Relapse Prevention
by Michael Landgraf
What makes my opinion any more meaningful than those on staff at rehabilitation centers? I’ve been there. I am an alcoholic. I have been sober since July 10th, 1985. That anniversary means more to me than my actual birthday. And I am proud of my 15+ years of sobriety, but every time I think of that accomplishment, every time I tell vodka you are just a part of my past, a part of me feels sad. Sad for the friends that went through rehab with me and are no longer here to share mutual joy and tremendous relief for getting that devil of a monkey off our backs.
Yes, even today those stinking thoughts still hit me out of nowhere, and although I reject
such thoughts, they are an involuntary occurrence that makes me think “where the hell did that thought come from?” After 22+ years of sobriety, they still happen, albeit less frequently, and I now know those thoughts will always crop up. It’s just the way it is.
When I went through rehab, twelve of us were going to graduate within days of each other. We felt a common bond, a camaraderie that we all wanted to have continue past our stay at the rehab. Within months, literally, ten of those graduates stopped communicating with Debra and me. Two had died, eight reverted to their old ways. Soon after, Debra disappeared, having kept her return to alcohol a secret. I was the only remaining sober graduate.

What made me the fortunate graduate? What caused me to succeed when all my beloved rehab companions failed? It wasn’t the rehab center! My counselor said I’d receive a follow-up call in 6 months, again at my one year anniversary, then again after two years. She never called, no one from that center called. It made me feel like they didn’t care. They appeared only to be concerned with in-house patients because that’s where the money is. Heck, at least with a follow-up phone call I could have been a statistic. And a positive statistic at that!
So what did I do differently than my companions once we were back in society, trying to
build a new life? I was the only one who utilized a light and sound instrument. An InnerQuest IQ-III to be exact. Bless the late Rob Robinson for having his products available! I firmly believe having a l/s instrument at my immediate disposal for use when those ‘bad thoughts’ started infiltrating my mind, my thought processes, and my mental and emotional disposition made all the difference in the world. I was the only one to use a l/s unit out of our graduating class of twelve, and I am the only one still sober, still alive. I don’t care how administrators or therapists feel about that statement, because I know it, firmly believe it as the one variable that helped me maintain my sobriety whereas my friends, who did not have l/s instruments at their disposal- failed.
It’s time to put as much emphasis on staying clean/sober after graduation as it is for getting clean/sober while being an in-house patient. Light/sound technology has the sessions that can help control addictive behaviors, to help lay the foundations for a positive mental and emotional attitude, and for giving the recovering addict instant access for overcoming that stinking thinking thought pattern that strikes at any time, anywhere. Put stronger emphasis on relapse prevention and you will see less failure rates among rehab graduates, which in turn improves the credibility of rehabilitational programs. Think about it: I was the only one to use light and sound after graduating and I am the only one still sober.
So you are probably saying that’s just one example. Phooey! I went through it, have you?
What of all the others I’ve met since my graduation who also experience addictive behaviors? Be it for sex addiction, cocaine, downers, meth, you name it. They’ve all taken to using light and sound instruments because it personally helps them cope. So the next time you are sitting in a staff meeting, discussing how to improve your success rate and increase your funding, look no further than your local light and sound dealer. You’ll find a very cost-effective and highly beneficial tool that can improve your program’s success rate, which in turn will help when submitting paperwork for additional funding, and oh yes, actually give your graduates a fighting chance at staying clean and sober for quite possibly the rest of their life.
Over the years I have been involved with several rehabilitation centers as a consultant for getting neurofeedback and/or light and sound programs initiated (learning / relaxation). Basically, I would show them what these instruments look like and how to use them, how they can be incorporated into their existing methods of treatment, and instructing them on how to maximize the sessions for the benefit of their patients.
Why I choose to do this is to open the eyes of therapists and administrators to the cost- effectiveness and benefits that these technologies offer. Especially when many rehabs are facing extreme cutbacks and even closure. But more importantly, I do this because as beneficial as the treatment patients receive while staying at a rehab center are, most rehabs tend to turn their patients loose after fulfilling their time at the center, telling them good luck and to call if they feel setbacks approaching. Shouldn’t graduates be given tools to take home with them for preventing relapses from occurring?
Once out, patients find themselves in a world that hasn’t changed. Only they have changed. Granted the only way an addict can truly stop their addiction is to really want to quit, to change their routine once back in society, and to abstain from visiting the places they frequented before checking into a rehab. But it is so hard for an addict to do this without mental and emotional support. This is where I believe most rehabs fail. They put so much emphasis on treatment while the patients are attending the rehab, and seemingly have little time to keep track of what happens to their patients once they graduate.
I have seen too many individuals fall back into their addictive behaviors because such mental and emotional support groups are not available in time of need. Is that a cop-out reason to revert to old ways? Sure. Not being able to make new friends who are clean and/or sober causes them to seek out old friends that shared the same addiction? Yes, that too is a pretty lame excuse. But when the urge to revert to old ways is strong, when that old addictive ‘friend’ is beckoning for their return, the addictive cycle rears it’s ugly head. A large percentage of ex-patients become new patients once again.
With the cost of rehabilitative treatment being so astronomical, and the time necessary to stay at these facilities lasting from several days to several weeks, even months, I would think more rehab centers would put a stronger emphasis on relapse prevention; meaning once an individual graduates, greater importance should be placed on assisting them re-integrate into society,re-integrate with themselves, and make available more tools for the graduate for immediate utilization of overcoming that ‘stinking thinking’ urge that can pop up at any time, for any reason. Those thoughts just occur out of nowhere, and when they happen, it is an anxious and frightening experience for the newly clean/sober individual. They don’t get these thoughts because they want to, they get these thoughts because addictions are waking nightmares. Stinking thinking, in my opinion, falls short in describing just how awful these urges and thoughts can be.
It is not my intention to upset the administrators of rehabs, but with many rehab counselors and therapists themselves once being addicted to ‘their favorite friend’, and often experiencing personal relapses themselves, rehabs must wake up to the increased need of having tools accessible for their graduates. Tools that can help overcome those sudden urges faster than calling a counselor and being told they will get right back to you after they finish their in-house group counseling session.
That is the potential of light and sound in relapse recovery. It is just one tool to help maintain a clean/sober life. It has worked for me, it has worked for the dozens of people I’ve met since beginning my own recovery, and it can work for today’s addicts trying desperately to quit the very addiction that is killing them. It’s time you give this modality serious thought, that is, if you are actually serious in helping your patients remain clean/sober.
If you would like to learn more about the role of light / sound instrumentation in relapse prevention, please feel free to contact Michael Landgraf at: store@mindmachines.com

Light flows through our eyes and triggers hormone production, which influences our entire complex biochemical system. This biochemical system then affects our being. And light does not travel alone. Light travels with other energies as shown below.

We know that each colour found in the visible light spectrum has its own wavelength and its own frequency, which produces a specific energy and has a nutritive effect. We know some rays can be dangerous if we are exposed to them. But the visible light, the rainbow, has a soothing effect on us.
Light is the only energy we can see, and we see it in the form of colour.

Our body absorbs colour energy through the vibration colour gives off. All organs, body systems, and functions are connected to main energy centres.
Through colour we receive all the energies we need to maintain a health body, mind, and soul. The National Institute of Mental Health has done studies showing that our mental health, behaviour, and general efficiency in life depends to a great extent on normal colour balance. When something goes wrong, or is out of balance, we can strengthen our energy centres through the conscious use of colour.

Light consists of the seven colour energies: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet. Each colour is connected to various areas of our body and will affect us differently emotionally, physically, and mentally. By learning how each colour influences us, we can effectively use colour to give us an extra boost of energy when we need it.
If you wake up in the morning with little energy, or you need to prepare for a business meeting, this is where the power of colours can help. All you have to do is reflect on the type of day you have planned; choose the colour that will help you meet the demands of the day; and then absorb that particular colour. It’s like fuelling your system with the right kind of gas!

BRIEF HISTORY OF COLOR AND LIGHT THERAPY

Healing by means of color and light was the first type of therapy used by man. The sun’s rays kept him warm, the colors of the flora fed him and accounted for his mood. The Egyptian Pharaohs and the Inca Indians worshipped the Sun as God and used plants as medicinal herbs.

In 6th century BC, Orpheus, the founder of the first metaphysical mystery school in Greece utilized vibrational medicine of color and light as a means of healing and spiritual awareness. Both Pythagorus and Plato were strongly influenced by his teachings.

In 125 AD - the ancient scientist, Apuleius experimented with a flickering light stimulus used to reveal epilepsy.

In 200 AD - Ptolemy observed patterns of color rays coming from the sun into the eyes produced a feeling of euphoria.

In the 17th century - French psychologist Pierre Janet used flickering lights to reduce hysteria for hospital patients.

1876 - Augustus Pleasanton used blue light to stimulate the glandular system. In this same year, Seth Pancoast utilized red light to stimulate the nervous system.

1878 - Dr. Edwin Babbitt used variant colors to produce healing of internal organs.

1908 - Aura Soma developed in England used colors to heal physical and emotional symptoms and promote psychological change.

1926 - C.G. Sander specified that application of particular colors was necessary for normal health.

1930 - The Father of Spectro-Chrome Metry, Dinshah P. Ghadiali compiled an encyclopedia of treatment with the use of color and light for over 400 various health related disorders.

1941 - Dr. Harry Riley Spitler formulated “The Syntonic Principle” stating that light by way of the eyes balances the autonomic nervous system.

1943 - Dr. Max Lucher developed psychological color testing to reveal information hidden in the subconscious mind which is still used today.

1980 - Dr. Thomas Budzynski - used phototherapy to accelerate learning.

1991 - Dr. Harrah Conforth applied color and light to facilitate whole brain synchronization and Dr. Robert Cosgrove utilized colored light for sedative properties prior to , during and immediately following surgery.

