A Mixed-Methods Exploration of Theta-Infused Binaural-Beats Meditation Soundtracks and Their Impact on Positive and Negative Affect, Purpose, and Depressed Mood
My scholarly inquiry was predominantly centered on the intricate interplay between auditory frequencies and their consequential impacts on human physiological and psychological states, a fascination that culminated into the focus of my doctoral dissertation. This rigorous academic exploration significantly contributed to the attainment of my Doctorate in Psychology.
The below video link is a PowerPoint video expressing the results of the Study:
The Inward Connection
This project focused on the positive benefits associated with executing a regular meditative practice. I began by attracting participants from social media using the title The Inward Connection. This title was used because I was asking participants to connect with an often neglected aspect of self to determine if there were any benefits to actively engaging altered states of consciousness.
As participants joined, they were assigned to groups and audio soundtracks designed to guide listeners into deep, relaxed states and onto their inward journey. Participants were expected to listen to the provided meditative soundtracks for a minimum of 20 minutes, four days each week, over a 5-week period, but they listened as often as they liked beyond the four sessions.
This study evolved from the general belief that listening to guided meditations will produce healing effects in the minds and bodies of those who listen to them. To better understand the relevance of this study, one might consider being in a situation where they are actively seeking alternative healing modalities, be that for more profound relaxation, weight loss, ceasing smoking, or relief from anxiety and depression, just to name a few, and they stumbled across a web-post boasting the benefits of guided meditations. There are many varieties of these types of meditations, and they all come with claims that lead readers to believe that these meditations are powerful enough to assist in healing some aspects of the human condition. I ran across these postings often enough to wonder if they work and, if so, to what extent. This led me to this study to better understand the effects of these meditation soundtracks.
The goal of this study was to track the subjective perspectives of our participants over a 5-week period and to allow the collected data to speak about its findings and conclusions. Participants volunteered and were asked to consider their participation here an opportunity to explore their inner world while contributing to science's understanding of binaural-beat-infused meditations. We all have experienced meditative states; the process is quite natural for humans. This became a chance to do it with purpose and intention.
Here's what others are saying about the inward meditation practice
“The inward journey is about finding your own fullness, something that no one else can take away.” Deepak Chopra
“To live happily is an inward power of the soul.” Marcus Aurelius
“At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want.” Lao Tzu
“The first half of life is devoted to forming a healthy ego, the second half is going inward and letting go of it.” C.G. Jung
“Go inwards, find your inner space and suddenly you will find an explosion of light, of beauty, and ecstasy.” Osho
“He who has faith has an inward reservoir of courage, hope, confidence, calmness, and assuring trust that all will come out well.” B.C. Forbes
“Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks inside awakens.” Carl Jung
"Your goal is not to battle with the mind, but to witness the mind." Swami Muktananda
“The intelligent person will go inward first. Before going anywhere else, you will go into your own being. That is the first thing, and it should have the first preference. only when you have known yourself can you go anywhere else. Then wherever you go you will carry a blissfulness around you, a peace, a silence, a celebration.” Osho
“If you want joy, you have to turn inward, because that is where it is generated.” Sadhguru
“The next time you sense strong emotions, take some time to put a finger on exactly what you’re feeling. Get quiet, turn inward, and just listen.” Lisa Nichols
Many have expressed benefits achieved through their personal meditation practice. Many meditation techniques are available to choose from, but they all have a similar goal: wholeness. One such practice, Holotropic breath-work, is a meditative technique designed to assist with emotional healing. Holotropic breath-work was developed and coined by Stanislav Grof (1998) as being “oriented toward wholeness or moving in the direction of wholeness” (p. 2). Grof found a connection between breath, meditation, and wholeness. Grof declared that “holotropic suggested that in our everyday state of consciousness, we are fragmented and identify with only a small fraction of who we really are” (p. 2). It is apparent that Grof believes that for humans to understand what it means to be whole, they must develop and embrace a meditative practice in which they go inward and explore the altered states of consciousness that arise within.
