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Friday, December 30, 2016

Binaural Beats - Self Improvement Through Technology?

brain

NOTE:  I have used binaural beats from time to time in my meditation work.  I was able to observe how this technology worked when a friend loaned me a Hemisync CD that he had bought his from the Monroe Institute (which is located in Faber, Virginia). I was already having the forward edge of awakening at this time, just not a full rising of the energy, and the CD most certainly helped with awakening symptoms.  I noticed that I began getting all kinds of very unusual light phenomenon happening that was tied to my third eye, which had been recently activated as a result of listening to this CD (I can't say you will get the same light effects from a Hemisync CD because I was kind of in different waters at that point, so there is that).  Be that as it may, I found that I felt different when I listened to these sounds which had out of phase vibrations as part of their technique to help to cause the two hemispheres to "line up" in its circuitry vibrations. The Hemisync CD was designed to get the two normally different hemispheres, which both put out different frequencies of energy (as seen on an EEG) to begin putting out more similar frequencies, to essentially "sync" together.  The idea was that this could lead to a brain that was entrained or "synced" to itself for better learning, awareness, and a host of meditation work.  While Robert Monroe pioneered the work in the West, there is ample evidence to show that the Germans were aware of this effect and had used it for a host of rather nefarious reasons (to get people to buy Nazi propaganda).  It is important to understand that a hemisync or a binaural beats audio track can only entrain your brain to a certain frequency.  It does not make you do anything you would not otherwise want to do.  It does not brain wash you, it provides a frequency effect to foster different brain states depending on the frequencies and how they are used in the audio file. it is a very effective way to stimulate your brain to fall into a given brain wave frequency range for doing certain kinds of self improvement work, meditation, learning, etc. Yes, you could listen to a higher frequency binaural beat that is pitched to help support or stimulate high levels of alertness as you study for that difficult exam, for example. You could also use the slower frequencies for absorbing information more deeply, which has its own benefits as well.  So to better understand how this all works, it is helpful to dive into the technology a little more.

An Intro To Binaural Beats

The concept behind Binaural beats is that the brain can be entrained by certain frequencies in sounds that wind up having specific effects on us.  It has been known for centuries that certain rhythms were better for inducing trance-like states.  Aboriginal cultures have used drumming (beats) of very specific frequencies for reaching accelerated states of mind.  A medicine man I spoke with once explained the reason behind the type of beats they use when they are gathered together; he says the pulse is akin to the heartbeat and this beat helps people to be calm and more meditative and thoughtful.

Harmonic effects in choral music within the Christian church can have similar kinds of effects.  The large echo-chambers of European churches help to create a dream-time effect, and the chanting of Tibetan monks can seem to put you on what feels another world.  Binaural beats take this understanding one step further by recognizing that the two hemispheres of the brain actually tend to operate at slightly different frequencies, and when sound is introduced into the ears that are out of phase with one another in just the right way, the two hemisphers can be entrained to work together and not be out of phase as is usually the case.  Binaural beats actually causes the brain to supply a frequency of sound energy to make up for the sounds that are supplied that are out of phase (one ear is hearing a frequency that is a few hertz faster or slower than the other ear) as a result of the out of phase sound. Here a source explains how the effect is produced:
If the left ear is presented with a steady tone of 500Hz and the right ear a steady tone of 510Hz, these two tones combine in the brain. The difference, 10Hz, is perceived by the brain and is a very effective stimulus for brainwave entrainment. This 10Hz is formed entirely by the brain. When using stereo headphones, the left and right sounds do not mix together until in your brain. The frequency difference, when perceived by the brain this way, is called a binaural beat.
SOURCE: http://www.bwgen.com/theory.htm
With binaural beats, the thing to realize is that it only offers a sound environment to support or help induce a general state of mind.  You yourself have to be willing to be swept away on the rhythms in order for them to work well. It is in effect, a launching pad, a meditation tool that is is utilizing an understanding of how the brain works so that it can speed your entry into target brain states quickly.
It is important to point out that binaural beats work when using headphones in order to properly isolate the two different phases or frequencies.  Being able to isolate them in this way is key to using them effectively.  Listening to stereo speakers will not provide you with the right separation since the beats from the left channel will bleed into your right ear, canceling a lot of the effect that takes place in the brain itself. In many ways, what is happening is exactly what is happening when you watch a 3-D movie.  By having one eye see one view and the other eye see a slightly different or offset view and feeding these two different images into the different hemispheres of the brain, the brain creates a tapestry out of these two images that results in the effect or sensation of depth.  In the case of binaural beats, instead of depth being produced, it is a vibration that is being created that supports a given brain wave frequency and leads to a general state of mind.

In the links I am providing, I am including beats for deep and slow brain wave patterns.  These are best used for learning and for deep meditative states. Since I am all about getting down to that lower substratum for deep substantive removal of old conditioned emotions that trip up most people, I tend to feel these slower beats are most effective for this type of self-improvement work.

