Sunday, January 27, 2008
The Power of Attention
This is the first post on the Open Focus blog. It was created to begin a discussion about some of the ideas raised in our book, The Open Focus Brain: Harnessing the Power of Attention to Heal Mind and Body, published by an imprint of Shambhala Press. The premise is that we all hold on to emotional stress that we have carried with us since infancy and childhood. Because this stress -- which moves through our body as well as our mind -- is painful, we shut it down reflexively to keep from feeling it. To keep our stress from surfacing we stay in a type of attention called narrow objective. This fear lives on in our stomach, our chest, our heart and other organs and muscles and causes a host of problems, including anxiety, depression, chronic pain, ADD, ADHD and many other things. It also contributes to an overall phsyical and emotional numbness.
Stress and fear is held in place by the narrow focus objective style of attention. We can release this held fear, and reverse negative physiological and psychological symptoms, by moving into a less rigid, more flexible styles of attention. Taken far enough we can even move into transcendent states.
The book includes a CD with exercises that very quickly move us out of narrow objective focus, and into other forms of attention. In the clinic the Open Focus exercises are used with neurofeedback which makes them even more powerful.
We believe that used along with other tools, attention training has the power to transform modern psychology and psychotherapy, and will allow people to gain control over their nervous system. We want to encourage discussion here.
-- Jim Robbins
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96 comments:
So glad you have a blog! After two weeks and much research to see how credible all of this stuff is - I'm astounded by how good I feel!
Calm, while full of energy and I can barely feel the pain in my normally aching neck (herniated disk). I'm learning to 'let go' of thoughts that were leading me to be more miserable than I've ever been in my life and I'm not as afraid to talk to people who would normally cause me to stutter and say inappropriate things as a result of anxiety.
I've been reading about this technique since I discovered Dr. Fehmi listed as a provider in my health care plan (Aetna) while on the hunt for an ADD coach. I first heard about this technique through Thom Hartmann - thomhartmann.com - Thom's wife, Louise, is an ADD coach and their accomplishments are an amazing example of the power of well channelled attention.
I began therapy with Dr. Fehmi only two weeks ago after a very difficult number of months resulting from a failed relationship with a writer who I met while volunteering almost three years ago. I continue to miss him and our once frequent communications very much. I believe he'd benefit from this therapy and those thoughts keep creeping into my awareness and I am learning to just let them drift through. I learned today to shrink him down to one small part of my Open Focus attention. I realized that he was a kind of ADD coach. A couple of weeks ago, I looked around at everything I was neglecting around my house by focusing so much on missing him and decided that I needed a professional coach.
Two weeks, much practice with tapes and two sessions with neurofeedback have me feeling the blood circulating in parts of my brain that have needed it for a very long time. Today, I learned that the the light and sound feedback that was almost constant during my 2nd session is learned at the conscious and unconscious level.
I feel so great that I have almost too much energy right now, so I think I'll phase out the adderall this week and see how that works.
I'll look forward to sharing this incredible experience I'm enjoying with you all on this blog.
Jim - Thanks to you for bringing the light of credibility to this technique and to Les for his wisdom. I'm so fortunate that I found him.
Here's a link to a good exercise that is an adaptation of Dr. Fehmi's Open Focus technique:
http://www.coach-companion.com/
It's so much fun experimenting with this shiny new brain :)
I handled a stressful day today without a sweat (literally!) and several people noticed my face has relaxed. I feel more approachable and am more articulate.
Oops! this link gets you right there:
http://blog.coach-companion.com/creativity/
About time this happened. Now let's get Dr. Fehmi to set up an affiliate program so his fans can help him market his materials. I discovered the Open Focus materials in MegaBrain by Michael Hutchinson, written in the mid-'90's, I believe and I have been using them with clients ever since. I think they fit very well with HeartMath. Michael Logan, MS
While I am not against withdrawing from medication in principle, I would recommend that you share your intention with the prescribing physician and ask for his reactions and guidance about how to withdraw.
For the Dr. If you had only two monopolar channels of eeg to work with, what 10/20 sites would you apply electrodes at? A setup like this is obviously not optimal given your preference for the 5 channel design but I am hoping to do "something like" alpha synchrony training with the equipment I have available.
Thank you.
Hi Blog, "Open focus Brain", this is very good work. I like how time and though are senses. It takes them out of the catagory of needing to do something to them. It gives them greater clarity to just be sensed as we sense the rest of our being. Thanks Will
Dear Bill,
You can sum the activity of two monopolar (referential) channels, referenced to the same side (hemisphere) earlobes. Then alternately train for sums and differences of homologous sites on the two hemispheres (e.g., C1+C2 alternating with C1-C2). Start near midline and work outward. This trains for synchrony, and alternately, for asynchrony.
I hope this helps.
I am in love with Open Focus. When I 'stumbled' (yeah, right) upon it, I realized that I had been in narrow focus (fight or flight mode) my whole life. It not only opened up a new way of being in the world, I also tout it(although the creators do not) as the most effective tool for spiritual awakening I have ever found.
Dr. Les Fehmi and his wife, Susan are wonderful people, truly committed to the well being of all people.
Open Focus not only opened the door to a life of peace and allowing for me, but for my clients as well. After becoming a certified trainer in April, I have give probably thirty sessions to various people and every single one has had a profound experience.
I think Open Focus is the most fabulous tool for creating inner peace that is on the market today. And all it requires is your senses! How easy is that?
Thank you, Dr. Fehmi for your dedication to your dream and contribution to making my life (and the lives of many)infinitely more wonderful.
I bought Dr. Fehmi's book about 3 weeks ago after seeing a positive review on Ed Hallowell's ADD website (I am an adult recently diagnosed with adult ADD; I've also battled depression and anxiety for several years).
I've just been amazed at the changes I've experienced through doing the exercises on the CD -- and they occurred almost immediately. Just amazed. Much more calm, things that used to bother me greatly are now in the background, it's helped family relationships and my work. I'm just amazed.
I do have a couple of questions --
For Jim Robbins -- I see that your book "A Symphony in the Brain" is coming out this fall in paperback. Will there be any new material? I'm reading it now and it's great.
For Les Fehmi -- Would the Open Focus Workbook you publish be of any help to me if I'm just doing the exercises from the CD?
I am very grateful for your work. My only regret is that I didn't discover it sooner!
Thanks for the kind words. It is posts such as yours, that will induce others to try Open Focus: to read the book and listen to the CD that comes with the book, and listen to the other 16 CDs and care enough to tell others about beneficial effects. And it is my observation that it is very effective.
Les Fehmi
I've just received my copy of your book and am looking forward to reading it and listening to the sample CD.
Question: Since the sample CD contains some of the material in Level 1, is it necessary for me to purchase Level 1, or can I just purchase Level 2 and 3 when I am ready?
Can you please provide more information about the Open Focus Handbook?
My suggestion would be that you consider purchasing the following CDs to complete Level #1: Long Form, Short Form and Dissolving Physical and Emotional Pain.
Completing all six exercises in Level One is critical toward the mastery of the Open Focus method of paying attention and dissolving physical and emotional pain.
The Open Focus Handbook, published in 1982, is an experiential journey into Open Focus. It focuses on attention training. It targets attention management and the transfer of attention skills to everyday life. The Handbook is a user's guide which is meant for someone actively practicing the Open Focus training method. It also describes the application as well as clarifies common misunderstood aspects of Open Focus training.
