What is the difference between RADIANT and traditional Neurofeedback?
Neurofeedback, as its name implies, works by producing a visual or auditory representation of the signals in the brain. A
neurofeedback program might, for example, show you the strength of your alpha rhythms (correlated with the relaxed state) with a floating ball that moves upward as this aspect of the signal increases.
The problem with this method is that it assumes that just by observing your brain state you can affect that state. If it were that easy, we could all will
ourselves to be happy, just by paying attention to our current state of happiness! Instead, we have at best indirect control over our brain states, and in fact trying to force ourselves into
a state may be counterproductive, like trying too hard to get out of the Chinese finger puzzle.
A better method, and the method that RADIANT Mind and Sound uses is to alter the stimulation the brain receives on the basis of its effect on brain states. RADIANT searches for the
best stimulation to produce the desired state of mind corresponding to four modes: meditative, deep calm, positivity, and enlightenment.
In the case of RADIANT Mind, the app user simply follows the
indicated timing for the three segments of the cycle, inhale, hold, and exhale. In the case of RADIANT Sound, the only requirement is attending to the musical clips currently being played.
What is the difference between the session modes?
In Meditation mode, you are quieting the background noise of your mind and calming the body.
RADIANT steers your awareness to a relaxed, non-attached state.
In Deep calm mode, you are attempting to enter into state somewhere between sleep and wake.
RADIANT steers your awareness away from consciousness and towards oblivion.
In Positivity mode, you are directing your mind away from negative thoughts and towards a more fulfilling
engagement with the world around you. RADIANT steers your awareness towards harmony with the external universe.
Enlightenment mode is similar to meditation or deep calm mode, but concentrates on energizing the mind in addition to calming it.
RADIANT guides you to connect with the primal pulse that drives all thought.
Ok, I am on board with the notion that listening to the right sort of music or attending to the breath cycle can enhance relaxation,
but can I really become enlightened by these methods?
There are two answers to a question like this.
The first is technical.
There are well known markers in the brain associated with the euphoric state.
Some of these occur deep in the brain and cannot easily be detected by non-invasive imaging devices such as EEG.
But because this state is so strong, it affects the entire brain including the brain's surface (the cortex), from which these markers can be detected.
In addition, by this reasoning, enlightenment is not an all or none effect, and it is thus possible to guide the brain in this direction by gradually increasing the
strength of these indicators, as is the case with RADIANT Mind and Sound.
The second answer has to do with a time-honored notion found in most spiritual traditions.
This is that nirvana, satori, samadhi, or whatever name is given to it is not so much a state that needs to be produced as a
pre-existing state of mind accessible to all sentiant beings.
Achieving these states is thus not a mater of a carrying complex series of actions, but rather undoing bad mental habits that accrue over time.
Thus, a technology like RADIANT can help push the brain towards these states by partially or fully removing the veil that ordinarily obsures our view of
what has been there all along.
