williams

e-mail Richwill2@Compuserve.com

web: www.hp-add.com

phone: 616-275-0624

 

Biofeedback and other forms of self-regulation have, to a great extent, focused on either remediating problems and/or improving performance. To a lesser degree, they have focused on ways to achieve a tranformation in awareness that is known in the East as a "liberation" experience. The technologies of biofeedback and neurofeedback, combined with certain approaches to cognitive therapy and Zen offer an opportunity for some people to experience a form of self-transformation that can have profound implications for both the individual and for the very structure and function of society. This presentation will attempt to provide a bold and even revolutionary look at what that can mean.

The audience will be encouraged to look with question at whatever has seemed to be beyond questioning.

 

Workshop: "Peak Awareness Training"

Richard Williams

Richwill2@Compuserve.com web: www.hp-add.com phone: 616-275-0624

 

In this workshop, techniques of self-regulation will be explored along with concepts derived from cognitive therapy and Zen to provide a new view of what can be accomplished in treatment. It will be suggested that, while the West has done a good job of finding ways to mend a broken self, in the East they have done a better job of addressing the problem of the self itself.

Also, participants will be asked to question why so much emphasis is being placed upon "performance" enhancement in light of Western biases toward "production", while there has been less attention to "awareness" enhancement. We will explore the concept of "liberation psychotherapy" as a way of transforming oneself and society. (2 hours)

Abstracts from the 1997 Winter Brain Meeting

Meeting Opening Talk:  Creating light or   "Getting rid of darkness

Rob Kall, meeting organizer
You can create light or try to get rid of darkness.  Neuro/Biofeedback is , whether you want to think of  it that way or not, a holistic, rather than a reductionistic process, which helps to optimize the individual's functioning on  continuums of inhibition and disinhibition. 
-The great strength of neurofeedback is in the extras it offers when you  are working within the disease-based medical model.  Patients gain self  awareness and   concrete self control skills.
-Non-medical applications of Neurofeedback (all of them) integrating technology with heart and spirit
-Taking your patients/clients/students to the next step.
-Treatment vs. learning lifelong skills

Max Cade and Humanistic Neurofeedback
Geoffrey Blundell
Audio House
Progress Road
Sands
High Wycombe HP12 4JD
Fax 01494 539 600
email Compuserve 100043,2502
Maxwell Cade, began his pioneering studies in the art of  biofeedback in the late 1960's.  He believed that a healthy body was the  product of a healthy mind.   His unique training commenced at  an early  age under a Japanese Zen master when he gained a martial arts black  belt in Judo.  His western studies were not neglected and he eventually  became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine in the Britain.
His life was devoted to the exploration of the meaning of "a healthy mind". The mind is so complex that there can be no simple response to such a quest. Each person's answer is  influenced by his or her teachers and that person then influences   others. In Eastern terms this is called a lineage of understanding. For Max Cade this began in Japan and is now continuing with Anna  Wise who in turn may have a student who carries on this tradition.
How does this overview change the application of  biofeedback methods?  It becomes obvious that the content of the mind is more important than the its state as represented by the production of  alpha or theta waves.  It leads to a humanistic application of biofeedback which emphasises the client's own understanding of their situation.
It frees us from the feeling that  fate imposes itself on us in the form of our genes or the environment or whatever. We are liberated totake charge of our lives.  The minimum result is a form of preventative medicine to be applied before we become ill.

RESULTS OF EEG MEDITATION RESEARCH IN INDIA
Frank Echenhofer, Ph.D.
San Francisco State University Mailing Address: P.O. Box 192, Jenner, CA 95450 phone: (707) 865-1412 e-mail: fge@juno.com
This talk will present the results of EEG meditation research in India sponsored by the Institute of Noetic Sciences.  The collaborative model of research used with the Tibetan Buddhist monks will be described.  Insights from this research served as the inspiration and foundation for later research and applications for exploring consciousness that will be addressed in detail during the afternoon workshop.  Immediately following this talk will be a conference break   when a video will be shown of discussions with the Dalai Lama regarding EEG and  consciousness research.

