Schumann Resonance Revisited

[CraigT]

In another post, a while back, I said that I had failed to note anything significant about any particular frequency, mentioning the generally cited Schumann Resonance frequency of 7.83Hz specifically. My comment was that I found it undistinguishable from adjacent frequencies in the alpha band. I was wrong.

Last night I ran a session that remained fixed on 7.83Hz, sound and light (red/green) for an extended period. Intent was meditative.

Meditation is a concept I struggle with. A common statement of the goal of meditation is 'to completely clear the mnd'. It would appear that my ego has had a problem with that. I have argued that a mind unoccupied with something would be unconscious. I was wrong.

After a period of considerable effort to divorce my perception from my eyes, ears and body, and to perceive 'within my skull' without judgement or question, I briefly glimpsed through a doorway I had thought to be a myth. So shocking was the experience that my mind promptly grabbed it and started analysing it, and the spell was broken. What I feel I perceived is my brain's perception of sense data without naming or opinion imposed. Vision was no longer forward facing, auditory perception was no longer attributed to the ears.

Why, given my initial scepticism did I decide to do a Schumann session? I had a thought as to why it might be significant - I gave the concept 'intellectual credibility' which lowered my resistance to achieving a result. The idea that I had is that if the Schumann Frequencies truly represent the ambient electrical environment in which we live, then bringing the brain into this state will establish an equilibrium between the electrical potential within and without the skull, eliminating spurious neuron triggering.

This gives two reasons why previous experiments with 7.83Hz have been uninspiring. First, I have resisted it through scepticism. Second, as the frequency is an average, atmospherics on any given day, in any given location, may result in a different local ambient frequency, so on any given day a slightly different frequency may lead to equilibrium.

Today I feel calm and confident, and as though the universe has shared something rather special.

Pure conjecture and the account of a strange experience I may never be able to repeat and which may be entirely meaningless.

Comments and discussion please!

Cheers,
Craig

[Marisa]

Hi Craig,

Thanks for posting your experience with the Schumann frequency.

From what I've read, the SR does fluctuate slightly and is dependent on atmospheric conditions. In case you haven't come across this article, here's a link: http://www.luxevivant.com/index.asp?...n=Custom&ID=68

The relevant quote from the article is: "These resonances consist of a base frequency of around 7.83 Hertz and ten overtones; the main ones being 14, 20, 26, 33, 39, and 45 Hertz with a daily variation of plus/minus 0.5 Hertz. The frequency fluctuates depending on atmospheric factors such as tides, magnetosphere, and day time versus night time. This gets complicated, but if you want to research it; look on the web for Martin Fullekrug at the Institut fur Meteorologie and Geophysik, University Of Frankfurt."


On another subject ... What I wonder is if your experience had more to do with being in a really good Alpha state or if your experience was directly related to that particular frequency?

One thing that you said that is really significant to the experience that is important to point out is that you were able to let go and just experience the state, without thinking about it and once you did that, your experience became more intense. So one of the keys that we can get from this is how important it is to leave the analyzing of the experience until after the session is over.

Great stuff! Thanks.



M.

[CraigT]

Thanks for that extra info, Marisa.

I've read quite a lot about this group of frequencies, and I had consigned much of it to the new-age mumbo-jumbo box.

It was the idea of electrical equilibrium that gave my ego something to play with while I let go and went for the ride - intellectual opposition was briefly suppressed.

There were some mumbo-jumbo elements to what I experienced, quite probably wishful thinking, that made the Earth connection with the frequency seem significant. You are very probably right that it was just a very good alpha session.

There's a lot in what happened that may never be explained, however I will be less quick to write off accounts of some phenomena than I have tended to be. Whether the causes are correctly attributed, I have now experienced something that others have attempted to describe, that had not previously been open to me. This means I must accept that there are other experiences that have been related, that I have not experienced, that may indeed be 'real' and may become so for me at a later date.

Cheers,
Craig

[Marisa]

There's a lot in what happened that may never be explained, however I will be less quick to write off accounts of some phenomena than I have tended to be. Whether the causes are correctly attributed, I have now experienced something that others have attempted to describe, that had not previously been open to me. This means I must accept that there are other experiences that have been related, that I have not experienced, that may indeed be 'real' and may become so for me at a later date.

Okay ... let's take a philosophical detour ... maybe I'm still demented from being sick or maybe I've figured something out ....

