Brainwave Optimization

Brainwave Optimization
The purpose of this paper is to describe technical and theoretical aspects of Brainwave
Optimization™, also known as High-resolution, Relational, Resonance-based
Electroencephalic Mirroring (HIRREM).
HIRREM is an innovative, non-invasive approach to facilitating greater self-regulatory
capacity for, by and through the human brain. The approach may be conceived as a highresolution electronic mirror that reflects the brain’s activity back to itself in real-time. But
rather than use light to reflect the brain’s changing visual appearance, as with a
conventional household mirror, the technology instead uses sound to reflect the brain’s
changing pattern of frequency-specific electrical activity.
Like any polished mirror, the technology is extremely precise, and also “non-judgmental.”
There is no imparting of normative information by the provider that would aim to explicitly
reward, inhibit, entrain, instruct, re-program, or in any other way to overwrite the brain’s
existing pattern of activity.  
This approach is fundamentally different from binaural beats, auditory or photic
stimulation, synchronization and other brain-enhancement methodologies. For a detailed
explanation of how it is both similar to and different from biofeedback (including
electroencephalographic biofeedback or neurofeedback), see Similarities and Differences
Between Brainwave Optimization (HIRREM) and Electroencephalographic Biofeedback
(pp. 13-17).
Why is it important to have greater self-regulatory capacity for, by and through the
human brain?
Understanding the Brain as ‘Command Central’
Greater self-regulation for the human brain is necessary so the brain does not act out in
destructive ways to achieve self-regulation. In many cases, substance abuse disorders can


be better understood as attempts to self-medicate other underlying psychiatric disorders
or brain imbalances. For instance a person with depression or anxiety may abuse
substances in order to “treat” their depression or anxiety. We believe that the explanation
of substance abuse as self-medication may be developed into a more general model. We
propose that a wider range of human behaviors may be fundamentally motivated by the
brain’s intention to regulate itself. Indeed, we believe that the brain’s impetus to selfregulate may eventually explain pathological behaviors more convincingly than can
conventional psychological, sociological or genetic theories.
Greater self-regulation by the human brain is necessary because the brain is our central
command center for our biology at a global level. The brain is the central control center
for all human experience and functioning. So to improve any aspect of our well-being, we
should ultimately aim to facilitate better functioning of the brain.  
Peter Sterling’s model of allostasis (2004) provides a theoretical elaboration of the
centrality of the brain for human self-regulation. In the past, the physiological and
medical sciences have been based on the model of homeostasis, or stability through
constancy. Homeostasis considers various systems in terms of their requirement to
maintain various set points at constant values. Deviations from these set-points are
treated as disease states. The cause of these deviations is understood to be
dysfunctionality of local mechanisms in the system. That is to say, dysfunctional local
mechanisms are seen to interfere with preservation of the set-points. The aim of medical
therapy is to correct the local mechanisms which are associated with set-point deviations,
e.g., disease.
In contrast, the allostasis model emphasizes that systems maintain stability through
change. They shift their set-points based on the changing demands their environments
present. The brain has a central role in shifting these set-points, based on the expected
levels of demand on the system. Disease states are manifestations of set-points which
have become deviated and then stuck because of a repeated exposure to a particular
demand. Local mechanisms are not actually dysfunctional; they are simply responding to
a different level of demand.  
The concept of health and disease as manifestations of set-point dynamics is illustrated in
Figure 1. Healthy systems are able to deviate their set-points dynamically, based on
changing demand (A). If a system is repeatedly exposed to a particular level of demand,
then its set-point may become “stuck” even after the demand eventually changes (B), and
the system is diseased. Medications may help reduce disease symptoms by clamping the
set-point at a pre-determined value, but such an approach will generally entail reducing
the dynamic range of functionality of the system (C). The optimal solution is for the
system to re calibrate itself appropriately for the actual level of demand, manifesting as
the restoration of health (D).

Figure 1. Set-point dynamics of an oscillating system under conditions of: A: Health;  

B: Disease; C: Drug therapy; and D: Restoration of health. Black arrows represent changing 

levels of demand on the system (up arrow = increasing demand; down arrow = decreasing 

demand). See text for further explanation. Reprinted from Sterling (2004). 

