When you think of ‘taking care of yourself,’ it’s likely that you would think of exercise, skincare, and other physical manifestations of health and vitality. However, the brain, the organ that controls thought, memory, emotion, touch, motor skills, vision, breathing, temperature, hunger, and every other process that regulates your body, is often neglected. Given the complex load of this computer-like organ, it would certainly behoove us to take care of it with some degree of attention and consistency – perhaps in a similar manner to the maintenance practices (facials, manicures, going to the gym, etc.) that we employ for the sake of our appearance.
LENS therapy provides one such option for taking care of your brain. LENS stands for Low Energy Neurofeedback System – it’s an EEG form of therapy that can stimulate the brain to reset itself and help it achieve optimal performance. Sheri Rowney, licensed LENS practitioner and managing director of Nashville’s Harmonized Brain Center, explains that “stress, anxiety, and depression disrupt normal brain patterns, which causes the brain to function ineffectively. So just like re-tuning a radio when you lose the signal, LENS Neurofeedback helps refocus the brain into the correct patterns.”
While it certainly sounds promising, you’d be forgiven for having some reservations. Hooking your brain up to a machine can sound a little sci-fi, and perhaps painful. However, LENS does not employ electric shock or anything of the sort. LENS utilizes small sensors that send a low-energy radio wave (with less energy than what is emitted by a cell phone). Upon first visiting HBC, clients are given a 21-site mapping, which provides them an overview of how efficiently their brain waves are working and whether there are any irregularities. This helps HBC formulate a plan for how to move forward in subsequent sessions. These sessions are no more than 15 to 30 minutes in length, and Rowney says clients begin to see results after just a few visits.
And judging by the testimonials of clients, these sessions are not just effective, but life changing. Though LENS can be helpful for anybody (Rowney counts toddlers, seniors, and even animals as clients), individuals who suffer from depression, anxiety, psychological issues, ADHD, dementia, and even brain injuries seem to benefit particularly. Though Rowney cautions that LENS is, ‘not a panacea,’ those with the aforementioned conditions tend to respond very well. Rowney has even observed that LENS effectively treats what she terms as, ‘COVID brain fog.’ Observing this phenomenon, she explains, “If they had contracted the virus, we saw in many cases how it affected the way their brain functioned. Many people complained that COVID had left them feeling, unmotivated, unfocused, difficulty with concentration or with continuing headaches and many other long-term effects. We could see from the brain maps that we produce through LENS Neurofeedback precisely these COVID related effects, and in many cases were able to help get people back to normal with the help of this therapy.”
In addition to the more quotidian causes of brain changes, Rowney treats many players in the NFL, NHL, and MLS who regularly suffer from concussions. “It has proved exceptionally effective at resetting the brain after such bangs to the head!” Rowney observed this firsthand when her nephew suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI). “It was my brother's search for help with his son’s TBI that led him to find LENS Neurofeedback,” she recounts. “He’d heard of its positive effects on injuries, such as his son had suffered, and decided to try the therapy to see if it would help. Even after several years of trying many other therapies, the effects of LENS on my nephew were extremely positive and enabled him to improve his speaking and other TBI related issues.”
This was the impetus for Rowney’s brother to open his own LENS neurofeedback therapy center – and having observed the powerful effect that LENS had on somebody she loved, Rowney also decided to open her own therapy center in Nashville. Over the past few years, HBC has helped an impressive 1,500 clients in Nashville and now they have expanded into Murfreesboro, where countless lives stand to be made happier and healthier. Giving your most hardworking organ a little TLC – well, that’s a no brainer.
Stress, anxiety and depression disrupt normal brain patterns, which causes the brain to function ineffectively.
Over the past few years, HBC has helped an impressive 1,500 clients in Nashville and now they have expanded into Murfreesboro, where countless lives stand to be made happier and healthier.
