Brain Training of the Northwoods - Minocqua Wisconsin
comes to balance, harmony
Published 10/18/2010
Are all your synapses firing correctly? Is that grey matter in order? We’re talking about the brain, the most complex organ in the animal kingdom and especially in man.
Scientists have long investigated the workings of the brain and while progress has been made in recent decades, mysteries abound as to what’s exactly in our heads.
Among the more recent research in brain function is the concept known as “brain training,” which besides its rhyming appeal sums up the goal: the brain can be trained to be in “balance” or “harmony,” rather than remain a disjointed assembly of complex parts that fail to cooperate.
Take the cerebral cortex, for example, which is just one critical component of many in the human brain. It’s at the core of the cerebrum and plays key roles in such things as memory, attention, awareness, thought, language and consciousness. Now for some staggering numbers: the cerebral cortex of the human brain contains up to 33 billion neurons that are linked up to 10,000 synaptic connections each, with each cubic millimeter of cerebral cortex holding about one billion synapses.
And we’ve left out the pons, the medulla, the hypothalamus and a lot of other parts and lobes (regions of the brain) of the most complex biological structure known – all weighing about three pounds in the average human. But sheer size has little to do with intelligence. The sperm whale’s brain weighs 17 pounds and humans are smarter than whales – except if you’re Moby Dick maybe. On the other hand, a jelly fish doesn’t have a brain.
It’s all, as they say, mind boggling.
But while the brain is still a giant puzzle of billions of neurons, science and medicine are making strides in understanding how the brain works and finding new ways to make it “work better,” to put it in simplistic terms. Drugs, surgery, psychoanalysis and other treatments over the past century have been effective in improving brain health and function, while newer methods such as "brain training" are creating a buzz as well in scientific, medical and academic circles.
That’s where Brain Training of the Northwoods LLC comes in. An affiliate of Brain State Technology™, the Minocqua area-based company owned and operated by Dave and Diane Schlichting uses the specialized Brain State Technologies System for Brainwave Optimization with RTB™ (Real Time Balancing). That’s a fancy way of describing the technology used to see what’s going inside your head by hooking your scalp to a computer with sophisticated software and measuring brain waves on a TV monitor.
Brain activity, in short, is manifested in electromagnetic energy, measured through tiny detection devices known as Intellectrodes placed on the head. The computerized sensors are capable of picking up the tiny current of the brain in an entirely noninvasive matter and, according to system inventors, enable a look at brain energy in 3,000 times the detail that previously could be seen.
That’s just the first step in a process that Dave Schlichting describes in Part 1 of the video below. Clients who visit the Schlichtings' home, about five miles west of Minocqua, are taken to the basement, which looks nothing like a Frankenstein lab but simply a comfortable setting for relaxation and a bit of serious business. There are hundreds of books on the shelves amid a friendly spacious room that includes computers, monitors and a couple of comfortable reclining chairs like you would find in a dentist’s office.
If you’re there for a Brain Training “assessment,” which is made as part of an initial visit, you’ll go through the “brain mapping” process, which is totally painless and consists of having wires attached to your scalp for a few minutes to detect your brain patterns. These frequencies are played back on in a variety of colorful waveforms on the computer screen and then translated into sound frequencies which the client listens to. Ideally, all parts of the brain should be “in balance,” say the Schlictings, adding that the brain over time is able to “readjust” itself to a balanced and harmonious whole and functions as it should.
As they describe it, “The training sessions involve computer translation of brain waves into sounds that represent optimum patterns for YOUR brain. These sounds vary, allowing your brain a means of observing itself at optimum levels. You relax in a zero gravity chair and are led through detailed visualizations to assist your brain to find a more balanced state.”
What are the sort of problems that people have that cause them to seek Brain Training? "People come to us with everything from addictions, sleep disorders, depression, learning difficulties, anger management, anxiety, PTSD and more," says Dave Schlichting. (see second video below).
Lee Gerdes, author of “Limitless You: The Infinite Possibilities of a Balanced Brain” and founder and chief executive officer of Scottsdale, AZ-based Brain State Technologies, and his many affiliates around the world have been collecting enormous samples of brain wave data to improve brain training “protocols,” which he defines as “information fed back to the brain based on data collected by electrodes placed tactically on various areas of a person’s head.” He says Brain State Technologies now has about 140 offices in 18 countries.
According to the Schlichtings, Brainwave Optimization is similar to the sciences of biofeedback and neurofeedback, but goes beyond in observing the brain’s activity by seeking to “show the brain itself – be a mirror for the brain in its ever more optimized state.” Or, as Diane Schlichting describes it, “It’s like putting on lipstick, a process that’s better accomplished when using a mirror.”
Each person’s brain is different and each client at Brain Training of the Northwoods LLC receives a customized and individualized session to decide how many times they need to revisit to reach a goal of balance and harmony. The average number of sessions for a first-time client is 10 to 30 and usually involves a commitment of 20 to 60 hours over a period of one week to three months. Fees vary depending on the number of sessions, and are available at the company’s website www.braintrainingnw.com The telephone number is 715-356-1358.
The Schlichtings claim a high success rate in treating clients. “Between 80 percent and 90 percent of our clients report a significant improvement in one or more of the concerns that led them to seek out our modality,” they state in an information sheet.
Skeptics may question what is still a fairly new technology and emerging method of treating brain disorders. In fact, the Schlichtings, who have lived in the Northwoods for the past 12 years – he’s a Wisconsin native and she’s originally from Minnesota -- and run Brain Training for the past two, were in that skeptical category themselves. But when their daughter suffered through a serious trauma some years ago, as they related, they got her into the Brain Training regimen and she showed much improvement.
The Schlichtings say they have a current client list of about 100 people, many of whom have testified to the successes of treatment, some of which are displayed on their website.
The feedback includes that of Newsofthenorth.net Inc. co-founder Ruth Sproull, who was asked to comment on her experience with Brain Training of the Northwoods LLC. She replied: “I found the service to be fairly miraculous. While they weren't able to help me to sleep better, the training did help to calm my mind to the point where I was able to think straighter and clearer. I was able to deal with stressful situations in my life with more calm and make better decisions as a result. The Schlichtings went above and beyond to try work with me to resolve my issues.”