The example of blood pressure regulation illustrates the difference between the 

homeostasis and allostasis models of physiological regulation. In Figure 2, the 

homeostasis model portrays blood pressure as a set-point managed by the variables of 

vascular resistance and cardiac output. Medical interventions aim to change 

dysfunctionality in the local mechanisms that influence vascular resistance and cardiac 

output

Figure 2. Homeostasis model of blood pressure regulation views blood pressure as being 

the net result of functioning of multiple different local effectors which modulate

peripheral resistance and cardiac output. Effectors denoted by “+” increase activity 

whereas those denoted by “-”decrease activity. Medical interventions aim to modify the 

functioning of these effectors. Adapted from Kumar (2009). 

In contrast, the allostasis model (Figure 3) portrays blood pressure as a set-point 

influenced by vascular resistance and cardiac output, among other factors, but ultimately 

managed by the brain. In the allostasis model, the ultimate way to change blood pressure 

is to encourage the brain to adopt a different set-point. Adoption of a new set-point 

necessitates higher-level interventions—that is to say, brain-based changes in thinking, 

perception, and lifestyle, as well as improved functionality of the brain itself.

Greater self-regulation through the human brain is important because methodologies that 

don’t directly and precisely engage the human brain are likely to be more haphazard and 

time-consuming.

Medical and psychological interventions for facilitating well-being, such as counseling 

and psychoactive medications, tend to be highly operator-dependent (especially 

counseling) and/or limited in their specificity of action (especially medications). Thus, 

there is a pressing need for interventions that act through the brain with high degree of 

precision and efficacy, with only minor or non-existent side effects. 

Achieving Right‐Left Hemispheric Balance

Where in the brain does HIRREM focus? It focuses on training the left and right 

hemispheres of the brain simultaneously, so that optimal balance can be more easily 

facilitated between the two hemispheres.   

HIRREM couples the core function of mirroring to a postulation that the two 

hemispheres of the brain perform optimally when they are in balance. Balance of the two 

hemispheres is understood not in terms of popular culture notions of logic versus 

creativity, and so forth, but rather in terms of specific patterns of EEG activation in 

homologous regions of the brain with critical functional neuro-anatomical significance. 

The Brain’s Connection to the Autonomic Nervous System

Most importantly, we have found that EEG asymmetries in the temporal lobes (i.e., at T3 

and T4 in the 10-20 EEG system) correspond to characteristic imbalances of autonomic 

nervous system functioning. Relative dominance of EEG amplitudes at T4 over T3 (right 

temporal lobe over left temporal lobe) is typically associated with dominance of the 

sympathetic (fight-flight) nervous system, which may correspond to anxiety, 

cardiovascular overdrive, hyper-vigilance and other manifestations of hyper-arousal.  

Relative dominance of EEG amplitudes at T3 over T4 (left temporal lobe over right 

temporal lobe) is typically associated with dominance of the parasympathetic (rest-digestfreeze) nervous system, which may correspond to emotional numbness, cardiovascular 

under-activity, gastrointestinal dysfunction, or other manifestations of under-arousal (i.e., 

associated with a freeze state). 

Our model of T3/T4 EEG balance as a way to assess autonomic nervous system 

functioning is convergent with data from several other fields of inquiry. Numerous 

studies in cognitive neuroscience and clinical neurology have concluded that the right 

hemisphere mediates activation of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS), and that the 

left hemisphere mediates activation of the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS). 

Evidence includes findings from studies of hemispheric inactivation (through intracarotid 

amobarbital), studies of patients with cerebrovascular accident or unilateral migraine, and 

studies of lateralized image presentation (Avnon et al 2004; Hilz et al 2001; Yoon 1997; 

Wittling 1997; Wittling et al 1998).   

Also, Rabe et al (2006) have shown that survivors of motor vehicle accidents with a 

diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have asymmetric activation of the 

EEG (right hemisphere greater than left). Additionally, Craig (2005) has described a 

likely anatomical basis for autonomic nervous system lateralization. The right anterior 

insula (located deep to T4) receives ascending projections originating from afferent 

nerves that mediate sympathetic nervous system functions, whereas the left anterior 

insula (located deep to T3) receives projections from afferent nerves that mediate 

parasympathetic nervous system functions. 

When the HIRREM process is provided at the bilateral temporal lobes (T3 and T4), 

characteristic syndromes of autonomic imbalance or dysregulation tend to mitigate, in 

subtle or sometimes dramatic ways. For example, there may be a reduction of 

cardiovascular hyper-arousal, reduction in anxiety, improved sensory awareness, 

improvement of gastrointestinal functioning and so forth.   