Workshop:  2-6pm Sunday
A STRUCTURED PROGRAM USING EEG BIOFEEDBACK TO EXPLORE CONSCIOUSNESS:   BLENDING NEUROSCIENCE AND THE ANCIENT MYSTICAL TRADITIONS
Frank Echenhofer, Ph.D. San Francisco State University Mailing Address: P.O. Box 192, Jenner, CA 95450 phone: (707) 865-1412 e-mail: fge@juno.com
This workshop will offer a structured program to use EEG biofeedback to explore consciousness.  EEG biofeedback is value-neutral and requires a context. Western psychology has existed for about 100 years.  In contrast, the Eastern mystical traditions have developed over thousands of years and are the essential and vibrant core of the great world religions.  These traditions contain complete systems that offer very practical programs to explore consciousness.
This workshop will draw upon the teachings, structures, and methods of the mystical traditions to provide a rich and deep spiritual context for EEG biofeedback and a source for the emergence of the specific areas of consciousness to be explored.  These ancient systems provide needed focus and guidelines regarding the developmental stages and/or exceptional abilities associated with developing awareness.  This workshop will summarize these developmental stages and describe their  functional significance in terms of modern neuroscience and evolutionary psychology. 
Some of the developmental stages and/or exceptional abilities to be conceptually bridged from the mystical to the scientific traditions include perfect concentration ability, a calm mind, thought cessation, lessening grasping and aversion, deconstructing the nature of self and the world (emptiness), the development of compassion, the value of visualization of subtle physiology and archetypal imagery, the transformation of anger an sexual desire, and sacred physical sexuality.
A range of EEG methods which have been developed to explore the above areas from the dual perspective of mysticism and science will be presented and demonstrated.  The rationale for these methods will be fully described both from the neuroscience and the spiritual perspectives.
Participants will have the opportunity to experience some of the methods used to explore consciousness during the workshop and provided with detailed descriptions to use later in their own settings with their own EEG biofeedback equipment.  These methods are not specific to any particular type of EEG instrumentation.  This workshop will include video of EEG meditation research in India, including footage of discussions with the Dalai Lama and other advanced meditators.
Frank Echenhofer, Ph.D. is a Past-President of the Pennsylvania Society of Behavioral Medicine and Biofeedback and a licensed psychologist living in Jenner,  CA, north of San Francisco.  He is a faculty member of the Holistic Health Program at San Francisco State University.   He is currently completing a NIH grant using EEG biofeedback to treat mild traumatic head injury.  In 1991 he sought out the Dalai Lama's help to conduct EEG research with advanced meditators in northern India.  He co-founded the Tibetan Buddhist Center in Philadelphia and the Institute for Multidisciplinary Studies to conduct EEG research on consciousness.   Currently he works in the San Francisco Bay area with individuals and groups  offering programs to explore consciousness using EEG biofeedback and other methods.

Brains & Minds Meet The Third Millenium
Marilyn Ferguson 
Box 421069
Los Angeles, CA 90042
213-223-2500 fax 213-223-2519
bmstaff@brainmind.com
http://www.brainmind.com
Many "new paradigms" have gained popular acceptance in recent  years.   People freely talk about  alternative medicine, black holes, quantum leaps, near death experiences,  bonding, remote viewing, reight and left hemispheres, brain stimulation, emotional literacy, social intelligence.
Years ago Fritjof  Capra remarked, "Most physicists still go home and live their lives as if Newton was right. "
Where is the Big One, the sum of it all, "the" new paradigm that's supposed to be emerging? Somehow the fascinating puzzle pieces from the various disciplines have   yet to be assembled together. When enough specialists pool their state-of-the-art findings and theories we will have a revolution worth writing home about.
Even a brief tour of breakthroughs reveals the outline of a reality spacious enough to accomodate the far-out and sensible enough to satisfy all but the die-hards.

