If you want to get the most out of your mind, pay attention to your attention.

That's the message of Jim Robbins' book "The Open-Focus Brain: The Evolution of the New Brain Wave Biofeedback," which he co-wrote with Les Fehmi of the Princeton Biofeedback Center.

According to Robbins, Fehmi's research shows that most of us spend our lives in a sort of emergency mode, what he calls narrow-focus attention. He says this mindset contributes to any number of psychological disorders, including anxiety, depression and attention deficit disorder.

But by becoming more flexible with the many ways of paying attention, he says, people can overcome those disorders -- or simply learn to use their minds more effectively.

Robbins, who lives in Helena and is a frequent contributor to The New York Times and many national magazines, will discuss the book and give some tips on how to put it into practice Monday at ExplorationWorks. The presentation is at 7 p.m.

"I'm going to talk about what this approach is in very simple terms," Robbins said. "I'll give an exercise -- an open focus exercise, one very simple lesson how to move out of narrow focus and start reclaiming our attention."

Fehmi is director of the Princeton Biofeedback Center in Princeton, N.J., and a pioneer in the field of neurofeedback.

He is a graduate of the UCLA Brain Research Institute and has worked for 40 years on understanding biofeedback and its applications.

Robbins uses an analogy that our minds are like a five-speed sports car.

When people focus narrowly on one topic, it's like they're using only the first two gears and not maximizing the mind's potential.

The emergency mode of attention causes muscle tension and anxiety, Robbins said.

Having an open focus, he said, helps reduce anxiety -- and the many problems associated with it, such as obsessive compulsive disorder, stuttering, eating disorders and others.

"They all have a component of anxiety," Robbins said. "This teaches people how to move into lower frequencies. It helps ease these symptoms."

Robbins met Fehmi when he was working on his previous book, "A Symphony in the Brain."

That book examined how neurofeedback -- a type of biofeedback that analyzes a person's brain waves -- can help control conditions such as epilepsy, autism and depression without drugs.

Robbins said he wouldn't have written "The Open-Focus Brain" book if it were just another examination of neurofeedback.

He said this book has a much broader appeal because biofeedback machines aren't necessary for a person to benefit from its techniques.

Biofeedback has a stigma with many people as a fad from the 1970s or a pseudoscience, but, according to Robbins, skepticism is evaporating and many doctors now see its potential.

"There are a number of studies that show it is effective," Robbins said. "World-class scientists are trying to understand its potential.

"It's not to say there still aren't skeptics. Some of them have been won over or are not skeptical anymore."

"The Open-Focus Brain" has received a lot of attention from the media.

The book was listed as an editor's choice by Body+Soul magazine in its September 2007 edition and was featured in O, The Oprah Magazine.

It has also done well in bookstores, and Robbins said there will be a second printing of the book, and a workbook based on it is in the works.

Reporter Joe Menden: 447-4087 or joe.menden@helenair.com