Layers of Meditation

I love the SleepStream 2 iPhone app.  It's so easy to add layer after layer to the meditation experience:

• The first layer:  a binaural beat.  I talked about binaural beats in my last blog post:  Brainwaves "beat" at a higher frequency when stressed, lower when meditating, lower still when relaxed, and even lower approaching sleep.  Listen to a meditative binaural beat with headphones and your brainwaves measurably change to match the beat.  Meditation becomes easier.
• The second level:  sound effects.  SleepStream offers multiple categories of high definition recordings of waves, wind, fireplaces, rain, forests, white noise, and--one of my favorites--"dry drones", which are space-age electronic sounds.
• The third level:  overlays.  Meditative music such as piano or soft electronic/spacey music or spoken guided meditations.  Huge number of options available for free and more for low-cost download
• The fourth level:   visualizer.  The iPad can cycle through gorgeous photos of Autumn, Spring, Summer, Winter or places like Norway or video of waves crashing on the shore under a huge moon.

I don't always use the visualizer because the other three levels are usually enough to provide a rewarding meditation experience.  But there are times that I listen to one of the many "Waves" soundtracks, go to the "Shamanic Meditation" binaural beat (my fave), put on the "Deepspace Ambient" music, and watch the video of "Midnight Waves".  It is easy for me at these times to pretend that I'm on a real beach, listening to crashing waves, breathing in the ocean air and feeling the power of the waves running through me.