I think there is a whole lot of territory to explore in the "inner universe". Because of where it takes place, "reality" is irrelevant - which is actually kind of cool - because the focus then can be on the experience itself.

Perhaps this is where "New Age" went/goes wrong - people mistook an "inner" experience for an "outer" one. Perhaps these are two separate planes of existence per se' and they do not mix well with each other. It would be like confusing a dream with lets call it "physical reality".

I want to emphasize that our physical reality, while consistent, is not necessarily more important or relevant that what we discover on the inner side - it's just different.

What are your thoughts on this?

M.

[CraigT]

Yes, I'm certainly with you on the matter of new-age confusion, and it was my intent to divorce the experience from the purely metaphysical, but it was something outside my prior experience and I'm still deciding what to do with it.

As the Buddhist Master was heard to say when his Student told him of the mystical experience he had during his meditation, "Did I tell you to have a mystical experience? No. I did not. I told you to maintain focus on the fly-spot on the wall." I ascribe nothing mystical to what happened.

My brain did something it hasn't done before, and I have documented the event as well as my language permits.

The underlying nature of reality does not permit escape from a simple fact... if my perceived body is run over by a perceived bus, I will (possibly for a very short time) perceive pain and suffering.

Whether these constructs are in my mind or have external substance, there are grounds for consensus acceptance of certain rules that make certain things so.

Confusing the inner with the outer is a sure definition of insanity and likely to bring about very real harm in the outer.

The only thing I really know after the event is that I know a little less than I thought I did.

Cheers,
Craig

[Marisa]

Yes, I'm certainly with you on the matter of new-age confusion, and it was my intent to divorce the experience from the purely metaphysical, but it was something outside my prior experience and I'm still deciding what to do with it.

Ya but the metaphysical experience - metaphysical being a discription of the inner experience - shouldn't be discounted. I think it's important and valid.

The point that I did want to make but can't really find the adequate words to put it into was something like ... because it was an inner experience, it can not be judged by physical world standards. It's not enough to say it was a hallucination because something more happened in that journey. It's like taking a deep sea dive. You can't compare the landscape of the sea, or the creatures, to that of "on-land". Nor would it do the experience justice to say you went deep sea diving and saw some fish and stuff. It's a whole different world under the sea and just because it's not a part of our land life, doesn't mean that what happens under the sea isn't important.

I wonder if this made sense?

I think you should go there again and see what happens.

As the Buddhist Master was heard to say when his Student told him of the mystical experience he had during his meditation, "Did I tell you to have a mystical experience? No. I did not. I told you to maintain focus on the fly-spot on the wall."

I like this.

I ascribe nothing mystical to what happened.
My brain did something it hasn't done before, and I have documented the event as well as my language permits.

Hey ... define mystical.

The underlying nature of reality does not permit escape from a simple fact... if my perceived body is run over by a perceived bus, I will (possibly for a very short time) perceive pain and suffering.

True on both planes of existence except your physical body would probably survive your perceived body's demise. It doesn't take away from the experience though of getting hit by the bus. It may give you another way to look at getting hit by buses. Everything can be useful.

Whether these constructs are in my mind or have external substance, there are grounds for consensus acceptance of certain rules that make certain things so.

I wonder why so many people need something such of this to be "real" in order to be more valid. "Real" referring to that which exists in the physical world and can be seen and experienced by others such as trees, cars, chocolate etc.

Confusing the inner with the outer is a sure definition of insanity and likely to bring about very real harm in the outer.

And yet people like Sylvia Browne are not in asylums.

The only thing I really know after the event is that I know a little less than I thought I did.

Isn't that always the way it goes. lol

Cheers,

M.

[Ben Willow]

Hi Craig,

Once again, you raise another interesting topic.
( I must admit I've been quite impressed at how unbelievably prolific & clear minded you seem to be ! )

I have not yet read your threads with Marisa , and I do not know if I can add anything significant to your search, but I'll give it a try, sharing some of my understanding & experience, & add momentum to the ball you just started rolling, so to speak.