   

Trauma’s Imprint on the Brain

In terms of behavioral or emotional history, significant dominance of either the right or 

left temporal lobe EEG over the other side suggests a likely history of traumatic stress. 

The paradigmatic condition associated with T4 (right temporal) dominance is hyperarousal, in which a tendency for sympathetic drive is established due to a traumatic 

infringement. On the opposite end, the paradigmatic condition of T3 dominance is a 

tendency for emotional disengagement or numbness, in which a parasympathetic (freeze 

mode) tendency is established due to an experience of total loss of control in an 

overwhelmingly stressful circumstance, for example emotional isolation, abandonment, 

or other form of overwhelm. 

The characterization of freeze-mode phenomenology—emotional numbness, metabolic 

shutdown—as a reflection of parasympathetic activity is highly consistent with the polyvagal theory of hierarchical staging in emotional expression and engagement (Porges 

2007). Porges has proposed that freeze-mode phenomenology is a last-resort stage of 

autonomic functioning, mediated by an ancient division of the parasympathetic nervous 

system that predominates only in the circumstance of overwhelm, when sympathetic 

(fight-flight) behaviors are inadequate. 

In practice, most individuals with traumatic life histories or post-traumatic stress disorder 

will have variable degrees of dominance of T4 over T3 or vice-versa, across the EEG 

frequency bands, due to the common compounding of different types of traumas in the 

course of a life; that is to say, both trauma that infringes and trauma that overwhelms.  

Furthermore, we suggest that not only may the relative balance of the EEG at T3 and T4 

reflect past emotional traumas and physical health symptoms related to the autonomic

nervous system, but also that T3/T4 imbalances may be a driving force behind some 

social behaviors, whereby the brain drives a behavior in an attempt to self-correct an 

imbalance. 

Data from the criminology literature appear to provide preliminary corroboration of this 

hypothesis. Ortiz and Raine (2004) concluded from a meta-analysis of 45 studies, that 

“low resting heart rate appears to be the best-replicated biological correlate to-date of 

anti-social behavior in children and adolescents.” One possible explanation for this 

phenomenon was that low resting heart rate may be due to dysfunctioning of the right 

hemisphere (which normally manages heart rate through SNS activation). Compensatory 

activation of the left hemisphere would entail lowering of the heart rate (through the 

parasympathetic system).   

Developmentally, the right hemisphere of the human brain—including its competency to 

manage the emotions through regulation of the SNS—undergoes critical maturational 

processes in early infancy, through strong parental-infant bonding (Schore 2009). 

Inadequacy of early bonding may thus lead to inability of the individual to competently 

activate and manage their SNS, putting the individual at higher risk for emotional 

disturbance. Because of the inadequacy of SNS regulation, PNS compensation (and 

eventually dominance) may ensue. 

Dominance of the PNS (managed by the left hemisphere), due to inadequacy of the right 

hemisphere, thus mediates production of a freeze response. Again, a key physiological 

characteristic of the freeze response is low arousal, which for instance may manifest as 

low resting heart rate. Low arousal is closely related to the emotional numbing or 

disengagement that characterizes antisocial behavior. This PNS-dominant, low-arousal 

state may then become a driver for the acting out of antisocial behavior. Inappropriate 

stimulus-seeking (including substance abuse, violent tendencies, or anti-sociality) may be 

a manifestation of the brain’s attempt to self-correct an excessively low-arousal state. 

Testing our Hypothesis with Inmates  

We have produced corroborative evidence for the PNS-dominant anti-sociality 

hypothesis, in the course of a pilot study to investigate whether HIRREM could facilitate 

improved self-regulation of subjects incarcerated in a medium-security correctional 

facility (Gerdes et al, 2007). Five subjects underwent this procedure. All five had initial 

assessments that showed marked dominance (more than 250 percent difference in 

amplitude) of the left temporal lobe over the right, suggesting PNS dominance.   

After approximately 25 sessions each, these five subjects experienced major shifts in 

their behavior and well-being. They became dramatically more cooperative and less 

hostile. There were stark improvements in the degree of T3/T4 EEG balance (reduced to 

approximately 10 percent difference in amplitude). The quality of the improvements in 

the subjects’ behavior, as observed by the correctional facility staff and administrators,

was considered to be well beyond that achieved with other interventions encountered 

during an extensive career in corrections administration (Skolnik, personal 

communication).  

