The Science of Frequency Based Brainwave Entrainment

The "frequency-following response" effect.
The binaural-beat appears to be associated with an electroencephalographic (EEG) frequency-following response in the brain(3). Many studies have demonstrated the presence of a frequency-following response to auditory stimuli, recorded at the vertex of the human brain (top of the head). This EEG activity was termed "frequency-following response" because its period corresponds to the fundamental frequency of the stimulus (Smith, Marsh, & Brown, 1975). Binaural-beat stimulation appears to encourage access to altered states of consciousness.

Resonant entrainment of oscillating systems
Resonant entrainment of oscillating systems is a well-understood principle within the physical sciences. If a tuning fork designed to produce a frequency of 440 Hz is struck (causing it to oscillate) and then brought into the vicinity of another 440 Hz tuning fork, the second tuning fork will begin to oscillate. The first tuning fork is said to have entrained the second or caused it to resonate. The physics of entrainment apply to biosystems as well. Of interest here are the electromagnetic brain waves. The electrochemical activity of the brain results in the production of electromagnetic wave forms which can be objectively measured with sensitive equipment. Brain waves change frequencies based on neural activity within the brain. Because neural activity is electrochemical, brain function can be modified through the introduction of specific chemicals (drugs), by altering the brain’s electromagnetic environment through induction, or through resonant entrainment techniques.

The Discovery Of Binaural Beats
Binaural beats were discovered in 1839 by a German experimenter, H. W. Dove. The human ability to "hear" binaural beats appears to be the result of evolutionary adaptation. Many evolved species can detect binaural beats because of their brain structure. The frequencies at which binaural beats can be detected change depending upon the size of the species’ cranium. In the human, binaural beats can be detected when carrier waves are below approximately 1000 Hz (Oster, 1973). Below 1000 Hz the wave length of the signal is longer than the diameter of the human skull. Thus, signals below 1000 Hz curve around the skull by diffraction. The same effect can be observed with radio wave propagation. Lower-frequency (longer wave length) radio waves (such as AM radio) travel around the earth over and in between mountains and structures. Higher-frequency (shorter wave length) radio waves (such as FM radio, TV, and microwaves) travel in a straight line and can’t curve around the earth. Mountains and structures block these high-frequency signals. Because frequencies below 1000 Hz curve around the skull, incoming signals below 1000 Hz are heard by both ears. But due to the distance between the ears, the brain "hears" the inputs from the ears as out of phase with each other. As the sound wave passes around the skull, each ear gets a different portion of the wave. It is this waveform phase difference that allows for accurate location of sounds below 1000 Hz(9). Audio direction finding at higher frequencies is less accurate than it is for frequencies below 1000 Hz. At 8000 Hz the pinna (external ear) becomes effective as an aid to localization. In summary it’s the ability of the brain to detect a waveform phase difference is what enables it to perceive binaural beats.

How It Works On The Brain
When signals of two different frequencies are presented, one to each ear, the brain detects phase differences between these signals. "Under natural circumstances a detected phase difference would provide directional information. The brain processes this anomalous information differently when these phase differences are heard with stereo headphones or speakers. A perceptual integration of the two signals takes place, producing the sensation of a third "beat" frequency. The difference between the signals waxes and wanes as the two different input frequencies mesh in and out of phase. As a result of these constantly increasing and decreasing differences, an amplitude-modulated standing wave -the binaural beat- is heard. The binaural beat is perceived as a fluctuating rhythm at the frequency of the difference between the two auditory inputs. Evidence suggests that the binaural beats are generated in the brainstem’s superior olivary nucleus, the first site of contralateral integration in the auditory system (Oster, 1973). Studies also suggest that the frequency-following response originates from the inferior colliculus (Smith, Marsh, & Brown, 1975)" (Owens & Atwater, 1995). This activity is conducted to the cortex where it can be recorded by scalp electrodes.

Now in this post so far I've only talked about audable tones presented to the audable ear but in talking about telepathy we're discussing ELF frenquecies that are of an unadable nature but we've shown that the human body can pick up on these frequencies so too the brain uses these frequencies through Brainwave Entrainment. In otherwords, the aura of someone can travel miles and being below the 1000 Hz level, they can travel "around" the Earth and can be picked up through brainwave Entrainment and this is in essence, telepathy. There is more to it but in a nutshell this is how it works on living entities. A living entity creates these electrical waves and our living body picks up these waves and translates them into usable information...
(NOTE): no subject matter of the spirit nature or soul will be discussed or debated as it has no bearing on the facts requarding this matter, as the information being discussed is of a nature that a livng brain emitting electical radiation is being shown to cause the effect of teleapthy in these studies. No study is intended in the future to even entertain the idea of the dead emitting these particular energies, for this subject is of another scope too braod to be studied here.

