Using Meditation Machines is a quick and easy way to reach high levels of relaxation and reduced stress, allowing you to meditate, visualise or self-hypnotise without the usual interruptions and uninvited feedback from your erratic monkey mind.
In this post, I’ll explain what Meditation Machines can do for you, demonstrate how they work, and advice you on the best and most cost-effective meditation machines technology available today, based on my three years of buying and testing nearly every option available on the market (I’m pretty hooked, you see…)
A 30 Second Summary
Meditation Machines provide your brain with a rather useful mute / power off button, which you can press whenever you want to chill out or focus on something truly worthwhile – perfect for lofty ambitions like visualising reaching your goals, practicing NLP techniques, or settling down for an afternoon snooze on the sofa.
In short, they work by firing sounds of different frequencies into your left and right ears (via headphones, not with some kind of meditation machine gun). Somehow (and this is the magic), the way your brain interprets the sounds implements an authorised internal shutdown, taking you naturally and gently into the brain frequencies used for relaxation, creativity… and even deep sleep. Think of Meditation Machines as providing your brain with a direct order to calm down, relax and shut up, which you cannot override – unless you take the headphones off.
Words cannot describe the feeling of peace and connectedness that comes from a good session on these magical machines, but rest assured there’s a raft of scientific research that backs up the ambitious claims made by the promoters of “brainwave entrainment” – see here for a good summary.
Anecdotally, however, imagine yourself being fully conscious while your brain and body is in a deep sleep. Imagine the quiet stillness; the sense of energy; the increased access to your subconscious mind. Now imagine being able to access this state – on demand! This is what Zen Masters sit in a cave for ten years running to attain! Sure, using Meditation Machines could be described as cheater’s way to enlightenment and deep meditation, however (unfortunately) there are very few quality caves round my way, and thus I feel compelled to fast-track my progress.
I’ve been using Meditation Machines several times a week for nearly three years, and own / have sampled nearly all the key brands. As such, I’ve stumbled into a level of understanding about what works best, and what kind of results you should expect. Here’s what I’ve found:
Why Would I Use Them?
I’ve listed below what Meditation Machines should do for you, starting with the blindingly obvious and totally provable all the way down to speculative, anecdotal evidence on my part. Those of you with open minds will probably experience most / all of these; hardened sceptics will at least encounter the first few.
- Deep sense of relaxation and unwinding throughout all the body and mind, which gets better every time you use them. They’re like a mini spa-break you can take every night.
- Nice feeling of snoozing, which is ironically the brain state associated with “super learning” and increased focus (Alpha State), and thus is perfect for visualising and practicing NLP exercises, cramming for an exam or rehearsing an upcoming sales appointment.
- Generation of ideas and flashes of insight related to your goals, due to prolonged access to the Theta State, which is where creativity flourishes. Moments of genius are reportedly accessed here too, for all you wannabe Einsteins, Edisons and Will Ferrells out there.
- Transcendental experiences, OBEs and an unbelievably hippy sense of connection to the entire universe, thanks to the deep meditation brainwaves of the Delta State. Spiritual and religious folk will feel closer to God than ever before; students will feel closer to a legal LSD trip than ever before. (Reportedly – I’m going on the insights of a couple of my buddies!)
- Synchronization of left brain and right brain. Right, this is where it begins to get a bit subjective! I felt after a few weeks of use that my logical and instinctive parts were beginning to get on better, and as such I can now come to more well-rounded decisions. This helps if you rely almost exclusively on your feelings (like I did), or on pure, cold logic all of the time. It’s good to be more well-rounded, I reckon.
- Greater access to intuition & subconscious. Do you know the voice in the back of your mind that quietly suggests to you what you should do; or that funny feeling in your belly that insistently provides you with the direction you need? Well, play with these Meditation Machines for a while and you’ll be able to hear these useful guides better, and thus understand your “true self” more.
