Focus 10 to 12: the descent your session follows

Brainwave bands, briefly

Brain activity measured at the scalp (EEG) shows rhythms that shift with your state. The thalamus, a relay deep in the brain, helps set many of these rhythms. Established

• Beta (about 13-30 Hz): alert, busy, problem-solving.
• Alpha (about 8-12 Hz): awake and relaxed, often with eyes closed.
• Theta (about 4-7 Hz): drowsy, dreamy, the edge of sleep.
• Delta (below 4 Hz): deep sleep.

Focus 10: body asleep, mind awake

Gateway's first named state. The body is as relaxed as it would be falling asleep, but attention stays clear. In EEG terms this sits somewhere around the alpha-theta border. The state is familiar from hypnosis and meditation research: deep physical relaxation with preserved awareness. Established Gateway's claim that its tones reliably produce this state is not established. Emerging

Focus 12: expanded awareness

In Focus 12 attention widens: "the room, the building, the sky", then back to the centre. Gateway does most of its techniques here. In your sessions this is where patterning, colour breathing and problem-solving questions happen, from month 2 on.

What happens in the brain during this kind of spacious, open attention is an active research area. Open-monitoring meditation studies point to changes in the networks for attention and self-referential thought. Emerging