January 4, 2009
You've got the (binaural) beat… (electronic meditation CDs)
Have you gotten an ad for electronic meditation CDs yet?
The sales letters say things like, "You can meditate like a Buddhist monk by just pressing a button." Instant results without having to do anything (other than put a CD in the CD player and press Play).
Now, don't get me wrong, I teach the "Instant Advanced Meditation Course," so I'm all for quick results. It's the "press of a button" part that strikes me as particularly "American" and is the part that makes people pull out their wallets.
What's amazing about the "do nothing but press a button" message is that people are usually more willing to "do nothing" while listening to a CD for an hour than they are willing to do a LITTLE BIT OF SOMETHING to get the same (or better) benefits of meditation in just 5 minutes.
We LOVE that "don't have to do anything" idea.
In fact, I'll bet it's just a matter of time until the ads say, "You can meditate like a Zen Buddhist just by taking this pill!" (And, no, it's not lost on me that both anti-depressants and various pain relievers are one step away from this promise.)
By the way, let's take a quick look at these meditation CDs… what is it that they actually do?
Most of them use a technology called "binaural beats," where the CD plays a tone in one ear, and another tone, at a very similar frequency, in your other ear. Why? Because your brain does something interesting when it hears tones of nearby frequencies at the same time: If your left ear is hearing a tone at 440 Hz (cycles per second) and your right ear is hearing a tone at 450 Hz, then you'll also hear another sound in your head, a "beat" that vibrates 10 times per second.
The contention of the binaural beat meditation CDs (Holosync and Hemisync being the most well known) is that when your brain "hears" this 10Hz tone, that "vibration" (I have to use a LOT of quotes in this post!) is the same as when your brain is naturally generating 10Hz brainwaves… and it just so happens that certain frequencies of brainwaves are related to different states of consciousness. In other words, if a meditative brainwave frequency is, say, 7-10 cycles per second (and it is, by the way), and you can make your brain vibrate at 7-10 Hz with binaural beats… instant meditation!
Sounds good, doesn't it?
Of course it sounds good, because I presented the theory in a step-by-step, logical manner. But the question is: Is the theory true?!
Realize there are 3 parts to the theory:
- Binaural beats make your brain vibrate at the frequency of the binaural beat
- That vibration, if it occurs, is the same as a natural brainwave state
- That brainwave state, or vibration frequency is the CAUSE of meditation states and experiences (rather than the side-effect of something else)
All I can tell you is that I've never seen the one thing that would demonstrate #1 and #2, namely, a real-time EEG showing the brainwaves of someone listening to a binaural beat meditation CD… if the CD is supposed to create 10Hz brainwaves, you'd see it on the EEG. Simple.
I can also tell you, as someone who used to play with these CDs, that they definitely do *something*… they can change your state of mind.
BUT…
- They take TIME. Most of the CDs require you to listen to them for 30-60 minutes per day… some suggest you listen all night, while you sleep (talk about "doing nothing!")
- They wear off. Over time, you get used to the binaural beat and it stops producing the effect it did at first.
Of course, this is great for the people selling these meditation CDs, because they can say you now need the "more advanced" version to get the next set of benefits… which, by the way, are more expensive.
I have some friends who swear they've gotten great benefits from meditation by using these binaural beat CDs. I have a hard time getting them to see that, without an identical twin, who spent the same amount of time simply sitting quietly without the CDs, it's hard to really know what the cause of the changes they report actually are.
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Comments on You've got the (binaural) beat… (electronic meditation CDs) »
I don't think it adds much to the theory as stated above but I found some very interesting research on the effects of these repetitive sounds/beats on the brain:
http://www.stanford.edu/group/brainwaves/2006/AuditoryDrivingRitualTech.pdf
Interesting read, Ellen. Thanks.
It gave me a few thoughts:
First, I remember my first Grateful Dead concert, where I realized they were playing lots of "trance-inducing" rhythms and thought, "Yup, I could see how someone could get attached to that experience and follow the Dead around the country… and even end up wearing patchouli."
Second, I remember a friend's band, Exotic Birds, that was made up of all well-trained drummers, who specifically wrote music with rhythms designed to elicit altered states… they did pretty well for a while.
Then, the paper mentions Christian Huygens who, it's said, in 1665 set up a bunch of pendulum clocks in a room, started them up, and when he came back in the room the next day, they were all synchronized. This one set off my bullshit meter on full alert.
So far, I can't find anyone who has reproduced this under rigorous testing conditions. *IF* it happened, and I'm dubious that it did (or maybe they were in sync for a while, but not permanently), it could be because the clocks had subtle connections. And I don't mean "etheric" or magical. I mean that the construction of the room itself may have linked the clocks in such a way that led to the "entrainment." And if that is what happened (and perhaps Huygens was aware enough to recognize that this was the cause), then everyone since him has misrepresented the study to suggest that "entrainment" is a magical process rather than a simple physical process.
In fact, on page 7 of this paper, he uses various "examples" of entrainment that are not even closely related to what Huygens was referring to. And, oh, geez (I'm reading WHILE I'm posting), he just said that "circadian rhythms keep us entrained to the… earth and sun" (though studies where people aren't exposed to natural light routinely show that our "natural" rhythm is actually 25 hours… hmmmm.
Anyway, an interesting read, but BOY does it need a good review of its sources
Oy. This paper is just referencing other studies, seemingly cherry picked to support his thesis, rather than examined to determine if the thesis is sound. At least he admits that "clinical studies [on binaural beat stimulation] are not in abundance."
But, I'm hard-pressed to believe the few studies he does quote support his premise, when he previously suggests that "The Mozart Effect" is a real thing, even though it has been debunked repeatedly.
(Again, criticism aside, I love that you pointed me to this, Ellen. Truly. I love the exercise of seeing how people reach conclusions.)
A friend dragged me along to see a group of Japanese drummers 'Kodo', saying that the intense drumming provided a spiritual experience. It was a great show, a spectacle, but sadly no spiritual experience for me. I've had some weird experiences but to date no spiritual ones.
As to circadian rythms, from personal experience of years of working nights, I can vouch that it is debilitating on a human being.
I've always wanted to be a Kodo drummer.