Sterotropic frequency resonance:
The transference of thoughts can be transmitted through morphic fields to another secluded individual through space and time, called, morphic transcending. In the same manner that a radio can tune in and pick up signals being broadcast from a radio transmitter, so too, a living body can tune in, pick up and receive thoughts transmitted through morphic fields by another living body through direct perception.
One can train the brain to change frequencies to attain specific channels of sterotropic frequency resonance and through meditation, attain an alpha brain wave state that is suitable for reception. Time of day and suitable antenae can be devised for improved hit rates in ongoing varifiable repeatable tests.

You see, our thoughts are fluid and we even hear our thoughts in "stereo" in our heads... Certain frequencies actually wrap around our head and create a frequency harmonic and energies send out from other brains(what one calls an "aura") actually is a set of electrical frequencies that can "chime" within our skull to produce a thought that we can actually hear or see(ever seen a ghost? You can be made to see "ghosts" electronically and in a certain sleep states)

Fractal antenea...
The use of fractals geometry in mathmatics has come a long way in it's field and in using fractals in producing antenea have given you cell phone that don't need a very big antenea!
The hair on your body acts as millions of sensitive antenea (a fractal antenea of sorts)to help pick up and recieve signals emitted from every "Living" thing. Even the bat or dolphin can "see" through hair located on their bodies and we can actaully "hear" through the use of microscopic hair inside of our ears and the hair on the outside of our bodies do their job in the same sense... Even wiskers on animals act as feelers to help an animal "feel" their surroundings... Even our sight is produced by certain hair like tubes that give us our colors and night visions. Hair is an all important pat of our body that is overlooked by m,any a scientist in the study of human nature and communication... Even tests have shown that a fully shaved person has little to no telepathic abilities left until they grow their hair back...

Problems of ELF and what we are overcomming...

One of the difficulties posed when broadcasting in the ELF frequency range is antenna size. This is because the antenna must be at least a substantial fraction of the size (in at least one dimension) of the wavelength of the frequency of EM waves you wish to create. Simply put, a 1 Hz (cycle per second) signal would have a wavelength equal to the distance EM waves travel through your chosen medium in 1 second. For ELF, this is very slightly slower than the speed of light in a vacuum. As used in military applications, the wavelength is ~299,792 km(~187,370 mi) a second divided by 50-85 Hz, which equals around 3,450 km(2,204 mi) to 5,996 km(3,747 mi) long; by comparison, Earth's diameter varies from 12,715 km(7,947 mi, pole to pole) to 12,756 km(7,973 mi, equatorial). Because of this huge size requirement and, to transmit internationally using ELF frequencies, the earth itself must be used as an antenna, with extremely long leads going into the ground. Various other means are taken to construct radio stations with substantially smaller sizes, such as electrical lengthening.

With that said, the Navy uses the Earth as their antenea.

If any one has ever studied fractals(here we go again with the fractals), then you know that a fractal is just a repeating pattern in a smaller and smaller version of the original pattern that infinitely gets smaller with the same pattern. This was the breakthrough of cellphones! The fractal antenea was born and we now have tiny cell phones that get exceptional reception because of these fractal antenea...

With human being made from the Earth(everything man is made of comes from the Earth) Man is but a tiny living fractal of the planet itself and the hair that is on your body is but a harmonic fractal that can pick up these ELF frequencies that travel all around us.

Is man a telepathic being? You bet he is but most people tend to ignore it from an early age and their ability soon atrophies and the voices in their head soon becomes self-centered chatter that one speaks and only listens to himself. School teaches us these patterns and if you have ever played chess, you know that one can play a long series of moves in his head to figure out the outcome of a particular move. This same reasoning can be felt from another source besides ones own "self-talk". Children, at an early age can hone in on other frequencies from other peoples thoughts and most children think they are hearing Ghosts and most soon learn to tune these unfamiliar voices out and not pay any more attention to them... The ones that dwell on this ability are the ones that later on in life become psychics and fortune tellers.

A medium is a good thing but balance the abilities of the medium or they soon start to believe in magic and the supernatural or worse...

Erk. It really doesn't help when your computer craps out on you and you come back to HUGE and NUMEROUS posts to read, but the bright side is that tribe seems to be thriving even during the summer. LOL. Um. I think I have something to say about some stuff I am re-reading. Jung.

