A moment to understand · Open Focus
Train how you pay attention.
Attention works a bit like a spotlight. It can narrow onto one thing, or widen to take in your body, the sounds in the room, and the space around you. Open Focus is a way of practicing that shift on purpose. Here is where the idea comes from, a short exercise to try, and what the research does and does not show. One minute, narrated, with captions.
Part of A moment to understand, short explainers on the ideas behind my four free brain apps.
A spotlight that can widen
Most of the day we pay attention in a narrow way: one screen, one task, one problem. That is useful, and nothing is wrong with it. Les Fehmi, a psychologist who ran a biofeedback clinic in Princeton, New Jersey, noticed that many of his clients seemed stuck there, holding a tight, effortful kind of focus even when they did not need it. He called the alternative Open Focus: an attention wide enough to include your body, sounds and the space around you, all at the same time, without picking one thing out.
The goal is not to stay wide forever. It is flexibility, being able to zoom in when a task needs it and open back up when it does not.
Try it for a moment
This takes about thirty seconds, and you can do it with your eyes open or closed.
- 1. Both hands at onceFeel your left hand and your right hand at the same time, rather than switching between them.
- 2. The space betweenNow notice the space between your hands, while still feeling both of them.
- 3. Let sounds inLet whatever you can hear become part of that same awareness. You do not need to name the sounds or follow them.
If it felt odd to notice "space", that is normal. Imagining something with no edges and no shape is part of what nudges attention wider.
Why it might help
When a worry, or an ache, fills your attention, it can feel like your whole world. Widening attention does not make the worry go away. It puts it inside a bigger picture, so it takes up less of the stage. That is the idea Fehmi built his exercises around, and it is the same idea behind his approach to pain.
What the research shows, and what it does not
Fehmi came to Open Focus through brain wave research. He reported that this wide, spacious kind of attention went along with alpha brain waves that were more in step across the head, and he paired the exercises with EEG neurofeedback in his clinic. In a 2001 review of 132 of his patients, most reported that their symptoms improved.
That is encouraging, but it is not strong evidence. Those patients were not compared with a control group, the results were self-reported, and the work came from the same clinic that developed the method. Separately, well-controlled lab research does show that alpha rhythms are tied to how the brain directs attention, which makes the idea plausible. Plausible is not proven, and benefits vary from person to person.
Transcript
0:00Open Focus is a way to train how you pay attention. Psychologist Les Fehmi developed it to help people shift between a narrow focus and a wider awareness.
0:11Think of attention like a spotlight. It can zoom in on a problem or widen to include your body, sounds, and the space around you.
0:20Try this. Notice both hands at once. Now notice the space between them while still feeling your hands. Let sounds be part of that same awareness.
0:31Why might this help? When a worry fills your attention, it can feel like your whole world. A wider awareness gives that worry less of the stage.
0:40Some people find this eases stress or discomfort. Early research links Open Focus with changes in brain waves, but benefits vary.
0:50The goal is flexible attention, being able to focus closely then open up again.
Sources
- Fehmi, L. & Robbins, J., 2007. The Open-Focus Brain: Harnessing the Power of Attention to Heal Mind and Body. Trumpeter Books. The original book, with the exercises.
- Fehmi & Shor, 2013. Open Focus attention training. Psychiatric Clinics of North America. Fehmi's own overview of attention styles and the EEG patterns he linked to them.
- McKnight & Fehmi, 2001. Attention and neurofeedback synchrony training: clinical results and their significance. Journal of Neurotherapy. The 132-patient clinic review; uncontrolled and self-rated.
- Bagherzadeh et al., 2020. Alpha synchrony and the neurofeedback control of spatial attention. Neuron. Independent lab evidence that alpha rhythms help steer attention. It does not test Open Focus itself.
Open Focus is a trademark of its owners. This page is not affiliated with or endorsed by them. It is general information, not medical advice. Written by Matt Knapp, who runs a brain health program at a medical practice in Ellicott City, Maryland, and builds these apps on the side.
Practice opening your focus.
The Space Between has short guided exercises built on this idea. It is free, runs in your browser, and needs no account.
The Space BetweenPlayful exercises to open your focus · spacebetween.app
More subjects: A moment to understand · All four apps: knapp.build/brain