Monday, September 22, 2008

Abhinav Bindra wins India's first ever individual Olympic Gold Medal

Timothy Harkness Sports Psychologist I first mentioned the "G-word" to Abhinav after a training session at my house in South Africa in early July. I don't often talk about results to clients, but we had just completed an advanced respiration session (using a technique I had learnt from Bruno Demichelis from AC Milan) that demonstrated such a close link between control of heart-rate and shooting outcome, that I finally began to feel that we had cracked the code of shooting success, and a gold medal was a possibility. As a sports psychologist, disappointment and failure is part of the job. I have been greenside at the British Open and watched a client's putt slide past the hole, causing him to miss the cut, and I have commiserated with a sprinter who ran fractions of a second too slow to make it into the Olympic team. I've even worked with a hockey team who missed every single shot in a penalty shootout - and were the only team with a sports psychologist at the tournament! Obviously there are successes also, but in any career, being part of an Olympic gold medal team is a highlight. I do want to say though, that for 10 years as a sports psychologist, I have been saying that character counts more than results, and when I think of Abhinav, it is his character that I admire rather than his gold medal. Talent, hard work and good planning gives you a chance, and from there, sometimes it goes your way, sometimes it doesn't. This one went our way. Abhinav and I were introduced in December 2007, and began working together in South Africa in February 2008. Our Olympic plan was formulated at a kitchen table in my mother's house. The team grew to include a doctor, chiropractor, physiotherapist, dietician and two shooting coaches in addition to myself. Looking back, I would say the crucial ingredients were a combination of bloody mindedness and flexibility. Abhinav is an athlete who will stop at nothing to achieve success - one of the two or three most determined athletes I have ever met. So it was a privilege to work with someone who would implement whatever he was asked to do. As someone who grew up in the 80s watching the A-Team, I have to say that I love it when a plan comes together. In 2006, PGA teaching professional John Dickson and I began to formulate a theory of how and why emotional states impede technical skill execution. We called this theory psykinetics. It draws upon evolutionary psychology, sensory integration and psychophysiology, and once you're talking psychophysiology, you need to be practicing with biofeedback. I use a FlexComp Infiniti hardware system with BioGraph 4.0 software. Shooting is a peculiar sport because of the lack of movement, and air rifle is the most precise and exacting of the shooting sports. I chose the FlexComp because it allowed me to seamlessly move between training modalities and multimodalities, and the BioGraph software because of its ability to measure and provide feedback. The system plus my laptop is small enough to pack into a Pelican carry case, which is useful for travelling. The psychophysiological requirements of shooting include:
  • Controlled breathing and heart-rate
  • No excess tension in muscles
  • No fluctuation between sympathetic/parasympathetic states during triggering (shooters can shoot in sympathetic or parasympathetic, but don't want to be surprised by which state they are in)
  • No interior monologue
  • Sharp focus and good reactions to trigger at the moment when the sight image is correct.
Abhinav and I started with the biofeedback slowly. I believe breathing is the best place to start a biofeedback programme, then skin conductivity and temperature control. We distinguished between training 'in the chair' and while shooting. Looking back, I would have started even slower, and with more time in the chair. But something that worked well for us was my consultative approach. Abhinav was already a world champion when he came to see me, and has the highest degree of body awareness that I have come across in an athlete. So I was able to get a wealth of information from him, and continually adapt the programme to the requirements of the time. In the end, Abhinav accumulated over 150 hours of training on the various modalities. We found that the sport was too subtle for EMG and SC, but EEG and HRV gave useful information. Shooters hold their breath during triggering, and need to learn how to have a controlled parasympathetic response just before triggering, even though they may feel short of air. In the EEG, we found alpha training at T3 useful, and after lots of experimenting, ended up mainly rewarding 15-18 at Cz and squashing 26-30. We also trained Pz and Oz. The balance was to find a state that had him muscularly relaxed, but still allowed him the sharpness of reaction to trigger at the right moment. I came to feel that with biofeedback, you do not train the athlete to execute the skill; you train the athlete to prepare to execute the skill. I.e. you should be training for the state prior to skill execution (3-5 seconds before) rather than the state of skill execution. Skill execution itself is short, subtle and instinctive, and difficult to describe or quantify … and really is best left alone. Rather train the athlete to lay the foundation for skill execution. Importantly, we did an extensive QEEG study, and discovered amongst other things, a T3 alpha ERD with triggering. Given that we were investigating an elite athlete, a researcher may have concluded that this ERD was appropriate, but Abhinav's interpretation of the data was that he was still shooting suboptimally, and wanted an alpha ERS at triggering. It is useful to note that even elite athletes often have lots of room for improvements in their cognitive and neurological processes. We did neurofeedback training 'in the chair' and while shooting. The other modality that was powerful was EKG + respiration. The best predictor of a bad shot was heart rate and breathing being out of phase. We trained this in the chair and while shooting also. In the chair, Abhinav would breathe at 2.5 - 3.5 breaths per minute, or would breathe at about 8 breaths per minute, and then breath-hold for 40 seconds, while controlling his heart rate. While I am an experienced sports psychologist, I am relatively new to biofeedback. It is a strange experience sending a biofeedback trained athlete into a competition, because there's much less to do at the competition venue. You don't need the inspirational little comments, or the relaxing jokes, because the athlete has the tools to do the job, and you can pretty much leave him to get on with it. It was a privilege working with Abhinav, because of the quality of the feedback I got from him, and also because of the generosity of his sponsor, which allowed us undivided time together in 5 countries and 3 continents. I am a much, much better sports psychologist now than when I started working with him just 6 months ago. Sometimes learning so fast is scary because it makes you realize how much you don't know, but my father always used to say, "You've got to know what you don't know", and it's exciting to be in a field where there is so much to learn.

