EXPERT SERIES 1

OPTIMAL

PERFORMANCE

and Health

Vietta E. Wilson, Ph.D.

Dr. Sue Wilson introduces some ofthe key techniques being used tooptimize performance and healthusing the world’s leading “Infiniti”biofeedback system. OlympicAthletes, Top Executives and worldclass performers in the arts need tobe able to manage their energy andresources. Whether their area ofexcellence is business, sports orthe performing arts, elite performersshare an important characteristic.They are able to enter a statewhere they are totally focused onwhat they do. They have learned tobring themselves to a place thatcombines mental clarity andsustained energy with a sense ofinner calm and active engagement.Virtually everyone experiencesthese "moments of flow" at somepoint in their lives. Elite performerslearn how to access them whenthey need to, whether they areperforming before a live audience,closing an important deal, helping atroubled patient or merely playing agame of golf with a friend.

The Biofeedback Foundation ofEurope is a non-profit organizationlocated in the Netherlands. TheBFE was founded to promote agreater awareness of biofeedbackamong European health profession-als, and, through training work-shops, educate clinicans in the useof biofeedback techniques andtechnology. In the evolving field ofelite performance and health forelite athletes biofeedback andneurofeedback are playing anincreasingly more important role.Athletic trainers, coaches, sportsprofessionals in various specialtieshave come to use biofeedbackeither independently or as anadjunctive technique with positiveresults.

For more information on BFE onlinecourses, workshops and confer-ences worldwide see our websitewww.bfe.org.

Vietta E. Wilson, Ph.D., has taught at YorkUniversity, in Toronto, for over 30 years. Shehas worked since 1971 in sports (Olympicperformers from archery to yachting), educa-tion (elementary to university), medicine and business. Dr. Wilson hastaught sport psychology, counseling and biofeedback assisted self-regulation courses at the graduate and undergraduate level. Hercurrent research is psychophysiological profiling and EEG brain map-ping of elite performers. She is a co-author of Learned Self Regulation,Owners Manual for the Brain and Body and the author of the BFE"Optimizing Performance & Health Suite" for BioGraph Infiniti. Dr.Vietta ‘Sue’ Wilson is renowned for her work in sports psychology andpresented at the 2005 Association for the Advancement of AppliedSport Psychology (AAASP) which has emerged as the largest appliedsport, exercise, and health psychology organization in the world.

Why is optimal performance and health such an important factorin sports?When Italy played against France in the last World Cup final, some ofits best players were relying on a secret weapon. The secret weapon iscalled the Mind Room and it was developed in Montreal. For monthsnow, at least four players on the Italian national team have been train-ing in the Mind Room to prepare themselves mentally for clutch mo-ments at the World Cup. De Michelis will train them to focus as well asrelax mentally. He does this by first getting them into the meditativestate, then showing them a video of their performance for a couple ofseconds. Visualizing their perfect performance in a relaxed state, is apowerful training tool. The Infiniti system that he and Dr. Wilson use isa wonderful tool to train better mentally. Integrated training gives ath-letes the capacity to recover through relaxation, to concentrate better,to lessen interfering self-talk and to visualize in order to improve theirskills in both practice and competition.

What makes the Optimizing Performance and Health Suite souseful to professionals that want to work with Elite Athletes andPeak Performers?The Suite has been designed to help newcomers to the field to applywhat has been demonstrated by both research and experience. Itcombines the latest in the BioGraph Infiniti technology including an

The suite includesforms and powerpointpresentations thatclients and clinicianscan use to get startedright away in thisexciting field.

automated psychophysiologicalassessment and a section de-voted to individual and groupreporting. One of the things I ammost pleased about with the suiteis that the suite includes formsand powerpoint presentationsthat clients and clinicians can useto get started right away in thisexciting field. Included areguides to assessment and train-ing; intake and consent forms,clinician’s check list, and clientfeedback & summary forms.Paper and pencil assessmentsinclude a sport psychological

skills assessment, and a lifestyle& personallity assessment (anxi-ety, depression, anger, reactivity).Scoring and interpretation sheetsare also included, self-regulationtext book, articles and referencesare also included.

