Mindplace Kasina - Light & Sound Meditation Aid System

I was skeptical of Kasina and these pseudo-science technologies. I bought the device out of pure desperation in hope that it may be able to ease my daily headaches or provide a getaway. I have had a steady headache every moment of my life, it only waxes and wains in severity but never comes to a complete stop. I hoped that this would be a shortcut to help with/use in conjunction with biofeedback and meditation. I would say that I was 90% certain that I would be returning the device within the first two weeks but figured that trying it couldn't hurt anything. After the first few sessions, I felt some tension lift out of the back of my head, close to my brain stem. The first weekend I could not help but marvel at this and couldn't help but be excited at the change. I assumed it was simply getting at my tension or at something deeper. It came with the price of an increase in pain from my pulsating headache. After 3 days, the different headache subsided. The feeling in the base of my brain stem is still the same. Very likely may have been placebo. Either way, I really don't care and was quite happy with the very minor relief. Exploring sessions is really fascinating. I've been using the device for 3 weeks now and while I don't think it's having a profound effect on my headaches, the experiences each session brings is staggering and varies each time. At first, seeing images was hard. I would strain and try to alter how tightly my eyelids were closed to "see" them clearer. It has become much easier as I've learned to let go and enjoy the session. Some sessions make my whole body vibrate, some just make my hands and feet warm and tingly(which is awesome as I have issues keeping my feet warm at night which is often linked to migraines). It just so happens that the end of the "sleep" session never fails at warming my feet up and usually helps me rest at night(consistent sleep schedule is really important to managing how bad my migraines get). Some sessions cause areas of my brain to tingle or flex for a lack of a better word. I've especially experienced it in my frontal lobe. It's a really cool sensation although a tad scary. I'll also note that sometimes I really need to turn down the brightness or take off the glasses immediately. It just depends on how sensitive to light I am at the time I'm doing a session(migraines). Overall though, this thing does provide new experiences given that you give it a fair shot. Also cool things of note: I've way more lucid dreams in the last 3 weeks. I've had a handful over my life, but never this many in such a small window. These started with a terrifying experience of waking up to sleep paralysis and insanely intense vibrations in my head. After having a whole night of this continually happening, I learned to calm myself during this state instead of freaking out which led to lucid dreams which I very much enjoy now. It comes with a ton of sessions, something that wasn't very clear to me upon purchase. There are sessions for meditating, relaxing, sleeping/dreaming, waking up/energizing, and a number of frequency sessions along the same lines that I believe come with another mindplace device or used to. There is also a good forum community where one can download user created sessions, get more ideas on how to fully take advantage of kasina, and or learn how to create their own sessions. Overall, I've only scratched the service. The color organ is also an awesome feature. You can listen to your own music The battery life is great. Zero complaints in this department. The 4GB hard drive is really small in my opinion, although they are very cheap to upgrade. I just don't like having to upgrade something in a $350 ipod-like device. 16 or 32 would be much more appropriate IMO. All cables that you would need/want are included which is awesome. Even a stereo to stereo cable is included to stream music from your mp3 player/cell phone through your kasina to use in conjunction with other tracks or color organ. They did a good job in this department. Overall, this is a great device. I'd say that if you have a neurological disorder that you give it a try! Worst case scenario is that you return it if it doesn't work.

It worked great once...then wouldn't turn on again. I tried recharging the battery, holding the "on" button longer than 2 seconds, nothing worked. Fortunately, Amazon took it back and made the return easy. At this price, I'm not sure I want to risk trying another one.

I first got the Mindplace Proteus like a year ago, I really enjoyed it and was able to reach meditative states much quicker and for the price it was pretty good. I saw this one before but after seeing the price backed away, however after experiencing the proteus for a while I decided to finally get this one more as a "yolo" move. The device is quite an improvement, first off the interface is great and easy to use, the fact that you can store audio tracks on it is great and has the color organ which is nice. One thing I liked to do on the proteus was put on a music track and listen to it over the proteus track, I thought you would be able to do the same thing from the SD card but I guess you still have to go through aux (or at least I haven't found a way). The tracks on the Kasina are a lot more musical, rather than constant binural beats i was used to on the proteus. The lights are simply amazing so vibrant and bright really lifts you up and feels like a true audio strobe. This is however quite expensive and although its much more fancy in terms of music and lights i am hesitant to say it will increase your meditation dramatically, but it is enjoyable I guess. If you have the money I would say its definitely a good investment for life as you will have this thing for a very long time, but if you cant spare 350 or are new to the field and just want to try it out, the Proteus is still an excellent device i think its like 160. http://www.amazon.com/MindPlace-Proteus-Light-Meditation-Machine/dp/B00061URFG/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1447017162&sr=8-3&keywords=mindplace

Since getting my Kasina I have used it at a rate of once per week for an hour session. And not even a year into it and already one of the arms of the goggles broke. It's irreparable, as even super glue does not work on it. It's made of plastic. And it broke not through any abusive treatment, but from wear and tear...under a year! Additionally, the cord to my earbuds had split or somehow ripped into the core, exposing part of the wiring. Again not through any negligence or abuse but through wear and tear...under a year! I'm also a little worried about this thing breaking down in another year, since the manufacturer says that the Kasina has only so many hours of use before the internal battery goes dead. Then what am I going to do? Have to buy a new one? That sucks. Overall I'd say it's a good mind machine with quality effects on your mind, quality experiences... But it could do much better as far as the quality of the hardware that supports the mind experiences. The manufacturer should focus on improving the longevity and durability of the goggles, the earbuds, the cords, etc. Unless of course they purposely made the hardware flimsy in order to promote customers to spend more! Oh I miss the good old days when things were built to last.

