Having looked at The Sphinx of Imagination as a calming experience -- and very good it is- , it is with great interest I found the Holosync (R) Meditation -- Awakening Prologue -- by Centerpointe.

A quick look at their websites reveals the purpose: ‘Guaranteed to produce deep, super-pleasurable meditative states, razor-sharp thinking, quantum leaps in self-awareness‘.

Bold claims indeed.

And with a price of $179 I’m expecting good shit!

Let’s begin…

At this point I’d rather test it out -- not knowing anything about what it’s claimed to do. So I haven’t read the website.

Holosync Awakening Prologue has 5 tracks: Introduction, The Dive, Immersion, Quietitude, and Oasis.

Track 1… Introduction

I’ve got my headphones on and the house is quiet. Pressing play and after a light delay the pitter patter of rain begins. After a few moments there’s a female introducing the Bill Harris, President of Centerpointe.

Little did I know that Bill would drone-on, in a never changing monotone, for a whole hour!

He enlightens us about the need to expunge childhood problems, in which most of us have uncomfortable memories from our early years that we have never confronted and these can lead to mental problems. Meditation has been used throughout the human age to create deep mental healing and calm. Holosync aims to create a meditation state within, in order to rejuvinate our mind and perform mental healing. (he does mention all this)

Bill makes it clear that Holosync technnology opens the ‘receptive state’ and starts the re-programming. Alpha, Beta, and Gamma brainwave states can be induced. And stress can be reduced, the ageing process seems to slow, IQ improvement, problem solving abilities improve, and more spontaniety -- all these are mentioned as benefits.

WOW, that blew me away!

And then I drifted away. Bill’s montone, which is a bit like how a teacher would speak to a child -- in a soft, smooth manner is like sleeping gas.

Sometime after about 35 mins I drifted off. Waking up when the track went off I remembered most of what Bill was saying. Quite a bit was devoted to bigging-up the Holosync course. We all know, that when we are told something will be good -- we have a subconscious feeling that it is good. I hate that. We should be left to form our own conclusions rather than be told.

I ignore all that stuff anyway, I’ve been around too many Marketers.

The track has finished, all of it is forgettable. Not worth listening to. Even if you listen once, you won’t be inspired to revisit it a second time. It touches on too much to be useful.

Track 2 -- The Dive

It’s raining heavy, like an Asian monsoon. Out in the bay there’s a bouy bell that’s bobbing around on the rough waves, clanging in random tones and rhythms.

The random, and non-imposing nature takes away stress -- as if you’d been taken away from the internet, mobile phones, and appartments and now on a beach, under a light rainstom, with a roof over your head. No distractions. Getting back to oneself.

It’s half an hour and I felt lighter, and less intense as if some forms of burden had been lifted.

This track is quite relaxing and eases you out of today, and whisks you away far away. Somewhere where you can relax and be at one with the world.

Track 3 -- Immersion

Immersion is 30 mins of raining -- and it is my favourite track. The rain has a pleasant relaxing sound to it -- it’s dripping onto a roof, and then gently running off and hitting the floor, and running down a path (similar to the Dive). As the track progresses, the intensity changes, sometimes harder sometimes faster -- then down to quiet. You can imagine being in a rainstorm, stuck in the middle of a forest, with just the tree canopy protection. It’s hammering down and then eases off.

I love this track -- it’s so disarming and relaxing that I feel calmer. I would love it even more if Bill hadn’t appeared 5 mins in the track and begun talking about the frickin holosync website. That was really irritating.

Track 4 -- Quietitude

This track of half an hour starts as a mountain stream, birds, and music. The stream trickles gently and softly in the background throughout the entire track. I found the music (a woodwind instrument) a bit loud and tended to drown out the stream and birds and not particularly melodious. Yet the notes flowed in a nice tranquil way and were quite soothing.

If I’d never heard of Dan Gibson, I’d be really impressed by the natural sounds. Dan Gibson though has all the quality of DAC recordings, and a professional composer doing the music. Nature soundscapes are better from Dan.

I didn’t feel sleepy or relaxed, or rejuvenated, more like I couldn’t wait for it to end. For me the music was too loud and distracting to be useful. I love nature sounds and I just couldn’t connect when the notes were playing.