My computer is acting really wonky, and I am not sure how long my random, meaningless measures will keep it going. I suspect some transiting Uranus activity since this seems to be a problem that I am hearing is affecting a lot of people in numerous quarters. Let me catch up on the rest of the stuff on standby & I will be back with whatever it was I was thinking about.

The Biophoton Field...

The existence of the biophoton field was scientifically proven by Dr. Fritz-Albert Popp in 1974.

In highly simplistic terms, your biophoton field can be viewed as a highly sophisticated computer that processes, stores and retrieves information that is then used to regulate your biological and psychological processes.

Light
Our essential nature is Light. The bodies through which we experience our world are, in reality, energetic forms of light. Each unique energy field, including the physical and etheric, through the more subtle emotional, mental and causal, are distinct vibrational frequency patterns of light.
Light is also part of the construct of the liquid crystalline collagen fibers that form the connective tissue of the human body. Research has shown this tissue to actually contain the tiny meridians and to be a fundamental communication system of the body, allowing the organism to function as a coherent whole. Biophoton waves of light are even found to be emitted from the nucleus of the living cells and are stored in the helical tubes of the DNA.

Consciousness and the Field
The biophoton field of the living system is comprised of electromagnetic waves of light. The coherence factor inherent in this light field allows it to potentiate and mediate the subtle energetic realms of “mind, psyche and consciousness.”
Consciousness pervades the subtle and dense bodies, transmitting, storing and eventually evolving the experiences of our interactions with life.


Gone are the days when words like “life energy” and “aura” were relegated to a few books in a tiny section of some New Age store. Today, scientists across the world are investigating the energies that propel, and likely even rule, life itself and hence have profound impact on your health.
the human body, especially the face, emits visible light in small quantities that vary during the day.


How Your Biophoton Field Regulates Your Physical Health
The DNA inside each cell in your body vibrates at a frequency of several billion hertz (which is unfortunately the same range at which modern cell phone communication systems also work).
This vibration is created through the coil-like contraction and extension of your DNA -- which occurs several billion times per second -- and every time it contracts, it squeezes out one single biophoton; a light particle.
That photon contains all the information on everything going on in your DNA at that moment. One single biophoton can carry more than four megabytes of information, and relays this information to other biophotons it crosses in the biophoton field outside your body.
All the photons that are emitted from your body communicate with each other in this highly structured light field that surrounds your body.
This light field also regulates the activity of your metabolic enzymes. This corresponds nicely with the findings in the study above that show your light field ebbs and flows along with your metabolic rhythm.
The information transfer on biophotons is bidirectional, which means your DNA sends information out on a photon, and on the same photon the information of all the biophotons from your body is broadcast back to your cells, and to your tubulin, which are light conductive molecules in your connective tissue.
The tubulin, in turn, receives the information-carrying light impulse and conducts it at the speed of light throughout your body, where it is translated inside each cell into activating or inactivating certain metabolic enzymes.

Photonics as a field really began in 1960, with the invention of the laser, followed in the 1970s by the development of optical fibers as a medium for transmitting information using light beams, and the Erbium-doped fiber amplifier. These inventions gave us the telecommunications revolution of the late 20th Century, and provided the infrastructure for the Internet.
Photonics as a field was largely focused on communications, until the dot-com crash circa 2001. However, photonics covers a huge range of science and technology applications, including: laser manufacturing, biological and chemical sensing, display technology, and optical computing.

The laser-like coherence of the biophoton field is a significant attribute, making it a prime candidate for exchanging information in a highly functional, efficient and cooperative fashion, lending credence to the idea that it may be the intelligence factor behind the biological processes. An aspect of, or cousin to consciousness.

The jump into telepathy studies and the photonics/biophotonics field are revolutionizing the field of communications!

As powerful as emotions can be in your life, gone are the days of Zenner cards and old ESP experiments... Emotions act as a powerful catalyst in the role of telepathy and in the lives of people.

Just imagine the imaging of someones brain when several people enter rooms adjacent to the imaging room, all with hostile thoughts and hate on their mind. Through Resonant Entrainment the subject having the image of his brain will show classic "hate" patterns emerging in his brain. Could this person just by coincidence be feeling anger all the sudden? Then these people leave and the adjacent rooms are filled with loving nurturing moms with babies and are told to show their babies love and our test subject suddenly starts to show signs of love and compassion in his imaging... Is this just a coincidence?

People ask all the time whether telepathy is inhearant in everyone and I tell them it is and that everyone is just so used to it they hardly even notice. A happy family is felt by the children! A family in termoil can be felt and picked up upon by the children. I remembar being a child and sometimes in certain situations the grownups didn't feel like I was old enough to handle a situation but I already knew in my own mind that I knew what they were talking about and I felt all grown up in a sense and wondered why they felt like I was too young to understand...

