Neurofeedback for Athletes
Neurofeedback for Athletes
To meet your needs, Neurozen® offers you tailor-made brain training programs. Our programs include NeurOptimal® brain training technology, as well as personalized progress monitoring adapted to the world of sport and the daily challenges of athletes.
Do you train your brain as diligently as you train your physique?
Although increasingly recognized and used, mental training remains the "poor relation" of athlete preparation. Mental preparation is rarely taken into account by clubs. On this point, if he has never trained his mind, an athlete therefore has a significant margin for improvement! The mental aspect is not always worked on, including during the rehabilitation and re-athleticization process following an injury. However, to accomplish sporting feats, mental strength is essential. For an athlete, it is essential to align body and mind and to be confident in being as strong mentally as physically. By training your brain to work with your physical abilities, you will be prepared to face the main mental blocks that all athletes face. These mental blocks all have a common root: STRESS
How to overcome these blockages?
The simple answer to this question is that you reduce stress, which in sports generally means, reduce pressure. To reduce your stress levels and become more emotionally resilient, you must tap into the power of your subconscious mind. A significant portion of our blockages and suffering comes from recurring thought patterns that sometimes remain buried in the subconscious mind. A person living in a constant negative energy state, lives in a constant state of stress. When we tap into the power of our subconscious mind (95%), our well-being begins to change. Calm can set in and energy levels can rise. Most world-class athletes understand that developing their mental skills is as important as working on their physical and technical skills. Successful athletes have high self-confidence, are able to block out distractions, manage their stress levels, are results-oriented and exhibit healthy perfectionism. When it comes to high performance, there is no doubt that being mentally strong puts any athlete at an advantage over their competitor. This mental strength can be harnessed and developed.
Various strategies are used to improve mental strength.
Mental strength consists of several skills: resilience, self-confidence, motivation, concentration, the ability to perform under pressure, but also the ability to manage physical and emotional pain.
Self-efficacy & positive self-talk
Self-efficacy is a balance between doubt and confidence in one's abilities to achieve a goal. This is why it is most certainly the cornerstone of any great performance. By engaging in a positive dialogue with themselves, athletes use self-talk to foster their self-confidence and chase away negative thoughts.
Creative Visualization
Visualizations help prepare the mind in order to increase performance. They can help to remove certain mental blocks. A few moments before starting, athletes visualize the scenario with the objective in the smallest details by appealing to all their senses.
Controlling emotions and pressure before the test
We know that thought is closely linked to emotions, so by controlling our thoughts, we control our emotions. Internal dialogue and visualizations are effective tools for managing emotions. Breathing techniques can help reduce an emotion or a level of excitement that is too high (diaphragmatic breathing) or on the contrary raise the energy level (Breath of Fire). Various relaxation methods are beneficial, some practice deep abdominal breathing, others meditation. Many of them use a lucky charm, a ritual, a habit that will ensure them calm, serenity and victory. Each athlete is different, some feel ready when they are "at full speed", others on the contrary need calm and isolation before the event. It is up to each person to know their technique(s) to achieve their "Flow".
How can Dynamical Neurofeedback® contribute to performance?
Training with Dynamical Neurofeedback® creates a positive synergy and thus releases the power of the mind, helping to evacuate anxiety and stress related to performance. Mental blockages once eliminated allow athletes to focus all their energy and attention towards a specific goal. Concentration skills are improved and thanks to developed resilience, obstacles are easier to overcome. This harmony creates a more open and positive state of mind in which confidence and self-control are increased, this increases inner strength tenfold and therefore makes one more efficient.
Dynamical Neurofeedback® gives your system feedback on its maladaptive patterns and your brain decides how to use this information to improve its overall functioning. To do this, the system trains the entire brain as a whole, it does not specifically target the sport or performance areas of the brain (because they do not exist!). This restoration of brain activity in its entirety allows it to function optimally without side effects. By communicating with the central nervous system at a rate of 256 times per second, NeurOptimal® allows the brain to "see" the areas where it is disorganized. The training provides the brain with a mirror that allows it to see the inappropriate patterns and refocuses the nervous system on the present moment. The informed brain can then self-correct thanks to its neuroplastic capacities and regain its homeodynamic fluidity. The result is greater stability and better functioning of the whole. NeurOptimal® Neurofeedback trains the brain to use present-moment information to decide what to do next, rather than outdated information that no longer serves the brain and wastes energy, preventing it from functioning optimally. This cutting-edge brain training technology works as a "sensing and monitoring" system for changes in cortical patterns. It mimics the communication of your central nervous system by "mirroring" brain activity that may be hindering optimal brain function.
