We live in a stressful world, and that stress causes most health problems. The Brain Based Health approach is to train ourselves in the emotional tools to move through stress to joy. If any brain circuit blocks our joy, we use the tools to clear that block. By focusing on what’s really important – our stress level – we are far more effective in switching off stress, and by doing so repeatedly, our brain changes. The brain begins to adopt the resiliency habit. As most health problems are stress-induced, we prevent many health issues, and medications and procedures for medical problems can be more effective. It’s easier to feel happy, live healthy, and experience optimal well-being.
EBT is a method that uses a set of tools to enable us to switch off stress-reactive circuits and activate stress-resilient circuits that bring us to a state of well-being. Also, these tools combine the best two worlds: 1) they reduce the stress of the moment, and 2) they weaken the root cause of that stress – the stress circuit – so it is activated less often and less strongly. As stress is the root cause of up to 90 percent of health problems and most human suffering, having a set of tools that rewires the stress response is core to optimal self-care.
EBT is so important because there is no other method that has codified tools that enable us to control stress circuits, and this method gives us a unifying approach to self-care. Instead of analyzing problems – psychological challenges, behavioral excesses, relationship issues, or health concerns – we appreciate that the underlying cause is a stress circuit. We switch off that circuit and find that we didn’t need to analyze our problems. We just needed to switch off the biological root cause – that stress circuit.
Brain Based Health with EBT focuses on rewiring the stress circuits that cause stress overload. From a neuroscience perspective, there is no boundary between brain and body stress. Brain stress causes body stress and vice versa. Stress in one amplifies stress in the other. For example, an ankle sprain triggers anxiety, and that anxiety prolongs the healing of the ankle, and the bi-directional feedback loops between the body and the brain cause relationship issues and work stalls. The spike in stress causes cognitive lapses and forgetting to rest the ankle, which results in reinjuring it! By shutting off the stress circuit, we stop stress overload. This science was published by Peter Sterling in 1988. However, until the discovery of EBT, we did not have a self-directed way to shut off these stubborn cycles of stress overload, much less activate healing cycles of well-being. With EBT, now we do, and that is the focus of Brain Based Health.
The brain has a stress set point, the level of stress that has become its habit, and which the brain defends. For example, when someone is highly stressed, buys a lottery ticket and wins, even with all this financial success, they spend all the money and return to their previous level of stress within two years. That’s the power of the brain’s set point. By using the method over time, we can train our brain for resilience, so our unconscious wiring tends to move through stress to joy. There is nothing that compares to the experience of having a highly resilient emotional brain. We're naturally vibrant, healthy, and happy. This is why raising our set point is the most powerful thing that we can do to improve our overall health and well-being.
When a stress-reactive circuit is activated, the neocortex, the only brain area that gives us personal control, goes offline. We therefore need external support to enhance our effectiveness to do what we need to do to deactivate that wire and activate an effective wire. This is why peer support and one-on-one therapy can be so effective. We do not fully "have ourselves" when we are in high-stress states. The Brain Based Health app and the online tools included with your membership provide external support. Using simple leading phrases supplied by this technology, you can use the tools in any level of stress and get from stress to joy, often in four minutes or less. Technology makes EBT scalable as it is both easier to learn and easier to use.
EBT is relatively new, as the science of neuroplasticity and neurophysiology is relatively recent. The traditional methods that are commonly used in self-help programs and healthcare were developed 50 to 100 years ago, prior to these neuroscience breakthroughs that form the conceptual framework of the method. EBT is so fundamental that it can be used in conjunction with most other methods:
MedicationsMedications can be an essential part of the treatment for many health problems, particularly when an individual is recovering from extreme stress overload. However, medications do not rewire stress circuits and can create unwanted side effects. EBT can improve our physiology, creating a healthier inner world that can improve the effectiveness of many medications and perhaps even decrease our excessive dependency on pharmacologic treatments for stress-related health problems.
Cognitive TherapyCognitive therapy, or changing thoughts to change emotions and behaviors, has shown short-term effectiveness, enough to be called the therapy of choice in the last 20 years. However, during this time, emotional and behavioral problems have become an epidemic. Recent research has shown that although cognitive methods seem to be effective, during high-stress times, when we really need them, the neocortex goes offline, and cognitive techniques may become ineffective. EBT can enable us to quickly reduce stress in real-time, and make the use of cognitive techniques more effective.