First of all, when I hear someone say "I meditate", I feel compelled to ask for clarification...
So, what do you mean by "meditate" as your "intent" ? Don't get me wrong, I may have a clear sense of what "meditate" & "intent" would mean for me... and yet, you could have a totally different "intent" than mine in your use of the word. So, it makes a difference to me (can't speak for others), as I have been toying with the concept of "meditation" for over 30 years ( with most of those years poking in the dark ! ! ! )

Secondly, since, I cannot really bypass the reality of having a body, (even if I realize that most people live without sensation of theirs), then, is that body moving or is it still ? ( I guess in your present context it was probably still. )
In any case, if it were moving, would it be involved in T'aiChi as a "meditation" rather than a martial art per se; or Gurdjieff's Sacred Dances & Movements; or maybe Yoga... or whatever?
If the body is still, is the position sitting, reclining or standing ?
Then comes the question of attention - ( where is my attention & what am I doing with it; is it stable or drifting ? ) - Is the intent "passive" or "directional"? Passive as in "wait & see" what happens next, follow the breath, etc; or is it directional as in visualization, or self-guided sensory awareness, or whatever ?

You probably know that Anna Wise defines meditation as the state where the brain generates a clear pattern of Alpha & Theta on the MindMirror EEG. I understand this to mean little to no Beta, depending on the quality of the state of consciousness attained at that moment. In my empirical evidence & understanding, this means that I am then "out of my head" & "in my bodily-sensations"; or possibly in an "out-of-body" experience... could there be something else ?

So then, how do I practically reduce Beta ? Since "meditation" also requires a relaxed body, then from my own experience, I know that my body is relaxed to the extent that I have a clear sensation of it being so, thus confirming my intent ! And so, developing this sensation leads me automatically out of my head (Beta)... since when I intentionally direct my attention to developing a clear & strong sensation of my body, it seems to consume enough attention/energy to keep me out of that chattering part of my mind... and if need be, I keep returning back to it, should I drift-off (BTW, this is possible only once I've noticed thoughts are back... it is not possible when day-dreaming or ramblings are going on, or if "I'm pulled by the interest", with no one "awake" at the helm ! ).

In my own peculiar case, over the years, I've come to devise an "elaborate-circuit" around my body, that harnesses my attention... actually, part of my "Body-Mind-Spirit-Routine", BMSR as I call it, which keeps evolving, & I adapt as I go along. In order to keep boredom & distractions away (ADD? or TMUA as in Too Much Unruly Attention), I often direct my attention from body-part to body-part along that circuit, & breathe "coherently", a set numbers of breaths at each "station", in effect, it is as if I were visiting and "waking-up" all the nooks & crannies of my anatomy, to say "hi" to them, one by one.

Could you elaborate on "After a period of considerable effort to divorce my perception from my eyes, ears and body, and to perceive 'within my skull' without judgment or question..." as it may tie-in with my ever evolving BMSR ?

For the past 9 months or so, along with BWE, I've been experimenting with BioFeedback (emWave PSR & emWave PC from HeartMath), along with Coherent Breathing (see Stephen Elliott's book "The New Science of Breath - Coherent Breathing for Autonomic Nervous System Balance, Health, & Well-being"; and the use of a breathing metronome, set at the Fundamental Quiescent Rhythm of 0.085Hz ), and have had remarquable results, in both the quality of "meditation", as well as regarding health issues, as mentionned in another thread of yours !

( So, yes, I must look like a madman to the untrained eye, hooked up, with cable-spaghetti, by Procyon, goggles & earphones, and sensors on earlobe & fingers... but then again, I see scientific confirmation of my felt experience... & I appreciate that.... WhouaaHahahahaaaa )

Now, more specifically, I have briefly experimented with Schumann's Frequency of 7.83Hz, and once entered a very-deep-&-vast-space within... definitely an altered state of consciousness... with strong & clear presence of both "within" & "without"... as if I could "see" a vast space, deep within myself, and at the same time, as if I could "see" all around me... (OOB? with bodily sensation sounds like an oxymoron, doesn't it? )( Yin & Yang combined = T'aiChi,... or a "whole...something" )

I do not yet have enough data (& probbly never will) to comment on whether 7.83Hz, (or 7.86 or 10Hz, or whatever is "better or not"), on any specific day of the year, for a specific purpose, especially if the external "environment" I exist in also changes. However, as I find my "system/internal environment" to be in a constant flux, I have presently abandoned the "scientific idea" of "repeatable" results when it comes to consciousness & awareness. I find my state of consciousness shifts from day to day, not to mention from moment to moment... Is it because of "me" only, or because the "external-to-me, where I must live in" changes, or both? BTW, the major reason I stay away from mind alterring substances (from alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, cannabis, etc... including legal drugs, to date) is to keep the yo-yo effect on my consciousness at bay ( I have experimented with interested/empirical curiosity with some stuff though, & had great mystical experiences... )

