Remember Milton? [1 ed.]

Table of contents :
Cover
Remember Milton H. Erickson?
Copyright
Contents
Foreword
1. Remember Milton?
2. John Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’
3. Rhodesia
4. Harare before the turn of the Millennium
5. About the Authors
6. First Things First
7. Meet the Team
8. Zimbabwe
9. "Piping Down the Valleys Wild"
10. “The Tiger”
11. “Walk On (Ukraine)”
12. Any Other (unfinished) Business?
13. Introductory Material
1. The PNI Book
Cover
Inside Cover
Contents
Preface
Chapter 1: Introduction: What is PNI?
Chapter 2: Before you start …
Chapter 3: Mind-Body Connections
Chapter 4: Trigger Events
Chapter 5: Finding The Focus: Shadow Assessment
Chapter 6: Plan of Action: Connecting the Dots
Chapter 7: Long Life - Why Bother ?
Chapter 8: The Right to Live
Chapter 9: Dealing With Fears
Chapter 10: Emotions: Get it out of your body!
Chapter 11: Building Internal Resources
Chapter 12: Unfinished Business
Chapter 13: A little Talk might help…
Chapter 14: Personal Stories
References
Recommended Reading
2. Hypnosis Certification Training
Index of Contents
1. What is Hypnosis?
2. The Origins of Hypnosis
3. The Nature & Structure of the Mind
4. The Nature of Hypnosis
5. Altered States of Consciousness
6. Hypnotic Phenomena
7. Potential Obstacles to inducing the Hypnotic State
8. Inductions
9. Components of Inductions
10. Additions to Standard Inductions
11. SOUND & VIOLENCE PATTERS
12. Depths of Hypnosis
13. Two Styles of Hypnosis
14. Glossary of Hypnosis Terms
15. Basic Communication Skills
16. VAK (Visual-Auditory-Kinesthetic)
17. Unconscious Rapport-Building
18. Non-Verbal Rapport
19. Rapport: Matching & Mismatching
20. Association & Dissociation
21. Difficult Clients
22. Getting to the Specifics of an Issue
23. Client Profile & History
24. Model Hypnosis Session Format
25. Brief Notes on First Contact & Interview
26. Activating the Critical Factor
27. Suggestibility Testing
28. Tests for Depth
29. Methods to Deepen Inductions
30. Synchronised Breathing
31. Rapid Induction: Hand-Drop Technique
32. First Visit Induction
33. Progressive Relaxation
34. Dave Elman Induction
35. Walter Sichort (1978) Progressive Relaxation
36. Grey Room Induction
37. Safe Space (The Shield of Protection)
38. Emerging from Induction
39. Grounding
40. Removing Blocks to Hypnosis
41. How to create a patter
42. Asthma
43. Feeling Good About Self
44. Headache (General)
45. Headache (Migraine)
46. Insomnia (Sleeplessness)
47. Memory Improvement
48. Pain Control
49. Procrastination
50. Tension (Eliminating Tension)
51. Weight Loss (One Session)
52. Self-Hypnosis Induction
53. How to Give Yourself Suggestions
54. Self-Hypnosis Suggestions
3. Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training
Index of Contents
1. Brief History of Major Therapies in the 20th Century
2. Introduction to Regression Therapy
3. Structure of the Human Mind
4. Structure of Experience
5. Areas of Memory
6. Communication in Regression
7. Valences
8. Restimulation
9. Ethics
10. Basic Structure of a Regression Session
11. Pre-Regression Preparations
Therapist (Personal Preparation)
Client Preparation (Before & after arriving)
Environment
Therapist-Client Discussion
12. Induction
Progressive Relaxation
Mental Relaxation: “Twenty Steps Down”
Safe Space
Transition to the Past
13. Regression Process
14. Emerging: “Count Five Breaths”
15. Grounding
16. Post-Regression Discussion and Integration
17. Additional Techniques
Genetic Memory Regression
Core Transformation
18. Post-Training Knowledge Evaluation
4. Reiki Usui
4a. Reiki Usui: First Degree
4b. Reiki Usui: Second Degree
4c. Reiki Usui: Advanced Degree
4d. Reiki Usui: Reiki Attunements
5. Karuna Ki Reiki
5a. Karuna Ki Reiki: Level 1
5b. Karuna Ki Reiki: Level 2
5c. Karuna Ki Reiki: Level 3
Afterword
1. Recommended Reading
2. Endnote, Postscript
3. On Completion
Appendix: Reiki Symbols

Citation preview

Remember Milton H. Erickson? “Milton Hyland Erickson (5 December 1901 – 25 March 1980) was an American psychiatrist and psychologist specializing in medical hypnosis and family therapy.” ~Wikipedia “Mind-body medicine is real and a powerful addition to the therapist’s toolbox. How about the doctor’s toolbox too and that in the hindsight of COVID-19?” “Once a year on the 4th of July David would do a seemingly simple, but deceptively simple, psychological process called “Dialogue with the Virus.” He would imagine (or visualize) taking his HIV/AIDS virus out of his body and giving it a shape and a name. He would then have a casual but honest chat to it for a few minutes and then thank it for its time before returning it to his body. This was among many techniques that he used to take proactive steps to increase his chances of not only surviving AIDS, but also thriving and living a fulfilling life. We can all take a leaf out of his book in memoriam.” The books and training materials included here – now in the Public Domain thanks to Neil’s thoughtful, kind and ultimately crucial, choice – cover psychoneuroimmunology or PNI, hypnotherapy and Reiki. Thanks to some groundbreaking research from Jonathan the subjects are actually: “one all-encompassing love of knowledge under the unwitting umbrella of psychotherapy (sex therapy too?) – a passion of mine [his] that continues to this day.” Jonathan provides the remarkable backdrop in which these “educational” tools and materials were written and eventually found a “voice” through the publication of “Remember Milton?” from Libra Balances The Books – on the 25th Anniversary of his introduction to the subject through his one time partner, and friend of David and Neil – Geraldene. Sadly David and Geraldene are no longer with us. May this collection be in their memory with a prayer, love and light for all sentient beings, everywhere. Libra Balances The Books In the Ukraine Refuge at Big Tree Harare On this day, Wednesday the 5th of April, 2023

“Remember Milton?” edited by Jonathan N. Wakeling Copyright © 2023 by Libra Balances The Books - All rights reserved Cover image and design Copyright © 2023 Jonathan N. Wakeling This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync-nd/4.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA.

Public Domain With the publication of this collection The PNI Book and other training materials included are now in the Public Domain. This is the wish and legacy of Neil M. Orr, the only surviving author and copyright holder.

Creative Commons The publisher Libra Balances The Books, holds the copyright to any significant edits that Jonathan N. Wakeling has made in the form of the Creative Commons License stated above. These generally include a Foreword, Afterword and Appendix to the main texts – texts which have been left unaltered in their original form.

For posterity and the common good Together it is our hope that these valuable resources reach the widest possible audience and as such are free to copy and share as they are presented here.

Online? Our online presence: https://librabalancesthebooks.deepweb1.com/ Follow us on social media: https://linktr.ee/librabalancesthebooks Jonathan N. Wakeling dotcom: https://jnwakeling.com/ Business card: https://linktr.ee/jnwakeling

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Contents Foreword 1.

The PNI Book

2.

Hypnosis Certification Training

3.

Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training

4.

Reiki Usui:  First Degree  Second Degree  Advanced Degree (Third Degree)  Reiki Attunements

5.

Karuna Ki Reiki:  Level 1  Level 2  Level 3 (Master-Teacher)

Afterword Appendix: Reiki Symbols

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Foreword Remember Milton? Milton Hyland Erickson (5 December 1901 – 25 March 1980) was an American psychiatrist and psychologist specializing in medical hypnosis and family therapy. He was founding president of the American Society for Clinical Hypnosis and a fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, and the American Psychopathological Association. He is noted for his approach to the unconscious mind as creative and solution-generating. He is also noted for influencing brief therapy, strategic family therapy, family systems therapy, solution focused brief therapy, and neuro-linguistic programming. ~Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_H._Erickson

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John Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’ “The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven..” “Better to reign in Hell, than to serve in Heaven.” “What hath night to do with sleep?” “Solitude sometimes is best society.” “Awake, arise or be for ever fall’n.” “Abashed the devil stood and felt how awful goodness is and saw Virtue in her shape how lovely: and pined his loss” “Never can true reconcilement grow where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so deep...” “Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay To mould me man? Did I solicit thee From darkness to promote me?” “Ah, why should all mankind For one man's fault, be condemned, If guiltless?” ~Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1031493-paradise-lost

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Rhodesia “Paradise Lost” Private Limited FYI British South Africa Company The British South Africa Company (BSAC or BSACo) was chartered in 1889 following the amalgamation of Cecil Rhodes' Central Search Association and the London-based Exploring Company Ltd, which had originally competed to capitalize on the expected mineral wealth of Mashonaland but united because of common economic interests and to secure British government backing. The company received a Royal Charter modelled on that of the British East India Company. Its first directors included The 2nd Duke of Abercorn, Rhodes himself, and the South African financier Alfred Beit. Rhodes hoped BSAC would promote colonisation and economic exploitation across much of south-central Africa, as part of the "Scramble for Africa". However, his main focus was south of the Zambezi, in Mashonaland and the coastal areas to its east, from which he believed the Portuguese could be removed by payment or force, and in the Transvaal, which he hoped would return to British control. It has been suggested that Rhodes' ambition was to create a zone of British commercial and political influence from "Cape to Cairo", but this was far beyond the resources of any commercial company to achieve and would not have given investors the financial returns they expected. The BSAC was created in the expectation that the gold fields of Mashonaland would provide funds for the development of other areas of Central Africa, including the mineral wealth of Katanga. When the expected wealth of Mashonaland did not materialise and Katanga was acquired by the Congo Free State, the company had little money left for significant development after building railways, particularly in areas north of the Zambezi. BSAC regarded its lands north of the Zambezi as territory to be held as cheaply as possible for future, rather than immediate, exploitation. As part of administering Southern Rhodesia until 1923 and Northern Rhodesia until 1924, the BSAC formed what were originally paramilitary forces, but which later included more normal police functions. In addition to the administration of Southern and Northern Rhodesia, the BSAC claimed extensive landholdings and mineral rights in both the Rhodesias and, although its land claims in Southern Rhodesia were nullified in 1918, its land rights in Northern Rhodesia and its mineral rights in Southern Rhodesia had to be bought out in 1924 and 1933 respectively, and its mineral rights in Northern Rhodesia lasted until 1964. The BSAC also created the Rhodesian railway system and owned the railways there until 1947. ~Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_South_Africa_Company

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Harare before the turn of the Millennium It is very hard to describe the backdrop to events leading to the acquisition of the documents enclosed herein – their history and the reality of using “mind-body” health techniques – for every thinking person. What makes it so difficult? A doctor’s bedside manner for one. To put it simply without infringing of people’s hard-earned right to privacy I count Geraldene among my early romances. In the grand scheme of things it was shortlived. However it was also fundamental to my ultimate development as a young adult and led to a complex “series of dreams” that would be my twenties and thirties. Getting hitched with my therapist was the essence of reason. But it never lasts. That said, that said. Mind-body medicine is real and a powerful addition to the therapist’s toolbox. How about the doctor’s toolbox too and that in the hindsight of COVID-19? “Unfortunately, the immune system is very complicated, although that is not strong enough a word. The immune system is complicated in the sense that climbing Mount Everest is a nice stroll through nature. It is intuitive like reading the Chinese translation of the tax code of Germany is a fun Sunday afternoon. The immune system is the most complex biological system known to humanity, other than the human brain.” ~Philipp Dettmer, Immune: A Journey into the Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive If the immune system as thus stated is that complex, add psychology to the mix and you’re pretty much stymied from the offset. Need sex education for the youngsters with that? An impossible equation Geraldene my dear. Tried and tested.

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About the Authors David and Neil David R. Patient (very patient) and Neil M. Orr (or not!) The one thing I recall about David is his immortal one-liners “My Contract is ‘I am LOVEABLE!’” “You can take a horse to water but you can’t make it fuck the fish” [Hehe] If Neil is a mountain of a mind then David was the most adorable one. He had a special way of endearing anyone and everyone to love him to bits and at the same time annoy the hell out of them – for their own good too! “Doctor’s orders” would be the perennial excuse for pushing the limits of psychotherapy to the extremes.

Jona and Gil Jonathan Nicholas Wakeling and Geraldene Alicia Dawson Cockcroft (Moyo née Roberts) As for myself, I was the chilli in the curry that was Geraldene – or Gil as we knew her. Where David and Neil were the perfect fit, Gil and I were ever at odds with each other in a fiery but short-lived marriage of opposites. But we remained the best of companions till her dying day.

Together Harare and Nelspruit Gil and I were the Salisbury (now Harare, Zimbabwe) “city slickers” to David and Neil’s Nelspruit (now Mbombela, South Africa) “country bumpkins.” Together the four of us made unlikely friends, fellow therapists and “comrades-in-arms.”

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First Things First: BODY language, FYI CSI Vegas

Milton: “Body Language: Psychoneuroimmunology, Hypnotherapy and Reiki – Doctor’s ORDERS!” ~Virginia “sat here” Satir 25th Anniversary Edition Harare, Zimbabwe: October 1998 - The 4th of July 2023

edited by Jonathan N. Wakeling

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Meet the Team – “a bitter pill Africa” The Theory The Zimbabwe Minister of Public Service, Labour & Social Welfare The Zimbabwe Minister of Health and Child Care The South African Ambassador to Zimbabwe The US Ambassador to Zimbabwe In that order (by chance) Enough said?

The Reality Ladies first: Virginia Satir Gents: Milton H. Erickson Honourable mentions: ― Caroline Myss ― Deepak Chopra ― Fritz Perls ― Richard Bandler ― Paul McKenna ― Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung All and sundry: ― The Directors of the PNI Empowerment Trust, Zimbabwe ― The Board of Trustees of the PNI Empowerment Trust, Zimbabwe ― The Goodwill Ambassadors of the PNI Empowerment Trust, Zimbabwe ― And too many others to list here, for vital contributions over the years Zimbabwe

Exceptions to the Rule David Icke? Russell Brand? Greta Thunberg? Taylor Swift? U2 and William Blake?? Bob “Gushungo” Dylan...Oliver “Tuku” Mtukudzi and Leonard “Canada” Cohen? The possibilities are seemingly endless PNI.

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Zimbabwe Should we start at the beginning 1980? (or 1776 for that matter Phoenix via Washington?) PNI also known as “aka” psychoneuroimmunology is still a fledgling science in 2023. It is interesting (and important!) to note that Milton, our unique and unusual hero of this long overdue tale, died a mere month before Zimbabwe gained its independence from “colonial” rule (whatever happened to UDI?) in the April of 1980 – which also happens to be the year of my birth. Not only that, but Harare, the capital city of Zimbabwe, has a suburb with his name on it in the form of Milton Park, (named after Sir William Henry Milton, an early administrator from 1898-1914, who was known as the ‘Father of the Civil Service’) – and as it happens it is not far from my place of residence in Monavale, Harare, in the present. I also note well my own name and its implications for both wakefulness and sleep – “Wakeling” – (and its variations like Wakefield for instance). Harare, I’ve recently learnt, means “He who does not sleep” – no doubt a fitting response to my often misinterpreted surname. Catch some “zeds” Zimbabwe? Get a good night’s sleep, eat healthy and be wise good people and “Dear Reader” as the Taylor Swift song says (FYI Swift Transport Zimbabwe).

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"Piping Down the Valleys Wild" From Songs of Innocence by William "Black Lives Matter" Blake Piping down the valleys wild, Piping songs of peasant glee, On a cloud I saw a child, And he, laughing, said to me: 'Pipe a song about a lamb!' So I piped with merry cheer. 'Piper, pipe that song again;' So I piped: he wept to hear. 'Drop thy pipe, thy happy pipe; Sing thy songs of happy cheer!' So I sang the same again, While he wept with joy to hear. 'Piper, sit thee down and write In a book, that all may read.' So he vanished from my sight; And I plucked a hollow reed, And I made a rural pen, And I stain'd the water clear, And I wrote my happy songs Every child may joy to hear.

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“The Tiger” From Songs of Experience by William “BLM” Blake Tiger, tiger, burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Could frame thy fearful symmetry? In what distant deeps or skies Burnt the fire of thine eyes? On what wings dare he aspire? What the hand dare seize the fire? And what shoulder and what art Could twist the sinews of thy heart? And, when thy heart began to beat, What dread hand and what dread feet? What the hammer? what the chain? In what furnace was thy brain? What the anvil? what dread grasp Dare its deadly terrors clasp? When the stars threw down their spears, And watered heaven with their tears, Did He smile His work to see? Did He who made the lamb make thee? Tiger, tiger, burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

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“Walk On (Ukraine)” From Songs of Surrender Song by U2 And if the comic takes the stage and no one laughs Does a dance on his own grave for a photograph This is not a curtain call This is the greatest act of all Stand up for freedom Whoa whoh Walk on Walk on What you got they can’t steal it They can’t even feel it Walk on Walk on Stay safe tonight And if the dancer gets it wrong and will still dare Can’t tell the singer from the song if it gets you there And there’s a kind of rage That you can’t keep inside a cage You fight or you fly We’re born or we die for freedom Whoa whoa Walk on Walk on What you got they can’t deny it Can’t sell it or buy it Walk on Walk on Stay safe tonight I know it aches, your heart it breaks You can only take so much Home You don’t know what it is until you’re forced to flee one Home Till I know where it is, I will have to be one

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Home That’s where the hurt is. Hurt. Whoa-oh Walk on Walk on I know it aches, your heart it breaks And you can only take so much Walk on Walk on All that you fashion All that you make All that you build Whatever they break All that you dream of All you design All that you can’t leave behind All that you reckon All that you dare All that you fought for When it wasn’t there All that is stolen The hills that you climb All that you can’t leave behind Not gonna leave it behind No! Not gonna leave it behind, no. Not gonna leave it behind Walk on Not gonna leave it behind Walk on

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Any Other (unfinished) Business? Geraldene – 1947-2012. RIP. David – 1963-2017. RIP. Now it’s just Neil and I holding up the PNI “Milton” Fort. Lives lost and lives saved post-COVID Planet Earth. High points and low points PWAs (Person with AIDS). Once a year on the 4th of July David would do a seemingly simple, but deceptively simple, psychological process called “Dialogue with the Virus.” He would imagine (or visualize) taking his HIV/AIDS virus out of his body and giving it a shape and a name. He would then have a casual but honest chat to it for a few minutes and then thank it for its time before returning it to his body. This was among many techniques that he used to take proactive steps to increase his chances of not only surviving AIDS, but also thriving and living a fulfilling life. We can all take a leaf out of his book in memoriam. Perhaps, in addition to Independence Day, on the 4th of July, we should also celebrate the lives of not only people living through COVID but also those living with HIV/AIDS. May this be David’s last will and testament. For Geraldene beyond the grave, bless you my dear. David was at one time Geraldene’s closest friend – and amazingly he outlived her.

From David’s Facebook, 23rd September 2017 FINAL UPDATE Well I guess if you are reading this update, I’m history. Yup, I died….finally…shit it took long enough! (if I were you I’d ask for proof!) As Woody Allen said, "It's not that I'm afraid to die, I just don't want to be there when it happens." …well that didn’t work out too well in my case. Lazarus 1 : David 3…the fourth attempt didn’t work out so well. I never went public about this last operation but reality is that it was my ‘Hail Mary”. Two surgeons advised against the procedure assuring me it would kill me, but I was backed up against a wall. The superbug infections became untreatable and won. Ain’t that a pisser. I spend 34 years giving HIV a really good run for its money and I get killed by some bug I picked up in a hospital. How fucked up is that? I had two choices. To run the risk of death while under the knife or wait until the next infection killed me (or the next; or the next) as I only had one drug left that could be used to fight the superbug. If I had the op and survived, I would need that last dug to deal with the infections following the op. If I didn’t have the op, the superbug would gain ground and the last resort drug

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would be used until it became resistant to the treatment and then I would die a long and slow death from septicaemia. Option one was go to sleep and never wake up or option two wait till the bug killed me. Obviously, I chose the operation. I have always been a gambler and it’s a roll of the dice. Guess that didn’t work out too well for me huh? Do not be sad or morn me. Rejoice in my life as it was a full and deeply meaningful one. I am an ordinary man who lived and extraordinary life all due to circumstances that crossed my path. I live in hope and always trusted my instincts as often they were my only guide. I have had amazing lifelong friendships of 30 and 40 years; I have had two incredible relationships with partners whom I loved, adored, respected and admired. I never thought that when my first partner Bill died back in ’89 from AIDS that I would ever love like that again. I was wrong and gratefully so. Neil entered my world by chance and we had a relationship that was unparalleled to any other relationship I have seen or witnessed. We work, lived, play and loved each other 24/7 for 24 plus years. We had two arguments. Lots of disagreements and debates however love and respect allow for this and my weakness were his strengths and my strengths were his weakness. We were a force to be reckoned with. I was fortunate enough to have loved twice in one lifetime. My final wishes? Be kind. Kindness costs nothing. It need not be a grand gesture. A simple smile while looking someone in the eyes as you pass in the hall. Saying please and thank you. Acknowledging that the person in front of you exists. If they have a name tag, call them by their name. Be present with that person. The Zulu greeting is Sawubona and directly translated that means ‘I SEE YOU!’ Don’t squander time… you’re only a breath away from being a corpse yourself. It’s only when time is running out that you really get its value. Don’t wait to tell those you love that you love them. Stop assuming ‘oh well, they know’…tell them and do so often. Cry until it’s funny and laugh yourself to tears… take off the mask and be vulnerable. Vulnerability is a strength not a weakness. And don’t wait too long to find the funny side of any situation, no matter how dark.

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Introductory Material Psychoneuroimmunology Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI), also referred to as psychoendoneuroimmunology (PENI) or psychoneuroendocrinoimmunology (PNEI), is the study of the interaction between psychological processes and the nervous and immune systems of the human body. It is a subfield of psychosomatic medicine. PNI takes an interdisciplinary approach, incorporating psychology, neuroscience, immunology, physiology, genetics, pharmacology, molecular biology, psychiatry, behavioral medicine, infectious diseases, endocrinology, and rheumatology. The main interests of PNI are the interactions between the nervous and immune systems and the relationships between mental processes and health. PNI studies, among other things, the physiological functioning of the neuroimmune system in health and disease; disorders of the neuroimmune system (autoimmune diseases; hypersensitivities; immune deficiency); and the physical, chemical and physiological characteristics of the components of the neuroimmune system in vitro, in situ, and in vivo. ~Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoneuroimmunology

Take-away: David’s Story – “a person living with AIDS gives hope to the hopeless”

Hypnotherapy Hypnotherapy is a type of mind–body intervention in which hypnosis is used to create a state of focused attention and increased suggestibility in the treatment of a medical or psychological disorder or concern. Popularized by 17th and 18th century psychologists such as James Braid and Milton H. Erickson. ~Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnotherapy

Take-away: Milton the Storyteller – the Lost Gospel of David Ross Patient and the true history of the Father of Modern Hypnosis

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Reiki Reiki (霊気, /ˈreɪki/) is a Japanese form of energy healing, a type of alternative medicine. Reiki practitioners use a technique called palm healing or hands-on healing through which a "universal energy" is said to be transferred through the palms of the practitioner to the patient in order to encourage emotional or physical healing. Reiki is a pseudoscience, and is used as an illustrative example of pseudoscience in scholarly texts and academic journal articles. It is based on qi ("chi"), which practitioners say is a universal life force, although there is no empirical evidence that such a life force exists. Clinical research does not show reiki to be effective as a treatment for any medical condition, including cancer, diabetic neuropathy, anxiety or depression; therefore it should not replace conventional medical treatment. There is no proof of the effectiveness of reiki therapy compared to placebo. Studies reporting positive effects have had methodological flaws. ~Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reiki

Take-away: The Land of the Rising Sun and the nazi swastika – take note Reiki “origins and symbols.” Typeface and letter case COUNTS Calibri Font 11pt. Take no chances.

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Cover image and design Copyright © 2023 by Jonathan N. Wakeling The PNI Book is Copyright © 2023 Empowerment Concepts

The material in this book is the sole property and copyright of Empowerment Concepts CC. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the authors - Neil M. Orr, David R. Patient, and Gillian A. Gresak. For further information, the authors can be contacted at: c/oEmpowerment Concepts PO Box 5737, Nelspruit, 1200, Republic of South Africa. Tel: (South Africa) 083-226-9466 Fax: (South Africa) 083-8-226-9466.

May 1999

Acknowledgements Our sincere appreciation goes to a number of people who have assisted us and encouraged us in the writing of this book: Margo de Kooker and Larise du Plessis, for their encouragement, insights, ideas, and dedication to PNI; Karen Roberts, for her editorial comments; Rowena & Jurgen, for making us aware that something was missing in the therapy approach; Geraldene Cockcroft, for having the guts to do the work and spread the word to those who need it; The many people who phoned and demanded something they can work with; The creators of NLP, whose practical approach inspired us to get real; and finally, John Pegge, who opened the door so many years ago, and who never lived to see the result of providing that opportunity.

Dedication This book is dedicated to all those who live with potentially life-limiting illnesses, and those who love and care for and about them. The most difficult tasks are given to the brightest students - Neale Donald Walsch.

© Empowerment Concepts 1999

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Contents Page

001

Preface Chapter 1: Introduction: What is PNI?

002

Chapter 2: Before you start …

016

Chapter 3: Mind-Body Connections

026

Chapter 4: Trigger Events

060

Chapter 5: Finding The Focus: Shadow Assessment 079 Chapter 6: Plan of Action: Connecting the Dots

165

Chapter 7: Long Life - Why Bother ?

171

Chapter 8: The Right to Live

192

Chapter 9: Dealing With Fears

204

Chapter 10: Emotions: Get it out of your body!

235

Chapter 11: Building Internal Resources

259

Chapter 12: Unfinished Business

282

Chapter 13: A little Talk might help…

294

Chapter 14: Personal Stories

298

References

312

Recommended Reading

317

© Empowerment Concepts 1999

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Preface When I feel ill, I am in no mood to have an intellectual debate about it. I want the pain and discomfort to go away, as fast as possible, and I am willing to pay someone for this service. Physical pain and discomfort are very selffocused experiences. No matter how well someone argues about some new idea, the only thing I want to know is: “Does it work?” If the answer is “Yes”, then I want it now. You can explain everything later, but right now I just want the pain to go away.

In essence, this book is directed at two distinct groups of people: First and foremost, those individuals who are living with illness, and secondly, health professionals. There may also be a few healthy individuals with enough common sense to realize that it is easier to deal with health issues before they become a problem. This creates quite a challenge in terms of presenting the information and the methods. The health professional is likely to want detailed explanations of the research and mechanisms behind the methods, while the ill person is more likely to want to skip the technical aspects and go straight to the ‘how to’ sections.

When we considered that there are far more sick people than health professionals in our population, we decided to place the needs of the sick individual above those of the health professional in the format and presentation of our material. Indeed, in Africa, the presence of health professionals and facilities can be quite rare in large sections of the population. However, we recognize the necessity of adequate explanations and referrals to the scientific research - the foundation of PNI. The absence of such background information would mean that the methods presented would be simply another ‘self-healing’ book. We have thus included references for further study, so that the health professional can verify and check the various statements and methods.

© Empowerment Concepts 1999

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Chapter 1 Introduction: What is PNI? The word ‘Psycho – Neuro – Immunology (abbreviated to PNI), contains within it the explanation of what PNI is, and what it is not. Simply stated, PNI is a field of research which bridges medical science and psychology, and which examines how various psychological factors - such as coping styles, emotions, and life events - affect the body’s immune system. The immune system is the body’s complicated system of chemicals and cells that provides defense against various disease-forming agents, such as viruses (e.g. HIV), bacteria (e.g. some forms of pneumonia) and abnormal cells (such as cancer).

Throughout time, people have believed that emotions, beliefs, and attitudes can affect physical health. More than two thousand years ago Aristotle stated that there is a connection between melancholy (depression) and cancer. Naturally, people have investigated this phenomenon, and the field of Psychosomatics (Psycho = Soma, or Mind–Body) developed in the West. However, because there was no real way of proving that thoughts or emotions could cause disease or even contribute one way or the other to illness or health, this field of research did not carry much weight in the medical profession.

This skepticism still prevails in many sections of the health profession, and justifiably so. Even if you can prove that there is a connection between, for example, cancer and depression, this does not mean that the depression ‘caused’ the cancer. You could logically argue that people with cancer are more depressed than people without cancer, because cancer is frightening and painful, and the person naturally has thoughts about possible death, surgery, chemotherapy, and so on. The point is this: Psychosomatics, in a general sense, could not prove anything more than the fact that certain diseases are associated with (linked to) certain characteristic thoughts, emotions, and coping styles. Nothing more could be claimed about the mind-body connection, especially in terms of what causes a change in health conditions.

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Until recently, it was very difficult and extremely expensive to prove that psychological states caused or contributed to disease or healing. But there was another fundamental problem, as far as medical professionals were concerned: the raising of false hopes. Sadly, there was – and still is - a great deal of truth in this accusation. The scientific community, including the medical profession, is acutely aware of the fact that, until recently (no more than a hundred years or so) the healing of disease was practiced and dictated by some of the silliest and unscientific notions and methods. For example, when there was a typhoid outbreak, a common practice was to dip a goose feather into animal fat and then swab the throat, using the same feather for everyone. As a result, people were repeatedly re-infected. There were also people going from town to town selling dubious substances, such as ‘Snake Oil’ or ‘Laetrile Water’, which was claimed to cure anything and everything. As soon as the town folk discovered that the (expensive) substance did not work, the salesmen were long gone, with their ill-gotten money in their pockets.

Most medical professionals know that a treatment is only considered viable or worthwhile if it has been tested on a large group of people, if the results can be predicted with some degree of consistency and reliability, and the sideeffects are well documented. The absence of reliability and consistency in many ‘alternative’ treatments is the reason for medical skepticism of these approaches, and also for charges of raising false hopes and exploiting desperate people. To obtain reliability of a medical treatment, a great deal of research is involved, usually over several years, in which the effects of faith or belief are separated from the effects of the treatment procedure or drug. Also, to ensure the safety of the drug or procedure, the side effects are carefully documented and taken into consideration. This is a lengthy and expensive process and short-circuiting it could lead to serious and unpredictable health problems. Pharmaceutical companies justify the expense of new drugs in terms of the years spent testing for all these effects, which usually costs millions of dollars.

An excellent example of the disastrous effects of inadequately tested drugs is Thalidomide. The drug was released for pregnant women who experienced ‘morning sickness’. All tests demonstrated that the drug was highly effective for this condition. However, after the drug was widely distributed, it was discovered that the drug caused serious birth defects. The drug was removed from circulation, but not before many lives were profoundly affected. © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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Naturally, the medical profession aims to prevent this kind of disaster as far as humanly possible, hence the strict research protocol (procedure) for drugs and medical treatment methods. An important part of this strict medical research includes separating the ‘real’ effect of the treatment or drug from the Placebo Effect, which is the effect of belief or expectations. A common example of the Placebo Effect is where a child complains of a headache, and the parent gives him/her ‘medicine’ in the form of some colored sugar-coated sweet, or a vitamin pill. As any parent will tell you, the Placebo effect often works very well. A friend once told us of her son who was diagnosed as hyperactive. A drug was prescribed to keep him ‘manageable’ at school. However, instead of giving him the drug, she explained to him what ‘hyper-active’ meant, the effects of the drug, and then proceeded to give him multivitamins every day, telling him (and the teachers) that it was the ‘real’ drug. He was calmer within days and the teachers were impressed at how much he had ‘improved’ on the new drug! Such is the power of suggestion and belief, although it is unclear whose beliefs (the child’s or the teachers’) were most affected by the trick! It should be noted that the use of Placebo is not advisable, as it is difficult to predict in advance who it will work for, and who it will not work for.

Hundreds of studies have concluded that approximately 35 percent of the beneficial effects of any treatment – medical or otherwise – can be attributed to nothing more than the person's belief that the treatment should work (the Placebo Effect)1 2. This effect is highly consistent. Therefore, all new drugs are tested by the ‘double-blind’ method, where patients are not told whether they are receiving the ‘real’ drug or a harmless substitute (placebo substance, such as a capsule filled with sugar powder). Also, the person administering the drug does not know whether it is ‘real’ or not, so that s/he does not directly or indirectly influence the patients’ beliefs in the treatment. In this way, there can be no exaggeration of the placebo effect. At the end of the study, 35% is subtracted from the total effect of the ‘real drug’, leaving only the ‘pure’ effect of the drug itself.

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Beecher, H.K., 1955, The powerful placebo, JAMA, 159(17), pp.1603-1606. White, L., Tursky, B., & Schwartz, G.E., 1985, Placebo: Theory, Research, and Mechanisms, The Guilford Press: New York. © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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A great deal could be debated about the placebo effect and why medical professionals simultaneously acknowledge this phenomena and reject the mind-body dynamic. However, the focus of this book is not the placebo effect, for reasons we will shortly discuss.

Without going into great depth of the history of mind-body and psychosomatic research until the late 1970s, and at the expense of making broad sweeping statements, it could be stated that the medical and scientific community’s skepticism and rejection of mind-body interactions could be summarized as follows:

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It contains real potential for abuse by making promises it cannot keep. It is easy to exploit desperate people, with no substance to back up the claims. In practice, when told that the method did not work, a dispenser of such methods could simply say that the person didn’t do it properly or that he didn’t have enough belief in the process;

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It could not predict, with any degree of certainty, who it would and would not benefit or why there are differences in effectiveness in the first place. The absence of reliability and consistency is a major flaw in psychosomatic approaches;

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It could not prove how the effects were produced – the actual mindbody mechanics - or whether psychological factors caused physical changes or if it was the other way around. Therefore, in our opinion, until the late 1970s, the skepticism was justified.

Beginning in the late 1970s, a new approach to the mind-body dynamic slowly emerged and was subsequently called PsychoNeuroImmunology (PNI). Frustrated with the ‘soft’ approach to mind-body research until that point, a number of researchers - mostly medical and psychiatric researchers - began to investigate the nitty-gritty of the biological mechanics of how – if at all – psychological states impact on the body. Instead of using disease as the measurement, they began to look at the body’s immune system, and all the various cells and systems which determined when, how and whether disease forms and how physical healing occurs. They began to pay attention to the details. A timely and novel approach!

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This was initially difficult. For example, the technology and equipment necessary to count the number of a specific cell in a milliliter of blood, was either not invented or was very expensive. By the mid-1980s, this all changed dramatically, largely due to AIDS. Billions of dollars began to be invested into the area of Immunology. A direct outcome of this unprecedented funding was the development of equipment to rapidly, and relatively cheaply, test and measure the finer details of what occurs in the body from moment to moment. An example is the Flow Cytometer, which can accurately count the number of a wide range of cells in a matter of minutes. It is easy to take this kind of technology for granted, but the truth is that most of it only emerged in the 1980s.

This explosion of technology and funding directly impacted upon PNI research. For the first time, it became possible to do large studies with detailed information of exactly what happens at the level of immune system cells. It was also possible to determine whether specific psychological states were present before, during, or after changes in the immune system, and exactly how such psychological factors translated into chemical and cellular changes in the body. Finally, it became possible to talk about cause-andeffect, and how this happens at a physical level. No longer would we merely speculate about whether there are such mind-body connections; today, we can categorically state that such connections are substantial, measurable and follow logical biochemical pathways.

The debate of whether there are such mind-body connections is over. Anyone who disputes such connections is misinformed, uninformed, or stubbornly fixated. For hard-core stringent scientific evidence, you are referred to Psychoneuroimmunology by Robert Ader et al3 and Candace Pert’s Molecules of Emotion4. Enjoy!

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Ader, R., Felten, D., & Cohen, N., 1991, PsychoNeuroImmunology (2nd Edit.), Academic Press: San Diego. Candace B. Pert, 1997, Molecules of Emotion, Simon & Schuster: London. © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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For an introductory synopsis of the profound complexity of these biopsychological pathways, an excellent overview is PsychoNeuroImmunology: Brain and Immunity by P.H. Black5, Psychosocial Effects on Immune Function: Neuroendocrine Pathways by J.H. Daruna and J.E. Morgan6, and PsychoNeuroImmunology: Can Psychological Interventions Modulate Immunity?, by J.K. Glaser and R. Glaser7. Paul Martin’s8 The Sickening Mind: Brain, Behaviour, Immunity & Disease provides a more generally accessible overview of PNI.

A careful examination of PNI research reveals that the basic premise of PNI is not that mental-emotional factors ‘cause’ disease. Rather, it places emphasis on how certain mental-emotional factors lead to a gradual or sudden suppression of the body’s natural defence mechanism that, in turn, may precipitate disease, depending on genetic vulnerabilities and other physiological factors.

We have no doubt that a perusal of existing PNI research and literature will convince even the most ardent proponent of biological-determinism (i.e., the belief that thoughts and emotions can not 'cause' changes in the physical body; Instead, it is believed that chemical changes in the body and brain 'cause' thoughts and emotions) of the legitimacy of PNI and mind-body dynamics, and that PNI is a comfortable occupant of the medical-scientific arena. Don't take our word for it – verify it yourself! Having placed PNI firmly where it belongs – in the area of testable, verifiable science and logic- we now examine what PNI is not. The truth is that there are many people who claim to be ‘doing PNI’ or there are those who simply justify what they do by throwing the word ‘PNI’ into their explanations of what they do, at any and every opportunity. Rarely do these people have a clue of what PNI is, nor do they know the research or the biological pathways involved. We have no comment regarding the validity of what people do in the name of ‘healing’. Just don’t call it PNI when it isn’t!

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Black, PH., 1995, PsychoNeuroImmunology: Brain and Immunity, Scientific American: Science & Medicine, Nov/Dec 1998, pp.16-25. 6 Daruna, J.H., & Morgan, J.E., 1990, Psychosocial Effects on Immune Function: Neuroendocrine Pathways, Psychosomatics, 31(1), pp.4-12. 7 Kiecolt-Glaser, J., & Glaser, R., 1992, PsychoNeuroImmunology: Can Psychological Interventions Modulate Immunity?, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 60(4), pp.569-575 8 Martin, P., 1997, The Sickening Mind: Brain, Behaviour, Immunity & Disease, Harper Collins: London. © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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Let us make it plain: PNI is not ‘alternative’, unless you choose to view decades of research in immunology, endocrinology, physiology, neurology, and psychology as ‘alternative’. If you insist on viewing it as ‘alternative’ or ‘fringe science’ or ‘psycho-babble mumbo jumbo’, then have the courage of your convictions to extend that argument to its logical conclusion by including medical science and orthodox medical and/or psychological treatments and premises in the same ‘alternative’ category.

PNI is not faith-healing. It is not spiritual healing. It is not 'New Age' either. Stroking your quartz crystal and having happy thoughts is not PNI ! People often place PNI in these categories, usually when they have a vested interest in adding legitimacy to their own approach. It is understandable that practitioners of these various modes of healing feel somewhat vindicated by PNI research. Unfortunately, as you will discover in the following chapters, some of the most dearly beloved and (non-specific) beliefs of pre-PNI ‘alternative’ mindbody systems do not bear up too well under stringent PNI research.

By such measurement, PNI exposes many wishy-washy unchallenged notions - and confirms one or two! In research, ‘positive thinking’, ‘affirmations’, and many other approaches fall apart under cross-examination. For example, until PNI research examined Positive Thinking, it was simply assumed that ‘being positive’ was the right thing to do – just repeat your affirmations ten times a day, while hugging yourself in front of a mirror and, by some magical (undefined) process, tumours melt away. If the tumours did not miraculously melt away, then the person ‘was not doing it right or often enough’. When all else fails, blame the client. Easy, isn’t it?

However, when examined with real people, real tumours, and real measurements of the immune system, it appears that the total affect of ‘positive thinking’ is zero. (Now, before you toss aside your Positive Affirmation book, read on!) When you start separating different kinds of ‘positive thinking’, you start to get a more detailed and useful perspective. Specifically, when ‘positive thinking’ is used as a form of denial and escape from dealing with the reality of a situation - especially in chronic situations the research indicates that this style of coping contributes to a suppression of the immune system. However, when ‘positive thinking’ is included as part of a realistic assessment of the present situation and the affirmations are an

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indicator of ‘what next’, the research suggests that this approach has positive effects on immune functioning. If you were to study the benefits of ‘positive thinking’ without identifying the usage of these two kinds of the same technique, you would end up with confused results, or ‘proof’ that positive thinking has no overall effects on health.

One of the most important cautions to 'alternative' healers to emerge from PNI research, is to be more specific - Pay attention to detail ! Behaviour, without an examination of the underlying motive, can be deceptive. Sometimes a method works, and sometimes it doesn't. The need to examine phenomena in great detail, taking as many factors into consideration as possible, is referred to as 'scientific rigour'. PNI forces us to be more rigorous in mind-body explanations and methods.

For a long time, mind-body methods were general and non-specific, which begins to explain why many pre-PNI mind-body approaches were unpredictable and inconsistent in their effects. To blithely state that a method doesn’t work because of ‘destiny’, ‘fate’, or ‘the person obviously did not want to live’, is to cover up the fact that ‘the method sometimes works, sometimes doesn’t, and we don’t know why’. Then you wonder why many medical professionals are skeptical ?

When you propose a method of healing based upon belief and faith, then state this clearly and without reservation. There is no need to justify belief or faith, as long as it is honest and sincere. This allows another person to make informed choices and ensures integrity in the process. We have personally witnessed 'miracle' healings, which were based purely on belief and faith. Why call it PNI, when it clearly is not ? Does it not deserve to be called what it is, namely a miracle ? There are many options available to the individual in terms of healing. Why try and force everything into one category ? We suspect that this need to get 'scientific proof' for every form of healing is nothing more than a need to feel secure and 'right' in terms of social approval, and to be acceptable to what is perceived to be 'authority'. Are you in the business of healing, or are you in the business of being 'right' ? The bottomline is that PNI is only one of many forms of healing technologies. It just so happens to fall into the 'scientific' category, while other methods, which may be equally beneficial, do not.

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PNI pays attention to detail, and nothing is assumed as ‘given’ or ‘obvious’. Everything needs to measured and recorded so that someone else can read the research notes, and test the procedure with another group of people. These are methods of scientific rigour. No matter how you look at it, PNI is a body of scientific research, with very specific and defined methods and measurements. This is both it's strength and source of legitimacy, and also it's weakness, in terms of excluding certain phenomena what can not be 'proven' using the same methods, such as spiritual healing.

It is not our intention to criticize non-medical modes of healing or to comment on religious belief, faith, chakras, the aura, the existence of the Soul or Universal Love. The reason is simple: until any of the above can be scientifically demonstrated to have an impact upon the immune system, and the biological mechanisms of the method can be explained, that method of healing cannot refer to itself as PNI-related. Call it anything you like, but not PNI. This does not mean that these phenomena do not exist, nor that they are somehow less real or valid. It simply means that they are not PNI. An apple is an apple, and an orange is an orange.

Until miraculous healings can be rationally explained in medical terms and processes, we simply marvel at such events, and consider ourselves blessed to have witnessed them. Certainly, we hope that one day it will be possible to include such processes in the field of PNI. However, that day has not yet arrived, and the reverse may even occur !

A good example of the dilemma of 'what is PNI and what is not PNI', is prayer. Studies have demonstrated that group prayer has an influence upon a person’s healing process. Does this make prayer a PNI-endorsed method of intervention? In our opinion, it does not, because the actual mechanisms involved cannot be explained in terms of the immune system, nor how prayer translates across time and space to affect the brain-immune system. Does this mean that prayer does not work ? Of course not - the evidence clearly states that it does. It simply cannot be explained scientifically ... yet.

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Let us not confuse the issue: we are not disputing that the studies on prayer were false or unscientific and we do not dispute the fact that prayer affects healing. On the contrary, we are constantly astonished at the complexity and marvels of Life in all its aspects. What we are saying is that, at the present moment, PNI is PNI and prayer is prayer. If you advocate prayer as a mode of healing, we will add our prayers to yours. Just don’t call it PNI until it can be explained within the PNI framework, which involves explaining the biological pathways in which non-physical forces and factors affect the body! Perhaps you might consider using both methods - PNI and prayer - instead of one or the other !

You may wonder why we are going to such lengths to define PNI. The reason, once again, is simple: PNI is a revolutionary new concept in medical science, and has the potential to produce profound shifts in the way we view and treat disease. However, because PNI is such a new area of study, great care has to be taken in ensuring that it is not branded as another ‘alternative’ subject, as this will directly impact upon the accessibility to this knowledge to the general population.

PNI does not pretend to be able to explain miracles or even produce miracles. It is, however, perfectly capable of logically explaining why and how stress, depression, trauma, anxiety, fears, loss and bereavement and many other common life events and situations contribute towards disease, and how the addressing of such issues can contribute towards healing in conjunction with orthodox medical treatment.

You do not have to believe in PNI to apply it and benefit from it. You do, however, have to do some work.

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Do Psychological Factors affect the Immune System? It is all good and well discussing whether psychological factors can affect the immune system. For those with a serious disease, a more important question is “Can I affect my immune system or illness by using psychological methods?” The answer is an unequivocal “Yes”, based upon a large body of research.

The following range of mental-emotional factors have been clearly demonstrated to suppress the immune system:

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Anxiety and depression

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Absence of social support

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Significant loss

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Unemployment

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Exam-related distress

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Loneliness

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Bereavement

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Miscarriage

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Retirement

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Fear

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Suppressed anger and other emotions

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Denial coping

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Stressed power (“I Must”)

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Stressed control ("I Will")

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Living in a hazardous location

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Taking care of someone with a serious disease

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Low marriage quality, divorce and separation

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Insomnia

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Low self-esteem

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Examples:

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Robert Ader and Nicholas Cohen clearly demonstrate that the immune system can be behaviourally conditioned. It is clear that the mindimmune connection works both ways9. Social contact and relaxation have been shown to increase Natural Killer cell activity levels10. The same result can be achieved with visualisation11.

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Viral conditions, such as warts, respond well to hypnosis12. Hypnosis reduces susceptibility to viral exposure such as tuberculin13.

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Imagery and music can increase antibody secretions, such as immunoglobulin A14.

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Watching pleasant movies can increase antibodies and increase T-cell activity15. Similar effects have been obtained with humour16.

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Disclosing traumatic events boosts the immune system17 18 19 20.

These are just a few of the many studies demonstrating that the immune system can be enhanced through psychological intervention.

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Ader, R., & Cohen, N., 1975, Behaviorally conditioned immunosuppression, Psychosomatic Medicine, 37(4), pp.333-340. 10 Kiecolt-Glaser, J., et al, 1985, Psychosocial enhancement of immunocompetence in a geriatric population, Health Psych.,4(1), 25-41. 11 Zachariae, R., et al, 1990, Effect of psychological intervention in the form of relaxation and guided imagery on cellular immune function in normal healthy subjects, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 54, pp.32-39. 12 Spanos, N.P., Williams, V., & Gwynn, M.I.,1990, Effects of hypnotic, placebo, and salicyclic acid treatments on wart regression, Psychosomatic Medicine, 52, pp.109-114. 13 Smith, G.R., & McDaniel, S.M., 1983, Psychologically mediated effect on the delayed hypersensitivity reaction to tuberculin in humans, Psychosomatic Medicine, 45(1), pp.65-70. 14 Rider, M.S., & Weldin, C., 1990, Imagery, Improvisation, and Immunity, The Arts in Psychotherapy, 17, pp.211-216. 15 Green, M.L., Green, R.G., & Santoro, W., 1988, Daily relaxation modifies serum and salivary immunoglobulins and psychophysiologic symptom severity, Biofeedback and Self-Regulation, 13(3), pp.187-199. 16 Martin, R.A., & Dobbin, J.P., 1988, Sense of humor, hassles, and immunoglobulin A: Evidence for a stress-moderating effect of humor, International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine, 18(2), pp.93-105. 17 Pennebaker, J.W., & Beall, S.K., 1986, Confronting a traumatic event: Toward an understanding of inhibition and disease, Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 95(3), pp.274-281. 18 Pennebaker, J.W., Hughes, C.F., & O’Heeron, R.C., 1987, The psychophysiology of confession: Linking inhibitory and psychosomatic processes, J. of Personality and Social Psychology, 52(4), pp.781-793. 19 Pennebaker, J.W., & Susman, J.R., 1988. Disclosure of traumas and psychosomatic processes. Social Science & Medicine, 26(3), pp.327-332. 20 Pennebaker, J.W., Kiecolt-Glaser, J.K., & Glaser, R. 1988. Disclosure of traumas and immune function: Health implications for psychotherapy. J. of Consulting & Clinical Psychology, 56(2), pp.239-245. © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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An example will demonstrate the reality of such interventions. A study regarding the effects of confronting past traumas (Pennebaker, Kiecolt-Glaser and Glaser, 1988) involved fifty healthy students, half of whom wrote about some superficial topic, while the other half wrote about a personally traumatic past experience. All students wrote for 20 minutes per day for four consecutive days. The idea was to determine the immunological effects of confronting past upsets and traumas.

Several significant results were obtained, including the fact that those students who wrote about past upsets had stronger immune responses immediately after the experiments and had fewer subsequent health-related visits to the college clinic. Three months later, the students who wrote about personal traumas were significantly happier than were the others. Due to a problem with the immunological testing, the immune system differences could not be measured three months later. Another interesting result of this study concerned the benefits derived by the students who wrote about personal traumas. It was found that those students who had previously held back from talking to others about the traumatic experiences – before writing about it – benefited more than those who had previously discussed their past traumas with someone. The researchers concluded that this supported the premise that suppressing personal traumas is stressful while talking about it (or writing about it) removes some of that stress, hence the immunological benefits.

The mechanisms of how this mind-immune connection may occur are discussed in Chapter 3.

The point is this: specific (and simple) psychological techniques, performed in a specific way, have been clearly shown to have immunologic benefits.

The reader will also note that this book does not discuss relaxation techniques, exercise or visualisation methods. The reason is simple: the research indicates that, with some exceptions, the benefits of such approaches is variable and are mainly in terms of buffering (reducing) the effects of daily stress. In other words, these methods help the immune system be reducing the impact of stress. However, these methods do not prevent the stress from occurring in terms of addressing the cause.

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Also, it is easier to control and facilitate the quality and content of an eyesopen face-to-face technique than it is to control a closed-eye visualisation, especially when many people report difficulty in visualising. We have thus decided to focus upon methods that have more direct benefits to the immune system, in terms of enhancing – not just maintaining - immune functioning as far as possible. This involves focusing on sources of chronic stress. We strongly recommend any form of physical exercise, relaxation or imagery work as a maintenance programme, but not as the central focus of intervention.

There are also many anecdotal (single case) reports concerning how patients reversed their cancer, AIDS and many other diseases, often dramatically and rapidly. We encourage you to actively seek out these ‘survivors’ or read books or articles about them, simply because most people are more ready to believe a ‘real life’ case than all the statistics and details which explains how it works! It is far easier to be inspired and motivated by the success story of a real person – even if the ‘how to’ is not clear – than a series of statistics, no matter how compelling those statistics (refer to the chapter entitled, "Personal Stories").

Finally, we wish to caution you from assuming that PNI methods are in any way a replacement for standard medical treatment. This assumes that PNI is non-medical or an 'alternative'. It has been stated quite categorically that PNI is not 'alternative' - it is a complementary approach which works best in conjunction with standard medical treatment and monitoring. How are you going to know whether your T-cells are increasing if you do not have a medical blood test ? How will you know if the tumour is shrinking if you do not have a scan ? Ensure that your health is medically monitored and treated. It is also a good idea to consult a professional therapist to help with your psychological issues. You may even ask him/her to help you work through the issues and methods in this book.

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Chapter 2 Before you Start … (Left foot, right foot, left foot…) Why are you reading this book? “Good heavens - what a strange question!” Yes, it is a rather odd question to ask. You will notice that we will be asking you many strange questions! However, if you just want to read this book from cover to cover without doing any of the exercises, expecting that this will help you, you might as well read the Sunday newspaper comics instead - it will have the same benefits for your health. Research indicates that about 80 percent of people do not read beyond the first chapter or two of any book and that very few people actually do the exercises contained in so-called ‘selfhelp’ books.

So, why do people buy such books in the first place? We suspect that most people hope that they will read something profound that will answer 'everything' and all will be well. Big mistake! You see, you actually have to put some effort into it, and take some time out from your busy schedule to work on yourself. Oops – you mean no-one told you that part?

The only comfort we can give you is that it has taken many years for your illness to develop and manifest in your body. Surely taking some time to restore your health – whether it’s six months or six years – is worth it? Through one of our processes, a client realised, “It took a long time to become really ill. My immune system hadn't 'crashed' as I’d thought, but was worn down like a rock that has water whooshing over it for years and years. When I realised it had taken over twenty years to become weak, I could accept that it was okay to take a year to regain my strength”. PNI mind-body healing methods are a ‘left foot, right foot, left foot …' processes - they take time and work to be of benefit.

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The principles and techniques of applied PNI are quite simple. The real challenge is facing the possibility that you do not want to change, or that you believe that you can't change. Before you get into a huff about this and rush to the conclusion that PNI is for lunatics, let us ask you a few questions:

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What are you willing to sacrifice in order to be happy and healthy? Are you willing to give up the attention that you get as a ‘sufferer’ or 'victim'? Are you willing to give up the feeling and benefits of being helpless, even when it is socially acceptable to feel helpless and a ‘victim’? Are you willing to let go of a destructive relationship, even if you fear that you may never find someone else? Are you willing to go against the express wishes of your family or your friends and risk losing their support and approval, to achieve wellness? Are you willing to resign from a safe and secure job, even if you hate it, not knowing what you will do if you let it go? Are you willing to let go of your favourite TV shows because you need to spend time working on the exercises provided? These are all possible actions that you may need to take although not always necessary - to regain your sense of aliveness and passion for life.

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What do you intend to do with your life after the disease is in remission, stable, or gone - in other words, after you are well again? Do you imagine that it will be the same as before the illness? Has it ever occurred to you that the life you have led – the absence of passion and risk, not dealing with your fears, your lack of emotional expression and aliveness – may be contributing factors to the onset of the disease itself? We are not saying that this is true for you. What we are doing is simply presenting possibilities. This is a crucial part of PNI: Why do you want to be alive? What future-related compelling motivation (exciting future-related goals which drive you to act in the present moment) do you have to pull you through the difficult work you’re required to do on yourself?

We often encounter people who say that they want to do whatever is necessary to get well, or at least stabilise and manage their illness. However, when it is time to do something, s/he pulls back from doing the necessary work or s/he intellectualises it. For example: You buy this book, skim through it, and do not apply any of the methods.

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Often, what a person means when s/he says that s/he ‘wants to’ do something like PNI, is that s/he believes s/he ‘needs to’ do it, but does not really want to go through the effort it requires. This is not a problem in a training or workshop setting, as we can literally get you through the process by reminding you of your commitment when your desire to continue weakens. However, with a self-help book, you don't have someone encouraging you and boosting your morale as you go along. You have to rely on your basic desire to become well to get you through the processes.

This brings us back to the most profound question: Why do you want to live? What exciting future goals do you have? The issue of a compelling future is more fully addressed in a subsequent chapter. In the mean time, if you can't think of a specific or compelling reason to live, we encourage you to do the exercises in the first few chapters as quickly as possible, preferably in one day or evening. Ensure that you set aside the time to do this without interruptions, so that your initial interest and desire is not too easily side-lined. Ask a friend to check that you have done this and to provide some encouragement, in the same way as you would require a little pushing to start a new diet.

This book was written specifically for people who want to apply PNI research and methods to heal or stabilise their illness. It is a workbook and we emphasise the 'work' part! It contains a great deal of information so that you know what and why you need to do certain exercises. However, the reality is that information in and of itself is not sufficient to motivate you to work through various issues, some of which may be difficult and emotionally uncomfortable.

Most people need an image or story to hold onto during the difficult stages of the process – preferably something inspiring and, at the same time, attainable at a personal level. When we read or hear about someone who has overcome tremendous challenges, we tend to separate ourselves from them by calling them ‘special’, and by doing so, we remove the possibility of attaining the same degree of achievement ourselves, before we even consider asking ‘How did you do that?’

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In this book, we tell you ‘how to’ and also ‘why it works’. However, as previously stated, this is not enough – you probably need something a little more personal and ‘real’ to start you off – a true story which you hopefully can read and say “Well – if he can do it, so can I!” We suggest you read the story again after you have read and processed the rest of the book, and you will see that the events make perfect sense in terms of PNI research and processes, although the person – David Patient - had no such knowledge at the time.

David Patient was born somewhere in Central Africa, parents unknown. He was adopted soon after his birth. He was a problem child from the outset: hyperactive, dyslexic, and intelligent - a disastrous combination if you are a parent or teacher! If he wasn’t burning down the scout hall, he was putting firecrackers in garbage cans and, on quiet days, he drove his parents and teachers up the wall by disobeying every rule in the book. To give you an idea: he was expelled from kindergarten school ! This was only the first of many schools from which he was to be expelled for various reasons.

His

self-worth was so low that, by his sixteenth birthday, he had attempted suicide eight times. He still bears the evidence of this period in terms of the severe scarring from the many slashings of his wrists. Eventually, to avoid being arrested for political actions, he was forced to leave the country.

After a year in Europe, he arrived in the USA and started setting up a new life. A large part of that new life consisted of sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll, all in large quantities. In 1983, on his 22nd birthday, he was diagnosed with a new disease called GRIDS (Gay Related Immune Deficiency Syndrome) which later became known as AIDS. His T-cell count at the time was 362 (about one-third of normal), and he was already very ill – dramatic weight loss, persistent pain in the muscles of his legs, chest infections, and a host of other symptoms. His doctor told him that he had about six months to live.

He was the first person to be diagnosed with what is now known as AIDS in Nevada. (Even although the first HIV-test was only released in late 1985, it is useful to know that the blood sample drawn by his doctor in 1983 had been frozen and stored by LAMS (Los Angeles Men's Study) researchers. When the first HIV-test was available, it was tested and confirmed that he had been HIV-positive in 1983.)

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He reasoned that, as he was going to die, there was no point in stopping the drugs and parties, so he proceeded with increased abandon. Keep in mind that, in 1983, nothing was known about AIDS – it was not even called that at the time - nor had the cause (HIV) been identified. Yet, he did a rather strange thing: Apart from running up all his credit cards, he also went to a funeral parlour where, much to the mortician's discomfort, he tried out all the coffins. He also took out a funeral policy, wrote his eulogy, and then proceeded to buy a home with a 30-year mortgage. He had no idea of the importance of these actions – he figured “What the heck!” In PNI terms, this paradoxical action – confronting the realities of his possible death, and then establishing a longterm compelling goal, explains a great deal of why he survived despite many self-destructive behaviours. Quite simply, he said, “There is a strong probability that I will die soon. However, there is also a possibility that I will live. Nothing is 100% certain”. In other words, he shifted the certainty of death to a possibility – one of several possibilities. He did not deny death or life. He somehow – intuitively or instinctively – recognised that both death and life were just possibilities.

A few months later, he went to visit a friend who was dying from AIDS, one of the few people who was still willing to associate with the ‘GRIDS’ (AIDS) victim. No-one knew exactly how it was transmitted yet, so everyone was terrified of becoming infected through casual contact. David was moping around, and his friend – who was on oxygen and confined to bed – called him over and said: “I'm so sick of seeing your miserable face! Do you know what I would give to be able to go outside and just look at the clouds? And you have the nerve to be miserable! Get your act together or get out of here!”

Needless to say, this was not the sympathy he was used to, and expected! This emotional 'slap', the fact that his other remaining friends were tired of hearing him whine and complain about his tragic life, and also that the credit card companies were demanding payment, led him to start thinking about getting down to dealing with ordinary life again.

Soon thereafter, he went for a walk up a mountain near Las Vegas to clear his head. He decided that the only way he could get some control over what was happening was to talk to this ‘thing’ inside of him, which he decided was probably a virus. (Although no-one knew what caused AIDS as yet, there

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were various theories being presented, including that it was a virus). In the space of no more than a few minutes, he closed his eyes and imagined that this ‘thing’ – whom he called Mr Virus – was in front of him. He said: “Mr Virus, I know that you can kill my body. However, I want you to know that I can kill you too, just by killing myself. I have power, and so do you. That’s a fact. I also acknowledge your right to exist and ask that you acknowledge the same truth for me. Now, what are we going to do so that we both get along without dying? I suggest the following deal: I promise not to try and kill you, if you promise not to get out of hand and destroy my body. Also, please understand that I will not allow you to leave my body and go into the body of someone else. Do we have a deal?” Mr Virus agreed, and that was that. (It is important to note that every HIV-infected long-term survivor whom we have subsequently interviewed, has performed the same dialogue, in some way or the other). To this day, on the same day every year – the 4th of July, David has the same dialogue with Mr Virus. So far, we have told you about three crucial parts of David’s story, from a PNI perspective:

❑

He realistically and practically confronted his worst fears, including the fear of his possible death, instead of running away from them.

❑

He did not accept the certainty of death, although he realised it was a strong possibility. This sense of realism is important. He also held onto the possibility of living, although he had no reason or logic to back that up.

❑

He confronted the disease itself and had a dialogue with it. It is important to note that none of this occurred overnight – it took more than 18 months for all of this to happen.

There were also other forces at play in the background to the more obvious issues: Prior to moving to the USA, there was no doubt that the one thing David could not expect was approval and acceptance from ‘society’ or his parents. He was, quite frankly, a real problem for other people. When he arrived in the USA, he moved into a new circle of friends and felt quite

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comfortable and accepted in this closed community. As he will tell you, this circle of friends was very important to him and he would do almost anything to be accepted by this group. However, when the news of his diagnosis hit the headlines in Nevada, this circle of friends evaporated and he was shunned. Now, this may seem terrible and, in truth it was, but this total rejection led to another crucial turning point:

❑

He had to break away from his sense of identity as defined by other people, and develop his own identity.

When all sources of approval from outside were removed, he was forced to begin to define his identity and self-worth in terms of who he really was, and not in terms of what he believed would obtain approval from others. The importance of this process cannot be over-stressed, as every single long-term survivor, regardless of the kind of illness – AIDS, cancer, multiple sclerosis, ME, arthritis – has experienced this crisis at some stage of illness.

The consequences were profound: David began to realise that, if no-one approved of him, no matter what he did or said, what difference did it make if he just said what he thought and laughed or cried when he wanted to? In other words:

❑

He felt free to express his emotions and thoughts.

Furthermore, once the access to external approval was removed, a strange sense of freedom emerged which is difficult to explain to someone who cannot imagine being separated from friends, family and community.

He started doing things that he wanted to do and saying what he wanted to say. In his own words: “Hey! What's the worst you can do? Kill me? Hah! I already have a death sentence!” One way of explaining this shift in identity and need for approval is to describe it as being rejected from the Group Mind, leading to the beginnings of the Individual Mind. Finally, a clear sense of Self and a sustainable source of true, internal self-esteem and identity could begin to form, because he had confronted and dealt with the fear of his death.

❑

It was in the midst of this tremendous fear, pain and suffering that he finally found his passion: working with people.

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He was trained as a chef, work which he loved. However, due to his experience and background, he was constantly drawn to working with people who were dying from AIDS. In this area he found a sense of fulfilment that he had never known before. Over the years, he spent more and more time doing this work, eventually devoting himself full-time to this activity.

In summary, David had accomplished the following important steps:

❑

Confronted his fears - including the fear of dying.

❑

Shifted his perspective from 'it is probable (perceived certainty) that I will die from this disease, to 'it is possible that I die, and it is also possible that I will live'.

❑

Engaged in a dialogue with his disease - confronted the reality of the disease.

❑

Created his own sense of values and identity, based upon 'Who I really am', versus 'Who I should be' (according to other people).

❑

Honest expression of his thoughts and feelings.

❑

Identified and pursued his passion (the career or life-path that filled him with excitement, challenge, fulfilment and a sense of purpose to live.

About two years after his diagnosis, his immune system strengthened significantly, and his T-cell count doubled, which was unheard of. Repeated tests confirmed this and, over the years, his T-cell count reached ‘normal’ levels, even going above such norms. It has been over 15 years since diagnosis, and probably closer to 18 years from infection. His latest T-cell count is 893 (perfectly normal) and his viral count is almost undetectable.

In 1994, he met Neil Orr who was doing his MA in Research Psychology at the University of Cape Town. Neil was focusing on PNI, specifically in the area of suppressed immune conditions, such as cancer and AIDS. He was doing research at an AIDS clinic in Cape Town, gathering data on coping styles and T-cell counts, in relation to how quickly or slowly an HIV-infected

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person’s immune system declines over time and whether this was related to how they coped in a general sense. David and Neil spent many days discussing what PNI research was suggesting in terms of how to alter the course of such immune conditions and what David had done instinctively in his personal capacity. The correlation was astonishing - what David had done in practice, through sheer instinct, was supported by the research. In the year that followed, they interviewed over forty other long-term survivors and confirmed many of these qualities and processes.

Gillian Gresak met David and Neil in San Francisco in 1994, where she was working in AIDS units. Since starting to work in HIV/AIDS, primarily as a counsellor, Gillian believed that there was a non-medical intervention that would have beneficial effects on HIV+ people, as efficacious and more costeffective than standard clinical practice. Through discussion and debate with David and Neil, Gillian recognised that PNI was what she’d been looking for. When David’s story is told In conferences and workshops, people's reactions are one of two things: eighty percent say “Wow – aren’t you amazing!” (in other words, they place him on a pedestal and miss the fact that they can do the same thing), and twenty percent ask “How did you do that?” In which category do you place yourself?

There are several crucial points to keep in mind when beginning your PNI journey:

❑

First, be realistic about how much time you have to do the work. Yes, it is theoretically possible to accomplish amazing things in a very short span of time, even in quite advanced stages of disease. However, the body is sometimes quite weak and devastated and this must be factored into what you do, how much you can do, and whether it's worth doing. Sometimes, a person is just plain tired and has had enough. Death is something you have to confront at some point, either now, or later, whether through illness, being run over by a bus, or old age. PNI is not an escape from death and dying – it is simply an option and a range of methods that can, under certain conditions, extend physical life by enhancing the immune system. That is all it can do.

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❑

Second, begin to ask yourself why you want to extend your physical existence. Think seriously about this. Do not come up with unconvincing statements such as “Well – doesn’t everyone!?”

No, everyone doesn’t

want to live and this is a valid choice deserving of respect.

❑

Third, clearly understand that your intellect (logic and reason) is not going to be sufficient to get you through. ‘Understanding’ PNI is not the same as doing the work required. PNI intervention means that you have to deal with a whole bunch of ‘yuck’ stuff – death, anger, guilt, painful memories, and more. You will not be the same afterwards, and life will not be the same as before. Your sense of what is important, what you are willing to tolerate from others and what you want from life will be affected. That is part of the package deal. As Sharon, one of our clients, said, “I stopped worrying about what people thought about me and started putting myself first.” (Again, we refer you to the 'Personal Stories' chapter to understand what we mean).

If you are clear that this is what you want, then begin to read and do the various exercises. If this is not what you want, acknowledge that it is your right to choose not to do this, and that this choice is just as valid and ‘right’ for you. We wish you well, regardless of your choice.

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Chapter 3 Mind-Body Connections Uh-oh … technical stuff. At this point, you probably want to put the book down and run for cover - your beliefs about your ability to understand medical jargon have taken a nose-dive! If this is the case, take a deep breath and relax. If you're reading this book to see if PNI can offer you some assistance in your disease management, this chapter shows that a slight knowledge of how your body works can go a long way in determining what will work for your own process and what is less likely to work.

The focus of this book is chronic diseases, such as cancer, AIDS, multiple sclerosis and arthritis. All of these are primarily immune system failures. Certain questions need to be asked. First, "do specific psychological states contribute towards such immune system disorders?" There is ample evidence to this effect, as listed in the previous chapter. The next question is: “Can this be scientifically explained in terms of PNI biological pathways?” Again, the answer is ”Yes”.

Undoubtedly, many issues of great importance to biochemists or medical doctors have been omitted from this chapter; hence the references for further reading. The purpose of this chapter is to introduce the average person to a simple, but logical, explanation of why and how PNI is scientifically explicable, and not a matter of ‘faith’ or sheer belief. It is purposefully simplistic and over-generalized. We ask expert readers (such as biochemists, psychologists and medical doctors) to take a deep breath and consider for whom this information is primarily targeted – the person with the disease and non-medical caregivers, such as counselors and therapists.

We have spent a great deal of time debating what to include in this chapter, and how to present it. The factor which most heavily influenced our final decision concerned the target audience - people with illnesses. We fully recognize that several of the key concepts - psychological and medical - lack precision and technical accuracy when viewed by a psychologist or medical professional. However, in our experience of teaching this material to lay

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persons, we found that technical accuracy was accompanied by confusion and a tendency to be afraid of applying the techniques, simply because the lay person felt intimidated by the terminology and technicalities of the research and theory. Our objective is to make the methods accessible to the lay public, and for this end, we have consciously sacrificed theoretical and technical detail by generalizing complicated concepts. If you are a medical professional or psychologist, please forgive the generalizations. Read between the lines, and add the detail to your satisfaction - there is ample reference material cited for this purpose.

There are three parts to PNI (PsychoNeuroImmunology):

❑

P = Psycho

Emotions, Thoughts, Beliefs, Attitudes, Coping styles, Fear, Stress.

❑

N = Neuro

The Brain and the Nervous System. Also included is the Endocrine system - the system of glands in your body that produce and control various hormones.

❑

I = Immunology

The Immune System. The system of cells and chemicals in your body largely responsible for detecting and dealing with bacteria, viruses, cancer cells, parasites, and any other living or non-living particles that can lead to illness.

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The ‘P’ part of ‘PNI’ = Psyche (Mind) ‘Psycho’: This is the ‘mind’ part of the puzzle. You may interpret this as simply referring to abstract thoughts, attitudes and beliefs, but it is not that simple. Included in this ‘psycho’ part are emotions and feelings such as guilt, anger, fear, depression, anxiety, joy and excitement. In addition, there are your perceptions – the way you view or interpret the world and what is happening – and all your memories from birth onwards. Some would even say that you have memories from conception and the womb. Then there are also your attitudes, skills, beliefs, values, and morals. Most of what is contained in an individual’s psyche/mind is not easily accessible. Most of us are only aware of a very small part of what is stored in the psyche. For example, when you forget where you put your keys, the memory of where you put your keys down is simply not available. However, after a period of thinking, you may remember where you put them. In the same way, most of what you've learned and experienced in your life is ‘forgotten’ i.e. it becomes unconscious. Not remembering doesn't mean that it's not stored somewhere in your psyche. Sigmund Freud was the first person to name these aspects of the psyche (conscious and unconscious levels of the mind), and most psychology is based upon his work, directly or indirectly.

CONSCIOUS MIND • •

All the thoughts, memories of which you are currently aware, and which you can quite easily remember. Logic and reason

UNCONSCIOUS MIND •

•

Past memories that you cannot easily remember. Attitudes and beliefs which you have, and of which you are unaware of.

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There is often confusion about the words ‘subconscious’ and ‘unconscious’ as they are often used interchangeably. Strictly speaking, the correct word for all memories and beliefs which you are not aware of, and which are stored deeply in your mind, is 'unconscious'. The term 'subconscious' more accurately describes thoughts and feelings which are temporarily just under the surface of conscious awareness, and which can be remembered fairly easily. 'Forgetting' your keys, and then 'remembering' where you put it a few minutes later, is an example of the subconscious level of awareness - a temporary 'forgetting' which is easily 'remembered'. The subconscious may be viewed as the thin top layer of the unconscious, or the layer between the conscious and unconscious layers of your mind. A good example of the ‘conscious’ and ‘unconscious’ parts of your psyche involves the formation of habits and skills. When you first learned to ride a bicycle, you were very aware of putting your feet in the right place and keeping your balance while simultaneously pedaling and steering properly. This felt very complicated at first, and it probably took quite a few attempts before you got all the various actions coordinated, after several falls and scraped knees! However, if we were to ask you now to tell us how you know to ride a bicycle, you would probably not remember how difficult it was to learn the skill, and reply “Well, you just kind of sit there, balance, and hold the handle-bars – its easy!” The same could be said for learning to drive a car. How many times have you driven from one place to another and realized that you could not remember the journey because you were day dreaming? Yet there was a part of your mind that knew exactly what to do, when to change the gears, apply brakes, stop, start, change speed, and a whole range of activities – all of which you have no conscious memory of performing. In a very similar manner, the memories of the important and unimportant events of our lives slide into the unconscious part of our mind, and continue to influence us all the time, even when we are unaware of this influence. Just as you automatically ‘know’ how to drive even when you are thinking about something else, the challenge in working with the psyche lies in past decisions and events that influence present-day feelings, thoughts, attitudes, beliefs, values and actions, without necessarily being aware of them. This is why it is fundamentally important to consider and explore the possibility that, for example, a conscious decision to recover from illness may not be supported by some unconscious belief.

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However, as you begin to ask questions such as "What must I believe about myself to behave this way ?", you begin the process or bringing these unconscious beliefs into awareness. Initially, you may just have a 'feeling' about what it is, or dream about it. When it is 'just at the tip of my tongue', it has reached the (pre-conscious) Subconscious level. Soon thereafter, you will become consciously aware of the belief. This is why it takes time to work through issues: You have to first assume that there may be something in your mind which is causing some behaviour. You may have no idea of what it is it is unconscious. Then, by persistent focusing and effort, the thought or belief surfaces, first into the subconscious level , and then finally into conscious awareness. Request sent, usually if asked several times and with sincerity

"Why am I behaving and feeling this way ?"

UNCONSCIOUS MEMORY 'WAREHOUSE'

Searches for the 'file' containing the information, including the past events in which you formed certain beliefs

SUBCONSCIOUS Answer begins to surface (Dreams or a Feeling of Knowing)

CONSCIOUS AWARENESS Of course ! When I was five years old, my father told me that ….

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Sometimes the presence of unconscious beliefs is obvious, such as when you sincerely want to stop smoking, start a diet or exercise, but you cannot seem to get it right, no matter how hard you try. In these cases, you are aware of the effects of the unconscious beliefs, but do not know what these beliefs are or how to deal with them. However, most of the time these unconscious are not at all obvious or they present themselves as rational and reasonable ‘reasons’ why something is not possible. A typical example is when someone is ‘too busy’ to take care of her health, or ‘forgets’ his appointment with a doctor or therapist. People are truly unaware of how their unconscious beliefs influence their actions. The beliefs are in the Unconscious Mind - you are completely unaware of them.