Another thread on this forum asks if people should encourage telepathy in their children. I don't believe it a question of encouaging but in controlling what emtions actually do get fed throughout their family in making it a healthy happy family and realizing that through telepathy that emotions are kept in check. Love is a powerful thing that can felt as soon as the person emitting it walks into the room. Have you ever "felt" the presence of someone great as they walked in a room? This is telepathy!

Let me ask you a question: Have you ever been in a really bad mood and people around you ask you "if anything is wrong"? They know and can feel that something is wrong and they want to know more specifics so that either they can help you or make sure that it's not them that made you angry... A self centered individual has less Empathy and cares less about what other people feel and think and thinks of only himself. You have to practice telepathy and be caring towards people to actually exercise this ability and it all starts with wondering "how the other person feels", by stepping into their shoes and looking at the world through their eyes and the more you practice "empathy" the more you hone your ability for telepathy...

Quite a long post but interesting if you are interested in telepathy and meditation... Meditation is the road to telepathy...
Note: This article isn't on Telepathy ut is fundamental in understanding the brain and consciousness and meditation.

Half a century ago, many scientists believed it to be impossible to truly understand the secret of life. However, the discovery of the structure of DNA and the subsequent mapping of the human genome have changed medicine and biology forever. We now face a similar pursuit in understanding the fundamental basis of consciousness. How does the smell of fresh baked bread just out of the oven or the pain of stubbing your toe or the experience of bliss in meditation - emerge from networks of random neurons and synaptic processes? From where does consciousness spring? And what the heck does tantra have to do with all of this? Does understanding the neuroscience of attention or of endocrinology help make us achieve spiritual awakening more easily?

For the purposes of this article, an exploration of the neurobiology of tantra can be broken down into three general areas of investigation. First, to connect the phenomenology of consciousness to its underlying neurobiology – ie, to truly understand how consciousness itself arises from this magnificent machine we call the brain, made of neurons, dendrites, axons and synapses. Second, to address the current neurobiology of meditation, with an eye toward addressing scientific methodology to the exploration of kundalini, and perhaps even “qi” and “empty force”. And third, to delve into the neurobiology of ecstatic states, beginning with orgasm and ending with samadhi.

Let us start with the most difficult task first, to seek the brass ring.

For brain scientists, the brass ring is to connect the phenomenology of consciousness to its underlying neurobiology. A survey of the literature reveals that promising work is already underway in terms of: (i) the comprehensive description of consciousness, of its subjective as well as of its objective aspects, (ii) the material basis of consciousness can be clarified without recourse to new properties of matter or to the underlying quantum physics - current neurobiology appears to be sufficient to handle the problem, (iii) emerging research may focus on the neuropsychology and neurophysiology of object perception and recognition as a natural model of intentionality, perception of time, body schema, inter-hemispheric communications and mental images.

The reality is that the neurobiology of consciousness has already achieved substantial results over the last half of the 20th century. For example, we have learnt how to actually 'see' thoughts play out in the brain on magnetic imaging devices which show activity in different areas of the brain. And in an even more dramatic experiment, a Japanese research team recently revealed that it has created a technology that could eventually display on a computer screen what people have on their minds, such as dreams.

This is not a hoax or April Fool’s joke. Researchers at the ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories succeeded in processing and displaying images directly from the human brain, they said in a study unveiled ahead of publication in the US magazine Neuron. While the team for now has managed to reproduce only simple images from the brain, they said the technology could eventually be used to figure out dreams and other secrets inside people’s minds.

"It was the first time in the world that it was possible to visualize what people see directly from the brain activity," the private institute said in a statement. "By applying this technology, it may become possible to record and replay subjective images that people perceive like dreams."

When people look at an object, the eye’s retina recognizes an image that is converted into electrical signals which go into the brain’s visual cortex. The team, led by chief researcher Yukiyasu Kamitani, succeeded in catching the signals and then reconstructing what people see.

In their experiment, the researchers showed people the six letters in the word "neuron" and then succeeded in reconstructing the letters on a computer screen by measuring their brain activity. The team said that it first figured out people’s individual brain patterns by showing them some 400 different still images and recording how their brain reacted. And, true to science fiction, the images were somewhat cluttered and fuzzy, an excellent representation of where the technology might be in 20 years.

