The first devotional album using binaural Soul beats launched.

The knowledge of the origin of brain waves in humans extends back to the 1920s when HansBerger, a German psychiatrist, invented the Electroencephalograph -EEG. Electrodes are placed on the scalp over multiple areas of the brain to detect and record patterns of electrical activity. It is then read as a brain wave test where brain cells communicate by producing tiny electrical impulses. The brain waves are broadly categorized into main power spectrums and may relate directly to certain psychological and physiological states; illustratively:

Beta 12 Hz to 22 Hz: high state of arousal and some drug effects;

Alpha 8 Hz to 12 Hz: sedation, hypnosis and relaxed but focused sports activities;

Theta 4 Hz to 8 Hz: deep hypnosis, dreaming;

 Delta 0.5 Hz to 4 Hz sleep, general

Anesthesia; Gamma above 22-30Hz.

The main application of the EEG is its ability to read the real time variations in brain wave states. This is useful in understanding certain severe mental conditions like epilepsy, arousal, and coherence of brain waves in meditation and in the sleep cycle. The sleep cycle is a good example of the brain waves changing as they descend from high spectrum power i.e. Beta brain waves, to low spectrum power viz. Delta brain waves.

This overview of brain waves is important as alongside the discipline of feedback and EEG experiments, there is another area of research that is not very well known but has binaural beats, brain waves and entrainment. The principle of entrainment is of two or more close frequencies locking in rhythm with each other. In the general context is explained the very first finding on Entrainment was by Huygens in 1665. He worked with pendulum clocks and noticed that if he started the pendulums all at different times, they would eventually synchronize their beating or entrain with each other.

Therapeutic  Binaural-Beat Induced Theta EEG Activity:

Binaural beats are auditory phenomena that can be correctly termed ‘auditory beats in the brain’. They were popularized by Gerald Oster, a researcher into auditory phenomena. According to  him, binaural beats can be created by sending separate distinct tones to each ear to produce a third ‘phantom’ beat within the brain which is perceived by the brain as a real distinct sound. ‘Binaural field’ this is known as the space perceived through headphones as   earphones create the correct conditions for binaural beats to work.  The reason that speaker arrangement does not create the correct effect as individual sound waves leave the speaker they mix in the air first and create a unified wave, rather than two distinct waves from headphones.

Such listening helps to modify brain wave states and  create a positive effect in the physiological and psychological state of humans subjects, by restoring ‘normal’ healthy brain wave patterns. The ability to modify brain waves came to the mass attention in the early 1970s. Probably the most well known is the alpha wave movement that gained popularity in the early 70s when scientific studies were done on Meditators who  had the ability to control certain brain wave states like alpha. According to these studies the ‘mind awake, body asleep’ or alpha state could be created at will by advanced meditators. The results varied but the 7-10 Hz alpha range was established as the general range that could be created.  Since 1997 studies into this area have further contributed to growing evidence that through the use of binaural beats as an external process, the brain-waves can be changed to create beneficial therapeutic applications.

Ram Amrit:

 Nectarene Musik has dedicated their new album Ram Amrit set on binaural beats, as their humble offering to Gurudev on his birthday on 13^th May 2013. Empowered with the SoulBeats™,  the album has mellifluous bhajans sung by Dr.Arun Madhavan and Siddhant Bhatia. It is supercharged to provide slow, but deep healing on extended listening sessions. You may order your copies from www.artoflivingshop.com or visit the  Divine shop.