Thanks to researches and the most advanced science techniques in the field of neurosciences (such as neurology, neuropsychology, energy psychology), we currently know that there are 5 TYPES OF BRAIN WAVES in the human brain that work almost like musical notes.
The five brain waves known and measured so far are Delta, Theta, Alpha, Beta and Gamma.
Some act at a LOW frequency, others at a HIGHER one. However, together they are able to form a choral harmony where our thoughts, emotions and sensations can reach a perfect balance, where we feel more FOCUSED and RECEPTIVE to everything that surrounds us.
Today we know artifacts for personal use to stimulate certain brain waves, certain mental states, which are used by prominent personalities such as entrepreneurs, elite athletes, actors, and other people with high individual performances.
The truth is that there is not one type of brain wave better or more special than the other. All of them are important, because all are the result of the electrical activity of our neurons and of our mental states.
BRAIN WAVES IN CHILDREN AND THE IMPORTANCE OF KNOWING HOW THEY WORK
Nowadays it is known that, in children from 0 to 7 or 8 years old, the brain is working at low brain frequencies for a large period of time (Alfa and Theta) and that is why children are so suggestible.
The brain of a child operating at low frequency is like a recorder that saves everything without distinguishing whether something is good or bad, that means without any filter.
The transcendent function of the brain functioning as a recorder in those first years of life, is to generate the reasoning and behavior structures that are most in line with their environment in order to adapt as efficiently as possible. The brain works by generating automatic thought and emotion patterns that will then predominate for the rest of the adult life.
While this information is just lately available to the public and can be conrmed
thanks to measurements made with newest technologies, the truth is that all this
KNOWLEDGE was already known and used by ancient civilizations and by some of the most predominant religions on the planet. In general, not for good purposes...
An example are the ancient Jesuits who said, “Give me a child under 7 and I will show you the man of the future”. The Jesuits, like so many other religions, knew and know perfectly the functioning of the brain and the human mind.
THEY KNEW, AS THEY KNOW TODAY, THAT ANY TYPE OF PROGRAMMING THAT IS INSTALLED IN A CHILD´S MIND WILL GOVERN FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE.
This is important for us as parents and educators, and something that what we need to be aware of.
By using this knowledge consciously, we can produce a great positive impact on the lives of our children, as well as produce a great change in our entire culture.
SPECIFICALLY, HOW CAN WE USE THIS INFORMATION TO IMPROVE OUR LIVES AND THOSE OF OUR CHILDREN?
We are going to learn about a very specific technique, which is called
HYPNOPEDIA, that will allow us to take advantage of the natural states of the
working brain to promote in our children states of greater optimism, safety,
confidence, and tranquility.
The Hypnopedia consists specifically in communicating with our children just before the dream phase and during the dream itself for educational purposes. That is where the name “Hypnopedia” comes from (from the Greek “hypno” = dream, and “pedia” = education).
Let´s see now why, how and what are the positive results of this practice.
As we saw, the mind of children normally works at low frequency and that is why
they perceive and record everything they see, feel, and hear. In addition to that,
there are certain times of the day, as well as certain emotional states, that naturally favor the states of relaxation, where the brain becomes more permeable and receptive. In these moments, everything that we, as adults, promote in them will have a greater impact on their lives, a greater fixation.
One of the moments, where the brain is in a more receptive state is right before sleeping and during sleep phase itself.
Prior to sleep, the brain begins to enter a state of relaxation, the high-frequency
waves (Delta) that predominate in wakefulness, when we are conscious. They begin to diminish and the dream state begins to occur, where the brain begins to work in low frequency brain waves (Alfa and Theta).
In that state, we find the brain just as if it opens the floodgates of the deepest behaviors of the mind (what in psychology is called the subconscious mind) and captures each message more directly, without the filters of the conscious mind, and each message that we promote will have a greater fixation in the lives of our children.
To correctly perform this technique, which consists in communicating with children while they are in a state of relaxation or sleep, some very important communication parameters must be kept in mind.
