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Binaural Beats for Curious Surfers

Binaural beats are auditory brainstem responses that happen when opposite ears (perhaps yours!) hear sounds of slightly different frequency.

Deep Meditation Just as your brain puts together two 2-dimensional signals from your eyes, then processes them to get a 3D stereo image, your brain also processes two separate auditory signals (one from each ear) and combines them into a super duper spatial auditory experience.

But a funny thing happens when your brain combines two steady but slightly different signals: it creates a pulsing beat equivalent to the difference of their frequencies. The best part, at least for curious surfers hunting yet another strange but safe way to alter their state of consciousness, is that brain waves gradually follow and eventually synchronize themselves with the frequency of the pulsing beat.

In short, if you want your brain waves operating at 5 Hz (a wave frequency typically associated with deep meditation) you put a 400 Hz signal in your left ear, and a 405 signal in your right ear, then sit back and let your brain assimilate and follow the binaural beat.

Brain Waves and States of Consciousness

Most states of consciousness have corresponding brain wave frequencies.

When your brain waves are in the beta range (15-40 Hz), you are in an alert, actively working state. For example, you’re on a TV game show answering a question that may net you $100,000 after taxes. Or, you’re breaking huddle on the 50 yard line, four points down with three seconds on the clock. Or, you’re giving a friend directions to your barbeque party over the phone. There are high and low levels of Beta, but in all of them, your brain is actively engaged.

Brain Waves When your brain is operating in the alpha range (9-14 Hz), you’re relaxed and reflective. Taking a quiet walk in the garden? Alpha. Just came home from work, opened a beer, hit the couch? Alpha.

The theta range (5-8 Hz) shows up during very deep relaxation and meditation. During theta, you’re on autopilot, and ideas seem to flow into your brain from nowhere. Even if you never assume a lotus position, you’re probably in a theta state more often than you’d think. How about the last time you arrived at work and didn’t remember the drive? That was theta. And remember when a great idea came to you while you were taking a shower or brushing your teeth? Yep…that was your brain on theta, too.

There’s also the delta range (1.5-4Hz) of brain waves which occur when you’re experiencing deep, dreamless sleep. This one, you probably don’t recall ;-)

Chasing Some Deep Relaxation

If your brain feels like it’s stuck in an anxious Beta state, and you’re having trouble shifting down into a more relaxing, meditative, alpha state of consciousness, put on your headphones or earbuds, and feed your brain some binaural beats: Infinite Bliss with Stereo Binaural Beats.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 17th, 2009 at 9:56 pm and is filed under Consciousness, Science. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

13 Responses to “Binaural Beats for Curious Surfers”

Lynne says:

Wednesday, February 18, 2009 at 6:49 am

Thanks so much for posting this. I’ve not heard of this before but am looking forward to learning and experiencing it. And thanks for the tip on the book The Holographic Universe. I will get that.

Reply
JoeC says:

Wednesday, February 18, 2009 at 11:43 am

There’s also a free, open source software package you can download create your own binaural beats. You can dial up the state you want your brain to chase, whether you need more waking up, relaxing, or help winding down to get some sleep. From what I’ve read, this isn’t so much introducing a crutch, but helping your mind recognize and get used to the different states so that you can reach them easier without the binaural beats whenever you want to.

Anyway, the software is here: http://gnaural.sourceforge.net/

Reply
Xman says:

Wednesday, February 18, 2009 at 12:38 pm

Oh, Damn!
Why is my first thought, about awesome, pulsing light and sound shows in San Francisco in the late 60’s?. My second thought is about Lobsang Rampa and astral travel and my third thought (which immediately becomes a fantasy) is about making another run at Mary Lou?..oh no! she just morphed into a Grandma. Scratch that.

Reply
Indigobusiness says:

Wednesday, February 18, 2009 at 1:10 pm

Way cool.

So, in other words, even though there is a fog upon L.A., Paul isn’t really dead?

Reply
JoeC says:

Wednesday, February 18, 2009 at 2:24 pm

In lieu of chasing tripped-out altered states, I just thought of something…I think I’m going to use the GNaural software to output a wav file in the upper beta “wide-awake-and-hyped-up” range, convert it to mp3, plop it on the Ipod, and then the next time I’m driving a long way and start to get sleepy, I’ll put on the headphones and see if my brain will indeed follow the alert-and-awake binaural track…should work, right?

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Indigobusiness says:

Wednesday, February 18, 2009 at 4:28 pm

You go first.

Reply
JoeC says:

Wednesday, February 18, 2009 at 4:51 pm

Hold my beer…watch this! ;-)

Reply
Lynne says:

Thursday, February 19, 2009 at 7:12 am

“Hold my beer…watch this!”

I’ve seen that on so many redneck tombstones around here….

Reply
Indigobusiness says:

Thursday, February 19, 2009 at 5:55 pm

That’s why he winked when he said it.

Reply
Marcus says:

Sunday, June 7, 2009 at 7:47 am

And those are just the basic frequencies. Brainwave entrainment can be a bit like dialling in codes to the Matrix when you really know what you are doing. Some great stuff :)

Reply
JoeC says:

Sunday, June 7, 2009 at 1:49 pm

Thanks for the input Marcus. Since posting this, I keep several different binaural-mix mp3s on my ipod, and, whether it’s the binaural frequencies or mostly a want-to-believe placebo effect, listening to the frequencies does tend to push my brain closer to the desired state of mind.

Reply
Marcus says:

Saturday, June 20, 2009 at 8:21 am

Well, I tend to think it is a little more than a placebo effect (though I guess that plays its part). I came across some information which suggests that binaural beats research is being interlinked with shamanic altered states. I guess that kinda makes sense when you think about it.

Reply
Indigobusiness says:

Sunday, June 21, 2009 at 10:35 am

When healing is attributed to the placebo effect, the quality of the cure is equal to any other.

Mind over matter is as good as anything else, often better.

Reply

Binaural Beats for Curious Surfers

Brain Waves and States of Consciousness

Chasing Some Deep Relaxation

13 Responses to “Binaural Beats for Curious Surfers”

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