Streams of Consciousness
WK4-6  Marilyn Ferguson
http://www.brainmind.com
Is consciousness mediated through cerebrospinal fluid in the ventricles? Our forefathers   thought  so. The notion didn't fade out until the mid 18th century, when more "scientific" thought came into play. In fact, such a model helps account for a number of apparent  anomalies, such as the relatively normal intelligence  found in some hydrocephalics and the way learning seems to be diffuse rather  than   localized.  This workshop looks at  evidence for this classical view and   the practical  implications for  research medicine, education and therapy.
Publisher of Brain/Mind Bulletin, American Society for Training and Development Brain Trainer of the Year, author of Brain Revolution, Aquarian Conspiracy and  Radical Common Sense (forthcoming.)

Six Neurofeedback Trainings Case Histories from Intensive Trainings in Alpha and Beta Feedback
Dr. James V. Hardt
Biocybernaut Institute
1052 Rhode Island Street
San Francisco, CA 94107
(415) 824-0688 [Phone]
(415) 824-2669 [Fax]
e-mail Training@Biocybernaut.com
Six different trainings reveal the wide range of effectiveness of  Biocybernaut Institute Neurofeedback training programs.  All trainings  involved simultaneous integrated amplitude feedback on 4 different  cortical sites [O1 , O2 , C3 , C4 ], and were conducted using  individual or group EEG feedback systems from Biocybernaut Institute.   Four trainings were Individual trainings and two were Group trainings.   A 7-day
Individual alpha training resolved panic attacks and anxiety in  a young housewife who has been free of problems for 12 years following  her training in 1985.  A 10 day Individual training resolved chronic  pain and depression in a suicidal police officer by evoking the White  Light experience in her.  Two other Individual trainings used 10 days  of alpha feedback and 10 days of beta feedback to determine the  differential
therapeutic effectiveness of alpha and beta  feedback.  Beta feedback actually increased undesirable  characteristics, while alpha feedback resolved depression and   bereavement in an elderly widow.  Alpha feedback also resolved paranoia   and hostility, and reduced schizophrenia in an unemployable young man.    Two 7-day Group alpha trainings were also studied.  One two-person   group included a scientist with chronic depression, high cortisol  levels and progressive loss of bone density, together with an  aggressive former salesman and special forces member.  The alpha  training transformed the instant dislike of these two very different  people into respect and admiration, and resolved the depression of the  scientist, and reduced his high cortisol levels by half, placing him in  the middle of the normal range.  The high energy salesman had come in   announcing that spiritual experiences were things that happened to  other people, however on Day 5, he
experienced a visitation by the  Archangel Gabriella, and was deeply moved to tears of joy.  The other  7-day Group alpha training was a family:  Mother, Father, and teenage  daughter.  The Father was first to have a deep spiritual experience,  becoming directly aware of the omni-presence of God, the Ground of   Being, the Boundless.  The Mother and daughter discovered they were   jealous of the Fathers experience of the Boundless, which discovery  allowed them to be coached by the trainer on forgiveness and  non-attachment.  As they quickly implemented this coaching, they began  to have experiences of angelic visitations, which continuEd throughout the training.  They also did shared feedback, in which each  family member heard 2 of their own 4 feedback tones, and one tone each   from the other 2 family members.  The Father described this as the   experience of being a cetacean, as he felt that he and his family were  a pod of whales communicating deeply, joyously, and totally auditorily.  This shared feedback produced a merging in which the family thought  and felt as one.   Throughout the process, the Mother and Father were  repeatedly amazed by the deep
insights and rapid understandings of  their young teenage daughter.  The daughter both taught and inspired  her parents with her non-attachment and easy access to joy and  happiness.

