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 | brainwaves app
I figured out a while back that the harder I push myself physically, the greater the reward a few minutes later. Of course, this is mostly due to the body’s endorphin release mechanism. This is no big secret to anyone who trains regularly, in fact, it is the main reason why most of us seek out that high intensity workout. Sure, we sometimes enjoy the actual activity we’re doing, but let’s admit it, we are after the rush. But lately, I’ve been realizing something. As I’ve started to take my training sessions to the forest and open sky, I seem to be getting an even greater rush. Greater than I ever get in the gym. Which led me to start reworking on a theory I started to develop a few years back: The Primal Energy Theory.
Now this theory is based on much more than the results of high intensity exercise. It is based on several factors, which I will attempt to explain as I lay out the path that led me to my conclusion.
The Study of Science
I did well in high school. Got good grades, especially in science classes. But though I was able to memorize and regurgitate what I was being taught, I never took the time to actually contemplate and understand what I was being taught (a failure in our education system in my opinion). When I made the decision to go back to school in my thirties, I was immediately drawn back to the sciences, but this time, it was out of a want to know more about the world around me.
The Sciences are neatly divided into specific disciplines: Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Biology studies what you see. Chemistry studies what you don’t see. And Physics studies how it all works together. (This is a very basic generalization). Of course, where it becomes really interesting, is when you start crossing over from one to the other, which is truly the only way any of it can actually make sense. In this case, as it relates to this theory, it was a matter of understanding the principles of energy (Physics) and relating them to what I could see around me (Biology), and what I couldn’t see (Chemistry).
In Physics, we learn that energy is all around us. It’s produced by movement, by electric current, by heat. It is coursing through our bodies and especially our brains. It acts and reacts in many different ways and more importantly, it is constantly acting on us and all around us. It keeps things together and pushes things apart. But the most important fact for the purposes of this theory, is that it is Universal, it is everywhere, from a single atom to the planets flying through space.
In Chemistry, we are taught that matter is actually composed of tiny little particles called molecules, and that each of these molecules is composed of atoms, and that each of these atoms are held together by electric bonds which are in fact, you guessed it, energy. This part blows my mind actually. At the microscopic level, we are being held together by tiny electrical bonds. Not flesh, not bone, but energy. We are held together by energy people! But what powers those electrical bonds? It’s not our own system. A dead creature doesn’t suddenly fall apart into millions of tiny atoms, something keeps working to keep it all together.
In Biology, we learn, well, many things that contributed to this theory. One of the first contributors was the study of genetics and cell biology. There is such an amazing amount of complex stuff happening at the cellular level, layers upon layers of constant activity, and all within a single cell. And when you consider that a single human body has an estimated 100 trillion cells, and then you consider the billions of humans, and billions upon billions of other organisms that we share this planet with, it’s a pretty mind blowing number of cells to wrap your brain around. But what’s most amazing, is that at the genetic level, almost all the matter in the universe is virtually the same, made up of the same basic components, and yet, we have this incredible amount of diversity from humans to insects to plants to snowflakes. A big massive pool of genetic material being conducted by, well, something. And based on what Physics teaches us, we can assume that something is, you guessed it, energy.
Another contributor from the world of biology came from studying animal behavior. So many aspects of animal behavior are difficult to explain. How birds and butterflies can migrate over thousands of miles, to the same destination, along the same path, without ever have being there. How dogs can sense our emotions or predict when a storm is coming, as if they’re tuned in to a frequency that we just aren’t hearing. Animals are tuned in to something, something we may have lost contact with long ago.
This theory is based in science. Today, modern science tries to go beyond simply understanding the natural world, it wants to master it, to control it and in many ways transform it. But in order to truly understand nature, we must consider a world untouched by modern development, a world where energy can run freely, without being dampened by steel, concrete and any other of man’s unnatural creations. We must consider the natural world, the primal world.
The Primal World
When I use the word ‘Primal’, I don’t mean a time of cavemen and dinosaurs. What I am referring to is land in its original state, untouched by the modernization of the human species. This can be a forest, a desert, a mountain or an ocean. I feel as though modern man has lost touch with the natural world, the primal world. We covered it up, placed barriers between us and it. The effect that this has had is to cut off our line of communication with the planet, with the energy that all other creatures living in the natural world are tapped into.
I have been fascinated by animals and nature for as long as I can breath. I make no secret of my love and respect for dogs and wolves, but am equally fascinated by the entire animal kingdom. What draws me into their world is the purity of their existence. They live in a world of instincts, and more importantly, they live in harmony with the planet. They are part of something greater than themselves, a system which runs like a well balanced machine of which they are but one of many parts, all tied together in unison*. And though we have to come to understand how much of this system works, the one question we rarely ask is: why does it work? What keeps it running so smoothly?If one of our modern machines breaks down, we fix it. What fixes this machine, what re-calibrates it? Some will argue it’s based on random adaptations, that nature adapts to nature. This is partially true, but I believe there is more to it than that. I also believe it goes beyond this planet, which is but a single component of an even greater system, the Universe. And when you consider the incredible immensity of the Universe, and that somehow it all holds together in a form of chaotic balance, it is very difficult to fathom that there isn’t something else at play.
