Inside a Real Brain Mapping Session: New Hard Yarns Episode

Hard Yarns Podcast  |  Episode featuring Lara Schulz  |  Brain Mapping, EEG & Neurotherapy

Most people who are curious about neurotherapy have a similar question: what does it actually look like in practice? What happens when you sit down for a brain mapping assessment, and what does the data mean once it’s in front of you?

The second Hard Yarns Podcast episode featuring Lara Schulz answers that question in the most direct way possible — by doing it live. Over the course of a three-and-a-half-hour conversation, Lara conducts a full QEEG brain mapping assessment on the host, walks through the results in real time, and explains what each finding means for everyday life.

As a Psychophysiologist and QEEG practitioner, I think this episode is one of the most useful pieces of public education on brain mapping available in Australia. Here’s what stood out to me, and what it means if you’re considering this kind of assessment for yourself or someone you care for. (If you haven’t already, you may also want to read my reflection on the first Hard Yarns episode with Lara, which covers the fundamentals of brain waves and ADHD.)

What a Real Brain Mapping Assessment Involves

The assessment Lara conducts in this episode consists of four components: Eyes-open EEG recording for 10 minutes, followed by eyes-closed EEG recording for 10 minutes. These two conditions tell us very different things. Eyes-open recording captures how the brain functions when engaged with the external world — the baseline state for most daily activity. Eyes-closed recording reveals the brain’s resting state and is particularly useful for identifying patterns in the default mode network, including how the brain manages internal thought, emotion, and self-referential processing.

Following the resting EEG, Lara administers two Event-Related Potential (ERP) tasks. One visual and one auditory. ERPs measure how the brain responds to specific stimuli in real time, giving us a window into cognitive processing speed, attention, and how efficiently the brain handles incoming information. These are the components that standard brain mapping assessments often omit, and they add considerable depth to the picture.

A QEEG is not a snapshot. It is a multi-condition profile of how the brain functions across different demands — and each condition reveals something the others cannot.

What Real EEG Results Look Like

This is the part of the episode I find most valuable for people who are new to neurotherapy. Lara shares the host’s actual results and explains them in plain language, which is rare, and genuinely useful.

In this case, the results revealed deficiencies in delta and theta wave activity, suggesting difficulties with deep restorative sleep and the kind of relaxed, inward-focused state that supports creativity and emotional processing. There was also an overactive alpha wave pattern, which, rather than indicating calm, in this context pointed to emotional stress and a brain working hard to suppress or manage internal reactivity.

This is an important point worth dwelling on. Alpha waves are often described as a ‘relaxed’ brain state, and in optimal conditions that’s true. But elevated alpha in certain regions — particularly at the front of the brain, can indicate the opposite: a brain that is emotionally burdened and suppressing rather than processing. Context and location matter enormously when interpreting brain wave data, which is why QEEG analysis requires clinical training rather than a simple readout.

The same brain wave pattern can mean very different things depending on where it appears, how strong it is, and what it looks like relative to the rest of the brain’s activity. This is why individualised assessment matters.

The AI Protocol: What It Is and What It Adds

One of the more novel aspects of this episode is Lara’s use of an AI-assisted protocol analysis - a layer of computational analysis that draws on the EEG data to generate treatment recommendations tailored to the individual’s brain profile.

In the episode, this analysis confirms and extends the picture from the raw EEG: identifying specific areas of dysregulation and pointing toward targeted neurostimulation as the appropriate intervention for this particular profile.

At The Togetherness Project, we use a similar evidence-informed approach to protocol development - grounding every treatment recommendation in the individual’s QEEG data rather than applying a standard protocol across all presentations. The goal is always precision: the right intervention, for the right brain region, at the right intensity.

Phase-Amplitude Coupling and Memory

Lara touches on a more advanced concept in this episode that I want to highlight, because it represents one of the more exciting areas of neurotherapy research: phase-amplitude coupling.

Phase-amplitude coupling refers to the synchronisation between different types of brain waves - specifically, how slower oscillations (such as theta) coordinate with faster ones (such as gamma) to support memory consolidation, learning, and cognitive performance. When this coupling is disrupted, memory encoding and retrieval can be significantly impaired.

Newer neurostimulation protocols are now being designed specifically to restore this synchronisation, with promising applications for conditions involving memory difficulties, including age-related cognitive decline, post-concussive symptoms, and the early stages of Alzheimer’s and dementia. It’s a developing area, and I think it’s one of the most clinically significant frontiers in neurotherapy right now.

***Phase-amplitude coupling is not for everyone and each person’s case is carefully considered before intervening with this protocol***

Phase-amplitude coupling is one of the reasons neurotherapy is increasingly relevant not just for children with ADHD, but for adults navigating memory, cognitive fatigue, and the effects of trauma on the brain.

Emotional Dysregulation, Trauma, and the Brain

Perhaps the most personally resonant part of the episode is the conversation around emotional dysregulation and trauma. The host reflects openly on patterns like people-pleasing, a tendency that, from a neurobiological perspective, often reflects a nervous system that has learned to prioritise safety through appeasement rather than authentic self-expression.

Lara connects this to the brain map findings and recommends exploring the underlying trauma that may be driving these patterns. This is an area where neurotherapy and family therapy intersect in the work we do at The Togetherness Project. Brain mapping can identify the neurological signatures of unresolved stress and trauma, the overactive alarm systems, the disrupted sleep architecture, the suppressed emotional processing, and neurotherapy can help regulate these patterns at the level of the brain itself.

But that regulation works best when it is accompanied by relational support and psychological understanding. The brain does not exist in isolation from the person living in it, nor from the relationships and experiences that have shaped it. This is why our approach integrates neurotherapy with family therapy and clinical psychology.

Watch the Full Episode

You can watch Lara’s full brain mapping session on the Hard Yarns Podcast here: https://youtu.be/6_vgIm_d9f8?si=jjopCsk_CDJPxYO4

If this episode has prompted questions about your own brain — or about what a QEEG assessment could reveal for you or your child — I’d welcome a conversation. The Togetherness Project offers QEEG brain mapping and neurotherapy in Melbourne (Hawthorn) and Perth (Fremantle).