High Performance Mind

By sister-initiate Dianna Roberts, Houston, Texas, USA
(originally in English)

by Anna Wise, 1995, Jeremy P.Tarcher/Putnam, New York, NY, USA

Everyone can develop greater creativity, improve relationships, experience heightened mental clarity, better manage stress, encourage emotional and physical health, and profoundly deepen spirituality by evaluating his or her current brain wave patterns and then developing those that correspond to optimum states of mind. That is the premise of The High Performance Mind. The method proposed in this book, the result of Anna Wise's continuation of the work she began under the guidance of the late C. Maxwell Cade, an eminent British psycho-biologist in the mid-1970's, is a fusion of meditation and technology.

First, she shows that the frequencies of electrical impulses in the brain's "brain waves", which can be measured by specially modified electroencephalograph (EEG) machines, can be shown to correlate with certain inner states. Brain waves are divided into types on the basis of their frequencies as shown in drawings in the book.

The highest frequency brain waves, beta waves, are associated with the active, conscious state of mind involved in mental processes and logical thinking. The next highest, alpha waves, are associated with daydreaming and visualization (or "sensualization", as the author puts it) and with relaxed, detached awareness, a receptive state of mind. They also, very importantly, serve as a bridge between the conscious and unconscious minds or between the beta mind state and those states associated with the lower frequency brain waves.

Theta waves are next in frequency below alpha waves and are associated with the subconscious, the boundary zone between the conscious and unconscious minds, the home of various memories, sensations, and emotions that may be inaccessible to our conscious minds but nonetheless deeply affect our attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. Theta states can be reservoirs of creativity and inspiration.

Delta brain waves are those with the lowest frequencies and relate to the unconscious mind. Delta waves are present during deep sleep, even when the other types of brain waves are not detectable, but they may also be present in the waking state, combined with the other types. They are associated with highly instinctive, intuitive, and empathetic states of mind.

fig.1: BRAINWAVE PATTERN 1A: BETA 1B: ALPHA 1C: THETA 1D: DELTA 1E: AWAKEND MIND

Wise points out that no one category of brain waves is "better" than the others, but that, like the musical notes in a symphony, their combination can produce discord or harmonious, flowing, beautiful mental music. The goal is the "awakened" brain wave pattern (see picture 1E) in which one produces beta, alpha, theta, and delta waves together in the right proportions and relationships with each other. Then, one experiences the intuitive, empathetic state of the delta waves; the creative inspiration, insight, and spiritual awareness of the theta waves; the bridging capacity and relaxed, detached awareness of the alpha waves; and the conscious processing of the beta waves, all at the same time.

The author draws from her many years as a therapist and meditation teacher to give examples of drawings of brain wave patterns accompanied by descriptions of what the subjects, who ranged from meditation novices to highly evolved practitioners, were experiencing at the time the measurements were being made. Many of the meditative experiences described in the book will be familiar to Quan Yin practitioners, and specific guidelines are given so that one can relate these inner experiences to one's own likely brain wave patterns.

For instance, a few of the many subjective landmarks listed, ranging from mostly continuous beta brain waves to balanced awakened and evolved brain wave patterns include: difficulty stilling the mind; an itchy, distractible, inattentive state; a sensation of drifting off to or being pulled back from sleep; intermittent, uninvited vivid flashes of imagery; pleasant sensations of floating or lightness; longer-lasting and clearer imagery; feelings of loss of bodily boundaries; very lucid states of consciousness; feelings of deep satisfaction; intense alertness, calmness, and detachment; novel intuitive insight into problems; sensations of being surrounded by light; feelings of higher spiritual awareness; experiences of bliss/indefinable peace; and a feeling of greater knowledge of the universe.

Without the special EEG apparatus used by the author, a person's estimation of his or her own actual brain wave patterns is only a guess, but enough detail about the "feel" of each state is provided that one may feel some confidence in this self-assessment. Wise postulates that one can then practice diligently until the awakened mind brain wave pattern described above is achieved and maintained. She contends that by use of this paradigm, one can progress to the highest measurable state, the evolved mind, in which the unconscious mind has become conscious, there are no separations or constraints between the conscious, the subconscious, and the unconscious, and one feels unity with all there is. (See picture 2)

fig.2: POSSIBLE BRAINWAVE PATTERN 1: AWAKEND MIND 2: MEDITATION 3: OUT OF BODY 4: EVOLVED MIND

The author provides many suggestions for getting in touch with those brain wave states that we have not yet fully penetrated in our own practice. To a beta brain person like myself, for instance, learning to recognize and validate those fleeting moments of alpha, theta, and delta states which are now beginning to appear perhaps a little more noticeably, seems quite useful. She also helpfully addresses some of the difficulties, including physical, emotional, and energy effects, that sometimes arise during practice. Her suggestions have a non-technical, common sense feel to them, undoubtedly influenced by the author's extensive counseling experience.

The major emphasis in this book is on developing self-mastery so as to function well in our worldly lives but, the author points out, intense, long-term meditation is also very likely to have awakening, transforming effects that profoundly change our ways of perceiving, understanding, and interacting with the universe. All in all, this is a fascinating, clearly written description of a proposed mechanism for the meditative process. Although written from a largely biotechnological perspective that differs from the one usually brought to daily meditations, this book confirms in many ways the commonality of the landmarks encountered on the journey along the spiritual path, and thus supports the objective reality of what are originally highly personal inner experiences.