Beep you into enlightenment

posted by Daniel on April 16th, 2012

What if I told you that by listening to a new CD, you could become fully enlightened. For a little bit. Would you listen?

This is the promise of a genre of music called "brainwave entrainment" that sounds nothing like kirtan... yet has similarly profound effects.

I stumbled onto the "brainwave entrainment" last month upon the recommendation of my fiance's boss, who listens to such CDs each morning as his meditation routine.

Within the first week of listening, I had two profound meditation experiences, and became fascinated.

Since the 1970's, as it turns out, neuroscientists have been studying brainwaves - including those of advanced yogis and meditators. As a meditator slips into a state of profound peace and experiences harmony with her surroundings, for example, the neuroscientist observes an increase in Alpha and Theta waves being emitted from her brain.

In a separate branch of neuroscience, it was discovered that by playing two nearly-identical tones into the left and right ears, the brain struggles to integrate the two tones, producing a "binaural beat" - a pulse of effort throughout the brain at the same frequency as the difference between the two tones.

Combine these two neuro-quirks, and you discover the innate human ability to "tune in" to absolutely any brainwave frequencies, including those associated with awakened states of consciousness, by listening to simple tones separated by small intervals.

I've begun experimenting with this technology in my own music studio, with startling results. Trance can be induced, sleepiness can be induced, all based on the frequency gap of two simple tones. I can imagine the power of combining this technology with mantra-based music!

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