GUIDELINES AND SUGGESTIONS FOR USING THE BILATERAL

STIMULATION MUSIC AVAILABLE FROM ALTERNATING SOUNDS, LLC

1. OVERVIEW

There are lots of useful ways to listen to Written On Clouds: Bilateral Music for Healing and
Growth, and our best advice is to do whatever you personally find most helpful, whether they
are based on any of the suggestions found on these pages or your own ideas (which we would
love to hear about, by the way).

At the same time, there are a couple of guidelines that need to be followed at all times. The
first is that headphones or ear buds are required when listening to any source of bilaterally
enhanced music in order to take advantage of their special sonic qualities. And you should
never listen to bilateral music while driving or doing anything else that requires your full
conscious attention in order to insure your safety or that of others.

The following pages include many suggestions that you can adapt to your own purposes,
preferences and personality. However, there is really no need to do anything while listening
to these soundscapes to derive benefit from them. All you need to do is release your
expectations of what should or shouldnt happen and let whatever thoughts, emotions,
memories, associations and sensations you experience be whatever they are and go wherever
they go.

When listening to this music you may notice that you:

A. experience unexpected or intense emotions,
B. spontaneously recall interesting, unusual or significant memories,
C. experience a variety of bodily sensations,
D. have wandering or even dreamlike thoughts or fantasies, or
E. gain an insight you havent previously considered.
If you experience these (or any other) reactions as pleasing or interesting, simply be available to
whatever continues to unfold. Its also ok if you have different reactions than those listed
above, if what you experience doesnt seem to make a whole lot of immediate sense, or even if
you're not sure whether or not anything is actually happening. As long as you are ok with the
process, just keep listening to the music and remain open to whatever happens next.

On the other hand, if any part of the listening experience becomes uncomfortable or
unpleasant, turn the music off and do something healthy to take care of yourself. You may also
find it helpful in such situations to turn the volume down as low as possible (as long as you can
still hear it). Once youve listened to these soundscapes a few times youll probably become
more proficient at managing the enhanced neurological activity that you experience.

As is the case with any collection of music, youll likely prefer some of the tracks on "Written on
Clouds" more than others. Repeated listening will reveal more of the special qualities of each
selection, so your preferences may change over time. You may also discover that certain pieces
are better suited for specific purposes based on the sonic features that make each selection
unique. For instance, some may help you gain confidence while others may be better at
sparking your creativity or helping you concentrate better. Although Written on Clouds is
sequenced in an order that works very well for many people, feel free to design your own
playlist, re-arranging, repeating or deleting any of the selections in whatever way works best for
you. Future releases by Alternating Sounds, LLC will give even more creative possibilities in this
regard.

Before going further its important to understand that nothing here is intended to be a
substitute for professional medical, psychiatric or psychological advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
Always seek the advice of a qualified health provider with any questions you may have
regarding any conditions that trouble you. And certainly never disregard professional health
advice or delay seeking it because these soundscapes or anything you read here.

Since the effects of bilateral stimulation can be different for everyone, or for the same person
at different times, we suggest that you start by listening to just one or two selections to get a
sense of their effect on you. (Think of it like test driving a car, which typically avoids rough
roads, exceptional speeds or traffic jams. Slow and easy is the best way to start.) Once you are
comfortable with the general effects of bilateral stimulation you can become more intentional
about how to use it.

You can listen to these soundscapes in all kinds of settings and situations. From the exceedingly
mundane (washing dishes, riding the subway, sitting in a waiting room, walking in the park, or
just sitting in your favorite chair) to the exceptionally creative (peering deeply into your
reflection, dancing in the dark, getting a massage, drawing with your non-dominant hand,
incorporating it into yoga practice, etc.) almost any listening situation can reveal something
useful for your personal growth and development.

Now that you have read this basic overview its time to introduce some techniques specifically
designed to enhance the value of bilateral stimulation, starting with guidelines for using
bilateral stimulation for resource enhancement and overall brain fitness.

