Brainwave entrainment is good stuff

I am a huge fan of brainwave entrainment. (And, as a side note, I think I’d been reading that term for years before I realized it wasn’t the word “entertainment” but actually “entrainment.”) Brainwave entrainment uses what are called “binaural beats” to create a different dominant awareness states in the brain. This is a safe practice, but if you have epilepsy or another neurological disorder, you need to check with a physician first to be sure you are fit to listen. Brainwave entrainment is not meant to be used long-term. It is a tool that can help you achieve a desired outcome. Daily use of brainwave entrainment should not exceed 6-8 weeks. 

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How binaural beats work

Brainwave States

At different times of the day, you are in different brainwave states, and your brain emits a dominant brainwave depending on the activity you’re doing. Your brain actually emits all these brainwaves all the time, but depending on your state of consciousness, the brainwave that is the most dominant is the one that reflects what brainwave state you’re in. Since you’re awake and reading this, you’re likely in a beta brainwave state. 

If you are sleeping or dreaming, you are in a delta brainwave state. Delta brainwaves are 0.5 – 4 hz. If you are lightly sleeping, very drowsy or deeply meditating, you’re in a theta state. This brainwave state is 4-8 hz. If you are awake but relaxed, or in the early stages of meditation, you are in an alpha state. Alpha brainwaves are 8 – 13 hz. If you are wide awake and alert, going about your day, you are in a beta state. This brainwave is 13 – 40 hz. If you are “in the flow” and totally absorbed in what you’re doing, you’re in a gamma state. These brainwaves range from 40 – 100 hz.

Binaural beats change your brainwave state

Binaural beats gently change the dominant brainwave state to one of the different types listed above. Thus, you can induce deep relaxation by listening to brainwave entrainment music that focuses on alpha waves. You can bring yourself into a deep meditative state with theta wave binaural beats.

This type of music works only with headphones. The sounds from one headphone will reach your ear at a certain frequency and the other ear will hear another frequency. The brain combines the two sounds into their difference, which corresponds to the desired brainwave state.

For example, let’s say one frequency that reaches your ear might be 400 hz, and the other is 405 hz. The difference is 5 hz, which is a theta brainwave frequency. Brainwave entrainment music that has theta wave frequencies brings your brain into a meditative state by making it sync with the theta brainwaves you hear. 

Listening to binaural beats is fine for 6-8 weeks at a time. After that, the benefits no longer accrue and it’s good to give your brain a break. Your own body, your own intuition, and your own resources are what ultimately guide you in creating a deep practice with your meditation. Brainwave entrainment can certainly assist you in achieving an outcome: better sleep, better meditation, better concentration and focus, reducing anxiety and more. Then, after a break, you can return to your favorite tracks as needed and listen when you’d like.

You can use binaural beats as a part of your regular meditation. I’ve done my own experiments with binaural beats and have found that a regular, silent practice of meditation is optimal outside of the time you spend listening to brainwave entrainment music. You can always return to listening to this type of music from time to time to work on something specific, such as boosting your creativity or going deeper with your meditation. 

Kelly Howell – Brainsync Music

I have listened to Kelly Howell’s meditation music A LOT. She has some free music on YouTube that you can try. I personally have paid for all the tracks that I listen to, to support her work. Here’s a video of one of my favorite brainwave entrainment meditation tracks: 

I often listen to this track in the evenings after a long day and meditate to it. It has subliminal messages that act like affirmations to help calm your mind. I feel calmer and more refreshed after listening.

Other Brainwave Entrainment Tracks I love

The Secret Universal Mind Meditation

One of my all-time favorites is “The Secret Universal Mind Meditation.” I haven’t listened to it for an entire six-week period, but I love to listen when I can’t sleep. Kelly’s voice is magical and relaxes me. Part of why I haven’t listened to this for a longer period of time is for two reasons. The first is that I don’t generally do well listening to anything as I’m falling asleep. I’m the kind of person who needs complete darkenss and silence for a good night’s sleep. Second, I don’t have sleep headphones and so trying to lay on my pillow with clunky headphones sticking out of my head isn’t exactly conducive to restful sleep.

That said, I still endorse this track. You go on a journey and it’s powerful. 

Sacred Ground

I have listened to all these tracks over a four-week period and found my meditation to go to a deeper level and help me to cultivate my intuition even more. The different music tracks are some of my personal favorites in all of the brainwave tracks I’ve tried.

These Sacred Ground tracks do different things in different weeks. This particular series has you listening to each track for one week, for a total of four weeks. The first week is great for relaxation and grounding. The second week continues to help you work on relaxing the body and mind. Week three takes you deeper into meditation where you work on opening your consciousness. The final week takes you into the deepest states of meditation with theta and delta waves. These, for me, were quite powerful in bringing my meditation to a new level.

High Focus

There are two tracks of High Focus music: one that requires headphones (for the binaural beat benefit) and one that you can listen to anytime, without headphones.

I actually listened to this track while I was creating this post. I personally feel more productive and creative when I listen to High Focus. You may find your own optimal time for listening a little different than I do, but listening to this in the morning (not as meditation, but as I’m working) often sets me up for a productive day. 

Pure Focus

Pure Focus is another soundtrack not related to meditation, per se, but whenever I listen to this for focusing my mind, I always feel like I’ve had a cup of matcha tea (I don’t drink coffee, but if I compared it to coffee, it would be like drinking espresso I think). I always feel really, REALLY awake after listening. It’s because instead of using slower alpha waves or theta waves for relaxing, it goes in the opposite direction, with gamma waves. Your brain wakes up and really settles in to focus on whatever task you are doing.

The Secret to Attracting Wealth

I love this particular soundtrack. Sure, I’ve listened out of curiosity to see what would happen if I listened to this for 6-8 weeks and let me tell you, some profound things changed. I did have more money come into my life (that’s a story for another post). I didn’t listen to this, however, to have gobs of money – I don’t think that’s a good goal, nor is it “spiritual” in my opinion.

I actually listened and meditated to the Secret to Attracting Wealth for two other reasons. The first is that I do want to attract money into my life to grow my meditation business and to have money to give back to my community. The second reason is that I just love the guided meditation itself. You’ll find yourself climbing mountains and going through space, while allowing yourself to have more thoughts of abundance and positivity and prosperity.

Brain Massage

The Brain Massage soundtracks help at the end of a long day. They help reduce the stress response and tension in the body. I’ve read that this can also help reduce headaches, though I haven’t used this soundtrack specifically for that. I love the gently pulsing sounds that lulls me into what really does feel like a brain massage.

Retrieve Your Destiny

This particular meditation track was my first introduction to Kelly Howell. I discovered Retrieve Your Destiny on YouTube back in 2012 and listened to it the summer after I’d quit my job…and thought I had another job but at the last minute, it fell through. This meditation helped me to realize that I didn’t want to work a conventional job, that there was more out there than what I was doing at that time, and I needed to open my mind to the possibilities. This track also helped me delve into my meditation practice at a deeper level that I’d experienced before.

The theta waves gently relax the whole body, and the story-like journey guided meditation is other-worldly. As you listen, I think you’ll find the guided meditation to be most interesting and dare I say it: adventurous.

I’ve personally listened to all these tracks multiple times – perhaps even for weeks. I wouldn’t endorse these unless I’d tried them myself. 

Which ones are your favorites? If you try these, let me know which ones you do and how it goes.