How Neurofeedback Restores Brain Function After Toxic Mold

Mom-to-Mom Marketing and Show Intro 0:00

The biggest thing, I mean, I could tell story after story, the best thing about what we're doing and the thing that warms our heart the most is that we call it mom-to-mom marketing. So we want someone to experience our services and have success. And then they tell their next person, whether it's another person in their family or a friend, and that's really how we've grown this. So those stories that they're telling of how it's working is how we grew more than anything else. And that's the biggest compliment that we could have.

You've tried everything. You've changed your diet. You've detoxed. You've even moved homes. And yet, you still feel sick. Headaches, brain fog, fatigue that no one can explain. What if it's not you? What if it's your environment? Welcome to Mold Microtoxins and More. I'm John Borden. Each week, I sit down with experts uncovering how mold, microtoxins, and environmental exposures affect your health and what real recovery looks like. Let's get into today's conversation. The information provided on the Mold Pros podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

Listening to the podcast does not create a doctor-patient or professional-client relationship between you and the podcast host, guest, or the Mold Pros. The content shared should not be used as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. And always seek the medical advice of your physician or qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding the medical condition,

Podcast Disclaimer and Guest Introduction 1:24

potential mold exposure, or health concerns. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you heard on this podcast. And while we strive to provide accurate and up-to-date information, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, expressed or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, or suitability of all the information discussed. A guest's experience and outcomes discussed on this podcast are individual cases and should not be considered typical results.

Your situation may differ significantly. As always, if you think you have a medical emergency, call your doctor or 911 immediately. By listening to the MolePros podcast, you acknowledge that you understood this disclosure. Brain fog, memory problems, anxiety, depression, headaches that won't quit. If you've been exposed to toxic mold, these symptoms might sound all too familiar. But what if there's a drug-free way to help retrain your brain and recover from mold-related neurological damage? Welcome to Mold Microtoxins and More, the podcast where we explore the hidden connections between environmental toxins and your health.

I'm your host, John Bode, and today we have a truly inspiring guest who bridges the world of education and brain health. Sandra Murcott is the founder of Braintopia Neurofeedback Centers with 10 locations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. As a veteran educator with over 20 years' experience and a master's degree in curriculum design and assessment, Sandra discovered that neurofeedback's transformative potential for addressing focus, anxiety, and the neurological impacts of environmental toxins, including mode exposure, Today, Braintopia serves everyone from children with ADHD to professional athletes.

Sandra, welcome to the show. Thank you. I'm so happy to be here, John. Glad we could make this happen. Let's start out, first of all, just some basics. What exactly is neurofeedback brain training and how does it differ from other brain health interventions? Great question. So brain training or neurofeedback is working with brain waves. So we, one, first use what's called a QEEG brain map to identify where there's dysregulation in the brain. Dysregulation can be caused by really one of four things.

Mold or mycotoxin exposure, which is why we're here talking to you today. food sensitivities, injury, a concussion or TBI, or complex trauma.

What Neurofeedback Is and How It Works 3:48

And so what we do is we identify what part of the brain this is affecting, go back and look at what in the patient's medical history could have caused this. And then brain training or neurofeedback is actually using audio and visual stimulation and audiovisual cues to get those brainwaves back into the organized patterns that they were intended to exist in. And so it's not making the brain do anything, it's truly encouraging it and training it back into organized patterns of behavior. We do not use medicine, we use all audio and visual cues, and we'll get into more details on that.

But at its very most simplistic terms, it's getting brainwaves back into organized patterns. Interesting, interesting. A lot of our listeners, they want to shy away from, it's always, you know, prescribe a script for this or that and it's, you know, it's easy to pop a pill to try to solve a problem. So I'd like to learn a little bit more exactly how neurofeedback addresses neurological symptoms like differently than what a pharmaceutical would. Can you speak to that? I can, absolutely. So what we're doing is working with the electrical system of the brain.

So each one of the five brainwaves that we're working with has a certain Hertz level and a certain threshold with which it's supposed to operate within. And when we're dealing with meds, which is more of a chemical issue, so we're talking metabolic versus kind of electrical system, more functional, And so with medicine, which we're not anti-meds, sometimes they're needed, but with meds, it's going through the blood and through that system. And so it's either bringing everything up or everything down.

And so you can't really isolate a certain brainwave. With neurofeedback, because we're isolating all five of those brainwaves and identifying where they are and what's high and what's low, we can really work with individual brainwaves on different individual sides of the brain as well, because the brain is going to be doing different things on the two different hemispheres. And so identifying that and then being able to really tailor what we're doing and how we're, I don't want to say manipulating, because that's not what we're doing, how we're training the different sides of the brain is very important.

