A state of consciousness that differs significantly from baseline or normal consciousness often identified with a brain state that differs significantly from the brain state at baseline or normal consciousness.

Illness and the left and Right Brain

Paul Maclean discovered in his research on the human brain that by far, most of Western Society never escapes the trap of the Left Brain and its Ego. Consequently, all types of illnesses result because of the lack of contact with the Right Brain, which contains the Self. Because of the polarity between the Left Brain and the Right Brain techniques must be used to make contact between them and begin the Integration process.

Left and Right Brain

MIND STATES

By connecting a subject to an Electroencephalograph (EEG), his/her brain waves can be measured in cycles per second (c.p.s.). This is not so much a quantitative measure of mental activity as it is of a state of mind. There are essentially four states - beta, alpha, theta and delta. Although these have only been scientifically studied with the advent of modern equipment, I was intrigued to unearth mention of these four states in ancient eastern texts. It seems that some ancient societies have long known how to exploit the mind's unlimited potential. But whereas in the past such knowledge was limited to a privileged few, today it has been made more accessible, and streamlined with modern scientific knowledge.

At an average of 20 c.p.s., the beta state is the normal, everyday waking state. In this state we are predominantly engaged in left brain activity. Lowering the brain wave frequency to around 15 c.p.s. brings us into the alpha state, and it is here that right brain activity is engaged. Lower still are theta and delta, but these do not concern us as they are really only accessed during sleep. Lowering frequency simply means cutting out unnecessary stress and brain 'chit-chat'. Besides engaging creative abilities, this makes the individual more alert,allows clearer thinking and enables mental faculties which the beta level does not. Although we talk of lowering frequency, the effect is more of an altered state.

We are particularly interested in the alpha state, as this is where right brain activity can be actively engaged. This state brings into play our imaginative and creative faculties, as well as our intuitive mind. It is the state at which ideas will flow more readily. In everyday life, we go through alpha at least twice a day - in the evening as we drift off to sleep, and in the morning when we wake up. This explains why many top inventions were conceived early in the morning, or during a state of relaxation. Einstein came up with the theory of relativity not in his laboratory but while sunbathing on a hillside. Although mathematics is predominantly a left brain activity, he allocated time to relaxing his mind, and advised his students to do likewise. Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison, Wolfgang Mozart, Einstien and other successful thinkers and geniuses employed similar techniques. Our aim naturally, is to produce alpha frequencies while fully alert. A state of alpha does not put one to sleep, on the contrary, it confers a whole spectrum of benefits.

THE BENEFITS

The following are some of the principal benefits of right brain activity towards personal effectiveness of human resources:

1. Enhanced creativity and imagination
The right brain can be thought of being connected directly to the source of creativity, and the alpha state is hence more conducive to innovative thinking and generation of new ideas.

2. Problem-solving and trouble-shooting
With the mind in a more relaxed state and access to its immense creative resources, it is naturally better disposed to deal with crisis and solve problems constructively.

3. Less stress
The alpha state has a built-in fringe benefit in that it actually releases accumulated stress and tension from both body and mind. In our hectic lifestyles, this makes for more harmonious working conditions on both micro and macro levels, with resultant improved teamwork, drops in absenteeism, improved well being and other long-term benefits

4. Heightened intuition
Studies at Harvard revealed that the majority of presidents and managers of multi-national companies attributed up to 80% of their success to intuition. Intuition - the legendary hunches and gut feelings of the seasoned businessperson - can indeed be a very important element in business. Yet because it defies tangible description, intuition is hardly ever mentioned in conventional training programmes, with the exception of a few mind dynamics systems. Open-minded, right brain thinking is highly conducive to intuition, particularly in deep states of alpha.

5. Easier implementation of personal change
The quest towards personal effectiveness often involves effecting changes in disposition or attitude, enhancing constructive traits and eliminating unconstructive ones, as described earlier. The alpha state very much facilitates these processes. During powerful workshops that promote change, I often find it useful to induce states of alpha in order to catalyse new awareness at deeper subconscious levels of synthesis.

6. Enhanced study / learning abilities, and memory retention
Another important benefit of right brain patterns is that they greatly facilitate learning and study, as well as memory retention. This explains the effectiveness of accelerated learning methods.

7. Better rapport and negotiation skills
Establishing rapport with others during meetings and negotiations can mean the difference between agreement or non-agreement, deal or no deal. Even the most powerful NLP rapport skills work better if one has accessed a state of alpha. The subject can then be 'paced and led' to follow suit, creating a resonant state of mind which makes for better bilateral agreement.

