Now I generally don’t read Men’s Vogue magazine but there was a picture of my hero on the cover and I couldn’t resist.  So, I opened it up and started to read about this amazing man.  His presence on the screen is like none I can ever remember.  I believe this is due to his incredible logos and pathos appeal at the same time.  His pace is frenetic and keeps your pulse pounding and your heart soaring with an equal mix of pain and elation.  So, who am I talking about…Kiefer Sutherland of course.  And what does he have to do with mind control?

That’s the interesting connection between two articles in this Jan. ‘07, Men’s Vogue magazine.  There was the article on Kiefer and then there was this article about neurofeedback or mind control being used by professional athletes to sharpen their focus and performance.  The connection between these two was obvious in the fact that Kiefer as Jack Bauer brings to the part the unrelenting focus and drive and belies an athlete down in the last set at match point fighting to get back into the game.  It’s this heart pounding real life drama in competition that’s also played out in the character of Jack Bauer or Fox’s wildly successful TV show 24.

Joel Surnow, a writer and co-creator of 24, says that Kiefer was born to play Bauer in the palpable, heart pounding style that he brings to the character every day.  Sutherland, in bringing this larger than life character to the screen, is known to bring his complete A-game on the set.  And it’s also well known that you better have your game on too or you will get blown away. This type of concentration and focus is incredible considering that Kiefer’s ‘game is on’ six days a week, twelve hours a day for 10 months. With 128 episodes filmed, it’s equivalent to 65 films in a five-and-a-half-year time period.  Whew!  How does he do it?

Well, I was wondering the same thing until I read another article in this magazine about mind control. What is quietly happening behind closed doors is that athletes are using any advantage that they can get to get a jump on the competition.  This is now in the form of neurofeedback in which a person is hooked up with miniature electrodes that send a signal from their scalp to a computer.  They then sit back and relax and watch their brain waves play out like a video game with brightly colored zig and zags on a monitor.  What can be detected from these bleeps on the screen, is that certain brain waves elicit certain thoughts in the brain.  There is alpha waves which indicate relaxed openness and focus; beta which is multitasking efficiency but also anxiety and self-talk; and theta which is the wandering mind.  The objective, of course, is to train the mind to elicit brain waves that are important for performance and function.  What neurofeedback clinicians tell their clients is that they can teach you how to go into alpha objectively. 




The funny thing about the effects of neurofeedback is that it can, not only improve your focus and concentration in a highly efficient relaxed state, but it can also improve your tennis game.  So there are a lot of reasons why people are looking into this new and improved ‘biofeedback’ of the 60s.  It can get you ‘in the zone’ by training your mind to operate in certain brain wave states.  This is what I believe Kiefer Sutherland has managed to do naturally.  And the reason I believe he is able to do it is because he seems to have unconsciously trained his mind to operate ‘in the zone’.  If you have ever watched him on the set of 24, he is intense, and focused but relaxed, just like a world champion tennis player on the court.

So what will this old technology made new do for you?  Some estimates report that there are thousands of neurofeedback practitioners  North America.  Many treat epilepsy and attention deficit disorder, while others devote at least part of their practices to improving clients’ business and artistic skills, and, of course, sports.  From what the practitioners are reporting about this improved technology is that they can now define a relaxed state of mind with precision, and once relaxed can be taught to stay that way.  So whether you’re looking for a better game of tennis or saving the world, this looks like a promising way to get there.