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Brain Integration restores the full and inherently designed function of brain and other neurological circuitry. Thorough neurological integration can have profound effects in the reversal or release of learning difficulties and upon improved human performance.

 

From a holistic standpoint almost everyone, regardless of the degree of apparent capability, has some aspect of learning disorder. The factors that may impinge on the full and unimpeded function of our neurological processing are many — anything that disturbs the body’s emotional and chemical state. There are, for example, the mother's stress hormones already reaching the fetus in the womb, synthetic painkillers administered to the mother blocking normal neural oxytocin sites during birth, (1) oxygenation stress (hypoxia) in the womb and birth canal, (2) the birth trauma itself (compounded by such birth procedures as labor induction, breach, cesarean or any forceps use). And that is just the beginning. Whether past or present, stress and unnatural foreign substances of some kind are almost always the common denominators in constrained neurological function.

 

The immature brain lacks the ability to comprehend and respond appropriately to much of the sensory and emotional stimulation that it encounters in its various developmental stages. The quality of early sensory stimulation is critical to healthy development. (3) However, in our present world environment both brief as well as sustained sensory overload are unfortunately common. This often results in neurological data being not only misrouted from its appropriate destination but also resulting in wiring and routing conflicts that remain locked in place. (4) The numerous opportunities that the birth and various human environments also offer for oxygen deprivation and toxic stress mean that some percentage of our neurons have suffered death or have been shifted into an indefinite standby mode. (5)

 

We have eight commissures that operate as high bandwidth cables between the structures contained in each of our bilateral brain hemispheres. A certain percentage of these pathways are blocked or compromised in most individuals. Between this and data switching (misrouting) issues at several levels of processing most of us are laboring under both delays and loss in neurological data processing with a negative impact on performance. These blockages are typically associated with emotionally charged sensory experiences in the past. Simply restoring proper hippocampal function and short term memory can produce drastic learning improvements. (6)

 

Some normal infant primitive survival reflexes may also miss their deadlines for integration/extinction. Retention of primitive reflexes can have various causes. Traumatic birth experience, falls and other traumas, inadequate creeping and crawling, ear infections and spinal misalignment may be implicated. Primitive reflexes, such as rooting and the startle reflex (Moro), normally decline within one or two months and transition into postural reflexes. (7)  Retained reflexes may lead to developmental delays as well as contribute to learning disorders, problems with concentration, coordination, balance and fine motor skills, sleep cycles, impulse control and autism. Infant behavior such as rolling over, crawling, standing, speech and learning are important for and serve as indicators of appropriate childhood development. Inadequate or missed stages of normal development may both indicate problems as well as cause them. Additionally, a lag in any grade level performance in the various educational levels (including physical) is also indicative of neurological wiring constraints. (8) There is a hierarchy of proper developmental stages and neurological functioning that must be taken into account in both the analysis and correction processes.

 

Trauma in the early developmental years that has not been released has been demonstrated to affect later development of neural structures including the hippocampus, amygdala and prefrontal cortex, particularly applicable during transition into and through adolescence. These centers are required for proper processing of memories, emotions and mature decision making. Neural activity and associated support blood flow are hijacked by stress triggers and redirected from thought processing areas of the brain to primitive survival centers. (9)

 

Mathematical and logic functions are normally processed mainly in one hemisphere while intuitive/gestalt or big picture processing takes place in the other. While there should be a relative balance in the participation of these hemispheric lead functions we find that, due to the above mentioned factors and others, most people are hindered from full access to one or the other, or even both. Besides cross communication, inter-hemispheric communication may also suffer from inoperative circuits. Problems with spelling and math may also be the result of poor communication between short and long-term memory, inadequate retention in short term memory, an inability to visualize and/or the result of inaccurate spatial perception.

