Hey Crowstream, I didn't mean to ask for anything all that rigorous, just wondering if you and others have noticed improvements in day-to-day function--subjective observations are just fine It'd be nice to n=1 everything and quantify all the pros and cons of each various protocol and method with rigid controls to see precisely what effects occur as a result of what, but hey, life is short, you know? I wouldn't do that myself and I wouldn't ask anyone else to.
But there are certain areas where I think I could be performing better, and may even be performing below average, like, I'm a slow reader, and when I listen to audio lectures I often tune out and have to replay the same section over and over again because my attention drifts at precisely the same spot--that kind of thing. There are areas like that where a subjective analysis can, I think, be quite reliable. You may not know how your TOVA scores have improved over time, but in general terms you should have some evidence in your daily experience if a significant improvement in attention and focus has occured (as an example). Or it could be a notable improvement in general mood, or less reactivity, just whatever. The meditative experience itself and the states reached during are all of great interest as well, but as I understand these things, improvements in this area should also translate into life spent in ordinary pursuits.
Anyway, thanks for your observations, and if you think of anything else, I'd be interested to read about it.
Welcome to the party dude :] It would be great to hear some of the aspects of the conversation you had with Douglas, he is a fountain of fascinating knowledge.
VE posted something a little while back about discerning signal quality, which is a good metric - if it looks like a hairy eyebrow, you're doing it wrong. The thinner the better - preferably the width of the line should be a millimetre or so. It's not a catastrophe if it isn't - I've had good sessions even when the signal line is 5mm thick or so - but of course, the thinner the better. It becomes more important to get very clear signal the higher up the frequency spectrum you go, since there is a roughly inverse relationship between frequency and amplitude, meaning higher frequencies generally relate to lower amplitude, and lower amplitude means that the signal to noise ratio will generally be less favourable.
To start you can't go wrong with Alpha-Theta down the midline. Douglas generally recommends fixing up the midline, then moving onto frontoparietal sites, and sometimes across the midline also. I can recommend that you get into 4 channel protocol as soon as possible, to maximise effect/time ratio. Also 4 channel (custom setup) is great for inducing deep meditative experiences. However since you have high beta you may want to work on modulating that first, on the normal 2 channel setup.
Something I wish I knew when I was first starting NFB is the importance of proper SMR regulation. SMR is generated in the thalamus, which acts as a kind of conductor or information gateway to the higher cortex - as such it plays a key role in generating and maintaining synchrony. If you have thalamic dysregulation and you try to train sync protocols, your progress will be significantly hindered. SMR can be trained with the TAGx1 protocol, running either 12-15hz or 13.-14.3hz as a single channel amplitude setup, with the active electrode just in front of Cz. Indications of thalamic dysfunction are attention problems, insomnia, seizure-like activity, migraine, anxiety and tics. The thalamus plays a predominately inhibitory role, and excess beta is indicative of excessive excitation, so I can recommend that you train SMR first, either running through say 20 or 30 sessions before getting into sync training, or doing it alongside. SMR sessions are usually 30 minutes at a time and typically require around 20 sessions for full consolidation, potentially more depending on the severity of the dysfunction. You may feel better at say 10 sessions in, however it is important to keep training since at that point the beneficial changes are not yet properly consolidated - hence why 20 or so sessions is recommended.
Good luck :]
Thanks everyone for great answers. I will start SMR training today.
Douglas was very interested in people also training HRV.
He specifically mentioned Emwave pro/desktop, because you need the spectral display for best feedback. Is there anyone using this program or training HRV otherwise? What do you have to say about it?
This is some of the stuff I've been talking about with Douglas Dailey in my sessions. We've spent a great time going through the questions I had for him, and many of the questions came from stuff I've been reading in this thread. He wrote short answers in text form, but since there was so much information added to that, the answers here will also be an interpretation of what he said. So take that into account. From what I can see in this thread, there is a lot of people adjusting the protocols themselves, and although it is very important to explore, we also need to listen to the people who has been doing this for a long time. No better than the person who made TagSync himself, of course. Sorry for questions being a little spread out, they don't really follow each other, but just read whatever you find interesting. Some places I have just copy pasted the terms he wrote down, and can't really remember what his intention was. He speaks very freely about stuff. I'm sure some of the terms gives more meaning to you guys. (Sometimes in the answers I write in brackets, this is just me talking.)
Me: How do you treat electrodes inbetween uses?
DD: It's important to avoid skin diseases from spreading. If there is more than one person using the electrodes, always clean them with alcohol, otherwise just to wash them with water is fine. Just imagine how bad it would be to use the electrodes after a person with a face full of herpes has been doing a session. (I thought this was funny - this was only supposed to be an easy start to the questions and he talked about various skin diseases for 5 minutes. I was thinking this would take a looong time.. but still so fascinating to hear him talk about.. everything)
Me: Explain the various terms used in NFB (at this point I had no clue about anything)
EEG - electroencephalography. DD seems to be getting a lot of inspiration from Gerald Ulrich, he often mentions him throughout the questions, and suggests this to read about EEG:
ILF - infra-low frequency. ULF ultra-low frequency. Originally, 0.01 - 0.1 Hz BOLD fMRI studies. 0.1 Hz = 6/minute = HRV. DD talks about how 0.01 and even 0.001 frequencies isn't really easy to train, because the waves takes too long time to measure - you can't really see what kind of changes you make. But DD mentiones many times that HRV (heart rate variability) is so incredibly important to train - he specifically talks about a program called EMwave Pro and sounded like a sales man when he talked about this but still this fact was amazing: When DD is training clients in HRV, he can show them what he's capable of - he can, at will, produce the same waves as a 30 year old athlete, and this guy is 65 years old! So I was very intrigued by the stuff he talked about here.
SMR - sensorimotor rhythm at Cz (SMR@Cz), single channel at crown of head. So is original alpha-theta training. Other NFB trainers use two channels to treat two areas simultaneously often differently. DD talks about how he appears to be the first to use two channels and combine them in the software in order to train the synchronization of the two signals. For many of the questions, he shows me articles and figures where the synchrony part of NFB makes so much sense. When theta-alpha-gamma are in sync, you often have aha-moments or there are non-symbolic experiences. DD also mentiones near death experiences which supposedly are full of theta-alpha-gamma synchrony. Moments where you receive a lot of insight about something are very typical for a brain who has these waves in sync.
He makes this simple figure in my notepad document (attachment "untitled-2"). The two first lines shows waves not in sync. The two last lines are in sync, and here DD talks about the voltage being doubled - essentialy more brain power is being produced. So you will see the wave going higher and lower.
Me: What should I look for in terms of progression?
DD: In BE (bioexplorer) you should see less slow and fast waves (delta and beta, theta and beta) together. Often delta/beta together is shown in people with social anxiety (which is something we saw in my session with him, as soon as he asked me a simple question, there was a peak in delta/beta). In your sessions, and in life, you should be more awake. You should recognize the novelty (beauty in life) more often in small things. Think of a situation where a child is sad, and someone shows them a frog they have in their pocket. Immediately their mood is elevated, and they forget about the sadness. Children recognize novelty much more often than adults. If you show the frog to an adult they probably are just going to keep being sad. Back to BE, you should look for a sharper peak in alpha. It is this sharpness of the peak we want. You should also see a sharper peak in your HRV curve when training that.
Me: What about silence (during a session with the quiet reward design), will more silence indicate good progression?
