The Open-Focus Brain: Harnessing the Power of Attention to Heal Mind and Body

by Les Fehmi, Jim Robbins

A breakthrough, drug-free approach to stress and stress-related illnesses—from anxiety and depression to ADHD and chronic pain—using simple attention exercises with powerful results on physical and mental health

This breakthrough book presents a disarmingly simple The way we pay attention in daily life can play a critical role in our health and well-being. According to Dr. Les Fehmi, a clinical psychologist and researcher, many of us have become stuck in "narrow-focus attention": a tense, constricted, survival mode of attention that holds us in a state of chronic stress—and which lies at the root of common ailments including anxiety, depression, ADD, stress-related migraines, and more. To improve these conditions, Dr. Fehmi explains that we must learn to return to a relaxed, diffuse, and creative form of attention, which he calls "Open Focus."

This highly readable and empowering book offers straightforward explanations and simple exercises on how to shift into a more calm, open style of attention that reduces stress, improves health, and enhances performance. The Open-Focus Brain features eight essential attention exercises for improving health.

Dr. Fehmi writes, "Everyone has the ability to heal their nervous systems, to dissolve their pain, to slow down and yet accomplish more, to experience the deeper side of life—in short, to change their lives for the better dramatically." At last readers can learn the techniques that Dr. Fehmi has offered to thousands of clients—the same drug-free, safe, and effective techniques that have led to remarkable and long-lasting results.

Genres: Psychology, Self Help, Nonfiction, Health, Meditation, Personal Development, Brain

208 pages, Paperback

First published August 28, 2007

Reviews

[Mary Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

How many times have you heard it said that we human beings only use a sliver of our capacity? That much of our brains go unused? This book attempts to explain why, and what we can do about it.

Fehmi's premise is that our culture makes us addicted to a particular way of being that he calls narrow focus. Narrow focus involves vision, brain, neurology, physiology, moods, behavior. It is characterized by stress. People live busy days and have a hard time winding down. They use caffeine and alcohol to get through their days and nights. Their minds race. Their bodies produce cortisol. They eat and often behave mindlessly. This is epidemic.

Yet we've probably all experienced moments of expansion -- when the world seems new and fresh, when we are so absorbed in an activity or person we love that we lose track of time, when we feel on top of the world, when we sense ourselves in union with nature and all of life.

It's not destiny. It's a matter of changing how you pay attention.

Fehmi says we can cultivate the brain states in which these expansive moments arise and learn to use narrow focus only when we need to, and not habitually, thus greatly expanding our capacity to enjoy life.

He makes a model of four dimensions of attention: narrow, objective, diffuse, and immersed. Narrow attention excludes peripheral perceptions. It's not just visual but extends to sensation and thought. We block everything else out, often including our whole body awareness.

Objective attention distances the observer from the object being observed. This allows one to evaluate and control it. We see/sense something as apart from ourselves. Narrow and objective attention are organized by the left hemisphere.

Diffuse attention gives a softer, more inclusive view of the world. It's panoramic, inclusive, three-dimensional, gives attention equally to all internal and external stimuli and space, silence, and timelessness.

Immersed or absorbed attention is about entering into union with an object or process to the point of self-forgetfulness. It is usually pleasurable. Making love, dancing, athletic or artistic performance...are how we often experience immersion. Diffuse and immersed attention are organized by the right brain.

Although Fehmi's area of expertise is biofeedback, he doesn't go into much detail about the relationship of these states to actual brain waves. He did find a way to induce people into alpha, making a key discovery that questions related to space generated a significant increase in alpha brain synchrony.

Try it on for yourself: "Can you imagine the space between your eyes?" Did you sense a shift?

And that was the starting point of this book: questions that generate shifts.

The joy of this book is that is comes with a CD with a couple of trances on it, and it contains the scripts for many more trances, all designed to give you the experience of an open-focus brain.

Les Fehmi is a pioneer in biofeedback. He is the director of the Princeton Biofeedback Centre in Princeton, NJ. His co-author, Jim Robbins, is a journalist and science writer, author of A Symphony in the Brain: The Evolution of the New Brain Wave Biofeedback.