 

The brain's visual systems are complex and interdependent. Because of the brain's ability to compensate for problems their existence is often masked and may only show up in the form of eye strain, headaches, reading difficulties or a lack of interest in reading, a lack of coordination, etc. Also, depending upon the task, one or more of the visual, auditory and vestibular (movement) systems need to work in synchrony with each other (including various multisensory neuron circuits) as their joint fine processing is often impacted by the various issues described. Eye muscle activation or operation can be at fault. A deficit in visual fields or tracking, for instance, will then create its own stress associated with reading. Subsequent inefficient routing and processing of visually acquired data will add to the stress. (10) Fully functional visual perception has a tremendous impact on our overall state of well-being and performance. Vestibular issues can also affect such things as vision and reading. In this case the brain is constantly having to overly recalculate its location and everything around it instead of processing other more useful data. (11)  If the visual fields don't line up precisely the brain will compensate by suppressing one eye (phoria), also producing stress (particularly when reading). Importantly, correct neurological visuo-spatial representation is a prerequisite to understanding abstract relationships. Auditory pathways may also suffer integration problems and the sense of touch may also be implicated. In the case of blindness, it is important to have all the multisensory neurons functioning. Multisensory neurons will do their best to compensate for any sensory limitations, including creating mental images.

 

The mind/body and its brain must also be able to derive appropriate meaning and assign appropriate processing associated with sensory input. A preponderance of graphic and/or auditory data input, for example, (such as from electronic media) will over time can also skew the normal development of the brain’s synaptic pathways. Additionally, the association of a degree of emotional charge associated with the sensory data (such as being a victim of abuse, "bullying" or a diet of violent and dramatic artificial media forms) may create memory links that may not correlate well with the subsequent performance demands of normal reality. The mind/body actually records everything but it does not necessarily or accurately process everything.

 

There are some aspects of the brain that science has yet to more fully explore, such as energetic wave forms. A number of studies have observed a certain resonance, coherence or synchrony in neurological function that goes beyond even the best computer processing models. The brain's cortical processing centers are not only interactive at multiple levels they also operate in a holistic manner that defies mechanistic synaptic definitions— even if we factor in the support role and communication capabilities of the various glial cells. It turns out that this synchronous coherence is an extremely important property of brain function. The stress associated with visual perception, for example, is mainly just physiological stress. A lack of physiological fine tuning, such as in the Cortico-Cerebellar loop, may prevent effective communication between long and short term memory resulting in hampered visualization and a related deficit in spelling or math performance. Though such may indeed be a performance impediment, if the brain's synchronous coherence characteristics are disturbed there will be data processing and resultant behavior or performance issues of another magnitude. (12) (13)  In order to fully integrate brain and neurological function it is necessary to take the full spectrum of quantum and energetic wave forms into account.

 

Furthermore, data associated with sensory overload and charged emotional content may overwhelm the body’s normal filters and essentially crash through protective barriers causing what might be termed neurological "short-circuits" and also becoming detrimentally lodged in those or related circuits as well as in organs and other body parts. Various negative emotions actually have a tendency to resort to or accumulate in certain body organs. For example, grief affects the lungs and fear the kidneys. Negative energy and its associated information content weakens body parts and their resistance to disease contributing to conditions such as allergies, cardiac, pulmonary and urinary conditions, etc. Some of the negative complex sensory packages including charged emotions that are recorded in body systems tend to acquire energy seemingly on their own and may not serve us well by periodically intruding into otherwise productive or situation appropriate thoughts and behavior. Most adults are operating with a set of unconscious programs—many of which may serve as distractive background noise or even as intrusive interference in conscious behavior.

 

Learning difficulties: Most fetuses are conceived in brilliant fashion and potential. When learning difficulties later become apparent there are usually emotional and environmental factors that have somehow intervened. Even when some neurons have died the brain still has marvelous capacities to compensate and heal. However, the challenges of life on this planet have presented unique challenges to our physiology and mental processes that have often been effective at blocking the efficiency of our neural circuitry and even turning parts of it off. Our normally healthy circuits and the programs that operate them have become infected, figuratively speaking with viruses and misinformation. (14)

 

Fortunately, other than serious structural damage, where there is a client will for health and any necessary change, most erroneous programming can be undone and reprogrammed through informational and energetic referencing with correct information and healing principles.

