About Work

Brainwave Virtuosity uses the cutting edge technology to train the self-regulation of mental states. Electroencephalograph (EEG) biofeedback is used, more currently called neurofeedback. Clients sit comfortably as saline sensors are placed on the scalp to pick up the electrical activity of the neurons of the brain. This process is completely safe and noninvasive.

In the first session we begin with a basic introduction to various brainwave categories and their relationship to state of mind. Using the Awakened Mind protocol we will do an assessment of your brainwaves. You will have an opportunity to see your brainwaves and explore techniques for reducing the fastest wave activity (beta) and accessing the slower activity of alpha and theta waves. As you explore deeper states you may gain insight about the issue that brought you here. We will complete with a discussion of your personal needs and goals.

In next session we will do the OPEN FOCUS™ and Neural Synchrony protocol. The client will begin attention exercises and explore the relationship of their personal goals to the habits of mind that will facilitate their progress. We will look at “ANTS” – automatic negative thoughts – and use “ant-eater” techniques to deal with them. Negative thinking directly affects the state of mind and the quality of our lives.

As the process continues, we work from the state of mind and content perspective to attain the goals of the client. Once a more flexible attention style is developed, the client has more awareness and insight about what is next in the process. One of the benefits of the Brainwave Virtuosity program is that it is a lead/follow process that unfolds session by session. Integration on multiple levels is happening simultaneously.

Dr. Vazquez has many tools to draw from to extend the awareness of the state of mind training into daily life including yoga and breath work, improvisation, music, and flow state training.

Clients are asked to commit to a minimum of three individual sessions so they have the opportunity to do both the OPEN FOCUS™ with the synchrony neurofeedback and the Awakened Mind bio-monitoring protocol, with follow up guidance on personal goals. The stabilization of beneficial changes in brainwave patterns occurs over time. The average length of weekly brainwave training sessions is 3-6 months. There are materials for home practice that will contribute to the client’s overall progress. There will be opportunities to complement individual sessions with 4-6 week classes. (Check the events page.)

Awakened Mind Pattern – Peak Creativity, Insight

This animated image is an example of the Awakened Mind pattern produced by the Mind Mirror, which is a type of EEG. Ms. Wise has observed the creative states of hundreds of clients in states of peak creativity and meditation. She has found that the brainwave pattern underlying creativity is a combination of all of the categories of brainwaves - (lower frequency) beta, alpha, theta, and delta. This pattern is called the "Awakened Mind" and was first observed by her teacher, biophysicist and Zen master, Maxwell Cade, as the waking state of expert meditators. Ms. Wise built on Cade's work and found that this is also the fluid state that underlies creativity. Here one experiences the concentration and focus of the beta, the calm, detached awareness of the alpha, the expressive, emotive qualities present in the subconscious theta, and the expansive radar sense of the delta. A basic step in accessing the Awakened Mind pattern is to learn how to access the Meditation pattern.

Dimensions of Attention and OPEN FOCUS™

Too often, the brain is stuck in an attention pattern that elevates stress rather than allowing the open, relaxed awareness pattern that leads to lasting success in life. On the most basic level the brain needs to diffuse stress and refresh itself. Our society often fosters a type of narrow objective attention that causes chronic stress - our brains did not evolve to be able to deal with stress that goes on for hours, days and even years. We are so accustomed to the many physical and psychological effects of stress that most of us think they are normal. Much of what we think of as the aging process is the effect of this narrow focus attention and the fight or flight response we have acclimated to. Attention is our interface with the external and internal world, effecting our mental state and physiology. As we learn how to self-regulate and open the focus of attention, our relationship to the world shifts - life becomes much richer, more joyful, and we discover a wealth of inner resources.

You can understand the dimensions of attention more easily by using the painting by Paul Vazquez as an example. When you are in narrow focus you identify a subject in the painting and focus there, letting everything else take a supporting role. Artists assist us in seeing beyond a narrow focus that judges the importance of things and puts them in specific relationships. Where would your eye go for the foreground and background in this painting? When you experience yourself as separate from the subject of this painting, you would be in narrow objective attention. When you soften your eyes and sense peripheral space and the space between you and this image, you will begin to perceive the merging of the foreground and background in this painting, dimensions may shift – this is diffuse attention. As you begin to bring more of yourself into the sensory experience of this painting, you are moving into immersed attention. The artists’ vision ignites the imagination - not only with shifting dimensions and perceptions, but also with images that flow from the deeper mind and communicate the timeless, infinite human spark.

www.paulvazquez.com