'now we'll go to your happy place...'
 

a few days ago i saw a sports physc, we learnt all about bringing your brainwaves down to 'alpha' level, in which the mind cannot tell the difference between real and imagined, kind of like, controlled dreaming. this is great for controlling your mind and overcoming pain. sounds stupid?

we were taught how to work your mind as an alarm clock, as when you are sleeping and you are woken suddenly (alarm clock), the brain jumps from delta to beta stage (skipping theta and alpha) - this is why many people often feel bad when they wake up. a natural wake up allows your brain to pass through all stages/speeds of the brain, therefore you feel much more refreshed and have a better overall sleep.

the last two mornings i have had to wake up at 6:30 and 7:30, using techniques learnt from the phsyc, i have woken up at 6:12 and 7:24. tomorow is the real challange, a 4:30 get up. i shall enter my 'favourite place' tonite (a virtual place in my mind that was constructed at the phsyc session), and tell my brain to wake up at 4:30, will it work? that we shall find out....

interesting theory. You gotta show me how to do it.

Interesting stuff, man. I love learning about "mind over body" type things. If I'm not mistaken, this alpha state you speak of is also responsible for the success of guided meditations and prayers for healing that were discussed in another thread here recently. Unfortunately much of the literature on these subjects has a new-age slant that leaves a very bad taste in my mouth, but that doesn't stop me from looking for new sources on this kind of thing.

I don't think you need to be shown...I've had the ability to use a mental "alarm clock" for some time now, and I never had to study anything regarding technique, or how the brain works, or anything like that...all I need to do is make sure to consciously think about what specific time I want to wake up at before I go to sleep, and I will wake up at my predetermined time, generally with a margin of error of < 5 mins. I don't use the mental wake up method that frequently though, usually only when I have a test/other important thing the next day, or when I want to take a nap for x amount of time...otherwise I just use my electronic alarm clock and let my brain think that it's going to be allowed to sleep for as long as it wants (though this tends to make it hard to get up...when I do it the internal way, getting up is quite easy).

There was a discussion about this about a year or so ago, dealing with different colors of sound, and their affect on the mind. It's possible, by unfocusing your mind, to synchronize your brainwaves with the frequency of a sound. There's of course white noise, but also brown and pink noises, which correspond to delta and alpha states (or something like that). Freaky stuff... you can totally zonk out listening to the stuff. Some people lose control over their bodily functions when listening to these noises, and soil themselves :weird:

Nah, that's just because the financial incentives cause a lot of elderly folk to sign up for these experiments. :D

Yep, and also, it's impossible for the brain to "sync" with white noise, as by definition white noise is composed of sound that contains a uniform "amount" of all frequencies across the audible spectrum, so there is no dominant frequency to sync with. I forget whan the official definitions of brown/pink/other noises are, although I do remember that the help secion of Cool Edit Pro contained a part which explained what all these things were, and what they could be used for (CEP also had a "brainwave synchronization" filter that you could use...I played around with it and didn't notice any weird things happening...). I don't think your brain can "sync" with any of them, because the frequencies of even the lowest audible sounds are still generally well above normal brainwave frequencies..

well, all this talk about sync'n is very relevant in the matter of getting your brain to alpha stage. the first part of the process in to close your eyes and picture a big movie screen, as vividley as possible, then mentally drawing the number 3 on it over and over, while tensing and relaxing your body in sync with deep breaths. that way, you sync both side of your brain (creativity and analyticsl). which means both sides of your brain are firing signals at the same time. you continue to count down to 2 and finally 1. at the same time as counting down, you are supposed to touch finger and thumb (right hand on 3, left hand on 2, both on 1).

Continueing on you mentally walk down a set of 10 stairs, each step falling deeper into a relaxation state. then opening a door to your favourite place. although i do not really recomend doing this on your own. it may help to do it all in a group talked through it by a professional - if you want to get the full advantages, as i am skipping through many steps.


this state of mind is so powefull that there are many stories about famous people who got themselves into this state. people that have gotten into this state while jogging and jogged off cliffs (no joke).

a few years ago there was a documented death of a man freezing to death after he locked himself in a freezer van, knowing his fate he decided to help mankind and document his death. a few days later his mates opened the door to find their friend dead and the best documented freezing death written all over the walls. the thing that you must know, is that the freezer van was never turned on, and remained a steady temperature the whole time. that is how powefull the mind is, the man truley believed he was going to freeze to death. so he did.

Thomas Edison did all his problem solving and inventions while holding onto a rock above a tin bucket. He would get himself into the state of alpha while holding onto the rock, if he got too deep and fell asleep the rock would drop and wake him up.

Einstein did similar, he would walk around princeton university in alpha state. often becoming lost, the university installed phone booths so he could continue his problem solving, calling the operater when he was lost.

I can easily get into an alpha state by counting my breaths. I say "one" when I breath in and "one" when I breath out... "two" in, "two" out. I usually never make it to 10. Last night I was able to make it into an extremely deep state and there were times when I was seeing and feeling color explosions. It was awesome. From my experience, once you beging to enter this meditative state, your mind starts to distract you by flashing visions of neat stuff in front of your mind's eye. The only way to go deeper is to ignore these and focus on nothing. After I start to go really deep, it gets kind of scary and being afraid sends you out of the deep state very quickly. Btw, has anyone ever heard loud snaps or pops when meditating like this?

I used to do a Yoga class at IYI when I lived in NYC. It always ended with a meditation in the yogic "corpse pose." Most times I only experienced deep relaxation, but one time I actually had the sensation of no longer being in the room I was in, or even in my body. I heard very distincly, and unguided by me, members of my family talking and arguing as if they were in the very same room with me. I experienced a sensation of being no-where, as if my body were floating in space without gravity as opposed to laying on the ground.

I have been able to acheive this type of state many times, using various methods, at times experiencing things so profound that I hesitate to put them into words because they sound trite. The mind is an interesting place. :)

That happened to me once when I had a fairly severe stomach virus which required that I visit a hospital...they hooked me up to an IV of some chemical and I would begin to doze off and then right before I'd reach unconsciousness I'd realize that I wasn't in my normal bed and that I had no idea where I was so I'd jump up, look around the room in a state of panic, and then slowly (it seemed to take as much as 30 seconds at times) remember where I was and why, at which point I would lay back down and try to go to sleep again, only to have the same thing happen over and over...it must have happened 30 or 40 times before I left the hospital, and it was NOT a fun experience...I prefer being in my correct frame of mind, thank you very much.

Your ears aren't the only method through which to sense vibrations.

As for being at the edge of consciousness... I had the exact same experience when I was in the hospital, hooked up to IV tubes. Very unsettling.

my guess as to the reason it was unsettling is because you were not aware of what was happening to you and the drugs were not letting you control yourself. the whole point of it is to control your subconcious mind. and by the looks i have not yet seen the full advantages of this. i am very eager to attend my next class...