So it just gives a much more individualized approach rather than just, so for example, anxiety meds, What do they do? They're bringing all of this activity down. Well, what happens when one brainwave needs to be brought down and one needs to be brought up? Then medicine is not necessarily doing that. So that's why a lot of people are on an anti-anxiety medicine and then they're also on an anti-depression medicine because you have to do both things within the brain. And so at that point, then we're kind of counteracting each other.

We're really able to isolate and identify where the need is and solve that based on the individualized brainwave instead of just going through the bloodstream. So you're teaching the brain essentially to kind of self-regulate? Yes. The central nervous system, yes. Okay. Okay. So is that a one-time fix? Is it an ongoing situation that it always has to be retaught that? Can you explain what that looks like? Absolutely. So neurofeedback in general is not meant to be a forever modality. So that's why these brain maps are so important that we do at the beginning because we need to identify and figure out what the core and the root problem is so that the brain is not constantly reintroduced to whatever is causing inflammation or causing injury and causing reactions in the brain.

So if it is a food sensitivity, we work very closely. That's why we have partners, Mold Pros being one of them, is we have to figure out what is the root cause of this so that when we get the brain back into a regulated state, that it stays there for the most part.

Why Neurofeedback Differs From Medication 7:36

Because we're not, this is retraining the brain back into an organized pattern that it was intended to be in. As long as we get it there, it's going to stay in that state. The brain doesn't like to change. And so it's going to stay in the state, whether it's dysregulated or regulated, until something comes and acts upon it to get it out of that homeostasis. And so we need to make sure that if there's mold in their environment that we're eradicating that so that it is not going to reintroduce all this work that we've done.

if mold's still in their environment, then it's just going to keep reintroducing the problem back into their brain function. And so we really work with the clients and with our partners to be able to figure out what in their environment is causing this so that it doesn't keep you know, reintroducing this to them. As long as we get that out of their environment, this is a permanent solution for them. So it's not something that they have to do forever, which we always tell practitioners, we are not in competition with them, we are helping them because we're a drop in the bucket versus what, you know, they'll go back to whether it's their counselor or whether it's their chiropractor, we're a very short amount of time to get the brain regulated and then all the other modalities are that much more effective.

Very good. You're so uniquely positioned, I feel, because your background in the environmental exposure from the affiliations you've had with real-time labs, et cetera, and of course, decades of being an educator. So you have this science affiliation, you have the education background as well, and then you decided to do this full-time. And now you have 10 centers in the DFW area. Can you share a little bit of how you progressed from being an educator to full-time operating your neurofeedback centers?

That's a dramatic career shift. It's a dramatic career shift. But the funny thing is, is the way that this happened is so it makes so much sense, even though our family really didn't realize that at the time. So like you said, my connection with Realtime Labs is that my dad, Dr. Dennis Hooper, is the the founder of Real-Time Labs. And my husband was the CEO for 15 years. And so as they're working with that, I always say I'm medically adjacent because that was our life for so many years, for 20, 25 years is hearing about, you know, okra toxins and aflatoxins and all of that in the background, not really ever thinking how that could really affect, you know, my career and what I was doing.

Well, fast forward to About 13 years ago we adopted my husband and I adopted a little boy and. With with adoption there is always some some inherent trauma that happens and so that was brought in our life we knew that we would potentially be dealing with some ADHD things. symptoms and different potential mental health, but we wanted to make sure that we were not introducing anything that could lead to addiction or anything to our son. And so that got me thinking about brain health and how different options.

From Educator to Braintopia Founder 10:48

And then my dad went through a liver transplant and we saw what autoimmunity and what metabolics can really do to the brain. And I was his primary caregiver during that time. He's recovered wonderfully now and we're so blessed with that. But I saw what happens when encephalopathy really takes over the brain and how when you detox, you can bring that brain function back and that brain fog really lifts. And that gave me so much firsthand knowledge of brain health and how important it is to detoxify and to make sure that we are metabolically in a good place and how that affects the brain.

And then my education background, after COVID, we were seeing so many kids come back with such high anxiety from just not knowing what was going on in the world. And not even cognitively, or their cognition about what was going on wasn't even as much, but just the fact of what they're watching their parents go through. And so That was kind of a perfect storm of all things that I wanted to be able to give parents in the education field a view into the brain and say, why are they getting these diagnoses?

