Sounds to Set You Free

This is the information that comes with bilateral sound recordings such as UpLevel. The guidelines are very helpful, and some are a bit counter-intuitive.

Introducing Bilateral Sound

Bilateral sound can help you smooth out bumps in the road of life by helping you curb anxiety or anger, prepare for a difficult encounter, and recover from loss. It can even help you soar to high levels of creativity and performance in professional or athletic roles. It can help inspire in you a richer connection with people, life, and yourself for real peace of mind.

It does this by making it easier for you to do what successful people do. They can digest major stressors and bounce back. If their natural ability to move through stress was blocked, it is restored.

To restore this ability, many of them have benefitted from the life-changing effects of processes such as EMDR, mental rehearsal, and guided visualization. Bilateral sound adds a new dimension to these experiences. In the section on Shimmering, tell you more, and explain why I call this ability "shimmering."

Note: More detail, and instructions for shimmering are on this site. See The Shimmering Workbook.

My work with bilateral sound started when I began using it for EMDR-inspired processes with my clients. I realized that I was getting them to experience and use powerful skills. Then other therapists started having their clients use my bilateral sounds during and in between sessions. I wrote this booklet, posted articles online, and created an audio training program (Shimmering I) to make these sounds and skills available to everyone.

My favorite bilateral sound is UpLevel, my original EMDR-inspired bilateral sound. It is compelling, yet pleasing. It is used around the world.

Bilateral sound enhances inner work by stimulating both hemispheres of the brain, and making it easier for your mental resources to "talk" to each other, joining to create the shimmering experience. People report many benefits. One of them is to see the issue they are working on from a bird's eye view, in the sense that they see the dynamics of their own thoughts, emotions, and behavior in creating their current and potential life.

Another benefit is that it helps the listener take the emotional edge off of an issue as part of an inner work process. This makes it easier to do the process, and to experience it in a richer way and from a higher level of consciousness. This results in rapid and deep relaxation, so long as it is not a highly charged issue that requires more care. For those issues, professional help may involve bilateral stimulation in EMDR, or some other form of therapy.

Guidelines

These are very important, but they aren't complicated. Review them before using your recording.

With Methods: Bilateral sound is not for unguided relaxation or traditional meditation. Most people find that it improves things such as EMDR-inspired methods, mental rehearsal, awareness work, and guided visualization. It is especially good with processes that are intended to open up creative processing or to help you shift into a good state of mind by targeting feelings, ideas, or memories with mental focus.

If you are new to this kind of inner work, there are many good resources. One is Shimmering I: Eliminate Stress and Experience Advanced Meditation. It combines voice instruction with bilateral and other sounds. It trains listeners to use bilateral sound. I have also posted many processes at my site PsychInnovations.com. See the Guide to Inner Work Processes there.

Stereo: For best results, use stereo headphones on a stereo unit.

Volume: Play the recording at a lower volume than you would use for music. This prevents the sound from being too dominant or distracting. As your senses open, the recording may even seem to increase in volume. Adjust the volume for comfort.

Focus First: When the process you are doing includes focusing your attention on something like a feeling or memory, begin the focusing before you begin the bilateral sound. Otherwise, the bilateral sound may distract you. At the right time, it feels like the sound "answers" a need evoked by your focus.

Attention: At times, it can be helpful to mentally follow the sound from side to side when focusing on a sensation or other target of attention.

Non-Effort: When you do a mental exercise that asks you to focus on something, practice this without trying to change or "fix" anything. This mindfulness helps you liberate your creative inner resources. Mindfulness is a key to transformative inner work and inner peace.

Safety and Comfort: If you become uncomfortable using an exercise or recording, stop. Some people will need aid from a clinician before they are able to enjoy processes that encourage relaxation or awareness.

Of course, we do not claim that any recorded sound or process cures or treats anything. If you have a concern that you may have a mental disorder, consult an appropriate specialist about the advisability of using these methods. If you are not comfortable with things that induce relaxation or increased awareness, which includes Sounds for Inner Space™ recordings) you should seek help and guidance before being exposed to them.

Time: After completing a process, you may experience a restful, flowing, or meditative state of mind. This is an important time, because you subconscious can take care of "housecleaning" during such reverie. Your mind may even provide meaningful images and ideas. Take some time to enjoy this.

On the other hand, listeners sometimes simply feel that the process is complete at some point. That's a fine time to stop. It's as if the mind says, "I'm done, it's time to move on."

Skills: Inner work processes involve skills, so allow time for practice. I designed Shimmering I so that it would not feel like work or practice, and so that some very valuable skills could be absorbed both consciously and unconsciously.

"The EMDR Sound" Bilateral sound is ideal for EMDR-inspired processes. Some people who are familiar with EMDR call this "Self-EMDR," but EMDR is actually a form of psychotherapy performed by trained therapists.

Some therapists listen to bilateral sound such as UpLevel before sessions, or even during sessions along with clients. It helps them stay creatively attuned to their client. As a psychotherapist, I sometimes listen to UpLevel to enhance my work, especially for highly sensitive situations and people. I do this for one to five minutes just before the session. The value of such a brief, simple act always surprises me.

Shimmering

What is it that brings people back from the brink? How do they change their response to an emotional trigger? How do they turn challenges into wisdom? What can lead from trauma to peace of mind?

All of us are born with the natural ability to absorb stress and move forward to a new chapter in our lives. Much of this takes place during sleep, as our experiences are transformed from mere memories into wisdom. There was no word for this gift, so I named it shimmering.

At times, everyone experiences blocked shimmering. We find ourselves repeating the same mistakes, having trouble sleeping, or being triggered into troublesome emotional reactions. Highly sensitive people may fall into this because of their anxiety. Others are shocked into this state by trauma. For all the scientific knowledge that we are gathering about how this happens, the way back to peace of mind still can challenge us.

We can make this path much easier by using shimmering skills. These skills flow together like streams into a strong river that can carry us into safe territory. We can also use shimmering skills for creativity and excellence in professional or athletic roles.

Mindfulness is a good example. Another is targeting; tuning into the sensation that arises from an issue. These skills are featured in meditation training, stress management, and advanced psychotherapies. Shimmering brings skills like these together to restore peace of mind, motivation, and creative solutions.

More detail, and instructions for shimmering are on this site. See The Shimmering Workbook.