"But," you say, "how do I know that there is something in my so-called Unconscious - how do I know that it exists in the first place ? It is just as easy to say that there is no such thing as the Unconscious, and that my behaviour and feelings are just 'natural' !"

Excellent question ! The example of 'forgetting' your keys, someone's name, or some object, and then 'remembering' it soon afterwards seems to indicate that your memory of something does not just dissolve when you 'forget'. It seems to indicate that it temporarily 'goes somewhere' - almost like a filing system - until you 'find it' again. You may also have noticed that certain smells, images and sounds can spontaneously bring back a memory of the past - even memories from your childhood. Where were these memories before you 'remembered' ? The only logical answer we can offer is that they are stored (filed away) in the Unconscious Mind.

"OK, so memories are stored away somewhere," you say, "But are all memories stored away - surely some things are permanently forgotten ?" Apparently not. There is fascinating research which indicates that conversations which occur even when you are in a coma, are stored away in the Unconscious Mind, and that these memories can be recalled with special techniques, such as hypnosis. The facts of the event can then be checked with the people who were there at the time.

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The ‘N’ part of ‘PNI’ – Neuro (Brain) ‘Neuro’: This refers to the brain and the nervous system. Have you ever wondered how you can think of, for example, lifting your finger, and then your finger moves ? How does your thought travel through your body and instruct your body to do things?

The most obvious mechanism is the brain and nervous system, which is highly intricate system of 'wiring' which sends electrical signals back and forth from your brain to your body through nerve 'wires', with your brain being the main 'switchboard'. So, for example, you think "Finger - lift !" (although rarely does this happen consciously - it is usually unconscious), and the brain translates this instruction into an electrical impulse which races through your nerves to your finger, which then obeys the instruction, and 'lifts' !

The brain is connected to the rest of the body by means of the spinal cord, which runs through the centre of your spine, and from which nerves extend into the rest of the body. Together, the brain and the spinal cord is called the Central Nervous System (CNS). The major nerve system which connects the spinal cord to the rest of the body, especially the various organs of your body, are called Autonomic Nervous System (ANS).

The Autonomic Nervous System has two types of nerves - the Sympathetic Nervous System (which, for example, causes your heart to beat faster), and the Parasympathetic Nervous System (which, for example, slows your heart rate down).

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Brain Spinal Cord

CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM

AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM The nerves that run from the spinal cord to the various parts of the body

The Brain and Nervous System

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Most people believe that the brain and nervous system is the primary control mechanism of the human body. In reality, there are two equally powerful control systems – the brain-nerve system, and the Endocrine system.

The Endocrine System of Glands & Hormones Throughout your body are a number of organs called endocrine glands, whose primary function is to produce chemicals called hormones. These hormones have the ability to control other cells in your body.

For example, the Pancreas (an endocrine gland located beneath your stomach) secretes the hormones insulin and glucagon, which control the level of blood sugar in your body, which in turn affects your metabolism and energy levels.

Another well-known gland is the Thyroid gland (located in your throat), which also releases hormones which affect metabolic rates of your cells. The ovaries in women, and testes in males, release sex hormones such as estrogen and testosterone.

Other important glands - in terms of PNI - are the Adrenal glands, which are located on top of the kidneys. These glands have two parts, namely the Adrenal Medulla which secretes adrenaline hormone, and the Adrenal Cortex which secretes cortisol hormones. These hormones are important in understanding the effects of stress. Most importantly, the Pituitary Gland – the gland which controls all of the other glands the Pituitary Gland – is located inside the brain, and is connected to the Hypothalamus by means of a tiny vessel called the hypophysial stalk. The Hypothalamus is sometimes referred to as the Seat of Emotions. Directly or indirectly, all emotions and thoughts pass through, and are processed by, the Hypothalamus. This connection between the Pituitary gland and the Hypothalamus is the most obvious of the connections between thoughts, feelings, and what happens in the body.

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Thoughts & Feelings

HYPOTHALAMUS Hypophysial

Stalk

INSIDE OF THE BRAIN

PITUITARY GLAND

Thymus

Pancreas

Adrenals

Thyroid

Testes / Ovaries

Hormones Affect The Rest Of The Body When we discuss PNI, most people can relate to the aspects regarding the psyche. However, when we discuss the brain and nervous system, and the various chemicals which the brain releases under certain psychological conditions and which influence the immune system, many people get confused and stop listening! Therefore, we will keep it simple and refer you to the excellent article cited in Chapter 1, entitled Psychoneuroimmunology: Brain and Immunity by P.H. Black. Another useful reference is Candace Pert's Molecules of Emotions (also cited in Chapter 1) for more information on neuropeptides - the biochemicals of emotion and thought, such as dopamine, serotonin, Substance P, opiates and melatonin.

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The ‘I’ part of ‘PNI’ - Immunology

‘Immunology’: the final piece of the PNI puzzle. Most people understand the immune system as the cells that attack cancer cells, bacteria and viruses to keep us healthy. However, the immune system is much more complicated than this and includes other areas of the body.

Imagine that your body is a city full of people. Around this city is a huge wall (your skin) which prevents most intruders (bacteria, viruses, and parasites) from getting inside your body. There are also a number of gates into this city - your ears, mouth and nose. All of these gates are protected as well. Your ears have wax, your eyes have tears, and your nose has hairs and mucous, all of which prevent intruders from entering your body. If the intruders get past these body defenses, the acid in your stomach will usually kill them or the chemicals in your saliva will destroy most of them. All these parts of your body, and the substances they produce, form part of your immune system as well. This system of defense is called the 'Non-Specific Immune Defense System'.

It is only when the intruders get beyond these barriers that the second line of defense kicks in, namely the cells in your blood which are like the army waiting inside the walls of the city. This is called your 'Specific Immune Defense System', which has two main components - the Humoral System (mainly the Red Blood Cells), and the Cell-Mediated System (mainly the White Blood Cells). As with any army, you have your first line of defense – the police – your Red Blood Cells (RBC). Then, the army for those intruders that get past the police, the White Blood Cells (WBC). Included is the ‘independent special operations’ brigade, called Natural Killer Cells (NK-cells) and roving soldiers called Macrophages. There are many more specialized groups of cells, such as neutrophils and eosiphils.

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Summary of

The Body's Immune Defense Mechanisms 1. The Outer Wall (Non-Specific Immunity) ❑

Coughing, sneezing - expels germs that have entered the body.

❑

Acid in your stomach, Wax in your ears, Chemicals in your tears - destroy germs

❑

Cells that kill germs as soon as they enter the body - e.g., neutrophils and macrophages.

2. Defense inside the walls (Specific Immunity) (a) The Police (Humoral System) ❑

B-cells: Identify the germ (antigen), and produce an identikit (memory) of the germ.

❑

Antibodies (immunoglobulins): Produced by Plasma cells, based upon the identikit provided by the B-cells. These antibodies 'arrest and lock onto' the germ, so that other cells can recognize it as an invader. As a result, other cells (e.g., macrophages) can kill the 'arrested' germs.

❑

This system works well for bacterial infections.

(b) The Army (Cell-mediated Immunity) ❑

T-cells (T lymphocytes)

❑

Specialize in germs that are already inside tissue and cells (e.g., viruses and tumours).

❑

Recognize the germ in the cell or tissues, attach to it, and kill it.

How do all these tiny cells communicate with each other? How does the liver know when to release glucose when needed? How does the heart know when to pump more blood than normal and when to slow down? There are two forms of communication – the nervous system and the chemical system including hormones.

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Imagine the complicated process that must occur when one cell discovers a virus or cancerous cell in some location within the body. First, it must ‘know’ that what it has found is not ‘normal’ – it has to have some kind of memory. Second, it must somehow ‘let someone know’ that this problem has been identified and located. Third, the ‘authorities’ must send troops out to the site. Fourth, it must destroy the ‘not normal’ organism and, finally, dispose of it. Every second of our lives, these incredible processes occur inside our bodies without our awareness. There are many identified chemical ‘messengers’, making it possible for all the various kinds of cells to know what is happening, where to go, what to do and when to stop. Examples are the various interleukins, interferon, and TNF (Tumor Necrosis Factor). Also, there is a wide range of hormones to activate or slow down various cellular activities. Neuropeptides – chemicals released by the brain – also flow through the blood and affect cell activities. Receptors are on the surface of many cells, which can be compared to satellite dishes, each one designed to ‘pick up’ different chemical messages.

A great deal of current medical research revolves around the questions of why the chemical messages are either not sent from the site of cancerous growths (for example), and why the cells meant to receive the messages and act on them may not respond. Yes, believe it or not, defective communication is often the cause of many diseases, even when all the cells necessary to remove the problem are ready and waiting for instructions.

It is not possible to do the immune system any justice in a few pages. But then, it isn’t necessary to know every kind of cell, how it does what does, and how the whole system links together. It is however necessary to understand something about how certain kinds of immune responses can lead to specific kinds of diseases, specifically chronic diseases.

Autoimmune diseases, such as arthritis and multiple sclerosis, are the result of the immune system mistakenly attacking ‘normal’ parts of the body. In arthritis, the immune system destroys the tissue in the joints while, in multiple sclerosis, the ‘insulation’ around the nerves – myelin sheathing – is eroded, causing ‘short-circuiting’ of nerve impulses to the limbs. If the immune system is understood as the body’s ability to distinguish Self from Non-self,

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then autoimmune diseases can be understood as Self attacking Self at an immunological level.

Suppressed immune system diseases include Cancer, AIDS, and CFIDS (Chronic Fatigue Immune Deficiency Syndrome). In all these diseases, the immune system is not reacting as it should – it is apathetic and lazy. For example, cancerous cells develop as a matter of course in everybody. A cancer cell is a cell that refuses to die against the natural course of events. They accumulate by utilizing blood and resources and starving the adjacent tissue. The usual job of the various White Blood Cells is to identify cancerous cells and destroy them. However, where the immune system is suppressed, this does not occur and tumors develop.

In HIV/AIDS, the virus attacks and occupies the very cell responsible for sending out the chemical messages that something is ‘wrong’, and so the virus effectively hijacks a very important part of the immunological communication service. However, other cells, such as Natural Killer Cells, do not require such prompting and should clean up the virus but, in most cases, they don’t. Once again, the immune system doesn't respond as it should. In about 95 percent of cases, this failure to destroy virally-infected cases continues over several years, gradually eroding the immune system, allowing various bacteria and viruses to wreak havoc with little resistance.

Most people assume that all cases of HIV infection lead to this erosion of the immune system. We now know that this does not occur in all cases. In fact, about three to seven percent of HIV infections don’t result in AIDS, and the immune system retains its strength throughout21 (studies indicate that as many as 10 percent of HIV-infected people do not have immune system declines for up to 78 months from infection22). Such people are called Long Term NonProgressors.

For reasons still unclear, the immune system in CFIDS (previously called Yuppie Flu and ME) cases crashes. This appears to be quite sudden and the system remains weak for quite some time, even years.

21 22

Levy, J.A. 1993. HIV pathogenesis and long-term survival. AIDS, 7, pp.1401-1410. Sheppard, H.W., Lang, W., Ascher, M.S., Vittinghoff, E., & Winkelstein, W. 1993. The characterization of non-progressors: long-term HIV-1 infection with stable CD4+ T-cell levels. AIDS, 7, pp.1159-1166 © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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In both Autoimmune and Suppressed Immune System diseases, we have not stated what sets off the exaggerated or under-active trend. Whether the ‘cause’ was a virus or bacteria is not the point – the point is that the immune system, as a whole, fails to correctly identify the problem, either acting against itself or failing to act where it should. This may be viewed as an immunological identity crisis.

The Role of Hormones in Immune Functioning Various hormones – such as Cortisol and Adrenaline (also known as epinephrine) – are able to profoundly affect immune system functioning. However, these profound effects are often unappreciated.

Cortisol is a powerful suppressor of the immune system. There are receptors on the surfaces of most White Blood Cells for cortisol, and it is cortisol that effectively slows down cell activity. This is most clearly appreciated in tissue transplant procedures (such as bone marrow, heart and lung transplants) where the patient is infused with great quantities of corticosteroids (i.e., cortisol-like hormones), specifically to ensure that the immune system does not respond to the ‘foreign’ organ being transplanted into the body by rejecting the organ. One of the most astonishing facts about the effects of such artificially high levels of cortisol is that the side-effects closely mimic AIDS in almost all respects, including anxiety, depression and susceptibility to all and any bacterial and viral infection. However, unlike AIDS, the immune system normalizes when the cortisol treatment is removed.

Furthermore, the addition of cortisol to HIV and CD4 White Blood cells increases viral ability to infect these cells by up to 70 percent23 24. It should be noted that most Physiology text books clearly identify psychological ‘stress’ as the major cause for cortisol secretion.

23

University of Pennsylvania study, April 1995, regarding RU-486, reported in the Pretoria News, 24 May 1995, in the article entitled “New hope for AIDS victims” 24 Markham, P.L., Salahuddin, S.Z., Veren, K., Orndorfff, S.S., & Gallo, R.C., 1986, Hydrocortisone and some other hormones enhance the expression of HTLV-III. International Journal of Cancer, 37, pp.67-72 © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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Connecting the Dots: P + N + I = PNI At this point it is appropriate to pull the various components together, and show how thoughts and feelings can affect the immune system. There are many biological pathways connecting psychological processes and immune functioning. The release of chemicals in the brain (neuropeptides) is one of those. However, the easiest mechanisms to understand and relate to are called the S.A.M. (Sympathetic nervous system, Adrenal Medulla) and H.P.A.C. (Hypothalamus, Pituitary, Adrenal Cortex) systems.

If you could imagine a person called Trog living 100 000 years ago, before towns and cities existed, and where the content of his daily life was largely survival-based, then the S.A.M. and H.P.A.C. mechanisms make a great deal of sense.

Hello ! My name is Trog. I'm going to show you how thoughts and emotions affect the immune system.

Trog had to go out and hunt for food. This was a dangerous venture which had to be regularly performed and nature ensured that Trog had the best possible physical mechanisms for all eventualities, to ensure survival as far as possible.

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The S.A.M. System – Action (Fight-or-Flight)! If Trog encountered a large and dangerous animal, such as a lion, he had a second in which decide to fight or run away. This is referred to as the fight-or-flight response. For this to occur, a biological mechanism evolved, called the SAM System (Sympathic nervous system – Adrenal Medullary System).

Option 1

Fight !

Option 2

Run ! (Flight)

In other words, Trog first perceived a situation involving either challenge or danger: “Ahah! Fur-wrapped food with teeth and claws! Somebody get the fire stoked” or “Uh oh! Trouble! Run Away!!”

By means of the nervous system (Sympathetic Nervous System), the brain (hypothalamus) sends a signal into a part of the Adrenal gland called the Adrenal Medulla which is responsible for secreting hormones called adrenaline (epinephrine) and noradrenaline (norepinephrine). These hormones rapidly circulate throughout the body.

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Remember when someone cut in front of you on the highway without prior indication? This sudden fright ‘woke you up’, didn’t it? It felt like a combination of shock treatment and some seriously strong coffee, didn't it? This is the effect of these hormones! (Incidentally, the Adrenal glands are located on top of the kidneys, and are divided into two sections, the Adrenal Medulla and the Adrenal Cortex. The S.A.M. System involves only the Adrenal Medulla and its hormones).

Adrenaline causes your body to stop digestion in the stomach, so that all energy and blood can be redirected to the muscles, assisting you in either doing the 'macho' thing by fighting or in mustering enough energy to get out of there! Energy (in the form of glucose) is released for rapid action. Your heart rate increases, and the pupils in your eyes enlarge (dilate). Simultaneously, your sinuses and other mucus membranes stop secreting mucus. Adrenaline causes your entire body to focus on one thing, and one thing only – fighting or running away as fast as possible. You literally feel ‘wide awake’ when adrenaline is racing through your body.

It is important to keep in mind that, when this mechanism evolved in humans, it was designed to deal with real-life threats and challenges, such as wild animals. However, today the same mechanism works when you believe or perceive challenge and danger. Think about the average high-powered business executive, which lives with constant challenge - hence the overactivation of the S.A.M. system, and the wear-and-tear on the heart.

Normally, the surge in Adrenaline has only a temporary boosting effect on the immune system. One of the interesting effects of adrenaline is the reduction in the secretion of mucous. Theoretically, if you have a head cold with a runny nose, a good adrenaline-producing roller-coaster ride should sort the mucous problem (runny nose and clogged sinuses) out !

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Brain - Hypothalamus

Sympathetic

Perception of Control Challenge – Danger - Action

Nervous System

Adrenal Medulla

Catecholamine Hormones

Adrenaline - Noradrenaline - Dopamine

AFTER-GLOW

ACTION!

ParaSympathetic Nervous System Activates… • • • • •

• • •

Increases heart rate Breathing rate increases Blood pressure After Pupils constrict increases the Secretion of mucous • Glucose (sugar) levels event Sweating stops increase to make more Heart rate & breathing rate energy available to the slow down muscles Stomach activities increase • Pupils of the eyes dilate • Sweating increases • Decreases stomach SAM System (Fight-or-Flight) digestion • Blood coagulation increases

If you remain in the fight-or-flee mode for too long, your immune system invariably weakens, almost as a form of burn-out, and this includes:

❑

Decreased NK cell activity (cells of the T-cell group which destroy tumours and virallyinfected cells).

❑

Decreased T-cell proliferation (activity and ability to multiply).

Other consequences of chronic activation of the S.A.M. system include:

❑

High blood pressure.

❑

Over-stressed heart - possible heart attacks, strokes, and similar chronic diseases.

❑

Burned out - chronic fatigue (no energy resources left to access).

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After the challenge or danger is over, your brain switches from the Sympathetic Nervous System to the ParaSympathetic Nervous system. The secretion of mucus returns, your heart rate and breathing slow down, and digestion kicks back into operation. Interestingly enough, sexual arousal, orgasm, and post-orgasmic ‘glow’ involve the same process, switching from Sympathetic to ParaSympathetic Nervous Systems. There is a direct biological connection between the physical arousal related to danger and sexual arousal, and it is not surprising that some people confuse the two!

It is essential to keep in mind that the S.A.M. System was designed for single short-term events - such as Trog facing the tiger. When any situation becomes chronic (continues for some time), the S.A.M. mechanism starts to back-fire and produce negative health effects, as listed above.

The problem with our 'civilised' way of life is that most of the 'challenges and threats' are now inside of ourselves, such as our 'need' to be the best, to win at all costs, and to prevent failure at all costs.

More importantly, these 'challenges and threats' are chronic - what we probably call our 'personality' (which, incidentally, it is not). Generally speaking, the high need to avoid failure, and to win at all costs, is called the Stressed Power Syndrome.

When you perceive a challenge or threat (regardless of whether it exists or not), the SAM system activates. Bear in mind that the SAM system is based upon your perception of control over the threat or challenge.

The absence of challenge can have the reverse effect, such as low levels of Human Growth Hormone (the hormone responsible for cell and muscle tissue growth, among other functions). For example, the wasting away of muscle tissue in some AIDS cases is partially a result of abnormally low levels of Human Growth Hormone (HGH), known as the HIV Wasting Syndrome.

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How Do We Know This Happens In Real Life ? In a fascinating study25, Stanislav Kasl and colleagues examined a specific type of military cadet. These cadets had overachieving fathers, high levels of motivation and were not performing as well as they thought they should (classic Stressed Power Syndrome). Kasl et al found that this group were more likely to develop clinical symptoms of Infectious Mononucleosis (Glandular Fever) compared to other cadets who did not have this ”I must succeed, but I might fail” motivation.

To make a gross comparison, it appeared that, although two people can be infected with the same virus, the one with the Stressed Power Syndrome is more likely to get ill as a result. This indicates that his/her immune system is less effective than the person with lower levels of the Stressed Power Syndrome. An important secondary lesson from this study is that, although your psychological make-up does affect your immune system, it does not determine whether you get infected with some bacteria or virus ! PNI mechanism simply describe how certain psychological factors affect how your body deals with such bacteria, viruses, or tumours.

People with the Stressed Power Syndrome are driven to succeed by fear of failure as their primary motivation force. This is not the same as being driven to succeed by a desire to experience or attain the objective. Consequently, the person with the Stressed Power Syndrome is constantly on the lookout for any threats to his/her success and, therefore, a chronic activation of the S.A.M. system. They experience failure as devastating and usually see failure as a clear indication of little to no worth. This becomes a major problem when their expectations are higher than their abilities to achieve, as witnessed with the military cadets. It is not surprising that Type A Personalities with the ‘Must Succeed’ (versus ‘Want to Succeed’) motivation drives are attracted to competitive environments, such as the corporate world. In this environment, their drive to

25

Kasl, S.V., Evans, A.S., & Niederman, J.C., 1979, Psychosocial Risk Factors in the Development of Infectious Mononucleosis, Psychosomatic Medicine, 41(6), pp.445-466 © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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succeed can cause a constant over-activation of the SAM system, leading to heart conditions, high blood pressure, and other SAM-related conditions.

For further information and research regarding the Stressed Power Syndrome and the so-called Type-A Personality, particularly in terms of it's associations with heart disease, the research by David McClelland (cited in Henry Dreher's book Immune Power Personality26) would be useful. For example, he found in a study of 76 men, that measures of what he calls 'inhibited power motives' (Stressed Power Syndrome) predicted high blood pressure and heart disease 25 years later !

In the same book, research by Meyer Friedman and Ray Rosenman showed that the "… vast majority of … patients with heart disease exhibited Type A behaviour - a pattern of hostility, impatience, and hard-driving competitiveness …"

26

Drehler, H., 1995, The Immune Power Personality, Chapter 6, Plume/Penguin: New York. © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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The HPAC System – ‘I am Wounded’ The next important system covers the possibility that poor old Trog did not run away from the tiger fast enough and got wounded somewhere in the encounter.

For this possibility, Mother Nature evolved the second important PNI pathway, the HPAC System (Hypothalamus – Pituitary – Adrenal Cortex System). We refer to this system as the ‘Hopeless – Helpless’ system, or alternatively, the ‘I am Wounded’ system.

Oddly enough, the HPAC System is specifically designed to suppress the immune system. This makes no sense until you understand the paradox - a slightly suppressed immune system is beneficial for a more rapid healing of wounds.

In other words, when you hurt yourself, a wide range of immune system cells rush to the scene of the wound. If this ‘rushing to the scene’ is not controlled or slowed down, the swelling caused by all those eager little cells can cause even more damage to the tissue than the original wound. For example, some people are highly allergic to bee stings or pollen. If they are not careful, they can die from being exposed to such substances, not because the pollen or bee sting is ‘poisonous’ but because their throats swell due to the ‘rushing in’ of eager-to-help cells, which closes the wind-pipe and they die from suffocation. This swelling is nothing more than an over-eager immune system.

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To control such swelling, the body sets off a chemical domino effect, called a hormonal cascade. When the person realizes that she is hurt, the Hypothalamus secretes a chemical called CRF (Corticotropic Releasing Factor). In turn, this activates the Pituitary gland to secrete ACTH (AdrenoCorticoTropic Hormone), which races through the blood system to the Adrenal Cortex, secreting a hormone called Cortisol (a corticosteroid) which, in turn, is released into the blood system, slowing down the immune system.

Cortisol is a powerful hormone which suppresses (slows down the activity) of the immune system. This is why many allergy medications contain Cortisone (a variation of Cortisol) as their main ingredient. Incidentally, many ointments for rashes, insect bites and allergies that contains Cortisone are ‘topical’ creams i.e. they’re applied externally and their effects are limited to the area to which they are applied. These creams are not of concern if used for a limited time by people with suppressed immune systems (e.g. cancer and AIDS).

The effects of Cortisol on the immune system are very powerful, particularly when this hormone is continually secreted over a long period of time i.e. six months or longer. Cortisol is the classic “Stress Hormone”. In the past, the HPAC System (Cortisol) evolved to deal with wounds and external situations when control was lost but, nowadays, the internal perception of loss of control or wounded-ness (i.e. emotional distress) produces the same effects.

In other words, chronic emotional distress - upset, fear, worry, anxiety, depression - directly results in chronic increases in Cortisol that, in turn, lead to long-term suppression of the immune system.

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Brain - Hypothalamus Hypothalamus secretes CRF

Perception of No Control

Pituitary Gland

Hurt – Wounded - Helpless

ACTH Hormone Released

Adrenal Cortex CORTISOL Hormone Released Into Blood System

Immune System Suppressed • • • • • • • • • • •

Decreases T-cell & antibody production Suppresses T-cell activity Reduces macrophage movement Decreases the ability of various cells to destroy cancerous and virally-infected cells Reduces RNA formation in muscles, causing muscle weakness Reduces fever Blocks allergic reactions Reduces immunity to all foreign invaders If Cortisol levels remain high for quite a while: All the above immune-suppressive effects become chronic Lymph gland structure deteriorates Cognitive damage can occur, such as anxiety and H.P.A.C. System depression.

(Helpless - Hopeless - Wounded)

A glance at the previous HPAC diagram - particularly the box containing the effects of cortisol on the immune system - reveals an astonishing range of effects, many of which can be directly linked to cancer, AIDS, and other suppressed immune system disorders.

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The most important concepts to keep in mind is that this hormonal effect is triggered by a perception of not having control, and a sense of 'woundedness'.

How Do We Know This Happens In Real Life ? One of the earliest indicators that the hypothalamus is involved in immune functioning, concerned research with rats. Researchers removed sections of the hypothalamus, and found that the production of antibodies is diminished, and T-cell production is reduced. They also found that " …those regions of the hypothalamus which are cut, thereby creating the preconditions for a laboratory animal to be predisposed toward disease, are precisely the same regions of the brain which are most reactive to …stress…"27

Kenneth Pelletier (previously cited) makes it quite clear that we do not require a dramatic or large shift in the functioning of the immune system for problems to arise. It appears that the immune system operates mostly on a surveillance mode most of the time - checking to see if there is anything wrong (such as checking for any cancer cells), and then destroying these abnormal cells on a daily basis. Even small decrease in this surveillance activity can swing the balance, causing more and more cancer cells to 'slip through the net', eventually resulting in clinical cancer. He also states that people with cancer tend to have such suppressed immune systems.

It is important to keep in mind that the SAM and HPAC system mind-body effects are not dramatic or obvious in the short term. Most of the effects we have discussed occur as a result of a slight decrease in immune functioning occurring over a long period of time, usually six months to two years. This is one of the major reasons why research which focuses upon short-term effects of 'stress' find little evidence for such disease effects. However, studies conducted over several years clearly demonstrate these connections and effects. As a result, the focus of PNI interventions is chronic stress and not short-term stresses.

27

Pelletier, K.R., 1992, Mind as Healer, Mind as Slayer, Dell Publishing: New York, p.63. © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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In this regard - and good news for those who are panicking about having a 'bad day' - is that the research clearly shows that acute (short-term) stress does not have any lasting effect on the immune system. Rather, a slight drop in the immune system occurs, which then returns to normal levels within 15 minutes or so28 29.

It is also worth restating that Cortisol (one type of corticosteroid produced by the adrenal cortex) - which is the end-product of the H.P.A.C. system's mechanisms - has been shown to increase the ability of HIV to infect T-cells, largely by affecting the receptors on the surface of such cells. (Refer to the study cited in "The Role of Hormones in Immune Functioning" in this chapter, by Markham and Salahuddin). Another study30 similarly found that administration of corticosteroids can reduce immune functioning in AIDS patients.

However, the connective pathways described to explain how psychological factors can affect the immune system and disease - the S.A.M. and H.P.A.C. systems - are not in and of themselves adequate explanations for the mindbody dynamic involved in disease and PNI itself. It is important to keep in mind that the explanations offered are highly simplified and generalised, sometimes grossly so. If you are willing to undertake a serious study of how the mind affects the body and immune system, an excellent place to start would be the various overview articles and books cited in Chapter 1. It is beyond the intent and scope of this book to provide a more in-depth and accurate summary of this research.

28

Knapp, P.H., Levy, E.M., Giorgi, R.G., Black, P.H., Fox, B.H., & Heeren, T.C., 1992, Short-term immunological effects of induced emotions, Psychosomatic Medicine, 54, pp.133-148. 29 Moss, R.B., Moss, H.B., & Peterson, R., 1989, Microstress, mood, and natural killer-cell activity, Psychosomatics, 30(3), pp.279-283. 30 Cohen et al, 1984, cited in Ader, R., Felten, D.L., & Cohen, N., (Eds), 1991, Psychoneuroimmunology (2nd Edit), p.1092, Academic Press: San Diego. © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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Internal or External Threats & Wounds As previously stated, the SAM and HPAC Systems were originally designed for the realities of survival in a harsh and dangerous world, where dangerous animals and injuries were the major threats to survival. There were no supermarkets to buy food, so Trog had to hunt for food – there was no way around that reality.

Also, it was extremely unlikely that he could live without injuries, whether from animals, fights, or simple cuts and scratches. The challenges and dangers in such a person’s life were short-term and external. Therefore, the SAM and HPAC Systems were ideal under these circumstances. However, for the most part, today’s world is a very different place. How many people do you know who, of necessity (not choice), encounter wild and dangerous animals on a daily basis? How many still hunt wild animals for food? Also, for the most part, injuries are much scarcer than they used to be. There are relatively few external dangers for most people. People have grouped together into large communities, an arrangement that offers protection for each community member and we have largely eliminated dangerous animals and circumstances from our environment. Our food supplies are regulated to such an extent that, if you have the money to do so, you can basically buy anything you want.

There are still certain external dangers, including reckless driving and crime, but there are systems in place to regulate these as well. Most people also have some degree of choice regarding these matters e.g. moving to a different neighborhood and/or installing security systems. Largely, danger is no longer external. Instead, most of the ‘dangers’ we face are internal, such as the fears and anxieties around failure and rejection.

"Is it logical to assume that, just because body changes occur due to external (real) threats and challenges, that the same body changes would occur to internal (psychological) ones ? After all, why should I respond to a fear of failure almost 'as if' I was facing a hungry and dangerous tiger ? How is that possible ? Surely I - and other people - know the difference between 'real' danger and 'imaginary' danger ?!"

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There are two parts to the answer to this question:

❑

First, your Conscious Mind may know the difference, but your Unconscious Mind may not. It is useful to keep in mind that the Unconscious Mind does not distinguish between 'real' situations and 'imaginary' ones. Have you ever had a nightmare and woken up dripping with sweat and your heart pounding ? 'Realistically' you were safe in bed, and yet your body responded to the images in the nightmare 'as if' they were real. Similarly, according to the Unconscious Mind, "If he leaves me I will just die !" is as real as if you were really facing a life-and-death threat outside of yourself. Your body responds largely to your Unconscious Mind, more than to your Conscious Mind.

❑

Secondly, there is plenty of evidence to demonstrate the phenomena called Behavioural Conditioning. The first person to document and research this was a man called Ivan Pavlov, in 1928. He developed a method called 'conditioned response' in dogs by ringing a bell when he fed a dog. After doing this for a while, he could get the dog to salivate ('as if' there was food on its way) just by ringing the bell. More specifically, he started with an Unconditioned Response (the secretion of saliva) which was linked to an Unconditioned Stimulus (the arrival of food). Then he took a Conditioned Stimulus (the ringing of the bell) and linked it to the Unconditioned Stimulus (food) by presenting it at the same time (when the dog was fed). By doing this several times, the dog began to associate the bell (Conditioned Stimulus) with food (Unconditioned Stimulus). Eventually, the dog would produce the same response (secretion of saliva) to the bell by itself.

The point is that it is possible that, since the time of Trog, our prototype caveman, we have been conditioned to respond to danger, challenges and wounds in a specific way. It is quite possible that, for example, failure has been linked to actual injury or pain, and this association has carried forward to today, despite the absence of 'real' danger of injury if you fail. A long time ago, if you failed, you could die. Today, this is not likely, but it 'feels as if' it could happen. The same could apply to a whole range of emotional perceptions, such as fear of rejection, abandonment, and feelings of 'being hurt' emotionally.

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Perception of Control Animal studies indicate that their perceived control (versus actual control) over pain is an important factor in determining which system - the S.A.M. or H.P.A.C. – will be activated at any given moment in time31. Even when the control is not real, the S.A.M. System is activated. When the animal believes that it has no control (perception of being helpless and/or hopeless), the H.P.A.C. System kicks in.

For example, if a dog believes that, by pushing a button in its cage, it can prevent a mild electric shock, the S.A.M. System is activated so that the dog doesn't develop typical H.P.A.C. System diseases such as cancer. Even if the button is not connected to the electrical device and, therefore, pushing it has no effect on the frequency or strength of the electrical shocks, the dog does not develop cancerous tumors. However, if the animal believes it can do nothing at all to prevent the electrical shocks from occurring (perception of no control), it typically develops H.P.A.C.-related diseases such as cancerous tumors. It needs to be clearly understood that these experiments were conducted over several weeks or months and were not short-term situations.

It is the PERCEPTION of control or absence of control that determines which system – the S.A.M. or the H.P.A.C. System – is activated in any circumstance.

Whether the sense of control (or absence of control) is based in fact or not, the hypothalamus will trigger the H.P.A.C. or S.A.M. System, according to what the person believes the situation to be.

31

Keller, S.E., Schleiffer, S.J., & Demetrikopoulos, M.K. (1991), Stress-induced Changes in Immune Function in Animals: Hypothalamo-Pituitary-Adrenal Influences, in Psychoneuroimmunology (2nd Edit.), pp.771-787, by Ader, R., Felten, D.L., & Cohen, N. (Eds.).Academic Press: San Diego. © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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Short-term versus Long-term Stress Ironically, for one simple reason, such internal threats and anxieties are more difficult to deal with than an angry and hungry lion. When you face a lion, you quickly discover whether you can fight and win or run and survive. If neither option works, you won’t notice, because you’re dead! Regardless, the danger is resolved one way or the other in a very short space of time.

However, fear of rejection or failure can last for months, even years. The ‘danger’ is chronic and long-term. It is this fact that is the key to the problem: your body is not designed to handle long-term threats and dangers.

The S.A.M. and H.P.A.C. Systems work wonderfully for short-term events and circumstances but become destructive, and even life-threatening, when chronically activated. An overview of PNI studies clearly indicates that short-term events – such as watching a scary movie or experiencing a sudden fright – do indeed cause the immune system to dip. However, these ‘dips’ quickly return to normal within 15 minutes to half an hour or so (refer "How Do We Know That This Happens In Real Life ?" for the H.P.A.C. System). Also, certain life events – marriage, divorce, death of a spouse, moving to a new town, starting a new job or exams etc have a significant impact upon the immune system (refer to Chapter 1 for factors and studies cited in CAN THE IMMUNE SYSTEM BE ENHANCED THROUGH PSYCHOLOGICAL MEANS?) This makes sense in terms of the S.A.M. and H.P.A.C. Systems.

Sometimes these events have a long-term effect, referred to as chronic stress.

Example A: If you divorce your spouse and, once it is over, you view the failed marriage as a simple mistake which does not reflect on your overall self-worth, then the effects would probably be short-term. If, however, you perceive your divorce as a reflection of some fundamental failure, or as indicating there is something wrong with you, or you worry about ever finding another person to love you, the effects are different. Stress is not an event – it is a perception or a thought or a decision about an event or circumstance.

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Example B: If you feel (perceive) that you're ‘trapped’ in your job or marriage and that you can’t leave, you are probably experiencing helplessness and hopelessness (long term and chronic ‘wounded-ness’). Your immune system will probably become suppressed because of chronic activation of the H.P.A.C. System. However, if you change your perspective (belief) about your circumstances and choices in those circumstances, the H.P.A.C. System would probably not be chronically activated.

If you fully comprehend the implications of the previous paragraphs regarding the power of shifting perceptions, you are already in a strong position to utilize PNI to its fullest extent.

It bears repetition to state that it is the perception of the circumstance or event that influences which system (S.A.M. or H.P.A.C.) the brain activates. There is no such thing as a ‘stressful’ event per se, simply because one person may experience it as positive and challenging while another may experience it as devastating.

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STRESS IS A PERCEPTION OF AN EVENT STRESS IS NOT THE EVENT ITSELF ! Same Event … Different Perceptions Wow ! This is fun!

Aah ! I am going to die !

Perception: Control

Perception: No control

S.A.M. System Activates

H.P.A.C. System Activates

Same event, but with a change in Perception … Different Physical Effects Aah ! I am going to die !

Wow ! This is fun!

Perception: No control

Perception: Control

H.P.A.C. System Activates

S.A.M. System Activates

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Even death of a loved one can be experienced as a relief or a devastating loss, depending upon the surviving person’s perception of the event. For example, one of our clients, Susan, understood that the body doesn't differentiate between good events and bad events - an event is an event after all. Her logic was that, if this was not the case, then all people undergoing a specific event or situation would experience stress. A simple observation of how people deal with specific situations clearly demonstrates that this is not true - some people respond with great anxiety and others respond with little anxiety. The real milestone for her was in recognising that it was more about her reaction to stress than the stress itself. The ‘big picture’ is by no means complete or even close to it. However, scientific research clearly and unequivocally explains how a range of psychological states leads to a similarly wide range of immune dysfunctions. Furthermore, when these psychological states are long-term and chronic, the associated immune system dysfunctions are equally chronic.

In conclusion: We do not say that the HPAC System and Cortisol are the ‘cause’ of any and all disease, nor are we saying that the HPAC System is the major or primary force acting upon the immune system in these diseases. What we are saying is that, with a basic knowledge of the HPAC System (and the SAM System), it is possible to begin a rational and focused examination of these various diseases with a logical perspective of how specific psychological states can produce specific immunological conditions. How this happens and which psychological factors lead to such irregularities is another matter and the subject of another chapter.

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Chapter 4 Trigger Events The word stress, as previously discussed, is a rather useless term. The reason is that the experience of emotional and physical distress depends upon individual perception of what is happening. One description is that stress is a perception of actual loss, potential loss or imagined loss.

For some people, stressful situations are challenging and stimulating, thus activating the adrenaline-producing SAM mind-brain-hormone system (this ‘positive’ form of stress is usually called eustress to distinguish it from ‘negative’ stress). For others, the same situation would be frightening, especially if you believe you don't have any control over the situation. This would activate the cortisol-producing HPAC mind-brain-hormone system.

The 20-second Mind ‘Dip’ However, there is more to ‘stress’ than just a perception of what is happening outside of you. There are other Unconscious Mind processes occurring with long-term effects that can last a lifetime:

Your brain produces a wide range of electrical signals of various frequencies:

When you are in very deep sleep (or in a coma - unconscious), your brain waves are very slow and are called Delta waves (less than 3.5 cycles per second). During normal sleep, your brain waves are a bit faster and are called Theta waves (between 3.5 and 7 cycles per second). As we will discuss soon, Theta waves are also produced during intense pleasure and pain and correspond to the Unconscious Mind.

Just before you go to sleep, and just before you wake up, your brain waves are even faster – between 7 and 14 cycles per second – and these are called Alpha brain waves. Meditation, prayer, and relaxed waking alertness also produce

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Alpha waves. When you are in the frame of mind where you are awake, but also not aware of time, this corresponds to the Alpha wave brain state. However, when you are aware of time and the world around you (sights, smells, touch, and sounds), your brain begins to produce faster brain waves, called Beta waves (14 cycles per second and higher). When you start getting worried, ‘stressed’, confused or panicked, your brain waves speed up and these are called High Beta waves.

A curious event occurs under very stressful situations: brain waves first get faster (High Beta waves) and, at the critical point of the event, they suddenly take a major dip down into Theta waves, for about twenty seconds, before returning to Beta waves32. The reason for the brain’s 20-second ‘dip’ is unclear, but it probably has some important survival function. Perhaps it has to do with the activation of deeper animal-brain instincts for survival. However, during these twenty seconds of Theta, you are effectively deep into your Unconscious Mind, even though you are apparently wide-awake! Your mind and brain are operating as if you were dreaming or asleep. Furthermore, whatever thoughts you have during this twenty-second ‘dip' will not be processed through your conscious logical, realistic and reasonable mind. The contents of your thoughts and feelings during those twenty seconds have a profound effect later, because they were literally planted directly into your Unconscious Mind. Strange but true. When the crisis is over and your mind has returned to Beta waves, and then Alpha waves, you will probably not remember what happened during those twenty seconds. An excellent example of this 20-second phenomenon is demonstrated during the shock at receiving a serious diagnosis or bad news. What is said, thought or felt during those twenty seconds can have a profound effect afterwards and this effect occurs without conscious awareness.

The origin of most Unconscious Beliefs tends to be located in these twenty-second ‘dips’.

32

Guyton (Ed.), 1981, Textbook of Medical Physiology, 6th Edition.

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There are a few important things to note about this process:

❑

You are more likely to form Unconscious Beliefs during ‘stressful’ events, now and in the past.

❑

These Unconscious Beliefs were formed during a short space of time in which your normal logic and sense of reality were not fully operating – they can be illogical and based upon a weak sense of what was 'realistically' happening at the time.

❑

Not all thoughts and feelings are as important as others when exploring the major influences in your life today, including beliefs about your disease and those beliefs that affect your immune system.

The Two Year Loss-to-Symptom Syndrome: Chronic Low Grade Stress One further piece to the puzzle of how events can influence disease is a phenomenon called the ‘Two Year Loss-to-Symptom’ syndrome. This refers to the widespread finding that, in most chronic immune-based diseases, there is a significant event involving loss about 18 months to 2 years before symptoms begin to develop. This has been found in a wide range of chronic diseases, including Cancer (Pelletier, cited in Chapter 3, in the section entitled The HPAC System - 'I am Wounded' ), Rheumatoid Arthritis33, Lupus34, Diabetes Type I35, Inflammatory Bowel Disease36 and Multiple Sclerosis37. When you consider there is usually a 20-second ‘dip’ in brain waves during such loss events and that, thereafter, the thoughts which occurred during this ‘dip’ continue to operate as an Unconscious Belief, this phenomenon starts to make sense.

33

Baker, G.H.B., 1982, Life events before the onset of rheumatoid arthritis, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 38, pp. 173-177. 34 McClary, A.R., Meyer, E., & Weitzman, D.J., 1955, Observations on the roles of the mechanism of depression in some patients with disseminated lupus erythematosus, Psychosomatic Medicine, 17, 311-321. 35 Slawson, P.F., Flynn, W., & Kollar, E.J., 1963, Psychological factors associated with the onset of diabetes mellitus, JAMA,The Journal of the American Medical Association, 185, pp.166-170. 36 Engel, G.L., 1973, Ulcerative colitis, In A.E. Lindner (Ed.), Emotional Factors in gastrointestinal illness (pp.99-112). Amsterdam: Excerpta Medica. 37 Grant, I., 1987, Life events and onset and exacerbation of symptoms of multiple sclerosis, abstract presented to the Symposium on Mental Disorders, Cognitive Defects, and Their Treatment in © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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Multiple Sclerosis, Nov 18-21, Odense, Norway)

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The second aspect to this phenomenon concerns the period of time it takes for the effects to manifest as symptoms. When most people think of ‘stress’, they imagine some one-off event that caused distress. However, most of the ‘stress’ we experience nowadays is internal – our perceptions of the world, regardless of what is really happening outside ourselves - and this kind of ‘stress’ is continual and subtle, because it does not depend upon external circumstances for its existence.

For example, if my lover rejected me and I experienced this rejection as devastating, undoubtedly some belief would be formed during the 20-second brain wave ‘dip’ of that event. This belief could be “Who I am is not good enough – no-one will ever love me for who I am”. From that moment onwards, I will begin to notice only those external events, those statements and that ‘evidence’ to support this belief. I will also probably begin to build mental walls around myself to hide what I believe to be the ‘parts of me’ that are not good enough. Keeping these mental walls in place is a continual effort, as the fear of being exposed as “Not good enough” is also continual. Notice that all this effort is based upon one single event which created a simple and illogical thought that formed an Unconscious Belief, and that I am now driven by the fear of another rejection. More importantly, I do not believe that I can do anything about these ‘parts of me’ that are unlovable, except hide them, and hope no-one ever sees them.

Usually occurring unconsciously, this continual effort causes continual ‘stress’, referred to as Low Grade Chronic Stress. Over a period of time, typically 18 months to 2 years, this Low Grade Chronic Stress acts upon the mind-brain-hormone HPAC system (or any other system, depending on the belief and how the person unconsciously deals with it), slowly weakening the immune system. There is no ‘sudden’ drop in the immune system – it is very gradual. However, at some point the immune system becomes too weak to detect and destroy cancerous or virally-infected cells. This does not mean that either the event or the Unconscious Belief ‘caused’ the cancer, AIDS, or anything else. The existence of cancerous cells, bacteria and viruses is independent of all these psychological events and processes. However, the psychological processes have a major influence on how the body deals with these disease-causing agents.

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A few years ago, we were working with an HIV-infected client who had developed AIDS symptoms in the previous year. For many years he was healthy, living beyond most of his friends who had died from HIV-related illnesses. Everyone thought he was one of the ‘lucky’ few who would never develop AIDS. Despite being HIV-infected for more than twelve years, his immune system had remained normal except for the last two and a half years when his T-cell counts began to drop rapidly for no known reason. When we asked him if any significant loss had occurred in the two years period before his immune system started deteriorating, he said his best friend had died in a car accident. However, he added, he had lost many friends and lovers prior to that time and, therefore, he did not consider this specific loss of any great significance.

We then asked him whether he had lost any other friends or lovers after that specific friend had died, and he replied “No – I had no friends left – he was the last friend I had. When he died, I decided to stop making new friends because I knew I would lose them as well and I am tired of losing the people I love”. Unwittingly, he had revealed what had occurred during the loss event (in the 20-second ‘dip’) - it's too painful to care for others because they die. The fear was to care and lose again. As a result, he built up mental walls against affection and friendship and the maintenance of these walls created the low-grade chronic stress, which gradually eroded his previously strong immune system.

Incidentally, a key aspect of the subsequent therapy focused upon the belief that ‘everyone I love dies’. Strictly speaking, this is correct. However, death does not mean rejection – people do not necessarily die to show you that they no longer want to be with you! Also, we focused on his willingness to engage in future relationships. Three years later, his immune system had recovered to just below normal levels and he is now symptom-free with occasional outbreaks of minor infections.

It needs to be clearly understood that, in some cases, the actual loss is not obvious to the person, and this is understandable in terms of the 20second ‘dip’ and its unconscious nature. This is why it is so useful to have a therapist or friend guide the PNI process for you – you are not conscious of

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certain aspects of what you are really saying and the ‘objective’ therapist can identify critical statements which you may simply gloss over. Also, what appears to one person as ‘terrible’ may be liberating for another – it all depends on what happens in the 20-second brain ‘dip’ into Theta.

For example, Jim had cancer and he told us that his first marriage as a ‘disaster’. When it ended, the only thought to go through his head was “I'm free!” During the subsequent custody battle for the two children, he and his ex-wife had a major argument during which she told him he was a lousy lover and ‘not a real man’. He was totally unprepared for this criticism, and this statement had a devastating effect. The shock of the statement resulted in a 20-second ‘dip’ during which time he thought about how this was possibly true. Moments later, when his thought processes were again logical and partially rational, he defended himself against his soon-to-be ex-wife.

However, the damage had been done in those 20 seconds. Without realizing it, he began to act and feel according to the unconscious belief that he was “not a real man”. He started to have many sexual partners (to prove his ‘manliness’), during which he sometimes experienced impotency. He also had periods of not wanting to be with women who wanted more than sex from him and many other behaviors reflecting the conflicted feeling “not a real man”. His conscious reason for this behaviour was “I’m free of this marriage and I want to have fun before settling down again”. However, this period of “fun” had lasted for several years and, based on his anxiety and anger towards women, it was definitely not “fun”. The continual effort to hide the belief of “not being a real man” produced continual stress, which gradually eroded his immune system over several years. We construct a rational and logical explanation for feelings that we don’t understand, especially when those feelings are based on painful unconscious beliefs.

In the previous example, it would have been unthinkable for Jim to discuss the belief that “I’m not a real man”, as this would create a tremendous amount of anger and defensiveness. Instead, we discussed the marriage and divorce, and then asked him to give a moment-by-moment account of the argument that occurred outside the Custody Court. It was only when he became aware of

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exactly what went through his mind during those 20 seconds, that his subsequent behavior began to make sense to him, and it was possible to change this powerful unconscious belief which was causing low-grade chronic stress.

It is logical to assume that loss (real or perceived) involves pain, rejection, failure and criticism. However, there are also less obvious situations of loss that are usually overlooked, namely events of achievement or completion of some project and success. A typical example: a person builds a business from scratch, working hard and passionately for several years, until s/he finally ‘makes it’ and the money starts flowing in or s/he sells the business for a substantial fee. Certainly, this is a wonderful achievement. However, unless there is some project in which s/he can place passion with equal energy, this ‘success’ is usually accompanied with a profound sense of loss of purpose – “What do I do now? Who am I without this project?”

Retirement after many years of work can produce the same sense of emptiness and loss of purpose. In some cases, this loss is devastating and difficult to repair, such as a woman who sacrificed a personal life for her sport and finally achieving a gold medal at the Olympics. Once she had achieved this height of success, and being ‘too old’ to repeat the success in four years time, what is left for her in terms of passion for life and purpose? This syndrome, in less extreme forms, is quite common. How often have you heard someone say that he would love to start a specific project about which he is passionate, “But”, he says, “I'm too old now”? These people have effectively lost their dream or, alternatively, lost their belief that life has any further purpose or hope of fulfillment.

Mothers, who see their children grow up and leave home to pursue their own lives, often experience both a sense of achievement and profound loss, called the ‘Empty Nest Syndrome’. “Who am I as a woman, if I can no longer produce more children or if I no longer raise children? Who am I?” During such moments of sadness or confusion, several possible 20-second ‘dips’ can occur, producing profound effects on psychological and physical health.

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A very common phenomenon involves ‘sacrificing’ personal purpose for others, especially for children and other loved ones. It is alarming how few people know how to find a balance between fulfilling their own needs and supporting the needs of others. Usually, there is a perception of ‘you or me’ in such decisions, instead of ‘you and me’.

Finally, we must recognize that there are losses involved in the disease itself: Sometimes a loss of physical functioning (and therefore the ability to do the things you enjoy), loss of self-esteem, perceived loss of future and many other possible or actual losses.

In practice, when we begin the PNI assessment process, we scrutinize the three years prior to diagnosis for Trigger Events. We extend this period to three years because many symptoms are undetected for some time and are often only noticed or diagnosed when they begin to be painful or obvious. For certain conditions, such as a cancer that goes into remission and which then returns, we focus on the period preceding the first appearance of symptoms. Subsequent re-occurrences are usually linked to the initial triggering event, in some form or the other, and may reflect a temporary overcoming of the initial Unconscious Belief, which is re-activated by a secondary event.

It is also important to distinguish between continually chronic conditions (such as cancer, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, arthritis and AIDS), and repeated intermittent conditions (Herpes or Eczema outbreaks) which can activate and then go dormant. In the case of recurrent (repeat) conditions, there is typically some original trigger event to ‘set the scene’ which is later activated, usually through stressful events or periods of stress38. For example, with Herpes Simplex or Herpes Zoster, the outbreaks of clinical symptoms are preceded by a period of depression39, typically six months or more beforehand. These viruses reside in the nerve endings and can remain dormant for several years between outbreaks. However, a prolonged period of high activation of the nervous system – ‘stress’ – can activate these viruses.

38

39

Glaser, R., Kiecolt-Glaser, J.K., Speicher, C.E., & Holliday, J.E., 1985, Stress, Loneliness, and Changes in Herpesvirus Latency, Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 8(3), pp.249-260. Kemeny, M.E., Cohen, F., Zegans, L.S., & Conant, M.A., 1989, Psychological and immunological predictors of genital Herpes recurrence, Psychosomatic Medicine, 51, pp.195-208 © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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Furthermore, the frequency of stressful events also affects the duration of active symptoms40. Similar findings are found with the common cold41. Once again, it is important to distinguish between virus activity – which is linked to psychological factors – and the presence of the virus itself, which is not ‘caused’ by psychological processes. Even in such recurrent conditions, it is useful to examine the loss events preceding the initial outbreak of symptoms, as the ‘stress’ which reactivates these symptoms may be linked or similar.

Coping Flexibility Human beings tend to be creatures of habit. One of the keys to successful PNI therapy is working at the level of coping skills i.e. why you cope the way you do and whether your habitual method of coping is beneficial or detrimental to your health. However, one of the major findings of PNI research is that there is no such thing as a ‘perfect’ or ‘ideal’ coping style! In fact, certain ways of coping may be ideal in one situation and detrimental in another. Effective coping is thus contextual – it all depends on the context (situation itself).

For example, during the 1970s, a nuclear reactor near Three-Mile Island (USA) had serious problems and there was a real likelihood that the surrounding communities would be exposed to radiation. PNI researchers utilized this situation to examine how people cope with such a chronic real threat. They found that people who used emotion-focused coping – focusing on how they felt and talking about how they felt – experienced much less stress than those people who used either denial coping (pretending that everything was fine and ignoring the problem) or problem-focused coping (i.e. looking for solutions and being action-oriented)42. Therefore, in chronic (long term) stressful situations, it is more effective to deal with how you feel, versus trying to deny what is happening or trying to fix situations that cannot be fixed.

40

Silver, P.S., Auerbach, S.M., Vishniavsky, N., & Kaplowitz, L.G., 1986, Psychological factors in recurrent genital herpes infection: Stress, coping style, social support, emotional dysfunction, and symptom recurrence, Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 30(2), pp.163-171 41 Cohen, S., Tyrell, D.A.J., & Smith, A.P., 1993, Negative Life Events, Perceived Stress, Negative Affect, and Susceptibility to the Common Cold, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64(1), pp.131-140 42 Baum, A., Fleming, R., & Singer, J.E., 1983, Coping with victimization by technological disaster, Journal of Social Issues,39, pp.117-138 © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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Another way of interpreting these findings is that when you have no real control over an ongoing stressful situation, focus on dealing with how you feel, versus trying to control it or deny it.

However, when we examine short-term stressful situations, PNI research indicates something quite different: Under conditions where the stress is of short duration – such as going to hospital for an operation - denial coping and problem-focused coping are more effective in terms of how much stress is experienced. Furthermore, under such short-term conditions, emotion-focused coping simply worsens the stress43!

Most importantly, realize that rigid coping styles do not serve you in dealing with disease: there are situations where it's appropriate to talk about how you feel and there are other situations which require practical action and solutions with little emotional involvement44.

Implications for Social Support What does this mean in terms of social support? If, for example, you went to hospital for minor surgery, how would you want your friends and family to support you to make the event less stressful? According to Robert Costanza and colleagues45, if your friends were to chat to you about how you were feeling (emotion-focused), this would increase your stress. However, if they were to talk to you about the weather or about practical problem-focused issues – such as the actual and factual sequence of events involved in the operation, this would decrease your stress. In essence, short-term situations require problem-focused or denial coping to keep stress levels low.

However, when dealing with chronically stressful situations, the reverse is true: denial coping and problem-focused support is detrimental while emotion-focused support is beneficial. Therefore, it is important for friends and family to understand that it is important to offer different kinds of support in different situations.

43

Wilson, J.F., 1981, Behavioral preparation for surgery: Benefit or harm? Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 4, pp.79-102 44 Suls, J., & Fletcher, B., 1985, The Relative Efficacy of Avoidant and Nonavoidant Coping Strategies: A Meta-Analysis, Health Psychology, 4(3), pp.249-288 45 Costanza, R., Derlega, V.J., & Winstead, B.A., 1988, Positive and Negative Forms of Social Support: Effects of conversational Topics on Coping with Stress among Same-Sex Friends, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology,24, pp. 182-193. © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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Assessment 1: Stressful Events In Your Life The following list contains many kinds of ‘stressful’ events. The list is not comprehensive, so you should feel free to add to it. Read through the list, item by item. If such an event, or anything similar, has EVER happened to you, tick it off and write down the approximate date or year in which it happened.

Please keep in mind that the 20-second dip is an unconscious phenomenon. Therefore, even though you feel some event has no significance, or is ‘positive’, tick it off anyway. It's not necessary to think about the contents or significance of the event. Simply tick it off if it's ever happened to you as this list will be of great value in later stages of the PNI process, particularly in Chapter 11. Apart from the date or year, notes are not essential. Realize that it is often difficult to determine whether something ‘actually’ happened, or whether it was something you ‘think’ (believe/imagine/perceive) happened. In truth, there is little difference in the effects. This is particularly relevant in childhood events and stresses, for example, you may have felt rejected or abandoned regardless of whether this was factually true or not. A parent spent a great deal of time at work because s/he needed to ensure food and shelter for the family, but you noticed the parent’s absence and concluded that the parent did not want to be with you, hence feelings of rejection.

Tick it off, regardless of whether the specific event occurred in ‘fact’ or was simply perceived to have happened.

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1. YOUR OWN BIRTH 1-01

Difficult birth and early few weeks e.g. premature, physical defects or illness.

1-02

The result of an unwanted or forced pregnancy.

1-03

Adopted at birth or soon thereafter.

1-04

Abandoned at birth or soon thereafter.

1-05

Attempts by your mother to abort you during pregnancy.

1-06

Parent(s) wanted a child of the opposite sex.

2. PREGNANCY & BIRTH (YOUR CHILDREN) 2-01

Unwanted pregnancy (too young or forced sex).

2-02

Difficult or complicated pregnancy and/or labour.

2-03

Baby very ill after birth.

2-04

Baby born with physical and/or mental problems or defects.

2-05

Death of baby at birth or soon thereafter.

2-06

Had to give up career and/or ambitions due to pregnancy.

2-07

Failed attempt at abortions during pregnancy.

2-08

Successful abortions during pregnancy.

2-09

Miscarriage(s) during pregnancy.

2-10

Inability to fall pregnant when you wanted to / Infertility.

2-11

Artificial insemination required.

2-12

Giving baby away for adoption or foster care.

3. YOUR CHILDHOOD 3-01

Physical abandonment by parent (one or both) – perceived or actual.

3-03

Emotional abandonment (rejection) by parent – perceived or actual (various reasons, including birth of brother/sister; parents ill; parents constantly working; parents taking care of someone else who required a great deal of attention; parents alcohol/drug dependent; etc). Divorce of parents.

3-04

Adoption/foster care.

3-05

Sent to boarding school.

3-06

Rejection by peers (e.g. for being different in some way).

3-07

Criticism or abuse by teacher(s).

3-08

Criticism or abuse by minister/priest or any other authority figure.

3-09

Physical abuse, assault, violence, torture, deprivation.

3-10

Sexual abuse / rape / attempted rape.

3-11

Incest (sexual molestation / rape by family member).

3-12

Physical neglect.

3-13

Forced to live with people other than your parents.

3-14

Alcohol/Drug-addicted parent(s).

3-15

Humiliation – perceived or actual.

3-16

Severe criticism by adults or parents.

3-17

Forced to take on adult responsibilities too soon.

3-02

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4. DEATH OF LOVED ONES & OTHERS 4-01

Death of Mother

4-02

Death of Father

4-03

Death of Grandmother.

4-04

Death of Grandfather.

4-05

Death of brother or sister.

4-06

Death of an aunt or uncle.

4-07

Death of a child.

4-08

Death of a spouse (husband, wife, lover).

4-09

Death of a friend.

4-10

Death of a pet.

4-11

Death of a client or patient.

4-12

Death of affiliate groups or community members (e.g. catastrophic events, such as war, floods, fire, bomb, terrorism).

5. PAIN CAUSED TO YOUR LOVED ONES 5-01

Assault.

5-02

Rape.

5-03

Attempted rape.

5-04

Mugging.

5-05

Robbery.

5-06

Life threatened by violent means (e.g. gun, knife, bomb, etc.).

5-07

Life threatened by disaster (e.g. fire, flood, war, etc.).

5-08

Physical persecution and/or torture.

5-09

Hijacking (car or other vehicle).

5-10

Kidnapping.

5-11

Destruction of personal property (e.g. house burned down or through violence).

5-12 5-13

War and acts of war – witnessing and/or participating in death or acts of aggression of others. Physical pain or disfigurement due to aggression or violence.

5-14

Physical pain or disfigurement due to accident or disease.

5-15

Invasive or complicated surgical procedures.

5-16

Witnessing abuse or bad treatment of a loved one (e.g. your father abuse your mother).

6. VIOLENCE TOWARDS, AND VIOLATION OF, YOUR BODY 6-01

Assault.

6-02

Rape.

6-03

Attempted rape.

6-04

Mugging.

6-05

Robbery.

6-06

Life threatened by violent means (e.g. gun, knife, bomb, etc.).

6-07

Life threatened by disaster (e.g. fire, flood, war, etc.).

6-08

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6-09

Physical persecution and/or torture.

6-10

Hijacking (car or other vehicle).

6-11

Theft of possessions.

6-12

Kidnapping of self.

6-13

Destruction of personal property (e.g. house burned down or through violence).

6-14

War and acts of war – witnessing and/or participating in aggression.

6-15

Physical pain or disfigurement due to aggression or violence.

6-16

Bullying by others.

6-17

Invasive surgery (e.g. hysterectomy, vasectomy, mastectomy, amputation, removal of ovaries, prostrate, spleen, any other organ).

7. PAIN THROUGH SOCIAL AGENTS 7-01

Discrimination and/or persecution (e.g. racial, political, religious)

7-02

Sued for civil criminal reasons, justifiable or not.

7-03

Criminal charges, justifiable or not.

7-04

Prison or jail service.

7-05

Deportation.

7-06

Refusal of access to institutions or facilities (e.g. clubs, voting rights, societies, education, medical, employment) i.e. deemed socially undesirable or unacceptable. Forced removal from home and/or community.

7-07

8. WORK – CAREER – AMBITIONS 8-01

Starting a new job.

8-02

Starting your own business.

8-03

Spouse/lover starting his/her own business.

8-04

Fired from your job.

8-05

Retrenched from your job.

8-06

Sexually, emotionally or physically harassed at work.

8-07

Spouse/lover fired from his/her job.

8-08

Spouse/lover retrenched from his/her job.

8-09

Spouse/lover sexually, emotionally or physically harassed at work.

8-10

Retirement due to age.

8-11

Retirement due to age of spouse/lover.

8-12

Retirement due to illness or other non-age reasons.

8-13

Retirement due to illness (or other non-age reasons) of spouse/lover.

8-14

Losing your own business.

8-15

Forced out of your own business.

8-16

Forced out of someone else’s company.

8-17

Spouse/lover losing his/her business.

8-18

Selling your own business.

8-19

Own (or spouse/lover’s) business facing bankruptcy or other serious threats.

8-20

Periods of involuntary unemployment (self).

8-21

Periods of involuntary unemployment (spouse/lover).

8-22

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8-23

Own career progress blocked for some reason.

8-24

Giving up career and dreams for family.

8-25

Promotions.

8-26

Doing a job that you did not feel competent to do.

8-27

Giving up a job/career that you loved (for whatever reason).

8-28

Doing a job/career that bores/bored you.

8-29 8-30

Being forced to do a job (e.g. because you are the sole breadwinner; parental insistence; need the money etc.). Persistent conflict with superiors, partners or colleagues.

8-31

Compromising yourself to keep/get a job.

8-32

Threats of dismissal when you really needed the job.

9. FINANCES 9-01

Loss of income.

9-02

Serious decline in value of investments.

9-03

Serious decline of financial status.

9-04

Insolvency.

9-05

Bankruptcy.

9-06

Liquidation.

9-07

Repossession of possessions due to inability to pay.

9-08

Heavy debt load.

9-09

Bond.

9-10

Over-insured.

9-11

Under-insured.

9-12

No insurance.

9-13

Inadequate medical scheme benefits.

9-14

High medical costs to pay.

9-15

Bad credit rating.

9-16

Over-extended credit.

9-17

No, or little, savings to get you through bad times.

9-18

Pension inadequate or absent.

9-19

Theft, defrauding, or robbery of your money, savings, etc.

9-20

Irregular income.

9-21

Not having enough money to ensure basic survival.

10. FRIENDSHIPS 10-01

Losing a friend due to relocation.

10-02

Losing a friend due to betrayal of trust.

10-03

Losing a friend due to an argument or misunderstanding.

10-04

Watching a friend suffer pain or disease.

10-05

Betraying a friend, due to necessity or other reasons.

10-06

Being rejected by a friend for someone else.

10-07

Refusal of friendship by someone you wanted as a friend. © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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11. INTIMATE RELATIONSHIPS & SEXUALITY 11-01

Divorce.

11-02

Separation.

11-03

Told by your partner that you are not sexually attractive.

11-04

Told that you are not a good lover.

11-05

Discovering that you are no longer sexually attracted to your partner.

11-06

Continual emotional abuse towards you by partner.

11-07

Continual physical abuse towards you by partner.

11-08

Continual mental abuse towards you by partner.

11-09

Hurting someone you love, and feeling unable to stop it.

11-10

Breaking off a relationship, and realising that this was a mistake.

11-11

‘Stood up’ by your partner (e.g. at the altar).

11-12

Discovering that your partner is in love with someone else.

11-13

Discovering that your partner is having a long-term affair with someone else.

11-14

Loving someone who will not (or cannot) commit to you.

11-15

Forced separation due to distance.

11-16

Serious cultural and/or religious differences between yourself and your partner.

11-17

Interfering family members.

11-18

Betrayal of trust by partner.

11-19

Betraying your partner’s trust.

11-20

Living with an alcoholic partner or drug addict.

11-21

Living with a partner who is a compulsive gambler.

11-22

Living with a partner who has a serious psychological problem.

11-23

Living with a partner with a terminal or serious disease.

11-24

Discovering that your partner is attracted to people of a different gender to you.

11-25

Knowing that you are gay, and trying to maintain a heterosexual relationship.

11-26

Living together for the sake of the children, when the relationship is over.

11-27

Suppressing a secret fetish (e.g. cross-dressing) in a relationship.

11-28

Forced to marry someone you do not love.

11-29

Forced to break off a relationship with someone you love (e.g. family pressure).

11-30

Losing the one you love to someone else.

11-31

Discovering that your partner is having an affair with someone else.

11-32

Your partner discovering that you are having an affair with someone else.

11-33

Having a secret affair with someone else.

11-34

Loving and living with someone, where the relationship is rejected by family and/or friends.

11-35

Sexual impotency/frigidity of yourself.

11-36

Sexual impotency/frigidity of partner.

11-37

Discovering that you have a sexually transmitted disease.

11-38

Discovering that your partner has a sexually transmitted disease.

11-39

Inability to find someone to love or who will love you.

11-40

Disputes and/or harassment with ex-partners. © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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12. EDUCATION & AMBITIONS 12-01

Wanting to study further and prevented from doing so.

12-02

Rejected when applying for entrance to a career you want.

12-03

Forced to study something in which you’re not interested.

12-04

Failing an important test or exam.

12-05

Realizing that you are not capable of something you want to do.

12-06

Told you’re stupid or incapable.

12-07

Achieving something and realizing that you cannot achieve any higher.

12-08

Stating your ambitions and being criticized / ridiculed for it.

12-09

Sacrificing your ambitions for the family.

12-10

Not having enough money to pursue your chosen ambitions.

12-11

Following a specific career when you really want to do something else.

12-12

Rejected by family or friends for choosing a specific career or field of study.

12-13

Losing friends or family due to promotion or advancement in your career or studies.

12-14

Punished for failing.

12-15

Punished for succeeding.

12-16

Negative comparison of abilities with brother/sister or someone else.

12-17

Told you will never amount to anything.

12-18

Told you will only be loved if you succeed.

12-19

Witnessing the humiliation, rejection or pain of someone for failing.

12-20

Witnessing the humiliation, rejection or pain of someone for succeeding.

12-21

Promising someone you love that you will follow a specific career, to please or win their approval.

13. HEALTH & ACCIDENTS 13-01

Receiving a diagnosis of a life-threatening disease.

13-02

Told by a doctor you’re probably going to die.

13-03

Told by a doctor that the illness you have cannot be cured or reversed.

13-04

Seeing a loved one suffer and die from a serious disease.

13-05

Losing the function of some part of your body (e.g. paralysis, losing sight, hearing)

13-06

Injury during an accident.

13-07

Hospitalization.

13-08

Pain – on-and-off (intermittent) and recurrent.

13-09

Pain – chronic (almost all the time).

13-10

Failure of treatment or surgery.

13-11

Recurrence of disease symptoms you thought had gone.

End of Stressful Life Event Assessment. Proceed with Assignment One.

© Empowerment Concepts 1999

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Assignment One In this assignment, write your answers down - it makes it more 'real' when you write or speak, instead of just 'thinking' about it. 1. Have a careful look to see which events occurred approximately 18 months to 3 years prior to the onset of your illness.

2. Try to remember what happened during the most intense moments of each event - particularly what you thought and felt about yourself, life, or what you concluded as a result of this event happening to you. Please … do not be intellectual about it - simply write down exactly what went through your head during the 20-second 'dip'.

Usually, such decisions, thoughts and feelings are generalizations statements which include 'always, everything, never, nothing' and similar all-encompassing concepts. The statement may not use those words, but the concept behind it usually reflects such generalizations. For example: "I am useless" ("I will never succeed").

Note: When you start to try and find the Unconscious Beliefs which were formed in past events, it is quite normal to find it difficult to remember. A useful way of starting this kind of exploration is to imagine that you are looking at this event happening to someone else what would a person (someone else), in exactly the same situation, probably think or feel as this event happened ?

3. Ask yourself: "Knowing what I know now, would I have made the same decision? Was this decision logical and correct, considering all the facts? Would I make the same decision today, if that event happened again?"

During the next few chapters, consider the connection between this potential 'trigger' event and your illness. This may not be immediately apparent. Furthermore, become aware of how often you think similar thoughts, on a day-to-day basis, and how this relates to the S.A.M. or H.P.A.C. mind-body system. Please note that the list of stressful events has further uses, especially in Chapter 11. So, don't throw the list away yet!

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Chapter 5 Finding the Focus: Shadow Assessment Hopefully, you’ve learnt from the previous chapters that PNI therapy is not a straightforward task - different events, decisions, and coping styles cause different effects on the body. No disease is the same as another and each is treated differently. It is for this reason that we advise against using one standard approach, such as a simple visualisation technique, for every illness.

So, where do you begin? There are several critical issues to be addressed when dealing with any disease that has a psychological aspect, either as a possible causal factor or as a factor that helps or hinders healing of the body. Although the very nature of life-threatening illness indicates that rapid intervention is vital, it should not be forgotten that haste often results in waste of precious time. In other words, it took a long time for your body to get to this point, and rushing now to ‘fix it’ is not an answer. Steady and consistent work is the answer.

The following steps are fundamentally important to this process:

❑

Do an accurate assessment of your coping styles (the subject of this chapter).

❑

Assess the potential trigger events in your life (some of which you’ve detailed in the exercise at the end of the previous chapter, but which are focused on in greater depth in the next chapter).

❑

Have some knowledge of the disease with which you’re dealing.

With this knowledge, priorities can be established and a personal plan of action can be made.

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Too often, we have seen desperate and hasty interventions result in a lot of raised expectations and nothing much else, simply because the intervention did not have focus and priorities. For example, if a person is arthritic, the standard approach used in cancer would be a total waste of time if not detrimental. This is simply because the one illness (arthritis) is basically an over-active immune system condition, while the other (cancer) is a suppressed immune system condition. Therefore, where a specific method is appropriate in one case, it adds to existing problems in the other.

Therefore, please do not skip over the assessment processes which started at the end of the previous chapter and which are continued in this chapter. Yes, filling out lists and lists of questions is boring and frustrating and, yes, it’s difficult to remember details of events that happened a long time ago. Just do the best you can. There are no magic and instant results in PNI. Remember, it took you a long time to get to this point - it takes effort and time to produce immune changes. In the assessment contained in this chapter – the Shadows46 - you are required to rate how accurately each statement applies to you, particularly in the last year or so. Please be honest – there is no point in deceiving yourself. As you will discover in the analysis of this Shadows assessment, there are literally no right or wrong answers and comparisons are not made with someone else. There is no ‘normal’ or ‘average’ for any of the questions. It is simply an assessment of your thoughts, feelings and behaviours, and provides an important foundation for further exploration.

46

The Shadows questionnaire is derived from J Steven's Transforming your Dragons (1994, Bear & Company, Inc., Santa Fe). The 14-item per Dragon questionnaire was completely rewritten after statistical analyses on a sample of several hundred people. Based upon this original analysis, weak items were deleted or reworded, others added, and further statistical analyses were performed on the transformed questionnaire, to arrive at the present 7-item per Shadow questionnaire. We have also added one more Shadow (Given Up) to the original seven, and rewritten the descriptions of the other seven, based upon our therapy experience and discussions with clients. The original scoring procedure has also been revised, in order to attain greater accuracy of measurement. We express our gratitude to Jose Steven for providing the initial framework and concepts for the Shadows Assessment. © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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HOW TO ANSWER EACH OF THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

Indicate how accurately each statement describes you. Each person experiences certain feelings or acts in certain ways, depending upon the circumstances or the people involved. When deciding how accurate each specific statement is for you, try to include your thoughts, feelings and actions in most circumstances, such as at work, with friends, and at home.

Circle 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4, whichever is true for each specific question. 0 = Does not describe me at all

(Almost Never)

1 = Describes me to a small degree (Not often, but it does occur every now and again) 2 = Describes me fairly well

(Sometimes, but not a lot)

3 = Describes me quite well

(Often, but with the occasional exception)

4 = Describes me very well

(Very often, or always)

PLEASE ANSWER ALL THE QUESTIONS. DO NOT SKIP ANY QUESTIONS.

© Empowerment Concepts 1999

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01

Once I have planned to do something, almost nothing can stop me from doing it.

0 1 2 3 4

02

It is not easy for me to apologise.

0 1 2 3 4

03

When things go wrong around me, I feel I am somehow responsible.

0 1 2 3 4

04

I have much to do, and there is no time to waste.

0 1 2 3 4

05

I feel I don’t have choice in what happens in my life.

0 1 2 3 4

06

When I sell something, or place a value on my services, it upsets me to reduce the price or value.

0 1 2 3 4

07

I have feelings of desperation.

0 1 2 3 4

08

When I feel that someone is trying to push me around, I do the opposite of what they tell me to do.

0 1 2 3 4

When I’m with people I don’t know, I become quiet and withdrawn, and just observe.

