What Is Neurofeedback? How Brain Training Helps Healers Regulate Their Nervous System | Episode 6

If you've ever said "I know better, but I still can't do better" — this episode is for you.

In this episode of the Brain Dump, Sandy Boone breaks down neurofeedback from the ground up: what it is, how it works, who it helps, and why it might be the missing piece for high-functioning people who are stuck in one gear. Because insight doesn't equal regulation — and you cannot think your way out of a dysregulated nervous system.

Sandy walks through the science in a way that actually makes sense, connecting brainwave patterns to the real symptoms healers, practitioners, and high performers know all too well — the anxiety, the brain fog, the sleep that never restores, the inability to just stop.

In this episode, Sandy covers:

• What neurofeedback is and how it compares to an EKG for the brain
• Why trauma, ADHD, and anxiety are often adaptations — not defects
• A breakdown of all four brainwave types and what each one feels like when it's balanced, too high, or too low: Beta (thinking mode), Alpha (calm focus), Theta (deep processing), and Delta (restoration)
• What neurofeedback sessions actually look like in practice
• Why remote, home-based training through the MindLift platform increases consistency and results
• Who is and isn't a good candidate for neurofeedback
• What conditions have the strongest research support — and where the evidence is still emerging
• Why the goal is never to eliminate waves, it's to build flexibility

Key takeaways from this episode:

• The healthiest brains aren't the fastest — they're the most adaptable
• Mental health is often about state regulation, not character defects
• Neurofeedback doesn't fix people — it gives the nervous system options
• You're not broken. Your brain has just learned a pattern. And patterns can change.

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Learn More About Neurofeedback: https://sandy-boone.mykajabi.com/opt-in