Behavior TherapyResearch has shown that three behaviors – sleep, exercise, and eating – determine about 50 percent of our risk of major diseases, including cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. It makes perfect sense for all of us to try to control our lifestyle. However, behavior change methods, including cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), produce only short-term changes in behavior. It’s hypothesized that this is because behavioral treatment does not address the physiologic root cause of the problem. If we change our behavior without changing the circuit that drives it, the circuit lives on and causes recidivism. We can use EBT to rewire the underlying drive and become more effective in making behavior changes, and sustaining them.
MindfulnessAll methods of self-control include being present in the moment, using our neocortex to oversee ourselves and orchestrate changes in how we respond to life. EBT incorporates mindful awareness in its tools. However, the tools make effective emotional processing the priority as that is what has the most significant impact on our biology. It is emotional processing that gives us the most rapid and reliable way to switch off stress and activate well-being. As our working memory is limited, focusing our attention on stress levels and changing them is the brain-based priority to improve the quality of our life. Stress is ubiquitous in life today, so EBT can be seen as the next step for those who practice mindfulness. It rapidly reduces stress and enhances our capacity to experience the seven elevated emotions: love, compassion, gratitude, hope, forgiveness, awe, and joy.
Prayer and Contemplative PracticesSpiritual practices can impact our thoughts and emotions, which range from insights and philosophical breakthroughs to experiences of rapture and mystical awareness. EBT can support spiritual and contemplative practices as the tools can be used to switch off the stress that causes prayer to turn into a practice that is not “spiritual” and contemplation to become rumination. By using EBT to process emotional stress and rewire circuits that cause stress overload and strong emotional and addictive drives, prayer and contemplation may become more rewarding.
PsychotherapyPsychotherapy and the one-on-one support of a counselor can be highly effective and essential in the treatment of mental health problems. When the root cause of these problems is a brain set point in stress overload with a dominance of extreme stress circuits, psychotherapy, along with medical treatments and detoxification in addiction treatment, are the EBT-recommended initial steps in recovery. Once the brain becomes unlocked from stress overload, adding EBT can hasten healing by using the individual's increasingly-resilient brain to heal itself. This gradual shift from psychotherapeutic and psychiatric care and the benefits of integrating the two approaches is why so many health professionals refer their patients to EBT.
12-Step ProgramsThe #1 self-help treatment worldwide is 12-Step. Most programs are free to join, and the warm support of a community and their widespread availability can make them lifesavers. As people who use 12-step programs recover, they often add EBT to their program, as they need a complete set of tools to reduce the stress of recovery and raise the brain's set point for lasting results. Addictive circuits encoded during adverse childhood events or later trauma may never be completely erased. EBT can help in two ways: 1) use of the tools to rapidly reduce stress in real-time to avoid relapse (the Brain Based Health app), and 2) raise the brain's set point (Advanced EBT) to lessen the risk of reinstating traces of addictive circuits. We recommend adding EBT to addiction programs to decrease the risk of recidivism.
The first step in the Brain Based Health journey is to try out the tools. The emotional brain learns through experiences! Download the app and experiment with the tools. Listen to some relaxation audios and get comfortable with EBT. Soon your emotional brain will probably want more, and you'll have a desire to upgrade your membership.
Step 2: Learn How to RewireMove forward with the Online Plus membership and access our complete suite of self-study and community materials. Watch some videos on how to use the tools, drop in for a weekly workshop, and enjoy reading the forum boards. Take one of our 30-day courses for a complete foundation in EBT. You will learn how to use your brain’s natural pathway from stress to joy and how to rewire four circuits of your choosing. Learn one skill at a time, and experience the life-changing effects of EBT.
Step 3: Become Wired for JoyThe brain craves the sound of the human voice. We offer both telegroups and coaching so you can combine the power of the tools with the brain-changing impact of using emotional connection with others. Move forward with EBT and access an abundance of each of the seven rewards of a purposeful life: Sanctuary, Authenticity, Vibrancy, Integrity, Intimacy, Spirituality, and Freedom. Experience rapid and remarkable results in the quality of your daily life and, over time, become wired for joy.
Wiring our own brain for joy requires emotional connection. We offer telegroups, but for those who want solo support, private coaching is perfect. Our private coaching includes twice monthly sessions that are powerful and quick – just 25 minutes. Each powerful session enables you to move forward with clarity and purpose to complete the program. Also, you can use the sessions to enhance your skills in moving past any stress that arises in daily life.
