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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 9 of 9. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Ame Sans Vie on August 15, 2003, at 13:13:45
Anyone tried binaural beats as a form of therapy? I downloaded two very good (free) programs that allow you to program your own binaural beat sequences, and I've been using them for several days now with absolutely astounding results.
For those of you who don't know about binaural beats, they're a highly effective tool for expanding and altering consciousness. The way they work is this:
A certain frequency, let's say 400Hz, is played (through stereo headphones!!) into one ear, while a slightly higher or lower frequency, let's say 410Hz, is played into the opposite ear. The brain automatically begins to interpret these sounds not as the individual frequencies they are, but as the *difference* between the frequences (in this case, 10Hz). After a short period of time listening to these frequencies, the brain "entrains" itself to that frequency. Depending on the frequency, there are many varied effects which can occur. For example, the 10Hz frequency described in this example has been shown to enhance release of serotonin, and is a natural mood elevator. In addition, it can help with nicotine withdrawal, pain relief, hangover, and jet lag.
You may know about delta, theta, alpha, and beta frequencies. If not, here's a brief explanation:
Delta waves (1-4Hz): normally generated in deep sleep, or when unconscious; those experienced in deep trance states can generate these waves while remaining conscious.
Theta waves (4-8Hz): the region between sleep and wakefulness, in which dreaming and other dream-like (or "hypnagogic") experiences occur; theta waves dominate during that bit of time just before you actually fall asleep at night, and just before really waking in the morning; it is believed that the subconscious mind communicates with the conscious mind using this band; theta waves are dominant when, in problem-solving, we finally reach that "a-ha!"; theta waves are generally overactive in those with ADHD; theta also seems to be connected with psychic or ESP-type functioning
Alpha waves (8-13Hz): produced when you are awake and fully conscious, but with your awareness focused inside, such as when trying to remember something, or when your eyes are closed
Beta waves (13-30Hz): normally generated when you are awake, with attention focused outside, dealing with the outside world; beta is also generated when you are solving logical problems such as mental arithmetic
I found a lot of research on brainwaves and various bodily functions, internal organs, musical notes, planets, the orbits of planets, and other things that they correspond to. Here are some particular frequencies you all may be especially interested in:
Alcohol addiction -- 0.28-2.15Hz
Arthritis -- 0.28-10Hz
Depression -- 0.15-0.30Hz
Drug addiction -- 0.37-2.15Hz
Confusion -- 0.40-10Hz
Muscle pain -- 0.45-10Hz
Very relaxing; great for migraines and lower back pain -- 0.5Hz
Feeling of well-being; pituitary stimulation to release growth hormone; overall view of inter-relationships, harmony, and balance -- 1Hz
Tri-thalamic entrainment; creates entrainment between hypothalamus, pituitary, and pineal; beneficial for dyslexics and people with Alzheimers -- 1.45Hz
Pain relief, relaxation; production of endogenous opiates -- 2.5Hz
Sound sleep -- 3.4Hz
Feeling of unity with everything; accelerated language retention; enhancement of receptivity -- 3.5Hz
Releases enkephalins; ESP -- 4Hz
Unusual problem solving -- 5Hz
Long-term memory stimulation -- 6Hz
Astral projection, accelerated learning, and increased memory retention -- 6.3Hz
Earth resonance (frequency the earth resonates at); grounding; Schumann resonance -- 7.83Hz
Past life regression -- 8Hz
Pick up visual images of mental objects -- 8.3Hz
Pyramid resonance -- 9.41Hz
Mean dominant frequency associated with the earth's magnetic field -- 9.6Hz
Enhanced release of serotonin and mood elevator; universally beneficial; acts as analgesic; safest frequency, especially for hangover and jet lag; nicotine withdrawal -- 10Hz
Catecholamine (norepinephrine, epinephrine, and dopamine) release -- 10.2Hz
Relaxed and alert -- 10.6Hz
Centering; doorway to all other frequencies -- 12Hz
Awake and alert -- 14Hz
Chronic pain -- 15Hz
LSD resonance -- 20.215
Marijuana withdrawal -- 30Hz
Desensitizer; enhanced vigor and alertness -- 32Hz
Endorphin release -- 38Hz
Anxiolytic effects; stimulates release of beta-endorphins -- 40-60Hz
Slower cerebral rhythms -- 50Hz
Tantric yoga; stimulates the kundalini -- 55Hz
Involved in stimulating serotonin production (combine with 2.5Hz and 160Hz) -- 80Hz
Good feelings, security, well-being, balancing -- 90Hz
Overall view of complete situation -- 105Hz
Release of beta-endorphins; cell regeneration -- 111Hz
Stimulation -- 125Hz
Involved in stimulating serotonin production (combine with 2.5Hz and 80Hz) -- 160Hz
Mood elevation and revitalization -- 250Hz
Serotonin resonance -- 321.9Hz
Cerebral neurons -- 1,000HzThere are so many ways these binaural beats can be used -- insomnia, stress/anxiety, depression, pain, even mimicking the effects of drugs (I've created a binaural beat preset that approximates the feeling of opium, and also one that mimics the LSD experience). If you'd like some more information, just let me know.
