Limitless Potential - BST has article in Airpark News Magazine

Published Septemeber 2011 - Scottsdlae Airpark News

Brain State Technologies founder Lee Gerdes believes he can change the world.

Criminals will be reformed.

Food and drug addicts will lose their cravings.

Athletes, artists and executives will fulfill their utmost potential.

And people in general will be happier, more focused, and better rested.

How does Gerdes intend to accomplish all this and more? By using Brainwave Optimization to balance and harmonize brainwaves—essentially pushing the reset button of a brain disrupted by life’s traumas.

Gerdes calls his technology “Brainwave Optimization,” and though it might sound like science fiction, more than 85 percent of the Airpark-based company’s 32,000-plus clients throughout 16 countries say their expectations were either met or exceeded.

“The ways we behave are often our body’s way of working to balance brainwaves that are out of sync,”

Gerdes says. “Because the brain is causing the person to do what he or she needs to do to survive, we see behaviors like addictions, rage, eating disorders and depression as survival mechanism—not as moral failings.”

During optimization sessions, clients sit comfortably in a private room and listen to their own brain’s frequencies played back to them in real time on headphones. Sensors affixed to the scalp at points of disturbance pick up the brain’s electromagnetic energy, which is then converted into musical notes.

High and low extremes are dropped out so only the “healthier” mid-range tones are played, mirroring a better-looking version of the brain back to itself. Like a tuning fork, the brain responds by resonating to the pattern and changing its neural networks. The result, says Gerdes, is improved brain function, and the applications are vast.

A Concept Born in Trauma

The no-muss, no-fuss process seems too good to be true, which is one of Brain State’s marketing challenges, ironically.

Gerdes’ own pathway to creating the technology, however, was anything but easy. He became convinced that trauma changes brainwaves after he barely survived a vicious beating by four youths wielding baseball bats in San Francisco.

For eight miserable years, Gerdes was dogged by the symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder. He tried everything, from antidepressants to therapy to alcohol. “I started saying, ‘I wasn’t this way before. Something happened to my brain. What the heck is a brain? It’s a computer. Oh wait, I know a little bit about the brain; I’m a computer guy.’”

Gerdes’ resume includes a career as a systems analyst as well as advanced studies in math and physics.

He got some EEG equipment and took a look at his brain when he was feeling good and when he was feeling rotten. There was a huge difference, and Gerdes set about finding a way to get the desired brainwave pattern all the time.

Today he considers the attack the best thing that ever happened in his life.

“Otherwise I wouldn’t be here,” he says, turning open his palms and smiling inside Brain State Technology’s headquarters on Hayden Road. “I really think success is about making a difference in the world for the greater good, and I think when you do—and when you see yourself in it and you’re part of that every day—it overcomes all the crap the world wants to throw at you.”

Brain State’s client roster is studded with celebrities such as singer Wynonna Judd, Arizona Cardinals linebacker Seth Joyner, NHL All-Star Kurt Sauer, as well as several NASCAR drivers who prefer to remain anonymous, Gerdes says. Then there are the less highprofile clients whose lives have been changed, including more than 500 veterans seeking relief from PTSD, a service that Brain State provides free to those in uniform.

Executive Appeal

The benefits of Brainwave Optimization have obvious applications to the workplace, though personal or money problems are generally the reason most executives come for sessions. “They feel like, ‘Uh oh, I’m in big trouble here,’ and they find themselves overwhelmed and unsure where to turn,” Gerdes says. “They want to get back to themselves so they can get some creative approach for the future.” A few years ago, a rash of people in the real estate industry became clients.

Gerdes recalls working with a Valley CEO who had taken his company from zero to $100 million. The man had every imaginable success, but he didn’t sleep well, never woke rested and couldn’t enjoy himself fully, according to Gerdes. When he started to physically tremble, he finally contacted Brain State. “We got to help put him back together,” Gerdes says. “One of the first things he did afterward was create a pension plan for his employees—and his business soared faster.”

Optimization clears the mind of “static,” freeing the brain of defensive which is why executives report they’re working “easier rather than smarter” and making faster progress in the office, Gerdes says.

Entrepreneurs in particular can benefit because optimization alleviates tension, boosting the resilience and flexibility so important to starting a business, he adds. “An entrepreneur has to go from seeing the big picture, to executing the next step, back and forth, and those are very different parts of the brain.”

Phoenix attorney Tom Curzon was intrigued by the idea that Brainwave Optimization could significantly impact a person’s health. As Brain State’s lead outside lawyer, he gave into his curiosity and signed up for eight 90-minute sessions. “I wasn’t trying to solve any particular problem. As a busy corporate lawyer, my life is one of stress and managing stress,” he says. “The main effect and outcome for me is I felt an unprecedented grounding, a feeling of connectedness. Calmer and freer are probably the two best words to describe it. It was easier to make decisions and do things—everything felt easier in that respect.”

The experience wasn’t life changing, Curzon says, but it was sufficiently beneficial and noninvasive that he intends to return once or twice a year for a couple of refresher sessions.

Ken Beckrich, CEO of the Online Trading Academy, was also curious to see what optimization could do for his students. “The thing that interested me about it is they do a lot of work with athletes, especially NASCAR drivers,” he says. “Our students who are day traders must also act quickly and they can’t let the last decision affect the next decision.”

By the same token, traders who jump the gun or buy for the sake of buying—perhaps because they’re stuck in a fight-or-flight response due to trauma—won’t be successful either, he adds.

As an experiment, Beckrich invited students to sign up for sessions at Brain State Technologies, which is downstairs from the academy. Though the participants will initially remain anonymous due to confidentiality, Beckrich will be tracking their data in an effort to learn whether the optimization process can definitively improve traders’ performances.

Gerdes is constantly collecting brainwave data from clients in Scottsdale and the company’s 150-plus affiliate offices. By the time Brain State hits about 100,000 clients, he anticipates he’ll have enough information to start breaking down cultural differences between brains. For example, he’ll be able to see if people who live in cities have higher levels of stress, and what can be done in the brain to offset it.

For Brain Optimization to gain wider acceptance, more studies and trials are necessary, and Brain State is continuing to invest in them. Results of a Wake Forest University study on the effects of optimization on insomnia are due to be released at the end of the year—and Gerdes anticipates a stunning outcome. Research is also underway on how Native Americans with substance abuse and chronic health conditions are affected.

Past studies include a 100 percent success rate working with methamphetamine addicts on probation in Yavapai County, and a Wounded Warriors study in which 80 percent of 463 soldiers with PTSD reported a 70 percent improvement.

The challenge to growing Brain State, however, isn’t skepticism but pushback from those who have an investment in the status quo, such as psychotherapists, Gerdes says.

“Resistance to change is the biggest barrier to the company. So what we’ve decided to do is not fight it. We’ve decided to help as many people as we possibly can on this planet, and let it change itself,” he says, eyes crinkling into a smile. “I think we have a real shot at changing the world.”

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