Summary
Amy Brown brings on her neurofeedback therapist Sherry Rowney, owner of Harmonize Brain Center and one of the most experienced LENS (Low Energy Neurofeedback System) therapists in the country. Sherry explains that LENS was developed on the principle that just as a defibrillator shocks an arrhythmic heart back into rhythm, gentle stimulation can prompt the brain to find its own new rhythm. Unlike traditional neurofeedback where the client actively watches a screen, LENS sessions are only 15 minutes long and completely passive, with the brain receiving a tiny radio wave signal at about 1.5 hertz, roughly 600 times less powerful than a cell phone. The episode covers the impact of COVID on brain function. Sherry describes how she performs brain maps on herself every two weeks and after getting COVID in November 2020, she found her entire brain had shifted into delta, the sleep wave. She initially thought her equipment was malfunctioning until seeing the same pattern in other patients. Amy shares that her own brain map revealed half her brain was essentially asleep, and the LENS treatments helped wake it back up. The conversation also touches on the importance of hydration for brain health, since the brain is approximately 80 percent water and dehydrates quickly during neurofeedback sessions. Sherry discusses how LENS neurofeedback affects brain chemistry, changing dopamine and serotonin levels through the chemical pathways while also shifting electrical activity patterns. Amy notes that she sleeps better on the nights following sessions. The episode weaves in themes of gratitude and positive thinking as complementary brain health practices, with Sherry emphasizing that looking for joy and practicing gratitude have measurable effects on brain function.
Key Points
- LENS (Low Energy Neurofeedback System) uses a tiny radio wave at 1.5 hertz, about 600 times weaker than a cell phone signal, to stimulate the brain to find its own healthy rhythm
- Unlike traditional neurofeedback, LENS sessions are completely passive and last only 15 minutes with zero effort required from the client
- COVID caused dramatic shifts in brain maps, pushing brainwave activity into delta sleep wave patterns and leaving many people with half their brain essentially asleep
- The brain is approximately 80 percent water and dehydrates quickly during neurofeedback sessions, which is why increased water intake is recommended after treatments
- LENS neurofeedback affects both brain chemistry through dopamine and serotonin pathways and electrical brainwave activity simultaneously
- Brain maps can show the effects of head injuries, prolonged illness, and chronic stress as areas of decreased activity or abnormal brainwave patterns
- Many clients report improved sleep quality on the nights following neurofeedback sessions as the brain recalibrates
- Gratitude practice and positive thinking have measurable effects on brain function and can complement neurofeedback treatment
Key Moments
LENS neurofeedback stimulates the brain to find its own rhythm without training
Sherry Rowney explains that low energy neurofeedback (LENS) was created based on the idea that if you can shock a heart back into rhythm, stimulating the brain might do the same. Unlike traditional neurofeedback, LENS does not train the brain but simply stimulates it so it finds its own new pathway. Sessions are only 15 minutes and require zero effort from the client.
"low energy neurofeedback, which is what Lens is, was created with the idea that if you have a heart that's out of rhythm and you go in and you shock it, it puts itself back into its own rhythm. So what would happen if we could stimulate the brain? Would it find that new rhythm all by itself. It'll find that new pathway all by itself. So I'm not training the brain. I'm just stimulating it and getting it to change back to something different."
COVID puts the brain into delta sleep waves even in asymptomatic cases
Sherry describes discovering a pattern where post-COVID patients showed brains stuck in delta waves, the sleep wave. After she herself had COVID in November 2020, her brain map showed everything had gone into delta. She initially thought her machine was broken but then started seeing the same pattern in more and more patients, including referrals from a cardiologist.