For Dr. Fehmi,
I just finished the "Open Focus Brain" and have done the 2 exercises on the CD in one session,
which took about 55 minutes.
Should both of these exercises be done twice a day as the tape suggests?
I recently began simple exercises with Open Focus
as recommended by my OT person who specializes in Neuromuscular Retraining. I haven't felt this relaxed in years and years. My entire body feels different. I often fall asleep right now. I haven't had normal sleep patterns since I was around 5. It is impossible to describe this experience. I feel soft and solid and as if my interrelated parts are merging. Right now, the effect is physical, emotional and Psychic. I often laugh during exercises but it isn't my regular laugh. It is like some kind of deep, slow chuckle. I am communicating more effectively with my spouse. I am letting go of tensional distractions and I am better able to listen without reacting. I am so happy to have this learning. Right now, it feels like a refuge to me, though when I emerge, I am thoroughly content to be fully present. I feel like I am reclaiming my own loving disposition. I will keep gong with this. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Dear Otter7,
We deeply appreciate you sharing the results of your Open Focus practice.
Dear Arthur,
Each exercise is considered one practice. The two exercises you did satisfy the home practice requirement. Thank you for your interest in Open Focus.
For Dr. Fehmi,
I am using the program for a general anxiety problem and have been doing both exercises on the cd once a day. I can feel some benefit after 5 days but I am wondering if there are shorter versions of the exercises as it is difficult for me to find an hour a day to do the exercises.
It seemed like a lot of time for me too when I first started Open Focus. I was doing it 3 times day! You know, it's like learning a new language, a language of peace. It is so rare we allow ourselves to really give to us in this way and to make our well being a priority. After doing OF for months now, I wouldn't trade the time for anything. Believe me, it is worth the extra hour a day. You are worth it!
I have been at this for more than 5 months and, Arthur, I strongly recommend 2 times a day (3 if you can). You should order some of the CDs and progress through the series. There are a couple of CDs that are only 20-25 minutes. It is a lot of time, but what I've learned is that the time you will spend after doing the exercises will be more productive as a result of the ability that the practice gives you to diffuse the anxiety and other impediments to leading a more relaxed, immersed, creative and productive life.
Good luck!
Here is a website where I have documented some of the progress I've made with the guitar as I during 5 1/2 months of neurofeedback therapy at Dr. Fehmi's Open Focus Clinic: http://www.youtube.com/learningarcade - sound quality is not great - but, the lyrics to the 4 songs I've written since beginning therapy, combined with my calmer demeanor were an interesting way to articulate the changes as they happened and document the impact that they had on my ability to relax and play the guitar. Keep in mind that I'm a beginner who could also benefit from better equipment to record and edit with. I just upgraded my guitar though and I believe I might be done writing songs about the person who triggered the depression I've been finding my way out of.
"This Crazy Old Woman" is a song I kept adding to in the first weeks of therapy and as the song lengthened and changed, I had 5 different versions of it. You can read the lyrics by clicking on "more info" to the right of the video since it's hard to hear what I sing in most of the videos.
Thanks for the input. I have also been doing meditation exercises for 20 minutes a day which I started before I began the open focus exercises. Finding the time to do all of them is easy on the week-end but harder when I'm working during the week. I will check out the other tapes as you suggested and keep plugging away.
I find that my 2 daily practices are a form meditating now that I have mastered the technique. I am learning to practice without the CDs now. Basically, I let go and allow myself to merge with the space around me - allowing it to diffuse through me. I imagine , literally, 'going with the flow' as one swirl of self and space floating in a vast timeless universe of similar swirls.
If you are already capable of meditation, you might progress with the exercises more quickly than I did and be able to combine the two meditative practices together in a way that will save time.
My ADD/HD was so intense when this therapy began that I could never imagine myself sitting still long enough to get through any kind of meditation. Now, I no longer need the Open Focus audios as much to get into the alpha state which allows me to meditate with a depth that is so relaxing and pleasurable I am happy to make time for it each day. When I can remember I still take a miniscule amount of adderall, which seems to enhance my ability to stay focused.
This past week, I began to experiment with getting in and out of alpha with no cds. It's an interesting challenge trying to turn the alpha off now that I've gotten so good at turning it on.
For Arthur,
There are a few exercises which are less than 30 minutes each. Short form, Heart Centered Open Focus, Independent Practice, Racquet Sports, How am I Now Paying Attention, Joint Space, Dissolving Physical and Emotional Pain, only one is below 20 minutes (Heart Centered Open Focus). Hope this helps.
We have been working with these programs for many years. It is a problem for everyone to find the time. However, I urge you to give it a high priority. I do not think you will be disappointed.
Our best to you.
Attention and Noise: this summer for the first time I can remember, the floors and walls of my apartment building have been vibrating at a low frequency, I'm guessing about 10 Hz. This is called "infrasound" and although it is barely audible by ear, the tactile vibrations of infrasound have documented adverse effects on health: google link See the NIH report at the top of the page, among many others.
Personally what I'm feeling with this is a sense of stress and unease, like there is "no escaping" this pervasive shaking. I wish I could move to a better place but I'm stuck here at the moment. The vibration is apparently coming from a neighbor's new or faulty heat pump.
I've been doing Open Focus and it helps, just wondering if you have any other suggestions relating to noise sources or other adverse stimuli.
Dear William,
The "infrasound" vibrations sound stressful. I have two suggestions:
First, if you can feel even subtle tactile vibrations, use that vibratory feeling as the "pain" in the Open Focus Dissolving Pain technique. If you do not have that exercise, you can purchase it on www.openfocus.com. Either or both of the Dissolving Pain CD's will work if you can locate the vibratory feeling in your body.
Second, use Open Focus within the auditory sense, using silence as space. We do have an Open Focus CD called "Listening in Open Focus", but you could practice this without the CD, adding the sense of silence and sound to the sense of feeling space and object.
Susan Shor Fehmi
I'm so excited--I have finally started using the open focus tapes, which I purchased 5 years ago, and LOVE them!
I have 2 questions for Dr. Fehmi (or anyone else!):
1) Is it better to use headphones or does it work equally if I just play the tapes on my regular stereo?
2) Today is day 4 of using the long form and I'm finding that it is harder not to "fall asleep" (or go into some kind of hypnotic state) with each use. Even sitting up w/my eyes open. Does this pass, or am I doing something incorrectly?
Thank you so much,
Joyce
Dear Joyce,
I'm glad you have started to practice with the Open Focus excercises and that you love them. The best way to go through them is in order, practicing each exercise two to three times a day for a week before moving on to the next exercise.
To answer both your questions: First, it does not matter whether you use headphones or play it on your regular stereo; second, you are correct in guessing that sleepiness is a common beginning reaction which should pass in time as your stress levels reduce and you do not rebound so much.
Keep practicing and do not attach to a particular feeling when you practice. Sometimes you may feel sleepy, at other times you may feel refreshed, and at other times you may feel how stressed you are. Gentle persistence is the way to go.
Susan Shor Fehmi
Thanks for your response, Susan. I've done the long form tape 2 more times since my last message and each time I could barely stay awake through it--so something is happening....
Could you explain the word "rebound" as you used it in your response, if it's not too much trouble?
I have lived with disabling chronic pain for years, and I'm definitely noticing a change in my muscle tension and overall achiness. This is after less than a week, so I am encouraged.
And everyone else, please keep your stories coming--it's great to read them.