My cranio-sacral therapist, Nina Davis, recommended this book to me. I read it and have recommended it to others.

[Nils Rider · Rating 3 out of 5]

In my simple opinion, Les Fehmi is basically describing the effects from ( a somewhat advanced) meditation practice, though almost never using the word. This could maybe be a an advantage to engage people, scpectical about meditation and where it comes from,. Especially since he provides ( a somehwat dubious) clinical and scientific background.
He divides modes of attention into a 2x2 grid, with diffused - narrow on the one side and immersed - objective on the other. I find this terms quite useful. Other than that, the focus on space is quite in terms with some meditation practices ( Jonathan Foust uses some of these in his guided meditations, Rob Burbea surely could be said to have some overlap aswelll). Besides these 2-3 good points, the book comes in a standard american self-help fashion, providing its content as the cure-for-all and boring case-studies.

[Hoyt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yes, this was in many ways a big advertisement to get readers to go to the website, but it has some good stuff in it. The included CD has an hour of the author reading through a couple of the exercises from the book, since most of them are designed to be guided meditations anyway (you'd have to record yourself reading out the questions otherwise).

This is presents the basics for a meditation technique whose goal is to increase the output of alpha waves from the brain, which is supposed to be lead to awesomeness. I've been trying some of the exercises for a few days now, and they're pretty good. I'm pretty sure that these techniques will not be the panacea espoused by the book, but they do make you pretty mellow, and the pain dispersal exercise works very well.

It's a quick read, and with the included CD was worth the purchase price to me. I haven't decided if I'll pursue other products from these guys from their website or local workshops, etc...

[Jeanmarie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Your typical self help book ratio:
One paragraph of insight:twenty
pages of case study: 5 pages of Guru-speak. This book was particularly useless as the insight was so vague as to be completely useless to the reader or the self who needs help. The guy might have a good mental processing system, but he can’t translate it into words.

[Kerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a surprising read--probably because Open Focus seems like just another over-hyped "cure all" concept but as you make your way through the book, you realize there might be something to it, particularly if you consider that it has some similarities with mindfulness, the benefits of which have been widely written about. And while many reviews complain about it being one big advertisement for the website (and associated products and programs), the book isn't completely empty. Right away, you're taught the fundamentals of the method that you can begin to practice immediately, even as you read the book. And while it may be nice to listen to the exercises provided with the chapters, an audio-recording is not necessary; you can begin to practice just by reading the questions and moving through the exercises step by step. It's a good tool in an arsenal of someone who has problems meditating--you don't focus on your breath and you don't clear your mind. Instead, you focus on space, whether mentally or visually, and you learn to diffuse your focus so that you aren't concentrating so hard on one task or object that you lose sight (in some ways, literally) of everything else.

[Evan · Rating 4 out of 5]

11/50 for 2021. This book is really quite special in how it unveils the concept of diffuse, non-spacial thinking he describes as Open Focus thinking. I’ve incorporated a lot of this into my meditation practice and it has been wondrous. That being said, he spends a little too much time hyping his specific brand of treatment for this to be a perfect book, despite the overwhelming appeal of his main concept. It actually is kind of life changing.

[Brooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

If only everyone (myself included) could practice this...

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was life changing for me. It defined in behavioral terms what I have been seeking through Buddhist meditation for decades. Is it a fast track to enlightenment? I will have to get back to you on that one, having just read the book and practiced the exercises for a month now. But I wish I had learned this method of opening my attention decades ago. The emotional pain and dysregulation I have suffered for so long are easily calmed when I use these methods. Others might see this as a hokey self help book, but I believe he is attempting to communicate a powerful truth about our mind and our experience in the world. Perhaps after decades of psychotherapy and meditation, I was ready and able to do these exercises. I do not believe they are easy. This is no pat self help book, it is a serious critique of our mind and a method of adjusting our attention so we can better understand our mind and live a calmer, fuller, richer life with less pain and more love. I wonder if Fehmi has provided the last puzzle piece for me. Thank you, Les Fehmi, for all of your work.