2. HOW TO USE AUDITORY BILATERAL STIMULATION FOR RESOURCE

ENHANCEMENT AND OVERALL BRAIN FITNESS

Once youve listened to a few soundscapes while simply letting your mind go wherever it does,
youre ready to begin using bilateral stimulation to increase your ability to access healthy,
positive, adaptive and nurturing thoughts, feelings and reactions at exactly the time that you
need them the most.

Bilateral stimulation is often used to help reduce the frequency, intensity and duration of
unproductive mental loops (which people experience when their thoughts are unnecessarily
self-limiting or they cant seem to get unstuck from feeling pessimistic, overly anxious, shame-
ridden, etc.) As explained on the AlternatingSounds.com website, bilateral stimulation
promotes the development of diverse neural pathways that are capable of transcending these
dysfunctional thoughts and feelings.

This is why some people use bilateral stimulation to think more clearly, solve problems more
rapidly, enjoy better self-esteem, handle challenging situations more comfortably, experience
greater creativity, learn and retain information more effectively, improve their ability to achieve
specific personal goals and enjoy other gains that are consistent with an overall improvement in
brain fitness. While we won't promise that youll experience all of these results, imagine what
benefits can occur once your neural pathways are able to effortlessly access a rich abundance
of positive resources exactly when you need them the most!

Here are a few well-established techniques for using bilateral stimulation to develop these
types of gains. They involve a process known as resource enhancement, which is the
development and reinforcement of positive, adaptive, nurturing and productive neural
pathways.

2A. Develop and Enhance Your Personal Safe Place

The development of a safe place is a tried-and-true technique for quickly bringing calm and
comfort to any situation. Heres one version (there are lots of variations):
 Before putting on your headphones or ear buds, form an image of a place that can
represent a sense of safety and comfort for you. Engage all your senses: what does it
look like, sound like, smell like, feel like? Lets say you choose a beach: imagine yourself
lying comfortably in the warmth of the sun, listening to the relaxing sound of the surf
and feeling the gentle ocean breeze blowing over your body. Now begin listening to a
bilateral soundscape at low volume and just go with the flow. As long as the
experience remains positive for you, continue with it. At some point it will help to come
up with a word or phrase that you can use to bring this sense of safety and comfort to
you whenever you need it: perhaps beach; peace; breeze; chill or any other word or
phrase that suggests itself to you. This increases the probability that you will then be
able to access these positive neural pathways at a moments notice whenever you are
faced with any type of emotionally challenging situation.

2B. Utilize the Resource Development Worksheet

Remember, one of the primary uses of bilateral stimulation is to promote a rich abundance of
positive neural activation. The Resource Development Worksheet (available for download at
AlternatingSounds.com) is one of the best ways to accomplish this goal. It asks a series of
questions to help you develop a personalized list of positive memories, supportive figures,
meaningful symbols and other related sources of support, strength, safety, comfort, guidance
and wisdom. Once these resources are brought into conscious awareness, bilateral stimulation
increases your brains access to all of the benefits they provide when this is most needed.

Because the Resource Development Worksheet can be so valuable, we recommend that you
devote significant reflective time with this process, maybe even a few days. You will find that
the more you think about your rich innate resources the more you will be likely to tap into
them at exactly the right time. When you have completed the worksheet you will have an
individualized "power pack" of positive associations contextually available to you.

Once youve completed this worksheet the next step is to increase the ability of your neural
pathways to tap into these resources. The way to do this is simple: look over your completed
worksheet, begin listening to a bilateral soundscape or two and let yourself go anywhere the
currents of the music take you. If your mind drifts, thats a sure sign that new neural pathways
are being etched into formerly untraveled territory. You may find it helpful to imagine yourself
breathing all of those sources of strength, wisdom, guidance and nurturance into the center of
your heart so they are then able to travel through the entirety of your being.
2C. Utilize the Positive Word List
Similar to the Resource Development Worksheet, the Positive Word List (also available at
AlternatingSounds.com) is an opportunity to saturate some of your current and potential neural
pathways with an abundance of positive energy which can then be activated with bilateral
stimulation for future access.