--Joyce
Dear Joyce,
By rebound I mean this: When we are very stressed and stuck in a rigid attentional style, we tend to operate between two gears, one of overarousal and one of underarousal(the rebound state).
For many of us who are stressed, we run like an energizer bunny only to collapse into exhaustion when we stop. The opposite happens with Open Focus training when we reduce our stress levels and enocurage attentional flexibilty. We can spend more time in a medium level of arousal, where we are relaxed and alert.
Susan Shor Fehmi
Les/Susan,
I have been doing your program every day for 6 months and am astonished with the results. When I do the exercises twice daily (as opposed to once) I am able to maintain a distinct pleasurable feeling throughout my entire body that I have never experienced before! It lasts all day and night. Such a blessing.
Your book does not mention this "side effect"... What exactly is happening and why?
Thanks again for such a life-changing contribution. It's hard to believe that passively listening to a tape can make such a difference.
P.S.
Why do you advise against doing the exercises laying down?
Dear Vicki,
This is in response to both your posts. We are very pleased that you are doing so well with Open Focus.
You mentioned that practicing twice a day with the Open Focus CDs allowed you to feel "a distinct pleasurable feeling throughout my entire body" that lasts all day and all night. Can you imagine what three times a day would do for you? I know that on the CDs it says to practice twice a day, which as you note works very well, but we often recommend to our clients that they up the frequency to three times a day. This accelerates their progress.
You asked about the "side effects" of Open Focus. I presume you are referring to a statement in "The Open-Focus Brain" that states that relaxation is a side effect of Open Focus practice. We say this because the goal of Open Focus attention is to normalize physiology through an attentional state that corresponds with brain waves associated with an alert and balanced state. Often, relaxation is a side effect, but it is not uncommon for a Open Focus practice to put us in touch with how stressed we are.
We adivse against lying because we don't want you to risk falling asleep. The Open Focus CDs are designed to help you maintain medium levels of nervous system arousal and help to encourage the production of brain waves that are present when we are relaxed. By lying down you could be encouraging sleep, which could encourage the lowering of arousal levels to sleep levels, and you could be encouraging the production of brain waves associated with sleep.
I hope this is helpful. Heep practicing.
Susan Shor Fehmi
Thanks, Susan. I'll give three times a day a shot.
My question regarding side effects has to do with this distinct pleasurable feeling I've been able to maintain. It feels like it's in every cell of my body and I'm dying to know what is causing it (physiologically) and why. -Could you please elaborate?
Thanks,
Vicki
Dear Vicki,
In response to your last question: When you practice Open Focus attention you are encouraging the production of brain waves that reflect a normalized and balanced central nervous system. When we are normalized and balanced, we reduce fight or flight, emergency mode, functioning and encourage the appropriate parasympathetic activity, sometimes called the relaxation response. When the parasympathetic response occurs, muscles relax, blood flow returns to the peripheral vascular system, heart and pulse rate normalize, and adrenealin and cortesol and other stress hormones reduce. That is why your body feels so pleasurable.
Susan Shor Fehmi
Wow! That's a huge incentive to keep up with the Open Focus CD's! I literally feel like I have taken some mild euphoric drug... To say the least I feel very fortunate to have stumbled across your work.
I hope you both receive the recognition you deserve for creating such a user-friendly, highly effective program. It has effected me more than anything else I have ever done (and that's quite a lot)!
I have always found traditional meditation to be a stress-increasing process for me, as all I notice is how noisy my brain is. Open Focus, in only one week, has already been an entirely different experience! I don't yet have that all-day feeling that Vicki describes, but I now believe I'll get there. I'm able to let the mind noise just be there, without feeling like I'm failing. I feel like I'm in a hypnotic state most of the time while I'm listening, but I figure some part of my brain is absorbing the instruction. THe stated permission to just BE is very soothing,
It's making me realize how unfamiliar I am with true feelings of relaxation. I'm excited about changing that... I used the tapes 3times yesterday, and I noticed a difference as well.
I agree about not lying down--there'sno way I'd stay awake if I did that!!
Thanks again.
--Joyce
I would like to see the Dr. comment on the following information. I have had the first level of open focus tapes for years. I used them so often that the tapes actually broke! I would use them for a period of time and give up in frustration.
I recently had a friend who provides neurofeedback do some testing at 0Z,P4,P3,T3,T4,C3,C4,FZ,F4,F. 15-23 hz beta was the largest frequency range at all spots at a percentage of 2-38 hz.
I am really curious what strategy might be best to try and do help open focus work, where high levels of beta are so dominant and access to neurofeedback on a regular basis is not workable.
Thank you for answering questions.
I am so excited to see so many people have the same results I have had from Dr. Fehmi's work.
After reading your posts, I am inspired to go back up to 3 times a day for myself and see what happens.
What is really exciting is that it has worked consistently on everyone I have used it with in my private practice. (Open Focus was so effective for me, I went to train with Dr. Fehmi in April.)
I had a client today that had an experience of deep inner peace. He has suffered PTSD, physical pain and anixety since Vietnam. Today, thanks to Open Focus, he got to experience something far more vast than his distress.
I am so grateful that there are no machines needed so that this experience can be accessible to anyone who has any 'senses'!
I can't tell you how grateful I am to Dr. Fehmi and Susan for bringing such a remarkably simple, but profound gift to the world. I am delighted to be able to use it for my benefit and the benefit of so many others.
Dear Joyce,
Thanks for your last comments. I am glad Open Focus training is working so well for you. As I've written to others, don't get attached to any particular feeling experience when doing the practices. Sometimes our best practices bring with them the recognition of how stressed we feel. Open Focus attention is not designed to produce a hypnotic state, but if you have the feeling of a trance just let it be. As you pointed out, let all the feelings that surface just be there, neither encouraging or discouraging them.
Regards,
Susan
Dear Bill,
I'm glad to hear that you have been listening to Level I Open Focus tapes for years. Apparantly it has benefitted you in some ways. I'm sorry to hear that the tapes eventually broke. As you know, we now use CD's to record the Open Focus exercises. If you call our office at 609-924-0782 I will be happy to replace your Level I tapes with Level I CDs for just shipping and handling costs.
With regard to 15-23 Hz beta, continuing 2 to 3 times a day practice of the Open Focus exercises should help over the long term. Of course, if you gain access to a neurofeedback device you can practice alpha training as well.
Regards,
Les Fehmi
Les/Susan,
After months of practice, I recently began to notice that I frequently clench my teeth, and especially while listening to the OF CD's I can feel tension in my jaw area. I'm surprised it took so long to notice this.
Should continued practice dissolve this newfound tension I have become aware of as well as eliminate the tendency to clench my teeth in the first place?
Is this the way Open Focus works; over time we become aware of additional levels of stress that we have been unconsciously carrying around in our bodies and then it gets worked through to be replaced by the next level of stress/tension?
Thanks,
Vicki
Hi Vicki,
I'm glad you have continued to practice.
Your assessment of your newly discovered symptoms of teeth clenching and jaw tensing is accurate. To use your words, "over time we become aware of additional levels of stress." We seem to uncover the most obvious tensions first, work our way through them, and then uncover other stresses. That progression may continue for a while.
I remember a similar situation myself. I had been practicing Open Focus for several months, working successfully to dissolve my anxiety, when one day I discovered that I spent many hours of the day with my tongue pressed against the roof of my mouth, leaving my own jaw tense. That discovery became the "pain" that I learned to dissolve until I stopped doing it. But I had the same reaction you did, amazed that I hadn't noticed such an obvious physical event.
