Binaural Beats, Guided Meditations, and Spotify

As our species evolves into higher forms of consciousness are there ways technology can enhance and even evolve this process? Some social media scientists have gone as far to say “ambient awareness” is evolving us into beings constantly connected with one another in social cultures and tribes through Facebook and Twitter. This is a macrocosmic study, looking at larger societal factors, but what about the individual in the microcosmic universe? The self. Often in our qigong, tai chi, kung fu, or yoga practices we find ourselves in a community of practitioners and feel the connection with one another- the ambient awareness becomes direct. But what about the individual, the self, the microcosmic universe? At its most elemental form this is the solitary qigong practice or the private meditation.

Binaural Beats – Technology integration with individual meditation

Binaural Beats, sometimes called binaural tones, need stereo headphones with different frequencies coming in each ear. The effect is a “beat” created by the brain reacting to the different frequencies. This was first discovered in 1839 by Heinrich Wilheim Dove and through the course of the 20th century seekers discovered these binaural beats can induce relaxation and even altered states of consciousness. More can be learned from the wikipedia entry and at the binaural beat page at  Auditory Neuroscience.

Our course for Opening The Third Eye uses binaural beats to aid in relaxation and even astral projection.

There are also apps from places like I-doser where you can download various binaural beats, not to mention the wealth of CDs and podcasts out there. Whatever you do, make sure you are in a safe and calm environment, not driving or using heavy machinery. The quality of the headphones you use also make a huge difference. I was using $15 Skullcandy headphones, the kind that go inside your ear and then upgraded to the AKG Acoustics K-240 Semi Open Studio Headphones. What a huge difference. The headphones opened up a whole new layer of textures and dimensions in the music. It was like hearing in 3D. With Binaural beats the experience is so much richer and for lack of a better word…. trippier.

Finally, the inspiration and motivation for this post to share with DevelopYourEnergy.net readers. Spotify. If you’ve never heard about it, now you have, and if you’ve heard but not signed up, go there. Spotify is a European based music social network (notice the ambient awareness again) like Pandora or Last.fm. However, they’ve figured out the balance between advertising and the choice of music listening. Unlike Pandora or Last.fm you can select entire albums or individual songs, create playlists, and then listen to them over and over in the cloud. Once I figured out what was going on I thought, why would I buy music ever again on a cd or even an mp3?

The Binaural Beat & Guided Meditation Spotify Tip

Once I got past all the artists and genres I listen to and set up playlists on Spotify I experimented with a search “binaural beats”.  Whoa. There is a huge list of choices for binaural beats. All free. The paid versions of Spotify will drop all commercials but as some of these tracks are over 50 minutes and commercials are sprinkled in gracefully, I haven’t found them obnoxious. I’ve found some great binaural beats this way, particularly J.S. Epperson. A whole universe opened up to me.

And that concludes with the final tip. Search for “guided meditation” on Spotify. See where it takes you. Happy travels.

Technology does seem to be taking a role in all this doesn’t it?