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.
soft music for meditation free download | meditation soundtrack
So what is a brain wave? In brief your brain is made up of billions of brain cells called neurons sending signals whenever you do something and this generates electrical activity which medical equipment such as EEG’s measure. So you may have seen brain wave patterns looking like a squiggly line. There are five different brain wave patterns and the optimum brain frequency is the Gamma brain wave which creates all those ‘feel good’ feelings for yourself and others. Everyone has some Gamma activity but it is the highly productive, the natural optimists or those focused on peak performance like athletes who know how to get in ‘the zone’. And for the rest of us pessimists… hooray there is a cure, we just need to know how to increase our Gamma wave activity. But more about that later.

Most of us that who have stressful lives walk around with Beta brain wave rhythms which are the most jagged. We create Beta brain waves when we think logically, over analyse situations and feel tense or afraid and it’s these brain patterns that create many stress related issues such as headaches and depression.

So when you decide to relax a little and make time for some yoga or listen to some music, it’s not just your body that gets a breather… your brain waves will also be slightly less jagged as you move into the alpha state. That’s when your start to reduce your blood pressure and feel less anxious.

When you feel highly creative or inspired then the Theta brain waves will kick in. They activate in the early stages of sleep but also in a state of day dreaming.

But now for the exciting bit. If you meditate or use guided visualisations where you begin to sink down into a deep relaxed state within yourself… then your brain activity slows down even more into the Delta brain wave pattern… which is also connected with sleep. When Delta Brain Waves increase, so does your natural ability to: release natural growth hormone as well as anti-aging hormones as they reduce the level of a hormone released under stress called Cortisol. You heal your mind and repair your muscles and boost your immune system as you would in deep sleep and connect more with your intuition.

As you regularly stay in this deeply relaxed station of meditation or deeply relaxed visualisation such as self hypnosis where you count down, then you then begin to enhance your Gamma brain wave activity. Gamma brain waves are the fastest documented brain wave frequency range and a powerful natural antidepressant making you feel happy for no reason and that feeling of joie de vivre as it also helps you to feel increased empathy and compassion for others. And this effect on your mind and body can last for days! There is no doubt about it the Gamma brain frequency is the key to better emotional, physical, psychological and spiritual health as it balances the right and left hemispheres of the brain.

What increased Gamma brain wave activity does for you: You will have more emotional self control so you able to stick to a weight loss plan or control your anger; your memory will be sharper as will your sensory experiences so food tastes better, smells are more powerful and hearing is amplified. It enables you to process large amounts of information in short amounts of time so learning new subjects is far easier. And it continues to increase those anti aging hormones, helping you to look and feel younger. And not only that it also enhances your creativity and intuition. How’s that for an entire brainwave goody bag of happiness.

So before you decide to have several glasses of wine after work with a take away as you slump in front of the tv just remember that whilst that’s fine… also remember that the deep breathing Hatha yoga class, visualisation CD or meditation before you go to sleep for only a couple of times a week may just give the golden ticket to living an enhanced healthy life of fulfillment and happiness. And it’s all completely free!
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.

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.
easy meditation | meditation sites
So what exactly is binaural brainwave entrainment, and how exactly will this help to change my life? Well, let us get right into it.

Binaural beats are recognized tones. Binaural brainwave entrainment occurs as you are listening to these tones. These tones are only real in the mind of the individual. So you may be asking yourself, how exactly do they perform if they are not real? Well, these binaural tones trigger the brain tendencies at a remarkable level, and can educate or train the brain of an individual to do something that it would normally find complicated to carry out on its own.

These beats are scientifically created to promote a desired response, at a consistency that normal individuals cannot hear. The brain produces the binaural rhythm from the sounds that are furnished, based on numerous sound hertz. These tones are noticed by both the left and right ear. This causes the mind to turn the difference in hertz into a beat. This beat can either have a soothing effect on the thought process, or promote alertness, depending on the actual tone.

Binaural beats makes it possible for you to be able to enter into fast deep states of meditation, and can also reprogram the subconscious mind. Binaural beat recordings at specific frequencies utilize a mix of audios to modify the brain activity of the listener. By sending you into this state of meditation, these sounds can cause positive changes in your psychological, mental and physical make up. The beats are also able to restructure your neural network and raise your level of comfort, reducing anxiety and stress.