1) Naturally produced Oxytocin has an important role to play in child birth and bonding. The baby’s first sensory experience with the mother releases a flood of this chemical into the baby’s bloodstream. This naturally intended bonding support is also true for the mother. The use of synthetic counterparts such as Pitocin and Syntocin not only do not have the same effect but they can also serve to permanently block the normal Oxytocin receptors in the infant’s brain—not only compromising cortical function but also skewing normal emotional reaction patterns to otherwise regular stimuli. This can be a major factor, for instance, in Autism.

2) Oxygenation stress (hypoxia) in the brain is far more common than previously thought. The list of contributing factors ranges from low oxygen fetus stress as the placenta pulls away prematurely from the uterine wall to adolescent “knockout” games, soccer headers, sports related concusions, viruses, respiratory conditions, toxins, drugs, fever, seizures, etc. In most of these instances the resultant "idling" of effected neurons can through brain integration treatment be brought back online. For a comprehensive hypoxic example list see http://www.rightdiagnosis.com/symptoms/hypoxia/causes.htm. Due to heavy data traffic demands the Corpus Callosum between the brain hemispheres along with portions of various cortical circuits (where conscious thought is centered) is generally the first circuitry to shut down as a result of hypoxia. See also footnote #5 below.

3) Malburg, Chinappi, The Significance of Sensory Stimulation in Infant Brain Development, See: http://www.brighthubeducation.com/infant-development-learning/35203-sensory-stimulation-for-infant-brain-development/; Jacobson, Visual Function and Ocular Findings in Children with Pre- and Perinatal Brain Damage. The results of serious and chronic trauma or abuse in the first three years of life are fairly easily detected by virtue of their deleterious effects upon behavior. However, the effects of sporadic or more isolated trauma incidents may not manifest until adolescence or adulthood. It can also be medically difficult under otherwise normal childhood circumstances to either predict or analyze in retrospect exactly what may have caused a trauma reaction in the infantile psyche.

4) Data pathway routing and switching occur at several levels. What has been termed surface switching occurs at the Thalamus (Thalamic Reticular Switching; see page entitled RAS). Deeper levels of switching associated or linked with survival emotions and instincts involve the amygdala and periventricular grey matter of the brain. This latter (deep) switching generally occurs as a result of embedded trauma at an earlier point in client history. Deep switching is a result of a traumatic survival reaction to an environmental stimulus that will, unless addressed and released, generally remain unconsciously operative throughout the remainder of a person's life. Such will involve survival centers such as the amygdala and brainstem as well as the limbic (psycho-emotional) system. Embedded (usually unconscious) survival behavior often serves a person poorly or inappropriately later on in life and is often associated with negative or incorrect beliefs about self and/or the world.

5) When hypoxia results in neuron and cell death glial cells (astrocytes) fill the space and form scars. See Hutchins, Barger, Why neurons die: cell death in the nervous system, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih gov/pubmed/9700393. However, except in severe oxygen deprivation, in most cases the neurons involved have shifted offline into an “idling mode.” And though some reintegration of astrocytic scar tissue is possible, idling neurons are still alive and can, if detected, usually be brought fully back on line. See Neubauer, et. al., Enhancing "idling" neurons. Lancet. 1990 Mar 3;335 (8688):542; See also Fowler, 2009, About HBOT/mHBOT, http://www.chamberofhope.org/?page_id=37. Though hyperbaric oxygen has been used effectively in some instances it is easier and more efficient to awaken idling neurons through energetic signaling that targets the specific areas. Glial cells, which support the neurons and predominate in the brain, also suffer from oxygen deprivation and may also deserve reprogramming attention.

6) Effective long term memory or LTP (long term potentiation) requires equally effective short term memory. Short term memories must be held or retained long enough to be written into long term memory. Hence the importance of effective and reasonably durable short term memory functions.

7) For example, if the Atonic Neck Reflex (ATNR) is retained the child has difficulty writing (e.g. cannot seem to control his/her pencil). Also has trouble with memory retention (i.e. spelling words).

