The human brain is an electro-chemical organ which produces a small but measurable amount of electric current in the form of gamma, beta, alpha, delta and theta waves. Each wave type has a range of frequencies associated with different types of mental activities. The brain does not emit any one wave type in pure form. At any given moment it emits a mix of two or more wave types. The predominant wave type can vary s with the part of the brain being measured. EEG brain wave patterns vary depending on whether a person is awake and actively concentrating, awake and resting, falling asleep, in deep slow wave sleep or dream (REM) sleep; in a fearful, tense and fight-flight state; in a calm, meditative state; or in states of consciousness affected by such things as sexual arousal or consumption of alcohol or drugs. Mental illnesses and alcoholism show distinctive brain wave patterns.
Neuropsychologist Les Fehmi, Ph.D., is an expert in the link between brain waves and stress reduction. After doing his post-doctoral work at the UCLA Brain Research Institute, he became a pioneer in neurofeedback therapy. Neurofeedback is a method of helping individuals reduce stress levels and anxiety symptoms by gaining control over their central nervous system using EEG biofeedback. In 1969 Dr. Fehmi co-founded the Biofeedback Society of America which later became the Association for Applied Physiology and Biofeedback. During the 1970s Dr. Fehmi used neurofeedback on hundreds of patients. He had them sit at a desk wearing a headband with a nest of electrodes attached to their scalp while they watched their EEG displayed in real time on a screen. They were asked to control their brain waves without being told how to do so, since nobody quite knows how this can be done. If they did not make the desired changes they were notified by bleeping noises and flashes of light.
Dr. Fehmi’s approach to neurofeedback was twofold. First he wanted patients to learn to synchronize their brain waves across their entire brains, because the brain operates most efficiently, effectively and under the least stress when brain cells in different brain regions are firing together (synchronously) in the same wave pattern. Second he wanted his patients to reduce beta (the highest frequency, most energetic brain waves in the range of 13-50 hertz) and increase the amount of their alpha waves (in the range of 8-12 hertz). At the higher end of beta frequency people show great mental effort, high mental energy expenditure, anxiety and tensed muscles. A college student taking an important exam who does not know the material and a driver who blares his horn and screams angrily after being cut off are in high beta. In the alpha frequency people are in a relaxed but alert state where they can observe and deal with the world without intense effort. Meditation puts people in an alpha state. You can also move from beta to alpha by closing your eyes.
During the 1970s Dr. Fehmi noticed an interesting phenomenon while treating his patients. All of them went through a difficult break-in period using neurofeedback where no matter how hard they tried they could not get the results they wanted. They couldn’t synchronize their brain waves or reduce beta and increase alpha frequencies. It was only when they gave up and were on the verge of quitting the training that they succeeded. It was only when they concluded that no amount of trying would succeed and they let go of trying, that they effortlessly brought their brain waves under conscious control. Dr. Fehmi concluded that to be successful in neurofeedback his patients had to give up their effortful orientation to the task.
This led Dr. Fehmi to realize that the how of attention (how we pay attention to something) is much more important than the what (the content of our attention). He began taking physiological measurements of people attending in effortful (beta) and relaxed (alpha) fashion. He found that effortful attention triggers the sympathetic nervous system with the adrenalized fight-flight response and over-reactivity; whereas relaxed attention triggers the parasympathetic nervous system which keeps people calm and at ease. Dr. Fehmi also found that people learn information more quickly, more accurately and with much less effort in a relaxed mode of attention. People who approach tasks in an effortful way have greater difficulty and progress more slowly.
After years of studying attention Dr. Fehmi came up with different categories of attention. Narrow focus refers involves intense effortful attention associated with high beta waves. A person using narrow focus shrinks the aperture of his attention to one object (be it a person, thing or idea) while pushing all other objects into the background and excluding them from consciousness insofar as possible. Open focus refers to a diffuse form of attention in which the person’s aperture of attention is wide open. In open focus a person remains aware of the object he’s attending to, but he is simultaneously aware of his internal sensations, feelings and ideas, the objects in his environment along with their sounds, sights and smells; and the space in, around and between external objects.
Objective focus refers to a state of scientific detachment from the object of attention which is looked at as a wholly separate and distinct entity. It is accompanied by a high degree of self-consciousness, analysis and judgment. Immersed focus refers to a form of attention in which the observer experiences the object of attention from within, yield to it and joins with it. It is accompanied by sensations of union, pleasure and love and marked by a loss of self-consciousness and judgment.
According to Dr. Fehmi the most prevalent form of attentional style in our society is the narrow-objective kind. It can manifest as an obsessive-compulsive focus on a psychological or environmental object or as a denial of and shift of attention away from such an object. This kind of attention limits our awareness and stimulates fear and anxiety by separating us from our inner guidance system (our sensations, feelings, emotions, and intuitions) and from other people. Lawyers engage in the narrow-objective style of attention nearly all the time. They frequently focus on ideas, words and word meanings to the exclusion of their own physical sensations and feelings and their inner sense of what others are feelings. Dr. Fehmi says that people who are stuck in this mode of attention show awkwardness, lack of smoothness and fluidity in dealing with others and a tendency toward anxiety, worry, panic and rigidity.