That color affects us all is an undoubted fact. Its significance has been investigated and the results utilized in merchandizing, selling, home decorating, the workplace environment, industry, plant growth, nutrition, physics, physiology, psychology, ecclesiasticism and art. In fact, color is so much a part of our lives that we tend to take it for granted.

Physical healing is encouraged by directing colored light towards diseased areas of the body or to the eyes. In conventional medical treatment, phototherapy and photochemotherapy are used in current dermatological practice e.g. in the treatment of psoriasis, and blue light has been shown to be effective in the treatment of hyperbiliruminemia in the newborn.

There is a wealth of evidence to support the psychological effects of color and Dr Max Luscher’s The Luscher Color Test contains ample evidence of this (be advised that many of the references in this book are in German).

In conventional medical practice, the use of blue light in the treatment of hyperbilirubinemia has been proven by many researchers including Vreman et al with their study “Light-emitting diodes: a novel light source for phototherapy”. Creamer and McGregor of St John’s Institute of Dermatology, London. UK published a paper in January 1998 entitled “Photo (chemo) therapy: advances for systemic or cutaneous disease”, exploring the value of light as a treatment. Griffiths of the University of Manchester, UK, in July 1998, published a paper on “Novel therapeutic approaches to psoriasis” and in October 1998, The Archives of General Psychiatry ran four articles on light therapy. Regrettably, where treatment of a broader spectrum of disorders is concerned, the evidence is largely anecdotal.
Research in the agricultural field lends support to the potential for color as a therapy in humans as the following examples show:

1. In 1997 researchers at the School of Agriculture and Forest Science at the University of Wales, UK used red and blue light to establish whether these would increase activity and reduce locomotion disorders in meat chickens. They showed that in 108 chicks walking, standing, aggression and wing stretching all increased in intensity when reared from day 1-35 in red light. Where blue light was used, there was a high incidence of gait abnormalities. Prayitno DS., Phillips CJ and Stokes DK. 1997. The effects of color and intensity of light on behaviour and leg disorders in broiler chickens. Poultry Science 76(12): 1674-81.

2. Michael Kasperbauer, a researcher at the US Agricultural Research Service Center in Florence, South Carolina, showed that using red plastic sheeting under tomato and cotton plants produced a 15-20% higher yield than plants grown over traditional black or clear plastic. Also turnips grown under blue plastic had an improved flavour when compared with those grown under green sheets. Analysis of those grown under the blue plastic revealed that they had higher concentrations of glucocinolates and vitamin C (glucosinolates being the compounds which give turnips and horseradish their traditional “bite”). Kasperbauer and his team have also investigated the link between color and pest control. Michael Orzolek of Pennsylvania State University proved that aphids and the plant viruses they transmit are generally attracted to yellow and repelled by red and blue. This finding echoes the work of Babbitt a century earlier when he wrote “The electrical colors which are transmitted by blue glass often destroy the insects which feed upon plants.” Boyce N. Rainbow Growing. New Scientist. 24 October 1998.

Future research could focus on the clinical efficacy of color therapy and, the neurobiological mechanism of action. Extensive anecdotal evidence of the value of color therapy in the treatment of countless physical disorders over many decades deserves to be revisited. However, this evidence needs to be subjected to rigorous scientific research in order to establish (or otherwise) a sound basis for color therapy. Developing instruments for applying color could provide a commercial incentive for clinical trials.
A major resource for researchers is the Faber Birren Collection Of Books on Color which was presented to Yale University in 1971. Faber Birren (1900-1988) was a leading authority on color and the collection’s holdings are the most extensive to be found anywhere. A complete online bibliography can be found at the Yale University Library website.
from the chapter on Color Therapy by Therese M Donnelly in the Clinician’s Complete Reference to Complementary & Alternative Medicine by Donald W Novey MD, published by Mosby, 2000.

The practical application of a specific colour for a bodily condition requires common sense and experimentation. Generally, dis-harmony that produces a cold, wet condition requires red. Conditions of a hot, thermal nature require blue to calm and effect a stabilization of the subtle body in question. Therefore, contra-indicated to any red condition is the use of a red colour application such as with sunstroke. The use of red will aggravate the problem. The same is true of any blue condition; ie, contra-indicated for colds or pneumonia is the use of cold blue.
Some color therapists believe colours contain energy vibrations with healing properties. Exposure to a color and its vibrations can be used to assist the body’s natural healing and recuperative powers to achieve and maintain health and well-being.
The are seven natural colours in the visible light spectrum (rainbow): red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. Each color vibrates at its own individual frequency. In Color Therapy each color corresponds to one of the seven chakras (energy centres in the body), which in turn can influence a specific gland, organ, or tissue of the body. for example, the color red, which corresponds to the root or base chakra, can be used for problems with the adrenal glands, kidneys, and bladder. The color rays may be in the visible or invisible spectrum and can be administered through colored lights or applied mentally through suggestion.

The general rule of thumb is to place the affected area 12 inches from the glass and approximately 10-12 inches from your LIGHT SOUIRCE if you are inside. Twice a day is the ideal and, once started, the treatment should continue until the complaint is gone.
Colds are the most dramatic to experiment with. Use red. Focus over the chest and leave it there for 5-7 minutes. Colds and asthma, utilizing red and orange respectively, have reportedly brought dramatic results in a very short time. If you are not sure of any colour, always under-expose the time of treatment.

TIMES

RED: 5-10 minutes. Never more than 10 minutes.
ORANGE: 5-15 minutes, with 15 minutes used only for sinus problems.
YELLOW: 15 minutes. As a nerve tonic 15 minutes is ideal.
GREEN: 10-25 minutes. This is the only colour that can be applied at such length.
BLUE: 5-15 minutes. Never over-expose around the head region.
INDIGO: 10 minutes. For eye therapy usually 1-5 minutes is sufficient.
VIOLET: 5-25 minutes. The only occasion for a 25-minute application of violet would be in treating sciatica, exposing only the back or sides of the body.

Any colour that is applied to a specific area must be localized; this is very important. Green, yellow and blue may be general.

Red is never to be applied to the head region.

” An apple reflects a shade of red to the retina, forming impulses that travel as coded messages to the brain, where hormones are released, altering metabolism, sleeping, feeding and temperature patterns. So you see, we don’t just notice colors, we feel them. Mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually, they empower us. Dawn to dusk, they rule our world, transforming nature’s energy into personal realization. Every color has its own personality and in each lies knowledge and clarity.”
~Suza Scalora

Color Therapy, or Color Healing, is the therapeautic use of varous forms of color and light for physical, emotional, and spiritual benefit to the human body. Color and light therapy involves the application colour in a variety of ways: colored gels with light to penetrate and stimulate the body’s meridians which corresponds to traditional Asian acupuncture systems as well as accessing and incorporating the axiational lines ; colored lights applied to areas of the body; the use of colored lenses (prescription and non-prescription eyewear) for a variety of health concerns; the use of the sun; light applied to the eyes ; and the use of crystals or crystal rods with or without an outside light source for penetration of colorinto the body through the auric field, also using the acupuncture systems and axiational lines. Further use of color is made in the environment through the use of colored light bulbs, the paints applied to a room, the color of carpeting and furniture, or through the use of certain colored clothes, the use of crystals in the environment, sunlight, all of which directly impact the body through the bio magnetic (auric) field.
Color assists the body in its natural ability to balance itself and has been used for centuries by practitioners of the healing arts especially in Asia and in the ancient civilizations.. Egyptian priests left manuscripts showing their system of colour science, and Indian and Chinese mystics had knowledge of colour in their secret doctrines.
In 1666, Sir Isaac Newton developed the first valuable theory of color when he admitted sunlight through a prism. Newton established the presence of seven basic colors in the spectrum. For centuries the healing profession has recognized that color is a force of immeasurable and infinite power, exerting a tremendous psychological and physiological influence on people.
In Europe in the late 1800s and early 1900s psychologists working in mental hospitals researched the effect of color on patients. By utilizing different colored walls and lights it was found that depressive patients put into rooms with red or bright yellow walls, and hyperactive patients put into rooms with blue or green walls, were both calmed by the respective colours.
Black is a color associated with tragedy and death. Blackfriars Bridge, in London, was a was a gloomy black structure known for its high rate of suicide. After the bridge was painted green, the suicide rate declined by one third.
The use of color has numerous applications in industry. Experiments have shown that muscular reaction time is much quicker under the influence of red light than green light, which has application on an assembly line. The colours used on factory walls and machinery affect employee morale, efficiency, absenteeism, and accident rates.
In sports, a locker room painted in colours on the red side of the spectrum is known to stimulate team members. Uniform color can also influence a teams performance: thus, many professional football teams use red or orange as some part of the team colours.
Color is used extensively in interior design to create a certain feeling or mood, and to influence behaviour. For example, red rooms cause an overestimate of time. This is a particularly effective color for restaurants that want to make an individual feel she has spent more time there than she actually has. This allows the restaurant to seat more people in a given time period.
Restaurants and food processors use color to make food more attractive and appetizing. it has been suggested that consuming naturally colored foods and beverages is and an excellent way of getting color into the body for the improvement of health.

The condition that led the way to acceptance of some form of light treatments is Seasonal Affective Disorder or S.A.D.. This condition occurs most frequently during the long winter months but has also been shown to be present in people who have been house or hospital confined for long periods. Other occupations, such as pilots, flight attendants, miners, third shift industrial workers, etc., also experience symptoms of light deprivation. Some of these industries have begun to require the employees to sit in full spectrum light rooms for periods of time to avoid symptoms. Some people have affectionately called this condition “Cabin Fever” and have used it to describe a feeling of frustration, confinement, irritation at everything and anything and an inability to concentrate or enjoy the simple pleasures of life.

Color. We delight in a rainbow, sigh at a sunset, luxuriate in the rich colors of our homes, clothes, special spaces. Our eyes gravitate towards saturated color like moths to the light. No coincidence, considering the entire spectrum of colors is derived from light. And no surprise, really, that seeing, wearing or being exposed to color- whether in the form of light, pigment, or cloth- can affect us at levels we are only just beginning to understand.