There are two ways to combine the positive word list with bilateral stimulation. Our strongest
recommendation is that you utilize our slideshow that pairs positive words with peaceful
photographs. The combination of words and images has a greater potential for activating your
brain more deeply than either one separately. Your other options is to print out the page of
positive words from our website, then either read the entire list or just reflect on 2-3 words
while listening to a soundscape or two.

Whichever procedure you choose, once the bilateral music begins simply let your brain do
whatever it does with the moment without imposing any judgment or expectation onto the
process. This is the most advantageous way to encourage new neural connections to develop,
thereby enhancing the probability of engaging these adaptive, positive resources whenever you
most need them -- without even trying!

Once you've read and understood the above, you're ready to move on to one of the most
remarkable procedures for enhancing the effectiveness of auditory bilateral stimulation with
your eyes!

3. ENHANCING THE EFFECTS OF BILATERAL STIMULATION MUSIC WITH EYE

MOVEMENTS
Once you have read and understand the previous listening suggestions youre ready to learn a
remarkable technique that has the potential to dramatically enhance the effectiveness of
auditory bilateral stimulation. The following suggestions, which borrow extensively from a
process known as Brainspotting, are based on the finding that the effects of auditory bilateral
music are even more powerful if you incorporate specific eye movements into the listening
experience. This can seem like an astounding claim the first time you learn about it, but many
people can attest to it as being true for them.

You may not have ever thought about it, but your eyes are almost always in motion, even if
only a little. If you just sit quietly for a few moments youll notice that your eyes tend move
around every few seconds, often for no apparent reason. This is happening because your eye
movements are influenced by your thoughts and feelings. Watch somebody who is recalling an
event or concentrating on something that is important to them: you will often see their eyes
move in characteristic ways depending on what they are thinking, feeling, remembering, etc.

What is truly fascinating is that the reverse is also true: where your eyes are looking directly
influences what you think and how you feel. This understanding can lead to potentially
extraordinary levels of healing and growth, which is why this we want to give you extensive
suggestions for using eye movements while listening to bilateral music.

3A. Basic Eye Movement Suggestions

Here is a basic eye technique for you to use when listening to auditory bilateral stimulation
through headphones or ear buds:

1. As always, make yourself physically comfortable, adjust the music volume to a soft level
and spend a few moments gently bringing your attention toward a state of internal self-
awareness while the music begins to play.

2. Now, gently and e-x-t-r-e-m-e-l-y s-l-o-w-l-y begin to move your eyes from side to side
several times (back and forth from left to right) while keeping your head still. (Since your eyes
will have difficulty moving smoothly it will help to hold a finger in front of you and move it from
side to side while tracking it with your eyes.)

3. Slowly continue this process until your eyes come to a location where you experience
what can best be described as a felt sense of personal significance. This is a phrase used to
describe the occurrence of any relatively more intense or noticeable thought, image, memory,
physical sensation, or other gathering of attention within your being. (One clear indicator that
you have found such a location is if your eyes begin to blink rapidly.) Hold your gaze here.

If the above seems a little confusing, just choose a place to look (for any or no reason at all)
and then hold your gaze on or near this spot while listening to your source of bilateral
stimulation. When in doubt, keep it simple.

4. Now simply allow your mind to wander where it will. This is all it takes to begin
developing a more expansive range of possible neural pathways to facilitate your brain's natural
movement toward optimal functioning.

5. There are all sorts of useful variations of this exercise:

a. Variation #1: After holding your eyes stable for awhile, slowly raise and lower them just
a little and notice any changes this brings to your thoughts, feelings, perceptions, sensations,
memories, or associations.
 b. Variation #2: Practice adjusting the depth of your gaze by slowly moving your line of
sight closer toward you and then further away from you several times. You can do this by
looking at your finger as you slowly move it toward you and away from you several times (along
the same axis). While doing this just breathe, relax and simply notice how your brain processes
these subtle changes.

c. Variation #3: Continue holding your sight at a stable location, then cover one eye with
your hand and notice the experience when you limit your vision in this way. After a few
moments switch eyes and you may notice that different emotions, thoughts, sensations or
perceptions emerge with greater intensity when looking through one eye or the other.