8. Other mind skills
Possibly the most outstanding applications of right brain methodology lie in the use of specialised techniques which present new, often astonishing possibilities. Examples of applications are the gaining of new mental information, establishing non-localised rapport, boosting goal achievement through visualisation, solo brainstorming and mental 'market-testing' of concepts. These are some of the applications reportedly experienced around the world from light and sound users. The advantage of these light and sound tools is, that they enable onewith practice to access a peak performance state at will, a state which is then gradually integrated into daily life.

You can encourage the Brain to peak performance

By far the best way of inducing right brain activity and
high performance, is through specialised
tools such as the David paradise systems
David

. These make use of programmed light and sound and are particularly effective in Raising the right brain parameters over the left, by which it then can be accessed, at will, for various applications. Similar techniques are employed in the mental training programmes of athletes.
For both sports , business and Altered States of Consciousness, the objective is the same, to attain peak performance.

Stimulating the Brain and Mind

Human performance in all areas can be deliberately improved through environmental, biochemical, and psychophysiological manipulation of the brain and mind. One way this takes place is by using machines designed by researchers to stimulate the human neocortex through exposure to experiences which are novel, changing, and challenging, and which provide the brain and mind an opportunity to exercise itself by means of self-observation and self-transformation.

The brain is an electrically powered and electricity- generating organ. Composed of an estimated one hundred billion neurons, each neuron produces and transmits electrical impulses which travel from the cell body down long fibers called axons until they reach a junction, or synapse, with another neuron. At the junction point the electrical impulses fire chemical messengers, called neurotransmitters, across the synaptic gap to receptors on the next cell. Having received the message, that neuron then generates its own electrical impulse and sends it to other neurons to which it is connected. Each neuron can be connected to thousands of other neurons, each simultaneously sending and receiving impulses to and from thousands of other neurons--so one neuron can electrically alter millions of other neurons.

To get an idea of how complex this electrical system is, the National Academy of Sciences estimates that "a single human brain has a greater number of possible connections among its nerve cells than the total number of atomic particles in the universe."

BUT
GOOD NEWS
The longstanding belief that the adult brains do not produce new neurons is being challenged by current research. Adults may indeed be able to generate new neurons, in a process called neurogenesis, throughout life and at the rate of thousands per day.

Recent advances by two neuroscientists, Fred H. Gage of the Salk Institute in San Diego and Peter S. Eriksson of the Göteborg University Institute of Clinical Neuroscience, indicate that the old belief
( they’ve always believed that the more complex and highly evolved human brain, after reaching maturity, cannot produce new neurons)
is wrong. Gage and Eriksson collected the first convincing evidence that the brains of adult humans, even elderly people, regularly regenerate neurons in the hippocampus. Why is the hippocampus of interest? It appears to control which experiences are filed away into long-term memory and which pass into oblivion. It is not only where memories are stored, but it also controls which bits of information become memories. Simply put, it is the control panel for learning.

A 1997 study revealed that adult mice in enriched living conditions grew 60% more neurons than did genetically identical control animals, and they did better on a learning tasks. These results held even for elderly mice, which typically produce new neurons at a much lower rate than younger mice

In addition to environmental enrichment, animal studies in the last several years have identified other factors that influence neurogenesis. Stress has shown signs of being an inhibitor, while exercise tends to increase new nerve cell production. However, these links are still being investigated and are quite preliminary. The truth is that there are many steps to neurogenesis, and there are multiple factors that affect it at any stage of the game.
http://www.linezine.com/3.3/themes/bgsbftad.htm

Can Light And Sound Help!

Light and sound systems use intense programs of light and sound frequencies in multi-sensory stimuli to encourage the brain to grow new neural pathways. It is also likely that they encourages the growth of new neurons and to have these neurons migrate to the parts of the brain where they are most needed for overcoming the conditions commonly known as Attention Deficit Disorder, dyslexia ,memory and other cognitive issues.

Proteus

Biofeedback

Biofeedback is the use of mechanical means to amplify certain internal cues, make us aware of them, and make it possible to control mental and brain states. Extensive research has shown that what were thought to be "involuntary" psychophysiological states, such as blood pressure, body temperature, etc., are in fact controllable through the use of biofeedback.

One of the early researchers, Elmer Green of the Menninger Clinic in Kansas, used biofeedback instruments to study Eastern yogis. He discovered that certain yogis could control their internal states merely through meditation and thought.

