Choose the Better Thought
Posted on March 14, 2025 by Dane Johnson, One of Thousands of Life Coaches on Noomii.
Increasing your alpha brainwaves can bring about calm, openness, and creativity. So how do you increase your alpha brainwaves naturally?
There’s an old library building situated beneath the red-spired rocks of Sedona, AZ, where people go to transform their brains.
I traveled there last week to see if my own mind, battered by concussion and weighed down by self-doubt, could find some semblance of healing.
Enter the building through a tall iron gate to find a hallway of blue carpet, walls painted purple, amethyst crystals perched on shelves, and pops of yellow-accented tables that give off an eclectic vibe, a blend of art and spirituality.
But throughout its walls, wires from small, darkened chambers lead to a control room housing a super computer; a computer that tracks 12 channels of EEG signals transmitted via electrodes stuck on the scalps of willing trainees, also known as biocybernauts.
Before entering the chamber, technicians secure electrodes on the head, sticking an adhesive goop on the occipital, central, temporal, and frontal regions of the brain. (Yes, this messes up your hair.) These transmit a data-rich story from brain to computer to music, playing a cacophonous song composed entirely by alpha brainwaves.
Within the chamber, you bathe in sounds produced by your own brain, which provide immediate feedback on the frequency each brain region generates. An epoch passes — two minutes of alpha-generated music — followed by a numerical score shared on a darkened monitor. You repeat this for an uncountable number of epochs, amounting to nearly six hours a day, for seven days straight, learning to identify and magnify your own alpha brain waves.
What’s Alpha?
Alpha has a frequency range between 8 to 12 Hertz, and is predominantly generated in the occipital and parietal lobes of the brain when one is resting, daydreaming, or meditating. Increased alpha in the brain can result in feelings of tranquility and calm, enhanced creativity, and improved learning and memory. It can also help deepen sleep, which was particularly important to me due to my struggles with insomnia.
Most go to Sedona to hike its gorgeous trails and bask in the energy of its many vortices. But I went to sit in one of these chambers for a week, spending an average of 10 to 14 hours at the facility each day. A trustworthy friend had sung its praises, and also sponsored my training, so I said thank you, accepted the gift, and went with an open mind.
If the training consisted of tech-supported neurofeedback alone then it would not be worth the price of admission. But it went much deeper than data. It was like having a super computer’s help to process a lifetime of trauma and grief.
To help explore these depths was the support of a skilled guide. She was mystical and scientific in her approach, equal parts cold logic and woo woo. She interpreted the EEG readings, but also made sense of scores from mood questionnaires that were assigned before and after each time in the chamber.
She also taught and encouraged the training’s protocols, which were designed to bring about forgiving of self and others; confronting one’s vulnerabilities and fears; and solving complex problems with the creativity cultivated by increased alpha.
Within the chamber, I visited friends, family, and loved ones. I forgave and was forgiven. I cried for myself and for the hurt I have caused. I met the dark mind that has kept me from sleep for the last seven years. I told him he’s worthy and forgiven and free. And I repeated it until he believed it.
I also learned a new perspective on the cause of insomnia that cut to the core of my being. It’s that insomnia is due to “an inability to love self, to trust love, and to trust life. A deep fear of letting go and surrendering.” (Zing!) So, I’m learning to trust again, open my heart again, and believe that I am worthy of love and life again. This will take time.
Choose the Better Thought
The training taught me that our minds are supercomputers. And the brain runs the body. So, we must remain mindful and intentional of the thoughts that fuel its operation. This is no easy task in our information-drenched world.
But I also know that you don’t have to go to Sedona to increase your alpha, though it’s a lovely place to practice. You can increase it right now!
Simply close your eyes and bring to mind what you love and appreciate. Remain receptive and open-hearted. Alpha responds to truth, so be honest. As you do this, alpha brain waves will spread across your brain. You’ll feel calmer, clearer, and more connected to yourself.
From this place you are presented with different thoughts to think, ones characterized by love, curiosity, and openness. Choose these better thoughts. Make it a habit to choose the best ones. Then, these thoughts will create new patterns, and these patterns will create your life.