What Maslow Overlooked
Thom Hartmann
PO Box 70
Northfield, VT  05663
Fax:  770 993-4210
email:  thom@compuserve.com
URL:   www.mythical.net
   When Abraham Maslow wrote Motivation and Personality back in 1954, he didn't have the advantage we do now of a reasonably thorough knowledge of  neurochemistry.   He observed people and the way they interacted with the world, and developed his theory of the "hierarchy of human needs, which ranged from the need for safety to the need for social interaction to the need for what some may call religious experience.
   But Maslow had his own particular neurochemistry, which colored his   observations...and caused him to overlook a critical point.  This overlooked "basic human need" may, in fact, be so critical to an understanding of human nature that understanding it gives us a revelatory flash of insight into the  nature of personality disorders, and specifically attention deficit disorder (ADD).  This is what I call "The Need To Feel Alive," and it also explains why some people have multiple jobs, mates, and lifestyles, whereas others settle into one fixed routine and stay with it their entire lives, apparently quite happy in their stasis.
   To understand how Maslow could have overlooked a fundamental human need which drives the behaviors of as much as 30% of our population, it's important to first understand how a part of the brain is wired.  This particular part of the brain, and the way it works, can cause this need to come into being, or to remain unexpressed in a person's life.
   This presentation will explore how this aspect of neurochemistry can be so pivotal in the development of an individual, can contribute so powerfully to their success or failure as an adult and member of society, and how neuro- and bio-feedback may present very effective therapeutic interventions.

NEUROFEEDBACK, INTUITION AND SUBTLE ENERGY TREATMENT: AN INTRODUCTORY
EXPLORATION
Julian Isaacs Ph.D. & Patricia Fields Psy.D.
Neurofeedback offers a modality in which cognitive, affective,  endocrinological and immune system disorders may be addressed.  All of  these disease entities have complex interrelations with the psychology of the individual, with their mind/body relationship, their spiritual outlook and frequently their unconscious definition of life purpose.  The application of intuitive methods by practitioners to these levels   of the client's psyche may sometimes offer an effective frame in which  to construe the totality of the client's situation and thereby permit  the mirroring back of salient unconscious issues for integration in  consciousness.  Research in anthropology, parapsychology and  psychoneuroimmunology has strongly suggested that unconventional  healing methods employing subtle energy are effective and can in some cases produce powerful results.  This workshop will introduce the   neurofeedback therapist to the use of intuitive methods in neurofeedback and the integration of the use of subtle energy .

