Hypnosis with Binaural Beats
Using binaural beats to produce relaxation and other health benefits is one of the tried and tested methods of self hypnosis and guided hypnosis. It is also a great addition to meditation techniques for promoting harmony and calming effects.
Binaural beats is a brain response that originates in the sound-processing center of each brain hemisphere when two different tones are played in each ear. The result is the acoustic illusion of a beat created by the pattern formed because of slightly different frequencies of the sound. The beat needs to be heard through stereo headphones to avoid cross-bleed across ears.
Binaural beats stimulation is used for guided hypnosis by the hypnotherapy professionals or for self induced hypnosis by the subject to induce altered states of consciousness. The sound effect is heard when the difference between the frequencies is less than 30 Hz.
For example, if you play a 325 Hz sine wave in one ear and a 335 Hz in the other ear, the brain entrains a binaural beat of 10 Hz (or the ‘alpha pattern’) inducing a state of relaxation while awake. This means that the auditory system of the brain tunes in to the sound frequency and creates a brain wave pattern that helps you relax, sleep better and calm your nerves.
According to the hypnosis therapists, the following frequencies correspond to a specific state of consciousness or physical state:
| Frequency | Type of Brain wave | State of Consciousness / Physical state |
| Less than 4 Hz | Delta waves | Deep dreamless sleep, loss of body awareness |
| 4 to 8 Hz | Theta waves | REM sleep, deep meditation, dreams |
| 8 to 12 Hz | Alpha waves | Relaxation while awake |
| 12 to 40 Hz | Beta waves | Cognition, active thinking, concentration |
| More than 40 Hz | Gamma waves | Higher mental activity, consciousness, problem solving, fear |
Although many neurologists believe that ‘consciousness is the result of electrochemical neurological activity’, researches could not conclusively prove that higher levels of mind that include intuition, perception, imagination, higher consciousness, will, spirit, or soul are located in the brain tissue. Researchers feel that these aspects of mind cannot be comprehended by neuro-chemical studies of the brain alone. The investigations are still on, so maybe this mystery can be resolved in the near future!
A word of caution – binaural beats is not for you if you suffer from illness such as seizure disorder or schizophrenia.
