Re: [buildcheapeeg] Re: Meditation

From: Doug Sutherland (wearable_at_earthlink.net)
Date: 2001-12-09 03:56:00


Hi Lucas,

> there is a shareware program called "brainwave generator".
> it generates a binaural beat based on a bunch of settings.

There are quite a few new ones showing up, including
SBaGen which works on linux. I have links to them here.
http://home.earthlink.net/~wearable/biopsy/#entrainment-software

The nutshell of that discussion revolved around biofeedback
versus other tools (esp entrainment) for meditation. Jim-M
says that binaural beats (and frequency following response)
doesn't work. My experience with Dr Jeffrey Thompsons CD-ROMs
(Brainwave Suite) certainly does have an effect on me. From
what I've observed on several lists, it seems like this
binaural beat stuff works for some people and not for others.
Jim's brain state synchronizer apparently uses a different
technique of shifting the sounds between ears rather than
differential of frequeny between ears. I will have to try
that out some day and see for myself.

Jim-M wrote:
> I have annoyed Doug by stating that I do not think EEG/NF
> is very effective, but that has been my experience. Most
> of the New Age literature is wrong in explaining how the
> brain works. Feeding certain tones or frequencies to the
> ears or even the eyes, does "not" show up in brainwaves!

Well Jim, I have probably equally annoyed you, so perhaps
we are even :) My experience has been different. Firstly,
the Jeffrey Thompson entrainment CD-ROMS centainly do
affect me. I have not measured my brain waves while using
them, but they immediately send me drifting. They seem to
be sending me past the "alpha bridge" into intutive states,
and the results are quite phenomenal for me, much like
lucid dreaming. I assume that this implies that they are
in fact changing my brain wave patterns. Maybe after I get
one of the ModularEEGs up and running I can show that with
real data.

Regarding EEG/NF, I did some alpha training using the
Brainmaster EEG. Prior to doing this I could not very
easily reach intuitive states, and I also had not been
remembering dreams for quite some time. After doing the
alpha training, now I seem to be able to shift my mind
into alpha, and thus bridging to the lower unconscious
states using no tech at all. My current method for
doing this is a completely non-tech method. My interest
in EEG is more for long-term monitoring research and
also alternative HCI research. I will say however that
both binaural beats and NF had positive effects on me.

-- Doug



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