Brainwave entrainment is a method to stimulate the brain into entering a specific state by using a pulsing sound, light, or electromagnetic field. The pulses elicit the brain’s ‘frequency following’ response, encouraging the brainwaves to align to the frequency of a given beat.
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You may have wondered what hypnosis is really all about. Many people have misperceptions of it and think that a hypnotist will make you cluck like a chicken–though I personally have never seen anyone do this. Some people think it means that someone is going to have control over them or that they’ll go into a stupor and won’t know what’s going on.

None of these is necessarily what happens. Hypnosis is a state of profound relaxation. Some people relax very deeply; some relax very lightly. Most people are right in the middle. Most people have full awareness and full control.

Hypnotists use hypnosis to relax others and to make suggestions to them. Hypnotherapists create an interaction in which they talk with people while they’re relaxed and find out valuable information about what’s going on inside and how problems can be resolved.

Here are some more characteristics of hypnosis:

Hypnosis is an altered state of consciousness. While one is in hypnosis, or trance, the conscious mind becomes quiet, allowing access to the highly suggestible subconscious mind. Usually the mind is very busy, and it creates a barrier to getting in touch with the deep inner self. When the mind is quiet, it’s amazing what we can find inside. One misconception is that people who are hypnotized are unconscious. This is false. While in hypnosis, one maintains control and awareness, and in fact many people can become super-conscious during hypnosis. They become clearer and can contact more profound parts of themselves.
Research has shown electrical changes in the brain during hypnosis, where brain waves become slower than when one is in the normal waking state. Hypnosis is a state of deep relaxation with focused concentration in which relaxed brainwave states of alpha, theta, and delta can be reached. These brainwave states are progressively deeper and deeper (and that’s why hypnotists use those words!) The deep states of hypnosis are called the coma state and the somnambulistic state, but not everyone goes into these deeper levels.
We naturally go into hypnosis when we daydream or watch television without distraction. You may have heard of “highway hypnosis,” in which you’re driving on the freeway and either miss your exit or are surprised when the exit shows up. You’ve been in a kind of “open-eyed trance.”
Hypnotherapists use hypnosis as a tool to assist those who desire positive transformation in their lives. Hypnotherapists can help people to transform their greatest difficulties, such as anger, fear, sadness–any of the emotions and problems of living. They assist people to make contact with these experiences, whether past or present, and get in touch with a part of the self in which there is infinite potential. Some hypnotherapists use regression therapies, which go into past issues–and this may include past life regression, if this is congruent with one’s belief system. Others work with finding out inner blocks or limitations and help people to overcome them. Others work with pain or stress, childbirth or medical issues. The list of possibilities is vast.

You can use hypnosis for life transformation, spiritual growth and healing, helping you to overcome whatever may be your current obstacles and move you into a new level of your life.
Brainwave entrainment is a method to stimulate the brain into entering a specific state by using a pulsing sound, light, or electromagnetic field. The pulses elicit the brain’s ‘frequency following’ response, encouraging the brainwaves to align to the frequency of a given beat.

This ‘frequency following’ response of brainwave entrainment can be seen in action with those prone to epilepsy. If a strobe flashes at their seizure frequency, the brain will ‘entrain’ to the flashing light, resulting in a seizure.

On the positive side, this same mechanism is commonly used to induce many brainwave states; such as a trance, enhanced focus, relaxation, meditation or sleep induction. The brainwave entrainment effectively pushes the entire brain into a certain state.

Brainwave entrainment works for almost everyone. It is a great way to lead your mind into states that you might usually have difficulty reaching, allowing you to experience what those states feel like.

THE HYPE
There is a lot of marketing hype around brainwave entrainment. It is sold with promises of increasing IQ, promoting weight loss, ‘mind-tripping’, enhancing creativity, concentration, inducing spiritual states and more.

While these claims are not entirely true, they are not altogether false either. In practice, the claims are based on an overly-simplistic view of how the brain and the brainwaves function.
THE RUB
People are very seldom deficient in a certain brainwave type in all areas of their brain. Usually the distribution is much spottier, with an excess in one area and a deficiency in another.

We are all different, especially when it comes to the distribution of our brainwaves. Boosting a certain brainwave state may be beneficial for one person, and emotionally uncomfortable for another. Without knowing each person’s starting position, entrainment can be rather ‘hit and miss’.

If brainwave entrainment leaves you with unwanted side-effects (see below) or discomfort, you’re probably encouraging a range of brainwaves that are already excessive in some area of your brain. The way around this is to get a brain map to see what your brain’s strengths and weaknesses are, and see what (if any) brainwaves could use some encouragement.