*James Lovelock has suggested a very complex theory known as the Gaia Hopthesis, which offers some astounding studies that only make sense if this idea of a single complex system is true.
But how can we, as modern humans, reestablish communication with the planet, with the Universe? How can we tap into that energy. For one, we can spend more time in the natural world. But in order to truly establish a direct line of contact, we must adjust our frequency, we must tune our dials to be able to receive the transmissions that the planet and Universe are sending. And that can be done through high intensity physical activity and meditation, which as you’ll see, are all part of the same system.
The Meditative Path
It took me many years to finally understand what I wanted out of meditation. What you get out of it is one of those things that you kind of have to figure out for yourself. When I discuss this with people who haven’t tried it, or did and gave up, the question is often “what is it supposed to do?”. The way I can best explain what meditation is to me, is that it allows me to set my brain to how it is supposed to be, to access my primal mind. Let me explain.
If you study the existence of a wild animal, what you see is life in its purest state. It is without contemplation, without stress. It runs, mostly, on instinct and pays little attention to the past or the future. It truly lives in the moment. This pure primal state, in my opinion, is how we, humans, once were, before we evolved language, consciousness and everything else that came along with it. We spend incredible amounts of energy, well, thinking. We are constantly thinking about yesterday and worrying about tomorrow. What this does is disrupt the natural flow of our primal mind. In Buddhism, they teach that the purpose of life is to achieve a state of pure existence, which in essence, is an existence void of thought, or differently put, of a single thought.
One of the important books in my life is “Zen and the Brain” by James Austin. In it, he discusses some neurological examinations he performed on Zen Buddhist monks. What he found when he ran an EEG test on them, was that their four primary brain waves were almost completely synchronized. You see, our four primary brainwaves – alpha, beta, theta and delta all operate at different frequencies. In the average human mind, these frequencies appear out of synch, but in the case of these monks, they aligned almost perfectly. But what does this mean? When Austin performed other tests, he discovered that these monks lived in a state of constant bliss, of happiness, of empathy for the world around them. They lived purely in the moment. Of course, these monks spent most of their waking life in meditation, so it is to be expected that there would be differences in the way their brains operate. But the question I ask myself is this: has their meditative practice allowed them to transform their brain chemistry beyond what it should be, or did it simply allow the brain to revert back to its original state?
I’ve been practicing meditation for many years, and it is by far the greatest challenge in my life, for the simple fact that I will never be able to perfect it, I will never reach a point where I can say that I am done with it and can now move on to something else. But none the less, there are levels that can be attained, and for me, one of the most important steps was understanding why, what was my reason for doing it. As I said earlier, it allows me to access my primal mind. But coming to this realization required more than my meditative practice, it required something else that is a major part of my life: high intensity physical activity.
Physical Awakening
As far as challenging ourselves, both physically and mentally, nothing does it like intense physical activity. As soon as you heart starts pumping above a certain rate, every fiber of your being is completely aware and awake. It was during one of these intense physical sessions, one of my Wolf Runs, that I suddenly became aware of my purpose for meditation. The reason for this lies in the nature of the Wolf Run. These runs are something that has evolved over time. When I run in the forest, away from the influence of man, I like to imagine myself running like the wolf. Dodging through the trees, leaping over rocks, growling my way to the top of a mountain. On one of these such runs, I reached the edge of a cliff overlooking the entire forest. With my heart racing from the steep climb, and pumping endorphins through my entire mind and body, I tried to take control of it all by meditating at that moment, to slow down my breathing and at the same time intensify that incredible rush (something I like to call Endorphin Maximization). And at the moment, looking out from my perch and living completely in that moment, my body a tingling frenzy of calm energy, it all made sense. I knew what it was all about, because at that moment I was no longer myself the person, I was part of everything around me. I was the sky above me and the forest below me. My heart beat to the rhythm of the Universe, and I understood. I was part of the Primal Energy. For others, with other beliefs, they will probably describe this moment as being in the presence of God, or a god, or gods, or whatever belief system they choose to follow. But for me, this is what all those beliefs are based on, that sense of something greater, something that we all share and are all a part of.
Making Sense of it All
SInce that time, I’ve spent many hours contemplating what I felt that day. Of course, once I came down from that cliff, the weight of the world came creeping its way back in. A life of purely meditative existence is not something that I am interested in. I enjoy being human and many of the amazing gifts that come along with it. But now, knowing what I know, believing what I believe, I have the ability to go back to that cliff whenever I choose. I have also discovered other ways of tapping into that Energy. When I spend time with animals, not as their master but as their equal, as their brother, I am able to see through their eyes, to be part of their existence. I feel it then. When I help other to improve their lives, perform selfless acts of kindness, I find myself in that moment, sharing their joy, and feeling that Energy all around us. When I practice martial arts and truly immerse myself in the experience, I feel it then as well. And of course when I meditate, as I try to do every day, I know why I do it, it has a purpose, and having that purpose in my life is one of the greatest feelings one can ever achieve.
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.
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