A medical researcher at Mount Sinai Hospital, Dr. Gerald C. Oster, discovered in the early 1970’s that all of these brainwave patterns could be induced by entraining the brain with binaural beat frequencies. Since that time, a number of commercial brainwave entrainment products have been released to the public. The research since that time seems to indicate that daily exposure to such entrainment activates a neurological response, in which the neuroplasticity of the brain and nervous system facilitates a semi-permanent change in order to more easily reproduce the state or states being induced.

One of these companies marketing such products, Centerpointe Research Institute (manufacturer of the Holosync Solution), discovered a way of utilizing binaural beats more strategically in order to more easily and consistently facilitate this neurological response. While other companies were focused mainly on creating specific brainwave patterns, Centerpointe founder, Bill Harris, discovered the value of paying attention to how they are created. Though the frequency of the binaural beat was important to entraining the brain, he thought, the actual carrier frequency used to deliver the binaural beat was even more important. Why? Remember the AM radio waves? The lower in frequency they are, the more powerful they are.

Whereas most manufacturers paid little attention to the actual carrier frequency used in delivering the binaural beats, Centerpointe created a program which started by strategically using a specific low carrier frequency, designed to deliver a consistent “push” to the brain and nervous system, effectively and safely encouraging re-configuration to higher levels of order and complexity. The program was strategically designed in the sense that the ability of the brain and nervous system to respond to incoming stimuli and reorganize at higher-order levels was recognized to be one that could be over-taxed, much like overtraining can result in athletic training.

The first level of the program lasts for four to six months (somtimes longer, depending on the individual), as the participant listens to the embedded binaural beat soundtrack for an hour per pay. During this time the brain is at first slowly entrained to the beta frequency, then slowly led down through alpha, theta, and then down into the delta brainwave state. After a period of months, when the brain and nervous sytem have been able to fully adjust to the stimuli, the next level of the program can be commenced, which also entrains the brain to the exact same states as the previous level, but with a lower amd more powerful carrier frequency. Centerpointe refers to this process as neural driving.

It has been theorized that the inter-hemispheric communication occuring during prolonged and re-occuring periods of deep hemispheric synchronization leads to the new growth of neural connections between the hemispheres, as well as new synaptic connections and dendrritic growth, all of which responses imply that the brain and nervous system are indeed reconfiguring at higher levels of order. As Harris surmises, this illustration is congruent with Nobel prize-winner Ilya Prigogine’s discovery that open systems--also known as dissipative structures--actually evolve by maintaining a state of non-equilibrium by allowing an inflow of information and entropy, continuously dissipating the entropy into the environment. When the flow of incoming entropy becomes greater than the system’s ability to disperse it, either the system becomes overwhelmed and dies, or it spontaneously reconfigures to an entirely new level of order, an order easily capable of handling the entropy that once confused and overwhelmed it. This spontaneous reconfiguration is known as a bifurcation.

In like manner, Harris believes, as the subsonic power of binaural beat frequencies are introduced into the brain and nervous system, entropy gradually builds (particularly when the aforementioned strategic and systematic lowering of the carrier frequency is employed) until the system begins to feel overwhelmed, at which time a bifurcation emerges. This bifurcation has at least two components: exterior and interior. The exterior bifurcation, as already mentioned, consists of the emergence of greater complexity in the brain and nervous system. Likewise, the corresponding interior bifurcation consists of greater development in self-concept (i.e., ego development), values, affects, stress response, and world view, among other interior constructs.

My History With Brainwave Entrainment Technology

I first became aware of brainwave entrainment technology when researching alternative methods for treating the bipolar disorder I had been unsuccessfully living with my entire adult life. I eventually learned a method of releasing difficult emotions on the spot, which I then practiced extensively, and consequently found it easier and even desirable to meditate for fairly lengthy periods of time. Though I took up meditation as a serious daily practice and experienced many undeniable benefits, I nonetheless intermittently experienced life-debilitating bouts of mania and severe depression, often resulting in chaotic mixed states and an inability to maintain daily social functions. During these times, it became nearly impossible to sit in meditation.


Rather than discontinuing my meditation practice altogether, I instead began researching methods of increasing the effectiveness of meditative practice. This seemed an inevitable decision for me in light of the undeniable improvements I had witnessed in response to previous experience with meditation. This resulted in my eventual re-discovery of brainwave entrainment technology. I had used a few different such products previously, but none that seemed effectively designed to meet my specific needs. After deciding to try Centerpointe Research Institute’s Holosync Solution, I found it to greatly assist me in producing all of the previously experienced benefits of meditation, but in a shorter period of time and in a much more focused manner.


After nearly two years of daily use of this brainwave entrainment technology (which now consists of the Metanoia system), I now enjoy a quality of life--without medication--that once seemed quite impossible for me. I do not say this lightly. Not only do I enjoy a fulfilling life, I’ve also experienced what seems like significant development in self-concept, values, interpersonal skills, creativity, accelerated learning, intuition, ability to handle stressful situations, self-esteem, sense of purpose, and social awareness.


However, I do not give sole credit for my recovery to brainwave entrainment technology and meditation alone. Since I realized that I had to make a commitment to become completely involvemed in my own recovery, I also came to see that serious work on my cognitive framework and emotional dynamics was equally as important in facilitating genuine development.



© Eric Thompson 2007