Mind stim

[Aliplow]

Hi everyone, I'm a new kid on the block and have just started using Lifeflow. This morning was my first time, and it was a very beautiful, deep meditation and I look forward to many more. I have used Holosync for quite a few years with mixed results and only found this site this week. I'm very glad that something guided me here.

I wondered if anyone knows anything about Mind Stim, it's a soundtrack using a technology based on the work of a French man called Alfred Tomatis and claims to help with Dyslexia, ADHD etc... its a centrepoint product and I can't seem to find it anywhere else and bearing in mind their 'method' of brain entrainment, I wonder if I could get it anywhere else??

Any thoughts would be really welcome. Thanks
Ali

[Ta-tsu-wa]

Welcome, Aliplow.

I can't say anything definitively about Holosync's product but in a nutshell I can tell you that Tomatis's work dealt with retraining parts of the ear, specifically, two muscles located in the middle ear to restore them back to normal functioning after they'd gone haywire from various forms of sound distortions. His belief was that hearing problems were behind many types of learning disabilities and medical disorders such as dyslexia and autism. He felt that if you could correct the hearing issues that had led to the disability you could then retrain a person to essentially no longer be "disabled". His research and conclusions are deemed to be experimental and largely theoretical in the US, and there aren't a lot of specialists yet doing much with his work. But the "Tomatis Effect" is recognized by many other countries as having established itself as a valid therapeutic modality.

He pioneered several types of treatment but the one I suspect the Holosync folks are touting was his use of classical music, specifically, Mozart. He modified some of the sounds in the music electronically so that they had the effect of rejuvenating parts of the ear.

Again, I can't speak authoritatively on Holosync's use of Tomatis's work, but I would be inclined to suspect they simply use classical music, probably Mozart, as a mask for their standard entrainment matrices. Since Tomatis used Mozart, and if Holosync also uses Mozart, they can claim to be basing their program on Tomatis's research. If that's really all they're doing then it's just a ploy to make a product sound more revolutionary than it actually is by piggybacking on Tomatis's name and research. I don't know that's what they're doing, but I'd be surprised if it was anything significantly more than that.

Without knowing how far along you are in the Lifeflow system, Michael has released a classical track that incorporates Mozart and other Baroque artists as the background for the entrainment track. It wouldn't really be the "Tomatis Effect" per se, but it is very well done and gets lots of rave reviews among members of the forum. Have you tried listening to that track yet?

[Midnight]

How can one acquire one of these "electronically modified" tracks, Ta-tsu-wa? I researched more on Tomatis online, and I would definitely find it useful.

[Ta-tsu-wa]

Originally Posted by Midnight

How can one acquire one of these "electronically modified" tracks, Ta-tsu-wa? I researched more on Tomatis online, and I would definitely find it useful.

Tomatis himself founded I think two or three companies dedicated to exploring his work further. I don't recall any of their names but if memory serves they were purchased by an unrelated company near the time of his death. I can't tell you much about them because, as I noted previously, his work hasn't really been given much credence up till now in the US. I think the company that owns the patents to his work is based in Europe though, so if you live anywhere back in the old country you could probably do a bit of digging around and turn up something.

There are likely some speech therapists and audiologists working with some of his research, again, more so in Europe than the US. If I was looking to explore using his methods I'd probably start by looking up therapists who specifically advertise using the methods of Tomatis and going from there. If there are reputable programs availabe for use by home consumers they could more effectively point them out to you.

What I would be cautious of is spending my money on any product advertised on the web that claims a connection to Tomatis and his work. All too often they use language like, "Based on the work of Alfred Tomatis," or similar phrases. This is so tenuous that it could mean anything. Tomatis dealt with sound. In theory, if a company has a product that uses sound they could make the claim their product is "based on the work of Tomatis", when in reality it has nothing at all to do with him. A reputable speech therapist might help you avoid such dishonestly marketed products.

[Midnight]

Thanks a bunch, Ta-tsu-wa. What would you make of this? The Listening Program - Auditory Processing Therapy Program

If you don't have time to read through any of it, that's cool.

[Ta-tsu-wa]

Originally Posted by Midnight

What would you make of this? The Listening Program - Auditory Processing Therapy Program

Looking over the site quickly I think it might be worth further investigation. I reviewed several of the entries under testimonials and documentation. What they refer to as "research" isn't really very rigorous in terms of how it was conducted. In the ones I reviewed there is no mention, for instance, of the use of control groups, no blind or double blind protocols, and no followup work to verify the findings of the first data set. Typically, whenever you perform hard research there is always some set of data that doesn't support your hypothesis, even when the preponderance of the work does. It's unusual to find multiple studies supporting the hypothesis with little or no dissent. It calls into question whether or not you're being given all the information available, or just the stuff that the group offering you the research wants you to see, otherwise known as cherry-picking your data.

In that regard you really couldn't lump these into the category of "persuasive, scientific evidence." They're more like case studies themselves than actual research. However, they are interesting enough that were I looking into this I'd want to know more.

To that end I think I'd probably get in touch with this company and request current contact information for the people that actually did the studies. Then I would write the therapists and schools that were involved directly in the research and case studies and ask them if they've performed any followup work. I'd ask in the case of therapists and health professionals, if they use this program with their own patients. And I'd ask some of the schools if they've made this program a part of their curriculum, at least for their special needs students.

If no one has done any of the above you'd have to seriously question how accurate the conclusions of the research and case studies are. If this program produced such glowing results for a particular therapist, why wouldn't they be using it in their practice on an ongoing basis? Same question for the schools. Ask questions like that. If you find they are in fact using the program, and you're comfortable with it yourself, maybe it's something you'd want to give a try.

[Midnight]

Wow, thanks for your input man, that's really helpful. I'll definitely look into this more.

[zenergy80]

Originally Posted by Aliplow

Hi everyone, I'm a new kid on the block and have just started using Lifeflow. This morning was my first time, and it was a very beautiful, deep meditation and I look forward to many more. I have used Holosync for quite a few years with mixed results and only found this site this week. I'm very glad that something guided me here.

I wondered if anyone knows anything about Mind Stim, it's a soundtrack using a technology based on the work of a French man called Alfred Tomatis and claims to help with Dyslexia, ADHD etc... its a centrepoint product and I can't seem to find it anywhere else and bearing in mind their 'method' of brain entrainment, I wonder if I could get it anywhere else??

Any thoughts would be really welcome. Thanks
Ali

Hi Ali, I haven't started Lifeflow just yet, or any sort of this technologies myself. I'm very curious to this approach to meditation, same as you... and I guess I came to this site as referred by a friend. I plan to try this out with Lifeflow, I guess I just need to feed my curiousity just a little more...

It just so happens that I saw a mind stim cd at home that my mom still uses frequently that she got from a company called earthstar. She says it helps her with her tinnitus condition.. i guess i could try that sometime to give you a better feedback though... hope this helps.