Itzhak Bentov

Where Science Meets Mysticism

What if consciousness could be explained mechanically? What if the mystical experiences reported by meditators across millennia had a physiological basis that science could map?

Itzhak Bentov was both a successful biomedical inventor and a practicing mystic. He built the first cardiac catheter and pioneered medical devices, while simultaneously exploring Kundalini, out-of-body experiences, and the holographic nature of reality. His work bridges the gap between hard science and esoteric experience.

Bentov proposed that the heart acts like a pendulum, creating rhythmic pressure waves that interact with the brain to produce altered states of consciousness.

The Pendulum Model

Bentov observed that the human body behaves like a coupled oscillator system. The heart, aorta, and brain form a coupled oscillator. During deep meditation, this system achieves a standing wave pattern that correlates with altered states of consciousness.

When the heart contracts, it creates a pressure wave that travels up the aorta. This wave reflects off the bifurcation (where the aorta splits) and returns, creating a standing wave pattern. This standing wave causes the whole body to rock slightly with each heartbeat.

During deep meditation, breathing slows and becomes regular. This allows the heart rhythm to stabilize, and the standing wave pattern becomes more coherent. Eventually, this oscillation entrains the brain, shifting brainwave patterns toward lower frequencies associated with altered states.

Bentov measured this body oscillation at approximately 7-8 Hz, which happens to match the Schumann resonance - the fundamental electromagnetic frequency of the Earth. This may explain why meditation traditions emphasize connecting with the Earth.

The Micromotion

With each heartbeat, the body makes a tiny rocking motion. This “micromotion” creates a standing wave in the aorta that eventually entrains the brain.

With sensitive instruments, Bentov measured what he called the micromotion of the body during meditation. With each heartbeat, the body makes a tiny rocking motion, primarily in the head, oscillating at about 7 cycles per second.

When the heart ejects blood into the aorta, the aorta briefly balloons. This creates a hydraulic pulse that travels upward. When it reaches the aortic arch, it creates a recoil that rocks the body slightly backward.

In advanced meditators, Bentov found that this oscillation became highly regular and increased in amplitude. The skull rides atop the spine, and this rocking motion causes the brain to oscillate within the skull. This mechanical oscillation appears to entrain neural activity, pushing the brain toward coherent, low-frequency states associated with transcendental experience.

Physiology of Kundalini

Kundalini, the “serpent power” of yoga, is traditionally described as energy rising up the spine. Bentov proposed a neurological mechanism for this ancient description.

Bentov mapped a specific pathway: stimulation begins at the base of the spine, travels up through the sensory cortex (which maps the body surface), crosses to the motor cortex, and descends. This creates a “sensory-motor cortex loop” producing the classic symptoms described in yogic literature.

Yogic literature describes Kundalini rising through specific points (chakras) with characteristic sensations. Bentov showed these correspond to the order in which the sensory cortex represents body parts: feet, legs, torso, hands, face, and finally the crown.

Kundalini experiences can be overwhelming. Bentov worked with psychiatrist Lee Sannella to distinguish “Kundalini syndrome” from psychosis. The physical basis suggested that these experiences, while intense, were natural phenomena that would stabilize.

Holographic Reality

A hologram stores information distributed throughout its medium. Cut a hologram in half, and each half contains the whole image (at lower resolution). Bentov argued that reality itself operates this way.

Karl Pribram showed that memories aren’t stored in specific brain locations; damage to any part reduces overall memory quality without erasing specific memories. This suggests holographic storage - the brain operates holographically, storing memories distributed throughout the whole rather than in specific locations.

David Bohm proposed that the visible universe is a projection from a deeper “implicate order,” like a holographic image projected from a plate. Bentov integrated this with his consciousness model.

In the holographic model, consciousness isn’t produced by the brain; rather, the brain is a receiver/transmitter that interfaces with a universal consciousness field. This explains phenomena like intuition, remote viewing, and mystical unity experiences.

If reality is holographic, then each part contains information about the whole. This provides a theoretical basis for practices like divination, where examining a small part can reveal information about larger patterns.

The Torus Model

Bentov proposed that the universe is shaped like a torus - a donut. Energy flows out from the center, around the surface, and back through the hole. This same pattern appears at every scale.

The torus appears in atoms (electron clouds form toroidal shapes), cells (the electromagnetic field around cells is toroidal), hearts (the heart’s magnetic field is a torus), Earth (the magnetosphere is toroidal), and possibly galaxies and the universe itself.

The torus is unique among geometric forms: it can sustain itself. Energy flows continuously without requiring external input. This makes it an ideal model for self-organizing systems from atoms to consciousness.

The recurrence of the torus at all scales suggests a fractal, self-similar universe. Understanding any level provides insight into all levels - a scientific parallel to the Hermetic principle of correspondence.

Vibrational Nature

Bentov proposed that everything vibrates - a concept ancient mystics taught and modern physics increasingly supports.

At the quantum level, particles are better understood as wave functions - patterns of probability that only “collapse” into particles when observed. Matter is not solid stuff but crystallized vibration.

Bentov described a continuum from dense, slow vibrations (matter) through faster vibrations (energy, light) to extremely subtle vibrations (thought, consciousness). These aren’t different things but different octaves of the same fundamental reality.

In this model, consciousness isn’t produced by matter; matter precipitates from consciousness. Physical reality is like ice forming from water - a denser crystallization of the more fundamental conscious field.

Many creation myths describe the universe as spoken into existence (“In the beginning was the Word”). Bentov saw this as intuitive recognition that vibration, including sound, is fundamental to reality’s structure.

Timeline

1923 - Birth in Czechoslovakia
1940s - Survives the Holocaust, emigrates to Israel, develops reputation as brilliant inventor
1954 - Moves to United States, begins work in biomedical field
1960s - Begins systematic meditation practice, develops instrumentation to measure subtle body movements
1977 - Publishes Stalking the Wild Pendulum: On the Mechanics of Consciousness
1979 - Dies in American Airlines Flight 191 crash in Chicago
1982 - Posthumous work A Cosmic Book: On the Mechanics of Creation published