DD: If you use quiet reward and have too much silence, you arent getting any feedback, you are getting less feedback so raise thresholds (he didn't specifically mention lowering inhibits bins, but I guess you should also do that after some time in quiet?). Quiet reward should be quiet about 90% of the time so that you easily recognize when you are keeping the sound away even a little bit longer. Seek the novelty - be curious, open, accepting and appreciative.
Me: Why should we seek phase resets? (I've seen in a thread that you've said it's good to achieve phase resets as often as possible?)
DD talks very freely here, and gives the examples of solar flares and earthquakes, and how the small ones also contribute to the general synchronization. Sometimes there will only be small phase resets, but they add to the whole. And sometimes there will be large phase resets, just like big earthquakes or solar flares, which makes a greater difference in the moment but is also just a part of the general synchronization.
Me: What should I be training, what do you recommend for a session? On Tagsync.com this is read: "Train Fz and Pz, then F3 and P3, then F4 and P4. This is the DMN/FPN kernal."
DD: Unless seriously disturbed at the moment, always start with midline because of "central channels". Right side tends to be the emotional part of the brain, so this is perhaps something you should focus on after training midline. The left part of the brain is often used in sensory process and is commonly said to be the intelligent side of the brain. You can train this as well, but you should be focusing on working on your issues. As for the different designs, quiet reward is a good start, but also the DVD player designs can be helpful. For people with PTSD the DVD training can be good, because they learn to see how they react to different kinds of videos. Maybe they are doing good with a film about the nature, but when they are shown stuff which triggers them, the activity is all over the place. So it could be good to watch both good/bad stuff to learn how to cope with whatever it is that triggers you and you learn to watch a movie without having to re-living some kind of trauma. This is not just for movies specifically, but for things that triggers you in daily life as well.
Me: How often can I train, and how long should the sessions be?
DD: ad lib (latin: as much/often as you wish). Longer session may be better for some individuals. If problem is forgetting, then more frequent but shorter sessions may work.
Me: What about training on different brain waves, for example: Whats the limit of alpha wave training, gamma wave training? (I've read in a forum that you perhaps shouldn't be training gamma for too long?)
DD: I don't see any reason to not train gamma for a longer time. (He talked freely about this as well, but I can't really remember all the stuff - this was the main point though). I had a client who was 83 years old, and we tried different frequencies to see what she responded too. When we tried the "Schumann frequency" (7.83Hz) she immediately responded and had much sharper alpha peaks than we had previously seen. The next day she came in and told me about how she was able to do stuff she had never been able to do before in her entire life! (I can't really remember what it was, but in general there was a massive improvement in cognitive function.)
Me: What can be dangerous about NFB? Is there something I should look out for?
DD: Same as meditation, for example. In particular in NFB - you have know and understand beta spindling/polyspikes. Also, please read Jeffrey Martin on persistent non-symbolic experience (I have no idea what exactly he has written about this, but I found a video:) DD: When people first process more non-symbolically it can bother both them and their friends because it is a different experience. (From other peoples experiences from meditation, I can see that a lot of people feel more complete as persons, but lonely as well because there is no one to share it with. Does this make sense, are there people here who find this to be true?)
Me: In BE, what settings should be manually altered, and what could be set on auto?
DD (in strong voice): ALL manual. In particular this avoids dangerous beta spindling and polyspikes. Auto settings can work well for a few seconds after achieving a phase reset, but then they down-regulate to the normal level again, yet you've just showed that you're able to achieve that particular level of synchrony. It's not a matter of adjusting thresholds all the time when you are doing it manually, in fact you should be careful doing it too often, because you are activating the parts of the brain which has to do with task management, and we usually want to avoid that. When you're using auto settings it's a brain-computer way of doing things, when manual it's working in a brain-computer-brain way. You lose progression using the auto settings.
Me: When I train, should I look for immediate changes and try to pursue what made the changes and hold on to that mental state? Or should I hold on to something thats very consistent?
DD: I would be cautious using the words "hold on to". Always be curious and accepting to whatever it is you're experiencing. Try to recognize the moments you are able to get just a little bit longer time spent in silence. (Using the quiet reward design.)
Me: As read in a forum, about thresholds in BE: "Set Thresholds 3-8 to encourage conformance with the 1/f rule as shown in figure 4 of this document". Document linked to is this: http://www.mindsuppl...ntroduction.pdf Is this how I always should be adjusting the thresholds?
DD: This is important. This is the way you first start interpreting whether or not you might have some excess beta activity, which would appear as a violation of the 1/f law. Signs of excess beta activity is a sign of some form of disfunction. When there is beta activity not part of the 1/f rule, there is usually inefficiency, if in all bins in one location only, may indicate skull breach. If high beta accompanied by any movement or feeling state, it is correctly called an epileptiform event. (He also mentioned this is the kind of activity you see in patients with brain seizures.) If accompanied by bodily movement, focus on downtraining that particular frequency of beta.
Me: In the figure 4 from the link above, when you see the bin from 35-40Hz raising, wouldnt that be an indication of more gamma waves? (Gamma waves is around 40Hz). Why would you want to suppress that activity?
DD: Usually beta is a fairly narrow peak around 40Hz, at least as seen on typical nfb gear, and it is very variable. Problem beta (polyspikes, spindling) typically lasts 0.25-1 s and occurs in a narrow band between 15-35 Hz, e.g., 20-22 Hz. (I guess I still don't really understand this. If there is not much problem beta in the last bin, why would you try to downregulate it? Are we not seeing mostly gamma activity here?)
Me: Should I be training with eyes closed or open? (we talk a lot about this question during our sessions as well):
DD: I recommend training with eyes open. This is because when people close their eyes, you will see signs of more theta and alpha, which you might think is a good sign, but often is just a sign of drowsiness. I would say that if you're awake, and are able to stay very awake throughout the session, there is no reason to not train with eyes closed. It's just that it can be unreliable in terms of what the results shows. You seem to be producing much more beta activity when eyes are open, and this is very typical. If you're having problems training with eyes open, I recommend that you do it eyes closed.
Me: Could you tell me more about the inhibit bins which are set for delta waves?
DD: In traditional nfb these are often used to inhibit theta, for example, standard SMR@Cz inhibits a theta, inhibits a beta, and supports a peak at 12-15. You can set the delta inhibit however you like. My model does not specifically try to kill delta or theta, but simply to make it more efficient by promoting synchrony. (He also talks about how many nfb trainers tries to down regulate theta, when you actually should be focusing on synchrony. But I guess this is what makes TagSync quite special, and why a few people with lots of training have been seeing extremely good results so far.)
Me: I had a session on my own for almost 2 hours. I was only training 2 channel Pz and Fz. Afterwards I had a headache which lasted for the rest of the day. Is this a bad sign, or is it normal? Perhaps a sign of overdoing the areas involved in that session?
DD talks freely here about many things, but he does not think it's a sign of overdoing it. As far as I understood, he thinks that a lot of the activity created in the brain is also created by tension in the body. He recommended this book: http://www.amazon.co...n/dp/0918236061
And he talked much about body awareness, and his training with patients sitting on an inflatable ball doing physical exercises, and how recognizing novelty and grace in your body gives a very direct results to brain activity.
Me: In our last session together I also noticed you adjusted alpha and theta settings, is that something you often adjust, or is there a certain range I should use most?
