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.
brain sync | meditation for children
I’ve come to understand the amazing benefits of meditation.
I’ve seen TV news specials about schools that have incorporated meditation into their curriculum, causing student’s grades and test scores to sky-rocket. I’ve also read about major corporations that believe in meditation. They feel it’s so important for good performance that they hire meditation consultants to teach their workers and even pay employees for time just to meditate.
I’ve asked my mentors what has really helped them move to the level of success they enjoy today. And you guessed it, meditation was their answer. Phil Helmuth, one of the world’s best poker players even attributes his success to the practice of meditation!
Because I know its value, I want to be able to practice meditation successfully too. I have tried for years, but to this day I am still NOT able to meditate.
I spent some time trying to troubleshoot my meditation problem. Does it go back to my formative years? Did I spend too much time playing video games as a kid?
I’m not sure of the cause, but the reality is that my mind is just too active to meditate. You see, my brain works like CNN. I have one reporter delivering the news and an additional ticker tape of information flowing across the bottom of the screen.
But despite my meditation failures, I am very fortunate to have been able to achieve incredible results in my life using an alternate technique.
This technique was actually a tremendous gift that I received from a close friend of mine. This is a friend who also had limited success meditating. He introduced me to an effective technology called brain wave entrainment.
Brain wave entrainment allows one to manipulate the brain state with very little practice and a rapid learning curve. It’s generally accomplished with audio soundtracks. The audio has been modified to manipulate the brain into the desired state. So if you can listen to audio, you can change your state of mind. And if you are hearing impaired this effect can also be created with specially designed strobe effects.
So why am I telling you about changing the brain state in an article on meditation? Because whether you realize it or not, the holy grail of meditation is the theta brain wave state!
When you are barely conscious (just before sleep or right after waking, for example) your brain waves are in the theta state. This is the middle ground between the conscious and the subconscious world, and also the goal of meditation.
When you get into the theta state, but can remain conscious, you have the ability to access and influence your subconscious mind. This is extremely important because the subconscious mind is much more powerful than the conscious mind.
So, getting yourself into the theta brain wave state on a regular basis in order to influence your subconscious mind is the secret to manifesting change and positive results in your life.
In fact, before we were able to measure brainwave patterns in the human brain with machines, people were using entrainment to induce a theta state. The chanting of monks, the drumbeats of Native Americans, and the hypnotic state created by a campfire are all examples of brain wave entrainment.
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.