Hemi-Sync® Journal 1995-1 (Winter)

--- PAGE 1 (OCR) --- Journal Vol. XIII Winter 1995 No. 1 A Research and Educational Publication of The Monroe Institute IN THIS ISSUE THE ROAD TO REMEMBRANCE .......... i Barbara Bullard discusses the philosophy and theory that fueled her determination to craft a METAMUSIC tape for quantum learning. HEMI-SYNC INTO CREATIVITY.......... iii Statistics from preliminary research by Chok Hiew imply a direct correlation between Hemi-Sync and divergent, intuitive thinking. C THE ROAD TO REMEMBRANCE by Barbara Bullard, MA Barbara Bullard has been a Professional Member of The Monroe Institute since 1989. She was selected for the 1986-87 edition of Who's Who of Scholars in American Community Colleges. Jn 1994 Barbara was nominated for Teacher of the Year at Orange Coast College where she has been a professor of speech for twenty-nine years and received the NISOD Teaching Excellence Award from the University of Texas. Professor Bullard is known for her innovative approach to teaching, com- munications, relationships, leadership, and healing. Her deep involvement with the Hemi-Sync sound technology and three decades of research, testing, and teaching about the impact of speech, sound, and music on the brain were the impetus for a three-year effort to create a superlearning METAMUSIC. The road to a new METAMUSIC product, Remembrance, began over eighteen years ago when I discovered the “sug- gestopaedia” techniques of Dr. George Lozanov (Ostrander and Schroeder, Superlearning, 1979). As a professor of Interpersonal Communications, any methods to help my students learn faster or better interest me. That's why, for over a decade, I've recommended background music as a key element to catalyze “superlearning.” Chapters 3 through 7 of Communicating from the Inside Out, coauthored with Kat Carroll, MA, discuss using whole-brain learning techniques— affirmations, visualization, music, and breathing—for anchor- ing information to the widest possible combination of neural networks and thus increasing retention. Reading about the Hemi-Sync technology of The Monroe Institute in spring, 1988, I was intrigued from the outset. My students ordered a variety of the MIND FOOD and H-PLUS learning tapes. The rapid results were amazing. Attendance at a GATEWAY VOYAGE that summer led to a quantum leap in my personal growth and teaching style. Joining the Professional Division and attending the 1989 Professional Seminar familiarized me with Hemi-Sync and the new META- MUSIC products. METAMUSIC and H-PLUS became integral parts of my superlearning workshops. My students gave me feedback on Hemi-Sync’s benefits and limitations. These are thoroughly addressed in Using the Whole Brain, edited by Ronald Russell. So I’ll focus on why a new METAMUSIC was desirable and its evolution. Music easily anchors new information by widespread stim- ulation of neuronal pathways. It is the only outside stimulus which automatically synchronizes the two brain hemispheres. While the linear-sequential aspects, such as lyrics, beat, rhythm, and notation are being processed by the left hemi- © 1995 The Monroe Institute Route 1, Box 175, Faber, VA 22938-9749 804/361-1252 --- PAGE 2 (OCR) --- HEMI-SYNC® JOURNAL sphere, the right hemisphere processes the holistic aspects, such as harmony, intonation, creativity, and the overall flow. However, music reaches far beyond the cerebral hemi- spheres. Brain imaging research has turned the spotlight on the “convergent zones” in the prefrontal lobes. Here the inter- connectivity of the two hemispheres occurs and arouses the “executive” brain of coordinated thinking patterns. Simultaneously with side-to-side and front-to-back stimulation, a top-down process runs to the limbic brain, where our emo- tions are triggered. This emotional energy affects the immune system chemistry. The influence of music on brain and body is so pervasive that musicologist Dr. David Tame states: “To the question, ‘Does music affect man’s physical body?” modern research replies in the clear affirmative. There is scarcely a sin- gle function of the physical body that cannot be affected by musical tones” (The Secret Power of Music, 1984, p. 136). In his insightful book, Stalking the Wild Pendulum, \tzhak Bentov comments: “The universe is a vibrating, dancing organism... . Inaword, both the universe as a whole and we in particular are not matter but music.” Music’s synergistic interaction with so many areas of the brain makes certain types of background music conducive to enhanced learning. Dr. Oliver Sacks observes the pervasive influence of music in the article “Healing Vibrations” from The Yoga Journal, January/February 1994. “The ability of most Parkinson’s patients to respond to music remains remarkably unimpaired. They may be unable to walk, but able to dance; unable to speak, but able to sing, Even just imagining music will do the trick. Rosalie apparently knows all of Chopin by heart. Sacks need only mention Opus 49 and her body, posture, and expression are transformed. The Parkinsonism seems to vanish, and even her EEG reverts to normal ‘as the F-Minor Fantasie plays itself in her mind. .. .’ Somehow, says Sacks, listening to music acti- vates an ‘internal natural music’ that keeps all aspects of brain function working together” (p. 61). Recent research from the University of California at Irvine adds further confirmation. Thirty-six college students listened to a Mozart sonata, a musical relaxation tape, and silence for fif- teen- minute periods before taking three different IQ tests. The Mozart music variable produced an average IQ score of 119, compared to 111 for the relaxation tape and 110 for silence. Newsweek reporter Joshua Cooper Ramo questioned: “What is the magic of Mozart’s flute? One theory is that the intricate musical structures resonate in the brain’s dense web, lubricat- ing the flow of neurons. Another is that the neural structure includes regular firing patterns that build along the surface of the brain like bridges. Mozart’s musical structure evokes a sym- pathetic resonance from the brain the way one vibrating piano string can set another humming” (Newsweek, October 1993). Many of us learned our ABCs and other concepts in ele- mentary school by singing them and still remember those tunes. If you're driving along in a car and the first three beats of an “oldies” song plays on the radio, you remember the lyrics almost immediately. You may even recall your boy or girlfriend of that time and how you felt about them. It is an axiom: what goes in with music comes out with music. Research is making it ever clearer that music is a vital key to maintaining physical health and enhancing mental functioning. But it must be the right kind of music to facilitate learning and retention. Our new METAMUSIC was designed with the intention of incorpo- rating the newest findings from the fields of neuroscience and cognitive science. Let’s focus on that specific design and intent. Remembrance METAMUSIC has been especially crafted as a BY es,