Brainwave meditation is a way to achieve meditation by using sound or visual stimuli. I usually takes very little or no effort at all on the part of the meditator to do this. This is why this method is gaining in popularity
In this article I will only talk about sound, but the same goes for light pulses.
Binaural beats
In 1839, a German experimenter (H. W. Dove) discovered that when you play a sound to one ear and a slightly different sound to the other one, the mind tried to combine this two sound and tuned itself to the difference of the 2 sounds.
How does this work?
Well, let us suppose the left ear get a sound at 200Hz, and the right ear get the same sound at 210Hz, after a certain time the brain start to work at a frequency of 10Hz. This phenomenon is now called “brainwave entrainment”
This,in itself is a very strange phenomenon as none of the ears could possibly hear the 10Hz signal (this is non audible for the human ear) and the brain does not normally tune to frequencies is is presented with (mainly because they are usually to high.
So How can all this help us in meditation?
From research done with EEG, we know that the frequency of the brain implies a lot of things. Brain researchers identified 4 ranges in which the brain could operate and named them alpha, beta, theta and delta. The ranges and main characteristics are:
- Beta (14-40Hz) This is the normal waking frequency of the brain. The higher beta frequencies are usually associated with feeling of anxiety and stress. The lower ones indicate a relaxed state.
- Alpha (7-14Hz) This is a very relaxed frequency range of the brain. it is associated with daydreaming, but also with a phase where the brain learns easily.
- Theta (3.5-7Hz) These are frequencies that are only experienced in sleep. REM sleep occurs in these frequencies.
- Delta (0.1-3.5) In these frequencies, we are in deep, dreamless sleep.
But other researchers studying meditating monks, found that their brainwaves would drop down to the levels of Theta, but meanwhile they where conscious. Or at least meditating.
So people made the connecting that benefits could be obtained from reaching the theta frequencies while being conscious. Some started experimenting with entrainment to reach the meditative state.
What was the result?
People doing this entrained their brain to frequencies associated with meditation (3-7 Hz) depending on what they read in the research papers that the meditating monks showed as EEG.
And they started to feel the same sensations the monks reported. They also started to see the same benefits as the monks reported.
Some even claim that they have the same spiritual milestones as the monks.
People also started to see that different styles of meditation produced different styles of brainwaves (some at 4Hz, some at 5Hz) and also started mimicking that. With again very similar outcomes as the meditators.
WOW!
Yes indeed, instead of hard work, one now just needs to listen to music and one will be enlightened, as goes the claim.
Unfortunately, it is not as easy as it looks. One still has to make a commitment to listen to the tapes (not obvious) and a good and tuned method to ourselves (individually) needs to be found.
Conclusion.
Brainwave meditation is a potential great tool for all those that want to start benefiting from meditation right away. it is an easy solution that is probably well suited for our western society.
If you want to try it for yourself, I have very good result with a track called ‘Christ Consciousness”. it is a very affordable one (unlike some other solutions that will costs you 10 times more and in my opinion has everything needed, especially for beginners.
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