Posted by Sabina on August 15, 2003, at 13:18:28
In reply to Binaural Beats, posted by Ame Sans Vie on August 15, 2003, at 13:13:45
Posted by Ame Sans Vie on August 15, 2003, at 14:19:56
In reply to Re: links, please? i'll try anything once! (nm) » Ame Sans Vie, posted by Sabina on August 15, 2003, at 13:18:28
http://www.bwgen.com -- Here you can download a free trial of the BrainWave Generator. As far as I can tell, the only limitation on the non-registered version is that you can't download extra presets from the net and use them with the BWG. You *can* create you own very elaborate presets though, which I think is better.
If it's depression you're trying to treat, here's what I'd suggest:
1. Under the "Presets" drop-down menu in BWG, select "New Preset".
2. On the "General" tab of the window that comes up, under "Voices", click "Add" nine times so that you have ten voices in total on segment A.
3. Under "Segments", click "Add" twice. Click on segment A, and to the right, change its length to 20. Click segment B, and change its length to 20. Click segment C, and change its length to 20.
4. Click on segment A, and select voice 1, then switch to the "Sound" tab at the top of the window.
5. In the graph labeled "Binaural Beat Frequency", right-click the first of the three boxes and choose "Edit".
6. In the window that comes up, change the first binaural beat frequency to 12Hz (centering frequency) and the second to 1Hz (feeling of well-being; pituitary stimulation to release growth hormone; overall view of inter-relationships, harmony, and balance).
7. Under "Time", change "10" to "20", then click OK
8. Click the "General" tab at the top of the window, and select voice 2 for segment A. Select the "Sound" tab at the top of the window.
9. Repeat steps 7 and 8, only this time changing the second binaural beat frequency 2.5Hz (pain relief; relaxation; production of endogenous opiates) instead of 1Hz.
10. Repeat the process for the remaining voices in segment A, always leaving the first binaural beat frequency at 12 and changing the time to 20. Here is what you should put in for the second binaural beat frequency for each voice in segment A:~~Voice 1 -- 1Hz
~~Voice 2 -- 2.5Hz
~~Voice 3 -- 4Hz (releases enkephalins)
~~Voice 4 -- 10Hz (enhanced release of serotonin; mood elevator; universally beneficial
~~Voice 5 -- 10.2Hz (enhanced release of norepinephrine, epinephrine, and dopamine)
~~Voice 6 -- 80Hz (involved in stimulating serotonin production)
~~Voice 7 -- 111Hz (releases beta-endorphins)
~~Voice 8 -- 160Hz (involved in stimulating serotonin production)
~~Voice 9 -- 321.9Hz (serotonin resonance)
~~Voice 0 -- 1,000Hz (cerebral neuron resonance)11. Now switch back to the "General" tab, and select segment B. Click "Add" under "Voices" nine times so that you have ten voices. Select voice 1 and click the "Sound" tab.
12. Change the binaural beat frequency on the left to 1Hz, then check the box labeled "Constant" underneath. Change the time to 20 and click OK.
13. Switch back to the "General" tab, and select voice 2. Click the "Sound" tab.
14. Change the binaural beat frequency on the left to 2.5Hz, then check the box labeled "Constant" underneath. Change the time to 20 and click OK.
15. Continue with this pattern for the remaining eight voices. (i.e. voice 3 -- 4Hz, voice 4 -- 10Hz, etc.)
16. On the "General" tab, switch to segment C. Click "Add" under "Voices" nine times so that you have ten voices. Select voice 1 and click the "Sound" tab.