These communication parameters have a logical basis behind, coming from the
study of the experiences of thousands of application cases and it is important to
consider them when practicing Hypnopedia. Let us see what they are:
An important warning:
Hypnopedia should be taken as a very natural practice. If we observe, most parents talk to their children naturally while they sleep. Hypnopedia is nothing different: communicate with them while they are sleeping.
By setting some communication parameters, and systemizing the technique, we
seek to optimize the teaching results and make the most of the natural resources that our nature as human beings provides us. The intention is to use as much as possible the natural capacity of our brain, our mind and that of our children.
Therefore, the probably most important condition that we must meet if we intend to move forward with this practice - beyond the constancy we must have - is to enjoy it, live it naturally, without any type of self-limitation or self-pressure regarding the way we do it or the results. This practice should be an intimate moment of joy, which we experience in communicating with our children and helping them grow.
A fundamental clarification
The recommendations we give here are the result of years of experience with this practice and the recommendation of most experts. When considering new
challenges, especially related to the education and future of our children, it is
essential to practice generosity, patience and tolerance with ourselves, instead of self-judge or discourage ourselves for believing that we cannot achieve something or that we are wrong.
There is no single way to perform Hypnopedia and what we provide here are
recommendations based on experiences. We are raising an ideal, but in everyday life and in reality, we are the ones who experience and find the best way to do it, guided mainly by the results.
Perhaps there will be parents who will have better results speaking specifically and others ambiguously. In each case, everyone has clearly the freedom to experiment.
The most important of all is to perform the practice generously, without a sense of urgency or impatience, and always thinking that it is a resource that can help us generate a greater connection with our children.
COMMUNICATION PARAMETERS FOR A MORE EFFECTIVE HYPNOPEDIA
1: Specific communication vs. ambiguous or vague communication
In broad strokes, we can categorize two forms of communication. One specific and inductive and another more ambiguous and orientating. Examples:
SPECIFIC: “Tomorrow, when you go to school, you will behave well and you will
copy everything the teacher says and do the homework accordingly”.
AMBIGUOUS: “Tomorrow at school, you will find the necessary resources to have an extraordinary day and fulfill all your commitments, feeling happily at ease with everything you decide to do”.
In the SPECIFIC communication, we give a specific command and induce more
directly our receiver, in this case our children, to perform certain actions. This
type of communication is NOT the most recommended to perform hypnopedia
and the reasons are several.
First, because many times the kind of command we give as parents are subject
to our own claims and not to a real need of the child. In addition, although we can induce to develop good actions, it is us who are defining them previously and not the child with his own will. In the end, this can even reduce the power to
decide for themselves, and experience freedom and responsibility.
For that reason, most experts in the application of this technique recommend using a more ambiguous and vague language when communicating with our children while we perform Hypnopedia.
When we say AMBIGUOUS language, we don´t say it has to be confusing,
actually quite the opposite. The more ambiguous it is, the clearer the concept we
want to convey has to be. By communicating ambiguously, what we are trying to
do is to provide to the child the tools to find his own resources, the most suitable
for living a life full of freedom and great events.
This way of communicating is something that can take us a while to learn if we
are not yet familiar. Practice and perseverance are the best way to achieve it.
Moreover, as we see the results that this technique produces in daily life, we will
surely find the incentives to improve.
2. Avoid the word “NO”
Perhaps meeting this requirement in communicating with our children is the biggest challenge. Avoiding using the word “NO” is complicated because on average we have all been programmed since childhood listening to the word “NO” between 80 and 160 times a day.
The reason why we should avoid the word “NO” is simple. It is proven that the brain cannot process the term “NO” as a negation, simply because it is an organ whose specific function is to create a meaning for each processed information.
To achieve this, each information it receives must be associated with an image or a metaphor. When using the term “NO”, the only thing that the brain can capture in the mind is the image of the object or the action associated subsequently or before the term “NO”.
