Brainwave
03 / 05 · Mental Clarity

Alpha · 8–12 Hz

A round fan painting of a misty sea with a few small boats and a faint shoreline, in ink on tan silk
Calm attention
  1. AttentionTrained to return
  2. MindfulnessTaught as cognitive training
  3. NeurofeedbackWhat it is and is not

Seascape, Unidentified artistThe Met, CC0

  1. Learn
  2. Practise
  3. Keep

Calm attention workshop

Mental Clarity

Attention can be trained to return faster.

Mental Clarity teaches calm attention as a trainable skill. It covers attention regulation you can practise at a desk, mindfulness as cognitive training, the cost of constant switching and what neurofeedback can and cannot do.

Enquire about this workshop The science
The five bandsAlpha marked · Standard EEG bands, fast to slow · Not to scale
  1. Gamma30–100 Hz
  2. Beta12–30 Hz
  3. Alpha8–12 Hz
  4. Theta4–8 Hz
  5. Delta0.5–4 Hz

Faster, smallerSlower, larger

Who it is for

For teams whose days are chopped into pieces.

Open-plan offices, notification-heavy tools and meetings that run into each other. The day feels busy and little gets finished, because attention is spent on switching.

  1. Teams working in notification-heavy tools and open offices
  2. People who feel busy all day and finish little
  3. Leaders who want a focus norm the whole team can keep

Alpha · 8–12 Hz

01 / The scienceAlpha · 8–12 Hz · Calm attention

The mind wanders half the time.
Training shortens the return.

The session starts from how often attention leaves a task, what each return costs and what practice changes.

The attention loopHasenkamp et al. (2012) · Wander, notice, return: the cycle practice trains
Repeats all dayWith practiceBaseline
  1. 01FocusAttention held on the taskExecutive network
  2. 02WanderThe mind leaves, usually unnoticedDefault mode network
  3. 03NoticeAwareness that it has leftSalience network
  4. 04ReturnAttention comes back, a little steadierExecutive network

Hasenkamp and colleagues (2012) imaged these four phases during focused-attention practice: mind wandering with the default mode network, noticing with the salience network, shifting and sustaining attention with executive regions. The outer loop is the baseline. Practice shortens the wander and steadies the return; it does not switch the loop off.

The evidence

Open a finding to read what was measured, where it stops and where it was published.

  1. Mind wandering is the default

    Killingsworth MA, Gilbert DT (2010)

    Sampling thousands of people's thoughts through the day, Killingsworth and Gilbert found that minds wandered from the task at hand almost as often as not, and that people reported being less happy while they did.

    LimitExperience sampling with self-reported mood. It measures how common wandering is, not what it does to output.

    SourceKillingsworth MA, Gilbert DT (2010), Science 330(6006): 932

  2. Noticing and returning is a trainable loop

    Hasenkamp W et al. (2012)

    Using fMRI during focused-attention meditation, Hasenkamp and colleagues mapped a cycle of mind wandering, awareness of wandering, shifting and sustained attention onto distinct brain networks, with differences related to practice experience.

    LimitA small imaging study of experienced practitioners. It shows the loop can be observed; it sets no dose for anyone else.

    SourceHasenkamp W et al. (2012), NeuroImage 59(1): 750–760

  3. Alpha is an inhibition rhythm

    Klimesch W (2012)

    Klimesch argues that alpha oscillations reflect controlled inhibition: the rhythm rises over cortical areas that need quietening so that the relevant ones can do their work.

    LimitA theoretical account built from EEG evidence. It explains why calm attention looks like alpha; it does not make alpha a target to chase.

    SourceKlimesch W (2012), Trends in Cognitive Sciences 16(12): 606–617

  4. Neurofeedback remains unproven

    Thibault RT, Lifshitz M, Raz A (2016)

    Reviewing the evidence for EEG neurofeedback, Thibault and colleagues conclude that its clinical effectiveness remains controversial, with placebo-controlled trials often failing to separate real from sham feedback.

    LimitWe teach what neurofeedback is and what it has shown. We do not sell devices or offer training.

    SourceThibault RT, Lifshitz M, Raz A (2016), Cortex 74: 247–261

Alpha appears when the brain is awake but quiet. The band names the workshop. One rhythm does not produce calm, and we make no clinical promise about attention.

02 / The sessionIn person · Live online

What the session covers

Four topics from the catalogue, each with an exercise on the team's own tools and office.

  1. 01

    Attention regulation you can practise at a desk

    In the roomThree two-minute practices run at the desk, each timed, each followed by the same question: what pulled attention away, and what brought it back?

  2. 02

    What neurofeedback is, and what it is not

    In the roomRead a device claim against the trial evidence, and decide what the team would say to a colleague who wants to buy one.

  3. 03

    Mindfulness without mysticism

    In the roomThe attention loop, drawn and rehearsed: wander, notice, return, with the terminology kept to what the research uses.

  4. 04

    Cutting the cost of constant switching

    In the roomAudit one real afternoon for switches, then design a block of protected time the team can defend.

Formats

Mental Clarity runs as a keynote on its own or shares a half or full day with another theme.

  1. Keynote

    One theme

    A keynote brings the science, the stories and the practical tools to a conference stage or a town hall.

  2. Half-day workshop

    One or two themes

    A half-day makes time to practise, and it is the format most teams start with.

  3. Full-day training

    Several themes

    A full day works through exercises with your team's real cases on the table.

Every format runs both ways. Online sessions are designed for a remote audience, not compressed from the live version. Share your headcount and we will recommend a format. Compare the formats

03 / After the roomWhat outlasts the session

What you keep

  1. A working model of attention

    Wandering, noticing and returning, named precisely enough that the team stops blaming itself for the baseline.

  2. Desk-sized practices

    Two or three short attention practices rehearsed in the room, each placed into a real part of the day.

  3. A switching budget

    One agreement about notifications, meetings or protected blocks, chosen with the cost of switching in view.

Pairs well with

Related reading

Questions

About this workshop

The questions teams ask about Mental Clarity before they book. Questions about workshops in general are answered on the catalogue page.

Is Mental Clarity a mindfulness course?

It includes mindfulness, taught as cognitive training with the research language and none of the mysticism. The rest of the session is about attention regulation, switching costs and an honest look at neurofeedback.

Do you bring neurofeedback equipment?

No. We explain what neurofeedback is, what the trials show and where the evidence is weak. Teams leave able to judge a device claim; nobody is wired up.

Will this fix an open-plan office?

No session changes a floor plan. It gives the team a shared account of what switching costs and one or two agreements about protected time, which is what people can actually control.

Who is this workshop for?

Teams losing concentration to cognitive noise and constant switching: graduates in their first roles, product and operations teams, anyone whose day is chopped into pieces by tools and meetings.

Your next step

Bring Mental Clarity
to your team.

Enquire about this workshop

Tell us about your team, the format and the date you have in mind. The form opens with this workshop already named.