Why is someone telling me that they're ADHD? And really, surprisingly enough, when we do these brain maps, what people think is ADHD is actually very, very different. And so I'm able to educate parents about like, why do doctors give stimulants? for ADHD and what does that look like in the brain? And is your child a good candidate for that based on their brain profile? And the same thing with answering questions about autoimmunity. Are you showing heavy metal toxicity based on potentially having the MTHFR gene variant and all these things.

Now we don't diagnose those in our centers, but that's why we again have the partners to go and say, I want you to go and visit Silver Genetics and have this test. I need you to look at your environment and called mold pros and make sure that you're not being exposed to something. And so we really take a four-pronged approach to that. So that's how it got me from my education background is in brain-based education, looking at how the different parts of the brain affect learning. Well, this is very, very similar in just the different parts of the brain are affecting different emotions and different functionality.

And so it really worked together in my personal life and my professional life to lead me to the point that we're at now. It wasn't expected. It was something that was going to be very part-time to be able to just help you know, the kids in our, in our sphere and the families in our sphere. And now it's just, it's blown up and it's starting in Dallas, but we are not stopping just in this location. We're going to, we're going to go nationwide. So we're excited. Oh, that's great. That's great. Definitely, definitely in need, but you can, well, you can just see that from the amount of centers you've opened up in such a short amount of time.

Right. I know you're not a clinician, so you talked about being medically adjacent, which I love that. Are you able to speak about how microtoxins specifically affect the brain and what you've observed with clients that have mold-related neurological symptoms? Like brain fog and those sorts of things? Yes. So one of the things that I want to point out is that in one of our locations, in our Dallas location, Dallas proper, we were approached by a chiropractor who works with mold exposure. And that's his whole area, one of his major areas.

And he told us he wanted to bring us an office because he feels that neurofeedback is the number one way after, of course, detoxing and metabolic detox. the number one way to get brain function back when after there's been mold exposure, meaning to have that brain fog lift and all of that. So I didn't even realize how effective neurofeedback was in the mold space, which is so ironic because that's where my family has lived for so long. But what we really did is started to dive in and there's there's something on our map that shows heavy metal toxicity.

And that's where when that comes up that is showing that there is that the gut has been the gut which we call the second brain has been exposed to something. It is not detoxifying effectively. Most of the time when heavy metal toxicity comes up, it's one of two things, either food sensitivities, which all of us at a certain level with what's going on with food and all that are exposed, but so often mold and mycotoxin exposure is something that we will talk through. What does that mean? The first thing I'll ask is, do you have a lake house?

Are you around water a lot? any, did you have a water leak? And a lot of, have you lived in an apartment recently? Like so many different things that have happened lead back to mold and mycotoxin exposure. And so once they get tested, which a lot of times we're sending them to real time, we will find that they have gone through really every other modality. They have tried everything. By the time they get to us and there's a history of mold exposure, they're so frustrated that they just want to try anything.

We really look to make sure that if that heavy metal toxicity comes up, that they have gone through a heavy metal detox of some sort using glutathione is our favorite thing to recommend, but then also making sure that they are eradicating what has gone on potentially in their home. And you can probably speak to even more what percentage of homes are actually affected by this, because I think it's probably a lot higher than we even realize. Yeah, I think there's been studies that show that greater than 60% of homes in the US have actually elevated mold levels inside the home.

Now, whether those molds are actually producing toxins or not could be a different story, but that's the reason why you test. That way you can make really good data-driven decisions. You had mentioned the mapping that's due to the brain and that you can actually map to see if there's this heavy metal exposure. I'm kind of curious, does that brain mapping, are you actually able to see if there's been microtoxin exposure in the brain as well?

Mold Exposure, Brain Fog, and Root Causes 17:00

We cannot get that deep into it because what our measure is quantitative and it's based on just what quantitative data of what we're seeing based on only brainwave activity. And so a lot of people say, well, how do you do that? That's a blood test. That's understood. We don't diagnose anything at our center. What we do is we're like the first step in saying, okay, you're having symptoms. Let's correlate that to what we're potentially seeing. And then at that point, we will send them out to our partners to say, we need to figure out what's going on here.

