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Senior Living

2010-05-01 14:25:00

Brainwaves

You often mention changing your brainwaves while talking about hypnosis. What are they and why would you want to change them?

Answer: Actually there are many ways of changing brainwaves. The easiest way to change your brainwaves is to change your thoughts. Brainwaves always respond to what you are, or are not, thinking about.

However, let’s talk about brainwaves themselves just a little bit. Brainwaves are regular electrical impulses from the brain and are basically lumped into four different groups, each of which encompasses a range of brainwave frequencies. If there are any brainwave hobbyists out there, they will tell you there are hundreds of brainwave groups. But let’s just stay with the simpler groupings for now. Brainwaves are grouped into Beta, Alpha, Theta and Delta, with Delta being the lowest or slowest frequency whereas Beta is on the high end and is where we spend a lot of our waking day. However, our brainwaves fluctuate constantly with what we are thinking, what we are doing, our level of activity, our levels of stress and on and on. Every stimulus affects brainwave frequency. By the same token, everything which reduces stimulation also tends to affect our brainwaves. As you might guess, as stimulation decreases, so do our brainwaves usually. As we relax we normally find our brainwave frequency decreasing. I say normally, because with hypnosis, it is possible to relax the body and stimulate the mind to do some pretty miraculous things in the realm of healing. The science of brainwaves has been around a long time. They were first discovered in 1929. Many have heard of EEG’s or electroencephalograms. Very simply, these are medical/scientific machines for measuring the rate, or frequency, of our brainwaves. To do this, electrical probes are fastened to our scalps to sense the electrical waves of our brain. In the early days, to get an EEG, they shaved a few spots on your scalp and attached wires. Today, with modern technology you put on a rubber cap with the wires attached and they take many readings of the different frequencies within your brain at any one time. Medical doctors use the EEG for diagnosis. Others use it to better understand how the brain works or how to use the brain to affect the body. Which brings up another point. Different parts of the brain operate at different frequencies. For instance, the left brain can be operating at one frequency, the right one at another, and where the two frequencies hit each other, or "beat" a third frequency crops up. So why do we care? Because if we can control our brain; if we can control our thoughts, and if we know what the results are of doing it, we can cause healing, we can obtain a better life, more calm, or change our lives. As many have said – We are the product of our thoughts. Quantum physicists tell us that our thoughts affect everything about us. Brainwaves are part of the evidence they use. As we desire to change our brainwaves, we can use the conscious method of relaxation, and consciously controlling our thoughts. We can, with practice and understanding, put our brain into any brainwave area we want. We call that self-hypnosis. Many people don’t want to take the time to learn or to practice. They want it now! There is a way of doing that. Scientists, studying primitive cultures and cultural drumming, began to find some interesting results. Depending on the rate of the drumming, the people listening reacted differently. Slower drumbeats could literally lead a group of people into a trancelike state, whereas faster drumming could create a frenzy, a knowledge the witch doctors or shamans used often. The scientists began to study the causes of the reaction and with the help of EEGs were able to discover that the brainwave frequencies locked onto the drumbeats. The scientists however, reported "brainwave entrainment in the subjects." The brainwaves entrained with the frequency of the outside stimulus. They actually were able to prove brainwave entrainment scientifically in 1934. So began the scientific study of brainwave entrainment and its effects on humans. Today, we can use software programs (I have one on my computer in the office), to change our brainwaves, and to in effect, massage different areas of the brain to help us in many ways. Brainwave entrainment can be used to vary the brainwaves down in delta and thereby cause the body to deploy extra human growth hormone ( HGH) to speed healing. It can be used for the lazy man’s meditation, or relaxation. Programs are available to deal with ADHD, improve cognition and memory, enhance athletic performance, aid in study, reduce anxiety, enhance creativity, decrease blood pressure, help depression etc. The uses of brainwave entrainment are apparently endless as studies continue in the research universities. In the field of hypnosis, many of us, knowing we cannot personally work with all the people who need our services, create hypnotic CD’s which people can listen to and receive beneficial suggestions. They are very efficacious for some of the changes that people need. With brainwave entrainment, we often add a background brainwave track which makes reaching the hypnotic state much easier and quicker, for the listener, thus ensuring a higher rate of success for them. I use a brainwave track when I need to increase my creativity. I am consciously aware of the increase in speed of what I am doing, as well as the fact that ideas seem to come easier. I use them in conjunction with self-hypnosis suggestions to cut the time I need to spend in making desired changes. How can you change your brainwaves? Well you can just change your thoughts, get hypnotized, you can buy a software program, or you can kill a deer, tan its hide and stretch it over a barrel. Then let your neighbor pound on it while you sit eyes closed and cross legged beside it! All four methods will work. Some are better than others. C. Murl Webster, LNHA, BCH, has been serving his fellow man with hypnosis since 1973. He is the founder of Lifemasters llc where he provides hypnosis sessions and classes. He has been heard on radio in 14 countries giving advice and has given many speeches and seminars on hypnosis. He is an ordained minister and spiritual healer. He can be reached at sourceco@earthlink.net or you can leave him a voicemail at 316-617-1836.