Warm regards,
Susan
Les/Susan
- Can you tell me if there are any similarities/differences between the Open Focus excercises and mindfulness meditation practice (e.g., Jon Kabat Zinn's MBSR) with respect to the physiological underpinnings of the practices. For example, are there distinct brain wave states that emerge from these two different practices, or are they two different modes of achieving the same physiological effects?
-Also, I had been practicing the open focus exercises for about 1 month and started struggling with the fact that my body (particularly my neck region) would jerk quite intensely as I started deepening into the exercise. Is this a common side effect and does it pass over time? Thanks for your feedback.
Dear Dave,
As you know, Open Focus training is an attention training method that teaches attentional flexiblity. Attentional flexibility is a requisite when practicing meditation techniques. To that extent, an Open Focus attention underpins the successful practice of all meditations, including minfulness meditations. Often we have long term meditators report that they can practice their own meditation techniques better after having learned Open Focus.
There are many physiological changes that are present during a well-executed Open Focus practice: Brain waves move toward more calming frequencies (alpha) and they become more synchronous; fight or flight reactions abate, reducing muscle tension, blood flow distortions, and adrenalin and cortosol production, etc.
As you suggest, it is not uncommon for bodies to jerk as one becomes more Open Focus. We call these "release phenomenon" and they should pass in time. Many people experience these jerks as they fall off to sleep.
I hope this is helpful.
Susan Shor Fehmi
I am curious about a process that Dr. Femhi described on the podcast available on the openfocus site. During the interview Dr. Femhi referred to using openfocus in combination with imagining an unpleasent experiance. I think he described being in the presence of an unpleasent person during the podcast.
I am curious if you have applied the process described to phobic responses. The process described sounds a lot like sysematic desenzitization via imaginational exposure.
Dr. Femhi also described a particular C.D. used, but did not identify the particular C.D. Can you tell me which C.D. that is.
Thank you.
I read the book with interest. I am a Doctor of Oriental Medicine. I have practiced Qi Gong for years.I am looking for ways to help patients deal with stress.
The similarities to Qi Gong are striking. Vicki, the all day good feeling is what the teachers say is a sign that the qi gong has been good that day.
Susan/Les
Some of my clients find the phrase "can you imagine" irritating. They feel condescended to. And interestingly, once they feel that way, explaining to them that, as I surmise ( correctly?) that the intent is to mitigate any directive which would produce an attachment to correct answer, or particularly "set" cognitive response which then on repetition could become "worn out", or mental effort ( narrow attention) which creates a beta wave- that for all those reasons, the language is meant to sidestep these pitfalls on the brain's way to alpha rhythm- nothing I can say can get them not to be angry and turn off to the experience. And they seem to be the ones who need it most.Qi Gong doesn't worry about that: It just says, ok imagine this, or feel that, visualize this. The similarity is that both techniques concentrates focus on something while simultaneously encouraging the awareness of SPACE; in the case of Qi Gong, it is the movement of the arms for example, while being aware of the SPACE inside the body, or the SPACE around the arms, or indeed the SPACE of the universe as the person does his movement. So here the field of inquiry for the mind to place attention on is somatic, proprioreceptive ( the position of the body as understood by the nervous system), and kinesthetic ( during movement.)
Les/Susan, have you investigated this, and are there differences in result between Qi Gong and Open Focus/ neurofeedback?
Ben
Dear Bill,
Regarding the podcast you heard on www.openfocus.com, Dr. Fehmi describes an Open Focus training technique called "Dissolving Pain." The particular CD's that utilize this method are called "Dissolving Pain and other Experiences" and "Dissolving Physical and Emotional Pain." Both of these CD's can be ordered through www.openfocus.com. Generally, we ask people to do the more preliminary exercises in the Open Focus CD set before doing the Dissolving Pain exercises, so you might consider purchasing the exercises that precede it. Or you might consider purchasing Dr. Fehmi's book, "The Open-Focus Brain" which contains an Open Focus CD.
Since systematic desensitization teaches people to relax in the presence of gradual exposures to increasingly noxious versions of the phobic stimulus, one can very successfully use Open Focus techniques in this process.
I hope this is helpful.
Regards,
Susan Shor Fehmi
Dear Ben,
You are correct in your surmising that the phrase "can you imagine" is intended to soften the Open Focus request, to encourage effortlessness and promote the production of alpha brain waves. Do your clients say why that phrase sounds condescending? We have never heard that reaction before, so we would be interested in knowing.
Because Open Focus training is designed to train attentional flexibility, which is a condition necessary for the skilled practice of many other tecniques and meditations, it is common for people to report that it is very similar to another practice. Many people report that Open Focus training helps them to better practice these other techniques.
We have not investigated the relationship between Open Focus/neurofeedback training and Qi Gong. It might be something you would be interested in doing yourself.
Thanks for your comments.
Regards,
Susan Shor Fehmi
I just started listening to the Level 1 tapes and already they have had a "mind blowing and mind balancing" effects on me.
For Instance...
I have always know this at a theory level but now I know it at a cellular level ........that if there was no gravity I would be floating. I do not weigh 133.5 gravity does I weigh nothing, nothing, nothing. LOL
ps...my new thinking is having a profound effect on my dh and my intimacy journey. I won't go into details but.....Can you imagine?
Yes, I can and do imagine!!!
This is so nice to read. It sounds as if you too have a 'spiritual' experience of the Open Focus work.
I truly believe it is the best tool for awakening in the presence of Now to who and what we really are beyond our stressful thoughts.
Open Focus has helped the spiritual search end, knowing the thing that I have looked for all along is no-thing and resides in the Space that I now know from Open Focus to be a very tangible and accessible experience that exists everywhere at one time if I turn my attention to it.
I know the Fehmi's tout Open Focus as a stress reduction tool, but in my opinion, it is infinitely more than that! I am so grateful for this work.
Dear Cheshire Cat,
Your comments made me chuckle with pleasure. I'm glad Open Focus practice is having such a positive impact on you.
Just one word of caution: Don't get attached to the feeling of lighness and any other positive feelings. They are wonderful feelings, but sometimes a good Open Focus practice can be one in which we feel our stress and pains. Also, if you attach only to the good feelings, you will start being goal oriented, attempting to find those feelings, as opposed to opening up to whatever is present at the time of practice.
Keep us posted.
Regards,
Susan Shor Fehmi
WOW........talk about open focus....I just went to the beginning of time and back and I'm only on level one. I could go on for hours about what just happen to me but I don't want to freak anyone out. LOL
sorry about multi posts.... I did not realize I had figured out how to get it to post for me.LOL
Cant figure out how to delete the extras.
I am so excited about finding these Open Focus cd's I feel like I have found the Holly Grail....the answer to everything. There does not seem to be anything they can't fix. When I feel anxious I just put one on and like magic its calms me down.
I'm listening to them at least three times a day sometimes more. They are taking me to places I did not know exsisted. And turning me into the person I only dreamed of becoming. I just go through my day knowing if the magic starts to wear off all I have to do is put on my headset and presto it's back. It's like every time I listen to one, I go back to the womb and am reborn again.
I have a funny Open Focus story to share.
I was scheduled to have a manomotry this morning. It is to test esophageal strength by inserting a flexible tube the diameter of a pencil down a patient's nose and into the stomach!