17. Change the binaural beat frequency on the left to 1Hz, and the frequency on the right to 12Hz. Change the time to 20.
18. Continue with this pattern for the remaining nine voices (i.e. do exactly what you did for segment A, but backwards).
19. Click on the "General" tab and type a name for your preset, and a description if you'd like.
20. Click OK at the very bottom of the "Preset Options" window when all the frequencies are set.
21. Once back at the main BrainWave Generator window, click "Presets", then "Save". Now your preset will always be available from the drop-down menu in BWG.What this preset does, exactly, is begin with a binaural beat of 12Hz, then gradually (over 20 minutes) separate to the 10 different frequencies listed above (segment A). You'll hear those frequencies for 20 minutes (segment B) while your brain entrains itself to them, then over 20 minutes they will gradually become a single 12Hz beat again (segment C). The reason you start and end at 12Hz is because that is the frequency (roughly) that the brain is generally operating on when you're fairly relaxed, but awake.
I recommend you listen to this once a day (if you don't have an hour to spare, simply change the times for each segment to 10 instead of 20 -- that will speed the whole program up to 30 minutes). You absolutely *must* use stereo headphones, and the volume should be just high enough to block out any background noise. You should lie down, eyes open or closed, and just relax and let yourself get completely absorbed in the binaural beats. You'll much more than likely come out of each session feeling refreshed and relaxed.
Of course, if it's not depression you're worried about, then maybe you can use the frequencies I listed in my first post as a guide and just make some alterations to the instructions on this post to create an anti-anxiety preset (or whatever it is you're looking for). If you find this difficult, just let me know and I'll write out the instructions for a good preset.
Finally, there are all different things you can do to change the effects of the presets -- adding background sounds, noise (white noise, pink noise, brown noise), changing the individual volume of each voice... experiment, and find what works best for you.
Let me know how it works for you!
(p.s. Here's a link to the Yahoo group devoted to the BrainWave Generator -- http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bwgen/)
Posted by Sabina on August 15, 2003, at 17:27:02
In reply to Re: links, please? i'll try anything once! » Sabina, posted by Ame Sans Vie on August 15, 2003, at 14:19:56
Thanks for the link. It sounds pretty complex. I'm wondering if the depression setting you suggest would work well for Bipolar II? It's certainly a factor of it, anyway. My brother and his new baby will be visiting this weekend, so it may be Sunday night until I can get into it thoroughly, but I'll let you know how it goes.
Bina
Posted by Rainee on August 16, 2003, at 11:49:44
In reply to Re: links, please? i'll try anything once! » Sabina, posted by Ame Sans Vie on August 15, 2003, at 14:19:56
I went there and it had a warning about not using it if your on certian medications.. I take a benzo and an SSRI.. so does that mean no for me?
I'm interested in this..Thanks
Rainee
Posted by Ame Sans Vie on August 16, 2003, at 15:38:47
In reply to Re: links, please? i'll try anything once!, posted by Rainee on August 16, 2003, at 11:49:44
I take two benzos, a narcotic, and an amphetamine -- I have no problems with it. I personally feel that the only real reason to avoid it would be seizure disorders.
Posted by DSCH on August 17, 2003, at 18:53:39
In reply to Re: links, please? i'll try anything once!, posted by Rainee on August 16, 2003, at 11:49:44
If auditory-brain entrainment indeed takes place (sounds likely enough to me), then it appears to me there could be a risk of inducing headaches, vomiting, and seizures just like flashing lights. I am thinking of the warnings on video game packages and the mass seizure outbreak associated with the broadcast of a particular episode of Pokeman in Japan back in 1997. (12 Hz alternation between red and blue)
Posted by Gato on December 11, 2006, at 22:08:19
In reply to Binaural Beats, posted by Ame Sans Vie on August 15, 2003, at 13:13:45
I wanted to know if you could tell me the set up for Marijuana-simulation and sexual Stimulation?
Posted by Dr. Bob on December 23, 2006, at 10:45:28
In reply to A little Help setting it up, posted by Gato on December 11, 2006, at 22:08:19
> I wanted to know if you could tell me the set up for Marijuana-simulation and sexual Stimulation?
Sorry if it's confusing here, but I'd now like to redirect this thread to Psycho-Babble Alternative. Here's a link:
http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20061218/msgs/715847.html
Thanks,
Bob
This is the end of the thread.
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