Track 5 -- Oasis

Continuing through to track 5 reveals more of the mountain stream and a different music. The stream is subtle and we’ve got an extra instrument -- something like you would think of as ‘arabian’, it has the springy guitar style. The flute or woodwind instrument from Quietitude is here too, stringing out some random notes, and the birds have gone.

The piercing woodwind instrument sounds as though it’s trying hard, and is a major distraction, along with the random note playing.

I fast forwarded after 10 minutes and skimmed through the rest, expecting it to get better. It didn’t.

This is an annoying track, and seem as though it’s been constructed by plonking notes down at random. And it’s the piercing, shrill, nature of the music that makes me want to turn it off. I can feel my stress levels going up.

Summary: here’s what I found

A couple of the tracks really made me feel calm (the dive, and immersion). If I was hyper and had a busy day I would have drifted off.

The other tracks were nothing more than irritating. Even after a few listentings I couldn’t find anything but annoyance.

For $179 though -- that’s a lot of money -- and for me it didn’t really do anything. I feel let down.

The claims of anti-ageing, razor-sharp thinking, and quantum leaps in self awareness -- I didn’t experience any of this. If there’s anything in these claims it’s likely to be that you’re calmer, relaxed, lower heart rate, and have emptied your mind a bit. Would I listen to this for 6 months? no way! It is too repetitive. Outrageous claims, and I would imagine if I read the website their would be all sorts of bamboozling graphs and testimonials -- typical of something that’s overhyped.

My rating for: Holosync -- Prologue -, by Centerpointe

5/10.

POOR.

couple of good nature tracks. quite irritating at times. and very expensive. i wouldn’t buy this for $17 never mind $179.

Demo

Edit: I found an audio demo on Youtube which seems to be from Holosync itself. I didn’t really get along with it. Have a listen and try it for yourself. It’s one of the better track in my opinion.

This one is called ‘The Dive’:

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As far as I know Hypnotica has not put out any official soundgrab.

A quick search on Youtube however though gave me this:

I don’t think its official. Someone has lynched it!

Yet it should give those interested a step into the world of Hypnotica’s Sphinx of Imagination.

Soundquality from Youtube is LOW (that’s a euphemism for shite) so for the full effect you need to get the real audio. It’s ten times better quality, trust me! You need that quality to get fully immersed. It’s nowhere near the full experience.

Where to Buy

Amazon is pretty good. I’ve bought quite a lot of things from there and have always had great service.

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First I put the head phones on, and I made sure it was a good pair – Senheiser. I put it on and after a few minutes it seemed quite thin and lacking in depth, something that really helped the calming effect in my first listening. Using the Sphinx with a weak pair of headphones with only moderate bass doesn’t do it justice. You need something with heavy bass. Either borrow a really nice pair of headphones with good bass or close the door and put it on your home system and turn the bass mostly up. It’ll be worth it, trust me.

I did the latter and put the CD through a nice hifi system. Laying down on a sofa or bed at the same level as the speakers really turns it an awesome experience. If you’re far higher than your speakers then you’re not getting to get the full effect – i found the best to be at the same level. Then put something over your eyes, a jumper or something – you need to shut out the light to help you wind-down.

Putting the CD on we are first introduced to some soundscapes and Hypnotica (deep male voice) talking – slowwwwly, and have an unusual intonation in the words.  Kind of like the words are drawn out and he hangs on syllables in a way that’s unusual. Along with the tinkering yet distant instrumental music it drew me into this world of wind, music and voice.

I stayed awake during all the listening and I remember the Shaman, which has a really terrific introduction and takes you deeper. Deeper is a word that Hypnotica uses a lot, and “inside”. I have my own theory on this which relate to the parts of the mind, which I’ll come onto in a minute. Getting to the Shaman was was where I felt the tenseness and built up energy dissipating away. I wished the Shaman would carry on throughout the CD but he goes on for about 5 minutes and then reappears later on.

After the Shaman we enter a landscape finding the Caves of Chaos which is like submliminal transportation down. Down into the depths of the caves, complete with a narrator and soundscape. I remember running feet, and then a drop. And then going down to the next level getting deeper into the caves. It became my world, and I was being led through it. There was a load more, including Goblins rhyming, and a girl speaking. I didn’t get that far because I felt refreshed and ready to go!

