FWIW, I used to use a light and sound machine (Mindplace Procyon) and was able to induce these states with minimal effort. And I had a couple dozen experiences w/ psilocybin in my college years, so I'm well versed in what they should be like.
The goggles w/ binaural beats create some weird sort of state where I don't feel any connection to my environment. After only a couple minutes my body turns to total mush and my brain comes alive with phosphene visuals. By about 15 minutes in, my stomach usually gurgles a bit, not unlike the indigestion that often accompanies psychedelic trips.
Interestingly enough, these machines are marketed as brainwave entrainment, but the literature on that says the visual component doesn't really have much impact. Yet auditory entrainment on its own doesn't seem to do much for me either, or at least, not convincing enough beyond placebo.
There is an app for the iPhone called Lumenate that uses the LED flash and it seems to work, though it's not as strong for me as the multi-LED goggles I used to use. Still, it's a great gateway for those who are curious.
I have done this since forever. Put music on and doing breathwork. Some of the most imaginative ideas I have ever had, start to be generated by themselves 15 minutes in the breathwork.
I use a technique no else uses, and at the start I was trying to emulate fighters being hit in the stomach. It had occured to me that fighters have generally more triangular upper bodies than other types of athletes. It turns out, that organs in the belly aggregate fat around them, and being hit in the stomach discombobulates the fat particles. I found a more intelligent way to emulate that, and less dangerous.
Altered state of consciousness start after 10-15 minutes of breathwork, when I put saliva on my scalp to clean the testosterone from the hair. That one was inspired by cats. The male scalp excretes lots of testosterone which cannot be removed with just shampoo. This also fixes androgenetic alopecia (it does not get reversed, but stops happening). I get seriously dizzy when I do that, that's why I have given up on all mind altering substances including alcohol. Getting dizzy from exercise is so much better.
There are 2-3 more exercises I do complementary to that. The breath work also is not breath work, it is something similar.
Personally I like to think of breathwork as another form of music, or rather that music and breathwork are all rhythmic stimulus with similar and complementary effects. Add dance to this as well. One of the big draws of EDM and trance and tribal music is the incessant rhythm of music and dance.
The altered states from uninhibited dance really seem to be underappreciated.
Along with rhythmic visuals and lights, and things like binaurals etc, the common trait is the rhythm.
Fun comment section here! As a haptics developer and psychonaut, months back I joked with Claude month
about adding touch to a light and sound machine via bilateral nipple stimulation.
Like a good boy LLM it told me it was a fantastic, insightful idea and developed a very comprehensive research plan.
https://github.com/ConAcademy/biareolar-beats
So I have a Neurable headset and Adafruited up the hardware, and started on 3D printing the nipple mount. Was hoping to run around Burning Man collecting data, but like most projects it stagnated. While this is a joke (but real!), I do want to make a photic driver to accompany the Neurable.
A very intriguing theory why something as mundane as hyperventilating yields a certain desired altered state of consciousness is because the vasoconstriction is affecting first and foremost the more modern and (for survival) less essential parts of our brain tasked with analytic and rational thinking - which happens to be exactly what one wants to curb for a more direct access to and experience of emotional states.
It should also be noted that while all sorts of breathing techniques have been repeatedly rediscovered for thousands of years it was the psychiatrist Stanislav Grof who prominently introduced Holotropic Breathwork to the West as a means of alternative to LSD after it had been banned in the US.
I am far from being an expert, but "altered state of consciousness" seems too vague of an idea to be significant.
Anyway all I have is my own personal experiences with anxiety, and I can at least confirm that breathing plays a huge role in mood regulation along with physical posture, staying hydrated, and gut health.
I have done a couple of breathwork sessions and recommend to have an experienced guide/therapist. The quality and intensivity of the sessions can vary widely depending on how safe you feel to go into intense emotional processing with the person(s) present. I recommend multiple-day workshops!
This is a really strange comment section. The average person sharing their experiences seems very unlike the average HN user.
I feel like I can barely relate to those people, and understanding what they're saying is nigh impossible. The definitions of most things are really vague - even the article of this thread only defines breathwork as "cyclic breathing without pausing, accompanied by progressively evocative music". So... faster breathing while intensifying music is playing?
