Neurovella Brain Spa

What are binaural beats, and why are they one of the easiest ways to take care of your brain? Some of you may have heard of this research-topic-turned-pop-culture-phenomenon from Youtube videos or mental health bloggers. Binaural beats are not a single sound in themselves. They’re actually a pairing of sounds played at different frequencies, each of which is directed to a different ear. When this happens, the brain actually creates a third sound, which oscillates between the... frequencies of the original ones. So by hijacking the brain’s propensity for entropy control, we can pair certain frequencies to create an internal rhythm in the brain, which can help promote a positive mental state, productivity, and restful sleep. Since our reopening last month, many clients have enjoyed a session in our zero-gravity meditation chair, which utilizes binaural beats as well as physical, massage-like vibrations meant to relieve your muscles. Come schedule a session with us via phone or email, our facilitators would be happy to guide you through your experience! Read more on binaural beats: https://www.popsci.com//sounds-beats-focus-creativity-sci/

Healthcare professionals should not be left to use anything but the proper protective equipment! Not only does the proper equipment protect the healthcare worker but the patient as well. Join in helping the Institute of Neuro Innovation raise money for those on the frontline of COVID-19. Together we can save the lives of many.

While some spas focus their wellness efforts on the outer wrinkles of the skin, our goal is to take care of the body’s inner wrinkles. Inside of the skull, wrinkles are a good thing! One of the ways we can take care of those inner wrinkles is by understanding how the brain is interconnected. In neuroscience, functional connectivity is a measure of statistical correlation of activity between two or more brain regions. Previously, studies have used connectivity as a measure of ...cognition in elders at risk for dementia (Laptinskaya et al., 2019), an indicator of sleep depth in young adults (Migliorelli et al., 2019), and a variable affected by mindfulness meditation, depending on the experience of the meditator (Farb et al., 2007; Taylor et al., 2012). As Santa Monica’s one and only brain spa, we at Neurovella aim to bring useful metrics like connectivity to our clients to help them better understand and improve their brains!

Did someone say consciousness theory? Let’s talk about Attention Schema Theory (AST), a theory of consciousness proposed by scientist and novelist Michael Graziano. In Graziano et al. (2019), authors distinguish two types of consciousness: i-consciousness (the information from sensory systems that the brain receives, organizes, and processes) and m-consciousness (the hard-to-describe subjective experience that we all know but cannot quite touch or measure). AST argues that ou...r subjective experience of consciousness is actually a model of the information being processed in our brains, much like a map is an imperfect, but useful, model of a city. This theory stands out among others because it easily reconciles how subjective experience arises from the processing of sensory information. Now, what the heck does all of this theory have to do with our brain spa? Well, our philosophy makes a similar distinction to that made in Graziano et al., 2019. We believe that there is a sensory processing mechanism behind our experience, as well as a psychological mechanism that includes things like pain, emotion, and self-reference. Our goal is to create a space to facilitate those two; to aid our clients in understanding these mechanisms and using that knowledge to reach their goals in their mental and physical lives. If you want to read more, follow this link to the paper discussed in this post: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336072464

You probably know the importance of taking care of your heart, and taking care of your brain. But did you know that your heart and brain talk to each other? One way that we know this communication exists is through a phenomenon called the sympathovagal balance. This balance is composed of two neurocardiac signals: sympathetic (fight or flight) and parasympathetic (rest and digest). These phenomena, among other important functions, tell our heart how quickly to beat depending ...on whether the brain thinks we’re in danger or not. The balance between these signals can tell us a lot about a person’s physical and mental state. Neurovella is currently working with @inifoundation to develop software to measure sympathovagal balance, as well as other biometrics that reflect a person’s overall wellness. We are so excited to bring this technology to you, our clients! Want to read more? We recommend Goldberger’s 1999 paper, Sympathovagal balance: How should we measure it? [https://journals.physiology.org//10.1152/ajpheart.1999.276]

If you’re looking for a Mother’s Day present for someone who loves the spa experience with a neuroscience twist, check out our packages! Sessions at Neurovella can be customized to your goals, so a single visit can include, for example, a meditation chair session followed by a virtual reality travel adventure. We also offer discounted packages for multiple sessions, all in the relaxing atmosphere of aerated essential oils. So, if sharing resources for brain health is your love language, give us a call and schedule your loved one a first-time session!