Scientifically, it makes sense. Color is simply a form of visible light, of electromagnetic energy. Let’s break it down. What exactly is light? It is the visible reflection off the particles in the atmosphere. Color makes up a band of these light wave frequencies from red at 1/33,000th’s of an inch wavelength to violet at 1/67,000 of an inch wavelength. Below red lie infrared and radio waves. Above it: the invisible ultraviolet, x-rays, and gamma rays. We all understand the impact of ultraviolet and x-rays, do we not? Why then wouldn’t the light we can see “as color” not have as big an impact?

How we “feel” about color is more than psychological. The last decade has proven that lack of color, or more specifically, light, causes millions to suffer each winter from a mild depression known as Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Because of the complex way in which exposure to various colors acts via the brain upon the autonomic nervous system, exposure to a specific color can even alter physiological measurements such as blood pressure, electrical skin resistance and glandular functions in your body. And they most certainly can affect how you feel on a day-to-day basis. Learning about color’s qualities and putting it to use can enhance your spirit, improve your health, and quite ultimately, expand your consciousness.

Did you know?
Many people today agree that we are made up of vibrations and vibrations are colors. Some people who are sensitive can see other people and even objects giving off or being surrounded by colors. These emanations are called auras or energy fields. There are also some common misunderstandings associated with particular colors. For instance, the color black has often been feared. It has been believed to represent the unknown. Black in the past and even now has had associations of somehow being bad. But if you look again, you will see that black has great depth. Many image consultants, color therapists and healers have a fixed belief system about color. For example, orange is accepted for autumn, blue for calming, yellow for intellectual openness and mental clarity, white for purity, and purple for power. Colors do not need to be fixed or used only in these ways. Find out what works for you by exploring every color.

In Occult Meditation, by Alice A. Bailey, the Tibetan says that “..colours are the expressions of force or quality. They hide or veil the abstract qualities of the Logos, which are reflected as virtues or faculties. Therefore, just as the seven colours hide qualities in the Logos, so these virtues demonstrate in the life of the personality and are brought forward objectively through the practice of meditation; thus each life will be seen as corresponding to a colour.”

The basic premise of the ancient art of Colour Therapy is that all manifested life is energy, emanating from One Source, to and including all directions, encompassing all possibilities. It is here that we begin to see just why colour and sound play a very important part in our everyday lives. Each day we see colours and hear sounds which act upon our bodies. When we find a colour or ray quality lacking or in excess, the result can be dis-ease, dis-harmony or dis-cord.

The modern interpreter of colour therapy, or chromo therapy, was Dr Edwin Babbitt with his widely known work The Principles of Colour Therapy, printed in 1878. It is interesting to note that Babbitt’s diagram of the atom is found in A Treatise on Cosmic Fire by Alice Bailey. The Tibetan illustrates that this energy system is repeated throughout the manifested universe, from the smallest atom up to and including the largest solar system. Here again we find agreement between exoteric and esoteric scientific theory.

In meditation, you may visualize or ‘breathe in’ a specific colour for treatment of any conditions previously named. By consistently practising this form of colour therapy, you will achieve the desired result, though the time period may be slightly longer. As we have seen through example and experiment all is Energy and that Energy generates a force which is applied either correctly or not. In the correct apprehension of force and its action upon our bodies, we can truly effect lasting change within ourselves. “Colour is therefore ‘that which does conceal’. It is simply the objective medium by means of which the inner force transmits itself; it is the reflection upon matter of the type of influence that is emanating from the Logos, and which has penetrated to the densest part of His solar system. We recognize it as colour. The adept knows it as differentiated force, and the initiate of the higher degrees knows it as ultimate light, undifferentiated and undivided.” - The Tibetan.

This ancient art is still practical today, and its uses are many and varied.

As John Gage shows in his definitive history Colour and Culture (1995), the way we see colour is associative rather than empiric – for example, we think of blue as cool, expansive and soothing, even though the blue bit of a gas flame is hotter than the orange. Colour has different meanings in different contexts, but, Gage writes, “there seems to be a universal urge to attribute affective characters to colours”. Practitioners of chromo-therapy were convinced that colour was primarily a question of immediate feeling rather than intellectual judgment, and that it could have profound psychological and physiological influences. This belief in the powerful corporeal effects of colour influenced avant-garde artists such as Gauguin and Kandinsky, who thought of chromo-therapy as a useful tool in developing a non-representational art, because it provided the grammar for a supposed universal language of colour. But though chromo-therapy was once an intellectual fashion, its role in the story of modern art is largely forgotten. Where did the idea that colour could heal come from?

In the West, theories of colour evolved out of alchemy and medicine; colour was, therefore, intimately bound up with the therapeutic. The first colour circles were urine charts used by physicians to identify an imbalance of the four humours. A fifteenth-century example, from an anonymous Treatise on Urine, shows a radial pattern of twenty vials in various hues, running from clear (indicative of a phlegmatic temperament) to black (melancholic) through a series of yellow ochres (choleric) and blood reds (sanguine). Potions and herbs were often chosen by doctors on the basis that their colour opposed and would therefore harmonise any humoural lopsidedness.

In his influential Theory of Colours (1810), Goethe developed this relationship between colour and Hippocratic medicine. He and his friend, the Romantic philosopher Friedrich Schiller, also visualised colour relationships in a circle – which they called a “Temperamental Rose” – but they adapted the entire spectrum (not just those shades relevant to the medical diagnosis of bodily fluids) to the four humours. Green and yellow represented the active, sanguine character, exemplified by bon vivants, lovers and poets. Purple and blue-red characterised the passive and melancholic type – monarchs, scholars and philosophers. However, for Goethe, colours weren’t just arbitrary symbols of these bodily states, they could also produce them. “Every colour,” he believed, “produces a corresponding influence on the mind.”

Goethe tried to prove that colour had a direct, rather than mediated, effect on our feelings by tinting his laboratory windows alternately yellow, red, green and blue. He concluded that “the eye could be in some degree pathologically affected by being long confined to a single colour; that, again, definite moral impressions were thus produced… sometimes lively and aspiring [yellow], sometimes soft and yearning [blue], sometimes uplifted to the noble [red], sometimes dragged down to the base [green]”.

His own house was decorated according to this scheme. Unpopular guests never made it past the “Juno room”, which was painted a “gloomy and melancholy” blue so that they wouldn’t be tempted to stay long. The lucky ones who had dinner invitations were led into the warmth of his yellow dining room: “The eye is glad-dened,” he hoped, “the heart expanded and cheered, a glow seems at once to breathe towards us.” He preferred to work in a green garden room as he found the neutral admixture of yellow and blue to be peaceful and soothing.

Following Goethe, doctors began using colour not just as an aid to diagnosis, but as a cure in itself. The French psychologist Charles Féré, who worked under Charcot at the famous Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris, was convinced of its psychological therapeutic properties. He began experimenting with coloured light on hysterics in the 1880s, glazing asylum cells with blue or violet glass to create calming and curative effects. Féré thought of coloured light as different waves or vibrations of radiant energy that could be sensed not just by the eyes, but all over the skin in a form of cutaneous vision. In 1887 he set up a device, invented by Etienne-Jules Marey, who pioneered the photography of serial motion, to test this peculiar theory. It was a primitive oscillograph which measured the contractions of the hand and forearm under the influence of various coloured lights, definitively proving, Féré thought, that red had the most exciting effect and violet the most calming.

Other doctors had already followed Goethe’s lead. Dr Ponza, Féré wrote excitedly, “has announced happy effects from red light in melancholics and blue light in maniacs”, and Dr Davies, of the County Lunatic Asylum in Kent, “has obtained four cures of maniacs by the same treatment, but has not obtained any results in melancholics”. (However, Féré admitted, “the experiments of M Taguet had a negative result in all cases”.) Colour treatment soon became fashionable. The illustrations in Seth Pancoast’s Blue and Red Light: or, Light and its Rays as Medicine (1877) show a well-dressed woman sprawled languidly on a couch as she bathes in coloured light. One contemporary writer dubbed the resulting craze the “blue glass mania” and offered the following prescription: “Blue glass one part; faith, ten parts; mix thoroughly and stir well until all the common sense evaporates, as the presence of a minute quantity will spoil the mixture.”

However, apparently lacking in common sense, the research conducted by scientists and physicians into the psychological power of colour inevitably influenced artists, who found in this work an affirmation of the moral significance and physiologic impact of their medium. Paul Gauguin’s use of bold, flat planes of non-representational colour, as seen in Faa Iheihe (1898), was directly inspired by chromo-therapy. “Since colour,” he wrote in his diary, “is in itself enigmatic in the sensations which it gives us (note: medical experiments made to cure madness by means of colours) we cannot logically employ it except enigmatically… to give musical sensations which spring from it, from its peculiar nature, from its inner power, its mystery, its enigma.”

Kandinsky, who had been impressed by Gauguin’s forceful use of brilliant colour when he saw his paintings in Paris in 1902, came across chomo-therapy when he read Arthur Osborne Eaves’s The Power of Colours (1906). “Colour directly influences the soul,” Kandinsky wrote in Concerning the Spiritual in Art (1912). “Anyone who has heard of colour therapy knows that coloured light can have a particular effect upon the entire body. Various attempts to exploit this power of colour and apply it to nervous disorders have again noted that red light has an enlivening and stimulating effect upon the heart, while blue, on the other hand, can lead to temporary paralysis.”