- Finally, each time you play with them, expect your “self talk” to slow down and stop; and choose to either go on a vibrant visualised adventure, or a quiet and deep moment of solitude to your deepest unconscious. A word of warning: sometimes you’ll want to meditate yet end up on a crazy trip; other times you’ll try to visualise but end up in a deep, connected meditation. Meditation Machines do take some practice, but you’ll get some results every time. Oh, and it’s been proven that your endorphin release increases when using Meditation Machines, so your absolute worst-case scenario is you’ll feel better than when you started!
Sweet. Which ones do I buy?
Right, this is where it begins to get tricky, and unless you have some guidance you can end up with some expensive and useless recordings – which will make you angrier than you were before.
So far I’ve used the term “Meditation Machine” exclusively; yet this is misleading in itself. The sounds that mess with your brain to make you feel relaxed and creative can actually be downloaded as MP3s, as well as purchased tangibly as futuristic looking Meditation Machines, which come with glasses that beam epilepsy-inducing flashing lights into your eyes too.
Having used both extensively, I actually think you’re better off getting the downloadable meditation MP3s – they’re cheaper, you get instant access, you can choose programmes you specifically require, you don’t look like an uber-geek with big specs on, and, did I mention, they’re much cheaper. You’re looking at circa $10-20 for a 30 minute download – with deals on packages of a few – whilst a Meditation Machine costs anywhere from $200-500 for 10 – 20 recordings pre-installed.
You can put the MP3s on your iPod too and take them everywhere – good for commuting, flights, waiting rooms, using before bed. They are also a little bit more discreet than pulling out your funky Star Trek kit with glasses every time you want to relax! So, unless you want another machine to carry around, or you really want to buy in bulk, my advice is to stick to the downloads.
To further complicate matters, “Brainwave Entrainment” – the description for all technologies that help your brain to change state – are further broken down into sub-categories, the most impressive and effective being “Binaural Beats” and “Isochronic Tones”.
BB have been the most well-known recently, and most of my recordings take the format of BB. Recently, however, Isochronic Tones took to the scene, and are being described as “Binaural Beats on Steroids”.
Naturally sceptical, I gave them a go, and it’s true – it appears as if Isochronic Tones are more powerful than BB, and are gentler on the ears too. I may just be buying into the propaganda, however, and I know you’ll get powerful results from both. There are only subtle differences between the two, but if you want more information check out my separate articles on Binaural Beats and Isochronic Tones.
All that’s left to say is – enjoy your adventure. Everyone experiences different results with Meditation Machines technology, but almost all enjoy the trip. They rarely get boring either, as you end up on a different adventure or exploration almost every time. In terms of usage – I use them 3-5 times a week (most weeks), although you can use them as often as you like. Most of the recordings are 15-30 minutes in length – making them perfect for use as you drift off to sleep.
A word of warning – these are not for people who are tentative about exploring their own mind or consciousness. They are powerful and may affect you profoundly. At first, they will feel very strong and you may even feel a little uncomfortable as your brain is overruled and sent to sleep, despite you being alert! If you’re interested in NLP, however, it’s likely that you will enjoy using this technology to accelerate your learning, become more self-aware, and break state more easily and effectively.
I hope you enjoy!
PS – The best place I’ve found to get them online – i.e. cheapest, best customer service, best selection and safety of transaction – is Jim’s Unexplainable Store . Just be sure to specify Binaural Beats or Isochronic Tones when you order. Jim will answer any further questions you have, or you can ask me in the comments below.
About the author: Carl Harvey is an NLP Practitioner and entrepreneur on a mission to create a life which earns him lots of money whilst doing something he loves, without having to sell his soul, sit in an office, or basically do anything that he doesn’t want to do. All of this, whilst developing his sense of spirituality, being nice to other people, attempting to use “laws of the universe” to fast-track his success, and spear-heading a personal development revolution, where people take responsibility for creating a life of their choosing all over the world.
Naturally, creating this life takes a bit of trial and error and lots of damage-limitation exercises. Find out how he’s getting on and get some help with your own personal revolution at Personal Development Planet.