Do you think it is important toassess athletes before youtrain them?Yes, I think this is very important.The Performance and HealthAssessment (PHA) is the perfecttool to help determine eachathlete’s strengths and weak-nesses before training. Typically

we begin with biofeedback of thesystem in which the athleteneeds the most work, as long asit is relevant for the sport. Forexample, if muscle tension in theshoulders is high, the athletepractices muscle biofeedback inthe office, at home with a port-able SEMG and sometimes, inthe sport setting with telemetry.Normally the athlete’s ability tocontrol muscles often is demon-strated in the first session andthen merely needs constantreinforcement in the sport settingto maintain the appropriate levelof relaxation . Athletes incorpo-rate the skills into their perform-ance preparation plan (P3) in theoffice, at practice, and duringcompetition. Other systems likeblood flow and effortless breath-ing often need biofeedback andlonger time periods of practicebefore changes are noticed. Inour experience it is valuable toinclude biofeedback first as the

changes in these systems areeasiest to understand andchanges can be demonstratedvery quickly. Neurofeedback isstarted first if attention or dis-ruptive self-talk are componentsthat needs to be fine-tuned.Other modalities are still moni-tored even if EEG is the systemof interest.

Can you tell me a little aboutyour BFE Suite “OptimizingPerformance & Health?The suite teaches the tech-niques necessary for achievingoptimum personal performance,both for individuals and forthose who counsel or coachindividuals. Among the topicscovered in the Suite are: thecharacteristics of the perform-ance-ready state; personalimpediments to performance;the clinical role versus thecoaching role; achieving physi-ological balance through relaxa-

EXPERT SERIES 1tion techniques, biofeedback,meditation and open focus; theuse of neurofeedback; cognitiveapproaches; the "inner journey";mental imagery and the role of

the coach. Adding biofeedbackis of particular value to coachesand personal trainers, as well asto neurofeedback practitionersand therapists who wish to seetheir clients move to the "nextlevel" of functioning.

What is the ideal attentionstate for Elite performers?While the ideal ‘attention’ for eliteperformance may be being ‘brainquiet’ or not thinking, it seldomoccurs and thus, a back up planfor what to attend to and how isneeded. Coaches/athletes needto know not only where and whatthey need to attend to withindifferent sport situations, but alsodrills/games need to be devisedto allow the athlete the opportuni-

ties to practice the sport’s situa-tion specific attentional skills.Once the skills have beenlearned in a relatively stress-freeenvironment, the coach needs to

add additional challenges in orderfor the athlete to practice them inan over-load situation.

One often hears that athletesare expected to pay full atten-tion for the entire sports dura-tion, which may be hours, doyou agree with this?No, this is not how attentionworks. Research by Dr. BarrySterman who usedelectroencephalography (EEG)to monitor pilot’s brain waves intraining simulations, showed thatone’s attention moves quicklyfrom one display to another withvery brief, millisecond breaks. Inother words, the skilled personknows when to take a break andcan quickly refocus. With the skill

becoming automatic, the athleteattends to other information,even irrelevant information,without interfering with perform-ance.

How do you teach Olympicathletes how to attend?Equally important to where toattend is the ‘how to’ attend.Neurofeedback is used to teachathletes intention, focusing,imagery enhancement as wellas when to let-go or not attend.

Can you tell me a little aboutOpen Awareness?Yes, open awareness is similarto what is called ‘non-directive’in meditation. One’s brain isquiet but ready to perform. Theobjective is to allow informationfrom the senses to come in butto not react nor judge. This non-directive state is believed to besimilar to producing relaxingbrain waves, alpha, or SMR inthe brain and may be the basisof Vicker’s quiet eye, all ofwhich are associated with betterperformance. The BFE Suite onOptimizing Performance andHealth includes exercises inopen awareness.

The Performanceand Health Assess-ment (PHA) is theperfect tool to helpdetermine eachathlete’s strengthsand weaknessesbefore training.

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