Maurice "Barry" Sterman, a professor emeritus in the departments of Neurobiology and Psychiatry at UCLA, began an experiment in 1965 on brain wave states in cats. He accidentally discovered a specific EEG rhythm state during which the cat, waiting for a reward of food, became absolutely still, though extremely alert. Sterman named this frequency "sensorimotor rhythm" (SMR). He isolated the 12 to 15 hertz frequencies (SMR) in the EEG of the experimental cats and operantly conditioned them to create this state. Sterman then worked with a human subject, a young lady who suffered from epileptic seizures two or more times per month. Epilepsy is accompanied by an invasion of unwanted theta wave frequency in the brain. The subject was connected to the EEG equipment and was tasked with keeping a green light on (presence of SMR) and a red light off (presence of theta waves). The subject was able to create SMR for long periods and her seizures reduced in number and intensity. She remained seizure-free after the experiment for a number of months.

"Occassionally I had heard half-joking remarks about researchers in biofeedback sounding like snake-oil salesmen. It didn't bother me until one of our own doctors cautioned against the concept of biofeedback as a panacea. Then I gave it serious thought. Why did biofeedback prove helpful in the treatment of so many and varied disorders? Suddenly I realized that it isn't biofeedback that is the 'panacea'--it is the power within the human being to self-regulate, self-heal, re-balance. Biofeedback does nothing to the person; it is a tool for releasing that potential." Alyce Green, Beyond Biofeedback

Brain Waves

In our ordinary waking state, we primarily experience beta brain waves (which vibrate at a frequency ranging from about 13 to 30 hertz or cycles per second). During deep relaxation, we move to alpha waves (8-13 Hz) and we ordinarily only experience theta waves (4-7 Hz) in those brief moments between waking and sleeping. The ultraslow delta waves (0.5-4 Hz) occur during sleep.

Scientists have found that when meditators reach a state of deep awareness and internal mental serenity the two hemispheres of their brain--which ordinarily generate brain waves of different frequencies and amplitudes--become synchronized, both hemispheres generating the same brain waves.

Higher States

Dr. Gerald Oster, a biophysicist at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City discovered that pulsations called binaural beats occurred in the brain when tones of different frequency were presented separately to each ear.

Robert Monroe developed tapes which send signals separately to each ear--signals of 400 and 404 hertz, for example--resulting in the sounds blending inside the brain and setting up a binaural beat frequency of 4 Hz (theta waves), producing a state of brain hemisphere equilibrium and altered states.

The optimum brainwave pattern
The optimum brainwave pattern for creativity, healing, insight and all forms of high performance combines the intuitive, empathetic radar of delta waves, the creative inspiration, personal insight, and spiritual awareness of theta waves, the bridging capacity and relaxed, detached, awareness of alpha waves, and the external attention and ability to consciously process thought of beta waves, all at the same time. Originally discovered in yogis, swamis and those in higher states of consciousness by C. Maxwell Cade, this awakened mind pattern can also be found during the "ah-ha" experience and all forms of peak performance, regardless of activity, content, intention, philosophy or theology.

"One of the most basic human experiences, one that is genuinely universal and unites -- or, more precisely, could unite -- all of humanity, is the experience of transcendence in the broadest sense of the word." -- Václav Havel, President, Czech Republic

Altered states of Consciousness

Altered states of consciousness generally include alterations in both the content and functioning of the consciousness, usually experienced by an individual and somtimes observed by others watching him. The term "state" is not to be trivialized but denotes the states or stages of behavior through which the individual progresses. Frequently persons in these states appear to be in a sleeplike condition commonly referred to as a trance.

Among the long term effects are the radical shifts in the perception in one's self and environment that result in a semi-permanent redefinition of one's self, world, and values. Frequently altered states of consciousness either are induced personally or by others which may or may not produce lasting effects. Some religious groups do seek to induce such altered states in persons so they may derive spiritual insight and value changes from them. The most dramatic examples of these states are mystical experiences.

Causes other than religious beliefs, such as illnesses and accidents, can result in altered states of consciousness or mystical experiences.

Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772)

Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772), the Swedish scientist and scholar, also claimed to have experienced mystical experiences in the form of dreams. These episodes began at the age of fifty-six. In these dreams he traveled to spiritual planes such as heaven and hell where he claimed to have spoken with Jesus, and God, and spirits of the dead which he referred to as angels. Also, he claimed to have seen the order of the universe. He continued spending most of the remainder of his life taking these spiritual journeys usually in a light sleep or trance which sometimes lasted as long as three days. As a result of these trips his spiritual views differed greatly from orthodox Christianity. His views were published in several books.