The tube is then slowly pulled out, bit by bit and readings are taken of the pressure when one swallows first a tablespoon of saline solution a total of ten times, followed by doses of a cold, gelatinous, cherry flavored substance also to be swallowed ten times. Then the tube is brought out even more for four more swallows.
The instructions are to only swallow ONCE and then wait for the next does to be delivered 40 seconds later.
Now if you have ever had a two foot long pencil down your throat, you know it is all but impossible to swallow only once, let alone not throw up from the gag reflex all over the nurse, or worse, one's self.
It is truly one of life's great challenges.
So, there I am with this tube shoved half way down my body via my nasal passage (did I mention that it burned like heck as well?), doing my best to be a 'good' patient and not to swallow.
I finally decided to return the Open Focus state I had come in with, but forgotten all about as my body was being invaded by the medical snake.
I focused on the presence of my thumbs and then the rest of my body. I focused on the space within the room. I dove into the sensation and met it.
As I did so, my body figured out a way to be with the tube in a way that way infinitely more comfortable. (I mean as comfortable as one can be with a foreign object protruding from one's nose.)
I felt my body relax. I found a way to swallow that did not make me gag. I noticed thoughts and feelings of pride surfacing in the space.
And then my peace was interrupted. "Whatever it is you are doing," the nurse warned, "you need to stop doing it. I am no longer getting a reading. Just swallow the way you normally do."
Have you ever tried to laugh with a plastic pencil plugging your nose and throat?
Maybe Open Focus isn't for everything after all!!!
Dr Fehmi, I have a few questions. I have done the open focus exercises from your book three times now. The first time I did the exercise before I went to bed, and woke up in the middle of the night, unable to fall back to sleep. On the second evening, my husband said that I sat up and started screaming for about 10 seconds - I remember none of this and don't normally talk or walk in my sleep. I also woke up after this episode and was unable to fall back asleep. The third occasion I did in the morning, and felt great the rest of the day - generally more energetic and positive. But then the fourth day, I did not do the exercises and felt a deep sense of tiredness and 'slowness' as though I was doing things in slow motion. I am ordinarily very sensitive to coffee and wine - if I have more than a few sips of either in the evenings I'll battle to sleep. Please let me know your insights - am I simply unwinding from a few years of chronic stress and with continued training will these strange simptoms work there way out?
Dear Nicole South Africa,
Thank you for sharing your experience. It can help others.
Although we have not had others report your particular reactions, it is true that "release phenomenon" take many forms as we become more immersed in our own experience. We would suggest that you do your best to experience these phenomenon in an Open Focus attention. We expect that these symptoms will work themselves out. Keep in touch and let us know.
Susan Shor Fehmi
The phrase "can you imagine" seems to creat some sort of magic ub me. I have started applying it to everything and its beginning to impact my life on a big level. I go around adding it to almost every thought I have. Examples are...
Can you imagine never having another cold.
Can you imagine eating in a naturally slender way for the rest of you life.
Can you imagine only having happy thoughts from now on.
Can you imagine slipping into your small jeans and never leaving there again.
Can you imagine having a magical, marvelous day every day.
Can you imagine only eating when you are hungry.
ECT. I say tons of them a day.
I feel like I'm living in open focus too. Not sure that I could really explain it just feels more floaty...kind of. LOL
I have been listening to level 2 tons. And will break open level 3 when I feel so inspired.
When I read “The Open Focus Brain” and I immediately resonated with this work and felt that many of my open questions had their answer in this work.
Open Focus describes one of the fundamental issues in modern day society -- being stuck in narrow focus and all the secondary problems that brings with it. When I had the opportunity, I visited the Princeton Biofeedback Centre and experienced Open Focus first hand.
I learned how to use and apply Open Focus. I immediately felt a positive change in my perception. That was 2 ½ months ago. As a result I am able to go through the day in a much more relaxed and objective fashion.
It is important to note here that Open Focus is a life-long commitment. Just like physical exercise, one needs to do it regularly to stay in that state and to reap the full benefits.
But doing so brings with a level of reward and an improved quality of life that makes the effort very much worth it.
I can certainly recommend Open Focus to anyone.
Every once in a while it will take almost everything I have to sit through an open focus session. I just finished on of those. I did tons of self talk to get myself to finish. Reminding myself what a loving thing I was doing for myself. How I did not have anything I really needed to do. When I feel this way I allow the session to go how ever its needs to while encouraging myself to continue ..........wiggles and all.
Dear gailmccandless,
Your comment made me laugh as I remembered my own wiggle-filled practices. I do the same thing, letting myself sit with the impatience as best I can. Often, I can use the Open Focus Dissolving Pain exercise and eliminate the impatience, and sometimes I can't. When I can't, I just stew in my own juices, noticing how narrow focussed I am.
Susan Shor Fehmi
Dear Dr. Fehmi,
I feel like I am making excellent gains since attending your workshop the weekend of October 25th to the 26th 2008. I now have the ability to stop a sneeze from progressing! It happened just the other day when I started to get the tingly feeling of an oncoming sneeze. Instead of trying to wince and ignore the feeling or put my finger under my nose to stop the sneeze I remembered Open Focus and relaxed and went right after the source of the tingling, pretending that I could get right in that feeling. I then opened up my attention to include my whole body, the space around my body, then the space in the room and so on until I was completely open to all my senses. Just like in your training I then went back to try to find that tingling sensation and IT WAS GONE!! I couldn’t find any hint of it, so, of course I didn’t sneeze! I am prone to sneezing fits that usually last up to 4 or 5 sneezes and can be pretty violent in nature so it sure feels good to be able to have the ability to control them.
Thank you Dr. Fehmi for discovering and developing the Open Focus technique, it has improved my life greatly so far and I know it will even in the future.
Jon Toepler, D.D.S.
I recently finished your book, The Open-Focus Brain, and in fact, I've immediately started reading it again! I had expected another self-help book that might be better as a pamphlett, but instead, this strikes me as a very profound book. I have a question: I have had fairly severe problems with insomnia for some time, even though I meditate, teach yoga, and don't have a particularly streesful life, at least compared to most folks I know. When I began reading some of the exercises in the book, I would read the instruction, close my eyes and visualize it, go on to the next, etc. (I hadn't got to the CD yet). I noticed that twice I was asleep before I even got to the middle of the exercise. This was amazing to me, and I was deeply grateful! Then, when I listened to the CD, I noticed that Dr. Fehmi says not to use it lying down or to fall asleep. This was enormously disappointing to me! And even if I don't use it at night, many of the instructions remain in my mind, and as I lay down to go to sleep at night, I find them going through my mind anyway. Is this bad?
Hello - I've just finished the book and a first experience of the head/hands exercise on the CD, which was relaxing and lead to wider awareness. My question is this: I have meditated on and off for 30 years, some zen & some mindfulness. I have a history of dissociation since childhood which has been much better for the last 10 years. I have chronic insomnia since menopause. I am very spiritually sensitive -- I find that I do better when I don't meditate, as I can get flooded by anxiety connected with altered states, being too "open", and terror at the experience of dissolving. Could this CD be a doorway for me to healing? Would it possibly help me develop attentional skill so that I could meditate safely? Or will it also prove to be somehow dangerous? I appreciate your input, as I am not sure how to advance. I live to far away for sessions.
Dear Beverly,
I'm glad we had a chance to talk by phone. Keep me posted.