That same year, the Swiss psychologist Dr Max Lüscher developed a colour test which consisted of a person sorting 73 colour patches into an order of preference (an abbreviated test of eight cards was also used), and claimed to be able to judge personality from the results. He even believed that “it is sometimes possible to deduce personality characteristics of a painter when great emphasis is placed on one or two colours, for example, Gauguin’s obsession with yellow in his later paintings”. His ideas served to boost interest in chromo-therapy, reviving a fashion just as the FDA was recalling all of Ghadiali’s devices. Lüscher was influenced by both Goethe’s theory of colour and Kandinsky’s neo-Romanticism – and thought his test worked as “an early warning system for stress ailments… cardiac malfunction, cerebral attack or disorders of the gastro-intestinal tract”. He was convinced colour had fixed primal associations that took us back to an ancient fear of the dark, to hunting and self-preservation. “The test is a ‘deep’ psychological test,” Lüscher asserted, insisting on its scientific veracity, “developed for the use of psychiatrists, psychologists, physicians… It is NOT a parlour game.”

His theories were taken up not only by psychiatrists and therapists, but by the advertising and marketing industries, where they had a wider and more long lasting influence. For example, Lüscher advised that sugar shouldn’t be sold in a green package, as the colour is associated with astringence, whereas blue was associative of sweetness. In the 1960s, the American scientist Alexander Schauss read Lüscher’s musings on colour psychology, packaging and décor and began his own research into the physiological effects of colour. He thought he’d discovered a colour with a profoundly calming effect and was keen to put it to use. Beginning in 1979, he persuaded a number of American prisons to paint their cells a camp, but supposedly pacifying shade. If only he’d done so in time for Ghadiali’s confinement, the Bombay colour theorist might have found himself in a cell painted a bright Indian pink

Psychologist Daniel Goleman’s book Emotional Intelligence recently introduced the idea that emotional skills, which include self control, mood management, persistence, self motivation and getting along with others, are a unique form of intelligence. As Goleman cites, emotional intelligence more than IQ, is responsible for an individual’s success in life. Research suggests that IQ accounts for only 20% of success in life, while EQ accounts for the remaining 80%.

My focus is to help adults and adolescents acquire or refine emotional skills. While IQ is an area that can’t be changed, EQ skills can be improved considerably. One can learn to control the inner world of emotions – or in other words, the rational/emotional split, the feeling/thinking struggle, and deal successfully with life’s tasks. Being able to channel emotion into successful behaviors, as opposed to being overwhelmed by them, is a core component of these living skills.

In the 1960’s, Psychologist Abraham Maslow, one of the fathers of the human potential movement, coined the term self actualization to describe the innate desire for personal fulfillment, the desire to be everything one is capable of being. He believed that having a handle on one’s emotions and using them constructively, striking that perfect balance between thinking and feeling, is essential to self actualization.

The central problem with most self help products is the amount of time and energy needed to maximize benefits. Whether it is a book, audio or video, the user is expected to do more than simply read the book or listen to or watch a tape. Getting the most out of the material involves making a commitment over a period of time. I believe for a personal development product to be valuable it needs to meet four criteria: effective, easy to use, entertaining and expedient.

The HPP series of audio programs successfully meet all the criteria for a personal development audio product. The series modify thoughts, feelings and behavior without conscious effort, and it is easy to use (all you need is a CD or MP3 player, headphones and 30 minutes of uninterrupted time). Recorded in three dimensional sounds and using multiple story-telling as a framework, the CDs create a delightful fantasy world. The relaxation aspect of the programs occurs within minutes, and the emotional/behavioral changes within days after listening.

The HPP series uses the words and the phrases from dual stories to form suggestions for change. These powerful suggestions are heard “peripherally” and stored by one’s unconscious mind for future use. They then generate spontaneous changes in the areas of one’s emotional life, respecting both individuality and specific needs.

Speed has taken over our lives, and while having things move faster offers benefits in the form of increased convenience, the downside is stress. Stress negatively impacts on one’s relationships and productivity. Auto-programmed hormones relating to survival (defense/withdrawal) surge during stress. An estimated 75% of medical complaints are stress related. Everything from heart attacks to backaches, headaches, blood pressure, and skin problems are caused by or exacerbated by stress. And on the psychological side, anger, anxiety, depression, sleep disorders, relationship problems, etc., are all stress related. Any successful attempt to manage stress must include relaxation as a core component.

In order to manage stress productively, each of us needs to trigger, what Dr. Herbert Benson described as the relaxation response in which the mind/body goes into a state of profound comfort where breathing and pulse slow, blood pressure drops and muscles become heavy and relaxed. Calming one’s emotional state by triggering the relaxation response has a beneficial effect on the immune system as well. Emotions can clearly influence immune functioning both positively as well as negatively, suggesting that there is a compelling relationship between emotions and health. Stress tends to create negative emotional states. Mood management in a general sense and relaxation in particular, not only are characteristics of emotional intelligence, but play a role in keeping us physically healthy.

In the 1920’s the electroencephalogram (EEG), a device that measures brain wave activity was invented. As a result of research with the EEG, we know the brain produces four distinct types of waves associated with different states of consciousness: beta, alpha, theta and delta.

Beta is the normal waking “active” state focus is upon the outside world and problem-solving. Alpha occurs when one slows down, become more relaxed, and turns toward internal events. As one continues to relax theta waves are generated. The theta or “twilight state,” exists in between waking and sleep and is often accompanied by dreamlike imagery, sudden insights to a problem and vivid memories. Moreover, one’s ability to learn and absorb information is greatly enhanced while in this state. The last of the four brain wave states is the slowest, delta, which is associated with sleep.

In the 1970’s, Elmer and Alyce Green, researchers at the Menninger foundation, explored the theta state in their book, Beyond Biofeedback, which describes the deep state as one where there was a quieting of emotions, body and thought. Dr. Thomas Budzinski, who coined the term “twilight state,” also studied the theta state and focused on the learning properties of the state. He found that subjects in “theta” were highly suggestible, able to learn large amounts of information quickly.

Dr. Milton Erickson, a psychiatrist trained in classical psychoanalysis, noticed that certain nonconformist or “unusual” techniques seemed to be more effective than insight-oriented psychotherapy. The magic behind Erickson’s skill was the use of storytelling, tailoring each metaphoric story to the needs of the individual or couple with whom he was working. His powerful hypnotic technology shut down the logical part of the mind, the “chatter box” that accompanies the waking state, resulting in a very relaxed, receptive state of mind.

Prior to developing the HPP series, I conducted a pilot research project with ten individual subjects referred by clients and provided them with audio programs. Each program began with a story about a person with a problem who was struggling to find a solution. Eight minutes into the story a split occurred whereby two additional stories were told simultaneously. When those stories concluded 15 minutes later, the initial story finished, and underneath the stories, subliminal messages were embedded. Anxiety and drinking among the subjects lessened, and seven out of the ten noted an improved sense of well being, feeling more relaxed, improved relationships and more productivity. And five noted more restful sleep.

As I reviewed the feedback from the research subjects and patients, certain patterns emerged. First, there was the immediate calming effect of listening and the cumulative relaxation effect that listened produced over time. Second, there were specific changes in thinking, feeling and behaving that occurred spontaneously, without conscious awareness. These changes usually occurred within a short period of time after the individual began listening.

Erickson constructed his stories/metaphors to parallel the problems his patients presented to him. He would borrow from his own life experiences or those of his family and patients to construct these therapeutic narratives. The feedback of our research subjects directed us to use “The Myth of the Hero” theme made famous by mythologist Joseph Campbell as a core component of the HPP technology: A person experiencing some difficulty in their life is briefly removed from reality as he knows it, goes through some transformational experience which brings out the best in him, and then returns to everyday life a changed person. I also took the liberty to embellish this theme by including all kinds of magical characters who provide support for the protagonist.

We know that many of our problems as adults began when we were children. That means the thinking, feeling and behaving patterns, which can be conceived as problems in Emotional Intelligence, occurred while we were in the theta brain wave state during childhood. Therefore, it makes sense that reentering this state opens up a therapeutic window of opportunity to grow emotionally.

Emotional intelligence (EQ) is the category of skills that research shows maximizes the possibility for happiness and success in life. These skills include persistence, empathy, mood management, and self control. And unlike IQ, EQ is not a fixed entity. EQ skills can be improved as well as acquired during adulthood, making our lives richer.

The HPP audio programs provide the ideal vehicle for generating positive emotional shifts for increasing one’s EQ. Combining the latest in communication technology with 3-Dimensional sound, the HPP series gently guide you down into the “theta” state of consciousness. This unique state is a “window” to the unconscious that allows for rapid learning and change. The entire HPP series is available at
www.Mindmachines.com .

Be aware of the symptoms, locate the source, learn to relax.

Identifying the problems:

I. Many problems in business (and personal life) arise from inappropriate
or maladaptive coping with stress.

II. Stress results from the demands of outside pressures and the individual
capability to respond.

III. Stress-related disorders include: headaches, muscular tension, ulcers,
colitis, chronic pain, diarrhea, bruxism, insomnia, asthma and fatigue.

IV. Psychological effects of stress are anxiety, depression, phobia, sexual
dysfunction, restlessness and lifestyle problems such as chain-smoking,
obesity and alcoholism.

V. Behavioral effects include aggression, withdrawal, preoccupation with
self problems, inability to concentrate or focus, memory problems and
inability to effectively work or study.

VI. The effects described above can be translated into concrete problems
arising in the home, workplace or school:

- Accidents
- Low Productivity
- Poor Judgement
- Deteriorating Performance
- Absenteeism
- Inaccurate Reports
- Illness

VII. Millions of dollars are lost annually due to tardiness, absenteeism,
medical expenses, higher insurance premiums and lost productivity.

Since stress occurs while we are in the beta or ‘awake’ state, and a

light and sound instrument can guide us to an alpha or ‘relaxed’

state (without any conscious effort), doesn’t a 12 minute 9 Hertz

session, combined with your favorite music, sound good about now?

This product is called the electric lodestone because the earth’s first magnets were referred to as lodestone.   Lodestone is a conglomerate of iron, first documented in Asia Minor (Turkey), in an area then called Magnesia.

Iron is magnetic because of the way molecules of iron uniquely form with the positively charged side of each molecule all facing the same direction; and the negatively charged side of each molecule all facing the opposite direction.