If this is possible, what else is possible? To see or perhaps even experience someone’s dreams? To copy the neural patterns of knowledge and download it into a brain directly? What implausible science fiction movie will we turn into a reality? Instead of speculating about the potential variations of this amazing line of research, let’s return to the core question – how do we connect the phenomenology of consciousness to its underlying neurobiology, and what is the impact on the entire concept of spirituality?





Epiphenomenalism, a Mouthful of Scientific Reductionism

With such amazing scientific breakthroughs, it seems that the battle between epiphenomenalism and hypophenomenalism may actually be decided sooner rather than later. Oops... my bad. Let me explain those 25¢ words. For those who aren’t philosophy or neuroscience majors, epiphenomenalism is the idea that consciousness is simply an effect of neural events in your brain. Sort of like the triumph of Bill Maher over Bill Moyers - there IS no god, so get used to it. Hypophenomenalism, on the other hand, contends that awareness is a product, effect, or manifestation of psychic activity… something that is more than something that just happens to pop out of a vat of neurons and axons. [Ed. note – May you someday win a round of Trivial Pursuit by knowing this obscure factoid.]

It resolves down to this: if you can see thoughts in the brain, and see how they might cause neural activity correlated with other thoughts, then – the reasoning goes – all thought must occur within the brain. Epiphenomenalism therefore attempts to solve the most mysterious problem in philosophy – explaining the experience of consciousness – in this reductionist manner. Sorry buddy, you're a walking biocomputer, that just happens to worry about itself existentially. And existential anxiety is just another byproduct of epiphenomenalism.

However, if you lean toward hypophenomenalism, you'd better start producing some evidence to back up your theory that there more to consciousness than brain cells. For example, several years ago I ran across an interesting research paper about a young man with hydro-encephalitis. More than 90% of this brain tissue had been destroyed, but somehow, he was able to graduate college and was fully functional in life. [Ed note – I’ve lost my copy of this paper, which I think was done 30 years ago and reported in Science Notes. If you can find it, please send me the reference and I’ll buy you a beer!]

In that paper, researchers suggested that non-traumatic destruction of brain tissue – in which neural damage happens slowly enough for the brain to organically rewire itself in time – would produce something like this fellow who was literally only using 10% of this brain. Those researchers then performed an experiment where they very slowly destroyed brain tissue in some lab rats, and sure enough, they were able to run through the maze just fine, even with more than half their brain tissue chemically destroyed. The key was to destroy the brain cells slowly enough, and the rat didn't get any dumber.

Although this may sound like it’s meant to bring cheer to alcoholics, in fact, I believe that it’s possible that the implications of this experiment are far more profound than this. Such experiments could possibly indicate that consciousness may actually be resident in something other than the brain, supporting the position of the hypophenomenalists. This would indicate that human consciousness is actually resident "outside" of the brain in some way, perhaps multi-dimensionally , and perhaps uses the brain as a conduit for physical existence, bringing cheer to Star Trek fans everywhere, thinking "Yes, it is possible to put Spock's consciousness back into a tabula rasa body". We’ll return to this concept later, but for now, let us turn our attention to the neuroscience of meditation.

Meditation and Neuroscience

Let’s move on to second area of discussion – the neurophysiology of meditation, qigong and yoga. By simple definition, meditation is engagement in contemplation, especially of a spiritual or devotional nature. To elaborate further, meditation is an attempt to concentrate mind on a single form or an idea or an aspect of divinity, paired with the control of certain life energies that have been postulated for thousands of years but not quite proven scientifically yet. Anyway, the key idea about meditation is that the mind is focused inwards, and this effort of concentration acts as a stimulus to minimize perceptions through senses, by detaching mind from sense organs in the brain. This helps in controlling restlessness of mind, in favor of inner contemplation. The mind is thus made still.

Unprecedented progress and research in neurobiology, and study of neurotransmitters in the last two decades has added significantly to the study of neurophysiology of meditation, qigong and yoga. They have found that:

1) practitioners of meditative arts could slow both heart rate and rate of respiration.
2) practitioners could slow the rate of metabolism as confirmed by decreased oxygen consumption and carbon-dioxide output.
3) Electro-Encephalo- Gram (EEG - recording of brain activity) in practitioners showed changes of calmness in the form of "alpha rhythm" during both eyes closed and eyes open recordings.
4) for practitioners, the skin resistance to electric stimulation was increased (indicating increased tolerance to external stimuli).

All of this indicates that our usual fight or flight response to emotional and physical stress - normally mediated through over-secretion of certain neuro-transmitters and neuro-modulators – can be modified. Under the influence of adrenaline and dopamine, we reflexively become panicky or aggressive, our blood pressure rises. However, disciplines like qigong, yoga and meditation have a direct impact on this biological response.

