Modern research in neuroscience has

The short end of the stick is that all inner change or personal transformation happens at a deeper level of consciousness. No matter how brilliant our thoughts and ideas are, they are not sufficient to bring about real change. When it comes down to making powerful and positive shifts in our life, knowledge by itself is superfluous. That means that you can conceptually and rationally grasp the secrets of the universe but you can only put them into practice by integrating them into your totality of self.

The idea of course is nothing new. Ancient spiritual practices such as meditation and Yoga or modern practices such as hypnosis and neuro linguistic programming (NLP) have at their core the common goal of accessing deeper levels of consciousness and using those states to reprogram the mind. Deep healing, intuition, tapping into your amazing source of creativity and changing counterproductive beliefs are some of the things that are easily achievable through tuning into your deeper states of mind.

The Unconscious that is very Conscious and well Connected

Psychology talks about the notion of the subconscious and unconscious as facets of our psyche that lie beneath the threshold of conscious thought and reasoning. I prefer to use what Robert Wagonner refers to as ‘the conscious unconscious’ in his book ‘Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the Inner Self’. Ultimately these are just labels to parts of ourself we know very little of, but I choose Wagonner’s term  because it implies that there is a vast part of ourself which rather than being unconscious or subconscious, it is wiser, larger and more conscious of the bigger picture than our waking states of consciousness can ever be. I also like how dream therapist Robert Moss talks about the big self and the little self – The big self comprises those deeper levels of our consciousness which are ultimately connected to the source and to everything else, hence why many refer to it as our divine infinite self, our spirit or our multidimensional being.

What’s the Frequency Kenneth?

Modern research in neuroscience has been discovering facts that merge with or complement  ancient knowledge and wisdom. One interesting area of research is that of brain waves and how they correlate to states of mind and levels of consciousness. Brain waves are practically waves that are produced by the synchronised electrical pulses when clusters of brain neurons are communicating with each other. There are 4 basic types of brain waves.

The Hyper Intensive Beta Brain Waves (12 to 38 Hz)

These waves are dominant in our normal waking consciousness when attention is directed to cognitive tasks and the outside world. It is connected to problem solving, decision making, complex thinking and even anxiety and excitement. These brain states are very energy intensive.

The Chilled out Alpha Brain Waves (8 to 12 Hz)

These waves are emitted when you are in a relaxed and calm state and when you are anchored in the present moment. This state aids learning and mind/body integration.

The Twilight Theta Brain Waves (3 to 8 Hz)

Theta waves occur when we are drifting off in sleep and also present in deep meditation. Theta waves usually accompany intuition and vivid imagery. This state facilitates deep learning and memory and holds information beyond our normal waking consciousness.

The Deep Delta Brain Waves (0.5 to 3 Hz)

Delta waves are the slowest and loudest waves of the spectrum. they occur during deep meditation and dreamless sleep. They promote healing and regenerative processes.

Riding on those Brain Waves

Seeing it from a more scientific point of view, accessing deeper levels of consciousness entails entering into states of mind that correspond to the Alpha, Theta and Delta brainwave range below the threshold of waking consciousness (Beta brainwaves).  At these levels, the mind can be conditioned to deep learning, intentions, self-healing, re-patterning behaviours and accessing deep self-knowledge.

How can we alter our Brain Waves?

There are various ways. As you might have guessed, meditation is one of the oldest practices to tune into deeper levels of consciousness. Shamans, for instance, use drumming to get into trance states while many other different forms and techniques have been created by people and traditions to tune the mind into different bandwidths of brainwaves.

A modern tool which is used by many, including myself, is brainwave entrainment. This basically means listening to sounds called binaural beats which induce the brain to attune to certain frequencies, for example alpha and Theta waves. There are many available resources on the internet and I have tried loads of them myself. I ultimately recommend the ones which have been engineered and produced with high quality by researchers and professionals such as Omharmonics.

Omharmonics includes a number of tracks which are tailored for different levels of meditative states and each has a shorter version – ideal for those quick sessions. The sound quality is impressively good and you can download the tracks on your favourite Mp3 player and the program is optimised to work beautifully on iPhone, iPad and iPod.

I got the tool – how do I use it?

Listening to binaural beats will get you as far as entering into deeper levels of consciousness. What you do with that is open to you. Firstly you need to understand that once you go beneath your waking consciousness (Beta waves) and go past the alpha waves, whatever you focus your mind on will be worked upon on hyperdrive. This is essentially the true power of the ‘conscious unconscious’.

You can for instance change your mood in an instant or visualise and set your intention on something and boom, it will be shot like an arrow towards a target. In those deep levels, I have many times even relieved pain or asked for a creative solution to a problem and most of the time got more than what I expected. The power that can be accessed at that level is truly tremendous.

Here are some other quick suggestions of what you can do by focusing on an issue in those states of mind: 

• Reconcile past issues and troubling inner conflicts
• Increase awareness
• Change a habit
• Set goals
• Improve a skill
• Increase creativity
• Improve a relationship
• Understanding your Life purpose
• Get mentally prepared for an important event