Neurofeedback for Athletes
Neurofeedback for Athletes
In order to meet your needs, Neurozen® offers 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 substantial margin of progress! The mental aspect is not always worked on, including during the process of rehabilitation and re-athletics following an injury. However, to achieve sporting feats, mental strength is essential. For an athlete, it is essential to align body and mind and to be confident that you are as strong mentally as physically. By training your brain to work with your physical skills you will be prepared for the major 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 level and become more emotionally resilient, you need to harness the power of your subconscious. A significant part of our blockages and our suffering come from recurring thought patterns that sometimes remain buried in the subconscious. A person living in a constant negative energy state lives in a state of continuous stress. When we harness the power of our subconscious (95%), our well-being begins to change. Calm can set in and energy levels can rise again. Most world-class athletes understand that developing their mental skills is as important as working on their physical and technical skills. Successful athletes have great self-confidence, are able to block out distractions, manage their stress levels, are results oriented and demonstrate 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.
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 internal dialogue
Self-efficacy is a balance between doubt and confidence in one's ability 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 the inner dialogue to foster their self-confidence and drive out negative thoughts.
Creative visualization
Visualizations prepare the mind for the purpose of increasing its performance. They can help break down some mental blockages. Moments before starting, the athletes visualize the scenario with the objective in great detail using all of their senses.
Control of emotions and pressure before the event
We know that thought is intimately linked to emotions, so by controlling our thoughts, we control our emotions. Inner dialogue and visualizations are effective tools for managing emotions. Breathing techniques can help to reduce an emotion or an excessively high level of excitement (diaphragmatic breathing) or on the contrary to raise the energy level (Breath of fire) Various methods of relaxation are beneficial, some practice deep abnormal breathing, other 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 “full”, others on the contrary need calm and isolation before the event. It is up to everyone to know his or her techniques to achieve their "Flow"
How can Dynamical Neurofeedback ™ contribute to performance?
Training with the Dynamical Neurofeedback® creates a positive synergy and thus unleashes the power of the mind, helps relieve anxiety and stress related to performance. Mental blockages once removed allow athletes to focus all of their energy and attention towards a specific goal. Concentration skills are improved and thanks to a 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 the inner strength tenfold and therefore makes you 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 sports or performance areas of the brain (because they do not exist!) This restoration of brain activity in its entirety allows its optimal functioning 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. Workouts provide the brain with a mirror that allows it to see inappropriate patterns and refocus the nervous system on the present moment. The informed brain can then self-correct thanks to its neuroplastic capacities and regain its homeodynamic fluidity. This results in greater stability and better operation of the assembly. NeurOptimal® Neurofeedback trains the brain to use the information of the present moment to decide what to do next, rather than obsolete information that is no longer useful and wastes its energy thus preventing it from functioning optimally. This cutting-edge brain training technology works as a system for "sensing and monitoring" changes in cortical patterns. It mimics the communication of your central nervous system by "mirroring" brain activity that may hinder optimal functioning of the brain.
This process thus allows the brain and central nervous system to reset itself by examining the usual patterns at the subconscious level and getting rid of those that no longer serve you. It thus helps the brain to get out of these mental "ruts" by shedding its unsuitable patterns, making it more flexible and more resilient.
Why NeurOptimal®?
There are a number of different neurofeedback systems on the market. After careful study of various systems, we opted for Neuroptimal® Dynamic Neurofeedback for several reasons:
➢The primary reason is that it is efficient and safe. Training does not push, inhibit, add nothing to the brain. It only sends information back to it in real time, thus minimizing side effects. It is the brain of the trained person that corrects itself based on the information that is returned to it millisecond after millisecond.
➢Another reason is that there is no operator external to the system who decides on the application of a protocol. With other systems, an operator uses protocols to train the brain. With NeurOptimal®, there are no protocols, but the training acts like a mirror allowing the brain to see how inefficient or inappropriate it is functioning, thus allowing it toself-correct naturally.
➢And finally, with several million hours of use around the world, it is a proven system that has proven to be effective
for almost 20 years.
The results ?
The changes observed as a result of the workouts are subtle but profound. Athletes training their brain with NeurOptimal® report:
➢ A decrease in negative thoughts. The mirror effect of NeurOptimal® helps to become aware of your thought patterns and to take a distance from your beliefs and your behaviors, your actions. This awareness helps induce change.
➢ A reduction in stage fright before the event. Stage fright is a form of anxiety that can have a positive side if it allows you to mobilize your energies to give your best at key times. But too much anxiety becomes harmful when it paralyzes and prevents action.
➢ Decreased fear of losing, this fear reaction can also cripple your performance. Your nervous system anticipates and constructs a situation which does not exist but which is dreaded. Training your brain to see that there is no reason to anticipate defeat (= no threat) will help you deactivate this reaction. The more you train your brain the more it adapts and the easier it becomes to defuse the fear response.
➢ Be more present in your head and body. NeurOptimal® brings you back to the present moment, it helps you stop ruminating on the past, your mistakes or your failures and stop anticipating the future. It helps you break out of this negative mind map and allows you to focus on what is important right now.
➢ Live with intention. NeurOptimal® helps you get out of your unconscious automatisms and act intentionally. Working on being intentional about your actions in practice and your actions during your performance 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 are well in your head, positivity can take place.
Athletes who use Dynamical Neurofeedback NeurOptimal®
Many athletes and some professional teams use this method of cerebral optimization: Cody James Stamann-MMA champion, Danial "mini T" Williams- muaythai boxer, multiple world champion, Stéphane Toureau- Vice World Freediving Champion and Member from L'Equipe de France, Ludivine Lasnier- Triple world kickboxing champion, to name a few. For reasons of confidentiality we cannot disclose everyone's name but here are some testimonials ...
Govert Viergever: Olympic Rower
Olympic rower Govert Viergever, was trained by Hannie Ruinnen, practitioner in the Netherlands (Neuro insight) after only 8 weeks of use, he has 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 on the expected results, which allows him to approach the competition in a relaxed and focused state ...
Squash Annecy Seynod 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 restart my brain and my mind.
When I was first introduced to NeurOptimal, I was a little skeptical about the idea - “how does it work?”, Or “will this have side effects on my brain? But I decided to try all the same.
Today is my 4th session, and I can already feel some effects on my body and my mind. I feel calmer, more relaxed, and have a more productive day of practice. I fall asleep earlier and deeper.
I look forward to my next sessions and hope it improves my performance on the pitch. "
San Francisco A's Baseball Team
The San Francisco A's baseball team has entered a programof brain training with Dynamic Neurofeedback to its routine, It is their "meditation station".
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