DD: In my sessions I often adjust the settings. This has more to do with achieving a kind of synchrony between patient and trainer. When you are on your own, you should not be adjusting the settings too often.
Edited by imlookingforthetruth, 12 July 2015 - 12:28 PM.
Thanks everyone for great answers. I will start SMR training today.
Douglas was very interested in people also training HRV.
He specifically mentioned Emwave pro/desktop, because you need the spectral display for best feedback. Is there anyone using this program or training HRV otherwise? What do you have to say about it?
As mentioned earlier I'm using this free design with the Q-wiz and an electrode over the heart: http://pocketneurobi...plorer-designs/ Howevever I quickly found with it how i can modulate my HRV near to a sinewave and increase Standard Deviation (HRV) to over 10 through breathing so I just use a breathing timer at 0.1hz (5s in, 5s out) deep belly breathing several times a day now. After workouts I use the design to monitor and lower HR while increasing HRV back to non-stressed levels.
Is the software usable with Q-wiz or do you need the HeartMath Gear?
To make a long story short: HRV training for me is one of the most important and most easy to apply trainings and it had a huge impact on how my brain works (QEEG), more than any other single training did. It basicly set up my brain-rate and i finally reached my goals of producing significant amonts of beta. I would recommend putting in 20 minutes a day to any person (and there might be exceptions, but i can't think of any), 10 minutes in the morning, 10 minutes in the evening or whenever stressed.
Thanks everyone for great answers. I will start SMR training today.
Douglas was very interested in people also training HRV.
He specifically mentioned Emwave pro/desktop, because you need the spectral display for best feedback. Is there anyone using this program or training HRV otherwise? What do you have to say about it?
As mentioned earlier I'm using this free design with the Q-wiz and an electrode over the heart: http://pocketneurobi...plorer-designs/ Howevever I quickly found with it how i can modulate my HRV near to a sinewave and increase Standard Deviation (HRV) to over 10 through breathing so I just use a breathing timer at 0.1hz (5s in, 5s out) deep belly breathing several times a day now. After workouts I use the design to monitor and lower HR while increasing HRV back to non-stressed levels.
Is the software usable with Q-wiz or do you need the HeartMath Gear?
To make a long story short: HRV training for me is one of the most important and most easy to apply trainings and it had a huge impact on how my brain works (QEEG), more than any other single training did. It basicly set up my brain-rate and i finally reached my goals of producing significant amonts of beta. I would recommend putting in 20 minutes a day to any person (and there might be exceptions, but i can't think of any), 10 minutes in the morning, 10 minutes in the evening or whenever stressed.
Okay, so you simply use the HRV design from that link? I will try this. Douglas didn't really mention using Bioexplorer and the Q-wiz for training HRV, so I guess he thinks that EMWave Pro is better for this.
I have sent him an email about this, will let you know what he says.
The EMWave Pro is not compatible with the Q-wiz, I think. When you buy the package, you also get an electrode that you clip on to your finger.
Did you have a goal of producing lots of beta? Why?
I'm very excited to start HRV training as well. Just had a 2.5 hour long TagSync session, and I'm doing great. There are very little beta activity, and when I' able to hold focus to my breath I get phase resets. Actually, the times I most often get phase resets are when I've just been lost in thought and gently move my attention back. So I'm very happy to see that TagSync responds so well to what is the standard meditation advice - back to breath, back to breath, back to breath. It is also a standard saying that meditation is not just about staying focused, but recognizing when you are lost in thoughts. And this goes very well with my expierence so far with TagSync, and I guess what have made meditation before TagSync so hard, is because my mind has been screaming about this stuff. Now it knows, so I can finally settle on just keep focusing.
Thanks everyone for great answers. I will start SMR training today.
Douglas was very interested in people also training HRV.
He specifically mentioned Emwave pro/desktop, because you need the spectral display for best feedback. Is there anyone using this program or training HRV otherwise? What do you have to say about it?
As mentioned earlier I'm using this free design with the Q-wiz and an electrode over the heart: http://pocketneurobi...plorer-designs/ Howevever I quickly found with it how i can modulate my HRV near to a sinewave and increase Standard Deviation (HRV) to over 10 through breathing so I just use a breathing timer at 0.1hz (5s in, 5s out) deep belly breathing several times a day now. After workouts I use the design to monitor and lower HR while increasing HRV back to non-stressed levels.
Is the software usable with Q-wiz or do you need the HeartMath Gear?
To make a long story short: HRV training for me is one of the most important and most easy to apply trainings and it had a huge impact on how my brain works (QEEG), more than any other single training did. It basicly set up my brain-rate and i finally reached my goals of producing significant amonts of beta. I would recommend putting in 20 minutes a day to any person (and there might be exceptions, but i can't think of any), 10 minutes in the morning, 10 minutes in the evening or whenever stressed.
Okay, so you simply use the HRV design from that link? I will try this. Douglas didn't really mention using Bioexplorer and the Q-wiz for training HRV, so I guess he thinks that EMWave Pro is better for this.
I have sent him an email about this, will let you know what he says.
The EMWave Pro is not compatible with the Q-wiz, I think. When you buy the package, you also get an electrode that you clip on to your finger.
Did you have a goal of producing lots of beta? Why?
I'm very excited to start HRV training as well. Just had a 2.5 hour long TagSync session, and I'm doing great. There are very little beta activity, and when I' able to hold focus to my breath I get phase resets. Actually, the times I most often get phase resets are when I've just been lost in thought and gently move my attention back. So I'm very happy to see that TagSync responds so well to what is the standard meditation advice - back to breath, back to breath, back to breath. It is also a standard saying that meditation is not just about staying focused, but recognizing when you are lost in thoughts. And this goes very well with my expierence so far with TagSync, and I guess what have made meditation before TagSync so hard, is because my mind has been screaming about this stuff. Now it knows, so I can finally settle on just keep focusing.
Hmm i changed some things in the design I guess. I can post a modified version throughout the week but i simply used the functions of the design, mostly streamlined it. I wouldn't spend an extra 300$ on a device if i already have the Q-wiz unless you use it professionally or in addition to the 4 channels. I'd rather put the money into the HEG headband. We don't think of 300$ of much as an investment into these kinds of technologies but i found that putting that into mentoring (like getting to train with Peter/Karen/Douglas for example will make you learn much quicker than another device).
You seem to be getting great results already. I exactly concord with your experience.However when you do that you're also practicing Mindfullness meditation at the same time which correlates heavily with alot of good things (especially in depression/anxiety type brains). It changed over time but thats probably because I just dont wander as much, I know how to produce the Reward right away (its connected to a type of balanced focus of the eyes while closed or open). Might be good for me to get more classic meditative skills dont know.
Yes, i was aiming to up beta in the left and left front because I started with an extremely slow (wave) brain alongside it's symptoms. I think a lack of oxygen was a main contributor as my face is very red since I do HRV and it used to be very pale chronically. So basicly my brain was lacking the juice to produce the right patterns I think. After that training results got much more stable.
So I'm not saying HRV will give you beta (usually the opposite and i think its rather related to gamma/compassion states) but improve brain function and stress control. Also it just feels really nice.
Btw: My 2nd QEEG just came in and synchrony charts improved vastly. Will post about that during the week.
I'm new to different kind of NFB terms.. What exactly does HEG do, and why should I do that instead of HRV training?
And why do you think the HEG band (which one btw?) is better than the Em Wave Pro?
