We've (a few friends and myself) been testing every binaural beat, meditation music, hemi-sync, and whatnot CD we can get our hands on. The criteria have been 1. what is least intrusive or blends most smoothly with the trance induction environment ? and 2. what at the same time induces the highest quality trance states ?

We have tried the full range of waveforms, alpha, high theta, low theta, delta, blended waves, and so on. When it comes down to good results, my vote is for two of Thompson's products, the Theta Meditation System and the Gamma Meditation system. Both of these are good solid altered states that last up to an hour after listening to the disks. The Gamma system is particularly interesting as it seeks to replicate the waves seen in master meditators.

Welcome to the Center for Neuroacoustic Research! Scientific Sound Healing, Dr. Jeffrey Thompson

OTOH, I've often found pure Alpha disks to be almost annoyingly superficial, akin to the state of spacing out watching television minus the television. Delta can be a bit too deep. There seems to be an optimal window in the Theta zone where the user has access to the mind's "hidden files" and can open them and play with their organization.

A close runner up in the effectiveness category would be Transparent Corporation's Beyond Being: Altered States Collection, very trippy shamanic mystical, may be too much for some conservative minded groups...

Transparent Corp Audio CD Products

The gamma meditation CD can be too much for some people, so says my psychoacoustics friend who's experimented on many people. I personally find it quite interesting, if experimental.

I had some really interesting experiences with the Gamma CDs. I listened to them every day for a few days and found myself drifting into some very unusual states where I was in many ways wide awake and I was also dreaming very vividly at the same time - and that carried on for several hours even after the CD stopped. If I closed my eyes, I'd dream as if I was fast asleep at night. But if I opened my eyes, I was instantly awake and alert. Also, the nights after I'd listened to the CD in the day, when I woke up during the night, I carried on dreaming even when I was awake. I could even get up and move around - the dream carried on.

I stopped after a few days because I found that while I had conscious control of it during the day, at night - in that 'in between sleep and awake' phase - I was less in control and it got a bit weird and scary a few times.

So I would say have fun and also tread carefully.

...yes, I bought the Gamma as well. Actually downloaded it as an MP3 file last night. Have listened twice so far (just the first part--30 minutes). Noticed a very definite state shift this morning, although who knows why...expectation goes a long way in taking the mind to all sorts of places, doesn't it?

Does anyone know if compression that takes place in MP3 format would affect the effectiveness of the file? I figured not, or otherwise they would not sell it as an MP3.

Anyone have opinions about this?

Be well, and at peace,

Phil

Phil, I'm not sure a bout the compression issue but my thoughts are the same as yours in that they wouldn't sell it if it didn't work......

Chris

pcadams wrote:

Does anyone know if compression that takes place in MP3 format would affect the effectiveness of the file? I figured not, or otherwise they would not sell it as an MP3.

It depends on the settings they used. When you encode an MP3 file, you can tell it how much to compress the file. Typically, you lose a lot when you use the default settings... but I guess these guys will have been smart and used lossless compression.

Easy test: how big are the MP3 files you downloaded?

Doing a lossless encoding will keep the integrity the file- wav or flac are lossless formats - as long as the two channels have the space needed to create the 3rd voice or tone thats all that matters-

So lets say you wanted to create an alpha waveform you would have in one channel a tone at 200 Hz and in the other channel 209Hz this would create a 3rd voice or tone of 9Hz giving you the alpha tone- and as long as the channel tones are different then the 3rd voice will always be there- it's only when using silent sub-sonics encoding that really becomes an important issue-

J

I am quickly seeing that this information is over my head! I put in a call to Jeffrey Thompson's company, and am hoping to receive a call back soon.

Thanks for the information, Jay. It's just a bit beyond me!

Phil

Trying to match the spirit of experimentation to my current bank balance , I found this site: About Relaxation Mp3 Download, how to deeply relax on a budget,, and listened to a sample of their Gamma-inducing MP3. Short as it was, it created some strange headspace or placebo-headspace, or summat. I felt compelled to go outside, where I sat in what was left of the sun and tranced out for about an hour. This is decidedly not my usual behavior on a day when I'm facing lots of undone tasks, unanswered emails, etc. Oh, yeah, that's all days. I forgot.

So I downloaded a very short and very inexpensive MP3, and listened to a repeat of it for I dunno how long last night, 'cause I fell asleep with the headphones on. The strange headspace continues today to some degree.

So, youse guys who know more about this, chime in here. I've always figured any reasonably competent hypnotist can bag alpha and theta for themselves without recourse to earphones. Is that a reasonable assumption? What do you know or suspect about Gamma's function in the brain, and what about Epsilon, Lambda, and a' that? Opinions, pronouncements, anecdotes?

BMcKenna wrote:

So, youse guys who know more about this, chime in here. I've always figured any reasonably competent hypnotist can bag alpha and theta for themselves without recourse to earphones. Is that a reasonable assumption? What do you know or suspect about Gamma's function in the brain, and what about Epsilon, Lambda, and a' that? Opinions, pronouncements, anecdotes?

You'll only get pronouncements from me. I've found exploring these things really interesting over the last couple of years. I'm especially interested in these Gamma CDs because Gamma is at the other end of the scale to most 'places' I've explored before. Typically people say Beta is when the brain is in the 12-30Hz range. (In other words, when the masses of neurons in the brain emit electrical signals at the rate of around 12-30 times a second.) Alpha, Theta, Delta and Epsilon are lower than Beta. Gamma, HyperGamma and Lambda are higher than Beta. For me, going up there was like finding a whole new world.

Timothy Leary said that while the 1960s were all about psychoactives, the future of consciousness expansion would come through the technology of mind machines. And I think he's right, but it hasn't happened as fast as he predicted.

The products we have available to us at the moment only do half the job because they are only one sided. You can listen to a CD but a CD cannot listen back. It can gradually change it's frequencies, but it doesn't know if you're changing yours too. It's like a hypnosis CD in that respect and some people get great results with a hypnosis CD but most of us find hypnosis sessions work much better when the hypnotist is there with us and we go on a journey together, responding to one another. The mind machines we have at the moment can't do that - but one day they will. It won't be long before there's a mass-market device that tracks how you're responding and adapts the program as you go along.

I think those machines will be very popular and I think they will probably change the world as much as LSD did in the sixties. They'll also bring with them a new set of challenges, just as LSD did too. It will never have been so easy to keep someone in a passive, suggestable state and our dear Home Secretary is probably salivating at the thought of that. Most people will also have a whole new paradigm to think about why some people are hyperactive and others are quiet and thoughtful; why some people are agressive and others are calm under pressure. It'll likely solve a lot of problems but also create a load of new ones as we continue to wonder the eternal question, "who am I then?".

In the meantime, I've offered the whole range of Jeffrey Thompson's CDs and I'm also having fun with Audiostrobe and HemiSynch CDs too.

I purchased both the Gamma and Theta Jeffrey Thompson from Amazon, in the form of MP3 files. I called the company, and a representative did call back, and said that there is no problem, as long as the download quality is high, and she is assuming that Amazon uses the appropriate level.

She did say that with some brainwave entrainment sound files, it might be an issue, but not with Dr. Thompson's!


By the way, really loved the Theta. The Gamma hasn't done much for me yet--just feels annoying, actually. The Theta puts me in a nice comfy trancey state, similar to what I have felt with a hypnotist.

Phil