Brain Balance Neurofeedback?

[shiraz]

Has anyone heard of Brain Balance? It is a type of Neurofeedback and is said to relieve PTSD substantially. It is a 7 day 2 hour a day course of neurofeedback activities to help balance the brain left to right and front to back.

I want to know if anyone has heard of it or tired it. It is quite expensive, so I'd love to hear from anyone who knows about it before I sign up.

Here in South Africa it is called 'Brain Balance Studio' and the therapists were trained in the US.

 

[dharmaBum]

I haven't heard of Brain Balance, but I did just recently start reading about the neuroscience behind yoga and feel there is some real hope for me in working out some cognitive kinks using some specialized yoga techniques for mental health. Here's the book reference:

Kundalini Yoga Meditation: Techniques for specific psychiatric disorders, couples therapy, & personal growth. David E. Shannahoff-Khalsa. 2006. New York: W. W. Norton.

The book is an examination of medical and psychiatric research into the effects of yoga on psychiatric disorders, includes many examinations of cerebral activity and neurochemicals, and is fairly accessible for someone with a general understand of brain development. It is written primarily for medical/psychiatric practioners, but is useful for indiviuals as well.

 

[shiraz]

Wow, so nobody has heard of this therapy .... I guess I'm on my own then, once I've been I will report back on it ... holding thumbs.

 

[Ursa]

Hello Shiraz.

I did a Brain Balance already and this looks like an application of Brain Gym activities.

I was having a really hard time with my memory and one section was enough to get me on track with this. On the other hand I started to remember things that I did not know I had gone through. I have used it also to keep myself calm during flaskbacks but now that I stop doing it I think balances were triggering me a lot. It was used as a extra technique during therapy and it felt as if the therapy was going really fast...

It might be that what you are talking about is something else, but I found that some people are learning brain gym techniques adding a few things and changing the name. So it is likely we are speaking about the same thing.

You might take a look on the brain gym web site braingym.org (add www) and there are some books also available that you can take a look.

• Brain Gym (Paul and Gail Dennison)
• Smart Moves (Carla Hannaford)

If you have access to a library you might find those to take a look. There are other books also, but I read one of those and have gone halfway on the second and they give a good understanding of what it is and how it works.

Although it is more used for problems reading and writing it has many applications because it makes your neurons to make new connections. In my case the therapist was using it to support the therapy for PTSD.

 

[cragger65]

I go for nuero-feedback training, but have never heard of this specific technique. I will be curious to hear the results Shiraz. It sounds on target to the issue and very promising.

 

[Ursa]

Sorry Shiraz.

I just did a quick research about the Neurofeedback and it looks like I was speaking about a very different thing. Brain Gym use movements to stimulate the brain and the neurofeedback uses electrical stimuli on the brain.

Although both mean to connect different areas of the brain.

 

[lrs]

This is the first I have heard of it. It sounds very interesting. I believe I will check it out the first chance I get.

 

[shiraz]

Thanks for the responses, Cragger, how are you with Neurofeedback? Any positives? This is similar to that.

 

[shiraz]

Hi Ursa, we have Brain Gym here too, infact used to teach it to my fifth graders, I am interested to see that it helped you access memory etc. I should try it again, see if it works for me.