Vibrating in harmony
Brainwave entrainment is a specific form of entrainment which is a physics phenomena seen in the natural world, for instance when a note on a piano or guitar string is struck, all notes that are harmonically related will begin to vibrate in harmony.
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The brain works in a similar way. When harmonically related vibrations are received by the brain, in this case as sound waves, brainwaves resonate in harmony. This is called brainwave entrainment.
The brain can be entrained within a certain frequency range, known as the Frequency Following Response (FFR) and was discovered by neuroscientists in the 1930s.
What does brain entrainment do?
If the brain is exposed to a 10Hz tone, then its own brainwaves in the 10Hz range increase. This means the amplitude or energy of that frequency increase, which affects you in various ways. In this example 10Hz is in the alpha range, so you experience a deeply relaxed state.
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Brain entrainment is completely natural, I’m sure like most people you have experienced certain sounds like:
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waves rolling on a beach
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rain on a roof
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babbling water
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rhythmic drumming or chanting
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or even a flickering fire that have had a calming rejuvenating effect.
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Coming to a soundbath is like a fast track to a meditative state, we can entrain the brainwaves to reach an aldpha, theta or delta state with far more ease. Often we would need months of meditation practice to reach the same levels of calm and brainwave activity reduction.
This makes relaxation and meditation very easy as it gently but powerfully shifts your brain into a meditative state without you having to go through a long learning process. You experience all the benefits without the hard work.
BINAURAL BEATS
Binaural beats are a perception of sound created by your brain. If you listen to two tones, each at a different frequency and each in a different ear, your brain creates an additional tone you can hear. This third tone is called a binaural beat. You hear it at the frequency difference between the two tones.
For example, if you listen to one tone at 300 hertz (Hz) and the other tone at 310 Hz, the binaural beat you hear is at 10 Hz. The binaural beat can be heard if the frequency of each tone in your ears is less than 1000 Hz and the difference between the two tones is less than 35 Hz.
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When each ear hears a tone at a slightly different frequency, your brain tries to compensate by creating the perception Trusted SourceNational Library of Medicine, Biotech InformationThe National Center for Biotechnology Information advances science and health by providing access to biomedical and genomic information.View Source of a third sound. This creation of a third sound is caused by the same part of the brain that helps you determine the location of a sound. To hear the binaural beat, you must have sound coming in each ear.
WHY ARE BRAINWAVES IMPORTANT?
What are brainwaves, and why are they so important? Brainwaves are crucial because they influence your emotional and mental state. A change in regular brain functioning can cause an imbalance in mental well-being. An electroencephalogram (EEG) can help detect an unusual shift in brain wave patterns.
An electroencephalogram test uses electrodes connected to the scalp to assess electrical activity and problems in the brain. Brain cells are always active and interact with electrical impulses even while sleeping. On an EEG recording, this activity appears as wavy lines.
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Just like other waves of energy, brainwaves have a range of distinct wavelengths. Lower frequencies put you in a relaxed, meditative, or drowsy state; higher frequencies keep you engaged, focused, and alert.
We have five sets of brainwaves: Delta, Theta, Alpha, Beta, and Gamma. Delta waves are the very low-frequency waves that occur when we are sleeping (0.1 Hz to 4 Hz). Theta waves happen when we are drowsy or very close to asleep (4 Hz to about 7 Hz). Alpha waves are the chill, calm, waves that happen when you’re relaxed, or meditating (8Hz and 13 Hz). Beta waves (14 Hz to 30 Hz) are where we live most of the time — engaged, conversing, emailing, and reading. Gamma waves (31 Hz to 100 Hz) occur when you’re hyper-focused and very attentive; also known as a flow state.
During a Soundbath, we are aiming to get the client into a very calm state, this is done through a series of very specific taught techniques, executed by playing bowls, gongs, drums, chimes etc to encourage the brainwave state of Alpha, Theta, Delta.
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When we reach these states, we are also allowing other nervous system to reset, Your stress hormones, cortisol, decreases as other hormones such as serotonin, catecholamines, DHEA, melatonin, endorphins and HGH increase.