The Sphinx of Imagination … it sucks you in and then releases you. In that process it takes away any tension and anxiety leaving you refreshed, like a new person. It’s awesome!

Now for a bit of analysis and comment The words are pretty much forgettable, I couldn’t remember any of them if I’d try. They all made sense at the time and had a soothing effect on my conscious mind.

In fact I found my conscious mind switching off, the part of my mind that analyses detail – facts – problems, and my subsconscious became more prominent. The feeling of pictures, sounds, emotion and colour all came to wash over me like a warm shower. This is the secret of this CD I’m sure … it gradually eases down  your conscious, thinking, mind and opens your subconscious.

Some people call this ‘a trance’, but I don’t think it is. It’s cleverly formed sounds that breakdown barriers in your mind, and settling down your conscious mind, and bringing out the emotional subconscious.

What I got, rather than a complete brain removal like in the first listening, I became involved in the world of the Sphinx.

Summary: Here’s what I found works to get the best out of the Sphinx of Imagination

1. Cover your eyes to shut out the light
2. Have no outside noises
3. Find a good quality speaker system with deep bass
4. Or a really good pair of headphones with low bass response
5. Lie down on a sofa or a bed
6. Start from the beginning of the CD
7. Listen and take it in …
8. That’s it!

Those work best for me!

My Rating for The Sphinx of Imagination

9/10.

AWESOME.

Try it and drop me a comment about how you got on.

Where to Buy

Amazon is pretty good. I’ve bought quite a lot of things from there and have always had great service.

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Let me start by saying that I have a real low opinion of hypnosis. It seems to me a lot of silly people lining up on telly to have some fingers snapped in front of them, or a hand layed on their shoulder and they fall to the ground whereupon they are told that all their hair has gone and they are now bald. Proceeding to run around crying and screaming “where’s my hair? Omg omg” is supposed to convince us that the master hypnotizer has sent them into an altered state and they now believe everything he says. It would fit nicely into a top hilarity scene of Carry-On movie. Because it makes no sense I don’t believe any of it.

With that said I’m more than will to give things a try. The human mind is still a mystery and no one really knows how it works. So it’s with a bit of skepticism and a dash of willingness that I began to listen to this CD. I closed the curtains, lay down on a comfy bed and put a heavy jumper over my eyes. I thought I’d be bombarded with Egyptian fairy tales. That’s my pre-conceived ideas of the Spinx coming out. I had got some good quality Bose headphones with decent bass, which proved to be important later on, and switched the CD on. It started with a little silence and I could hear my heart beating since I was already a bit hyper from working on a Sunday and things had gone tits-up, so rather than carry on the battle it was my plan to relax and then go out.

First Listening:

I don’t know what happened.

I know I’ve woken up with a start feeling quite fresh.

My head feels clear and my heartbeat I can’t hear so I must be relaxed.

The CD is still going and it’s got 10 minutes of playing time left. When I woke up I think there was a woman’s voice calling “coming back … coming back …” and I could have swore that was what she said. Yet as I write this an hour after I can’t be sure or that I even heard it.

All specifics, such as dialogue and voices, have gone. I can’t remember anything.

What I do remember is some soft music, although I couldn’t hum it now, I do remember that there was some. And there was a male voice, deep, moving from side to side, sometimes overlapping deep with soft. And I remember the sound of wind, and a couple of loud bits. I can’t recall anything else at this moment.

Some very good headphones are required because the sound uses a lot of bass and reverb along with harmonic tones. I’ve noticed before this CD that deep bass tones tend to have this effect of making you sleepy. So if you want to the max out of this CD invest in a good pair of head phones -> see link (wot link? need a link to some good headphones)

I haven’t read what the CD is supposed to do, so I’ll be interested to find out what the creators intended it for.

First impressions:

It’s quite amazing if you need to calm down or are looking for some mind cleansing relaxation. I’m going to have another listen very soon and report back.

Where to Buy

Amazon is pretty good. I’ve bought quite a lot of things from there and have always had great service.

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