[Please note: I am obviously a huge fan of brainwave entrainment. More than that though I am a huge fan of people getting results and investing in a product or service if it fits with their specific wants and needs. If you ask me a question about this technology I will give you both sides of the answer.., the science and the woo woo (technical term for spiritual experience).
There is only so far that science can go to answer the questions of what I have seen happen with people using this technology.., and then magic takes over. Nothing I say here is to put you off or to encourage you. My hope is that it gives you the same expectation of ‘Yes to some results, and lets explore with others and see what happens’.]
Having spent years researching and advising people on what brainwave entrainment (BWE) and audio visual entrainment can and cannot do, it should come as no surprise that I have been asked some pretty unusual questions. Whether that be by way of using stroboscopic light, isochronic tones or binaural beats.
Questions like “What session should I use with a person with a brain tumour” or “What session should I use for impotence?”
I’ve also seen some dubious and sometimes even immoral claims by supposedly reputable companies. I make claims too. But I try as much as possible to temper them with advice that the results are possible or have been reported in studies rather than outright promises.
Firstly of course as clearly stated on this website and within many session descriptions and articles.., no claims are made of a medical nature and no BWE session or technology is a replacement nor diagnosis for medical advice and treatment.
The answer to the above questions are “Under no circumstances should someone with a brain tumour be using this technology” and “Such a result for impotence would be a side effect of learning to relax and nothing to do with a specific session”.
Have I seen near miraculous results? Yes.
Will everyone get those miraculous results? No.
There are of course certain results that almost everyone WILL get. And that is why the majority of people who invest in this technology do so. And there is research to back those uses up.
And as an example.., it is also true to say that learning through BWE to relax more easily and profoundly can and will positively effect EVERY area of your life.
I usually have the same type of answer when discussing the more dubious claims that are made and it goes something like this:
Who am I to burst someone’s bubble if they choose to believe that technology or a specific protocol can help them. There is even research to suggest a cause and effect connection with these less proven results. And with technology like this that is on the edge of what science invests in, this is often enough to make it not just plausible but worth exploring. After all, most science started as science fiction.
How many cases of healing without drugs do we need to see despite medical doctors saying that such cases must be an ‘unexplained spontaneous remission’.., before we admit that science cannot prove everything?
Research shows for example, that low Delta waves are present during the release of human growth hormone (HGH) which is kind of like an anti ageing drug in the body and mind. That leads some to the conclusion that increasing exposure to these frequencies can lead to anti ageing effects above what the body naturally does on it’s own. Is that a correct assumption? Maybe.., but unproven. But this is where caution to not discount something needs also to be exercised. Is this unproven because it cannot or has not been tested for? Maybe also.
Certainly science has proven in this case that a lack of this same Delta wave sleep pattern of brain activity has negative effects on brain and body ageing. So it is reasonable if not plausible that practising getting into that brainwave state more readily could have the same effect as increasing this vital level of sleep.
And I’m not just talking about expectation and the placebo effect which (see the article on this website about this) has it’s own benefits.
Another claim I see is that someone’s IQ can be raised with BWE. Yes there are studies that show that after using BWE people often have a higher cognitive ability. For example, one study shows students who did a multi week protocol of audio visual entrainment had higher educational test scores months after stopping the protocol than those who didn’t in the experiment group. This is not disputed but can we extend this to mean a sustained higher IQ? What about the fact that those same students reported less stress and better sleep resulting in better study and memory retention? In the rare cases that I have seen studies claiming increased intelligence, the actual results show an improvement in a specific aspect of IQ or intelligence tested after the session. Very few studies test again months later.
Again I am not discounting these claims. Rather I caution you against buying into statements like “Using xyz program will improve your IQ or intelligence”. I see companies doing this to sell a product with no evidence to back it up.
Some people have even had what can only be called a life changing spiritual experience with just one session of BWE. Especially the stroboscopic light variety. It’s just best to not have that expectation. Although to be fair.., most people do have what they would consider spiritual experiences. Sometimes commonly. And it is certainly true that trance states are a very common result of entrainment and many things can and do happen in trance.
There are more examples of exaggerated claims and promises that I won’t go into. This habit of making an all encompassing claim can be damaging to the reputation of any product or service. It potentially stops someone from trying it at all. And BWE or any other modality may just be the very thing that makes the difference for them. Some of the most profound experiences are the ones where no prior expectation was in place. And yet sometimes expectation also creates maximum benefit. So balance as always is the answer.
My hope is that you get the idea from these few examples that staying grounded with expectations, while at the same time as being open to potentially amazing results is what you move forward with.
Happy travels