MindFitness - The Process

The following are excerpts are from the new book, MINDFITNESS TRAINING: Neurofeedback and The Process by R. Adam Crane and Richard Soutar Ph.D. (This book is available in our bookstore.)

The implications of the rebirth emerging in psychology and education go beyond what we can imagine or express. This opportunity, this adventure of working with you and with ourselves is an incredible, astonishing, exquisite, humbling privilege. To us learning how to learn for oneself is an ultimate art. In order to learn about learning and to produce insights together we must communicate at a much higher level than most people do most of the time. Therefore we must go carefully, respectfully, and not assume that we all have the same meanings for words. Indeed one of the most extraordinary aspects of this renaissance is much more effective use of language, especially in so much as it is used to understand consciousness, attention, awareness, thought, feeling and human creativity.

art, to join, to fit together, making or doing of things that have form and beauty.
consciousness, the state of being aware especially of what is happening around and within one. Having a feeling or knowledge of one's sensations, feelings, etc. Being able to feel and think, awake. Aware of oneself as a thinking being.
heuristic, the method of learning in which the learner is encouraged to learn for him or herself with as little dependence on past experience and / or outside authority as wisdom deems appropriate.
liminal, a moment of equilibrium, charged with promise, when the old has not quite passed and the new is just being born. The border, or at the threshold of which, in psychology and physiology implies the least degree of stimulation that produces a response.
mutation, an alteration or change. Any heritable alteration of an organism.
psychology, the science dealing with the mind and mental processes, feelings, desires, learning, the acquiring of knowledge or skill.
renaissance, to be born, to be born anew, rebirth, revival.
science, from the Latin sciens, to know. The state or fact of knowing. Systematized knowledge derived from observation, study, and experimentation carried on in order to determine the nature of principles of what is being studied.
transform, to change the external form or the inner nature, to change the personality or character of.

The Process is devoted to the unfoldment of a New Mind in humanity. A mind that is free, relatively unconditioned. Implied is the transformation of those of who can, and by extension our society, our science, our technology. This kind of mind sees and listens to the whisperings of nature as the source, and for the inspired evolution of a sane, scientific and technological renaissance. This kind of mind considers neither life not death the enemy, and finds its own way to live and die within the Field of Love.

We all want to live our lives as fully as possible. We all want good health. We want to live creatively. We want to avoid suffering. We want deep personal relationships. We want time and opportunity to enjoy this marvelous earth. We want to be valued by society. What are we willing to do (or not do) to improve the quality of our day to day life? The Process takes on the challenges of transforming the commonplace into the extraordinary, of bringing about healthy change in as many lives as possible, of learning and practicing together the art of adventuring into the unknown, of changing periods of second hand consciousness into a fuller awareness and expression of the original life, of allowing the greatest potentials of the mind / body to unfold..

The Process is a modern version, an evolution of ancient processes whereby human beings make the most of what we have, of what we are. It begins humbly, easily, naturally, and then expands without end. Consciously or unconsciously, that which can be done, not done, undone, unfolds, allowing the natural, innocent, unique beauty and potential of each of us to come to pass . This seminar is a heuristic, friendly, extremely practical, self knowledge learning opportunity devoted to the doing, the living of that Process.

The issue for me is that I have learned some things, some principles, which (when I have been able to competently practice and integrate them into day to day living) have resulted in life working much better most of the time and immeasurably better some of the time.. Naturally, I want to assist others in acquiring the benefits for themselves which have so richly blessed me and at least some of others I have known. When I pondered how best to do that it seemed obvious that I should use the seminar strategies that I had been using for decades in order to teach health care and educational professionals about biofeedback. I guessed that a substantial unfolding of these principles might be accomplished in about 20 hours and could be delivered in a three day weekend.

It seems reasonable to assume that doing the training in two hour sessions once or twice per week would be an easy going way to work through The Process; and allow plenty of time for integration and reflection between sessions. However practical logistics have made it necessary to deliver most of The Process training to date in seminars, usually over a long weekend. This training style of total immersion seems to have its own dynamics, and I have been gratified and intrigued by the effectiveness of the concentrated three day programs so far.

"Before Hubble the entire universe consisted of our galaxy. Since Hubble we have discovered billions of other galaxies. Now, that's a paradigm shift!"

One of the most promising emerging trends in mental health is assisting functional people in becoming more functional (sometimes referred to as the sub - clinical symptom segment) as differentiated from treating clinical symptoms in the relatively dysfunctional. The educational specialty popularly known as Performance Enhancement is already a substantial industry in the US and we expect aggressive growth for the foreseeable future. EEG biofeedback opens an important new niche in the Performance Enhancement field. Many practitioners long to shift more of their practice into this area and are looking for assistance in getting started. To that end we have developed:

The Process, a program designed to appeal to the personal growth oriented "Actualizer" segment of the Value Added Life Style Survey*. "Actualizers" place a high value on education and wellness and are aggressive about seeking out and funding quality learning opportunities. "Actualizers" are trend setters, practice builders and the group most responsible for the evolution of integrative and alternative medicine and education worldwide. Seminar participants will learn by going through the "super learning" program we have developed for the general public, receive a Health Training Seminars Certificate of Completion and have the opportunity to take a special exam for NRNP Performance Enhancement Certification.

