Synchronized Spiritual Woo and Brainwaves For You!

As most of you know by now, I’m pretty excited about the possibilities of brainwave entrainment. Oh, I know it sounds a bit flaky, and yes, sure, my first exposure to it was in new age music during the 90s.

And although the core theory behind entrainment (exposure to specifically applied frequencies of sound and light can temporarily shift the state of most people’s brainwaves - and thereby temporarily affect their state of awareness - ie, awake, daydreamy, or sleepy) is pretty well accepted, a lot of the claims out there are not so… um.. accepted.

But like hypnosis, meditation, brain-games and other mind-training techniques, the loose definitions and early stages of applied research leaves it open to a lot of marketing hoopla and woo.

Here are a few of my favorites:

• “Brainwave Meditation: All the Benefits, None of the Effort!”

  Except, well, not really.

  Yes, entrainment to lower frequencies can shift most people into something akin to a meditative state, and yes, that state likely has some of the same benefits as more formal meditations. But traditional meditation is a discipline, and its many forms has benefits well beyond deep relaxation.

  Listening to a brainwave CD will not teach you the mental discipline of single-minded focus. It will not make you more compassionate towards yourself or all beings, help you to maintain full-awareness in the present, automatically lead you closer to God, or inspire the divine insights that the disciples of the past have reached after years of meditative prayer.

  Those are the primary aims of traditional meditation; the trippy relaxed state is as much a side effect as a goal. Still, entrainment can be an effective meditation aid, and it may even open you up to the possibilities of some of the insights and other benefits of de-stressing.

  But tuning your mind with an entrainment CD just ain’t gonna make you the equivalent of a Buddhist Monk, not even if it contains the ringing of Tibetan Bowls. (though I admit, I do so love the sound of those bowls)

• “It’s Like A Drug Trip, But Safe and Legal!” There’s at least one company whose entire marketing presence is based around the idea of entrainment as equivalent to recreational drugs.

  Yes, seriously.

  Their Binaural Beat based MP3’s (called “Doses”) are supposed to simulate the effects of Opium, Peyote, Cocaine, etc. They also sell doses of sexual stimulation, mood alterations, etc.

  The problems with that idea are almost too much to address. Entrainment just isn’t that precise, and the effects of opium and peyote are a lot more complex than simple changes to the dominant brainwave pattern.

  In some people, yes, entrainment can induce a trance state, and that state may include some trippy hypnogogic imagery. Combine that with suggestion, and you get a result akin to my sixth grade friends and I getting drunk off of margarita flavored jelly beans.

  Are these “doses” safe? In an average, healthy adult human (who isn’t trying to drive while using them)…. probably. Are the “doses” legal? Yes. Are they akin to a drug trip? No, not really. Ok, not at all.

  But it’s a nifty marketing ploy.

  Groovy, Dudes.

• All that AND a psychic bag of chips! From the realm of too-bizarre-to-bother-researching comes a kitchen sink full of claims that binaural beats and brainwave entrainment can help you to:

-release huge doses of endorphins and human growth hormones
-improve your immune system
-increase your IQ
-align your chakras
-see auras
-develop telekinesis/telepathy
-learn remote viewing
-master astral projection and lucid dreaming
-grow hair on your chest AND help the blind to see!

Ok, just kidding about that last one, but I have run across the rest of these claims. How valid are they? That depends on your understanding of what they’re claiming to do.

Entraining to lower, meditation-like frequencies can be relaxing and help you to de-stress, which could theoretically release hormones, improve immune responses, and increase mental function (assuming you were overly stressed to begin with). But then again, so could taking a walk, a long bubble bath, or a session with your favorite shoot-em-up video game.

If you suffer from ADD (which is associated with abnormal brainwaves) or depression (also tends to be associated with abnormal brainwaves, apparently) or something similar, it’s possible that you could score higher on an IQ test after using entrainment. But it’s far from proven, especially when applied to a healthy, normal person.

As for the auras, visions, and other psychic monkey business? Since entrainment can (for at least some people) increase the likelihood of an altered trance state, the experiences of feeling detached from your body, unusual visual imagry, and the sense of being awake-but-dreaming that often come along with a trance experience are also more likely, too.

That doesn’t make it “more real” or “psychic” or inherently spiritual. How well you guide and interpret those experiences, and what you do with any ideas that result from them? That’s your responsibility. Just remember “Garbage In, Garbage Out”.

So where does that leave the realities of entrainment?

I’m still as excited about the possibilities as ever. Entrainment really is an excellent aid in meditation and hypnosis. It can help with visualization, creativity, and focus, may have applications for treatment of some psychological issues, insomnia, and for me, it’s effects are deeply and noticeably relaxing.

For the most part, these are short term effects, but when neuroplasticity is put in the picture, the possibilities of longer term effects seem likely in several areas, especially ADD and depression related, both conditions that, in at least some cases, frequently are associated with more atypical brainwave patterns - research is ongoing.

Alternative treatments and methods don’t have to be magical cure-alls to have value. I get so frustrated sometimes by the newage tendency to muddy the waters with woo until it’s tough to even see that there IS a baby in that icky bathwater.