Meditation Course—Week 4 of 5

The Purpose

The idea is that our body is always in a certain state of vibration that can vary, altering our state of mind, which has an affect on our mood or state of being. There are many applications, such as preparing your brain for better learning, sleeping, meditating, pain relief and euphoria among many others.

Binaural beats is an emerging form of sound wave therapy in which the right and left ears listen to two slightly different frequency tones yet perceive the tone as one.

The binaural auditory beat that a person hears is the difference in frequency between the left and the right ear and should be at frequencies lower than 1000 hertz (Hz) for the brain to detect the binaural beat.

For example, if the left ear registers a tone at 200 Hz and the right at 210 Hz, the binaural beat heard is the difference between the two frequencies—10 Hz.

The four known categories of frequency pattern include:

Delta patterns: Binaural beats in the delta pattern are set at a frequency of between 0.1 and 4 Hz, which is associated with dreamless sleep.

Theta patterns: Binaural beats in the theta pattern are set at a frequency of between 4 and 8 Hz, which is associated with sleep in the rapid eye movement or REM phase, meditation, and creativity.

Alpha pattern: Binaural beats in the alpha pattern are set at a frequency of between 8 and 13 Hz, which may encourage relaxation.

Beta pattern: Binaural beats in the beta pattern are set at a frequency of between 14 Hz and 100 Hz, which may help promote concentration and alertness. However, this frequency can also increase anxiety at the higher end of the frequency range.

This is for relaxation, but I have also used this to focus while I have been in pain with a migraine.

You can listen to this while you are reading through your course books or doing revision. It somehow helps me to focus while performing certain types of mental problem solving such as bringing data together and forming the body of my work where particular calculations have to be made.

A mellow constant beat to drown out any stray thoughts.

I use this for general meditation.

Conclusion

There are many more that are added to YouTube every day, and if you like any of them, you are able to buy whatever works for you. It may take a while to get used to the sounds, I know some people are sensitive to certain frequencies and if you feel uncertain or a little apprehensive then it is probably not for you.

I once tried 'Out of Body' beats over a period of an hour while I was meditating as I sat in my chair. After about 40 minutes I really thought I had lifted off my seat and I had to reach out with my hand to feel the chair and make sure it was still there, just to be sure. Although it said out of body, I didn't really expect it to have such an effect/ I haven't tried it since but I might give it another go at some point.

It just shows you how it can alter your state of mind and perception and it is all without having to resort to drugs. It is free from addiction and strange side affects, so it is worth giving it a try before you start resorting to medication. They are always my go-to when I am struggling with my focus while trying to meditate; it keeps the mind from wondering off as you can place all your attention on the noise.

I have definitely got a lot of use out of these audio files and so I do recommend you at least try them. They work best with headphones, especially good quality ones where you can get the full effect of the audio as some of the frequencies can be lost if you don't have the right equipment.