So you need to go get food allergy tested. You need to get a mold test. And then if their mold test, their physical mold test comes up with anything, then we say, okay, you need to test your environment and you really need to dive into that. I would encourage you, you talked about some of those qualifying questions that you ask here in the South. So the lot of, like you mentioned, okra toxin A, which of course is a micro toxin that's produced by aspergillus or penicillium species. So it's not just if they live near a lake house or an apartment.

that aspergillus and penicillium, those are xerophilic moles. In other words, they'll thrive. They don't require a lot of water. They're known as dry-loving moles. And so, especially the south where it's humid, EPA always recommends that you maintain your relative humidity, ideally between 30 and 50%, to avoid that kind of fungal growth. And so, I mean, you're in Texas, very humid in Texas. And then I'm in Florida, extremely human South Florida. So that's every day. So you don't have to live near a lake or live.

in an apartment, you just have to live and have a structure that has drywall and have leather furniture or cloth furniture or, you know, a house made of wood, you're going to have that risk. That's why I really do think that environmental microtoxin testing, oftentimes I get asked, you know, what's the best test? And the answer is there isn't one that's the best because each test goes to what you're trying to understand. So you sample and test appropriately for what you're trying to know. But that environmental mycotoxin test, because we can have toxicogenic or pathogenic fungal species and have them not be producing toxins.

And I think that is a great test. It's easy from a DIY, if someone wants to do it themselves and not have a professional do it as part of their inspection, to great task. And that would be obviously a starting place, in our opinion, for a lot of folks going down that path. Absolutely. Now, how do they get that, John? Because our clientele will be watching this. If they suspect that, what's the best way that they can get that? And you said, do it yourself. How do you go about doing that? Yeah, so if you want to contact us directly and at the end of the podcast, we'll have that information.

You can go to info at themodepros.com or our website, www.themodepros.com. Not only will we get the test sent out to you, that kit, but we will actually walk them through how to properly sample. That way they eliminate some of the sampling bias and bad results. So that's something that we can do for them. Would you say you only do that if you're symptomatic or should people be doing that just in general? If they have a health concern, then we would recommend that as being a foundational test that they do.

Obviously, you want to understand if you have mold elevations, you shouldn't ever have elevated mold amounts in your home and you shouldn't have mold growth in your home. You certainly don't want toxigenic or pathogenic fungal species. That's where that DNA testing gets down to. And then you certainly don't want those species producing toxins. And that's why that test that actually your father developed, I think, is one of the best tests that's out there because it tells you both of those things.

Right. Yeah. So getting back We talked about, you know, traditional medical tests and some of that sort of stuff. Using neurofeedback, how do you help your families understand exactly what's happening in the brain? And are you able to provide some answers that conventional medicine simply doesn't do? Because you don't go to the level of the mapping and stuff that you do. Right. So that's a great question. So people will come to us often and they have been to neurologists, they have been, and we love doctors.

I mean, we are a medical family. So I think that there's space in this arena for both. because what we can give that imaging doesn't is just that quantitative data of having this huge database so our our database that we have is has just hundreds of thousands of people in there and we have data on the all of their background like all that when they come into us they they do intake forms and so we have metabolic measures and we have all these things so so we can correlate brainwave activity through our database with what we're seeing metabolically

Brain Mapping, Data, and Treatment Protocols 22:00

and so it gives us another layer of again that quantitative data to be able to say if this is happening in the brain these are a list of things of what could be causing that. And so we don't diagnose. This is not a tool or anything in our centers that diagnose because we're not doctors. However, it gives people a good start. And what people will come in and tell us is we've never been able to get this much information. And so even if it's not a diagnosis, it gives us the next step of what we need to go and where we need to go.

Because a lot of the people that come and see us, they've been told by a doctor potentially that Well, we, you know, we've done everything we can do or we, you know, sit here and kind of wait it out. And again, not, not bashing doctors by any chance. We, we know that they're so necessary and they've gone to a lot more schooling than I have. So I am not, I'm not questioning them, but. But sometimes we have neurologists that'll send people to us because they said we've tried everything and they're not responding.

So let's see. Let's see what you guys can do. So complementary relationship, right? It really is. Yeah. And I think it's the data. We're very data driven so we can compare. We're watching through because people are with us for about three and a half to four months. It's a 30 session minimum protocol and we ask that they come twice a week. So we're watching how the brain is responding over time. This is not like shock therapy or anything that you come one time. We're in true relationship with these patients for a very long time and can watch what's going on and watching how their brain is, both with subjective data and objective data, how the brain is quite literally changing and adjusting.

And so that information is so beneficial to doctors as well as they're going through and counselors and any other You know practitioners that they're working with and so that's really what we have seen as the benefit to this and we monitor once these clients are with us in our database we can monitor them forever we ask that they come back every year and get a brain map so that we can keep watching. You know, we go to the doctor for every other body part, right? Why don't we go for the brain? Because there hasn't been a tool that is available to people, you know, that are not necessarily in these dire straits where you would go to a neurologist.