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Do you get an ASMR-like tingle when relax, exhale, and ponder the question: "Can you imagine the space between your eyes?"

That question is said to answer the question of how to generate alpha brain waves at will. The book explains a little of how this was discovered and a lot about its applications (see Mary Ann's review). The publisher lets you download mp3 guided meditations (possibly identical to the audio CD packaged with the book).

I happened across a blog post with PubMed citations which help me better understand what 'alpha brain waves' mean in daily living.

[Joshua J · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was quite a good find. I can't verify the claims made in the book personally yet because I listened to it on audible and meditation whilst driving doesn't seem like a wise idea. The brain wave switching exercises are so simple, and I can very much so see them working, and even if they don't exactly, there's no great time loss in trying them. I know how beneficial meditation is for the mind and how difficult it can be for neurodivergent people to do it, so this might be a great step in the right direction.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great introduction to Fehmi's groundbreaking work with alpha and his framework for helping people achieve an open-focus of attention. Has some great practical scripts for therapists to use with their clients and comes with a CD to listen to to get into an open-focus state.

[Bob · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quit at 52% read. Rehash of mindfulness techniques but framed as some miracle cure that takes only weeks to completely resolve deep seated anxiety and depression.

Completely over the top in its claims.

[Christin Malvegård · Rating 4 out of 5]

interesting

There is a lot that is interesting in this book. The idea of shifting attention type is new to me but I can clearly see how beneficial this approach is. Will keep practicing.

[Greg Langmead · Rating 2 out of 5]

Huge snake oil vibes. But the recordings interested me so I sought them out. I'll try them -- they are guided meditations that he developed while having biofeedback. Stuff about synchrony of alpha waves makes me roll my eyes, but I'll definitely sample the resulting prompts!

[Jimmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's more about psychological therapy by using attention direction.

[H · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't know open-focus type of meditation existed or even this concept of using multiple senses at once. Fascinated book. I've done the open-focus exercises in the book and plan to continue.

[David Peirce · Rating 5 out of 5]

When we are under stress, our focus narrows. When we are in pain, our focus narrows. When we are staring at a computer screen all day, our focus narrows. Contrast that with the feeling you get from exercising hard to exhaustion or having a long and hearty laugh with friends or going for a walk in silent nature or watching your children open something they love on Christmas morning. Open, spacious, relaxed, happy, and accepting. I know which I prefer!

The key to peace is getting out of your head! Our thoughts are wonderful servants, tools for choosing directions and solving problems, but they are terrible masters when we are caught in angry, anxious, or depressed thinking that things should be different than they are.

Les Fehmi developed a method of meditation (there I said it, even though the word is scarcely in the book) that is rooted in research on observing the effects of changing human attention on brain waves. Through this, Fehmi developed Open Focus techniques to shift attention out of this narrow focus in our head and shift to a place of relaxed attending.

I come to this from the perspective of Buddhist meditation. Buddhist meditation typically takes two forms: Shamatha (fixed-point) meditation, in which the meditator focuses on her breath (most commonly) or some other object or Vipassana (insight) meditation, in which the meditator works with her sensations, thoughts, and feelings in order to see that they aren't real but are rather the products of habit, mood, circumstance, etc. Open Focus skips trying to manage or evaluate the content of thoughts and, instead, relaxes into an attention that is unconcerned with content while still allowing thoughts to occur. With practice, we can retrain attention, so that this open focus is our way of attending to life, including our work and even stressful situations.

(Parenthetical comment: I see some people saying they feel like this book is an upsell to things on Fehmi's site. This book is a complete set of exercises for every type of situation imaginable. You can go to workshops or buy audio recordings at Fehmi's site. But there isn't anything that he is leaving out to upsell to readers later.)

