Centerpointe Research Institute had its modest beginnings in the fall of 1989. Bill Harris and Wes Wait, both with a long-term interest in meditation and personal growth, had spent the previous four years with a small circle of friends researching and personally experiencing the effects of what later evolved into Centerpointe Research Institute's Holosync® audio technology.

The idea of using precise sounds to alter a listener's state of mind came from a 1973 article in Scientific American by researcher Dr. Gerald Oster of Mt. Sinai Medical Center in New York. In this article, "Auditory Beats in the Brain," Oster describes a characteristic of the brain wherein electrical brain wave patterns resonate to certain precise frequencies when presented with audio tones of certain frequencies.

As long-time practitioners of Transcendental Meditation, Harris and Wait were familiar with research done in the 1970s establishing a relationship between specific brain wave patterns and a variety of states including those of meditation, superlearning, increased focus and concentration, and enhanced creativity.

After their four years of personal experimentation, during which those in the research group experienced what could only be described as profound mental, emotional and spiritual changes, Harris and Wait decided to create a structured method for using Holosync, and in 1989 they began marketing this program to the general public. With electronic tone generators and frequency counters borrowed from a local university, the master soundtracks were recorded for a series of 13 program levels, each more powerful than the last.