EEG Studies on Practitioners

Yogis practising raja-yoga have claimed that during the state of Samadhi, they are oblivious to the internal and external stimuli, and enjoy a calm and continuous ecstasy during that state. A study was undertaken to record the electrical activity of their brain during this state by means of electroencephalogra phy, EEG.

This study was carried out on four subjects during meditation. Effects of external stimuli, like a loud gong, strong light, thermal simulation, and vibrations were studied. The results were compiled and analyzed. It was observed that two yogis could keep their hands immersed in extremely cold water for about 50 minutes (raised pain threshold). During state of meditation, all of them showed persistent "alpha activity" in their EEG with increased amplitude wave pattern, both during 'eyes closed' and 'eyes open' recording. It was observed that these alpha activities could not be blocked by various sensory stimuli during meditation. It was also observed that those, who had well-marked "alpha activity" in their resting EEG showed greater aptitude and zeal for maintaining the practice of yoga. Similar results were obtained for Zen meditators.

Also, the International Journal of Neuroscience recently published an interesting EEG study that was conducted on a subject with 50 years of experience in Qigong. It showed that the subject's brain state, during qigong, had shifted from occipitally dominant alpha-2 recorded in 1962, to frontally dominant alpha-1 at present. During the Qigong practice alph-1 enhanced quickly and became far more prominent than 50 years ago. Compared with baseline, these activities remained to be higher at rest after the Qigong practice. These results suggest that extended practice in meditation may change the EEG pattern and its underlying neurophysiology. In other words, meditation can actually change or evolve your brain.

The plausible hypothesis to explain the altered state of consciousness brought about by intense and prolonged mediation may be developed as follows:

The evolutionary process adds higher centers to the primitive nervous system. These higher centers have inhibitory influence, in other words they suppress the functions of lower centers. Thus, the brain stem is controlled by the higher limbic system, and the limbic system in turn is controlled by still higher neo-cortex. The neuro-modulators with their influence on various neuro-transmitters effectively bring about this inhibitory modifications and inter-relations among various brain centers (hierarchy).

For instance, involuntary movements like tremors and chorea are suppressed by basal ganglia through the action of dopamine and acetylcholine synergy. Any imbalance in these neuro-modulators causes involuntary movements like chorea, tremors (Parkinson's Disease etc.). Similarly, loss of cortical control over the motor neurons of spinal cord leads to exaggerated muscle and tendon jerks due loss of inhibitory control of the higher motor cortex.

The neo-cortex keeps all the involuntary movements, hyper-reflexivity, rage, aggression, and similar animal tendencies under check so that it can effectively pursue its own highly developed activities of logic, memory, reason, language, calculations, judgment, and concepts, etc. Conscious, willful, imaginative functions are therefore, normal state of awareness of the human beings.

When meditation acts as a constant repetitive stimulus, certain qualitative and quantitative permanent changes develop in the nervous system. The neuro-transmitters and neuro-modulators may stimulate growth of dormant or latent neurons to develop centers which on the evolutionary ladder are still higher than the present day cerebral cortex. The brain may develop new connections and plasticity resulting in the capacity to think, to rationalize, and react in a different way to the sensory input than what is expected by present day physiologists.

Some brave neuroscientists, in search of a writing a bestseller book, have named this the 'God Module'. This higher center would exert inhibitory control over the present day neo-cortex reflexes, and thereby, over the mind as a whole. Certain ‘lower’ mental activities would hence be suppressed by this higher function. In other words, the part of our brain that makes us human, is actually constantly controlling and inhibiting the part that would make us purely animal. And through meditation, an even higher part of the brain would emerge, so that something which makes us 'enlightened and superhuman', would control and inhibit the part of our brain that would make us only human, ie, the neo-cortex. In other words, the neo-cortex controls our animal tendencies, and makes us human. But the ‘God module’ controls our petty human tendencies, to help make us superhuman. (Also, please note where this God Spot is... right at the third eye. Funny huh?)

Eventually, through this evolution of neural control and discipline, a person will reach a state beyond mind itself - transcendental awareness. Such a theory could possibly align with spiritual practice, as the spiritual path is from the least evolved states of consciousness to higher evolved states, after which the mind itself would eventually enter a state of non-dual experience. This may be supported by recent research on the God Module. The God Module seems to be localized for normal regular people, but in EEG studies of with nuns and expert meditators, the module appears to get bigger over time and involve more and more of the brain.

