Let me check your pulse ...

The plusses of pulses

In fact, why go to all the trouble of creating binaural beats by setting up a tone in one ear and another, slightly different, tone in the other ear and make your brain do the work of reconciling those two tones with the perceived binaural beat? Why not just send pulses or beats to the brain that are equal to the brain state we're interested in?

Good question!

Brainwave entrainment has many early manifestations. A drum circle, chanting and staring at a fire were ways that our ancestors may have experienced the phenomenon. In fact, many ancient cultures used drums to enter deeply relaxed "trances" during rituals.

Monaural beats, or pulses, as opposed to binaural beats, can be used very effectively, and without the need for headphones.

 Long-time users of brainwave entrainment products may find this strange, since headphones are such a traditional part of the brainwave entrainment experience. The truth is, however, that headphones have never been necessary for use with anything except binaural beats, which deliver a slightly different tone to each ear. But any repeating stimulus can entrain the brain - pulses of sound, light, physical vibrations or even electricity.

This graph shows "isochronic" waves, from the Transparent Corporation website. I am very impressed with the Transparent Corp. website. There's tons of great information there, and a real feeling of advancement into this field. The other day, I spent about four hours reading that site and related sites. You can learn more about Transparent Corp. and what's available there on this page.

On a Quest ...

What are the chances of this? I live in a small city in the middle of Kansas (population: 50,000), and who should I find here but a veritable expert in this field: Carlisle Bergquist, creator of Vantage Quest. I spoke with him recently about binaural beats and altered states of consciousness, and he showed me around his studio, where he hopes to continue making recordings that bring people to a state of reverie. So far, one CD has been produced, Vantage Quest VI, and it is powerful!

From his CD notes, "Vantage Quest differs from other methods of altering consciousness because it excites a broad range of frequencies in a harmonic pattern.

This produces exceptional clarity along with deep relaxation. ... Vantage Quest has been clinically tested and shown to enhance creativity as demonstrated in Originence, or original thinking, and Divergent Thought production."

What Carlisle suggests is to use Vantage Quest as a tool for "applied reverie" and let your experiences speak for themselves.

Whereas on many binaural beat CDs the beats are masked by waves or rain, there's no mistaking the pulse in the Vantage Quest CD. It is strong and vibrant, and definitely has an effect. More about this here: Vantage Quest.