0 1 2 3 4

10

I doubt myself, and feel inadequate regarding my abilities.

0 1 2 3 4

11

I find it difficult to slow down, or relax and do nothing, even on holidays.

0 1 2 3 4

12

People don’t know how much I have done for them. Instead, they take me for granted.

0 1 2 3 4

13

The thought that I might end up with nothing worries me.

0 1 2 3 4

14

I feel that I am out of control.

0 1 2 3 4

15

Few people can stop me from doing something that I have planned.

0 1 2 3 4

16

People don’t know the real me very well. If they really knew me, they’d think that I am a nice person.

0 1 2 3 4

17

My fear of taking risks and my feelings of self-doubt stop me from doing many things that I want to do.

0 1 2 3 4

09

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18

I get frustrated with people around me because they move too slowly.

0 1 2 3 4

19

It is difficult to find someone who understands my special circumstances and who can help me.

0 1 2 3 4

20

Buying things makes me feel much better when things are going wrong in my life.

0 1 2 3 4

21

Even though I try to be in control of myself and situations, I find that I somehow lose control.

0 1 2 3 4

22

I can be quite stubborn when I want to be.

0 1 2 3 4

23

To be embarrassed in front of other people is one of the worst things I can imagine.

0 1 2 3 4

24

The people who know me well often tell me that I need to gain more selfconfidence.

0 1 2 3 4

25

I feel a sense of urgency, because there is just not enough time to get everything done.

0 1 2 3 4

26

Things have been done to me that can never be made right by anyone.

0 1 2 3 4

27

When I have indulged and spoilt myself, I feel guilty afterwards.

0 1 2 3 4

28

I have emotional (or physical) outbursts that are destructive, and which scare other people and me.

0 1 2 3 4

29

When I have made up my mind about something, no one can change my mind. Only I can change my mind.

0 1 2 3 4

30

I like to look good – when I walk past a mirror or window, I quickly check to see that I look alright.

0 1 2 3 4

31

I think that other people are more capable than I am.

0 1 2 3 4

32

I feel tired and stressed.

0 1 2 3 4

33

I think I have bad luck because things just go wrong in my life – more so than for the average person.

0 1 2 3 4

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34

It worries me that I may never find the satisfaction that I’m seeking.

0 1 2 3 4

35

I worry that I am capable of really hurting someone else or myself, if I lose control of myself.

0 1 2 3 4

36

I don’t mind doing things. I just don’t like being told that I must do it.

0 1 2 3 4

37

I feel no-one really knows who I really am deep inside.

0 1 2 3 4

38

Even when things are going well, I feel anxious, and I don’t know why.

0 1 2 3 4

39

I find myself thinking that people should get on with things and stop wasting time.

0 1 2 3 4

40

I feel my choices are limited because of circumstances.

0 1 2 3 4

41

I find it difficult to choose between a range of things that I want, so I end up with nothing.

0 1 2 3 4

42

I have thoughts that I will not live very long.

0 1 2 3 4

43

When someone gets pushy and demanding with me, I stand firm and will not budge.

0 1 2 3 4

I struggle to talk about my feelings. I prefer to be objective and think about things.

0 1 2 3 4

45

I find myself repeatedly checking the things I do, because I know I could make a mistake.

0 1 2 3 4

46

When I get bored, I tap my fingers or feet.

0 1 2 3 4

47

I get annoyed when people tell me I can do what I want, because I feel they're unrealistic.

0 1 2 3 4

48

I think about how happy I will be if I had everything.

0 1 2 3 4

49

I do risky things, such as driving fast or trusting people I know I shouldn’t and similar risky activities.

0 1 2 3 4

44

End of Shadows Questionnaire © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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Scoring Your Shadows The Shadows questionnaire contains seven groups of questions, each with seven questions. Transfer the original score that you gave per question onto the scoring table below. Then add up the total for each group of questions. The maximum score per Shadow is 28, and the minimum score is 0.

Shadow 1: Inflexible-Obstinate Q. 01

0

1

2

3

4

Q. 08

0

1

2

3

4

Q. 15

0

1

2

3

4

Q. 22

0

1

2

3

4

Q. 29

0

1

2

3

4

Q. 36

0

1

2

3

4

Q. 43

0

1

2

3

4

TOTAL

Shadow 2:

+

+

+

+

=

Total for Inflexible-Obstinate Shadow

Given-Up

The opposite of the Inflexible-Obstinate Shadow. The score for the Given Up Shadow is calculated by subtracting the total Inflexible-Obstinate score from 28. For example, if you scored 18 for the Inflexible-Obstinate Shadow, then the Given Up Shadow score will be 28 minus 18, which gives you a score of 10 for the Given Up Shadow.

28 minus

=

__________ Inflexible-Obstinate Shadow Score

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Total for Given-Up Shadow

Shadow 3: Control-Distance Q. 02

0

1

2

3

4

Q. 09

0

1

2

3

4

Q. 16

0

1

2

3

4

Q. 23

0

1

2

3

4

Q. 30

0

1

2

3

4

Q. 37

0

1

2

3

4

Q. 44

0

1

2

3

4

+

TOTAL

+

+

+

=

Total for Control-Distance Shadow

=

Total for Apologising-Failure Shadow

Shadow 4:Apologising-Failure Q. 03

0

1

2

3

4

Q. 10

0

1

2

3

4

Q. 17

0

1

2

3

4

Q. 24

0

1

2

3

4

Q. 31

0

1

2

3

4

Q. 38

0

1

2

3

4

Q. 45

0

1

2

3

4

+

TOTAL

+

+

+

Shadow 5: Rushed-Restless Q. 04

0

1

2

3

4

Q. 11

0

1

2

3

4

Q. 18

0

1

2

3

4

Q. 25

0

1

2

3

4

Q. 32

0

1

2

3

4

Q. 39

0

1

2

3

4

Q. 46

0

1

2

3

4

TOTAL

+

+

+

+

=

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Total for Rushed-Restless Shadow

Shadow 6: Refuse-Pleasure Q. 05

0

1

2

3

4

Q. 12

0

1

2

3

4

Q. 19

0

1

2

3

4

Q. 26

0

1

2

3

4

Q. 33

0

1

2

3

4

Q. 40

0

1

2

3

4

Q. 47

0

1

2

3

4

+

TOTAL

+

+

+

=

Total for Refuse-Pleasure Shadow

=

Total for Never-Enough Shadow

=

Total for Frantic-Destructive Shadow

Shadow 7: Never-Enough Q. 06

0

1

2

3

4

Q. 13

0

1

2

3

4

Q. 20

0

1

2

3

4

Q. 27

0

1

2

3

4

Q. 34

0

1

2

3

4

Q. 41

0

1

2

3

4

Q. 48

0

1

2

3

4

+

TOTAL

+

+

+

Shadow 8: Frantic-Destructive Q. 07

0

1

2

3

4

Q. 14

0

1

2

3

4

Q. 21

0

1

2

3

4

Q. 28

0

1

2

3

4

Q. 35

0

1

2

3

4

Q. 42

0

1

2

3

4

Q. 49

0

1

2

3

4

TOTAL

+

+

+

+

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Overview of Your Shadows In the following table, fill in your total score for each Shadow.

SHADOW

SCORE

Inflexible-Obstinate

Given-Up

Control-Distance

Apologising-Failure

Rushed-Restless

Refuse-Pleasure

Never-Enough

Frantic-Destructive

Highest score:

______ for ______________________ (name of Shadow)

Second highest score: ______ for ______________________ (name of Shadow) Third highest score:

______ for ______________________ (name of Shadow)

If two Shadows have the same score, both are placed in the same ranking. For example, if Control-Distance has the highest score (e.g. 24), FranticDestructive has the second highest score (e.g. 19), and Rushed-Restless and Inflexible-Obstinate have the same score (e.g. both have a score of 17), followed by Refuse-Pleasure (e.g. 15), then the ranking would look as follows: Highest score is: Second highest score is: Third highest score is: And …

24 19 17 17

Control-Distance Frantic-Destructive Rushed-Restless Inflexible-Obstinate

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After you have scored the Shadows, it is time to begin understanding what these say about you. However, before you rush off to read the Shadows you scored the highest …

There are a few things we need to set straight before you read any further about your Shadows. 1.

Everyone has all eight Shadows, to some extent or the other. However, for the moment, we are only interested in those Shadows that are your strongest. Shadows can change over time. Once you begin to understand and work with your Shadows, they weaken, and other Shadows may emerge.

2.

Your Shadows are not your ‘Personality’! People are accustomed to being assessed as a specific ‘type of person’ – ‘You are such-andsuch kind of person’. The Shadows are not that kind of assessment, nor are they an indication of who you really are. Quite the opposite is true: Your Shadows are learned methods of coping. They are not inborn or genetic, nor are they any indication of your ‘True Self’ or potential.

3.

Your scores reflect how strong that specific Shadow is at this moment, and how strong it has been for a while. Various factors influence how high the scores will be at any given period of time. During very stressful periods, you will find that you feel more sensitive and aware of how you think and feel, and this will automatically push your scores higher. During less stressful periods, the same Shadows will © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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have lower scores but the ranking will be the same. Also, the importance of certain Shadows must be considered in terms of Trigger events in your past that have played a crucial role in making that specific Shadow inflexible and destructive. For example, it is usually some event of significant loss that switches the Inflexible-Obstinate Shadow into the Given-Up Shadow.

4.

Yes, there are ‘good’ and ‘bad’ aspects of each Shadow. Also, specific Shadows may be helpful in certain illnesses and detrimental in others. It all depends on the specific condition. Therefore, before you get upset and disturbed by your Shadows, remember that the only important question is: “Does this Shadow help or hinder my health?” Unlike conventional psychological therapies, we are not interested in steering you towards some mythical ‘balanced personality’! We believe that there is no such thing as ‘normal’, except in textbooks and theory. Nor are you expected to change those Shadows you do not want to change and which work for you. For example, the Inflexible-Obstinate Shadow and the Rushed-Restless Shadow, in combination, may be beneficial in keeping viral infections (e.g. HIV) at bay, but could prove destructive when dealing with a heart condition.

It bears repeating that each Shadow must be kept in context of the other factors, such as other Shadows, Trigger Events and the specific illness involved. However, we do ask you to first examine the possibility that certain aspects of your Shadows man be a problem when it comes to your health. If you wish to continue with that Shadow, so be it - that is your choice.

5.

In a specific individual, specific Shadows tend to remain higher than others for long periods of time, even for many years. The reason is simple: Due to events in your past, you have developed ways of coping. If these learned methods of coping are effective, you will hold onto them. Over time, they become a habit - you probably do not

even remember that you did not always behave or feel that way.

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As a result, you tend to believe “This is the way I am”. This is simply not true: your Shadows are simply who you believe you are. Habits are not easy to recognise. Your Shadows are your coping habits. Please do not refer to the Shadows as “I am (whatever Shadow)…”, because you are NOT your Shadows! This point cannot be overstressed. It would be more accurate to state that “I have the (whatever) Shadow”. The difference between saying “I am my Shadows” and “I have certain Shadows” may seem unimportant, and playing games with words. However, the difference between what you believe you are, and what you actually are, is probably the most important principle of this entire book! When you say (or believe) that you ARE a certain way, you automatically lock yourself into a specific identity. This automatically implies that:

(a) There is nothing you can do to change it and, if you try, it will be a continual effort that may fail at some point in time. This is not only untrue, but also very disempowering.

(b) You are a helpless victim in terms of the forces and factors that led to the forming of that Shadow in your past. Once again, this is untrue and deeply disempowering. When you feel that you can do nothing to change ‘Who I am’, you are forced to find some way of making that specific problematic characteristic ‘right’. For example, if you scored high on the Inflexible-Obstinate Shadow, there is usually a tendency to defend and justify that Shadow, simply because you believe it is the way you ARE, and not merely a habit that you HAVE. It is fascinating to observe how people justify their Shadow habits and develop amazing and rational reasons for why their Shadows are ‘good’ or ‘right’ or reasonable. This is called a ‘Defence Mechanism’.

Unfortunately, some people also have a tendency to use the Shadows as an excuse for not being happy or healthy. That is nonsense. Yet many people say “My mother / father / someone did that to me forty years ago, and, even although I am now an adult, I have no choice about doing it over and over!”

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Consider the following story which illustrates the danger of identifying yourself with a specific habit or way of thinking: Would you consider a common rat to be more intelligent than you ? In certain important ways, the rat is indeed more intelligent than you are! Let’s show you how …

So you think you are clever, huh ? Listen to this …

Many years ago, Psychologists performed an experiment to determine how rats learn. They selected a cage that has enough room for the rate (whom we shall call Bob) to run around in. The cage also has four tunnels leading out of one side of the cage. Each tunnel is about 50cm deep and sealed at the outer end, so that Bob can run down the tunnel, but he can't escape from the cage through these tunnels. There were four tunnels - tunnels 1, 2, 3 and 4.

Entrances to Tunnels

Cage

1

2

3

4 Bob the Rat

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The researchers took Bob the rat out of the cage and starved him for 24 hours. Not a nice thing to do, but in those days There were no Animal Rights activists ! After 24 hours of no food, they placed a piece of cheese at the far end of tunnel number 2. Yes, we know that rats don’t particularly like cheese, which is probably why they had to ensure that Bob was hungry enough to eat it! Then they put Bob back in the cage and let him run around. He could obviously smell the cheese, but didn't know where it was - he couldn't see it. The researchers observed that he sniffed at tunnel number 1, ran down the tunnel, found no cheese, and came back out again. He then went to tunnel number 2, smelt the cheese, ran to the end of the tunnel and found the cheese. Munch-munch-munch. Happy Bob the rat! Nothing too remarkable about that, was there ?

After Bob had eaten the cheese, the researchers removed him again, and put him in another cage. Once again, they did not feed him for 24 hours to ensure that his hunger was strong enough to motivate him in finding the cheese. After 24 hours, they placed another piece of cheese in tunnel number 2 and put Bob back in the cage with the tunnels. Again, he smelt the cheese and ran to the closest tunnel, namely tunnel number 1. However, he merely sniffed at the entrance of tunnel number 1, but did not run into it. Instead, he moved to tunnel number 2, smelt the cheese, and ran down the tunnel where he once again found the cheese. Once again, munch-munch-munch, happy Bob the rat!

This process was repeated a third time, with Bob being starved for 24 hours and the cheese placed in tunnel number 2. This time Bob didn't even bother sniffing at the entrance of any other tunnel, and he ran straight into tunnel number 2, where he munched happily on the cheese. Aha! Bob has just learned a new behaviour. (This learning process is called ‘Conditioned Response’ or ‘Conditioned Learning’).

However, on the fourth occasion, the researchers decided to alter the procedure to see what happens when they presented Bob with something unexpected. Once again, they starved Bob for 24 hours to ensure he was motivated to find the cheese. Then, instead of placing the cheese in tunnel number 2, they placed it inside tunnel number 4. As expected, when they placed Bob back in the cage with the cheese, he ran straight into tunnel number 2 where he had found cheese on all three previous occasions.

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He looked around, and finding no cheese, he ran to the entrance of tunnel number 2, just to check that it was the correct tunnel. Having checked that he was at the right tunnel, he ran back into tunnel number 2 and still found no cheese. So, he ran out of the tunnel number 2, then ran to the entrance of number 1, sniffed and smelt no cheese, ran to tunnel number 3, repeated the procedure and then ran to tunnel number 4. When he smelt the cheese in tunnel 4, he ran into the tunnel, found the cheese and munched away. Munchmunch-munch ! Happy Bob the rat!

Why is Bob more intelligent than most people, possibly even more intelligent than you or I? Well, if you look around at how people behave, you may notice that, if they were Bob, they would also go to tunnel number 2 after finding it there for several days in a row, expecting to find the cheese there once again. However, unlike Bob, most people get very angry when they realise that someone moved the cheese. Also, unlike Bob, who eventually left tunnel 2 to find the cheese elsewhere, most people stay sitting in tunnel 2, complaining bitterly about how someone else has messed with their routine: “Who moved the cheese! Whose fault is this?!”

Most people also refuse to budge from tunnel number 2 and, instead, will say things such as “Well, this is how it’s always been and I see no reason to change it! I’m going to sit here and wait for someone to fix this and, when they do, I’m going to give him a piece of my mind! The nerve – how dare he change things on me!”

This story illustrates the way most people respond to change and how they can get trapped in habits, which they defend even when the effectiveness of, or necessity for, the habitual behaviour is over. The moral of the story is this: beware of habits!

The Cheese Has Moved ! Have You ? Or are you determined to stay stuck in what used to work previously - your comfortable 'being right' attitude - even if the behaviour or belief does not work today ?

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The cheese is a metaphor for 'change'. The only constant in life is change! Yet, most people do not respond very effectively to change. Whatever behaviour used to work effectively in the past may not work effectively today or tomorrow .. the cheese has moved !

What is more important to you: to be ‘right’ or … to be happy and healthy? From our experience, some people – more than you can imagine – choose to be ‘right’, even at the cost of their own lives, for no other reason than to protect their identity.

Another way of viewing your Shadows is in terms of the truth and Truth about you. You will notice that the first ‘truth’ is written with a small ‘t’, while the second is written with a capital ‘T’. The reasoning is as follows: let’s assume there is a ‘real you’, with all the talents and potential with which you were born. No matter what happens, no matter what you or anyone else believes, and regardless of whether you act on those talents and potentials, they remain an integral part of you – the ‘real’ you – behind your eyes, so to speak. This would be the Truth (big Truth) about you. In the same way, gravity, heat, cold, your body, and what you can see, hear, smell, touch and taste is the Truth (facts and objective reality) outside you – in front of your eyes.

ruth Big Truth = Facts & Reality

About You

About the World

Behind your eyes

▪ ▪ ▪

In front of your eyes

Natural talents and abilities True potential & value Life Purpose

▪ What you can see, hear, smell, touch, taste ▪ Stated Agreements

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You’ll notice that we include agreements – stated out loud or documented – as an external Truth because, the moment you agree to something, it becomes a ‘fact’ that exists between people.

However, over time you learn many things, and develop belief systems, attitudes, likes and dislikes, notions about what is right and wrong, good and bad. These ‘things’ are real for you, but have no reality outside of you – I normally cannot see, smell or touch your beliefs, unless you express them in rather interesting ways! These ‘things’ that are only real for you and which you did not have when you were born, we refer to as your small truth, spelt with a small ‘t’. A key characteristic of small truth is that it can, and does, change over time and under the influence of events, while talents and innate potential do not.

ruth small truth = your personal beliefs & perceptions

About You

About the World

Behind your eyes

▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪

In front of your eyes

Beliefs about who you are Your Shadows Thoughts Feelings Unconscious memories Attitudes Values Goals

▪ Judgements & opinions about other people & things: what people ‘should’ and ‘shouldn’t’ be. ▪ Political systems ▪ Social rules and customs ▪ Prejudices about groups of people

Notice that all the small truths listed above are subject to change – changes due to experience, learning and events. When you were young, you probably believed in Father Christmas and the Easter Bunny. You thought they were ‘real’ (truth presented as Truth). Then you learned otherwise. Your Shadows fall into this category: truth pretending to be a Truth, about yourself and who you are.

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In the following pages are stereotypical descriptions of each Shadow, how they typically develop and how they usually affect your thoughts, feelings and behaviour. Not everything applies to you, as each person’s development is different. However, in our experience, the descriptions offered are generally accurate to a fair degree. Some of the information you will not like. Before you dismiss this information, take some time to consider whether it is true for you or not.

Interpreting Your Shadow Scores Step 1: Look at your Inflexible-Obstinate and Given-Up scores. Which is the highest? Regardless of whether these two Shadows are in the top four scores, it is essential to include them in your assessment. If the Given-Up score is higher than Inflexible-Obstinate, it becomes crucial to include this Shadow in your assessment, as the Given-Up Shadow can be more detrimental than the Inflexible-Obstinate Shadow. This is only incidental where the scores of these two Shadows are more-or-less the same. Then carefully read the description of that Shadow and do the exercises that follow.

Step 2: Of the remaining six Shadows, select the two highest scoring Shadows. Start with the Shadow for which you scored the highest (apart from the InflexibleObstinate and Given-Up Shadows). Carefully read through the description and see how much of the description honestly applies to you. Do the exercises at the end of the Shadow description. Repeat the process for the second highest scoring Shadows. If you can’t distinguish between two or more Shadows with the same score, include them all in your assessment. Make notes if necessary.

What to do if almost all the Shadows have high scores (i.e. above 20)? It is likely that you’re experiencing some major stress right now and this is making you hyper-sensitive to the question. Simply select the highest Shadows, as detailed in Steps 1 and 2.

What to do if almost all the Shadows have very low scores (i.e. 5 and below)? Technically, it is only possible to have a score of zero for seven of the Shadows, and the Inflexible-Obstinate and Given-Up Shadow scores depend on each other. In other words, if you score 27 for Inflexible-Obstinate, you automatically score 1 for Given-Up, and visa versa. Start with whichever one of these two Shadows is the highest.

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Shadow 1: Inflexible-Obstinate

KEY ISSUE: Inflexibility due to the fear that other people are trying to remove your choices. Therefore, you must defend your choices at all costs.

“No! You can’t make me!”

You are plain stubborn! You think your stubbornness is a ‘good’ thing, because it’s the source of your determination, right? Well, maybe, maybe not – it all depends on the issue or problem at hand. Certainly, being determined and inflexible can be a valuable quality when people are trying to push you around, or when you have an important goal to achieve. However, there is the ‘dark side’ of this quality, namely being inflexible and obstinate to your detriment. For example, if you have high scores for the Inflexible-Obstinate Shadow, it makes your other Shadows stronger and more rigid.

But, what is the cause of this inflexibility and obstinacy? Generally, there are three patterns of development for this Shadow, any one of which can result in the formation of this Shadow: 1. The Stalling Tactic: As a child, you weren’t informed of changes, such as being dumped at the baby-sitter without warning, or sudden changes in your environment, so you became anxious and felt out of control. Maybe you also felt betrayed by your parents (or guardians), and became mistrusting of change and new experiences. One way of trying to regain choice and control over such situations was to throw tantrums and be ‘difficult’. The reason is simple: by delaying the event, you had time to think about things, which allowed you some sense of control and choice. In this scenario, the actions or statements “No – I won’t! You can’t make me!” served to buy time and became a stalling tactic.

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2. The Protection of Personal Integrity: This is quite a common scenario. As a child, you displayed a talent or ability – music, sport etc. – and a parent or teacher tried to ‘hijack’ your talent and to control the direction of this talent. For example, you may have had an unusual talent for playing the piano and loved music. A parent, due to his/her own unfulfilled abilities, became demanding and insistent that you practise five hours a day, playing only the music that the parent or teacher thought ‘right’. This parent or teacher drained all the joy and pleasure out of the talent and, in an attempt to regain some sense of control and personal integrity, you put your foot down, and refused to play the piano ever again. Once again, “No! You can’t make me!”

3. The Silent Resistant Fighter: Occurred where the child was overcontrolled by parents or teachers or by an institution such as boarding school or military training. You were robbed of all choices and possibly bullied. You felt threatened, frustrated, and that your competence was being destroyed. Your only defence was silent resistance, such as simply refusing to do what you were told, no matter what the other person said or did. “No matter what you do or say, you can’t make me do it”.

In all these development scenarios, obstinacy and inflexibility was an important defence mechanism against other people robbing you of choices, personal integrity, and against bullying or lack of consultation. Naturally, you retained this defence mechanism because the world is full of people who try to control and bully you, even in adulthood.

The problem is that you eventually forget why you do what you do and, therefore, you respond to all situations in the same inflexible and obstinate way, even when it is completely inappropriate. You automatically distrust authority, which can cause problems at work, and you automatically reject any suggestion which you perceive as some kind of order or attempt to control you. This can lead to major problems in relationships.

One of the amusing aspects of people with this Shadow is that you believe you can’t be manipulated by anyone. But it’s really easy to manipulate you, for the following reason: If I confront or tell you what to do, you’ll shut me out and dig in your heels, right? However, when I speak quietly to you, making subtle suggestions, always carefully using words such as "I was wondering" or “What do you think about …”, you are defenceless!

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Why? Because your defences are focused on hearing certain words, such as “You must” and “You have to" and “You had better”, as an attempt to control you. When someone uses some other method of manipulating you, such as kindness, you have no defence against it! This shadow is defenceless against kindness and subtle manipulation. Another flaw in this Shadow’s defences is that it results in what is referred to as ‘Polarity Responses’, especially when you have high scores for this Shadow. Because you are so focused on blocking attempts to control your behaviour, you have a tendency to react by doing exactly the opposite of what you are told to do. Again, if someone else knows this about you, you are easy to manipulate. If I tell you to do the opposite of what I want you to do, you will do the opposite of what I’ve instructed - to prove that I cannot make you do anything - which is what I wanted in the first place!

The real difficulty with this defence strategy is that it inclines you to make decisions that you feel you cannot change, even though you are aware that the original decision was unwise or where the situation has changed. Just to prove a point, you dig in your heels and doggedly stick to your decision. And, in this way, you lose flexibility and the ability to adapt to changing situations. This can have major consequences, and can be very destructive in many areas, including relationships.

You are probably already justifying your inflexibility and obstinacy as a good trait – “If I weren’t so stubborn, I would not have accomplished what I have”. There is a degree of truth in this statement. However, it’s important not to confuse inflexibility-obstinacy with determination. Determination is based upon a future vision or goal you want to achieve, where your desire compels you to stay on course, persisting despite obstacles.

However, inflexibility and obstinacy are based strictly on fear: Fear of being forced to do things you don’t want; Fear of losing your freedom; Fear of sudden change; Fear of losing control and choice in your life. The Inflexibility-Obstinate Shadow is fear-based, and these fears were created by past events.

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The Power Game played by this Shadow is based upon the belief that, by resisting authority and change, you are powerful because you can slow down or stop the Game when you want. However, this strategy often leads to loss of goodwill from other people, who eventually turn away because they do not want to deal with such a ‘difficult’ person.

In exceptional circumstances, such as being told that you are going to die, this strategy may be a saving grace - the automatic rejection of authority can prevent accepting the inevitability of death from this illness. It is not uncommon to hear that it is the ‘difficult patient’ who seems to survive and thrive. It is for this reason that we do not attempt to moderate this Shadow in PNI interventions, unless it is extremely inflexible. However, we strongly suggest that those with very high scores (for this Shadow) examine the appropriateness of this Shadow in areas such as personal relationships, which are important sources of support.

The physical posture of the Inflexible-Obstinate Shadow is quite distinctive: Arms folded across the chest, tense jaw, stiff movements, and sometimes redness in the face. In some cases, it can result in chronic muscle tension which in turn can lead to hearing loss, tension in the pelvis and lower back. The body may say “No!” even if the words say something else. Your eyes are often focused, with a direct gaze, checking the other person out – friend or foe? There is also what might be described as a no-nonsense expression. You enter into competitive discussions without holding back, which is a nice way of saying that you can be quite argumentative and won’t back down, even when you are wrong!

Dealing With People With This Shadow

It has been mentioned that confrontation is the last thing to do with someone with this Shadow, as it results in immediate stiffening of attitude. However, the person with the Inflexible-Obstinate Shadow loses respect for those with meek and mild approaches. People with the Inflexible-Obstinate Shadow respond best to clear, calm and confident approaches. It is advisable to appeal to his/her sense of discipline and determination. Therefore, be assertive without aggressive confrontation. It is also crucial for the health practitioner to keep people with this Shadow informed and to consult her/him on all

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matters concerning her/his health, as opposed to just telling him/her what to do. Give the person as much information as you can, give your opinion, and then give her/him time to make up her/his own mind. If you rush the person into agreeing, s/he will instinctively respond by disagreeing. Be very careful to respect his/her choice in all matters.

Assignments for the Inflexible-Obstinate Shadow 1. Immediate tasks:

(a) After reading the three main ways in which this Shadow develops, write a page on how this Shadow developed in your own life. Focus on childhood events and circumstances, and boarding school or military circumstances, if applicable.

(b) Identify at least three recent events where you made a decision, discovered it was not the best decision, but refused to change it.

(c) Regarding your present health condition: Identify three occasions where your obstinacy has helped you when dealing with medical authorities. Then identify three occasions where your obstinacy has caused a problem in this area.

(d) Practise the following choice-protecting statements:  "I don’t know. Give me five minutes (or a day) to think about it before I decide.”  “Are you asking me, or telling me?”  “Next time, I’d appreciate it if you would ask me first”.

(e) Write a paragraph regarding the difference between a suggestion and an order.

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2. Issues to start thinking about (to be addressed in subsequent sessions):

(a) Identify five fears you have in terms of losing choice over your life and being forced to do things you do not want to do. Just identify these fears and be specific. A subsequent chapter will show you how you can deal with these fears.

(b) Authority figures: When you are upset from someone telling you what to do, of whom (from your past) do they remind you? Make a list of the authority figures in your childhood whom you believe tried to remove your choices or who bullied you. Process your feelings towards these people in chapter 10, Expressing Emotions, specifically in the anger processing.

(c) What future goals and desires do you have that will provide you with a sense of determination, and also allow you to be sufficiently flexible to adapt as the situation changes? These future-related goals will be addressed in greater depth at a later point.

(d) What do you perceive to be the lesson of this Shadow. In other words, what has your experience of this Shadow (and your new knowledge of it) taught you? What do you perceive to be the gift of this Shadow. In other words, what does it give to you, what power does it bestow?

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Shadow 2: Given-Up

KEY ISSUE: Excessive flexibility and reasonableness. Not standing firm on issues and absence of determination - due to the belief that (a) the most important choices which would bring happiness and fulfilment have been lost already, and (b) the best that can be accomplished is to attain an ‘OK’ state with minimal pain and risk. Greatest fear is risk and pain.

“Be reasonable” … “I am OK”. “But I haven’t given up!” you splutter. Oh yes you have, but not in the way you think. The Given-Up Shadow is very reasonable, rational, functional and efficient. However, at the level of deep-seated desires and passion, the light has been switched off. People with this Shadow typically state that they are “OK”. You are totally correct. You are 'OK' - nothing terrible, nothing wonderful, basically nothing at all except a general emotional numbness and sense of comfortability. Reasonableness can deaden any sense of aliveness.

It is typical for people with this Shadow to justify it as a good quality, by saying “If everyone did what they wanted to do, there would be chaos! There have to be level-headed people who are reasonable and objective”. For you, Reason is King, and risk is a no-no. Emotion is set aside for reason, resulting in a flat-line of emotion. We describe people with this Shadow as having had a local anaesthetic to the heart!

However, you probably focus all your joy and sense of happiness on one or two people, typically a child or spouse. You live through them, doing your utmost to ensure that their life is happy and fulfilled. Imagine what it must be like to be the child or person whom you are so focused upon - the sense of responsibility and obligation is enormous for him or her. What would happen if s/he wanted to leave you ? What reason would you have to wake up in the morning ? Do you think s/he does not know this ?

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While other Shadows typically develop in early childhood, this Shadow develops from a more immediate event, in which you experienced profound loss – loss of a loved one, loss of a dream or ambition, loss of any hope that you will ever fulfil your dream. You lost your passion. From that moment onwards, you became compromising, and compromised, at a deep level. When you experienced this loss event, it is almost as if you said to yourself: “I can’t bear to go through this pain again. I will never be able to risk that again. I'll play it safe, do a good job with my life, but I'll do nothing that will expose me to that level of pain again”. As a result, you’ve become highly effective and efficient in whatever you do. Not passionate – just efficient and highly functional. It is extraordinary how many people have this Shadow – the Shadow of the lost dream and the compromised soul. It is most noticeable in the lack of sparkle in the eyes.

Often, a person with this Shadow will argue strongly that s/he has not given up on his/her passion - s/he is working towards it, and has a plan of how to eventually get there. However, the bottom-line is that s/he is nowhere near doing the thing that excites him/her - it's all in his/her head, all in the so-called 'plan'. It's nothing more than a dream, with thousands of reasonable excuses of why it is not happening now. Thoughts and dreams mean nothing - action is what counts. This Shadow can be the ultimate politician, diplomat and conciliator – always willing to compromise. You say things such as “I don’t know – what do you want to do?”, instead of making a choice and risking opposition. While the Inflexible-Obstinate Shadow drives people away with sheer bull-headedness, the Given-Up Shadow drives people away because they don’t know where you stand. The Given-Up Shadow often puts a damper on any exciting idea – “Be reasonable – you can’t always get what you want” or “Be realistic – be reasonable!”. The best excuse is, of course, "Well, let us think this one through carefully, plan it properly, and then wait for the 'right' time". This is, on the surface, a wise strategy. However, you will notice that you never get to the point of the 'right time'. There is always a reason why it is not the 'right time'. And life goes on …

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When dealing with an immunological problem, challenge and excitement is essential for the secretion of important hormones, such as Human Growth Hormone. Thus, people with this Shadow cannot deal with immunological problems until challenge and excitement is re-introduced. Also, when faced with the possibility of dying, this Shadow undermines the willingness to take risks and explore new options – “What's the point? This is the way life is”. There is a large degree of resignation in this Shadow. After all, if you believe that you will never get what you really want from life, what is the point of going through all the effort and struggle to prolong that life? We want to be quite clear here – the operative word is resignation, not acceptance. In our experience, most people confuse resignation with acceptance. Resignation is about giving up, acceptance is about dealing with reality. When your doctor suggests a treatment, you tend to comply, thinking “OK, whatever you think is best” rather than considering, researching and working with your practitioner as an equal partner, thinking “That’s an option. What do I want to do?”

People with the Given-Up Shadow tend to find themselves in supportive roles, typically supporting the dreams and goals of other people – supporting people who have vision and passion. In cases where the person is a parent, s/he often focuses all his/her joy on the child. It is almost as if you live your dreams through other people, because you don’t believe you can fulfil your own dreams. However, it should be clearly stated that you are not a whining, miserable, dejected and waiting-to-die kind of person! On the contrary – you are very efficient and successful in what you do, largely because you focus on doing the ‘right thing’, and doing things ‘properly’, complying with whomever you believe is in charge.

You also tend to be very rational and plan everything meticulously. You often have five-year plans, which you have discussed with the family: “For the next five years, I am going to work very hard and for long hours, so you won’t see much of me. I'm doing this to make sure you have money for your college education.” Very reasonable. The problem is that your family would probably rather spend more time with you! You are a great asset in the work environment. However, this does not serve you on a personal level.

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Think about this carefully: What excites you and gives you joy ? Your own potential and desire to create, or someone else's potential, vision, and ability to create ? Are you focused upon your own desire to make a difference in the world, or is your focus upon ensuring that someone else makes a difference in the world ? Are you living through someone else, or are you living with someone else ? This Shadow is based on the fear of pain – of re-experiencing the pain you felt when you lost what you loved. There is a fundamental fear of caring too much (again), as this could result in losing it again. The defence is this: “I will never have what I really want. Therefore, I will simply do the best I can from now on to have a decent life – a life with a minimum of pain. I can not make the difference I want to make in this world. Therefore, I will dedicate myself to ensuring that someone else makes their contribution to the world instead. Their joy will be my joy. I can not create my own joy any more”.

For people with this Shadow, it is useful to think back in time to when you were really excited and full of passion. At some point this stopped, and you went into ‘reasonable’ mode. When did this switch occur? What happened? Here are some possibilities that can activate this Shadow:

1. The death of a loved one. 2. You tried to do something about which you really were passionate, and failed. 3. There were situations where you may have achieved something remarkable, and realised you would probably never reach that height of success again. 4. Your passion was knocked out of you through criticism or even abuse and, as a result, you retreated from that dream because it resulted in pain. 5. This Shadow can develop as a result of sympathy. For example, the death of someone you loved very much. You are so distraught by this loss, that you psychologically try to hold onto that person by absorbing that dead person’s unfulfilled dreams and goals in life. Essentially, you trade in your own passion out of sympathy with someone else’s unfulfilled passion.

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No matter how it occurred, somewhere along the line you lost your true passion. It is essential that the lost passion is located and restored or a new one found. That is the subject of another chapter. This Shadow manifests as an absence of expression – inaction - regarding what is felt inside. For example, if this Shadow is combined with the RushedRestless Shadow, we have found hypertension to be prevalent, probably because the urgency and haste is kept inside – thereby activating the S.A.M. Cardiovascular System. The person with this Shadow often has a flat look in his/her eyes with no sparkle. Facial expressions are often serious and kind, with a tendency to appear concerned and burdened by something. The body is often out of shape, with a slow and determined walk. These physical aspects can be different if the person also has strong elements of the Rushed-Restless or the Never-Enough Shadows, which adds an element of haste to movement. Communication is similar to that of the Control-Distance Shadow – you rarely refer to yourself as “I”. Instead, you talk about yourself in the third person: “When one …" or “A person might think …” or “You would think that …” When are you going to reintroduce the words "I think" and "I feel" back into your vocabulary ?

The ultimate irony of the Given-Up Shadow is that it's based on the belief that, by avoiding risk and choice, you will avoid pain. However, by doing this, you become emotionally numb - if you can’t feel pain, you can’t feel pleasure either. Any true sense of aliveness and joy is lost in the process, thus removing any real passion and fighting spirit ("One day I'll be happy”). Unfortunately, that day never seems to arrive, because happiness is the starting point, not the destination.

Spontaneity is a rare thing with this Shadow. Consequently, lovers and partners can become bored with someone with this Shadow and seek stimulation elsewhere. This simply reinforces the person’s original belief that, if you care too much about something, you lose it. It is a self-fulfilling belief. Alternatively, you become dependent on your partner for excitement and don’t create your own. Your partner may thus begin to perceive you as heavy, depressing or boring. This results in a rather one-sided situation in the relationship.

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People with this Shadow detest confrontation, avoiding it like the plague. As far as you’re concerned, there is no reason to get upset about anything – everything can be sorted out reasonably. As a result, you have a tendency to get headaches when you're in situations where you don't want to be. You also tend to smile a lot, but rarely laugh out loud from your heart or stomach. Where the Inflexible-Obstinate Shadow is based on the fear of losing choice, the Given-Up Shadow is based on the consequences of dealing with that feared lost choice, coupled with the belief that it cannot be reversed.

Dealing With People With This Shadow

When dealing with a person with the Given-Up Shadow, ensure that you acknowledge him/her for his/her hard work and efforts. It is useful to appeal to her/his sense of reasonableness and loyalty, sensibility and responsibility. You need to be relatively confrontational with this Shadow. Therefore, be direct and focused in your approach. Unlike the Inflexible-Obstinate Shadow, the Given-Up Shadow requires a sense of safety (or authority) in someone else. Keep the person informed and consult him/her on all matters concerning her/his health, by appealing to his/her sense of responsibility.

Assignments for the Given-Up Shadow 1. Immediate tasks:

(a) After reading the five main ways in which this Shadow develops, write a page on how this Shadow developed in your own life. Think carefully about when your life changed, when you shifted from an excited, enthusiastic person to a more serious, reasonable way of seeing the world. What event occurred to cause that change?

(b) Identify at least three recent events where you made a decision, and backed down from that decision because it was not worth the effort to fight for it.

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(c) Regarding your present health condition:  Identify three occasions where your reasonableness and level-headedness has helped you when dealing with medical authorities.  Identify three occasions where this same reasonableness has caused a problem in this area (e.g. where it resulted in your being inconvenienced or compromised because you did not want to push the issue into a confrontation).

(d) List three unreasonable activities you would like to do, for no reason other than you want to do it.

(e) Write a paragraph regarding the difference between being flexible and lacking determination.

2. Issues to start thinking about (to be addressed in subsequent sessions):

(a) Identify three fears that you have in terms of taking risks in your life. Just identify these fears, and be specific. A subsequent chapter will show you how to deal with these fears.

(b) Unresolved grief and/or unresolved disappointment concerning the event of loss where you gave up on your own personal dream and passion: What decisions did you make about yourself and life at that time? Why did you decide it wasn't worth risking that kind of pain again?

(c) What future goals and desires do you have - unrelated to anyone else in your life - to provide you with a sense of determination, and also allow you to be flexible enough to adapt as the situation changes? These futurerelated goals will be addressed in greater depth at a later point.

(d) What do you perceive to be the lesson of this Shadow? In other words, what has your experience of this Shadow, and your new knowledge of it, taught you? What do you perceive to be the gift of this Shadow? In other words, what does it give to you, what power does it bestow?

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Shadow 3: Control-Distance

KEY ISSUE: High need to be perfect. Image is everything. High need for control over self and environment. Aloofness and emotional suppression due to fear of criticism and humiliation. Will not allow anyone ‘inside’. Terrified of intimacy. Feels isolated, misunderstood, and alone.

“I am special” (everyone is looking at me). One way to describe the Control-Distance Shadow is to compare it to someone living in a high tower. S/he locks her/himself away from others, spending his/her days peering through a telescope, closely watching everything done by others and sending messages to them about what they are doing right or wrong. This person is also very aware of the fact that everyone is watching him/her from a distance but feels safe because of the fact that they can never reach her/him in the locked tower. This person communicates with people but is always safely in the tower when s/he does decide to communicate. Naturally, being locked in a tower is a very lonely experience and s/he cannot understand why “No-one really understands me!”

If you have this Shadow, you live with a standard of perfection that you measure everything against, including yourself. No matter what the situation, you will strive to be 'perfect'. This is why your 'image' is so important to you, and why you have a high need for control - so that you can ensure that it all turns out 'perfectly'. There are two fundamental problems with this need for perfection: First of all, the standards you set may not be your own, and you end up trying to be someone whom you are not. Secondly, you automatically will avoid anything - including emotions or taking risks - which may be criticised as being 'imperfect'. You are literally trapped within some abstract dream-like 'perfect' world which has little to do with who you really are. Is it any surprise that you feel disconnected from other people and the 'real' world of emotions? Have you also noticed how, the harder you try to be 'perfect', the more other people enjoy pointing out your 'imperfections' ?

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People with high scores in the Control-Distance Shadow often fantasise about being special and respected one day. You often believe that other people know or suspect you’ll be famous one day! Obviously, when people ignore you, or do not treat you in a respectful and ‘special’ manner, you’re devastated: “Don’t you know who I am!” The person with this Shadow tends to highly upset when s/he is ignored.

You work hard and you are usually very systematic and efficient. You also fully expect that other people will notice all this effort and achievement. “I don’t need to tell you how good I am – you can see it for yourself”. You find it rather degrading to have to point out how ‘special’ you are – after all, they are watching, aren’t they?

You strongly identify with your achievements, about which you justifiably feel somewhat smug and arrogant. You tend to pay attention to details – being the consummate perfectionist. When someone else does something, you will notice every single mistake. Therefore, when something is important to you, you insist on having full control of the process. Quite frankly, you do not believe that anyone can do it quite as well as you and, often, you’re right ! You’re often overlooked for advancement because others were more outspoken and actually ‘degraded themselves’ by ‘marketing’ themselves! It is not surprising that you tend to become cynical and judgmental if you’re not treated and recognised as being ‘special’.

You often get caught in a vicious cycle regarding intimacy. Your manner and posture indicates aloofness and ‘holier-than-thou’, which drives people away or silently indicates to people to stay away. This is due to your fear of being vulnerable – which you equate with high risk of criticism.

The problem with this 'stay away from me' attitude is that there are specific people whom you would live to be close to, but they are also driven away by your attitude. You are probably not aware of this: One part of this attitude is communicated to other people through your body language, such as the fact that you tend have your head tilted so that you seem to look down your nose at other people.

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The other part of this impression of aloofness and arrogance concerns your wariness and quietness when meeting someone for the first time. You first want to have an idea of who the other person is before you decide whether or not to have anything to do with him/her. An important aspect of this perceived attitude is the fact that you want the other person to approach you, because you are 'special'. Heaven forbid that you should actually make the first move towards him or her ! One of your favourite games is: “If people really knew me, they would love me more than anyone else. However, I'm not going to let them close enough to know me – I am in control! They can come find me.” The strategy for this Shadow in group interactions is to stand alone to one side until someone asks you to join in the activities. After all, you are 'special', aren't you ? Once you are in the group you want to control it. If the other people do not listen to you, then you try the 'standing alone in the corner' routine again. Are you surprised that people find you difficult to get close to?

You often meet up with similar people who are intent on avoiding intimacy but who are also looking for someone to hold them in high regard (i.e., notice them). In such situations, appearances are everything. Although you are in each other’s company, each one feels undervalued and unnoticed by the other. In reality, this is nothing more than being alone in a crowd! However, it is at least safe due to the lack of intimacy. It is ironic that, although you have a high need to be perfect and ‘the best’, you have tremendous anxiety regarding tests of performance, in case you make a mistake. You have some pretty clever justifications for avoiding such tests, such as: “If I did the exam, I would probably do better than anyone else. But I’m too busy … I can’t be bothered … I’ll let someone else have the chance.” Where most people are content to pass a test, you get frantic over the onepercent you lost out of a hundred! “Must be perfect! Can’t make a mistake!”

People with Control-Distance make excellent accountants, analysts and therapists. Your Shadow compels you to be highly observant of details and nuances in the world around you, in the striving to mask your own flaws and to find the flaws of others.

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In a sophisticated form, the Control-Distance Shadow can mask itself as a ‘people’s-person’ – humble, open and vulnerable. You have analysed people well enough to know what you need to say and do in order for them to feel that you are 'human' and vulnerable - one of us'. For example, if someone makes a mistake, you may tell him/her about the time you made a similar mistake. This reassures the other person, and s/he may feel that you really understand that everyone makes mistakes. However, without him/her knowing, you will gradually remove any control that s/he has over the project until you are in control. This does not always happen - it depends on whether you believe that the project is important to you or not.

Even when you have perfected the strategy of "See - I am human as well !", closer inspection reveals a part of you that is totally walled off and out-ofbounds to anyone else. If you believe that judging people is a flaw, you’ll hide this part of yourself as well, and rather be secretly critical, never revealing any such flaw to anyone else. In this situation, one half of you criticises the other half: “Why don’t you say hello to her? Even if she is an idiot, do you think that you are better than her?” This is the sophisticated form of this Shadow - the internal critic. At this stage of the Shadow you believe that you are completely safe from external criticism, largely because you are doing a superb job of criticising yourself in your quest to be perfect.

Why do you feel such a strong need to protect yourself from criticism, keep people at a distance, and strive so hard to control yourself and your environment? Also, why do you feel as if everyone is always watching and judging you?

The cause of this Shadow invariably contains two parts: 1. The Special Child: As a child, you were the ‘special one’, for your father or mother. This may (or may not) have been stated out loud. Something about you set you apart - being the first born, the last born, being clever, pretty, the 'good' child, or a much-longed-for child. The phrase ‘Daddy’s little girl’ or ‘Mommy’s blue-eyed boy’ are phrases often used to describe this ‘special’ status. It is not unusual for people with this Shadow to report that, as a child, they looked for adoption papers because they felt so ‘different’ from their family!

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2. I must be Perfect - Fear of Criticism: The very second that you became aware that someone important to you - mother or father, for example regarded you as 'special', you automatically realised that you had to be, do and have certain things to ensure that you remain 'special. The alternative was to lose that love and attention. This is where the need to be perfect emerged. Basically, you realised that the love and attention you received was conditional upon whatever made you 'special'. One of two things happen at this point in the development of the Shadow: (a) One parent was critical of you, causing you to close off those aspects of yourself which made you vulnerable to criticism; (b) You simply started to strive for the values, behaviours and beliefs that you believed your parents consider 'good' (i.e., you started to create the model of perfection you needed to strive for).

Whichever strategy you used, you began to live according to an image of perfection, and you began to fear imperfection, hence the fear of criticism. Being so high on a pedestal, you were highly susceptible to criticism from others. You had to maintain those high expectations and, therefore, criticism was deeply painful. The most painful criticism came from authority figures, such as parents and teachers. The combination of factors 1 and 2 produce a special kind of tension: “I am special” (thus expected to be perfect), but “I am not OK” (according to the criticism, as well as according to the imaginary system of perfection). The paradox is that you want to be noticed but you fear being judged or ignored. Therefore, the only solution is to build a high wall around yourself so that noone else can see the flaws – including your emotions and vulnerability – and they will, therefore, have nothing for which they can criticise you.

You begin to become hyper-alert and observant regarding what other people consider acceptable and desirable, and you begin to become what it is they want you to be, keeping the ‘secret self’ inside the wall. It is not surprising that you become overly self-conscious, and driven to be one step ahead of the rest! Also, you secretly become very critical of yourself, to fix or hide any imperfections before anyone else notices. In the process of keeping others out, you lock yourself inside, a prisoner trapped in the solitary tower of your own making.

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Once the tower walls are firmly in place and you have mastered the act of appearing to be perfect, you turn the tables by becoming critical of others: "I have succeeded in becoming pretty good. So good in fact, that I'm better than they are. I can criticise them and find their flaws. One day I will be respected and they will be nothing – they'll be sorry they ever criticised me! “

It is useful to remember that all this developed as a result of wanting to hold on to the love and attention you received from being 'special'. It is ironic that the love and attention you so desire - the feeling of belonging and feeling connected to others - becomes harder and harder to achieve because of the walls you have built around you.

Make no mistake: This Shadow is superb for specific things, such as analysis and observation. It promotes awareness of details and detachment, all of which are essential skills in specific situations, such as psychotherapy, accountancy, medicine, and such fields. However, there is a tremendous personal price for such benefits: Lack of true intimacy, suppressed spontaneity, little freedom of expression, and a host of other disadvantages. One of the major disadvantages of this specific Shadow is that you’re ‘trapped inside your head’. In practice, when the situation requires examination and expression of feelings, you are lost – you ‘know’ what you are talking about and you ‘understand’ why and how it is necessary, but you find it very difficult to actually feel anything in your body! Because you don’t have a very good sense of what is happening inside your body, you may have an inflated sense of toughness, and overestimate your abilities. You physically push yourself beyond what is healthy, which is detrimental to healing.

In relationships, intimacy is difficult due to the distance and isolation you bring with you. You are more concerned with competence than honesty, and thus truly intimate and vulnerable communication is difficult. Seduction is easy, but intimacy very difficult. Your partner begins to feel like an object.

Creativity is often blocked because of the obsession for detail and perfection. The fear of taking a risk, even a mistake, is huge. You’re usually scanning the near future, checking for potentially embarrassing situations, chattering away to yourself, rehearsing what you’ll say, and how you will deflect criticism.

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You usually justify (make ‘right’) your emotional detachment by saying that someone needs to be level-headed – naturally, referring to yourself - and it is not uncommon for you to believe that emotions, and people who get emotional, are a sign of ‘weakness’ and mental inadequacy. While you secretly recognise the power of being free enough to feel alive, you cannot overcome your personal prison walls to reach that state. After all, you are terrified of ‘being made a fool of’. The same applies to religion: You know exactly what is ‘right’, ‘wrong’, and ‘the way to do it’, but you cannot seem to feel the forgiveness, the bliss or the divine presence which the ‘idiots’ seem to feel!

As with all Shadows, Control-Distance is based on one primary fear: Fear of criticism and humiliation. Unfortunately, from striving to appear perfect and competent, other people begin to resent your superiority, increasing the criticism. People have a deep mistrust of ‘holier-than-thou’ people, and a strong need to ‘bring them down a peg or two’. Therefore, this Shadow contains its own inevitable downfall and manifestation of its worst fears.

When you are criticised and feel humiliated, you slide into the ApologisingFailure Shadow. It is not uncommon to score high on both these Shadows, particularly when one of the two interactive major areas in your life (e.g., work and home) contain criticism. For example, you may be highly competent and efficient at work, receiving reinforcement for your ControlDistance Shadow. However, when you get home, your partner is very critical of you and you slide into the Apologising-Failure Shadow. The reverse can also be true, such as a hyper-critical and dictatorial boss at work and a supportive partner at home. Either way, the fluctuation between the two Shadows can occur.

Many arrogant politicians and other leaders have this Control-Distance Shadow. However, notice what happens when they get too arrogant – people begin to attack their reputation, try to uncover secrets they are hiding, and then strive to humiliate them publicly. Then you witness the Apologising-Failure Shadow emerge. Often, this lasts for a while, especially if sympathy and forgiveness is received, upon which they resume the Control-Distance Shadow!

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You can detect the Control-Distance Shadow fairly easily due to a distinctive physical posture: The head is typically held high, with a slight tilt backwards, almost as if they are looking down their noses at you! Also, the shoulders and back are tight and fairly rigid. When sitting, s/her tends to sit with the upper back touching the chair, but the lower back is forward from the chair.

Dealing With People With This Shadow  It is important to recognise that the primary fear is one of criticism which is considered humiliating, especially public criticism. Therefore, do not criticise such a person in front of other people.  The person with this Shadow also does not tolerate stupidity or weak logic very well. S/he loves to find fault with your logic and/or competence, as a form of establishing his/her own power (control) in the situation. Therefore, answer her/his questions completely, without apology for what you do or do not know. Let him/her have control of his/her own process, but ensure that you check that s/he has done what s/he is supposed to do.  Such a person tends to be visual (thinks in pictures) in her/his understanding. Therefore, include verbal imagery in your explanations, explain the so-called ‘the big picture’, and use diagrams to assist in your explanations. Such as person needs pictures and images to understand.  When dealing with feelings and emotions, it is important that s/he feels that you will not criticise what s/he tells you. It has to be safe and confidential. They will not access emotions for not apparent reason. S/he needs a logical and legitimate reason to, for example, express his/her anger.  It also helps to suggest that the person experiences some form of physical therapy – massage or aromatherapy, for example – so that s/he can begin to get a better sense of what his/her body is about, and what does and does not hurt. It is very difficult to process emotions such as anger or guilt when the person has closed off awareness of her/his body and feelings. Try to steer the person away from intellectual ‘understanding’ of emotions, towards awareness of his/her body.

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Assignments for the Control-Distance Shadow 1. Immediate tasks:

(a) After reading about how this Shadow develops, write a page on how this Shadow developed in your own life. Think carefully about who indicated that you are ‘special’, and who criticised you. What occurred to cause you to close off your spontaneity and hide your emotions?

(b) Identify at least three recent events where you felt angry or vulnerable, and then decided to say nothing, because you rationalised your feelings as ‘silly’ or you first wanted time to think of a ‘clever’ response.

(c) Regarding your present health condition:  Identify three occasions where your understanding, analytical ability and level-headedness has helped you when dealing with medical authorities and situations.  Identify three occasions where this same sense of the detached intellectual has caused a problem in this area, because it resulted in not saying what you felt or thought, because “After all – they know what they are talking about – I don’t want to appear like an incompetent idiot”.

(d) List three mental-emotional-spiritual states that you would love to experience. (not understand – actually feel and experience).

(e) Write a paragraph regarding the difference between criticism and feedback, and another paragraph regarding the difference between being special and being unique.

Continued on next page …

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2. Issues to start thinking about (to be addressed in subsequent sessions): (a) Identify five fears that you have in terms of being vulnerable – fear of being criticised for expressing your feelings of being afraid, inadequate, failing, telling someone that you love him/her. Just identify these fears and be specific. A subsequent chapter will show how you can deal with these fears.

(b) Can you remember the time when you felt OK to cry and express your vulnerability? When did that change? This is similar to question 1(a). However, focus more deeply on what decisions you made about yourself and life at that time, and ask yourself whether that decision is still valid today. What are you going to do to reconnect with your body?

(c) What future goals and desires do you have that will provide you with a sense of determination, and also allow you to be flexible enough to adapt as the situation changes? Also, ensure that these goals do not exclude dreams and desires that have the risk of being vulnerable or being exposed to possible criticism. Imagine life outside of the tower walls around you. These future-related goals will be addressed in greater depth at a later point.

(d) What do you perceive to be the lesson of this Shadow. In other words, what has your experience of this Shadow (and your new knowledge of it) taught you? What do you perceive to be the gift of this Shadow. In other words, what does it give to you, what power does it bestow?

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Shadow 4: Apologising-Failure

KEY ISSUE: Believes that failure is inevitable. Apologises before and after doing anything, as a means of destroying other people’s expectations of them. This strategy attempts to reduce the criticism (rejection) that comes from the ‘inevitable’ failure. “The only way I can be safe and ‘right’ is by being wrong”.

“I am sorry”.

This Shadow presents itself as the classic low self-esteem Shadow. However, this is not strictly true, as all of the Shadows are based upon a core fear and sense that "Who I truly am is not good enough". However, this sense of not being good enough is most obvious and easy to see in the behaviour and words of the person with the Apologising-Failure Shadow, simply because the central strategy of this Shadow is to remove other people's expectations by purposefully putting yourself down and appearing incompetent.

For example, when someone gives you a compliment, you are likely to ignore it or tell the person that s/he is mistaken ! You present yourself as humble and modest, but in fact you are systematically destroying other people's expectations of you, for the sole purpose of relieving yourself of the pressure to succeed.

The 'secret' of this Shadow is that you honestly and deeply believe that, no matter what you do, you will fail. Furthermore, when that failure occurs, you want to ensure that other people do not reject you. How to do this ? Easy - just tell people that you probably will fail and that they shouldn't expect too much from you! Therefore, if people do get disappointed in you, it is quite clearly their own fault - you warned them, didn't you ? Very clever strategy, isn’t it ? One of the consequences of this Shadow is an automatic impulse to apologise. However, it is such a habit that you end up apologising for everything and anything, even events which have nothing to do with you.

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There is a difference between saying “I am sorry” out of sympathy or empathy, and saying “I am sorry” out of some weird sense of responsibility for something in which you had no involvement! The Apologising-Failure Shadow falls into the second category. Probably the most definitive ‘test’ for the presence of the Apologising-Failure Shadow concerns situations and periods when things are going well. When this happens, you begin to feel uneasy, even panicky, experiencing what may be referred to as ‘free floating anxiety’, which is anxiety for no apparent reason. You’d describe this feeling as ‘waiting for the other shoe to drop’ – waiting for the fall, the ‘catch’, the inevitable hidden failure or disaster waiting and lurking in the background.

You have a fundamental belief that you will fail, no matter what you do. This belief is so pervasive and fundamental that you’ve arranged your entire life – actions, ambitions, hopes and expectations – around this ‘inevitable failure’. You do this to such an extent that you only feel safe and comfortable when things are not going well – “You see! I am right!”. When things go well, you feel as if something is ‘wrong’, and that there has to be some hidden agenda or failure or criticism hiding somewhere. When the failure happens, you feel a sense of relief … “Ah! Back to normal! At least I know how to deal with this”.

How did this Shadow develop? The development of this Shadow is similar to the Control-Distance Shadow in it's development, and contains three developmental aspects: 1. The Special Child: As a child, you were the ‘special one’, for your father or mother. This may (or may not) have been stated out loud. Something about you set you apart - being the first born, the last born, being clever, pretty, the 'good' child, or a much-longed-for child. The phrase ‘Daddy’s little girl’ or ‘Mommy’s blue-eyed boy’ are phrases often used to describe this ‘special’ status. It is not unusual for people with this Shadow to report that, as a child, they looked for adoption papers because they felt so ‘different’ from their family!

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2. I must be Perfect - Fear of Criticism: The very second that you became aware that someone important to you - mother or father, for example regarded you as 'special', you automatically realised that you had to be, do and have certain things to ensure that you remain 'special. The alternative was to lose that love and attention. This is where the need to be perfect emerged. Basically, you realised that the love and attention you received was conditional upon whatever made you 'special'.

3. I can't be Perfect: This is where this Shadow differs from the ControlDistance Shadow. Somewhere along the long you discovered that this image of perfection that you want to strive for, is either impossible to achieve, or you honestly did not know what the criteria were - no-one told you exactly what the requirements were. As a direct result, you accepted the fact that you could not achieve this image of perfection. For example, your father (or mother) may have frowned on your behaviour, without telling you what they really wanted or expected from you. This parental behaviour is often caused when your parents have either the Control-Distance or Refuse-Pleasure Shadows, which result in the inability to state what s/he wants or feels. As a direct result, you are left with the feeling that you will never know what it will take to succeed (in terms of getting love approval), and that failure (in terms of meeting other people's expectations) is logically inevitable. This is when the apologising strategy emerges, as a method to keep getting love and approval by ensuring that no-one expects too much from you. After all, if you ensure that someone does not expect much from you, there is not much reason for them to criticise you, is there ?

To someone without high levels of this Shadow, this behaviour and way of thinking appears extremely odd. However, to the person with this Shadow, it makes perfect sense. Furthermore, there is ample evidence in the real world to illustrate that nothing ever goes right and that failure is unavoidable. “Just look around,” you say, “Do you know one single person who is happy?”. Your most compelling justification is that “I'm just being realistic about things – nothing good lasts”. It is important to understand the impact of being treated as ‘special’ by one or both parents while, at the same time, being told that you are not perfect, and then not knowing what to do to be perfect ! The pressure on the child to live up to these expectations is enormous.

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In both the Control-Distance and Apologising-Failure Shadows, the child learns that love is conditional, and a great deal is expected from you because you’re ‘special’. Both of these Shadows are based upon the belief that “I am not loved for who I am”, and feelings of inadequacy.

However, what happens if the expectations are too high, and you cannot possibly live up to them? The Control-Distance Shadow is the method of coping when you believe you can still try to attain the illusion or appearance of perfection, whereas the Apologising-Failure Shadow is the result of your conclusion that you can’t possibly maintain the illusion. That is why ControlDistance slips into Apologising-Failure when the façade of perfection and control is ripped apart by criticism and failure, and why the ApologisingFailure Shadow slides into Control-Distance when things go well, and there is the illusion of ‘holding it together’. Logic dictates that, to prevent ‘real’ failure, all you have to do is destroy other people’s expectations of you – “To win (their love), I have to be a loser” or “To regain power, I need to become the critic of myself. In this way, I remove any opportunity for you to hurt me with your criticism.” Makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? This is a strategy referred to as “I’ll get you before you get me” a pre-emptive strategy. In this Shadow, the strategy is “I’ll get me before you get me – I will hurt myself before you can because then I can control the pain, not you”.

Consequently, there is a powerful sense of self-righteousness about being a failure, and great insecurity about leadership, success, and raising expectations of yourself and others regarding your abilities. The unspoken communication to other people is: “Be nice to me – I am just a useless loser who is no threat to you, with little to offer except that I really don’t expect much from you”. This is a subtle and powerful manipulation of the sympathy of other people. Do not forget the hidden “I am special” part of this Shadow, which will utilise sympathy to get the attention you feel you deserve!

Your presentation of being a humble, helpless victim of inadequacies invariably attracts people into your immediate circle who want to either protect you, abuse you, or blame you, or all three. You often set yourself up for failure in this regard.

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Other people, who recognise your real abilities and potential, eventually give up encouraging you to feel good about yourself, because the Shadow dictates that “I have to fail to be right”. If someone doesn’t put you down or ridicule you, you oblige by making degrading jokes or comments about your appearance and inadequacies.

You may wonder whether this description is a little harsh. It is harsh, and is intended to be. This Shadow results in passivity, unlike the Control-Distance Shadow which, at least, is active and attempts to establish control. If the Apologising-Failure Shadow is strong, you accept abuse, you accept statements made by perceived authorities, you even accept unfair treatment at work, home and, in your medical treatment, you accept all without question or resistance, because, after all, “I don’t deserve any better”.

Eliciting sympathy is part of the modus operandi of this Shadow, hence the absence of such sympathy in our description of it. Even reading this description of the Shadow usually results in “I knew it – you see! I am messed up!” With this Shadow, you may present yourself in a specific manner – slouched, drooped shoulders, almost as though you’re retreating into your own body, speaking quietly or in a manner that is difficult to hear. (This may be modified by other Shadows). Your eyes are often downcast, with a rather distressed, disappointed and wistful expression. The use of the phrase “I am sorry” spews out at every opportunity. Even when you’re defensive in the face of criticism, you quickly crumble, apologising constantly afterwards. Nervous behaviour, such as nail-biting, playing with the hair, or picking at the skin, is not unusual for this Shadow. In projects, you become obsessive regarding details, and will check and recheck every detail over and over, because you know you’ve forgotten something or that you’ve made a mistake somewhere.

Dealing With People With This Shadow

First, sympathy is not helpful. Nor is criticism! The key to dealing with this Shadow is to realise that the person is suppressing a great deal of passion and intensity, which is locked away deep inside. Appeal to that passion. Appeal to the person's heart, not his/her head.

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Direct the person's conscious attention to the number of times s/he apologises or puts him/herself down. Do not allow statements such as “I don’t know,” “I’m not sure,” “this may sound stupid, but ….” Or any variations on the “I’m sorry” theme. Make it clear that you will not tolerate such statements. Do this in a firm but non-abrasive manner. Insist that s/he distinguishes between the things that s/he is responsible for, and those things which s/he is not responsible for. When s/he says “I can’t”, immediately confront her/him with “You can’t, or you won’t ?”

Focus on her/his abilities. Sometimes s/he needs a little push to get going in this regard. Be straightforward, and respectful. Above all, do not fall into the sympathy trap, which is the power game upon which this Shadow is based. Avoid terms that refer to blame – instead, refer to responsibility and facts. At all times, keep the objectives of the process clear and visible, and proceed with small, manageable steps to avoid or reduce failure.

Reinforce and acknowledge every success along the way, no matter how small, to erode the belief that failure is inevitable. Encourage the person to ‘applaud’ each success (s/he will try to dismiss success, rather than to acknowledge and feel good about it). Get him/her to become very aware of what s/he says (i.e. unconscious beliefs) and to ‘edit’ these in terms of now, as against then.

Clearly and consistently bear in mind how this Shadow formed in the first place, namely as a reaction to unrealistically high expectations from parents or teachers. Also keep in mind that s/he is likely to have entered relationships which reinforce this pattern of criticism. Therefore, make it clear that you do indeed have specific expectations from her/him, but that these expectations are clear and attainable, and that you will not withdraw your attention simply because they may take a little longer than expected.

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Assignments for the Apologising-Failure Shadow: 1. Immediate tasks:

(a) After reading how this Shadow develops, write a page on how it developed in your own life. Think carefully about who indicated that you are ‘special’, and who criticised you. Was there a moment or event in which you decided there was no way you could ever meet their expectations?

(b) Identify at least three recent events where you felt responsible for something that went wrong, even though it had nothing to do with you.

(c) Regarding your present health condition:  Identify three occasions where your humility has helped you when dealing with medical authorities and situations.  Then identify three occasions where this same sense of ‘it’s all my fault’ has caused a problem in this area. (d) List three specific areas in which you’re competent. Do not edit or censor them.

(e) Write a paragraph regarding the difference between failure and incomplete success, and how you delete all your accomplishments –small and big from your awareness. Name at least three areas where you unfairly put yourself down.

(f) Write a page on your belief patterns, regarding your own sense of deservingness, and how you can change them.

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2. Issues to start thinking about (to be addressed in subsequent sessions):

(a) Identify five fears that you have in terms of trying and failing. Just identify these fears, and be specific. A subsequent chapter will show you how you can deal with these fears.

(b) Can you remember the time when you felt you were loved for exactly who you are? When did that change? Focus upon the expectations made of you as a child which, when you think about it, were unrealistic for a child of that age. Would you expect the same from a child of that age?

(c) What future goals and desires do you have that will provide you with a sense of determination, and also allow you to be flexible enough to adapt as the situation changes? Ensure that these goals do not exclude dreams and desires that involve several attempts and possible mistakes. For what would you strive, if you truly believed you deserved what you wanted? These future-related goals will be addressed in greater depth at a later point.

(d) What do you perceive to be the lesson of this Shadow i.e. what has your experience of this Shadow (and your new knowledge of it) taught you? What do you perceive to be the gift of this Shadow i.e. what does it give to you, what power does it bestow?

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Shadow 5: Rushed-Restless

KEY ISSUE: Fears running out of Time. Fears not making it – not enough time. Believes that time is something you can save or waste. Self-worth is understood as what you can do, not who you are. Goal-oriented. Focused on the future, neglects the present.

“Hurry – we don’t have time to waste!” It is surprising that you have actually read this far before getting bored! Well done! People with the Rushed-Restless Shadow are distinctive in many ways, including speech, attitude, and behaviour. You are impatient and locked into the whole tick-tock ‘time’ thing. There may be times and situations where you escape tick-tock but, for the most part, you’re constantly ‘missioning’ to get things done, running around, hurrying people along, and generally trying to cram 25 hours into 24! In fact, when you die, we’ll engrave “Got Everything Done - Died Anyway!” on your tombstone!

You will rarely stand in queues in banks or post-offices at the end of the month, unless someone sent you there as punishment! Shopping with you is a nightmare – you’re quickly bored and frustrated and end up rushing home with only half of your shopping done!

You tend to be short-tempered, abrupt, and sometimes reckless in your haste. You rant and rave about how slow and incompetent other people are, and you have to force yourself not to finish other people’s sentences for them. You’re a dream colleague for those who don’t want to do something – they just have to do something slowly, and you automatically take over, shoving them aside, because you cannot tolerate the slowness! You find it very difficult to sleep without a watch – your compass in life.

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This Shadow is an interesting one, especially for specific health conditions. Combined with the Given-Up Shadow, the restlessness is suppressed, creating inner tension, and hypertension is common. However, when combined with the Inflexible-Obstinate Shadow and, especially if this combination is high for more than a year or two, it produces constant activation of the SAM system, which can lead to heart conditions.

However, for people with suppressed immune system conditions, such as AIDS or cancer, the combination of the Rushed-Restless and InflexibleObstinate Shadows is actually beneficial, as it counteracts the lethargy of the immune system’s activity. It is not uncommon for a remission in such conditions to occur, due partially to the ‘wake up call’ – and subsequent impatient urge to do many things – that a terminal diagnosis sometimes causes.

The fundamental fear behind this Shadow is one of running out of time before completing whatever it is that you want to complete. What is ‘wrong’ or incorrect about that? More basic beliefs causes this fear, namely that (a) ‘Doing’ is more important than ‘Being’. In other words, your self-worth and need for attention and approval is hinged on what you do, not who you are; and that (b) ‘Time’ is some tangible commodity that can be saved or wasted, and is in limited supply.

When we look at the competitive world in which we all live, these notions are supported in many ways by business and social systems and values. The emphasis is on accomplishment, schedules and deadlines. Success or failure is usually defined in these terms. Often overlooked is the basic misconception that intrinsic value depends on behaviour – if you behave and achieve, then you are ‘good’, but if you do not behave or perform well, you are ‘bad’. The person behind all these behaviours is not valued simply for who s/he is.

This Shadow develops in various ways, some of which are not obvious:

1. I will love you if you achieve: Often, this Shadow stems from an overachieving parent – someone who has accomplished a great deal despite limited education or financial background. This person - often your father - instilled

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in you the urge to achieve, and approval (love) was conditional on performing well. It is not unusual for this pattern to be passed on from generation to generation. If you failed, or moved too slowly, love and approval were withdrawn.

2. Rushed around - Anxiety linked to Time: Another way in which this Shadow may develop includes being rushed by parents or guardians, accompanied by statements such as “Hurry – don’t waste time!” or “If you don’t get a move on, we’ll never make it!” Time becomes associated with fear and urgency, often panic. The consequences of ‘running out of time’ are never discussed, but you formed vivid images of something horrible happening if you ‘ran out of time’. A very common breeding ground for this Shadow is boarding school and military training, which instils a strict, regimented timetable on every activity, with unpleasant consequences for being late or slow.

3. Slow environment - I am losing out on life: One further possible circumstance to cause this Shadow’s development is when your parents or guardians were slow, middle-aged (or older) and constantly suppressed your need to run around, make noise, and generally be an active, curious child. You may have felt frustrated, as if you were missing out on so much, and couldn’t wait to get out into the world and do so many things. Alternatively, you were forbidden to take part in certain activities because you were ‘too young’ or ‘too much trouble’. When you saw other children doing all these things, you felt as if you were missing out on life, and began to fear that you would never do everything you wanted in life. In this way, ‘running out of time’ becomes associated with ‘death’. Make no mistake – people with this Shadow get things done, and get them done quickly. However, there is a serious price to pay. In your rush to do as much as you can, you miss out on the pleasure of the present moment, because you’re always solely focused on future goals and ‘what's next?’ You are so busy ‘doing’ things that you rarely take time to enjoy what you do. You gloss over details in your rush, which can cause serious problems, and you have a strong tendency to over-commit and burn out. Ironically, although you detest people being late for appointments, you’re often late because you have an unrealistic perspective of how much you can do in a certain period of time.

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So, you run from one appointment to the next, and the delays cut into your carefully scheduled timetable.

Creativity is stifled because the creative process sometimes requires periods of silent incubation of a thought, in which nothing is ‘done’ at the physical level. You try to short-circuit this crucial aspect of creativity, and consequently feel ‘creatively blocked’.

When sitting, you often tap your feet, tweak at your moustache or hair, tap your fingers, and generally appear agitated and restless. You stride along, usually with your body slightly leaning forward, almost as if you’re trying to ‘get ahead of yourself’. It should be apparent that you’re highly goal-oriented, and need a project – if not several at once – to feel happy. Holidays – just doing nothing – are a severe strain, and can easily cause increased anxiety and tension! Not surprisingly, passive relaxation techniques, such as meditation, have been shown to increase your blood pressure! Sitting still results in your mind racing even faster, thinking about all the things you need to do, how much time you’re wasting doing nothing, and generally getting very frustrated and more impatient.

People with high levels of the Rushed-Restless Shadow appear to be very selffocused and confident, preferring to take the lead and drag everyone behind. However, your fundamental dependence on activity and achievement, as a measure of self-worth, becomes very apparent when you run out of time, such as when you’re late, or have completely over-committed yourself. When this occurs, you blame time – “If only there were 25 hours in the day!” In other words, you slide into the Refuse-Pleasure Shadow, which is defined in terms of placing all responsibility for unhappiness on some outside source.

The bottom-line for people with this Shadow is that, yes, it is marvellous how much you do. However, when are you actually going to enjoy what you are doing, now?

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Dealing With People With This Shadow

Good luck ! The person with this Shadow will want to rush in and do everything you suggest, right now! Make sure that you work through the details very carefully, as s/he will be strongly inclined to overlook some pretty important details in his/her haste to get finished.

If you slow the pace down too much, s/he will get very impatient, and dismiss what you have to say. However, if you present him./her with an Action List, s/he will be delighted !

However, you need to consider the focus of the intervention carefully. If you are dealing with a person who has cancer or AIDS, then it might be inadvisable to even try and moderate this Shadow, as it may serve them well.