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Hello and welcome to The Brain Dump with Sandy Boone. On today's podcast, we're going to talk about neurofeedback, which is therapy for the organ that's actually running the show. If you've ever said, I know better, but I still can't do better, then this episode is for you. As we've talked about before, insight does not equate to regulation. And so we can very much know what's going on, we can know why it's going on, but it doesn't necessarily translate to a regulated nervous system. You cannot think your way out of a dysregulated nervous system. So let's start with what neurofeedback actually is. Many of us have been to the emergency room with a loved one or been in a doctor's office, and we've seen them do an EKG of the heart. And this is measuring the electric waves of the heart and making sure that the heart is functioning well. Neurofeedback measures brain waves. And our brain waves are electrical rhythms we all have. There is some variance in them, of course, and there's different types of brain waves, and we're going to get into that in a little later. But a few things to note brain waves are measured in Hertz, which is the number of cycles per second. Faster does not equate to better, and slower does not equate to worse. It's about flexibility and appropriateness for the wave that you're utilizing. Again, mental health is often about state regulation, not character defects. I think of neurofeedback as operant conditioning for the brain waves. You may know the story about Pavlov and his dog. Pavlov was a behavioralist and he taught his dog that when the bell rang, he was going to get food. And what eventually happened was that Pavlov would ring the bell and the dog would salivate, whether there was food present or not. And so I think of neurofeedback as training the brain or teaching the brain to get a positive feedback from where it's supposed to be. So in neurofeedback, the brain receives real-time feedback about the activity and it adjusts towards more efficient patterns. And so think of this as like if you are lifting weights at the gym and you're in front of a mirror, you can see what's going on, you correct your form if it's wrong. Think about a GPS recalculating when you drift off the path. And so with this, neurofeedback is the ability of the brain to receive feedback when the waves are where they need to be for our best functioning. It's non-invasive. We are not doing surgery, we are not zapping, we are not forcing the brain. It is simply training, not stimulation. It's important to remember here that your brain has two jobs. It wants to keep you alive and it wants to maintain homeostasis because homeostasis equates to safety. So trauma, ADHD, anxiety, insomnia, those are often adaptations. The brain will prioritize survival over performance. Neurofeedback helps the brain to feel safe enough to optimize. So now let's get into the different types of waves. We've got beta waves, and I think of beta as being in our thinking mode. The frequency that we're looking at is from about 13 to 30 hertz, and it's amid to a fast speed brainwave. What beta does is it helps with focus, it helps with problem solving, it helps with active thinking, and it helps with task execution. Healthy beta will feel like clearness, engagement, alert, productive. Too much beta feels like anxiety, overthinking, and hypervigilance. It's the I can't turn my brain off. Too little beta looks like brain fog, inattention, slow processing, and ADHD-like symptoms. If the beta is too high, you feel hunted. If it's too low, you feel like you're underwater. Alpha waves, I think of these as the calm focus mode. The frequency is between 8 and 12 hertz. And you're thinking about a cruise control speed. Alpha is relaxed alertness, it's creativity, it's integration, it's emotional regulation. Healthy alpha feels like calm but awake. It's a flow state, it's daydreaming but present. Too much alpha is spaciness, disconnection, and trouble initiating tasks. Too little alpha is tension and inability to relax and always being on. Think of alpha as the bridge between thinking and feeling. Then we have theta waves. This is a deep mode. Your frequency is about four to seven hertz. It's a slow wave. Theta is used in memory processing, emotional integration, creativity, and early stages of sleep. Healthy theta lends itself to imagination, intuition, and deep processing. Excess theta, when you're awake, looks like distractability, zoning out, difficulty with sustained attention, and emotional flooding. When theta is high during tasks that require focus, the brain is prioritizing internal experience over external demands. It's important here to mention that all of these waves, like they're all going on at the same time. It's how present they are. How are we utilizing them to show up as our best self? So the final wave that I'd like to discuss is delta waves. And delta waves are your deep restoration mode. It's about 0.5 to 4 hertz. It's the slowest measurable brainwave pattern in a typical EEG. They are dominant during deep dreamless sleep. And this is the phase of sleep that's associated with physical repair and nervous system reset. Delta supports deep restorative sleep, tissue repair, immune function, growth hormone release, cellular recovery, nervous system reset. Slow wave sleep where delta dominates is strongly associated with physical restoration and memory consolidation processes. And when delta is healthy and occurring at the right time during sleep, you will wake feeling restored and refreshed. You don't feel delta directly because it's most active when you're unconscious. But signs of adequate delta sleep include waking rested, a stable mood, better stress tolerance, improved cognitive clarity. When delta shows up at the wrong time, and this can happen with brain injury, this can happen with significant neurological disruption, severe sleep deprivation, and dissociation or profound fatigue. Delta's not bad. It's just not meant to dominate when you're trying to write emails or when you're going about your task in your day. Too little delta at night, we find ourselves with non-restorative sleep, chronic fatigue, increased pain sensitivity, emotional instability, and burnout vulnerability. Chronic stress and hyperarousal can suppress deep delta sleep, and a brain stuck in high beta at night has difficulty dropping into slow wave restorations. What can neurofeedback help with? Research