Whilst listening to these sounds, you are in a very heavy trance-like state. The changes in brainwave habits are translated to modifications in chemical reaction within the body. This works jointly with good affirmation to increase your individual development, heal mental problems and fears, and generate behavioral shifts. They are also able to bring about vitality raises similar to that acquired when the body rests.

Other advantages of the binaural technology include access to your subconscious mind. Binaural technology lets you to produce strong states of meditation, get rid of stress, enhance your intelligence and create behavioral changes. All this can be accomplished with little to no hard work, other than placing on the earphones and listening.

With binaural beats, you have the power to wipe out negative ideas in your subconscious, remove negative emotions from your memory, relieve stress; there is really no limit to what you can do to improve your life for the better.

Why not experience the power for yourself!
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.

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.
meditation training | spiritual meditation
So we left off last time with me threatening to tell you guys about my earlier travels, so I thought seen as I have just had my first article published I thought to myself better keep them coming so here goes!

1998 had been a real bad year for me, I had split up from my 1st wife, England had been knocked out of the World Cup (again!!!!), I had to sell my house as a result of the separation so had moved back home with my parents. This was not that bad as I have always got on well with my parents, and besides it was free board and lodgings!

So I found myself back out on the town every weekend with a couple of mates and generally feeling pretty sad about life. It was then I had a brainwave and decided to phone an old female work colleague and see what she was up to and to see if she would like to go out for a drink with me sometime?. She agreed to come out and we arranged a date. We met up and had fun together and it soon materialised into something special and it was also the start of another nine year relationship for me which resulted in us having a son together!.

Anyhow so how had I come from being married at the start of the year to being in Jamaica with a new woman the following November?, well I will tell you, it was easy selling houses back in those days and I made some money from the sale of the house so I decided to take the new girlfriend with me, I thought after the rough year I had gone through I felt as if I needed cheering up a bit, so what better way than two weeks all inclusive in the Caribbean.

I chose a hotel in Ocho Rios (eight rivers), it was then called The Renaissance Jamaica Grande but it has since been taken over by another hotel chain and is under a new name. As I stated this was an all inclusive hotel with absolutely knockout facilities and really friendly staff. The All Inclusive scene was relatively new in those days but this hotel did not hold back at all!, from Red Stripe to Jack Daniels all the branded drinks were included and there were at least five different A La Carte restaurants to choose from plus a buffet plus a 24 hour snack bar if you still needed feeding!!. The beaches and pools were fantastic and there was always the heavy bass of a reggae tune being played somewhere. The weather in November was fantastic 32-34c most days with a gentle breeze to cool you down, also great air con in the bedrooms, which I have to say was most welcome??.

It was at this hotel that I had my first real encounter with the American public on their holiday, s (vacations), I was quite shocked at their lack of manners and how down right rude they were at times. I know there is good and bad in every race and this came to the fore when one evening an American gentleman came and asked me politely if he could borrow my cigarette lighter, to this I duly obliged and we then entered into a discussion as to why the manners of some American, s were so downright despicable. He started by saying that he thought this was mainly down to New Yorkers, who when they are let loose they do not know how to conduct themselves, this may be the case I will let you know later this year as I am in New York this coming September.

Anyhow several hours later and several large Smirnoffs later I found out that this guy was the Vice President of a bank! in Denver if my memory serves me correct, and his name was Ed. A thoroughly nice chap who did like his vodka but I do not believe his wife was too pleased when she came to find him absolutely drunk as a hat rat. So that evening alleviated any fears I had conceived regarding the American public.

We had a fantastic time going out and about, from climbing the Dunns river falls(this was in the days before I had been diagnosed with M. S. )to driving through Trenchtown to visit Bob Marley, s house and then on to visiting a rum distillery in the Blue mountains. I can safely say that I have never felt more relaxed anywhere in the world than what I did there in Ocho Rios, a truly fantastic holiday in one of the best parts of the world. But you know, me being me I had been there before you know, it was October 1995 to be precise on my first Honeymoon!!but again that is another story for another time. This is definitely where I caught the travelling bug, and probably why I have invested time and money into my Holiday comparison website http://www.yourholidaydeal.com, anyhow must dash now, soon be posting again.
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.