Sure there is the benefit from doing meditation. I feel like it's more a meditation session than a NFB session, the NFB just helps pointing out the directions I should go for. And it does that very, very well.
Will try HRV now with the design before I go to bed. Hopefully it will work fine without any adjustments. Please do tell what changes you've made to it when you can.
This is what Douglas answered me in my email question about HRV training, where I asked why I need the EM Wave Pro:
"All those 18,500 articles regarding HRV at pubmed.gov used a different type technology than EEG. Whether they directly measure the intervals between the maximal electrical activity of the heart (systole) or they measure the intervals between the pulsing of blood flow into the ear or the finger, they are all measuring a body wave. The HRV body wave is the only method that can detect autonomic nervous system imbalance - the balance between 1) the activation to fight or flee, and 2) the inhibition leading to loss of consciousness or dissociation. Imbalances of the HRV body wave have a great disturbing effect on the EEG. Since 2010 my TAG Sync screens for the Nexus system (see attachment) have allowed individuals to train body and brain waves simultaneously.
I always train clients with HRV before EEG biofeedback, since disturbances in coordination of breathing and cardiovascular dynamics has a profound effect upon the EEG (Takahashi et al 2005). I have found that sometimes successful EEG feedback improves HRV, and sometimes successful HRV training improves EEG. Other times a person may wring out an increase of EEG synchrony at the expense of disturbed cardiovascular dynamics. There is no substitute for making certain that you can regulate your own HRV.
HRV is based on a different phenomena than EEG NFB - it is a body wave, not a brain wave. the precise HRV frequency is based on the inherent properties of gas exchange across the endothelium of the arteries, described as the Mayer-Traube-Herring wave which resonates at 0.1 Hz in humans, and, in my model, needs to be synchronous with the 10 Hz alpha brain wave. The resting state networks of the brain have even lower resonant frequencies (seen in BOLD fMRI) of around 0.01 Hz, so it is easy to see how ultra-low frequency EEG at 0.01 Hz could affect the Mayer-Traube-Herring wave at 0.1 Hz. But, as I mentioned above, some people may accidentally improve cortical efficiency at the expense of cardio-respiratory efficiency, and vice versa.
The body awareness created by HRV training provides a more stable platform for the brain to develop efficiency. On the other hand, an erratic brain sending mixed signals to fight or play dead can also damage cardio-respiratory functioning.
The Em Wave Pro, the ONLY version to show a spectral display with a peak at 0.1 Hz like the EEG spectral display at 10 Hz, is an unparalleled bargain, and I would choose it over EEG NFB for anyone who needed an efficient affordable introduction to self-regulation.
You asked "why not train HRV in Bioexplorer". Indeed. Unfortunately, as I said earlier, all HRV studies that I know of simply time the peak pulses of the heart and make a graph of its moment to moment heart rate. For example, if there is one second elapsing between arrival of blood to the ear lobe then the instantaneous heart rate is 1/second = 60 per minute. If the next pulse comes a little sooner, then the pulse rate is instantaneously increased. It is the smooth regulated increasing of heart rate in support of oxygenation by breathing that is the basis of HRV training.
Hopefully within a few months (6?) you will get a free upgrade to the Bioexplorer TAG Sync screens that uses my new algorithm to process the electrical components of vascular reactivity at the radial pulse. Currently, there are only one or two bioexplorer designs that attempt to calculate HRV from the statistics of the inter-beat interval. I do not have confidence in those algorithms. On the other hand, both Nexus and Thought Technology have in depth HRV and cardio-respiratory routines built in which explains why they are used for Olympic training. I have an alternate technology which enables BioExplorer to evaluate cardio-respiratory balance from the electrical activity of the smooth muscles enveloping the blood vessels.
In the meantime, at around $250 the EmWave Pro Desktop version is invaluable. I have 3 of them which I loan to my clients to practice with at home between NFB sessions.
A 0.01 Hz rhythm in the EEG takes, of course, 100 seconds to observe its peak to peak value. These rhythms often appear every minute and a half or so as a slight loss of ability to regulate the EEG. Some people get very angry when every other minutes their NFB scores drop from intrusion of resting state network signals. And this is a great part of momentary lapses of attention. But these are also affected when the lung and the heart get out of synchrony and the brain is not adequately oxygenated, leading to a momentary lapse of awakeness."
I'm new to different kind of NFB terms.. What exactly does HEG do, and why should I do that instead of HRV training?
And why do you think the HEG band (which one btw?) is better than the Em Wave Pro?
Sorry, i realize that this form of communication is not my strength. I was suggesting to train HRV with a breathing timer after using the electrode-design to learn about it (free) before spending 300$ on the EmWave. If you would like to spend that kind of money, i'd put up another $200 for this guy https://brain-traine...ir-heg-headset/ which adds bloodflow-training to your training regime which is amazing for focus, wakefulness and general wellbeing and also does train a complete other aspect than the emwave, which as i said, can be done with an electrode. if you go for the heartmath stuff (which i can recommend) i'd look into their cheaper mobile devices because that would make alot of difference to being dependent on your computer.
Sure there is the benefit from doing meditation. I feel like it's more a meditation session than a NFB session, the NFB just helps pointing out the directions I should go for. And it does that very, very well.
you can always increase the threshholds to make it harder or add bands/rewards. also you might wanna get into the 4 channel designs quickly if you're already having an easy time getting the rewards.
Will try HRV now with the design before I go to bed. Hopefully it will work fine without any adjustments. Please do tell what changes you've made to it when you can. ill share the design, don't have it on this computer. basicly you wanna get the standard deviation UP and make the waveform more like a large sine wave. if youre breathing 6bpm you want the design to show close to 6bpm as well (heart/breath coherence).
After a few days of lurking in this thread and forum I thought might be a good an idea to present myself and report my findings from approximately on month of tagsync training. I got in contact with NFB and especially the TAG-sync protocol by Opaquemind here on the forum. I met Opaquemind from the finderscourse 3 experiment/course.
If you’re not Familiar with the finderscourse or dr.Jeffrey Martins work, the course is designed to help people reach with his terms Persistent)-non-symbolic consciousness, (enlightenment) as quickly as possible.
On a side note the money I spent on the course, and hours spent on the course has so far been the best value of time and money I have done in terms of wellbeing, happiness and general insight nothing short of spectacular. During the course I did countless of meditations hours in pursuit of reaching ongoing nonsymbolic experience, and now I can with certainty say that I have reached it, and the best part is that there seems to be infinite depths to this experience to explore and deepen in to.
So if you guys have any questions regarding being in an ongoing nonsymbolic consciousness, you are free to ask me any questions about this, and I will try my best to answer, and If you’re interested in this in depth there a lot of information that can be found on Dr. Jeffrey Martins Site:
So in general my purpose of getting in to TAG-sync is to deepen my experience and see how far I can push this experience, but I also hope that NFB and TAG-sync can help boost my intelligence and general mind/consciousness coherence.
So far I have been doing around 1h a day for around 30 days since I got my device. And my impressions of it so far is as follows.
Positive effects
*A more general sense of flow within my awareness.
*Sense of taking in more information than before
*My state has changed to a more "jokey", playful mode.
*Even less self-talk (narrative self)
*Feeling more energetic
*My meditations has not deepened but I can enter quite deep meditation very quickly, usually within seconds.
*And a sense of being able to switch modes and states more quickly and with no distractions then before.
*An increase general sense of more structure and coherence in writing, speech and other daily activities.