This is something that everyone can do. And so we always say neurofeedback may not be for everyone, but the brain mapping process is for everyone. Everyone should be getting a brain map yearly. And I, hopefully the, if they were to mind, they find something in there. My wife would probably argue otherwise, but what I really liked when we were talking is how you actually have cases and we'll be able to dig in this a little bit later on where the initial mapping looked like this. And then after the sessions, there is a difference in that mapping that you can see.

It is, it is quantifiable. It is, yeah. And that's the best thing about what we have. So in a 30-session protocol, we do a base, what we call a base QEEG map at the beginning. That tells us where we're going to start with training. After 20 sessions, we do another one and we have what's called a comparison report. And so we're going to look at everything from dominant frequency, which is how the brain is powering up, versus mitochondrial function, how ATP is being produced. We're looking at magnitude, how fast or slow brainwaves are moving, and that helps us determine, do we have an anxiety response?

Do we have an ADHD response? Do we have a depressive brainwave pattern? You know, all of this stuff. So nothing that we're doing is based just on symptoms. That's a part of what we do because that is important, but it's not just, well, how are you feeling? It is what is the data showing and why might you be feeling this way based on the data? So that's one of our core tenets is that we're very data-driven and we're not just throwing spaghetti against a wall to see what sticks. We're actually really working based on what the data is showing us.

Yeah, that's fantastic. We're both parents and there are two things that tug on our heartstrings, kids and puppies, right? And so we understand how concerning that mold toxicity or environmental toxins can be for children, you know, with their developing brains and that sort of thing. And then, you know, the amount of ADHD and autism cases that get diagnosed, if you look at how that is just spiked over the last decade or two, it's just incredible. How does neural feedback support children dealing with those environmental toxins?

Is it different for kids versus adults? Can you, not just survival toxins, but getting in early before these conditions become, I guess, more oppressive or more dominant. Can you speak to any of that? Is it the same? You've cleaned, repainted, and replaced filters, and still, you're not getting better. Headache, fatigue, brain fog? The doctors can't explain it, but your environment can. At The Mold Pros, we specialize in uncovering what's hidden in plain sight. Our environmental testing looks beyond surface mold, identifying bacteria, volatile organic compounds, and even microtoxins in the air that you breathe.

Then we correlate those results with your clinical data, showing how your space may be affecting your health. Next, we use our patented remediation process to safely remove toxins, restore balance, and prevent them from returning. It's more than just a cleanup. It's a science-based system designed to help your body heal by healing the environment first. If you're ready to breathe freely again, visit TheMoldPros.com and schedule your free consultation. Because wellness doesn't start in the doctor's office, it starts where you live.

Yes. So the biggest thing, probably our two largest demographics of people that we're seeing right now is autism or spectrum disorders and ADHD. And so both of those, when we see those, and again, we don't diagnose either of those, but most of the time the clients are coming in and they already have that diagnosis and they want to look for a solution. And what we will see is heavy metal toxicity coming up. And so we will talk through, especially with our autism or our spectrum clients, we will talk through, and I don't want to get into like vaccines or anything like, let's not get controversial here, but a lot of them are having those kids were normal development up until the 18 to 24 month vaccine that they had.

Neurofeedback for Kids, ADHD, and Autism 28:30

And then something after that vaccine caused some reaction. And so again, we're not saying that the vaccine caused that, but what we're saying is there's something in their genetic makeup that had potentially a heavy metal toxicity response to what happened in those formative years. And so we really look at what's going on in the gut that a lot of our clients will come in and ironically there's a lot that have medical their parents are in the medical field and so they've done the testing they have found they know that there is something in their gut health that is causing this and causing a encephalopatic and toxic exposure to their brain based on whatever is going on in their system.

So that's where we really want to, again, bring in our partners and say, what has caused this? We have a large uptick of Indian family and Ethiopian families in our centers, just because that's the demographic of one of our centers. And so we're really diving into what are these environments in these countries when they're traveling back and forth to these countries What's happening based on that? I mean, it's so multifactorial. But with our ADHD kids, a lot of times, there is also a food sensitivity component to that, or an injury component to that.

But with food sensitivity, that is going to act like it's going to show up as heavy metal toxicity. And so a lot of our kids, mine included, ate like five things when they were growing up and none of those are what they need to get the proper nutrients for brain health development. And so then we're seeing different things that are happening based on that. And so we really have to help parents to understand here's what's happening in the gut based on what you know who knows who knows what the origination was but here's where we are now so we need to figure out what that core issue is and really address it now with food that's harder because kids are still eating my 13 year old is still eating probably the same five things that he that he want but that's why we have to have supplementation so that's why supplementation is so important which again is one of the four prongs of of who we work with with other Because neurofeedback does not live in a silo.