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.
brainwavz delta | brain relaxing music
So we find ourselves at the end of another year! We’ve got 12 new months ahead of us… Rather than focusing on new year resolutions and goal setting, I thought it would be interesting to write an article about how you can use ‘shamanistic secrets’ to gain access to your subconscious wisdom for creating an inspiring new year.

As you know your conscious mind can only access a small portion of your mind at a time. Most people tend to just use this kind of ‘left brained thinking.’ While it is essential to use this kind of processing, you can reach inside the vast storehouse of the unconscious giving rise to some amazing insights about your life.

One of the best ways to open up to all areas of the mind is to use altered states of consciousness or simply, trance. Going into trance has to be one of the oldest shamanistic skills. With modern instrumentation we know that our brainwaves change as we go into different trances. Pioneer mind control researcher, Jose Silva discovered that optimum, whole-brained thinking occurred when the brain was at Alpha Level. He referred to this state as, “accessing the kingdom of heaven.”

So the first step is to ‘go to level.’ The Alpha-wave level of mind. Once you’ve entered this special space you can do wonderful things! By setting your intention you can get your mind to do cool stuff. Keeping within the spirit of Shamanism, one of the first things that is beneficial to practice is entering a magical place…

“On the count of three I will find myself in a safe and beautiful land surrounded by nature.” As you allow your mind to create this landscape before you, you can take in all the scenery and fully associate into the experience. Feeling comfortable in this space notice any animals or natural objects such as trees that particularly catch your attention. Maybe there is a wise old Oak tree, a majestic mountain, a wise Owl, a rainbow or a Wizard? Now in your mind walk over to that animal or object to take a closer look…

Notice the colours and shapes. If you can touch it, what does it feel like? Good, what you want to do now is set your intention to learn something of value from this object. Remember you are at a deep level of mind in a ‘magical space.’ Inspiration and ideas will arise from your subconscious that may surprise and delight you!

So go ahead and ask one of the following questions:

“How can I make the coming new year my best yet?”
“What advice do you have for me?”
“How can I be happier?”
“What steps do I need to take to be really successful?”
“Surprise me with insights for my health and wellbeing”

When you’ve asked the question listen to any advice given and notice if any imagery appears because sometimes you will be given answers with visual symbols. Thank the object for it’s insights and then return to normal consciousness, “on the count of three I will open my eyes feeling wide awake fully present in this room.” It can be surprising how much information you can glean from such a journey. You might want to set a voice recorder before you go into trance so that you can dictate your visions and listen back to them when in waking consciousness.
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.

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.
morning meditation music | deep meditation techniques
So there you are with your Goals staring at you from the fridge and you are left wondering – what next?

Well, first, you did set your goals didn’t you? You did make them SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-Tabled). And you did put them on the fridge or somewhere you will be regularly confronted with them. If you didn’t, then that’s what you need to do before you go any further.

However, if you did set your goals and have them displayed somewhere prominent, you are well on the way to achieving them. It is by the regular reviewing of what is really important to you (your Goals) that you will ‘upset’ your brain in a most interesting and positively helpful way. You must now begin to dream your dream – imagine each day what it looks like to have fulfilled your goal. Use your imagination to literally see yourself crossing the finishing line, or receiving the award, or the equivalent moment of achievement related to your goal. Get into the habit of doing this regularly; ideally, every day.

What happens, according to Jack Black, is that you will create in your mind what is known as ‘gestalt’ – a sort of helpful imbalance. This imbalance is caused by your conscious mind looking out onto the present reality of your life and realizing that it is not consistent with the imagined goal. And it is this helpful imbalance that will cause you to recognize opportunities you would otherwise have missed.

The second thing to do is to decide upon some course of action which will enable you to make some progress toward the goal. Here you can help to develop your Proactive capacity by brainstorming the question, ‘what actions can I take to move me closer to my goal?’ You can brainstorm with other people or just by yourself. The important thing is to try to come up with fresh ideas.