*I´m not sure but I seems that my mind is geared towards more novelty? For example I was texting with friends yesterday for HOURS by sending silly words, and rhymes
Something I usually like to do but this was on another level as it just keep coming new ideas and new words all the time.
*Nuprep gel and short hair is the best to getting a good signal, I get perfect signal all the time.
*Well being is very high, but my well being is always high, so im not sure how much TAGsync is providing in that department.
*higher percived intiution then before, as If I´m more connect to the being/gut level of things.
Side-effects
*Doing too much TAGsync with Gamma frequency seem to me at the moment increase my fatigue and if pushed to hard will give me brain fog and/or lethargy for a few days after.
*Some manic tendencies, but this might be that mind is geared more towards novelty?
*Sleeping can sometimes be not as deep as usual which makes me awfully tired in the morning. But I cannot pin point to 100% if it’s the NFB that is cause of this.
*And slight headache sometimes
*Sense of feeling sluggish and having less awareness/attention when doing to TAGsync much. For example my driving skills and awareness goes down, and my awareness is to slow.
What I´m using:
Q-wiz with Bio-explorer
4Channel TAGsync and alternating between 01, Pz, Pz, Fp1 and F3 (L), P3 (L), F3®, P3® as recommend from Douglas site.
40-45min of either theta/alpha sync or delta/alpha sync and then finishing off with 5-10min alpha/gamma sync or theta/gamma sync
When doing a session I just put all my attention on the sounds and let them "meditate" me, I´m not sure if this is the most optimal way to do a session but it feels good.
By using effort to move the bars consciously it just seem to drain me of energy and makes the whole process tedious and boring, And it might as well be counterproductive (?)
It also seems that the more one pointed focus I give the sound the more sync I seems to be getting.
These last few days I have also been experimenting with adding the Entropy protocol before or after a session, but as of now it’s too early to tell any effects on that.
I hope I can contribute and share insight and knowledge that I gain to everyone in this thread, as I think the potential with Tagsync is huge.
I'm quite new here as well, but welcome to you Sebster!
I'm very interested to check out Jeffrey Martins work, Douglas also mentioned him to me in our last session.
Does anyone have a 4-channel design that works well with samatha meditation?
In my opinion any type of meditation will work, and very focused oriented meditation like samatha will probably synergize very well with any tagsync protocol and also help you make your meditations sessions go deeper. How long have you been meditating?
And if your interested in Jeffrey Martins work almost all information can be found on this site:
imlookingforthetruth, thanks alot for sharing the infos by dailey. thats super interesting that hes working on a sychronization of alpha and the HRV within his protocol, i had this idea but no clue whatsoever to realize. my experience is the same regarding HRV and i'd be as radical regarding to start with HRV. my brain shows complete new patterns in the QEEG after i started HRV breathing. basicly it was super slow and depressed when without oxygen and hyperactive when it got some (stimulants etc.) giving away for the chronic fatigue and AHDS dynamic. now that i'm oxygenated i show alot of fast beta which i'm going to train down starting today. super excited about future results.
please people. if you have access to these kind of valuable infos, put them out here.
imlookingforthetruth, thanks alot for sharing the infos by dailey. thats super interesting that hes working on a sychronization of alpha and the HRV within his protocol, i had this idea but no clue whatsoever to realize. my experience is the same regarding HRV and i'd be as radical regarding to start with HRV. my brain shows complete new patterns in the QEEG after i started HRV breathing. basicly it was super slow and depressed when without oxygen and hyperactive when it got some (stimulants etc.) giving away for the chronic fatigue and AHDS dynamic. now that i'm oxygenated i show alot of fast beta which i'm going to train down starting today. super excited about future results.
please people. if you have access to these kind of valuable infos, put them out here.
Interesting! I have been looking for HRV training as well as I think that when combining with the TAGSync it would probably yield phenonmal results.
I´m planing on getting a device my self, Im not sure which device to get for the HRV training, The emwave2 which is portable seems like a steal to me, but is that device good enough as douglas mentioned the pro version?
imlookingforthetruth, thanks alot for sharing the infos by dailey. thats super interesting that hes working on a sychronization of alpha and the HRV within his protocol, i had this idea but no clue whatsoever to realize. my experience is the same regarding HRV and i'd be as radical regarding to start with HRV. my brain shows complete new patterns in the QEEG after i started HRV breathing. basicly it was super slow and depressed when without oxygen and hyperactive when it got some (stimulants etc.) giving away for the chronic fatigue and AHDS dynamic. now that i'm oxygenated i show alot of fast beta which i'm going to train down starting today. super excited about future results.
please people. if you have access to these kind of valuable infos, put them out here.
No problem. There is a lot of information about NFB, and lots of new stuff coming up. I'm very excited about the ideas Douglas comes up with, and he's responding very well to all my emails so far. He encourages me to share it with you guys, and I believe it's very important to share the information, especially since TagSync is a bit different from regular NFB training.
As for the tweaks you've done in the HRV design, it's not that important for me anymore, since I will be ordering the EM Wave Pro. But it would be interesting anyway, and I'm sure others could benefit from it.
imlookingforthetruth, thanks alot for sharing the infos by dailey. thats super interesting that hes working on a sychronization of alpha and the HRV within his protocol, i had this idea but no clue whatsoever to realize. my experience is the same regarding HRV and i'd be as radical regarding to start with HRV. my brain shows complete new patterns in the QEEG after i started HRV breathing. basicly it was super slow and depressed when without oxygen and hyperactive when it got some (stimulants etc.) giving away for the chronic fatigue and AHDS dynamic. now that i'm oxygenated i show alot of fast beta which i'm going to train down starting today. super excited about future results.
please people. if you have access to these kind of valuable infos, put them out here.
Interesting! I have been looking for HRV training as well as I think that when combining with the TAGSync it would probably yield phenonmal results.
I´m planing on getting a device my self, Im not sure which device to get for the HRV training, The emwave2 which is portable seems like a steal to me, but is that device good enough as douglas mentioned the pro version?
Douglas believes it's crucial to do HRV before EEG training.
I'm going to start this as soon as I receive the EM Wave Pro. So if you order soon as well, it would be cool to see what results we get, and we can talk about our progress and how to start out.
As soon as I have it I'm going to have a new session with Douglas, so I'm sure I'll be able to help you out if we buy the same system.
As for what device to get, I got the sense that you need EM Wave Pro. Douglas says it's very important to have a spectral display, and I think he mentioned that only the Pro version has this.
Otherwise I believe it's much the same. Not sure about this though, you could check out yourself on hearthmath.com
Of course it would be practical to have it on a mobile device, and I'm sure you'll get good results from this as well even if it doesn't have a spectral display.
To your question about my meditation, yes I've been doing a lot of meditation, but very irregular, for about a year and a half. I've tried most styles, in both contemplative meditation and concentration meditation.
I found that simply just focusing as good as I can on my breath is what works best for me. I have a lot of anger issues, so I'm very emotional. Sometimes I like to include focus on the heart area as well, but I make sure to only focus slightly on the feeling because I can get easily distracted if I put all my attention there.
Did you only practice meditation while you were in this course with Jeffrey? Are most of the results you've got from that course? Please do tell about the instructions you were given. For me it seems a bit contradictory to seek the non-symbolic experiences, so far I've seen that they just come more often when my mind is more still so I just continue on doing concentration meditation.
