After I finished the last post, I really wanted to follow up with the Going Further section, and explain more, particularly when it comes to binaural beats and broach the topic of NLP (Neruro-Linguistic Programming). These are powerful tools, and might even be a little advanced for a beginner. Like all tools, they should be accorded respect and used carefully. I’m going to go into each a little more.
Neuro-Linguistic Programming
NLP, as such, is actually a rather recent development. Founded in the 60s-70s, it is a relative newcomer to the area of personal development and life enhancement. The techniques, when properly applied, seem to be quite powerful and effective. I am still in the early stages of exploration myself, having only read one or two books on the subject, and done limited experimentation. Some NLP techs have worked for me, and others haven’t. I believe that this is yet another area in which you need to find what works for you. This was laid out rather plainly in one of the books I read, written by one of the co-developers of NLP techs, Richard Bandler. He explained that the real secret to using these techniques is to literally find what works for the individual, and then use that to achieve the desired result. As I explore more, I’ll share my findings.
Binaural Beats
Binaural beats use audio tones of different frequencies to guide the brain waves to the alpha, theta, or delta frequencies associated with meditation. This is still considered experimental, however there is a large body of anecdotal evidence. In other words, a lot of people say it works for them. I myself have and continue to use binaural beats as part of my toolbox, but once again, it can be considered a somewhat advanced tool. I started my experimentation with the Brainwave Generator. I was using its presets not so much for meditation, but as a surrogate for sleep. As I depended on it more, I ran into the law of diminishing returns. Eventually I stopped using it for a while. When used as part of a meditational practice, it seemed to be much more effective. Furthermore, since I was not using it all the time, it remained effective. The Brainwave Generator doesn’t have an exclusive lock on binaural beats. Two other generators are SBaGen, and Gnaural both of which are cross-platform, free software under the GNU License. Generators will let you set what tones you want, and so are much better for open experimentation. My personal recommendation is the Brainwave Generator, as it has a good user community and many presets to choose from, so you don’t have to start from scratch. There are also finished product recordings using binaural beats. One that I tried was “Hemi-sync” put out by the Monroe Institute, and another is “Holosync“. Both are designed to take you into a meditative state and then guide you through exercises to produce improvements. More than either of these, I like the Paraliminals by Learning Strategies corporation. They incorporate both NLP and binaural beat techniques to produce (for me) good results. Now, understand that I am not advocating using these in place of meditation. If you are thinking of choosing between using these external tools, and developing internal tools, I’m going to strongly suggest you go with the internal tools. While these tools are exciting and useful, they are no replacement from being able to “do-it-yourself” when you are on the move. I use them as a supplementary or secondary tool, not a primary one.
Now that I have gone into some detail on some of the newer semi-external technologies out there and (I hope) not scared you away, I’ll be getting back more on-topic in the next post.