To better understand the idea of an altered conscious state, contemplate the last time you found yourself in a daydream. Daydreaming is a normal part of human existence. Scientifically speaking, daydreaming is associated with alpha brainwave signals, and this state is known for its creativity. Make sense? Daydreaming is a creative altered state of consciousness. There are other conscious states, but I won't bore you with those details here. What's important to know here is that within the altered conscious space, we begin to explore our inward connection between that which we believe we are, the judgmental programming that often clouds thinking, and the essence of who we truly are, sentient eternal beings.
As already mentioned, meditation is not unusual; humans have used meditation to enter trance states throughout history. In fact, meditation can be described as an ancient human spiritual practice, whereas a practitioner (you) learns to settle the mind through the conscious effort of remaining aware of breath, bodily sensations, and the thoughts that come and go. When most contemplate the word meditation, an image of sitting still, eyes closed, and counting breaths might come to mind. According to Lev (1995), meditation is “called by a variety of names – dhyana, zazen, hitbodedut, contemplation, prayer, and has existed throughout history in many traditions” (p. 2). In other words, meditation is any process by which the practitioner goes inward, perhaps to explore thoughts, feelings, and emotions, which can happen throughout various daily activities. If you think about it for a second, I'm sure many of you can testify as having gone inward while weeding your garden, painting art, or simply walking silently down a forest path. How about those times when you drove from point A to point B and thought to yourself, "I don't remember the journey?" Well, you were experiencing an alternative, but a very normal, human-conscious state. Here, in this study, we hoped to purposely introduce these normal, natural, alternative human conscious states by the implementation of a theta-infused binaural-beat meditative protocol. I'll speak more on binaural beats and theta frequencies shortly.
The process by which humans explore thoughts, feelings, and emotions, is often done from a conscious waking state, but the results of waking conscious thinking are often in response to learned programming, a loop of programmed responses to every event. Have you noticed the patterned responses in your life? Humans tend to perceive all things through their own custom-filtered programming, and this programming often clouds one’s perception of the world around them. For example, our judgment on any given situation, good or bad, often prevents us from seeing the situation for what it really is because the judgment has already concluded good or bad.
Our thoughts are clouded by what we believe to be correct in every situation, but what if we are not correct? What if our inability to see the situation clearly keeps us trapped in a programmed cycle that prevents us from living life to the fullest? What if the clouded thought process that we experience life from is the root cause of the experiences causing us to seek healing? If this is true, if our clouded judgment is the cause of our ailments, how do we then begin to see past the cloud so as to witness life more clearly without the clouded judgments we project upon it? There are many who believe that the meditative state provides an alternative way of perceiving the world in which we live. Perhaps this is what Albert Einstein (2012) meant when he stated, “We cannot solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them” (p. 3). One of the well-known, but not wholly understood forms of alternative human thinking occurs during the meditative practice, while submerged within a meditative trance state. General consensus suggests that the benefits of meditating are worth the effort. Therefore, I invited participants to join me on this quest to better understand theta-infused binaural-beat meditative soundtracks and their impact on those who listen.
Einstein, A. (2012). Albert Einstein Quotes. Retrieved from BrainyQuote.com. http://www.rarre.org/documents/einstein/Collected%20Quotes%20from%20Albert%20Einstein-2.pdf
Grof, S. (1998). The transpersonal vision the healing potential of nonordinary states of consciousness. Sounds True.
Grof, S. (2012). Revision and re-enchantment of psychology: Legacy of half a century of consciousness research. The Journal, 44(2), 137.
Lev, D. (1995). Focused attention: The impact of concentrative meditation on cognitive control and altered states of consciousness.. https://search.proquest.com/openview/ad05daf632ce5f128b785644219e3471/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y
Research Results
A Mixed-Methods Exploration of Theta-Infused Binaural-Beats Meditation Soundtracks and Their Impact on Positive and Negative Affect, Purpose, and Depressed Mood