8) Alcohol and other drugs ingested or acquired during pregnancy may have lasting effects upon the fetus and its development (as also vaccinations during early developmental periods). Motor and other cerebral development can be sensitive to an unexpected and unnatural influx of chemicals during critical developmental stages. The brain’s Purkinje fibers, involved in brain and heart synchronization and control are sensitive to disruption already in the womb. Alterations in Purkinje cells have been associated with attenuated cerebral development and various disease conditions such as Hodgkin’s, Cerebral Palsy and Autism as well as possible links with same sex attraction. See Chakradhar, Molecular Component for the Cerebellum’s Role in Autism, Harvard Medical School, Jul 2012, http://scitechdaily.com/molecular-component-for-the-cerebellums-role-in-autism/; See also Saving Brains - Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, http://www.science20.com/news_releases/saving_ brains_fetal_alcohol_syndrome_discovery_in_sheep_could_help_ humans_soon.  Maternal alcohol consumption during gestation has also been indicated to affect serious levels of Purkinje cell death by both reduced oxygenation and lowered ph (as much as 46% in animal experiments).

9) Szalavitz, Sexual, emotional abuse scar the brain in specific ways, 2013, http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/06/health/time-abuse-brain/index.html; Childhood trauma limits the later development size of the cortical areas of the brain. Kendall, How child abuse and neglect damage the brain, Sep. 2002, The Boston Globe; Also see: Shonkoff, From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development, Heller School - Brandeis University reprinted by National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine. Also letters and numbers can take on orthographic stress and resultant learning impairment by a simple association with stress such as by being yelled at by a teacher or parent when the symbol is present in the visual field. There are many forms and degrees of trauma that later affect human performance.

10) There can be phonological decoding issues with sounding out words that may also interfere with identification and retention of meaning (reading comprehension) as well as visuo-perceptual problems. There are two pathways that go back from the eyes to the Lateral Geniculate Nucleus and from the Lateral Geniculate Nucleus to the Cortex (magnocellular and parvocellular) which must be synchronized for such things as visual object clarity, proper detection of movement and identification of color.

11) Some reading issues to be addressed include sensory mapping, saccade control and conjugate gaze: The forea at the very center of the retina is the area with the highest resolution and concentration of receptors and nerve cells. It is the sharpest point of visual acuity. The areas of the eye further away are less focused with less light where vision (peripheral) is less sharp. Saccade control is the ability of the eye(s) to move quickly from one point of interest to the next after an appropriate time of fixation (100 to 300 msec). To obtain a complete visual field a normal adult has to perform between 3-5 saccades or "snap-shots" per second, including the corresponding breaks (periods of no eye movements), in order to bring all the visual field into focus. Details are captured in serial images. The brain organizes this sequence so that it appears as an unbroken image. The visual system creates these sequences by means of controlled saccades and must also be able to handle the speed of image sequences. This develops during the first years of life. The corresponding developmental process functions without conscious awareness as the child explores the environment. A baby has to learn how to fixate precisely on a small item. The stability of gaze control is a complex challenge to the visual system. The ability to select one item among several is a further development. In order to change the direction of sight quickly and accurately the stability of gaze control has to be finely integrated with the visual optomotor functions. The eyes must be synchronized and work together (conjugate) in a very finely controlled system or physiological stress and visual input/learning will suffer. The Para Pontine Reticular Formation (PPRF) in conjunction with the Supplemental Cortex manages conjugate gaze ensuring that the eyes coordinate together keeping the two eye fields appropriately overlapped and focused. See Visual Processing and Saccade Control in Reading, http://www.lookingforlearning.com/assess/sac.htm. There are also four maps used by the Superior Colliculus that direct the eyes where to focus. This process can be both conscious and involuntary. There is an opto-kinetic map of the space around the body. Below that, imported from the Inferior Colliculus, is an audio-topic map of auditory space. Below that is a kinesthetic map of touch that represents the body surface. There is also a proprioceptive map that tracks body part positions. The Superior Colliculus works in coordination with the prefrontal cortex to direct eye movement appropriate to the senses involved. Kustov, Robinson, Shared neural control of attentional shifts and eye movements, Nature, 1996, 384 (6604): 74–77. See also: The mosaic architecture of the superior colliculus, Extrageniculostriate Mechanisms Underlying Visually-Guided Orientation Behavior, Progress in Brain Research, V. 112, 1996, Pages 17–34, http://www. sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/ S007961230863318X, Elsevier, and Neurobiological Research Laboratory, Universität-HNO-Klinik, Freiburg, Germany.