Here’s an interesting idea for achieving the freshness you are looking for: after you have brainstormed the question for about 30 minutes, you will have emptied your conscious mind of all the rather ‘normal’ answers to the question. This is useful because what you are looking for is something fresh and you need to get the more usual stuff out of the way. The following day, conduct another brainstorming session on exactly the same question. This session may or may not yield the sort of results you are looking for; if it does not, do it again the next day, and the next. Just 30 minutes per day for 1 week. Remember that you are looking for fresh, breakthrough ideas; you don’t need many, you need one quality idea that you will choose to pursue, so stick with the brainstorming until you find it.

The third step is action: get on with whatever you have decided is the quality idea you need to pursue. It may be something that can be done quickly; if so, get it done and go back to brainstorming for another quality idea. If your breakthrough idea amounts to pursuing some lengthy course of action, then get cracking. Each day use your imagination to visualize the completed goal and then ensure that you are engaged in taking some action towards its accomplishment.

Fourthly, you must notice the effect(s) of your action. Is it achieving the result(s) you anticipated or is it not? That’s what you need to know. If you are making good progress, then you may wish to continue with that course of action; if you are not making the progress you need, then – here is a wonderful NLP principle – you simply abandon that course of action and find another, more profitable course of action to pursue. You don’t abandon the goal; you simply change the route you are taking to get there. So, if necessary, it’s back to brainstorming for another quality idea; then back to action. And you can keep repeating this process until something gives.

NLP tells us that there is ‘no failure – only feedback’. That means, if we find that something doesn’t work – fine – that’s useful feedback! We can get on with something more profitable. When Thomas Edison, probably the greatest inventor to have lived, invented the electric light-bulb, what do you suppose happened? Do you think he had a brainwave in the middle of the night, woke up and designed the perfect filament and lo – there was electric light? No – that’s not what he did. He tried thousands and thousands of combinations of gasses and elements until he eventually came up with the approach that worked. And, by following the approach outlined here, you can effectively do the same.

So keep at it – until you succeed.
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.

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.
music to sleep to | relaxing music audio
So much has been written about meditation, but not so much has been written about brainwave entrainment. In fact, most people probably never even heard of the term “brainwave entrainment”. In this article I hope to reveal how meditation and brainwave entrainment compliment each other and are inseparable. I also point out that brainwave entrainment can be used as a shortcut to meditation.

Meditation Defined

Although there are various definitions for meditation one of the main definitions for meditation is stillness of mind, letting go of stormy and distracting thoughts and emotions, and for a time remaining focused inwardly. Those who are intellectually inclined use meditation to clear their mind and to focus on just one thought, perhaps a thought about how to solve a certain problem, or entertaining the thought of a new idea. Those who are spiritually inclined use meditation for stilling their mind so they can focus all their energy and aspiration on the divine within. But we are barely scratching the surface in defining meditation in such simple terms.

Meditation and Brainwaves

Scientifically speaking meditation basically alters one’s brainwaves. Different brainwave states are associated with different benefits and experiences. For example when your mind is racing, stressed, unable to relax or be still, perhaps caught in emotional turmoil, arguing, hating, bitter, screaming, or confused, racing a zillion miles a second etc., you are probably plugged into a brainwave state at the beta or even gamma levels. Most of us live our waking day to day lives at the beta level. Even if we are generally a calm person we can still be at a beta level if we are unable to intellectually relax or take a mental break. If we feel we always need to be preoccupied with something we are probably living too much at the beta live, and in the long run this can potentially cause premature aging, stress, health problems, emotional issues, and so on. Healthy beta is okay. But our brain can be too beta wired which is not good.

Meditation helps train the brain to be more synchronized and balanced. Periods of regular meditation practice help bring the brain from a gamma or beta level to a more relaxed alpha level, or even deeper to a theta level, and ultimately in very deep, intense meditation you can reach the delta level. Delta is a very life-giving, rejuvenating state of mind, but few reach it often enough, not even when they sleep.

Following is a brief description of the beta, alpha, theta, and delta brainwave states:

Beta waves (13 to 40 Hz ) – Beta is identified with active, busy or anxious thinking and active concentration.