Now, in tantric terms, perhaps the practice of something like transcending jealousy and learning to love unconditionally, pursued by polyamorists and modern tantrics, the similar neural evolution may be achieved. The neo-cortex keeps rage under control, but jealousy is a higher level function that it falls prey to, as an evolutionary adaptation to insure long term pair bonding. And in this way, it shows that something like the polyamorous goal of transcending or unlearning jealousy, actually aids in the development of higher brain functions - to inhibit or overcome jealousy - that eventually leads to higher levels of spiritual awareness. In this way, the pursuit of polyamory just might be aligned with a scientific spiritual path for humanity.

Delving even further into meditation, you'll find within the art of qigong, a practice known as 'empty force'. Empty force is a technique where a practitioner uses Qi to project it from his/her hand to an opponent at a distance (not touching the opponent), to knock the opponent down. Here is a video of Bill Moyer's visiting a master of qigong, demonstrating the use of empty force:

www.youtube. com/watch? v=HOpXpQGoub0&eurl=http%3A% 2F%2Fwww% 2Etantricnews% 2Ecom%2Findex% 2Ephp%3Fview% 3Darticle% 26catid%3D95% 253Aneuro% 2Dscience% 26id%3D236% 253Aneuro% 2Dtantra% 26tmpl%3Dcompone nt%26print% 3D1%26page% 3D%26op&feature=player_ embedded# t=11




One more area that may be interesting to consider, dealing with very highly accomplished tantric meditators, is the formation of sarira. Sarira are crystal-like objects that are found among the cremated ashes of Buddhist spiritual masters. For example, consider the Buddhist Yogi C. M. Chen, who was a highly accomplished tantric meditator, or the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua of the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas. On the cremated skulls of both, the formation of many sarira flowers were evident, and both had one very prominent crystal formation on the top of the skull. Perhaps the final evolution of the God Module is the formation of such sarira. The photo to the right are some of the sarira of the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua.

Perhaps what is needed to force a paradigm shift in Western science is a reproducible and rigorous test of things like qi, kundalini, sarira and empty force. Once it is measurable by scientists, then we may begin to make true inroads into the neurophysiology of meditation, qigong and yoga. But until then, such investigation will be considered to be fringe research.


Neurobiology and Kundalini

But what about the neurobiology of kundalini? Consider the work of Gopi Krishna, an Indian yogi, mystic, author of Kundalini: The Evolutionary Energy in Man. Krishna proposed that kundalini was the mechanism responsible for the evolution of the human race. The awakening of this psycho-physiologica l mechanism through the techniques of Yoga or other suitable disciplines, or so Krishna believes, produces a scientifically measurable biochemical essence that is responsible for the phenomena of genius, creativity, inspiration, the religious impulse and revelation. His theory is that every form of genuine mystical ecstasy result from the impact of this highly concentrated vital energy on the brain.

He also proposed that the Kundalini mechanism would effect a radical change in some current concepts about life and narrow the gulf existing between religion and science. It would also draw the attention of scholars towards the spiritual laws of evolution of which they have no knowledge at present. He urged neuroscientists to study the phenomenon in detail.

Just to remind you of Krishna’s first experience of kundalini awakening:

Suddenly, with a roar like that of a waterfall, I felt a stream of liquid light entering my brain through the spinal cord. Entirely unprepared for such a development, I was completely taken by surprise; but regaining my self-control, keeping my mind on the point of concentration. The illumination grew brighter and brighter, the roaring louder, I experienced a rocking sensation and then felt myself slipping out of my body, entirely enveloped in a halo of light. It is impossible to describe the experience accurately. I felt the point of consciousness that was myself growing wider surrounded by waves of light. It grew wider and wider, spreading outward while the body, normally the immediate object of its perception, appeared to have receded into the distance until I became entirely unconscious of it. I was now all consciousness without any outline, without any idea of corporeal appendage, without any feeling or sensation coming from the senses, immersed in a sea of light simultaneously conscious and aware at every point, spread out, as it were, in all directions without any barrier or material obstruction. I was no longer myself, or to be more accurate, no longer as I knew myself to be, a small point of awareness confined to a body, but instead was a vast circle of consciousness in which the body was but a point, bathed in light and in a state of exultation and happiness impossible to describe.

Now, contrast this to Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor’s experience of a left-hemispheric stroke, recounted in her book In My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey. Her description of her awareness no longer confined to her body may indicate that the portions of the experience of kundalini awakening may be caused by certain neuro-hormones that are released only in certain times of stress or great change. Clearly, this is an area for continued research.

But the key question is this... how does meditation, kundalini, qi, empty force and neuroscience all fit together in some nice neat unified theory of consciousness and spirituality? How can we even begin to solve such a complex and difficult problem?


