Bentov was extremely fascinated by consciousness , in particular how it related to physiology . In his 1977 book , '' Stalking the Wild Pendulum : On the Mechanics of Consciousness '' , he wrote that " consciousness permeates everything . " Bentov 's invention was a seismographic device to record the heartbeat , in particular the aorta 's reverberations . Marc Seifer described the results : " During normal breathing , the reverberations in the aorta arc out of phase with the heartbeat and the system is inharmonious . However , during meditation and when the breath is held , the echo off the bifurcation of the aorta ( where the aorta forks at the pelvis to go into each leg ) is in resonance with the heartbeat and the system becomes synchronized , thus utilizing a minimum amount of energy . This resonant beat is approximately seven cycles per second , which corresponds not only to the alpha rhythm of the brain but also to the low-level magnetic pulsations of the Earth . " Bentov was killed on May 25 , 1979 , as a passenger aboard American Airlines Flight 191 that crashed at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago . His daughter , English professor Sharona Ben-Tov Muir , wrote a memoir about her father , '' The Book of Telling : Tracing the Secrets of My Father 's Lives '' in 2005 . It was not until after his death that she learned about his life in the Israeli Defense Forces and that he had created Israel 's first rocket . Searching for answers as to why he never discussed this part of his life , Muir traveled to Israel and researched his years there
American Airlines Flight 191
American Airlines Flight 191
Itzhak Bentov