Thursday, May 20, 2010

Binaural Beats and Meditation (brain waves)

Wisdom Quarterly INVESTIGATION

Binaural beats (explained below) use stereo headphones to stimulate brain wave entrainment, instant relaxation, emotional balance, healing, well-being, and heightened consciousness. Binaural beats are a sonic alternative medicine. They can be used as a dependable relaxation tool for resolving depression and anxiety and provide support to make meditating easier.

Binaural beats are a proven brain entrainment process that began to gain recognition after an article entitled "Auditory Beats in the Brain" was published by Dr. Gerald Oster (Scientific America, October 1973). They work by sending two different hertz frequencies, one to each ear via headphones. This causes the left and right brain hemispheres to work in unison to hear a third tone, a phantom frequency, the centered difference between the two tones. Since humans cannot hear sounds low enough to be useful for brain stimulation, these special techniques must be used. The hertz separations create a constant, gentle beat that facilitate meditation.

For example, if a 500Hz tone is played in one ear and 510Hz tone in the other, this sets up a binaural beat frequency of 10Hz, which is Alpha. If the brain is monitored with an EEG machine, it shows increased 10Hz activity with equal frequency and amplitude of the wave form in both hemispheres. There are four types of brain wave activity: Beta (discursive thinking), Alpha (meditating Zen monks), Theta (sudden understanding), and Delta (oneness, dreamless sleep). Review the scientific research at project-meditation.org.

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