I have found that the way to work with these is to allow yourself to drift as though you are going to sleep, without going to sleep. You want to learn how to skirt the edge of sleep without going into it since this is where the deepest and most effective tapping of the subconscious is achieved.  It also is where you can do the most substantive work, too, at least theoretically, provided you are ready to process old emotion and free yourself from it forever. It is here at this deep level that many of these emotions can be tapped into and properly processed.  Don't worry; an old trauma might seem scary at first to face, but I have had hundreds, thousands of these releases, and each one really was a non-event.  You are left wondering why you let it bounce around in you for so long.  These unprocessed emotions can lead you to being attracted to people and events that are not in your highest.  I had a friend who used to call me up in the middle of the night wondering why she was always attracted to "Mr. Wrong" and while I didn't have an easy answer for her back then, I know its directly tied to these unprocessed emotions most people don't even realize they have.  Its hard to explain to someone who has never done this work just how healing it is, so you must trust me on this and discover for yourself by doing the work and engaging in this type of process (which I write about voluminously on my blog).

This is in effect what many who have meditated over the ages have sought to do in their inner work, which is tapping these deep states associated with sleep and dreaming.  It is here that the subconscious can be tapped into and the conditioning that causes so many people difficulties in their lives which can then be melted away in a more or less conscious way. This is what so may in the spiritual community call shadow work.  It is simply being able to face the emotional material that has been shoved down and that keeps emerging into awareness as the result of certain triggers (which are all based on memory: a sound that reminds you of something traumatic in your past, etc.) and by sticking with the feeling, the emotion is properly processed and can actually be released.  This work is important because the skeletons are never so bad as we fear they are and it frees up the consciousness so that it can more clearly perceive the energetic realms that are the other side of our physical sensory experience.  This is, in a phrase, about growing up and breaking free from negative patterning and conditioning, some of which has been instilled in childhood while others touch on other lifetimes.  Doing this work opens the self up so that it is no longer a prisoner of its own cognition. By dealing with your skeletons, you are simply more free, and that is a beautiful thing indeed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mgwd_3k3pOw

This audio (above) I have used for what turned out to be a very useful meditation with some significant shadow work.  Was it just a coincidence?  You will have to decide.  I found that while the sounds were a little much in some ways (a little spooky), but it also moved me quickly into a state where I had something akin to a waking dream where I was able to become aware of material that I had not previously gotten to. It included being brought into what was very much like a white-light experience with an illustration of how it is that heaven can be all around us and we simply don't see it for what it is, because there are layers of material we either choose to look through, or we don't tune out enough to be able to perceive these realms within us continuously. I include it here for your consideration, and of course you will need to find beats that you relate best to in your own inner work.  The beats I am including are intended to bring about a deep state with Theta wave activity, which is very much in the dreaming range of brain activity.  These are good I think for going deep while remaining very lucid.  Also, there are many other videos/audio pieces on youtube with different ranges that you can check out to find what works best for you.



The folks who run the channel that made this beats version also have other beats pitched to different frequencies for different ranges of consciousness/brain wave activity, so whichever range you are interested in helping to activate, they likely have your range. I have used this audio, but it has had less of a direct effect for me. The lower the number, the deeper the brain state.  If you want to do work that requires a high level of alertness, look for higher numbered beats that are followed by the "hz" which indicates the sound frequency being used.

There are many different binaural beats on youtube.  It looks like some of them may not have real binaural beats in them but will have more in the way of music and intonations of sound to achieve certain effects.  The two examples I have provided have these beats at a fairly low frequency, which can help to entrain you closer to what is known as theta brain wave states.
 
The concern that is voiced over and over is what if they have subliminal messages in them, how do I know that what I am getting is the real deal.  I can't speak to audio files having subliminal messages in them, but I can say that binaural beats do not make you think anything you do not want to think.  They simply help to induce a certain state of mind and you do the rest.  The work I have done using this technology has all been very positive, and I hope that they might be of some use to you in your own work.  Like anything, it takes some time and patience to achieve results, but binaural beats is a tool that can get you there much faster than the old ways of doing things, especially if you have trouble really being able to calm your mind down enough to do this kind of work.

As I was writing this entry, I came across a documentary produced by Gaiam as part of the Open Minds series, as well as another under the Buzzsaw series that both delve into how our own government has used technology like this to control the mind.  However, it is important to understand that there is no market for the kind of bets that our government might create for creating disgust, instead of elation, or upset over deep meditation. And it is not like you wont know if you use them.  The research I have done makes it clear to me that while there have been efforts have been made on the part of our government to do just this, we don't see these type of effects in the binaural beats used for self-improvement.

You can order Hemisync CD's from the Monroe Institute and through licensed representatives for the Monroe Institute as well. In addition, the Monroe Institute provides training on a range of subjects including learning, meditation, and out of body experiences (Robert Monroe wrote several ground breaking books on the subject).

https://www.monroeinstitute.org/catalog/hemi-sync%C2%AE