This allows electrons, or negative charges, to flow in one direction within the magnet, much as electrons flow through in the same direction in an electrical circuit.

When the electrons flow from one end to the other side of the magnet, they leap out in the air (ions), and stream back to the opposite pole attracting them back.  These streams of ionic flows are known as the lines of the magnetic field.

Magnets have been used in compasses to navigate ships.  Magnets have also been used by doctors to reduce swelling and pain for thousands of years.

Dr. Nakagawa of Isuzu Hospital in Tokyo, set forth the world’s standards using magnets for therapy in his research dating to 1974.  Dr. Nakagawa is the top quoted M.D. in field of magnetic healing.

His observations are: they use 3,200 gauss, but he admits that they did not know what the best gauss strength would be, and, they use alternating north and south polarities.

Refrigerator magnets are 80 gauss, but the strongest of magnets (neodymium) are 12,000 gauss.

Many texts on magnetism proclaim that one should exclusively use the north pole stating that using the south pole is dangerous to use.  Please don’t tell this to the people living in the southern hemisphere of the earth.  If they believed you, they all might want to immediately emigrate to the northern hemisphere of our planet.

The north polarity has a relaxing effect on cells, and the south pole, has an energizing effect on cells.

Research has been ongoing in Eastern Europe on the therapeutic benefits of using the south polarity of magnets, however, most of the research done on magnets has emphasized using the north polarity.

Using pulsed magnetic fields is heralded by some to be the magic bullet in medicine.  Look up trans cranial magnetic stimulation to find research.

When you place a pulsed magnetic field coil on the body, it generates an electrical current in those cells where the coil is placed.  What this means is that the cells exposed to a pulsed magnetic field have more energy to rebuild and repair.

Most pulsed magnetic products available are outrageous in price.  This is what makes the Electric Lodestone an important product.

The very first AVS Buyer’s Guide was written by Michael Hutchison and was published in one of his Megabrain Reports in 1990. This was a time when light and sound, later called AVS became an international media darling. This publicity triggered a “gold rush” of new companies making new AVS devices.

Problems, however, quickly emerged with Michael’s guide, even before he finished writing it. Manufacturers were continually changing features, trying to make their machines better than their competitors. Of course, also there were companies who suddenly went under, while new ones suddenly appeared. Michael never did figure out how to accommodate these dynamics of
sudden change in his Buyer’s Guide.

The next buyer’s guide to come along was called the Mind Machine Buyer’s Guide, published in 1993 in Cambridge Massachussetts. It provided in depth and comprehensive coverage of the most popular machines available. It is interesting to note that the publisher is still selling this publication, yet, it has not been updated since 1993. Not a good investment for anyone.

Good manufacturers make ongoing changes in their product(s) because they listen and respond to their customer’s needs. If you wanted to contrast and compare all the features of the different machines, you would need to revise your list every six months.

Comparing all the different features is actually not very useful anyway in helping the public decide which machine to buy. Comparing features confuses most people. For that reason, this guide focuses rather on the issues which are important to the consuming public.

AVS machines first appeared in 1958 in the research community and were used to induce hypnotic, or suggestible states of mind. They were called brainwave synchronizers.

Commercial units first began to appear in 1984, and in 1987, many competitors showed up on the scene. More than 100 different models have been manufactured since that time in the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan, Taiwan, Korea and Australia.

With so many models to choose from, how can one decide for themselves which machine is best to buy? The average consumer will have a difficult time because each manufacturer bills their machine as the best. Each one sounds better than the next, at least on paper. This guide is designed to make selecting a machine easy and simple for you.

Table of Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Buying a Machine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Popular Special Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Most Important Features to Customers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

Secondary Features of Importance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

Unique Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

Light Glasses: Choosing the Best Color for You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

So How Do You Pick the Best Color? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Making a Buyer’s Guide Decision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Enjoy AVS in 5 Easy Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

Medical & Scientific Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

Images of AVS Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . back cover

Disclaimer: All information contained in this AVS Buyer’s Guide is copyrighted. No duplication of this guide, in part or in whole, may be made without prior written consent from the authors. Jeff Labno and Michael Landgraf assume no responsibility, whether financially or otherwise, for any misleading or incorrect information contained within this guide. Warning: People who are photosensitive or epileptic, whether knowingly or not, should not use a pulsed light device.

Copyright: Jeff Labno and Michael Landgraf, Granada Hills, CA / November 2002.

Buying a machine

All machines come equipped with everything you will need to get started however some don’t include batteries. Listed below are the main points people consider when purchasing a machine. Included with these main points are valuable guidelines to assist you in buying the best machine for your needs.

Your best source to guide you in buying the correct machine is an AVS dealer who represents several different manufacturers. They generally know how to contrast and compare the many features you will read about in the literature. Beware however, some companies represent an array of machines, but the representatives don’t really know the different machines because they don’t use them. You can tell because they won’t be able to answer your questions.

All machines come with programs designed to help you with sleep, visualizing, memory, focus, meditation, dreams, peak performance and energizing. There are only four brainwaves states (beta - alert/focus, alpha - memory/learning, theta -dream/visualization, and delta - mental clearing/sleep).

All machines contain just a few internal programs to one hundred. Manufacturers name each program to best describe their results. At the same time, sleep programs are sleep programs. They all take you into the delta brainwave zone despite their name. Do not decide on which machine to buy because of the names of programs described in their literature.

Most people actually use about eight to twelve of the available programs. This means that you can use just about any machine for your basic needs. When buying a machine, lots of programs (+30) is better only if you like lots of variety, or love fiddling with technology.

Some machines offer a computer link allowing you to download additional programs from the manufacturer’s web site. Computer links also enable you to customize your own programs. Less than 5% of purchasers ever create their own programs. This means that you will probably only utilize this function if you are a great aficionado of this technology. The biggest need for doing your own programs used to be to change the length of time of a program to shorter or longer. Today’s machines have enough different length programs in the same category, or you can expand or shrink the time setting. Many brands also have a feature allowing you to expand and contract the length of each program.

Light glasses come with all machines. Much too frequently light glasses are made using inexpensive dim lights. The result is when you use these glasses, you see a “flickering effect”. Quality glasses using ultra bright lights produce rich and beautiful colors and patterns. You can always upgrade your light glasses, and now a wide variety of colors are available in ultra bright such as white, red, orange, green and blue.

If you are light sensitive, all machines have a light intensity control so that you can turn down or increase the light intensity. Most people prefer ultra bright light and 85% of customers purchase ultra bright when given a choice.

All machines come with stereo headphones. The headphones you get are just average. If you want quality headphones, you will have to purchase them separately. One good feature to look for in good headphones is: that they cover the ear so that they block out exterior sounds. The next important feature of quality headphones is that they extend the frequency range of what is
possible to hear into lower ranges and higher ranges both. A good frequency range to look for is about 16 to 22,000 Hertz.

Using quality headphones means that you will enjoy the external music you introduce into your experience to a much higher degree. Quality headphones bring greater richness of sound which generates a greater depth of experience into every session. Quality headphones start from about $150 to well over $10,000. Sennheiser is a great choice due to comfort and overall cost.

The sounds which accompany the internal programs are generally not very interesting. These sounds are strobe pitches, chords, pink sound, binaural beats and dual binaural beats. Most people prefer to introduce their own favorite sounds using a cassette or CD player and mixing the sounds from the preset programs such that they are in the background. You can plug all
machines into your CD or cassette player using the stereo patch cord which comes with your machine.

Using the CDs or cassettes you already know you like and enjoy is the place to start. You can easily introduce your favorite music for energy, escape or meditation. Try using language tapes for learning. Behavioral modification tapes are also great. As long as you like the content of any CD or tape, your session will be a winner.

The most utilized sounds are binaural and dual binaural beats. Beat frequencies are great because you can use your machine as a beat frequency generator. This capability means that you can use your machine for “sound therapy”. In the past, binaural beat generators cost about $450 which exclusively generated binaural beats and dual binaural beats. Buying a machine with this feature means that now you are getting two machines in one.

The best way to create your own personal programs is to plug your machine into an external CD or cassette player and mix your AVS sessions with your favorite CDs and audio cassettes.

Some machines offer two-user capability. This is a great feature because it is nice to share the experience with family, friends and others. When they offer two-user capability in that there are two plugs for light glasses and two plugs for headphones, you are guaranteed the best experience. This means that there is no power degradation by plugging in two users.

You can use splitter or “Y” cords in some machines which have just one plug for light glasses and headphones. You will need two splitter cords: one for light glasses, the other for headphones. There is a degradation of power when this happens, such that the light glasses do not illuminate as brightly as possible (about 85%). Some machines (under 4.5 volts) do not carry enough power to illuminate two light glasses at the same time. Ask your dealer for
details.

The user’s manual for your machine is probably not enough for you to get the most out of using it. There are two publications which are excellent to help beginners understand and utilize your machine. “Mind States / An Introduction to Light & Sound Technology” (ISBN# 0- 9662596-0-2) by Michael Landgraf helps you to get started in using your machine, suggesting how to use the different brainwave states to achieve what you want. Michael also explains how professionals are using this technology, and he also directs you to write a diary of your experiences. “An Insider’s Guide to Light & Sound” by Jeff Labno is a succinct summary of using your machine in the best possible way. Jeff explains how to maximize your experiences, based on his 25 years in this industry.

AVS machines frequently contain a number of “special features” which do not need to be there for the machine to get the basic job done. The diversity of these features is truly amazing; and is an inspiring legacy of the ingenuity of the manufacturers. Understanding these features, however, can be a challenge. Sales brochures contain fancy names along with descriptions that are more poetic than precise. Most consumers end up being confused and frustrated figuring them out.

If you like basics and generally do not fiddle around with technology much, you probably will not even use these features even if you had them. If you are technology-minded and love to fiddle around with gadgetry, you will find many of these features fascinating.

