'EEG Meditation' app for iOS for meditation practice

for NeuroSky MindWave Mobile 2 (and Mobile+) headset,

or accelerated self-study of meditation

     This article is about 'EEG Meditation' app for iOS. General questions of EEG meditation and various applications for Android and Windows PC are described in this article.

     'EEG Meditation' app for iOS (use this link to install it) for NeuroSky MindWave Mobile 2 (and Mobile+) device helps you in your meditation practice. This app reads electrical activity of the brain with EEG technology of NeuroSky MindWave Mobile 2 device connected via Bluetooth to iOS device. In order to use this application, you need to have NeuroSky MindWave Mobile 2, MindWave Mobile+ or MindWave Mobile headset.

     Attention! There is no need to pair MindWave Mobile 2 or MindWave Mobile+ (both with Bluetooth 4) neuro-headset with iOS devices, unlike with Android and Windows ones. Just launch the application on your iPhone or iPad, and when you press the "Start" button, your smartphone (or pad) will connect directly to the neuro-headset. If you have MindWave Mobile (not "2" or "+" versions) with older Bluetooth, you need to pair it with your iOS device before application launch.

     Now we have published a brand-new EEG meditation recognition method for everyone, which is honest, frustration-free, and gives opportunities for experienced meditators.

     In particular, this means:
     - No vague handicaps when you start meditating. A bit harder but honest, improving the learning process through multiple sessions.
     - Now you're able to do long sessions and meditate for dozens of minutes. Previously the embedded algorithm was making it harder _implicitly_, causing frustration through time. Now it shows the real you all the time.
     - Select a Guru Mode, if things become too easy for you.
     - In the future, we may add support for EEG headsets other than NeuroSky... we're now vendor-free.

     NeuroSky's eSense "meditation" parameter has too much adaptation of values after 1-2 minutes of very good or very weak meditation. However, free "EEG Meditation" apps (for iOS, Android & Windows) have a new option that allows you to get reliable data of your meditation sessions of any length.

The current version of "EEG-meditation" iOS application.

     The "Headset state:" line shows the current status of the headset. On the right is the signal quality icon of the headset, which is familiar from the Brainwave Visualizer application. To start working with the application, put on and turn on the headset, and then tap the "Connect" button. Within 2-3 seconds, the previously paired headset will be connected, as shown on second screenshot. In a couple of seconds you will see the changing of signal quality pictograph first to the red cross, and then to green "OK". After a few more seconds, which are required for the headset to begin the issuing of "Meditation" parameter, the application will start to give out the every second (there may be slight discrepancies in time) values of the "Meditation" parameter in the "Meditation level:" line. The line "Average:" shows the average level of meditation in the current session.

     The "Meditation level threshold:" section allows you to select the level of meditation, at reaching which you will hear a sound signal. Novice meditators can choose 60 or 70, while advanced meditators can choose values in the range of 80-90. The speed of studying meditation will be best when you hear a sound signal about half the time of a meditation session.

     The "Session time:" line shows the total time of your sitting session (it may differ markedly from real time for different reasons), while the "Meditation time:" line is the cumulative time when the meditation value was not less than the threshold you selected. The string "≥90 time:" shows how much time the meditation value was not less than 90 (the cumulative time). The line "≥80 max time:" shows the maximum duration of the period in which the meditation value has never dropped below 80, that is, your current maximum duration of sustainable meditation.

     App makes a sound signal when the selected by user meditation level threshold is exceeded or not reached, according to your choice. Also you can select a tone or white noise as signal. This sound signal allows you to control your meditation (with closed eyes, or the opened ones), and in 1-2 seconds to know, that you are out of meditation.

     Also, when the level of your meditation exceeds your chosen threshold, a colored bar appears at the bottom of the screen. The application remembers user settings on the next launch.

     To use ‘EEG Meditation’ app turn on the headset and press Connect button. Stop your internal monologue for meditation. Try to close your eyes for better meditation. For faster progress it is better to choose such a sound level threshold for meditation so that you hear the sound about 1/2 of the time or less. It is better to reduce the sound volume to a barely audible one.

     If the quality of the headset signal has often become poor, try wiping 3 metal sensors (for the forehead and 2 on the ear clip) of the headset (and possibly the skin) carefully with a medical nonwoven alcohol disinfection cotton pad for injection.

     The switch with the hand icon turns on an additional application screen (in the picture below) in blue, in which the user is prompted to click on the circle each time he/she notices thoughts and distractions of the mind. At the same time, in the main screen of the application, in the upper right corner, a number appears on the hand with the number of taps on the circle (distractions of the mind noticed by the user), and red triangles appear on the graph in the corresponding places in time (they can also be trapeziums when pressed every second).

Additional application screen.

     This is an analogue of the famous old exercise in Buddhism, when a novice meditator sat down in front of a pile of pebbles and shifted them to another place (next to the first pile) one by one whenever he/she noticed a thought or distraction in his mind. Progress in meditation was noted by the time that it took to shift the entire pile of pebbles, or the number of pebbles for a certain period of time, if it was possible to detect it. Nowadays, for this, a manual digital counter is sometimes used, which increases the value on the screen by one when you press the main button of the counter (the second zeroes the counter before the start of the session), which is used in everyday life for different purposes of counting and monitoring.

