The TTC decided to revert to its old 10-minutes-between-trains routine. And the new “improved” numbers-for-names signage at Yonge/Bloor station discombobulated me as it always does. And so I was rather late. (Going from appointment to appointment in this city is always so much fun.) Still, I didn’t feel too anxious when I rushed into the Toronto branch of the ADD Centre, but my heart rate exposed the lie of that. On top of which, there was a new client after me who was going to be on time, and so I had to choose what part of therapy to skip. Easy! HRV. Naturally, the tDCS refused to connect, making the whole late thing worse. And my right shoulder and shirt, and jacket around the right collar, shoulder, and sleeve got rather soaked. So did my hair over my left ear but that wasn’t so bad. I told my trainer we need a blow dryer for times like this!
(Large sponge on right shoulder is the ground. Smaller sponge at Wernicke’s Area over left ear and behind a bit is the active part that stimulates brain activity underneath it. Both need to be wet to conduct the weak 2mAmp current through my skull into my brain. For some reason, the device wouldn’t work this week without the sponges being thoroughly soaked, dripping)
In the end, the client was late, and there would’ve been time to do it all anyway. But five minutes of deep breathing is not my fave thing to do, so all good. My breathing rate was excellent during all the training screens as it is pretty much automatic. See brain biofeedback screen, begin to breathe rhythmically and deeply.
Dr. Lynda Thompson had given me a copy of her chapter on neurofeedback for epilepsy, and I’d read it last week at a quiet café because I would do anything not to be at home. Straining the brain on anatomy and neuroscience while drinking coffee seemed like the ideal way to stay out. Today, during tDCS, I talked to my trainer about the chapter and about one detail about GABA in particular that jumped out at me. She was unable to answer my question on that, but I learnt an awful lot about all sorts of other things on biofeedback training, about how one is certified, and who at the ADD Centre is (all and only the senior trainers are because you need work experience and to be supervised, never mind all the reading, including Dr.Thompson’s book, before you can sit the accreditation exam). I’ll need to remember to bring my copy next week so we can go over all the scientific details that my memory was no match for.
