by Mary Knippel

Would you like to learn how to cope better with life’s challenges, overcome an addiction, or just achieve a better night’s sleep — all while just sitting in a comfortable chair? I know I would, and after chatting with Greg Fandel at Pacifica’s Brain State Balance office I learned how to realize such life-altering changes. “Our mission is to help people — to help individuals achieve ongoing positive changes in their lives,” Fandel said. “Throughout our lives our brain has learned old patterns and there are habits and behaviors which need to change,”

Brain State Balance, an Affiliate of Brain State Technologies, is a type of brain optimization based on brain observance. “We show the brain itself,” Fandel explained, “so it can function more appropriately, in the same way a mirror reflects the image of our face and allows us to see ourselves. … We don’t cure anything, nor do we diagnosis anything. Our task is to bring balance and harmony to the brain on an individual case-by-case basis, not to one set standard. Many people are also attracted to us who want to avoid talk therapy.”

Fandel, along with his business partner Thea Fandel, brought the cutting-edge Brain State Technologies subconscious therapy to Pacifica two years ago. The program, founded by Lee Gerdes, is now available in 16 countries and over 100    offices around the world. It focuses on defining the client’s desired changes and seeing how the client’s brain patterns stand in the way.

For thousands of years, meditation and prayer have been part of our culture as ways to change the brain by training the mind. The biofeedback technology of the last 50 years has made a much faster and easier option possible, a way of changing the mind by training the brain directly. Brain State Balance training doesn’t teach tricks or techniques and participants do not need to think about it, nor do they have to master a breathing technique. The brain changes itself.

“When the brain is out of balance it could create issues,” Fandel said. “It’s like history within your tissues just as when an x-ray shows the little bump from a broken bone which healed long ago. We start with a brain map and that collects all the data and that tells us where the imbalances are in the brain. And what we’re doing is collecting the energy of those frequencies by placing electrodes   on the brain and (doing) an assessment, where the computer collects information.”

Like your heart, your brain operates with rhythmic pulses of electricity. Each level of energy has its own strengths and weaknesses. Energy is picked up in the session (participants usually do a series of sessions) and the brain is shown a more optimized state. Going to the root of the problem, the program helps the brain to train itself back to a balanced harmonized state, resulting in permanent relief.

On October 2, 2007 the Scottsdale, Ariz. office of Brain State Technologies, along with many participating affiliate offices worldwide, announced The Veterans and Families Warrior Transition Project, also known as the Warrior Project, which provides free help for returning soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan. According to the Veterans Administration, more than 37,000 vets of Iraq and Afghanistan are suffering from mental health disorders, and more than 16,000 have already been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. The project’s goals are not only to demonstrate the effectiveness of this technology by helping returning veterans, but also to present veteran-specific results to the government to get its attention and commitment to a new and viable solution for current and future veterans. Participation is completely confidential. Participants will receive a free assessment and up to 16 free training sessions. To be eligible, participants must have returned from either Afghanistan or Iraq within the past 24 months and have served in a combat or in a rear echelon support unit.

For more information about Brain State Balance or to schedule a complimentary sample session, visit www.BrainStateBalance. com. For more information on the Warrior Project, see www.brainstatetech. com/projects.htm.