By Dr. Chris Cormier, DC — EBOO Prime
Something I notice constantly, and it applies well beyond what we do here.
For most people, the procedure itself is far easier than the ten minutes before it.
By the time someone is settled in the chair with the session underway, they are usually fine — often more than fine. The hard part happened in the waiting room, in the car, and at two in the morning the night before.
That is worth taking seriously rather than treating as something to get through. Here is what actually helps.
Being braced is not a character flaw
First, the thing nobody says often enough.
Feeling uneasy before anything involving needles or medical equipment is extremely common, including among people who are perfectly comfortable with everything else in their lives. I am not fond of needles myself and I was uneasy before my own first session here. It is a very ordinary thing to feel.
What does not help is being told to relax. When your system is already on high alert, instructing yourself out of it is the hardest version of the task — you are asking the quieter part of your nervous system to overrule the louder part by force, at the exact moment the louder part is winning.
So if you have ever tried to calm yourself before an appointment and failed, that is not a failure of character. It is what happens when you attempt a difficult skill under the worst possible conditions.
Why the state you arrive in matters
Being settled does not change what the equipment does. It changes something simpler and more immediate: how the hour actually feels.
A person who is braced holds tension for an hour, notices every small sensation, and finds the time passes slowly. A person who is settled tends to find the same hour restful and is often surprised when it is over. Same session, two completely different experiences.
And a state is a physical thing rather than a mood. An EEG measures the electrical activity of the brain — the small signals brain cells use to communicate — and those “brain waves are faster when you are awake and slower in certain stages of sleep.” Alert and settled are different rates. Which means they respond to conditions, not instructions.
That is good news, because conditions are something you can change.
What to do before you arrive
Ask your questions in advance
A great deal of pre-appointment tension is unanswered questions rather than fear of the thing itself. How long is it, what happens, what will I feel, who is doing it.
We wrote the full walkthrough precisely for this reason — what to expect from an EBOO session covers the hour from start to finish, and the FAQ page handles the rest. Read them before you come. Most people feel noticeably better having done so.
Sleep the night before, if you can
Easier said than done the night before anything, but worth the effort. A rested nervous system settles far more readily than a tired one, and the room setup that makes that likelier is covered in oxygen and sleep.
Eat and hydrate normally
Unless you have been told otherwise, arrive having eaten and with water in you. Arriving depleted makes everything feel harder than it is.
Give yourself margin
Arriving late and flustered puts you in exactly the state you are trying to avoid. Leave early enough that the journey is dull.
The sixty seconds that actually work
This is the practical part, and it works in a waiting room, a car, or a bathroom.
- Close your eyes, and cover them with your palms if you are somewhere you can.
- Six slow breaths, with the out-breath clearly longer than the in-breath. Not deep — long.
- Unclench your jaw and drop your shoulders on the last two breaths. Most people are holding both without noticing.
The long exhale is the most direct voluntary access you have to the calming side of your nervous system, and it works even when your head is busy. It is the one thing on this page I would want everyone to know, procedure or no procedure.
The broader evidence supports the general approach, too: NIH’s complementary health center notes that mindfulness-based approaches have compared favourably with no treatment for anxiety, and that mindfulness meditation “may help reduce insomnia and improve sleep quality.” The techniques are sound. The trick is using them before you are at your worst rather than during.
How we set the room up for this
A lot of what we do is simply removing reasons for your system to stay alert.
- The chairs. Chosen specifically for an hour-long session, with arm support and raised legs. Holding yourself upright is work, and comfort is not a luxury here.
- An eye mask, if you want one. A large share of alertness is driven by what you are seeing. Covering your eyes does more than most people expect.
- Headphones and sound. Closed-ear headphones remove your attention’s escape route, and sound and frequency-based approaches are part of how we help people settle rather than having to settle themselves.
- A visible process. The loop runs where you can see it. People expect that to be unsettling and almost always find the opposite — not knowing is worse than seeing.
- An experienced nurse. 25 years in practice. This makes more difference than everything else combined, and it is the first thing most people mention afterwards.
None of this is incidental. Settling the person is part of running the session properly, not a nicety we add if there is time.
Following is easier than generating
If there is one idea worth taking from this page, it is this one.
Asking someone in a high-alert state to produce calm from nothing is asking a great deal. Giving their system something steady to settle alongside asks much less — the right conditions, a long exhale, a comfortable chair, a sound to follow.
That principle runs through everything we do, and the at-home version of it is on BodyCharger, where the full downshift protocol lives. People who practise it at home arrive here in a different state, and they notice.
What we are and are not doing
Worth being precise, because precision is what this brand is for.
What we are doing
Making an hour-long session comfortable and settled, so the experience is a good one and the time passes easily. Running a supportive wellness therapy focused on circulation and oxygenation, described in full on what is EBOO and how it works.
What we are not doing
We are not claiming that feeling calmer changes what the equipment does, or that any of this treats a medical condition. EBOO is not a treatment for a diagnosed disease and it is not a substitute for care you are receiving elsewhere.
And none of this is a substitute for proper medical support with anxiety. If fear of needles or procedures is significant enough to have caused you to avoid care you need, that is worth raising with a physician — it is both common and very treatable, and it deserves better than being worked around.
Where the clinical side sits
Where nerve function and autonomic balance are the live question rather than a one-off situation, that is clinical work at The Nerve Health Institute. More on how I came to practise this way is at drchriscormier.com.
Frequently asked questions
How do I stay calm during a medical procedure?
Change the conditions rather than trying to force calm. Get your questions answered in advance, arrive with time to spare, and in the last minute close your eyes and take six breaths with the out-breath clearly longer than the in-breath. Forcing yourself to relax is the hardest version of the task.
Is it normal to be nervous about needles?
Extremely, including among people who are entirely comfortable with everything else. I am not fond of them myself and was uneasy before my own first session. It is ordinary and it is not something to be embarrassed about.
What is the single most useful thing to do?
Lengthen your exhale. Six breaths, out longer than in. It is free, it takes a minute, it works when your head is busy, and it is the most direct voluntary access you have to the calming side of your nervous system.
Does being calmer change the result?
It changes how the hour feels, which is worth a great deal on its own. We do not claim it changes what the equipment does — EBOO is a supportive wellness therapy focused on circulation and oxygenation, not a treatment for a diagnosed condition.
Can I bring my own headphones or eye mask?
Yes, and plenty of people prefer their own. Closed-ear headphones work better than earbuds, and anything that blocks light properly will do the job.
What if I am too anxious to go through with it?
Tell us at consultation and we will talk it through properly rather than pushing. And if fear of procedures has caused you to avoid care you actually need, raise it with a physician — it is common and very treatable.
Ask us anything first
The conversation comes before the booking, and questions asked in advance are the cheapest anxiety reduction there is. Make an enquiry and we will go through it properly.
Dr. Chris Cormier, DC
EBOO Prime — circulation and oxygenation, clearly explained
Clinic care at nervehealth.com. At-home protocols at bodycharger.com.
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