Monday, June 16, 2008

WORKSHOPS,DISTANCE LEARNING OFFER CREDITS,TRAINING OPTIONS

Just as surgery and pharmaceuticals were important to medicine in the 19th & 20th century, Behavioral Medicine will take its place in the 21st century and biofeedback is an important component of Behavioral Medicine.” Dr. John Basmajian, Member of the Order of Canada

Montreal, Canada One of the World’s Leading Sport Psychologists that trained Canada’s top Olympic athletes will be teaching a workshop in Montreal on June 26th & 27th. Clinicians, psychologists, students and educators will learn about new software & specialized equipment using biofeedback & neurofeedback. This instrumentation is the same as those used in the MindRoom of AC Milan, the reigning Champions League team. It has also been used, for some time, by the Dutch Special Forces to screen and train SWAT Team recruits.

Montreal Workshops June 26th & 27th

The seminar will take place at the University of Quebec at the downtown Montreal Campus. The first workshop will be led by the internationally-recognized sports psychologist and York University professor, Dr. Vietta (Sue) Wilson.

http://www.bfe.org/workshop.html#PEAK

Her workshop will describe assessment and training techniques for peak performance and provide participants with the skills to utilize in their professional settings. Specific workshop content will include how to use the latest psychophysiological assessment and training technology for high performance and rapid recovery. Mental skill training techniques such as imagery, specific goal setting, intention, and attention will be discussed.

“EXECUTIVE STRESS” WORKSHOP

Another workshop will be taught in French by Drs. Nicolina Pavlov, PhD, and Ray Pavlov, MD, PhD. Its focus will be the use of EEG biofeedback (neurofeedback) as the central component of a systematic stress program for leaders in business, industry and sports. This workshop focuses on how to improve performance and productivity and includes guidelines for individuals and groups. Both workshops have accreditation by the Biofeedback Certification Institute of America.

LEARN FROM THE BESTInternational Research and Educational Project

Along with workshops in North America throughout the summer and fall 2008, there has been an explosion in distance-learning involving 30 on-line courses. They range from Heart Rate Variability Training, Stress Management, Professional Golf, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, and Headaches. These courses are accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA) for Continuing Education Units. A complete list may be found at: WWW.BFE.ORG . Fifteen Advanced Clinical Suites are now available http://www.bfe.org/prod.html

Information: Lawrence Klein, BFE Montreal Office

(514) 489-8251 #135

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

ASSESSMENT & TRAINING FOR PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENT AND HEALTH