That is why it is enough to tell a child that he shouldn´t do something, to go
immediately and do it. The same thing happens when we think internally that
we DO NOT want something to happen and it happens. That is because the
brain can only interpret the action, but cannot interpret the negation.
Therefore, the challenge is to always express ourselves using affirmative terms.
Examples:
Wrong way:
- You are NOT a shy child. you are NOT a fearful child.
- Tomorrow in your exam you will NOT get nervous, stay so quiet that you will NOT forget what you studied.
- When you are in your basketball training you do NOT have to be afraid.
- Please do NOT cross the street running and without looking.
Correct way:
- You are a very confident child. you are a very brave child.
- Tomorrow in the exam you will be very calm and confident. You will remember everything you studied.
- When you are in your training you will feel very safe and confident.
- Please cross the street walking and paying attention.
3. Use simple, tender, clear and always positive language
The best advice is to write down on a paper, what is the concept that we want to
convey, in order to sort our ideas before expressing them. You can simply write down the central idea, or for those who still do not feel safe, you can directly write down everything you want to communicate to your child.
Using SIMPLE language is very important since the child´s brain can only interpret what we say with the tools it has.
The main tools are words and images. If we use COMPLICATED words, the unconscious brain may fail to give the appropriate meaning to what we say.
Using analogical images of nature or metaphors have a very positive impact on the child´s mind, since the subconscious processes the information, as we said, through images or symbols. Of course, we have to be very attentive to use images and metaphors that are pleasant and avoid all kind of negative suggestion or images that produce fear or mistrust.
It is therefore useful to remember that our language should always be positive,
highlighting the beautiful, positive, and pleasant things of whatever we describe.
4 Accompaniment / Rapport
The most modern neurosciences and the most advanced technologies applied to the development of human behavior, have already determined through thousands of experiments that 75% of our communication is nonverbal, and 70% is given through our body expression.
The rapport or accompaniment is perhaps one of the most important issues when communicating with our children, and, of course, with anyone. If we achieve a good accompaniment, we will be achieving a deeper connection in communication with our children.
Accompaniment means accompanying with our whole body, with our emotions and sensations, what we are expressing with our words. It does not matter that the child is asleep, the mechanism of the subconscious brain still perceives everything. By accompanying our message through gestures, the implication and the effects we will have, will be more whole.
The way we breathe, the way we look at them, if we smile while we talk to them, if we feel safe and happy; the message, the connection we establish and the impact of our message will be much GREATER and long-term.
That is one of the main reasons why the daily practice of Hypnopedia is recommended. It will generate in us a great well-being. Because at the same time we are doing Hypnopedia with our children, we will unconsciously be doing it with ourselves. Putting ourselves in the mental and emotional state that we want to convey to them, will give us a great benefit at no extra cost.
What is the best time to practice hypnopedia and how often?
What most experts recommend is to perform the hypnopedia about 2 hours after the child has fallen asleep and talk for not more than 10 minutes.
This is effective due to proves reading brain waves that show that approximately 1,5 or 2 hours after falling asleep is the moment when the brain is at the frequency that makes it more permeable and receptive.
Experts also recommend doing the practice for a period of at least 21 days. This is the minimum period that the brain takes to recondition and generate new neural connections.
In our experience, and as we clarify at the beginning, both the time to perform the hypnopedia, as well as the frequency can be defined naturally by the parents. Since no one knows our children better than us.
Since this is a natural practice, the way in which we set our rhythm must also be natural. Logically, the frequency and pace we apply will depend on our objective.
In fact, just talking to them in the moment before they fall asleep is proven to have enormous benefits and positive effects.
The idea of sharing this technique is to provide another resource that we can use in our duty to HELP our children LIVE A LIFE WITHOUT LIMITATIONS and full of great and beautiful achievements. Never a pedagogical resource or a technique should limit us to express ourselves naturally.
That is why we advise you to experiment with HYPNOPEDIA freely, keep track of your experience, and then if you like, SHARE YOUR RESULTS WITH THE ENTIRE “EXTASTICKS POWER FOR KIDS” COMMUNITY!