The Neurobiology of Ecstasy

Let’s move on to third area of discussion – the neurobiology of ecstasy. In this section, we'll discuss the current research on the neurophyisology of sexual response and pleasure. And perhaps find a bridge to solving the more difficult problem of understanding the neurobiology of kundalini, qi, empty force, meditation.

Actually, surprisingly little is known about what happens in the brain at the very peak of our sexual experience. Fortunately, a Dutch research team led by Gert Holstege have recently scanned the brains of men and women during orgasm.

What did they find? First, there was a change from very asynchronous activity in the brain – what we do when we’re awake, normally. Our nerves are all firing at different times, doing different things. But right at the time of orgasm everything becomes very synchronised. The research indicates that very low frequency, large amplitude signals are being propagated through the nervous system. No one is quite sure what this means, but something very intense is happening.

Also, because the researchers had so many electrodes in the brain, they were able to map out a rough sequence of events. Importantly the sensory information seems to come up the spinal cord from the reproductive tract as you would expect, it starts at the thalamus which is our filtering station for all sensory information coming into the brain. And from there the important signals seemed to be moving along the mid-line of the brain toward the front of the brain. This is called the medial forebrain bundle. Now in the medial forebrain bundle there are nerves involved in many different pathways but there are very important ones going forward that pass through the pleasure centers. And then the signals continued past there into the forebrain, the prefrontal cortex area, and that’s where we process information associated with emotion.

Another finding was that during stimulation, women and men react differently. For example, when the female partner touches the penis, men get very attentive and lots of neurons start firing. You could see that in terms of which kind of brain parts were activated. However, when the women were in the scanner and the men were stimulating, and they were directly stimulating the clitoris, the women's brains did not pay so much importance to this physical input. So the sexual response of men and women really ARE different.

But more important is that during sexual stimulation – this is true for both men and women – there was a decrease of those parts of the brain that usually are involved in fear or anxiety. This part of the brain is called the amygdala, very important in processing fear. Both in men and in women they were deactivated, during sexual stimulation. Neurobiologists have seen a similar deactivation in the amygdala in brains when people who are deeply in love see a photo of their loved ones.

At the moment of orgasm, there is enormous deactivation in the region of the temporal lobe and the amygdala. However, there is activation in the cerebellum during orgasm, but nobody has any idea why this is happening or what it means. The cerebellum is the structure at the base of our brain and that’s sometimes called our “little brain”, or our “reptilian brain”. It’s associated with things like movement coordination. And in men, there’s a huge increase in activity in that region, during orgasm.

Finally, the cortex – the prefrontal or orbito-frontal cortex – that is just behind and above your eyes, this part of the brain are also deactivated. And these parts of the brain are involved in control of basic emotions. So in a sense we abandon our emotions during orgasm!

Perhaps the study of orgasm and meditative bliss can be compared? Is there a similar deactivation of the amygdala? If so, is it possible that something about the orgasmic response can teach us about spiritual evolution? If so, then there may be more to the idea that sexuality is a doorway to spirituality than meets the visual cortex. Perhaps the study of the neurobiology of tantra could actually provide a bridge to understanding the grand unification theory of the neurobiology of meditation, kundalini, qi, empty force and neuroscience?

Isn't that a terribly exciting idea - perhaps tantra really is a pathway to greater neurobiological knowledge and spiritual achievement!

Conclusions

What can we conclude from all of this? First, it's clear that these problems are really hard to crack! But more importantly, this is definitely an area that will provide us with much knowledge and clues for human evolution.

For example, consider the breakthrough pre-announced by the ATR labs, about a machine that will be able to "see" human dreams - it is only the beginning of what is possible. The limitations of that technology are actually computational. We'll likely need to produce quantum computers - that work a million to a billion times faster and more powerfully than today's silicon-based processing chips. But guess what? Progress in the quantum computing arena is also happening at breakneck speed. For example, D-Wave Systems, a Canadian manufacturer, recently announced what they call "the worlds first commercially viable quantum computer." A quantum computer makes use of quantum mechanical phenomena to process data, and will be able to solve specific problems exponentially faster than any standard computer - like predicting the weather, automatic real-time language translation, and new kinds of neural-computer interfaces. So perhaps quantum computing is another piece of the puzzle - a finger pointing at the moon of humanity's next great evolutionary leap.

Here's an idea: Wouldn't it be fun to create a symposium called ""New Perspectives in Neuroscience, Psychosexuality and Ecstatic States". The program would be aligned with the four pathways to ecstatic states: breath/movement/ exercise, sacred sexuality, psychopharmacology and meditation.