If, on the other hand, you are dealing with a person who has a heart-related condition, such as hypertension, then this Shadow needs to be moderated, especially if it is combined with the Given-Up Shadow. Don't waste your time trying to get this person to sit down and meditate - it will drive her/him up the wall with frustration ! Rather focus upon active relaxation methods, such as walking, yoga, or other physical activities. Sometimes, listening to music will work in achieving the required relaxation.

One method of moderating this Shadow is to point out the following paradox: If you do not slow down, you will run out of time, and then you will have no more time to do any of the things you wanted to do in the first place! Literally, 'haste makes waste'.

The person with this Shadow invariably requires someone to fill in the details for him/her, and to slow her/him down long enough to notice how much s/he has achieved. Also, it is essential to point out that his/her self-worth is not dependent upon her/his activities, and that it is instead based upon her/his internal value.

Finally, ensure that you keep your agreements regarding time with this person!

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Assignments for the Rushed-Restless Shadow: 1. Immediate tasks:

(a) After reading how this Shadow develops, write a page on how this Shadow developed in your own life. Who told you that your value depended on what you do? Where and when did you get fixated on time?

(b) Identify at least three recent events where you noticed your impatience in terms of dealing with other people you care about.

(c) Regarding your present health condition:  Identify three occasions where your sense of urgency has helped you in dealing with medical authorities and situations.  Then identify three occasions where this same impatience and ‘let’s get this over with’ - without checking details - has caused a problem in this area.

(d) List three specific areas or situations where you have patience, and can relax without worrying about time.

(e) Write a paragraph regarding the difference between doing something effectively, and doing something efficiently.

Continued on next page …

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2. Issues to start thinking about (to be addressed in subsequent sessions):

(a) Identify five fears you have of not completing something, or accomplishing something before you die. Just identify these fears, and be specific. A subsequent chapter will show you how to deal with these fears. (b) Can you think of a time when you were ‘in the moment’, not overly worried about time? When did that change? Focus on the expectations that were made of you as a child which, when you think about it, were unrealistic for a child of that age. Would you expect the same from a child of that age?

(c) What future goals and desires will provide you with a sense of determination, and also allow you to be flexible enough to adapt as the situation changes? Also, ensure that these goals are not quickly-completed projects. Find one or two goals on which it’s worthwhile spending a great deal of time, effort and attention, such as developing some talent you have never had the time to develop. Examples are art or music, which will require years of practice, and in which you can get ‘lost’ and oblivious to time. These future-related goals will be addressed in greater depth at a later point.

(d) What do you perceive to be the lesson of this Shadow i.e. what has your experience of this Shadow (and your new knowledge of it) taught you? What do you perceive to be the gift of this Shadow i.e. what does it give to you, what power does it bestow?

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Shadow 6: Refuse-Pleasure

KEY ISSUE: Places power and/or responsibility for personal happiness on some external agent – another person, government, God, and situations. Holds and protects a wound from the past, and refuses to let it go. Will not forgive. Uses ‘suffering’ as a weapon to demand attention, and to hold people hostage with guilt. Will not tell people what s/he wants and needs, then says they don't care.

“Yes, but …” “You don’t understand my circumstances!”

The person with this Shadow gets rather angry when you say things such as "You create your own happiness", or "You are the master of your own destiny". When you say things like that to such a person, this Shadow rears it's head and starts listing all the reasons why it is not possible to be happy, and will tell you how - in his/her life - someone or something took that choice away. S/he will tell you things such as "It's not my fault men behave the way they do!" or "Get real - I have no control over the state of the economy, the weather, politics, and certainly not other people's behaviour !"

Now, let us get very clear about this 'blame' and 'fault' stuff: You are partially correct in terms of what you are and are not responsible for. Unless you make some major group effort (such as starting a new political party), you are not individually responsible for a whole range of things, including other people's behaviour, government, or the economy.

Nor are we talking about 'blame' or 'whose fault' all this is. What we are talking about is your personal and internal state of happiness, fear, anxiety, joy, anger, or sadness, which you are responsible for. There is a huge difference between the words 'fault' and 'responsibility', and no, this is not just playing with words !

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The words blame and fault directly imply that something is 'bad' (versus 'good'). These words also imply that guilt and punishment are appropriate, and that someone should 'pay' for what has happened. Usually, very little attention or effort is directed at actually 'fixing' or repairing the damage or pain. It is assumed that, when someone is guilty, they should be punished, and that this will miraculously erase the pain or damage. Look around you: Punishment does not lead to the easing of pain - it does not undo the trauma of a rape, nor does it bring back a lost child, for example.

However, the word responsibility - which is often (and incorrectly) used to indicate 'blame' - means something quite different. It has two components: Response-Ability. In other words, who or what caused the situation in the first place, and who or what is accountable for rectifying the situation.

Why are we telling you this? The reason is simple, and goes to the heart of this Shadow: Somewhere, a long time ago, someone hurt you and caused pain. You may claim that you have dealt with it, and you may claim that you have 'forgiven' that person, and put it behind you. The fact that you have a high score on this Shadow indicates that you have not dealt with that pain, and you have certainly not forgiven that person. It is not 'behind' you - it is firmly influencing your life today.

There is a beautiful story which illustrates the principle behind this Shadow: Two monks were walking through the countryside, both saying nothing because, according to their religious beliefs, they were not allowed to speak from sunrise to sunset. They had also taken vows of chastity, and therefore were not allowed to touch women. In the late afternoon they came to a raging river, and saw a woman struggling to get across. Without saying anything, the one monk went to her, picked her up, and carried her across the river. The other monk was clearly shocked. They continued their journey on the other side of the river, but it was clear that the one monk was furious at what the other monk had done. At sunset, the angry monk finally shouted at the other monk "How could you touch that woman ?! You have broken your vow of chastity !" The other monk replied "Yes, that is true. However, I broke my vow for ten minutes, and then I put the woman down, and then resumed my vows. You, on the other hand, have carried that woman in your heart for several hours, until now. You have broken you vow ever since you saw her".

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The Refuse-Pleasure Shadow is like the angry monk - it will not let go of the image, anger, shock of some 'bad' event which happened a long time ago. It still haunts you, and influences how you view the world today. This does not mean that the 'bad' event did not happen, nor that you should suddenly condone the actions which caused pain.

Think of it another way: Let us pretend that a women gets attacked and raped. Should she try to 'forget' it? Of course not! The event should be reported to the police, and the rapist sent to jail. That is justice, as every person who belongs to a civilised society knows the consequences of his/her actions. However, let us go forward in time, to about fifteen years later. In some cases, the rapist will be released from jail. The woman, however, has serious problems in relationships with men, is still afraid to venture outside her home alone, and has serious problems about her self-worth. If you were to ask her why she had all these problems, she would say that the rapist is to blame for her present state of affairs. Is this true?

The fact of the matter is that the person who hurt you so long ago, probably does not give it another thought today. S/he may not even remember it. Yet you still give him/her the power today to determine your emotional state. Every day, you hand him/her your power. Forgiveness has nothing to do with making what happened 'right' or 'ok', because what happened was not 'right' or 'good'. Forgiveness is about taking your power back, and saying "Enough! I refuse to let you control my life any more."

In the example of the woman who was raped, she can view herself as a 'Rape Victim', with all the consequences that come from that label, or a 'Survivor of Rape', with all it's consequences. In both cases, justice should occur for the person (rapist) responsible for the unacceptable behaviour. However, there is a vast difference in terms of the consequences - emotionally and mentally - for the woman herself. The 'Rape Victim' remains stuck in the event, leaving her power in the hands of the rapist, while the 'Rape Survivor' takes her power back, gets on with her life, and does not allow him to determine her future happiness.

With this Shadow comes an enormous opportunity for personal growth. Keep this in mind while you read the rest of the description of this Shadow.

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It is useful to know how it typically develops:

1. The unjust infliction of pain: There is no doubt that, somewhere in the past, usually in childhood, some unjust pain was inflicted upon you. This can range from one of your parents leaving you, being hurt and abused, or it can be more recent, such as losing an unborn child. The circumstances can vary enormously. However, if you look closely at your life, you will find one or more events in which pain was caused for you, and this pain seemed unfair and uncalled for. Try to find the earliest event.

2. Unfair conditions for obtaining love and attention from parents: Alternatively, a parent insisted that you earned love through being ‘good’ or ‘nice’, because ”Having a child is hard work – you owe me”. Love is withheld if you didn’t comply, and being ‘not nice’ can include being sick, not being hungry, and various normal things. Obviously, you felt trapped, unwanted, and could not fulfil these requirements for love: “It is not fair! No matter what I do, I’m trapped. But I’ll make them pay – I can make them feel guilty by suffering". 3. Overpowering parents: The child was unable to respond to the adult’s anger, temper or physical power. Consequently, you gave in to ensure your survival. You became obedient, but resentful, and found ways of getting revenge in covert ways.

4. Modelling: Watching someone (e.g., your mother) act out this Shadow. You copied it and continued to carry her pain into your own life. For example, as a child, you watched your mother passively submit to your father. When he wasn’t present, she complained about the way she was treated, but did nothing about it. You saw that your mother was abused when she asserted herself. However, you also noticed that your mother’s strategy is more powerful than your father’s, because her methods of revenge were quiet, continual, and relentless.

The development of this Shadow appears, at the superficial level, to be wide and varied. Rejection, abuse, oppression, inflicted pain and suffering, miscarriages, accidents, or a whole range of possible wounds were inflicted on you at some point in your life.

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Please note that it is important not to be side-tracked by more recent wounds, as these are simply repetitions of much earlier wounds. In almost every single case, the actual or perceived ‘cause’ of the pain (wound) was external – mother, father, teacher, husband, wife, government, or God. The facts will speak for themselves in this regard, no matter what the wound is. In a few cases, the ‘wound’ was self-inflicted, but this is not common. There is no disputing these facts, as they are a matter of record.

You will notice that all these possible formative events contain situations in which you felt powerless and trapped. This is your greatest fear - to be trapped and unloved.

The second aspect of this Shadow is the component of revenge. Why ? When someone else hurts you, and you do not have the ability to respond at that moment, it is human nature to try and inflict the same amount of pain on the other person, to 'make it fair and equal'. The belief is that, if you can hurt him/her in the same way as s/he hurt you, s/he would understand that what s/he did was not OK, and s/he would be sorry about it. The only problem with this belief is that it is not based in reality or experience - you can never inflict the same pain you feel, on someone else. It will always be different because s/he is different, and pain is subjective. If you doubt this, look at all the longstanding feuds in the world, such as tribal wars. It never seems to end, even although both sides get hurt and then inflict revenge. There is no such thing as 'getting even'.

You may certainly inflict pain on that person. However, it will never be the same as the pain you experienced. You will not succeed, ever, in erasing the pain through revenge. That is a fact. Second, every time you think about the pain that has been caused to you, you do not re-experience exactly the same pain again – every remembering is a slightly different, ‘new’ pain. So, there is the original pain, which is then compounded and increased over time. Do you want to continue giving that person so much power over your life?

However, when you cannot inflict the same amount of pain, then you find other ways of revenge. The most subtle and powerful method is to ensure that the person who hurt you sees your pain and suffering. Usually, however, the actual person disappears from the scene, and you use this strategy on anyone who represents that original person.

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For example, if a father hurts his daughter, she will transfer this 'see how I suffer because of you' to other men, or a man who was hurt by his father may transfer this to authority figures, governments, of even God ('our Father who art in Heaven'). The very nature of this Shadow is the following: “Look at how I suffer! See what you’ve done!”

This is why, when you ask for help from someone, and that person offers some solution, you may resist the solution. Underlying this is the fact that you are merely asking someone to witness your suffering - you are not interested in finding a solution. You want revenge. This manifests in the typical "Yes, but…" response, followed by an explanation of why the solution does not apply to you: "After all, if you understood my special circumstances (i.e., my wound from the past), you would understand why I can not be happy".

It may seem harsh to say, but the bottom-line is that you hold your wound up to the world as a beacon for attention. You do not want to let it go, because then how will you get your revenge? How will you get attention? How else will you justify your suffering today? How else can you control other people with guilt?

As previously stated, your greatest fear is of being trapped, and of being unlovable. You feel that, if someone really loves you, that person would find out how to make you happy. But you will not tell him/her what will make you happy! Wonderful way of getting revenge, isn't it? Consequently, everyone fails to make you happy, and you make sure that other people know how they have failed in this! “If you were good to me, I would be happy. However, you aren’t good to me, so I’m not happy. It's your fault I'm not happy!” Evidence to this effect can be seen in the fact that you rarely complain to someone who can change the situation; instead, you complain to someone who cannot fix the problem.

The very moment that you think or say something like "If s/he loved me, then s/he would (say/do/be something)", you know that you are operating from this Shadow, and handing your power to someone else. You are also abusing the love of someone, in order to suit your own agenda. The tables could be easily turned by responding "If you really loved him/her, you would tell him/her what you want and need, so that s/he can love you in the way you want to be loved".

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When you 'test' your loved ones, and set them up to see if they really love you, you are abusing their love, and setting yourself up for being rejected and attacked for being so manipulative. If you want or need something, say so! Do not assume that anyone else can read your mind. People are different, and therefore you can not assume that someone will know what you need.

People with this Shadow are in a difficult situation: You are intensely needy for sympathy and attention to compensate for the pain you have suffered. But, at the same time, you believe that if you admit to this neediness, people would reject you. It is therefore very difficult to tell the truth about your needs and wants.

For example: A friend invites you to a picnic. You refuse, saying that you have too much work to do. If s/he persists in asking, you will eventually give in, saying “Oh, if you insist. I’ll come just so you won’t be angry with me”. Meanwhile, what you really wanted to say was “Thank you! I really wanted you to ask me! Thank you!”

Notice that the statement "I will come so that you won't be angry with me" immediately places responsibility for your enjoyment of the picnic on the other person. Nice manipulation with guilt, isn't it?

When you land up in a situation in which you feel trapped, you switch to the Rushed-Restless Shadow, and the pent-up anger explodes into a tirade and then you dissolve into tears. This frustration of feeling trapped can result in making rushed and rash decisions, leading to an even more trapped situation. It may be argued that this happens to everyone – everyone has had some pain in their lives – so what makes this Shadow different? Several things: First of all, you use your pain as a weapon to control other people, and keep them locked into a relationship with feelings of guilt and sympathy. You will not – you refuse to – let go of the pain of the past.

Second, as previously described, you use various strategies to manipulate people into ‘proving’ how much they care or love you. Furthermore, if the other person gives up in frustration, you silently say to yourself: “If s/he cared for me, s/he would have tried one more time, asked one more time…”

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Naturally, the therapist, partner or friend feels as if s/he has failed, and feels tremendous guilt. The justifications for this “It’s not my fault – it’s his/her/their fault that I am not happy” are powerful and convincing, because you use logic, justice and facts as your armour.

No-one can argue that what happened was terrible and inexcusable. Everyone can understand the pain it must have caused. A fair person would agree that it was an unjust action. The only problem with this brilliant manipulation is that you say you want to be happy today, but you claim that you can’t because of what has happened in the past. This is simply not true. This Shadow knows full well that, to be happy today, the past has to be released, which removes any excuse for not taking responsibility for such happiness. It is at this point that this Shadow starts getting huffy and puffy – “Are you saying that I must simply forget and forgive what he/she/they did? Must I suddenly erase from my mind the pain they caused? Must I suddenly pretend that what they did was OK? Well – I won’t do that, because it wasn’t right, and can’t be excused!” No-one is suggesting that what happened didn’t happen, nor that you should forget what happened. Furthermore, it has not been suggested that what happened was not unfair and unjust, or that it shouldn’t be viewed as such.

Forgiveness is not reconciliation. Forgiveness is not restitution. Forgiveness is not ‘making it right’. Forgiveness does not mean that you stop seeking legal justice. Forgiveness does not necessarily involve both parties. To forgive the person who hurt you, for example a family member, does not mean you now have to go to family dinners and pretend that everything is OK, and that the slate is wiped clean. In fact, if you wish to pursue legal action, that course of action is perfectly compatible with forgiveness. Understand that we are not approving of the offender's behaviour. We are not defending him/her and we are certainly not interested in how s/he feels. Furthermore, you do not have to confront the people who hurt you, or say anything to them at all, nor do they have to return the gesture, or even be aware of what you have done.

Forgiveness is a personal, one-sided process. It involves only you and releasing your own pain, so that you can move on in your life.

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Forgiveness simply means that you take back your power from whoever hurt you, and that you leave (for-give) the pain of the past in the past. Forgiveness means ceasing to blame, and giving up the emotional need for revenge. It does not mean that you let the other person 'off the hook' in terms of his/her responsibility and accountability for his/her actions. All that it means is that you let yourself off the hook in terms of the effects of that person's actions.

Most importantly, there is a way of viewing forgiveness that makes it the most sane and logical thing to do, from your personal perspective. Do you think the person(s) who hurt you thinks about what s/he did to you, as often as you do? Who is hurting, you or him/her? Do you realise that this person is blissfully unaware of it, s/he still continues to dominate your life, still manages to live inside of you, simply because you will not let it go? To put it in a more radical perspective: You say that the pain you hold on to is important to you – which it must be, seeing as you will not let it go. So why do you not write a letter of thanks to him/her for giving this pain to you? After all, you insist on holding it close to you, don’t you?

Forgiveness is the only healthy option and, by this, we mean healthy for you. How do you forgive? Forgiveness is the act of ‘giving back’ what you do not want, namely the pain. The exact process is explained in another chapter. Suffice to say, it involves taking back your power from that person. Isn’t there anything ‘nice’ about this Shadow? Oh, indeed! The above descriptions are rather ruthless, because people with this Shadow are tough survivors. Yes, you whine and complain a lot, and can be quite spiteful. However, you tend to stay when others flee the battlefield. The ‘gift’ of this Shadow is hardiness – knowing you can survive pain and difficulty. This ‘gift’ is hidden under layers of other things, including perceived powerlessness, but it is there.

Make no mistake: You are a tough cookie! You ability to endure difficulties is a tremendous ability that will stand you in good stead in difficult times. What we are suggesting is that you do not need to hold on to past difficulties and pain to prove the point! It is time to start enjoying your power to create pleasure and happiness in your life. You can do it, if you let yourself do it.

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Dealing With People With This Shadow

One of the keys to dealing with a person with this Shadow is to insist that s/he says what s/he means, and to not use "Yes, but" phrases or variations on this statement. Secondly, make sure that your boundaries are very explicit and clear – “This is what I do, and what I am responsible for. You are responsible for …” Also, make it clear that you do not ‘do guilt trips’. When the person starts complaining about how unhappy s/he is, do not be seduced by the reason, and avoid blame at all costs. Point to what s/he is willing and capable of doing to rectify the matter – “That was then, and this is now. What are you willing to do about it?”

Often, people with Refuse-Pleasure are unaware of how their whining and complaining and especially their vagueness to state what they want, alienates others. Without being derogatory or critical, it may be useful to point this out to them. Make it clear that you do not ‘read minds’, particularly when it comes to support: “If you want my support, then ask me, and I will tell you if I can or want to support you. However, do not try and do a guilt-trip on me if you have not asked or directly indicated this to me”. This is particularly important in restoring his/her sense of power over his/her life, which was damaged by past injustices, and the (past) inability to counter that injustice.

We have made some interesting observations regarding this specific Shadow and autoimmune disease – allergies, multiple sclerosis, arthritis, and also certain kinds of diabetes. There is no comprehensive research on this at present, but we are gathering information. When dealing with such issues, we suggest careful attention is given to this Shadow, especially in relation to issues of guilt, ‘mistakes that can’t be rectified’, issues that the person refuses to deal with, and similar related subjects. We reiterate that these suggestions are based on a range of observations, and cannot be regarded as definitive.

This is a very rewarding Shadow to work with, regardless of how high the scoring. To some extent, we all hand over our power to a past event, person or circumstances, and this will always affect the body.

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Assignments for the Refuse-Pleasure Shadow: 1. Immediate tasks:

(a) After reading about how this Shadow develops, write a page on how this Shadow developed in your own life. Who did what to you to instil a sense of powerlessness and a feeling of being trapped? Who do you blame for your unhappiness? Who do you need to forgive, in order to reclaim your power?

(b) Identify at least three recent events where you failed to tell someone what you wanted or needed, and then you got hurt because they could not figure it out, and you interpreted this as a sign that they did not care enough about you?

(c) List three situations in which you feel trapped by circumstances. (d) List five things which ‘someone should do something about’, and about which you have failed to do anything.

(e) Regarding your present health condition: identify three occasions where your insistence that the doctor or nurse was responsible for some aspect of your state of health has helped you when dealing with medical authorities and situations. Then identify three occasions where this same sense of 'it's your fault' and your failure to tell someone what you needed, (“if they cared, they should know”) has caused a problem in this area.

(f) List three specific areas of your life where, in fact, you have power.

(g) Write a paragraph regarding the difference between excusing (or condoning) wrongdoing and forgiving.

(continued on next page …)

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2. Issues to start thinking about (to be addressed in subsequent sessions):

(a) Identify five fears that you have in terms of being trapped in circumstances or being rejected for being perceived as needy. Just identify these fears, and be specific. A subsequent chapter will show you how you can deal with these fears.

(b) Can you think of a time when you knew that, no matter what anyone said or did to you, you were in control of your life? What about the times when you knew exactly what was expected, and you could proceed with confidence? Who, in your childhood, did not tell you exactly what they wanted from you, and you had to struggle to ‘read their minds’? Finally, who in your life do you also ‘keep in the dark’ about what you want and need, expecting them to figure it out?

(c) What future goals and desires do you have that will provide you with a sense of determination, and also allow you to be sufficiently flexible to adapt as the situation changes? Also, ensure that these goals are not dependent upon any other person, destiny, luck, or any external force – only you are responsible for whether it is achieved or not.

(d) What do you perceive to be the lesson of this Shadow? In other words, what has your experience of this Shadow (and your new knowledge of it) taught you? What do you perceive to be the gift of this Shadow? In other words, what does it give to you, and what power does it bestow?

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Shadow 7 : Never-Enough

KEY ISSUE: Constant craving for ‘something’ which will bring final fulfilment and happiness. You fear that the ‘something’ will never be found, and that you'll die unhappy and unfulfilled. No matter how much you have, you are only focused upon what you do not have. Nothing is ever ‘enough’ – there must be ‘more out there’. The ‘something’ is a substitute for the real love that you believe is unattainable.

“Just one more, then I’ll be happy.” What is wrong with wanting things, and wanting more of what you already have? Absolutely nothing! However, this Shadow has nothing to do with 'normal' wanting and desiring things. Rather, it is about wanting - craving things out of a deep sense of emptiness inside. For example, when you feel upset, you may go shopping to buys things you do not need, just so that you can feel better. Also, no matter how much you get, or how well things are going, you tend to only think about the things that you do not have. In other words, it is very difficult for you to feel satisfied about anything - there is always the need for more.

Even when you are talking to someone, your eyes and ears are roaming around the room, 'in case' there is someone more interesting. Even when you have an excellent relationship, you will only notice the small things that are not 'enough', and you may even destroy a good relationship 'in case' there in someone better for you somewhere else. No matter how much money you accumulate, it is never enough. There is a fundamental belief that there is not enough to go around, and so you either tend to hold on to what you have, which can result in you being a bit of a miser, or you can focus all your attention on getting as much as you can. All of this comes from a sense of emptiness, anxiety, and fear. We need to repeat that this desire for 'more' does not come from a simple desire to experience and have things that you want, and which will give you pleasure. Not at all.

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This Shadow can manifest in many ways. When you get upset, what do you do to feel better? Shop? Eat? Gamble? Have sex? Do a course? Make more money? What is it that you crave when you feel upset? You will notice that when you are doing this 'thing' (e.g., eating, shopping, gambling) you feel better for a shirt while, but the feeling of satisfaction disappears quickly, until the next time. It is almost as if there is a hole that you are trying to fill, but it never seems to be full.

This feeling of trying to fill a hole inside of yourself is what this Shadow is all about. In fact, it is this 'hole' that creates this Shadow.

At the onset, it needs to be very clearly stated that the single focus of dealing with this Shadow lies in addressing issues of abandonment – real, perceived, physical or emotional. "Hold on a second - I was never abandoned!" Perhaps not in the ways you think, but it did happen.

However, before we even discuss this abandonment issue, we need to make something very clear: The abandonment does not necessarily make sense from an adult, logical, reasonable perspective. An excellent example would be the situation of being sent to boarding school as a child. Let us imagine that there is a family living in a rural area, who really want to ensure that their child gets the best possible education. Furthermore, the local schools are quite a distance away, and it would be difficult to get the child to school and back every day. So, after much discussion between the parents and the child, it is decided that the child will go to an excellent boarding school. All of this makes perfect sense from an adult perspective, and when the child grows up, s/he would say that it was a really positive stage in his/her development, and would probably recommend the school to other parents. However, those are simply the facts of the situation, and facts do not always include all the other unseen truths. For example, the parents drove for hour with the child until they finally reached the boarding school. The child is excited, a bit nervous, but otherwise quite happy. After putting his/her bags in his/her dormitory, meeting the teachers, and ensuring that everything was in order, the parents return to their car to drive home. Still, everything is fine. However, as the child stands there, watching his parents drive away, it finally dawns on him/her that they are going away, and that s/he is being left behind. Although s/he knew this intellectually, s/he was unprepared for emotional aspect of this reality.

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Within the period of a minute or two, the child goes through an entire range of irrational thoughts and emotional feelings, including the thought and feeling that "If they really loved me, they wouldn't leave me here". This doesn't have to last for more than a few seconds in order to create a powerful emotional feeling of being abandoned, despite the 'logical' facts of the situation.

A similar situation can occur when a father works a great deal of over-time at a factory in order to ensure that his family have enough food, the rent is paid, and the kids have a decent education. Everyone in the family understand this, and they are grateful. However, on one bright Saturday morning, while his father is working, the son in the family scores his first goal in a soccer match. Without thinking, and in a moment of absolute delight, he looks around to see if his father is there to congratulate him. His father is not there. In that moment of irrational disappointment, the feeling of abandonment can occur. None of this is rational. Regardless, that deep feeling of loss and disappointment occurred, which is experienced as abandonment: "If he really loved me, he would have been here, just this once!".

Everyone has been a child at some point in his/her life, and so everyone can understand these feelings that are not based upon logic or facts. Therefore, when we say that the central issue of this Shadow is 'abandonment', do not dismiss this if you were not literally and physically abandoned - it could have been a brief feeling similar to the two examples described, seen from a child's perspective.

There are also the more obvious examples of physical abandonment, such as being given up for adoption, or one of your parents leaving the home. In South Africa, for example, it was common practice for the father of the family to leave home for extended periods of time, in order to obtain work on a mine in another part of the country. He may have had no choice in this, as the Apartheid laws prohibited him from taking his family with him. From a child's perceptive, s/he may have 'understood' why this was happening, but the child nevertheless felt abandoned, as a child tends to see things in very simple terms: "If he loved me, he would be here with me. He is not here, therefore he does not love me." The logical facts of the situation do not make any difference to the feelings that were felt at that time: The child felt abandoned, and that is enough to create this Shadow.

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An even subtler form of abandonment concerns emotional abandonment. In this kind of abandonment, the parent may have been physically present all the time, but the child did not feel as if the parent was emotionally present for him or her. For example, the child comes running to her mother - "Look at the picture I drew!" - and the mother, without even looking at the picture for more than a second or two, says "That's nice dear" and then carries on with her other activities. The child is not stupid - it knows that the mother was not interested! This form of emotional abandonment occurs often when one or both parents are always busy with something, and, apart from ensuring that the child is fed, clean, and has a warm bed to sleep, do not pay much attention to the child. This can also happen when the parent(s) are alcoholics, and are simply incapable of providing emotional attention and interest in the child.

Finally, the impact of the death of a loved one must not be underestimated in terms of creating this Shadow. Although people are reluctant to admit to the feelings of anger that follow the death of someone they love, these feelings are very real "How could you leave me! If you really loved me, you wouldn't have died and left me alone!" Again, there is the overwhelming feeling of abandonment. A great deal of unresolved grief centres around such feelings of anger and abandonment, which the person will not discuss because s/he feels terribly guilty about these 'bad' feelings.

So basically, this Shadow develops as follows: 1. The Abandonment: There are various types of abandonment: (a) Physical abandonment: Adoption, desertion, one/both parents leaving the child with someone else, or the loved one dies. (b) Emotional abandonment: The parent(s) were not emotionally present for the child. (c) Perceived abandonment: A feeling of abandonment which was not necessarily based in fact, but the child simply saw it that way, even for a brief period of time.

2. The child's decision that s/he will never get the loved one's love: This is the crucial part of the formation of this Shadow. Regardless of the situation which led to this, the belief that "I will never get his/her love" is the foundation for the creation of the 'hole' inside. From that moment onwards, methods will be found to try and fill that 'hole inside'.

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As an adult, you may struggle to understand where this sense of abandonment developed, largely because you’re trying to analyse the past in adult terms and concepts. For example, you intellectually understand why you were sent to boarding school, or that the parent had to work hard to put food on the table. However, when you place yourself back in your ‘child’ experience, where your thought processes were not logical, it becomes easier to comprehend. Children are very ego-centred and literal. If your father was not there to see you play soccer, you may ‘understand’ that he was working hard in the factory so that he could feed you and clothe you. However, from the perspective of the child who was standing on the soccer pitch, and who looked around for his father, all you knew was “Daddy is not here – If he loved me, he would be here. He’s not, so he doesn’t love me.”

The sense of abandonment can also occur where a parent was preoccupied with the needs of a chronically ill spouse, grandparent, brother or sister. The bottom-line regarding abandonment is that the child wanted love, protection, and attention from someone, typically a parent. For whatever reason, that love, protection and attention was not there at the time the need arose. All the hindsight and adult understanding in the world cannot erase the feeling of unfulfilled need for the parent. It is not, we repeat, necessarily logical or rational. The consequence is a feeling of ‘emptiness’ deep inside, and a driving need to fill that ‘empty space’ where love is absent.

However, before you panic about the effects that your odd lapse of attention is having on your own children, it is important to remember that this Shadow only comes about as a result of repeated and consistent experiences of actual or perceived abandonment. Occasionally, a single traumatic event can produce the same result, such as physical abandonment or being sent to boarding school. Usually though, it is the result of a consistent pattern of less obvious and perceived emotional abandonment. The clincher for this Shadow is when, as a child, you made the decision that, no matter what, you would never get the love you wanted from the person you wanted to love you. Clearly, the core issue is “I am not loveable”, and the core fear is of dying alone and unloved. To deal with this ‘empty hole inside’, the child sought a substitute for the missing love. The substitute manifests differently from one individual to

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another and is dependent on the developmental stage of the child at that time and the substitute offered by the parent. For some, it is food while for others, it is buying things or accumulating specific objects. A less obvious form is the accumulation of knowledge, or constantly doing courses to find the answer: ‘guru hopping’ or ‘workshop junkies’. The substitute itself is unimportant in the greater scheme of things – there is usually nothing inherently ‘wrong’ with the substitute itself. However, the important aspect of the substitute is that you tend to crave it when you feel insecure, upset or stressed, you feel better for a brief period, and then you crave more, hence ‘Never Enough’.

The reality is that there is no lasting external substitute for what is missing – the love from the person whom you perceive as having abandoned you.

One of the more profound effects of this Shadow, directly emerging from Shadow development, is that you don’t believe you will ever get the ‘real thing’. This even applies to times when you have obtained the ‘real thing’. This deep-seated suspicion – “What’s the catch?” – can cause fundamental problems in relationships and career, where you turn down a good job out of suspicion, or end a perfectly good relationship, or ignore loyal friends for the possibility that “There must be something better out there”. Whatever is available is simply not good enough. The phrase “The grass is greener on the other side” is a classic Never-Enough Shadow statement. For this reason, this Shadow tends to create its own worst nightmare, namely ending up alone, unloved, and unfulfilled. You criticise and reject whatever is available, and consequently end up with very little or nothing at all. An outsider would consider that you have gathered a great deal of ‘stuff’. However, it is important to realise that, from your point of view, you’re only aware of what is not there – what is missing. In other words, your primary focus is on what you don’t have – money, sex, relationships, career, and possessions – regardless of how much you already have. The old saying that money brings misery and loneliness is an accurate statement of fact for people with this Shadow. However, we need to make it quite clear that the connection between wealth and unhappiness is restricted to this Shadow, and

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is not true in and of itself. Certainly, money cannot buy happiness. However, poverty provides even fewer choices! Indeed, it is the greed for ‘having stuff’ – including money – that is associated with misery in this Shadow, simply because the Shadow is based upon a basic feeling of being unloved and, ironically, deprived. It is almost as if you have a constant craving for something, and this never completely subsides, even when you possess or obtain, in abundance, what you crave.

Naturally, jealousy and envy can be powerful elements in the life of the person with this Shadow, as these emotional forces are based upon the desire to have something that someone else has, or the fear that someone else will take away what is yours.

Another manifestation of this Shadow is the opposite of greed, namely selfimposed deprivation. When the fear of never having what you want is strong, you retreat from reaching for that object/person, because you instinctively know that it will never satisfy you, cutting off any avenue of fulfilment. Therefore, this Shadow’s somewhat distorted logic may try to hold onto the hope of eventual fulfilment by purposefully depriving you of what you want. The fluctuation between the two extremes – ‘must have’ and ‘must not have’ – are at the basis of binging and purging problems, including eating disorders, drugs, and alchohol. For example, in bulimia, the thought patterns may be as follows: “I hate being deprived – I am going to have as much as I want of everything”. Then, after the binging period, there are feelings of remorse, self-rejection, and lack of total fulfilment, no matter how much you consume. The pendulum shifts to the extreme, and the purging (self-deprivation) stage enacts itself.

In many cases, this Shadow is quite destructive within relationships. After the ‘conquest’ – getting what you want – you become a classic ‘Taker’, demanding a lot from your partner, giving little in return. You resent any error or slip by the partner, in terms of attentiveness, understanding and sympathy. The irony is that you desperately want and need a partner, but resent your partner for not being exactly what you want! Inevitably, you push your partner away, either because of high and strict demands, or because you are unfaithful, which you view as some form of punishment for the ‘imperfect’ partner, or as a strategy to get more attention from the other.

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At an intellectual and spiritual level, this Shadow can result in a ‘greed’ for knowledge. This manifests in the feeling that, no matter how many teachers, gurus or professors you consult, no-one has the ‘right’ answer, neither do any of these people have the means or methods to fulfil all your needs. Ironically, some forms of this Shadow view deprivation – of money, sex, material goods, or happiness – as being the means to eventually ‘have more’ salvation.

Dealing With People With This Shadow

A distinctive physical characteristic of people with this Shadow is intense, ‘hungry’ and roving eyes – always seeking something. Because they’re constantly focused on what they may be missing, their attention is easily distracted. Other physical characteristics can include extreme weight loss or gain. When dealing with people with this Shadow, don’t expect them to be team players – they are in the game for themselves. If they believe that you have knowledge or power that they want or need, they are easily persuaded to do as you ask. However, if they believe that you have nothing to offer, they will ignore you. Motivation is fairly easy. Use the ‘carrot approach’ – tell them what they will ‘have’ as a result of the process, and point out what it is that is ‘missing’ in their lives. Although this sounds like manipulation, and it is, keep in mind that these tactics are measures to engage the Shadow in supporting the process. If this is not done, the person him/herself will be blocked by the Shadow. Once the person has a grip on this Shadow, such tactics are no longer necessary.

Regardless of the various other issues that arise in the PNI process, the key to resolving this Shadow - and the healing process itself - is dealing with the issues of abandonment and feeling unloved. Attention needs to be paid to what the person believes s/he will never have and what s/he desperately wants – the feeling that s/he is loveable. In the chapter dealing with creating resources, this issue is addressed.

Read the Frantic-Destructive Shadow to understand what happens when the person fails to get what s/he wants.

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Assignments for the Never-Enough Shadow: 1. Immediate tasks:

(a) After reading about how this Shadow develops, write a page on how this Shadow developed in your own life. Who did you believe abandoned you, either physically or emotionally? Remember to view this in terms of the child’s mentality, and not in terms of the adult you are today. Carefully re-read the various possible scenarios presented earlier to understand this sense of abandonment.

(b) Identify at least three recent events where you felt unhappy, unfulfilled or stressed. What did you do to feel better? Shopping, eating, drugs, alcohol, reading – what is your substitute, your comfort-producing activity?

(c) List three important things you believe to be missing in your life.

(d) Regarding your present health condition:  Identify three occasions where your sense of “This is not good enough – I want better and more” and the drive to have what you want has helped you when dealing with medical authorities and situations.  Identify three occasions where this same sense of ”What I have is not good enough – I want better and more” has caused a problem in this area, such as cutting off help and support, or failing to recognise that people are doing the best they can for you.

(e) List three specific people who, without question or doubt, love you and consider you loveable. If this is difficult for you to answer, spend some time carefully thinking about it – these people do exist.

(f) Write a paragraph regarding the difference between wanting something because it brings you satisfaction and pleasure, and wanting something because you feel incomplete until you have it. In other words, the difference between “I am OK, and I want XYZ” (your happiness is not dependent on having it – you simply want it) and “I will feel OK when I have XYZ” (your happiness is dependent on having it – you feel you need it). (continued on next page …) © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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2. Issues to start thinking about (to be addressed in subsequent sessions):

(a) Identify five fears that you have in terms of never attaining happiness, never being loved, and never reaching total fulfilment. Just identify these fears, and be specific. A subsequent chapter will show you how you can deal with these fears.

(b) Can you think of a time when you felt completely satisfied and fulfilled about something? How long did that feeling last?

(c) What future goals and desires do you have that will provide you with a sense of determination, and also allow you to be sufficiently flexible to adapt as the situation changes? Also, ensure that these goals are not necessarily linked to some final point in time where you can say ”I have done it”. Include some goals that provide pleasure in the striving itself, where you will feel OK about yourself no matter how long it takes to achieve these goals.

(d) What do you perceive to be the lesson of this Shadow i.e. what has your experience of this Shadow (and your new knowledge of it) taught you? What do you perceive to be the gift of this Shadow i.e. what does it give to you, what power does it bestow?

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Shadow 8 : Frantic-Destructive

KEY ISSUE: Self-destructive thoughts and behaviour based upon experiences of abuse and abandonment. Desperately wants to control him/herself, and is terrified of losing control.

“What's the point ? We all die anyway!”

The name of this Shadow is rather scary, and it’s quite shocking to hear such a label of yourself. Before you run away, please keep in mind that resolving this Shadow is truly simple and when achieved, the positive effects are dramatic. Before we discuss resolution, let us first describe this Shadow:

You fluctuate between feelings of being out of control (frantic) and trying to control pain by inflicting it on yourself (destructive). This manifests in many ways, including socialising with people who cannot be trusted, exposing yourself to dangerous activities, high-risk ventures, drugs and alcohol dependencies, and ensuring that there is always someone around who can be depended upon to abuse you. Feelings of desperation often emerge when you are alone. In the extreme, suicide attempts are made in the effort to control death, or reaching a point where nothing works, and living no longer seems a viable option – it is too out of control and painful: “I’ll kill myself. Nobody else is going to do it for me”. It should be clear that the fear that fuels this Shadow is of being out of control or losing control. Taking positive control of your life, your health and your body is essential to your wellness. You don’t understand the point in living because, for you, life has translated into pain and loss. The lack of social and familial law and order in your life has created a lack of personal boundaries and respect for your life, your health and your body. In turn, this has probably been one of the causes of your illness. You’ve given up on believing in God (or a higher being), because “God gave up on me”. After all, you reason, “if there was a God, why would there be so much pain in the world? You just have to look around you to understand what I mean?”

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People with this Shadow tend to involve themselves with people with the same Shadow (who encourage erratic and extreme behaviour) or those with the Apologising-Failure Shadow (who are prepared to subjugate their own needs, through love and sympathy).

Typical behaviour is evidenced with those who attach themselves to some religious movement. They are either expelled from the group because they perceive the principles of the religion as an attempt to control them and, therefore, they set about undermining those principles or they endure abstinence (or some other form of suffering) for the sake of ‘salvation’. There is little joy, peace or serenity in religion for people with this Shadow.

People with this Shadow can be detected by two key characteristics: First, intense and desperate eyes. Second, there is little concept of personal boundaries and frequent invasion of other people’s personal space without permission and a blatant ignorance of cues in this regard. Therefore, people tend to be repelled in the unconscious act of trying to re-establish their personal space while you experience another rejection and abandonment, although this is (unwittingly) all your own doing. The only people who do not have a problem with this invasion of personal space is, of course, other people with this Shadow, who support and reinforce the pattern of self-destructive, inappropriate behaviour. In the end, they are the only people left.

How does this Shadow develop?

1. Abuse - Physical, Emotional, or Mental: This Shadow is the consequence of having to cope with overwhelming (and painful) circumstances for which you were ill-equipped at that time – physically, emotionally or mentally. On rare occasions, it is the consequence of some catastrophic event such as rape, assault, torture, or a disaster of some kind. At the same time, you felt alone, powerless and abandoned. Taken altogether, the result is a set of self-destructive behaviours and inclinations. You feel stranded in this world, with no clear sense of what it all means, and why all this pain exists.

It is also important to understand that abuse can be non-physical, such as being shouted at, accused, degraded or humiliated for no apparent reason.

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2. The abuse was senseless: The abuse and punishment made no sense to the child, such as being hit “Just to remind you that the world is a hard place”, or was completely out of proportion to the misbehaviour (if any).

This is a key aspect of the formation of this Shadow - the pain and abuse was senseless. As a result, all sense of fairness and structure was either destroyed or damaged. Another consequence of this abusive treatment was that, as a child, you were unable to develop a sense of personal boundaries and personal space, simply because these were often violated without reason. Essentially, you couldn’t form a clear idea of where you fitted, of your ‘place in the world’, and the world itself made no sense to you.

3. Belief that "I must be bad and must be punished": These experiences of abuse and emotional (or physical) neglect and abandonment lead to beliefs that “I’m alone in the world, the world is a scary place, and I’m too small to fix any of it”. Because no-one took care (control) of the environment around you, you developed a sense that no-one is in control and, consequently, the belief that there is no structure in the world. In other words, everything is random, and usually painful. Children have an inborn sense of cause-andeffect. To justify this kind of treatment, you concluded “There must be something fundamentally wrong or bad about me”. The sense of helplessness is profound, as you could not do anything to stop the abuse and/or neglect. You often sensed your life was in danger, either through physical actions against you, or emotional threats to this effect.

4. Decision that "To control the pain, I must take the role of the abuser": As a child, you could not tolerate such lack of structure indefinitely and you had to strive to find some way to restore a sense of control and meaning. The only meaning you could perceive was that you were bad, and had to be punished, as this is what the world (people) apparently communicated to you.

The only logical way to control the abuse and pain, was to take over the role of the abuser, and begin to punish yourself. At least in this way, you could regulate the pain and abuse. It is at this moment that the Frantic-Destructive Shadow emerges –the (frantic) method of regulating and controlling pain and abuse as your response to a world that is out of control.

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This Shadow regularly slides into the Never–Enough Shadow. When you ‘hit rock bottom’ – which is nothing more than reaching the point of having challenged death and survived (perceived control over death) – you become totally energised and want to tackle the world – “I am alive! I want to immerse myself in getting as much as I can from life!”

During this stage, you become almost manic in your attempts to absorb and ‘have’ as much ‘life’ as possible, usually with little concept of what it involves – time and effort. The inevitable ‘crash’ leads to a slide back into the selfdestructive Shadow. This see-saw pattern of intense glee “Yes! I want life!” and depression “What is the point?” is another key characteristic of this Shadow.

Dealing With People With This Shadow

In dealing with people with this Shadow, the maintenance of boundaries and personal space are crucial. However, unlike most personal interactions, these boundaries need to be stated clearly and repeatedly, so that the person with this Shadow begins to establish some sense of stability and certainty. Therefore, working with these people demands a high level of clarity regarding your personal boundaries and values – what works for you, and what doesn’t work for you – and the ability to state these without fear of rejection or need for approval. Considering the abusive experiences underlying this Shadow, most people’s initial reaction is to step in and rescue, out of sympathy. However, for reasons already stated, this can have disastrous effects. Instead, a firm ‘tough love’ approach is the most likely method of assisting these people in dealing with their issues. It is essential that the person with this Shadow discovers that there is at least one person who somehow has managed to get control of him/herself, and who has a clear sense of what this whole thing called ‘life’ is about, even on a limited scale. In many respects, this serves as an anchor and reference point for the person with this Shadow.

However, it needs to be understood that this form of clarity and firmness is not arbitrary or random – “Just because I say so”. The rules and reasons of interaction need to be stated, and they need to rational, fair, and serve both parties’ interests.

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The stated approach works to protect both the person with the Shadow, and the person who is working with him/her. It is very common for a person to use self-destructive behaviour in interactions with others, such as failing to arrive for important appointments, not doing assignments, and similar behaviour. It is crucial that the person knows where you stand, and what you will and will not tolerate. If you say that you will do something, then back it up with action.

The resolution of this Shadow lies in establishing and clarifying a sense of personal integrity, which was prevented by earlier events and abusive people. S/he has looked outside for guidance, meaning, a sense of order and justice, and found little evidence of any of these. Based upon what s/he has experienced, there is indeed very little meaning to life. However, the fundamental lesson to be learned is that integrity (self-truth - who I am, and where I fit in) is found inside, not outside.

This is not some glib catch-phrase: it is a challenge to the person with the Frantic-Destructive Shadow to stop wasting time trying to control the uncontrollable, and begin forming his/her own personal framework and structure of justice, honour, love and meaning. Just as the Never-Enough Shadow focuses only upon what is missing in his/her life, this Shadow views life from the perspective of what is wrong, painful and unfair. It is time to turn this around, and use these painful experiences as references to define him/herself i.e. “what does life mean to you? What meaning, values, sense of justice and fairness do you want to attach to life?”

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Assignments for the Frantic-Destructive Shadow: 1. Immediate tasks:

(a) After reading about how this Shadow develops, write a page on how this Shadow developed in your own life. Who abused you? Who do you believe neglected/abandoned you, either physically or emotionally? Remember to view this in terms of the child’s mentality, and not in terms of the adult you are today.

(b) Identify at least three recent events where you felt out of control and desperate, wondering why you should bother with this thing called ‘life’.

(c) List three important values or principles that have pulled you through difficult times. Where did you learn these values and principles?

(d) List at least three qualities that you bring to this world that make the world a better place to live in.

(e) Write a page about your understanding of God and when you stopped believing in the higher being. How would you re-introduce spirituality (not to be confused with religion) into your life?

(f) Write a paragraph regarding the difference between human justice and divine justice.

(g) Regarding your present health condition:  Identify three occasions where your perversity and defiance have helped you when dealing with medical authorities and situations.  Identify three occasions where this same sense has caused a problem in this area, such as refusing help and support, or not recognising that there are health professionals who care about what they do and who won’t neglect or abuse you. (Continued on next page …)

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(h) List three specific people who, without question, value you and respect your integrity. If this is difficult for you to answer, spend some time giving it deep and careful thought – these people do exist.

2. Issues to start thinking about (to be addressed in subsequent sessions):

(a) Identify five fears that you have in terms of never knowing the meaning of your life. Just identify these fears, and be specific. A subsequent chapter will show you how you can deal with these fears.

(b) Can you think of a time when you felt happy and that all was right in the world? How long did that feeling last?

(c) What future goals and desires do you have that will provide you with a sense of purpose, and also allow you to be sufficiently flexible to adapt as the situation changes? Ensure these goals provide ongoing focus and application and give you the feeling that you’re in control.

(d) What do you perceive to be the lesson of this Shadow? In other words, what has your experience of this Shadow (and your new knowledge of it) taught you? What do you perceive to be the gift of this Shadow? In other words, what does it give to you, what power does it bestow?

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Chapter 6 Plan of Action: Connecting the Dots At this point of the process you should have the following knowledge and awareness, even if it is merely superficial: (a) An idea of what PNI is and is not, and what it can and cannot do – Chapter 1; (b) Some idea of the fundamental challenges of PNI intervention – Chapter 2; (c) A basic notion of how psychological factors affect the immune system – Chapter 3; (d) A list of important events in your life – the assessment at the end of Chapter 4; (e) Awareness of the dominant coping Shadows that you use, and where they come from – Chapter 5.

The final piece of the puzzle is the nature of the disease itself. After this is clarified, it is a matter of identifying which areas to focus upon in the various processes. For example, although you have a specific Shadow, such as Rushed-Restless, this may not be a ‘problem’ in terms of the illness itself. In fact certain Shadows which are potentially harmful in one illness may be the saving grace in another kind of illness. Please do not make generalised conclusions regarding the Shadows: Everything depends upon the nature of the illness – the illness defines the intervention focus. Please keep that in mind!

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FOUR CATEGORIES OF IMMUNE-RELATED DISEASES There are thousands of different diagnosable illnesses. However, we need to create some kind of framework to expedite the PNI intervention. This framework is a working model – not a system of medical diagnosis.

As this is primarily an immune-focused model, certain medical conditions are automatically side-lined, such as injuries due to accident, poisoning, chemotherapy, side-effects of medication, radiation, surgery, or conditions related to bad posture, lack of exercise or diet. Although PNI intervention and psychological factors can play an important role in these conditions, such as compliance with treatment and possible psychologically-based intentional injuries, this is not the book's focus. However, when the recovery time from such illnesses and conditions are slow, due to a suppressed immune system, PNI can provide some solutions to strengthening the immune system in this regard.

The illness conditions focused upon in this book are:

Category SAM-1:

Over-active SAM system conditions, which primarily cause distress to the cardiovascular system, and which can result in, for example, heart conditions and high blood pressure. In other words, conditions directly or indirectly related to chronic elevations of adrenaline simplistically, ‘high adrenaline levels’. As high adrenaline levels are linked biologically to situations of Active Challenge (Fight or Flight), the Shadows which tend to be associated with this category of illnesses are all quite active in terms of external activity, striving for success and trying to manipulate and confront the external world, especially the Inflexible-Obstinate, and Rushed-Restless Shadows.

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Issues typically revolve around persistent activities regarding steering the course of events in the external world, quantified in terms such as failure and success. Persistent frustration and pressure due to external forces and factors are usually present.

Category SAM-2:

Under-active SAM system conditions, such as low blood pressure, and chronic fatigue, conceptually linked to ‘low adrenaline levels’. Clearly linked to the absence of adrenaline-producing challenges, such as exciting goals or ambitions. Sometimes linked with failure of the SAM-1 Shadows, and thus situations or conditions where the excitement and challenge of life has been removed. Not unusual to find that the person previously had active SAM-1 Shadows which were knocked down by significant defeat or failure, such as in business, projects or relationships. The Given-Up Shadow usually features in such conditions, and sometimes the Refuse-Pleasure and other passive Shadows are associated. Regardless, the key issues usually revolve around actual failure or perceived failure, as the basis for the absence of challenge and/or taking adrenaline-producing risks in the pursuit of goals.

*** Where the SAM System is linked to issues of external activity, challenge and control-over, the HPAC System is more linked to internal ‘wounded-ness’ and control in terms of the avoidance of more pain. For example, to someone with the Rushed-Restless Shadow, the break-up of a relationship may be viewed as a ‘failure’ (“I have done something wrong- I must have made a mistake – I have failed to do it properly”), whereas a person with the Control-Distance or NeverEnough Shadow is more likely to view the same event in terms of rejection of who they are: “I've been rejected/criticised – I'm not loveable – there's something wrong with me.”

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Category HPAC-1:

Over-active HPAC system conditions, which concerns chronically suppressed immune system disorders, such as cancer and AIDS. This may be directly or indirectly linked to ‘high cortisol secretions’, particularly chronic low-grade stress. This category includes conditions where viruses, bacteria or abnormal cells proliferate due to the inactivity of the immune system, thus failing to bring them under control. Thus, this would include herpes outbreaks or the recurrence of bacterial or viral infections. They are typically associated with coping styles which lead to denial and/or lack of expression of emotions (e.g., Control-Distance Shadow) as well as the more passive ‘helplesshopeless’ range of Shadows, such as Apologising-Failure, RefusePleasure, and Frantic-Destructive Shadows. Issues concern criticism of self, rejection of self, and feeling out of control of yourself.

Category HPAC-2:

Under-active HPAC system conditions, which largely includes autoimmune conditions such as arthritis, severe allergies and multiple sclerosis. These may be directly or indirectly linked to ‘low cortisol secretions’. Unlike the other categories, the PNI connections and mechanisms are not as clear and as researched. However, our observations have been that the Refuse-Pleasure Shadow and InflexibleObstinate Shadow frequently dominate in people with such conditions. We have also noticed that there are strong elements of control and manipulation involved.

There is not a single disease that can be categorised as simplistically as saying that it is a ‘low/high adrenaline’ or ‘low/high cortisol’. The biological mechanisms are far more complex that that. However, for the sake of conceptual simplicity, these gross categories provide a decent starting point, allowing us to sift out the important issues.

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The following rules of thumb in terms of intervention priorities apply: TOP PRIORITIES – SAM & HPAC CONDITIONS:

Given-Up Shadow: This Shadow must be addressed as a top priority, regardless of the nature of the illness. The emotional ‘numbness’ associated with this Shadow can be a major stumbling block in PNI intervention. The person with this Shadow is likely to have difficulty in finding a reason to live – a compelling reason to engage risk and challenge the world. Focus exclusively on this area until this is resolved.

Apologising-Failure Shadow: Also a major priority, as the sense of inevitable failure can sabotage any process and undermine any progress made. This is especially true for HPAC-related illnesses. This Shadow can cause increases in distress during PNI intervention due to the expected failure and subsequent expected rejection. Monitor this Shadow carefully, ensuring that small steps are taken in succession, with adequate reinforcement of successes and awareness of the origin of the anxiety. Clarify the origins of feelings of low-worth before anything else is addressed, with the exception of issues relating to the Given-Up Shadow. SUBSEQUENT PRIORITIES – SAM-RELATED CONDITIONS:

(a)

Rushed-Restless Shadow

(b)

Inflexible-Obstinate Shadow

(c)

Frantic-Destructive Shadow

(d)

Never-Enough Shadow

(e)

Control-Distance Shadow

(f)

Refuse-Pleasure Shadow

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SUBSEQUENT PRIORITIES – HPAC-RELATED CONDITIONS:

(a)

Control-Distance Shadow

(b)

Refuse-Pleasure Shadow

(c)

Frantic-Destructive Shadow

(d)

Never-Enough Shadow

(e)

Inflexible-Obstinate Shadow

(f)

Rushed-Restless Shadow

The priorities can be summarised as follows: First, issues of “Why bother living?” then “I can’t do it – I'm useless”. These issues are fundamental in any PNI intervention, regardless of the illness. Therefore, they are addressed first.

Secondly, you deal with the issues related to specific chronic coping styles, the formation of these and the trigger events which may have served to activate certain immune processes.

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Chapter 7 Long Life - Why bother? One of the major objections to mind-body interventions concerns the fact that, for most programmes, only about 50 percent of participants benefit from the programme. The criticism is that such programmes are unreliable, and “Why does a specific technique work for one person, and not another?”

There are probably a multitude of factors which determine why someone responds well to a specific technique, including personal preferences and compatibility with the method. However, we've observed two major reasons: (a) The person does not have a compelling future to move towards; (b) Internal feelings of low self-worth, "I can’t”, and “I don’t deserve”. We consider these two factors as fundamental pre-conditions for PNI effectiveness.

This chapter

addresses the first factor, while the next chapter concerns the second. Thereafter, we commence the research-based PNI intervention methods.

From a PNI perspective, the reason for having compelling goals is twofold: First, challenge, pleasure and interest have a specific range of hormonal consequences, including adrenaline and growth hormone. Challenge, pleasure and interest also result in the release of various neuropeptides, all of which have the ability to assist in the normalisation of a suppressed or over-active immune system, among other effects. Second, a person with no future-related goals has very little reason to engage in health-enhancing activities.

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Therefore, as these things are your central focus, health or happiness do not feature in your mental-emotional state. In addition, when the pain subsides, your motivation decreases and disappears until the pain resurfaces. Therefore, this ‘away from’ motivation is not constant, but comes and goes.

When running towards health and happiness, you keep your mind firmly on where you are going and, obviously, these things are the central focus. Because you are motivated by what you are moving towards, the motivational force is constant, until you reach your goal. More importantly, this motivation stays constant regardless of pain, absence of pain, health or disease.

TWO KINDS OF MOTIVATION IN HEALING 1. AWAY FROM PAIN: Efforts directed

"I don't want to die because…"

AWAY FROM

Present & Future

The present moment and the future.

PAIN

(Motivation strength depends upon pain/no pain.)

2. TOWARDS PLEASURE: "I want to live because …" Efforts directed

TOWARDS

Present & Future

The present moment and the future

PLEASURE

(Motivation depends upon achieving goals of health.)

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It is really important that you understand the difference between these two kinds of motivation. Two people can do exactly the same treatment, technique or exercise, with totally different reasons, and with totally different results. To state it as simply as possible, it can be said that one person will do some exercise because s/he is terrified of dying painfully, and another will do the same exercise because s/he really wants to live long enough to experience more life and 'good' things. In other words, the first person's motivation is driven by thoughts of pain and feelings of fear, while the other person's motivation is driven by thoughts of future pleasures and feelings of determination to experience 'good' things. When you consider that the internal thoughts and feelings that each person has, on an ongoing basis, makes a major difference to what happens to the immune system, it makes perfect sense that the first person's immune system will not benefit - in fact it may even be damaged even further - by his/he motivation, while the opposite will occur with the second person.

This is a major reason why the same medical treatment or other method of healing, can work for some people, and not for another. In real terms this means that, when you say “I am sick and I want to get better”, you are saying nothing more than “I want to move from where I am”. However, if we were to ask you why you wanted to move, you'd say one of the following. “I want to move because I prefer to be somewhere more pleasurable” (in other words, you want to move towards something better), or “I want to move because I don’t like it here” (in other words, you have no specific direction in which you want to move, as long as it's away from the present situation – anything else will do).

Most people who are ill are clear on the fact that they do not want to be ill. However, how many people know what they want to move towards? What kind of future do you want? This is not the same as asking what you do not want!

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A simple analogy is that of playing a game of soccer. If there were no goal-posts, what would the players do? There they are, running with the ball, knowing that they have to move from one side of the soccer pitch to the other, but with no idea of what to do when they get there! They can't score because there aren't any goalposts. After a while, they realise that the game is silly, so their choices are to sit down, kick the ball around to anyone, or walk off the pitch. Life is much the same – you need goalposts, otherwise the game has no real meaning or purpose. Please note that, like soccer, after you score the first goal, there's nothing to stop you from scoring another – it's not a one-off success.

One of the first medical practitioners to publicly acknowledge the mindbody connection, Dr Bernie Siegel47, asked people who were dying from cancer why they didn’t want to die. Most cited the need to live due to obligations - kids, husband, wife and family. So, he tricked them. He asked the families to gather around the dying person and proceeded to delegate the person’s obligations to the family members and friends. Once all the obligations had been dispersed and the patient had nothing left to live for, a very strange thing happened. The patients began requesting his cancer intervention model. Simply put, once their obligation to live had been removed, their passion to live returned. A case of ‘want to’ versus ‘have to’ motivation.

For example: Let us pretend that a woman who has been a mother and a housewife since she got married, develops breast cancer. Let us further pretend that, before she got married, she dreamed of being an architect and designing beautiful buildings. Although she loves her husband and children dearly, her life has been focused strictly upon ensuring that their dreams, desires and ambitions are supported and fulfilled. Sound familiar? After surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy, which have failed to stop the cancer from spreading, she lays in the hospital with rather limited options for survival.

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Now, as she lays in the hospital bed, a doctor tells her that there is this wonderful method called PNI which can reverse the cancer so that she can go home. She is tired, hurting, and has had enough. What will she do? Will she try the PNI or not? Based upon Bernie Siegel's research, and supported by our own observations, she is quite likely to say "No thanks", even if the PNI programme was offered free of charge. In fact, about 80% of people with little or no other healing options left, are not willing to try something different, even when they are shown all the remarkable results that have already been achieved with the new method. Why?

We automatically assume that everyone who is ill, wants to get better. Even more to the point: We mistakenly assume that everyone who is terminally ill actually wants to live. The evidence suggests that this is not the case. Think about this carefully: If the woman with the breast cancer looked back at her life, what reason - apart from obligations to her children and husband - would she have to want to resume that life? What, if any, new and exciting challenges can she look forward to?

It is important to realise that, no matter how much you love your children or spouse, taking care of them is not a sufficiently powerful reason to want to live. This is particularly true when you know that they will be cared for by someone else if you die. The rather shocking truth is that life will go on after you are gone - the children will be taken care of, and your spouse may even find someone else to share his/her life with. No, it will not be the same for them as it was with you, but they will survive without you. And you know that, even if you do not want to admit it. The same can be said about your job - someone will fill your position in very little time. After all, life carries on.

Therefore, if you have given up your own dreams, what really powerful reason is there for you to heal? There are few things worse than a boring life to drain away the motivation to live. It is crucial that you find a reason to live, which does not depend upon children, husbands, wives, friends or family. © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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You need a reason for YOU to live. Perhaps it is your turn to be happy and fulfilled. We are not questioning your love for your family or your dedication to colleagues and friends. What we are saying is that, at a deep level, these are not sufficient reasons to create a compelling future. In a PNI context, you need something to which you want to move towards - an exciting and powerful reason to get out of bed in the morning. It’s called passion or a compelling future. To understand how this works we need to look deeper into how people are motivated. In the following table, list 20 things you don’t want in your life. Now reverse the process and find 20 things you really want. Try it!

THINGS

THINGS

I DON'T WANT

I DO WANT

1

1

2

2

3

3

4

4

5

5

6

6

7

7

8

8

9

9

10

10

11

11

12

12

13

13

14

14

15

15

16

16

17

17

18

18

19

19

20

20

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Remember: In the 'I Want' column, you can only write down things which you want - which give you pleasure. Cross off any items which relate to your children or family. Notice the ease with which you wrote down your “I Don’t Want” list? Now what about the “I Do Want” list? Did you notice that by the time you reached point number 6 or 7, you started to struggle? For the most part, we as humans are motivated by what we don’t want and we are very clear on this, however we are nowhere near as specific about what we do want. We are clear on what we want to move away from, and are vague and wishy-washy about what we want to move towards. Also note the detail involved in what you don’t want and the complete lack of detail in what you do want. We are all very clear on what we don’t want in our lives, down to the finest detail. However, we usually lack the same intense details in what we do want from life. The key to moving towards what you do want is to create a very clear picture of what you really want the possible outcome to be. If you don’t know where you are going, then any road will get you there! What exactly is a ‘compelling future’? First of all, it usually contains a range of goals (short-term and long-term) which are exciting, interesting, fulfilling and pleasurable for you. These goals may be silly, irrational, meaningless or the opposite – it does not matter. What matters is that you experience excitement and interest in reaching for them and pleasure and fulfilment in achieving them. “But,” you say, “isn’t that shallow and superficial – what about meaningful fulfilment? I understand that my sense of obligation is not ‘exciting’ but at least it's meaningful – I can make a difference in other people’s lives!”

If that kind of thought has gone through your mind, you are partially correct. For most people who are ill (and those who are not) life is a mixture of work and family obligations which may or may not bring a

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sense of fulfilment. For many people the only redeeming quality about ‘life’ is found in relationships, especially raising children and in an intimate relationship. Another area of potential pleasure is work. What else is there? It is not surprising that, for most people, happiness is locked into a rather small group of people. When you combine this scenario with the fact that, if you died, these people would carry on and get happiness from someone else, you realise that there has to be ‘more’ to life. Most people have given up on trying to find that ‘more’, and have settled for a reasonable, ‘OK’ existence, all dependent on a small group of other people. Deep inside, each one of us knows there is ‘more’ – that life has meaning and purpose. However, most people set that dream aside to establish ‘normal life’. When a life-threatening disease comes along, what compelling passion is there to counteract the temptation to escape from a painful, monotonous and unfulfilling existence?

Studies of children in orphanages show that lack of stimulation and interest results in deterioration of the brain, mental faculties, and health. The same is found in retirement homes. The human species requires challenge and stimulation to thrive and be truly alive. As we have stated before, boredom is as dangerous as a life-threatening disease. Fundamentally, you need challenge and stimulation as much as you need food and water to survive. Research by Dr. Marian Diamond48 at the University of California, Berkeley, clearly supports this need for stimulation as a general condition for health and longevity. When isolated and just provided with the basics for survival (food, water, warmth) but no interaction with others, rats have a much shorter life span than those who are constantly playing with each other and who are provided with new toys which are changed every few days.

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Clearly, having interesting things to do gives the rats a reason to live longer, up to fifty percent longer than the average rat’s life span.

Therefore, to return to the initial question regarding those silly goals: Probably the most important step towards healing occurs when a person discovers that life is not just comprised of pain, boredom and obligation. Life requires pleasurable sensations and activities – almost anything will do. It is crucial that you be engaged in the possibility that ‘life is not all that bad’.

A very dramatic example of this process occurred many years ago, while we were still doing our basic research in PNI. We were doing a survey of attitudes and needs at an HIV/AIDS clinic in Cape Town, South Africa. While we were focused on all this ‘serious’ work, a young man – tanned, healthy, eyes shining – came bouncing up the stairs to speak to one of the counsellors. We were as ignorant as most other people in those days, and mistakenly thought that 'People with HIV look sick', and assumed that he wasn't HIV-infected, because he looked happy and healthy. It turned out that he was HIV-infected and had been infected for quite a bit longer than most of the other people attending the clinic! Apart from realising the truth that people with HIV look like everyone else until they get ill, we were intrigued by this anomaly and requested an interview with him. John’s story truly illustrates the point we have been making so far:

Along with a group of about eight of his friends, John was diagnosed as HIV+ in the mid-1980s, just after the first HIV test was released. We asked whether his friends were still healthy as well and he said that they were all dead. Naturally, we were intrigued as to the reason why he was so obviously healthy and alive, while all his friends had died. When asked why he was different – the exception – he said that, when they were all diagnosed on that fateful day, most of his friends started withdrawing from life, cancelling college studies, giving up their jobs and similar actions. All of this clearly indicated that they expected to die. © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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He, on the other hand, thought “Hell – if I’m going to die, I want to do all the things I've always wanted to do!” So, he resigned from his job (which he did not enjoy), sold his house, and got a job on a yacht, because he had always dreamed about sailing around the world. Over time, he learned the basics of running a boat and running a charter service for someone else, until he had enough money to buy his own boat.

Years went by, and his health remained normal. It was only

when he returned to Cape Town several years later that he discovered that his friends had died. John currently runs programmes for teenagers who have been sent to juvenile detention for petty crimes. He takes them on the yacht for several weeks and teaches them about running a boat in the open sea. The results are amazing, as the teenagers feel free from social constraints for the first time, and engage in a routine and discipline that makes sense to them. Why does John not just continue sailing around the world? “Well,” he says, “The first few years were great – I finally gave myself permission to be happy and to enjoy life the way I wanted it to be. After a while, I started getting the feeling that I needed to share this with other people, and the notion of working with delinquent teenagers just popped into my head. I don’t really know why these kids grabbed my imagination – they just did, and I trusted myself to just do what I felt compelled to do. It's such a joy to see the transformation in them. I really feel privileged and blessed to be who I am and doing what I do. It is a gift I have been given. Had I not been told that I was going to die, and had I not just thrown caution to the wind, I probably would be buried right next to all my friends.” The problem with focusing on “What is my Purpose in Life ?” is that until you have experienced the joy and pleasure of life, this ‘calling’ will be viewed as just another obligation, and not the gift that it is. So, let’s get down to the less ‘serious’ stuff, and let the ‘bigger picture’ unfold in time! The truth is that, until such time as you have filled your own cup, what do you have to give to someone else?

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If you have done the list of ‘don’t want’ and ‘do want’, you have a start. Even if you have no more than ten ‘I want’ items, this is an excellent place to begin. Now it's time to put each ‘want’ item through a quick checklist of criteria to determine if they will be compelling and pleasure-creating:

Criteria 1: When you read or think about this ‘want’, do you feel a physical sensation of excitement?

A ‘good idea’ is not the same as ‘exciting’. It must cause some physical sensation – a tingle, smile, a blush – anything that indicates “Ooh – yes, that would be nice!” If this reaction does not occur, you are probably dealing with someone else’s idea of what ‘should’ make you happy. If they think it so marvellous, why aren't they doing it themselves? The focus on some physical sensation is important: How else are you going to start figuring out what you want? The body never lies! No matter what you do or believe, your mother, father, husband, wife, partner, kids, or friends cannot be enthusiastic or excited for you. It is your body, your life, no matter how you would like it to be otherwise.

When we ask someone about s/he wants to do with his/her life, we typically hear a whole list of rather good ideas. However, if his/her body does not get excited - hand movements, eyes sparkling, flushed cheeks, smiling, laughing, animated movements - we simply ignore what s/he is saying because … THE BODY NEVER LIES! Listen to your body - it has no reason to lie to you. However, your mind can, and will, lie to you in order to ensure that people like you, or to ensure that you 'fit' in with other people. Who is sick? Who feels the pain? Whose life is this? Whose body is this? Yours or theirs? No matter how much someone else loves you, s/he cannot experience your pain for you. S/he may understand that you are in pain, but /she cannot step into your body and actually know what it is like. Which kind of makes you the one and only authority on what feels good, and what doesn't, doesn't it?

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Criteria 2: Do your Shadows kick in with objections?

This doesn't always happen but, generally speaking, the minute you hit on something that you really want to do or experience, your Shadows come running, terrified that you might slip out of their grasp and bonds of fear. Thoughts of “What will people say?” and “Don’t be silly! You can’t do that!” and a whole range of objections flood your mind. You may even hear the same things from people who love you. Hmm… makes you wonder what ‘love’ is and how much of it is conditional on your staying bored, predictable and what they expect from you.

This is probably the scariest stage of the process, because you get slammed from the inside (Shadows) and outside (people) with all sorts of limiting, reasonable objections to being happy. One of the most direct and effective ways of countering these objections is to recognise that what you want is not reasonable or ‘meaningful’ to anyone else, and that you're not doing it to make anyone else happy – you just want to enjoy something for the sake of the pleasure it brings. Nothing more, nothing less. After all, what is the worst that can happen? You could die! Oh well, that’s about the worst, so you might as well have some fun! The only real risk you run is that of being truly happy!

Criteria 3: Is it what you want or is it what you don’t want?

It has been said before, but it is sufficiently important to be repeated: Is your goal the removal of something you don’t want, such as pain, unhappiness and illness? For a moment, we want you to NOT think of a Yellow Volkswagen. DON”T THINK ABOUT A YELLOW VOLKSWAGEN! What was the first picture to pop into your head? Probably a yellow Volkswagen, right? The mind thinks in terms of pictures. So, the person who says, “I don’t want to die” sees some picture that represents death, be it a funeral, a wake or some Hollywood death scene. Regardless, some image that represents your notion of death flashes through your mind.

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The unconscious mind cannot tell the difference between what appears to be the same and what appears to be similar. The mind cannot tell the difference between the two. When you say that you ‘don’t want to die’, it implies that you already have a mental filing system loaded with pictures of your death. You can work as hard as you like with them, but nothing will change until such time as you see yourself healthy and motivated towards something. Therefore, any goal that contains the words ‘stop’ or ‘not’ needs to be rephrased so that it clearly reflects what you want, not what you don’t want; what you want to start, not what you want to stop, and so on. In other words, it needs to be stated in the positive, not the negative.

A simple example: "I don't want to die from this disease". This means that the picture in your head - your motivation - is one of suffering. The picture has to be pretty scary in order to motivate you to do something. Now try turning this around: If you do not want to die, then logically, you want to live, right? So, instead of saying "I don't want to die", say "I want to live". The picture attached to this new thought is one of aliveness, not suffering. However, if you want to do it properly, you now state why you want to live - some exciting goal, such as "I want to live so that I can create the most beautiful paintings the world has ever seen, and I want to do lots of them!" Now the picture is even more powerful, because you are motivated by a picture of yourself passionately involved with something you really love, in a place you really want to be.

When you have turned the negative picture around into an exciting and pleasurable one, you will notice that you will want to start moving towards that exciting future NOW already - such as starting to paint even while you are in hospital! Go on - start - do it NOW! What do you have to lose? Have some fun, for as long as you can. When you do that, it does not really matter how long your body lasts - as long as each day is wonderful, exciting and glorious! The world is waiting for you to deliver your gift - give it! © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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Criteria 4: How specific is the goal?

A person is complaining about the quality of his/her life, and when we asked her/him what s/he wants, s/he says, “I want love and money”. All very well and good right? Uh …nope! A while later, while walking down the road, she finds a coin on the road and, as she bends over to pick it up a stray dog comes over and licks her hand. So, in a very literal sense, s/he's just achieved ‘love’ and ‘money’! “But, but, but … that’s not what I meant! What I meant was …”. Tough luck - the unconscious mind does not know what you 'really meant'. All you said or thought was 'money' and 'love', and lo and behold, it was delivered. Why are you so ungrateful? The problem is that you need to treat your unconscious mind for what it is: Powerful, but child-like and very literal. You have to be very specific and spell out exactly what you mean - how much, where, who, how big/small, what colour, and so on. Pretend you are telling a 5-year old child what you want, in such a way that that s/he will know exactly what to get for you. Do not assume anything!

The lesson? Be clear and specific about what you're moving towards. As we said earlier, if you don’t know where you are going on your journey – the goalpost - then any road will get you there. Be specific and incorporate as much detail as you can muster. If you want to buy a home for your family, be clear on where, how big, how much, and the overall floor plan.

How often have you seen a child draw a picture of a house and give it to it's mother (or father) and say "There you go! You said you wanted a house, so I made one for you!" The child is perfectly correct - the mother/father di not say that s/he wanted a brick house in a certain neighbourhood, with 3 bedrooms, a garage, a dining room and lounge, a spacious kitchen, and how much s/he is willing to pay for it. So s/he got a paper house!

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However, particularly if you have the Inflexible-Obstinate Shadow, be careful about being overly-detailed and rigid about what you want! Also, be very careful to avoid stating that you want something that belongs to someone else, or which depends upon someone else giving up something so that you can have what you want. This usually backfires. Also, be a little flexible about time.