We cannot go and say, neurofeedback in and of itself is going to be the savior for everything. Absolutely not. It's the functional piece of our four-pronged approach, but environmental, metabolic, functional, and psychological are our four prongs. And we really have to look at all four. And at any point in one of those four, people can enter the scene, but they really need all four of them. So regardless of where they're coming from and where their origination is, meaning they could come from a mold background and know, okay, I've had mold exposure.

Well, those other three, there's going to be a metabolic functional and psychological component to all of those. And so we really have to look at all of it. Okay. That makes, that makes sense. And that's that good comprehensive approach really. Overly as well the functional medicine approach right really get into the root cause of things Not just treating symptoms, but getting to what's actually causing the issue can you walk us through and maybe a linear process if there is such a thing, but How does it start when I hear 30 sessions?

I don't know too many people enjoy going to for doctors visits the dental the dentist office, etc. All that sounds so scary and so Is this, from what I understand, it's not, we're not attaching, you know, all the, you know, shaving your head and attaching electrodes. It's nothing like that at all. Can you walk us through what that looks like? And then how does a typical patient actually come to call upon you and what's that pathway look like? Sure. One thing I didn't answer from the last question is with kids.

So our youngest kids, our youngest client came in before she was even two years old. So when you look at that and you think of doctor's appointments and stuff, I'm gonna explain what this is because it's very different. And it's something that people actually enjoy coming to, especially if you have a kid like for this little girl, we stuck her in a high chair and gave her snacks. And ultimately what the client experience is, is you're sitting in a recliner and you're watching a TV show. Now, the TV show in and of itself is not what's giving you the neurofeedback.

What's happening is you have sensors on your head. Those sensors are not electrodes. They're not putting anything into the brain. Those sensors are reading brainwave activity across the scalp. And depending on the location, depending on that brain map, that base QEG brain map, we know where we're starting first. So whether it's frontal lobe or occipital lobe or right in the middle in the central sulcus of the brain, we're starting in a certain location. Those sensors are reading the brain web activity, sending it through the software, through our computer, and to the television.

And what's happening on the television, the client experiences that they're watching Netflix or Disney Plus, whatever. It doesn't matter what the show is. We just want them to be distracted by their show. And the sound and the volume and the brightness on the TV is fluctuating. So what that's actually doing is putting the brain into a, for lack of a better term, a fight or flight response, but taking the emotional component out of that. Because what we need to do is train the brain to take in stimuli through the central nervous system and appropriately respond to that.

Because when the central nervous system is not appropriately responding, to stimulate, then we see all the symptoms that we've talked about, and that we see anxiety, you know, all of depression, whichever symptom we're seeing. And so they're sitting in a chair, they're comfortable, they're watching, it's 30 minutes per session, and so it's very passive form of therapy or form of, uh, it's a very passive modality. So for them, they're, they just think that they're sitting and watching a TV show, which is why 30 sessions sounds terrible to like, if I'm going to the dentist 30 times, we're doing something different.

Like I'm just pull out my teeth. That's what this is. So when people are coming in, they enjoy it. They are doing something that they really like. So it's very calming for people. There's different eyes closed protocols, eyes open protocols. So based on their brain profile, I always say it's kind of like balm to the brain. And so it is a time investment, but it's something that they enjoy doing. So it's a lot less tedious than one might think when they hear 30 sessions. Yeah, very good. I can see why you've had success dealing with, say, or helping people that are going through and that have autism or spectrum disorders, because it's that input, how to be able to deal with that input and that stimulation.

So that certainly makes a lot of sense. is how different is that as opposed to working with child versus dealt with a professional athlete? Are you seeing similarities or is that a different sort of treatment process? It really depends on what that brain map looks like. For our children, most of the time the challenge is, especially if they're spectrum or autism, to get them to trust us because the biggest nightmare for a spectrum child is touching their head. And so we're asking them to put ear clips on their ears and put something on their head.

And so we really work with them at the beginning. We've had so many clients that come in and they are throwing their shoes and they are mad, they're screaming. at the beginning and the parents are trying to restrain them and I'm super calm through that because I've seen what happens like we know we expect that that's going to happen and then after about session four or five they're sitting in the chair they're they're quiet there it's it's miraculous and so but what they do is they start to trust us their brain is starting to react to to what's going on and they're quite literally their nervous system is calming and that is the whole goal so Now, a child that's coming in that has a spectrum disorder versus an adult, very different goals.

