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 by | binaural recording
Hypnosis, What is it?
Now that we understand how our minds work lets start talking about hypnosis. Hypnosis is the bypass of the critical factor in the conscious mind and the establishment of acceptable selective thinking. Notice the definition doesn’t say anything about relaxation or surrendering your control? Hypnosis is a natural state. We naturally go into hypnosis about a dozen times a day. Have you ever been driving your car down the interstate and right at the last minute you “Come to” and get off at your exit in the nick of time? Remember being in high school with your teacher rambling on and on in a monotone voice and then all of a sudden you “Came back” hoping that you weren’t drooling on your desk? Ever read a book and kind of slip off somewhere else in your mind? If you answered yes to any of these questions then you’ve been hypnotized before. People often say it’s like daydreaming but I tend to disagree. Daydreaming is usually when your mind is thinking of something, thinking about being on a boat or in some other specific situation or scene.
I know when I’m driving my car and I slip into that “Zone” my mind is pretty much blank, I’m not really thinking of anything. You can go into hypnosis by staring at a dot on the wall. The act of meditation will put your mind into the “Alpha Brainwave State” which is hypnosis. If you prey for several minutes you can go into hypnosis. Focused attention on anything will bring on the state of hypnosis. So you now understand that hypnosis is a natural state of mind, our minds go there with or without a formal induction. In my pre-talk with clients, before we begin the session, I will tell them all about what it feels like to be hypnotized and cover the fears and misconceptions they may have. Some of my clients are so fearful that while they are filling out my intake form their hands are shaking. When they arrive for their second session they are always very relaxed because in the first session they didn’t even think they were in hypnosis, it was no big deal. (Interestingly enough, most of the time somehow the problem we worked on has greatly improved or vanished, hum?)
In regard to the unwarranted fear that some people have just before going into hypnosis, if you think about it, hypnosis is really nothing… let’s talk about something that is really frightening in comparison. Have you ever described the state of sleep to someone? “Okay in a moment you will fall fast asleep. During this time you will have no control of your mind or body. If I were to set the room on fire you may or may not be aware of it and it’s possible you could burn up in the flames!” Talk about scary! Hypnosis is nothing like that. You actually become more aware. One of my teachers actually had a client in deep hypnosis. He then fell over and died of a heart attack – in session!
The hypnotized subject instantly popped up and ran next door for help. Luckily the hypnosis office was right next door to a doctor’s office and they were able to resuscitate him. So you can see that you are very aware of what’s going on around you while in hypnosis. When you are going from regular wakefulness to sleep or waking up from sleep your mind passes through the various stages of brainwave activity. Bata is where you are now, if you are not daydreaming that is. The waves are fast. Just under that consciousness is Alpha. The waves are slower, you are awake but in an altered state of awareness. Ever drive your car and come to just at your exit wondering where you were? Yes you have because our minds go to the Alpha state while driving. This is the same thing your mind does while in hypnosis. Remember while driving your car you were in control, you didn’t hit anything, its the same with hypnosis. Under Alpha comes Theta, you’re not asleep but headed towards sleep. Then you are asleep, that is called Delta. When you wake up you go through those brainwave states in reverse.
Now that we understand how our minds work lets start talking about hypnosis. Hypnosis is the bypass of the critical factor in the conscious mind and the establishment of acceptable selective thinking. Notice the definition doesn’t say anything about relaxation or surrendering your control? Hypnosis is a natural state. We naturally go into hypnosis about a dozen times a day. Have you ever been driving your car down the interstate and right at the last minute you “Come to” and get off at your exit in the nick of time? Remember being in high school with your teacher rambling on and on in a monotone voice and then all of a sudden you “Came back” hoping that you weren’t drooling on your desk?
Ever read a book and kind of slip off somewhere else in your mind? If you answered yes to any of these questions then you’ve been hypnotized before. People often say it’s like daydreaming but I tend to disagree. Daydreaming is usually when your mind is thinking of something, thinking about being on a boat or in some other specific situation or scene. I know when I’m driving my car and I slip into that “Zone” my mind is pretty much blank, I’m not really thinking of anything. You can go into hypnosis by staring at a dot on the wall. The act of meditation will put your mind into the “Alpha Brainwave State” which is hypnosis. If you prey for several minutes you can go into hypnosis. Focused attention on anything will bring on the state of hypnosis.So you now understand that hypnosis is a natural state of mind, our minds go there with or without a formal induction.
In my pre-talk with clients, before we begin the session, I will tell them all about what it feels like to be hypnotized and cover the fears and misconceptions they may have. Some of my clients are so fearful that while they are filling out my intake form their hands are shaking. When they arrive for their second session they are always very relaxed because in the first session they didn’t even think they were in hypnosis, it was no big deal. (Interestingly enough, most of the time somehow the problem we worked on has greatly improved or vanished, hum? )In regard to the unwarranted fear that some people have just before going into hypnosis, if you think about it, hypnosis is really nothing… let’s talk about something that is really frightening in comparison. Have you ever described the state of sleep to someone? “Okay in a moment you will fall fast asleep. During this time you will have no control of your mind or body. If I were to set the room on fire you may or may not be aware of it and it’s possible you could burn up in the flames!”
Talk about scary! Hypnosis is nothing like that. You actually become more aware. One of my teachers actually had a client in deep hypnosis. He then fell over and died of a heart attack – in session! The hypnotized subject instantly popped up and ran next door for help. Luckily the hypnosis office was right next door to a doctor’s office and they were able to resuscitate him. So you can see that you are very aware of what’s going on around you while in hypnosis.When you are going from regular wakefulness to sleep or waking up from sleep your mind passes through the various stages of brainwave activity. Bata is where you are now, if you are not daydreaming that is. The waves are fast. Just under that consciousness is Alpha. The waves are slower, you are awake but in an altered state of awareness. Ever drive your car and come to just at your exit wondering where you were? Yes you have because our minds go to the Alpha state while driving. This is the same thing your mind does while in hypnosis. Remember while driving your car you were in control, you didn’t hit anything, its the same with hypnosis. Under Alpha comes Theta, you’re not asleep but headed towards sleep. Then you are asleep, that is called Delta. When you wake up you go through those brainwave states in reverse.
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.