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Each one of them has a specific purpose, but they all work together. So information comes in through your eyes and your ears, but it actually starts in the back of your head, right towards the base of your spine, and it moves forward. In the perfect brain, perfect world, that information would be coming forward at the same speed, same direction, going through those 21 different places. You'd be making great decisions. Life would be peachy keen. When there's been trauma to the brain, and trauma can be one of two things. It can be physical trauma, where you've actually had a hit to the head, COVID, something like that, or it can be emotional trauma. There's no one that's escaped emotional trauma. We've all had it. What our brain records at the time that it happens is what it retains. So when small things that you look back on now, you're like, I don't know why that bothered me so much or why it was such a big deal. The brain recorded it that way. And if it doesn't get processed, it sits in there and the brain has to reroute around it so you don't have to think about it all the time. So when we go in and we start stimulating those brainwaves and getting them moved back into more efficient patterns, those stuck things will move out and they're no longer there. So the brain starts working more efficiently. So depression starts to go away. Anxiety starts to go away. Focus becomes better. A lot of times I hear sleeping definitely becomes better. Just everything feels easier to do. Well, and I know you've worked with different people in town where their job is literally to be creative and creativity. Yeah. All of a sudden, yeah, creativity. I've got an author right now who was supposed to get a book done by October and he said, Sherry, I've got three done by the end of November. That's huge. Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's amazing. Just unlocking different parts that are asleep or shut off for some reason. Or just not working as efficiently as they need to. As possible. So what age can kids start this? I've worked with children as young as four months. That was somebody that was. Four months? Yeah. They were having seizures. Oh, wow. And we actually were able to move beyond the seizures. So that was a good thing. But typically I've seen on an average, I'll see kids come in about four or five that are starting to have behavioral issues in preschool, or they might have hard time staying on task with things. And then all the way up. What about EMDR? Is that something different that's happening with the brain? Because I did that once in therapy and never went back because I didn't really vibe with the therapist. But we did do a session where we went deep into some time capsule in my brain, a childhood experience, and we went back in and she had me share with her what I was seeing, but we almost retold the story, I guess, to give my brain, like you were saying, a new memory. And then now I do picture it that way. When I think back on that memory, I picture that happening. And then when I really try to think about if that really happened or not, it's weird because I'm like, I don't know. I don't think that happened, but what if it really did happen and we just unlocked that? Or did we just recreate it like the goal was and recreated the different memory? It's wild to think about because I was a kid and it was honestly a traumatic moment for me as a kid. It was the day that my dad left and it was at the back door when he was leaving. I didn't know if we really hugged or not. I know I ran back to my room and got him a teddy bear and went and took it to him. I don't know that he had the words or knew what to say, but what we rewrote in my head was that he embraced me and told me I was safe and I was going to be okay, which I know he definitely didn't say that. He didn't have the language. So that part I know he didn't do, but like the hug feels so real that it happened. And maybe he did hug me. I can't imagine him not hugging me. I just had no memory of him hugging me. And she's like, well, your childhood self probably really needed your dad to hug you in that moment. And we need your brain to at least think that your dad hugged you in that moment. Right. And that's how you move beyond trauma in that moment. EMDR is really useful for a lot of people in a lot of different ways, but it's taking you back to a trauma and then you relive the trauma and then you recreate it. Just like you said, there are a lot of people that will come to see me that have either done EMDR or be in the middle of EMDR or brain spotting or any of the other ones, but they don't like going back to the memory. The memory scares them. Lens is not something where we go back to a memory. It doesn't really matter. When we release, when we're working on those brainwaves, sometimes memories will come up. Mostly with adults, it tends to be more feelings than it is memories. So it's typically anger, fear, or sadness. So what I tell people is if you all of a sudden, I see you on Tuesday and on Thursday, all of a sudden you just feel this incredible amount of anger come up out of nowhere and you look around you think why am i angry that's an old suppression that's lifting up and moving out i call it the emotional flu it doesn't feel good but once it's out it feels so good afterwards because it's clear it's not there anymore we've literally moved that out of the way that barricade is no longer in the brain anymore so a lot of times people that come in that are in talk therapy it makes their therapy so much better because now they can actually talk I've had numerous people that have said I've been in talk therapy for eight or ten years and we're just not getting anywhere and all of a sudden we do a few sessions with lens and the conversation can start because if you're really good at suppressing and you knew how to push it down really really hard then I can ask you till you're blue in the face tell me how you're Thank you. lens and the conversation can start because if you're really good at suppressing and you knew how to push it down really really hard then I can ask you till you're blue in the face tell me how you're feeling you can't tell me because you've pushed it down so far so when lens picks it up and moves it out of the way conversation can happen so whether you're continuing with talk therapy or doing EMDR or any of those other things this is going to enhance it it. Wow. Yeah. No, I mean, I think it's a great thing to do in addition to therapy. At least it has been for me. And it's wild to hear. But you don't always have to have therapy. I have people that just come in. Right. And that's all they do. And that's they're fine with it. Yeah. And I think that therapy too can be different seasons. And, you know, I'm about to do my 12th and I don't know, you might do my latest brain map and be like, okay, Amy, you're good for a little bit. That's right. But I may want to come back for some maintenance or I may have COVID. I may have hit my head somehow. I may- Or just be in a stressful situation. Exactly. And so I love that I could come back and we can sort of take that 15 minutes. That's. I know we were talking about positive thinking, but what about gratitude? Do you see that playing a role in how our brain responds to things? I do. And I tell people all the time or I recommend to them that they start a gratitude journal, just writing down five things every day that you're happy for. And sometimes it's really hard when you're really struggling with depression or anxiety. It's hard to come up with five things, but it can be as simple as I woke up today or I had clean sheets on the bed or whatever it was. If you write that and you're already putting your mind into the state of, I do have something to be grateful for. There is something positive in my life. And on the days when things are really struggling, you can go back and read them and realize, I do have a lot to be grateful for. So I highly encourage a gratitude journal. So some of the positive thinking, I don't know, sometimes can seem a little woo-woo to some people, but it's scientific."
LENS sends a 1.5 hertz radio wave that is 600 times less than a cell phone
Sherry explains that LENS therapy sends a radio wave at only 1.5 hertz, about 600 times less than a cell phone signal. Most people leave feeling very calm and sleep well that first night. It takes 24-48 hours for the brain to find its new pathway.
"All I'm doing is sending in a radio wave at one and a half hertz. That's about 600 times less than your cell phone. So you're not going to feel it."
