Hacking Meditation
You want to meditate. But five minutes in, and you’re jumping out of your skin. Urgent thoughts prompt you into action. Your cell phone vibrates. Maybe tomorrow. Today is not a good day for this.
That was me, until five years ago. I haven’t missed a morning meditation since. Along the way, I’ve developed an inner silence and a feeling of spaciousness that carries into the day.
The last several months I’ve been using a guided meditation titled “Journey to the Center of the Self” by Joseph Kao. The spoken meditation is accompanied by an audio track that uses an array of powerful brain entrainment frequencies, including bursts of 40-hertz gamma. The track is available from the iAwake company. (Note: I beta-test iAwake products but have no other affiliation with them).
I start “dropping in” as soon as I hear the opening strains of music on this track. No matter that I’ve heard the meditation a hundred times. There’s a conditioned response, and soon I’m in a deeply calm witness state, but fully awake and aware of my body and surroundings.
Bottom line, it works. The secret to my success boils down to three essential aspects:
1. Highly effective brainwave entrainment tracks (not all are created equal).
2. A simple meditation technique.
3. Understanding that meditation is one facet of an integral, whole-life practice.
Brainwave Entrainment
The history of brainwave entrainment dates back several hundred years. Significant advancements were made in the mid-’70s by Hemi-Synch founder Robert Monroe. He founded the Monroe Institute, and essentially launched the modern era of consciousness development using audio frequencies.
Unless you have epilepsy, pulsing frequencies into your brain is safe. Our brains emit a range of frequencies all of the time. Conditions such as ADD, anxiety, and compulsive thinking may indicate there is too much of a particular frequency. Stimulating a frequency that is already over-expressed can exacerbate symptoms or result in feelings of overwhelm, fatigue, or agitation. If this occurs, you simply stop.
Judith Pennington, co-developer of the Mind Mirror 6 EEG neurofeedback/biofeedback system, is a walking encyclopedia on…