HIRREM thus includes a model of balance between EEG activity at the right and left 

temporal lobes (T3 and T4). This balance is postulated to reflect the degree of balance in 

the autonomic nervous system and theoretically can explain emotional and cognitive 

tendencies, physical health traits, and possibly even behavioral tendencies, especially for 

individuals who have experienced trauma that infringes or overwhelms.   

Working with the Brain in Totality

Finally, although balance at the temporal lobes is crucial, nonetheless this technology 

approaches the brain in a global, non-reductionistic manner. Mirroring takes place 

throughout major regions of the cortex. 

Reductionistic models of neural functioning have been extremely helpful for identifying 

local mechanisms and dysfunctions across a range of neural and human phenomena. Yet, 

our understanding of various discrete mechanisms doesn’t necessarily translate to 

facilitating betterment for the individual’s condition as a whole.   

“Rather than a problem in a single brain region, scientists increasingly believe that 

psychiatric diseases are a result of dysfunctional circuits spread over multiple regions 

leaving them unable to properly communicate and work together. That disrupts, for 

example, the balance between impulsivity and self-control that plays a crucial role in 

addiction. These networks of circuits overlap, explaining why so many mental disorders 

share common symptoms, such as mood problems. It is also a reason that addictions—to 

nicotine, alcohol or various types of legal or illegal drugs—often go hand-in-hand with 

post-traumatic stress disorders, depression, schizophrenia and other mental illnesses.  

“Think of it as if the brain were an orchestra, its circuits being the violins and the piano, 

and the brass section, all smoothly starting and stopping their parts on cue. That 

orchestration is disrupted in psychiatric illness. There is not a psychiatric disease that 

owns one particular circuit.” (Nora Volkow, Director of NIH NIDA, keynote address to 

American Psychiatric Association, May 24, 2010) 

HIRREM sessions typically involve training five to eight regions of the brain per session 

(generally 90 minutes per session). Training of multiple lobes and regions of the brain 

aims to facilitate greater global functional integration and therefore more robust 

improvements.   

Who Can Brainwave Optimization Help?

Who should undergo Brainwave Optimization, and for what reasons? 

Greater self-regulatory capacity for, by, and through the human brain may theoretically 

benefit any human being in any given condition.   

  

Uncontrolled data from nearly 30,000 individuals world-wide suggests that the training 

may have a role for relief of symptoms related to post-traumatic stress, insomnia, 

substance abuse, mood disorders, anxiety, attention-deficit disorders, traumatic brain 

injury, movement disorders including Parkinson’s and Tourette’s, learning disabilities, 

cardiovascular disease, endocrine disorders, chronic pain, gastrointestinal disease and 

other conditions. Improvements have also been reported for a client with trisomy 21 and 

a client with chromosome 8p inversion.   

The training has also been found to have a superior role for performance enhancement 

among musicians, visual artists, athletes, and executives. 

An individual may undergo training sessions at virtually any time in their life.  

Individuals who have undergone this procedure range in age from one-and-a half to 100-

and-a-half. 

Given the extraordinarily non-invasive character of the technology, the question may be 

raised as to how such a subtle methodology might promote improvements in brain 

functioning. We theorize that at the level of fundamental physics, the training facilitates 

auto-calibration of oscillating neural networks through resonance-based dissipation or 

accretion of neural energy. 

Listening to the ‘Music’ of the Brain

As described earlier, the mirror provided by HIRREM does not use light to reflect a 

visual image.  Rather, it uses sound to reflect a pattern of electrical activity or brain 

energy. The choice of the sound to be reflected back to the user is made through a 

mathematical algorithm that identifies the dominant frequency of the individual’s EEG 

spectrum in a floating middle range at a given instant of time. The dominant EEG 

frequency is translated to a musical note whose frequency corresponds to the dominant 

EEG frequency. The musical note is played back to the individual through earphones 

(Figures 4 through 6). 

Because of the identification between the dominant EEG frequency and the musical note 

frequency, the phenomenon of resonance occurs between the individual’s brain and the 

musical note. We theorize that resonance between the individual’s dominant EEG 

frequencies and the musical notes played back in response creates an opportunity for the 

brain to either dissipate or accrete neural energy. Neural-musical resonance may be a 

mechanism for auto-calibration of neural networks.   

