A few days ago, I got a dreaded call informing me that one of my dearest girlfriends – an amazing
force of love, strength and spirit, had been struck by a car.  She was riding her bike and was critically injured – a 9 out of 10 on the trauma scale.

Her helmet saved her life, but her brain was still in trouble.

Within hours, a powerful tribe of like-minded family and friends descended on the hospital, focusing our thoughts, feelings and intentions on seeing her completely healed in our mind’s eye. We focused only on her radiance and a positive outcome.

The doctors said it could take anywhere from several days to a year for her to regain consciousness from her blow to the head…

During one of our healing circles on the first day, we learned she was regaining consciousness.  It took her only 8 hours and her mind was clear!

Then they said she would likely have to wear an immobilizing brace around her fractured sacrum and pelvis for a very long time…

All it took was one little screw and no brace will be needed.

…We’ll never know if our thoughts are speeding her recovery along, but her recovery rate is nothing short of miraculous.

As I decompress and reflect, I am once again reminded of and awe by the power of thought and love and Spirit.

My friend lives fully out loud each and every day spreading her joy, laughter and love.  She is one of my greatest teachers.

This event, as undesirable as it was/is, offers a reminder to me – to us – to live full out, siezing every day, because truly, our physical time on this earth could be completed at any moment.

My friend seizes every day and clearly has much more to do and give in this lifetime!

While I speak for myself, I’ll bet you can relate…

…The extent to which I let myself be stopped or live small due to fearful thoughts is absurd!  I heard an amazing quote by Keith Cunningham that goes something like,

“When I look back on my life I want to be able to say ‘that was spectacular!’”

It is impossible to rid ourselves of fear.  We’re wired with it for our survival.  We can, though, question our fearful thoughts and access the courageous part of ourselves that is connected to divine intelligence.

Thoughts are things. They are energy.  My friend’s accident has re-minded me to practice choosing and using my thoughts wisely and to live my life richly every day in spite of  fear. 

After all, all there is is this moment right now. 

May you live full out – like my dear friend!

We have all heard the old adage:  If you can dream it, you can do it.  Maybe even some of us have tried this technique, hopefully with some success.  However, what you might not know is that music can help with visualization.

How can music help?
People have been using music for hundreds of years as a stimulus. Not only does music have the power to change our mood and enhance our romantic lives, but we are now finding that music can help us overcome perceived pain and and even re-wire our brains for success.  There are many areas yet to be researched in which music can be of assistance.  When it comes to visualization, music can be an extremely powerful tool.

What to do
That all depends on, what exactly it is, that you want to do.  Are you looking for a job promotion or maybe just a technique to help you overcome presentation jitters? Either way music can help. First find a quiet place with few distractions.  Sit or lie in a comfortable position and take nice deep breaths extending your stomach out.  Americans in particular tend to be shallow breathers because we don’t like to stick our stomachs out. However, breathing is an extremely important part of this exercise, so don’t be shy.  Now simply visualize, in detail, what it is that you want.  Include as much sensory information as you can such as visual images, sounds, smells, etc.  When you have a clear picture in your mind of what it is that you want, imagine a piece of music playing to enhance the feeling of that image.  It could be something upbeat and energizing or gentle and calming.  The idea is to use music to add emotion and meaning to your visualization.

Does it work?
Greg Louganis, the great Olympic diving champion, used to visualize his dives with a soundtrack playing in his mind.  The effectiveness of it all depends on how often you do the exercise.  You cannot simply do this exercise once and expect everything in your life to fall nicely into place. You do have to put in some effort. By this I mean, you cannot put off studying for a test and think by only doing this exercise the night before, you’ll get an A.  However, if you put in the time and effort to prepare, by visualizing your goal with music, you can achieve it. 

Using music can help us with many things in life such as stress management or helping us get into a particular mood. Yet, it can also help us do so much more.  So, the next time you are up for that big promotion, put on your favorite visualization soundtrack and imagine yourself getting it!

You can sample some great upbeat music to enhance your visualizations at   http://successsongs.com/site/itsmytime/index.cfm.html

Put quite simply, brain entrainment is a method used to synchronize brain frequency with an outside stimulus. This stimulus can be either auditory, using a rhythmic sound, or visual by using a flashing light. When your brain receives these stimuli, it reproduces them as electric impulses. When exposed to the rhythm at a fast pace and over an extended period of time, your brain will synchronize it’s electric cycle with the stimuli.   While it may sound like something out of a sci-fi novel, brain entrainment is actually a legitimate technique that has been used for centuries.

Uses
Brain entrainment actually has a number of uses. Not only has it been used for hundreds of years by shaman for religious practices and achieving altered states of consciousness, but more recently, it has been used in sleep therapy, stress reduction, pain management, meditation and increase in learning.

Know your beats
There are three beats, that the method of brain entrainment uses in order to synchronize with the human brain: Binaural beats, monaural beats and isochronic tones. Binaural beats are probably the most important in brain entrainment because they are the brainstem response to auditory signals.  This response is also what is associated with EEG.  Monaural beats are two slightly different tones heard at the same time.  This is not something that is frequent in nature however they are important in brain entrainment. Isochronic tones are not nearly as important as binaural beats or monaural beats, they do however, still have their place. These are quick tones.

Debate

The field of modern neuroscience is still very young and there is some debate as to the effectiveness of brain entrainment as a therapeutic or transformative tool.  Nevertheless, there are many professionals in the field of science and medicine who attest to the benefits and still many more users who rave about the results. The mysteries of the brain have been the center of many controversies since the ancient Greeks.  Decide for yourself.  You can take a test drive at http://brainsync.com/affiliates/id/140 .