Susan Shor Fehmi, MSW
I have been doing the Open Focus exercises twice daily for about three months and found them very helpful for increasing my awareness. I have been meditating for about 8 years. In the past month I have been taking advantage of a very low cost opportunity to work with the Neureka! neurofeedback program at a local golf academy with someone who is somewhat new to neurofeedback but technically good at managing the programs on neureka. So I kind of have to give him guidance about Open Focus. He has read the book and listened to the CD, but direction on how to proceed on the focus/alertness/Neureka! program needs to proceed from me, since my goal is NOT to improve my golf! I am slowly developing some plans but wondered if you have any ideas about using these neurofeedback (3 sensors only) programs for Open Focus application. Thanks very much.
Hi, I have intrusive tinnitus, have you see any people who do open focus, get a reduction in their tinnitus? Thanks Will
Dear Will,
We have had good results using Open Focus training with tinnitus. When you practice the techniques and get to the Dissolving Pain exercise, use as the pain the feeling area around and within the part of the ears and head where the tinnitus sounds. Feel into that area as the exercise guides you.
Also, if you get to the "Listening in Open Focus" CD, you will notice that you can listen in a different way, attending to sound and silence simultaneously. See what impact this kind of listening has on the intrusive sound.
Keep us posted.
Susan Shor Fehmi, MSW
Dear Emma,
I'm glad you are finding the Open Focus training helpful. Open Focus training and neurofeedback training are an ideal combination, but unfortunately, we are not familiar with the Neureka so it is hard to advise you.
But there are a few assumptions we can make. Because the Neureka utilizes three sensors, we can assume that it is a single channel instrument, since one sensor is probably the active lead and the other two are the ground and the reference. Because it is a single channel instrument, the Neureka neurofeedback device cannot train synchrony (when two or more locations on the head produce brain waves that peak and trough at the same time using a referential montage). As you know, our instruments train for whole head synchrony gathered from five points on the head.
So this is what we would advise: Make sure that the ground and reference sensors are off the head, typically on the ears, and train at alpha (10 Hz is a good place to start) on various places on the head. If you move the sensor around over time, you will be teaching your brain to produce alpha around the head, even if it is not synchronous alpha.
Practice the Open Focus exercises while you are on the equipment training alpha.
I hope this is helpful to your practitioner. If he is interested in our whole head synchrony training instrument, we would be happy to advise him, since our instrument can be used along with his to train synchrony.
Thanks for asking.
Susan Shor Fehmi, MSW
Dear Dr. Fehmi and Susan,
It has taken me ages to get my mind around replying to the last email, Christmas came and disrupted my days quite a bit. It was a very interesting time for all of us here. My family were all delighted with the change in me they said it was a wonderful stress free holiday and they couldn't believe how easy going and relaxed I had become. I felt good most of the time but got a bit upset that the amplitude of my alpha went back down again and I felt this was a backward step and became a bit disillusioned. Felt I'd been wasting my time ! . . . everything is ok again. Something shifted in the way I practice and I lost my fear of whether the alpha was up or down just started to use the machine to get to know how I work. Paradoxically the alpha returned to high amplitude again.
One of the interesting things for me was that while I felt my spirits had dropped John and the girls all said I was in much better form than usual and never snapped or got grumpy.
My Uncle Seamus is loving his sessions and today a Nun who takes care of him asked if she can have a session too.
I'm still loving the open focus cd's and noticing how my awareness is changing often now I become spontaneously aware of the space silence taste etc . It is as if I awaken as I walk, teach, practice wash-up.
Warm wishes to you all in Mount Lucas and all the best for 2009,
Annie
Hi Annie,
It's always good to hear from you.
Your story of losing alpha amplitude reminds me of the story Les tells about his early early alpha training. Remember the story of his first experiences on an EEG instrument when he couldn't produce any significant increase in alpha for many, many sessions? Then in a moment of despair he gave up, but was fortunately still hooked up to the neurofeedback instrument and discovered that when he gave up, even though he was feeling despair, his production of alpha tripled. You may also remember in the story that after he had a few sessions of success, he began to try too hard, and his amplitudes dropped again and stayed low until he learned how to give up again.
Sound familiar? Your own story reminds me of this story.
Fondly,
Susan
Hi Susan and Dr. Fehmi
I just have to tell you both about today's session on my machine. My amplitude has been on the increase again the last few days and today it was really strong I knew by the intensity of the feedback. Well it kept on rising until I ran out of scale. I thought maybe the machine was broken but it seems to be fine. I'm delighted and a bit shocked and wondering if this is to be expected with regula practice ? I had spent a quiet day yesterday practicing T'ai Chi and Open Focus and I've been teaching Tai Chi almost every day last week. When I'm practicing or teaching now space is always in my awareness. I'm more relaxed and love to sit on the machine when the cd I'm listening to ends and watch what happens it is trully wonderful. As soon as my mind falls into a thinking habit the feedback lets me know and reminds me to open to the space and silence again.
Almost everything in my life seems better without me making any effort. I feel so lucky to have found this method and the machine too.
Many Thanks for everything,
Annie
Dear Les and Susan,
I recently turned sixty and decided I'd like to be serious about stillness. Since my late twenties I have done meditation off-and-on with some excellent short term results.
Three weeks ago I did searches for material such as yours and was almost sure that it would exist and that someone would have done a great job producing it.
I wasn't dissapointed. I found "The Open-Focused Brain" and after reading some reviews, etc, I felt positive that I'd found what I wanted and ordered the book and
CD.
I also have a friend, who has been a buddy of mine since I was seven years old. As kids we hung around in a gang a lot like the guys in the movie, "Stand By Me." These days he's married to a women with MS. She has had MS for over a decade. My friend, Bob, also meditates from time to time with some outstanding results, but his wife has not been the type to meditate or look deeply into body awareness.
I quickly passed on to my friend the info on your book and CD, stating to him that neurofeedback may be the way to both help his wife's MS, or at least make it more tolerable, and at the same time allow her to work on other aspects of her consciousness. His wife, I feel, will do the neurofeedback CDs if my friend does them at the same time and they can share. I like the fact that the book is touted for it's health purposes and it's science as this will make it much more acceptable to her. What experiences have you had over the years with MS?
But, for my purposes, and I've read the book and listened to the CD twice, it's exactly what I need right now.
Roy
Dear Susan -- It has now been a month since I read the book and first contacted you through this blog. I followed the suggestions you gave me on the phone -- beginning with only 5 minutes of practice a few times a day with the head and neck. Then I began listening to the whole track, lying down, and only in the middle of the night when I woke up from insomnia. I found I would be able to sleep again, which was remarkable after 3 years of very severe insomnia. My anxiety level decreased during the day even though I was just listening to it once in the middle of the night.
I ordered the 3 levels, and began listening to CD's 2 and 3, at first once a day and then twice a day. This gradual approach was good for me, as I didn't get scared.
I look forward so much to my practice. I read somewhere that people sometimes describe it as feeling like they were slipping back into their own skin. That is what it feels like to me. I feel like the "myself" that I was always apologizing for not being, if that makes any sense. Freedom of choice has returned in a way that I haven't felt in years. I am finding it easier to exercise regularly, eat better, and get my work done. When I write, words flow easily. I feel much more relaxed socially, and am even imagining that I will be able to return to meditating someday! I am sleeping much better - if I do wake up, I simply put on the tape and it usually helps me get back to sleep.
I am amazed to find what feels like a doorway back to healthy experience. So, after one month - I say "so far, really great."