Alpha waves (8 to 12 Hz ) – When we begin to relax or begin to get drowsy, but are still awake and conscious, when we are day dreaming, we are at the alpha level.

Theta waves (4 to 8 Hz) – When we are asleep and have dreams, and experience rapid eye movement (REM), and have hallucinations, and even when we experience deep meditation, we are at the theta level. When we lucid dream (this is when you are conscious while you are dreaming) we are at the theta level.

Delta waves (0 to 4 Hz) – Delta waves are usually associated with deep, slow brain activity found in deep sleep. Delta waves are experienced predominantly in newborn infants, as well as in healthy adults in deep rejuvenating sleep, or in very deep states of brain enhancing, emotional cleansing, bodily renewing meditation.

The Difference Between Meditation and Sleep

By now you are probably thinking to yourself: “What is the point in meditating since I enter the alpha, theta, and sometimes delta levels every time I sleep? If I sleep 6 – 8 hours a night then am I not basically receiving the same benefits I would receive if I were doing 6 – 8 hours of meditation a day for my entire life?”

The main point here is deep, dreamless sleep at the delta level. Most people don’t sleep deep enough where the benefits of deep rejuvenating sleep take place. But if you take even only a “power nap” for an hour or two and enter a deep, dreamless sleep at the delta level at that time, when you wake up and come out of it there is a new sense of life, energy, awareness, well-being in you. In deep rejuvenating meditation you enter that same level, except that you are awake instead on unconscious. When you can enter that deep rejuvenating state of consciousness while remaining fully aware then you can carry over that state of mind in your day to day life and become the essence of who you are deep in your inner most being. It takes practice and daily trips to that deep place within.

In a nutshell meditation in this context is a fourth state of consciousness that is unique because it consists of high awareness with very low mental or physiological function. Meditation is an awareness of our inner spirit, as well as closeness to our spirit. Everyone comes “pre-wired” with the capacity for this type of meditative restful awareness. Alas few ever reach it during normal sleep. But daily meditation can help your sleep become deeper.

When reaching deep delta levels during sleep we feel so much refreshed and rejuvenated when we wake up. When we fall into deep sleep, the ego disappears as does all out mental programming and brainwashed mindset, we are closer to our pristine innocence. The closer we are to “home” so to speak the more recharged and healthy we are in our day to day life.

This clearly proves that the secret of attaining freshness and peace lies within, not outside. The goal of meditation is to become conscious while you are passing through dream and deep sleep states of your mind, and remaining conscious when you are in your spirit so to speak. And then the ultimate goal (practice makes perfect) is the carrying over of that awareness into your day to day life and maintaining it by intuitive living. This is when an entire life makeover takes place of which religious rules of conduct and morals and ethical living are all but cheap imitations of something that is natural and spontaneous due to the actual experience of “seeing God” in the depths of one’s being. But that is another subject.

Brainwave Entrainment: A Shortcut To Meditation

The primary emphasis in this article relates to a shortcut method for getting to that deep inward state where the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual benefits of meditation naturally follow. This is where “brainwave entrainment” comes in.

What Is Brainwave Entrainment?

Brainwave entrainment is a scientifically proven leading edge in brain/mind technology. Professionals in the areas of psychology, neurology, medical health and self-help are beginning to utilize the power of brainwave entrainment in their work with patients and clients. Advances in the effectiveness of brainwave entrainment have been significant and gaining ground.

Wikipedia defines brainwave entrainment this way:

“Brainwave synchronization or “brainwave entrainment,” is any practice that aims to cause brainwave frequency to fall into step with a periodic stimulus having a frequency corresponding to the intended brain-state (for example, to induce sleep). It depends upon a “frequency following” response, a naturally occurring phenomenon where the human brain has a tendency to change its dominant EEG frequency towards the frequency of a dominant external stimulus. Such a stimulus may be aural, as in the case of binaural beats, monaural beats, and isochronic tones, or else visual, as with a dream-machine, a combination of the two with a mind machine, or even electromagnetic radiation.”