And I'm just going to ask again, in case people miss it: Does anyone have a 4-channel design for BE that works well with concentration meditation?
My QEEG results for 4 months of NFB concerning the Gamma Band. Pretty surprised to see that you can double coherences all over the brain in that time window.
My QEEG results for 4 months of NFB concerning the Gamma Band. Pretty surprised to see that you can double coherences all over the brain in that time window.
Douglas believes it's crucial to do HRV before EEG training.
I'm going to start this as soon as I receive the EM Wave Pro. So if you order soon as well, it would be cool to see what results we get, and we can talk about our progress and how to start out.
As soon as I have it I'm going to have a new session with Douglas, so I'm sure I'll be able to help you out if we buy the same system.
As for what device to get, I got the sense that you need EM Wave Pro. Douglas says it's very important to have a spectral display, and I think he mentioned that only the Pro version has this.
Otherwise I believe it's much the same. Not sure about this though, you could check out yourself on hearthmath.com
Of course it would be practical to have it on a mobile device, and I'm sure you'll get good results from this as well even if it doesn't have a spectral display.
Hello everyone, sorry for not responding to those that kindly replied to my last questions and Bobity's offer to meet up.
In short TLC/ NF hasn't conferred any benefits to me, save for a couple of times early on in the training where I felt far more relaxed and had reduced muscular tension for a day before reverting to baseline. This mirrored exactly my experiences of going for paid for sessions late last year.
It forced contemplate that there's something going on in me that is making it hard for the brain to learn new patterns, after looking at various reasons that NF doesn't work, the point that jumped out is reduced cerebral blood flow, I mentioned previously that I caught some kind of virus years ago and became ill, essentially post viral fatigue , and one of the studied symptoms of this is reduced brain blood flow in general and also even further reduced blood flow after exertion, which includes mental exertion.....they ran a study with people playing n back which showed this as well as studies for physical exertion.
So I can't be sure but it seems likely that this is the reason for my lack of progress, which sucks because the thing that I got into this to overcome has symptoms that might make it very hard to make progress.
Anyway I'm still continuing to train but I think far more important is to try and reduce brain inflammation and hope that this leads to improved blood flow. So I'm on regimen to increase BDNF and deactivate microglia cells and Ill see how I go.
Added to that I'm looking to down regulate sympathetic nervous system as much as I can and stimulate parasympathetic function, so I was looking at commencing HRV training but I spoke to Pete at BT and he seemed fairly dismissive of the need to do it and just advised doing RSA breathing, which I've been doing and like the results but these comments from DD have really struck a cord and I'm definitely going to buy an emwave but I'm unsure of whether the pro version is necessary, I'm struggling to understand why the power spectrum might be so important.
The interesting thing is that on the HeartMath products the inner balance trainer, which is for i-phones/ i-pads, is cheaper than the emwave2 but has the power spectrum and also pulse charts the same as the pro version, which the emwave2 doesn't have.
Just going on that, if it is so important then the emwave2 is the weakest option of the 3 and if you've got an i-phone/pad you'd be better off spending less to get the inner balance trainer.....but I find that hard to believe.
I'm trying to understand how we can use the fact that the power spectrum shows a 'peak at 0.1Hz' to our benefit within the training.
I'm trying to understand how we can use the fact that the power spectrum shows a 'peak at 0.1Hz' to our benefit within the training.
Douglas talks about the importance of synchrony between 0.1Hz and 10Hz alpha.
I'm not sure why, but I heard him say a few times that the spectral display is very important, so I'm just going to go with the Pro version (already ordered).
@imlookingforthetruth Thanks for the posts of your dialogues with Douglas. Much Appreciated.
I’ve been using HRV training for over two years using a Stresseraser. I started this because of a period of intense anxiety attacks, which did not seem to have much relationship to what was going on in my life. HRV training had a powerful effect over the first few months on reducing my baseline stress levels, more so than anything else I’d tried. The baseline stress level is now unrecognisable from where I was when I started HRV. Since working with Douglas, I borrowed an emwave2 from one of my sons a couple of weeks ago and bought the emwave pro software package. For some reason emwave pro does not show the spectrum analysis. I’ve raised this with Heartmath who so far have not been very responsive.
Douglas suggested a way of getting the effect of the spectrum analyser by looking at the lows of the emwave signal such that the base does not gradually move up or down but remains fairly constant. I found it fairly easy to maintain to maintain this.
I’ve found since using the emwave with TAGsync the combination creates an additional dimension of focus and broadens and deepens the experience. Alternatively I’ve found that using emwave with some of the BT designs, particularly the CON and BAL designs makes me very sleepy. This may be why Peter does not rate the emwave.
Its grand to see others getting into HRV training – I really rate it and if you get even half of what I’ve got out of it you won’t be disappointed.
@Imlookingforthetruth, the best protocol I have used for something like concentration meditation is entropy + broadband inhibit protocol - it is almost an exact correlate of the application of attention. If you (or anyone else) would like this send me a PM with your email and I will send it to you.
I have a proposition for people relatively new to TAGsync; in an attempt to somewhat objectivise certain dimensions of the effects of extensive training, I think it would be cool if you were to take a personality test that measures the 'big five' personality traits (Openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism) before extensive training and then after extensive training (arbitrarily I'll define extensive as something like 3 months, of course you can do this whenever you want and as many times as you want, including not at all). In my experience these factors have changed rather dramatically in myself, and it would be interesting to see how other people change over time in these metrics also.
Edit; this test seems decent - http://www.outofservice.com/bigfive/, at the end it gives you a number out of a 100 for each of the big 5. If some people were to do one of these after say a block of 30 sessions (or any such consistent rate that we all agree on), we could get some pretty good data after a while and make a nice little graph to plot the changes in multiple people over time. Even though I've easily done over 150 sessions now (I've totally lost count) I'm gonna start mapping this too to see if I undergo any further changes in these metrics. Unfortunately I didn't measure myself in the beginning so I cannot compare the changes in a quantitative way, but qualitatively I can say there have been very deep changes along those axes.
If anyone wants to do this with me then I think it would be a good idea to take the test now (or asap) and send me the results so I can collect them in a spreadsheet and prod you every so often to remind you to test again, that way this whole thing is more likely to get off the ground :]
@Imlookingforthetruth, the best protocol I have used for something like concentration meditation is entropy + broadband inhibit protocol - it is almost an exact correlate of the application of attention. If you (or anyone else) would like this send me a PM with your email and I will send it to you.
I have a proposition for people relatively new to TAGsync; in an attempt to somewhat objectivise certain dimensions of the effects of extensive training, I think it would be cool if you were to take a personality test that measures the 'big five' personality traits (Openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism) before extensive training and then after extensive training (arbitrarily I'll define extensive as something like 3 months, of course you can do this whenever you want and as many times as you want, including not at all). In my experience these factors have changed rather dramatically in myself, and it would be interesting to see how other people change over time in these metrics also.
Edit; this test seems decent - http://www.outofservice.com/bigfive/, at the end it gives you a number out of a 100 for each of the big 5. If some people were to do one of these after say a block of 30 sessions (or any such consistent rate that we all agree on), we could get some pretty good data after a while and make a nice little graph to plot the changes in multiple people over time. Even though I've easily done over 150 sessions now (I've totally lost count) I'm gonna start mapping this too to see if I undergo any further changes in these metrics. Unfortunately I didn't measure myself in the beginning so I cannot compare the changes in a quantitative way, but qualitatively I can say there have been very deep changes along those axes.