Thank you for your kindness, and for the hard work you all have done over the years,
Beverly
Dear Beverly,
I was so pleased to read your blog entry and impressed that you created a regimen of Open Focus practice that worked as we hoped it would. Please continue to keep me updated.
And thank you for your kind words about me. As you have probably guessed, Open Focus training changed me from an anxiety driven creature to one who is a whole lot smoother.
Warm regards,
Susan
Dear Tuberman (Roy),
I'm glad you are finding "The Open-Focus Brain" helpful and that you are practicing with the CD. I'd like to hear more from you when you have had more time to practice with the Open Focus training CD.
We have worked with clients who have MS with good results. Since Open Focus practice, with and without neurofeedback, impacts stress, and since MS is aggravated by stress, we have had some good results. I would encourage your friend to try the CDs.
I too like the fact that the Open Focus training is culture-free,that it trains people's attentional styles and encourages attentional flexibility.
Keep us posted.
Regards,
Susan
Dr. Fehmi, Thanks read your book after hearing you on podcast of theater of the mind. I have been practicing your exercises on CD with the book for the last 3 weeks "at least twice a day". Results are great. Dealing with the stress of a job search without undue stress. Ran a 9 mile race, won my age group and set a personal record. I attribute that to the benefits of applying open focus.
Question: What do you recommend as the next step for audio exercises after the book?
Of Interest to everyone - Interesting article in the May 4 NYT on attention, the brain and synchronicity. Scientific community discovering what Dr. Fehmi already knows.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/05/science/05tier.html?em
Dear RCARIZONA,
Thank you for your comments about Open Focus training. Because the CD enclosed in the book includes two of the exercises found in Level I of our CD series, you only need to order the following CD's to complete Level I: Those CD's are Long Form, Short Form, and Dissolving Physical and Emotional Pain. Then, if you wish, order Level II and Level III CD sets. By ordering Levels I, II and III you will have the complete Open Focus training set. You can order these through our web site, www.openfocus.com.
We recommend that people listen to each CD in order for one week, practicing two to three times a day before moving on to the next CD.
Thanks for the link to the New York Times article. We had seen it and it's pleasing to have an article that talks about the notion of attention.
Keep us posted on your progress.
Regards,
Susan Shor Fehmi
Hi Les and Susan,
Firstly a massive thankyou for your work on Open Focus and your choice to share it in an easily accessible format... a real noble effort - thanks.
I've been practicing Open Focus exercises for a few days (short form and dissolving pain) and am noticing some interesting occurances.
I'm primarily interested in using it to dissolve the social anxiety that seems to be present to some degree in most social situations, and particularly strong in specific situations.
If you'd kindly take the time, I have 2 questions:
The more I do Open Focus, and the more I am able to expand my attention to include all of experience, the more I quickly come into contact with the underlying anxiety in my stomach/chest. Often during the exercises it causes significant energetic muscle spasms, throughout my whole body but particularly in my abdomen. It feels like "release" (although intense at times) and I'm assuming this is natural and maintaining the open focus and allowing my anxieties and body to "do what they need to do" is healthy, and that (eventually) this will subside as the anxiety and emotional pain is dissolved?
Also, is there a way to target anxiety that arises in particular situations? For example, when meeting certain types of new people I experience a distinct type of anxiety/emotional pain that is hard to access outside of that situation. Is there a way to bring certain anxieties into the scope of Open Focus, when I'm sitting at home doing the practice and not actually in that situation?
Or is it more of a case of doing the general training, and learning to bring that to bear in specific situations?
Thanks very much for your time. This stuff is having a big impact on my life.
Rich
Dear Rich,
I'm so glad you are pleased with the impact of Open Focus training on your life. We feel the same way.
To answer your questions:
(1) You are correct that the more you open your focus and expand your attention to include all of experience, the more you will come into contact with underlying anxiety. And you are correct that muscle spasms in this context are often a release phenomenon.
(2) In terms of dissolving the anxiety and emotional pain in the social situation that gives rise to those feelings, let me suggest this. When you get to the Dissolving Pain CDs, use the anxeity or other emotions that are present in your body at the time you are doing the practice. Learn to dissolve what's there during practice. When you become adept at that, begin to do the same thing in other situations, the easy ones first. Over time, you will be able to dissolve emotions in real life situations.
However, just practicing Open Focus will gradually reduce overall stress which will reduce the amount and intensity of anxiety in the rest of your life.
Keep us posted, Rich.
Regards,
Susan
Thanks for that thorough reply Susan. Much appreciated.
Something fascinating happened today during "Dissolving pain". The particularly abdominal muscles that have been tensing up violently throughout the exercises suddenly released during practice, and emotion seemed to rise up through me more completely. They remained relaxed from there, anxiety/emotion seemed to rise up thru me differently, and I noticed a different set of muscles resisting, although less violently.
The muscles which relaxed seem to have stayed that way (although it's not been long since I finished). Very fascinating... something significant is certainly happening!
Thanks
Rich
I just got back into doing Open-Focus. I have practiced various meditation techniques throughout the years and have found the results to be unpredictable and very meager.
With Open-Focus, whenever I have practiced it, I experience immediate benefits, and I find that I can practice it to a certain degree throughtout much of the day, and it enhances my presence and ability to act and respond to situations as opposed to interfering.
The number one reason I meditate is to awaken spiritually. I feel that Open-Focus can lead one to such an awakening. Am I fooling myself in thinking this?
Also, can the Open-Focus technique used for dissolving pain be used to dissolve muscular and other tension in the body? I imagine so.
Another question, when one becomes advanced enough in Open-Focus can one dispense with listening to the CD's. According to one person's comment that seemed to be the case.
One more question: I am curious how you came up with the various Open-Focus exercises. With most meditation techniques, one technique is suppose to solve ALL of one's "problems".
How did you all find that it was best to separate practices for heart-centered open-focus, listening, thinking, seeing etc?
It seems to make sense, but if I could simply my practice of Open-Focus I'd love to, instead of doing a variety of exercises to cover all my bases.
It's great that you have created this web blod, and most of all developed something as amazing as Open-Focus that is based on science and careful observation.
Dear Christpher Meagher,
Thanks for your comments. I'm glad that Open Focus training is giving you immediate benefits. I will answer some of your qustions.
Ultimately we encourage the use of Open Focus attention in daily life, and find that when people practice our recorded exercises in a consistent way, they can easily access these skills during other times in the day. Since you are already able to do that, you might make the mistake of giving up the more formal practices. But the argument for formal practice is that it will keep your attentional skills well oiled and allow you to deepen them.
Many people report that practicing Open Focus has led to spiritual awakening. As we open up and become more immersed, we attend to many neglected parts of our experience.
And yes, absolutely, the Open Focus Dissolving Pain exercises are perfect for dissolving muscle and other tension in the body.
You ask about the possibility of dispensing with the CD's once your skills become advanced enough. Yes and no. As I wrote before, the more you practice the more you will bring Open Focus attention into your daily life. But on the other hand, the more you formally practice, the more subtle and deft you will become. So tell us how it goes for you.
It's fine if you would like to stay with the more general Open Focus exercises, rather than breaking it down into Thinking, Listening, Feeling, Seeing, and Heart Centered Open Focus. It's your choice and you can go as far with the general practices as you can with the specific once.
And thanks for your kind comments.
Regards,
Susan Shor Fehmi
A current update on my progress:
I seem to have reached something of a plateau with Open Focus.
