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Awakening the Mind: A Guide to Harnessing the Power of Your Brainwaves
Each moment of our lives, from birth to death, our brains are engaged in an endless symphony of patterns. In Awakening the Mind , Anna Wise reveals how a careful understanding of the four types of brain waves, and the practice of carefully designed meditation exercises that lead to a mastery of each type, can vastly improve everyday focus, memory, concentration, and overall mental awareness. Over the past three decades, Wise has measured the brain-wave patterns of spiritual teachers, artists, high-performing businessmen, athletes, and other highly creative and productive individuals. She discovered that, during periods of peak mental awareness and clarity, they all exhibited a specific brain-wave pattern in which the four categories of brain waves — alpha, beta, theta, and delta — combined in a distinct configuration. In this book, Wise provides meditation exercises specially developed to lead readers to achieve that heightened mental state referred to as the Awakened Mind.
272 pages, Paperback
First published March 18, 2002
13 people are currently reading
199 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
August 9, 2024
This book is about mastering your inner states. It's based on the research on brainwaves and how certain peak states can be linked to particular patterns of brainwaves. This book shows how you can recognize your own mental states and train them and learn to access them more easily without the need for biofeedback equipment. You can learn effective ways to quiet down your mental chatter, expand your inner consciousness, explore the fascinating theta-state between waking and dreaming and develop your intuitive radar.
I love this book. It's clear and to the point. There's plenty of information about the nature of brainwaves and how they relate to your inner states, even if you're new to the whole topic of biofeedback, but it sticks to the basics without getting very technical about it. The result is a book that’s very accessible to a broad public interested in improving their mind.
I love this book. It's clear and to the point. There's plenty of information about the nature of brainwaves and how they relate to your inner states, even if you're new to the whole topic of biofeedback, but it sticks to the basics without getting very technical about it. The result is a book that’s very accessible to a broad public interested in improving their mind.
January 14, 2018
Knjiga uopće nije ono što sam očekivala, mislim da joj je pristup ajmo nabacati što više svega u dvjestotinjak stranica i nadati se da će sintagme kao "pojačajte opuštanje" i "pojačajte ga još jednom" ljudi shvatiti, a zaista su nadasve smiješne u ovom kontekstu. Baš razočaravajuće.
November 21, 2023
I thought this book was interesting. There were a lot of meditations written in this book, so it would have been better if there were recordings available with the book. I'm not sure how scientific her process was in looking at people's brainwaves. Below are some notes I made on what I thought was interesting:
Chapter 5 - The Intricate Synthesis of Mastery
Pg 140. She lists the 4 brainwaves and what they do (beta, alpha, theta, and delta). She writes, "Each category of brain wave has its own contribution and part to play in the totality of the awakened mind experience. Each is necessary, and none is more important than the others. They must work in concert to promote high performance, true mental clarity, and emotional and spiritual awakening. But they don't necessarily all have to work simultaneously to begin to be effective. It is possible for each brain-wave category to play its proper and effective role almost independently, one approaching the content fully through its appropriate modality and then, in essence, passing the material along to the next category to be dealt with in its way. Here, the flow of information moves sequentially from the conscious to the unconscious mind and back."
This paragraph comes off as pretty vague but also very unscientific. I mean, how does the whole thing work? It's not really clear to me.
Chapter 6 - Self-Exploration and Understanding
Pg 148. Wise writes that she measured the brain waves of Qigong Master Lee Fung Shan while he was doing 11 different practices. She said she saw many varieties of the awakened mind. I've never heard of this person, however, she writes that he is known for his ability to sprout peanuts and kill bacteria with his mind. I'm not sure I buy into this. I've done qigong and yes I do think it helps with feeling alert so I can believe to some degree that he has an awakened mind, however the whole peanut thing seems a little out there and I'm not buying it.
Pg 156. Wise writes about a type of meditation that I thought was interesting. These are meditations where the theme is on beingness. She says you can come up with your own. You can be mundane in the objects you choose or be really weird. She believes you can learn interesting things about yourself. She starts with having the reader imagine themself as a bookshelf. What kind are you? Are you antique or new? How big are you? Where are you located? What kind of books do you contain?
Or you can imagine you are a type of book. What is written in you? Who reads you?
Or you can imagine you are some kind of magic potion. What are you used for? Who uses you? What powers do you have? These exercises also help with understanding our subconscious better.