How the Therapy Sessions Work 36:30

We're not saying we're curing anything with neurofeedback, but for a family that has a child on the spectrum, any level of progression is going to be pretty monumental as far as the change for the family. Now, for an adult, especially a professional athlete, let's say, coming in, A lot of times they're coming in in their late 30s or early to mid 40s and what they have experienced in their playing days, which is likely 15, 20 years ago, and there's injury, concussion, that's all now starting to catch up with them.

And so they're seeing potentially headaches, they're seeing inflammation in the brain, they may have bloodshot eyes, they may have all kind, you know, they're feeling potentially anxiety or depression, different symptoms that they're feeling. And so we really look back, they're probably having sleep issues. So whereas a child may have, you know, high activity in the center, an adult or a professional athlete that's coming in, they could be falling asleep during their sessions because their brain now just they're basically their brain has gone into what we call sleep saver or screen saver mode.

where it's had such high anxiety for so long and had to be at this heightened state for so long that now it just, when stimuli's coming in, it just kind of goes into shutdown mode. And so we have to kind of wake up the brain at that point and stimulate it in a different way. So that's why these brain maps are so important. There's no one protocol that works for everyone. And so that's why it's very individualized for each person based on that brain map. So yeah, it's something different every day, which keeps it interesting around here.

Yeah, no doubt. Sounds like it would. So we talked about environmental exposure or, you know, mycotoxin exposure. We talked about spectrum disorders, ADHD, and essentially trauma, right? What other issues have you found or conditions where neurofeedback may be helpful? So when we look at trauma, there's two different ways. So physical trauma, which is TBI or concussion, and then there's emotional trauma as well. We have quite a few clients that will come in and have a history of emotional trauma.

And so what that is manifesting, that's more in the back of the brain. And so it affects how they process things. So if we have a trauma background, how you're processing what's coming in is through the lens of that trauma. So whenever that trauma happened, whether it could have been in utero, when, you know, if there was drug exposure, it could have been at birth, if there was like a cord wrapped around the neck of the baby, it could be childhood, it could be at any point of life. Well, what happens is how the brain processes information really stops at that point and everything else that's coming in is through that lens of trauma and so what we do is we help to get the brainwaves that are a lot of times in like I say shut down mode because it's been in high anxiety mode for so long that now the central nervous system just says I can't I can't operate like this anymore so I'm going to just kind of We may call it compartmentalizing as well.

Just, you know, put this away. I'm not going to think about this. Well, we have to help clients to really wake up that part of the brain so that they are now not just ignoring what they're feeling, but actually taking it in and dealing with it. Now, we don't do that part as far as the psychological. That's where we partner with some counseling centers. We partner with someone called Highland Village Counseling where we would then refer them off to that point when they're ready. But we really prime the brain if there's trauma.

to open the pathways to be able to functionally open the pathways to be able to handle what's coming next, which could be EMDR or it could be, you know, talk therapy, whatever it is. So again, we're kind of a small amount of time that helps the brain to be prepared for all of the other things that they would do later. But trauma, is a really, whether it's family of origin trauma or whether it is, you know, abuse or whatever it is, we get a lot of people in for that.

Trauma, Recovery, and Success Stories 40:30

And when they really want to attack it, this is a great first step to helping prime the brain to be ready to do so. Well, it sounds like you've positioned Braintopia to be almost like a hub and you can direct folks to go when they need help with if it's a supplement issue or if it's going to be, they need to speak with a psychiatrist or a clinician, then you can help direct them and direct traffic that way. So that's really important work. Oftentimes, you know, we hear When people go down this struggle, it's not a struggle for six months.

It's years and years, if not decades. And so oftentimes people don't feel like there's hope that this is a permanent thing. This is my life and there's nothing I can do about it. And that's just heartbreaking because there are more and more modalities are being discovered and treatment protocols are being discovered to help people through these things. Have you witnessed or I'm sure you've seen transformations that really help fuel and keep your passion at such a high level about this? Is there any case or two that pops to mind that you could share that would offer some hope for some of our listeners?

