Interested in brainwave entrainment? In this article, we’ll define what brainwave entrainment is, its history and the benefits you can get from it. Finally we’ll tell you how you can experience brainwave entrainment yourself using only your smartphone and the Lumenate app (free to download)!
What is brainwave entrainment?
If you’ve ever been interested in drug-free ways to shift your state of consciousness, you might have heard the word ‘entrainment’ mentioned in your research. But what is it, and how does it help you to explore your mind in a deeper and more meaningful way?
Timo Schmidt, Researcher and Lecturer of Cognitive Neuroscience at Freie Universität Berlin defines brainwave entrainment as ‘synchronisation of brain oscillations with periodic external driving stimulation’.
In other words, brainwave entrainment is when a sudden sensory input, e.g. a flashing light, causes neurons in the brain to react and fire in response. When the flashing is repeated at a given frequency, the neurons adjust their natural rhythm to synchronise with that of the input. By softly influencing these rhythms, it is possible to safely guide the brain into a desired state in such a way that once the flashing is removed, the brain almost instantly returns to its normal patterns, halting any effects. It’s what we do here at Lumenate using the flash from your mobile phone, pairing with carefully curated music. As we’ll discuss later, brainwave entrainment isn’t limited to just vision, other senses such as auditory (notably through binaural beats, see more below) and even touch can be used too.
Who can use brainwave entrainment and is it safe?
Almost all people should be able to benefit from brainwave entrainment in their own way. That’s what’s so wonderful about this type of subconscious exploration! You have complete control over the duration of your entrainment sessions and can stop the experience whenever you like.
Later on in this article, we’ll discuss the science behind how entrainment works and why it’s the best way to quickly explore your mind, while also staying in control of the experience.
Some exceptions include those diagnosed with certain types of epilepsy or specific medical conditions. For more information, take a look at our medical risk info sheet listed within the Lumenate app. If you’re worried about getting started, we’ll be happy to help answer any questions or ease concerns – just send us an email here.
What are the benefits?
People turn to brainwave entrainment and other forms of consciousness altering experiences for many different reasons. Some look to it to deepen their meditations, others turn to it to help reduce stress and anxiety or to sleep better. Some just want to experience immersive and colourful closed eye visual hallucinations while remaining in complete control.
Brainwave entrainment can also be used as a means of self discovery; a vehicle to open up the doors to your mind and explore whatever feelings and emotions follow.
A brief history of visual brainwave entrainment and the cultural impact of the Dream Machine
There’s a long history of individuals who have experimented with light and flicker hallucinations throughout the pre-scientific era. This includes a popular tale of Catherine de Medici inviting Nostradamus to her court to make predictions for her and her family. He would look at the sun through his closed eyes and make predictions through held up fingers making shadows.
While scientific literature available on brainwave entertainment is limited, some first articulations of photic stimulation appear in the early 1950’s. W. Grey Walter played a huge role in bringing early concepts of entrainment via stroboscope to the forefront. After his postgraduate studies at Cambridge, Walter pioneered the use of EEG within the field at the Maudsley Hospital, London. He later continued his research at Burden Neurological Institute in Bristol. His book, The Living Brain (1953) highlighted many of his findings using the EEG, including detailed descriptions of his experiments with stroboscopic light.
This book was so compelling with its breakthroughs (and accessibility to the public) that it inspired the development of the Dream Machine during the height of the Beat Generation. Writer William S. Burroughs (famed for writing the seminal Naked Lunch), introduced The Living Brain to avant-garde artist and poet, Brion Gysin (best known for using the cut-up technique in art) and mathematician and technician, Ian Sommerville. Together, they created the Dream Machine, a tool with which Gysin hoped would promote spiritual enlightenment to the masses.
The Dream Machine is cylinder shaped with special slits cut in the sides and a suspended light bulb at its centre. It rotates at 78 revolutions per minute. This rotating light projects light at a constant frequency, causing the neurons in the brain to fire in response. During the experience, participants are meant to “view” with their eyes closed as the light projects onto their faces.
Or as Allen Ginsberg described it, ‘It was like a revolving lampshade with slots in it, so that, as it revolved around a brilliant light, it would flicker on your eyeball and set off, or connect with, your alpha rhythm, in such a way as to create picture-images, (sort of like LSD) if you closed your eyes and leaned into the light.’
Gysin hoped that the Dream Machine would eventually replace ‘drugs, on the one hand, and television on the other.’
In effect, it was not only a chance to get high without actually taking hallucinogens but also it was a way to quickly access your subconscious.
Previous scientific research
Driven by our mission to help people find more fulfilment and meaning in their lives, Lumenate carried out our own extensive research.
After reading hundreds of scientific papers covering different subconscious exploration states such as deep meditation or the use of psychedelics, we found that brainwave entrainment was the one method on the outer brink of scientific research that produced subjective effects way beyond the others.
There were only a few standout research studies done on this particular topic. In the 2019 study EEG signal diversity during stroboscopic hallucinations, the researchers’ findings supported the proposal that ‘EEG signal diversity reflects the diversity of subjective experience that is associated with different states of consciousness’. This means that brainwave entrainment via stroboscopic light frequencies were shown to have some striking similarities in neurological effect to that of other altered states of consciousness such as the psychedelic state.
