Is screen-LESS mindfulness technology better?

The emWave, a screen-LESS, minimalist Biohacking tech for mood and energy, that I've had an on-again/off-again relationship with. It’s mindset tech for Biohackers, mindfulness practitioners, stress hackers, and flow state junkies

Initial impressions...

I’ve been using the emWave2 device for over a month now consistently. It’s a fascinating device!

It’s not an instant satisfaction biohacking technology; unless you have a lot of first-hand experience with a mindfulness practice, you may be pretty disappointed with your first few emWave sessions. Initially, getting into and out of coherence is going to seem pretty random.

I’ve let a couple of my non-Biohacker friends use the device who’ve never heard of Heart Rate Variability; they had a lot of trouble getting into coherence, and their initial reactions have been “this is fake.” I think this speaks to how unaware the average person is of their mindset state and how they are handling their stress.

The core value of emWave is as a tool for measuring and habituating mindfulness and conscious management of stress. Most of us have a baseline level of stress that we are so accustomed to that we think we are totally relaxed when we are actually in a baseline state of unhealthy stress.The emWave device is teaching me what that state of baseline stress actually feels like, because the green light goes on when I’m coherent. Now, while I’m working, commuting, or doing something social, and I detect a telltale sign that I’m not in coherence, I adjust my breathing, body language, and change my internal dialog to the few mantras that I know work for me, and I find the world getting a little brighter.

For example, the other night I was very tempted by self-pity, a combination of an issue with a client and frustration over something personal put me in a gloomy mood, I didn’t feel like chit-chatting with my roommates or going out to socialize with friends. It was a rainy night to match my mood. I felt like walking to the grocery store with my umbrella, buying some fruit snacks, and just feeling sorry for myself.But I hadn’t checked into the emWave habit on Coach.me yet, leaving habits unchecked bothers me, so I figured I might as well get in a quick emWave session.I turned off my phone, powered on the emWave2, forced a smile, began to breathe deeply, and did a meditative session, which quickly put my melancholic mood in perspective. Halfway through the session, a great idea for a business model emerged from my mind, which I tabled. As I finished the 3rd green level, I powered off the emWave, said “no” to the self-pity, and got back to work.

My emWave2 practice

I aim for two sessions daily...

* A Non-Screen session - This fits into my mindfulness practice and is time away from glowing screens. I go somewhere private and spend 5-10 minutes alone (without my computer or smartphone), in a meditative state. I do this either first thing in the morning or after work in the evenings, but before I do anything social. My objective is to power through three green Coherence levels. If I’m relaxed and positive, that’s a breeze, but if I’ve had a stressful day, it takes some work. Once I get more skilled, I predict I’ll do more levels at a time.

* Passive emWave session - I will connect my emWave to the computer via USB and fire up the emWave software. I will do a 20-minute session while working on something. I’ve found that if I do this at the beginning of a writing session, I’ll reach a nice creative flowstate.

My training program: About 5-10 minutes a day for two weeks, and scoring 1500 Coherence points a week.

Self-monitoring

I’m glad I mastered Dual N-Back before diving into Heart Rate Variability training because the emWave2 can reinforce your negative self-monitoring. The red light is a tangible indicator that your negative thoughts are getting the best of you; it’s super easy to get self-critical - I suck at emWaving! - but this is a self-perpetuating cycle of thoughts, and it’s key to remember to practice emotional compartmentalization while emWaving. A couple of my non-Biohacker friends used the device, and when they couldn’t even reach Coherence, they were disappointed.

Reaching Coherence

Coherence is tied to our emotions on a fundamental level, especially the emotions of...

* Gratitude

* Thankfulness

* Security

Does this mean that a Coherent lifestyle means never thinking negative thoughts? No, the notion that you should never think negative thoughts has been thoroughly disproved. Everyone is going to have different Coherence triggers like...

* Thoughts of a loved one.

* A memory that takes you back to your happy place.

* Or a positive affirmation that is true for you.

Observations and findings

* Smiling. I found that smiling helps Coherence a lot! More proof that this simple body language is profoundly beneficial

* Watching funny videos on YouTube doesn’t improve Coherence but curiously, I did find a correlation between watching Hip Hop or Reggaeton videos and the green light.

* Breathing, HRV training is a breath meditation exercise as well. I’ve already noticed the transfer effects to using holistic breathing to mitigate stress.

A couple of negatives...

* The aesthetics are a little lacking; other than the cool flashing lights, it’s made of cheap-feeling plastic. It feels like the kind of thing that would break if you dropped it on the ground, although I actually did drop it on the ground once, and it still works fine.

* Battery life is unimpressive. This might just have been my device, but it seemed like I needed to charge it a lot.

* Social integration. On my wishlist for heart rate variability training is being able to share my progress via social media or maybe even compete with my friends for the highest coherence scores.

How does it work?

* Power on the emWave2 by pressing the bottom of the black button (without plugging it into a computer via USB cable)

* Attach the heart rate clip to your ear (two hands-free, hooray!)

* You will start to see the blue light on the bottom of the emWave device blinking - it’s reading your heart rate.

* The light on top will usually start red, as we spend very little of our waking existence in a true state of stress-free Coherence.

* You want to breathe in and out deeply with the rising and falling blue lights.

* It takes 5-10 seconds to get into or out of a state of Coherence; the light will turn from red to blue and finally green.

* As you stay in Coherence, the blue lights will reach higher on the display. If you fall out of Coherence they will decrease, once the blue lights reach the greenlight you start another Coherence level.

For a truly quantified session, plug it into your computer, fire up the emWave software, and press the play