If anyone wants to do this with me then I think it would be a good idea to take the test now (or asap) and send me the results so I can collect them in a spreadsheet and prod you every so often to remind you to test again, that way this whole thing is more likely to get off the ground :]
I guess I can go first then. And I think its fairly accurate. Alltough there is probably an issue with the openess part on my score as I usuallly tend to almost max out that score on other tests. And I wouldnt say the TAGsync has changed my personality traits according to that test.
I'm very interested in entropy + broadband inhibit protocol as well as the psychometric measurements you propose. Unsure how to PM on here.
It is OpaqueMind who has this. Just click on his profile, then upper right "send me a message".
I've PM'ed him the personality test results as well. It would be cool to see what changes people make within a few months of training.
I've started to train SMR. I'm not sure if I'm doing it right. I've never trained TagSync 1-channel design before.
In the spectral display, I only see signals coming from 12-15Hz - am I not supposed to see activity at other frequencies?
I have one reference electrode to the ear, ground electrode to front of the head, and active electrode at Cz. Is this correct?
And I'm not really sure what to do while I'm training. I've tried mindfulness meditation, but it seems to just give me phase resets when I'm lost in day dreaming, which is different from alpha/theta sync training, which usually gives me phase resets whenever I'm aware that I'm in a thought and come back to breath. It isn't really helpful for the meditation session to be rewarded when my mind is somewhere else. So I'm wondering what I should do when training SMR. Anyone have any tips here?
This how to do SMR training with the Tagsync x1 protocol:
1 electrode to Cz, 1 eletrocde for (+) one on of the ear, and 1 electrode for GND on the other and remove the electrode for (-) so the socket is empty.
Set the rewards to either 13.7 - 14.3 or the preconfigured SMR reward in BIO-explorer. Im not 100% sure what is best so others will need to chime in on this. I have done only a few sessions on 13.7-14.3 so I cannot really say which one is the best.
Then adjust your reward threshold to preference. And regards on actually using it, I try to just your focus on the BAR, this is what I do if my attention slips I just put it back on the bar, gently. And when I notice the bar go upwards I recognize the state I´m in and try to hold that state, if I slip I try again to "tune in", gently to that state,
I belive that best way to train is to repeteadly enter the prefered state and recognize/notice it to become familiar with it, because I think its only when your familiar with the desired state enough you will be able to hold it and switch in and out of it with general ease.
I also think that general effort is not right way of approaching NFB nor meditation, in my experience effort usually takes you out of a refined attentionspace and make your sessions degrade in quality and make them tedious and boring.
Johan Pieotr:
In the spectral display, I only see signals coming from 12-15Hz - am I not supposed to see activity at other frequencies? No, That is how mine is set up atleast.
I have one reference electrode to the ear, ground electrode to front of the head, and active electrode at Cz. Is this correct? - See my instruction above
Anyone have any tips here? - Meditations primary purpose is to clear your mind from thoughts and sustain in that space for a longer period of time, and that should be your rimary reward. Dont mix in phase reset with medittion, TAG-sync training is not medatiation.
Hi Sebster,
I'm very interested in entropy + broadband inhibit protocol as well as the psychometric measurements you propose. Unsure how to PM on here.
It is OpaqueMind who has this. Just click on his profile, then upper right "send me a message".
I've PM'ed him the personality test results as well. It would be cool to see what changes people make within a few months of training.
I've started to train SMR. I'm not sure if I'm doing it right. I've never trained TagSync 1-channel design before.
In the spectral display, I only see signals coming from 12-15Hz - am I not supposed to see activity at other frequencies?
I have one reference electrode to the ear, ground electrode to front of the head, and active electrode at Cz. Is this correct?
And I'm not really sure what to do while I'm training. I've tried mindfulness meditation, but it seems to just give me phase resets when I'm lost in day dreaming, which is different from alpha/theta sync training, which usually gives me phase resets whenever I'm aware that I'm in a thought and come back to breath. It isn't really helpful for the meditation session to be rewarded when my mind is somewhere else. So I'm wondering what I should do when training SMR. Anyone have any tips here?
sebster: Meditations primary purpose is to clear your mind from thoughts and sustain in that space for a longer period of time, and that should be your rimary reward. Dont mix in phase reset with medittion, TAG-sync training is not medatiation.
I couldn't less agree. It seems to me that there is too many forms of meditation to generalize either the purpose of it or to contrast it against TAGsync. While i myself practice a kind of freestyle meditation mixed with hypnotic imaginary whenever they come up typically with TAGsync, other forms like mindfulness or RSA breathing gave me great (and different, both felt and in spectrum) results as well. However all of this is "on top" of the synchrony training that we reward. I'd concentrate it to a very simple basic rule: As long as you're getting the rewards, you're doing it right. You could produce synchrony in almost any context. Do a headstand, if that works . However i feel mastering a meditative skill while you're at it might give you added benefit. Since various meditation forms both correlate with synchrony and have been the models for those protocols,
About the HRV: What is this Display Douglas talks about and why is it so useful? I agree with Peter on the effect of simple RSA breathing (what i do) and i also know alot of people getting great results with the EmWave App or 2. Let me put this clear: I think 300$ is a very good investment in whatever HeartMath is selling there. What will matter in the end is that you train with it, no matter if you use the Wiz, a breathing App or the latest HRV gadgets. Let me note on the side, that HRV training is not relaxation training or breathing meditation: It's balancing the two main activation/deactivation responses and that can be done while doing extreme sports. Also read through the HeartMath stuff. Focusing on gratitude for example can have more effect on the HRV then your breathing. Combine those techniques for maximum result.
Let me add a screenshot of what I see on the free design. I'm trainig to achieve 6bpm,>10 STD DEV, lower AV. Pulse (quite high for an athlete) and the closest I can get to a constant sine wave shape. Also it shows my heart on the upper right, but I don't use it. What else could there to be fed back?
@Matty72: Sorry to hear about the delay. While I do not know anything about the specific topics youre adressing, NFB has been an up/down ride for me as well at some points. Getting into HRV has changed ALOT in both my EEG and face colour and made the brain much more shapeable, so I can agree on the importance of oxygenation.
@SMR: I can very much recommend the brain-trainer Protocol SMR1C% as a bipolar setup on C3/C4. I also started using it now on Cz/A2.
@QEEG: The results are from the TLC7AP, what would a "real" QEEG mean? More sites? Raw data?
OpaqueMind: @Imlookingforthetruth, the best protocol I have used for something like concentration meditation is entropy + broadband inhibit protocol - it is almost an exact correlate of the application of attention. If you (or anyone else) would like this send me a PM with your email and I will send it to you.
I do have the protocol but no experience with concentration meditation. Could you link to what you believe is a good introduction to the technique and maybe describe how you use the protocol? I already show very good entropy scores (like exactly where he wants them), but part of my plan right now includes Squashing (broad-band inhibiting) O1 and O2 EC which feels really good so I might just combine it with that technique. Peter's design is using 2-38hz for the Squash, which frequencies do you inhibit? Also what sites did you train?