*The Value Added Lifestyle Survey is arguably the most important tool for understanding the market place developed to date. Based on Maslow's hierarchy of needs, it divides the market into nine segments, from highly conditionable, relatively unaware, easily exploitable "consuming machines" to relatively aware, intelligent, affluent, sophisticated consumers who also tend to be trend setters.

Martin Seligman, the president of the American Psychological Association, is doing a remarkable job of awakening educators and mental health professionals to the challenge and opportunity of life enhancement learning. His crusade has become a high profile expression of an emerging renaissance of psychology. We assert that The Process is another manifestation of this paradigm-shifting renaissance as is advanced Biofeedback (self regulation techniques and technology). We hasten to add that George Pransky's book, The Renaissance of Psychology, and the "Psychology of Mind" movement is yet another manifestation, and toward that end we will introduce participants to this synergistic perspective.

Dr. Seligman seeks to restore balance to psychology by promoting the study of love, work and play. "I don't want to cast out the disease model but we need a science that tells us about human strengths. I want to remind psychologists of normal people." He points out that there have been 45,000 articles on depression published by psychological journals over the past 30 years but only 400 on joy. Joy is not covered by insurance nor does it lead to tenure. When psychology began developing as a profession it had three goals: to identify genius, heal the sick and to help people live better, happier lives. But over the last half century it has focused almost entirely on pathology taking its direction from the medical disease model.

Whenever we find a better idea we integrate our version of it into the training. Almost all Performance / Life Enhancement programs share the concept that it is possible to improve the quality of consciousness over the average second, minute, hour, day, week, month, year. We think that for most people, especially the kind of people that are attracted to this kind of material, major change is possible. Our mission is to serve as a kind of heuristic, educational catalyst for as many of those who can open their hearts, their minds to the potential, the challenges, the opportunities that are unfolding now during this astonishing liminal era.

Whenever any of us can actually apply the concepts and principles embodied in The Process an inspiring enhancement to our quality of life is likely to ensue. Often, the change is so massive that the term transformation of life style is not an exaggeration.

One of the fundamental principles that The Process Project is based on is the insight that a practical understanding of the principles which govern the mind are not only relatively easy to learn for those who care enough, but that learning them becomes choiceless when we consider the consequences of not learning them. We assert that an explosion, a kind of healthy mutation, is already taking place within the Mind of humanity. For those who will allow it, this unfoldment of emotional intelligence is leading to unimaginable opportunities for realization of mind/body health, and a long overdue uplifting of the bewildered, beleaguered and battered human spirit.

The Process means bringing order to the conditioned, "mechanical", computer-like aspects of the brain so that there is easier access to the "higher", "non-mechanical" orders of intelligence. As innate, higher orders of intelligence are activated, they bring about much more efficient operation of the "mechanical", processing brain and "persuade" it to stick with what it is designed to do, i.e. align itself with highest personal values, and invite much more human, inspired, and creative qualities to "run the show". Although this process of making the life work much better may seem formidable, at times impossible, there is no choice. It is the only game in town. The greatest adventure imaginable.

The Process is the understanding, application and integration of those principles which increase insight, allow the mind/body to make a leap, to transform itself, to unfold the potential within. It is the application of those principles which operate like an antidote for the mental and physical poisons which reduce the quality of our lives. The first principle is doing the best with what we have, what we are, now! Therefore, gaining as much self-knowledge as quickly as possible is the highest priority. The more we understand ourselves, the more we realize the fact of our uniqueness and the urgency of discovering our own individual Process. That is why this classic, holistic, "Royal Road" is founded on heuristic (self) learning and teaching.

The mission of The Process Project is to assist as many people as possible, including ourselves, in becoming better "artists of being alive" by providing the best mind / body (heuristic), self liberating, learning opportunities we can. The implementation of this mission includes assisting in the practical understanding of how the mind works and staying absolutely true to those self knowledge principles which allow each of us to naturally unfold our unique purpose and potential.

There are many kinds of peak performance programs including those that focus on how to perform better at work, be a better athlete, a better husband or wife or parent, a better student, artist, environmentalist, politician, businesswoman, salesman, a more compassionate human being etc.; and we are interested in all of them. There are elegant, powerful underlying principles, a foundation, that supports all forms of life enhancement. We call this The Basics, and upon this foundation it is possible to bring about the kinds of changes that can substantially (if not incredibly) enhance the quality of day to day living.

It is reasonable to warn you that The Process strategies and the values implied may seem different from most traditional approaches to personal growth. But then we believe The Process represents a leap, and works with key problems in a more effective, humanizing way than most life enhancement learning programs. Without intending disrespect for the many extraordinary programs that exist, a great many who have taken such programs are still hungry to find better ways to bring about healthy change, individually and collectively. To us, The Process as a living work - in - progress addresses that need.