January 9, 2005: Biofeedback and Alpha Waves - Dr. James V. Hardt
The conversation covers remarkable case studies, including a billion-dollar CEO who uncovered suppressed anger through computerized mood scales, a famous author who broke a two-and-a-half-year writer's block after his alpha waves surged, and a San Francisco 49er who reported seeing three angels during training. Dr. Hardt describes how the technology detects emotions below conscious awareness and facilitates deep forgiveness work he calls "ethical cleansing."
Art and Dr. Hardt also explore the brainwave patterns associated with out-of-body experiences, the connection between alpha waves and aging, and results from a quarter-million-dollar double-blind federal grant that showed elderly women improving in personality and motivation for over a year after training. Art shares his own brief OBE in a Paris hotel room, and the two discuss whether such experiences could be reproduced through targeted alpha training.
Key Moments
12-point IQ boost in one week: Dr. Hardt claims his alpha-wave neurofeedback training produces an average 12-point IQ boost and roughly 50% creativity boost in the first week of training.
Anxiety reversal published in Science: Hardt cites his 1978 Science paper showing extreme high-anxiety subjects could be brought below average in anxiety using alpha feedback training.
Blocked author downloads novel from the muse: Hardt describes a 16-book author stuck in two-and-a-half-year writer's block whose left-occipital alpha surged on day three; he claimed the muse appeared and dictated his next novel as he recorded into a pocket tape recorder.
Green Beret talks to a kung fu master: On a secret base, Hardt says he spotted the 'astral plane' brainwave pattern in one of 24 Green Berets and the soldier confessed an old kung fu master coaches him during martial arts training.
Art recounts his Paris OBE: Art shares his only out-of-body experience, instantly suspended high above Paris with his wife present in the hotel room, then snapping back into his body.