Brainwave entrainment is a specific form of entrainment which is a physics phenomena seen in the natural world, for instance when a note on a piano or guitar string is struck, all notes that are harmonically related will begin to vibrate in harmony.
The brain works in a similar way. When harmonically related vibrations are received by the brain, in this case as sound waves, brainwaves resonate in harmony. This is called brainwave entrainment.
The brain can be entrained within a certain frequency range, known as the Frequency Following Response (FFR) and was discovered by neuroscientists in the 1930s.
What does brain entrainment do?
If the brain is exposed to a 10Hz tone, then its own brainwaves in the 10Hz range increase. This means the amplitude or energy of that frequency increase, which affects you in various ways. In this example 10Hz is in the alpha range, so you experience a deeply relaxed state.
Fifty years of research has shown that different frequencies have different effects on the brain, consciousness, thinking, emotion, energy, and physiology.
Brain entrainment is completely natural, I’m sure like most people you have experienced certain sounds like:
- waves rolling on a beach
- rain on a roof
- babbling water
- rhythmic drumming or chanting
- or even a flickering fire that have had a calming rejuvenating affect.
All ancient cultures have utilised the powerful effects of entrainment with rhythmic drumming, chanting and flickering fire. Even the ancient Greeks discovered its power when they created a sun wheel that produced a flicker when it was turned with the sun shining between the spokes.
The most ancient culture on earth, the Aboriginals of Australia, have the most sophisticated audio entrainment instrument of all … the didgeridoo!
What are the advantages of brainwave entrainment?
There is not a week that goes by these days without a new scientific study coming out demonstrating the benefits of meditation to enhance your brain, health and wellbeing.
The same goes for research showing how bad stress is for us in every way, including being the biggest factor for aging and how so many things are stressing us in our modern world.
The problem is that learning meditation or deep relaxation isn’t easy and some people find it just too hard and give up.
Scientists discovered that Alpha and Theta frequencies create deeply relaxed or meditative states and we can reproduce and record them in the studio. These frequencies can be incorporated into evocative, calming music harmonically intertwined to create a simple to use CD or Mp3.
This makes relaxation and meditation very easy as it gently but powerfully shifts your brain into a meditative state without you having to go through a long learning process. You experience all the benefits without the hard work.
Benefits include:
- reduced stress
- calmness
- better sleep
- increased energy and alertness
- improved confidence
This will only take up 15 to 30 minutes a day of your time. If you’re a beginner or even experienced at meditating, modern brainwave entrainment is a really useful tool.
How to use brainwave entrainment
Very simply it’s a matter of slipping on a pair of headphones, laying back, closing your eyes and hitting play. Use if for deep relaxation or to learn or enhance meditation.
Is it safe? Yes, but since it will deeply relax you, just don’t listen to it while driving or operating heavy machinery.
What types of entrainment are there?
There are three main forms:
- Binaural
- Monaural
- Isochronic
What is the best brain entrainment music and brainwave entrainment?
Today on the internet there are many websites selling inferior entrainment software that you should be aware of. This is adequate for the enthusiast who wants to play with this for their own use, but not very good for commercial products.
To make it worse, some sites make hundreds of titles claiming to link very specific frequencies with specific outcomes – like losing weight or increasing intuition etc. Unfortunately, this is hype not reality.
Just remember entrainment is a natural aid to induce meditative or deeply relaxed states easily. Make sure it’s been properly produced in a recording studio. You can tell the difference especially by the way the music has been beautifully entwined with the entrainment frequencies. Listen to a sample of brainwave entrainment music here.
If you are interested in professionally made CDs or Mp3s, have a look at my beautifully produced state-of-the-art alpha binaural meditation and other tiles that use the alpha frequencies along with guided self hypnosis and relaxation.