What I am really interested in though, is Balance & Harmony, and cultivating a strong & constant sense of presence in the "here & now", aware simultaneously of both what is "within me" & what is "without/ not me" (Focusing/Felt-sense, & Self-Remembering) ... and a clear perception of the "passage" when the inevitable moment comes and "I" leaves, and this body returns to dust.

I find it interesting to notice how an experience like the one you describe leaves us with a strong impression (in your case, calm, confident, the Universe can be a benevolent place for sharing something with you). So, in my view, whether you can repeat that experience or not doesn't make it meaningless... in the sense that it can be seen as a stepping-stone "taking you from here to there"... in which case you wouldn't necessarily want to back track... just to make sure you did get from here to there & back again - I believe that requires loosening up the "left brain" a bit ! As you seem to have noticed, to remain open-minded, without pre-judgments, without conditions & without expectations does prepare us better for ever new & fresh experiences.

from a non-boozer

(I'll read the rest of your chats later on... )

[CraigT]

Wow! Thanks for your input, Ben.

Mostly what I have to say is, "Yes." You clearly have had many of the 'insights' and have asked the same questions as I have, and remain pretty much as baffled as I do.

The only part I can really answer a little better is what I meant by meditative intent.

I lay down on my bed and began the session with no specific goal. I was not trying to deal with any particular disturbance, such as stress, anxiety or depression. I was not suffering from any particular pain or discomfort that I wished eased. I had no burning questions or issues that I wished to contemplate in the clear light of alpha. It was the end of a working day that had gone rather well and I was generally calm and relaxed.

So, I say meditative in contrast to any of the other intents I might have had.

"Considerable effort to divorce my perception from my eyes, ears and body, and to perceive 'within my skull' without judgment or question" is a practice I've been doing under a range of circumstances for some years. I look at what thoughts and awareness are in mind. If, for example, I know there is another sound in the room, then that is a thought I wish to discard. If I know that my head is on a pillow, then that is a thought I wish to discard. At the time of 'peak experience' last night, the only things I knew were that my heart was beating and that I was breathing. I'm too afraid to disavow that knowledge it seems. My ego doesn't fully trust my autonomous systems.

A key point in the whole thing, to me, is loss of the sense of forward vision. I might believe that what I am perceiving as vision is what is the 'projection' on the visual cortex, which is, of course at the back of the brain and highly convoluted. I might believe I'm conscious of the visual data as it is being manipulated somewhere in the brain, far away from the retina, optic nerve, etc.

Have I clarified or further befuddled? I don't even know if it's possible to communicate this sort of stuff using ordinary language.

My head hurts. I'm going to have dinner.

Craig

[Ben Willow]

Thanks for the clarifications, Craig, it's helpful to me.

So, I'd like to recap. If I understand correctly, it sounds like you experienced a state of presence, almost "pure" consciousness, "being-in-the-moment", with almost no bodily awareness, and that you got there by subtracting all sensory input (apart from heartbeat & breathing) in order to keep awareness on whatever else might have been happening "within/without" as you tried to harmonize, or establish equilibrium, with a part of the Earth's electromagnetic field known as Schumann's resonance, at 7.83Hz, in order to see if could eliminate spurious neuron triggering within the skull in the process.

If I got that right, (even if you were in "pure alpha", as you suggested previously) what is your verdict?

And if positive, then the $ million $ question becomes: Is it necessary to use 7.83Hz +/- 0.5Hz to get there (i.e. "eliminate spurious neuron triggering")? Does it facilitate the process, versus any other frequencies, even a random set of frequencies between 7.83 =/- 0.5Hz (i.e. random set between 7.33 & 8.33Hz), while you are doing the same "inner-preparation-work"? Or even a session with Red at 7.83Hz, Green at 14.1Hz & Blue at 20.3Hz, in order to cover more of the Schumann resonance frequencies?

My intuition/guess is to say no, but then I don't really know for sure, and will keep open minded; and will give it a try when I get a chance.