Another (true) example is of a woman who said that "I want to drive a red Mercedes Benz sports car". It was something towards which she was working and about which she constantly talked. One day at the office, her employer arrived with a new Red Mercedes sports car and asked her if she would mind driving to town to pick up his dry cleaning. So, factually speaking, she got exactly what she said she wanted. What she failed to emphasise in her intention was that she wanted to own a red Mercedes sports car. Had she been more specific, she might have realised her dream.

Criteria 5: Action is required, step by step

Picture this: There is a bird in its' nest and its' kids are hungry. Off in distance, the bird sees food on the ground – a nice juicy worm. So it takes off in the direction of the worm, but gets blown off course by a strong wind. It ends up going in the wrong direction and lands on another tree. It then looks at where it is, then it looks at where it wants to go (towards the worm), and then it looks at where it has come from the nest full of screaming hungry kids! Does the bird say "Oh, what's the point – I tried. The wind is too strong so I guess the kids will have to eat tomorrow”? Or does it take off again in the direction of the food, no matter how many times it is blown off course? The answer is that it will persist because it has a strong motivation, namely feeding its kids. For some strange reason – probably Shadow-related (fear of making mistakes, criticism, and failure) – people expect to just do one small step, then arrive at the objective – instant gratification!

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We are afraid that it doesn’t work that way. As Carolynn Myss says: "You have to trade in your wish-bone for a backbone!” In other words, “Get real – it takes effort, you will make mistakes, you will need to adjust, and then try again!” Maxwell Maltz summed it up when he said “ Often the difference between a successful man and a failure is not one’s better abilities or ideas, but the courage that one has to bet on his ideas, to take a calculated risk- and to ACT!” Remember, the universe supports ACTION, not thoughts. The formula is actually quite simple:

What worked? ACKNOWLEDGE

What did NOT work?

Repeat this process as many times as needed until you reach your desired outcome. © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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Where this process falls apart is that most people stop, look and then try to find a reason why it can’t work or they get too caught up in looking for blame. A case of, “If at first I don’t succeed, then failure must be my thing!”

Life is a series of little steps and big steps. The biggest step is the first little step, even if that is a phone call to find out what is available. If the telephone number is engaged, then phone again later, or ask someone else. Just keep on going: STOP-LOOK-CORRECT-ACT…

Criteria 6: Make some space in your life for what you want

Several years' back, during a severe drought in the northern parts of South Africa, all the local churches decided to get together and pray for rain. The date was set, all the arrangements made and a special guest was invited to conduct the service. Several hundred people gathered in a tiny clearing on the outskirts of town, awaiting the guest of honour who finally arrived. The guest of honour stood in front of the group nodding his head and, after a period of time, he cleared his throat and began to speak: “I see that many of you have come here today to pray to our Father in Heaven to ease the drought affecting our land.” Exclamations of “Amen” and “Hallelujah” rumbled from the congregation. “Well my brothers and sisters, no matter why you have come here and no matter what you do here today, nothing is going to work.” Gasps of disbelief could be heard throughout the congregation. The Guest of Honour continued. “You see, I know why it can’t work. The reason is simple: Only one person here believes that we can end this awful drought with our prayers - only one person out of all of you!” At this point the congregation started to become a little uneasy and finally an older lady stood up and demanded that the guest be more

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specific. “My sister,” he said, “It’s really quite simple. There is only one person who believes we can end this drought and believes it so strongly that she is the only person here to have brought an umbrella to protect her from the rain!”

This is a superb example of something called 'congruency' - when your thoughts and actions are all going in the same direction. In the true story above, everyone except one person was saying one thing, but behaving differently. Only one person thought it would rain, and behaved accordingly, by bringing an umbrella.

Remember one simple rule: Where your thoughts flow your energy goes. What is the point of intention when you are not 100% committed to it?

In other words, if you want to meet someone special, you actually have to leave the comfort of your room, the safety of the droning television; If you want to travel to Peru, you may want to think twice about blowing every cent you own on a new dress or motorcycle! Orientate not only your thoughts yourself towards what you want, but orientate your behaviour in the same direction as well.

Even though you may be ill, if your dream is to be an artist, then start art classes! Enrol for that course, start acting on those dreams! Don’t wait until you get better or until this round of chemotherapy is over. JUST DO IT! Even if you are tired and in bed, this does not stop you from asking someone to make enquiries on your behalf - who teaches art classes in your area, on which evenings are the classes, how much does it cost, what does it involve, and so on.

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Criteria 7: Confront your doubts and fears

We have devoted an entire chapter to dealing with fears, as this area is the key to dealing with your Shadows and the methods discussed have been demonstrated to be of major importance in terms of the immune system. In the interim, simply notice what fears and doubts emerge as you think about your goals. Pay attention to your internal committee. After all, it is this internal chatter that stops you. If you aren’t honest about them, then you cannot deal with them, and they are the most powerful sabotage mechanisms imaginable. Write them down, and look at them again when you get to the chapter about dealing with fears.

How often have you thought that it would be wonderful to do something, or you want to do the exercises in this book, but you just do not have the time or energy? Have you considered the possibility that laziness and apathy is nothing more than many layers of fear which have become like hard cement? What is it that you fear might happen if you actually took control, and started doing something for yourself?

If you are saying and thinking that you want to do something, but you are actually not doing anything about it, then you are like those people in the story about the churchgoers who wanted to pray for rain but did not bring umbrellas. You have a choice: Either act according to your thoughts and words, or stop thinking and saying things which you do not really want or mean. This is all about congruency and integrity saying, thinking and doing the same thing. Do not say you want to live if you are not willing to do something about it. Rather, say what you really want - either to die, or for someone to rescue you. There is nothing wrong with this - it is simply more honest, which is a pretty good place to start dealing with your issues.

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SUMMARY OF TOOLS

1.

Think about each goal one at a time – Does this produce a physical sensation of excitement?

2.

Do your Shadows & other people object to you having this? List the objections. Whose life is this?

3.

Is it what you … WANT … something TO MOVE TOWARDS ? OR … DON’T WANT … something to MOVE AWAY FROM ? … Change it to WANT (Towards Motivation).

4.

BE SPECIFIC – fill in the detail.

5.

ACT ON YOUR GOALS, step by step:

STOP-LOOK-CORRECT-ACT Again and again, until you get there.

6.

MAKE SPACE in your life for what you want. Congruency: Think - Say - Do the same thing.

7.

CONFRONT FEARS & DOUBTS. List these. Deal with them in chapter 9.

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Assignments: 1. Spend about twenty minutes determining what future-related goal or activity would really excite you. “What would it take for you to be excited about getting out of bed in the morning?”

Obtain at least six compelling (exciting and TOWARDS) future goals and activities - three short-term goals, and three long-term goals.

Test each of these six goals against the 7 criteria listed in this chapter, and which are summarised on the previous page.

Be aware of the Frantic-Destructive and Apologising-Failure Shadows which tend to set huge and grandiose goals which may lead to failure. Ensure that each goal can be broken down into small, manageable pieces, step by step. _______________________________________________________

2. A Letter from the Future:

Write a letter to a close friend, as if you were 10 years into the future, and you have not seen your friend for those 10 years.

For example, if today's date is 17 September 1999, then your letter will be dated 10 years from today, at 17 September 2009.

Tell your friend what you have been doing, the obstacles you have overcome, the achievements you have reached, where you are living, and what is happening in your life nowadays. In other words, using the same date (only as an example), write about the 10-year period from 17 September1999 until 17 September 2009.

Be as specific as possible with as much detail as you can create.

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Chapter 8 The Right to Live Aaah .. now we get to the heart of the matter: Do you feel that you deserve to get what you want? Do you believe, deep down and without doubt, that you deserve to be happy, to be loved, to pursue a fulfilling life? Finally, do you honestly believe that you - personally - can achieve what other people have in terms of turning their disease around? Think about your Shadows and the beliefs related to failure, success, being loveable, rejected, trapped and a whole range of rather deeply-placed beliefs which may sabotage your best conscious intentions to heal.

The first important step in dealing with these unconscious beliefs is to become aware of them, and give some thought to where they came from. So often, people say “It’s just the way I am – I can’t change!” when, in fact, the attitudes and behaviours which emerge from your Shadows are not ‘who you are’. These attitudes and behaviours that feel ‘natural’ are simply beliefs which have a definite origin in your past and which have slipped underneath your awareness over time, into your unconscious mind. It is extremely disheartening to try something and fail, and even worse not to know why your best efforts do not succeed. Therefore, the assignments in the Chapter 5 regarding the Shadows are fundamentally important in the process of healing, as you finally get a clearer idea of what you are dealing with.

Now, we have various avenues that we can pursue in doing something about these limiting beliefs. We can try the standard tactic of shovelling around in the past for all the reasons why you feel the way you do – which is what the Shadow assignments were about - or we could go along a quasi-religious route, telling you that you are a part of God and that you always will be.

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We have already done some of the standard stuff, in terms of the Shadows and will be using this basic framework to identify key fears and decisions made in the past, and deal with them in later sections of the process. However, there is a distinct danger in dwelling too much in the past, namely giving the Shadows more power than they deserve.

Please remember that all you need to do is become aware of the Shadows at this point of the process. You need to be able to identify them when they come out to play, and you need to have some idea of where they came from in your past. That is all that is necessary at this point in time. This chapter, and the previous one regarding goals, is ‘pre-PNI’ in the sense that the topics and methods are not derived from PNI research, but are aimed at setting up an adequate and receptive context and framework for the ‘strictly PNI processes’ to work properly. Therefore, we are going to take a few liberties with conventional logic to find a rather unorthodox (and hopefully effective) short cut around the issue of ‘self-esteem’. We hope you enjoy the rather odd-ball approach!

The truth is that you have probably heard how much Jesus, Allah, God, Buddha - whomever (or whatever) you consider to be the Power of the Universe - loves you, and how wonderful you are. If hearing this a few thousand times hasn’t got the message through, then we suspect hearing it again from us is not going to change your beliefs at all. Also, if all the pop-psychology, Bill of Rights, and liberal values haven’t got the message through to you, then, once again, hearing it from us is not going to change that either!

So, instead, with your permission, let us first mentally slap you around a little, then show you how to feel loved. The logic behind this? If you've ignored all the messages so far, then we figure it’s time to show you how to do it yourself, if you want to. (The methods for doing this are described in the assignments at the end of this chapter).

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Slap number one: If you are waiting for daddy, mommy, husband, wife, partner, child, teacher, minister or God to give you love and that feeling of knowing that you are worthy and deserving, you might as well stand on a beach and try hold back the incoming tide with your pleadings of “Love me! Tell me how wonderful I am! Respect me!” Go on … try it. You'll find that it is a total waste of time. Fact. Reality. Why? Because they have already done their best, with the resources they have to deal with, to show you how much they love you, and you obviously have not listened or noticed.

Everybody is so busy scrambling to get their piece of attention and love, no matter how conditional it is, that your pleadings will go unheard. Sucks, huh? Slap number one. Now, some people would say that this is not true, and that the person is not willing to ‘receive the love’ from outside sources. Fair enough. However, for as long as you depend upon external sources for this ‘love’, you are at the mercy of these external people or forces. Wouldn’t it be nice to feel loved whenever you want to? The interesting thing is that you cannot give something you don't have, such as ‘love’. You need to fill yourself up before you can give some away.

The bottom line is that, if you do not have love inside of you, how can you give any love to someone else? If your glass is empty, you cannot give someone else any water. Slap number two: If you don’t love and respect yourself, as you are, warts and all, then guess what? No-one else will, except those who will use sympathy and guilt to squeeze some attention out of you – “I’ll love you if you love me back. Deal? Cool, let’s pretend to care for each other. I won’t tell if you don’t.” Pretty cynical, isn’t it – I mean what you do for love, not the statement! The truth is that, until you love and respect yourself, you really have nothing to give to someone else, so the ‘game of love’ becomes a matter of bribery and trade-offs and you either become an emotional hostage or you start taking emotional

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hostages. Bummer huh? Have a look at your present relationships – how much of the love and attention is conditional, from both sides?

Slap number three: No matter how horrible and painful your past, no matter how rejected, criticised, unloved, abused, and undeserving you have been led to feel, you have the power to feel otherwise, for no other reason than you want to. If you have ever felt accepted, praised, nurtured, and deserving - even if it was just for a fraction of a second in your entire life - then you have the fundamental references and tools for feeling good about yourself. All you have to do is to choose to have more of those feelings, and we will show you exactly how to do that at a practical level in this chapter. However, you have to choose to do this.

Fourth and final slap: Feeling good about yourself, respecting and loving yourself means you have to give up all the power games that you play to get other people’s attention and sympathy. It means growing up, and becoming responsible for what you want from life. How much of your identity is wrapped up in your past, how much responsibility for your life do you avoid by the ‘poor me’ game? Do you wear your ‘wounds’ as a badge of courage? So often, people hold onto their misery, blaming their past, because they honestly don’t know how else to get attention from other people. Who are you without your problems? What right do you have to demand attention from the world without your illness? Interesting questions to think about. What is your excuse for not being happy? What relationships, jobs and aspects of your life would you be willing to release to ensure your happiness? Hmmm … not pleasant thoughts, are they? If you found those questions offensive, good! They were asked intentionally to shake your beliefs a little, to get something stirring and generally to just provoke some reaction! A bit of anger is a much better thing than numb, comfortable ‘stuckness’, simply because anger has emotional motion involved, whereas depression and apathy are stagnant states. Which statement did you particularly dislike or disagree with? © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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One of the key characteristics of all long-term survivors whom we have interviewed is that they have a strong sense of Self. What does this mean? Does it mean that they are pushy, outspoken and often selfish? Yes, some of them are what most people expect of ‘confident’ personality qualities. However, many of them were not like that at all. Yet even those long-term survivors who are not pushy and selfish know who they are, approve of themselves, and do not rely on external approval. What we mean by ‘a strong sense of Self’ is something different from what most people assume a 'confident person' is: (a) These people know the difference between their feelings, thoughts and experience and those of someone else; (b) They have the internal references and resources of being capable, worthy, and loveable.

Before we proceed any further, it should be pointed out that the previous statement is a massive over-simplification of ‘self-confidence’ and related issues. However, we regard the two criteria presented as critical foundations of self-worth, self-confidence, self-esteem, and a whole bunch of ‘self’ issues. We are fully aware of the fact that each person has been criticised, abused, ignored, hurt, put down and all those past-related events which create the Shadows. Positive influences and events fall under the category of ‘resources’ – events or people to which you mentally refer when you need some reassurance. Furthermore, some people literally do not have such references from their past, and thus we have included a technique for creating such resources in this chapter. Self-esteem is not just a matter of having ‘positive’ influences in your past. For every ‘positive’ event you can remember, there is a ‘negative’ one as well. In fact, your memories of negative experiences are more accessible than the positive ones. Pain tends to be more easily remembered than pleasure, for most people, at least. The question is which ones you use, and why you use those specific ones.

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It also doesn’t explain why some people, who have never had any ‘positive’ influences, still manage to develop confidence and self-worth.

As we discuss this issue, it is interesting to remember that the immune system is the body’s system for telling the difference between ‘self’ (my cells, my body, my healthy cells) and ‘non-self’ (bacteria, viruses, abnormal cells such as cancer cells, parasites, and so on). In a very real way, any immune-related condition - whether a suppressed immune system condition such as AIDS or cancer, or an autoimmune disease such as arthritis and multiple sclerosis - is an identity crisis. In other words, the body is having a problem telling the difference between ‘me’ and ‘not-me’. This is the differentiation of 'self' from 'non-self'.

Furthermore, when you examine the various psychological factors which research has clearly shown to influence the immune system – fears, coping styles, social support, suppressing or expressing emotions, and a whole range of other factors – the basis for all of these are essentially issues of identity as well. For example, why would someone suppress feelings such as anger? The reason is largely fear of rejection by others – “What would they think? They won’t like me!” If you were certain of your value and worth regardless of what other people said or did, would this matter? No, of course not.

Most people feel that their self-value is dependent on other people, therefore, they fear rejection and failure. How easy is it for you to say ‘no’ to a friend, your mother, father or colleagues? How many times have you said or felt “If s/he leaves me (or rejects me or laughs at me), I will just die!”, when you know full well that you will not dissolve into a puddle of warm ‘needy’ liquid if s/he did indeed leave you, reject you, ignore you, criticise you, or laugh at you? Intellectually you know the facts, but it feels as if you would die, doesn’t it? All of us are born, helpless, into a social system – mother, father, and then the preacher, teacher, doctors, rules of behaviour, eating habits,

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fashions, politics, religion – “What people like us do”. This system is designed to mould us into useful citizens, and to protect the child. It is not perfect but, to a large extent, it works fairly well as long as you stick to the rules and traditions. There are many variations of such systems all around the world, all designed for the same purpose – protection of the child and development of the individual into a useful citizen. In such a system, you are not required to really think for yourself – the rules are already established. It's a ‘group’ or ‘tribal’ system. It doesn't matter how sophisticated the system pretends to be – suburbs, cities, or villages in the Amazon - as long as the rules for being ‘part of’ the system are clear, it is a tribal/group system. Some people have more authority than others in such a system – politicians, doctors, psychiatrists, attorneys, chieftains, preachers and teachers. If they say that something is true, people go along with it, even when they are wrong – “That is the way it is – they should know”. For the large part, these systems work and serve their purpose.

However, one day you get sick and get told that the condition you have is either terminal, or that there is nothing that can be done to ‘fix’ it – all the authorities, systems and support in the world cannot help you. What do you do? This is where the issue of ‘sense of self’ becomes critical. Some people simply accept what they are told by the ‘system authorities’, while other do not. The fundamental difference in the latter group of ‘rebels’ is that they do something very simple and obvious - they ask the question “Is this necessarily true?”

You will notice that we do not say that such people dismiss out of hand what they're told. All that they do is ask themselves whether this is true, and whether what they have been told is just one possibility, and that there may be other possibilities. That is all that is necessary to start the process of change - a simple question which takes you into an area you may never have been before, namely the creation of your own thoughts and opinions about reality. © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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This may not seem like a big deal right now. However, it is in fact a major revolution for the individual. For example, since the beginning of the AIDS pandemic, research, medicine, the media, government and every authority you can imagine have said that “If you are infected with HIV, you will get AIDS and die”. It was almost fifteen years later that researchers became aware of the fact that there is a small group of HIVinfected people who did not get sick and die, and nowadays there are superb medications to keep the virus at bay. Despite all this, most people still believe that getting HIV means that you die from it. Why? Because the people 'who should know' said so. The fact that they said these things without all the facts at hand seems to make no difference. A similar scenario exists for cancer and many other life-threatening diseases.

If you are unhappy about your situation at home, work or your community, and you believe that there is no way to change your situation, there is a strong possibility that you are operating within a group system, and that you've accepted many of the limitations that comes with this. When you ask yourself what would happen if you did something different – if you've even got as far as asking such a question – what response do you get? For example, a wealthy woman and the wife of a subsistence farmer may be equally trapped in social rules about ‘what people like us do’. What happens if those rules don't work for you? What if those rules and traditions and customs actually block your happiness and health? Does the group system serve you? What if the ‘experts’ and ‘authorities’ are wrong? It has happened before, and it sure will happen again!

What we are attempting to do here is to provoke you to do something quite simple: Think for yourself! The truth is that no-one else knows exactly how you feel, what you think, and what works and does not work for you. No-one. When you go to sleep at night, there is only you inside your head. Only you dream your dreams at night. None of us are behind your eyeballs!

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Certainly, there are powerful methods of healing that do not require you to stand on your own two feet and think for yourself – medicine, traditional healing methods, and religious faith healing. All of these work, to some extent or the other, apparently for some people and not others, for various reasons. However, what happens when these systems fail to help you, personally? Then it's time to try something different, isn’t it? Alternatively, if you are one of those practical coverall-my-options kind of people, you may want to try them all … just in case!

It is a simple philosophy: If you keep on doing what you have always done, you will keep on getting the same results. If you do not like the results, then simply change what you are doing!

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Assignments and Exercises: 1. How are you different from your parents? List all the various details, ranging from your physical appearance to thoughts, attitudes, beliefs and behaviour. Be specific!

2. Looking back at your past, you will have noticed several difficult and painful periods and events. Although you may not be satisfied with the way in which you dealt with each event, the fact of the matter is that you have survived all these events. The truth of the matter is that some people do not survive such events, but you did. How did you do that? Write one page on the internal strengths that you have, which you used in those difficult times, to get through.

3. List 25 abilities that you have. Keep it simple, and focus on things such as walking, talking, smiling, brushing your teeth, driving a car, reading, writing, speaking more than one language, and similar 'ordinary' abilities. Do not stop until you have at least 25 items listed. Based upon this evidence, are you incompetent and useless? Yes or no?

4. Become aware of how you get attention from other people. What methods do you use? Humour, ‘poor me’, complaining and whining, withdrawing so that people ask you ‘what is wrong’, guilt, or forceful behaviour and speech? Don’t judge it – just become aware of it.

5. How do the people in your life - mother, father, wife/husband, lover - get attention from you? Who uses guilt to catch you?

6. Read through the Shadows again. See if you can identify the Shadows of your parents, husband/wife, or lover? Does this help you to understand the way they behave and some of the beliefs they have instilled in you?

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5. CREATING A RESOURCE OF LOVE AND SELF-RESPECT49

(a) List at least three experiences where you felt loved. Write down some of the detail regarding when it happened, where and the circumstances of that experience. For each experience listed, do the visualisation exercise explained in (d).

(b) List at least three experiences where you felt confident. Write down some of the detail regarding when it happened, where and the circumstances of that experience. For each experience listed, do the visualisation exercise explained in (d).

(c) List at least three experiences where you felt respected for being exactly who you are. Write down some of the detail regarding when it happened, where and the circumstances of that experience. For each experience listed, do the visualisation exercise explained in (d).

(d) If you have difficulty finding three experiences each for (a), (b) and (c), then list at least three different people – friends, family, fantasy figures, famous people – whom you believe have experienced such states. Then try to imagine what they would have felt in their bodies when they experienced these various states. However, please … try to find personal experiences first.

Do the Visualisation Exercise on the next page for each item you have listed.

(continued on next page …)

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This technique was inspired by the work NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) pioneers, such as Richard Bandler and John Grinder, as well as Robert Dilts. © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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VISUALISATION EXERCISE Remember what that experience felt like. What physical sensations did you feel, such as nervous tingles or warmth in some part of your body? Be as specific as possible.

Imagine that you could describe those sensations in terms of colours and a shape, such as a warm yellow ball glowing in your chest, or a blue electric spark. Create your own description of those sensations.

When you have a clear idea – it doesn’t have to be a picture – a feeling, sound or thought will do, then imagine that you can double the size of the shape. Once you have done that, double the shape once again. Create it as large as you like.

Think of someone who you think might benefit from some of that wonderful feeling. Imagine that you can take half of the shape and feeling and give it to them. Then, double the shape once more and again if you want.

If you want to give that person some more, then go ahead! If you want more, just double the size of the shape once again. You can have as much as you like.

When you are done, open your eyes.

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Chapter 9 Dealing With Fears Fear is, in our opinion, the greatest obstacle to healing, and is at the root of all the various issues which you will need to deal with, including expressing what you feel, finding a sense of purpose and passion for the future, issues of death, pain and dying, and a whole host of other issues. In our experience, fears undermine confidence and can be so debilitating that the person becomes physically and emotionally frozen. In 1990, Sue Weidenfeld and colleagues50 conducted a study of the effects of confronting fears on the immune system.

A group of 20

people with an irrational fear (phobia) for snakes were individually taken through a series of 3 two-hour sessions over three weeks, in which they confronted their fears. The results were astounding and important: There was an average increase in Helper T-cells of 132 after the intervention, and an average decrease in cortisol levels of about 30%. These results were maintained for months after the intervention. As the average range of Helper T-cells is somewhere between 600 and 1200, this represents a 10 to 20 percent change in this aspect of the immune system, purely through psychological technique. Very few drugs can accomplish the same result.

There was an important twist to this experiment: A small group (25 percent) of the experimental subjects did not benefit from this process. In fact, their immune system got worse during the experiment, and then returned to previous levels after the experimental intervention was completed. When the researchers looked at the psychological profiles of the people who did not respond to the intervention, they found that they all had the lowest scores on self-efficacy (sense of ‘I can’) before the intervention.

50

Weidenfeld S.A., et al., 1990, Impact of perceived self-efficacy in coping with stressors on components of the immune system, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59(5), pp.1082-1094 © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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This is an important finding, as it indicates that issues of low self-worth (e.g., people with the Apologising-Failure and Frantic-Destruct Shadows) need to be addressed before doing other processes, otherwise the Shadows may sabotage the process and cause increased stress. This is the reason why the previous chapter, which looks at these self-esteem issues, occurs before the remaining process-related chapters.

However, as a whole, the experiment clearly demonstrated the dramatic immunological benefits of confronting fears. This impact on the immune system should not be underestimated, either for its direct effects (i.e., cortisol or adrenaline effects), or for its indirect effects (i.e., giving up, hopelessness, apathy, depression, failure to seek support, and many other consequences).

We would go so far as to say that fear is the single-most overlooked important factor in mind-immune conditions. We say this for two reasons:

(a) The immunological benefits of systematically confronting fears are dramatic and rapid.

(b) It is as if fear is powerful enough to over-ride all and any conventional and unconventional therapy benefits. We have observed that, when two people with identical health conditions are put through identical dietary and exercise programmes, medical interventions, and every conceivable ‘alternative’ programme, the one who has dealt with fear of death seems to benefit, while the other who has not dealt with the fear of death does not.

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The Biological Mechanisms Behind Fear Why is fear such a powerful force in our lives? Why is it that, even when we logically know better, we still feel afraid of certain things? The simple answer is that fear is not logical or reasonable. At the expense of gross simplification, the reason is that you have three layers in your brain: The inner Reptile Brain, the middle Emotional Brain, and the outer Thinking Brain. Fear is controlled by the innder Reptile Brain, and not the middle and outer Emotional and Thinking Brains.

Cerebral Cortex

ABSTRACT THOUGHTS - LOGIC

Limbic System

SADNESS - LOVE - ANGER - ETC

Brain Stem

RAGE - TERROR SURVIVAL INSTINCTS Body temperature, Heart Rate, Breathing Rate

The innermost layer, sometimes referred to as the Reptile Brain (the brain stem), is the most primitive layer, and controls most of the basic physical operations of your body, such as breathing, body temperature, and your heart rate. It is severely limited in function to these basic life functions and operates instinctively (unconsciously). Also, issues of physical survival, such as control and failure, are heavily influenced by this part of your brain. It is primitive and animal-like in its reactions and processing, and probably represents the first level of human brain

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evolution. It does not use logical and is only interested in, and motivated by, survival.

Do you remember the story of our ancestor Trog in Chapter 3 - MindBody Connections - regarding how the S.A.M. amd H.P.A.C. systems developed as a means of survival ? Well, the Reptile Brain's fear mechanism developed similarly, solely to protect you from danger. Also, as with the S.A.M. and H.P.A.C. systems, the problem is that the dangers which were once outside of ourselves, are no longer there, and most of our human reactions are based upon perceived dangers. The problem is that your Reptile Brain does not know the difference!

For example, until a few hundred years ago, if a person were to be rejected by his/her tribe or family, s/he faced the real possibility of dying due to attack from wild animals and other tribes. Therefore, rejection by that person's family, loved ones or society, was literally a death sentence. Similarly, to fail at achieving what was expected could also lead to such rejection and death. Life was hard in those days, and individuals needed the group or tribe to ensure physical survival. Therefore, when you say that "I would just die if s/he left me!", you are essentially tapping into the genetic memories of this bygone era, and although you 'logically' know better, it still feels like a death sentence.

Therefore, when there are situations where the Reptile Brain perceives that your survival is at stake, such as perceived loss of control or failure to control the situation (fear), it activates and dominates your behaviour, regardless of your ‘positive’ thoughts. It is as if our physical existence has moved beyond mere physical survival, but our emotional states are still trapped in that faraway time. The second layer of your brain – largely the Limbic System – is often called the Emotional Brain, which is self-explanatory, as it processes issues of emotion, such as sadness and happiness. The third and final layer – the Cerebral Cortex – is the Abstract Thinking Brain, and it governs reason and abstract thinking, such as mathematics. © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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When dealing with issues of panic, anxiety and fear, you are essentially dealing with the primitive Reptile Brain, not the abstract Thinking Brain. Techniques which work wonderfully for the Thinking Brain simply do not work for the Reptile Brain, and often, not for the Emotional Brain either. Our understanding of ‘positive thinking’ and affirmations is that they are thoughts and concepts conceived by the Thinking Brain, and the intention is that, by repetition, these thoughts and concepts will filter down into the Emotional Brain. That is why ‘positive thinking’ programmes encourage you to ‘feel’ the thought, so that it can step into the Emotional Brain area, and thus operate more powerfully. However, if you have fears regarding those thoughts, or fears which contradict them, these emerge from the Reptile Brain and over-ride the Thinking Brain.

IMPORTANT REMINDER #1:

FEAR CAN, AND WILL, OVER-RIDE MORE SOPHISTICATED THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS.

When you keep in mind the chronic activity of the Reptile Brain, and its ability to over-ride any other less-primitive aspect of thought and feeling, this begins to make sense. Therefore, the confronting of fear needs to be directed at updating our primitive emotional and mental responses, to take the present reality into account. It is totally useless to tell someone (or yourself) to "Stop being silly - there is nothing to worry about!" The fact of the matter is that the Reptile Brain believes there is danger, even although your 'logical mind' says otherwise. You have to deal with the reality of all levels of your brain and mind.

IMPORTANT REMINDER #2:

BELIEVING THAT YOU ARE IN DANGER FEELS EXACTLY THE SAME AS THE REAL THING.

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It is important to understand the fact that the intention and purpose of the Reptile Brain is a positive one, namely to ensure your survival. It is your ally – not what you would consider an ‘intelligent’ ally – but an ally that will get you through situations of danger. One way of thinking of the Reptile Brain is that it is your watchdog – it will growl and bark until it believes the danger is over.

Danger ! I must protect my master!

To understand ‘fear’, and how to deal with it effectively, this analogy of the watchdog is useful: When you are afraid, your mind races, and your thoughts and feelings are dominated by the fear – the watchdog is jumping up and down, barking and growling at the ‘danger’. This happens 24 hours of the day, even while you are asleep. It is indeed a chronic low-grade stressor! If the situation is resolved, the fear stops, just as the watchdog lies down when the danger is over. However, if the situation is chronic and long term, the watchdog will growl and bark constantly.

IMPORTANT REMINDER #3:

UNRESOLVED FEAR WILL KEEP YOUR UNCONSCIOUS MIND ACTIVATED 24 HOURS A DAY. FEAR DOES NOT GO AWAY WHEN YOU ARE ASLEEP!

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If you keep in mind that the watchdog only activates when there is perceived or actual danger or pain, then you will understand why this activation causes the Emotional Brain to also activate, specifically the Hypothalamus. The Hypothalamus then proceeds to send out its chemical messages, which results in chronic activation of the SAM or HPAC systems, depending on the situation. This occurs 24 hours a day until the fear is resolved, and the results can be devastating to the immune system.

Common Sense Required We - human beings - have not totally excluded all real physical danger from our world. There are still a number of physical threats present, such as rape, murder, assault, hijacking, car crashes, aeroplanes falling out of the sky, fires, floods, earthquakes, and so on.

To be afraid of these events is 'normal'. However, the chances of these happening are not high (depending on where you live), and some of them are quite remote possibilities. However, 'normal' preventive measures are appropriate in all these situations. So, when you do the exercise on confronting fears, please do not be deluded in thinking that "Oh well - I confronted the fear of rape, so I don't have to be careful when I go out alone at night". That would be silly. Certainly, confront the emotional aspects of such events, but please ensure that you take logical and physical measures to reduce the chances of it happening as well!

The Illusion of Safety “Life is a daring adventure or nothing” said Helen Keller who, despite being blind and deaf from the age of 18 months, graduated from university with honours and published several books, including her life story. Our personal favourite Keller-ism? “Security does not exist in nature. Avoidance is no safer in the long run than exposure”.

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No matter how securely you are settled into your comfort zone, you cannot escape risk. Crossing the road is a risk. Falling in love is a risk. Marriage is a risk where you risk failure and disappointment. Even life itself is a sexually transmitted terminal disease! If you try to limit and control risk, you will be less vulnerable to it but you also sacrifice excitement, new experiences, surprise and fun for ho-hum predictability. Paradoxically, trying to avoid risk is one of the biggest risks you can take: You risk never getting that terrific job, never exploring your talents to the full, never driving in a sports car with the warm wind in your hair.

Why take a risk? Because a life lived in fear is a life only half-lived! Taking a risk is a good thing, and one which we associate with impressive people. Being bored can motivate you to take a risk in the hope of making life more stimulating and satisfying – but only if the changes you hope for are realistic. Unattainable hopes become an excuse not to bother taking risks. The biggest excuse not to bother, though, is fear. We are all sometimes reluctant to move forward because we’re scared of what might happen. “It’s OK for him”, we think, “but I’m not like that. After all, I’ll probably do it wrong and everyone will laugh at me”. These reactions are normal, but not helpful.

When we do unfamiliar things, it taps into our fear and we have a very primitive biological response – the Reptile Brain kicks into motion. In scary situations, our fight-or-flight instinct is triggered, leaving us feeling anxious and defensive. Also, fear of something going wrong reminds us of things that went wrong previously – you stand up to make a speech at work and it reminds you of the time you stood up to talk to your class and you made a fool of yourself. Years later, you can still feel that embarrassment. A bad risk-taking experience usually makes us more cautious. It needn’t even be our own bad experience – seeing your father risk and lose his business can make you resist starting one of your own, even if you clearly have what it takes.

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We also feel it is important to realize that there is a very big difference between ‘putting your life at risk’ and ‘taking risks in your life.’ Most people confuse the two.

The Mental-Emotional Mechanism of Fear There are two, and only two things to do with a F.E.A.R.:

F E A R = Forget Everything And Run! Or …

F E A R = Face Everything And Recover! In other words, you have the choice to deal with your fears and move beyond them, or try and ignore them, deny them, and pretend they are not there.

A fear indicates that you believe that a certain outcome is probable (likely to occur). This automatically removes choice from the situation. Confronting fears removes the energy from the fear, and shifts it from a probability towards one of many possibilities, inserting choice into the situation. When we ask people what they think ‘fear’ is all about, they say various things – uncertainty and concern about something happening again, or for the first time.

Fear is nothing more, and nothing less, than an unanswered question:

“What if … ?”

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Think about it – every worry, concern, terror or anxiety you have every experienced can be summarised as a thought of “What if this-or-that happens?” Furthermore, as far as the Reptile Brain is concerned, the real question is “How can I survive (control the outcome) of this situation?”

Until this question is answered, the Reptile Brain will jump up and down, bark and growl, demanding some action.

Priorities of Fears The fear of breaking a nail, or of having your new hair-do wrecked in the wind is not the same as being afraid of dying painfully. Although some people might argue about this - especially the part about your hair - common sense and experience seems to indicate that there are different levels and intensities of fears.

1. The Fear of Death & Dying It is ironic that the one issue which is constantly on your mind - the possibility of dying in pain and the possibility of death - is the one that everyone avoids discussing, insisting that ‘this will upset you’ (which it will), and that this is ‘negative thinking’.

Yet it may be the effects of

this chronic fear which destroys the remainder of the immune system!

No amount of clever and abstract reasoning can over-ride the reality that dying painfully is a fundamental fear. Furthermore, no amount of 'positive thinking' has the power to diminish this fear. The only thing that such denial-based 'positive thinking' can accomplish, is to suppress this potent fear until it is too late to do anything about it. However, at least you can die believing that everyone else believed your nonsense about 'being perfectly ok with dying'. Get real - ask your body if it wants to die painfully, if your intellect is so unrealistic and controlling!

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Therefore, when dealing with a chronic potentially life-threatening illness, the first fear on which to focus is the possibility of dying. Ignoring it will not make it go away.

Furthermore, before you start the nonsensical denial-based argument that 'thinking about dying' is 'negative' - which is an argument invented by terrified people who do not have a clue about what fear does to the immune system - remember that the point is to move through the fear, and not to dwell on it endlessly. The irony is that people who refuse to talk about death end up obsessing about it, and they never get to move beyond this fear.

It has been our experience that people engage in health-enhancing activities for one of two basic reasons: They are afraid of pain and dying (‘away from pain’ motivation), or they really want to enjoy life more (a ‘towards pleasure’ motivation). This principle is discussed in detail in Chapter 7: Long Life - Why Bother? The first motivation is based on deep fear, which is likely to sabotage and undermine any health-enhancing activities, while the second is based on passion for life, supporting the body and the health-enhancing activities.

The first fear to confront is that of death itself. This is a relatively easy fear to deal with. Regardless of your religious or spiritual beliefs, or the total absence of any such beliefs, the issue of death boils down to one of two things: Either there is something after the death of the physical body, or alternatively, there is absolutely nothing at all. Logically, if there is something after the death of the physical body - a life after death - then the only time you will know this for a fact will be when you are physically dead. Until then, it is a matter of belief.

If you have any concerns about exactly where you will go after death for example, heaven or hell - then do something to increase your chances towards the 'better' location! For example, go to your priest and do confession, or write letters to all the people whom you think you have harmed, and apologise. © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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If, on the other hand, there is absolutely nothing after physical death, then you will literally 'switch off' at death, so there is no need to be concerned about any of this!

However, in our experience, people are not so much disturbed by death, as by the possibility of the dying process itself - dying in pain, lonely, dependent, blind or helpless. This is a tricky situation, as your religious beliefs and morals can determine your practical options in terms of confronting this specific fear.

There are a number of practical options that you can implement right now to deal with this fear:

1. Think about whether you are willing to be kept alive with machines, such as an artificial respirator, or similar machines which are used when your basic bodily functions have collapsed. If this is something you want, then tell your closest family member about this, or write it down and ensure that your physician is aware of this. However, if you do not want to be kept alive with machines, ensure that your doctor is informed - preferably in writing - as well as your closest family member. Informing a friend will not work, as a friend has no legal rights in these situations. If necessary, write down your wishes in this regard, sign it, have it witnessed, and ask a friend or family member to keep the letter for you, in case it is ever required. Be aware than there are complicated laws regarding this issue.

2. Plan your funeral. Decide which hymns you want sung, what flowers you want, what you want said at the service, and who you want to attend. If possible, save some money to pay for this eventuality, so that your family do not have to be burdened with the costs. Get this over with so that you can focus on living.

3. Get your finances and taxes in order, and up to date. Ensure that your will is current, and that you have done this legally. Get it done and over with. Make space for living. © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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4. Speak to friends and family about the possibility of your death. They will be very upset initially, but assure them that all you want to do is ease your mind and sort things out so that you can put all your attention upon healing your body, without having to worry about "What if ..?" Discuss who you want to care for your children, and start to hand over certain household duties to other family members. After all, you need the time to focus upon your healing, don't you? Be very aware of the fact that friends and family will think that you are preparing to die. However, keep reminding them that you are simply doing an emotional house-cleaning so that you can put all your energy and attention on more important things: Your health, and creating a compelling future.

5. Pain: Some people do not mind enduring pain until the body dies naturally. However, for many people, this is a tremendous fear. There are several options - some legal, and some illegal, depending on which country you live in. For example, in some countries it is legal (and in some countries it is illegal) to use marijuana (dagga) to ease the pain of serious illnesses. There is also a legalised capsule form of this herb.

One person's pain threshold is different from another. Some people can endure more pain, and some people would prefer to have the pain rather than have pain-killing drugs. Most hospitals and hospices ensure that the patient is kept pain-free. Ask your doctor about this, and discuss your fears regarding pain with her/him.

6. Finally, there is one other option: Self-deliverance. Before you recoil in horror, please keep in mind that someone might prefer to die when the quality of his/her life is beyond repair. This all depends upon the individual, his/her religious beliefs, and the laws of the country you live in. Several countries have legalised assisted self-deliverance (assisted suicide). If this is something you are willing to consider, then please think carefully about the method you will use, as certain methods are rather messy and can traumatise friends and family members. Probably the most effective methods involve drugs. However, please do some homework on this beforehand. © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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In this regard, it is important to remember that the greatest trauma caused to family and friends is what is called 'unfinished business', namely not saying goodbye. Please ensure that you give each person who loves you an opportunity to say goodbye, or at least write each one a special "I know you love me and I love you" letter, explaining your reasons for your actions. Include all the people with whom you have had arguments and conflict with.

It takes enormous courage to confront the fears of dying and death, and taking action in this regard, as there is always the nagging thought in the back of your head that says "Am I doing this because I believe I am going to die? Is this admitting defeat?"

The answer is this: It depends on whether you are doing all this AND taking active steps in creating an exciting future. This is the key to leaving the fear of death behind you: At the same time as you write your will, enquire about pain-killers, and talk to friends about who will care for the kids, ensure that you also plan the trip you have always wanted to take, enrol in the college course that you have always wanted to do, and all the goals and projects you have delayed until now. If you remember David's story in Chapter 2 - Before You Start …, he purchased his coffin and organised his funeral service on the same day as he bought a house with a 30-year mortgage!

AS YOU CONFRONT ISSUES OF FEAR REGARDING THE

POSSIBILITY OF DEATH AND DYING,

AT THE SAME TIME SIMULTANEOUSLY DEAL WITH THE POSSIBILITY OF LIVING BY TAKING ACTIVE STEPS TO COMMENCE THAT EXCITING NEW FUTURE!

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2. The Fears of your Shadows Once you have confronted your fears of dying, it is time to deal with the underlying fears of your strongest Shadows (refer to Chapter 5 Finding the Focus: Shadow Assessment for more details of each Shadow). The assignments at the end of this chapter will include these fears. Briefly, these are:

SHADOW

CORE FEAR

Inflexible-Obstinate People will take away my choices.

Given-Up

Risk, Loss, and Pain (Again).

Control-Distance

Vulnerability. Criticism for not being perfect. Public humiliation.

Apologising-Failure Being rejected for failure. Not meeting other's expectations (Failure). Success raises expectations. Fear of success.

Rushed-Restless

Running out of time. Failing to achieve everything you must do.

Refuse-Pleasure

Being trapped and helpless. Rejection for being needy (Being unloved).

Never-Enough

Dying unfulfilled. Being abandoned (again). Failing to get what you 'need' to be happy.

Frantic-Destructive Losing control. That there is no meaning to life at all.

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3. Fears Concerning Illness This category of fears concerns issues of the effects of the illness. Here are some examples:

❑

What will people think/say/do if they find out about my illness?

❑

Will I lose my job ?

❑

Will people treat me differently?

❑

Will my hair fall out from chemotherapy?

❑

Will my husband/wife/lover reject me, including sexually?

❑

Will I be able to achieve my goals if I get too weak?

❑

Will I be abandoned to die alone?

❑

Will surgery leave me disfigured?

❑

What if I collapse in public and mess myself?

❑

What if this PNI stuff does not work for me?

(Please remember that ‘worry’ is a form of fear, as is ‘anxiety’).

4. Fears Concerning Getting Well Again This is an often-overlooked source of anxiety, and can be the cause for slow recovery. For example:

❑

Will my wife/husband/lover stay with me after I am well again?

❑

Will I lose all my friends from my support group?

❑

Will I get as much attention as I do now?

❑

Will the kids take me for granted again when I am better?

❑

If I am well, what will I talk about when someone asks me how I am?

❑

Will I have to go back to my boring job if I am well again?

❑

What if I cannot find a job again? Isn't it better to stay ill?

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5. Fears related to Changes Required In the course of reading and working through this book, you may have realised that certain behaviours - such as not saying what you think and feel, or starting to do things that give you joy - need to be changed in order for you to recover and remain well thereafter. However, because the people in your life - friends, family and community - not only expect you to behave in a certain way, but have also become accustomed to you behaving in a certain manner, there may be legitimate fears regarding the effects that such necessary changes will have on your relationships. Consider the following examples:

❑

If I start saying what I truly think and feel, I will be rejected, and lose my loved one(s), or my job.

❑

My husband/wife/lover will leave me (abandonment).

❑

I will lose my identity - I will no longer fit in with 'people like us'.

❑

I will be criticised and humiliated.

❑

I will be beaten until I go back to my old behaviours.

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How will I control the people around me if I am honest?

❑

How will I keep my job if I am no longer stubborn, impatient, etc?

❑

I will lose respect from the people who look up to me.

❑

My old friends will think I am strange, and stop talking to me.

❑

What would people say? (Think of specific people).

As you can gather, change is not a straightforward process! It should also be obvious that fear can block many things, including your intentions and actions to heal your body.

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How to Confront Your Fears Well, we have spoken about it for long enough, so we had better show you how to do it! Read through the following explanations very carefully, several times if necessary, until you understand the basic process. It is quite simple, and consists of only three steps. However, before we commence, there are a few things to keep in mind as you begin this powerful process:

1. Your fears will not instantaneously disappear when you do the process. It takes an hour or so for the emotions to settle a little, so please do not be surprised if you are a little upset during and after the process.

2. Do not just do steps 1 and 2, and then stop because 'it is too upsetting'. It is step 3 which ends the fear, and steps 1 and 2 simply make it possible to focus the fear specifically enough to deal with it properly. If you start the process, ensure you complete all steps.

3. Confronting a specific fear is not a guarantee that it will not happen. The process is strictly designed to reduce or eliminate the emotional distress aspect of a fear, which negatively impacts upon the immune system. As you will discover, the objective of the process is to ensure that you will get to a point of knowing how you will deal with the feared event, if it ever happens.

4. As stated earlier, use you common sense in your plan of action for dealing with a specific fear. If there are preventive measures that you can take, such as self-defence training if you are afraid of being attacked, then do so. Often, when dealing with fears of being trapped in a car, an elevator or some place where no-one can help, the fear can be partially dealt with by carrying some communication devise with you at all times, or alternatively always ensuring that there is someone with you in such situations. You may even choose to notify someone

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beforehand that you are entering such a situation, and ask them to check that you arrive safely.

5. When dealing with phobias, which is an irrational fear of something like spiders, heights or confined spaces, please consult a psychologist or professional therapist for assistance. The method described here may be used in such circumstances, but certainly not without professional supervision.

6. It is easier to work with someone else, especially when you have no idea of what you could or would do if a specific situation arose. Other people may provide suggestions for you to consider, although you do not have to accept such suggestion.

7. Above all else, do not let anyone else belittle your fears. If you feel afraid of something - even something that you have dreamed about - it is a legitimate fear, and needs to be treated accordingly.

8. It has been explained in this chapter that your mind can operate at various levels, including logic, emotions, and the irrational. Fear and anxiety is not always logical or rational. Does that make it less of a fear? Of course not! Even if you know full well that your fear is unrealistic, deal with it as a legitimate fear. If you feel it, it is real enough to you. Do not tell yourself that you are being 'silly'! Even nightmares contain legitimate fears.

9. This process works best when the fear is real to YOU. If someone else says that you should be afraid of something, and you are not afraid of it, then there is no point in doing the process on their fear!

10. Finally, fear is a feeling, not a thought. Do not intellectualise this process - just deal with your feelings. Furthermore, if you are inclined to intellectualise things, then draw your fear instead of writing about it. You can not 'think' this process - it needs to be expressed, either by speaking out loud, writing, or drawing. © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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The Confronting Fear Process 1. State specifically what the fear is: You need to be quite specific about the fear, in terms of: WHO - WHAT - WHERE - WHEN - HOW- HOW MUCH? (This can be written, spoken, or drawn as a picture. It can NOT be done by just 'thinking' - it must be expressed)

Examples: •

Instead of saying "I am afraid of rejection", state who specifically you are afraid will reject you - mother, father, lover, child, boss, friend, doctor, or whomever.

•

Instead of saying "I am afraid of failing", state what project specifically you are afraid of not succeeding in. Then ask yourself who specifically will disapprove of that failure.

•

Instead of saying "I am afraid of dying", say what kind of dying process scares you, such as painful dying.

•

Instead of saying "I am afraid of criticism", say what it is that you fear you will be criticised for, how, in what situation, and by whom. BE SPECIFIC!

2. State the Worst Possible Situation regarding that specific fear: Imagine, then state, the worst possible situation. If the worst possible situation involves dying or death, then deal with dying (or death) as a separate fear, and then rather imagine the worst possible situation which does not involve dying or death, concerning the specific fear you are dealing with now. If the worst possible situation is too terrible to deal with right now, try a more moderate version first. (examples to follow on the next page …)

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Examples: •

"I am afraid that my husband will leave me for another woman". Worst-case situation? Possibly arriving home one afternoon to find that all the locks on the house have been changed, and your bags are packed and ready for you outside. Furthermore, your husband has told all your family and friends that he is leaving you because you have been having an affair with another man.

•

"I am afraid at failing at my science exams". Worst-case scenario? How about the lecturer reading all the results out loud in school assembly , and when s/he reads your failing mark, the entire school and team of teachers laugh out loud, pointing fingers at you and saying things like "Idiot !" Then, when you get home, you discover that your father is crying in his room because he is so ashamed of you.

Get the idea? In other words, let your imagination run, and add all the gory details!

3. Construct a Personally Realistic and Attainable Step-by-Step Plan of ACTION of how you could/would deal with that worst-case situation. This plan of action must describe how you will get through and cope with the situation until it is over:

"The first thing I will do is … AND THEN I will do …. AND THEN I will do … AND THEN … AND THEN …" (a) Please ensure that the plan of action is realistic and attainable, for YOU. It does not matter what someone else could or would do. What could YOU do in that situation? (continued on next page …)

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(b) This is not about liking or disliking doing what you have to do to get through - it is about what you realistically could do to get through the experience. For example, if you lost your job, there may be ways of earning an income that you would not enjoy, but you know you can do it if you had to. Another example: You may not want to live with your parents until you get on your feet after a relationship break-up, but at least you know that you could do that if you had no other options available.

(c) If there are preventive actions that can be implemented now, then write these down as well. Write down, step-by-step, what actions will you need to take to set this preventive measure in place. Then write down how you would implement these resources if the situation itself happened. One useful preventive measure may include putting aside money now, and each week from now on, to cover certain financial problems. This is called your Emergency Fund.

(d) Yes, bursting into tears is an action. So is getting drunk, praying, or any of the normal initial reactions to shock. However … if you include any of these shock reactions as part of your plan - which is realistic - then ensure that you ask yourself for how long you will do this (minutes, hours, days) and then state what you will do next. Keep the action plan process rolling along - "I will do this for five minutes, then I will do that for an hour, then …"

(e) 'Being positive' is not an action. For example, if you have been thrown out on the street with your kids in the middle of the night, 'being positive' is not going to put food in your mouth and ensure that the kids have a place to sleep that night. What will you DO? Crying for ten minutes is action. Talking to the kids is action. The walking to a neighbour's house to use the phone is action. The phoning a friend of family member to come help you is an action. However, 'having positive thoughts' is not going to do anything. Get the point? © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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Why Does This Process Work? This process works if it is realistic, specific, and you know that you can personally put the stated actions into motion if the need arose.

In our description of fear, we said that behind every anxiety, worry, terror and concern - which are all just degrees of fear - there is the question of "What if …?" It is the very nature of your mind to seek and answer to this perceived survival-based question. It will not rest until you find the answer. This is why fear operates 24 hours a day, not matter how 'positive' you try to be.

This process answers the 'What if' question so that the Reptile Brain your survival watchdog can rest again, assured that there is a reasonable way to survive this worst-case situation.

However, if the plan of action that you described is not specific and detailed, or it is not realistic for you, then you survival watch-dog will not be fooled! We repeat, for the umpteenth time: The plan of action must be specific, action-focused, and realistically attainable for YOU.

Real Example #1 A woman says that she is afraid that her husband is having an affair, and that she is terrified that she will go home one day and find her suitcases and kids on the pavement. Every time she voices this fear, her friends tell her that she’s being silly – “He loves you – he wouldn’t do that!” How do they know that?! They don’t! No-one can claim with 100 percent certainty what will definitely happen! Obviously, the woman’s fear did not disappear. So we decided to use the Confronting Fear technique.

She had been quite specific in describing her fear, so we asked her to do was to describe the worst possible ‘pretend as if’ situation.

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She said that the very worst situation would be if he kicked her out in the middle of the night, and she had no money, and nowhere to go. So we said, “OK, there you are, in the middle of the night. Your kids and suitcases are on the pavement, and you don’t have a cent to your name. What is the first thing you could do?” “Well”, she said, “I don’t know! I suppose I’d just cry!” “Alright. How long would you cry for?” (Notice that we did not sympathise or criticise – crying is doing something! Instead, we acknowledged that this a valid action, and then moved her along to the ‘next’ action by asking her how long the crying would last). “How long?! I suppose for about fifteen minutes!” “Uh-huh”, we responded, “And then what would you do?” “Umm, I suppose I’d have to explain to my two children what is happening, and reassure them that everything will be OK”. “Good. How long will that take?” (Once again, we acknowledged the reality and validity of that action, and steer towards ‘next’ action by asking how long this action will take). “I suppose about ten minutes”, she replied. “What would you do then?” we asked.

Over the course of about twenty minutes we facilitated her to think through each realistic action she would take. This commenced with dealing with the initial situation and shock, to what she would do to obtain accommodation, whom she could approach, where she could phone from, and how she would get there. Then we discussed what she

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would do the next day, the next week, and beyond. At the conclusion of the process, she had thought through an entire sequence of actions that would take her through to a point where she could say “OK, I didn’t like that, but I now know that I can survive and cope with a situation like that”.

It is important to remember that, at no point in time did we say or imply that this feared situation would happen or that it wouldn’t. All we were interested in was guiding her through how she could, if she needed to, cope with a specific feared situation. It may never happen – or it could – that is not the point of the process.

It is really comforting to know that, in the event of the feared situation actually happening, to be able to access a plan of action that has already dealt with this eventuality or a similar scenario. In other words, the Reptile Brain watch dog was satisfied that this ‘danger’ was controllable, ands survival was ensured.

Real Example #2 What about the fear of death and dying? Is it possible to come up with a ‘what if’ plan of action for these seemingly out-of-your-hands possibilities? Yes, it is, although you may not like some of these possibilities. For example, one client was very certain about the fact that when she lost her sight, could no longer move, and had to be cared for constantly by someone else, that she would rather die. She obtained a whole range of drugs which would kill her, which she put safely in a cupboard for that possible eventuality. In her mind, she had regained control, and the Reptile Brain accepted this plan, as the primitive brain will accept death of the individual if it serves the interest of the ‘tribe’. In other words, to ensure the survival of the species.

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this with his friends and family members. He asked that they agree to visit him at least once a week if he was hospitalised, so that he did not feel abandoned. Both these clients ensured that their final wishes were written down and discussed, and a legal will drawn up. Also, they discussed and arranged their own funerals, and had made their wishes clear to family and friends regarding the care of their children.

This may sound extremely depressing, however, both these clients succeeded in confronting their major fears of death, and proceeded to live quite happily for many years afterwards. The point is that they did not have this fear hovering around over their heads, so they could get on with the business of living life to the fullest. After all, once the fear of death is taken care of, what is left except to live life to the fullest, and enjoy it?

Real Example #3 A client who is HIV-positive said that he really wanted to tell his family that he was infected, but that he was afraid that they would reject him and cut him out of the family. When we asked him to be more specific, he stated that he thought that his father in particular would be very angry, and based upon previous experiences, would cut him off from his family. He said that his father had done such a thing several years ago when his teenage daughter had fallen pregnant. Therefore, the fear of being ejected from the family was quite realistic.

We then asked him why he wanted to tell his family about being HIVpositive. He said that he had two reasons: (1) He wanted to be able to talk to them about how he is feeling as he deals with being HIVpositive; (2) He was concerned about who would care for his two-year old daughter if he died - his wife had died in a car accident a year before. This was quite a complicated situation, do you not agree?

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was already taking care of the child while he was at work. We suggested that he ask him mother whether she would be willing to raise his daughter if he ever got seriously ill or died. He was not keen to do this, as he was afraid that she would get suspicious about his reasons for asking. Therefore, we suggested he tell her than he was thinking about the death of his wife, and that he wanted to ensure that his daughter's future was assured should something happen to him as well. We also suggested that he start an education and savings fund for his daughter, and that he speak to his bank manager about how to do this. He took our advise, and spoke to his mother about his fear. She thought that he was being a mature father for his daughter, and was pleased that he had thought of this. His bank manager advised him to begin a savings account for his daughter's future, which he did. While he was with the bank manager, he also wrote a new will, stating exactly what he wanted to happen with his assets if he died.

The fear concerning telling his family that he was HIV-positive was quite tricky, especially in the context of the fear and stigma of the community in which the family lived, and his father's previous behaviour. We suggested the following options for him to consider: He could contact an HIV counsellor to discuss his feelings; He could speak to his sister first, because they were very close; He could call a family meeting and inform everyone, and face the risk of being rejected. At the end of the day, he decided to first speak to an HIV-counsellor about what was happening with him, and to get information about how best to deal with his situation with his family. A month later, he organised a meeting with his sister and the HIV-counsellor, who mediated and assisted him in telling his sister about his HIV-positive status. The meeting went well. The last time we spoke with him, he had told all his closest friends and family members, some of whom did indeed reject him, but most of whom embraced him and asked what they could do to assist. He still has to tell his father, but now at least he knows that, if the worst situation arose - namely his father rejecting him - he would not lose his entire family and friends network.

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Additional Pointers:

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Practise with small risks: Stretch yourself gradually – speak out in a meeting or join an evening class. Small achievements are satisfying and build confidence for bigger challenges.

Have a contingency plan: Think of your action plan and realise that if it doesn’t work out, it is not the end of the world – what other options do you have? Grin and laugh: If worst comes to worst, tell yourself, “At least I tried!” Don’t see it as proof that risks are not worth taking. After all, risks are, by definition, a case of you win some, and you lose some. Conquer fear: Use the ‘What If?’ technique, recognising that the fear of doing something is often worse than the fear of actually doing it. Push yourself into something you’re dreading and chances are you’ll wonder why you were so reluctant.

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Jeffers, S., 1991, Feel The Fear and Do It Anyway. Arrow Books:London. © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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Assignments and Exercises: 1. Death: Ensure that the following are done soon: •

Your Will is updated and current.

•

Your taxes and finances are current and in order.

•

You have written down how you want your funeral to be arranged.

Remember: On the same day(s) that you make the above arrangements, ensure that you also put into action one or more of your long-term goals.

2. Dying: What are your fears regarding dying ? List three such fears:

(a) ______________________________________________ (b)______________________________________________ (c) ______________________________________________

Starting with (a), do the 3-step Confronting Fear process.

For example, what would you do if you found yourself helpless, dependent and in chronic pain ? What could you do in that situation ? Is there anything that you can do now – such as give instructions to a lawyer or family member – to ensure that such a situation is dealt with the way you want it to be? Have you instructed someone about your wishes regarding what you want done if you have to go on life-support machines? These are not pleasant thoughts. However, once they are thought through and sorted out, you can stop worrying about them, the stress of such thoughts can cease, and you can get on with living!

Repeat this process for (b) and (c).

Once again, please ensure that you take some action regarding your long-term goals on the same day as you confront these fears!

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3. The Fears Behind Your Shadows: Write down your three highest-scoring Shadows (refer to Chapter 5). Then, on page 210, the core fears of each Shadow are listed. Write down, next to each Shadow you listed above, what the core fear is for that Shadow. TOP SHADOWS

CORE FEAR

(a) __________________

___________________________

(b) __________________

___________________________

(c) __________________

___________________________

Now confront each of those core fears, using the Confronting Fears process. Remember to start by putting the fear into a personal and specific content, as described on in step 1 of the process. Write down each step of the process for each fear, all the way through to the 3rd step, which is the Action Plan.

4. Fear Regarding Your Illness On page 211 are a few examples of fears that some people have about their illness. What are yours? Write down at least three of your fears: (a) ______________________________________________ (b)______________________________________________ (c) ______________________________________________

Starting with (a), do the 3-step Confronting Fear process.

5. Getting Well On page 211 are a few examples of fears that some people have regarding getting well again. Please think very carefully about this. Then write down three fears that you have about getting well again. (a) ______________________________________________ (b)______________________________________________ (c) ______________________________________________

Starting with (a), do the 3-step Confronting Fear process.

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6. Required Changes

(a) Who specifically would be most affected if you were to say what you really think and feel? What do you specifically fear that s/he might say or do if you were to be honest about your feelings and thoughts? Confront these fears with the Confronting Fear method.

(b) Who specifically would be most affected if you were to suddenly change the way you do things, and start to enjoy doing things you have always wanted to do? What do you fear that s/he might say or do if you were to be honest about your feelings and thoughts? What other consequences might there be if you were to make some major changes in your life? Confront these fears with the Confronting Fear method.

SUMMARY For each one of the fears in each category, do the Confronting Fears process – Draw, write or verbally describe:

(a) The specific fear (who-what-where-when-how) (b) The worst-case situation for you (c) Work out a realistic course of action that you could take if that situation ever arose.

If there is any action that you can take today or in the immediate future – such as learning self-defence – then do it. You may never need it, but the truth is that it is reassuring to know that you can deal with it if it ever occurred. This process may be done whenever you choose. It is not a one-off event. Rather, it is a life-long process. Imagine a life without no fear … What could you not accomplish? © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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Chapter 10 Emotions: Get it out of your body! The suppression of emotions - keeping your feelings bottled up inside has been demonstrated to suppress the immune system, and the expression of emotions has been proved to improve immune functioning. The research in this area is extensive, and applies to cancer, AIDS, and many other conditions52 53 54 55 56.

In this chapter, we intend showing you several safe ways to deal with your emotions – short-term methods which you can use when an emotion surfaces, as well as methods to ‘switch off’ some of the recurring reactions that are problematic for you.

The Price of Being 'Nice' Are 'nice' people honest people ? (Where a 'nice' person is defined as someone who will smile sweetly and tell you that everything is fine, even when s/he is angry and hurting inside). We do not think so. Based upon our experience, such nice people die faster. The reason is simple: So-called ‘nice’ people cause enormous damage to their immune systems by suppressing their feelings. The bottom-line is that, somehow, honesty is required when expressing your emotions.

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Mendolia M. & Kleck, R.E. (1993). Effects of talking about a stressful event on arousal: Does what we talk about make a difference? J. of Personality and Social Psychology, 64(2), 283-292. 53 Orr, N.M. (1994). Coping with HIV-seropositive status: A Psychoneuroimmunological perspective. Unpublished Master’s Thesis, Univ. Cape Town, Dept. Psych. 54 Pennebaker, J.W., Kiecolt-Glaser, J.K., & Glaser, R. (1988). Disclosure of traumas and immune function: Health implications for psychotherapy. J. of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 56(2), pp.239-245. 55 Pennebaker, J.W., & Susman, J.R. (1988). Disclosure of traumas and psychosomatic processes. Social Science and Medicine, 26(3), pp.327-332. 56 Solano, L., et al. (1993). Psychosocial factors and clinical evolution in HIV-1: A longitudinal study. J. of Psychosomatic Research, 37(1), pp. 39-51. © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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The Fear Behind Being 'Nice' The major fear that most people have about being honest about their feelings, is that it can be destructive in relationships. If you did not care about the consequences of your words and action, then there would be no problem in terms of your personal expressions. However, if you do care about relationships, you will be aware that there are always consequences for every words and action.

So here is the dilemma: If you are in the habit of suppressing your anger and other 'not too nice' feelings, then you are probably doing it because you do not want to 'hurt anyone's feelings', because you want their love, approval and acceptance. You do not want to be rejected. However, it is this very suppression of emotions which may be a major contributing factor in your immune system being suppressed, and which could possibly cause your death. If you began to say exactly what you feel, then you could lose the love of the people you want to be in relationship with. If you don't do this, you could lose them anyway, through death. Seems like a no-win situation, doesn't it?

Escape From the 'Nice' Trap There is a way out of this no-win situation: The point is to express your feelings and thoughts, which means you have to literally get them outside of your body. That is all that is required. Most people assume that this means that you have to tell someone, but this is not true. Writing a letter which then gets burned serves just as well in most cases.

The reason why we are explaining all of this right at the beginning of the chapter, is that we do not want you to get unnecessarily anxious about expressing your thoughts and feelings. There are indeed safe ways to do this, which serves your health, and which does not damage relationships. So relax, and continue reading …

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Thinking Is Not Feeling You need to find a way of actually expressing what you are feeling. Thinking about it does not help at all. There is no way around this fact, at least not in terms of health and your immune system.

There are probably people who genuinely do not ever feel upset or angry and they are usually made a saint at some point. However, the rest of us – including you and me – get angry, irritated, upset, sad, confused, miserable, and a whole range of emotions, all in one day. However, if you have the Control-Distance Shadow, you wouldn’t know an emotion if it jumped up and bit you! Yes, we understand you’re detached from these ‘things’ called emotions, aren’t you? “Well”, you’re thinking, “It’s not that I’m detached from them but, rather, that I just have control over them!” News-flash: Just like the rest of us, you have emotions, except you have shut off awareness of them. You are disconnected from your body. Those of you who have the Given-Up Shadow – Mr/Ms emotionally numb and ‘OK’ – you’re doing the same thing. Just because you deny these things called emotions does not mean your body does!

There are people (Control-Distance Shadow, are you listening?) who honestly do not know what is happening in their body anymore. If you were to give him/her a psychological anxiety test, s/he would score very low. However, if you were to attach a monitor to his/her skin, the monitor would show high anxiety levels. Is the person lying in the psychological test? No, not at all. All that has happened is that s/he has mentally controlled his/her emotions for so long that s/he is no longer aware of feelings and emotions happening in his/her own body. “So what?” you ask. Well, in the previous chapter, we discussed the three brain layers – Reptile, Emotional, and Thinking Brains. Fear,

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terror, rage and similar primitive emotions are the domain of the Reptile Brain. Emotions such as anger, irritation, sadness, and feeling upset are the domain of the Emotional Brain. We have already explained how the Emotional Brain has a direct physical link to the immune system, via the hypothalamus and the S.A.M. and H.P.A.C. systems.

The biological reasons for this are complicated. Needless to say, various hormones and chemicals are secreted when emotions are suppressed. The references listed at the beginning of this chapter will provide adequate explanations for exactly how this occurs.

Facts versus Feelings In the studies cited at the beginning of this chapter, there are a few important findings, of which the first is the following: Talking about the facts of a situation makes no difference to your immune system. However, talking about your feelings about a situation makes a vast difference to the immune system. This is where people with the Control-Distance Shadows get into trouble - they analyse the situation, intellectualise it, and then present a logical report of what happened. This does not help the immune system at all. This creates one of the greatest ironies of all: The person who is most likely to want to understand and analyse all the intricate details of PNI, is the same person who is least likely to benefit from PNI-based methods, unless s/he simultaneously makes an effort to connect and work with his/her emotions and feelings. This may seem like a rather cruel thing to say, but it is a warning to those who think they can intellectualise the healing process by replacing emotions with abstract thoughts - you cannot, because your body simply does not care what you think. It cares about what you feel.

This is one of the major reasons why people with a great deal of education and training in logic, analysis and reason seem to struggle with healing their bodies, more so than someone with less education

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and training. Often, extremely rapid results are obtained with people with little or no education, and slow progress is obtained with more educated and intellectually sophisticated people. Healing does not occur at the level of the Thinking Brain - it occurs at the levels of the Reptile and Emotional Brains.

Therefore, for the next few days, weeks or months, we strongly urge you to give yourself permission to think less, and feel more! See this as expanding your awareness, instead of shifting it from one level to another. Ultimately, all three levels of the brain should act in concert with each other, each respecting the other, and each utilising the powers and abilities of the other. It is a matter of balance.

What Are Emotions? Emotions are mental-physical-chemical actions that are generated inside your body, based on what you perceive or experience.

EMOTION = Energy in MOTION Each emotion has something to say about where you are at that moment in time. It is a mistake to view any emotion – including anger – as something ‘bad’. When we discussed the mind-immune connections in Chapter 3, we stated that both the adrenaline-producing S.A.M. system and the cortisol-producing H.P.A.C. systems were designed for good reasons, such as providing the chemical motivation to fight, run away, or to heal wounds. Emotions originated in the same scenario, and are part of this system.

Anger, for example, is always an indication that something has hurt you or is going to hurt you. Therefore, anger is an important action-oriented message, based simply on a survival motivation.

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When you do something with emotions – actions, talking, writing - all the chemicals stimulated by the emotional reaction find a way out of your body through sweat, tears or urine and your body returns to normal. However, if you do not express the emotion in some way, these ‘emotional chemicals’ do not leave your body, causing problems because your body cannot return to ‘normal’. If you intellectualise or deny an emotion, you ‘miss the message’, and the faithful old Reptile Brain will not permit the something that affects your survival to go unnoticed or ignored. If you doubt this, notice what happens when, after bottling up your anger for some time, you finally blow up like a volcano with all the ‘forgotten’ anger pouring out.

If you do not express the emotion you are feeling at that moment in time, it is stored away in your body, waiting for another opportunity to be heard. Even if your Thinking Brain believes that the emotion is ‘silly’, ‘stupid’ or ‘bad’, your faithful Reptile Brain watchdog protects the value of your feelings on your behalf. It knows more about what is ‘good’ for you than the Thinking Brain, particularly when it comes to your survival. Let's clear up one simple point: It is wonderful if you ‘understand’ your anger, for example. However, did you get it out of your body? If the ‘understanding’ part happened without the ‘expressing’ part, the emotion is still sitting there and needs to be expressed. The sequence of events needs to be reversed: First get it out of your body, then understand it so that it may not occur in the future. The reverse sequence does not help your body or immune system. The problem with suppressing emotions – not expressing what you really feel – is that it requires effort to keep the emotion from surfacing and this mental ‘effort’ acts as a low-grade chronic stress. For example, if you are angry or sad about something that someone has said or done, and you do not express that feeling, then your mind has to ensure that that feeling does not pop out the next time you see that person. © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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Remember – the emotional chemicals are still floating around inside your body. Instead, you hold yourself back, smile, and say that ‘nothing is the matter’! Strictly speaking, this is a lie – something is the matter! Why would you lie about how you feel? For one thing, you probably think that you will ‘hurt their feelings’, right? By the end of this chapter, it is possible you may have another view regarding this belief.

Another reason you keep your feelings bottled up may concern your fear that they will reject you, laugh at you, or dismiss you as ‘weak’ or ‘silly’. Are you listening to this, Control-Distance Shadow? Cowboys do not cry, do they Mr Be-Strong Silent Type? If you believe that the ability to control and hide your emotions is an indication of how ‘strong’ you are, then you obviously have not considered how illogical and silly that belief is! If you are suppressing your emotions because of fear of ridicule or rejection, then logically, such an attitude indicates a lack of courage, not the presence of strength. It takes courage to be vulnerable, and allow other people to see that vulnerability.

Have you ever considered how fundamentally dishonest and deceitful it is to smile and say “I am fine” when, in fact, you feel angry, sad or upset? Oddly enough, many people use this absurd justification for suppressing their emotions. Our definition of FINE is Falling apart, Insecure, Neurotic and Evasive - in otherwise, a catch-all phrase for all the emotions you're experiencing but do not want to express!

Yes, it is true that the random expression of emotions can sometimes be destructive. However, this becomes even more so when you bottle them up over time, and then just ‘explode’ one day. We have encountered many people who would literally rather die than tell someone how they really feel. The fear of rejection, and the need to be accepted, is very powerful indeed.

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consequences would be bad for your survival. At a deep level, fears of rejection and humiliation are often experienced as a fear of death – “I would just die if s/he left me!” Therefore, for some people it is relatively safe and appropriate to just say what they feel. However, for other people, this is almost incomprehensible, and they ‘would rather die’ than risk saying what they really feel. So, where do you stand with this? Be honest. This issue of perceived safety needs to be taken into consideration when thinking of ways to express what you feel.

Different Ways To Get Your Emotions Out Of Your Body First of all, the most important thing to remember is to get the emotion outside your body. That is the primary objective. Talking about it is one way. However, it is not the only way – writing about it is just as effective. For those of you who find it extremely threatening to talk about your feelings, writing it down is probably the best method – as long as you get your feelings outside your body.

Other non-threatening methods include talking to an object, such as a stone or tree. It sounds silly, but it works simply because these methods also get the feelings and thoughts outside the body.

Some people play active sport, such as bashing a ball around a squash court. If sport is something you like, we suggest you imagine the face of the person who has hurt you on the ball and then bash it to your heart’s content.

Another very active method is to use a punch-bag or a pillow and hit it with all your might, again imagining that you are hitting the person who has angered or upset you. Keep doing this until you feel ‘done’. Please note that we suggest you focus on one person’s face – this keeps the exercise controlled. You may find other people’s faces popping up, and then you do the same for them. Notice that you are getting all your anger and hurt outside your body, and no-one else is getting hurt. © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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For those who believe that this is ‘sending out bad feelings into the universe’, please remember that these ‘bad feelings’ are already inside you and the purpose of expressing these feelings is to bring them to the surface, and releasing them so that they can dissipate. Keeping them inside your body simply means you continue to radiate these ‘bad vibes’.

If you can ensure total privacy, try to scream and shout at the same time, saying everything you want, while doing all this bashing! Be as irrational as you like – you can say all the nasty things you have always wanted to say but were too embarrassed to publicly state! How about screaming into a pillow, which will muffle the sound?

A friend of ours drives out into the middle of nowhere, turns up the volume of the music, closes all the car windows, and then screams and shouts his heart’s content. It works! Another method is to roll up a thick newspaper until it’s the size of a baseball bat, and then beat a wall or some solid object. It can actually be quite fun! What do you do if you’re with other people and an emotion overwhelms you? You can do various things: You could excuse yourself and go to the toilet. Grab a cushion on your way out. Lock the toilet, flush it and scream into the pillow. Then wash your face and hands and, when you feel better, return to the gathering. They may think you are a bit odd, but what the heck! (Until they pay your bills, do not be too concerned about what they think!) If this is not possible, then find a way to get the feelings out your body as soon as possible, when you go home. It is OK to hold onto the feeling for an hour or two but, after that, you need to let it out when you feel safe to do so.

Many people prefer to sit down somewhere, once the kids and the partner are asleep, and write a letter to the person who angered or upset them. This is an excellent method for dealing with day-to-day emotions, as well as emotions from your past. Past emotions will be discussed in Chapter 12 entitled ‘Unfinished Business’. © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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How To Express Emotions Effectively There are certain things to remember about this ‘dumping of emotions’: (a) It takes a while – probably a few minutes to an hour – for your body to settle after letting go of the emotion. If you can, allow yourself a few minutes to just sit and breathe calmly. After letting go of very intense emotions, a bath or shower goes a long way to helping the body to settle. Drink water, which helps to flush the emotional chemicals out of your body.