EBT Providers are licensed, registered, or certified health professionals with advanced degrees. They have completed personal training in the method and believe in the Brain Based Health approach. They use the tools in their daily lives. Certified EBT Providers complete clinical training to provide coaching and group training in EBT. Most are psychotherapists, physicians, counselors, nutritionists, or nurses. They are drawn to provide these services because they want to empower people to help themselves and to be part of a new neuroscience-based paradigm in healthcare. Since EBT Providers have experienced the power of the tools to transform their own lives, they are enthusiastic about sharing the EBT skills with others and have completed specialized training to help you get from stress to joy as easily and as quickly as possible!
Telegroup sessions meet with the same EBT Provider and five to seven others who are want to train their brain to go from stress to joy. Participants learn how to use EBT tools together. Sessions are private, and we share no identifying information (last name, email, phone, or location), and keep no written record of the sessions. You can arrive at the session from any location, and the relationships among group members keep people coming back. It's a small band of people who take pride in using the power of the brain to help them learn, change, and grow. The human brain lights up to the sound of the voice, so the work is authentic and deep, even across the miles!
Once you join a telegroup, your EBT Provider will contact you for a welcome coaching session. Then you will start participating in the group. You’ll just call into each group session from home, from work, or while in transit, and be greeted by your EBT Provider. There is no requirement to say anything, and you may always state, "I pass," when it is your turn to share. We suggest that you warm up to the group slowly, and between sessions, connect with other members for support. Soon the group will become a high point of your week and an exceptional way for you to take care of your health and happiness.
We emphasize small groups because research has shown that by meeting weekly, people progress with the training. Also, connections with other group members improve health outcomes. We suggest that you choose a group and try it out for four weeks. If you are not satisfied, you can cancel your membership, or our support team will switch you to another group or membership level.
We welcome you to share your Brain Based Health by EBT app with family and friends. We want EBT to be widely available. Your family members and friends can join separately, but if you want to share your membership in the online tools with them, then please do so. These tools are fundamental to self-care and healthcare. We want to eradicate stress overload. Support this Brain Based Health movement and share EBT with others.
My spouse and I are both stressedMost people are stressed these days. Relationships are extremely sensitive to stress. Engage your partner in the Brain Based Health movement and resetting how they process their stress. Share the mobile app. Give them a copy of What’s my number? or ask them to join you in doing a community connection, taking turn using the mobile app and giving connecting messages. Consider joining different telegroups and strengthening your own resilience and/or scheduling a coaching session to develop a plan for moving forward as a couple. EBT is a brain-based way to switch off ineffective relationship patterns and activate new responses that are practical, easy to learn, and highly effective.
What about children and adolescents?If you are a parent or guardian of a young person under 18, your choice to learn the tools and raise your set point can have an important beneficial impact on them. As your set point rises, your seemingly small actions can improve their emotional circuitry. To develop a personalized plan for supporting the emotional evolution and stress resilience of a child or adolescent, please schedule a coaching session with a Certified EBT Provider. Children and adolescents have highly plastic brains. Bringing EBT to them and to those who are close to them – stepparents, the less involved parent, grandparents – can create a change in the family that supports the young person’s resilience.
Most health problems are rooted in stress overload, and EBT is uniquely suited to rewiring the stress response, offering a self-care way for individuals to switch off stress-reactive (triggered, stuck) circuits and decrease physiological stress. With decreased chronic stress and stress reactivity, other treatment modalities may be more effective. The Brain Based Health movement includes certification for all health professionals, starting with an introductory self-study program to learn the science and practice of EBT. We invite you to learn more about certification programs at www.ebtgroups.org
Integrating EBT into clinical practiceCertified EBT Providers (licensed, registered, or certified health professionals who are Master’s or doctorally prepared) and Certified EBT Coaches (with only one of these criteria met) can provide services based on their certification level. All certification requires scientific and clinical training and embodying the method from completing personal training in EBT. Go at your own pace in the certification process and find the way that is right for your discipline, practice, and role within Brain Based Health.
If you are not completely satisfied with the program for any reason, just deactivate your subscription at any time, and you will have access to the program until the next four-week billing cycle begins. It only takes one click to cancel your membership. Often, if a person stops their membership, they find their way back to EBT eventually. When we ask their reason for returning, the most frequent response is, "EBT works!"