Managing stress and controlling mental states are important components of being successful personally and in business. I know that I operate and respond better when I am in flow, or "in-the-zone." So, I value tools and techniques that help me get there.
One of these tools is called Holosync. It is still incredibly useful to me, even though I've been using it for over ten years.
It induces relaxation and meditative states without any effort or technical know-how. Simply put on the headphones and listen to seemingly normal music. The sounds are specially encoded to do all the work.
The basic premise is that soundwaves can affect brainwaves .
Bill Harris has built a business around figuring out the brain wave patterns for meditation, creativity, compassion, etc. - and finding a way to send tones through headphones to help guide your brain waves into the chosen pattern.
I reconnected with him at a Biohacking conference last week and shot this video.
Bill was a musician and has made sure that the scientific stuff is well-hidden beneath, nicely arranged musical scores and relaxation sounds.
My heart rate calms down, my head clears, and in a few minutes, I'm in a measurably better state. How do I know? Because I have a biofeedback device that measures my pulse, heart rate, galvanic skin response, and other readings to help me learn to relax better.
I have tried various breathing and focus techniques, with varying degrees of success. However, without fail, I simply put on the headphones, and I relax.
Not just me, though, either. I've demonstrated this to skeptical children, friends, and even my wife. All of them experience the same thing. We hook them up to the biofeedback machine, we put the headphones on them, and they relax.
I use it several times a week, and almost every time I travel. I find myself using Holosync mostly at night. However, our portfolio manager uses it at the beginning of the day. He claims that it helps him concentrate and it puts him a better state to do his job.
You be the judge, though. Bill has a free trial at his website. Here is the link. All in all, this is certainly a technology worth investigating.