New ways to recreation and self-healing

Benefits of Binaural Beats for Recreation and Healing

Have you ever been in a bad mood and put on some of your favorite music and then watched the bad mood dissolve and disappear? If so, you know how music has the profound ability for changing our moods, attitudes, and frame of reference, often for the better. The reasons for this have to do with brainwave frequencies and brainwave entrainment.

As you listen to music you enjoy, you get into the beat or rhythm of the sounds, and this is not only happening in your ears. In fact, the pulse and rhythm of music bring our brainwave frequencies into a synchronized pattern, and this then affects how we feel and think.

In a sense, the brain is an electro-chemical device which operates on specific electrical frequencies. These brainwave frequencies are deeply associated with our states of awareness, levels of consciousness, and with our emotional states.
By changing our brainwaves, we can improve our mood, relieve symptoms of stress, and aid the healing of our body.

Just as music affects our brainwaves and can alter our mood, binaural beats are another tool for getting our brain to synchronize with desired brainwave frequencies, and these binaural beats can be embedded into musical soundtracks, enhancing the effect of both modalities.

A Brief Overview of Binaural Beats

Entraining the brain to a desired brainwave state happens when each ear hears a slightly different tone separated by a small degree in frequency. The brain notices the difference in the two sounds and then begins to rest at the difference between the two.

For example, if one ear hears a tone of 150 hertz and the other ear a tone of 159 hertz, the brain then synchronizes at 9 hertz, the difference between these two tones and in the Alpha brainwave frequency range.

In order to achieve this effect, it is usually necessary to deliver the two base tones to each ear independently using headphones, although there are some forms of entrainment which do not require headphones to be effective.

The Benefits of Brainwave Entrainment

When we are stressed, anxious, or over-stimulated, our brainwaves go into a state of disarray. These mind states are associated with high levels of Beta brainwaves, which keep us alert and focused, but our minds can become stuck in this brainwave state, leaving us exhausted and stressed-out.

By listening to musical sound tracks with embedded entrainment frequencies, we can gently steer our mind back into brainwave states conducive to relaxation, renewal, and healing.

Brainwave entrainment is a field with much scientific study supporting it. Since the 1970’s, dozens of studies have shown the benefits of calming and redirecting the mind with the use of these types of sounds. Some of the benefits include:

• Reduced stress and anxiety
• Deeper sleep
• Headache relief
• Reduced fatigue
• Enhanced attention and focus
• Enhanced learning and mental performance
• Stronger immune system response
• Greater ease entering meditation states

Human beings have a long history of using music and sound to alter and improve our state of consciousness. Now, music can be enhanced to more rapidly and assuredly move our brainwave frequencies in a desired direction using binaural soundtracks combined with musical compositions.

Combining Music and Binaural Sound Tracks

Many types of music and sounds can be combined with binaural sound patterns to help you redirect your brainwave frequencies in a desired direction. These sound tracks are designed for different purposes by using different frequencies combinations.

For example, Alpha brainwaves are associated with creative thinking, meditation, and relaxation. By incorporating Alpha waves into a musical sound track, the listener quickly and reliably entrains their brain to this frequency.

Theta brainwaves are the ones we enter at the early stages of sleep. For people who have difficulty falling asleep, listening to soundtracks with binaural delivery of Theta waves can aid them in drifting peacefully off to sleep.

While much of our waking life involves being in a state of Beta brainwave frequency, there are times when it is helpful to induce this brainwave state with the use of an embedded sound track which directs the mind toward Beta frequencies. This has been found to be especially helpful for people with attention-deficit problems who cannot naturally stay focused.

The types of sounds and music which can be combined with binaural entrainment patterns is vast. Soothing natural sounds, like flowing water, bird songs, and the rhythms of ocean waves are especially helpful for relaxation. More traditional musical sounds and rhythms also combine well with the binaural experience, creating sound patterns which can uplift and invigorate the listener.

Using these simple and safe techniques, you can take direct control of your own brainwave state, directing it towards your desired goal for recreation, relaxation, improved performance, and healing.