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.
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The human brain is a hive of electrical activity. When that electrical activity stops, we are said to be “brain dead.” This is frequently dramatized in the movies and on television when a villain sneaks into someone’s private hospital room and unplugs their life support system. The camera zooms in on the brainwave monitor (EEG) and we see the series of jagged lines that represent brainwaves become increasingly short. The finale comes when the machine emits a harsh warning sound and the screen shows a straight horizontal line indicating that the patient has “flatlined” or died. The doctors and nurses rush in and try to revive the subject. If they are successful, the screen resumes monitoring the up and down activity of the living brain.
Those jagged lines represent the amplitude (height) and frequency of the brainwaves. A good EEG monitor can show many such lines, representing the activity of several frequencies, rather than just the predominant one.
As a way of distinguishing between brainwave frequencies and the states of consciousness associated with them, they have been given arbitrary names. The frequencies are measured in hertz, or cycles per second. The beta frequency, between 12 and 38 hertz, is the broadest range of frequencies and is the predominant brainwave activity when we are awake and conscious. The higher end of the scale is usually associated with anxiety, fear and other forms of distress, while the middle and lower range appears in normal waking consciousness. The gamma range is even higher than the beta. It has rarely been observed, but recent studies have shown that it occurs occasionally in highly focused meditators.
The alpha frequencies, between 8 and 12 hz, begin to dominate when we are relaxed and daydreaming or just prior to drifting off to sleep. When we dip into a dreaming state of sleep, our brainwaves slow down even further, into the theta range (3-8hz). Below that is the state of deep, dreamless sleep of the delta range, from.2hz to 3hz. Bearing in mind that hertz are cycles per second, that means that if your brain is operating at.2hz, you are only showing a “blip” on the screen once every 5 seconds. Compare that with the brainwave activity of an anxious onlooker, who may be showing brainwave activity of around 30 “blips” per second or 150 every 5 seconds and you can get a pretty good idea of how wide a range we operate at.
What is Brainwave Entrainment
Brainwave entrainment refers to an observed response to externally applied rhythmic stimuli called the “frequency following response.” In a nutshell, our brains will tend to follow a stimulus and mimic its frequency. This is not a new phenomenon and it has been applied at least since the invention of the drum and also occurs through natural stimuli. A rushing torrent of rain produces anxiety while wavelets lapping rhythmically against the shore produce a feeling of tranquility. Tribal drums psyche warriors before they go into battle or help to induce trance in religious ceremonies.
Using the knowledge gained about the states of consciousness associated with brainwave frequencies and the frequency following response, sound engineers and other professionals came up with brainwave entrainment devices. The best known of these are auditory beats, though special LED glasses that produce visual pulses can also be used and many say they are actually more effective. Think of the effect of a strobe light or a flickering campfire and you get an idea of how these work.
Brainwave Entrainment Products
There has been an explosion of interest in brainwave entrainment music in recent years, though in fact there have been entrainment products on the market ever since audio tapes were invented. The Holosync program is probably the best known, thanks to the brilliant marketing slogan, “Meditate deeper than a Zen Monk” that creator Bill Harris came up with. The rationale behind the slogan is that Holosync CD’s entrain the brain to an even deeper frequency than has been observed in long term Zen Buddhist meditators. The target frequency of Holosync CDs is delta and the goal is to induce a state of “waking dreamless sleep.” This phenomenon is rare, but it does occur and some people associate it with spiritual enlightenment, though it is not a proven or even provable hypothesis. It should be noted that infants also show a predominance of delta activity, even when they are awake.
While Holosync is the best known program, it was not the first one to be produced. Back in the 1950s, on two sides of the continent, two researchers were coming up with different applications for brainwave entrainment. One of them was Robert Monroe, whose book, “Journeys Out of the Body” remains a classic of paranormal literature. There are a couple of versions of Monroe’s story. The most popular version states that his extraordinary out of body experiences occurred spontaneously. Another version, posted on the Monroe Institute website, says that they happened as a result of experiments he and his colleagues conducted with brainwave entrainment when he was an executive at the Mutual Broadcasting Company. Be that as it may, Monroe went on to found the Monroe Institute and produce the “Hemisync” brainwave entrainment program. The word “Hemisync” is an amalgamation of “hemispheric” and “synchronization.”
If you look at the human brain, it’s split down the middle into two halves or hemispheres. The left half is the logical, analytical side and the right half is the emotional and perhaps spiritual side. Ever since Nobel Prize winner Roger Sperry began to study the split brain, it has been observed that we live in a left brain society. The goal of hemispheric synchronization is to redress that imbalance. Brain scans of Hemisync users have shown that the CDs can actually accomplish this.
At just about the same time Monroe and his colleagues were working on their program, a self-taught electronics expert in Laredo, Texas was delving into the deeper regions of the brain in search of ways to improve cognition. Everything Jose Silva learned, he learned the hard way. With no education, he first learned electronics through mail order lessons. Then he became interested in hypnosis and related subjects. Combining his interests, he went on to invent and patent several biofeedback devices.
He then turned his attention to combining hypnosis with brainwave entrainment using himself, his family and his neighbors as guinea pigs. He became something of a legend in Laredo and his “Silva Mind Control” course spread at first largely by word of mouth and became one of the most popular self-help courses of the 1960s and 70s. Today, Silva’s daughter, Laura Silva and other family members are spearheading a renaissance of interest in Silva’s program. They have repackaged it as the “Silva Method” and also made use of technology and discoveries since their father’s death to add new elements to the program.
The success of these programs and the ease of making brainwave entrainment CDs and MP3s has led to the development of dozens of other products. Each of them has its own “angle,” but all of them basically rely on the frequency following response for their efficacy. In an attempt to attract a market, many of these newer programs claim to be able to induce out of body experiences, simulated LSD trips, experiences of “Christ Consciousness” and other mystical experiences. Still others are marketed as performance or learning enhancement products.
As with anything, it’s a case of, “Let the buyer beware.” Some of the products offered require a long commitment in time and money, while others can be purchased singly or in inexpensive downloadable packs. Anything as effective and immediately gratifying as brainwave entrainment is bound to be exploited. If you take the time to learn how it works from independent or objective sources, you can learn about a fascinating and potentially life-enhancing technology and save yourself a lot of money at the same time. If you do wish to jump in and take one of the longer term courses, the more informed you are before you commit to one, the less likely you are to be disappointed.
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.