Training Specific Bands

I’m careful about trying to train down just a narrow frequency band (i.e. just delta). It’s very possible to reduce delta and increase theta or even (if there is dissociation involved) high beta. Squashes and windowed squashes are a good alternative in that they allow you to put a ceiling on a wide range of frequencies without necessarily training to increase anything. When the brain reduces amplitudes, it is activating its control circuits, which is usually what precedes improved function.

I also often find that using wider-band filters (for example, 19-38 Hz rather than 19-23 Hz) not only allows you to set your filters to be more accurate AND faster, it also blocks activity from shifting bands. If you have a very fast brain, and you decide to train down 19-23 Hz, it’s not completely unexpected that the brain might move to a nearby frequency that is also fast. That’s where it’s most comfortable. But if you use a squish, training down two sites at the same time with summed amplitudes and a band that covers all the less useful fast frequencies, then the options are limited. Either the brain improves control circuits on those neurons and they simply stop firing, or it shifts to alpha or some other frequency.

Any time you use a frequency down/frequency up protocol, in most cases the brain will do one or the other. If you succeed, for example, in reducing theta amplitudes, you will usually end up reducing beta amplitudes as well–even if you are rewarding them. Or if you succeed in increasing beta amplitudes, you’ll probably increase theta as well, even if you are inhibiting.