> Happy to offer a free virtual session for founders
Why specifically for founders? Founders of what? Tech founders specifically? Again, why single those out?
> our work is always gifted.
From your website:
> This is the type of experience is usually reserved for my year long ALCHEMY clients. The Alchemists happily pay thousands a month to access these tools and my time
So is it always gifted, or does it usually cost thousands a month?
Hey - would love to connect about this, I am going to be in a group of founders where others might be interested as well so could even organize a group session. Please get in touch.
The last time this topic was on HN, some mentioned that many indigenous people had similar techniques with drum beats, e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIfLC5iudQ0 (this is a modern rendition though).
I don't think people are all that different east / west, we just did different things like sit in saunas and go to church. Going to church is IMO a form of meditation too, you sit still ish for an hour (depending on church), go through repeated rituals, specific kinds of evocative music and speaking, prayer often involves closed eyes and intentional clearing of mind and / or focusing on specific subjects mentally, but most importantly, it's an intentional break from your regular programming.
FWIW, I used to use a light and sound machine (Mindplace Procyon) and was able to induce these states with minimal effort. And I had a couple dozen experiences w/ psilocybin in my college years, so I'm well versed in what they should be like.
The goggles w/ binaural beats create some weird sort of state where I don't feel any connection to my environment. After only a couple minutes my body turns to total mush and my brain comes alive with phosphene visuals. By about 15 minutes in, my stomach usually gurgles a bit, not unlike the indigestion that often accompanies psychedelic trips.
Interestingly enough, these machines are marketed as brainwave entrainment, but the literature on that says the visual component doesn't really have much impact. Yet auditory entrainment on its own doesn't seem to do much for me either, or at least, not convincing enough beyond placebo.
There is an app for the iPhone called Lumenate that uses the LED flash and it seems to work, though it's not as strong for me as the multi-LED goggles I used to use. Still, it's a great gateway for those who are curious.
I wonder if these audiovisual devices are essentially “hacking” the thalamus in a way similar to psychedelics. After all, they both seem capable of disrupting or rewiring our sensory gating systems.
Many decades ago I used to enter altered states with dxm and an app called flasher.exe would let u pick from different saves to use and it would flash the light on my old Toshiba dos laptop. Used to pop in cds and go for trips in the dark; very memorable.
I am far from being an expert, but "altered state of consciousness" seems too vague of an idea to be significant.
Anyway all I have is my own personal experiences with anxiety, and I can at least confirm that breathing plays a huge role in mood regulation along with physical posture, staying hydrated, and gut health.
> encouraged by the tempo of the music progressively increasing to the end of HVB
How does this part work? No real music does this so did they make their own for the study? Or do they select songs that change tempo subtley from one to the next?
Sincere question: do we have a good definition of consciousness to be able to say there are different ones? May be experience might be the right word ?
Personally I like to think of breathwork as another form of music, or rather that music and breathwork are all rhythmic stimulus with similar and complementary effects. Add dance to this as well. One of the big draws of EDM and trance and tribal music is the incessant rhythm of music and dance.
The altered states from uninhibited dance really seem to be underappreciated.
Along with rhythmic visuals and lights, and things like binaurals etc, the common trait is the rhythm.
I really wonder where this came from, evolutionarily or culturally, since it seems that only humans seem to have a response to rhythm. Some of the more talkative birds seem to as well.
I often think I'm the only person not on drugs at an EDM festival and still getting into weird mental states. Good to know there's at least one other person.
Lewis-Williams theorized that paleolithic cave painters used drums and breathing techniques to enter ASOCs while making the paintings. I think that theory has taken some hits in recent years but it was always a neat mental image.
This is not a surprise to anyone that has engaged in prolonged meditation, especially across more than one day. It makes shortcuts like psychedelics look foolish. During a ten day Vipassana retreat time slowed down to such a great extent it changed my entire perception of time thereafter. The space provided by the mental quiet created by Anapana is so profound.
TLDR Anapana: Sit comfortably and monitor the sensation of the breath exiting the nose and return to it as your thoughts wander. Don't get mad when you wander, it's part of the process. Just return and try to maintain equanimity, to not react. If you get frustrated at first, you can increase your exhale slighlty to make it more noticeable.
That's about all there is to it. After you do this for a while your thoughts become less and less frequent and... you only have important, creative thoughts :) It turns out conscious thought is just a refection of a deeper process and most of it is garbage: worries, self doubt, fears.
I have just inspired myself to take up daily Anapana by writing this...
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[ 7.2 ms ] story [ 107 ms ] threadHappy to offer a free virtual session for founders if there is interest here, as our work is always gifted.
Why specifically for founders? Founders of what? Tech founders specifically? Again, why single those out?
> our work is always gifted.
From your website:
> This is the type of experience is usually reserved for my year long ALCHEMY clients. The Alchemists happily pay thousands a month to access these tools and my time
So is it always gifted, or does it usually cost thousands a month?
cheese
The goggles w/ binaural beats create some weird sort of state where I don't feel any connection to my environment. After only a couple minutes my body turns to total mush and my brain comes alive with phosphene visuals. By about 15 minutes in, my stomach usually gurgles a bit, not unlike the indigestion that often accompanies psychedelic trips.
Interestingly enough, these machines are marketed as brainwave entrainment, but the literature on that says the visual component doesn't really have much impact. Yet auditory entrainment on its own doesn't seem to do much for me either, or at least, not convincing enough beyond placebo.
There is an app for the iPhone called Lumenate that uses the LED flash and it seems to work, though it's not as strong for me as the multi-LED goggles I used to use. Still, it's a great gateway for those who are curious.
Any more detail on this? Never heard this terminology before
Anyway all I have is my own personal experiences with anxiety, and I can at least confirm that breathing plays a huge role in mood regulation along with physical posture, staying hydrated, and gut health.
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/asset?unique&id=inf...
How does this part work? No real music does this so did they make their own for the study? Or do they select songs that change tempo subtley from one to the next?
The altered states from uninhibited dance really seem to be underappreciated.
Along with rhythmic visuals and lights, and things like binaurals etc, the common trait is the rhythm.
TLDR Anapana: Sit comfortably and monitor the sensation of the breath exiting the nose and return to it as your thoughts wander. Don't get mad when you wander, it's part of the process. Just return and try to maintain equanimity, to not react. If you get frustrated at first, you can increase your exhale slighlty to make it more noticeable.
That's about all there is to it. After you do this for a while your thoughts become less and less frequent and... you only have important, creative thoughts :) It turns out conscious thought is just a refection of a deeper process and most of it is garbage: worries, self doubt, fears.
I have just inspired myself to take up daily Anapana by writing this...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anapanasati
Which... I also think is fine? Sleep is a daily change of consciousness allowing for rest, recovery, reorganizing, etc.