What Binaural Beats Technology Has To Do With Meditation?
By: Ryszard Skarbek
Tags: Binaural Beats, Holistic, Brain, Meditation, Spirituality

As a rule, in our everyday life, we mainly use one of them.

In a nutshell, the left one is responsible for logical and rational thinking. In the left hemisphere, for example, all mathematicians, engineers, and lawyers “operate”. It allows us to soberly assess the situation, make decisions, and solve common problems.

The right hemisphere is the home of emotion, creativity, imagination, and “non-linear” thinking. Mainly painters, musicians, dancers, but also writers and inventors work here. It is also the hemisphere of people who display a high level of empathy and intuition.

So what was the significance of the discoveries related to “whole brain functioning”, especially for the field of personal development?

Let me quote here another scientist, deceased neurochemist, Candace Pert of the National Institute of Mental Health:

“There’s revolution going on. There used to be two systems of knowledge: hard science — chemistry, physics, biophysics — on one hand, and, on the other, a system of knowledge that included ethology, psychology and psychiatry. And now it’s as if lightning bolt had connected the two. It’s all one system neuroscience … The present era in neuroscience is comparable to the time when Luis Pasteur first found out that germs cause disease.”

These discoveries brought the worlds of science and spirituality closer together. Scientists have studied the work of the brain of “mystics” who, as a result of many years of spiritual practice, achieve states of deep meditation. The results of these studies are extremely interesting.

Please see below a summary of the waves that our brain generates — depending on what state we are in:

Beta waves — (14–30 Hz) are typical for the state of concentration, problem-solving, and cognitive processes.

Alpha waves — (8–13.9 Hz) are typical for states of relaxation, rest, but also the so-called accelerated learning and increased serotonin secretion.

Theta waves — (4–7.9 Hz) characterize the phase of sleep, accompanied by dreams, but also the state of intense work of our subconscious.

Delta waves — (0.1–3.9 Hz) is a state of sleep without dreams, but also experiences related to the lack of “corporeality”.

The lower we go down with frequency, the more noticeable is the synchronization of both cerebral hemispheres. This phenomenon was observed during research conducted on a group of people experiencing states of deep meditation.

During the meditation process, a successive decline in the dominant role of one of the hemispheres and the entry into a state of absolute harmony of the whole brain was observed.

It has also been shown that the Alpha wave category corresponds to the state of deep relaxation and definitely increased learning capacity. It is also a state of increased production of serotonin, the “happiness hormone”.

One of the first researchers to observe the phenomenon later referred to as “super learning” was the Bulgarian psychiatrist Georgi Lozanov. He researched a group of students who were put into a state of deep relaxation as a result of brain wave stimulation at the Alpha level. Lazanov showed that this group of students was able to absorb five times more material than the rest (!).

Other studies confirm that there is a clear relationship in the brain between a specific category of waves and the production of chemicals such as beta-endorphins, acetylcholine, vasopressin, and serotonin. Acetylcholine deficiency causes, for example, problems with memory and a decrease in results in intelligence tests.

Another researcher, Dr. Vincent Giampapa, who sat, inter alia, in the chair of the American Board of Anti-Aging Medicine, showed that being in Alpha and Theta states has a significant impact on the production of such hormones as cortisol (decrease) and DHEA and melatonin (increase).

We all know the ads about DHEA. We also know that melatonin improves sleep. Cortisol, on the other hand, is one of the hormones that accelerate the aging of the body. It gives off instantly in any situation in which we are exposed to high stress.

In addition to all of the above-mentioned effects, there is one more — extremely interesting.

Bringing brain waves down to the Alpha, Theta, and Delta levels change the structure of the neurons in our brain and “forces it” to reorganize itself to a higher level. This effect was described in the theory of open systems by Ilya Prigogine, winner of the 1977 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Prigogine’s work applies to any type of open system. Simply put, an open system is one that exchanges energy with the environment. It can be, for example, a dividing cell, a highway network, a corporation, or a person experiencing emotional changes. More details on this can be found, for example, in Bill Harris’s book Thresholds of the Mind.

Our brain is also an open system that constantly exchanges energy with the environment. But when there is too much information on the “input”, it reorganizes itself and moves to the next level. One could use a simple metaphor for physical exercise. As a result of regular exercise, our muscles also get more “power”.

In any case, stimulating the brain with waves from Alpha, Theta, and Delta levels creates new nerve connections and new pathways between the hemispheres. Thanks to this, the brain reorganizes itself and can provide us with opportunities that we had not had a clue about so far.