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Ordering
The Blissful Brain
The Blissful Brain is published
by Gaia Thinking. For more information on how to order your
copy, please click
here.
Guardian
G2: Mind over matter by Andy Darling
"Neuroscientist Shanida Nataraja has
proven meditation does more than clear your head, it can put
both halves of your brain to work, improving your concentration,
memory, and decision-making...". To read more, please
click
here.
Upcoming
talk: Yoga Ananda, Reigate, Surrey on Friday the 4th of June
Shanida Nataraja will be speaking at a seminar
on The Blissful Brain on Friday, 04th June 2010 at
19:30 at Yoga Ananda Ltd. 46 Albert Road North, Reigate, Surrey,
RH2 9EL. For more information, please click
here.
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Brain
Entrainment
Binaural
beats originate from the primitive auditory centres of the
brainstem. They result from the interaction of two different
auditory impulses, originating in opposite ears, which differ
in frequency by up to 30 Hz. Take the following example: if
a pure tone of 100 Hz is presented to the right ear, and a
tone of 110 Hz presented to the left ear, the two auditory
inputs interact in the brainstem to give an overall wave that
has a frequency that is the average of the two frequencies,
in this case 105 Hz, and an amplitude (see red square) that
shifts down and up with a frequency that represents the difference
in the frequency of the two waves, in this case 10 Hz. Whilst
the overall frequency of the two auditory inputs can be heard,
the binaural beat caused by the periodic changes in the amplitude
of this signal cannot be heard in the conventional sense of
the word, since its frequency lies below the lower limit of
the human range of hearing.
A repetitive stimulus, such as a flashing light or sound,
can tuning brain activity to a particular frequency; the frequency
of the incoming stimulus. This inherent ability is harnessed
in ritualistic behaviour, as well as in the widely available
visual–audio entrainment technology. Patterns of light stimuli,
administered through special goggles, are combined with patterns
of auditory stimulus, administered through headphones, to
gently re-tune (or entrain) the frequency of the brain waves
(i.e. the overall activity of all the neurones in the brain)
to frequencies that are more conducive to concentration, relaxation,
or creativity, for example. The principle of entrainment can
be illustrated by the following example.
Imagine
striking a tuning fork designed to produce a frequency of
440 Hz. If this oscillating tuning force is moved near to
another 440 Hz tuning fork, the second fork will also start
to oscillate, and thus resonate at the same frequency. The
first tuning fork is said to have entrained the second fork.
Not only does this technology entrain the frequency of the
brain wave to the frequency of the incoming stimuli, but the
presence of a repetitive visual or auditory input also acts
to focus the attention.
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