L’appareil est sans aucun doute génial, ce que je n'ai pas apprécié c'est le manque de communication avec le vendeur, malgré trois e-mail adressés celui-ci ne s'est pas manifesté.En effet cet appareil n'a pas de notice en français donc INUTILISABLE. J'attends depuis sa réception que le vendeur veuille bien me l'adresser mais sans résultat à ce jour. MP DERBEZ

I took delivery of a Kasina yesterday, with high hopes and low expectations. Since I have no past history with light and sound machines at all, I didn't expect much. Yet, since I suffer from a monkey mind that won't settle down, I had very high hopes. After several weeks of research I narrowed my choices down to the Kasina, the Laxman and the David. I liked Laxman's goggles and tidier wires, and the David's therapeutic credentials, but ended up with Kasina just on instinct, I guess. It felt right. Plus the track record of satisfied clients MindPlace built up with their earlier devices. On delivery, it's nice, but not an "iPhone" unboxing experience--I didn't expect it to be. I was hoping the real unboxing would take place when I put on the glasses and closed my eyes for a session. I was, fortunately, right. My initial enthusiasm was a little dampened because the device needs charging. So the first night went by unused. The next day, I made up for that with four sessions, all completely different, a nice sampler. My initial session impression was -- oh, this is nice, relaxing, I can enjoy this. Then -- well, that was interesting. Didn't expect that. Then -- this is really making a difference. Finally -- oh, wow. Just really wow. This followed the pattern of sessions and my level of comfort I guess. I started with • Forest and River: relaxing, gentle, nothing surprising -- succeeding in calming my monkey mind somewhat. • Bowlscape: The Tibetan singing bowls drew me, as I'm Buddhist and deep into meditation (one of the reasons I bought the Kasina… my mind needed room to meditate:) It was nice, took me to a comfortable place. • Meditation with Shaman Drum: I liked this one. A lot. It took me places. I felt it right away. The light show wasn't quite as intense as I hoped, but it worked and I plan to repeat the journey. By this time my mind was half to trance level, and the drums took me on a short enjoyable journey. • Vapour Chill: I alms stopped at Shaman drum, but I craved more (craving bad, I'm Buddhist:) This one was a home run WOW for me. The sounds and especially the light show dazzled. More importantly, it took me deep into trance, so much so I was visualizing amazing mandalas of colour. My mind opened up. Compared to the other three sessions, this one was a magnitude of intensity beyond these. I cannot wait to try more sessions, but Shaman Drum and Vapour Chill will definitely be part of my practice. The Device 5/5 Nice, functional, attractive, small, well designed, practical and simple software, wouldn't change a thing. Earbuds (nah) … chucked them, sorry. Using headphones. I'm sure they're okay, I just don't like earbuds Eyeset… okay. 4/5 A little tight on my face, but okay. Good intensity and colour (not that I have anything to compare it to). Eyes must be closed. I was surprised (this being my first experience) that, even with eyes closed, the mandalas of spectacular images are extraordinary. No need to open eyes, and I'd imagine it'd defeat the purpose (i.e. if the purpose is meditation or relaxation). Wires… 1/5 Oh, man, can we do something about the wires? Can I suggest an attractive built in hoop on the eyeglass wires to allow neat clamping of the headphones to the glasses. I'm using a twist tie. Sessions 5/5 Overall 5/5 As my daily practice includes two hours of visualizing, this will be a major tool in advancing my visualizing -- I believe. Aside from the wires and the tight eyewear, I wouldn't change a thing. I will no doubt enjoy years of use from my Kasina.

I zone out each time in a way that's stronger than with meditation. I used the sleep program later one morning for an hour, after only a few hours of sleep the night before; when finished, I felt as recharged as I would after a full 7 hours of deep sleep. The ear plugs, unfortunately, have the quality of an afterthought.

Many tracks on the player are quite effective in relaxation and so on. What is truly lacking, are descriptions of the tracks purpose (in the majority of the cases), like you would find on youtube when looking up binaural beats and/or solfeggio music. Content is lacking compared to available binaural beats etc. Talking about binaural beats (and the likes) - you can get a very good effect from these without the glasses.

The kasina is amazing. It's one of the best purchases I ever made. After a stressful day, I get back home, lie down on my couch, put on one of the many tracks, and the mix of light and sound, soothes my mind. For the first few minutes, even though I'm trying to concentrate on the light show, I'm still dwelling on my little problems, then little by little, patterns appear, and I become totally immersed in the session. I come out feeling totally refreshed. This is a must try product.