A while back we wrote a guide on how to prepare for lucid dreaming, more specifically, how to prepare your room and your environment to be able to do lucid dreams. In that guide we included everything from how to control lighting and sounds, and mentioned one specific thing that can help open your mind for lucid dreaming: listen to binaural beats. In fact, at the end of every blog post, we offer binaural beats tracks from our music library that you can listen to. But what exactly are binaural beats? And how can it affect the mind in preparation for lucid dreaming?
Binaural
beats
Discovered
by Heinrich Wilhelm Dove, binaural
beats, as defined by Wikipedia, “are
auditory
processing
artifacts, or apparent sounds, caused by specific physical stimuli”
that can help induce relaxation, meditation, and creativity.
This
is done is by playing two tones or signals of varying frequencies,
one in each ear. The brain then receives both tones and detects the
differences between the two, and then processes the difference to
create its own third signal, which is what's defined as the binaural
beat. This third signal, which contain low frequency pulses, affect
the mind and do anything from simply relax the person to improve
their cognitive abilities and their mental awareness.
That's
because a binaural beat will cause the brain to resonate to, or
“follow the beat” of the third signal, and when it resonates at
certain ranges, the brain activity is affected and changes. This
effect, called the “Frequency Following Response”, was discovered
by biophysicist Gerald Oster and actually helped in the development
of the use of auditory or sound stimulation to improve brain
function.
How
it works and its benefits
Our
brain's activities are classified into “brainwave patterns”,
which is how the electrical signal of brain activity appears when it
is detected by an EEG. When the binaural beat is within the range of
a certain brainwave pattern, it causes the brain to be affected
according to what each brainwave pattern is known for. We will
discuss in detail each specific brainwave pattern in a future blog
post, but for now, here are the general descriptions:
Gamma
Waves (40 Hz and up) – gamma waves are associated with mental
capacity, perception, problem solving skills.
Beta
Waves (14-39 Hz) – beta waves are related to capacity to
concentrate, cognitive skills, mental alertness.
Alpha
Waves (7-13.9 Hz) - alpha waves are associated with relaxation (being
in the pre-sleep/pre-wakening stage), and are seen during meditation
sessions. This is also indicative of trances, and when superlearning
is occurring.
Theta
Waves (4-6.9 Hz) – theta waves are seen during dreaming or REM
sleep and during the hypnagogic state, and during very deep
meditation when the brain is accessing the unconscious mind. Involved
in creativity increases, behavioral modification, and memory.
Delta
(.1-3.9Hz) – delta waves are seen during dreamless sleep and is
associated with loss of body awareness.
Through
meditation and other mental techniques, a person can reach different
brainwave patterns for the desired effect, but using binaural beats
to aid in this is a more stable and consistent way to change the
brainwave activity, thus achieving the benefits much faster and much
more reliably.
How
to use binaural beats
Before
loading up a binaural beats track, it is highly suggested that a good
pair of earphones or headphones are ready to be used. This directs
each of the two primary tones or signals properly to each ear,
allowing the brain to hear the binaural beat properly.
Next,
make sure to also be in a relaxing place. For instance, is not
advisable to listen to a binaural beats track while
driving, lifting heavy equipment, or doing any physical activity even
if it commuting home from work (although it is not really forbidden
to do so.) We advise to take extra precautions if you do so wish to
listen to relaxing binaural beat tracks, as these alter the brainwave
state.
The
best time to listen to binaural beats is during bedtime to aid in
lucid dreaming, power naps, or even just a quick relaxation or
meditation session.
And
finally, while the binaural beats can certainly help in relaxing the
mind, it is important for the listener to do their part as well, by
emptying their mind and allowing the binaural beat to do its work
without any mental interruption or obstacle. Breathing techniques,
lack of other distractions like mobile phone notifications, and many
other methods can be employed to do this.
Tips
on how to use binaural beats to their fullest will be discussed in a
future blog post, so stay tuned!
For
now, listen to this binaural
beats track for relaxation
that uses alpha frequencies to keep you calm and improve peace of
mind.
And don't forget to visit our binaural
beats music library
for more tracks and albums here:
http://www.brainwavepowermusic.com/the-music-store
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