This process allows the brain and central nervous system to reset itself by examining habitual patterns at a subconscious level and getting rid of those that no longer serve you. It helps the brain get out of these mental "ruts" by getting rid of its maladaptive patterns, making it more flexible and resilient.
Why NeurOptimal®?
There are a number of different neurofeedback systems on the market. After careful research of various systems, we have chosen Neuroptimal® Dynamic Neurofeedback for several reasons:
➢The primary reason is that it is effective and safe. Training does not push, inhibit, or add anything to the brain. It simply feeds information back to it in real time, minimizing side effects. It is the trained person's brain that self-corrects based on the information fed back to it millisecond by millisecond.
➢Another reason is that there is no external operator to the system who decides when to apply a protocol. With other systems, an operator uses protocols to train the brain. With NeurOptimal®, there are no protocols, but the training acts as a mirror allowing the brain to see how inefficient or inappropriate its functioning is, thus allowing it toself-correct naturally.
➢And finally, with several million hours of use across the world, it is a proven system that has proven its effectiveness
for almost 20 years.
The resultsts?
The changes seen after training are subtle but profound. Athletes who train their brains with NeurOptimal® report:
➢ A decrease in negative thoughts. The mirror effect of NeurOptimal® helps to become aware of your thought patterns and to distance yourself from your beliefs and behaviors, your actions. This awareness helps to induce change.
➢ A reduction in stage fright before the test. Stage fright is a form of anxiety that can have a positive aspect if it allows you to mobilize your energies to give the best of yourself at key moments. But too much anxiety becomes harmful when it paralyzes and prevents action.
➢ A decrease in the fear of losing, this fear reaction can also paralyze your performance. Your nervous system anticipates and constructs a situation that does not exist but is feared. Training your brain to see that there is no reason to anticipate a defeat (= no threat) will help you deactivate this reaction. The more you train your brain, the more it adapts and it becomes easier to defuse the fear reaction.
➢ Be more present in your head and body. NeurOptimal® brings you back to the present moment, it helps you stop ruminating on the past, on your mistakes or your failures and to stop anticipating the future. It helps you get out of this negative mental pattern and allows you to focus on what is important in the present moment.
➢ Live with intention. NeurOptimal® helps you break out of your unconscious automatisms and act intentionally. Working on being intentional about your actions in practice and your actions during your performances will feel much more natural and precise.
➢ Better relationships. Training with NeurOptimal® also helps strengthen team cohesion by harmonizing relationships with others and reducing tensions. Because when you feel good in your head, positivity can take hold.
Athletes who use theDynamic NeurofeedbackNeurOptimal®
Many athletes and some professional teams use this method of brain optimization: Cody James Stamann-MMA champion, Daniel "mini T" Williams- muaythai boxer, multiple world champion, Stéphane Toureau- Vice World Champion of apnea and Member of the French Team, Ludivine Lasnier- Triple world champion of kick-boxing, to name a few. For confidentiality reasons we cannot reveal the name of all but here are some testimonials...
Govert Viergever: Olympic Rameur
Olympic rower Govert Viergever, trained by Hannie Ruinnen, a practitioner in the Netherlands (Neuro insight) after only 8 weeks of use, he reported significant benefits.
He feels much calmer in his everyday life.
Is much less affected by stress. No longer suffers from anxiety before his performances and no longer stresses about the expected results, which allows him to approach the competition in a relaxed and focused state...
Annecy Seynod Squash Team
Video testimonial on the feedback from the Annecy Seynod Squash Team, trained by Aude Bottero, Neurofeedback practitioner at Tool It Yourself in Annecy.
Ms. Nur Syahidah: Gold Medalist at the 2015 Southeast Asian Paralympic Games in Singapore
"I had the opportunity to try a dynamic neurofeedback system to help me reboot my brain and mind.
When I was first introduced to NeurOptimal, I was a little skeptical about the idea – “how does it work?”, or “will it have any side effects on my brain?” But I decided to give it a try anyway.
Today is my 4th session, and I can already feel some effects on my body and mind. I feel calmer, more relaxed and I have a more productive day of practice. I fall asleep earlier and more deeply.
I'm looking forward to my next sessions and hope it will improve my performance on the pitch."
The San Francisco A's baseball team
The San Francisco A's baseball team has joined a programBrain training with Dynamic Neurofeedback to their routine, it's their "meditation station".
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