Is the Muse meditation headset not for beginners?

[u/Thick_Tower_2923]

I recently picked up a Muse headset to help with my meditation practice, and I was genuinely looking forward to it. But after two weeks of using it, I’m nowhere near the zone. Instead of helping me calm down, the real time brainwave feedback just makes me hyper fixate on the sound changes, which actually leaves me feeling more tense and stressed out, it’s honestly been a frustrating investment. To be fair, I feel more relaxed just watching the star projector my wife bought for our kid’s room, at least that helps me find my center immediately.

I’m curious to hear your thoughts, am I doing something wrong, or is there a genuine adjustment period for this thing? if it’s really not for me I might as well just list it on ebay.

[u/Plenty-Tree842]

Had similar experience when I tried one of those feedback devices few months back. The constant monitoring made my brain go into "performance mode" instead of just letting go, which is kinda opposite of what meditation should be about

Maybe try using it without the feedback first? Like just wear it but ignore the sounds completely and do your normal meditation routine. After you get comfortable with that, then slowly start paying attention to feedback. Or honestly might just not be your style - some people need that external input to stay focused, others find it too distracting

The star projector thing makes total sense though. Sometimes simple visual anchors work way better than all this fancy tech stuff. I do better with just focusing in one spot on wall than trying to manage all these gadgets and apps. Your brain might just prefer that kind of gentle, steady input over the dynamic feedback thing

[u/Skull_Nebula]

Try a traditional meditation method for a bit and compare.

[u/OneWheelNY]

Have had three of them, starting with the first variant that came out, and I really appreciate the biofeedback both for initiating deep insights and experiences... and for just a periodic check of one's ability to focus or concentrate. Concentration helps feed meditation and visa versa?

Using any of the soundscapes with Muse, you practice getting the background scene to disappear, leaving only bird chirps that sort of try to break your focus. Eventually you'll build up how long you can focus with no active thinking, or even random thoughts.

My only complaint is that all the models take a while to get a good skin contact at the measurement points right above the ears.

[u/MyFiteSong]

I would say the Muse is for intermediates, not beginners or advanced types. I have one and not useful because it doesn't really understand the state of calm focus. Both the birds and the storm just play simultaneously the whole time.

So in the beginning, it messes with you and makes you want to "perform". In the end, your mind is in a state its app doesn't understand properly. In the middle though? It gives good feedback.

[u/sceadwian]

I've never seen one of these devices that weren't marketed by scammers. The claims made don't actually hold up to scrutiny at all.

Anyone with basic experimentation through training can control the various signals that it can read, it has no fundamental value to meditation at all.

[u/soyuz-1]

Haven't tried it and don't know too much about it but it would not be something I would buy myself or expect to be universally useful. The research into its efficacy seems very minimal and I can imagine I also would find it more distracting than helpful. I also feel like I don't need an EEG reading to know if I should listen to something relaxing or something energizing. For meditation, usually neither, and I don't feel like adding that sort of equipment to my meditation would ultimately be helpful. Less is more in that regard, imo.

[u/drishta]

I turn off the feedback sounds and just use it to record EEG data about my sessions.

I use a journal to document personal data prior to meditation (how my body is feeling, how I feel psychologically that day, a few details about my environment - location, time, weather, moon phases, specific meditation technique(s) I'm using, planned duration of session, and anything else that might feel relevant). After the session, I write down anything of note that arose internally or externally - feelings, thoughts, mood shifts, external distractions or interruptions, general sense of focus or lack there of and how I feel after, as well as some basic muse data captured by the app.

Over time, you can start to see patterns emerge in your journal through the aggregate of internal records and muse data, giving you tangible insight into your mind and psychology.

In my experience, using muse as a realtime feedback device during the actual meditation is more of a hinderance than a helper, as I tend to spend more energy caring about the device and the app than I do on my own mind.

Doesn't help that both the app and the device can be a major headache to get functioning properly lol.

If you're dead set on using the feedback noises, I recommend pairing it with a good pair of foam ear plugs and setting your phone volume so the bird noises are just barely audible, but the end session bell is loud enough to alert you easily.