     Also in this version, the sound gradually increases during the first second of reaching the selected threshold level of meditation, and gradually fades when the threshold is crossed back. Among other improvements of this application, it is possible to scale (stretch) the graph on the screen in the usual way for smartphones (with two fingers spread across the screen).

     You can also use the timer by turning it on with the switch and choosing the desired duration of the meditation session – 1, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30 or 60 minutes. At the end of the selected time period, you will hear a sound signal (there are two different signals in the Settings), indicating the end of the meditation session, and you can look at the meditation graph and statistics on the screen.

     For development of the mind the NeuroSky Mindwave Mobile 2 headset and this app can be compared to collapsible dumbbells for the development of the physical body. If you just look at dumbbells every day, touch them and watch videos on Youtube about how to do best exercises with dumbbells, how others do these exercises and discuss these exercises with friends, there will be no progress. And even if you spend a month or two training every day, you too will not notice much progress. In both cases, at least a few years of training is required to achieve a tangible result. But, unlike a physical body, consciousness has no limitations for its development.

     The main idea of genuine meditation is to stop internal monologue for a longer period of time. The thoughts are related with beta rhythm (12-30 Hz) of the brain, and meditation starts with prevalence of alpha rhythm (8-12 Hz), and also gamma rhythm to some extent.

     All these easily can be tracked by NeuroSky MindWave Mobile 2 headset. This app (with help of headset) can track your brain rhythms and starts to make a sound signal after 1-2 seconds of your changed state of meditation (in or out, according to your choice). This sound signal allows you to control your meditation, and in 1-2 seconds to know, that you are out of meditation (or in).

     This allowes you ‘to make the efforts’ to return to the state of meditation, thereby making your practice more efficient and faster. There is nothing easier for meditation training, than this exercise.

     With this app you don't need to crisscross India for years, you don't need to spend your time and thousands of dollars on your way to & in India for hundreds of fake saints and sadhus with their constant demands of 'baksheesh'. You will not need to risk picking up an amoeba in India in some salad or drink that will devour your kidneys or liver in 2 weeks, or risking everything in transport on often collapsing Himalayan mountain serpentine roads. You can use this app in your comfortable home in your favorite armchair, and this will be much more efficient for your personal growth and self-realization, than desperate searches through the turmoil in the hope of a sudden 'miraculous' transformation, which some bored saint under banyan tree could do out of the blue for you.

     In Settings, you can choose the type of sound signal (hong or bells) for the end of a meditation session by the timer, as well as the ability to set for the "MindWave Mobile+" and "MindWave Mobile 2" versions a 50 or 60 Hz (in Eurasia it is 50 Hz) frequency of the interference filter of the electric grid. The "Cutoff control" parameter determines whether the application will switch the filter frequency in the neuroheadset. If you have already set the desired frequency, for example, in the "MindWave Mobile Tutorial" application, then you can turn off the frequency override of the filter by the "EEG Meditation" application. The choice of the filter frequency is enough to be done once, and after turning the neuroheadset off and on, it will still remember the selected value. It is necessary to change it only when moving to a country with a different frequency of the electric grid.

"EEG Meditation" iOS app Settings screen.

     In fact, the most important parameters are the value "≥80 max time:" and the "Average:" level of meditation. The first parameter is relevant to the above quotation, the second has an indirect relation to it in the case of a high value (≥80) of prolonged meditation (10 minutes or more). Remember that, as elsewhere, progress in meditation will only result from your consistent practice.

     If the headset's signal is lost due to the discharge of the battery (or rechargeable battery), the presence of strong radio electronic interference or for other reasons, the application will output a specific short sound signal.

The current version of "EEG-meditation" iOS application.

     This application is simple and unpretentious, like collapsible iron dumbbells. Like dumbbells, by itself, lying around, it does not help you. You need your regular practice if you want to achieve a tangible result.

     The free 'EEG Meditation' app for Android.

     The free 'EEG Meditation' app for Windows PC for white and black headsets.

     The free Little Buddha: meditation with NeuroSky neuro-headsets app for Android.

     This is a translation into English of this article of the author of this site.

     Meditation with biofeedback using the electroencephalograph gadget NeuroSky MindWave Mobile, or accelerated self-study of meditation.

     Questions and Answers on NeuroSky MindWave Mobile neuroheadset in the context of meditation practice.

     The arguments in favor of the use of EEG headsets, such as NeuroSky MindWave Mobile, for meditation.

     Comparison of the 5 headsets for meditation: NeuroSky MindWave Mobile, Muse, EMOTIV EPOC+, EMOTIV Insight and Melomind.

     What meditation is and how to meditate.

     Медитация с использованием обратной нейросвязи с помощью ЭЭГ NeuroSky MindWave Mobile – ускоренное самостоятельное изучение медитации. Общие вопросы ЭЭГ-медитации.