TWO-DAY WORKSHOP IN MONTREAL at the UNIVERSITY of QUEBEC's DOWNTOWN CAMPUS JUNE 26th & 27th

The purpose of the two-day workshop is focused on the use of specialized software to train athletes and others to maintain or enhance motivation, control body and mind responses and prepare for performance under stress. The aim is to make the performance automatic and have recovery and back-up systems in place that allow athletes and professionals achieve maximum performance under pressure. The Montreal course is intended for physicians, nurses, psychologists, counselors and other health care professionals. Coaches/psychologists, educators, physical therapists with an interest in latest developments in optimal performance methodology will also appreciate attending the two-days of workshops at the University of Quebec’s downtown Montreal campus.

The workshop will be led by Dr. Vietta (Sue) Wilson, and will draw on her 30 years of teaching and research in the field of optimal performance. Her lecture will include a discussion of her research on psychophysiological profiling and EEG brain mapping of elite performers. There will also be demonstrations using Biograph Infiniti software. Participants will learn the essential skills taught to Olympic athletes for enhancing performance. These skills are also applicable for medical and psychological clients. Included in the workshop will be descriptions of assessment and training techniques for peak performance. Participants will gain the skills to use these in their professional settings. Specific content will teach how to use the latest psychophysiological assessment and training technology for high performance and rapid recovery. Assessment methods and training exercises for those without psychophysiological equipment will also be taught, as will mental skill training techniques such as imagery, specific goal-setting, intention and attention.

The workshop will also teach participants to utilize an optimum performance model to indentify areas where the client can obtain success while waiting for the effects of biofeedback and neurofeedback training to become permanent. Psychological knowledge and skills that can be practiced daily to enhance confidence and foster success behaviours will be presented.

Vietta (Sue) Wilson. Ph.D. is an internationally recognized sports psychologist and professor at York University in Toronto, Canada, where she has been a faculty member for over 30 years. She teaches both undergraduate and graduate level courses in her areas of expertise that include sports psychology, counseling and biofeedback-assisted self-regulation. Her experience in the field of optimal performance training includes work with elite athletes and applications in education, medicine and business. Dr. Wilson has trained Olympians in many areas of competition from archery to yachting. She is currently working with private tennis clubs with elite performers (champions under 12 and professionals on tour) and also with swimmers, archers, etc. Her research has examined the QEEG of imagery, brain maps of elite performers, maintaining health at work and the effects of posture on mood states. Dr. Wilson is a Senior Fellow (General Biofeedback) and a Fellow (EEG Biofeedback) of the Biofeedback Certification Institute of America. In addition to teaching optimal performance with healthy clientele, she has also worked with cerebral palsy patients and in other clinical settings.

CONTACT: BFE MONTREAL OFFICE

Lawrence Klein: 514 -489-8251

Info@BFE.org

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Pioneers honoured with Lifetime Achievement Award

Dr. Patricia Norris, Monika Fuhs & Steve Fahrion, PhD. Drs. Patricia Norris and Steve Fahrion, Ph.D.--biofeedback pioneers addressed delegates during the Annual Meeting of the Biofeedback Foundation of Europe, which was held in Salzburg, Austria. The guest speakers investigated and created successful clinical and educational biofeedback protocols for the treatment of disorders such as drug addition and hypertension. As pioneers, they integrated complementary approaches such as imagery and Psychosynthesis with self-regulation strategies to optimize the patient’s immune competence for the treatment of cancer. Patricia Norris, Ph.D. is a daughter and professional colleague of the Biofeedback pioneers Elmer and Alyce Green and has extensive experience with psychophysiological research from its inception. She offers a remarkable insight into integration of BF with imagery and Psychosynthesis for treatment of many disorders including cancer. Steve Fahrion, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist who did pioneering research with temperature biofeedback and developed the most successful non-pharmacological treatment of hypertension. More recently he was instrumental in developing success neuro- and bio-feedback treatment programs for substance abuse and addiction.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Annual Meeting in Salzburg a Snow-Capped Success

Attendees at the Annual Meeting got to practice their " Schuhplattein " skills and got quite a workout.Organizers ensured that Austrian gemutlichkeit was shared by all at the banquet & other social activities. -30-