Mindfulness And The 5 Brainwave Frequencies

The five brain frequencies are Delta, Theta, Alpha, Beta, and Gamma. I will define them very quickly without going in to too much detail.

1. Delta waves (0.5-4 Hz): These are the slowest brain waves and are associated with deep sleep.
2. Theta waves (4-8 Hz): These waves are associated with deep relaxation and the first stages of sleep, meditation, and creativity. Examples of activities that can produce theta waves include daydreaming, visualization, and deep meditation. Kids are in this state of brainwaves before 7 years old.
3. Alpha waves (8-12 Hz): These waves are associated with visualization and daydreaming, interacting, relaxation, focus, and creativity. Examples of activities that can produce alpha waves include light meditation, walking in nature, and listening to calming music.
4. Beta waves (12-30 Hz): These waves are associated with alert focus, and problem-solving. Examples of activities that can produce beta waves include working on a challenging task, taking a test, and engaging in conversation. The downside of Beta brainwaves is that doing too much of an activity causes anxiety and stress
5. Gamma waves (30-100 Hz): These waves are associated with high-level cognitive processing, high focus and high energy levels such as hitting a fast pitch baseball, learning a new complex subject, memory, and problem-solving. Examples of activities that can produce gamma waves include intense mental focus, complex problem-solving, and tasks that require acute agility.

Watching YouTube NFL classic games from the ’70’s and ’80’s gets me into a theta-alpha brain wave state. I like to transfer this brain wave state of relaxation to learning and creation. In order to do it however, I must use mindfulness practice to block out uninvited thoughts and outside interference, which holds everything into alignment.