At the same time, these “special features” make AVS interesting, exciting and progressive. AVS technology has always been the number one seller in “mind-technology” because it offers a wide diversity of experiences (programs), is self-contained, simple to use and light to transport.

Popular Special Features Include:

Lights synchronized with music has been a favorite feature of users. The first commercially available machine, the Synchro Energizer, had no preset programs, so machine operators customized each and every program they did synchronizing it with music. Using dials and switches, you could quickly change light frequency, light intensity, choice of sound, sound volume, flickering modes (eyes - synchronous or alternating; ears - synchronous or alternating); all while matching these changes with the music you are playing. The results were fabulous. Operators knew exactly how to evoke the greatest possible visual effects and match these visuals with the music.

Many attempts have been made to mechanically synchronize the lights with music, but machines just cannot replace the human touch. The best quality technology yet developed is called Audiostrobe.

Audiostrobe artistically choreographs the music with light flashes. A few take-offs on Audiostrobe are called PolySync and TurboSonics. AVS machines that feature Audiostrobe capability include: the Orion, Proteus and MindLab Pro by Synetic Systems; the InnerPulse and Nova Pro 100 by Photosonix; and the PR2X by MindGear. Audiostrobe recordings are on special CDs with codes embedded that cause the light frames to flash to the music. The main drawback to Audiostrobe technology is that the CD selection is limited.

Music Modulation is yet another adaptation of sound/light strobe technology. Low musical pitches cause the lights to strobe in theta, and medium musical pitches cause the lights to strobe in alpha (DAVID -Paradise XL and XL +).

Color Pulse produces a light strobe to low musical pitches (Synetic Systems -Orion). MicroPulse employs a built-in microphone. Low pitch sounds in the environment trigger a light pulse. Sparkle Feature means that the length (duty cycle) of the light flashes randomly change. This feature creates very interesting visuals (MindGear -ZenMaster). A randomly flashing duty cycle is also available in PhotoSonix InnerPulse.

Machine manufacturers traditionally use a 50% duty cycle in their programs. When light frequencies slow down, however, faster duty cycles (shorter light pulses) are more comfortable for the eyes. When light frequencies speed up, faster duty cycles make the internal light show more interesting. When the speed of the light flashes is too fast (24 + c/s incandescent light / 30c/s + LEDs), the extraordinary visuals precipitated by the flickering lights no longer occurs. By shortening the length of the light flashes (duty cycle) as the light strobe frequency increases, the visuals created by the brain continue to remain interesting and dynamic.

A new development in the InnerPulse is light sine wave patterns versus square waves. The flashing lights typically strobe quickly on, then off. Sine waves however gradually increase in intensity to full illumination, then gradually off. This is more soothing on the eye, plus it produces more fluid visuals. It is also gentler on the eye in the slow frequencies such as while in delta for sleep. On - off can be uncomfortable. This feature is definitely a huge plus.

Light frames or glasses have been referred to in many ways over the years. One of the first terms used was goggles because welding goggles were used by one manufacturer. Other manufacturers have used ski goggles and sunglasses to mount the lights.

Omniscreen light glasses are glasses which have a milk-white plastic filter over the lights which diffuses the light such that the light going into the eye is diffused. Tranquilite (Paradise machines) involves the Omniscreen light glasses. The glasses stay illuminated so the milk white lenses stay illuminated. This is used for eyes-open meditation. It induces a visual state of mind.

The most common light glasses are made from “sunglasses.” They have four LEDs on each eye. The comfort of these is adequate, however some people do complain. You can now buy eyes-open light glasses for use to do work while using light and sound. This ultra focuses your attention to what you are doing.

Most Important Features to Customers

Price Programs Carrying Power AC Audio Beat
Case Adapter Strobe Frequencies

Orion 129.95 23 Yes 3AA Can Buy Yes No

Proteus 199.95 50 Yes 3AA No Yes Binaural +
Dual Binaural

Muse 179.95 30 No 4AA Can Buy No Binaural +
Sharp Dual Binaural

Inner- 199.95 64 No 4AA Yes Yes Binaural +
Pulse Dual Binaural
Dual Monaural

Nova Pro 399.95 100 Yes Internal Yes Yes Binaural +
100 Battery Dual Binaural+
Dual Monaural

PR-2X 269.95 50 Yes Yes No Binaural +
Dual Binaural

XCELR8R 349.95 50 Yes Yes No Binaural +
Dual Binaural

Paradise 335.95 18 Yes Yes No No
Jr

Paradise 435.95 30 Yes Yes No No

Paradise 495.95 30 Yes Yes No Binaural
XL

Paradise 629.95 Yes Yes No Binaural
XL+

MC2 Pro 230.95 4 Yes 2AAA No No No

Secondary Features of Importance

Programmable Hz Session Sounds Computer Manual
Sessions Range Time Link Mode
Adjust

Orion 0 .1 - 40 No No Yes
micro Hz

Proteus 150 .1 - 50 No No Yes
micro Hz

Muse 25 1-42 Hz No 6 Yes Yes
Sharp

InnerPulse 25 .25-42 Hz Yes 8 Yes Yes

Nova Pro 100 .25-42 Yes 8 Yes Yes
100 micro Hz

PR-2X 25 .1-40 Yes 4 No Yes
micro Hz

XCELR8R 25 .1-40 Yes 4 Yes Yes
micro Hz

Paradise Jr 0 1-25 Hz No 2 No Yes

Paradise 9 1-25 Hz No 2 No Yes

Paradise XL 24 1-25 Hz No 5 Yes Yes

Paradise XL+ 24 1-25 Hz No 5 Yes Yes

MC2 Pro 0 Unknown No 1 No No

Unique Features

Orion Great price, extremely easy to use, ColorPulse, MicroPulse

Proteus Produces very colorful light show with red/green glasses, software
has waveform design (sine, square, triangle, sawtooth)

Muse Sharp Great first time machine with lots of features

InnerPulse Same features as Nova Pro 100 plus breath pulse programs, random brainwave
programs, random duty cycle, and independent left/right brightness

Nova Pro 100 Separate left/right hemisphere stimulation, 2 octaves lower pitches

PR-2X Lifetime warranty

XCELR8R Lifetime warranty

Paradise Jr Omniscreen glasses

Paradise Omniscreen glasses

Paradise XL Omniscreen glasses, digital heartbeat, separate left/right
hemisphere stimulation

Paradise XL+ Omniscreen glasses, digital heartbeat, internal CES,
separate left/right hemisphere stimulation

MC2 Pro Ocean sound, internal voice recorder

MC2 Study Ocean and brook sounds, detailed manual showing
its use for learning

Light Glasses: Choosing the Best Color For You

Once upon a time, when you bought an AVS machine, you got whatever light glasses that came with the unit provided by the manufacturer. No choices were offered. Well things have changed. Now you can choose between a variety of styles and colors. What brought about this change was an improvement in light technology from Japan. New LED (light emitting diode) technology made it possible to manufacture bright light LEDs in a variety of colors. These new light colors were bright and created extremely rich colors and patterns with your eyes closed, not the ‘flickering effect’ of the previous much dimmer LEDs.

Many styles of glasses have also been used such as welding goggles, sunglasses, skiingmasks, and even swim goggles. When you finished a session, you had indentation lines on your face we affectionately called ‘goggle marks’. The most sophisticated glasses I’ve seen were from Japan. They used liquid-crystal ‘television-style’ glasses featuring green light. Quality glasses generally use four lights per eye.

The new light technology caused a revolution in light and sound technology because manufacturers began to offer more color choices. Not just that, but now styles of glasses have changed. The standard versions have been for use with eyes closed. Now you can get PV Stim which you see through for use with eyes open, and finally HemiStim where you control the flash speed on the left side of each eye separately from the flash speed of the lights on the right side of each eye for hemispheric specialization. The OmniScreen light glasses have been around a long time where a milk-white plastic filter diffuses the light spreading it out over the eye. The OmniScreens also have hemispheric specific capability.

So with many styles and colors to choose from, how do you decide which ones are best for you? Personally, I have all of them, however when budget and portability are an issue, there are ways to make better choices.

Color does not affect everyone the same way. The clothes people wear for example are a good insight. While most people wear white and blue the majority of the time, other colors are worn to make you feel special and different. Some people wear certain colors a lot such as blue, while others cannot stand this color. Individual psychology is the explanation for this.

So, how do you pick the correct color?

Here are a few pointers:

When offered a variety of color choices, the public overwhelmingly chooses white light; over 80%. White has no psychological color association, so it is the best overall choice for most. Also, you see lots of lucid colors and patterns using white light.

Barbara Brown in her book on biofeedback in 1974 pointed out that the use of strobe red light on ‘extremely right brain people (artistic)’ did not entrain them very well, but instead caused anxiety. Red light worked just fine on ‘extremely left brain people (logical)’.

The warmer colors (red, orange, yellow) are stimulating (excitatory), whereas the cooler colors (green, blue, violet) are calming (inhibitory).

The color blue has been observed to be very effective to quickly induce sleep in most people.

Bi-color light combining red with blue LEDs enhances one’s ability to visualize and see more clearly with their imagination. Jacob Liberman noted that this combination appears to ‘reset’ the biological clock.

Bi-color light combining red with green LEDs creates the most magical color combinations of any other choice. A great choice for artists.

When it comes down to the programs contained inside your machine, they are based on the four brainwave states such as delta (sleep/clearing), theta (dream/visualizing), alpha (memory/learning), and beta (energy/focusing). All machines contain programs to induce all four brainwave states, the program names merely reflect different styles of doing programs.

Using just about any color of light will deliver the benefits of the program. Specific colors however will get you there faster and deeper. For example using blue with sleep programs is very efficient. Using red for energy programs is another good example.

A simpler model to follow might be: for delta use blue; for theta use green; for alpha use yellow; and for beta use orange or red. For some, color choice comes down to why they purchased the machine in the first place. Maybe it is to help them sleep (blue), for others for focus (red), others for learning (yellow), and others for meditation (green).