I like your idea of tracking personality scores. Did this one for the record and will compare in a couple of months. I also have some older scores of several other formats that I'll be able to compare. However it's hard to tell what comes from what exactly, but I feel the strongest influence on personality have been Ayahuasca, TAGsync and Gamma-Training which all seem to be synergistic. Also the constant integration of loaded material with TAGsync might be the reason that my DMT-experiences were able to focus mostly just on the spiritual dimension rather than my own shadows, because there was alot of work already done. When we take on the shamanic belief that vomiting is the way to release traumatic material during the ritual, then it's just interesting to see how much other participants vomit (like several times each ritual at least) and me having vomited once in 5 high-dose treatments which btw. felt as releasing&healing as it is described in many places. This all is however very speculative. Overall Ayahuasca and NFB have both been a blessing in this n=1 study.
About the HRV: What is this Display Douglas talks about and why is it so useful? I agree with Peter on the effect of simple RSA breathing (what i do) and i also know alot of people getting great results with the EmWave App or 2. Let me put this clear: I think 300$ is a very good investment in whatever HeartMath is selling there. What will matter in the end is that you train with it, no matter if you use the Wiz, a breathing App or the latest HRV gadgets. Let me note on the side, that HRV training is not relaxation training or breathing meditation: It's balancing the two main activation/deactivation responses and that can be done while doing extreme sports. Also read through the HeartMath stuff. Focusing on gratitude for example can have more effect on the HRV then your breathing. Combine those techniques for maximum result.
Let me add a screenshot of what I see on the free design. I'm trainig to achieve 6bpm,>10 STD DEV, lower AV. Pulse (quite high for an athlete) and the closest I can get to a constant sine wave shape. Also it shows my heart on the upper right, but I don't use it. What else could there to be fed back?
@Matty72: Sorry to hear about the delay. While I do not know anything about the specific topics youre adressing, NFB has been an up/down ride for me as well at some points. Getting into HRV has changed ALOT in both my EEG and face colour and made the brain much more shapeable, so I can agree on the importance of oxygenation.
@SMR: I can very much recommend the brain-trainer Protocol SMR1C% as a bipolar setup on C3/C4. I also started using it now on Cz/A2.
@QEEG: The results are from the TLC7AP, what would a "real" QEEG mean? More sites? Raw data?
Thanks for the mention VE, I won't lie I've experienced a huge disappointment, I invested lot into NF in terms of hope and also time.....not to mention money!
But not to be deterred, I think I need a plan of action and to put in more effort to improve the environment ie my brain.
I hope HRV training will be an important step in that direction. Still not entirely sure why DD places so much importance on the power spectrum showing 0.01Hz but I think it shouldn't be ignored, firstly it seems people that use TAG have a very high regard for his intellect and secondly anyone who recommends something before their own designs and area of expertise shows great integrity and the fact that he's been so specific is enough for me.
I'm open to the idea that NF might not be that helpful in achieving what I had originally hoped but I'm confident it will provide benefits at some point.
Glad to hear that you're doing so well
If anyone has any positive experiences from low level light therapy, please PM me, I'm interested in giving that a go but could do with a bit of guidance.
This how to do SMR training with the Tagsync x1 protocol:
1 electrode to Cz, 1 eletrocde for (+) one on of the ear, and 1 electrode for GND on the other and remove the electrode for (-) so the socket is empty.
Set the rewards to either 13.7 - 14.3 or the preconfigured SMR reward in BIO-explorer. Im not 100% sure what is best so others will need to chime in on this. I have done only a few sessions on 13.7-14.3 so I cannot really say which one is the best.
Then adjust your reward threshold to preference. And regards on actually using it, I try to just your focus on the BAR, this is what I do if my attention slips I just put it back on the bar, gently. And when I notice the bar go upwards I recognize the state I´m in and try to hold that state, if I slip I try again to "tune in", gently to that state,
I belive that best way to train is to repeteadly enter the prefered state and recognize/notice it to become familiar with it, because I think its only when your familiar with the desired state enough you will be able to hold it and switch in and out of it with general ease.
I also think that general effort is not right way of approaching NFB nor meditation, in my experience effort usually takes you out of a refined attentionspace and make your sessions degrade in quality and make them tedious and boring.
I can't help thinking that this advice is slightly incongruent.
One of the particulars of TAG protocols is the use of silent rewards, which naturally takes some effort to maintain states, which makes sense for most of them which are related to meditative states.
But with SMR training I just don't get it, and you yourself are saying that effort is not the right way of approaching NFB, but effort is coming into it with your advice of 'focus on the BAR, this is what I do if my attention slips, I just put it back on the bar' and '(I) try to hold that state'.
But with training SMR using a BT design with both visual and auditory feedback, there really is no effort or required attention. You just passively watch the screen and your brain reacts to the feedback......classic NFT. Surely this is preferable from a lack of effort perspective and takes the mind out of the equation.
It doesn't strike me with SMR training that we're trying to be able to increase our SMR on demand by recognising the state, rather we're uptraining the levels, to provide greater stability in our brain when reacting to situations.
An obvious example is SMR's ability to lessen seizures, that doesn't work by somebody recognising that they're about to have a seizure and then remembering the SMR state and attempting to get into it. It just happens that a higher level of SMR lessens seizures.
If anyone disagrees with this please tell me but I really don't get it, sure we might be able to increase SMR by relaxing or entering a certain state during training but what we want is more SMR naturally so we feel less stressed, react less to stressors and generally have more resilience and trying to maintain that state during the training strikes me as being counterproductive.
In fact I can imagine how watching video of war or violence, or personalised stressors, whilst uptraining SMR might be really beneficial........but probably after a period of more orthodox training first .
In short surely basic SMR training is more suited to BT designs and the like than TAG?
In short surely basic SMR training is more suited to BT designs and the like than TAG?
I don't see any reason to use TAG for SMR training. By definition, TAG is training synchrony between two or more different targeted bands of activity in order to promote Cross-Frequency Coupling (CFC). SMR is confined to up-training roughly 12-15 Hz at the sensorimotor strip from Cz to C4, a single band. There is no CFC in SMR training, and hence no need for TAG designs. TAG x1 appears to be for bipolar montages although from the documentation I've read it's unclear--in fact the ILF manual that DD includes with his TAG bundle is actually written for SMR training, which is confusing to say the least. Or that's how it was last time I checked the website.
Also SMR training can be entirely passive, requiring no effort to get oneself into any state of focus, attention, or frequency. It's one of the classic protocols that works by removing conscious effort from the process and providing a direct feedback loop between the computer and the brain (as opposed to the thinking mind).
On HRV, you don't need any special equipment. .1 Hz means one cycle every ten seconds. One cycle of what? In HRV, that means one breath cycle, 5 seconds in and 5 seconds out. If you do that, in about a minute or less your heart rate will oscillate in synchrony with your breathing, and the variability (slightly faster beating while inhaling, slower beating while exhaling) will increase. I've put in thousands of hours with the Wild Divine iOm equipment and a number of graphing algorithms, including Somatic Vision software, and essentially what I've found is that a consistent breathing pattern of equal time in and equal time out results in high coherence scores and high HRV. The only variable is the frequency itself. I've found that personally I do better on a 12-13 second cycle, but I can get consistently high coherence anywhere from 10 to 14 seconds. You don't need to spend hundreds of dollars on equipment to benefit from this, although it does have an educational quality to it if you have the money and nothing better to do with it.
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It'd be nice to n=1 everything and quantify all the pros and cons of each various protocol and method with rigid controls to see precisely what effects occur as a result of what, but hey, life is short, you know? I wouldn't do that myself and I wouldn't ask anyone else to. 
