How Alpha Brainwaves Meditation Can Unleash Your Creativity And Improve Problem Solving

Most people are probably aware that their brains pass through different brainwave frequencies during their daily activities. It begins when you wake up in the morning. The brain adjusts its frequencies to the changing states of relaxation, awareness, alertness and need for problem solving. The Alpha brainwave state is one of the most desirable and productive frequency ranges to be in.

To get a picture of the various brainwave frequencies, the highest state is Gamma, which are frequencies above 40 Hz. Gamma is the level of very high alertness and intense problem solving. It can also represent extreme emotions such as fear.

Beta, 13-40 Hz, is slightly lower. This range is commonly dominant during active thinking, cognitive action and high focus and concentration.

Next comes the Alpha brainwaves, 7-13 Hz. Alpha is an awake and conscious state but with a comfortable level of relaxation and emotional control. Theta, 4-8 Hz, and Delta, 1-4 Hz, are the slowest and represent regions of sleep and deep meditation.

Alpha brainwaves are a region of high creativity. Our brainwave activity is dominated by Alpha when first becoming awake in the morning. The body is physically relaxed, and the mind is free from distractions. Oftentimes, when we have been faced with a seemingly unsolvable problem from the day before, the answers somehow become very obvious and apparent. Some people describe this as having a "eureka" moment.

Learning something new is much easier when the brain has more Alpha frequency. It is at this point that the mind is most open to reception of new ideas, and the retention rate is higher. Ideally, you would like to be able to control your mind's brainwaves and be able to phase yourself into the Alpha region when you want to absorb new ideas or leaning or are trying to find "out of the box" and creative solutions.

Various scientific studies have found that extremely creative people tend to have more active Alpha waves than other who are not as creative. Artists, for example, are known to experience more Alpha. Athletes have been reported to experience Alpha during periods of extreme physical performance in their sport.

Modern technology gives us a way to experience Alpha more easily and when we want to control it. Binaural beats are specially designed audio tones than are usually embedded in soothing music. These binaural beats mp3s will coax the brain into the Alpha brainwaves state. You will need a set of stereo headphones to experience the full effect. The objective is to find a quiet and relaxing environment and allow yourself to meditate and slip into the soothing brainwave state.