Absolutely, absolutely. So there's a couple, because I'm asked this question a lot, and we're doing a lot more podcasts like this one to be able to tell these stories, because this is what people need to hear. So the first that I will say is one that talks about injury. So concussion. So we had a 14, 15 year old come in last summer. She was a gymnast by nature and had, had taken her two knees. I mean, gymnast, you know, this, this could happen. It's crazy, but when she was doing some kind of skill and basically her two knees.

hit her head so hard that in her brain map, her injury, she had a pretty bad concussion. And so what that manifested as is any time that her brain was overwhelmed or her central nervous system got overwhelmed, she would faint. And so they would take her to the emergency room. They had her with neurologists. She was fainting five to six times a day. And at school, it was terrible. And then when she fainted, she'd just fall. And so then we had hitting our head on concrete at school and all of these things.

The neurologist actually said after they went through, he's like, functionally, I can't find what's... He didn't know. They tried everything that they could do. And so he sent her over to us. And what we were able to do, what we found through the mapping process is this was not a functional issue. This was an emotional issue based on concussion, based on how her brain was reacting to the injury. So what we did is we worked on the emotional component through the middle part of the brain and helped her brain to know how to take in stimuli and then worked on the frontal lobe, which is where the injury was.

And she went from having five or six fainting spells a day to maybe like one a month now. And so not only is she, not only she is success case, but then her whole family came in. And that's what we start to find is that we have one client that comes in and then they see so much progress that now the whole family's coming in for different reasons, but they love the fact of what they're seeing. So that's the first one. The next one will be our youngest client who, close to my heart, but she came in before she was even two years old.

very limited language, she would be hitting her head a lot. a lot of some gut health issues, some food sensitivities and things like that. It was a risk to take, or not a risk, but it was a gamble for us. We didn't really know how, first of all, that we could get a one-year-old to sit there, that we could get a one-and-a-half-year-old to focus on a TV show for that long, but we were able to do that. And within 10 sessions, she was counting one to 10 verbally. She had I mean, and now this child is a completely different child.

The path that she was on was a diagnosis of, you know, autism potentially and all that. That is not where we were at. She just needed her brain to get to the point where it's opened up enough to be able to start communicating. And once that happened, we saw huge, huge benefits. And she is a beautiful, really successful, very talkative and brilliant four and a half year old now. And still brain training. So her parents saw the benefit of it and they keep going. And then one other one is going to be, well, really a lot of our ADHD kids I always recommend, again, if they are having heavy metal toxicity, which a lot of our ADHD kits have, once they get on that glutathione, their body learns to detox, and so now a lot of the things that we are seeing start to alleviate.

That's a huge part of what we do working with practitioners to get that gut health into into order and so then we start to see a lot of different things happening. So the biggest thing, I mean I could tell story after story, the best thing about what we're doing and the thing that warms our heart the most is that we call it mom-to-mom marketing. So we want someone to experience our services and have success and then they tell their next person, whether it's another person in their family, or a friend, and that's really how we've grown this.

So those stories that they're telling of how it's working is how we grew more than anything else, and that's the biggest compliment that we could have. Steve McLaughlin Absolutely. Well, it sounds like there's such a demand for this, and then the results appear to be really good.

Where to Learn More and Closing Remarks 46:30

And so that's what helps fuel that a lot. I've been in environmental space for going on nearly 20 years now. This is something that's relatively new, at least in my realm. I haven't heard a lot about it, but it sounds like you're making really good progress and good traction, which is fantastic. How can listeners, if you would like to learn more, Sandra, what's the best way to contact you or Braintopia? Sure. So we have a great website. It is www.braintopiacenters.com. That's the best place to go to just get information.

There's videos on there. There is a form that you can contact us and fill out for information. But there's so much data on there because this modality has been around since the 1960s. But what makes us different at Braintopia is we decided to take it out to the layman community, meaning we wanted this not to be the best kept secret anymore. And so as an educator, my goal is to educate everyone that this is an option. And so we're taking it to every different corner. and using the relationships that we have in our own background to really take this to the masses.

And so going to our website is the first place to start and that can direct you to anywhere else as far as getting in touch with us. Very good. Well, we really appreciate the work that you're doing. Your passion clearly shows through. Fantastic stuff. We'll have to have you back on again when you have some more time. For our listeners today, thank you very much for listening. Hopefully this has been informative and helpful. Please follow Mould Microtoxins and more wherever you listen to your podcasts and leave us a great review.

That certainly helps the platform educate more listeners. That is it for today's show. If you have any questions, give us a call at toll-free 855-595-6653 or email us at info at themouldpros.com. God bless. We'll talk soon. You've been listening to mold, mycotoxins and more with John Bodie. If you're ready to take the next step towards a healthier home, follow the show and visit TheMoldPros.com for your free consultation. Because clean air is the first step to true healing.