It’s official, Neurovella will be opening its doors on Monday, May 3rd! We are so excited to bring back services like our zero-gravity chairs, EEG headset meditation sessions, virtual reality headsets, and more. Not to mention, we are working on new services to bring to you soon! To book an appointment, reach out to us via email at [email protected], or call 310-916-6012. We look forward to helping you maximize your nervous system's potential using cutting edge technology!

How does subjective report factor into how we understand consciousness? Much research into the study of consciousness relies on subjective reports from participants. After all, how can we know that someone was conscious of an experience (such as seeing a ball or hearing a noise) without them saying that they were? Some researchers, however, have shown that these reports can muddle our acuity when searching for neural correlates of consciousness, which is depicted in this figu...re from Tsuchiya et al. (2015). The figure shows that, despite the same task, different brain regions are active depending on whether the participant reported their conscious experience or not. This has led to the development of what are known as no-report paradigms. At Neurovella, we aim to integrate the newest developments in research like this to our spa. This assures that our work is backed by dedicated research that we and our clients can rely on! Read more on report in consciousness research here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283789786

Does consciousness originate in the brain? If so, where can we find it? Some research points to the default mode network (DMN), a network between brain regions associated with self-monitoring and self-concept, as one mechanism of consciousness (Carhart-Harris et al., 2012). It is possible that modulating this network through habits like meditation could lead to an altered state of consciousness. Here at Neurovella, we’re learning more from ongoing research like this so we can... more effectively help clients to reach a zen-like state of consciousness at our spa. Soon, we hope to map networks in the brain like the DMN to further realize your mind’s potential! Read more about consciousness and self-monitoring in, The Hard Problem of Consciousness and the Free Energy Principle, here: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles//fpsyg.2018.02714/full

As vaccinations become more widely available and life turns a corner for the better for us all, Neurovella is excited to be opening its doors soon! We are working on new services to map your brain’s fitness as well as interventions to improve your brain’s potential. Look out for more information about our re-opening!

How is consciousness related to attention? What differentiates levels of consciousness? In modern consciousness theory, phenomenal consciousness, pure sensory experience, is differentiated from access consciousness, the reportable representation of that experience (Block, 1995). Pitts, Lutsyshyna, & Hillyard (2018) use the attached figure in their paper ‘The relationship between attention and consciousness’ to synthesize their hypothesis with existing evidence and theories fr...om studies of consciousness. There are three main takeaways from this figure: 1. States can theoretically be categorized in different levels: subliminal, preconscious, and conscious. 2. With more attention, there is more information-sharing in the brain (depicted by the increase in neuronal highways along the x-axis in the image) 3. Different forms of attention may give rise to different levels of consciousness. This is theory of consciousness, so more work is to be done before we can be sure about categorizations if at all. Regardless, it’s something worth pondering how we could incorporate this into our daily lives. How can we modulate our own attentive mechanisms to affect our conscious experience while meditating or during daily activities? Stay tuned for research from the Institute of Neuro Innovation for more! Read the full paper here: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/d/10.1098/rstb.2017.0348

Happiness is an internal state of mind

As new research about COVID comes out, we are learning that along with the respiratory problems, there is also some neurological symptoms as well, such as brain fog. Cognitive dysfunction/brain fog is related to short term memory loss and difficulty remembering things from the past due to a decrease in blood flow to your brain. One way to combat brain fog is to stimulate your brain by reading, exercising, eating healthy, which will help a quick recovery. To learn more about brain fog, check out https://news.llu.edu/healt/why-can-covid-19-cause-brain-fog

Express gratitude to those sacrificing their own well being for the well-being of all of us! Self care and especially mental self care is the most critical step in keeping our frontline health professionals intact and steadfast in this fight ! Practice #gratitude ! Give thanks on this #Thanksgiving #ThanksHealthHeroes #thankfulgratefulblessed #covid_19... #brainhealth See more