Binaural Beats

Before we get into binaural beats, we need to know the different frequencies our brain operates on when it's in different states.

Deep, dreamless sleep is when our brain is at it's least active. This is called the Delta states and it's generally thought that this is when our brain is running at less than 4 Hertz.

Next is the Theta state. You could be dreaming, in deep meditation or under hypnosis when you're in this state and your brain will be working at somewhere between 4 and 7 Hertz (Hz).

Getting more awake but feeling quite deeply relaxed is the Alpha state. Somewhere between 7 & 13 Hz.

Beta waves work in the range of 13 to 40 Hz. You'll most likely experience these while you're busy or active.

When you think your brain hurts, you're likely in the problem solving Gamma range, above 40 Hz.

Of course, you can skip all this theory and just get to the results by getting yourself a binaural beats CD.

Binaural beats play two different tones, one into each ear. Hence the term "binaural", which literally means "relating to two ears".

The two tones are played quite close together.

Our brain tries to match the two tones and therefore works with the difference between them. So if we play one tone at, say, 180 Hz and the other at, say, 187 Hz, our brain will actually "hear" a 7Hz tone. So if you did that, you'd be just at the border between Alpha and Theta.

That's the theory.

Now let's find out how it works in practice...

On their own, most people find binaural beat soundtracks fairly difficult to listen to. Maybe a notch or two above white noise (the static-like crackle you used to hear when dialing between radio frequencies) but that's about as nice as they can be described. If you like your binaural beats fairly "raw" then the brain music CDs available on Amazon are a good place to start.

But to my mind the best way is to disguise the binaural beats noise. Most subliminal CDs do this to some extent. My personal favorite used to be Centerpointe Holosync which is a scientifically designed program that gradually takes you deeper and deeper into this kind of brain music. It puts the binaural beats over a track of rain music that is quite relaxing.

But I've now found an even better meditation program that you can complete in around 8 weeks instead of the years that Centerpointe Holosync takes. It uses binaural beats and a variety of music designed to progressively take you into deep meditative states.

Other people make binaural CDs for specific solutions. Anything from releasing headaches through to deeper meditation. Check out the range here.