12) This synchronous coherence may likely involve quantum as well as other wave forms. See SCIENCE and RESEARCH pages. Disruption of this resonance or coherence has been observed as associated with mental disturbances including schizophrenia. See: Gilbert, Sigman, Brain States: Top-Down Influences in Sensory Processing, May 2007, Neuron Review, Cell Press, Rockefeller University, New York; Departmento de Fisica, FCEN-UBA, Ciudad Universitaria, Pabello´n I, Buenos Aires. Though traditional approaches to explaining such things as consciousness or even complex cortical function fail miserably there is a lack of real research into the potential role of wave forms, quantum and otherwise. This is partly due to several generations of bias in Newtonian physics as well as the fact that application of quantum physics to biological systems is difficult and challenging. For the most part the tools do not exist yet—at least not tools that would be acceptable to mainstream scientists. Paradoxically the human mind/body contains the necessary information and it is accessible by asking it the right questions. And, ironically, it is mainstream scientific research into neurological and other physiological systems  that assists greatly in being able to ask the mind/body the right questions through kinesiological muscle response testing (MRT). See also footnotes #'s 13 & 14 below.

13) Scientists now know that there are previously unforeseen electrical and electromagnetic properties to the human body. We have known for some time that mammalian bones are actually crystalline in nature and, as such, transmit electrical signals particularly those associated with piazzo effects associated with physical stress. Recently, however, it was discovered that mammilain arteries also transmit electrical signals that can have on-off or bidirectional effects or properties (e.g. digital).  See: Ball, Body Shock: The electricity inside your body, Perplexing and – as yet – unexplained electrical effects found in mammals could offer clues to diseases that kill millions of people every year. http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120302-body-shock-the-energy-inside. We may add to this the fact that water, which makes up most of the human body, is a form of liquid crystal. It is the capability of water to hold energy signatures that is the basis for homeopathy. It isn't until we can see our world in terms of energy and the information it contains and by which it is maintained that we can truly understand it.

14) A complete treatment of brain function must include not only other important neurological body structures with significant intercommunication with the brain, such as the heart and intestinal tract, but also the energetic/informational and quantum wave forms involved. For example, the nature of cortical brain waves also shows disturbance as a result of early childhood trauma. See: http://www.snapnetwork.org/psych_effects/how_abuse_ and_neglect.htm. With respect to quantum effects see also: Woolf, Hameroff, A quantum approach to visual consciousness, 2001, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, V.5, I 11, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S136466130001774. For a fairly good recent summary of quantum research approaches to consciousness see Atmanspacher, Zalta (ed.), Quantum Approaches to Consciousness, 2011 reprinted in the 2015 ed. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. See also SCIENCE 1, 2, RAS, RESEARCH 1, 2, 2 fn, & 3.

