What if I said I could change your brain state in around seven minutes in such a way that you would feel completely different?
Would you immediate think I was talking mind-altering drugs and expect me to hand you a baggy of little white pills?
How about if I handed you a pair of earphones…..
What tunes are you currently listening to? How do they make you feel? I’m about to tell you how to hack your brain with the power of sound…
I’m talking about Binaural Beats, now it might sound like the latest Indie pop ensemble but it’s a brain entrainment technique, based on scientific research that is available for free to all of us in the palm of our hand. Thank you YouTube 😊
So what are Binaural Beats? First let me explain a little about the human brain and how it works.
As we know, the brain is a complex mass of neurons and pathways. We have all heard about brain waves and some of us have maybe even seen them on an EEG at the hospital. There are five main brain waves that we measure and recognise (here comes the science bit):
Alpha (8 TO 12 HZ) – Alpha waves are often experienced whilst in a meditative state, they are a quiet reflective frequency, a resting state and bring a sense of calm
Beta (12 TO 38 HZ) – Beta are the attentive waves. Present in our normal waking state of consciousness.
Theta (3 TO 8 HZ) – Also experienced during sleep and meditation but what makes Theta waves different to Delta and Alpha, is that Theta is a twilight state, where our intuition peaks and access to memory, learning and visions is possible. This is the frequency of hypnosis and the optimal time to reprogram the subconscious
Delta (.5 TO 3 HZ) – Delta waves are deeply resonating and restorative. They are experienced when we are in a deep and dreamless sleep. They can also be present when we are in a very deep state of meditation.
Gamma (38 TO 42 HZ) – Gamma is still the least understood of all our brain waves. Thought to be related to expanded consciousness and spiritual emergence. It’s the fastest of all the frequencies and the mind has to be very quiet to access Gamma.
So, back to the Indie pop band…..Binaural Beats. What are they and what do they do?
If we play a different frequency in each of our ears, so say we play 410hz in our left ear and 400hz in our right ear, our brain does this clever thing where it creates the difference between the frequency within our brain so the waves exhibit this (in this case 10hz). So if we look again at the different waves and their corresponding frequencies our brain waves would be of the Alpha type in this instance.
Awesome right?
The first time I listened to a track with Binaural Beats I had a profound feeling of calmness and felt almost as if my whole body was vibrating. I physically felt the change in my mood, my state, my body and my mind. I now recommend this type of music to everyone I know. If you search You Tube for “Binaural Beats” there are tracks for loads of different frequencies to put your brain into a state that’s conducive to how you want to feel. I use “focus and concentration” for when I am working from home, “relaxing theta waves” when I am meditating…….have a look. You can even find beats to help with your sore throat (I’d love to know if this actually works).
If you've had a therapy session with me you would have experienced the entrainment of Binaural Beats.
Drop me a comment if you have tried Binaural Beats I’d love to know what you think 😊