As far as style of glasses using PV Stim allows you to do programs with your eyes open. This enables you to use light and sound technology while engaging in activities such as reading, writing, editing copy, studying, creating project, doing art, playing music…in other words, light and sound technology is no longer limited to eyes closed meditative states or internal activities. Adjusting the machine frequencies manually instead of using preset programs works very well with the PV Stim glasses.

You can also use your PV Stim glasses with your eyes closed. Note however that the LEDs on these models are not facing your eyes, but instead they are facing each other. This means that they will not be as bright as the standard models.

Finally, the HemiStim or OmniScreen Field Independent glasses allows for hemispheric specificity. Special technology is required to use these glasses which currently exists only in the DAVID Paradise XL, Paradise XL+and, Nova Pro 100, and InnerPulse.

This special technology allows you to tone-down the left brain to favor right brain activity. This would be useful for doing art, music, decorating or other creative things. Conversely, you can tone-down the right brain and favor the left brain. This is good for logical tasks such as writing checks, computer work, studying scientific manuals…

Last but not least, you can use these different color light glasses for color therapy. Instead of wearing the glasses, you can point them at your skin for healing, over a glass of water for ‘photon water’, or put them on a table and stare at the strobe light for emotional release.

Some good books on using color are: “Let There Be Light” by Darius Dinshah, “Light: Medicine of the Future” by Jacob Liberman, and “Light Years Ahead” by a compendium of healthcare practitioners.

Which ever colors and styles of glasses you choose, or however you choose to use them, have fun and enjoy a new world of technology with your avs machine.

Making a Buyer’s Guide Decision . . .

You have just finished reading the AVS Buyer’s Guide. Now its time to make the big decision. You have certain considerations to measure, and not only about which unit to purchase, but the promise to yourself to use your unit on a regular basis.

So how do you choose an avs instrument? It is a question many new customers ask me, and I have found the following considerations helpful in determining which unit best meets your individual needs:

Most light and sound machines are of excellent quality, irrespective of price. They all come with a one year warranty. If all you are looking for in an avs instrument is achieving a calmer, more relaxed state or improving your ability to focus, then a small low-cost model is all you need.

If you are considering a low-end unit, then later, purchasing a more advanced model, spend a little more up front and save in the long run. Consider the Proteus, as this unit’s software program is periodically updated and available off the Web, so your unit will always be current.

If you want the best avs instrument on the market, buy the Nova Pro 100. If price is a factor, buy the NP 100’s little brother, the Muse#.

Whichever avs instrument you decide to purchase, at some point promise yourself you’ll get Truwhite (white LEDs) glasses to go with it. If there is one accessory you should treat yourself to, Truwhites are it. When given a choice, over 80% of all customers choose Truwhites over all other colors.

Be careful of expensive machines which promise a lot on paper, but do not deliver in actual services; consult with an experienced dealer if you have any questions.

And remember:

Regardless of price, most avs instruments contain built-in sessions that already target all four general brainwave states. Don’t bother with the fancy titles many sessions go by as you check the unit’s session list, look for the frequencies targeted in the session. Session names can get confusing, knowing which frequency the session achieves alleviates that problem.

If your hearing is very good, way better than what is considered average, or the quality of sound delivery is an important consideration for you, give the Photosonix models special attention. The NP 100 in particular has two lower octaves of pitches, which are incredibly useful for beat frequencies.

Probably the biggest noticeable difference between high-end and low-end systems is the quality of headphones. If you purchase a low-end unit, consider using better headphones than what come with the unit. For audiophiles, consider buying high-end
headphones.

By now you should know which avs instrument is best for you. So you buy it, and then ask yourself now what?

The very first thing you do . . .

Read the owner’s manual that comes with your unit!

Chances are that you still ‘won’t get it’ after finishing, but its important to complete step one before tackling step two: your personal review and walk-through. Spread out everything that came with your avs instrument in front of you. Have your owners manual turned to page one. Now repeat step one. Read, install the batteries, hook up the components, test the light intensity while the glasses are on the table before you, volume control, play with the buttons. Do not fear, it is difficult to scramble, confuse or totally destroy the inner-workings of an avs instrument just by pressing the buttons. If you happen to be one of those adventurous souls that do achieve such a feat, I have personally found that taking the batteries out, waiting a couple of minutes, then replacing them oftentimes works. If it doesn’t, then here’s reason #1 for buying your system from an experienced dealer!

If all this appears foolish and repetitive for just wanting to run a simple avs session, please consider: How much do you actually know about avs? How much did you spend on your avs system? How serious are you about maximizing your avs session experiences? All things considered, spending just 30-60 minutes familiarizing yourself with your new system is minimum effort, little to expect, yet very rewarding: having the confidence in knowing you are ‘doing it right’.

Or for those of you who have yet to purchase a system, this is how you do it:

Enjoy AVS in 5 Easy Steps!

Step 1: Install the batteries. This is not a difficult task (although sometimes the little plastic battery cover can be a royal pain to slide off). Some manufacturers are considerate and include batteries or an AC adapter, some aren’t. Most avs instruments use AA batteries, so buy an 8-pack. Have some for your unit and your CD or tape player. When installing, just make sure the “+” end of the battery lines up with the “+” end of the battery compartment and you’ll be set. Expect each set of batteries to last for several sessions. For those with an internal battery, they usually arrive fully charged. Internal batteries should last a good five hours before recharging, which can be done overnight with what should be included in your avs system: an AC adapter.

Step 2: Connect everything. The headphones and lightframes each have their own plugs. All you need to do is connect each component to their respective plug. You’ll know right away if you have them backwards as you will hear a rather loud clicking noise with absolutely no audio frequency entrainment value whatsoever bellowing from the headphones when you turn on the power. Just switch them, and don’t worry, you didn’t ‘harm’ anything. And do not forget the stereo patch cord. This connects between the auxiliary plug of your unit to the headphone jack of your CD or tape player. Music, spoken word, classroom notes you’ve recorded onto tape, they all can be played in combination with an avs session. They all can be a factor in maximizing your session experiences.

Step 3: Turn on the power. You feel confident, determined to continue, because you are stressed and you really need a break. Press that button!

Step 4: Select a session. The big decision! In the beginning, keep it simple. What do you feel like? That’s all you need to ask.

Are you stressed, need to relax? Do an alpha session. They are sessions with frequencies in the 8-12Hz range and reflect a state that can be described as being relaxed, yet focused.

Are you really stressed? Need to relax big-time? Theta should help. Those are the sessions with frequencies in the 3-7Hz range. I do not advise first time avs users to select a theta session as attaining that state has been known to open doors on issues that could be of the variety the user is not prepared for. Try choosing a longer alpha session instead.

Sleep deprived? A delta session could be your answer. These are sessions in the 0.5-2Hz frequency range. If you plan on sleeping with your head at an odd angle, use the headphones and lightframes. But if you want comfort and a delta/sleep session, then buy yourself a pair of inexpensive computer speakers ($15). Connect them to the headphone plug on your avs unit and set the volume at a low level (much like the volume of a ceiling fan or hum of a fluorescent light). Try this without the lightframes.

Do you feel just the opposite? Are you in need of being alert, energized? Go with beta. These sessions can range from 13-+30Hz.

Please note that these descriptions are in ‘generic’ terms for the sake of first time users. Everyone is affected differently by auditory and visual stimulation. If a particular session targeting a state you wish to achieve is found to be lacking, try the next session listed under that brainwave category. Find and use the sessions you enjoy. For an in-depth description of how others use their avs systems and for what purposes, download the ebook “Mind States / An Introduction to Light & Sound Technology” by Michael Landgraf. It is available for $11 at: www.avsjournal.com.

Step 5: Press play. You have made your decision. You’ve set the audio and light intensity levels just right, at a comfortable setting. No need to blast the stimulation as ‘loudest and brightest’ does not make it ‘best’. You have given yourself the gift of relaxation. You understand how to use your avs system. Now it is time to enjoy it.

(Optional) Keeping a journal. Subtle changes can occur when using avs on a routine basis. Oftentimes the user is unaware of them actually happening. Its more like realizing things have changed after the fact. Write down which session you played, the time of day, length of session, and ask yourself things you can assign numbers to. Examples would be: Stress level before session/stress level after; energy level, before and after; and before/after ability to focus. Have 1 = lousy and 10 = excellent. Ask yourself how you feel mentally, emotionally and physically after as compared to before the session. Were you focused or did you drift during a session? What colors did you see during the session? Do you feel more or less centered after the session? Make a list and take a few moments after each session to record your thoughts. By maintaining a daily record, you benefit by having the ability to review what you have previously written and are able to compare those feelings with what is happening to you now. Be aware of your personal growth, keep a journal.

To contact the authors:

(Tel.) 818 / 831-7931 / (Fax) 818 / 831-1960 / www.Mindmachines.com

Medical and Scientific Research

We have listed medical research papers concerning the effect of strobe light, strobe sound, and combining strobe light with strobe sound. Many more studies exist, this is just a sampling. Here are some search words you may find useful: photopic driving, scotopic, beat frequencies, clicks, M.A.S.S. (multiple afferent sensory stimulation), VER (visual evoked response), VEP (visual evoked potential), evoked potentials, acoustic stimulation, photic stimulation, brain wave synchronizer, and audio visual stimulation.

Medical Studies:

Adrian, E.D., and Matthews, B.H.C. The Berger Rhythm: Potential Changes from the Occipital in Man. Brian, Vol. 57, 1934, 335-384.

Anderson, C.M., Torres, F. Photic Driving in the Early Premature Infant. Clin. Neurophysiol. 1984 Oct; 58(4): 302-307.

Anderson, D.J. The Treatment of Migraine with Variable Frequency Photo-Stimulation. Headache, 1989: 154-155.

Aponchenko, V., Kevanishvilli, Z. Click Polarity Inversion Effects Upon the Human Brainstem Auditory Evoked Potential. Audiol. 1981 10(3): 141-147.