Edgar Cayce (1877-1945)

Edgar Cayce (1877-1945) sometimes called the "sleeping prophet" gave prophetic, healing, and karmic readings in a light-sleep state similar to that of Swedenborg. Cayce put himself into a hypnotic trance while lying down and then gave personal readings. He helped heal many persons this way by describing their ailments and then prescribing what the person should do in the form of treatment. He gave many karmic readings telling about the lost continent of Atlantis and other ancient places. Frequently when giving solitary readings Cayce would have the person taking down his reading tap him to prevent him from going into a deeper sleep.

Shamanism

Also within shamanism altered states of consciousness are employed. They are often self-induced by the shaman and called the shamanic state of consciousness. This is a state can vary from a light sleep to a coma which enables the shaman to see and do things in a nonordinary reality which he cannot do in the ordinary reality of a waking state. It is in this nonordinary reality the shaman can perform cures with the help of guardian spirits and spirit helpers and do shape shifting

Shamanic Frequency 4.5 hz

Samadhi Resonance 7.82

"Nothing in current science can account for consciousness, yet consciousness is the one thing we cannot deny. The exploration of this final frontier has now become imperative. It is clear that most of the problems we face today — global, social, and personal — stem from human thinking, perception, and values. The crisis is, at its roots, a crisis of consciousness. Now, more than ever, we need to understand our own minds, and how to liberate ourselves from the limiting egocentric modes of thinking so that we can achieve our true inner potential." ~Peter Russell

The awakened mind brainwave pattern combines the intuitive,empathetic radar of the delta waves, the creative inspiration, personal insight, and spiritual awareness of the theta waves, the bridging capacity and relaxed, detached, awareness of the alphawaves, and the external attention and ability to consciously process thought of beta waves, all at the same time. This brainwave pattern can be found during "peak experience" or "peak performance", regardless of the content or intention, in all forms of creativity and high performance. The awakened mind is also the"ah-ha", appearing at the exact instant of solving the problem, or getting the insight.

Enlightenment or the Fully Awakened mind has been given many names. Buddha means "the enlightened one;" Christ and Messiah also mean that. St. Paul called it "the peace of God that passeth under-standing" and Richard Maurice Bucke named it "cosmic consciousness." In Zen it is satori, in yoga it is samadhi or moksha, in Sufism it is fana, in Taoism it is wu or The Ultimate Tao. Jurdjieff labeled it "objective consciousness," Sri Aurobindo spoke of the Supermind, mystery schools and occult paths speak of "illumination," "liberation," and "self-realization." Likewise, enlightenment has been symbolized by many images; the thousand-petaled lotus of Hinduism, the Holy Grail of Christianity, the clear mirror of Buddhism, Judaism's Star of David, the yin-yang circle of Taoism, the mountaintop, the swan, the still lake, the mystic rose, the eternal flame. (p. xvi)

The perennial belief in the existence of an uninterrupted intuition of Oneness is rooted in the recurring notion that humankind is uniquely situated to simultaneously experience the finite and the infinite

It has been called a sacred hunger,
the quest for truth, the longing for God,
the search for fulfillment.
In the space between two thoughts.
An inexplicable occurrence of perfect
peace in the depths of Chaos

Can Light And Sound Help!

Light and sound systems use intense programs of light and sound frequencies in multi-sensory stimuli to encourage Hemispheric balancing.

It has been estimated that the average person has sixty thousand separate thoughts each and every day. The problem with this is that we have the same sixty thousand thoughts today that we had yesterday, and we'll repeat them again tomorrow. Our minds are filled with the same chatter day in and day out. Learning to be quiet and meditate involves figuring out a way to enter the spaces between your thoughts; or the gap, as I call it. In this silent empty space between your thoughts, you can find a sense of total peace' in a realm that is ordinarily unknowable. Here, any illusion of your separateness is shattered. However, if you have sixty thousand separate thoughts in a day, there is literally no time available to enter the space between your thoughts, because there is no space!

Most of us have minds that race full-speed day and night. Our thoughts are a hodgepodge of continuous dialogue about schedules, money worries, sexual fantasies, grocery lists, drapery problems, concern about the children, vacation plans, and on and on like a merry-go-round that never stops.
Those sixty thousand thoughts are usually about ordinary daily activities and create a mental pattern that leaves no space for silence.

The mind is like a pond. On the surface you see all the disturbances, yet the surface is only a fraction of the pond. It is in the depth below the surface, where there is stillness, that you will come to know the true essence of the pond, as well as your own mind.
By going below the surface, you come to the spaces between thoughts, where you are able to enter the gap. The gap is total emptiness or silence, and it is indivisible. No matter how many times you cut silence in half, you still get silence. This is what is meant by now. Perhaps it is the essence of God, that which cannot be divided from the oneness.

Light and Sound Systems have helped many experience this space, this gap.