(b) When you express the emotion, be honest. Do not try to apologise or justify the way you feel. Just let it out, as it is, with all the anger, rawness and swearing. Give yourself permission to be unreasonable. After all, emotions are not intellectual! You’ll find that the emotion ‘hangs around’ if you’ve not said exactly what you wanted to say. In our workshops, we give delegates a list of people to whom they must write letters, and we ask them to say exactly what they want to these people. The letters are destroyed afterwards – they’re never mailed. Many of our delegates report a sense of lightness and having had a deep, peaceful sleep afterwards. Others say they had a restless night and feel tired the next morning. If the latter occurs, know that you have not said everything you wanted – there is more you need to say. Write it all down – get it over and done with. Some people refer to this as ‘getting it off your chest’. In Africa, it is referred to as ‘coughing it up’ or ‘taking it out of the body.’

(c) It is astonishing how most cultures have found ways to accomplish the same objective, namely the releasing of pent-up emotions. Some cultures do it with sport, as participants or as observers. Notice the roaring, shouting and venting in audiences at well-attended soccer matches or boxing contests. Some African traditional healers advise people to go into the bush on their own, to dig a hole, pour a muti (medicine) into the hole, and then scream all the anger into the muti.

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When all the anger is out, they are instructed to cover the hole with soil, turn around, and never return to the same spot. Alternatively, a stone is selected, and the person is instructed to scream at the stone, bash it, and then throw it away when all the anger is gone.

(d) An important key is to pretend that you are confronting the person who angered or upset you. DO NOT EDIT what you want to say to them. Stop being so bloody polite. Say what you think and be as irrational and emotional as you need to be. Remember, you are doing this for you, not them!

(e) The content of what is expressed is important: The facts of the situation are not nearly as important as the expression of the feelings. When two groups are asked to write about a traumatic event, and one group is instructed to stick only to the facts, while the other writes only about the emotions, it is the second (emotional content) group whose immune systems benefit and not the facts-only group. (Refer to the cited studies by Pennebaker et al, cited at the beginning of this chapter for more details). This is important to remember if you are inclined to be analytical and reasonable about your feelings – it does not help your immune system to be reasonable and analytical. Thinking Brain processes may assist afterwards, but not in the initial ‘dumping of emotions’ process.

Feeling Safe Enough To Express Your Feelings Too often, people are advised to “Just tell them how you feel!”, without any thought as to whether the person has the ability to do so or the consequences of the action. What is easy for some is next to impossible for others. The terror of being rejected, or of destroying a relationship, may block expression of true feelings and this terror can be deeply ingrained. There is no point in pretending otherwise.

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Therefore, we place emphasis on methods that do not involve other people – ‘safe’ methods of expressing feelings and which can be privately accomplished. Do not confuse ‘expressing’ with ‘telling someone’. Talking is just one way of getting feelings out your body. For those of you who don’t have a problem with saying what is in your heart and mind to other people, we say “Go ahead!” However, please read the later section in this chapter entitled ‘Taking Responsibility for Your Emotions’.

When You Really Have To Say It To Someone There are certain things which may arise out of the exercises in expressing your emotions which you simply need to tell someone else. This is quite common. Often, it is related to something that the other person has said or done which needs to be cleared up - you need to tell them.

There are three parts to doing this as safely as possible:

(a) Write down - or use any of the suggested safe techniques for expressing your feelings - exactly what you are feeling. Ensure that you express all the anger, resentment, swearing, and similar feelings. Let this settle for an hour or so, and then check to see if there is anything else you need to express in the letter. This part is important, as it reduces the emotional rawness of what you need to say, which reduces the likelihood of an emotional argument.

(b) Have a look at your fears concerning the consequences of telling the person how you felt about what they said or did. Using the 3-step Confronting Fear process from Chapter 9, confront your fear about saying what you need to say to this specific person.

(c) Go to Chapter 12, and read the section entitled Clearing Issues With Another Person. Use this method to tell the person what you feel. © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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Taking Responsibility For Your Emotions You are probably wondering why we have not mentioned the ‘after I have expressed my feelings by myself’ part. “After all, it's all good and well getting the emotions and chemicals outside my body, but what about the injustice of unfair criticisms, or the fact that someone did something to me to ‘cause’ those feelings in the first place? Am I supposed to ignore all these things?” No, not at all. The previous section describes methods for short-term situation – just getting the emotion outside so that your body is not further harmed by the suppressed emotions. There is obviously a lot more involved – the long-term issues, such as addressing injustice and looking at why you reacted emotionally in the first place. Please keep in mind that this long-term aspect is done after the initial expression, not beforehand, as intellectual analysis simply tightens the lid on the emotional chemicals, keeping them stuck in your body. Let’s get a few common-sense things clear. If someone physically hurts you, or someone breaks a spoken or written agreement with you, there is no need to analyse your emotions! If you see people being hurt around you or on TV, and this upsets you, know that this is normal – there’s no need to get intellectual about it! Simply express those feelings. There are only certain emotional reactions worth analysing – when you get upset because someone has said something (for example, a criticism) or someone has ignored you. Another area to look at would be some emotional reaction that keeps arising, such as irritability, in many different situations.

Think of one specific emotional reaction you have on a fairly regular basis – any one will do – as we work our way through the

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anatomy of an emotional reaction. It can be as simple as being angry every time your husband leaves his underpants on the bathroom floor! Question 1: What do you do at that moment – express or suppress?

Do you say or do something, or do you say and do nothing? In other words, do you express your emotion or suppress it? Remember – we are talking about your immediate reaction, not what you say or do later.

Question 2: What do you feel in your body? Where does it hurt?

Is it anger, irritation, anxiety, nervousness, shakiness, or sadness? Where in your body do you feel it? An emotional reaction, such as anger, is always in response to some hurt (emotional pain).

Question 3: What is the perceived criticism?

Are you angry or upset because of something critical s/he said to you? What exactly was said? What is the perceived criticism? When someone ignores you, s/he is in effect saying that “You are not worthy of my attention” or “You are not good enough”. In the example of the husband leaving his underpants on the bathroom floor, he knows you are going to pick it up and put it in the laundry. The perceived criticism may be that he ignores you and your requests, leaving you feeling ‘as if’ he did not care about you and what you need or want.

When someone uses a certain tone or volume of voice, or uses certain body language, you can also get upset, because you interpret these body signals as some kind of criticism. The criticism may be more direct, such as when someone says you are useless, worthless, stupid, incompetent, or you are ridiculed. The criticism may also derive from the impression that you are being rejected – “You are not loveable”.

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If it is not what was said, but how it was said or done, what do you think was the non-verbal (unspoken) criticism?

Anatomy Of An Emotional Reaction

REAL CRITICISM

PERCEIVED CRITICISM

OR

E.g.: Being Ignored

E.g.: "You Stupid Bitch!"

EMOTIONAL PAIN (HURT FEELINGS) E.g.: Hot flushed face

OR EMOTIONAL REACTION #1

EMOTIONAL REACTION #2

(FIGHT BACK)

(SAY & DO NOTHING)

E.g.: "Don't talk to me like that!"

E.g.: Say nothing. Go away and cry.

Go through the various steps one at a time, until you are clear about the sequence of events. Question 4: Is the criticism factually correct – true - now?

This is where it gets interesting! If you have somehow released the emotion, this step is not difficult. However, if you are still boiling with rage or upset, you’ll defend yourself and say “Of course it isn’t true!” or wail “Yes – I’m so useless and unworthy – I’m so sorry!” Whoa back down a little! Yes, we know that what s/he said or did was awful, hurtful and naughty. The point is: Is it factually true?

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There are obviously situations where you have made a mistake, and where someone points out your mistake. Yes, it may be embarrassing.

However, there is a huge difference between saying "YOU are clumsy" and "Your BEHAVIOUR is clumsy". The first criticism is factually incorrect, as you have many abilities and thoughts, now and in the past, which are/were not clumsy. Even the second statement is not entirely true, as all your behaviour is not clumsy - just the one action which s/he witnessed.

The point is this: If someone criticises you for doing something, ensure that s/he does not get away with criticising YOU - only your behaviour or words are open for comment. Secondly, for any criticism to be helpful to you, it needs to state specifically which words or behaviour were not ok.

Therefore, if the criticism is factually true, then you need to do the following: Ask the person to be specific. To what exactly is s/he referring, so that you have something to work with in future. Remember that people only give feedback when they care - if they do not care, they would not bother. Then thank the person for the honesty and time to give you the feedback.

Yes, the Shadows will go ballistic, but it restores your sense of power in the situation. It is useful to remember this when you are giving someone feedback: Be specific - give enough facts and details so that s/he is absolutely clear about what you are talking about, and s/he can change his/her behaviour if necessary. Also, never tell someone “You are bad/wrong/ stupid/etc.”, as this is received as an attack on the Self, and the person will automatically defend himself instead of hearing what you’re really saying. Instead, be specific about what behaviour did not work for you: “What you did/said was not OK, and here is why ….”. Make a clear distinction between the © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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person and her actions. A person can change her/his behaviour, but s/he cannot change her/himself. Always remember to only point a finger at the action and not the person.

Answer 4b: No, the criticism is factually incorrect in present time:

Nine times out of ten, the criticism that provoked your emotional reaction is not true, in present time. Why do we include the phrase ‘in present time’? The reason is quite simple: Usually, when someone unfairly criticises you, it feels true, even when it is factually incorrect. A few years ago one of the authors was working on a new computer. He did not know exactly what he was doing and almost erased an entire section of the data base on the computer. Just before he pressed the ‘wrong’ button, someone shouted “Stop! Don’t be so stupid! You will crash the system!” Naturally, he reacted emotionally, instinctively and defensively shouted back at the other person.

When we looked at this emotional reaction, there were a whole bunch of things happening. First of all, there was the shock of unexpectedly being shouted at. There was also the fright of accidentally almost making a damaging mistake. In and of themselves, these issues justified some emotional response. However, the emotional response did not go away as would be expected after a fright. There was a simmering anger which, we determined, came from the statement of being called ‘stupid’. When we looked at the facts of the situation, making a mistake cannot be considered ‘stupid’. Also, the author, according to his education and other evidence, could not be considered ‘stupid’ by any reasonable standards. So why did the word ‘stupid’ provoke so much anger? To understand this emotional reaction, we used a technique called ‘How Old Do You Feel Right Now?’, suggested by friends, Margo de Kooker and Larise du Plessis. It works like this: At the moment when an emotion hits you, ask yourself "How old Do I feel Right Now?", and the first number that pops up is usually an indication of your age when the © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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issue first surfaced. In this specific case (being called ‘stupid’), the age ‘six’ popped up and then the memory of being called ‘stupid’ by a specific teacher. The teacher was his favourite teacher and the 6-year old had failed a spelling test. As a six-year old, being called stupid, particularly by someone you admire, can be devastating and painful. Unwittingly, being called ‘stupid’ by his colleague many years later – even though it was not factually correct – brought back the painful feeling from that past event, hence the anger. Many emotional reactions work in the same way. Even though the criticism is presently invalid, there was a time (in the past) when it may have been true or when someone very important criticised you in a similar way and you did not have the mental resources to respond to it.

We have said before that the Unconscious Mind does not know the difference between ‘same’ and ‘similar’. In the example of being called ‘stupid’, the Unconscious Mind heard the word ‘stupid’, looked in the memory files and found the painful event of the six-year old. It simply assumed that the situation was the ‘same’, and produced the same hurt feelings felt all those years back. In other words, based on some past event, the Unconscious Mind says that there is ‘truth’ in the criticism but does not realise that this ‘truth’ is no longer true, in present time. All of this happened in a split second, completely without the person being aware of what was happening. The tone of someone’s voice, a look, a specific word, or certain body language, can do the same thing. The objective is to first try to find from where it comes and then to be conscious that ‘that was then, and this is now’. If this is not done, your emotions will be dictated by the past, without you having any control over them.

To further prove this point for those of you who simply cannot get your heads around this, have you ever woken up in a really good mood only to have this mood replaced by depression or sadness several hours later? If you were able to freeze time, you would notice that a smell, or a scene or a song on the radio triggered a past memory, which you may © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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or may not be consciously aware of, and as a result, your emotions changed from happy to sad. The standard response is “I don’t know why I feel the way I do, I just do.”

If you took the time to analyse the emotion (after you have expressed it) and the memory attached to it, you will find an event in the past where you associated a similar emotion with a smell, a sight or a sound. The present sound, words, tone of voice or image simply activates the emotion that was experienced during the painful past event.

An excellent example of how this happens concerns the power of music to affect your emotional state. Imagine that you are driving somewhere with the radio playing - you are feeling great and then you notice that you are starting to feel rather depressed and miserable. Why? If you locate the moment when your mood shifted, it is likely that a specific piece of music was playing at the moment your mood was affected.

You may, for example, remember that this particular song played in the background at your high school graduation party, when you were dumped by the person you loved. From that moment onwards, for you, this song is linked to that feeling of rejection and humiliation. So, when it played on the car radio, all those (past) feelings were dragged into the present moment by sheer association.

It is true that it takes a lot of practice to locate and identify the source of the emotion in past events. Sometimes it seems impossible. This really isn’t as important as is making a habit of looking at the present-time facts of the situation, “I don’t know why I’m reacting the way I am, but it’s probably due to something that happened a long time ago. I know it’s not true, right now”. Get specific about why it’s not true, and then state the present-time truth, first to yourself, and then to the person who criticised you. In this way, you can break the hold that the past has on you, in the area of emotional reactions. This takes practice, but it gets easier as you do it again and again.

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However, there is something quite fundamental that we have not discussed. Think carefully … if I say something to you, without knowing what painful events you have stored away in your Unconscious Mind, can you truly say that I have ‘hurt your feelings’? Factually speaking, all I did was say something that triggered something else inside of you. When you look at the ‘hurt feelings’, did they come from me, or did they come from your past? Most of the time, it’s your past memories which contain the painful feelings and the external world and people simply activate them, usually without realising it. The exception to this is people – typically family, longtime friends and partners – who are aware of those past events. Whoever knows your history knows how to manipulate your emotions. However, people who do not know your history can’t be blamed for provoking your emotional reactions. This may sound like we’re suggesting that you are helpless in all this. On the contrary. No-one can play with your emotions unless you allow them. The technique of ‘that was then, and this is now’ obliterates the power of someone else to use your past against you. You can, if you so choose, take back your power from people and circumstances that activate pain from the past and mistakes made in the past. Literally, the only position of Personal Power is in the Present Moment – what is true right now versus what was true in the past.

A few years ago, a friend told us the following story about her visit to her parents over the Christmas holidays: She had been a very difficult and rebellious child and teenager. Eventually she left home and, after many years of working on her problems, came to love and accept who she was and much of her anger was resolved. However, every time she visited her parents, they would remind her of what a difficult child she was and of the pain she had ‘caused’ them. Although she loved her parents, and acknowledged that she had been a very difficult child, she noticed that she had begun resenting her parents for dragging her back into the past and for trying to make her feel guilty for what had happened. However, she decided to give the relationship with her © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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parents one more try. They were sitting around the dinner table, talking about what they had been doing since the last visit. Predictably, her mother began to do the “Do you remember the time when you did that (awful thing) dear?” routine. Previously, this had resulted in feelings

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of guilt and anger and our friend storming out of the house. However, this time she took a deep breath and said: “Mother, how old was I then – thirteen, if I remember correctly? And how old were you then – thirtyeight years old? Yes? Good, so we agree on that. As far as I can remember, I didn’t know a great deal about life then and you knew a lot more than I did, right? So, logically, you were in a much better position to deal with what was happening than I was. Now I know different and I’m not thirteen anymore. If you insist on trying to blame me for what I didn’t know then - as if it has anything to do with who I am today - and what I have learned since, then that’s your problem. I am not the same as I was then. Sure, we can laugh about what both you and I did and how we behaved back then. I have no problem with that. However, I want a relationship with you that is based on who I am today, not who I was all those years ago. If you want this relationship to continue, then I suggest you put the past where it belongs – in the photo album. That was then, and this is now. I am not going to feel guilty for what happened then – I did not know how to do it any other way. Nor did you. I am not going to blame you for what you did or didn’t do. I expect the same from you.”

Her mother was shocked and silent for a few minutes. However, from then on, they began to create their relationship according to who they both were – adults. Every now and again, they discussed the past, but they would laugh about the mistakes and lessons that came from those events. Instead of an emotional power-play and manipulation, their relationship began to be based on mutual respect and real affection.

Who keeps you trapped into the past? When are you going to draw the line and say “Enough! Then was then, and now is now”. Perhaps it’s time to grow up, emotionally. You may’ve noticed that we haven’t delved too deeply into deep-seated emotional issues, such as grief. These emotional issues are the subject of Chapter 13, Unfinished Business.

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SUMMARY EMOTION = Energy in MOTION Emotions are generated by the body, but are intended to be placed outside of the body - expressed, not suppressed. * Emotions trapped in the body suppress the immune system. Being 'nice' can kill you. It is also dishonest. * There are safe methods for expressing emotions which do not harm other people: Writing letters, for example. * It does matter what you express: Express your feelings. The facts are of no importance to your body's health. * Thinking about what you are feeling is useless. You need to express those feelings - get them outside of your body. * Examine your fears of rejection, vulnerability and criticism to determine why you are afraid to honestly express what you are feeling. * Before you analyse why you are feeling what you are feeling, first get that emotion outside of your body. * Emotional Reaction = Criticism … Hurt … Reaction * Is the criticism based on present-time facts? * Response to repeated, not-true-now criticism: "That was then, and this is now". * Response to yes-it-is-true-now criticism: "Please be specific. Thank you". © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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Assignments and Exercises: 1. General Emotional Honesty Awareness: In your day-to-day activities, notice how often you say what you feel. Do you say that you are ‘fine’ or ‘OK’ or ‘alright’ as a habit, without thinking? Begin to become aware of what upsets you and notice what you do with that emotion – do you say or do something or do you say nothing?

2. For people with the Control-Distance or Given-up Shadows: Get back in touch with your body and it's multitude of sensations. This may involve a body massage, playing sport, or any physical activity in which you become more aware of what is happening in your body.

3. Expressing Anger: Think of something or someone that has recently angered you, and ‘dump’ that anger using one of the suggested 'safe' methods. You won’t know what it feels like until you do it!

4. Recurring Emotional Reaction: Remember some emotional reaction that you often have, either specifically or generally. Then read the section on ‘Taking Responsibility For Your Emotions’, and answer questions 1 to 4 regarding that emotional reaction. See if you can find the past-based source of the emotion. Then do the ‘that was then, and this is now’ technique. Notice what happens the next time that situation arises.

5. Express your honest feelings safely: List all the significant people in your life today. Make a list of your close friends, partners, and family with whom you regularly interact. Write each person a one-page letter, letting them know exactly what you feel – ‘good’ stuff and ‘bad’ stuff with no regard to politeness or justification. Make sure you say everything you want to say, ‘as if’ you were talking to them face-toface. Then burn the letters. When you speak to them again, notice the difference in what you say and how you feel towards them.

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Chapter 11 Building Internal Resources In this chapter we constantly refer to the notion of ‘resources’. The word ‘resource’, as used in this chapter, refers to internal knowledge you have gathered - experiences, things you have learned, abilities, skills, perseverance, determination, humour, toughness - or whatever else you have used to survive and get through life so far.

The point of this chapter is to make you aware of the resources you already have, but which you may not be aware. It is these resources which can be a major boost in pulling you through difficult times, as well as motivating you to do what you need to do to manage your illness: "I don’t know how I’m going to get through this, but I know I will based on past experiences."

When you examine the practical realities of PNI and the exercises we have presented in each chapter, you would be hard-pressed to say that they are 'difficult'. Challenging, certainly, and probably uncomfortable a lot of the time. However, compared to, for example, fixing a car's engine, the exercises are not all that complicated. Most of it is also quite logical and firmly based in common sense.

The real 'difficulty' lies in persisting - having the stamina to go through the processes despite the discomfort. Many people give up rather quickly, even though their lives may literally depend on it! Why? We believe that a major part of the answer - apart from absence of passion (goals, pleasure) and fear - is a concept called Hardiness. The concept of 'hardiness' was introduced by Suzanne Kobassa, who is a prominent researcher and theorist in the area of how psychological factors affect health.

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One of the most important contributions she has made is by introducing the concept of ‘Personality Hardiness’. Basically, ‘hardiness’ is a collection of personality characteristics that function as a resistance or buffer in encounters with stressful life events. This consists of three components: Commitment, Control, and Challenge57.

Pretend for a moment that you have been ignored, criticised, rejected, and hurt several times in your life, by several important people. There are two ways at looking at these 'facts': you use these 'facts' as evidence that you are not worth attention - you are not good enough, or life is not worth living or you view these same 'facts' as proof that you are strong enough to survive without anyone else's approval! Which one do you prefer? You see, the problem with 'events' is not what happened in those events. Rather, the problem lies in what you decided they mean.

The Painful Events of Life

… and what some people do with such painful events:

OR

Devastated & Victimised by the event

57

Use the event as part of an ongoing learning (building) process

Kobasa, S.C. (1979). Stressful Life Events, personality, and health: An inquiry into hardiness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol 37, pp.1-11. © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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As you can see from the illustrations on the previous page, for some people, when you throw a brick at him/her - painful experiences of rejection, humiliation, or loss - s/he gets knocked down, and becomes afraid of standing up again, in case another brick gets thrown at him/her. S/he sees bricks as sources of pain. Another person will catch the brick and build something with it. S/he sees bricks as resources to create something valuable for her/himself. S/he says 'thank you' for these bricks, even if s/he occasionally gets knocked down by one!

What have you done with the 'bricks' (difficult experiences in your life) that have been thrown at you? To quote a famous saying (source unknown): "When life gives you lemons, do you throw them away or do you make lemonade with them?" To understand 'hardiness', think of someone who catches the bricks and builds something with it!

Quite a few people reply with "That is all good and well, but if you understood how many times I have been hurt - more than most people you would understand why this is unrealistic for me". That is a typical Refuse-Pleasure Shadow response. Many people with chronic illnesses have this particular Shadow. The irony is that, if you have this Shadow, it can be a tremendous asset! The more 'bad' things that you have in your past, the greater is the potential to establish hardiness! After all, you have managed to survive quite a bit, haven't you?

This is a new way of looking at the past: The more upset, pain and obstacles you have in you past, the more building material you have to create a sturdy and strong future! No, this is not just 'positive thinking'! There is a method we will teach you to use those events to your advantage.

If you look back at the various issues we have covered, you will notice that there is a great deal of agreement between, for example, establishing goals and pleasure (versus fear of change and 'rocking the boat'), and Kobasa’s concept of ‘challenge’.

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Furthermore, the notion of self-worth and why you deserve to live - a sense of curiosity and involvement in life (versus a feeling of alienation and feeling 'separate') - are related to her concept of ‘commitment’, namely ”I want to do this- it is worthwhile”.

Dealing with fears (Chapter 9) also contributes towards the sense of ‘control’, as it increases the sense that you can influence events (versus being helpless) as does the previous chapter on dealing with emotions. Our understanding of ‘hardiness’ is that it is an acquired – learned, not inborn - personality quality that reflects some sense of stamina and endurance in the face of adversity, and this usually is the result of difficult experiences in the person’s past which the person somehow survived and moved through. These experiences left a sense of “I don’t necessarily know how I will get through this difficulty, but I know (from previous experience) that I will get through somehow”.

This notion of hardiness coincides with our observations of long-term survivors of life-threatening disease and their sense of Positive Realism: “This situation is painful. However, I know I can get through”.

This is the major difference between hardiness and, for example, the Refuse-Pleasure Shadow: Hardiness uses 'negative' experiences to strengthen, while the Shadows use the same events to justify weakness. Once again, we need to say that it is not your past that is the problem it is what you have done with it that may be the problem.

People who possess hardiness have a tendency to avoid waiting too long to see the funny side of their disappointments while, at the same time, they are clear on the fact that there is little excitement in life without risk. However, they also do not put their lives at risk and realise there is a big difference between taking risk WITH their lives and taking risks IN their lives.

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"Things turn out best for the people who make the best out of the way things turn out", said American TV personality, Art Linkletter.

Now, we need to make something very clear: in practice, Positive Realism is not an intellectual concept - it is a gut-level reaction to circumstances. That is the challenge - how do you get yourself to move from "I believe it's possible" to "I know I can!”

When we hear someone saying, "Be positive - be confident!", we wait for a few minutes for the real test … do they say how you are supposed to do this? Unfortunately, it is rare to hear someone tell you how you are supposed to 'be strong' or ' be confident', and a whole range of 'wonderful and vital' qualities you are supposed to possess to heal. The joke is that, if you knew how to develop all these 'positive' qualities, you would have no need to listen to these people in the first place!

It is a sad fact that most people, who have confidence, a positive attitude, and similar qualities, simply assume that people who do not have these qualities are lazy, and just need a rah-rah motivational talk to get started. Often, people with low self-esteem, for example, simply do not know how to develop it, in real and practical terms. In this chapter, we hope to provide some methods for doing exactly that.

People with Hardiness do not spend much time thinking about whether they can heal themselves. They spend their time figuring out how. People, with low levels of hardiness, battle to hold on to the belief that that can heal, and spend little time on how. So, strange as this may sound, this chapter is about what most people call 'faith', or what we would refer to as a gut-level knowing that you can do what you need to do to deal with your illness.

Non-Hardy

Hardy

versus

"Can I do it?"

"How can I do it?"

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"While one person hesitates because he feels inferior, the other is busy making mistakes and becoming superior" said Henry C. Link. Once again, the solution revolves around your perception of what has happened to you, and what is happening right now to you. Whenever people are asked to change their perception from view A to view B, a major objection to this shift in perception occurs: "Aren't I just fooling myself? Do I have to pretend that something didn't happen when it did? That's a lie! It's stupid!"

For example, a woman who is raped is sometimes asked to change her perception from being a 'rape victim' to being a 'survivor of rape'. Some people have a major problem with this, because they believe that this change in perception denies the brutality, injustice and violation involved in the rape.

When we ask you to change your perception of an event, we are NOT asking you to change the facts and realities of the event.

Instead, we ARE asking you to change your belief about what the event says about you.

The facts of the event remain exactly the same!

The injustice, pain, brutality and violation are undeniable, and do not change. It remains your right to pursue justice. It still remains appropriate to seek counselling, take self-defence classes, and so on.

Get the point? Nothing changes about the event or the common sense response to it. The only thing that changes is how it impacts on your sense of identity - do you perceive yourself as powerless because of the event, or powerful despite the event.

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Why Bother Changing Your Perception? Why is it necessary to change your perception? What is the trade-off? What do you gain from this? And what do you stand to lose in the process? These are very important questions, particularly when you are dealing with events and perceptions that have a major influence on your health and life.

BENEFIT

• • •

LOSS

• • •

Sense of Powerfulness Resources for being happy Identity as a Survivor

Sense of Powerlessness Excuses for not being happy Identity as a Victim

Do you want the good news or bad news first? Let's start with the good news: When you change beliefs which resulted from specific events, such as "I have low self-esteem because my father worked hard and never spent time with me" or "I am always afraid I will lose what I care most about because I have loved several people who left me", you dampen the fire of personal power.

Instead of basing your identity and abilities upon what has happened to you - "I am the way I am because of …(whatever)…" - which is a reaction-based identity, you discover that who you are is more powerful than a single event or a series of events.

The very fact that you have survived all these events - mild or extreme is evidence that you have strength and other abilities you thought you didn't have. How else did you get through?

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The fact that you are reading this proves that you are more powerful than all the horrible things that have happened to you - otherwise they would have destroyed you, and you would be dead! You are alive, right? Check your pulse (it is located on your wrist). If it is still beating, you have a pulse, and you are alive. Physical fact. You managed, somehow, to get through all those events and periods in your life. You are still doing it. Physical fact! Now, we ask you, what kind of person survives all that? A weak person? Someone with no selfworth? We do not think so - the physical evidence suggests otherwise!

For just a moment, put aside what you think and believe about yourself, and just focus on the physical fact that you are alive, despite all the things you have been through. For a moment, put aside all your thoughts of "Well, I didn't do it very well, did I?" and "Well, I'm still not happy". You got here, didn't you? Somehow, you arrived at this moment, alive.

Instead of seeing a difficult past event in terms of "I got through - I must be pretty strong", most people stay stuck on "Why did this happen to me? - It must mean that I am bad, not good enough, not loveable", and a whole string of other beliefs. The fact of the matter is that it happened, and you got through. When are you going to realise that? Even those times when you made a mistake: Does that not indicate to you that you can survive making mistakes? Is that not a relief? Henry James said, "Until you try, you don’t know what you can’t do". So, you are older, wiser, and you have a few problems. Fair enough. However, you are still here, aren't you?

The bad news is that a lot of people find it easier, more convenient, and a lot more comfortable to stay stuck in the beliefs of being 'not good enough' and 'unlovable'. There are many advantages to being the 'victim of circumstances'. First of all, you have an excuse for not being happy - you can blame someone else. Second, 'reasonable' people

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will not expect you to take responsibility for your happiness and health: "Poor thing - she's had such a difficult time - no wonder she's in such a mess!" You allow your victim mentality to become a persistent habit and it has become who you believe you are versus an event or events that happened to you and that you survived.

The third, and most powerful, reason for holding on to the Victim belief is that it guarantees you a whole lot of attention. So what if the attention you get is sympathy - any attention is better than no attention, right? So you hold onto the Victim identity. That is all good and well.

However, there are certain rules of fair play in this game: If you want attention for your weaknesses, emotional wounds and a terrible past, then do not bother getting upset when people ignore any strengths you have. Oh no - that's not fair play! If you want people to love you out of sympathy, then do it - just do not expect them to love you for "Who I really am". Nope - doesn't work that way. You cannot have it both ways - either you believe that your are a helpless victim and get treated as such, or you are a survivor, and get treated as such. Make you choice.

More importantly, realise that you have a lot to lose if you get healthy again - you will have to lose all the sympathy and attention that goes with it. Are you willing to do that? Many people are not. Time and time again, we have witnessed how 'friends' disappear when a person becomes healthy and takes back control of his/her power to determine the quality of his/her life. Are you willing to lose those friends?

"Oh come on," you say, "That's not fair - are you saying that I have become ill just to get sympathy and attention? That's ridiculous and cruel!" You are quite right - it is ridiculous and cruel. And yes, there are some people who get ill to get attention. However, this is not always the case, nor are we talking about why you got ill in the first place. We are talking about the possible consequences of getting well again, not the reason why you got ill.

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Here is an exercise to sort this one out. Please understand that this not a pleasant exercise. However, if you are honest with yourself, you can gain an enormous amount of understanding about your healing process, and why it is sometimes difficult and slow:

1. Pleasant activities I would be able to do if I got well again. _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________

2. Unpleasant activities (including work and household responsibilities) I would 'have to do again' if I got well. _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________

3. Whose admiration and attention would I obtain if I got well? _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________

4. Whose sympathy, time and attention would I lose if I got well? _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________

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Interesting exercise, isn't it? The point of the exercise is that most people are aware of only the positive aspects of healing. Few people understand that there is a price to pay for being healthy, and giving up an illness. Sometimes, in the deeper parts of your mind - where the real decisions are made - the costs outweigh the benefits and healing either does not happen, or is slow, or a person heals one thing and develops another problem.

The bottom-line is: •

If the advantages of becoming well are more compelling that the advantages of remaining ill at a gut-level, then treatment - medical or other methods - tend to work faster.

•

If the advantages of remaining ill are greater than those of getting well, then any treatment or method of healing will have little effect.

Before you jump to the wrong conclusions about all this, let us state quite clearly that we have no judgement about this issue at all: If you want to remain ill because it suits you, then fine. We know several people who have used their illness as a platform to do tremendous good for others. Illness is not 'bad'. There is no right/wrong or good/bad about a disease, virus, cancer, or any other illness. It is simply a disease. It is not a 'punishment' for any wrongdoing. Unfortunately, many people view disease in terms of right/wrong, and the guilt - which is totally unnecessary - simply makes healing a lot more difficult. Guilt is a useless emotion - it changes nothing.

Remember that illness ends when you die! Then again, so does your health end when you die! So, where is the good/bad of illness and health? It is all a matter of how long - in terms of time - you want to do this thing called 'life' for. You need to choose which option you want to work with, and which one serves your greater objectives.

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"What has this to do with 'hardiness' and 'resources'?" Quite a lot, actually:

For example, stubbornness (the Inflexible-Obstinate Shadow) can be a resource in difficult situations. So can the ability to be flexible, or to say what you mean, or to be silent when necessary, or your ability to endure, accept, not accept, make a joke despite being afraid, or your willingness to take a risk. All of these things assist you in dealing with difficulties, depending upon the circumstances. There is nothing inherently 'wrong' with any method of coping - what matters is whether it is appropriate for the circumstances you are presently in. What worked yesterday may not work today.

In many cases, long term survivors speak of having had difficult years during childhood or later and, as a result, when the disease came along, they had a sense that they could somehow get through and survive this difficulty as well. Obviously, as previously stated, every situation is different, and requires different resources.

However, many people have formed a habit of coping in just one way, and when circumstances change - such as getting ill - s/he tries to cope in the same way, and this may not work for the new circumstance.

You already have vast quantities of resources of which you are probably unaware. The first, and most obvious, resource is the support of the people around you. However, this cannot be assumed, as some people do not have this invaluable resource. Therefore, we will focus on internal resources.

This does not, by any means, suggest that the support of friends and family have no place in healing! On the contrary - there is ample proof that certain kinds of emotional support from family, doctors, and friends can make a significant difference in recovery. However, as in the Confronting Fear process (Chapter 9), we are assuming the worst-case situation, and dealing with that circumstance. © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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So, this is basically how it works:

❑

No-one can 'give' you confidence. Yes, someone can temporarily boost your morale. However, in the long-term, you have to find it within yourself.

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The events in your life which have weakened your confidence can also provide the strength you need.

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Perception is the key - the way you interpret what has happened, and what is happening now.

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Your decision (judgements and conclusions) about an event determine the effect it will have on you.

❑

You have everything you need, already. It is a matter of finding it, like a treasure hunt.

The Most Valuable Resource Of All What is the most valuable and powerful resource of all? Based on our discussions with long-term survivors, we have come to the startling conclusion that it is the perception that 'I' am not 'my body', or my relationships, my past, my name, my car, my job, my actions, my thoughts and emotions, my health (or disease), roles in life, or anything else. They are simply things I have, but I am not them. How bizarre! And yet, when you think about it, it makes perfect sense: This perception indicates an ability (which we all have) to step outside of your circumstances, and look at them objectively, and decide what they mean to you.

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This is a strange concept to most people, and perhaps we need to clarify this further: There is a very old Eastern story about a poor farmer who had young son. One day, a herd of wild horses arrived on his farm, and he managed to capture some of them.

Lucky ? Unlucky? Perhaps ….

The villagers rushed to his home, and told him how fortunate he was now he could plough his fields more easily, he could carry his vegetables to the market faster, and not have to walk so much! What a lucky man! However, all that the farmer said was "Lucky? I don't know - perhaps".

Obviously, the villagers thought he was ungrateful for his stroke of fortune. A year later, his son was riding one of the wild horses that had arrived, and fell off, injuring his left leg very badly. According to the doctors, he would never recover, and he would be cripple for life. The villagers came to his house to sympathise. They told him that perhaps the arrival of the wild horses was really bad luck - after all, his son was now cripple! The wise farmer replied "Unlucky, I don't know perhaps".

Two years later, the King declared war on a neighbouring country, and all healthy young men were required to join the army. All the young men of the village left to fight the war, except the crippled son of the

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farmer. As it turned out, the King had underestimated the strength of the enemy, and in a series of terrible battles, all the young men from the village were killed. The villagers were devastated, and said to the farmer: "You are so lucky that your son was crippled by that horse. If that had not happened, he would be dead as well. At least you have a son left!" Once again, the farmer responded: "Lucky? I don't know perhaps". ***

The point of this story is that, when something happens, we immediately make some judgement about whether it is 'good' or 'bad'. Do those decisions serve you now? How many times have you heard a story where something horrible happens to someone and, as you read further, it becomes apparent that this 'horrible' event was an important part of the 'happy ending'? The problem is that we treat events in our lives as a complete 'story', when it is, in fact, just another chapter in a much more interesting and complicated story, called 'Your Life'. You really do not know what an event 'means' until much later on in your own story!

When you look back at your life, you see events in terms of 'good events' and 'bad events'. That is logical and normal. So, for example, when we ask why you have difficulty in saying what you feel or think, you will talk about all the 'bad events' in which your attempts to express your thoughts and feelings were criticised, rejected, or even punished, or the fact that you were once (or more times) told that it was 'bad' by a parent, teacher or priest. There is always a reason why you do what you do, or why you fear what you fear, when you look into your past and the influential people in your past. That is what Chapter 5 (Finding The Focus - Shadow Assessment) - was all about.

When you speak to long-term survivors, they will tell you that they are not different from anyone else - they were also criticised, hurt, punished, frightened, rejected, and all the other typical experiences that

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people have. However, where they differ, is in terms of how they 'label' these apparently 'bad events'. Instead of seeing a 'bad event' as 'bad', they decided that it means something else. How do they do this?

Fundamentally, instead of asking 'Why is this happening to me?" they ask, "What does the fact that I have survived this indicate about me?"

When you ask a different question, you will get a different answer. That is the principle behind the exercises to follow.

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Assignments and Exercises: The trick to solving ‘impossible’ problems is by asking ‘unreasonable’ questions. In Chapter 4 - Trigger Events - you were asked to go through a long list of possible 'trigger events'. When you go through this list, you will recognise that you have made many important decisions about yourself and life as a result of these events. There are other important influences, such as the way your parents behaved towards each other, and what they - and others - have taught you. However, for the purpose of this exercise, let us stick to the list of trigger events, as they are more easily identified.

1. Find an event in which you were rejected or abandoned by someone you loved or who was supposed to love you. Question 1: Did you decide that you were 'not good enough' or 'unlovable' or any similar decision because of this event? Be honest.

Question 2: Has it ever occurred to you that, by the fact that you survived until this day, despite this rejection or abandonment, indicates that you do not need their approval to survive?

Question 3: How many other important people in your relationships including those that you have right now - do you believe you 'need' to be happy? Is that a fact? Based on your past experiences of rejection and abandonment, is it not more correct to state that you do not 'need' their approval? Perhaps you may 'want' their attention and approval, but 'need' it? Look again at your past experiences for this answer.

Question 4: Go through the rest of the list of Trigger Events. How many more events are there that prove you can survive without someone else's approval? How much of the pain that you felt as a result of that rejection was the result of your belief that you 'needed' their love and approval? © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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2. Find an event where you were criticised or ignored by someone you cared about. Question 1: Did you decide that what you have to say, and who you are, is 'not good enough'? Did you decide that you had to be 'perfect' to get attention and approval or any similar decision because of this event? Be honest.

Question 2: Has it ever occurred to you that their criticism and dismissal was an indication of their fears of being 'wrong' - their inadequacies? Maybe it was all about them and had nothing to do with you? Have you noticed that, even although they ignored you and criticised you, you are still here? What does this indicate to you regarding your ability to survive without other people's approval or attention?

Question 3: How many other important people in your relationships including those you have right now - criticise or ignore you? Whose problem is it that they are so self-righteous and judgmental - yours or theirs? What are they protecting? Do you really need their attention or approval? Is that a fact? Based on your past experiences of criticism and being ignored, is it not more correct to state that you do not 'need' their approval? Perhaps you may 'want' their attention and approval, but do you really 'need' it? Look again at your past experiences for that answer.

Question 4: Go through the rest of the list of Trigger Events. How many more events are there that prove you can survive without someone else's approval, and how you have survived despite not being 'perfect'? How much of the pain that you felt as a result of that rejection was the result of your belief that you 'needed' to be 'perfect', according to someone else's standards?

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3.

Find an event where you felt humiliated.

Question 1: Based on what you now know about yourself, at that time did you have the resources to behave any differently? If yes, what have you learned to ensure that if this event or something similar was ever to happen again, that you would act differently? What decision did you make about yourself in the initial event? Be specific!

Question 2: How would you act differently today? What resources would you access to ensure that this feeling would not resurface? In your mind, play out the situation from start to finish only this time use the resources you have built to create a different outcome. In detail, write down how you would deal with this same event with what you now know about yourself.

4. Find an event where you lost someone/something dear to you. Question 1: How did this loss impact on you? What decisions did you make about yourself and those you love? Other than the loss, what other feelings came up for you? Where in your body did you experience the ‘pain’ of this loss?

Question 2: What resources did you use to survive this loss? No matter how small they may seem, list how you got through the loss, including all the emotions you experienced.

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5. Find an event where you were physically or emotionally abused or assaulted. Question 1: Looking back at your life, how many times have similar events happened to you? Is there a pattern that you can see? What relationships are you in today where this pattern of abuse is still active? What is the common thread that links all these abuses?

Question 2: What beliefs do you have about your deserving healthy love and commitment from other people? What relationships do you have in your life where you are treated with love, honour and respect? How do those relationships make you feel?

Question 3: What resources can you take from your healthy relationships and apply them to the abusive relationships? What would you lose if you were to confront those who abuse you and let them now that you are not okay with how they treat you? What do you stand to lose by being honest with this person or these people who abuse you? Question 4: What is the ‘pay-off’ for you if you do nothing, but allow the abuse to continue? What is the pay-off if you demand to be treated with love, honour and respect?

Question 5: What are you going to do today to ensure that nobody treats you poorly or in an abusive manner? How much of your energy are you willing to commit to ensuring that you are no longer abused?

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6. Find an event where you tried to achieve or obtain something, and failed. Question 1: How did you feel when you failed? What past-based beliefs were supported by your ‘failure’? Question 2: Before you ‘failed’, what did you believe was the possible outcome? Where did the process go ‘wrong’? Question 3. When it went ‘wrong’, whose voice or voices did you hear (in the privacy of your own mind) that criticised you? What did these voices say to you? Is what they said true today?

Question 4: Knowing what you know today, would you make the same mistake again if you used the resources you have now? At the time of the ‘failure’ did you focus on the failure or did you see that at least you tried, even if it didn’t work out?

Question 5: What does this failure mean to you today? Have you stopped trying new ideas and experiences for fear of possible failure?

Question 6. Looking into your past, think of times where you tried something new and succeeded. List these events with as much detail as possible. What resources did you use to make these successes work for you? Looking back at these successes, how do you feel, knowing that you made it work?

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7. Find an event where you hurt someone else. Question 1. Why did you feel the need to hurt them? Did you consciously set out to hurt them? If not, why do you need to carry the guilt for what happened? What do you get from beating yourself up? Who, in your past, would agree with your guilty feelings? Whose voices do you hear beating you up for your mistakes? What are they saying? Be specific!

Question 2: Did you try to make up your error with the people involved? When you tried to talk to them, how did this make you feel?

Question 3: List the times in your life where you did hurt someone and had the courage to say sorry to them. How did they react to you and how did you feel about apologising and having the courage to bring the issue to the foreground, rather than ignoring it?

8. Find a time which was very difficult and the future was uncertain. Question 1: What thoughts went through you mind during these trying times? Did you believe that you couldn’t get through the experiences? If so, why? Where in your past did you not survive even the most trying of experiences?

Question 2: What internal resources did you use to get through these trying experiences? List three such experiences and then list how you survived, the resources you used and the outcome? Based on these three examples, list how you would survive if similar events were to enter your life? How would you deal with it today?

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A Final Word On The Assignments How many events in the Trigger Event list are still left unmarked? How many 'difficult' and painful past events are 100% 'bad'?

We strongly advise you to do this exercise as many times as necessary, until you manage to at least get a second opinion on each event on your list. You do not have to 'pretend' that something horrible and painful was 'good'. That is being somewhat unrealistic. However, there is a strong tendency to repeat painful experiences until you 'get the point of the experience'. Do not believe us - check it out yourself!

There are many people who say that 'You Create Your Reality'. Obviously, at first glance, this seems ridiculous to many people, maybe even to you. There are two ways of looking at this statement: The most superficial interpretation is that 'it's all your fault - you made it happen'. That interpretation serves no one, as it implies guilt and blame, both really fruitless emotions! The second interpretation has nothing to do with the event itself, but rather how you have labelled it - good/bad and the extent to which you allow it to affect you today. Realistically speaking, you have the power to choose how you perceive any event. Which connects us right back to the PNI mind-body connection … the H.P.A.C. and S.A.M. Systems (refer Chapter 3 - Mind-Body Connections).

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Chapter 12 Unfinished Business (Clearing out the Clutter in Your Life) How many of the exercises in the previous chapters have you actually done? People very often read something, understand it, and do not apply it. One possible reason is that you simply do not have enough energy to invest in something 'new', because your mind is already invested in a whole range of other things. These 'other things' are called Unfinished Business - all the physical, emotional and psychological projects that you have started, but not completed.

The reason is quite simple: Your mind is a remarkable thing, especially your Unconscious Mind. It has two special qualities that make it different from your Conscious Mind: (a) It does exactly what you ask it to do, without questioning whether the request is what you really want; (b) It is highly creative in finding methods to achieve what you have asked for. "So what is the problem?" you ask, "That sounds wonderful!" Indeed, it is wonderful. However, imagine what would happen if you switch on your stove at home, and then did not bother to switch it off. What happens? It continues to use electricity (gas or coal) to generate heat, resulting in a massive electricity account if you leave it running non-stop, even for just a few days!

How high would your electricity account be if you switched on all your lights, lamps, stove, oven and fans, and then left them on for 24-hours a day, over a month?

Oops!

$$$

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In the same way, your Unconscious Mind continues to put effort into what you ask for, long after you have 'forgotten' about it. This is not a problem, unless you change your mind about what you want without informing it.

In a practical and physical sense, when your wardrobe or drawers are in a mess, a part of your Unconscious Mind tries to 'remember' where you put everything. The same applies to books, records, and paperwork.

Therefore, if your physical world - home - is a mess or is chaotic then your Unconscious Mind is using up a lot of mental 'electricity' all the time, trying to keep track of where everything is. If you were to sort out all your cupboards, for example, your Unconscious Mind would not need to spend so much effort keeping track of everything, which makes more effort available for more important things, such as healing your body!

Clean Up Your Physical Environment

Often, when you are feeling apathetic, and you feel as if you cannot put any effort into something that you know is important to you, the best place to start is cleaning up your physical environment. This can often release enough energy and attention from the Unconscious Mind to get you started with whatever you consider to be important.

Therefore, the First step in completing Unfinished Business involves sorting out your bedroom, cupboards, handbag, files, shelves, and any other disorder, dust, dirt or confusion in your immediate environment. Once you have done this, expand this cleaning up to your work environment.

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If your bedroom or living area contains bad memories for you, then re-arrange the furniture, paint the walls, and do whatever you need to clean out any reminders of events of which you don't want to be reminded.

This simple process is great for those who have ended a relationship or where a partner has died. Just rearranging the living environment will make you feel better. Go on... don’t just sit there… do it!

Some people may extend this 'cleaning up' process to the people around them, particularly when the other person is a constant source of criticism or abuse. We leave that project to your discretion, although, quite frankly, it's not a bad idea in some cases. A milder version of this would be to go through your telephone book and delete the names and number of people to whom you have not spoken for a long time and where you have no need or desire to make contact again. Please note that we included the word 'need' in the last sentence, as there are usually some people with whom you need to remain in contact, even though you really do not want to.

The Second step of Unfinished Business concerns cleaning up your financial affairs.

This means that you make a list of all your unpaid or long-standing debts and, if you cannot pay them all, phone to make some arrangement to reduce your monthly payments. Do not, under any circumstances, give in to your fear of being criticised. When you hide away from someone because you owe money, it can place an enormous strain on your energy levels and the anxiety can affect your immune system.

Clean Up Your Money Matters

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If you are in a situation of having debt that you cannot pay, then use the "What if …?" Confronting Fears technique in Chapter 9 to confront the fear first, and then contact the person and make a mutually acceptable repayment arrangement. You really do not need that kind of fear and anxiety hanging over your head when you are trying to heal yourself.

Also, write down your income and expenses, so that you can create a budget that allows you to cover your expenses, as well as allowing money to do some of the things you really enjoy. If you do not spend some money on yourself, for what are you earning money?

Realistic Practical Thinking versus Unrealistic Fearful Thinking There is a huge difference between acting on the belief in the probability of dying versus the possibility of dying, especially in terms of a serious illness. Yes, it is possible that you may die from this disease. It is also possible that you will not die from that same disease. When you acknowledge the possibility of dying, ensure that you simultaneously acknowledge the possibility of living and healing. Factually and realistically speaking, there is not a single major disease in which everyone dies - not AIDS, cancer or Ebola. Therefore, factually speaking, there is a possibility of living beyond the disease, just as there is a possibility of dying from the disease.

Probable = It Will Happen "I will die" (Other possibilities excluded)

Unrealistic Fearful Thinking

Versus …

Possible = It Might Happen Realistic Practical Thinking

"I may die. I may also live" (Other possibilities may also happen)

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However, when you were given a diagnosis of one of the more serious life-threatening diseases, did you hear what the doctor said? Did s/he tell you that you will probably die or did s/he tell you that it is possible that you would die?

Therefore, the Third step to completing Unfinished Business concerns drawing up a legal Will.

This has already been discussed and suggested in Chapter 9. However, most people delay or ignore this action. Therefore, before you become upset at this thought, you need to understand that this step applies to everyone, regardless of whether s/he is ill or not. One of the main concerns for a person who is seriously ill, as well as anyone who has close connections and responsibilities for someone else (for example, being a parent, a husband or wife or a business partner) is how to provide for those dependants if s/he should die.

Drawing up a will does not indicate that you are giving in to the negative belief that you are going to die from your illness! On the contrary, it indicates you are willing to shoulder your personal responsibilities towards other people - regardless of the outcome of your illness - and that you want to close off the 'death and dying' aspect of your disease, so that you can focus ALL your attention on living.

This step is a realistic action, based on the possibility of death, and is not based on the probability of death. Deal with the possibility of dying, so that you can move beyond it, and focus your attention and time on the possibility of living.

The fact of the matter is that you, like everyone else, can die tomorrow, from accident or illness. If you have any concerns about what will happen to those you leave behind, then you need to take responsibility for doing whatever you can to sort that out now. This may even include stating in your will how you wish to be buried, and paying for the funeral. Once it is done, you can move beyond that concern. © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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Engage Life

Once you have completed the third step of Unfinished Business, it is time to actively pursue the possibility of living. For example, the day that you have paid for your funeral, start some project that you have always wanted to pursue, even a long-term project. Once again, this is something we have suggested in Chapter 9, but it is sufficiently important to bear repeating. However, before you do that, you may need to complete Step 4 first:

The Fourth step to completing Unfinished Business is to release activities that you do not want to pursue any further, and immediately engage in activities that you do enjoy.

One of the greatest dangers of having a serious illness is that your life begins to revolve around illness, pain and limitations. It is crucial that you do not allow illness to dominate all your activities and thoughts. However, it is important to be realistic about this: You will need to spend time dealing with your illness. What about the rest of the time? How much of it is spent doing things which you do not particularly enjoy, or which are boring? Where - and when - are you going to make space for more fulfilling activities?

It is not unusual to find yourself in a situation where you are following a career, doing social duties or any other activity that you have never enjoyed, or are simply doing because other people expect it from you. This can be soul-destroying, and such pursuits need to be eliminated as far as realistically possible, so that you can begin to fill your life with activities that give you fulfilment, interest, excitement and challenge.

This objective can cause a major dilemma, especially when you are doing things (for example, a job, or looking after someone who depends on you) which you do not enjoy. Realistically, it is not always possible to totally eliminate such duties or to cut off your source of income.

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However, such a situation can be moderated in several ways:

1. If you are doing a job that you do not enjoy and you cannot find another more fulfilling job, then ensure that you spend as much time before or after working hours doing things that give you pleasure and fulfilment. For example, if you have always wanted to work with people who are ill, then start evening classes on First Aid or join a volunteer group that does community work in this area.

It is essential that your life is not totally consumed with boredom, resentment, and unfulfilling activities. Make the time to do something you enjoy!

2. If you are looking after someone who is dependent on your care, then start to ask for support in this task from other members of your family or from your friends. Yes, it is difficult due to feelings of guilt, but the truth of it is that when you are the only person on whom the other person depends, then this person is in a very difficult situation if you should become too ill to continue.

Also - and of equal importance - it is not healthy for you to be in such a situation: You can burn out, become resentful, and not give the other person the full attention s/he requires. The stress of the situation can also have a negative impact upon your health. Therefore, for your sake and her/his, start sharing the responsibility so that you have more time for yourself.

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How often have you promised or agreed to do something - even for yourself - and not kept your word? Be very aware of how easily you give your word, and how rapidly you lose your sense of self-respect and self-worth when you fail to keep your agreements.

YOUR WORD IS THE MOST VALUABLE THING THAT YOU HAVE

PRINCIPLES OF INTEGRITY There are three specific principles to keep in mind: (1). If you agree to do something, then do it. No exceptions, No Excuses! (2). If you cannot maintain your agreement, then do damage control. This means that you renegotiate the agreement with the other person. (a) Sometimes you discover that maintaining a specific agreement with someone else means that you will violate your personal values. (b) Alternatively, you discover that circumstances beyond your control have changed since you made the initial agreement. In such cases, inform the other person that you cannot maintain that agreement, and tell her what you are willing to do instead. (3). Most importantly, it is essential that you think very carefully before making agreements, even small ones that do not seem important. There are very few circumstances in life that require an immediate decision, so take your time and give it some thought. Nobody is going to fault you if you ask for time to think through the choice.

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The fifth step of completing Unfinished Business is to either release yourself from agreements and promises that you cannot keep (or which violate your sense of values and sense of what is right for you) and to fulfil agreements which you have not kept with yourself and others.

For example: Repay loans to friends and family (or at least arrange repayment terms, and stick to it) and return borrowed items.

If you have made a promise to lose weight, stop smoking, or anything else along those lines, and you have not fulfilled those promises, then either release yourself from those agreements or make an effort to fulfil them. Too often we make promises to ourselves due to beliefs about what we 'should' do, instead of what we truly want to do. As a result, we do not keep the agreements, and feel guilty. Let those promises go or choose to fulfil those promises because you really want to do it.

Complete Your Communication Cycles The Sixth - and final - step to completing unfinished business concerns expressing your thoughts, feelings and desires.

In Chapter 10 we discussed the importance of expressing emotions, as opposed to suppressing them. Several safe methods for expressing your feelings - such as writing - were discussed.

However, there are indeed situations where it is not enough to just vent your feelings by yourself. Sometimes you have to say what you want to say, to the person involved. Usually this deteriorates into an argument, because the other person feels criticised, and therefore becomes defensive. Somewhere along the line your thoughts and feelings are not heard.

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We strongly suggest you use the following method for clearing out such thoughts and feeling with the other person:

Clearing Issues With Another Person

1.

Ask the other person whether s/he has the time to hear what you have to say. If the present moment is not convenient, then ask her/him when it would be convenient.

2.

Explain to him/her the rules of the process, as detailed below.

3.

Only one issue can be cleared at a time. No 'stacking' (adding one issue on top of another: "… and another thing …") is allowed. Clear each issue as described below before proceeding to the next issue.

4.

Always start with "What works for me about you (or a situation) is …" It does not matter whether you are foaming at the mouth with anger (in which case you had better dump some of the anger by yourself before talking to the person), you must find something - anything - that works for you about that person or situation.

5.

Then you say "What does not work for me about you (or the situation) is …" At this point you say what you need to say regarding what is upsetting you.

6.

At no point are you permitted to use the words 'Like' or 'Dislike', 'Right' or 'Wrong', nor are you allowed to use words such as 'Good' or 'Bad', ‘Love’ or ‘Hate’. Simply tell him/her what you think and feel.

7.

Always own your thoughts and feelings. instead of saying "You make me feel …", rather say "When you say (or do) …,I feel …."

8.

Thank the person for listening. (continued on next page …)

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9.

Listen while the other person tells you what works for him/her, and then what does not work for him/her about you or the situation. Thank him/her for telling you what s/he thinks and feels.

10.

No interruptions are permitted when either person is speaking.

11.

Do not expect her/him to change or fix anything in response to your thoughts and feelings. The point of the exercise is to let her/him know how you feel and not to make her/him change anything.

When you use this method for the first few times, it may feel rather strange. However, it is highly effective if both people involved know and agree the rules. You will find that the other person feels less defensive because you are owning your thoughts and feelings, and also because you started with a positive statement.

Summary In order for you to devote as much time and energy as possible to healing your mind and body and to making space and time for what you enjoy and want for yourself, you need to let go of the clutter in your life. This needs to occur at a physical, emotional and mental level, and includes your living environment, responsibilities to other people and to yourself. Be complete with each day you experience and with each person you encounter - don't drag excess baggage around with you.

The One Breath Principle Live each day and engage each relationship as if today were the last day of your life. After all, there is only one breath that separates you from those lying in cemeteries. This applies to everyone, regardless of whether s/he is ill or not. Do not get caught up in the belief that you have plenty of time left to clear up your unfinished business.

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Assignments and Exercises: The following exercises have been discussed at length in this chapter. Please read the relevant section, and then do each exercise.

Please remember that the following exercises are not once-off activities. Rather they are continual processes.

1. Clean up your physical environment: ❑

Bedroom, including cupboards, handbags, bookshelves, and drawers.

❑

Working environment, including files, cupboards and equipment.

❑

Rearrange the furniture if it reminds you of someone you would rather forget.

2. Clean up your finances: ❑

Files, taxes, loans, and debt repayments, insurance, and your earning potential.

3. Update your Will: ❑

Ensure that it is current and legal.

❑

Make all funeral arrangements. Pay for funeral.

❑

Engage in one of your future goals at the same time.

4. As far as possible, stop doing things you do not enjoy, or at least reduce the amount of time that you spend on such activities: ❑

Delegate and share responsibilities that are tedious and difficult.

❑

Immediately engage in activities that you do enjoy.

5. Take responsibility for your agreements: ❑

Do damage control on agreements that you have broken with yourself and other people.

❑

Release yourself from agreements you have made and which no longer serve you or your values. Do damage control.

6. Clear up issues with the people in your life: ❑

Use the Clearing Process to get present and recent resentments, confusions, and questions off your chest.

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Chapter 13 A little Talk might help … During the early 1990's, when we were doing our initial research into PNI - specifically focusing upon AIDS and cancer - we interviewed 22 'long-term survivors' of AIDS (people who, despite having been infected for more than ten years, had shown little or no clinical progression of development from being HIV-seropositive to symptomatic AIDS.

Our findings seemed to confirm most of the dominant research findings regarding which attitudes and coping styles are associated with a strong immune system, such as the ability to express emotions, having dealt with major fears (especially the fear of dying and death), hardiness, engagement in exciting and challenging activities and goals, and healthy levels of self-esteem.

However, there was a rather odd phenomena that appeared to be unique to these long-term survivors, and which we subsequently also found in people who have turned their cancer around using PNI-styled approaches. It was quite a simple thing: All of these people had, in some way, shape or form, for a multitude of reasons, had a talk to their disease, and did so on a regular basis.

At that time, we did not know whether this was simply a random phenomenon, until we encountered another researcher's work, namely Dr Jon Kaiser's work in AIDS58, in which he describes how he combines standard medical treatment and holistic alternative methods. He describes how several of his patients began to write letters to their virus, and that, using imagination, the virus 'wrote back'. He also includes the immune effects of this technique, using case studies.

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The effects seem to coincide with what we have found with the longterm survivors we interviewed: Either an increase in helper T-cells (CD4 cells), or a stabilization of these cells' numbers. Quite frankly, there is little or no PNI research into exactly how this process would have such an immune effect, and we can only assume that the dialogue with either the virus or the cancer reduces the emotional distress associated with having some 'invader' inside of your body. However, based upon the case studies, we consider this process sufficiently relevant for inclusion as a possible immune enhancer.

However, we have also noticed that the effectiveness of the dialogue with your disease depends upon the nature of the disease itself. For example, with HIV - which is an external virus which 'invades' the body - the most effective dialogue appears to be directed at establishing some kind of mutually-compatible 'agreement', or what can be called a 'truce'.

You: "I will not kill you, if you do not kill me. Agree?" Disease: "OK".

With diseases such as cancer - which are your own cells that have refused to co-operate within the normal 'rules' of how cells should behave - a more aggressive dialogue seems to be more effective. However, even in such illnesses, people have reported good results with the 'cease fire' approach with the cancer cells.

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However, there are dynamics which operate with such a dialogue which are quite intriguing: First of all, you have to assume - and know - that you are indeed able to kill the disease, if you wanted to. How is this possible, when you consider that some diseases are supposedly 'incurable'? One person said that, when he had his first talk to the HIV in his body, he told it that he knew that he could kill himself, and that this would automatically kill the virus too. He told the virus that, if the virus made him so ill that his quality of life was beyond repair, that he would kill himself, and end the whole thing. He then asked the virus if it wanted to live. The virus said "Yes! Of Course". He then told the virus that he was well aware of the power of the virus to kill him, and that he respected that power. All he was asking the virus to consider, was that he too had that kind of power of life and death. He then discussed ways in which he and the virus could operate with mutual respect, from within the same body. He clearly told the virus that, if the virus got out of hand, he would have no hesitation in taking whatever drugs were necessary to bring it back under control. The virus agreed that this was fair, and that it would keep itself under control.

Thirteen years later, he - David patient - is healthy, and has the same discussion with his virus, at the same time every year.

Another person said that, when she discovered that her cancer had spread thought her body, and that surgery was no longer possible, she initially became very angry at the betrayal of her body. She wrote a letter to 'Mr Cancer', and told 'him' in no uncertain terms, how angry she was at 'him'. She then put the pen in her other hand, and simply wrote down whatever came into her mind, intending that this was 'Mr Cancer' speaking to her. She was shocked at what he had to say! 'He' told her, in no uncertain terms, that she had spent her entire life listening to everyone else, and that 'he' was simply fulfilling her wish of wanting to escape from all the unhappiness and boredom. She tehn wrote back to 'him', asking whether he would agree to stop spreading throughout her body for three months, while she started sorting all these © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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emotional issues out. He agreed, on condition that she finally did the work. She then said that she felt somewhat trapped by this agreement, as it was 'him' who was dictating all the terms of the agreement! "So", he said, "what do you want to do about that?" After careful thought, she told (wrote to) 'him' that wanted to be able to have an ongoing talk with him, so that 'he' could tell her how she was doing. Also, she wanted to be able to take some time off from the 'work' he said was necessary, and suggested weekends for this rest. 'He' agreed. Furthermore, she insisted that he recognize the reality that she could take full control of the situation by simply killing herself, and that she reserved the right to do so if 'he' got out of control. Six months later, after many such 'discussions' and modifications of the initial agreement, her cancer had stopped spreading, and had begin to retreat. Two years later, the cancer was in full remission.

We should make it clear that all the people who have used this method successfully, also did other things to maintain their health, including many of the methods described in this book. Therefore, this method of talking to your disease is not in and of itself a solution - it is part of a immune-empowering programme. Try it.

All you have to do it to take a pen and paper, and write a letter to your disease. Write down exactly what you feel - all the anger, fear, questions, and whatever else you can think of. Then clear your mind, and pretend that you are the disease itself, and write a letter back to yourself, in response to your own letter.

Ensure that you come to some agreement regarding how you see yourself in terms of your power to do something about this illness, and recognise the power of the disease as well.

Maintain this dialogue over time.

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Chapter 14 Personal Stories The following case studies are largely verbatim - as the person told us, with a little editing.

Doug - CANCER I was born and raised on a dairy and sheep farm. Apart from a year working in the accounts department for an oil company, university for 5 years and boarding school, I have spent most of my 60 years on this farm. My eldest brother was grandfather’s golden boy and a prefect at school. As a result, he thought he was the next best thing to Christmas and bossed my brother and I around from an early age.

This middle brother, who was closest to me - who was the thickest of us all - was the life and soul of a party. He decided from an early age that he wanted to be a motor mechanic and ended up being one, and an alcoholic as well. I pulled him out of the gutter in some 25 - 30 years ago, rehabilitated him, and lost him as a brother and friend in the process.

My eldest brother convinced to coming back to this farm straight after university and effectively prevented me from furthering my education. After a year or two of getting me locked onto the farm, he made his planned escape with his family to New Zealand. He left me to look after the farm that he was going to inherit, until my father died in 1990 and the estate could be wound up. He died of a brain tumour in Australia last year in November about two months after diagnosis.

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So, in effect, I was in a situation where I operated a farm that I did not own, and was not expecting to inherit. The result was that I lived for some 28 years in a negative state of waiting for my father to die as the rest of the family refused to attempt to help me out of this situation.

Trying to arrange finance for overdrafts, electrification, switching from industrial milk to fresh milk was a nightmare without collateral and very expensive. I was also married with two kids. My wife and I were constantly fighting for dominance, so I swung violently from the occasional Control-Distance Shadow to mostly the Apologising-Failure Shadow.

I - with my Apologising-Failure and Refuse Pleasure Shadows - and my misguided striving for security and being able to care best for my family in the environment I knew and felt safe in, dug in spite of a nowin situation and rode it out.

I was diagnosed Multiple Myeloma in July/August 1997 after various other ailments. I decided to go to a specialist physician who, luckily for me, was one of the few around who had worked with myelomas for years, and therefore recognised the symptoms, as it is a pretty rare form (4/100000).

An X-ray and blood tests -the latter showing the typical elevated myeloma IgG spike - and a spinal bone marrow tap confirmed the diagnosis 100%. She referred me to a close associate of hers who had worked with her on the myelomas some years ago. By September 1997, I was on a Chemotherapy protocol of one week on, three weeks off, for 6 months. My initial reaction to the diagnosis was “What on earth is myeloma?” , and, an immense feeling of relief that at least I knew what was wrong with me. Even if I didn’t know what it meant, the doctors seemed to know what they were doing and I was being 'treated'.

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Fortunately for me, I have a good friend who is a professor who made me a member of the International Myeloma Foundation, quite the most fantastic source of info and specialist support for anyone with my type of cancer. This resulted in me being more in touch with my disease than the local doctors!

Chemotherapy is another story and, like childbirth, best forgotten. There were a couple of tricks I learnt; a set of earphones with a Louise Hay tape was one of them - in the early hours of the morning when the drug reactions hit. I remember very clearly dreading going back each month to 'put myself through it again'. When I got to the sixth session, I had decided that I had had enough and, if it meant putting my head between my knees and kissing my life goodbye, then so be it. So I survived as I knew I would – I figured that, if I can survive the drought, what else is new? In the meantime, I was studying the disease via the internet, and investigating alternative medicine. I had always held the belief that this disease came in through the immune system and, by God, I was going to push it out the same way.

I was sent off to Cape Town, after finishing my chemotherapy treatment, with a view to a possible bone marrow transplant using my own Stem Cells which they collect from the bone marrow. So I spent two separate days lying on a bed with my blood going out one arm through a dialysis-type machine and back into the other arm. This was after giving myself injections daily for a week to mobilise my stem cells into the blood stream. The next step would have been the total sterilisation of my body and bone marrow (in other words, no more immune system) with hefty doses of drugs and radiation. Then, they would 'rescue' me with my stored stem cells and hope to regenerate my immune system back to 100%. They said that the success rate for this procedure was about 35 percent. I said 35 percent was not good enough odds for me to put myself through intensive care for 6 months. Having done my homework via the internet and weighing up my options, I declined the bone marrow transplant. © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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It was almost like signing my death warrant, as I was, according to the Professor, a 'good candidate'. But I really didn’t believe that destroying my immune system was the way to go -- it works for Lymphomas and Leukaemia up to 90% because these cancer cells are mobilised in the system, not buried in the recesses of the bone marrow to regenerate as in myeloma.

So, having made the decision to go my own way - I have always followed my instincts - I researched the immune system and my wife picked up a report about PNI. She brought it to my attention and we spent the next few weeks tracking down the coordinators who suggested I do the A.P.E.59 course in December 1997. The rest, as they say, is history.

A.P.E. turned me around 180 degrees - I discovered my Shadows - and my purpose – which I had been doing all my life without being aware of it. I had made the shift which other workers write about, and I knew without a shadow of doubt, that I was on my way, and anyone who stood in the way was going to have to like it or lump it. This lead to my first PNI practitioner course in early Feb 1998 and the follow up refresher in September.

The statistics make interesting reading. My myeloma state is monitored basically by blood tests every 2 months. The protein electrophoresis shows a typical myeloma monoclonal spike the M Protein IgG immunoglobin - one is either a kappa IgG Myeloma or more rarely an IgA. When I finished my chemotherapy, I was tested in April 1997, and the IgG was 9.5 (the normal range is 9-15)60. I was told that, if I could keep it below 20 or so within a year, I would not have to go for more chemotherapy. However, they were expecting me back, cap in hand, to beg for the bone marrow transplant at least within the year.

59

60

APE = Advanced Personal Empowerment, a less clinical PNI experiential training, designed and facilitated by the authors. Immunoglobulins (Ig) A and G: a family of blood protein fractions, each with one or more specific functions. IgA is protective against viral and bacterial infections, and may cause transfusion reactions. IgG fights infection. Normal values in serum: IgA 50-250mg/dL, IgG 800-1600mg/dL © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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My S-IgG tests have run as follows :

April 97

09.5 g/l

May 97

15.1

July 97

17.1

September 97

15.4

November 97

14.9

January 98

17.3

March 98

16.5

May 98

16.5

July 98

14.1

My full blood counts have returned to normal. In other words, the white cell counts, red cells, etc. The lytic spots on my ribs are stable and one appears to have disappeared. It may have missed it in the x-rays.

My Shadows Assessment (December 1997) showed that my highest scores were Apologising-Failure, Refuse Pleasure and the RushedRestless Shadows. This changed by February 1998 to the InflexibleObstinate, Control-Distance and the Rushed-Restless Shadows.

I am a lot more at peace, and I know where I am going. I have sold my farm, bought a house in the city, and have done most of my unfinished business. The high Rushed-Restless Shadow score is because I just can't wait to get on with the rest of my life!

My immune system has been initially supplemented with Pro Health Immunoboost, Golden Products Carotenoids and B Co, stabilised oxygen, and Moducare (Sterol/ sterolin).

I will not allow myself to be in any kind of negative situation, or be with negative people. I will remove myself and/or do damage control. I relax with music and conduct my own taped truce dialogue with 'Mike' (the visualised cancer) every afternoon. I now believe that he was sent to teach me a lesson that I cannot disregard my body. © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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I used to say "If my body can't take a joke, it’s bloody well going to have to learn", and I just punished it a bit more. If I had not got Cancer I would still be messing up my life and everyone else’s in the process.

In terms of the process, what has saved my life has been Shadow awareness, coping style and decisions made, the dealing with my death fears, the unfinished business letters, and the truce dialogue with my disease. Above all, the process opened me up and put purpose and passion back into my life.

Sharron - Chronic Fatigue Sharron was 44 when she was diagnosed with M.E. (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome). No one could have been more surprised. She'd never been ill. She'd led a full and hectic life as a mother of two children, with a career in advertising, surviving a dying marriage and coming to grips with divorce and single parenting. She worked hard and played hard. Friends marvelled at how much she juggled, seemingly successfully. One said she was 'driven'. Sharron took it as a compliment. She had also been referred to as 'opinionated' and a 'bit defensive'.

Occasionally, she'd spend a whole Sunday in bed, reading, eating and sleeping to re-charge her batteries. Relaxation was a glass of wine or more with friends but she exercised regularly and felt her diet was pretty good and had never been overweight.

Four years before her M.E. diagnosis, Sharron's lower back ached and continuously went out of alignment. At one point she was getting a chiropractic adjustment every three days. Finally after her saying “This is ridiculous", the chiropractor suggested she take Vitamins E and Bcomplex three times a day. Within ten days her back was fine, but she didn't understand why and stopped taking the vitamins.

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About two years before being diagnosed, small changes started happening in Sharron's body. She'd get a dry spot in the centre of her throat that no amount of water would dispel. An Ear-Nose-Throat specialist told her it was nerves. There were no suggestions other than to “Live with it, and don't worry”. Little warts, most of them flat, appeared - on her legs, arms, back and face. She went to a dermatologist who said they were nothing to worry about. Two were burnt off her back and she was sent her home. White spots appeared on her legs, back and shoulders after being in the sun. This was diagnosed as a viral condition but the doctor couldn't explain why or how this happened, and spreading an anti-dandruff shampoo over the area for twenty minutes on three consecutive days was the treatment. White streaks showed up underneath her fingernails. She had slowly gained about 7kg even though she ran and swam every day. Sharron's body wasn't metabolising fats well anymore and she drank too much wine. Her thighs got lumpy and she kept getting sores in her mouth. Her first cold sore appeared halfway through a holiday in Greece three years before diagnosis. Her gums were often swollen, bleeding and began to recede. The dentist said it was gum disease. Although she'd never suffered from allergies or sinus congestion, Sharron's sinuses became clogged. Her eyes began watering all the time. She cried in movies and, if she was talking with someone, her eyes always watered. Should there be any anger or accusation in the conversation, tears streamed uncontrollably.

She began to jump at sudden noises, and easily got annoyed and angry. Her driving was frenetic. She was one of those people who shouted and swore at anyone who got in her way, including, and sometimes especially, little old ladies who drove slowly.

At the end of 1990, Sharron married the man she loved. He had three daughters who didn't live with them but visited often, and Sharron went out of her way to make them feel welcome and loved. Christmas that year went from the usual three or four people to ten, and she wanted to make it perfect. On December the 26th she collapsed in the hammock, © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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truly exhausted. But the tiredness wouldn't go away. She gained more weight, developed swollen glands, arthritic fingers and sore throats. Her muscles became weak and her circulation system slowed - she was cold on the warmest of days. Her brain wasn't quick any more and she had difficulty remembering things.

But what finally caught her attention was when she became so fatigued that she actually dragged her feet and there was a pit in the centre of her body that had no more 'go', no reserve, no energy whatsoever. She could barely move. Still she refused to give in, thinking it was just the empty-nest syndrome or something.