Over the centuries and even today many people use different methods in an attempt to enter a deep state of meditation. Some use breathing techniques. Some use chanting, others use dance, instruments, music, devotional exercises and so much more. All these are different methods used for basically entraining the brain and lowering the brainwave frequencies to a state of mind at the alpha, theta or delta levels.

Also used by some for entering deep states of meditation are brainwave mp3’s or cd’s which are embedded with binaural beats, monaural beats, or isochronic tones. It has been scientifically documented that periods of regular brainwave entrainment by means of listening to cd’s or mp3’s embedded with binaural betas, monaural beats, or isochronic tones can lead to an increase in overall emotional calmness, relaxation, deep inner peace, intelligence, creativity, focus and mental clarity also improving memory, raising IQ and creating a rise in energy, and reduction in stress levels. These are the same benefits one experiences during meditation.

All this info I shared may sound complicated and complex in some cases. The fact is that you no more need to understand exactly how this process works than you need to know how the engines on an airplane work to get you from one destination to another. What you really need to know is that brainwave entrainment is highly effective and easily fits into your daily routine. Just 20 minutes to an hour a day listening to brainwave entrainment mp3’s or cd’s you begin to reap the rewards.

Affordable High Quality Brainwave Mp3’s & CD’s (With Free Samples)

If you want to learn more about meditation and brainwave entrainment, and also listen to mp3 samples embedded with binaural beats, monaural beats and isochronic tones, please click on any of the links in the Author’s resource box below. Thank you for taking time to read this article.
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.

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.
meditation tools | easy meditation
So many religions and philosophies from across the world rely on meditation and often they have their own specific meditation techniques. It can get confusing trying to choose the most suitable one for you.

Walking meditation

This is pretty self explanatory, essentially use the process of walking to still the chatter in your mind. While you obviously need to be aware of your surroundings, it’s good to do this somewhere that you can use a well made path so you aren’t at risk of stumbling.

The idea isn’t to focus on where you’re walking, you want to lose yourself in the feelings of your body and your senses. What can you smell, see and how does your body feel? Often people think that this is a bit different to how we usually perceive meditation. But by being totally absorbed in the sensations of the body, the control of the mind becomes lessened. Just observe without judgment.

There is no need for thoughts of what you’re going to have for dinner or work or anything like that. This is often easy for most people as we can all relate to losing ourselves in the feeling of walking. You can get so many benefits by developing this process consciously.

Breathing Meditation

This is another easy method to get started with. Breathing is something that obviously we all do, but most of us don’t stop to think about breathing or more specifically how we’re breathing. Do you breathe deep into your diaphragm? Or do you take shallow breaths that only expand the top part of your lungs, like most people?

Many people find that just breathing deeply in this manner will give them a sense of relaxation. Breathing like this opens your lungs and uses a different set of muscles, reducing stress and muscular tension. So to use this as a meditation technique, it really is very simple.

Take a few deep slow breaths, then close your eyes and keep taking steady, slow and deep breaths for 5 minutes or even up to 20 minutes (although it’s a good idea to build up to this long). Notice if there is a brief pause between your in breath and out breath. Simply observe your breath, let your awareness be your breath.

Binaural Audio Programs

Using research into meditative states and modern recording technology you can now experience deep meditation at the click of a button. Using specific tones at slightly different frequencies, these recordings alter your brainwaves, slowing the to a deep meditative state with very little effort on your part.

All you need is a CD or MP3 player and a set of headphones. Some people think that this is cheating, but it’s undeniable that this system gives you all the benefits of meditation, very quickly. You can use it in conjunction with an affirmation or a specific focus that you want. It’s really like skipping the months or even years of practice that you usually need before you reach these states of lowered brain wave activity unaided.

Guided Meditation

Guided meditations can be done either in person or from a recording. Often there is some relaxation in preparation to the main part of the meditation. The focus could be self healing, relaxation or getting in touch with your inner guidance. There’s usually a different focus with each meditation.

If you’ve bought a package of guided meditations, there’ll usually be a variety of meditations with different purposes. Often you’ll find that if you listen to the same one a few times the effect will be stronger as you know what’s coming so it’s easier to slip into the stream of what’s being said.