3B. Using Eye Movements to Heal Distressed Neural Pathways

Here is another potentially powerful way to utilize auditory bilateral stimulation. It may seem a
bit complicated at first but stick with it because the results will likely justify the effort.

1. As always, get physically comfortable, start listening to your bilateral stimulation source
through headphones or ear buds at a low volume, and then begin to slowly move your eyes in a
random manner around your entire field of vision. Theres no need to follow any pattern:
simply move your eyes randomly so that you have a chance to look in many different directions.

2. Pay close attention to any type of positive or negative thought, emotion or sensation that
occurs when you approach, reach or pass over a particular visual spot. (In Brainspotting, a
positive location is called a resource spot, while a negative one is known as a distress spot.)

You can either start from a position of neutrality or with a predetermined distress or resource
already in mind. For instance, if you want to reduce test anxiety, take a moment to imagine the
distress of an exam and then begin randomly moving your eyes until you notice a felt sense of
personal significance as described above. This is your distress spot. You can just as easily
engage the process from a resource perspective: visualize yourself completing the exam with
ease and confidence, feeling the satisfaction from knowing you did well, and then begin
randomly moving your eyes slowly until you locate a noticeable felt sense of personal
significance. This is your resource spot.

3. Once you are aware of the location of either the distress spot or resource spot, resume
moving your eyes in a random manner until you notice yourself experiencing a contrasting
thought, emotion or sensation. In other words, if the first spot you locate is negative in some
way (i.e. a distress spot), move your eyes randomly until you locate a spot that is positive in
some way. Similarly, if the first spot you locate is positive in some way (i.e. a resource spot),
move your eyes randomly until you locate a spot that is negative in some way.
These two spots generally relate to each other in some manner: for example, the distress spot
may be a source of anxiety while the resource spot may bring you a sense of comfort. However,
they may not necessarily seem to be related to each other. For example, you may locate a
resource spot where you feel alert and creative and then a distress spot that brings you a totally
unexpected sensation such as hunger, longing, sexual excitement or some other seemingly
unrelated reaction. As always, dont try to judge or figure anything out on the basis of logic.
Instead, just receive what you notice and remain available to what happens next. This is a great
way to identify and untangle neurological "cross-wiring" that has potentially been tripping you
up for many years.

4. Now that youve located these two spots, repeatedly and very slowly move your eyes back
and forth between them. (Again, it may help to use a finger to shift your gaze smoothly
between these two locations.)

This technique allows your brain to connect two or more isolated or fragmented areas of your
awareness into a greater integrated whole. Negative energy or information that is accessible via
one visual location dissipates when bridged to a more positive visual location.

3C: Utilizing Bilateral Stimulation to Resolve Specific Disturbances

Bilateral stimulation can be used to diminish a disturbing or troubling thought, feeling, conflict,
sensation, memory or anxiety that is bothering you. Heres how:

1. Focus your attention on a distressing thought, feeling, situation, memory or other source
of distress. To help improve the potential power of this process, make an effort to consciously
increase the intensity of what you are experiencing. For instance, if you are targeting a source
of anxiety, go ahead and try to feel even more anxious for a few moments in order to insure
that your relevant neural pathways are "charged up and online" when you start to introduce
the bilateral stimulation. Lean into the emotion rather than away from it.

2. Remain attentive to how your eyes are moving during this time, especially if they tend to
drift on their own accord toward one direction or seem to settle around one area of your visual
field. If this occurs, try to maintain a steady gaze at that spot or area while softly listening to
your source of bilateral sound through headphones or ear buds.

c. Once the bilateral activation process begins simply let your mind wander wherever it does
without trying to direct or hold it.

From time to time it may be useful to gently guide your awareness back to your initial target
and then let go again as a way to explore and expand even more relevant neural pathways.
To offer an example, you might target a memory of an event in your past that caused you to
feel shame. By following the above guidelines (identifying and holding the appropriate visual
spot while listening to bilateral stimulation) you may begin experiencing a growing sense of
acceptance and self-love. Wonderful! If that's all you want or need at the moment you can end
your listening session and go about your day with a lovely light spirit.

