I first began using Holosync about one year ago.
I received the package in the mail and promptly proceeded to listen to the half hour introductory disc, which gives you a general overview of the process.
I then sat up straight but comfortable in my chair, eyes closed, headphones on, and began the program.
The sound of rain began slowly fading in until it filled my ears.
Nice.
I like rain.
Then, I began to hear Buddhist bells.
They were being struck in an erratic, random fashion, their pitch seemingly confined to a major third with at least one of the bells striking a semitone now and then.
Being overly analytical as I am, I tried to discern some kind of rhythmic pattern.
The cryptic bells remained resolute in their randomness, however.
Today, even after so many daily sessions, I can still barely recognize a few short rhythmic patterns.
As for a melodic motif of any kind, the semitones quickly discouraged my ear from any attempts at picking out a melodic contour.
Just as well, though.
This is hardly the point of Holosync.
Here I am, then, in my first meditation session with Holosync and already I'm cheating.
I should be relaxing, darn it.
Thankfully, the introductory disc reassures me that should I find myself entertaining idle thoughts, I am to simply let them go gently.
No harm done.
During the first week, I am to listen to only the first track on the Holosync meditation disc, which is called "The Dive.
" What this does is bring your brain waves down to a certain frequency where you are more relaxed than in your normal waking state.
Because your brain may not be used to functioning in this frequency, you must basically train it for a week so that it becomes accustomed to this new way of operating.
After a week on "The Dive," you begin moving on to the second track without pause, which Holosync simply titles "Immersion.
" This second track takes you down to an even deeper brain frequency and, this time, holds you there.
Total listening time: one hour.
"Okay," you ask.
"What happened?" Nothing much.
At least so I thought at first.
Then, a week and a half into it, I noticed something strange.
At the time I was taking a full 15-credit course load in college and dealing with other assorted pressures in life.
One of my main pastimes was getting angry over the college and the professors.
I used to constantly lurch into extended verbal tirades against them to friends and family.
These outbursts would sometimes reach epic proportions.
Even though I was an honors student and getting mostly As with the occasional B, it seemed there was always a reason to complain about what I saw as a distinct lack of rigor in the classes and low faculty standards.
People who knew me eventually learned not to try to make me feel better.
Once I got started, nothing would stop until I finally burned out my fuse and settled down, at least for a few days.
One day, as I was discussing one of my classes with a friend, I realized something.
I wasn't angry.
Sure, there were still things for which I did not particularly care, but I just was not all twisted up about them.
In fact, when I realized this, I tried to get angry as an automatic reaction.
What happened instead was very interesting.
I felt the familiar feeling of anger slowly rise but...
before it could grow enough to become recognizable, it subsided.
Slightly confused, I again tried thoughtlessly to call on it.
I did this without much intention.
It was merely a pattern I had run so long I didn't even know I was doing it.
Amazingly, the next thought in my head was, "Who cares.
" The attitude which accompanied the thought was not one of irritated dismissal.
It possessed a good-natured, magnanimous character which was most definitely not my usual modus operandi.
It made me think of the way a loving parent may dismiss a child's tantrum with a well-placed wave of the hand and a smile.
In a word, it was disarming.
That is the best way to describe what Holosync did to the anger and resentment which had become my constant companion.
It disarmed it.
"Ah, don't be silly, now.
Who cares.
" This thought took over every time I found myself about to launch into an antagonistic pattern in numerous other situations in my life as well, whether it was an impending - and needless - argument with a friend or family member or a private thought about something insignificant that had happened during the day.
To be fair, I fell off the wagon a few times.
Holosync does demand a time commitment.
I will write more on that in a separate post.
I did come back to it though and am now in the process of completing the first six months, which is the recommended minimum usage for the first level of Holosync before one feels ready to go on to the next one.
It is made clear, however, that there is no set time before you move to the next level.
It is a purely individual experience.
When you are ready to move on, you'll know it.
That, in a nutshell, has been my experience with Holosync thus far.
I am truly glad I began this program.
My anger had become a kind of twisted addiction which I engaged in masochistically.
It was similar to the way you are long disgusted with that bag of junk food but you just can't stop sticking your hand on it.
While I cannot say I never become upset or turn negative anymore, I am, to a certain degree, undeniably freer then before.
I belong to myself a little more, and I feel that this is my first step toward an even bigger and more encompassing freedom.