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Hi,
I was wondering if it would be worth just listening to a track for, say, 5 or 10 minutes at a time every hour until eventually finished, rather than listening to the full length in one go? Would the effect of doing it only a bit at a time be useless or much reduced, or would it not matter?
Personally, I don't think you would get much effect listening in 5 - 10 min bursts. If it takes you, say, 5 min to start feeling the effects of a track, by that time you will be looking to finish the session, and if you start where you left of last time and the session is in, say, low Theta it may take you 5 min or so just to get down into that brainwave state. Might be a bit different if it was a mostly Beta track and you wanted a quick boost of energy. I think the relaxation / meditation tracks though you will get better results listening all the way through in one session, as they are probably designed that way. Ultimately, I think it depends on how long it takes you to "get into" a track to start feeling the effects.
A lot of relaxation/meditation tracks start off in low Beta/high Alpha then down to mid-low Alpha/Theta some time after for the majority of the session, then maybe returning to Beta at the end for more alertness upon finishing, and perhaps entrainment works better this way rather than starting a track at low Alpha/Theta at the beginning (at least for some).
Agree with Robin Hood: Might work with Beta as a booster, but not with regards to relaxation. If you check into some research papers, you'll see it actually takes 6-10' before the relaxation response becomes visible in the EEG. So if your goal was relaxation, you'd miss it by restricting your sessions to 5'.
And if you really want to benefit from the relaxation response, it's not sufficient to touch it quickly and then resume normal activities (which will probably take you out of the Alpha zone), but you should stay in Alpha for at least 15' or so to give your body a chance to come back to pre-stress levels / healthy shift in hormone levels.
Lastly, I sometimes get bored during a long Kasina session and stop the session c. every 7-8 minutes so that I can see how much time has passed on that session. This break only takes a couple of seconds or so. Does this intermission reduce the effectiveness of brainwave entrainment, and, if so, by roughly how much?
My guess is that you weren't really within a relaxation response yet - I have those days as well when I'm kind of impatient with a session, and then typically find I need to take another route to find my portal into the desired parasympathetic state (running and sauna are ways that work well when I'm a bit hyper). See my more elaborate comment on your "using while asleep" thread regarding the role of dopamine. It's not like pushing a button and getting the defined result, it's more like easing into a state. You're not a machine, as such there is no given percentage of lost effectiveness if you keep checking the time --- it's more like the time checking is a symptom of your not having eased into the relaxation state yet. I hope this make sense :-)
Hmm, perhaps I should use the Kasina after my gym sessions.
Yeah, I think that sounds like the right approach :-)
When I'm a bit charged/manic, I play with my punching bag a bit or use my rebounder. No amount of AVE would help me to get calm/relaxed if there's surplus physical energy/tension I need to get out. Afterwards, doing AVE can be pure bliss, and you will neither be bored nor will it feel like a struggle.