Music is Healing – Binaural Beats

You wake up and instantly you feel low. You’re not sure why. The morning is a struggle until you find a way to transform the mood or feeling. I know personally that prior going to work or starting a project all the fears and anxieties can rise up inside and feel overwhelming.

You may know that feeling well when you get a wave of stress and thought of what if and what not. Jumping in the shower some of that anxiety ebbs and water is indeed a great way to wash away negative thoughts and feelings.

This is why spiritual and shamanic rituals are usually preceded by washing and wearing clean clothes.

When you eventually get on the train or into the car or on the underground to work, that worry and stress might decrease even more.

Finally arriving at work things may go better than you actually anticipated and suddenly your fears and tension evaporate into thin air.

Now the point is that tension and stress is natural to a degree – science shows us that in our biological make up, it is in our DNA to have a certain amount of stress as warning as to what could go wrong in life.

Now our ancestors needed this natural instinct to stay alive and be alert so as to ward off attacks from dangerous animals in the wild or aggression from other humans.

In the modern era our dangers are slightly less life threatening, but nevertheless that inate fear sense of anxiety and stress is part of our biological defence from threats in our environment.

The difference between natural stress and overwhelming anxiety is when we cannot manage and the fear and worry is so great that it incapacitates us mentally and/or physically. At this stage we are suffering from extreme anxiety.

Now I am no doctor or scientist, so I cannot explain the science to you of what is happening to our bodies, but the methods I have learned over the years for dealing with anxiety were based on getting up and out and being active.

Exercise and work stimulate happy chemicals in the body which in turn reduce our stress levels. Sitting at home hiding from the world and constantly worrying can compound your anxiety even more.

Get out there and mix with the world, be busy and active. A busy and active life will help you process your worries much more easily than sitting at home stagnating.

That doesn’t mean when you have a really bad experience or become overwhelmed with life that you don’t in fact withdraw from your normal routine and take a day out of your normal routine in solitude.

We all love to have a duvet day or some ‘me time’. But as a rule staying active keeps our brains relaxed and content.

The other extreme is becoming overindulgent in work and addicted to working, which can have the opposite effect of burnout and stress.

Coupled with an active and busy life, I have used music and especially drum beats as a way to relax over the last 25 years. Shamanic drumming audios as mentioned in my earlier blog post can have a very relaxing and positive effect on your brain waves releasing creativity and calming you down.

But the other fascinating source of relaxation music I use is binaural beats. Binaural beats are basically beats within music set at various frequencies in Hertz or HZ. They are designed to help you relax and alter your brainwaves to induce peace, calm, sleep, creativity and so forth.

“ Researchers believe these changes occur because thebinaural beats activate specific systems within the brain. An electroencephalogram (EEG) that recorded the electrical brain activity of people listening to binaural beats showed that the effect on a person’s body varied according to the frequency pattern used.”

Source: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/320019.php

Binaural beat means that a person hears a different frequency in a sound between their left and right ears and this induces an effect on the brain.

The frequency of the waves is lower than 1000 hertz for the brain to pick up on them. The main types are:

1) Delta waves: Frequency between 0.1 and 4 HZ. Basically the waves associated with dreamless sleep.

2) Theta waves: Set at a frequency between 4 and 8HZ. These are the waves associated with Rapid Eye Movement or REM sleep which we need to be rejuvenated.

3) Alpha waves: at a frequency of 8 to 13 HZ. The levels which can induce relaxation.

4) Beta waves: set between 14 and 100HZ and normally linked to concentration and focus.

Binaural beats music can assist in reducing your stress and anxiety levels, helping you focus and concentrate on work and activities and unlocking creativity.

They can also help you to meditate and destress and develop your self-confidence and motivation.

Personally, I find them extremely useful for focusing as I have a very busy mind. My favourite recording for work is:

For relaxation and deep sleep (and insomnia) I would recommend:

For happiness and endorphin release try this one:

Whilst the scientific research linked to binaural beats is in its infancy, you can read more about the founder of binaural beats and how it works and affects your body at this link:
https://www.binauralbeatsmeditation.com/the-science/

I hope this article helps you to overcome the stress and strains of everyday life and the next time you wake up feeling low and stressed or any time of the day or night, you can reach for your headphones and play 15 minutes of your favourite binaural beats to transform those negative brainwaves!

Have a look around You Tube because there is lots of binaural beat music to choose from.