binaural meditation
Even beginners can enter deep meditation or trance in minutes with binaural entrainment. The effects are irresistible to someone who is more or less open and calm.
how it works
When two tones of different frequency of pitch are presented, one to each ear, using stereo headphones (not speakers) a single tone is heard with a frequency half way between the two tones but with its volume fluctuating (beating) at the difference between their frequencies.
For some reason brain waves entrain to this beat as the brain resolves the two frequencies into one and of course we are then in the state of consciousness characteristic of that frequency.
There are binaural recordings suitable for alert concentration, meditation, sleep, relaxing, conscious dreaming or to facilitate the meditations and exercises on the body, mind and stress pages. Binaural meditation is used to stimulate the cooperation between the right and left hemispheres.
brain waves
Brain waves are measures of fluctuating electrical voltage potentials near the surface of the brain. What is happening deeper is anyone's guess. All the different frequency ranges are exhibited most of the time somewhere in the optimally functioning brain.
|
|
Beta |
12 |
- |
38 |
hz |
Wide awake, alert, attentive, energetic, concentrating |
|
|
Alpha |
8 |
- |
12 |
hz |
Awake and relaxed, pre waking, pre sleep, meditating, light trance. |
|
|
Theta |
3 |
- |
8 |
hz |
Light sleep, deep relaxation, trance. |
|
|
Delta |
2 |
- |
3 |
hz |
Deep dreamless sleep. unconscious. |
volume
Louder volume overrides internal chatter and external distractions. The volume needs to be high enough to retain attention but not so high as to cause ear damage. It is so easy to become habituated to high volumes with head phones. Initial discomfort however slight in the first minute or so is a warning sign. This goes away as the ear adjusts, so the first minute or so is the only chance to get it right. Ringing in the ears after taking off the headphones might mean the volume is too high.
A low volume may be enough if a relaxation exercise is used before to prepare.
If the effects are disturbing in the beginning then low volume is less overpowering.
the recordings
Samples can be downloaded free on the links below. The free ones can be as good as the expensive ones but each feels quite different.
Some progress quickly and deeply and others are slow depending on the frequency differences between the right and left channel. Some sound more pleasant than others. Some may seem disturbing played through speakers. Some contain subliminal affirmations which I find useless.
effects
If preoccupations or anxiety levels are too high it can be agitating with no entrainment effect. A relaxation exercise helps begin.
The dissociation and relaxation of this meditation can be dangerous in traffic or complex situations so I suggest breaking the trance before leaving the safe meditation space and not doing this meditation while out driving or walking.
The higher frequencies can be used to become alert and focused. This may be a way to experiment with getting out of those withdrawn, foggy or dissociated states that are useful refuges from trauma but freeze us into inactivity.
One can use this to learn to change state. Just the memory of a binaural recording can be used as a trigger.
|
Some of the effects may be due to: |
|
|
• |
Listening to sounds through earphones. Cutting out ambient sounds tends to induce a dissociated hypnotic state. |
|
• |
Listening to pure tones. The human system is hard-wired to feel pleasure hearing pure tones (sine waves). Noise (jagged waveforms) and discords cause a feeling of discomfort or pain. |
|
• |
The pink noise of ocean or rain often used as a background to the entrainment sound can be hypnotic or relaxing. |
|
• |
Higher frequency sounds. The pitch of domestic machinery and the city is lower than natural sounds and depressing and enervating. The natural environment including the wind in trees contains more higher pitched sounds well up beyond the hearing level of humans. Tones above the consciously heard range affect humans and give music presence up to about 40,000cps. Some sound therapies provide a more natural mix of sounds. Music recordings cut out at a top of around 16KHz or less and most Hi Fi systems reproduce up to 20 -25 KHz. The effects of this truncation varies from being subliminally irritating to being quite disturbing for those with a developed musical ear and has been shown to induce anxiety.
|
|
reflecting How does this feel now? Reflecting on the changes that arise helps build on them. |
|
|
• |
mood |
|
• |
endurance |
|
• |
breathing |
|
• |
strength |
|
• |
manual ability – dexterity |
|
• |
coordination - movement |
|
• |
reaction time |
|
• |
problem solving |
|
• |
assessment of people and situations |
|
• |
discovering underlying principles |
|
• |
pattern recognition |
|
• |
spatial orientation |
|
• |
responding to complex situations |
|
• |
written and oral comprehension |
|
• |
creativity |
|
• |
health |
|
• |
vision |
|
• |
hearing |
|
• |
smell |
|
• |
taste |
|
• |
need for sleep
|
diy
Some free Linux operating systems include the Gnaural sound synthesiser and binaural generator if you want to make the sounds yourself.
If you decide to make your own device the most comfortable and effective pitch (carrier pitch) of the sound is the tone that when hummed vibrates the head. This resonant frequency varies from person to person.
The frequencies must be below 1,000 to 1,500 hertz for the beating to be heard. The difference between the two frequencies must be below about 30 Hz otherwise the two tones will be heard separately without a beat.
In most recordings the beat frequencies begin higher to resonate with the awake frequencies of the listener and gradually lower to the slower meditative frequencies with occasional spikes of higher frequencies. This engages listeners where they are at and then takes them gradually down into trance, occasionally presenting some higher frequencies to remain coherent with any outside or internal distractions and retrieve anyone who might have become distracted .
A fire or flickering candle has frequencies fluctuating around theta and so can be used to induce deep trance in a similar way. Also a pulsed sound or strobe light or combination.
|
Brain Wave Generator |
copyright (C) John Brasted 2008
updated 06/11/11