Finally in April of 1991, after coming out of an aerobics class shaking, she went to a doctor. Blood results showed a rampaging Epstein-Barr virus. All that was said was that it was the virus that caused Mononucleosis (sleeping disease). Her limbs felt like lead, she got headaches for the first time in her life, and she became hypersensitive to bright light and noise. It felt best to sleep. Fortunately, marrying had forced a move to another city and she wasn't yet working. She couldn't fight it, so she slept.

For a year, Sharron stayed in bed, shuffling downstairs occasionally to huddle in front of the television. Her body had bad reactions to alcohol, coffee, tea, meat, cheese, sugar, white bread or rice, giving her gas, pimples, weakness in the limbs, sinusitis or just putting her to sleep. She was both hot and sweaty or shivering. Reading was impossible as concentration had gone, as had her memory.

She maintains that it was her husband's humour that saved her life that first year. There was also a strange phenomenon they noticed. Whenever Sharron's husband said there was a business trip on which she could come along - to the States, the Orient, even Cape Town - she perked up and functioned quite normally. She still couldn't drink or eat those things to which her body was sensitive, but the fatigue seemed to dissipate in the face of the adventure. When she returned home, the © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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fatigue overwhelmed her again and she dragged through the days. They joked about it and Sharron felt silly. As hard as she tried to maintain the 'holiday' energy level after returning home, it faded completely within two to three days. She returned to what she called “a vegetable state”.

Sitting in the sun was out of the question. More than 10 minutes exposure caused swollen glands the size of golf balls. She couldn't go down the stairs into the garden she loved so much.

After fifteen months, Sharron went for another blood test to see if the virus was still there. The results showed that the Epstein-Barr virus had abated but the Coxsackie virus was now showing in great numbers.

Confused, Sharron started to feel like a victim. The only defence she knew was to learn more about viruses and about strengthening the body. There was even more confusion when she learned that both the viruses that plagued her were so common that it was highly unusual for anyone not have these in their bodies by the age of 30, because these viruses were everywhere and were readily picked up through breathing or touch. Suddenly there was no enemy to rail against. Without an enemy, how could she fight?

For the next nine months, she just took it easy. She became a movie fan, and bought more magazines. She walked slower, talked slower, ate less and watched her body intently for reactions to everything. She still slept two or three hours in the day. And she thought a lot. Many thoughts led to feelings of guilt that she could have been a better mother. She cried a lot, feeling terribly sorry for herself for months. Then she decided there was no future in that, and that she had cried enough. So she apologised to her son and daughter and she swore to herself that she would be a better mother from now on, even though the children were now adults. The only thing she could control were her actions, now and in the future.

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In analysing how she became so ill, Sharron realised that the Chronic Fatigue (nowadays called CFIDS - Chronic Fatigue Immune Deficiency Syndrom) didn’t happen overnight. In fact, it took a long time to wear down her body's systems.

When she tried to trace back to where it began, she kept going back another five or ten years. Sharron remembers thinking, "Well, I had that trouble with my last job. Oh no I guess it started with the divorce. Or perhaps a bit earlier when I got into retail advertising." She learned that the body doesn't differentiate between good stress and bad stress stress is stress. So the great fun she'd had at the first manic advertising agency had been taking its silent toll. This didn't make much sense since, if that were the case, she reasoned that everyone under any stress would end up with Chronic Fatigue, and they weren't. They were still happily skydiving and bungie- jumping, playing the stock market, buying, selling and starting businesses, and mountain climbing, but she had come down with Chronic Fatigue/CFIDS/M.E. She began to recognise that it must be more about her reaction to stress than the stress itself.

The important lesson that came out of this exercise was that it had taken a long time to become really ill. Her immune system hadn't 'crashed' as she had thought, but rather, it wore down like a rock that has water flowing over it for years and years. Upon the realisation that it had taken over twenty years to become weak, she was able to accept that it was going to be okay if it took five years to regain strength. This was important. It allowed her to relax and be gentle with herself.

At the end of the second year, more blood tests were taken and the viruses had flip-flopped, putting the Epstein-Barr virus ahead again. That was when Sharron's anger exploded! She decided she'd had enough of this 'nonsense' and she would now actively find a solution. She tackled it head-on by booking appointments with a naturopath, a homeopath and going to a hydro for a week of fasting.

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She bought books on fasting, diet, herbal cures, on Bach Remedies, on aromatherapy oils and treatments. She made up her own treatment oils, face creams, even mosquito repellent. She rejected any food with preservatives, colouring, artificial flavouring or chemicals of any kind. She refused drugs and headache tablets. She became obsessed. She was a sponge, soaking up information from any source about how to clean up the body and create vibrant health.

Although the doctor who pinpointed her problem couldn't give her any solutions or any information about what was then maddeningly called 'Yuppie Flu', there were a couple of books coming out about it. In Britain, it's called M.E. for Myalgic Encephalomyalitis and considered a brain disease. In America, it was called Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or Yuppie Flu, and now Chronic Fatigue Immune Deficiency Syndrome (CFIDS).

She felt thankful to those authors because they provided her with the only information available on the disease, giving her a start at making decisions that would not only rid her of the illness, but also make a complete change in her life.

For the first time in her life, Sharron put herself first. In her mind, it was like life or death because the life she'd lived for the past two years was more like the step before death. If there was a confrontation with family, she had walked away. When a local hostess served only meat and fried chicken for a dinner party, she had taken a spoonful of gravy to avoid hurting the woman's feelings and been sick for three days. She declared war on doing anything that would harm her body or state of mind in any way. She stopped watching the news on television because she felt helpless to do anything about the needless murder and violence all over the world.

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for themselves and she didn't see how wallowing in self-pity could lead to better health. She stopped worrying about what people thought of her.

She bought a Tai Chi videotape and began learning even although, initially, she couldn't remember what exercise she had just completed. Still, she felt better. It took her four years to learn the 20 minute sequence. Weekly massages became a ritual. She signed up for a correspondence herbal course. Whenever she found a good book on self development and positive thinking, she bought it, read it obsessively and talked about it for months with anyone who would listen. Her son teased, "You're obsessing Mom." Talking about it helped her remember and it also reinforced the theories in her mind. She stopped the power-struggles with her husband, deciding that what she thought was winning wasn't winning anything. Rather, it usually sent her back to bed for a couple of days. It wasn't worth it. She knew what she knew. She was who she was. And so was he. They loved each other, cared about each other and respected each other. That was enough. She stopped criticising herself. She stopped telling herself she couldn't do things - like drawing. Instead, she got a length of cloth and painted a tablecloth. Everyone asked her where she'd bought it.

One day, about four years after being diagnosed, she saw an advertisement in the newspaper for a part-time copywriter. She'd written all the copy for the clients she had had in a consultancy she ran from her house just after the divorce years ago. She'd taken three years of night classes on creative and professional writing. She got the job. She had some fun until taking on a project that proved to be too hectic, and there was fighting with her co-workers about how it should be done. They made up, the job was successfully completed but Sharron realised she'd reacted badly, again, to the first bit of stress. She retreated to the quiet sanctuary of her home, dedicating her life to the comfort and happiness of her enlarged family and deciding that she really didn't like advertising any more.

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Sharron's health was much improved. As long as she didn't eat or drink anything toxic or spend time with toxic people, she didn't have relapses. She drank healing herbal teas each day and occasionally had a tiny espresso, her only downfall, after which she'd wait an hour before taking 2000mg of Vitamin C, knowing the caffeine had depleted it. She kept the balance and was ever watchful. She found a physiotherapist who worked on the parasympathetic nervous system, thus eliminating the last of the severe muscle aches she had down her sides in the night. Taking Barley Green and many vitamins and minerals was the first order of the day.

By year six, Sharron's body had responded well to the improved regimen. Physically, her eyes sparkled, her skin had never been so clear and healthy looking, and her hair shone. She still had some extra weight but she was in her fifties and reasoned that most women that age struggle to lose weight. She consulted a dietician and reduced her fat intake. She was able to do aerobic exercise again - a major victory. And now she needed to figure out what to do with the rest of her life.

In quick succession, from October 1997 to April 1998, the answers came. First she took a Reiki healing course. Participating in the Reiki workshop, she released incredibly deep sorrow about the father she'd never known. She signed up for a PyschoNeuroImmunology course, knowing it was along the lines of where her interest now lay - in healing and health. It involved the immune system, which she had come to understand quite well. Following the training she took Empowerment Concepts' APE (Advanced Personal Empowerment) workshop, unearthing deep-seated feelings of unworthiness. The latter two courses helped Sharron understand how the decisions she had taken over the past six years had helped her step out of the shroud of the M.E. disease. Early 1998, she completed Reiki II, another Reiki workshop and travelled to California to complete studies on a technique involving focus on the heart to use in de-stressing.

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Today, Sharron can drink with the best of them again, but chooses not to. She counsels people in the PNI protocol and is setting up workshops for Heart Focus. She's kicked the disease physically and, for the most part mentally, but she has also rekindled her passion for life. Now her passion is passing on all that she has learned so that others do not have to slog through looking for information on how to combat illness. She plans to continue learning nutrition and ultimately become a Naturopathic doctor and author.

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References Chapter 1 : Introduction: What is PNI? 1

Beecher, H.K., 1955, The powerful placebo, JAMA, 159(17), pp.1603-1606. 2

White, L., Tursky, B., & Schwartz, G.E., 1985, Placebo: Theory, Research, and Mechanisms, The Guilford Press: New York. 3

Ader, R., Felten, D., & Cohen, N., 1991, Psychoneuroimmunology (2nd Edit.), Academic Press: San Diego. 4

Candace B. Pert, Ph.D., 1997, Molecules of Emotion, Simon & Schuster: London. 5

Black, P.H., 1995, Psychoneuroimmunology: Brain and Immunity, Scientific American: Science & Medicine, Nov/Dec 1998, pp.16-25. 6

Daruna, J.H., & Morgan, J.E., 1990, Psychosocial Effects on Immune Function: Neuroendocrine Pathways, Psychosomatics, 31(1), pp.4-12. 7

Kiecolt-Glaser, J., & Glaser, R., 1992, Psychoneuroimmunology: Can Psychological Interventions Modulate Immunity ?, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 60(4), pp.569-575. 8

Martin, P., 1997, The Sickening Mind: Brain, Behaviour, Immunity & Disease, Harper Collins: London. 9

Ader, R., & Cohen, N., 1975, Behaviorally conditioned immunosuppression, Psychosomatic Medicine, 37(4), pp.333-340. 10

Kiecolt-Glaser, J., et al, 1985, Psychosocial enhancement of immunocompetence in a geriatric population, Health Psych., 4(1), pp.25-41. 11

Zachariae, R., et al, 1990, Effect of psychological intervention in the form of relaxation and guided imagery on cellular immune function in normal healthy subjects, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 54, pp.3239. 12

Spanos, N.P., Williams, V., & Gwynn, M.I.,1990, Effects of hypnotic, placebo, and salicyclic acid treatments on wart regression, Psychosomatic Medicine, 52, pp.109-114. 13

Smith, G.R., & McDaniel, S.M., 1983, Psychologically mediated effect on the delayed hypersensitivity reaction to tuberculin in humans, Psychosomatic Medicine, 45(1), pp.65-70. 14

Rider, M.S., & Weldin, C., 1990, Imagery, Improvisation, and Immunity, The Arts in Psychotherapy, 17, pp.211-216. © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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15

Green, M.L., Green, R.G., & Santoro, W., 1988, Daily relaxation modifies serum and salivary immunoglobulins and psychophysiologic symptom severity, Biofeedback and Self-Regulation, 13(3), pp.187-199. 16

Martin, R.A., & Dobbin, J.P., 1988, Sense of humor, hassles, and immunoglobulin A: Evidence for a stress-moderating effect of humor, International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine, 18(2), pp.93-105. 17

Pennebaker, J.W., & Beall, S.K., 1986, Confronting a traumatic event: Toward an understanding of inhibition and disease, Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 95(3), pp.274-281. Pennebaker, J.W., Hughes, C.F., & O’Heeron, R.C., 1987, The psychophysiology of confession: Linking inhibitory and psychosomatic processes, J. of Personality and Social Psychology, 52(4), pp.781-793. 18

19

Pennebaker, J.W., & Susman, J.R., 1988. Disclosure of traumas and psychosomatic processes. Social Science & Medicine, 26(3), pp.327332. 20

Pennebaker, J.W., Kiecolt-Glaser, J.K., & Glaser, R. 1988. Disclosure of traumas and immune function: Health implications for psychotherapy. J. of Consulting & Clinical Psychology, 56(2), pp.239245. Chapter 2 : Before You Start…. Chapter 3 : Mind-Body Connections 21

Levy, J.A. 1993. HIV pathogenesis and long-term survival. AIDS, 7, pp.1401-1410. 22

Sheppard, H.W., Lang, W., Ascher, M.S., Vittinghoff, E., & Winkelstein, W. 1993. The characterization of non-progressors: longterm HIV-1 infection with stable CD4+ T-cell levels. AIDS, 7, pp.1159-1166 23

University of Pennsylvania study, April 1995, regarding RU-486, reported in the Pretoria News, 24 May 1995, in article entitled “New hope for AIDS victims” 24

Markham, P.L., Salahuddin, S.Z., Veren, K., Orndorfff, S.S., & Gallo, R.C., 1986, Hydrocortisone and some other hormones enhance the expression of HTLV-III. International Journal of Cancer, 37, pp.6772 25

Kasl, S.V., Evans, A.S., & Niederman, J.C., 1979, Psychosocial Risk Factors in the Development of Infectious Mononucleosis, Psychosomatic Medicine, 41(6), pp.445-466 26

Dreher, H., 1995, The Immune Power Personality, Chapter 6, Plume/Penguin: New York. © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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Chapter 4 : Trigger Events 27

Pelletier, K.R., 1977, Mind as healer, Mind as slayer, Dell Publishing: New York, p.63. 28

Knapp, P.H., Levy, E.M., Giorgi, R.G., Black, P.H., Fox, B.H., & Heeren, T.C., 1992, Short-term immunological effects of induced emotions, Psychosomatic Medicine, 54, pp.133-148. 29

Moss, R.B., Moss, H.B., & Peterson, R., 1989, Microstress, mood, and natural killer-cell activity, Psychosomatics, 30(3), pp.279-283. 30

Cohen et al, cited in Ader, R., Felten, D.L., & Cohen, N., (Eds), 1991, Psychoneuroimmunology (2nd Edit), p.1092, Academic Press: San Diego. 31

Keller, S.E., Schleiffer, S.J., & Demetrikopoulos, M.K., 1991, Stressinduced Changes in Immune Function in Animals: HypothalamoPituitary-Adrenal Influences, in Ader, R., Felten, D.L., & Cohen, N., (Eds), 1991, Psychoneuroimmunology (2nd Edit), Academic Press: San Diego. 32

Guyton (Ed.), 1981, Textbook of Medical Physiology, 6th Edition.

33

Baker, G.H.B., 1982, Life events before the onset of rheumatoid arthritis, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 38, pp. 173-177. 34

McClary, A.R., Meyer, E., & Weitzman, D.J., 1955, Observations on the roles of the mechanism of depression in some patients with disseminated lupus erythematosus, Psychosomatic Medicine, 17, 311321. 35

Slawson, P.F., Flynn, W., & Kollar, E.J., 1963, Psychological factors associated with the onset of diabetes mellitus, JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association, 185, pp.166-170. 36

Engel, G.L., 1973, Ulcerative colitis, In A.E. Lindner (Ed.), Emotional Factors in gastrointestinal illness (pp.99-112). Amsterdam: Excerpta Medica. 37

Grant, I., 1987, Life events and onset and exacerbation of symptoms of multiple sclerosis, abstract presented to the Symposium on Mental Disorders, Cognitive Defects, and Their Treatment in Multiple Sclerosis, Nov 18-21, Odense, Norway). 38

Glaser, R., Kiecolt-Glaser, J.K., Speicher, C.E., & Holliday, J.E., 1985, Stress, Loneliness, and Changes in Herpesvirus Latency, Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 8(3), pp.249-260 39

Kemeny, M.E., Cohen, F., Zegans, L.S., & Conant, M.A., 1989, Psychological and immunological predictors of genital Herpes recurrence, Psychosomatic Medicine, 51, pp.195-208 © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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Silver, P.S., Auerbach, S.M., Vishniavsky, N., & Kaplowitz, L.G., 1986, Psychological factors in recurrent genital herpes infection: Stress, coping style, social support, emotional dysfunction, and symptom recurrence, Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 30(2), pp.163-171. 41

Cohen, S., Tyrell, D.A.J., & Smith, A.P., 1993, Negative Life Events, Perceived Stress, Negative Affect, and Susceptibility to the Common Cold, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64(1), pp.131-140. 42

Baum, A., Fleming, R., & Singer, J.E., 1983, Coping with victimization by technological disaster, Journal of Social Issues, 39, pp.117-138. 43

Wilson, J.F., 1981, Behavioral preparation for surgery: Benefit or harm ? Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 4, pp.79-102. 44

Suls, J., & Fletcher, B., 1985, The Relative Efficacy of Avoidant and Nonavoidant Coping Strategies: A Meta-Analysis, Health Psychology, 4(3), pp.249-288. 45

Costanza, R., Derlega, V.J., & Winstead, B.A., 1988, Positive and Negative Forms of Social Support: Effects of conversational Topics on Coping with Stress among Same-Sex Friends, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 24, pp. 182-193. Chapter 5 : Finding the Focus: Shadow Assessment 46

The Shadows questionnaire is derived from J Steven's Transforming your Dragons (1994, Bear & Company, Inc., Santa Fe). The 14-item per Dragon questionnaire was completely rewritten after statistical analyses on a sample of several hundred people. Chapter 6 : Plan of Action: Connecting the Dots 47

Siegel, B., M.D. (1986). Love, Medicine & Miracles, Arrow:London.

Chapter 7 : Long Life – Why Bother? 48

Beck, D., & Beck, J. (1987). The Pleasure Connection: How Endorphins Affect Our Health and Happiness, pp.113-120, Synthesis Press: San Marcos, Ca. Chapter 8 : The Right to Live 49

This technique was inspired by the work of NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) pioneers, such as Richard Bandler and John Grinder, as well as Robert Dilts.

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Chapter 9 : Dealing with Fears 50

Weidenfeld S.A., et al., 1990, Impact Of Perceived Self-Efficacy In Coping With Stressors On Components Of The Immune System, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59(5), pp.1082-1094. 51

Jeffers, S., 1991, Feel The Fear and Do It Anyway. Arrow: London.

Chapter 10 : Emotions : Get Them Out of Your Body! 52

Mendolia M. & Kleck, R.E. (1993). Effects of talking about a stressful event on arousal: Does what we talk about make a difference ? J. of Personality and Social Psychology, 64(2), 283-292. 53

Orr, N.M. (1994). Coping with HIV-seropositive status: A Psychoneuroimmunological perspective. Unpublished Master’s Thesis, Univ. Cape Town, Dept. Psychology. 54

Pennebaker, J.W., Kiecolt-Glaser, J.K., & Glaser, R. (1988). Disclosure of traumas and immune function: Health implications for psychotherapy. J. of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 56(2), pp.239-245. 55

Pennebaker, J.W., & Susman, J.R. (1988). Disclosure of traumas and psychosomatic processes. Social Science and Medicine, 26(3), pp.327332. 56

Solano, L., et al. (1993). Psychosocial factors and clinical evolution in HIV-1: A longitudinal study. J. of Psychosomatic Research, 37(1), pp. 39-51. Chapter 11: Building Internal Resources 57

Kobasa, S.C. (1979). Stressful Life Events, personality, and health: An inquiry into hardiness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol 37, pp.1-11. Chapter 13 : A little Talk might help… 58

Kaiser, J.D., 1993, Immune Power: A comprehensive Treatment Program for HIV, St.Martin's Press: New York, (Chapter 4 - Emotional Healing). Chapter 14 : Personal Stories 59

A.P.E. = Advanced Personal Empowerment, a less clinical PNI experiential training, designed and facilitated by the authors. 60

Immunoglobulins (Ig) A and G: a family of blood protein fractions, each with one or more specific functions. IgA is protective against viral and bacterial infections, and may cause transfusion reactions. IgG fights infection. Normal values in serum: IgA 50-250mg/dL, IgG 8001600mg/dL. © Empowerment Concepts 1999

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Recommended Reading Explaining the Mind-Body PNI research in an easy-to-understand way: The Sickening Mind, by Paul Martin. 1997. HarperCollins: London. Mind As Healer, Mind As Slayer: Discover the Life-and-Death Link Between Stress and Serious Illness … and What You Can Do About It, by Kenneth R. Pelletier. 1977/1992. Delta/Dell/Bantam:New York. Healing Breakthroughs: How your attitudes & beliefs can affect your health, by Larry Dossey. 1991. Judy Piatkus (Publishers) Ltd: London. Mind-Body Programmes for healing: Beyond the Relaxation Response, by Herbert Benson. 1984. Berkley Books: New York. Cancer as a Turning Point, by Lawrence LeShan. 1989. Gateway Books: Bath. Getting Well Again, by O. Carl Simonton, Stephanie MathewsSimonton, and James L. Creighton. 1978/1980/1988. Bantam: New York. Minding The Body, Mending The Mind, by Joan Borysenko. 1987. Bantam: New York. Self-Healing: Use Your Mind to Heal Your Body, by Louis Proto. 1990. Judy Piatkus (Publishers) Ltd: London. Super Immunity: Master Your Emotions and Improve Your Health, by Paul Pearsall. 1987/1993. Ballantine Books: New York. The Immune-Power Personality: 7 Traits You Can Develop to Stay Healthy, by Henry Dreher. 1995. Plume (Penguin): Middlesex. Timeless Healing: The Power and Biology of Belief, by Herbert Benson. 1966. Fireside (Simon & Schuster): New York.

Combining Medical and Holistic Methods: AIDS Immune Power: A comprehensive Treatment Program for HIV, by Jon D. Kaiser, M.D. 1993. St.Martin's Press: New York.

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Hypnosis Certification Training 1997

HYPNOSIS CERTIFICATION TRAINING

Empowerment Concepts

Neil M. Orr & David. R. Patient Tel: 083-226-9466 * * * Fax: 083-8-226-9466 P.O. Box 411947, Craighall, 2024

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HYPNOSIS & REGRESSION HYPNOTHERAPY CERTIFICATION The Empowerment Concepts' Hypnosis and Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training has been approved by the National Board of Hypnosis Education and Certification (USA) as adequate and sufficient for certification as Master Hypnotist and Master Regression Hypnotherapist by Empowerment Concepts. In 1996, the NBHEC was incorporated into the National Guild of Hypnotists (NGH), the largest accredited Hypnosis body in the USA. As a result, the Empowerments Concept's trainings have been accepted by the NGH as "approved school" status. The following accreditation process applies: Completion of both the (1) Hypnosis Modules and (2) the Regression Hypnotherapy trainings. (3) This is followed by at-home essay work to be submitted, and (4) the submission of two transcripts of actual regression sessions. Upon completion of all these requirements, (5) the delegate is certified by Empowerment Concepts as Master Hypnotist and Master Regression Hypnotherapist. (6) The graduate can then write the NBHEC examination, which, upon completion and submission to Empowerment Concepts for marking, yields a letter of recommendation to the NBHEC. (7) The graduate then submits the letter of recommendation, plus a membership application form and $85 for certificate and mailing, to the National Guild of Hypnotists (USA) for certification as Certified Hypnotherapist. Apart from the $85 application fee to the NGH, all other requirements are included in the course price for the Hypnosis and Regression Hypnotherapy Training. Training duration is 65 hours, including all at-home work, sessions, and evaluations. SUBMISSION OF AT-HOME WORK APPLIES TO REGRESSION HYPNOTHERAPY ONLY. THERE IS NO AT-HOME WORK FOR HYPNOSIS TRAINING.

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INDEX OF CONTENTS Hypnosis & Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Index of contents What is Hypnosis ? The Origins of Hypnosis The Nature & Structure of the Mind The Nature of Hypnosis Altered States of Consciousness The Hypnotic Phenomena Potential Obstacles to inducing the Hypnotic State (Critical Factor) Inductions Components of Inductions Additions to Standard Inductions SOUND & VIOLENCE PATTERS Depths of Hypnosis Two Styles of Hypnosis Glossary of Hypnosis Terms

Page

02 03 05 05 07 08 09 09 09 10 11 11 12 13 14 15

Basic Communication Skills VAK (Visual-Auditory-Kinesthetic) Unconscious Rapport-Building Non-Verbal Rapport Rapport: Matching & Mismatching Association & Dissociation Difficult Clients Getting to the Specifics of an Issue Client Profile & History

16 18 24 24 26 27 28 31 33

Model Hypnosis Session Format Brief Notes on First Contact & Interview Activating the Critical Factor Suggestibility Testing Tests for Depth

35 36 37 38 39

Methods to Deepen Inductions Synchronised Breathing Rapid Induction: Hand-Drop Technique First Visit Induction (Sensori-Motor Technique) Progressive Relaxation (Disguised Technique) Dave Elman Induction Walter Sichort (1978) Progressive Relaxation (Ultra Depth) Grey Room Induction Safe Space (The Shield of Protection) Emerging from Induction Grounding Removing Blocks to Hypnosis

40 41 42 43 45 47 49 52 54 55 55 56

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PATTERS: How to create a patter Asthma Feeling Good About Self Headache (General) Headache (Migraine) Insomnia (Sleeplessness) Memory Improvement Pain Control Procrastination Tension (Eliminating Tension) Weight Loss (One Session)

57 59 62 63 65 66 68 70 72 73 74

SELF-HYPNOSIS: Self-Hypnosis Induction How to Give Yourself Suggestions Self-Hypnosis Suggestions

77 79 80

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What is Hypnosis? Hypnosis is the key to consciously accessing and working with the inner recesses of our mind, our beliefs, our behaviors and our scripted patterns. Hypnosis is a great deal like daydreaming in which you alter your state of consciousness and engage your fantasies or fears. In an induced state the subject being hypnotised is conscious and aware of all external distractions yet they remain uninfluenced by them. Hypnosis can also be regarded as a highly focused form of relaxed concentration. It is a perfectly normal, safe and healthy process that we as human beings engage in from time to time on a daily basis.

The Origins of Hypnosis In the 18 century an Austrian doctor, Franz Anton Mesmer [1733-1815], engaged the use of magnets while working on a patient who was experiencing a rush of blood to her head, which created pain in her head and ears, the effects of which were followed by delirium, rage, vomiting and fainting spells. Mesmer’s theory on ‘cosmic fluid’ was based in his belief that, stored in inanimate objects such as magnets, existed a natural healing force-energy, and that these magnets could be used to transfer this ‘cosmic fluid’ energy to his patients, supporting his belief in “animal magnetism”. Using the magnets, he was able to restore the energy flow through his patient and as a result the patient would regain her health, devoid of her symptoms. Eventually he did away with the magnets as he believed that he himself possessed the ability to generate this ‘cosmic fluid’, and that he was able to channel this force to his patients. Over the years that he practiced, thousands of people came to see him at his treatment centre. His rooms were a reflection of himself - flamboyant for the time frame. His rooms were dimly lit, and adorned with huge mirrors and soft music played in the background. The only explanation for his huge success is that his patients were “Mesmerized” into believing that they would be cured. They created a mental expectancy that they could and would be cured of their illness or disorder. Mesmerism became the forerunner of modern-day Hypnosis and Hypnotic Suggestion. One of the people who studied under Mesmer, the Marquis de Puysegur, believed that this ‘cosmic fluid’ was electric and not magnetic. He believed that this electric fluid was generated by all living animals, including human beings. During one of his many outdoor healing programmes, he noticed that some of his patients entered the somnambulistic state [deep sleep] as a result of being mesmerized. In this deep sleep state, patients would be lucid [able to talk and respond] and responsive to suggestions and communication. De Puysegur had discovered the hypnotic state, as it would later become known, although he himself did not identify it as such. It was not until the mid-19th century that the hypnotic trance was first used intentionally to relieve pain. A prominent London physician, John Elliotson [1791-1868] reported 1834 surgical operations that had been performed painlessly in India by a Scottish surgeon called James Esdaile [1808-1859]. Dr Esdaile performed major operations, including the amputation of limbs simply by using Mesmerism, or as he referred to it, Magnetic Sleep. The patient would be conditioned for the weeks leading up to their operation to the trance state. Once induced, Esdaile would use post-hypnotic suggestions [suggestions acted upon or performed after the hypnosis session ends] that supported the numbing of the part or area of the body where he would eventually operate. Another method he Empowerment Concepts

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Hypnosis Certification Training 1997 used was during the pre-operative stage. Here he would induce the patient into a deep sleep state and suggest the dissociation [placing mental/emotional distance between the object/emotion/pain and the person experiencing it, such as imagining looking at yourself] from the area where the operation would take place. It was common that the patient was completely lucid during the entire operation yet oblivious to any physical pain. These 1834 operations were performed completely without the use of anesthetics or mind-altering drugs. In the late 1800s and English doctor, James Braid [1795-1860] finally gave Mesmerism a sound scientific explanation. He believed Mesmerism was a “nervous sleep” and coined the term Hypnosis, derived from the Greek word Hypnos, which means sleep. Through numerous experiments, Braid showed that hypnotized subjects are more susceptible to suggestions. In the mid 19th century, two Frenchmen Auguste Leibeault [1823-1904] and Hippolyte Bernheim [1837-1919] were the first to see hypnosis as a normal phenomenon. In essence they said that the most important aspect of hypnosis and the induced state was that of expectation of a desired outcome. Sigmund Freud visited their clinic to learn their induction methods and it was this experience that lead Freud to his exploration of the human Unconscious. Although he rejected the notion that hypnosis was a viable tools to unlock the unconscious mind, it spurred him into investigating free association and dream interpretation and his understanding of psychopathology. For a long time, hypnosis was perceived as placing someone under the hypnotist’s ‘control’, and that the person was then helpless. This is simply not accurate. Furthermore, it is important to distinguish between ‘authoritative’ and ‘permissive’ hypnosis. Authoritative hypnosis uses terms such as “you WILL do/say...”, while permissive hypnosis uses words such as “if you choose, you MAY do/say...”. This permissive approach was introduced by Milton Erickson, who recognised that people are individuals with rights and choices. One of the most important contributions that Erickson made, was the recognition that each person is totally different, and therefore each person needed to have individually-tailored techniques in therapy. Erickson introduced the notion that the hypnotherapist needs to first establish what the client’s frame of reference is, and then work in that reference system. For example, a technique involving visualising a tunnel will not work with someone who is afraid of tunnels. However, they may respond to images of walking down a flight of stairs. Until Erickson introduced this approach, it was claimed that only a certain percentage of people could be hypnotised. However, Erickson found that everyone can be hypnotised - taken into an altered state of consciousness - if their personal frame of reference is taken account of in the technique used.

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The Nature & Structure of the Mind The mind can be conceptually viewed as consisting of various areas, namely the conscious, subconscious, and unconscious. Please note that, although we categorise and compartmentalise the mind, this does not mean that it’s structure is divided into different parts. The following definitions refer simply to a division based upon awareness and ease of access to memories. Conscious: * What you are aware of right now and what can be easily recalled. * Analytical * Rational * Willpower * Temporary Memory * Directs Purposeful activities * Uses logic in support/defence * Limited focusing abilities Subconscious: * Not at all aware of right now. * Not easy to recall normally. Requires some form of effort to bypass normal awareness so that your attention can shift to it. * The 'organic computer' * Source of creativity * Information storehouse - every experience ever, is recorded * Directs activities over an unlimited time span * More powerful than the conscious mind * Confuses 'similar' with 'same' * Confuses what is imagined and what is real * Permanent & Emotional memory * Habitual * Protective and survival-based * Lazy Unconscious: This term is sometimes used as another word for the Subconscious, while other times people distinguish between the two. Strictly speaking, the Unconscious Mind concerns instinctual body functions, such as regulating heart-beat, breathing, immune system, etc. Critical Factor (“Committee”): This is what Freud referred to as the Super Ego, what TA would refer to as the Critical Parent. Not the same as ‘higher consciousness’. Refers to the little voice that tells you that you can, can’t, you should, shouldn’t, that something is good, bad, and so on. Can be viewed as the active component of all the decisions and beliefs stored in the subconscious mind, without the memory aspect. I.e., “You are no good!" statement. Also called ‘Self Talk’.

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The Nature of Hypnosis Defining Hypnosis Very simply stated, hypnosis can be understood as a highly relaxed and focused state of attention. In other words, the body is relaxed, the Critical Factor is not operating fully, and the person’s awareness is focused. One can certainly create a more technical definition, with terms for various levels of hypnosis, such as the hypnopompic and hypnogogic states before and after deep sleep, but are these really necessary to understand hypnosis ? Whenever someone goes into an altered state of consciousness in which their mind is still alert and their body is relaxed, whether this is day-dreaming, meditating, visualising, driving a car, almost asleep, or waking up from sleep, this is some level of hypnotic state. When you recall what you did yesterday, you automatically enter a slightly different level of awareness, which can be described as hypnotic. Therefore, regression therapy is indeed a hypnotic state, and the technique is basically one kind of application of hypnosis. The American Medical Association defines Hypnosis as “a temporary condition of altered attention; within which a variety of phenomena may appear spontaneously or manifest themselves in response to verbal or other stimuli”. It has to be recognised that some people have some sort of misconception about hypnosis, usually understood as some form of ‘mind-control’. Therefore, when someone says that they do not want to be hypnotised, it can honestly be stated that you will do a visualisation instead ! It truly does not matter what you call it, as long as you apply the methods ethically and to the best of your ability, and achieve the desired results for the client. It is also sometimes useful to point out that, when the client recalls what they did the day before (ask them to do it), they experience a slight change in consciousness, and that Hypnosis is nothing more than highly focused relaxed concentration that is normally achieved when a person is not distracted by external forces. Hypnosis allows a person's imagination to function fully and powerfully without allowing their critical factor to play out it’s often contradicting messages and or patterns. The American Medical Association defines hypnosis as “a temporary condition of altered attention, within which a variety of phenomena may appear spontaneously or manifest themselves in response to verbal or other stimuli.” There is no essential difference between hypnosis, regression, meditation, guided visualisations, and similar processes. They all involve some technique for inducing an altered state of awareness, in order to achieve some or other objective. In regression therapy, the objective is to trace memories which are causing problems in present experiences, and to release the influence and energy that these memories have. Hypnosis is used for many reasons, including inserting suggestions, such as to stop smoking, weight loss, and so on.

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Altered States of Consciousness Regardless of what you call it, Hypnosis involves an alteration of the person’s state of consciousness and awareness. A simple definition of ‘altered state of consciousness’ is that it is that state of awareness which is not the same as awareness of present-time reality. Hypnosis, regression, meditation, or visualisation, are all the process of shifting a person’s attention from their present-time reality (physical reality, emotional reality, and mental reality) to some other area, such as the past. It is simply being aware of something other than your present situation and environment, internal and external. In other words, an altered state of consciousness is the process of bypassing the (conscious) Critical Factor in order to access the subconscious mind, using various methods based upon selective thoughts and thinking.

Hypnotic Phenomena a.

Relaxation and the shifting of attention

b.

Heightened Awareness

c.

Alteration in sensory perception

d.

Time distortion

e.

Memory distortion

f.

Acceptance of irrational communication

g.

Touch distortion

h.

Hallucination

i.

Dissociation

j.

Post Hypnotic suggestion.

Potential obstacles to inducing the hypnotic state (Critical Factor) Fear of losing control.

Fear of being controlled

Fear of revealing secrets

Fear of not awakening

Concern about the violation of religious beliefs and teachings Fear of not being able to be hypnotized

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Inductions The previous description of 'altered states of consciousness' is the basis for the variety of techniques used to produce such a shift, called INDUCTIONS. When a person is told to relax their body, imagine going down flights of stairs, visualise a safe place such as a beach or garden, or even when they use a mantra in meditation, these are all processes designed to shift attention away from their present time reality, and they are all therefore forms of induction. However, there are other important processes which assist in the shifting of attention from present-time awareness: 1. Addressing worries about activities afterwards. For example, something as simple as knowing that the parking metre may run out, or that the client must pick up milk on the way home, may all serve to keep the person’s attention in present time, making the shift in attention more difficult. 2. Fears and uncertainties about the hypnosis session itself. For example, the person may have read or heard about hypnosis, and they may be afraid that they will be required to be ‘controlled’. 3. Afraid of painful past memories surfacing. 4. Physical discomfort and pain in the body. For example, a full bladder will hold someone’s attention despite the most powerful induction technique. 5. Critical Factor: Will I be able to relax? Will I be able to remember everything? Will I be able to see things ? 6. Lack of focus: Unless the client has something for the subconscious mind to focus upon, such as some specific issue, sensation or association, their mind will have no direction to go in, and their attention will remain where it is. 7. Fear of exposure 8. Lack of trust 9. Lack of understanding or frame of reference for the process.

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Most inductions contain the following components: 1. Physical Relaxation 2. Mental relaxation and sharpened internal awareness 3. Sound patters which are suggestions designed to prevent the person being unduly disturbed by sounds in the environment. 4. A violence patter, which are suggestions designed to deal with situations in which the person reacts strongly - emotionally or physically - within an induced state. [The previous steps are designed to overcome the Critical Factor, and to produce a flexibility in the person's attention, so that either a Hypnosis Patter can be done]. 5. An emergence, which is the process of bringing the person’s attention back to present time after the hypnotic trance is complete.

Additions to Standard Inductions: 1. Sound Patter: To ensure that environmental sounds do not disturb the client. 2. Violence Patter: In case there are strong physical reactions (abreactions) or emotions. 3. Safe Space: A 'neutral' space where the client can go to in order to discuss issues during a hypnosis session. 4. There are also techniques for enhancing the relaxation effects, called methods of deepening. 5. There are methods for determining the depth of the hypnotic trance, called tests for depth.

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The following needs to be memorised verbatim:

SOUND PATTER This is vital for all inductions as this will erase the effects of potential disturbances like a phone ringing or dog barking. Insert this sound patter after you have begun the physical relaxation part of the induction. We suggest that you use this sound patter at least three times during the initial phase of your induction.

“And as you go deeper and deeper in this wonderful state of relaxation, know that any sounds that you hear, including the sound of my voice, will not disturb you. They will merely enhance the relaxation you are experiencing and will not disturb you at all.”

VIOLENCE PATTER This is an important part of an induction where you feel the client may be predisposed to violence and will protect both you and the client. This patter can be introduced in the final test for depth before you start working the therapeutic process that you feel will best serve the client. This patter is most effective in dealing with clients who may have experienced violence in their past and will stop them from acting in an aggressive manner.

“If at any time you feel afraid or in danger, I will, with your permission, touch your shoulder and this will anchor you into present time. At no time will you act out on any aggression. So at no time will you feel aggressive towards me, yourself or any other person during this session. In the event that you act aggressively, I will snap my fingers and you will immediately sink deeper and deeper into a state of peaceful relaxation and anything that you were experiencing will be faded from your mind. Is that clear?” [Wait for a response]. “Do you agree with this suggestion ?” [Wait for a response and continue with the work at hand.]

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Depths of Hypnosis LEVEL 1 (Light Trance) This level is the most superficial level, and is generally experienced as looking at a blurry photograph or an picture which is slightly out of focus. The experience is one of 80% attention in present time, and 20% attention in the past. At this level of induction, the client can be easily disturbed, their attention is scattered and can shift at a moment’s notice. The responses to your questions will be vague and non-specific. Eg: “I don’t know”; “I can’t see”; “I think so”, and other non-committing statements, are typical of this level of induction. LEVEL 2 (Medium Trance) About 75% of your client-base will operate at this level. Here, the blurry pictures of Level 1 will be replaced with very clear images or impressions. Attention in the present is 60%, with 40% in the past. Typical responses at Level 2 are “I’m looking down at the scene”; “I feel I am making this up”; “He seems to be just standing there”; “She seems to be sad and she looks like she has been crying”. LEVEL 3 (Deep Trance) This is the ‘Movie’ level. Everything is experienced as if the person is watching a movie. However, what makes this level different to Levels 1 and 2, is that the person can actually experience senses like smell and touch. At Level 3 the client has got 40% attention in the present, and 60% in their past. Typical statements at this level would be “I can feel the waves crashing on the shore”. LEVEL 4 (Comatose) Only about 30% of clients go to this level. At this level the client has almost no attention in the present moment (20% or less). LEVEL 5 (Ultra Depth) No attention is given to present time. This occurs in about 10% of cases. Some clients may even question your involvement and why you are in the room asking questions. Sense of time is distorted at this level, and some clients may not recall what they experienced when conscious again. Level 5 inductions can result in total memory loss as it is so deep. Attention is 100% away from the present.

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Two Styles of Hypnosis There are two very distinctive styles of providing suggestions that can be used in hypnosis: 1. Authoritarian: Strong and firm. “When I say XYZ, you will then do ABC.” “You will tell me what is happening.” 2. Permissive: Maternal. Soft, flowing and supportive. “If you would like, you can move on to.....” “With your permission, I would like to.....” Milton Erickson introduced the Permissive (Maternal) approach, which focuses upon 'meeting the client where they are', and where the client remains in control, and their personal beliefs are taken into consideration. The opposite is the Authoritative (Paternal) approach, which imposes a pre-set method upon a client, and demands that the client submit to the Hypnotist's control. Prior to the emergence of the Permissive approach, it was claimed that only a certain percentage of people could be hypnotised, because the established methods only worked on some people. However, with the Permissive approach, care is taken to engage the client in their own world, their fears, what works for them, and thus the myth that "I can't be hypnotised" is no longer true. Various methods work for some people, and not for others. There is no sense in doing an induction involving going down stairs for someone who is afraid of heights ! However, for some people, sitting on a beach, imagining fishing, a garden, etc, would work much better. One of the keys to successful hypnosis is to first find out what works for the client, then use that with them. Thus, the pre-session interview is very important, and can same tremendous frustration and time. It goes without saying that this training teaches Permissive Hypnotic methods.

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Glossary of Hypnosis terms Abreaction:

Reliving of a past event by way of the senses (feel, smell,touch, etc.)

Age Regression:

Going back in time in a present life experience.

Direction regression:

Time specific events.

Non-Direction Regression: Allowing the client to choose the direction of their regression. Amnesia:

loss of memory while conscious.

Auto Hypnosis:

Self-based hypnosis

Hetero-hypnosis:

Working with a hypnotist

Catalepsy :

Controlling of the muscles using suggestion.

Fixation:

Using a selected spot to focus on for an induction.

Hallucination:

Seeing something that is not there.

Hangover:

Dull headache that happens when a client is emerged too quickly.

Hypno-Analysis:

Finding the cause of the problem.

Hypnosis:

a] Bypassing the critical factor of the conscious mind. b] Acceptance of a palatable suggestion into the subconscious mind.

Induction:

The hypnotic state; Process which produces it.

Ideo-motor:

Muscle response to suggestions.

Phobia:

Fear of a fear.

Psychosomatic:

Mental auto suggestion that manifests physically.

Rapport:

Creating a safe space for the client as well as the therapist.

Resistance:

Inhibition to naturally respond.

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BASIC COUNSELLING SKILLS The purpose of this section is quite simple: To open the eyes and ears of the Hypnotist / counsellor so that s/he is in a position to actually see and hear what the client says and does ! Other objectives include the ability to be there for the client without being involved with the client’s emotions, the major cause for counsellors burning out, and the ability to use phrase questions in such a way as to lead rapidly to the so-called ‘Hot Spot’ - the entry point for intervention, which is often missed, resulting in unnecessarily protracted counselling sessions.

What’s Not Working ? Pair off. Decide who will be A, and who will be B. Read the following example of an unsuccessful pre-Hypnosis interview scenario, with A playing the part of the Hypnotist, and B playing the part of the client. Afterwards, figure out why it went wrong: Client: Well, you know, I could see that I was climbing the ladder of success for quite some time, and I saw that I was successful. But after a while, when I got to the top, I began to see how things were just falling apart, and I saw that my life was empty. Can you see how that is a problem for a man my age ? I mean, I’m 48 years old, and all I see is that I have wasted my life on unimportant things ! Hypnotist: Yes, I get a feeling for the problem you are trying to come to grips with. You seem to be having a strong urge to change the way you feel about life and what you are doing, which you experience with feelings of emptiness and confusion. Client: I’m not finished. What I’m trying to do is give you my perspective of my situation, so that you can see what a complicated problem I am dealing with, and then you must hypnotise me to solve it ... Hypnotist: You are quite right. I feel that exploring your feelings on all aspects of the problem is important. Please continue. Client: I know that a lot of people have their problems, but I want to give you a really clear picture of what I see as being the problem, so that you can show me what I really need to know in order for me to find my way out of this situation. I’m sure that if this continues, I could start getting depressed, I’m sure you can see that. Hypnotist: Yes, I feel this is very important. You have raised certain issues here which I feel that we have to come to grips with. All we need to do, is to find a handle that we can grab onto, and then we can start to work, step by step, until we come to grips with the deeper issues. Client: Yes, but what I really want is your point of view on my situation, a sort of professional perspective on things, because I can’t quite see where to begin. Hypnotist: That is all good and well, but I feel that it is important that you do not deny the feelings that you are having. Just let them be there in your body ... let them flow up and let them out ... blowing away all those pictures you are putting in the way. Client: I don’t quite see how this is going to get us anywhere. Hypnotist: I’m sensing feelings of resistence. Do you want to talk about it ? (The client walks out in frustration !) Exercise: Write down your opinion of why the client walked out. Please do not turn the page for clues !

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Hypnosis Certification Training 1997 PRINCIPLE 1: MEET YOUR CLIENT IN THEIR WORLD, NOT YOURS ! Probably the greatest obstacle to effective hypnosis is the Hypnotist ! More accurately, the Hypnotist’s theories and beliefs of what SHOULD be happening. In the previous scenario, the counsellor was stuck in the “the only thing worth dealing with are feelings”, and the client was obviously not a ‘feeling’ kind of guy ! So, instead of trying to find out what “kind of guy” the client was, and then exploring his problem from the client’s level, the Hypnotist simply became stubborn, and eventually drove the client away. It is perhaps one of the strangest practices found in psychological areas: If you can’t force the client to see it your way, then make them wrong - call them ‘resistent’, drive them away, which is what most Hypnotists do when they “can’t get through” to a client, or when you have a “difficult” client. As you read this, some of you are thinking “Oh come on - are you trying to tell me that there are no such things as difficult clients ? Everyone knows that there are just some people who will not listen to you, and who resist you all the way !”. Perhaps. Another possibility is that you have been doing what many Hypnotists do: Assumes that people think the same way as you do, and that everyone processes information in the same kind of way. In the previous scenario, the Hypnotist was consciously focusing only upon ‘feelings’, while the client was obviously presenting his problem in a very ‘seeing’ way. Not much wonder they did not connect! If people process the world in different ways, how is it possible for people to communicate effectively, if at all ? In the next few exercises and explanations, it will become apparent that we all have the ability to process information (our internal world and the external world) in the same way. However, we differ in which method we focus upon. The skill of being a good Hypnotist is first and foremost to discover the client’s method of presenting information, and then to match the client in that method. Exercise: How do you process the world ? Write the following: 1. How would you know that someone loved you ? What would that person have to say or do in order for you to believe that they loved you ? 2. How would you explain the word “comfortable” to someone. Give an example. 3. Describe how you breathe: From the top of your chest, middle, stomach ? Slowly, deeply, medium, fast and shallow ? 4. If you were to choose between a good movie and listening to your favourite piece of music, which would you choose, and why ? 5. What kind of people do you find it difficult to communicate with for more than ten minutes ? Examples: People with harsh voices, people who talk too fast, people who talk too slow, etc.

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Hypnosis Certification Training 1997 PRINCIPLE 2: PEOPLE TEND TO PROCESS THEIR INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL WORLD IN EITHER PICTURES, SOUNDS, OR FEELINGS. WE ALL USE ALL THESE WAYS, EXCEPT WE TEND TO EMPHASISE ONE METHOD MORE THAN THE OTHER. The ways in which people process outside information (sights, sounds, smells, etc) and their own memories (eg: pictures, voices, feelings) are not the same for all people. The major methods are:

V......Visual A......Auditory K......Kinesthetic

(Sights) (Sounds) (Feelings)

Please remember that everyone processes information ALL these ways. However, because there is so much information coming in, each person tends to develop a preference for one or two categories. Also, the way in which a person consciously processes information, as reflected by the words they use, is not necessarily the same as the way the person unconsciously processes information.

VAK (Visual - Auditory - Kinesthetic) V = Visual: What is seen with the eyes. Also mentally remembered or created pictures/images Visual people tend to talk fast, breathe fast, usually from the top of their chest, and use a lot of words which refer to pictures: “look here !”, “get a perspective”, “seeing is believing”, “picture this”, “I see what you mean”, and many more. A visual person is likely to tell you that something “doesn’t look right” when something goes wrong. If you were to sell a car to a visual person, you would need to focus on how wonderful the car LOOKS, and how other people will admire them when they SEE them driving that car. Also, you will notice that a visual person’s eyes will often flick upwards to the left or right (the visual area of the mind), or will look straight ahead (also a visual area).

A = Auditory:

What is heard with the ears. Sounds. Also, mentally remembered or created sounds.

Auditory people tend to speak at medium speed, do not breathe as fast as visual people, breathe from the middle of their chest, and place a great deal of importance on voice tone - they get irritated easily by a rough or whining voice, and soothed by a gentle, calm voice. The words they use also reflect the importance they place on sound: “This doesn’t sound right”; “I just wanted to sound out this idea”; “No one listens to me”; “I hear you”; “What are you trying to say ?”; etc. If you were to sell a car to an auditory person, you would focus upon the sound of the engine, how quietly it drives, the wonderful stereo system in the car, and what people will say when they hear that they have bought the car. When a person is listening to something, they tend to look downwards to their left (if they are right-handed). An auditory person will also flick their eyes to the left or right.

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K = Kinesthetic (Feeling). Feelings felt in the body, such as heat, cold, pressure, nausea, etc. Also, feelings remembered or created. A kinesthetic (feeling) person talks slowly, breathes slowly and from the bottom of their chest or stomach. They almost always look downwards (usually to their left if they are right-handed). They will tend to use words which reflect touch and feelings, such as: “It doesn’t feel right”; “I can’t get a grip on this”; “I can’t hold on to this any more”, etc. If you were to sell a car to a kinesthetic person, you would emphasise the feeling of the seats, get them to touch the smooth exterior, etc. There are other senses, such as Smell and Taste, but these are not used very much in counselling. *****

The three senses - VAK - are the basis of Hypnosis intervention approaches, because you need to base your intervention upon the Reality of the client, as they present themselves - what you hear and what you see. The interaction between the dominant processing system (Representation System) of the client and the counsellor will largely determine whether the client will “instinctively” feel safe, listened to, and understood by the Hypnotist. Almost all of this happens at a non-verbal level.

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COMMON VAK WORDS USED IN CONVERSATIONS VISUAL (SIGHT) analyse angle appear aspect clarity demonstrate dream examine focus foresee glance hindsight horizon idea illusion illustrate image inspect look notice obscure observe obvious outlook perception perspective picture pinpoint see scene scrutinise show sight sketchy survey vague view vision watch witness

AUDITORY (SOUND) announce audible communicate converse discuss divulge earshot gossip hear hush inquire interview listen loud mention noise oral proclaim pronounce remark report ring roar rumour say scream shrill silence sound speak speechless state talk tell tone utter vocal voice

KINESTHETIC (FEELING) active affected bearable callous charge concrete emotional feel firm flow foundation grasp grip hanging hassle heated hold hunch hustle intuition lukewarm motion muddled panicky pressure rush sensitive set shallow shift soft solid sore stir stress structured support tension tied touch unbearable unsettled

The following words are all non-specific words, which do not reflect either Visual, Auditory, or Kinesthetic. think... understand... become aware of... believe... sense... know... change... consider... learn... nice... notice... remember... respect... think... trust...

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COMMON VAK PHRASES VISUAL (SIGHT)

AUDITORY (SOUND)

KINESTHETIC (FEELING)

an eyeful appears to me beyond a doubt bird’s eye view catch a glimpse of clear cut dim view eye to eye flashed on get a perspective on hazy idea horse of a different colour in light of in person in view of looks like make a scene mental image mind’s eye paint a picture photographic memory plainly see pretty as a picture see to it short-sighted showing off sight for sore eyes staring off into space take a peek tunnel vision under your nose well defined

after thought blabber mouth clear as a bell clearly expressed call on describe in detail earful express yourself give an account of give me you ear grant an audience heard voices hidden messages hold your tongue idle talk inquire into key-note speaker loud and clear manner of speaking pay attention to power of speech purrs like a kitten outspoken rap session rings a bell state your purpose tattle-tale to tell the truth tongue tied unheard of utterly voiced an opinion well informed within hearing range word for word

all washed up boils down to chip off the old block come to grips with control yourself cool, calm & collected firm foundation get a handle on get a load of this get in touch with get the drift of hand-in-hand hang in there heated argument hold it hold on hot headed keep your shirt on know-how lay cards on the table light headed moment of panic not following you pull some strings sharp slipped my mind smooth operator so-so start from scratch stiff upper lip upside down underhanded

* Acknowledgment: Adapted from S. Drosdeck

Exercise: VAK Words Sensitivity Pair off with someone you do not know intimately. Decide who will be A and who will be B. Face each other, knees touching. Ask A to close their eyes. B will be the observer. B will need a pencil and piece of paper. A closes their eyes. A talks for 5 minutes about their favourite person, the qualities they love about them, about their life and activities. B writes down all the Visual, Auditory and Kinesthetic words that A uses. Swap and repeat. When both A and B have had a turn, there is a discussion on VAK words used.

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Hypnosis Certification Training 1997 PRINCIPLE 3: STRUCTURE OF EXPERIENCE IS AS IMPORTANT AS CONTENT. Since the time of Freud, and probably earlier, the emphasis on producing therapeutic change (eg: solving a problem), has been to focus exclusively on the CONTENT of what someone says. Therefore, many interventions are directed at “What does that Mean ?”. Who is to say what anything means ? Interestingly enough, an examination of the most effective Hypnotists reveals that their greatest strength lies in their ability to see-hear-feel HOW (STRUCTURE) something is being presented, and to establish rapid RAPPORT (verbal or non-verbal trust and sense of connectedness; establishing co-operative communication in which both people are aware of each other, and responsive to each other; establishing harmony, where agreement is not essential) with the client. Usually, the Hypnotist is not even aware of this, and simply says that they have “good instincts”. When you consider that more than 91% of communication is non-verbal, the importance of being skilled in reading non-verbal behaviour becomes apparent. In some of the previous exercises, we looked at the kind of words (structure of verbal communication) that you use, so that you can establish CONSCIOUS RAPPORT with someone else. This is almost always the first step in establishing trust and opening up a co-operative Hypnosis interaction. However, the words you use only say 7% of what you really are communicating ! Also, words reflect the CONSCIOUS parts of your communication, and does not always reveal what is occurring at a deeper level. Please keep in mind that the CONSCIOUS content of what someone says, reflects (a) The part of their experience which they are aware of; (b) What they are willing to reveal at that moment in time. Therefore, it is not always appropriate to cut out this level of rapport-building before going on to establishing unconscious rapport. If you bypass conscious rapport, the person may feel threatened. One of the best ways of determining what is truly happening with someone is to use your eyes and ears - to see what they doing, and then connect that with what they are saying. Often, when the words and the body are saying different things, we automatically get distrustful and suspicious. For example, if I say to you “I love your new dress”, and I am pulling a face, what message are you receiving ? Which one - the verbal or non-verbal - do you believe ? Most people would undoubtably believe the non-verbal message of disgust. This clash (difference) between what is said verbally and what is indicated by the body language is called INCONGRUENCY (“not flowing in the same direction”). There are a number of body clues that we can focus upon in order to find out what is really happening with someone: Voice tone, breathing rate, eye movements, hand movements, body posture, and so forth. Probably the most direct way, is through eye movements. It is important to remember that, even although there are general guidelines regarding so-called body language, the only thing that can be said is that each person has a pattern that is fairly consistent for them, and them alone. Most right-handed people tend to move their eyes to one specific direction when they are thinking in pictures, while most left-handed people do the opposite direction. However, there are exceptions in both cases. The most reliable method of finding out what a person’s pattern is, is to ask a series of questions, and then observe. Use your senses - eyes and ears - to find out. Do not assume everyone is the same ! On the following page is a diagram of a typical eye-movement pattern for an average right-handed person. Please remember that this is just a guideline, and does not apply to everyone !

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V

V

created

recalled

A

A

created

recalled

K

A

Feelings

Words Listen Internal Talk

Note: If the person’s eyes are staring straight ahead, not moving, this indicates Visual processing Exercise: VAK Eye-movements In the following exercise, A will ask B as series of questions, and A will note in which direction B’s eyes flickered. Then A and B reverses roles and repeats the process. It is the role of A (and then B) to discover and describe B’s (and then A’s) eye-movement patterns. Make notes of the patterns. 1. Visual Recalled: What colour is the carpet in your bedroom ? What colour are your mother’s eyes ? 2. Visual Created: How would you look from my point of view ? How would you look with purple hair ? 3. Auditory Recalled: What is your favourite piece of music ? Which door in your house slams the loudest when it is closed ? 4. Auditory Created: Can you hear yourself sing “Mary had a little lamb” ? Can you hear the wind blowing hard over the sea ? 5. Auditory Sounds or Words: Listen very carefully to my voice as I say the following sentence: “The moon is coming too soon.” Say say silently to yourself the following: “Ah - this is a good day for me to be alive”. 6. Kinesthetic: How do you feel early in the morning ? What does dog fur feel like when it is wet ? When you have completed all the questions, and you have noted in which direction the receiver’s eyes moved, compare the eye-movement directions with those in the previous diagram.

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UNCONSCIOUS RAPPORT-BUILDING Eye-movements can tell you a great deal about what is really happening inside someone else’s headbody. However, you will notice that when someone says something, there is not just one eyemovement. In fact there are many flickers up, down, left and right. The only part that you know about, is the part which corresponds with what they have said. The rest is a matter of guess-work, unless the person discussed it, or you question them. For example: A client walks into your office, and you observe the following: “Well, you know, I just.... (looks up & to the right) ... well, I just ... (looks down and to the right) ... really feel jealous and ... (looks down and to the left) ... I tell myself it’s crazy and I have no reason to, but I just have these feelings”. * Acknowledgments: Bandler & Grinder 1979 What do you know about this person and their problem, based purely on your observations of their eye-movements and words ? 1. What is their CONSCIOUS (words + eye-movement) VAK representation system ? 2. What other UNCONSCIOUS processes happened (eye-movements)? 3. What kinds of words/language would you use to establish rapport ? The point is that, at this stage, all you can focus upon is the CONSCIOUS part - the part that s/he reveals to you with her/his words, and which he verifies with her/his eye-movements. Hypnosis would then commence on the other parts. However, you can not simply jump the gun, and try to explore the internal voice that says jealousy is bad, nor why he creates this picture. That comes later, after CONSCIOUS RAPPORT has been established. After initial CONSCIOUS RAPPORT has been established, the client will feel safe enough for you to explore - with them - the other aspects.

NON-VERBAL RAPPORT Until this point, we have explored two methods of discovering what a person is experiencing at a Conscious level - what they say, and the eye-movements. In order to enhance your ability to establish rapport with someone else, we also need to examine more of the non-verbal behaviour, such as: * Breathing rate (speed) & position (high in chest, whole chest, stomach) * Body posture * Speed of speech * Eye-blink rate * Voice tone * Head tilt * Skin colour * Small movements (eg hands, feet, tapping) In order to expand your skill in establishing Rapport, you need to observe the client’s body, such as the items listed above. You will notice that there is a direct correspondence between these body cues and the person’s conscious VAK preference, as listed on the following page.

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Eye Movements

Head Position

VISUAL (Sight)

AUDITORY (Sound)

KINESTHETIC (Feeling)

Up & Left

Down & Left

Down & Right

Up & Right

Level & Right

Straight Ahead

Level & Left

Tilted Upwards

Level

Tilted Down

Tilted to Left

Tilted to Right

Ear directed at speaker

Breathing

High in Chest

Even breathing

Deep breathing

Shallow

Whole Chest

Low in Stomach

Quick

Rhythmic

Slow

Bursts of words

Even, Regular

Long pauses

High Pitch

Soothing

Low

Holding breath

Voice Speed

Voice Tone

Nasal

Deep tone Breathy

Skin Colour

Pale

Even

Flushed

Muscle Tension

Tight

Even movements

Relaxed muscles

High Shoulders

Even tension

Sudden movements Tense Abdomen

* Acknowledgment: Adapted from E. Robbie

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Calibration The term “CALIBRATION” refers to the accurate and detailed observation of a person’s external behaviour (words, eye-movements & body language). In the following exercise, you are asked to CALIBRATE another person’s non-verbal behaviour. Exercise: Non-Verbal Body Language - General Calibration (1) (Instructions to be provided at time of exercise) Exercise: Non-Verbal Body Language - General Calibration (2) (Instructions to be provided at time of exercise)

RAPPORT: MATCHING & MISMATCHING Exercise: Match & Mismatch (Instructions to be provided at time of exercise) In the previous exercise you experienced the power of MATCHING someone’s body language. MATCHING is the process in which you consciously create RAPPORT with someone, while MISMATCHING is where you consciously break RAPPORT. In the earlier exercises, you learned how to use your senses to notice another person’s body cues. Now the objective is to use that information to establish rapport with anyone. Sometimes, in order to establish rapport, all that is required is to match the person’s breathing and use the same VAK words as they do. Other times, it can be more subtle, such as tapping your feet under a table when you see them do the same. RAPPORT is a natural process, which we all do every day, without realizing it. However, there are times and people whom we find very difficult to ‘connect with’. This is where it becomes valuable to know how to consciously create RAPPORT. It is important to know that, when you practice RAPPORT in the ‘real world’ - the world outside of the training room - it is important not to let the other person see what you are doing. When a person sees you copying their body language, they feel somehow offended. RAPPORT building needs to be subtle, not obvious or apparent. For example, if you stop what you are saying, and then adjust your body to match theirs, it will be obvious what you are doing. However, if you continue talking and adjust while you are talking, the adjustments tend to go unnoticed. Therefore, realize that the following exercises may be experienced as a little artificial. That is the nature of learning in a training room - everyone knows what the objective is. Exercise: Establishing Rapport - Non-Verbal (Instructions to be provided at time of exercise) Exercise: Establishing Rapport - Verbal (Instructions to be provided at time of exercise) Empowerment Concepts

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ASSOCIATION & DISSOCIATION Often, people talk about a “point of view”, as if it were something abstract. However, when you look and listen at their body and words, you will notice that when someone is talking about their “point of view”, different “points of view” have different physical postures and language. There are two very useful “points of view” -associated and dissociated - which are very useful to notice and utilise, depending on the situation. Exercise: Postures for Association & Dissociation (1) Sitting in your chair, lean back comfortably against the back of the chair, allow your shoulders to move back, let your eyes relax and de-focus a little. Lift your chin a little (above the horizontal) and let your head tilt a little backwards. Let your body become still. How you do feel ? How does this state affect how you process the world around you ? This is the physical posture for DISSOCIATION. You will notice that this state enhances your ability to think about things, listen without judging, be objective, and analyse, because it facilitates you in “stepping out of the world”, and being the neutral observer. (2) Now lean forward, with your lower back touching the back of the chair. Adjust your posture as if you were preparing to catch a ball, scanning and looking around you in all directions. This is the physical state for ASSOCIATION. This physical posture tends to get you to be “in the world” actively engaged in what is happening around you. When communicating with someone, it is useful to notice whether they are associated or dissociated, as this will determine whether they are in neutral thinking or listening mode, analyzing things without feeling intensely, or alternatively, whether they are “in” the experience, feeling it fully. * Acknoweldgement: Andreas & Faulkner, 1994

A woman goes to a party. For several hours, she laughs, chats, dances, and genrally has a wonderful time. A truly delightful evening. As she goes to collect her coat and bag at the front door, someone accidentally bumps into her and spills their drink on her dress. It is a new and expensive dress, and it is stained. She is terribly upset as she goes home five minutes later. Two months later she meets a friend who was at the party. The friend says ‘hello’, and states that it has been quite a while since they spent time together, in fact, they haven’t seen each other since the party. Immediately, the women gets upset and angry, and says “Please - don’t mention that night - it was horrible ! I get upset every time I think about it !” Objectively speaking, the woman spent four hours having an absolutely wonderful evening, followed by five minutes of upsetness. Yet, when she thinks about that night, all she remembers is the ruined dress and the upsetness that followed. Why ? The reason is simple: From her “point of view”, the pleasant memories (sights-sounds- feelings) were dim and far away from her, while the unpleasant memory (sights-sounds-feelings) were close and bright. In other words, she was strongly ASSOCIATED with the unpleasant memory, and DISSOCIATED from the pleasant memories.

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Hypnosis Certification Training 1997 Fears, motivation, phobias, and many other phenomena can be understood similarly, if you consider that, in the ASSOCIATED state, a person is seeing, hearing and feeling things from “inside” their own body. For example, a person recalling seeing something will see the picture ‘as if’ they were looking our of their eyes. To recall the same image from a dissociated perspective would mean that they see themself as part of the picture, looking at their own body, not from inside their body. Whether you (or the client) is ASSOCIATED or DISSOCIATED makes a profound difference when communicating, and also in how you are experiencing something. Exercise: Stepping in an out of an experience Pair off - A and B A is the Client B is the Counsellor (1) A closes their eyes and recalls a PLEASANT event. When A has selected the event (does not have to say what the contents are), B asks A to step into the event, as if they were seeing and hearing and feeling is happen from inside their body. When A has done that, s/he says “OK”. Then A maintains that for about 15 seconds. Person B then notes the non-verbal posture of A. Pay attention to breathing. When that is done, B says “OK”. Now B asks A to step out of the experience, and see-hear the same event, as if they were looking at themself experiencing the event. When A has done that, A says “OK”, and maintains that perspective from about 15 seconds, while B once again notes the body cues and postures. Pay attention to breathing. After the 15 seconds have elapsed, B says “OK”, and A opens their eyes, stands up, walks around briefly, and sit down again. B then relates their observation. A relates how the two perspectives affected their experience of the memory of the event. A and B swap, and repeat the process.

(2) The process is repeated, using the memory of a mildly UNPLEASANT event. (3) The process is repeated, using something that is mildly FEARED. Examples: Fear of saying something to someone; public speaking, etc.

Difficult Clients Why is this important in terms of rapport ? There are certain kinds of “difficult” clients: One is the depressed client. They tend to be fully and continually associated with negative memories, images, sounds and feelings, and dissociated from pleasant memories, images, sounds and feelings. It would not be advisable to establish full rapport with such a person, as this would necessitate matching the negativity. Instead, it would be more useful and beneficial to ask them to lean back a little, pull their shoulders back a little, and generally encourage them to assume a dissociated state when discussing negative image, sounds or feelings. Conversely, when discussing positive thoughts and feelings, encourage them to assume a more associated state.

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Hypnosis Certification Training 1997 Secondly, there is the “emotional roller coaster” - the person who intensely feels everything, pleasant or unpleasant. They seem to be permanently associated (both pleasant and unpleasant images, memories, feelings, thoughts). Consequently, they find it difficult to gain a wider, objective perspective on their thoughts and feelings. Thus one would encourage the person towards a dissociated state when discussing unpleasant memories, thoughts or feelings. Finally, there is the “in the head” person, who does not seem to associate with any experience, pleasant or unpleasant. They speak in abstract terms, rarely using any VAK words. They think and analyze, but do not feel. Consequently, they are not in a position to feel pleasure. Such a person would be required to be guided towards a more associated posture and state.

How to Shift Client from Associated to Dissociated States (and Visa Versa) It is one thing to be able to identify why a client is not responding to Hypnosis suggestions (eg., being dissociated and hence “stuck in their head”, or is always on an emotional roller-coaster, or is depressed. Identification is easy, but the remedy is not so simple. It should be kept in mind that these kinds of problems are INGRAINED UNCONSCIOUS HABIT PATTERNS. EMOTIONAL ROLLER-COASTER In and of themselves, the person’s ability to associate and dissociate at will may be the very core of the problem they are consulting you for. An emotional roller-coaster gets upset all the time, no matter how much ‘therapy’ they do to resolve past issues. The same problems keep on cropping up, relationships are characterised by extremes of happiness and upset, resulting in unstable love relationships, feedback from people that they are ‘intense’, sudden flare-ups at work which can destroy long-term career prospects, and many similar problems. Consequently, they may present one of many of these problems to you for Hypnosis intervention, which will be temporarily effective, but no matter how effective the intervention, it falls apart within a day or two. Characteristic effects of intervention are: “I feel fantastic - thank you so much !”. They feel (intensely) wonderful, centred, and then you later get a call to say that something else - or even the same issue - cropped up again, and they are in the depths of unhappiness and upset (intensely) again. 1. Short-term remedies are mechanical (i.e., body posture shifts): Ask them to change their physiological posture to a dissociated posture. This will automatically shift the emotional state to a more objective, dissociated state. 2. Long-term remedies: The person needs to be aware of the core of this continual pattern. This needs to be discussed and explained, as this awareness will go a long way towards reassuring the client that they do not necessarily have “deep seated emotional problems” (although this can not be excluded. Even if they do indeed have deep-seated emotional problems, the ability to dissociate and associate at will is a critical starting point for dealing with these issues. A Hypnosis script can be constructed in collaboration with the client, which is repeated several times, and refined to their individual needs, which implants the following suggestions: (a) Ability to distinguish pleasant from unpleasant emotions, thoughts, and images; (b) Automatic ability to associate at will with the pleasant feelings, thoughts and images, and dissociate at will from the unpleasant feelings, images and thoughts. IN-THE-HEAD Empowerment Concepts

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This is a common obstacle to Hypnosis and other therapy interventions. Typically, the client speaks in abstact terms, has a difficulty ‘feeling’ anything intensely or even moderately, has vague and fleeting images and created sounds, and generally does not experience any effective depth in Hypnosis suggestions. In certain advanced processes, where, for example, the person has to engage in a dialogue with some subconscious part of their mind, they ‘think’ of a logical response instead of ‘allowing’ the part to speak. This completely prevents any effective processing. They may also use generalised and non-specific words to define how they are feeling: “OK”, “Fine”, “Alright”. Emotional vocabulary is limited and lacks depth. Find it difficult to feel excited or passionate about anything, or to feel deeply emotional or upset. Often highly educated (thus trained to be abstract and the observer, not the participant) and analytical. Many therapists fall into this category: Highly observant, analytical - easily assess a client’s problem - but fail to deal with their own issues - they are dissociated from their own feelings and passions. Consequently, they often have an abstract notion of “passion”, and often enquire about their “purpose in life”, as they do not “feel” excited. Often, their eye-movements are strictly within the visual area and straight ahead or upwards to the centre - the abstract. 1. Short-term intervention is mechanical: Ask the client to assume an associated posture, and then to keep them in this posture as they discuss their issue and through the process itself. In leading them through a process, ask them to first locate the visual imagery (up left or right), and then lead them towards the sounds and feelings associated with the images. Gradually lead them into full association with full sight, sound and feelings - stepping into the experience. Ruthlessly prevent abstract words, emphasise body feelings and sensations. 2. Long-term intervention: Explain the dissociated state that are perpetually in, and that this is ideal for unpleasant feelings, thoughts and images, but prevents true passion and excitement regarding pleasant feelings, thoughts and images, and also is contrary to the nature of the subconscious mind, at which level Hypnosis works. In order to obtain truly beneficial results from Hypnosis, they need to be able to enter the subconscious domain, with all it’s irrational and illogical aspects. Construct Hypnosis script for them in order to achieve (a) Ability to distinguish pleasant from unpleasant thoughts, feelings and images; (b) Ability to ‘step into’ (associate) pleasant images, feelings and thoughts, and ‘step out of’ (dissociate) from unpleasant thoughts, feelings and images.

DEPRESSION It should be clearly understood that the causes of depression are usually complex, and nonprofessional Hypnotists should not consider dealing with severe depressions, or with clients under psychiatric or psychological treatment. When a client asks for hypnosis to deal with their depression, always check their background, how long they have been depressed, the severity, suicide attempts, any medication they have been on, when it started, and whether they are currently under treatment. Do not assume they will volunteer this information. Refer to a professional. Although the previous description of association-dissociation regarding depression may be valid, no interventions are offered here, as this is not the domain of the inexperienced Hypnotist. It is rather the domain of the professional (psychologist or psychiatrist), or highly trained Hypnotherapist.

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GETTING TO THE SPECIFICS OF AN ISSUE Certain kinds of questions lead to long protracted inconclusive answers and discussions. For example: “Why do you get jealous ?”. The following guidelines may be useful to keep in mind:

WHY ...

leads to values, not specifics

WHAT .... WHERE .... WHEN ... HOW ... WHO... lead to specifics Identify Generalisations: Everyone, Always, Never, Society, One, People, Everywhere, Men, Women, Children, etc.

Shift to Being Specific: When you hear these words, it is useful to ask the person: “Always ? When last ...” “Everyone ? Who specifically ?” or “Give me an example of someone who ...” “Never ? Are there moments when ... ?” “Society/People say ... ? Can you think of someone you know who says...?” “Everywhere ? Where, in your experience ... ?” “All Men/Women/Children ? Who do you know does that ?” “Give me an example” “When last did you experienced that ?” In order to get more specific about an internal process: “How do you do that ?” “How do you come to that conclusion ?” “What reference do you have for that thought ?” EXAMPLES: I am uncomfortable I don’t understand

About what ? About whom ? You don’t understand what ?

He’s a better cook She’s a worse driver

Better than whom ? Worse than whom ?

They don’t talk/listen to me That/It doesn’t matter

Who specifically does not listen/talk to you ? What specifically doesn’t matter ?

He rejected me She left me

How did he reject you ? Where did she leave you ?

I want respect/recognition I must improve communication

How do you want to be respected/recognised ? How do you want to communicate ?

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He never listens to me People don’t tell the truth

Never ? What would happen if they did ?

I need to do that I can’t go there

What would happen if you didn’t ? What stops you ?

You make me sick Her voice irritates me

How do I make you sick ? How does her voice irritate you ?

You don’t like me She should know I love her

How do you know that I don’t like you ? How should she know you love her ?

It’s bad to be lazy This is the right way to do it

How do you know it’s bad ? According to whom ?

