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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You no longer need to move to a Buddhist monastery or hide away for hours a day to achieve a master level of deep Zen meditation. With the use of brainwave entrainment technology it is now possible to reach deep levels of meditative trance almost instantly, and begin to experience all of the same benefits of traditional meditation techniques within days instead of years.
As I’m sure you already know, meditation allows us to quite the noise of the conscious mind and the ego in order to connect on a deeper level with our unconscious mind. When we put aside the nagging thoughts, worries, and considerations of ego, our true selves can arise from within and take a more active role in plotting our path through life. After years of meditation one finds themselves far more integrated and centered throughout their daily lives, less burdened by the stress, fears and uncertainty of the undeveloped ego.
Many people crave the benefits of meditation: Relief from stress and anxiety, increased mental focus, an abundance of physical and mental energy, and a stronger sense of self, to name a few. But the sad fact is, with our busy modern world of digital information overload and hectic schedules, mastery of this discipline becomes an impractical pursuit.
Luckily all the technology that is so often a distraction from spiritual growth has also produced some tools we can use to accelerate our own evolution.
Every state of mind and body is accompanied by a corresponding pattern of electrical activity in the brain. You can identify the mental and emotional state of any person with a readout of their brainwave activity on an EEG. This means that the inner silence achieved by traditional meditation can actually be mapped to a very specific range of frequencies.
With brainwave entrainment technologies such as binaural beats and isochronic tones, you can reverse this process and actually induce any state by stimulating the brain with the appropriate frequencies. When the brain is exposed to a certain frequency for long enough, it synchronizes with that frequency and the associated state of mind and body follow right behind.
So now anyone can achieve a state of “instant meditation” simply by listening to a well-designed brainwave entrainment meditation program. Throw in some breathing exercises and a few other traditional meditation techniques and you become a meditation expert in a matter of weeks instead of years.
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.