When I heard that Richard Bandler was creating an application for the iPhone, that was exciting news. I love my iPhone and some of the 3rd-party applications on it are truly amazing.
Yesterday I went to Gloucestershire to visit a friend. As I changed trains at Swindon, the iPhone beeped to let me know my connecting train was on platform 4 but running a few minutes late. I had time to tap another button and find the nearest bookshop. Another button told me which books I might like to buy in a hurry, based on which I’d liked before. It’s clever stuff.
What could Richard Bandler come up with?
The new application was released today. It’s called iMeditation and the sales page says it uses “neural brainwave entrainment with biofeedback” to “provide deep relaxation leading to a calmer mind and better sleep”.
You get a three minute introduction first. Richard laments the stress that usually comes in via the iPhone – (I think he must be using his differently to how I use mine!) – and says now you can use the very same device to begin to train your neurology to be quiet, and to relax. So that you can really learn what it takes to slow down…
It’s a clever idea to play with. The nature of the iPhone means we have to go through the literal and metaphorical process of putting the phone into airplane mode before we start, so it won’t ring or beep during the program. Already there’s a sense of taking a step away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.
Then you hold your iPhone in front of your face. As Richard begins a hypnotic induction, pulsing circles appear on the screen. So you have both visual and auditory input. And as he talks and you listen, and look, that’s right… you begin to drift off.
It’s a free download and you can get it here now
There are more than a dozen iPhone applications that use this kind of brainwave entrainment technology and most of them have more options and customisable features. What makes iMeditation unique is the way it uses the accelerometer built into the phone to track your hand movements. Be still and you’ll get soothing blue circles. Move and they’ll become an angry red. I’m not sure how valuable this actually is but it’s certainly pretty. I thought the biofeedback element would somehow calibrate to changes in my brainwaves and adapt/personalise the entrainment program to guide me in the right direction. Measuring my hand movements may be the first step towards that but it’s fairly clunky at this stage. I tested it a few times this evening and I only went out of the blue zone when I scratched my knee, and I wasn’t particularly relaxed most of the time – I was just sitting still.
A Bandler application for the iPhone is a great idea. After ten minutes of playing with it though, I’m ready for the next generation version already. It at least needs to have more than one program, and maybe some more options. But for a free download – I’ve rated it on iTunes as 5 stars out of 5.
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