As I mentioned before, my state of consciousness & awareness seems to fluctuate, as if I were a speck of super-light dust floating in the air, and I don't know how to resolve that variable in the experiment; Even food, sleep/tiredness level, fasting; also seems to have some subtle to not so subtle effect on my consciousness - like air movements over an otherwise quiet pond. Is this also a concern of yours?

How much does one's intent account for the experience we "get", versus the "input" provided by the Universe we live in, or even the chosen input we wish to experiment with ? T'aiChi theory says that the intent leads the vital energy; "Yi leads Chi" is a true enough fact in my life experience.

Having said this, there seems to be a lot of similarities between our experiences, even though, we seem to have approached it from diametrically opposite directions; i.e. "incarnating" as much as possible, in my case, and "dissociating" as much as possible from the body, in your case. But to once more paraphrase T'aiChi theory/principle, when either Yin or Yang reaches its maximum intensity, they start transforming into their opposite/complementary mode i.e. Yin into Yang & Yang into Yin; food for thought!

{BTW, I use the terms T'aiChi, Yin, & Yang in the following context: T'aiChi is a philosophical principle that expresses the relationship of balance & harmony that manifests between the two fundamental universal principles which exist everywhere in the Universe, & that the ancient Chinese sages referred to as Yin & Yang. These appear simultaneously as opposite, yet complementary; Yin & Yang combine to form T'aiChi, a whole.}

If you don't mind, I'd like further clarification on your use of the term "forward vision". Are you referring to the experience of seeing, with eyes open, what is in front of you in the material world, versus what you might perceive with eyes either open or closed, in your "mind's eye", and where & how do those "visions" occur, or something else ?

BTW, how long was your session & how soon did you enter your peak experience, and how long did it last, before Beta took over? I believe mine was 24 minutes long, and I seem to remember entering it rather quickly (for some reason), & it lasted to the end; leaving me with a strange but pleasant grogginess; as I had to attend to outside stuff more abruptly than I would have liked to; and felt in a quite fine mood after.

[CraigT]

Ben,

To answer further without becoming deceptive is going to require a bit of disclosure.

I spent a decent number of years studying and practising Magick. My mentor was a strong advocate of the virtues of psychedelics. During that time I learned to use a number of naturally occurring substances to achieve a wide range of mental states. Needless to say, there are problems with this strategy, and I have spent some years trying to recapture those mental states by other means.

It is the fact that I not only got close to the "state of presence, almost ?pure? consciousness, ?being-in-the-moment?, with almost no bodily awareness" (I like your words) with which I was familiar, but beyond, using only entrainment, a familiarity with the precursor states, and the technique of progressive detachment.

What I'm saying is that by various means, including substances and some pretty heavy duty mumbo-jumbo trance induction techniques, I have become familiar with a wide range of altered states. This Schumann Resonance session has shown me that the brain is perfectly capable of arriving at those states without the use of substances or mumbo-jumbo.

I make no judgement on the usefulness of getting to those states, but I will be entering Schumann and general alpha sessions with the 'intent' to repeat the experience. So far I have done a general alpha and another Schumann without getting there. A key difference in the practice is that now I've been there once, so I know it is possible for me.

Loss of forward vision - when I close my eyes and visualise, or when I dream, or even under the influence of typical hallucenogenics, the imagery is just where I expect it to be - right in front of me. In the state I described it is, for want of a better word, 'encompassing'.

Electrical equilibrium is a hypothesis that allowed me to revisit 7.83Hz with my scepticism temporarily suspended, nothing more - I have no data to support it whatsoever. Hopefully I'll have an EEG fairly soon and will be able to add some quantitative data.

In terms of time (sloppy scientific method) about 20 minutes at 7.83Hz, well under a minute at peak experience, conscious awareness of the experience (spontaneous beta I would assume) followed by a fairly gentle return (still 7.83Hz) to 'normality' during which I was able to maintain a reasonably coherent recollection of the peak experience (not that you'd know from the trouble I'm having describing it).

All the things you talk about in your experiences - the situational variability, the significance of belief in the technique, the validity of ancient wisdom... yes, all concerns, they all seem to matter. But maybe they only matter because my ego does not yet sufficiently trust my 'instinctual animal' to look after my body properly while I'm 'away' in my cranium.

I look forward to reading the results of your experiments, especially the use of harmonics and colors/

Cheers,
Craig