This will give you an idea about some of the available meditation techniques and hopefully give you a bit of direction about which method might suit you the best. If you can, it’s really worthwhile trying all of them at some stage, since there is no really one size fits all, and it’s quite a personal thing to discover what form of meditation works the best for you.
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.

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.
wave sounds for sleep | delta brain waves sleep
So many people I know are dealing with anxiety right now. I’m hearing about it from my clients. From friends and family. And from myself as well!

Anxiety is something I know a lot about. It used to be my constant companion.

But gradually, with the help of numerous mind-body techniques, I was able to let go, nearly completely, of all anxiety. What a miraculous relief!

Lately, though, anxiety has been cropping up for me again. It could be the ever-changing political climate. Could be the numerous disruptions and changes I’ve had to navigate during the last year. Could be a lot of things.

The problem is, I DON’T have time for anxiety! Who does?

Anxiety gets in the way of my work, my dreams, my creativity, my natural optimism, my happiness… my life!

Fortunately, I now have a wealth of tools to clear anxiety, almost immediately. So, unlike years ago, when anxiety was my constant companion, I can now easily release, relax, and let it go. Feels so good!

Here are some of my favorite anxiety-busters:

Deep Breathing – Deep breathing, from the abdomen, stimulates the vagus nerve. When you stimulate the vagus nerve, you stimulate the relaxation response.

Meditation – Meditation allows you to drop into deeper brain frequencies and relaxation. It is an effective way to observe your discomfort from a place of detachment. Connecting with your higher self, while observing anxiety, helps to diminish it. Meditate in silence, or try a guided meditation. If you’re new to meditation, start with 5-10 minutes and gradually increase the time.

Self-Massage – Self-massage is a quick, powerful way to release pent-up anxiety and tension. Give yourself a quick foot massage, a neck and shoulder massage, a hip massage, a lower back massage, an arm and hand massage. Massage wherever you can reach, wherever you feel tense. It’s amazing how powerful just a few moments of self-massage can be!

Tulsi Tea – Mmmm. Tulsi tea is one of my favorites! In fact, as I write this, I’m sipping a cup of it. Tulsi tea helps calm jitters, and balance cortisol, the major stress hormone.

Eat Green-Green veggies and green juices contain alkalizing minerals which help ground and calm the nervous system. Find your favorite, easiest way of eating greens, and eat plenty of them. Greens are absolutely essential, especially during times of stress.

Heart Breath – The heart breath will help you drop out of an anxious mind, into the peace of your heart. To use the Heart Breath, first take 3-4 deep breaths, bringing your breath down into your abdomen. Next, bring your breath up into your heart, and imagine that you are breathing in and out of your heart. Deeply, and slowly. Breathe this way for 1-5 minutes (or more!) Notice how it makes you feel.

EFT Tapping – Ahh, EFT Tapping. Again, one of my favorites. (no bias here!) EFT Tapping helps balance and reduce the stress hormone cortisol. It’s a very effective tool for releasing anxiety and panic. The fastest way to use it is to use the fingertips of one hand to tap on the karate chop point of your other hand. The karate chop point is the fleshy part of your hand between your pinky and your wrist. Breathe deeply and slowly as you tap.

Affirmations – I’ve been using affirmations for a while now, and I LOVE them! I’ve created a number of affirmations for a variety of my goals and desires. So, when I’m feeling anxious or worried, I switch to a positive affirmation to counter my worry. Then, I repeat the affirmation over and over. The more I practice this technique, the more immediate the results.

Yoga – Yoga is a fabulous practice to release the tension, anxiety, and fear that gets tapped within the body. If yoga is right for you, find the yoga practice that’s right for you. If you can’t find a class near you, try an online program.

Gratitude List – Sometimes when we feel anxious, it’s because we feel we’re lacking something we need. Cultivate a daily gratitude practice which helps you acknowledge all the good in your life. This sense of gratitude will help you shift out of anxiety.

Creative Visualization – Similar to an affirmation, a positive visualization will help you feel more optimistic. If you’re new to visualization, start with simple visions, within the realm of possibility.

