What is Brainwave Entrainment?

First of all, brainwave entrainment is the act of entraining your mind to operate at specific brainwave frequency levels. By lowering or even increasing your predominant brainwave patterns, you can make some substantial personal improvements mentally, emotionally and even physically.

Brainwave entrainment specifically uses special audio techniques which help coax your mind into a different level of consciousness. Our brains operate at different levels, which are categorised into these main categories:

Brainwave Frequency Categories

We can use different audio techniques like Binaural Beats, Isochronic Tones & White Noise, which will guide the brain into the same frequencies. For example, a binaural beat of 5 Hz will entrain your mind to operate in the 5Hz Theta realm. This happens because our minds adopt somewhat of a "Monkey see... Monkey do..." approach when it comes to listening to certain sounds. The mind actually replicates it's own operating frequency in accordance with what it is hearing. Spoken hypnosis will have the exact same effect on the mind, wherein the hypnotist will relax the client's mind to a slower brainwave frequency, but this is not usually considered as brainwave entrainment, because the term is usually reserved for sounds and audio frequencies.

Binaural Beats

These are not new, in fact a German scientist called Heinrich Wilhelm Dove discovered the binaural beat effect in 1839. Binaural beats happen when two seperate sound frequencies are played in unison and one frequency is predominantly heard by one ear and the other is heard by the other ear. Each seperate frequency is referred to as a "Carrier note". The difference between the two carrier notes (which is measured in Hertz) will be the resulting binaural frequency that your brain picks up on. The way this works is quite extraordinary because instead of our mind picking up each frequency individually, it actually processes the resulting "sub frequency" created by the two different carrier notes intertwining together.

Binaural beats are quite effective for quickly altering brainwave patterns, but they must be used through headphones. This is because it is important to ensure that each sound is processed through one ear to get the best effect.

Isochronic Tones

Unlike binaurals, Isochronic tones can be effective for brainwave entrainment when listened to through speakers or headphones. They are created by pulsating sounds at different intervals, and the amount of times the sound is pulsated in one second equals the resulting isochronic frequency in Hertz. Isochronic frequencies can be heard on all of Rick Collingwood's hypnosis CDs, and they are a very good way of instilling trance particularly for meditation and hypnosis. The rate at which the sound pulsates will correspond to the rate at which your brain picks up on the sound and how it will in turn react through its own brainwave frequencies.

White Noise

Similar to the 'static' heard on an untuned TV or radio, white noise can be very effective as a "carrier note" for binaural and isochronic tones. Instead of having just one or two different tones in which the entrainment effect is created, white noise is actually a mixture of every audible tone that we as humans can hear. Some tones work better for some people and others for other people, so having the binaural or isochronic tone embedded in the white noise means that it can essentially be more appealing to different people and add to the overall texture created by the recording.

Purposes of Brainwave Entrainment

It is very beneficial on many different levels to experience deep relaxation on a daily basis. Brainwave entrainment recordings make this much easier and more automatic to reach deep relaxation levels simply by listening to the sounds. It is also very advantageous for self hypnosis, meditation and affirmations, because by altering your consciousness you are able to communicate directly with your subconscious mind where so many positive changes can take place. By finding some quiet time every day, clearly setting your goals, and then listening to a brainwave entrainment recording and trying to 'live out' those goals, you can make significant changes in your mind and body.

Brainwave entrainment towards high Alpha zone is also very effective for studying and learning different things. This is because our minds are more receptive to listening, learning and remembering whilst in a nice relaxed Alpha state. Simply play an Alpha recording through headphones or on a stereo quietly whilst you study for best effect.

Brainwave Entrainment Recordings

There are many great examples of these recordings available on the market, including HoloSync and HemiSync which are among the most popular. In saying this, the best brainwave entrainment audio for you is going to be whichever one you enjoy listening to the most and has the best overall effect. We have a fantastic collection of different brainwave entrainment CDs & MP3s in our catalog. We distribute a number of different authors that specialise in this genre as well as make many of our own recordings here at Resonanz which utilise the same principles.

The best thing to do when choosing which CD or MP3 is right for you is to have a listen to the 3 minute sample for each audio, sit back relax and then make your decision based on works best for you. Particular mention must be made to George Baker who is the founder of the White Noise Meditation CDs & MP3s which we distribute in Australia and are very popular. George has been using this technology for many years and was one of the first people to release these types of recordings in the market. His white noise MP3s often rank in the top 10 New Age products sold on ITunes and he has done a great job spreading awareness and helping people through his work.