Armington, J.C., Corwin, T.R., and Marsetta, R. Simultaneously Recorded Retinal and Cortical Responses to Patterned Stimuli. J. Opt. Soc. Amer., (1971), 61: 1512-1514.

Arnold, L.E., Clark, D.L., Jakim, S., Sachs, L.A., and Smithies, C. Vestibular and Visual Rotational Stimulation as Treatment for Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 1985 Feb; 39(2): 84-91.

Arsian, E., Michelini, S., Prosser, S. The Auditory Brainstem Response to Binaural Delayed Stimuli in Man. Audiol. 1981 10(3): 151-155.

Ashford, B. To Flash or Not to Flash: The Use of Intermittent Photic Stimulation During Hypnotic Induction, a Preliminary Report, Australian Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, Vol. 10 (1982), 3-11.

Barber, C. Inherent Characteristics of Visual Stimulus Systems and Their Effect on the Visual Evoked Potential. Physiol. Meas. 1981 May 2 (2): 135-146.

Barrow, J.S. Rhythmic Activity Induced by Photic Stimulation in Relation to Intrinsic Alpha Activity of the Brain in Man. Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol., 1960, 12: 317-326.

Bridgewater, G., Clifford, S., and Marcynski, T. Alpha Activity: The Influence of Unpatterned Light Input and Auditory Feedback. Life Sciences, 1975, 16; 729-737.

Brockopp, G.W. Review of Research on Multi-Modal Sensory Stimulation with Clinical Implications and Research Proposals. Unpublished manuscript, 1984.

Broverman, D.M., Kaliber, E., Kun, K.J., Vogel, W. EEG Response to Photic Stimulation as a Function of Cognitive Style. Electroenceph. And Clin. Neurophysiology, Vol. 27 (1969), 186-190.

Campbell, K.B., Picton, T.W., Stapells, D.R. Auditory Evoked Potentials from the Human Cochlea and Brainstem. Journal of Otolaryngol. And Suppl. 1981 Aug. 10(9 Suppl): 1-41.

Chatrian, G.E., Lazarte, J.A., and Petersen, M.C. Responses to Clicks from the Human Brain: Some Depth Electrographic Observations. 1959, Rochester State Hospital, Rochester, MN.

Ciganek, L. L‘influence de la Frequence de la Stimulation Photique sur le Potentiel Evoque Chez I’homme. Rev. Neurol., 1958, 99: 198-201.

Ciganek, L. The EEG Response (Evoked Potential) to Light Stimulus in Man. Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol., 1961, 13: 165-172.

Connolly, J.F. Stability of Pathway-Hemispheric Differences in the Auditory Event-Related Potential (ERP) to Monaural Stimulation. Psychophysiology, 1985 Jan. 22(1): 87-95.

Cox, R., and Shealy, N. Pain Reduction and Relastion with Brain-Wave Synchronization (Photo-Stimulation). Forest Inst. Of Prof. Psych. 1990:9.

Dinner, D., Lesser, R., Lueders, H. Visual Potentials Evoked by Light Emitting Diodes Mounted in Goggles. Cleveland Clin. Quarterly, Vol. 52, No. 2, 1985: 223-238.

Donker, D.N.J., Njio, L., Storm Van Leeuwen, W. and Wienke, G. 1978 Interhemispheric Relationships of Responses to Sine Wave Modulated Light in Normal Subjects and Sine Wave Modulated Light in Normal Subjects and Patients. Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol., 44, 479-489.

Dum, N., Schmidt, U., von Wedel, H. Scalp Distribution of the Auditory Evoked Brainstem Potentials in the Guinea Pig During Monaural and Binaural Stimulation. Hear-Res. 1981 Nov. 5 (2-3): 271-284.

Eason, R.G., Oden, D., and White, C.T. Visually Evoked Cortical Potentials and Reaction Time in Relation to Site of Retinal Stimulation. Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol., 1967, 22: 313-324.

Gilula, M.F. Protocol for 1981 Synchro-Energizer Study: Multiple Afferent Sensory Stimulation (MASS) as a Tool for Investigating Clinical Neurological Problems and Pure Noetic Research Methodology. Unpublished Manuscript, 1980.

Graham II, L.E., Howard, C.E., and Wycoff, S.J. A Comparison of Methods for Reducing Stress Among Dental Students (using the Synchro-Energizer). Journal of Dental Education. Vol. 50, no. 9, 1986.

Inouye, T., Matsumoto, K., Sumitsuji, N. EEG Changes Induced by Light Stimuli Modulated with the Subject’s Alpha Rhythm. Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol. 1980, 49: 135-142.

Iwahara, S., Noguchi, S., Oishi, H., Yang, K.M. Frequency Specific and Non-Specific Effects of Flickering Light Upon Electrical Activity in Human Occiput. Japanese Psychological Research, Vol. 16 (1974), 1-7.

Iwahara, S., Kiyoshi, and Yaguchi. Temporal Sequence of Frequency Specific and Non-Specific Effects of Flickering Lights Upon the Occipital Electrical Activity in Man. Brain Research, Vol. 107 (1976), 27-38.

Jacobsen, F.M., and Rowenthal, N.E. Seasonal Affective Disorder and the Use of Synchro-Energizer Full Spectrum Light and Sound as an Antidepressant. 1986 Directions in Psychiatry.

Jones, L.A., Komsuoglu, S.S., Harding, G.F. Visual and Auditory Evoked Potentials in a Case of Marchiafava Bignami Disease. Clin. Electroenceph. 1981, 12(2): 72-78.

Katayama, K., Kawahara, T., Nogawa, T., Ohshio, T., Tabata, Y. Changes in Amplitude of EEG Induced by a Photic Stimulus. Journal of Electroenceph. And Clin. Neurophysiol. Vol. 40, 1976. Pp. 78-88.

Kinney, J.A.S., and McKay, C.L., Mensch, A., and Luria, S.M. The Visual Evoked Cortical Response as a Measure of Stress in Naval Environments: Methodology and Analysis (1) Slow Flash Rates. Naval Submarine Medical Center, Groton, CT., NSMRL Rep. No. 669.

Lane, J.D., Kasian, S.J., Marsh, G.R., and Owens, J.E. Binaural Auditory Beats Affect Vigilance Performance and Mood. Depts. Of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, 1997.

Lang, A.H., Nyrke, T. Spectral Analysis of Visual Potentials Evoked by Sine Wave Modulated Light in Migraine. Clinical Neurophysiology 1982 Apr. 53(4): 436-442.

Loizzo, A., San Martini, P., Venturini, R., Zapponi, G.A. Interaction Between Intermittent Photic Stimulation and Auditory Stimulation on the Human EEG. Europsychobiology, Vol. 5 (1979), 201-206.

Mezan, L., Remond, A., et Pozo Olano, S. Potentials Evoques Visuels et Frequence de Stimulation. Rev. Neurol., 1967, 117:212-214.

Neher, A. Auditory Driving Observed with Scalp Electrodes in Normal Subjects. Journal of Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol. Vol. 40 (1976), 77-88.

Neher, A. Auditory Driving Observed with Scalp Electrodes in Normal Subjects. Journal of Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol. 1961, Vol 13, 499-451.

Oster, G. Auditory Beats in the Brain. Scientific American, 1973, 229, 94.

Peacock, S.M. Regional Frequency Sensitivity of the EEG to Photic Stimulation as Shown by Epoch Averaging Electroencephalography. Clinical Neurophysiology, Vol. 34 (1973), 71-76.

Perry Jr., N.W., and Childers, D.B. The Human Visual Evoked Response. Thomas, Springfield, IL 1969, p. 187.

Petrenko, E.T. Effect of Flashes on Spectral Composition of Brain Potentials and Biomechanical Efficiency of Equilibrium. Human Physiology. Vol. 8 (1982), 64-68.

Raninen, A., Rovamo, J. Critical Flicker Frequency and M-scaling of Stimulus Size and Retinal Illuminance Vision Res. 1984; 24(10): 1127-1131.

Regan, D. Some Characteristics of Average Steady-State and Transient Responses Evoked by Modulated Light. Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol., Vol. 20 (1966), 238-248.

Rogers, L.J., Walter, D.O. Methods for Finding Single Generators, with Application to Auditory Driving of the Human EEG by Complex Stimuli. Journal of Neuroscience and Method. 1981, Oct. 4(3): 257-265.

Sato, K., Kitajima, H., Mimura, K., Hirota, N., Tagawa, Y., and Ochi, N. Cerebral Visual Evoked Potentials in Relation to EEG. Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol. 1971, 30: 123-138.

Smith, J.C., Marsh, J.T., and Brown, W.S. Far-Field Recorded Frequency Following Responses: Evidence for the Locus of Brainstem Sources. Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol. 1975, 39, 465.

Smith, J.C., Marsh, J.T., Greenberg, S., and Brown, W.S., Human Auditory Frequency Following Responses to a Missing Fundamental. Science, 1978, 201, 639.

Solomon, G.D. Slow Wave Photic Stimulation in the Treatment of Headache-A Preliminary Report. Headache, 1985: 444-447.

Speilmann, R. The Averaged Electrical Response to Diffuse and to Patterned Light in the Human. Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol. 1965, 19: 560-569.

Starr, A., Wrege, K.S. Binaural Interaction in Human Auditory Brainstem Evoked Potentials. Neurol. 1981, 38(9): 572-580.

Takahashi, T., and Tsukahara, Y. Influence of Red Light and Pattern on Photic Driving. Tohoku Journal of Experimental Medicine 1979, 127: 45-52.

Meditation. Electroenceph. Townsend, R. A Device for Generation and Presentation
Clin. Neurophysiol. 1975 Vol. 39: 519-522.of Modulated Light Stimuli. Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol. 1973 34: 97-99.

Verrillo, R.T. Psychophysics Vibrotactile Stimulation. Acoustics Society of America. 1985 Jan.; 77(1): 225-232.