I believe this is an important book. For those who are interested, it has some commonality with Advaita or Dzogchen and other non-dual meditation approaches. But it is not rooted in any Eastern philosophy and has no metaphysical assumptions or language but is, rather, rooted in Fehmi's research into happiness.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book itself is quite interesting, although repetitive at times

The biggest problem is that it appears too much like a sales pamphlet. Open Focus helped with this, Open Focus helped with that. Firstly, it's too annoying to have this brand name dropping several times on each page. Secondly, when you read about how it magically helps with everything it's hard to buy the story.

Still, books is short and message is important: our usual way of paying attention creates lots of problems for us. Can the exercises authors promoted help with that is a different subject. The kind of 'mediation' that is presented in the book is quite different from traditional meditations and I'm quite willing to try it.

[Melanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this book because it was mentioned in another book I recently read. This book revolves around the concept of open focus versus closed focus and its effect on what individuals notice or don't notice as well as the resulting effect on the individual's state of mind and ability to deal with stress. Understanding this concept alone makes this book worth reading. I disagree however with the implication that changing this focus will heal chronic pain in everyone. I do think that people who are stressed in today's world can benefit from being less narrowly focused. However, I don't think that learning this is as simple as the book leads the reader to beleive.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

A borrowed book from a friend at SGU. It mainly seemed to focus on mindfulness by focusing on the big picture and using your full perspective to avoid narrow focus. It gave exercises that seemed to be good, but I think I would need to have guide for them. I have yet to listen to the CD, but will give it a shot. I especially liked the idea of embracing and enveloping oneself in pain, only then will it dissipate/dissolve. I hope to try it out more. I need to be able to have an open focus to prevent stress from inhibiting my abilities. I enjoyed this read.

[Len Edgerly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This method of developing flexible attention modes makes a lot of sense to me, but the claims seemed exaggerated and a tad messianic for my taste. I know how challenging it is to make progress in awareness through Zen practice, and there you have the ongoing support of the sangha made up of other practitioners. To do this work on your own would be impossible, I would think.

But the approach does seem plausible, and just by changing my sense of space during the day I could see the power of it. This is an important, thought-provoking book.

[Joel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book. It creates a more detailed model about how we focus and can expand our attention. The book contains some fascinating exercises. Questions to create a deep state of awareness, by shifting and merging different perspectives; multi-layered sensory and perceptual position shifts. There is a CD that accompanies the book, unfortunately in my copy, the CD was badly scrateched and had to be returned.

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book concerns learning to adopt different types of attention in the activities of daily life, giving the rationales and research on why this is beneficial to many people. It presents exercises based on Dr. Fehmi's 30 years of research and work with patients. I'm intrigued but won't know how it well it works till I try it for a while.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book put into words something I have had a fuzzy feeling for, made it concrete. I definitely buy into the authors interpretation of consciousness being something that is a dynamic play between focal and non-focal (open-focus) modalities. Using EEG to learn the feel is a great idea IMO, and this book explains why.

[Jeffrey (Akiva) Savett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure I believe that this stuff works. A student's mom recommended it to me because she found out that I write poetry and she's a painter. She said she uses many of the attention techniques herein. I read the book but I'll have to practice the CD to really get the flavor.

[Janie · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars to the concept/practice and the book's first half. 2.3 to the follow up half.

Great illumination on the attentional aspects of anxiety, depression, and AD(H)D — cognitive patterns I'm invested in understanding.

[Alexis]

Interesting. I recently attended a workshop with L. Fehmi using his techniques of 'neuro-feedback' and these scripts. I'm not entirely convinced, but the cd's are affecting in a way that is a little different from other "relaxation" or meditation recordings.

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

5 stars because it would be a gift to ourselves & others if we practiced as he outlines in the book. I feel very peaceful after his guided meditations. The book itself is repetitive and at times tedious, but wading through his text is a small price to pay for understanding his work.

[Heather-Lin · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars
I appreciated the information, as it was timely and helpful. I felt the book was ultimately a simple message and technique, that was unnecessary fluffed up and filled out with anecdotes and reinforcing statements as to the importance of the data.

[Carrie · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was basically on how to do biofeedback on yourself, but I found it to be too complicated and not practical enough.