This article describes brain wave music and provides information and resources
that you may find helpful for enhancing creativity and reducing stress.
This kind of music is referred to as:
Aural Entrainment
Brainwave EntrainmentBrainwave Synchronization
Alpha/Theta Brain Wave Meditation Music
Brain Synchronization
Music Science: listening methods that soothe us
Terra Wise,Midwife for the Soul
terrawise.net
April 2011
I have personally experienced the benefits of brain wave music for a number of years and have shared this information with family, students, and clients who have also enjoyed the benefits. Listening to this type of sound medicine helps to create specific brain wave activity that can jump-start you into meditation and encourage peacefulness, or lull you to sleep. All kinds of people enjoy the increase in creativity as well as the internal images that often accompany listening to this special music.
There are a number of recordings available that are music only, plus there are a large selection of brain wave recordings with spoken words layered on top of the special brain wave tones that specifically guide the listener into a mediation. Many of these recordings direct you toward goals for health, calmness, creative expansion, and balancing of moods. I have have explored different styles and prefer the non-vocal style myself so that my own imagination is free to enjoy the inner images that spontaneously occur. However, if you are new to meditation and focusing your mind, you will probably prefer the guided selections to start with, this is especially useful if you have a lot of anxiety or restlessness.
Many of the website's that sell this form of brain wave music provide a small listening sample for free, however it is probably not long enough to get a good sense of the overall tone, so it is sometimes a guesing game. I prefer the longer selections, twenty minutes or more when possible, this allows for me to let go and get lost in the experience. Of course there are selections that are half that amount of time, plus a range in between to suit your needs. Most are downloadable and that means you can add them to your mp3 library right away. This kind of music requires headphones to be most effective. If you prefer one song more than another you can tweak these to your liking in your music library and then add them to you iPod in the form you most desire.
Resources:
The number of resources for this form of music grows daily, here are a just a couple of sites that I know of personally to help get you started.
Brain Sync, http://www.brainsync.com/ has a large selection of brain sync programs, most have spoken word, or a combination of directed imagery on one cut and the non-vocal version on the other. The selection is quite large and covers a number of areas of body-mind health.
My current favorite is from Dr. Jeffrey D. Thompson. Titled 'Awakened Mind System 2.0'
http://www.neuroacoustic.com/
For a number of years I have listened to Awakened Mind System 2.0, the second cut works best for me, for peaceful relaxation and to unwind at night. Of course we all have our own likes and dislikes so explore for yourself, there is a large selection of CD's and downloads available. Each time I listen to this I feel the wonderful effects, my body is soothed, my mind relaxes. And what I find most delightful is that I've never become bored, even after countless listenings.
Recommendations and links if you are interested in learning more:
Binaural Beats is another name for sound healing. Google binaural beats you will be led to a number of resources. Binaural beats is a brain response when presented with two slightly different tonal changes in a stereo situation. When presented with the two different tones the brain produces a response (binaural beat) that produces an altered state in brainwaves, a hypnotic trance or super learning type of environment is possible.
http://www.lunarsight.com/freq.htm: This site has some information and glossary of terms.
Light and Sound: Some systems use lights and selected sound frequencies together to influence brainwaves, search for light and sound brain synchronization tools.
Alpha Techniques: Many recordings are specifically created to guide the listener into an alpha brain wave, similar to meditation. The same is true of Theta states.
If you want to practice relaxation methods to ease stress and help with meditation give these sound methods a try. Remember, if you plan to fall asleep when listening and need to be up at a certain hour, use a non-alarm type alarm clock, do your best to prevent the stress of a blaring alarm clock. Find a system that will gentle wake you with peaceful meditative music.
Good luck and good listening!
Terra
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