Chapter 7 - Healing the Blocks
Pg 177. Wise talks about the concept of secondary gain. If your block or problem has a hidden benefit or a positive purpose, they can be called a secondary gain. If you ask yourself, "How is this block serving me?" you may find the secondary gain involved. For example, getting sick on the day of a big exam in school. The gain is not having to take the exam. She writes on page 179 that "As you uncover the positive purposes in the blocks, remember that almost all secondary gain revolves in some way around self-protection."
Chapter 5 - The Intricate Synthesis of Mastery
Pg 140. She lists the 4 brainwaves and what they do (beta, alpha, theta, and delta). She writes, "Each category of brain wave has its own contribution and part to play in the totality of the awakened mind experience. Each is necessary, and none is more important than the others. They must work in concert to promote high performance, true mental clarity, and emotional and spiritual awakening. But they don't necessarily all have to work simultaneously to begin to be effective. It is possible for each brain-wave category to play its proper and effective role almost independently, one approaching the content fully through its appropriate modality and then, in essence, passing the material along to the next category to be dealt with in its way. Here, the flow of information moves sequentially from the conscious to the unconscious mind and back."
This paragraph comes off as pretty vague but also very unscientific. I mean, how does the whole thing work? It's not really clear to me.
Chapter 6 - Self-Exploration and Understanding
Pg 148. Wise writes that she measured the brain waves of Qigong Master Lee Fung Shan while he was doing 11 different practices. She said she saw many varieties of the awakened mind. I've never heard of this person, however, she writes that he is known for his ability to sprout peanuts and kill bacteria with his mind. I'm not sure I buy into this. I've done qigong and yes I do think it helps with feeling alert so I can believe to some degree that he has an awakened mind, however the whole peanut thing seems a little out there and I'm not buying it.
Pg 156. Wise writes about a type of meditation that I thought was interesting. These are meditations where the theme is on beingness. She says you can come up with your own. You can be mundane in the objects you choose or be really weird. She believes you can learn interesting things about yourself. She starts with having the reader imagine themself as a bookshelf. What kind are you? Are you antique or new? How big are you? Where are you located? What kind of books do you contain?
Or you can imagine you are a type of book. What is written in you? Who reads you?
Or you can imagine you are some kind of magic potion. What are you used for? Who uses you? What powers do you have? These exercises also help with understanding our subconscious better.
Chapter 7 - Healing the Blocks
Pg 177. Wise talks about the concept of secondary gain. If your block or problem has a hidden benefit or a positive purpose, they can be called a secondary gain. If you ask yourself, "How is this block serving me?" you may find the secondary gain involved. For example, getting sick on the day of a big exam in school. The gain is not having to take the exam. She writes on page 179 that "As you uncover the positive purposes in the blocks, remember that almost all secondary gain revolves in some way around self-protection."
February 5, 2021
An absolute FANTASTIC book! I have been meditating for around 4 years daily. I have taken classes from Professionals in the field and what these meditations have done is nothing but Amazing! This book explains and gives you meditation to try out. These meditation’s are amazing. I would however recommend Anna Wise’s CD High Performance Mind as many are there and make it easier to do. It is possible without the CD I would just recommend reading first then going through the exercise. You could also record them yourself.
If you want to master your practice or get better read this book and search out Anna Wise or Judith Pennington cd’s or MP3’s. My meditation’s are so much better and an actual high that I cannot wait to do them.
If you want to master your practice or get better read this book and search out Anna Wise or Judith Pennington cd’s or MP3’s. My meditation’s are so much better and an actual high that I cannot wait to do them.
May 7, 2024
Anyone interested in the topic of brainwaves (and brainwave synchronization) should add this book by Anna Wise to their list.
While it appears to lack some scientific substance in some instances, it is overall a great guide/overview for the different types of brainwaves and how to make use of them. It is practical.
We can train and improve ourselves a lot with the right (external) stimuli for our brain.
While it appears to lack some scientific substance in some instances, it is overall a great guide/overview for the different types of brainwaves and how to make use of them. It is practical.
We can train and improve ourselves a lot with the right (external) stimuli for our brain.
July 7, 2025
This is an immensely practical book.
February 24, 2023
A little too woo woo and not enough science for my taste. Well written however.
July 9, 2008
Very interesting book. Not sure that I have the concentration it would take to actually execute some of the suggested activities/meditations, but have tried some-what. It's pretty relaxing at least! The science of it is quite fascinating.
July 4, 2014
It is not "my thing".
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews