A lot of readers have contacted me to ask about Binaural Beats, and whether they help with Astral Projection.

Everyone likes short-cuts – I guess we all sometimes want to find that shiny, magic button that will instantly achieve our goal for us.

The truth of the matter is that Binaural Beats can be extremely beneficial to the student of Astral Projection and Lucid Dreaming, just not as much as some people would have you believe.

Certainly, Binaural Beats (along with the alternative Monaural Beats and Isochronic Tones) can help you to reach a depth of meditation that is simply impossible for many people.

Traditionally, years of practice, discipline and dedication have been necessary to reach the deepest trace states.

But it’s now possible to meditate like a Zen Master even if you don’t have hours of time to spare each day for your spiritual growth.

However, although these audio technologies will help you to reach the correct trance state, they won’t get you projecting all by themselves…

Here’s why:

There are several stages to mastering OBE’s:

1. Physical Relaxation – without this, you’re unlikely to reach a suitable trance-state.
2. Attaining a Deep Trance state – it is this stage where Binaural Beats can help
3. Achieving Exit from the Body – this is where you a) learn the actual techniques that will allow you to Project, and b) learn to recognize the signs that you’re about to have an OBE
4. Remembering, and learning from your experiences, successes and failures.

So, you see, Binaural Beats can only ever play one part in your success. You’ll still have to do some of the heavy lifting!

That being said, learning to induce a deep trance is for many people one of the most difficult and unnatural parts of mastering Astral Projection.

And anything that can give you such a huge head-start has got to be worth a go, right?

What Are Binaural Beats?

One definition of binaural beats or binaural tones, is that they are auditory processing artifacts, or apparent sounds, caused by specific physical stimuli.

Physicist Heinrich Wilhelm Dove discovered, back in 1839, that when one tone of one frequency was played into one ear, while a tone with a different frequency was played into the other ear, a strange effect occurred.

To reconcile the two, conflicting, sounds, the mind of the subject “creates” a third tone, that is the exact difference between the the other two tones.

An example given at the Immrama Institute is this:

For example, if a frequency of 100 Hz is presented to your left ear, and a frequency of 105 Hz is presented to your right ear, your brain “hears” a third frequency pulsing at 5 Hz, the exact difference between the two frequencies.

FAQs

How Do Binaural Beats Work?

If binaural tones were just a trick our minds play on us when presented with two conflicting sounds, that would be mildly interesting , but not much use to us.

However, what happens as a result of the newly-created tone is quite fascinating.

When the brain starts to “hear” the binaural beat, it also begins to resonate in tune with that beat.

This means that it is possible to create a beat that will cause the brain to resonate at a frequency of your choosing, and guide your mind into activity in any any state you like.

What Are the Benefits of Binaural Beats?

By the process of guiding the mind into a desired state, we are able to improve powers of concentration, improve relaxation…

…and, yes, help us to reach a state of deep trance perfect for Astral Projection!

Are Binaural Beats Safe?

They are very well-tested, and have been found to be very safe.

But there are some instances where you’d be advised to steer clear of them.

Obviously, since they will put you into a deeply-relaxed state, they aren’t suitable for use if you are driving, or operating any kind of dangerous machinery. (But I hope you guessed this already…)

If you suffer from epilepsy, then there is also a chance that binaural beats could trigger a seizure.

Also some of the brain entrainment programs using binaural beats can leave you feeling quite “strung-out” and emotionally-drained. Holosync by Centerpointe is an example of this – it’s an excellent, and highly effective program (although by no means cheap), but is perhaps too intense for anyone with severe emotional problems. At least that’s what I thought.

I’d also add that I am by no means an expert on the safety of binaural beats, and have conducted no studies of my own. So, as with anything, you would be well-advised to do your own research first, if you have any concerns or misgivings.

What Types of Binaural Beats Are There, and What Do They Do?

Alpha – Alpha brain waves are when we are in a state of physical and mental relaxation, but still aware of what is happening. They are helpful for creativity, and also for physical performance.

Beta – Beta brain waves are associated with when we are consciously alert – active concentration, active thinking, and also anxiety and paranoia.

Delta – the slowest brain waves that we produce, associated with deep, dreamless sleep and lack of consciousness.

Gamma – the fastest brain wave, associated with peak concentration and consciousness. There are studies that suggest that applying frequencies in the gamma wave band to sleeping people can trigger lucidity.

Mu – These are related to learned motor-actions. There’s some interesting research happening here…

Theta – This is the area we’re primarily interested in. Theta waves can aid deep meditation, dreaming, the subconscious mind, and creativity.

How to Listen to Binaural Beats

To listen to binaural beats, you’ll need to use head-phones, to properly separate the two frequencies. If both ears hear both sounds, the brain does not feel the need to create the missing tone. Some people find that it’s impossible to relax fully wearing headphones. In which case Isochronic Tones and Monaural Beats will probably be a much better idea for you, as they work with or without headphones.

A lot of people find the sound of a pure binaural tone quite unpleasant, so commercially available mp3s will usually have some natural sounds added to the track, like rain, river sounds, bird-song or other relaxing, ambient sounds.

The volume of the beats doesn’t really make much difference, so they can be mixed quite low, so all you’re really conscious of is the ambient sounds that are in the foreground.

YouTube has lots of free binaural beats – unfortunately the sound quality is not always very good, and so far I haven’t found many that actually work; but it’s not a bad place to start. (I write a bit more about why I don’t really recommend YouTube for Binaural Beats, here…)

Conclusion

Binaural beats can definitely play a role in helping you to learn to induce an out-of-body experience.

It’s certainly not the only way – I didn’t have access to this kind of technology when I started learning, and nor did most other practitioners.

But it can clearly speed the process up, and help you to reach the correct trance-state much, much faster. And I believe that with the ever-increasing distractions that modern life brings, most people will find some short-cuts might be helpful.

Don’t let this become the only way of meditating, however. Meditation is supposed to be a life-skill, and not reliant on technology.