2 Words You'll Forever Thank Me For: Binaural Beats.

I'm about to change your life so lean closer into your screen.

If you're anything like me, you're very easily distracted. Stop Procrastinating and Focus are at the top of every one of your new years' resolution lists. You've tried everything, and so have I.

Grey's Anatomy and Scandal creator, Shonda Rhimes said that the only way she can write is with headphones on blasting music at the loudest volume possible. I tried that. Horrible mistake. Cardi B's WAP is no song to play on full volume when you're trying to concentrate, trust me!

Another day, I was watching YouTube and a booktuber whose name I cannot recall said that for her what worked in trying to concentrate was listening to movie soundtracks. So whenever she was writing an epic fight scene, she'd play a song from the 300 soundtrack and that propelled her to complete the scene. I tried that and for me it didn't work because the stories I tend to write are either short articles like this one or chapters for my upcoming mystery novel. Have you ever tried listening to a mystery movie soundtrack when trying to write?

So: loud pop music = no. Movie soundtracks = bust. What other option did I have?

The third option a lot of writers I know personally use as their' sound while writing' is good ol' silence. For me, I simply cannot write for too long in silence because for some reason, my mind either starts drifting away or the tap-tap-tapping away at my keyboard eventually begins to lull me to sleep.

Isn't there a way I thought to myself, that I could find some type of music that is neither loud aggressive pop music nor generic movie soundtrack that could help me focus? Isn't there music in this world that is created JUST to help one focus?

Brain.FM

I don't remember where I first saw the words, brain.fm, but if I'm to give a guess, I think I first saw it on Quora.

Brain.FM is as you can infer from the name, a service that can best be described as a radio for the brain.

According to their website, Brain.FM describes what they have as:

Functional Music to Improve Focus in 15 Minutes

Our science-first approach creates music that sounds different–and affects your brain differently–than any other music.

Cool, I thought to myself. This is exactly what I've been looking for.

I proceeded to start the sign-up process. At checkout I was given a 3-day trial through which time I could enjoy the service for free. Sweet!

On the first day of signing up, I utilized the catalog to its full capacity. I plugged my earphones in and cranked up the 'brain music'. I don't know if it was placebo or reality, but something about the music definitely made me more focused, relaxed, and into my writing. I was locked and loaded, churning out word after word.

Then the second day came and I felt no desire to write, same thing happened on the third day, the day after that and the day after that.

Days later when I was finally ready to write again, I logged unto brain.fm only to find that my free trial had expired. Duh! I had completely forgotten that this was not a free service.

So, I had a choice on my hands. Pay $6.99 a month for a service I was going to use only once, twice or at most seven times out of the month, or find a free alternative I could use whenever I wanted.

I decided to opt for option 2, but that decision brought me back to the dilemma that led me to brain.fm in the first place - where can I find music that is designed simply for the brain? Where can I find music like the ones offered on brain.fm but for free? Why isn't there a brain.fm on Spotify?

In asking myself these questions, I realized I wasn't exactly where I had been when all of this started. I had more specific questions, actionable searches that I could hopefully find results for. So, I plugged in "brain.fm on spotify" into Google and got a myriad of results.

Amongst the results Google returned was a link to a Reddit thread titled Playlist similar to Brain.fm?

I clicked on that thread and saw a comment which read:

What are binaural beats? I thought to myself.

Dear reader, this is the part where I want you to lean even closer into your screen. I'm about to put you all the way ON!

Binaural Beats.

A quick Google Search for the keyword 'binaural beats' tells us that

When you hear two tones, one in each ear, that are slightly different in frequency, your brain processes a beat at the difference of the frequencies. This is called a binaural beat.

According to healthline, Binaural Beats are claimed to induce the same mental state associated with meditation practice, but much more quickly. In effect, binaural beats are said to:

• reduce anxiety
• increase focus and concentration
• lower stress
• increase relaxation
• foster positive moods
• promote creativity
• help manage pain

This was everything I wanted to hear. This thing, binaural beats, is what I'd been calling 'brain music' all this time.

The next question then became for me, where do I find these binaural beats FOR FREE? My hope was that binaural beats existed on Spotify because I use Spotify on my browser and it's free with ads.

So, I searched the keyword "Binaural Beats Spotify" on Google and lo and behold people, I got results!!

The next thing I had to do was find music I could use for four specific things: focus, relaxation, sleep and meditation.

After months of searching and trying out different sounds and playlists for myself, I have compiled for you two playlists that I highly recommend for each of these four categories. Don't say I've never done anything for you. You're welcome!

Focus

Relaxation

Meditation

Sleep

If you want to use binaural beats for more things outside of these four heading I've provided you then click on this link for all things Binaural Beats on Spotify. There are a ton of playlists and tracks you can choose from. Please go crazy on my behalf!

I hope if you're anything like me, Binaural Beats become the thing you've been searching for. I hope it brings you calm, serenity, and above all, I hope it brings you absolute...ZEN.