Narrow-objective attention is a creature of the left brain. Our cave dwelling ancestors used it when they were out hunting or foraging and they had to scan their environment with utmost vigilance and urgency to spot predators like saber tooth tigers. Children in our day learn to use narrow-objective attention when they are told to stop day dreaming, focus on their homework and prove to their parents and teachers that they know their academic material. This amps up their nervous system. As children or as adult lawyers we can get stuck in this amped up state of great cognitive intensity which rigidifies one’s thinking and one’s muscles. Open states of attention act as a gear shifter that can take us out of this mental and physiological state in which we are stuck in over-drive. They allow us to get the best performance out of our brains and feel so much better.
Although narrow-objective attention has its uses, the problem (says Dr. Fehmi) is that we are addicted to it and we use it in many situations where it is more of a hindrance than a help. Narrow-objective focus is useful when learning the parts of the human body, but not when figuring out why a patient is dizzy or depressed. Narrow-objective focus is useful in learning the notes to a music score but not when playing your part during a symphony orchestra performance. Narrow-objective focus may have some use during sexual foreplay but not when making love. The key is in developing attentional flexibility so you can make use of all forms of attention at the appropriate time. Developing this flexibility helps release the psycho-physiological stress stored up through habitual use of narrow-objective attention.
When we stop excluding parts of our experience, open up our focus and allow our attention to equally and simultaneously spread out, we experience a softening of goal-directed behavior, a release of energy and a greater sense of wellbeing. The addiction to narrow-objective focus causes us to miss out on many opportunities to use open-diffused and open-immersed attention which are associated with the right brain and which give us a broader big-picture view which sparks creativity, empathy and spirituality. When the right brain is engaged sensory experiences become more fresh, vivid, captivating, and satisfying. Our brains were designed to be multi-modal, which means they were designed to take in and integrate information from all five senses. We learn best and enjoy life most when we use our minds in a multi-modal fashion. Dr. Fehmi says that a life lived with open focus takes us away from tension, rigidity, anxiety and fatigue to ease, flexibility, efficiency, energy, productivity, spontaneity and creativity.
So how do we get there? You can either seek a solution to your problems in the content of your lived experience (memories of the past), which Dr. Fehmi says won’t work, or you can change your style of attention to open focus. When patients come to Dr. Fehmi for help he can give them neurofeedback, open focus exercises or both. The neurofeedback route is more expensive and requires multiple visits to his office in Princeton, New Jersey, to use the EEG machine.
Patients using neurofeedback benefit by producing more alpha than beta all over the brain and by harmonizing their production of alpha so the various parts of their brain emit alpha in unison like a choir. This allows information to pass through the brain more rapidly, fluidly and completely and allows for the greatest possible integration of information. It enables thinkers, artists, musicians and athletes to reach their peak performance. If you want to try this therapy your insurance might cover it, for instance if the presenting complaint was headache or insomnia. If you can’t make it to Princeton where Dr. Fehmi’s Princeton Biofeedback Center is located, you can go to his website at www.openfocus.com to find links to people he has trained in various parts of the country.
Open focus exercise therapy is inexpensive and can be done at home or at the office behind closed doors. You can do it with a CD. In 2007 Dr. Fehmi came out with The Open Focus Brain published by Trumpeter Books. It contains a companion CD with open focus exercises as well as written exercises after each chapter. I have tried the open focus exercises on CD and found them quite helpful. They put me in the same relaxed, tranquil and mildly euphoric state of mind that meditation does. Like meditation these exercises give me renewed mental clarity and extra energy. Open focus exercises and meditation both involve learning to accept rather than fight one’s sensations, feelings and ideas. In his book Dr. Fehmi talks about curing pain by turning into it, rather than running from it and trying to push it away. Whether you allow the imagined physical space around your pain or the space of your awareness to enter it and fuse with it, either way it will dissolve. The same holds true for negative thoughts and fears.
Based on his work with many thousands of patients Dr. Fehmi says that open focus work can become second nature after you do the exercises enough, and it can not only reduce your stress and anxiety, but help you with self-realization. Chronic stress breeds depression, substance abuse, insomnia, fatigue and stress-related disorders like asthma, allergies, rashes and psycho-somatic pain syndromes. When these have been cleared up, and your brain is working in alpha and firing synchronously, you can expect to experience renewed energy, productivity, enhanced relationships and improved performance in your work, sports, leisure and artistic activities.
Although open focus work is compatible with, and can be done simultaneously with, meditation, I know from experience that some people who could benefit from both modalities are not going to become long term meditators. Why? Some people don’t like sitting for prolonged periods of time in silence in the hope of reducing stress, improving mental clarity and gaining wisdom and compassion. They find listening to their own interior mental chatter intolerable – or they complain of distracting noises, physical pain or discomfort, boredom, restlessness, frustration, lack of progress and a host of other problems. Meditation isn’t for everyone. For these people open focus could be a safe, drug-free method of reducing stress, anxiety and depression while enhancing their performance of and enjoyment of their work and other activities.