First, decide what you’d like to see. What would improve your situation? Next, close your eyes, breathe deeply, and bring your vision to mind. Allow the vision to appear in whatever way is best for you. Don’t force it. By allowing yourself to step into a new, better-feeling, possibility, you’ll help yourself feel better, and you’ll show your subconscious mind what to create for you.

Brain Wave Entrainment: Brainwave entrainment uses pulsing sounds, lights, or electromagnetic fields to stimulate the brain to fall into deeper, more peaceful, brainwave frequencies. This is a very effective technique, and numerous products are available online, and as MP3 downloads. Because these products are powerful, it’s important to purchase them from a trusted source, and to do your own research on the effects of brain wave entrainment.

Let go of Caffeine – Last, and certainly not least, let go of Caffeine! Limit or omit it. Caffeine stimulates the adrenal glands, and therefore your stress hormones. If you need an energy boost, try a green drink, or a glass of water with lemon.

Life’s too precious to waste it on anxiety!

In Courage,

Marian
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.

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.
free relaxing music | deep meditation
So many people have a dependence on this substance that it’s considered natural. Far from it. This stuff is harmful to your health.

I’m talking about the addiction to noise. Yes, noise.

The TV-is-always-on-in-the-background-noise, constant traffic rumble, radio babble, and loud deafening music. All are low frequency sounds that are damaging your brain cells.

But they’re noises everyone takes for granted. I don’t anymore and nor should you.

Noise is the key ingredient to a stressed-out life. But why is it so addicting? Because it makes you think you’re alive. Because it raises your adrenaline to the point where you wake up.

Spiking your adrenal glands this way is not good for your health. It’s downright dangerous when done on a continuous basis. Noise numbs your brainwaves. For many people noise invades their day from the time they wake up until they slump back into bed.

Let’s say the radio alarm wakes you up. After your shower you switch on the radio or TV while you rush to make coffee and a quick breakfast. On the way to work you keep the radio on to keep you company during your mindless drive. At work, computers and printers, heaters and A/Cs hum all day. You go outside to eat lunch and hear traffic pass you by.

Then it’s all reversed as you head home, mind and body exhausted. If you can muster up the energy to exercise you do so while plugged into your iPod. By the time you hit the sack your mind is so overloaded with noise you sleep restlessly.

The plain and simple fact is that exposing ears to noise most of the day creates a lesser mind.

If you train in a gym that blasts loud music and has the TV disrupting your focus then consider switching to another gym so you can work out in peace and quiet. It’s not a good idea to let music raise your heartbeat. Do that while exercising.

The best way to quit noise addiction is to check into some new riffs. And turn the low frequency waste off.

Music that simultaneously recharges And relaxes you is hard to find. Most classical music fits the bill and won’t damage your eardrums or your brain cells. The only beats you’ll hear are the good kind.

Soothe your mind and refresh your body the natural, quiet way. Choose positively charged classical music.
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.

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.
alpha brain waves benefits | relax
So many people across the world over the last few thousand years have gained huge benefits from meditation. From a deeper spiritual awareness to better health, the list of advantages are enormous!

So is it something, or nothing, or somewhere in between? Something most people can agree on is that meditation one day can be completely different to the next and this is all part of the experience.

Often you’ll start to lose your sense of time and space, if you can stop thoughts interrupting, here’s the problem. Try and stop thinking at will, go on try it now and see what happens…

Unless you’re very different to most of us, you just listened to a whole lot of inner dialogue chattering away just now. This is a problem that we all have to deal with one way or another. You get peace and serenity from the decreasing internal dialogue.

So what is actually going on when we are meditating? Research into brainwaves and altered states have shown us that the deeper we meditate, the slower our brain waves get. This is part of the sensation of meditation that we feel as the brain slows to a point that we usually only reach during sleep.

Brainwave Frequency Chart

Frequency range Name Usually associated with:

> 40 Hz Gamma waves Higher mental activity, including perception, problem solving, fear, and consciousness

13 – 40 Hz Beta waves Active, busy or anxious thinking and active concentration, arousal, cognition

7 – 13 Hz Alpha waves Relaxation (while awake), pre- sleep and pre-wake drowsiness

4 – 7 Hz Theta waves Dreams, deep meditation, REM sleep
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.