Additional Research

1) The manner in which traits and experiences are passed down through generations include a number of factors. However recent research has provided very strong evidence for genetic and epigenetic transmission to occupy a major role. PTSD and Holocaust studies have been significant in this regard. See, for example, R Yehuda, E Binder, Holocaust survivors pass on trauma to their children’s genes: Pre-conception trauma results in transmission of epigenetic changes from the exposed parents to their children, Aug. 2015, Mount Sinai Hospital, New York and Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich; Dilaterious effects identified thus far include changed hormone levels and an altered  specific epigenetic gene mythelation/ expression mechanism. Researchers Yahuda and Binder concentrated on epigenetic changes in the FKBP5 gene. “FKPB5 determines how effectively the organism can react to stress hormones, and so regulates the entire stress hormone system. FKBP5 is altered in several diseases such as post-traumatic stress disorder or major depression and has now been associated with intergenerational effects.” (emphasis ours);  See also: H Thomson,  Study of Holocaust survivors finds trauma passed on to children's genes (Can you inherit a memory of trauma?) ,  N Kellerman, Transmission of Holocaust Trauma, National Israeli Center for Psychosocial Support of Survivors of the Holocaust, The Guardian, Genetics, Friday 21 August 2015; T Rodriguez, Descendants of Holocaust Survivors Have Altered Stress Hormones: Parents' traumatic experience may hamper their offspring's ability to bounce back from trauma, Scientific American,  Feb 12, 2015; N Kellerman, Epigenetic transmission of Holocaust Trauma: Can nightmares be inherited? AMCHA, Israel. A Rathi, The Holocaust is still traumatizing the children of survivors on a genetic level, Aug. 24, 2015,Quartz, http://qz.com/485993/the-holocaust-is-still-traumatizing-the-children-of-survivors-on-a-genetic-level/; Also: Trauma-induced changes to genes may lead to post-traumatic stress disorder: Traumatic experiences "biologically embed" themselves in select genes, altering their functions and leading to the development of post-traumatic stress disorder, new research suggests, 2010, Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health; M Uddin, et. al. Epigenetic and immune function profiles associated with posttraumatic stress disorder. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2010; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0910794107.

2) The rate of sensory data input as well as the time duration and emotional charge associated with its incremental flow are factors in the degree of effective processing and its application to real world situations. Also, different types of learning shape their own synaptic pathways in the brain, such as reading books versus reading and sensory input from electronic media. Rapid fire audio/visual input, for example, may serve to avoid, attenuate or compromise deeper level thinking and mental processing--and with lasting effects upon brain function. See: F Jabir, The Reading Brain in the Digital Age: The Science of Paper versus Screens, Apr., 2013 Scientific American; D Christakis, MD, MPH. Early Television Exposure and Subsequent Attentional Problems in Children, 2004, Pediatrics 113.4: 1-2; R Sylwester, The Effects of Electronic Media On A Developing Brain, College of Education, University of Oregon, http://i-a-e.org/articles/46-feature-articles/48-the-effects-of-electronic-media-on-a-developing-brain.html; J Healy, ENDANGERED MINDS: WHY CHILDREN DON'T THINK AND WHAT WE CAN DO ABOUT IT (1990, Touchstone).

3) Some degree of embedded trauma can be found registered in the neurological and other structures of the mind/body in almost all cases of human dysfunction. See: Gelbard-Sagiv, et al. Internally Generated Reactivation of Single Neurons in Human Hippocampus During Free Recall, Science 3 October 2008: Vol. 322 no. 5898 pp. 96-101. Jafapour, et al. Replay of Very Early Encoding Representations during Recollection. Journal of Neuroscience,  Jan 2014: 242-248. PTSD is, in fact, the classic example. See also: Sherin,  Post- traumatic stress disorder: the neurobiological impact of psychological trauma, Dialogues of Clinical Neuroscience, Sep 2011; 13(3): 263–278. See also footnote # 1 above.

4) An example of Processing effect: the child (female) had fallen down a cement stairway and received a cut on her head that required stitches. At age five she would only go down stairs gingerly with one hand on the railing and the other hand held by an adult. She would not go near the edge of a mezzanine or balcony and on a swing she would not let anyone push her more than one or two feet of motion. Due to the process (and her desire) this all changed virtually and actually overnight. Depending on the age several processes are usually required. Legitimate fears are not removed by this process.

5) Wordsworth, William, Ode 536 (lines 59-66): Intimations of Immortality, "Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting: The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star, Hath had elsewhere its setting, And cometh from afar: Not in entire forgetfulness, And not in utter nakedness, But trailing clouds of glory do we come From God, who is our home...", http://www.bartleby.com/101/536.html.

6) Some decades ago in a meeting with the lecturer and trainer, Stephen Covey, I shared with him my frustration with my then current life affirmations. His response was to inform me that I had no right to determine my affirmations. He took out his wallet and showed me his affirmations and said that he got them through prayer and reading the Holy Scriptures.

7) Though there is much to be learned from the clinical work of the persons named we do not fully embrace or endorse their procedures or philosophical beliefs.

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