Does falling to sleep matter?

[bedece]

Hi

I'm on Level 9. I get up early up the morning to meditate. Lately though I have been falling to sleep during the 40 minutes. I do wake my self up, but often I am surprised when the meditation has stopped and I realise how quickly has it gone!

My question is this... does LifeFlow still work while you are alseep? If not, then why not? Do you only get benefits while awake?

[Itlandm]

Well, sleep is not meditation. Meditation will give us a greater awareness, not just while we meditate but throughout our lives. Sleep will not. So, it does matter in that regard. But your brain will still produce alpha waves.

[bbj]

Yes but entrainment is not meditation either. Every level I have done ultimately sends me to sleep at some point, not every time but often (I am on 6 now). I am particularly interested in the "whole brain" aspect of this program and just hope it works, awake or otherwise.

[Ta-tsu-wa]

Originally Posted by bbj

Yes but entrainment is not meditation either.

Entrainment and meditation are not synonymous.

Entrainment may help facilitate entering a state of meditation provided you are actively using some meditation technique to get there, but entrainment is not a substitute for meditation, and it does not "cause" meditation to arise. It only makes the active process used to get to a state of meditation more efficient and effective.

It may help you with any number of activities provided that the activites, 1) are congruent with the particular brainwave frequency the track entrains to and, 2) that you are actively pursing that specific activity while listening to the entrainment.

Any brainwave state will be common to countless activities. Brainwaves don't "cause" those activities, they are by-products "of" the activity. Using entrainment is quite literally putting the cart before the horse on purpose. You're taking the brainwave state, which normally follows an activity, and you're putting it first in an effort to enhance and promote that activity with which the brainwave state is associated. Since brainwave frequencies each apply to many, many different activities, the only way this process is useful is if we engage in the specific activity we're trying to enhance, while listening to the entrainment. The benefits you receive will be the benefits of that, and only that activity.

To make an exaggerated example, say you find listening to a particular track improves the quality of your teeth brushing so that your teeth end up cleaner and your gums healthier. If, instead of brushing your teeth while playing the track, you play it while you vacuum your livingroom, it might promote a cleaner livingroom rug, but it won't do a thing towards cleaning your teeth because you aren't brushing your teeth.

The same holds true of meditation or any other chosen activity. If you begin to meditate while listening to entrainment, but fall asleep, you are no longer receiving the benefits of meditation. There may be benefits associated with sleep that you're getting, but your meditation benefits stopped as soon as you slipped out of the state of meditation.

This question comes up quite often, and almost always what the person really wants to know if you read between the lines is, "Does just listening to Lifeflow give me the benefits of meditation?" They want to know this because exactly this claim is what is made by countless other entrainment products, including some of the biggest names in the entrainment industry.

The answer is, of course, "No, just listening to Lifeflow in and of itself does not result in the benefits of meditation." But the post script to that answer is, "Neither does listening to the entrainment product anyone else produces, either." Entrainment can facilitate the practice of meditation, but it can't "cause" it, and it certainly can't "meditate you", as some other products claim. This is just false marketing hype.

However, many people approach meditation with different goals in mind. Some are looking for stress reduction. Others want to make personal improvements such as to become more patient, less angry, etc. There are many reasons.

If a person approaches meditation purely as a means of alleviating excess stress, and to them that's the "purpose" of meditation, or at least it's the purpose for their personal meditative practice, then from their point of view, listening to Lifeflow while just relaxing and letting the mind wander freely gives them "the same benefits as meditation". This is because lots of different activities can lead to stress reduction, and any of these activities could well be enhanced by listening to Lifeflow. Their aims were limited to some very specific result(s). If other activities result in the particular outcome they were seeking, in their mind they often see this as being "the same" as meditation. And from their point of view, and so far as they are concerned, this is more or less correct. It's a limited perspective, but one can follow the trail of reasoning behind this conclusion easily enough.

So there are overlapping benefits with meditation and other activities. At the same time, there are benefits that are unique to meditation. These cannot be attained in any way other than through meditation. No other activity will suffice whether with or without the aid of entrainment. If you're seeking the full package of benefits associated with meditation, only meditation will get you there.

[Papp]

Ta-tsu-wa, your posts just keep improving. You have an amazing gift. Thank you for being here.