One issue for me is how anything connected to these topics seems to attract a healthy mix of rational observation, psychedelic users and religious people (old and new). Deciphering which is which is really difficult without already having a foot in the door on this topic.
Asked Claude to read the paper and provide a playlist for me. Said it can't due to safety concerns. Guess I have to go eat some cheese.
People giving themselves seizures and interpreting them as spiritual experiences is as old as kundalini yoga.
This is not a surprise to anyone that has engaged in prolonged meditation, especially across more than one day. It makes shortcuts like psychedelics look foolish. During a ten day Vipassana retreat time slowed down to such a great extent it changed my entire perception of time thereafter. The space provided by the mental quiet created by Anapana is so profound.
TLDR Anapana: Sit comfortably and monitor the sensation of the breath exiting the nose and return to it as your thoughts wander. Don't get mad when you wander, it's part of the process. Just return and try to maintain equanimity, to not react. If you get frustrated at first, you can increase your exhale slighlty to make it more noticeable.
That's about all there is to it. After you do this for a while your thoughts become less and less frequent and... you only have important, creative thoughts :) It turns out conscious thought is just a refection of a deeper process and most of it is garbage: worries, self doubt, fears.
I have just inspired myself to take up daily Anapana by writing this...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anapanasati
Who knew hyperventilating could make you feel funny
So basically yogic pranayama
I wonder how a persons hypnotizability affects how they could reach altered states of consciousness? 10% of the population is high in hypnotizability and 10% is low responders and the remaining 80% have some response.
The west takes a while to catch up to the east
Theres this one song I like - Time - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qPZl7M2REM
If you change the speed to custom 1.05x and listen, you'll notice it sounds different to normal. Then if you switch to normal and listen again you can get your brain to recognise the different pitch from the 1.05x speed version and one time I got into an altered state of consciousness.
I experienced holotropic breathwork recently with a trained coach who was also a very old and trusted friend. It felt perfectly safe. I won’t describe it here other than to say that it was the most emotionally stimulating experience I have had since infancy, I experienced extreme discomfort and comfort, it was therapeutic, I treasure it, and I would like to do more of it.
> the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the profound subjective effects of high ventilation breathwork (HVB) remain largely unknown and unexplored
It's kind of amazing there is minimal science behind something so fundamental. I guess the ancients figured all this out and wrote it down, but now science needs to follow.
Ravers know this.
I get the grid pattern in my eyes which are replicated in cave paintings 10,000 years old.
Lewis-Williams theorized that paleolithic cave painters used drums and breathing techniques to enter ASOCs while making the paintings. I think that theory has taken some hits in recent years but it was always a neat mental image.
I’m really confused why there are no binaural beats app for the Apple Vision Pro. Seems like a natural fit for the device, but they don’t seem to exist at all. If anyone has any info on that, I’d love to read it.
I should mention Non-Sleep-Deep-Rest (NSDR), which, while not changing a state of consciousness, helps in relaxation and focus. Only in 20 mins. Based on my one single anecdata point.
Sincere question: do we have a good definition of consciousness to be able to say there are different ones? May be experience might be the right word ?
I have to wonder: are there undesirable side-effects of hyperventilating? Deliberately hyperventilating for 15 minutes or more in a time doesn't seem like a great idea.
It’s interesting to see the emerging music platforms focused on this type of experience such as Formaviva.com and Deepwave
First time I saw this subject arise: the film(s) about the 1969 Woodstock festival. Finally getting some attention these days.
Made me remember the 1980 film Altered States, haha.
Its a sample of 42 participants also split with n=15 or 19. Not sure if this is something that can be banked upon.
Dont forget the lava lamp :)
where can I find the music they are using?
All churches have always known this
> ‘Oceanic Boundlessness’ (OBN)
LOL
you know what else induces altered states of consciousness?
cheese
"Altered states of consciousness" -> why dont you just say "getting high" :).
I run a psychedelic breath work group called BioMythic.com and we've worked with YC founders and teams and other Unicorn's like Bombas.
Happy to offer a free virtual session for founders if there is interest here, as our work is always gifted.
This is literally why I've been a professional choral/solo classical singer for 30 years. It works! It's a great way of life.
The wizards of yore call that breathwork "pranayama". They take it seriously. Recommend approaching it with care.
"Scientists in 2025 discover meditation - Their minds were blown"