In the 2021 study, Altered states phenomena induced by visual flicker light stimulation, the researchers also concluded that ‘flicker light stimulation is capable of inducing visual effects with an intensity rated to be similar in strength to effects induced by psychedelic substances and thereby support the investigation of potentially shared underlying neuronal mechanisms.’ In other words, light stimulation was found to bring on semi-psychedelic visually induced effects.
Due to the results of these studies and the limited scientific literature on this effect, we took a brave leap and purchased our own EEG brain scanner. Then we began a vast series of tests to understand the phenomenon of sensory entrainment, and further refine its efficacy.
Our research and the technology we’ve created is now contributing towards research studies on the effects of using Lumenate as a method of inducing an altered state of consciousness at Imperial College London and Freie Universität Berlin.
Imperial College’s research aims to uncover neural mechanisms of visual imagery induced by Lumenate, using high-density EEG. The research also aims at comparing psychedelic experiences induced by DMT and Lumenate, by exploring the psychological and biological mechanisms of both altered states of consciousness. Meanwhile the research at Freie Universität Berlin is using fMRI to better understand the connection between the default mode network and the visual cortex under stroboscopic light conditions induced by Lumenate. This research will help us to not only better understand the mechanisms by which the Lumenate state of consciousness works, but also provide a new perspective on the pathways behind visual imagery.
The benefits of using the Lumenate app for brainwave entrainment
Our mission and purpose for the above research is to inspire people to live more fulfilling lives by helping them explore their subconscious mind. This mission took Lumenate founders Jay and Tom on a long and winding journey. First by understanding how exploring your mind links to fulfilment. Then by working out how to safely and scientifically use modern tech to make these altered state experiences available to the masses. As a first step, we created a prototype light and sound system for a Lumenate group experience, backed by our research with the EEG but providing the communal experience delivered by the Dream Machine. After Covid hit, the team went back to the drawing board, eventually leading us to explore ways to allow people to experience what we’d developed from the comfort of your own home using your mobile phone.
We’ve found that our app offers an experience that sits somewhere between deep meditation and psychedelics, with subjective and neurological data to support this. The experience lets you achieve a profound and immersive altered state of consciousness in a matter of seconds, while also being able to halt any effects once the flashing light is turned off, allowing the brain to quickly go back to its normal rhythms. With a nod to flicker hallucinations of the past, Walter’s EEG breakthroughs, the Dream Machine counterculture experience of the 1960’s blended in with the latest development from the psychedelic therapy research space, we’re taking brainwave entrainment to levels it’s never been before.
Binaural beats
Binaural Beats have become increasingly popular over the years with people turning to them to influence their mind and to help them meditate, focus or sleep better. If you’d like to experience the beats yourself, there are plenty of examples of this type of music on Youtube and many major music streaming services. You can check out this Spotify playlist as a start.
The Sleep Foundation nicely defines Binaural Beats as a ‘perception of sound created by your brain. If you listen to two tones, each at a different frequency and each in a different ear, your brain creates an additional tone you can hear. This third tone is called a binaural beat. You hear it at the frequency difference between the two tones.’ Binaural Beats are often associated as a type of brainwave entrainment, with the sounds helping to influence your overall mood and general demeanor. In fact, many people are now turning to the beats as a type of self-help therapy to treat anxiety and stress.
It’s worth noting, however, that while Binaural Beats do provide some degree of entrainment, a recent study from the Society for Neuroscience concludes that, ‘An auditory illusion thought to synchronise brain waves and alter mood is no more effective than other sounds. The effect reported in other studies might be a placebo but could still have helpful effects for some people.’ So while the sounds may be influential, ultimately they do not provide the neurological or subjective effects that brainwave entrainment is fully capable of.
This is why we suggest that you pair your practice with Binaural Beats, alongside our Lumenate app, which has been shown to move the needle on EEG brainwave entrainment, to maximise the overall effect. We even have sessions (called Choose Your Own Soundtrack, and Choose Your Own Soundtrack: Sleep) where you can sync up music of your choice and pair it with our specialised stroboscopic light sequences to provide a well-rounded immersive experience.
Finding fulfilment and achieving long-term personal goals
As we explained earlier, you can experience the benefits of entrainment almost instantly. However, with practice, you’ll also be able to experience long term benefits that can help towards long lasting personal growth. We’ll explain how you can do this with the Lumenate app below.
During a Lumenate session you’re encouraged to work on setting your intentions before you begin. We offer specially curated sessions that take you through the intention setting step by step, guiding you towards a specific area that is likely to be of high value to you. Each session starts with a specific topic and then works with you through a series of questions to find an individual focus that is relevant to your life at this point.
Once you have your intention, you can start your Lumenate session and with the help of brainwave entrainment fall into a deeply meditative and semi-psychedelic state within seconds, giving you access to your subconscious mind. This state of being allows you to be more present with your thoughts, open to exploring and unearthing complex questions, answers and bringing forth important realisations.
When you identify what it is you need answered, worked on or explored, you can then create an achievable goal to work towards. Once you set the right intentions and work on them consistently, you’ll be on the right path to achieve a freer and more fulfilling life.
Conclusion
Brainwave entrainment opens up the doors to accessing an altered state of consciousness in a matter of seconds. It’s a wonderful way to illuminate your mind and allow you to dig deeper, learning new things about yourself.
If you’re interested in giving it a try, we invite you to download our app and get started (it’s free!). You’ll join a community of over 700,000 other people looking to explore their subconscious and learn new things about themselves.
As always, if you have any questions on how to begin, we’re very happy to help. Just drop us a message here. Happy exploring.
