Thanks Ollivia: You are right in some ways -- We do tend to generate more alpha when our eyes are closed. But contrary to how many people talk about brain waves -- we care producing all the frequencies of brain waves all the time - so there is still "alpha" activity even in sleep. For convenience in talking about brainwaves, we speak as if there were specific categories of brainwaves, but this is just a convenience. In reality, the brain is generating a wide range of electrical activity all the time -- sometimes more "slow waves", sometimes more "faster" waves (more faster??? Oh Karen!), but the categories (alpha, beta, delta, theta) are just an artificial grouping for describing them. I agree about meditation -- my favourite preference is mindfulness, since it doesn't "drive" the brain anywhere in particular, Open Focus, which seems to help restore an "idling" restful state ready for action or HeartMath's Heart Coherence techniques. Thanks for coming back and commenting!