“Working with NeurOptimal® is really easy and fun, requiring no effort from you at all.”

NeurOptimal Trainer

What Happens in a Session?

No diagnosis and evaluation of specific symptoms is necessary for NeurOptimal® to work effectively. The only thing you need to do is hook yourself or a family member to the NeurOptimal® unit – and train away!

You will sit in a comfortable chair and simply relax. Two tiny sensors are applied to your scalp and three earclips to your ears. These sensors allow NeurOptimal® to read the delicate electrical activity of your brain, which is called the electroencephalogram or EEG, and is much like an ECG reads your heart. You then listen to music. You can also watch an ever-changing visual display on the computer monitor, or you can transfer this visual signal to your own TV, although this is not really necessary for NeurOptimal® to wield its magic: you can also just close your eyes and tune out if you prefer. Or you or your children might like to play a quiet game or read a book. There are very brief pauses in the music (like ‘scratches’ on an old vinyl record) indicating NeurOptimal® is at work, invisibly guiding you through a complex mathematical dance during which the challenge to your brain is automatically varied.

Despite the complexity “under the hood”, no effort from your part is required during sessions at all! You can simply relax and enjoy the 33 and a half minute session while your brain re-organizes itself.

How Many Sessions?

Because everyone’s central nervous system (CVS) is different, it is not possible to predict exactly how your brain will respond to the information NeurOptimal® provides. But because over three million hours of experience with NeurOptimal® have been collected, some general predictions can be made. The good thing is you do not have to take it on faith and trust that it will help you — you will know pretty quickly once your brain is working more optimally. And you can use a progress tracking tools to help you document and track progress of your training. Just as in how long it takes to learn to read, it is a process and everyone learns at a different speed.

How many sessions will it take to “complete” your training? This depends partly upon your goals and motivation. If your goal is to train to feel better quickly, you might decide after 10-12 sessions that you have made enough gains and stop. On the other hand, if you are looking for more lasting changes, 20-30 sessions is a better ballpark figure. But you can stop at any time and always pick it up again later if you wish. Any training done in the past will always serve you well, should you wish to do more sessions in the future — no session is ever wasted. For some however, training their brain is like training the muscles of their body. They want to function at their best throughout their lifetime, so they like to reach and maintain that best even when life presents its inevitable day to day issues, knocks and bruises. After a period of initial training they continue with maybe weekly or monthly sessions to give their brain a regular opportunity to work out. Or, like many of us, they just do a session when they feel they need it. But in the end, it is always up to you, because it is YOUR brain that is doing the training and it knows what it needs.

There also is an in-depth NeurOptimal® Survey where you can explore, how many sessions it takes to get what percentage of improvement (among other things) , for a wide variety of complaints people present with. There you can see statistically the amount of improvement you can expect over time, helping you to make an informed decision about the number of sessions you might require to attain your specific goal.

NeurOptimal® is a learning task. It is a bit like learning to ride a bike or learning how to read: Once you know, you can’t “not know” anymore, so the effects do remain with you. But your brain is also living tissue, and it can get changed by challenges, by hormonal influences, pollutants in the environment and the stresses of our everyday lives. When this happens, a session or two can help you get back on track, working at your optimal efficiency.

Even if you come back many years later, the brain recognizes the NeurOptimal® process and is thus reminded of the earlier shifts. It can find its way back relatively rapidly -– much more quickly than the first time you did the training. So if you did a fairly complete initial training (say 20-30 sessions), and then have a major challenge like an illness, the loss of a job or a relationship, or even a head injury or anesthetic, your brain can quickly and efficiently use the information it receives from NeurOptimal® to reorganize itself and “find its way back”.

Is NeurOptimal® a therapy?

NeurOptimal® is not a therapy – it is a training of your brain. This means that there are no side-effects associated with it, nor are there any contraindication to its use.