In this conversation, Patrick Porter, Ph.D. contrasts his brain training method—described as "circuit training"—with traditional neurofeedback, likening the latter to a personal trainer that targets specific brain functions. He introduces the "Master Brainwave" concept, drawing on Anne Wise's research which identified a high‑performer brainwave pattern of roughly 45% beta and 30% alpha activity, suggesting optimal brain efficiency requires fluid movement across multiple frequencies rather than fixation on a single one. Porter likens the process to chiropractic adjustments, where a brief, intense stimulus reorganizes the brain toward an optimal state. He warns against certain high‑voltage electrocranial programs (e.g., the discontinued Dolphin Mind and some magnetic resonant therapies) that can damage neural tissue, and advises careful PEMF strength selection—using lower intensities for the head versus higher for muscles and joints. The discussion also covers the cell danger response, explaining how exposure to EMF can trigger cellular shutdown in vulnerable individuals, and emphasizes the need for safe environments to mitigate such stressors during brain training.
Chapters
Bulletproof radio. A state of high performance.
Now, how do you know if, okay, putting the brain tap on, like I'm gonna do whatever the program is, how do I know that's gonna work for my brain versus for your brain?
Well, I kind of tell people this. The difference between this and neurofeedback, just to put that in perspective, is neurofeedback's like going to the gym. You get a personal trainer, of course, that's gonna be more targeted to your brain. You get to focus right on that brain function. Now what we do is we're going to take you through the circuit training. So this is like going to the gym, but you, you should already know what you're going to do. But we have a lot of professionals that recommend different things. So let's say that you're doing alpha training or whatever, theta training or gamma training, using neurofeedback. What you do is you do that training first and then you do this. But most people, we know there's a book out called the Master Brainwave by Anne Wise. She was the person that we consulted with in the early 90s. She's passed away now.
Yeah, she's an older author in the space, right?
Yeah. And she was from San Francisco. And basically what she did is she went around the world measuring people's brains with the capacity they had at that time, which was called the mind mirror, which is nothing like what we have today.
Very primitive.
Yeah, it was LED screens and told people what was going on. But what she found out was every person's brain that was a high achiever, captain of industry, performance in sports, they all had the certain rhythm to their brain, about 45% beta, 30% alpha. And the rest kind of went down like a mountain. And if that's not happening while you're awake, then you don't have the efficiency because you can't flow through these states. You want to be able to flow back and forth. So what we do is we train to that what we call the master brainwave. So what's nice about our brain, kind of like chiropractic is the best example, is when we know, because we've hooked people up to, eg, when somebody's getting an adjustment, the brain basically lights up. Puts so much energy into the brain. That's why some people like it, some people don't. If they're sensitive in their nervous system, they're gonna say, man, that chiropractor, what happened? But if they're like me, I want to hear my bones cracking, but what happens is we know it reorganizes the whole brain. Then the brain goes back to its optimal state, not the state it was in before the chiropractic adjustment, but we have a genetic code or a memory on all levels that says this is the perfect Dave Asprey and this is how you'd operate in whatever the optimum state is. So what we're going to do is we're going to give the brain the opportunity. We don't stick in any one state. One thing that is really important for people to know is it's not about one state, it's not about 10 Hz frequency, it's not about 11 Hz frequency, it's not about 7.8 Hz frequency. It's about training the brain to go to all those frequencies and giving your brain the chance. What we found over time, we used to do it with galvanic skin response systems and all those kind of things. But what we noticed was everybody's brain regulates back to whatever is normal for them. But not normal like when they showed up, because they usually showed up stressed out. I'm going to talk about clinical now. They showed up stressed out, worried, whatever. And basically once they do that, it's almost like the offloaded luggage. All this stress left their body and then the brain regulates back. It doesn't change the brain in a way that says this is permanent. Like some people over the years, there used to be a program called the Dolphin Mind, and it was one of the very first electrocranial electoral programs. And it was really cool, you know, but what they found was it actually was damaging to the brain. That's why they. It's not on the market anymore. They have a lower voltage one, you know, and things like that, which is good for some things, but that causes damage. Just like magnetic resonant therapy, they have those programs, they do change the brain, but it's more. It works on a damaged approach, like lifting weights does.
Well, it depends on the strength level and the frequency. Right. You know, some of the heavy duty PEMF stuff that I'll use for muscles and joints and, you know, making your neck not hurt for the first time in your life, you might not want to put that right on your head and turn it to full strength, because I don't think that's wise. But I know some people who like to do that, but that isn't my recommendation. Right.
Depending upon how our nervous system, whoever is doing it, their nervous system is in good shape, they can handle that kind of energy. But like you were talking about the cells. We have something called the cell danger response. If one group of cells starts to feel, because let's say we're getting EMF and we can't handle that, and we're one of the 20% that gets damaged, then the cells start to shut down. And so the. But if we're open to that and we know, hey, this is a safe place, safe environment, then the body can handle it. And, you know, we're always. People like yourself are always looking for ways we know this is going to happen. We're not going to avoid electric smog. Right. But we have to have ways to combat that.
