Binaural Beats?

Takuan

What do you all think about binaural beats? I've been reading about them lately, but I'm a bit skeptical. The claim is that the sound(s) they create can induce a variety of states from deep meditation to a drug trip. If they do work, many people seem to be using them for the latter. lol Most of the videos I've come across on Youtube are people trying to get some sort of high.

Does anyone have experience with binaural beats? Shouldn't a meditation practitioner be able to reach these deeper states on his own, or could binaural beats be considered a type of meditation training wheels?

DaltheJigsaw

There are nice.
However, dangerous as who knows if they work or not.
There is some great articles that you could find through Google.
What you talking about seems to be some kind of digital "drug."
I forgot the name, but Wired Magazine did a great article on it.

MindGate

So, I've been using binaural beats for a couple of years now. I'd say... it works as well as hypnotizing someone. If someone is easily influenced or persuaded that things will happen, it typically does. I had a friend who did(does?) weed. He said that the beats made him feel "kind of high." I had other druggies who just randomly started laughing when listening to them. I had just normal people listen to them and their eyes began to twitch. I had others who just sat there and said, "When is it supposed to do something?"

I believe they DO work, just it works more profoundly on others - but only if they want it to work.

tmottes

I have used them at the same time with visual light frequencies. I find that after a long session, the monkey mind is pretty quiet and I have a more calm and patient approach to life. That being said, I think you are right in that there are dangers in relying on technology instead of our own abilities. I find it most beneficial if I practice mindfulness or concentration while I am listening/watching the beats/lights. This way I try to be aware of the process and what is happening to my mind and body as a result.

conradcook

A "drug high"? From binaural beats?

Evidence, please?

Buddha bless,

Conrad.

aMatt

I've used the focus 10 series from the monroe institute. It seemed pretty effective, but I don't care for guided meditation. I had a buddy who went to the institute itself, rather obsessed with OOBE, and he said the whole process was quite powerful for him.

I'd rather see a person find a sangha, personally.

KarmaDondrupTashi

They work but the only thing they do is to lower your brainwave states from Beta to Alpha, Theta, Delta, etc. Other than that they don't have much use.

tmottes

@Karma_Dondrup_Tashi Do you feel that entraining your mind to these various brainwaves states is beneficial or not? I know that they have studied the brainwaves of various long term practitioners and found that they do correspond to various practices and states. Is it an invalid assumption to say, putting the mind in those brainwave states would benefit those specific practices?

conradcook

Is it an invalid assumption to say, putting the mind in those brainwave states would benefit those specific practices?

I'd like to know that, too. How much of the work of practice is related to one's state?

Generally, meditation is something done in quiet locations. Is there any advantage to doing practice in noisy or distracting circumstances? (In hypnotism, we often will teach a skill involving state-shifting first in a controlled environment, and then in gradually more chaotic ones, as a means of progressively building up focus. Anything similar in Buddhist practices?)

Buddha bless,

Conrad.

tmottes

I believe one could say that meditations on images of sex or death are done so in distracting circumstances. The worse our perceived situation is, the more difficult it is to meditate in them (I would assume, based on attachments). Unless we have achieve nibbana.

KarmaDondrupTashi

@Karma_Dondrup_Tashi Do you feel that entraining your mind to these various brainwaves states is beneficial or not? I know that they have studied the brainwaves of various long term practitioners and found that they do correspond to various practices and states. Is it an invalid assumption to say, putting the mind in those brainwave states would benefit those specific practices?

Sure it's beneficial to put your brain in a Theta state but IMHO shamata has to come from inside yourself not from an outside source otherwise what's the use?

tmottes

Brief recognition of a goal in the short term can promote long term practice.

Takuan

A "drug high"? From binaural beats?

Evidence, please?

Buddha bless,

Conrad.

Not quite a "drug high" since drugs are not involved. Some people believe that the right beat can induce a high similar to one certain drugs are known to produce. I really have no evidence. I'm just going by what many of the people who use binaural beats describe.

KarmaDondrupTashi

Brief recognition of a goal in the short term can promote long term practice.

I guess as long as it doesn't become a dependency.

tmottes

Agreed

conradcook

Some people believe that the right beat can induce a high similar to one certain drugs are known to produce.

Who is this "some people?"

You're making this up, right?

Buddha bless,

Conrad.

Takuan

Some people believe that the right beat can induce a high similar to one certain drugs are known to produce.

Who is this "some people?"

You're making this up, right?

Buddha bless,

Conrad.

No, I'm not making anything up. Like I said, I'm going by what I've read. You can go to youtube and look up "I Doser" and see what I'm talking about.

conradcook

I may, when I have a set of headphones.

In any case, I've used light and sound machines fairly extensively. They're just a device for entraining your brainwave to a certain cycle. They put your brain into a state physiologically similar to the state of daydreaming, of sleeping, of wakefulness, or so on.

They don't produce sensations.

Buddha bless,

Conrad.