Role of Resonance
However, brain coherence through entrainment to “beat” frequencies introduced via stereo headphones is only part of the reason why the Gateway system works. It is also designed to achieve the physical quietude characteristic of deep transcendental meditative states which brings about a complete alteration of the fundamental resonance pattern associated with the sound frequencies produced by the human body.
Yoga, zen or transcendental meditation, if practiced long enough, will produce a change in the sound frequency with which the human heart resonates throughout the entire body. According to Bentov, this change in resonance results from elimination of what the medical profession calls “the bifurcation echo” so that the sound of the heartbeat can move synchronously up and down the circulatory system in harmonious resonance approximately seven times a second. Bentov describes the roll played by the bifurcation echo as follows:
“When the left ventricle of the heart ejects blood, the aorta, being elastic, balloons out just beyond the valve and causes a pressure pulse to travel down along the aorta. When the pressure pulse reaches the bifurcation in the lower abdomen (which is where the aorta forks in two to go into the legs), part of the pressure pulse rebounds and starts traveling up the aorta. If in the meantime the heart ejects more blood, and a new pressure pulse is traveling down, these two pressure points will eventually collide somewhere along the aorta and produce an interference pattern.
By placing the body in a sleeplike state, the Gateway tapes achieve the same goal as meditation in that it places the body in such a profoundly relaxed state that the bifurcation echo slowly fades away as the heart lessens the force and frequency with which it pushes blood into the aorta. The result is a regular, rhythmic sinewave pattern of sound which echoes throughout the body and rises up into the head in sustained resonance. The amplitude of this sinewave pattern, when measured with a sensitive, seismograph type instrument is about three times the average of the sound volume produced by the heart when it is operating normally.
Frequency Following Response
To achieve synchronization of brain hemispheres, the Hemi-Sync technique takes advantage of a phenomenon known as the Frequency Following Response (FFR) which means that if a subject hears a sound produced at a frequency which emulates one of those associated with the operation of the human brain, the brain will try to mimic the same frequency pattern by adjusting its brainwave output. Therefore, if the subject is in a fully awake state but hears sound frequencies which approximates brainwave output at the Theta level, the subject’s brain will endeavor to alter its brainwave pattern from the normal Beta to the Theta level.
Brain Stimulation
Bentov’s biomedical model shows that this resonance is of considerable importance since it is directly transmitted to and impacts upon the brain. The resulting vibration is received and transmitted into the brain itself via the fluid filled third and left ventricles located above the brain stem. An electromagnetic pulse is then generated which stimulates the brain to raise the amplitude and frequency of brainwave output, just as Dr. Twemlow observed in his research on the effects of the Hemi-Sync tapes.