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Brainwave Entrainment 101 
For Hypnotists by Hypnotists

What are brainwaves?

Your brain is made up of billions of brain cells called neurons, which use electricity to communicate with each other. When communicating, they produce tiny electrical impulses. These electrical impulses create waves of currents that flow throughout its neural pathways. A rhythm of those impulses is known as brainwave pattern. All brains produce a variety of electrical wave patterns which reflect what the brain is doing.

There are four common types of brainwave patterns. The type of brainwave is defined by the frequency at which it is pulsing, and the particular rate of pulsation determines our respective state of mind. You can tell a lot about a person simply by observing their brainwave patterns.

For example, an increase in the amplitude of Alpha waves lowers the level of anxiety (and inversely: reduced amplitude of Alpha waves is associated with intensifying fear) while an increase in percentage of the Alpha waves is accompanied with an increase in creativity and psychological efficiency, particularly in competitive situations. (Hardt and Kamiya, 1978.)

Also, anxious people tend to produce an overabundance of high Beta waves while people with depression tend to produce an overabundance of slower Alpha/Theta brainwaves.

In a different study done in 1984, Hartfield observed significant increase in the level of the Alpha waves in the left temporal and parietal regions of shooters, archers, and golf players, right before the shot or strike.

What is Brainwave Entrainment?

While working on the design of the pendulum clock in 1656, Dutch scientist Christian Huygens found that if he placed two unsynchronized clocks side by side on a wall, they would slowly synchronize to each other. In fact, the synchronization was so precise not even mechanical intervention could calibrate them more accurately.

Would it surprise you to know that the same rules apply to more complex systems such as the brain?

As defined by Wikipedia, brainwave synchronization or "brainwave entrainment," is any practice that aims to cause brainwave frequency to fall into step with a periodic stimulus having a frequency corresponding to the intended brain-state (for example, to induce sleep).

It depends upon a "frequency following" response, a naturally occurring phenomenon where the human brain has a tendency to change its dominant frequency towards the frequency of a dominant external stimulus. Such a stimulus may be aural, as in the case of binaural beats, monaural beats, and isochronic tones, or else visual, or a combination of the two with a light & sound machine.

Brainwave entrainment was first identified in 1934, although its effects had been noted as early as Ptolemy.

Entrainment is a principle of physics. The principles of entrainment are universal, appearing in chemistry, neurology, biology, pharmacology, medicine, astronomy and more.

When the brain is given a stimulus, through the ears, eyes or other senses, it emits an electrical charge in response, called a Cortical Evoked Response. This activity can be measured using sensitive electrodes attached to the scalp.

Researchers have found that not only are brainwaves representative of of mental state, but they can be stimulated to change a person's mental state, and even help treat a variety of mental disorders. Some brainwave patterns can even be used to access exotic or extraordinary experiences such as "lucid dreaming" or ultra-realistic visualization.

For example, a 4 Hz brainwave is associated with sleep, so a 4 Hz sound pattern would help reproduce the sleep state in your brain. The same concept can be applied to nearly all mental states, including concentration, creativity and many others.

In 1999, the Journal of Neurotherapy published a case study conducted by Thomas Budzynski, Ph.D. In the study Dr. Budzynski used 8 college students who were struggling academically.

After undergoing audio-visual brainwave stimulation, the students outperformed a control group and significantly increased their grade point average. The GPA for the 8 students continued to rise even after treatment was discontinued.

Drs. Siegfried and Susan Othmer found that neurofeedback brainwave training in the 15-18 Hz range can produce significant shifts in IQ score, particularly with people who are suffering from ADD/ADHD and other disorders. In cases where the starting IQ value is less than 100, the average IQ increase was 33 points!

They also found significant improvements in memory, reading and arithmetic. In a one year follow-up, trainees showed major improvements in self-esteem, concentration and self-expression.

What does it mean to you?

It means that You can enhance the results of your sessions / reinforcement CDs just by using a background music with appropriate underlined frequency patterns.

Brainwave entrainment CDs alone can help to train the mind to produce coherent brainwave patterns best suited for optimal mental functioning during particular activities. Can you imagine what they can do when you add your suggestions?

People with trained minds can easily shift between different states merely by intending it. At the same time, people with untrained minds may find it challenging to get intentionally into a desired state of mind, in which case using your hypnosis audio program with brainwave entrainment background music can help them to do so effortlessly, often within minutes of listening.

And our Healing Sound Bites collection is designed to help you to differentiate from other hypnotists by providing better service and more effective help to your clients...

Are there any side effects?

Use of the Brainwave Entrainment has many positive side benefits that may or may not be directly related to your goals or to the goals of your clients.

Some of our clients report that they notice more emotional stability, better blood circulation, quicker thinking, heightened awareness, increased energy, and much more. Many of them even report a reduced need for sleep.

The only negative side effects that have been reported are occasional temporary negative mood change and for certain Brainwave Entrainment sessions mild headaches have been reported, but only for the first few uses.

Headaches usually occur as a result of increased blood flow in the brain, which is a good thing. You can think of it as a mental workout. And as after physical workout you may experience soar muscles, you may experience headache after the brainwave entrainment session. It will go away as your brain become more "fit".

Also read the Brainwave Entrainment declaimer as those sessions are not for everyone.
 
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