Brainwave entrainment is a method to stimulate the brain into entering a specific state by using a pulsing sound, light, or electromagnetic field. The pulses elicit the brain’s ‘frequency following’ response, encouraging the brainwaves to align to the frequency of a given beat.
binaural meditation music | delta activity
Do you want to be in control of your dreams? Many people do, and this is why lucid dreaming has become increasingly well known in recent years. Lucid dreams are lots of fun, as you can basically take complete control of your dreams and create any environment or experience that you want. They’re also a good way of keeping nightmares under control, as you can take control of the events in your mind and turn them into something more pleasant. Let’s take a look at the two main methods of inducing a lucid dream.
Lucid dreams basically fall into two categories: ‘dream-induced lucid dreams’, and ‘wake-induced lucid dreams’. With the first type, you fall asleep as normal and then wake up within your dream, whereas in the second type you go directly into the dream from the waking state; that is, your body basically falls asleep while your mind remains awake.
How to have a dream-induced lucid dream
Becoming lucid while you’re having a normal dream is one way to go about this. One of the most popular techniques for becoming lucid within the dream is to find your hands. The idea is that if you remember to look for your hands while you’re dreaming, and become conscious of looking at them, you are likely to become lucid.
To do this successfully, it helps to look for your hands as you go about your everyday life. For example, every time you look at your hands, ask yourself ‘am I dreaming or am I awake?’ Do this often enough, and you’ll probably find that you start doing it in your dreams as well. And when you ask yourself that question within a dream, chances are you’re going to realise that you’re dreaming, and a lucid dream will ensue.
How to have a wake-induced lucid dream
Many people find it easier to have a lucid dream if they enter the dream state straight from waking consciousness. This means that you allow your body to fall asleep, to the point where you lose consciousness of your physical body and your dream begins – yet your mind hasn’t fallen asleep, so you remain consciously aware that you’re dreaming as the dream starts.
This can be challenging, because the natural tendency of the mind is to fall asleep in sync with the body. However, with enough practice, it’s perfectly possible to achieve this ‘mind awake body asleep’ state. The process is made easier if you listen to a theta meditation recording as you’re falling asleep.
Why? Dream activity occurs in the theta state (that is, when the brain is predominantly producing brainwaves of around 4 to 8 Hz in frequency). A brainwave entrainment recording which targets the theta state features sounds in this frequency range, which influence your brain to produce brainwaves in a similar range. This is called the frequency following response, and is a very useful way of helping you to access different states of consciousness at will.
By listening to such recording, it becomes much easier to keep your mind awake in the theta state, and to remain aware of your dream as it begins.
Whichever method you choose to learn to have a lucid dream, chances are it’ll take quite a lot of practice before you succeed. The key is to be consistent, and to understand that you’re learning to use your mind in a whole new way, so you should be patient with yourself as your new skills develop.
Brainwave entrainment is a method to stimulate the brain into entering a specific state by using a pulsing sound, light, or electromagnetic field. The pulses elicit the brain? ?requency following?response, encouraging the brainwaves to align to the frequency of a given beat.
This ?requency following?response of brainwave entrainment can be seen in action with those prone to epilepsy. If a strobe flashes at their seizure frequency, the brain will ?ntrain?to the flashing light, resulting in a seizure.
On the positive side, this same mechanism is commonly used to induce many brainwave states; such as a trance, enhanced focus, relaxation, meditation or sleep induction. The brainwave entrainment effectively pushes the entire brain into a certain state.
Brainwave entrainment works for almost everyone. It is a great way to lead your mind into states that you might usually have difficulty reaching, allowing you to experience what those states feel like.
THE HYPE
There is a lot of marketing hype around brainwave entrainment. It is sold with promises of increasing IQ, promoting weight loss, ?ind-tripping? enhancing creativity, concentration, inducing spiritual states and more.
While these claims are not entirely true, they are not altogether false either. In practice, the claims are based on an overly-simplistic view of how the brain and the brainwaves function.
THE RUB
People are very seldom deficient in a certain brainwave type in all areas of their brain. Usually the distribution is much spottier, with an excess in one area and a deficiency in another.
We are all different, especially when it comes to the distribution of our brainwaves. Boosting a certain brainwave state may be beneficial for one person, and emotionally uncomfortable for another. Without knowing each person? starting position, entrainment can be rather ?it and miss?
If brainwave entrainment leaves you with unwanted side-effects (see below) or discomfort, you?e probably encouraging a range of brainwaves that are already excessive in some area of your brain. The way around this is to get a brain map to see what your brain? strengths and weaknesses are, and see what (if any) brainwaves could use some encouragement.