I find myself intrigued by the notion of these. Is anyone here aware of whether they are a useful tool or not? Thanks.
Yes, I realize everything I need is already inside me. However, I also realize that I don't need a car, that I can always walk the 25 miles one way to work. But the car saves me time that I can then use for other things. My understanding is that there may be such things on the path to enlightment that may save time in the same manner.
The only shortcut is hard work on the self. The only tool you can use is a competent teacher. If you're looking to save time, you're not quite ready. x
It won't be a conscious action on your part. You'll wake up one day and be different from that point forward. Just let nature take it's course and nurture it a little. x
As it turns out... I've been meditating twice a day for the past few weeks (3, I think) after not meditating for several years. I found some free binaural recordings the day before yesterday so I have listened to them 4 times now while meditating. It is already much easier and faster to get into a slower brain wave state both during meditation and out of meditation. I actually find myself slipping into these alpha/theta states during times when I am not listening to the recordings or meditating. I cannot say for sure that this wouldn't have happened anyway, but the timing seems to indicate to me that there is some validity to the binaural beat theory. Note that these are not commercial recordings and were created by an interested experimenter that I got for free. The particular recordings that I listened to appear to be solely for assisting one to get one's brainwaves oscillating (primarily) at a particular frequency. For that purpose, I would say they work quite nicely.
People are like tuning forks. You can make them sing by producing a tone they're sensitive to. If it works for you, more power your way. Don't let them become anything other than training wheels though. x
If you are talking about Idoser, the stuff works. I've been practicing using binaural beats while I meditate for a while. There are different "drugs" that work pretty well I must say.
I like playing with stuff like hypnosis and such and I thought that since I could induce myself deep and fast I'd respond to it well, if it had merit. I started with a random one(I still don't know which I tried) and it did nothing by slightly annoyed. Then I tried one for opiates, a sensation I'm familiar with, and it made me very annoyed, tense to the point of having to take the headset off. Now I do have hypnosis recordings that have some nice binaural incorporated, that I do not respond poorly too. I believe they do lend some enhancement but not to any great degree. My overall take: Stuff like idose is mostly psychosomatic but might be workable if you can control your setting adequately and modify your beats to make it more personalized. Probably best used as a secondary tool combined with something else and not unto itself.
I haven't been using the Idoser stuff as the reviews seem to be all over the map. Some think it works, some think it's all BS. There are some free recordings that the originator of SBAGen generated as well as some stuff that was reproduced from Gerald Oster's work. Mostly I just use the theta level stuff during meditation to help get to a deeper level sooner than I can just by controlling my breath or thinking about relaxing. I have also tried the chakra step sounds, designed to stimulate the chakras.
For about 2 years, I've been using iDoser, mostly for meditative or magickal purposes, but occasionally for recreation and at least once to get rid of a migraine, and I love it. Bufo is my favorite...and Divinorum is the longest lasting I've found (lasted 20 minutes or so after the "dose" ended.) Of course it doesn't exactly simulate the drugs the "doses" are named after, and it doesn't work for everyone, but it's been great for me...and actually, I find it helps me to learn how to get into an altered state when I'm not using it.
Oh that's interesting. I'm gonna check that out. If only for the music. There's also Brainwave Generator. Probably pretty easy to P2P. Or buy if you are interested.
Of course this is a bit off the subject but if one works with chanting mantras then it's a similar thing, and breath and awareness are controlled with one easy point of fixation on ones own hymn. Now as to the question of whether any external reference is as potent a meditation technique as one inherent, one must ask, what's the point of ones meditation? I doubt many would agree as to their objective or standard, of whether something is working. For me, a successful meditation eases my heart strings and lets my mind merge back into primal energy flow. If one finds peace of mind then something is successful, in my way of thinking. But here's a caveat, if one finds they are more irrate after any bout of meditation then they should also consider just simply lying down with silence after the meditation as some techniques can sort of force ones awareness one direction or another and that may not be supported by the environment afterwards. In Buddhism they sometimes call this -evenness- and -post evenness- meditations. The ideal being to extend the evenness into post-evenness times. If the reverse happens then some adjustment need be made and sometimes simple supine rest after technique is of benefit. Oh what was I thinking of. Oh yes, on mantras. There is a stream of mantra called Shodashi. One should consider when using sound what particular energy one is manifesting. So of mantras ones known as Shodashi create perfection. And there are Shodashis in all eastern traditions if one figures out how to look. I like the I-Doser stuff for musical value. The peyote one is good ambient stock.
