Binaural Beats for Relaxation and Meditation 01/10/2010
Binaural beats is te name of a sound technology that uses two different frequencies of sound (one in each ear) to ‘entrain’ the brain to the frequency desired. Using this technology it is possible to go into deep relaxed meditative states in minutes as opposed to months of practice. To fully understand what binaural beats are and how you can use them, you need to first understand what ‘entrainment’ is and what we know about our brainwave states. Entrainment simply means to follow along. When you are listening to a piece of music that you like and you tap or hum to the music you are entrainment to the beat of the music. It has been discovered that your brainwave frequency will imitate the beat or rhythm of the music precisely. For example sitting on a beach hearing the soft splash of the waves will make you feel relaxed and maybe even sleepy. This is because the rhythm of the waves is low and your brain follows along with that rhythm so you slow down mentally. In the same way if there is lots of construction going on – even if you are somewhat sheltered from the noise – it will be irritating and may even give you a headache. This is because of the irregular rhythms and variations in sound volume. Your brain follows along but it’s following an erratic sound pattern so the experience isn’t soothing. The whole process of following along with external sound is called entrainment. The next thing you need to understand to know how binaural beats can help you concerns what we know about brainwave frequencies and how they affect your mind and body. What scientists have discovered about brainwave frequencies using EEG measurements devices is that certain types of behaviors correspond to certain brainwave frequencies. For example; if you are asleep your brainwave frequency will be below 4 hertz. If you are exercising or playing a sport your brainwave frequency will be above 14 hertz. If you are relaxing then it will be between 10 and 14 hertz. Meditation states also occur around 7 hertz to 14 hertz. The interesting part is that not only will these activities lead to the corresponding brainwave state but you can also induce the brainwave frequency to get to the optimal mental state for the activity you want to engage in. For example if you want to relax you can play some white noise and the sound of a babbling brook and it will help you relax to a level below 14 hertz. You can do this even more precisely using the sound technology of binaural beats. You can experience and utilize binaural beats for yourself at anytime using a free software program called Brainwave Generator. Learn more about Binaural Beats from Wikipedia. Comments Your comment will be posted after it is approved. Leave a Reply |
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