I am familiar with binaural beats and had even made my own alpha-to-theta brainwave mp3's before becoming involved with this Work. There's even an open-source project enabling microcontroller synthesized binaural beats to be synchronized with LED lights.
re: _http://www.binaural.com/serendipity/index.php?/archives/101-Binaural-Beats-Entrainment-Better-with-LED-Lights.html
My personal view is that one could easily get lost in all this and any subjective phenomenon that might come with it, with no way to validate anything.
Once the
Eíriú-Eolas - Breathing Program came out, I lost any tiny thread of interest that I may have had left in binaural beat-induced brain states.
[quote author=_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binaural_beats]
Binaural beats or binaural tones are auditory processing artifacts, or apparent sounds, the perception of which arises in the brain independent of physical stimuli. This effect was discovered in 1839 by Heinrich Wilhelm Dove.
The brain produces a phenomenon resulting in low-frequency pulsations in the loudness of a perceived sound when two tones at slightly different frequencies are presented separately, one to each of a subject's ears, using stereo headphones. A beating tone will be perceived, as if the two tones mixed naturally, out of the brain. The frequency of the tones must be below about 1,000 to 1,500 hertz for the beating to be heard. The difference between the two frequencies must be small (below about 30 Hz) for the effect to occur; otherwise, the two tones will be heard separately and no beat will be perceived.
Binaural beats are of interest to neurophysiologists investigating the sense of hearing. Second, binaural beats reportedly influence the brain in more subtle ways through the entrainment of brainwaves and can be used to produce relaxation and other health benefits such as pain relief.[/quote]
The most often cited motivation for some people to explore binaural beats is for changing brain states, such as for meditation.
Here is some marketing material from the Silva Ultramind system. It sounds very inviting, but the reader may note that there are no cautions and no recognition of any possible hyperdimensional or hyperdensity influences, spiritual or otherwise, no recognition of possible 3D hypnotic control mechanisms already in place that a person could unwittingly come under the influence of. In fact, there is no mention, at all, of anything that an unwary, unprepared individual could be opening oneself up to. And that is assuming that there is anything to be worried about.
[quote author=_http://www.silvaultramindsystem.com/products/alpha/intro.php]
The Two Types of Meditation: Passive and Active
When we meditate several important things happen physically and mentally. First, we are "focusing internally" and letting go of the outside world (similar to going to sleep, but without losing consciousness).
This allows our brains to shift into more stable, stronger brain frequencies (called alpha and theta by scientists) normally reached during sleep.
When we can reduce our brain frequencies to these levels while staying awake we are able to bring the unconscious mind to the conscious level. This allows us to control and harness the power of the unconscious mind.
There are two types of meditation.
Passive Meditation
All meditation systems, such as Yoga, Zen, Transcendental Meditation (TM), Silva UltraMind and others have similar benefits.
By "passively" letting go and going within, we "deactivate" our survival mechanisms and allow our body's natural health and rejuvenation abilities to be activated.
Each method has its own way of reaching the inner state of mind, and each has its own goals.
Active Meditation
Jose Silva's techniques allow you to use the relaxed, healthy state of mind that occurs during meditation to solve your day-to-day problems.
Silva found that by "actively" utilizing brain languages (kinesthetic, visual, and auditory thought processes), we can use this higher energy state to improve memory and learning skills, change unwanted habits, enhance health, and healing.
He also developed techniques to achieve what many people call "tapping the super-conscious" to solve problems, reach goals, come up with new ideas and solutions to problems. Some students use the Silva UltraMind System to enhance their spiritual growth.
Using such techniques within a meditative state is called "active" meditation.
But what exactly happens when you meditate?
Your brain functions on a small amount of electricity, much like a computer. This electrical current vibrates and pulses at various speeds. When you are wide awake, with your eyes focused, your brain vibrates 20 times per second - what scientists call 20 cycles per second or the Beta frequency.
You are probably at this beta level of mind right now as you read this.
When you go to sleep, your brain frequency slows down, all the way to about half a cycle per second in the deepest levels of natural sleep. This is known as the Delta level.
In between Beta, the waking state, and Delta, the deep sleep state, there are two other levels of mental activity.
When you are in a light level of sleep or in meditation you are in the Alpha range, which is 7 to 14 cycles per second. This is the center range and this is what we mean by saying "going to your center".
Going to the alpha level or centering is essentially the same thing as meditating. When someone meditates, scientifically, they are simply reducing their brain wave frequency to Alpha. The Alpha level is the level we use to activate our minds.
Theta is a level of deeper relaxation or sleep, when your brain waves are at 4 to 7 cycles per second.
The table below summarizes the 4 states of brain frequency.
State Brain Wave Frequency Associated With
Beta 14 - 21 cycles per second (cps) and higher Waking State, the five senses.
Perception of Time and Space
Alpha 7 - 14 cps Light sleep, meditation, intuition. No Time & Space limitation.
Theta 4 - 7 cps Deeper Sleep, Meditation.
Delta 0 - 4 cps Deep Sleep. You are unconscious at Delta.
There are many benefits of "going to the Alpha level" or meditating.
Jose Silva found that people who can remain in the Alpha level while analyzing information have access to more information than those who remain in Beta to do their thinking. Feelings of intuition, creative ideas, inspirational thoughts and ideas come to people while at this Alpha level.
Going to Alpha is also good for programming your mind. At the Alpha level you can learn to overcome all kinds of problems, such as insomnia, tension and migraine headaches, bad habits, and much more. You can also program your mind to help you achieve your goals and make your dreams come true.[/quote]
fwiw.