However, you may gain even more benefit by returning to the original target (which in our
example is the shameful memory and its associated visual location) to assess for the presence
of any other distressed neural pathways that may now be more evident. Perhaps you will
notice residual layers of sadness, anxiety, anger or some entirely unexpected emotions,
associations or memories. You can then continue using bilateral stimulation to process any -- or
all -- of these distressed pathways until they dissipate or bridge to resources as previously
described above.

In closing, these suggestions are just some of the many ways people use auditory bilateral
stimulation to promote healing, personal growth and optimal brain fitness. As stated earlier,
with practice you will find the techniques that are most effective for you. We would love to
learn about your own suggestions that we can then share with others, so don't hesitate to
contact us.

4. PROFESSIONAL USE OF AUDITORY BILATERAL STIMULATION BY

PSYCHOTHERAPISTS, COUNSELORS AND RELATED HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS
Several forms of psychotherapy use bilateral stimulation to help heal severe emotional trauma
and neglect:

a. EMDR (originated by Francine Shapiro) utilizes all three modes of bilateral stimulation
(visual, tactile and auditory);
b. Tapping In (devised by Laura Parnell) uses tactile bilateral stimulation and is focused
exclusively on resource enhancement;
c. Brainspotting (which David Grand evolved from his natural flow EMDR technique)
utilizes auditory bilateral stimulation;
d. The Comprehensive Resource Model (developed by Lisa Schwartz) also uses auditory
bilateral stimulation.

These are sometimes referred to as brain-based or bottom-up protocols since they activate
neurological processing in the deeper regions of the brain while traditional talk therapy focuses
on mind-based or top-down cognitive processing originating in the cortex. All have been
known to result in remarkable benefits in a wide variety of applications. If you are a mental
health professional who has received sufficient training in any of the above techniques, you will
be pleased with the bilateral soundscapes of Alternating Sounds, LLC due to their innovative
sonic properties (such as multiple simultaneous levels of bilateral stimulation).

EMDR is the only one of the above techniques that restricts its use to trained professionals,
with no allowance for any form of self-administration. All of the other techniques are either
specifically designed for solo use (in the case of Tapping In) or modifiable for independent
self-administration for certain purposes. Please remember that a person should never attempt
to independently use bilateral stimulation to recover from major trauma, heal deeply
embedded childhood wounds or integrate dissociated ego parts. This type of work requires
professional assistance.

Adequately licensed psychotherapists can use bilateral stimulation for all of the purposes that
have been outlined in the previous sections. In addition, bilateral music can be used to:

a) facilitate psychotherapeutic processing by simply having the client listen through

headphones at a very soft level during the therapy session.
b) consolidate gains made in psychotherapy sessions by having the client listen to bilateral
music after a session while reflecting or journaling about what took place with you.
c) enhance client access to positive internal resources as described elsewhere on this site.
d) facilitate general relaxation, self-awareness and all of the other benefits as highlighted
on the rest of this site.

Two books that are available to the general public can be useful for therapists to gather ideas
for using bilateral stimulation in their practice. One is Tapping In by Laura Parnell and the
other is Brainspotting: The Revolutionary New Therapy for Rapid and Effective Change by
David Grand.

Therapists should of course advise their clients to discontinue using any form of bilateral
stimulation if they begin to experience any sort of significantly distressing reaction. As with any
recommendation you provide to your clients, it is important that they know how to receive
adequate assistance either from you or from another appropriate resource if any negative
reactions occur that exceed their ability to manage in a safe and effective manner.

If you are a therapist with questions, ideas or suggestions for using bilateral stimulation with
your client, we hope you will write us, as we'd love to hear from you.
5. SUMMARY
The depth and breadth of the above information makes clear how useful bilateral stimulation
can be for facilitating healing, personal growth and optimal brain fitness. The innovative
advancements in auditory bilateral stimulation developed by Alternating Sounds, LLC (detailed
at AlternatingSounds.com) represent a step forward in the evolution of this form of
neurological enhancement. Please dont hesitate to contact us with your own suggestions and
experiences.

Copyright 2014, Alternating Sounds, LLC