Turn On and Tune Out

By Linda Williams

As recorded birdcalls and musty incense fill the air, half a dozen customers file into a tiny office in Manhattan's SoHo district. Soon they slip off their shoes, climb into beds and lie with eyes closed for the next 45 minutes. Spinning patterns of intense colors appear before their eyes, and a low pulsating beat follows them as they drift in and out of dreamlike states. After the session, a young man rises, looking dazed. "Welcome home," a woman says to him. "That was a nice one," he answers contentedly.

Was this a mind-expanding drug trip? A cult happening? The exercises mandated by an Indian guru? Not at all. The men and women at the Synchro Energize salon were engaged in a serious stress-reduction exercise, seeking to find greater serenity by donning special goggles that flash lights in the eyes and headphones that play tones and songs. This high-tech route to relaxation may sound far out, but it is starting to catch on. About a dozen stress- reduction salons have recently opened in the U.S., and they are beginning to spring up in machine-minded Japan.

Not just a lure for aging hippies, the centers have attracted everyone from harried executives to anxious teens. The typical cost: $20 for a 45-minute session. While skeptics dismiss the machines as faddish electronic tranquilizers, many users swear by the technology's ability to ease stress. Several companies have brought out home models of stress-reduction units, costing from $99 to $600. Many sets include earphones, dark glasses with tiny bulbs inside and a computerized box that controls light-and-sound sequences.

The gadgets are an offshoot of serious medical research into how visual and auditory stimuli can affect the brain. As it functions, the brain emits energy waves in four frequency ranges called wave states: beta, which is the normal, alert state; alpha, a slower pace noted when people are relaxed and creative; theta, the level just before people doze off, when intense learning can occur; and delta, which is deep sleep.

Medical scientists have discovered that flashing pulses of pure, white light at closed eyes causes patients to see kaleidoscopic images. They also noted that by controlling patterns of audio and visual pulses, they could cause the brain to change states. Researchers like Thomas Budzynski of the St. Luke Medical Center in Bellevue, Wash., learned that inducing an alpha state could help relax patients and ease chronic pain. Creating theta states helped people to improve motivation and even stop smoking.

In the commercial arena, manufacturers are claiming the machines can boost memory, job and even sports performance. Says W.A. Robinson, whose company sells a home model called InnerQuest: "If you're going to be competitive in a competitive society, you're going to need it."

Or it could be just another fleeting relaxation craze that attracts the curious and eventually bores them, like the flotation-tank phenomenon of the early 1980s. Not everyone likes the sensations the new stress-reduction machines produce. Complained a visitor to a Japanese salon: "It's like listening to an alarm clock all the time." Nonetheless, in this fast-paced era, professionals may turn on to new ways of combating stress -- especially since the habit will not show up in random drug tests.

With reporting by Seiichi Kanise/Tokyo