Making the Connection:  Multiple Intelligences and Learning Theory for Psychotherapists
Jaelline Jaffe, Ph.D.
P.O. Box 8253
Universal City, CA 91618-8253
phone:  818.752.7212
fax:    818.752.4222
e-mail: jjjaffe@cris.com
In general, bio/neurofeedback practitioners have a better knowledge of brain functioning than other therapists, but few have a background in education or learning theory.   Since psychotherapy of any kind is largely a learning or relearning process, the therapist who understands how people learn is in a better position to facilitate change.   This lecture provides a brief review of MacLean's model of the Triune Brain and Gardner's theory of Multiple Intelligences, to help practitioners relate to clients in a manner appropriate to learning styles. 
WAA 4-6 Workshop   This session will expand on the concepts presented in the introductory lecture.  As a participant, you will identify and engage your own intelligences and learn how to strengthen those less fully developed.  You will observe and experience sample therapeutic activities which take brain functioning into account and engage all intelligences.  You will leave with specific tools to help you better understand and connect with EVERY client, regardless of their age, or your therapeutic orientation or treatment modality.
ABSTRACT: To ask people to fix the problems they present to a psychotherapist by using the very tools they lack is akin to asking someone without legs to run a marathon, without providing training for racing in a wheelchair.  Just as in school, most psychotherapy is largely verbal, which unwittingly discriminates against those whose strengths are in other dimensions.  Bio/neurofeedback goes beyond the words to the brain/mind connection, but generally leaves many other areas untapped.
Regardless of theoretical orientation or approach, psychotherapy is largely an educational process.  Patients/clients come seeking assistance in learning new or different ways to live their lives.  Therapists are educators, whether or not they recognize this role.  By their speech, techniques and attitudes, they model behaviors and teach options.  In general, bio/neurofeedback practitioners have a better knowledge of brain functioning than other therapists, but few have a background in education or learning theory and most are unfamiliar with multiple intelligences and brain-compatible learning models.  Since psychotherapy of any kind is largely a learning or relearning process, the therapist who understands how people learn is in a better position to facilitate change. 
In 1974, Paul MacLean of the National Institutes of Health described a model referred to as the Triune Brain.  Understanding the circumstances that allow for better access to higher thinking processes allows both educators and therapists to create an optimal learning environment.
In his 1983 seminal work, <<Frames of Mind>>, Harvard's Howard Gardner posited a new definition of intelligence, specified criteria for identifying an intelligence, and identified seven distinct areas that met these criteria, adding one more in 1995. 
The lecture portion of this presentation will provide a brief overview of the Triune Brain and Multiple Intelligences (MI), to help practitioners relate to clients in a manner appropriate to client intelligences and learning styles.
The two-hour workshop will offer examples and experiences to help participants identify their own MI strengths and to expand their repertoire of interactions and interventions to more adequately meet the needs of each client.
OBJECTIVES   By the end of the workshop, attendees will be able to: * name and explain the eight distinct intelligences (as defined by Gardner, 1983, 1995) and the parts and functions of the triune brain (MacLean, 1974), as they relate to the psychotherapeutic setting * explain the purpose and value of utilizing multiple intelligences in psychotherapy * recognize which intelligences are being utilized in their own therapeutic
approaches and which are being excluded * identify one or more specific changes or additions they can make immediately to better address the brain functioning styles of their clients * become more "multipli-intelligent" in their practice, to empower clients in new ways to understand and take control of their lives
BIO: Jaelline Jaffe, Ph.D., is a therapist in private practice in Studio City, CA, and works with a large urban school district, where she trains teachers and intern counselors to use multiple intelligences with their clientele.  Dr. Jaffe is co-author of <<The Heroic Journey: A Rite of Passage Program>>, and is writing a book on Multiple Intelligences for psychotherapists.  She also developed and conducts a 12-week program called Never Diet Againr, an MI-based program for compulsive eaters and yo-yo dieters. 
Dr. Jaffe holds several credentials and has taught and counseled at many levels, from pre-school to adult.  She earned her doctorate in Counseling Psychology from the University of Southern California, and has been licensed as a Marriage and Family Therapist in California for 20 years.  She is an experienced and popular speaker, who always engages her audiences in lively, active participation.  Because her workshops are based on the Triune Brain and MI concepts, there is always something for everyone.

Moving Multiple Intelligences into neurofeedback and peak performance,   moving NF into MI  & education
Rob Kall:
211 N. Sycamore, Newtown, PA 18940, 215-504-1700 fax 215-860-5374 smile@cis.compuserve.com
The multiple Intelligences model (described by Howard Gardner and  others,)  of conceptualizing  individual resources is gaining growing acceptance in primary and secondary schools. This model includes several forms of intelligence-- particularly intrapersonal and body-kinesthetic, which include the skills biofeedback and self regulation encompass. Getting the self-regulation message across is often enough a pioneering effort where you must break new frontiers in the wilderness. Using the language of multiple intelligences saves the  biofeedback trainer from having to cut through the unexplored brush and take, while not  a superhighway, at least  an existing road to illuminating teachers, counselors, parents and others in the education system. It uses a learning and resource/strength rather than pathology/illness model which is more palatable to parents and, in my opinion, healthier for the children experiencing challenges to their success in school.  Offering biofeedback as a form of intrapersonal and body kinesthetic intellligence building tool provides a very different orientation from the clinical model.
Taking a multiple intelligences approach  to working with paitients can take advantage of  the  curricular  and learning strategies which have been developed within  the multiple intelligences community.
One dimension of personal intelligence I have focused on is Emotional intelligence-- This will be discussed briefly. See my workshop description to get more details.

workshop
Positive Emotional Intelligence Training, integrating heart & technology. Positive experience training.
WDD2-4 Rob Kall 
A didactic and experiential workshop. Positive Experiences and good feelings are the basic building blocks of self esteem, postiive attitude, inner strength, the ability to feel good and be happy.  I have developed an  "Anatomy of Positive experience" based on this premise with the aim of identifying specific skills for enhancing  the various dimensions of  functioning in all aspoects of positive experience.  The workshop will review the different elements of the anatomy of positive experience and present numerous behaviors which can be self-