has supported ADHD, anxiety, PTSD, insomnia, migraines, and chronic pain, and there is some emerging evidence for peak performance. The research quality varies by condition. ADHD has some of the strongest evidence. PTSD and anxiety are showing promising results, and it's always important to pair this with good clinical judgment. In my practice, I use the MindLive platform to make neurofeedback more accessible, flexible, and integrated into everyday life. MindLift pairs a wearable EEG headset, which is usually the Muse headband, and it looks like this. And this is put onto your head, like so, and that's it. This headset connects to the app on your phone. And with it, you can also, depending on what area we're training, we can also use an electrode, and that just plugs in to the device. So you use some um conductive paste. You put this on your head, and then the app will direct you where to put this electrode if it's needed for the training that you're doing. The secure app allows clients to train their brain from home while I'm monitoring progress. I can adjust protocols, and I can guide the process from a clinical standpoint. This matters for a few big reasons. First, consistency. Neurofeedback works best with repetition. When clients can train from home, they're not limited by commute time, scheduling barriers, or geography. We can build momentum instead of losing it between appointments. Typically, I recommend that we do at least two sessions a week and not more than one session a day. For some clients, this looks like they prefer to train every day, and that is perfectly fine. Second, our nervous system safety. Many people will regulate better in their own environment. Training from home means your brain is learning new patterns in the exact space where you sleep, you work, you parent, and you live, and that integration can deepen the carryover. Third, there's the accessibility. For busy professionals, parents, rural clients, and those with mobility or energy limitations, in-office sessions multiple times a week just aren't realistic. Remote training removes that barrier. And fourth, because I can see session data and trends over time, we can connect the dots. We can look at sleep shifts, stress spikes, emotional triggers, focus improvements. We're not guessing anymore. We're observing patterns and adjusting it strategically. This isn't a DIY brain app. It's a clinician-guided neurofeedback delivered in a way that fits modern life. The session actually looks like we've talked about that a little bit. The sensors placed on the scout. The app on your phone, you've got two options. You can play games in which you get feedback from the games, or you can stream something such as YouTube or Netflix. And if you choose to stream, what happens is the video becomes louder or softer, and the video will get brighter or go down so you can't see it as well. So, of course, the brain wants the lights and it wants the sound. So when the brain is performing where it needs to, you get the full audiovisual experience. Typically, we're looking at 20 to 40 sessions, and the brain will be rewarded when it hits those target patterns. Great candidates are high performers who white knuckle life, clients stuck in freeze or chronic hyperarousal, ADHD clients who don't want or can't tolerate meds, and burned-out therapists. It's not ideal as a standalone when there's active psychosis, when there's severe instability without concurrent support, or for someone who's expecting instant results. This is a learning process. We're not going to get results immediately. I do not use neurofeedback to fix people. I use it to give their nervous system options. And it's often part of a bigger ecosystem: somatic work, brain spotting, functional medicine, and lifestyle changes. Not all protocols are equal and not all providers are equally trained. The research is strong in many areas, and then in some areas, the research is mixed. It's not magic, it's neuroplasticity. If you're interested in neurofeedback, I would encourage you to go to sandyboom.com and on that website you'll find neurofeedback and you can click that link to get started. What you will be enrolled in once you decide to participate is I will give you an email saying, here's where you order your devices. Let me know when you get it. You'll circle back, let me know that you receive the device. And then I will give you the information to connect to me in the MindLift app so that I'm the one that's actually looking at your data. If you want to review your brain map, we can certainly do that. Some clients I have are really interested in the science of it. I am making decisions based on what symptoms you're presenting with. And I encourage you to ask questions during the process. You're not broken. Your brain has just learned a pattern and we can retrain those patterns. Again, we're not looking to eliminate waves. You need all of them. The goal is flexibility. The brain should shift states appropriately. If you're writing a proposal, you want beta. If you're processing trauma, you want alpha and theta integration. If you're sleeping, you want delta. The healthiest brains aren't the fastest. They're the ones that are the most adaptable. So, neurofeedback, it doesn't add alpha randomly. It trains regulation patterns and it helps the brain shift gears when needed. We're not forcing the brain to calm down. We're teaching it how. And again, brain waves don't map a one-to-one diagnosis. EEG is one data point. The interpretation is going to depend on the context, which is why I'm looking for symptoms and I'm asking you symptoms. And know that the research is stronger in some areas than others. ADHD, for example, has a ton of really strong research. The best thing to know whether neurofeedback is working for you is to try it. And I recommend that we do neurofeedback for at least three months, at least twice a week. Let's see what changes we note. As far as side effects, if the brain gets tired, we'll have symptoms of the brain being tired. Sometimes that can look like headache, that can look like fatigue. So that's why it's important not to train overly excessively, but to really pay attention to what it is that your brain needs. The bottom line here is you're not broken. You might just be stuck in one gear, and we can teach the brain the new rhythms. If you'd like to learn more about neurofeedback services or consultation, reach out to me at sandyboone.com. Thanks, y'all. Have an amazing day.