During Open Focus exercise where I am contemplating the space in the room and the space permeating my body, strong emotion begins to rise, but my abdominal muscles and muscles in my chest and neck seem to involuntarily contract,
making it very difficult to breathe. I feel like I have to deliberately take a breath and "push the emotion back down", just to get some air in.
Of course this is effectively going back into a narrow focus, with attention on keeping the emotion at bay, and not staying
in open focus long enough for the emotions to dissipate and dissolve.
This happens most acutely during the dissolving pain exercises as I enter the emotion or "merge awareness with it" - sometimes my abdominals and chest contract violently - but also during the general practice exercise where I contemplate the space through and around my body (which encourages emotion to dissipate... which then
triggers the strong tightening of my abdominal/chest muscles, inhibiting my breathing).
Have you seen anything like this before? And is there anything you could recommend? I just feel that if I could stay in open focus long enough for emotions to pass through without my damn chest and abs tightening so hard as to inhibit my breathing, I'd make alot of progress.
Thanks for your time
Rich
Dear Rick,
It’s good to hear from you again.
Your understanding of what is happening when your abdominal and chest muscles contract violently sounds correct. As you say, it is most likely that you go back into narrow focus as you attempt to keep the emotions at bay. Because the need to get air feels like an emergency, it’s hard to advise you to stay in diffuse and immersed attention, but ultimately you are right in concluding that it would be better if you could find a way to stay in Open Focus attention.
We have seen situations like this before. In my own case, early in my training, I felt as if I would faint when I opened up to my anxiety. It would force me to close back down again into narrow focus until the feeling of faintness ended. What I discovered was that I was trying too hard to open up and enter into my feelings. When I brought more effortlessness to the task, being more gentle with myself and the process, I was more effective.
I would give you the same advice. Can you be more gently persistent, effortlessly letting yourself be with the feelings – the anxiety and/or the muscle tensions? With some clients in the same difficulty, I have often used the word “sloppy,” encouraging them to be less precise in their efforts, if that makes any sense.
Let me know if this helps.
Regards,
Susan
I've been doing Open Focus for a few days now.
My eeg shows very active hibeta and heavy lobeta. Lots and lots of lobeta.
I have been training for smr and hialpha via NF and this has produced strong results for me although I noticed a sudden regression to tired and passive about a week before I tried Open Focus. So the NF was great but there was an inexplicable regression - or maybe it had bot me to the point where my brain was permitting me to handle my unresolved issues.
Then I began the Open Focus cd and the results in the first 3 were stunning, but I am definitely in that loalpha space even more and feeling quite passive along with carrying what I think are trauma symptons from earlier mental abuse. Skittish, depreessed and so on.
Here's my query. Is there a question about doing this training where someone already has predominant loalpha which tends to slow and passify me? In other words is Open Focus inappropriate for those in which loalpha would be the default synchrony? Or is it that once the trauma is worked through the alpha will rise toward and maybe beyond 10 hz?
This is truly puzzling to me because the Open Focus technique is enormously relaxing and even spiritual in nature. Even in this passive and slightly depressed state I find it gives me the tools to handle it. But I want to engage in life, not hide in a cave.
Should I continue?
Hi Tim,
Thank you for your interest in Open Focus and your recent blog. If I understand correctly you have only been practicing open focus for a few days. Therefore, I recommend that you continue with the exercises three times a day, letting feelings and symptoms arise, exist for a while and diffuse during practice and possibly dissolve. After doing each exercise 3 times a day, for a week, and progressing forward through the series, you will come to the dissolving pain exercises. At this point I would apply the dissolving pain exercises to the dissolution of pain or any feeling experience that lingers, that has become chronic (Consult your medical physician to rule out the need for emergency medical care). I recommend staying with the dissolving pain exercises until all chronic feelings are dissolved no matter what their etiology.
To answer your question directly, I apply multichannel phase synchrony training usually in the alpha band to everyone who comes for training. If nothing much happens, then, I encourage synchrony training at other frequencies such as SMR or 15-18 htz. We are ultimately looking for flexibility of attention which means increasing and decreasing amplitudes at various frequency bands. However, using Open Focus Dissolving Pain skills the CNS and autonomic nervous system tend toward greater flexibility and subsequent balance. I view immersing and diffusing as undervalued and underused forms of attention by civilized man. Such skills once identified and further encouraged can make a dramatic difference to the quality of one’s life. Open Focus is the simultaneous and balanced utilization of four kinds of attention; narrow, diffuse, objective and immersed.
I hope this simple guidance works for you.
Warm Regards,
Les Fehmi, PhD
Thank you Les, I have continued on and found this enormously helpful. The tiredness is going and I am acting quite strongly in my life.
I will certainly go through the program and will continue to train in SMR as I have as this combination seems to work well for me.
Thanks again
Hi,
I have been practising now for about 3 weeks. I'm currently on 'short form' and I am doing 2 or 3 per day. I would like to practice when I am exercising. Could I use exercise 13 or 14 whilst exercising or is this a little too soon?
Thanks for any help.
Gary
We started using your CDs in July, and we're very grateful for what they've given us, and we're looking forward to the workshop in November. But just now I'm concerned because my IBS is getting worse, not better, and I'm hoping for some advice. It seems I'm more open to the painful emotions stirred up by my mother's decline than I was.
Hi Silvine,
Thanks for writing.
Often Open Focus practice opens us up to feelings that we have been narrow focussing away from. My guess is that the feelings you are having about your mother's decline are such an example. The good part is that you can use the Open Focus Dissolving Pain practice to begin dissolving those feelings and well as the anxiety about feeling them. As both the painful emotions and anxiety dissolve, the IBS should improve.
If you are not already doing so, please use the Dissolving Pain exercises, being sure to "feel" the emotions and the anxiety in their physical location, as opposed to the mind. Fortunately, you are coming to the workshop, so that whatever is still left by the time you arrive, we can dissolve when you are here.
Regards,
Susan Shor Fehmi
Thanks, Susan--that's what I'm doing, actually, but I'm having a hard time locating the emotional pain in my body. I'll persist.
Hi there. I noticed that no one has really commented on this blog for about 2 years, but I have a few questions, and hopefully they can be answered.
I am seeking help for anxiety, stress, and obsessive thoughts.
I just did my first session with the "Head and Hands". I was envisioning what he was saying, but I was a little confused about the "space within out bodies". Am I supposed to imagine that there is hollow space in my body? When I was told to bring air into these open spaces that I know have tissue and organs in them, I guess it confused me, and that turned into anxiety for me. I am hoping to get more clarification on that.
Also, when going through the session, for most of it I was in what I can only describe as a "twilight sleep", where I wasn't asleep, but I was sort of in a trance. Is that where I am supposed to be? Or am I supposed to be more alert?
Lastly, after the session was over and I came back to reality, I noticed I felt very different. I can't really tell if it is good different or bad different, since I feel I have been in this "emergency mode" with stress and anxiety for over a decade. The best way I can describe the feeling is sort of fatigued and kind of foggy, almost doppy, like I took a xanax or something. I feel a little off balance as well.
I have done guided relaxation before and I feel relaxed, but I have never had these kind of symptoms afterward. And of course this scares me because I am a very anxious person.. But I want this to work for me, like it has worked for all these other wonderful people! Could this just be the initial reaction to the feeling of open focus? Thanks so much for getting back to me! -Aurora
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