People have asked why I would merge the story and brain meetings I used to run, and what does story have to do with neurofeedback or qEEG. When I sat down to write this article, more than ever, the answers became more evident.Â
Karl Pribram discussed the "narrative I describing how the brain functions in a narrative way. Lou Cozzolino, author of THE
NEUROSCIENCE of Psychotherapy, discussed how, when the brain processes
story, many parts of the brain are engaged.
Lewis Mehl Madrona
discussed how stories are an alternate way to help heal clients,
instead of drugs. Over and over again people who came to attend the
Brain part of the meeting came up to thank me for including the story
portion.
![](http://www.futurehealth.org/populum/images/smallwhite.gif?orig="http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/8291/28034477.jpg")
logo from story conference
Below is a short summary of my take on how story plays an integral role in biofeedback:
I like to use the monomyth, or hero's journey "the archetypal story of stories "to characterize to clients the path they can expect to walk as they go through the process of biofeedback, of personal change and growth.
The Hero's Journey or monomyth was described in Joseph Campbell's book, Hero With A Thousand Faces, as the story that is told in thousands of myths throughout the world in innumerable cultures. It is the story of change and rebirth, and so, it makes sense that it is an excellent teaching story for helping clients to see what they will experience as they go through the stages of healing and growth that biofeedback sets them on the path toward. One film-maker who adopted the hero's journey for his famous films was George Lucas, so I'll use Luke Skywalker's heroic journey for examples. (By the way, one of the speakers at StoryCon this year, Steve Barnes, just wrote an authorized by Lucas Star Wars Novel.)
