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.
define entrainment | japanese meditation music
Sound is such a fundamental aspect of human life that we often take it for granted. In all its forms it affects us very deeply in so many ways. As my wife shreds old documents by the dozens, the sound of that machine sets my teeth on edge, causing me to feel a bit stressed. On the other hand, the sound of water gently flowing or wind blowing through the trees has the opposite effect on my mood. Music is a great example. It can motivate, calm, or induce almost any emotion. I could go on with this but I’m guessing you get the idea.
Once you can record and create good quality audio from you home recording studio, you may wonder what, other than songs and voice-overs, can you do with this capability. Here are few powerful uses for recorded audio you may not have thought of.
Hypnosis
Hypnosis tapes/CDs are common ways to help people improve their lives. Now you can customize these recordings for you own use or as a product to sell on line.
Binaural Beats
Related to hypnosis is the practice of biofeedback to help people control their heart rates and induce certain brainwave frequencies known to be associated with certain moods. One method for achieving this is called “brainwave entrainment,” which is the practice of inducing specific frequencies through the use of audio. By listening, in headphones, to two different tones (one for each ear), you set up something called binaural beats. If you want more focus, you set up beats in the “beta” range. For relaxation, you go for “alpha,” a slower frequency. Once your brainwaves start to match the beating rhythm, your mood begins to follow that change.
White Noise
White noise sounds a bit like a TV tuned to a channel it doesn’t get. I’ve heard it described as sounding like: “Constant wind whooshing through the leaves of lots of trees. Water continuously falling down a waterfall. Sssshhhh…”
For better sleep and relief from tinnitus, white noise can be a god-send. I can attest to the effectiveness of this! In fact I might go so far as to say that the best purchase I ever made, that impacted my life in the most positive way, was a pair of earplugs that generate white noise. This is not an affiliate message either. If the company HAD and affiliate program, I’d be more than happy to support them, but as it is I’m happy to support them anyway. The product is called “Sleep-Eze,” as basically, it’s a pair of “reverse hearing aids.” They run on hearing aid batteries. When you put them into your ears, the world basically just drops away and all you can hear is the pleasant and soothing sound of white noise.
When it gets quiet, I get a fairly loud ringing in my ears…doubtless from playing loud rawk music for too many years. Anyway, the white noise earplugs completely mask the ringing. But where these babies have REALLY helped is to drown out the sound of other people’s voices! This is especially useful in airports or any situation where you are surrounded by others and you want/need to focus. And the coup de grace has been the drowning out of my wife’s snoring at night. We love each other deeply, but I was on the verge of having to have a separate bedroom at one point, due to lack of sleep. But once I got these earplugs, I literally could not hear her snoring right next to me. It was fantastic. I loooove me some Sleep-Eze earplugs!
Audio… sound…has so many applications we may never think about. Some of these applications border on the life-changing for some people. If you aren’t interested in learning to record and create your own audio for musical or voice-over reasons, then consider the compelling therapeutic uses of audio. I named just a few.
If you want to learn how to get started recording and producing audio from your computer, or just to improve and expand on what you already create, come visit Home Brew Audio on the web. They can show you how to get started for $5.00 or less, and will guide you step-by-step with easy-to-understand video tutorials in plain language. So get started creating something powerful!
Cheers!
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.