We thus propose the following general model for HIRREM: 

Neural oscillations, which manifest macroscopically as brainwaves, are a primaryprocess feature of neural networks. Like any oscillating system, neural networks have set 

points that can be subject to perturbation with ensuing disequilibrium. In the case of 

human brains, perturbations will commonly present as traumas, either physical or 

emotional. Disequilibria may manifest as different types of acute mental, emotional, 

and/or physical health disturbances.   

If perturbations are of a sufficient degree or frequency, new set points may develop, 

establishing disequilibria more firmly and manifesting as clinical disease syndromes. 

Once perturbed, a neural network may be able to regain its original equilibrium; in other 

words, health is restored. The possibility of such an outcome suggests that neural 

networks likely have innate programs or templates for their oscillatory parameters, 

toward which they have a natural tendency to gravitate. Such parameters, if identified, 

would represent canonical energetic relationships within and between populations of 

neurons. 

The technology aims to de-establish the dis-equilibrious set points of neural oscillatory 

networks, and facilitate recovery of canonical energetic relationships within and between 

populations of neurons. 

This approach respects the subtlety of neural oscillatory dynamics and aims to simply 

provide a resonance-based mirror for the networks. Through shifting sequences of 

resonance, the networks receive information in a rapidly recursive manner about the 

patterns of their own functioning. As this process iterates, the networks dissipate or 

accrete energy in specific frequency bands, in accordance with speculated canonical 

energetic relationships.   

If the neural network is viewed as a form of instrumentation, the HIRREM process can be 

likened to a technique for auto-calibration. Auto-calibration allows restoration of the set 

points of original equilibrium. 

As yet, the preceding model is hypothetical only. We are currently in the process of 

attracting appropriately qualified investigators from relevant disciplines to help confirm, 

refute, or extend the model, so the HIRREM methodology can be advanced and 

improved

Selected References: 

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activation in left unilateral migraineurs. Brain. 2004; 127(9): 2099-2108. 

Craig B. Forebrain emotional asymmetry: a neuroanatomical basis? Trends in Cognitive  

Sciences Vol. 9 No.12 December 2005. 

Gerdes et al. Demonstration Summary of Brain State Technologies Training for Inmates  

in the Nevada Department of Corrections, 2007. 

Hilz M. et al. Hemispheric influence on autonomic modulation and baroreflex sensitivity.  

Annals of Neurology. 1 May 2001; 49 (5): 575-84. 

Kumar V., Ed. Robbins and Cotran’s Pathologic Basis of Disease, 8

th

 Ed. Elsevier, 2009. 

Norretranders T. The User Illusion.  New York: Viking Penguin, 1998. 

Ortiz J. and Raine A. Heart rate level and anti-social behavior in children and  

adolescents: a meta-analysis. Journal of the American Academy of Child and  

Adolescent Psychology. 2004, 43(2): 154-162. 

Porges S. The poly-vagal perspective.  Biological Psychology 74 (2007) 116–143. 

Rabe et al. Regional brain activity in posttraumatic stress disorder after motor vehicle  

accident. Journal of Abnormal Psychology. 2006; 115 (4) 687-98. 

Rabe et al. Changes in brain electrical activity after cognitive behavioral therapy for  

posttraumatic stress disorder in patients injured in motor vehicle accidents. 

Psychosomatic Med. 2008; 70: 13-19. 

Schore A. Right brain affect regulation: an essential mechanism of development, trauma,  

dissociation, and psychotherapy, in Fosha D, Siegel D, and Solomon M, Eds., The 

Healing Power of Emotion. New York: WW Norton, 2009. 

Sterling P. Principles of allostasis: optimal design, predictive regulation,  

pathophysiology, and rational therapeutics, in Schulkin J, Ed., Allostasis, 

Homeostasis, and the Costs of Physiological Adaptation. New York: Cambridge  

University Press, 2004. 

Wittling W. The right hemisphere and the human stress response. Acta  

Physiologica. 1997; (640) 55-9. 

Wittling W. et al. Hemisphere asymmetry in parasympathetic control of the heart. 

Neuropsychologia. 1998 May 1; 36 (5): 461-68. 

Yoon BW. Cerebral hemispheric lateralization in cardiac autonomic control. Archives of 

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