Exercise: Pair off - A and B. A selects a statement from the following list. B asks a question that leads to more specifics, using who, how, where, what, etc. A and B have turns to make a statement, and to ask a questions. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

I love my job I hate my job This exercise is boring People are dishonest I will win in the end I always have to do all the work Doing the same thing over and over makes me angry You know what I mean Learning rapport is fun The economy of the country is bad My work prevents me from doing what I want I want success You make me angry Love can hurt Going to the movies makes me sad They just hate me Injustice makes me angry Violence makes me angry Life is not fair I understand rapport My friends understand me

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Strictly Confidential CLIENT PROFILE & HISTORY Full Names:___________________________ Name you like to be called:__________________ Age: __________ Date of Birth:_____________________ Gender: (Male / Female):_______ Marital Status: ____________________ Number of Children: __________________________ Occupation:___________________________________________________________________ Contact Telephone Number(s): _______________________(W) ______________________ (H) Postal Address:_________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ Do you currently have any illness or injury ? If so, please state what it is: __________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ Are you currently under medical treatment ? If so, please state reasons: ____________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ Are you pregnant ? (If applicable) YES/NO Do you suffer from heart disease ? YES/NO Do you suffer from epilepsy ? YES/NO Do you suffer from Diabetes ? YES/NO Are you currently utilising prescribed or non-prescribed medication/drugs ? Include diet pills, alcohol, sedatives, etc. If so, please state what it is, and how long you have been using it: ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ Are you currently under psychiatric or psychological treatment or therapy ? If so, please briefly state reason:____________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ Do you have a past history of psychiatric or psychological treatment or therapy ? If so, please state briefly when, duration of treatment, reasons, and outcome: ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ Briefly describe the issues you have been working with your therapist: ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ Have your efforts to resolve this issue worked? ________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ *Please note that, in the event that you are currently under psychological or psychiatric treatment, AND you have not discussed with your therapist your intention to consult me for the purpose of hypnosis, please be advised that I am not willing to utilise hypnosis until such time as this has been discussed with the said therapist, and the therapist provides in writing, approval for such hypnosis. Regardless of whether you have stated that you are/are not currently under psychological or psychiatric treatment, please ensure that you have read the previous paragraph, and answered the four questions above. Then please sign the following:

I understand the above two paragraphs pertaining to psychological and/or psychiatric treatment, and state that I have honestly answered the four questions preceding those two paragraphs: ______________________ (signature) ______________ (date)

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Hypnosis Certification Training 1997 Have you been hypnotised before ? If so, please state when, by whom, and for what reason. Also state if you got what you wanted from the session(s):_____________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ (If applicable): Have you been regressed to an earlier time before ? If so, please state when, whether you experienced any problems, and whether you derived benefit: _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ Do you experience emotional fear or discomfort when encountering any of the following, either in actual reality, or in visualisations: Heights

___

Stairs

___

Tunnels

___

Water

___

Rooms

___

Closed spaces

___

Roads

___

Flying

___

Fire

___

Darkness

___

Thunder

___

Loud Noise

___

Men

___

Women

___

Strangers

___

People

___

Crowds

___

Eating

___

Death

___

Loneliness

___

Pain

___

Sex

___

Illness

___

Ridicule

___

Mistakes

___

Animals

___

Dogs

___

Cats

___ Horses

___

Bees

___

Insects

___

Snakes

___

Flowers

___

Germs/Dirt

___

Bury alive

___

Needles

___

Sharp Objects

___

Any other:__________________________________________________________________________

Why do you want a hypnosis session or regression (whichever applicable)? _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________

I understand that the contents of this questionnaire and the regression session(s) will not be disclosed to a third party, and I declare that the information I have provided is truthful.

_____________________ Signature

_________________ Date

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MODEL HYPNOSIS SESSION FORMAT 1. Client First Contact

WITH RAPPORT SKILLS ... 1.1 Who referred ? 1.2 Handle queries regarding your qualifications and Hypnosis 1.3 Handle questions regarding Fees 1.3.1. Fee for First Session Interview 1.3.2. Hypnosis Session(s). 1.4 Establish first appointment to interview Client 1.5 Explain First session is an interview to establish whether you can work with each other and define what needs to be worked on, not actual Hypnosis

2. First Session Interview

WITH RAPPORT SKILLS ... 2.1. Do client History & Profile. Client signs. If you can work with the client, then... 2.2. Explain Hypnosis, Control, Permissive Hypnosis etc Dispell fears and misconceptions; Confidentiality. 2.3. Are they committed ? Free will ? 2.4. Identify Issue to be worked on; How many sessions it will take 2.5. Select Hypnosis Patter & Discuss suggestions contained therein 2.6. Discuss Anchor for suggestions & Relaxed state. 2.7. Make notes of VAK, Associated, Dissociated style of client 2.8. Establish Suggestibility 2.9. Brief relaxation/induction demonstration, with anchor. Note the Depth client enters. 2.10 Optional: Give client taped demo of induction to practice. 2.11 Set up Hypnosis session time and date; Cancellation agreement 2.12 Payment for Interview.

3. Hypnosis Session

WITH RAPPORT SKILLS ... 3.1. 3.2. 3.3. 3.4. 3.5.

Brief discussion on at-home relaxation; Readiness Ensure no more queries, misconceptions Ensure no worries (parking metre etc) Finalise Anchors (Suggestions & Relaxation). Ensure comfort (Temperature, Position, Bladder) Eyes closed .... 3.6. Synchronised breathing (10 breaths) 3.7. Induction: 3.7.1 Physical Relaxation 3.7.2 Sound & Violence Patter 3.7.3 Mental Relaxation & Safe Space 3.8. Hypnotic Patter (Anchor Suggestions) 3.9. Anchor relaxed state 3.10.Emerge 3.11.”How do you feel ?” 3.12 Grounding & Present Time Orientation 3.12 Post-Hypnosis Discussion: 3.12.1 How did it go ? What did it feel like ? 3.12.2 Integration: What have you learned ? 3.13.3 Where to from here (more sessions ?); Use Anchors 3.13.4 Payment 3.13 Hypnotist writes up notes about session.

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BRIEF NOTES ON FIRST CONTACT & INTERVIEW (refer previous Model) Qualifications: Once you have completed this training, you can call yourself a Hypnotist, which is NOT the same as Hypnotherapist. Once you have completed both this training and the Regression Hypnotherapy training, your qualification is as Hypnotist and/or Hypnotherapist. Please note that this training is recognised by the National Guild of Hypnotists (USA), which in turn is recognised by the American Medical Association and American Psychiatric Association. This does NOT mean that the training or your qualifications are recognised by the SAMDC (South African Medical and Dental Association) unless you are already registered with them. This means that your fees can not be reclaimed from medical aid. Fees: Usually, Hypnotists charge for both the initial interview, as well as the hypnosis sessions. It is useful to remember that people often do not value something that they do not pay for, as they are not invested in the process. Payment does not have to be money. If someone is paying for someone else, ask the client to pay at least some part of the fee, to ensure that they are invested. Pro bono (free) sessions are ethical and appropriate when finances are restricted and intervention is necessary. Try to get the person invested somehow, even if it is a barter in services. How much to charge ? A minimum of about R50 per interview and session is advised for a beginner. As you gain proficiency and confidence, the rate can be increased to R100 or more per session. For a series of sessions (eg., 3 stop smoking sessions), discounts can be offered for full payment upfront. Identification of the Issue: A Hypnotist is restricted to sessions which can insert palatable suggestions, such as for Asthma, Smoking, Weight Loss, etc. Until you are qualified to do Hypnotherapy, refrain from using hypnosis to explore the origins of problems, trauma resolutions, phobias, rape, molestation, catharsis, and similar advanced hypnotherapy applications. Discussion of the Suggestions with the Client: In order to ensure that the client obtains maximum benefit from the suggestions to be installed during hypnosis, they must be consulted and enrolled in the wording of these suggestions. Once you have selected your standard patter, go through it with the client - in the interview, and while they are fully conscious - to ensure that they are familiar with it’s contents, and that they consciously agree with the suggestions, including the wording. You may also tell them what kind of relaxation / induction you are going to use, and ask them if that would work for them. Consult the Client Profile for fears/phobias, as you must avoid using any imagery or suggestions which would evoke fear or discomfort, eg., heights or water. Never apply a standard induction or suggestion without checking that it is consciously palatable with the client first, before applying it. Anchors: In order for the client to rapidly and effectively access the state of relaxation in subsequent sessions, ask them to select an anchor- visual image, created sound/word, or physical pressure point or movement which has been associated with the desired state. Discuss and clarify before the hypnosis induction. Install at the peak of the relaxed state, usually just before emerging. Requirements for an anchor: (1) Install at the peak of the desired state; (2) The anchor must be unusual (not used in normal situations) and uniquely linked to the desired state. Do not confuse the anchor for the relaxed state with the anchor for the suggestions ! If linked, activation of the anchor will activate BOTH the suggestion and relaxation. Can be dangerous, eg. when driving a car. Examples of anchors: Lift index finger; Visualise light switch going from on to off; etc.

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Activating the Critical Factor In order for the client to relax, focus, accept suggestions, and enter into an adequate state of altered consciousness, it is vital to ensure that any factor which activates the Critical Factor (CF) is eliminated. Such factors include: 1. A full bladder - directly instruct client to go to bathroom, regardless. 2. Fears regarding being controlled. Ensure that they understand that they are in control at all times, and that they can open their eyes at any point. Explain Permissive Hypnosis. 3. Temperature: Too hot or too cold. 4. Physical discomfort: Tight belts, shoes, ties, pants. Lying down or sitting (ask which is better). 5. Worries: Concern regarding time, parking metres, picking up the kids, etc. Ensure client know how long it will take, plus half an hour if needed. Arrange schedule accordingly. 6. Misconceptions about Hypnosis. Explain that it is natural, Permissive Hypnosis, etc. Give them brief demonstration. 7. Not agreeing with words or notions behind suggestions. Clear these issues up beforehand. 8. Noise: Disconnect telephones; Ensure privacy is guaranteed. Always install Sound Patter. 9. Drugs and alcohol: Prevent effective hypnosis. Ask client to refrain from drinking or taking drugs in the period from 24 hours before session until the session itself. Weight loss tablets, headache pills, are included. Do not instruct client to refrain from taking essential medication. If client is on anti-depressants, think twice before doing hypnosis ! 10. Client is requesting hypnosis on the instruction of someone else. They will resist the suggestions, and sabotage your efforts. Don’t waste your time. 11. Client is afraid that they will make a mistake or “can’t be hypnotised”. Ensure them that everyone is different, and that your approach to to customise your method to the individual. Spend time ensuring that they are familiar with relaxation techniques. 12. Client has been hypnotised before, and a ‘block’ has been installed without their knowing it. Ask if they have been hypnotised before, and if it worked. If they experienced successful hypnosis with the first hypnotist, and could not attain that success with another hypnotist, it is likely that a block has been installed. Remedy to remove the block is contained at the end of this manual. Implanting blocks to prevent anyone else working with the client are unethical and are to be strenuously discouraged.

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Suggestibility Testing In order to induce the state of hypnosis, it is important to gauge how susceptible to suggestions your client is. We have found the following methods most benificial in testing our clients for suggestibility.

The Hands Clasp test [Imagination and concentration] Here the client is asked to clasp their hands together, locking their fingers together. The therapist then, using compounding(repetition of the same concept/phrase/word/ suggestion), suggests that the client cannot release the grip they have on their hands. Spend a few moments reinstating the position that they cannot release their hands. When you are ready to end the exercise, simply tell them: ” When I tap your hand you will be able to release your hands.” The greater the receptivity and responsiveness to this exercise the more receptive your client will be to hypnotic suggestion.

Falling Forward [Imagination] Have your client stand in front of you in fairly close proximity, ensuring that you are close enough to physically support them in the event that they fall. Have them close their eyes and suggest that they are relaxing with each deep breath that they take. Then suggest that they focus on one thought only: ”Only think of the fact that you are falling forward”. Compound several times and support them as they fall forward. You can either ask them to open their eyes or do a rapid induction. [See sections on inductions].

Raising your arm [Imagination] Have the client stand or sit about six feet from you. Ask them to extend their arm at shoulder height with the palm facing upwards. Tell the client to look into your eyes and to hold the stare until you tell them otherwise: “Now stretch your arm as far as you can. [compounding the suggestion several times]. When I snap my fingers, you will be unable to bend your arm. NOW KEEP YOUR EYES ON MINE AND YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO BEND YOUR ARM.” [Snap your fingers] “You see... you can’t bend your arm no matter how hard you try.” [Allow the client to try for a few seconds and then say:] “When I snap my fingers again you will be able to relax your arm.” [As you snap your fingers divert your eyes away from the client’s.]

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Tests for Depth 1. EYE CLOSURE: I'm going to count from one to three. As I count from one to three with each number allow your eyes to close tighter and tighter ... So tightly closed that at the number 3 you'll be unable to open them, even though you'll try ... As I count from one to three, with each number your eyes close tighter and tighter so that when I reach three, you try to open your eyes but will be unable to do so. One ... feel your eyes close tighter and tighter ... Two ... tightly, tightly closed ... Three ... Tightly closed, you cannot open them, ... try but you cannot..... Stop trying........ ...going deeper..... relax! (Go to next test) 2. ARM CATALEPSY: I'm going to lift your arm and I'm going to lock it in position, going to lock it; your shoulder, your elbow, your wrist [touch each as they are named] ...As I stroke your arm, counting from one to five as I do so, allow your arm to become more and more rigid ... Rigid as an iron bar, as a comparison, rigid as an iron bar, so that when I reach five you'll try to lower it and you'll be unable to do so ... You'll find that it just bounces as though it is hitting a thick rubber pad ... One ...Your arm is getting more and more rigid, locked tight ... Two ... Your shoulder, your elbow, the wrist locked tight ... Three ... You'll be unable to lower it, unable to lower it ... Four ... Rigid and locked tight ... Five ... Try to lower it, you cannot ... Alright now, just let it relax, let it relax ... As I lower your arm, let it relax, as I lower your arm, you'll go deeper and deeper into your relaxed state ... When I drop your arm and it hits your leg, you'll go ten times deeper. (Go to next test) 3. NUMBER BLOCK: I'm going to ask you in a moment to please count to ten slowly ... When I say ready, I want you to count out loud, very slowly, from one to ten ... Ready? ... Please count [Subject counts] ... Very good, now I'm going to ask you to count again in a moment ... However, this time, this time there is nothing between five and seven. Even if you think of something between five and seven, you'll be unable to articulate t, unable to speak it. Nothing between five and seven ... You'll count 1- 2 - 3 4 - 5 -- 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 ..... 3 - 4 - 5 --- 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 ... Please count aloud, slowly again for me [subject counts] ... Very good, this is the way you count, nothing between five and seven ... Even after you emerge later, this is the way you'll count until further notice. (Go to next test) 4. ANALGESIA: Now, I'm going to pick up your arm again ... I'm going to rub the back of your hand here and make this particular spot here, as I'm rubbing it, analgesic ... As you know analgesia removes the sense of pain, as compared to anaesthesia, which removes the sense of touch completely ... I'm making the spot analgesic, no sense of pain ... You may feel a pleasant numb feeling, but in any case, a complete removal of the sense of pain ... [Pinch a spot on hand] ...Very good ! ... Deep relaxation. (Go to next test) 5. HALLUCINATION: Now, you've probably not given much attention to the clock on the wall, but did you ever notice the numerals are in reverse order? ... That's right, the numerals are reversed, they increase around the face in a counter-clockwise manner ... Now stay in the deep relaxed state that you are in and open your eyes when I tell you to, but don't come out of your relaxed state ... You'll look straight ahead to the wall in front of you and see the clock with reversed numerals.

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Methods to Deepen Inductions 1.

PERIODS OF SILENCE

SUGGEST...... "UNTIL I AGAIN TOUCH YOU ON THE SHOULDER, YOU WILL CONTINUE TO GO DEEPER AND DEEPER RELAXED. YOU WILL PAY NO ATTENTION TO MY VOICE." (DO NOT LEAVE THE SUBJECT ALONE LONGER THAN 15 OR 20 MINUTES FOR SOME SUBJECTS TEND TO COME OUT OF HYPNOSIS ON THEIR OWN OR LAPSE INTO A NORMAL SLEEP).

2.

EXHALING

SUGGEST "EACH TIME YOU EXHALE, YOU WILL AUTOMATICALLY SINK DEEPER." (USUALLY COMBINE THIS SUGGESTION WITH A PERIOD OF SILENCE).

3.

COUNTING

COUNTING UP OR COUNTING DOWN FROM ANY NUMBER I.E. 10-1 (I PREFER TO COUNT DOWN BECAUSE IT LENDS TO THE FEELING OF SINKING DEEPER.

4.

HALLUCINATIONS (IMAGERY)

WALKING STEPS, RIDING IN A CAR OR TRAIN, SAILING, GOING IN A TUNNEL OR DOWN A CORRIDOR, SLIDING ETC. (COMBINE COUNTING WITH HALLUCINATIONS ADDS TO THE EFFECT. I.E. RIDING DOWN AN ELEVATOR.... GOING DOWN A FLOOR WITH EACH COUNT.)

5.

IDEO-MOTOR SUGGESTIONS

EYE CATALEPSY, ARM CATALEPSY ETC.

6.

IDEO-SENSORY SUGGESTIONS

HOT AND COLD SENSATIONS AND THOSE AFFECTING THE SENSES... SOUND, TOUCH, TASTE.

7.

PYRAMIDING

REPEATED INDUCTIONS WITHOUT AWAKENING.

8.

FRACTIONATION

HYPNOTIZING, DE-HYPNOTIZING AND RE-HYPNOTIZING SEVERAL TIMES.

9.

INDIRECT SUGGESTIONS

WHILE THE SUBJECT IS HYPNOTIZED, DIRECT YOUR SUGGESTIONS TO SOMEONE ELSE. EXPLAIN WHAT IS HAPPENING AND WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN. THUS, THE SUBJECT INDIRECTLY RECEIVES THE SUGGESTIONS.

10.

FEEDBACK

SENSATIONS WHICH THE SUBJECT FEELS ARE FED BACK TO HIM.

11.

PLACEBO

PILL, DRINK, (HARMLESS) CERTAIN PROCEDURES, WHICH THE SUBJECT BELIEVES WILL AFFECT HIM.

12.

COMPOUNDING SUGGESTIONS

SUGGEST THAT EVERY MOVE THEY MAKE AND EVERY SUGGESTIONS YOU GIVE SENDS THEM DEEPER RELAXED.

13.

POST-HYPNOTIC SUGGESTIONS

TO RESPOND TO A SIGNAL, TO GO DEEPER EACH TIME THEY ARE HYPNOTISED ETC.

14.

REALISATION

BRINGING IT TO THEIR ATTENTION THAT THE EFFECT IS WORKING AND THAT THEY ARE RESPONDING.

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Synchronised Breathing This technique is an application of Association-Dissociation in Rapport. The purpose is to ensure that the client is in a receptive state, ready to begin relaxation procedures. Step 1: Associate with Client: * Match their breathing pattern for about a minute, while you ask them to get themself comfortable. * When you have matched their breathing, it is time to slow both your and their breathing down: Ask the client to take a deep breath (4 seconds inhale) - you do the same (audible to them) Hold your breathe for 3 seconds - instruct them to hold it; Instruct them to exhale - you do the same - 4 second controlled exhale; Repeat the above 10 (or more, if needed) times, each time slowing your/their breathing down a little; * When you feel that you have reached a slow and deep breathing rate, and feel relaxed, they will have reached that state as well, because you are in synchrony.

Step 2: Dissociate from Client: * When you are satisfied with your/their breathing rate, DISSOCIATE - ie., stop matching their breathing rate, and instruct the client, in a calm voice, to “just relax”. * Do not strive to match their breathing from this moment onwards. Simply maintain an even, calm breathing pattern, and rather focus on matching your voice tone and speed of delivery to their breathing.

Step 3: Continue with Standard Relaxation Procedure

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Rapid Induction: Hand-Drop Technique PUT YOUR HAND IN MINE....... LIKE THAT......... GOT IT?...... NOW, I WANT YOU TO LOOK AT ME. [POINT TO YOUR FOREHEAD]. AT THE COUNT OF THREE, PRESS DOWN AGAINST MY HAND. I'LL BE PRESSING UP AGAINST YOUR POWER ..... GOT THE IDEA? FOLLOW MY INSTRUCTIONS COMPLETELY... ONE [WAGGING YOUR FINGER AT THEM WITH EACH COUNT], TWO, THREE - PUSH, PUSH, PUSH, PUSH THAT'S RIGHT...... ALL YOUR STRENGTH NOW, THAT'S GOOD. AS YOU DO NOW LET YOUR EYES GROW ...... HEAVY, DROOPY, DROWSY AND SLEEPY..... CLOSING... CLOSING CLOSING ... [WIPE YOUR HANDS DOWN ACROSS THEIR EYES IF YOU HAVE TO] ... SLEEP ... [INSTANTANEOUSLY PULL YOUR HAND OUT FROM UNDER THEIR HAND]... AS I ROCK YOUR HEAD, YOUR BODY BECOMES LOOSE AND LIMP AND YOU GO DEEPLY RELAXED [ROCK THEIR HEAD GENTLY FROM SIDE TO SIDE]..

* FIVE TO ONE COUNT FOR EYE CATALEPSY * FRACTIONISATION TO PROPER DEPTH

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First Visit Induction (Sensori-Motor Technique) [MAKE SURE HANDS PLACED ON THIGHS. FEET FLAT ON FLOOR]. I WANT YOU TO LOOK DOWN AT ONE OF YOUR HANDS [PAUSE] WHICH HAND HAVE YOUR CHOSEN PLEASE? FINE, CONTINUE TO LOOK AT YOUR ........... HAND IN AN EASY, DREAMY SORT OF WAY. EASILY AND EFFORTLESSLY, AS OPPOSED TO A HARD CONCENTRATION. NOW TAKE A SLOW DEEP BREATH. AS YOU SIT THERE, PERFECTLY STILL, MOTIONLESS, THAT'S NOT REALLY TRUE, BECAUSE WHEN YOU TOP TO THINK ABOUT IT, NO MATTER HOW STILL YOU ARE, THERE IS ALWAYS SOME MOVEMENT, SOME MOTION TAKING PLACE IN YOUR BODY. FOR EXAMPLE, YOUR HEART IS BEATING. THE BEATING OF YOUR HEART IS MOTION EVEN THOUGH YOU'RE SITTING STILL. AS A MATTER OF FACT, MANY PEOPLE CAN FEEL THEIR HEART BEAT IF THEY CONCENTRATE ON IT. YOU'RE BREATHING, YOUR LUNGS FUNCTION. THIS IS MOTION EVEN THOUGH YOU'RE SITTING STILL. SO YOU SEE............. EVEN YOU'RE SITTING STILL, THERE IS ALWAYS SOME MOTION, SOME MOVEMENT TAKING PLACE WITHIN YOUR BODY. AND BY THE SAME TOKEN, AS YOU LOOK AT YOUR HAND, YOU'RE GOING TO NOTICE SOME MOTION OF SOME SORT. YOU MAY NOTICE IT VISUALLY OR FEEL IT. A FINGER MIGHT TWITCH, A MUSCLE OR A NERVE. DIFFERENT PEOPLE, OF COURSE, HAVE DIFFERENT REACTIONS. OCCASIONALLY, THE HAND FEELS HEAVY. BUT USUALLY, AND THIS IS THE MOST INTERESTING THING YOU PROBABLY WILL BE INTERESTED IN SEEING. USUALLY THE HAND BEGINS TO FEEL LIGHT. IT'S GOING TO FEEL LIGHTER AND LIGHTER. SOON YOUR HAND WILL FEEL SO LIGHT THAT IT WILL WANT TO FLOAT UP. AS THOUGH MY HAND IS DRAWING IT UP. I WANT YOU TO LET YOUR HAND DO WHATEVER IT WANTS. DON'T HELP IT, DONT HINDER IT. AS IT BEGINS TO FEEL LIGHTER AND LIGHTER IT WILL START TO LIFT UP... IT PROBABLY WANTS TO LIFT UP NOW, IF IT FEELS LIKE IT JUST LET IT LIFT UP... LIGHTER AND LIGHTER, THINGS ARE MOVING NOW. THINK AS THOUGH MY HAND IS ACTUALLY DRAWING IT UP. IT GETS LIGHTER AND LIGHTER. [LOOK FOR ANY MOTION AND POINT IT OUT]. LIGHTER AND LIGHTER, STARTING TO LIFT UP NOW - HIGHER AND HIGHER. IMAGINE I AM TYING A STRING TO YOUR HAND AND IT IS ATTACHED TO A LARGE HELIUM FILLED BALLOON, FLOATING ABOVE YOUR HEAD. AS YOU KNOW, HELIUM IS LIGHTER THAN AIR SO IT RISES. IT MAKES YOUR HAND LIGHTER AND LIGHTER. HIGHER AND HIGHER... LET YOUR HAND START TO RISE HIGHER AND HIGHER. (KEEP GOING AND POINT OUT MOTION UNTIL HAND OFF LEG). [AFTER HAND OFF LEG]. AS YOU WATCH YOUR HAND RISE YOU BEGIN TO FEEL A SENSE OF RELAXATION. HIGHER AND HIGHER... ALL THE MUSCLES OF YOUR BODY, ESPECIALLY YOUR EYE MUSCLES WILL SOON FEEL SO RELAXED YOU'LL WANT TO CLOSE YOUR EYES. BUT PLEASE DO NOT CLOSE YOUR EYES UNTIL YOUR HAND TOUCHES YOUR FACE. EVEN THOUGH YOU WOULD LIKE TO

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Hypnosis Certification Training 1997 CLOSE YOUR EYES, DON'T DO IT UNTIL YOUR HAND TOUCHES YOUR FACE. YOUR HAND WILL RISE PROGRESSIVELY FASTER AND FASTER UNTIL IT TOUCHES YOUR FACE. THEN YOU CAN CLOSE YOUR EYES BECAUSE I KNOW YOU WOULD LIKE TO DO THAT, BUT PLEASE DO NOT CLOSE THEM UNTIL YOUR HAND TOUCHES YOUR FACE... LET YOUR HAND GO UP AND SOON IT WILL TOUCH YOUR FACE AND THEN YOU CAN CLOSE YOUR EYES AND GO INTO A DEEP, DEEP RELAXED STATE. IN ANOTHER FEW MOMENTS YOUR HAND WILL BE TOUCHING YOUR FACE. IT'S TOUCH YOUR FACE NOW. CLOSE YOUR EYES AND SINK INTO DEEP RELAXATION... AND NOW YOU CAN SLOWLY LOWER YOUR HAND AND ARM. AND AS YOUR HAND GOES DOWN SLOWLY, YOUR RELAXATION DEEPENS FURTHER. AND WHEN YOUR HAND TOUCHES YOUR LEG. YOU WILL GO TWICE AS DEEP. AS YOUR HAND GOES DOWN SLOWLY, YOU RELAX DEEPER AND DEEPER. ALMOST AS IF YOU'RE GOING TO SLEEP BUT OF COURSE YOU ARE NOT GOING TO SLEEP YOU KNOW THAT.JUST LET YOUR HAND DROP AND GO TWICE AS DEEP, EASING INTO RELAXATION.YOU'RE PERFECTLY AWARE OF ALL YOUR SURROUNDINGS. YOU MAY HEAR SOUNDS IN THE BACKGROUND BUT THEY WILL NOT BOTHER YOU IN ANY WAY. THE ONLY SOUND YOU WILL BE INTERESTED IN WILL BE THE SOUND OF MY VOICE.

[INSTALL PATTER] [EMERGING PROCEDURE]

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Progressive Relaxation (Disguised Technique) NOW THAT YOU FEEL SAFE AND COMFORTABLE I'D LIKE YOU TO CLOSE YOUR EYES AND KEEP THEM CLOSED UNTIL I TELL YOU TO OPEN THEM. JUST LET YOUR BODY RELAX....... NICE AND EASY....... NOW' I'D LIKE YOU TO TAKE A REAL GOOD DEEP BREATH AND HOLD IT........ NOW I'D LIKE YOU TO TAKE A REAL GOOD DEEP BREATH AND HOLD IT..... NOW LET IT OUT S-L-O-W-L-Y....... GOOD. NOW, I'D LIKE YOU TO TAKE ANOTHER REAL GOOD, DEEP BREATH..... FILL YOUR LUNGS UP REAL GOOD, AND LET IT OUT S-L-O-W-L-Y.... AGAIN - EXCELLENT. NOW, I'D LIKE YOU TO TAKE ONE MORE GOOD DEEP BREATH, FILL YOUR LUNGS UP REAL GOOD NOW ....... AND HOLD IT. NOW LET IT OUT SLOWLY AND ALREADY YOU CAN FEEL YOUR BODY STARTING TO RELAX. LET THAT WARM, WONDERFUL FEELING OF RELAXATION FLOW ALL THE WAY DOWN TO YOUR FEET..... FEEL YOUR FEET BECOMING VERY LOOSE AND LIMP. LET THIS RELAXATION FLOW UP INTO YOUR ANKLES. FROM YOUR ANKLES UP ALL THE LARGE AND SMALL MUSCLES OF YOUR LEGS TO YOUR KNEES ..... FROM YOUR KNEES NOW, INTO YOUR THIGHS... FROM YOUR THIGHS INTO YOUR HIPS. FROM YOU HIPS NOW, INTO YOUR ABDOMEN. WITH EACH BREATH YOUR EXHALE, JUST LET YOUR BODY GO DEEPER AND DEEPER RELAXED. JUST LET IT ALL GO, MORE AND MORE. LET THAT WARM WONDERFUL FEELING OF RELAXATION FLOW UP ALL THE MUSCLES OF YOUR BACK...... LET ALL THE MUSCLES OF YOUR BACK GO LOOSE AND LIMP, LIKE A RAG DOLL. LET THIS RELAXATION FLOW UP INTO YOUR SHOULDERS.... NOW OVER YOUR SHOULDERS AND DOWN INTO YOUR CHEST, ALL THE MUSCLES OF YOUR CHEST RELAXED, ALL THE MUSCLES AROUND YOUR CHEST RELAXED. JUST LET THAT WARM WONDERFUL FEELING OF RELAXATION FLOW DOWN YOUR ARMS TO YOUR ELBOWS FROM YOUR ELBOWS NOW TO YOUR WRISTS..... FROM YOUR WRISTS INTO YOUR HANDS, GOING OUT TO THE ENDS OF YOUR FINGERTIPS, GUIDING YOU DEEPER AND DEEPER RELAXED, JUST LETTING IT ALL GO MORE. LET THAT WARM, WONDERFUL FEELING OF RELAXATION FLOW UP ALL THE MUSCLES OF YOUR NECK..... LET ALL THE MUSCLES OF YOUR NECK GO LOOSE AND LIMP ...... LET THIS RELAXATION FLOW UP INTO YOUR HEAD. NOW OVER YOUR HEAD AND DOWN INTO YOUR BROW. ALL THE MUSCLES OF YOUR EYES RELAXED, ALL THE MUSCLES AROUND YOUR EYES RELAXED... ALL THE MUSCLES OF YOUR CHEEKS RELAXED... ALL THE MUSCLES OF YOUR CHIN RELAXED.

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Hypnosis Certification Training 1997 NOW IF YOUR TEETH ARE CLENCHED, JUST UNCLENCH THEM NOW, AND LET YOUR JAW SAG, JUST LET IT ALL GO, MORE AND MORE ....... DEEPER AND DEEPER RELAXED. NOW, I'M GOING TO COUNT FROM THREE DOWN TO ONE, ON EACH COUNT JUST ALLOW YOURSELF, LET YOURSELF GO DEEPER AND DEEPER RELAXED. THREE. GOING DEEPER AND DEEPER RELAXED. - TWO ... ONE................. SO DEEP, SO COMFORTABLE, SO RELAXED, JUST LETTING YOURSELF GO. MORE AND MORE. OUTSIDE NOISES WILL NOT DISTURB YOU IN ANY WAY. IN FACT ANY YOU MIGHT HEAR WILL HELP TO GUIDE YOU DEEPER INTO RELAXATION. ALWAYS LETTING GO. ... MORE AND MORE. LOOSE AND LIMP. NOW, I'M, GOING TO COUNT FROM 5 DOWN TO 1, ON EACH COUNT LET THE RELAXATION DOUBLE THROUGH YOUR WHOLE BODY. ... 5. RELAXATION STARTING TO DOUBLE.. 4.... RELAXATION DOUBLING MORE AND MORE.... 3 VERY COMFORTABLE.... VERY RELAXED.... 2 RELAXATION NOW ALMOST DOUBLE IN YOUR BODY.... 1 .... RELAXATION NOW HAS DOUBLED IN YOUR BODY EVERY NERVE, EVERY TISSUE, EVERY FIBRE DOUBLED IN ITS RELAXATION, MORE AND MORE, DEEPER DOWN, LETTING GO, FURTHER AND FURTHER. NOW I'M, GOING TO COUNT FROM 5 DOWN TO 1 AGAIN. ON EACH COUNT YOU'LL TRIPLE THE RELAXATION IN YOUR BODY... 5..... RELAXATION STARTING TO TRIPLE...... 4.......RELAXATION TRIPLING MORE AND MORE...... 3.... VERY COMFORTABLE, VERY RELAXED.... 2 RELAXATION ALMOST TRIPLE IN YOUR BODY... 1..... RELAXATION AS TRIPLED IN YOUR BODY... EVERY NERVE, EVERY TISSUE, EVERY FIBRE TRIPLING IN ITS RELAXATION, JUST REALLY LETTING GO. UNWINDING, LOOSENING UP, LIMP, VERY RELAXED. ALL DISCOMFORTS NOW COMPLETELY GONE FROM THE BODY. ALL YOUR ORGANS ARE FUNCTIONING PERFECTLY, ALL YOUR GLANDS ARE FUNCTIONING PERFECTLY. JUST LETTING YOURSELF GO, MORE AND MORE, .... YOU WILL ALWAYS BE AWARE OF YOUR SURROUNDINGS. YOU MAY HEAR SOUNDS IN THE BACKGROUND BUT THOSE SOUNDS WILL NOT DISTURB YOU IN ANY WAY. THE ONLY SOUND YOU WILL BE INTERESTED IN IS THE SOUND OF MY VOICE AND THE SOUND OF MY VOICE ACTUALLY HELPS YOU TO RELAX EVEN MORE. [MENTAL RELAXATION - SAFE SPACE - INSTALL PATTER - EMERGE]

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The Dave Elman Induction Now take a long deep breath and hold it for a few seconds. As you exhale this breath, allow your eyes to close and let go of the surface tension in your body. Just let your body relax as much as possible right now. Now, place your awareness on your eye muscles and relax the muscles around eyes to the point they just won’t work. When you are sure they’re so relaxed that as long as you hold on to this relaxation, they just won’t work, test them to make sure they just won’t work. (If they open when the person tests them say:) “No, you’re testing them to make sure that they will work. Allow them to relax to the point that they just won’t work. When you’re sure they won’t work, hold on to that relaxation and test them to make sure THEY WON’T WORK.” Now, we can deepen this relaxation tremendously and here’s how we’ll do it. In a moment I’ll ask you to open and then close your eyes. When you close your eyes that’s your signal to let this feeling of relaxation become 10 times deeper. All you have to do is want it to happen and you can make it happen very easily. Ok, now, open your eyes...now close your eyes and feel that relaxation flowing through your entire body, taking you much deeper. Use your wonderful imagination and imagine your whole body is covered and wrapped in a warm blanket of relaxation. Now, we can deepen this relaxation much more. In a moment, I’m going to have you open and close your eyes one more time. Again, when you close your eyes, double the relaxation you now have. Make it become twice as deep. Ok, now once more, open your eyes...close your eyes and double your relaxation...good. Let every muscle in your body become so relaxed that as long as you hold on to this quality of relaxation, every muscle in your body will not work. In a moment, I’m going to have you open and close your eyes one more time. Again, when you close your eyes, double the relaxation you now have. Make it become twice as deep. Ok, now, once more, open your eyes...close your eyes and double your relaxation...good. Let every muscle in your body become so relaxed that as long as you hold on to this quality of relaxation, every muscle of your body will not work. [Insert SOUND PATTER here] In a moment, I’m going to life your [left or right] hand by the wrist, just a few inches, and drop it. If you have followed my instructions up to this point, that hand will be so relaxed it will be just as loose and limp as a wet dish cloth, and will simply plop down. Now, don’t try to help me. If you help me, you have to remove relaxation. Let me do all the lifting so that when I release it, it just plops down and you’ll allow yourself to go much deeper. (If subject helps to lift hand, say:) “No, no let me do all the lifting, don’t help me. Let it be heavy. Don’t help me. You’ll feel it when you have it.” Now, that’s complete physical relaxation. I want you to know that there are two ways a person can relax. You can relax physically and you can relax mentally. You already proved that you can relax physically, now let me show you how to relax mentally. In a moment, I’ll ask you to begin slowly counting backward, out loud, from 100. Now, here’s the secret to mental relaxation, with each number you say, double your mental relaxation. With each number you say, let your Empowerment Concepts

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Hypnosis Certification Training 1997 mind become twice as relaxed. Now if you do this, by the time you reach the number 98, or maybe even sooner, your mind will have become so relaxed, you will have actually relaxed all the rest of the numbers that would have come after 98, right out of your mind, there just won’t be any more numbers. Now, you have to do this, I can’t do it for you. Those numbers will leave if you WILL them away. Now start with the idea that you WILL make that happen and you can easily dispell them from your mind. Now, say the first number, 100, and double your mental relaxation. [Client says: “100”] Now double that mental relaxation, let those numbers already start to fade. [Client says: “99”] Double your mental relaxation. Start to make those numbers leave. They’ll go away if you will them away. [Client says: “98”] Now, they’ll be gone. Dispell them. Banish them. Make it happen. You can do it, I can’t do it for you. Push them out. Make it happen ! ARE THEY ALL GONE ?

[SAFE SPACE - INSTALL PATTER - EMERGE]

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Walter Sichort (1978) Progressive Relaxation (Ultra Depth) Speak slowly, pause between instructions. If subject is sitting, make sure both feet are flat on the floor, arms loosely on the lap, no chewing gum or hard candy in the mouth. Have veryone sit or lie as comfortably as they can. Tell them, when you have them close their eyes, that they will keep their eyes closed until you tell them to open them. AT NO TIME DO YOU SAY “SLEEP”, THROUGHOUT THE PROGRESSIVE. Upon awakening, you DO NOT SAY “I WILL AWAKEN YOU”. (This is a camouflage method of hypnosis). When you explain relaxation, you NEVER MENTION HYPNOSIS. **************** [START] So now that you’re safe and comfortable in a very safe comfortable position ... I want you to close your eyes ... keep them closed ...until I ask you to open them. [Pause]. I want you to take a very good, deep breath, fill your lungs up really good and let it out slowly. [Pause]. Very good. Now I want you to take another really good deep breath, fill your lungs up really good and let this out slowly also. [Pause]. Excellent ... Now I want you to take one more good deep breath. Fill your lungs up really good, and then hold it. [Pause]. Now let it out slowly and already you can feel your body starting to relax. Now let this wonderful feeling of relaxation flow all the way down to your feet. [Pause]. Feel your feet becoming very comfortable and very relaxed ... Now if you don’t feel it right awayin your feet, don’t let it disturb you because it will gradually catch up to you. [Pause]. Now let this wonderful flow of relaxation flow from your feet into your ankles. [Pause]. From your ankles going up all the large and small muscles of your legs to your knees. [Pause]. Such a wonderful comfortable feeling and with every breath you exhale, your body just keeps on relaxing deeper and deeper relaxed. Now let this wonderful flow of relaxation flow from your knees ... into your thighs ... from your thighs ... into your hips ... from your hips into your abdomen ... and with every breath that you exhale ... your body just keeps on relaxing deeper and deeper relaxed. [Pause]. Now let this wonderful flow of relaxation flow up the large and small muscles of your back ... Let all the back muscles go loose and limp like a rag doll. [Pause]. Let this relaxation flow up into your shoulders ... now over your shoulders ... and down into your chest ... such a wonderful comfortable feeling ... and with every breath that you exhale your body just keeps on relaxing ... deeper and deeper relaxed. Now let this wonderful flow of relaxation flow down the muscles of your arms to your elbows ... from your elbows your your wrist ... from your wrist into your hands ... right on out to the ends of your fingertips. [Pause]. Such a wonderful comfortable feeling ... and with every breath you exhale your body just keeps on relaxing deeper and deeper relaxed. [Pause]. Now let this wonderful flow of relaxation flow up all the large and small muscles of your neck ... coming up into your head ... over your head ... and down into your brow ... all the muscles of your eyes relaxing ... all the muscles around your eyes relaxing ... all the muscles of your cheeks relaxing ... all the muscles of your chin relaxing ... such a wonderful comfortable feeling ... and with every breath you exhale, your body just keeps on relaxing deeper and deeper relaxed. Now if your teeth are clenched just unclench your teeth and your body relaxes much more ... just let your jaw sag ... feel all that tension go out of your facial mucle. [Pause]. Now as I count from three down to one, with each and every count just allow your body to relax much deeper. [Pause]. Three, more and more relaxed. [Pause]. Two, more and more relaxed. [Pause]. One, very deep very comfortable, very relaxed ...

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Hypnosis Certification Training 1997 The sound of my voice guides you deeper into relaxtion ... following my suggestions guides you deeper into relaxation ... and the deeper you go into relaxation the better you feel ... and the better you feel the more and more your body relaxes ... with just terrific good marvelous wonderful feelings going through your body and very happy contented thoughts going through your mind ... relax ... and let yourself go ... relax ... and let yourself go ... Now I want you to relax still to a deeper state of relaxation, much more relaxed ... So again I will count from five down to one ... As I count from five down to one, your body will double the relaxation you have now automatically. [Pause]. Five, relaxation starting to double, [Pause] four, relaxation doubling more and more, [Pause] three, very comfortable, very relaxed, [Pause] two, relaxation now has doubled in your body from the top of your head to the tip of your toes. Every fibre, every tissue, every organ, every gland, every minute part of your body has doubled its relaxation ... You feel great ... You feel wonderful ... You feel fine ... with just terrific feelings going through your body and contented happy thoughts going through your mind ... Relax ... and let yourself go ... Relax ... and let yourself go. Now I want you to relax still to a deeper state of relaxation, much more relaxed ... So again I will count from five down to one ... and this time your body will triple the relaxation you have right now automatically. [Pause]. Five, relaxation starting to triple, [Pause] four, relaxation tripling more and more, [Pause] three, very comfortable, very relaxed, [Pause] two, relaxation now has tripled in your body from the top of your head to the tip of your toes. Every fibre, every tissue, every organ, every gland, every minute part of your body has tripled its relaxation ... You feel great ... You feel wonderful ... You feel fine ... with just terrific feelings going through your body and contented happy thoughts going through your mind ... Relax ... and let yourself go ... Relax ... and let yourself go... all tension going from your body ... All discomfort going from your body ... All of your organs functioning normally ... All of your glands functioning normally. All your body tissues are mending as the blood runs freely through all your arteries ... sending all the proper healing to each and every minute part of your body and the proper oxygen to your brain ... removing all impurities and letting your body become healthy, normal ... as God intended ... Relax ... and let yourself go. Now I want you to relax still to a much more relaxed state ... So again I will count ... but this time from ten down to one ... As I count from ten down to one ... your your conscious mind will relax as your body is relaxed and your body will double the relaxtion it has at that time on each and every count ... Ten, your mind is as relaxed as the body is relaxed and the body is doubling its relaxation at this time ... Nine, mind relaxed as the body relaxes and the body is doubling its relaxation again at this time ... Eight ... mind relaxed as the body’s relaxed and the body again doubling the relaxation it has at this time ... Seven ... the same thing ... Six ... keep right on going ... Five ... Four ... Three ... Two ... One ... mind as relaxed as the body’s relaxed and your body has doubled its relaxation many times over ... You feel great, you feel wonderful, you feel fine ... with just terrific feelings going through your body and very happy contented thoughts going through your mind ... relax ... and let yourself go ... relax ... and let yourself go. By relaxation, I mean ... the absence of all contractions ... your body is loose and limp and motionless ... your muscles offering no resistence, just as if you were a rag doll ... complete relaxation means ... the complete absence of all movements ... It means the complete absence of holding any part of your body rigid ... so as you’re laying completely relaxed ... all the muscles attached to your bones are limp ... if you make any volunteer movement ... you can only do so by contracting some muscles or group of muscles ... but when you allow these muscles to become completely relaxed ... your nerves to and from these muscles carry no messages ... your nerves are completely inactive ... and it is certain that complete relaxation ... in any set of nerves means simply

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Hypnosis Certification Training 1997 zero activity in these nerves ... it is physically impossible for you to be nervous ... in any part of your body ... when in that part you allow it to be completely relaxed ...you’re very calm and peaceful ... you’re feeling better than you have felt for a long, long time ... outside noises will not distract you ... so any you might hear ... may only assist you in relaxing more and more deeply ... so deeply will you relax ... that you can actually feel ... a physical experience ... and you’re feeling yourself resting ... deeper and deeper ... enjoying all the wonderful feelings of complete relaxation ... your relaxation becoming so intense ... so much so ... that should you try to resist ... consciously or subconsciously ... the more relaxed your body will grow automatically ... and as this peacefulness you feel in your mind ... and the calmness you’re experiencing throughout your body ... becomes stronger and stronger ... you will continue to relax ... even more soundly ... and more deeply ... with every breath you exhale ... enjoying all the sensations ... allowing yourself to relax without any effort what-soever ... your whole body just giving in, letting go ... loose ... limp ... and relaxed ... very loose ... very limp ... and very relaxed. The sound of my voice keeps guiding you deeper into relaxation ... following my suggestions keeps guiding you into deeper relaxation ... and the more and more you allow your body to relax the better you feel ... and the better you feel ... the more and more your body will relax ... with just terrific, good, beautiful thoughts going through your mind ... relax ... and let yourself go ... relax ... and let yourself go. Now I want you to relax to a much deeper state of relaxation ... way on down ... thousands of times deeper that you are now automatically ... your subconscious mind will take you down ... so consciously don’t even think about it ... And I have three more levels of relaxation for you to go into ... level ... A ... B ... C ... Now to accomplish these levels ... you must know it will work ... let it work ... you can feel it working ... feel it working as if you are going down an elevator to deeper levels at all times ... So now I want you to go from where you are to level A ... thousands of times deeper ... You know it will work ... let it work ... feel it working ... feel yourself sinking down to level A as if you’re going down an elevator ... Very good ... Now I want you to go from level A to level B ... again you know it will work ... let it work ... feel it work as if you’re going down an elevator from level A to level B, thousands of times deeper, automatically going down ... very good ... Now I want you to go from level B to level C ... you know it will work ... let it work ... feel it working ... feel yourself sinking down thousands of times deeper to level C ... Very good. Now I want you to try lift your right leg [Pause]... stop trying ... let your body go deeper yet [Pause] ... I want you to try and lift your left leg [Pause] ... stop trying ... let your body still go deeper ... I want you to try and lift your right arm [Pause] ... stop trying ... let your body still go deeper [Pause] ... all the way down to the very bottom of relaxation ... where you will be so peaceful, happy and content using the potential of mind and body that has been given to you to use. [SAFE SPACE & INSTALL PATTER] EMERGENCE (option: count from 1 to 5): Now, as I count from one to three ... just open your eyes ... and you’ll feel marvelous and wonderful, and fine, refreshed, happy, contented, rejuvenated, all tension and discomfort going completely ... your body feeling terrific ... one ... gradually coming up ... two ... coming up more and more ... three ... eyes open, feeling marvelous, wonderful and fine in every way ... How do you feel ?

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Grey Room Induction This is an excellent induction that assists in the purging of the client's subconscious mind of negative thoughts and emotions. AFTER PHYSICAL RELAXATION HAS BEEN DONE: Now that you are completely relaxed, remaining comfortable, well, safe and deeply relaxed, I want you to see feel or imagine yourself in a comfortable, small and very pleasant grey walled room. You are completely free of any feelings of claustrophobia as you feel safe and welcome in this grey walled room. This room is small, round and has grey walls and it’s ceiling is domed, the way an igloo might appear inside. You now sense that this grey walled room is actually your own subconscious mind.... the core of your being.... the very center of who you are. You notice that clinging to the grey walls of this room.... all over the grey walls.... are bits of what appear to be paper. Some are red.... some are white. Moving closer to the wall, now, you sense that stored on the red bits of what appear to be paper, are all your negative thoughts, emotions and feeling from your past. They could be your fears, your doubts, your guilt, your hatred, your anxiety, any rejection you feel and your unhappiness!.... ALL the negative, depressing, inhibiting, defeating thoughts and emotions from your past and all of these are stored in this room of your subconscious mind, on these, what appear to be, little bits of red paper. Now notice that on the white bits of what appear to be paper are all the lovely, happy, positive and uplifting thoughts and emotions. Feelings like love, peace, joy, happiness, self confidence, self love, acceptance, success, contentment and forgiveness of self. All of these are beautiful, uplifting, positive thoughts and emotions and they are all stored on what appear to be bits of white paper. Now become aware of this: You can pull these red bits of what appear to be paper down from the wall and you can crumple them in your hands until your hands are full and then you can take them over to where a hole about 20 centimeters in diameter which has opened in the centre of the floor and you can pour them through that hole and watch them dissipate into nothingness so that these thoughts and emotions can never get back in again. You can sense that, with four or five trips, gathering down handfuls and carrying them to the hole and pouring them through, you can clean all of your negative thoughts and emotions from your inner self. So now, at the count of one, I want you to start working at pulling all the what appear to be red pieces of paper off the wall. I will sit quietly and wait until you are finished . When you are through, simply signal to me by raising your index finger on your right hand and I will say “thank you”

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Hypnosis Certification Training 1997 Now, start at the count of ONE, and clean it up..... three .... two.... ONE.” Be patient and wait as some clients can take several minutes. If you see any obvious signs of struggle or distress simply ask....” What is going on?” More often than not the response will be “It won’t come down!” H: “What won’t come down?” Get them to identify which emotion will not come down. Client: “ Hate!” H: ” At the count of three, hate will stop resisting you and with a slight pull, it WILL come off the wall. One.....Two.... THREE......” [snap your finger quietly]. At this point, if the client still shows signs of struggle, seems still unable to get the piece to come loose, simply suggest that he remember any that he doesn’t remove and to simply leave them and go on to the other emotions . Ask you client to signal you when they are complete and ave removed as many as they could. Explain that they can always come back to the stubborn emotions at a later date. We have found that identifying the stubborn emotions is usually a good launching point for therapy or future work with the client. When the client signals that they are complete , say “Thank you..... good job!” Now [client’s name], notice that the white bits... the good positive, energizing, helpful thoughts and emotions are actually expanding on the wall. They are enlarging and filling in the space left by the negative and unhappy emotions.... growing and expanding.... filling in all the vacant spaces left by those ugly emotions and thoughts. And now they have filled the entire wall and ceiling with wonderful positive white. Allow yourself to feel the resurgence of positive energy and now, within yourself, notice that the hole in the floor has closed itself and the entire room is bathed in this amazing white energy that is beautiful, pure and uplifting. Take in a long deep breath and inhale the purity.... the strength.... the self confidence... the love.... the peace.... the assurance and the freedom of this wonderful atmosphere. FEEL IT entering the very core of your being!” From this moment forward, moment by moment, minute by minute, hour by hour and day by day, your thoughts and emotions in your subconscious mind will remain positive, calm and stable and will remain this way, just as you feel right now”. Brief pause At the count of three, this entire scene will disappear however the effects will remain with you. One.... two .... three. The scene disappears and you are beautifully relaxed, asleep..... resting beautifully, safe, centered and calm.” From this point forward either proceed with your hypnotic suggestion or simply emerge the client. This induction is beneficial to all your clients, however we suggest that direct subconscious questioning be carried out BEFORE this type of purge takes place. This technique will prove beneficial if repeated for two to four sessions. Please note: In the event where a client cannot get one or more of the red pieces of paper off the wall two facts are apparent: 1] That particular emotion is either the cause of the problem or is directly related. 2] Repeated sessions will, finally be successful in removing it.

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Safe Space (The Shield of Protection) This is to be used when you suspect or know that the client will more than likely experience some form of abreaction like deep sadness, fear, rage or any other negative emotional state. We are now going to relax your mind as well as your body..... agree to give yourself this time to relax your mind and body. Agree to give yourself this time to relax your mind...... to relax your body. I’m going to count backwards from 10 to 1. As I do so, I want you to imagine or visualize yourself descending a beautiful staircase. As you descend this staircase release all your doubts, fears, guilt, hate and anger. You will leave all these negative thoughts, feelings and emotions on the stairs, behind you as you descend. When I reach 1 you will be at the bottom of this beautiful staircase and you will be surrounded in a shield of white light. The soft .... white... light that contains all color.It appears much like a spotlight on a dark stage. This light is your shield of protection. Now take a deep breath.... and as you exhale begin descending this beautiful staircase. 10.... 9....8..... going deeper and deeper within. The deeper you go the more beauty you see. 7.....6.....5...... more and more relaxed both in body and mind. Releasing all your fear, all your doubt, all your guilt, all your hate, all your hurt and all your anger. Leaving them on the staircase as you descend. 4.... 3.... 2.... and 1. You are standing at the bottom of the beautiful staircase surrounded in your shield of protective light. All the things that normally upset you, make you nervous or hurt your feelings are no longer there because of your shield of protection. If any negative emotion appears to you, use your shield of protective light to illuminate them so you can see them clearly. By casting your protective light on them, you are able to see them objectively and deal with them in a positive and constructive manner, in a way to serves you and is to your advantage. From this point forward, know that your shield of protection is with you 24 hours a day, every day and you can use this shield of protection at any time when you feel yourself becoming nervous or upset, angry or irritable. All you need to do is simply stop whatever it is you are doing, take in a couple of deep breaths and simply know that your shield is with you. You will immediately begin to feel a calmness coming over you. You will see the things that are going on around you in a much clearer way and as a result, you will be able to see them objectively and will be able to deal with them in a more positive way. Your shield neutralizes any and all negativity. The things that are negative to you will be neutralized by your shield. Whenever those things come from around you or from within you, your shield will neutralize them. You will be able to deal with them in a more positive way .... in a way that is to your advantage.This shield is a tool for you to use.... use your shield. All you need to do is stop for a few moments, take a deep breath and simply acknowledge that your shield is with you and it will work for you. Now I want you to draw in a ray of pink light, into your shield. This is the pink light of peace, tranquility and love. The pink light appears like a mist within your shield and the pink mist makes you feel totally protected and calm and as you inhale, inhale the pink mist and feel the calmness it brings into your inner peace. Know that this inner peace and calm are truly who you are at your core and from this inner peace and calm will come the strength to attain anything you desire. If at any time, now or in the future, for any reason, you find yourself becoming nervous, irritable, angry , upset or uncomfortable in any way... stop what you are doing, take a deep breath and recognize that your shield of protection is there and you will feel calm and relaxed. You will feel the inner peace and calm and know that from that inner peace and calm comes the strength to attain anything you desire..... anything .... you ....desire !” [INSTALL PATTER & EMERGE]

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Emerging from Induction (NOTE: At this point the client is at his/her most relaxed. Thus it is an ideal time to ANCHOR this relaxed state).

IN A MOMENT, I'M GOING TO COUNT FROM ONE UP TO THREE. AT THE COUNT OF THREE, AND NOT BEFORE, YOU WILL BEGIN TO COUNT FIVE DEEP BREATHES AT YOUR OWN SPEED AND TIME. THEN YOU WILL OPEN YOUR EYES AND BECOME FULLY ALERT, TOTALLY REFRESHED, FEELING WONDERFUL AND MARVELLOUS IN EVERY WAY. ONE, SLOWLY, EASILY AND GENTLY FEEL YOURSELF COMING BACK TO YOUR FULL AWARENESS. AT THE COUNT OF TWO, YOU'RE STILL RELAXED AND CALM, BUT A WONDERFUL FEELING OF NEW ENERGY FLOWS THROUGHOUT YOUR MIND AND BODY AND YOUR EYES UNDER YOUR EYELIDS, FEEL AS IF THEY ARE CLEARING, AS IF THEY ARE BEING BATHED IN A COOL MOUNTAIN STREAM. ON THE NEXT COUNT, YOU WILL BEGIN TO COUNT FIVE BREATHES, AT YOUR OWN TIME AND SPEED. THEN YOU WILL OPEN YOUR EYES, FEELING FULLY ALERT, FEELING WONDERFUL AND MARVELLOUS IN EVERY WAY. GET READY NOW. ALL RIGHT, NUMBER THREE - BEGIN TO COUNT FIVE BREATHES AT YOUR OWN SPEED AND TIME, THEN OPEN YOUR EYES, FEELING FULLY ALERT, AND NOTICE HOW GOOD YOU FEEL. HOW DO YOU FEEL ? (COMMENCE GROUNDING)

Grounding Grounding refers to the process of ensuring that the client is fully aware and in contact with present time and her/his present-time surroundings. 1. If the client is disoriented after emerging, tell them to close their eyes again. Then ask them to take 5 deep breathes at their own time, and when they feel ready, to open their eyes. 2. If they state that they can not “wake up properly” - a highly unusual occurrence - it is important to draw their attention to their present surroundings - touch objects, look at colours, walk barefoot on grass, wash their face, drink water - and not to talk about the session itself until they are firmly in present time. Take as long as necessary to bring them to present time. This may happen on those rare occassions when the client has entered Level 5 trance, and emerged too rapidly. Never rush the emergence. 3. Sometimes a client appears groggy and has a dull headache. They have been emerged too rapidly. Ask them to close their eyes again, induce a light trance, and then slowly re-emerge them.

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REMOVING BLOCKS TO HYPNOSIS Some hypnotists place blocks in their client’s subconscious mind in order to keep the client coming back to them. This is highly unethical yet it happens and more frequently than most of us realize. Here is a method we have found effective in removing the block permanently. Once the client is physically and mentally relaxed and you have created a safe place for them to go, use words to the following effect: “Alright [name], I want you to take a long deep breath and exhale....... very good! Now that you are completely relaxed and comfortable I want you to see a lovely garden, full of flowers and trees and grass. It is a beautiful place and you feel very comfortable and safe. Enter this garden. Smell the aromas and perhaps touch a flower that you are attracted to. Very good. Now you will notice that to your right is a gravel path. I want you to walk down that path until you come to a very large tree. Under this tree you will see a large basket with a multi coloured balloon attached to it. Can you make that out? Good, now I want you to climb into the basket, which is large enough for you to sit in quite comfortably. Notice that the balloon is lifting off of the ground and beginning to float upwards. You are perfectly safe and danger is nowhere in your reality. What a peaceful feeling as you float up above the trees. Notice how calm you are feeling. As you continue to float upwards, you will find a paper and pencil in the basket next to you. On this piece of paper, write down any block or mental restriction that may have been placed in your subconscious mind by someone who wants to control you when you are in an induced state. You may also wish to include this person’s name or names on the piece of paper. Write down as much of what they place in your mind. Do it now. [ pause] Good. Now I want you to crumple up the piece of paper and throw it over the side of the basket. Let that thought and any attachment to it go. Simply release this block and from this point forward nobody else will ever be able to place a suggestion into your mind that you do not agree with and have given your expressed permission for such a block to be placed in your subconscious mind. From this point forward nobody will be able to place any kind of mental block that you do not agree to. Now feel yourself floating back towards the beautiful garden. Feel the basket with you in it coming to rest on the ground. See yourself climbing out of the basket and walking back up the gravel path and entering your safe place.” Then continue with the session or emerge the client.

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How to Create a Hypnosis Patter Most people are content to utilise patters written by other people, for clients they have never met. Usually, this is not an issue. However, as you will see when you read the patters which follow in the next several pages, a standard patter can be written in an outdated style, with terms and words which are unfamiliar to yourself and your client, or contain suggestions which are absurd or contrary to the client’s beliefs. Rule 1: Never use someone else’s patter until you have read it and phrased it in terms, concepts and words that are natural for YOU. Rule 2: Once you have ‘owned’ or personalised an existing patter, CONSULT THE CLIENT regarding the suggestions and images contained in it. The client may find certain words or suggestions unpalatable, or certain images scary or uncomfortable. To create a new patter from scratch requires some work, and careful thought and research regarding the issue you wish to focus upon. The following suggestions are useful to consider: 1. What is the actual problem ? This may not be the presenting or apparent problem. Try to determine the core of the issue. Perhaps read a few books on the subject, to get a clearer perspective on the issue. Ask the client what their perspective and feelings are regarding the cause of the issue. Try and figure out the “HOW” of the problem. Slow the behaviour/thought/feeling down, piece by piece - this-then-that happens - and then devise alternatives to change that process. 2. Ask: What drives or sets the problem off ? Think of ways to switch the activator off, or to find and alternative and more workable/pleasant reaction to the activator. 3. If the issue concerns a behaviour or emotion or thought which the client seeks to stop or get rid off, ensure that you install suggestions regarding what they will GAIN or HAVE in it’s place. This is a powerful motivator. A person will rarely give something up - no matter how unpleasant - unless the feel thay have something equally powerful or compelling to gain or replace it with. Make the DESIRED behaviour, thought or emotion bright, attractive, close, and attainable. 4. Try to phrase suggestions in a positive sense: Eg: Instead of emphasising what must stop, suggest what must start happening; Instead of pain or disease being removed, suggest what must be created or exist. 5. Compounding: Regardless of how boring it may be, always repeat the same suggestion over and over again. You can never repeat a suggestion too many times, nor can you suggest something from too many perspectives - what you will feel, see, hear; what others will see, hear and feel. 6. Keep suggestions simple and direct, not abstract. Focus on subconscious qualities, such as images, sounds, feelings. 7. Always include the Sound and Violence Patters. 8. Include deepening techniques (eg: counting down). 9. Include anchors for desired states. 10. Include Safe Space, physical relaxation, and mental relaxation, and emergence.

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Exercise: Analysis of a patter (Asthma) 1. Read the following hypnosis patter (Asthma). 2. Underline all the “explanation” parts of the patter - ie., the writer’s ideas or theories about what causes asthma. 3. Underline all the suggestions. 4. Make a careful note of how the writer has created a suggestion to revolve around each possible cause of asthma. See if you can link the principle to the suggestion. 5. Count the number of times each specific suggestion is stated. 6. Re-write the Asthma patter. Include positive alternative thoughts, feelings and behaviour patterns to replace the undesired ones. Compound the suggestions several times. Re-write any words or phrases which you find artificial or odd.

Exercise: Select and Apply a Patter with a Client 1. Pair off with a partner. 2. They select a patter from those included in this manual, which they feel they could benefit from. 3. You both read through the patter, noting and changing any words and suggestions which are strange to either of you, and which either of you find unpalatable. 4. Conduct a full Hypnosis session: Discuss anchors to be used, relaxation images, etc Establish rapport etc Relaxation, Sound/Violence Patters, Safe Space Do selected patter Anchor where appropriate Emerge Grounding 5. Swap roles.

At-home exercise (recommended, not required): Write a Stop Smoking Patter Often, the bread-and-butter of a Hypnotist’s practice is weight loss, stress, and stop smoking. Do some research on smoking, read a few patters, and design your own.

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ASTHMA NOW, FOR YEARS YOU'VE BEEN STRICKEN WITH A DISEASE WHICH YOU HAVE LABELLED ASTHMA. THE INTERESTING PART ABOUT ASTHMA IS THAT ASTHMA REALLY IS NOT A DISEASE AT ALL.

ASTHMA IS MERELY THE SYMPTOM. ASTHMA IS CAUSED BY THE

CONSTRICTION OF THE BRONCHI AND THIS IN TURN CAUSED BY LITTLE MESSAGES THAT ARE SENT FROM THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND FROM THE THALAMUS AREA OF THE BRAIN DOWN TO THE MUSCLES THAT SURROUND THE BRONCHI AND THEY TELL THE MUSCLES TO CONSTRICT.

THE MUSCLES CONSTRICT, THE BRONCHI CONSTRICT, AND THE

BRONCHIALS CONSTRICT AND PRETTY SOON THE INDIVIDUAL HAS DIFFICULTY BREATHING OUT.

USUALLY A PERSON WITH A SYMPTOM OF ASTHMA CAN BREATHE IN, BUT WHEN THEY BREATHE OUT THEY WHEEZE, THEY MAKE A NOISE. THIS NOISE WAS CALLED, OR NAMED BY FREUD AS A CRY FOR HELP. FREQUENTLY, THE ASTHMATIC WHEEZE IS JUST THAT- A CRY FOR HELP. IT REPRESENTS THE TIME IN AN INDIVIDUAL'S LIFE IN WHICH THEY WERE VERY, VERY FRIGHTENED, SO FRIGHTENED THEY DON'T WANT TO REMEMBER THAT INCIDENT AT ALL. THEY CRIED OUT FOR HELP WHEN THEY WERE REALLY GOING TO DIE OR SOMETHING TERRIBLE WAS GOING TO HAPPEN AND THEY CRIED OUT FOR HELP AND NOBODY CAME.

WELL, THEY LIVED THROUGH THE INCIDENT ALRIGHT, BUT IN THE PROCESS, THEY REPRESSED INTO THE DEEPEST PART OF THEIR SUBCONSCIOUS MIND THIS INCIDENT, THIS INCIDENT WHERE THERE WAS A CRY FOR HELP.

SOMETIMES, THIS HAPPENS IN AN

OPERATION; SOMETIMES IT HAPPENS AT THE TIME OF WAR. IT CAN HAPPEN ALMOST ANYTIME, BUT IT'S GENERALLY A TIME WHERE THE INDIVIDUAL FEELS VERY, VERY THREATENED, VERY

VERY

THREATENED.

THEY CRY FOR HELP AND NO ONE IS

ANSWERING THAT CRY. AND SO THEY KEEP RIGHT ON CRYING FOR HELP BY WHEEZING BECAUSE THE WHEEZE IS MERELY A SYMPTOM OF THE UNDERLYING PROBLEMS, STILL GIVING RISE, STILL GIVING RISE TO NERVOUS ENERGY THAT GOES DOWN THE NERVES TO THE MUSCLES AND KEEPS THE BRONCHI AND BRONCHIAL CONSTRICTED.

NOW, THERE IS STILL ANOTHER REASON FOR THIS CRY FOR HELP BECAUSE THIS CRY FOR HELP IS REASSURING TO THE PATIENT EVEN THOUGH NO HELP HAS COME WHERE IF NOTHING ELSE, IF NOTHING ELSE, IT DOES REMIND THE PATIENT OF ONE THING, IT

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Hypnosis Certification Training 1997 REMINDS THE PATIENT OF ONE THING, THAT IS THAT THE PATIENT IS STILL ALIVE. AFTER ALL, IF HE CAN HEAR HIMSELF BREATHE, HE KNOWS HE'S BREATHING AND HE KNOWS HE'S STILL ALIVE.

IT HAS STILL A THIRD FUNCTION THAT THIRD FUNCTION IS THIS:

IT PUNISHES THE

PATIENT SO THAT IF THE PATIENT FEELS GUILTY IN ANY WAY ABOUT THE INCIDENT THAT HAPPENED, IT SERVES AS A MEANS OF SELF-PUNISHMENT. AND SO, THEREFORE, WE HAVE THREE THINGS THAT THE ASTHMATIC'S WHEEZE DOES DO FOR THE PATIENT.

IT

SUMMONS HELP IN A SITUATION WHERE HELP SEEMS TO BE DESPERATELY NEEDED; IT RE-ASSURES THE PATIENT THAT HE IS STILL BREATHING BECAUSE HE CAN HEAR HIMSELF BREATH, AND IT PUNISHES THE PATIENT IN CASE THE PATIENT HAS GUILT FEELINGS ABOUT THE SITUATION. NOW, ONE OR MORE OF THESE REASONS APPLIES TO YOU. ONLY THE DEEPEST PART OF YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS KNOWS EXACTLY HOW MUCH EACH ONE OF THESE REASONS APPLIES TO YOU FOR YOU HAVE REPRESSED INTO THAT SUBCONSCIOUS MIND THIS PARTICULAR INCIDENT.

BUT, YOU'RE GOING TO GET RID OF ASTHMA COMPLETELY AND WE'RE GOING TO SEE TO IT THAT YOU DO BECAUSE WE'RE GOING TO ELIMINATE THE NEED FOR THESE THREE THINGS. FIRST OF ALL, YOU DON'T NEED TO PUNISH YOURSELF ANYMORE. WHATEVER YOU FELT YOU MAY HAVE DONE, CAUSED A DIVORCE, KILLED SOMEBODY, MAYBE YOU JUST WISHED SOMEBODY WOULD DIE AND THEY DID, WHATEVER YOU DID, IT'S FANTASY, BUT REGARDLESS OF THAT WHENEVER YOU FEEL GUILTY, YOU CERTAINLY DON'T NEED ASTHMA ANY MORE TO PUNISH YOURSELF BECAUSE YOU REALLY DON'T NEED THE GUILT FEELING IN THE FIRST PLACE.

NOW, SECONDLY, REGARDLESS OF WHEN YOU MAY HAVE THOUGHT YOU DIED OR THAT YOU WERE GOING TO DIE OR THAT YOU WERE VERY, VERY SICK OR THAT SOMETHING HAPPENED WHICH FRIGHTENED YOU COMPLETELY, YOU ARE BREATHING ALL RIGHT NOW, AND YOU ARE GOING TO BREATH BETTER AND BETTER AND BETTER AND YOU DO NOT HAVE TO HEAR YOURSELF BREATHE IN ORDER TO KNOW THAT YOU ARE STILL BREATHING.

NO LONGER DO YOU NEED TO LISTEN TO THAT TO KNOW THAT YOU ARE

STILL BREATHING. YOU ARE STILL BREATHING AND THAT IS ALL THERE IS TO IT.

NOW, THIRDLY, THE CRY FOR HELP ITSELF, REGARDLESS OF HOW SEVERE THAT INCIDENT MAY HAVE SEEMED TO YOU AT THE TIME, REGARDLESS OF HOW SEVERE THAT INCIDENT

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Hypnosis Certification Training 1997 MAY HAVE SEEMED TO YOU AT THAT MOMENT, THAT MOMENT WAS YESTERDAY. IT IS GONE! YOU ARE NOT IN DANGER NOW. THE DANGER IS OVER AND YOU DO NOT NEED TO CRY FOR HELP ANYMORE. AND SO, YOUR REASONS, YOUR NEED TO WHEEZE, YOUR NEED TO UTILIZE THE SYMPTOM OF ASTHMA IS RAPIDLY DISAPPEARING SO THAT VERY SOON YOU ARE GOING TO DILATE THOSE BRONCHI AND BRONCHIAL, YOU ARE GOING TO RELAX AND LET THEM OPEN UP WIDE, VERY WIDE VERY WIDE AND BREATHE DEEPLY, ALL THE WAY IN AND ALL THE WAY OUT. BREATH ALL THE WAY IN, FEEL YOUR LUNGS OPEN UP AND FILL WITH AIR BETTER THAN YOU EVER HAVE BEFORE AS YOU LET ALL THE AIR OUT EASILY AND COMFORTABLY AND ALL THE MUSCLES SURROUNDING THE BRONCHI AND BRONCHIAL AND LUNGS. LET GO AND LET YOURSELF RELAX COMPLETELY AND WITH CERTAINTY. AND YOU BREATH DEEPER AND DEEPER, ON AND ON, ONE BREATH AFTER THE NEXT, MORE AND MORE COMFORTABLY WITH EVERY MOMENT THAT PASSES, REASSURING YOURSELF THAT ALREADY THE ASTHMA IS LEAVING YOU, BEING REPLACED BY CONFIDENCE, GREAT BREATHING, MORE AND MORE NORMAL WITH EVERY DAY THAT PASSES.

NOW, I WANT YOU TO SINK INTO A VERY DEEP AND RELAXING SLEEP AND BREATHE DEEPLY FOR THE NEXT FEW MOMENTS ALLOWING THIS FEELING OF BEING FREE, FREE FROM TENSION, NERVOUSNESS AND ASTHMA, ALLOWING THAT FEELING OF FREEDOM TO CIRCULATE THROUGHOUT YOUR ENTIRE MIND AND BODY, MAKING YOU SOUND IN MIND, SOUND IN BODY, SOUND IN SPIRIT AND SOUND IN HEALTH AND I AM GOING TO GIVE YOU THOSE FEW MOMENTS OF SILENCE......... BEGIN......... NOW.........

EMERGE YOUR CLIENT

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FEELING GOOD ABOUT THE SELF I WANT YOU NOW TO TAKE A DEEP BREATH AND VISUALISE YOURSELF IN YOUR FAVOURITE PLACE TO BE ALONE. IT CAN BE REAL OR IMAGINARY. SURROUND YOURSELF WITH THINGS ..... THAT YOU FEEL COMFORTABLE WITH..... THINGS OF CALM AND PEACE.... THINGS OF BEAUTY. .... THINGS THAT YOU FEEL COMFORTABLE WITH .... SURROUNDING YOU.... NOW, TAKE A DEEP BREATH AND SEE YOURSELF WITH A BIG SMILE ON YOUR FACE FEELING ABOUT YOU.... FEELING GOOD ABOUT THE WORLD AROUND YOU..... FEELING A CONFIDENCE IN YOURSELF BUILDING.... SEEING THAT CONFIDENCE WITHIN... SEEING IT OBJECTIVELY..... SO THAT YOU CAN ASSESS YOUR ABILITIES..... YOUR POTENTIALS..... YOUR TALENTS.... IN AN OBJECTIVE WAY... UNDERSTANDING THAT YOU ARE A VERY VALUABLE INDIVIDUAL KNOWING THAT YOUR OPINION IS JUST AS GOOD AS ANYONE ELSE' OPINION AND YOUR OPINION OF YOURSELF IS THE MOST VALUABLE OPINION OF YOU.... THERE ARE THINGS THAT OTHERS MIGHT KNOW MORE ABOUT, BUT YOUR OPINION IS JUST AS GOOD AS ANYONE ELSE' AND YOUR OPINION OF YOU IS THE MOST IMPORTANT OPINION THERE IS...... YOUR OPINION OF YOURSELF IS THE MOST IMPORTANT OPINION THERE IS AND ....... YOU SEE MORE AND MORE VALUE IN YOU WITH EVERY PASSING DAY. FEELING BETTER AND BETTER ABOUT YOURSELF. .... UNDERSTANDING THE EXPERIENCES THAT YOU HAD..... THE EXPERIENCES ARE UNIQUE TO YOU..... NO ONE ELSE HAS HAD THE SAME EXPERIENCES THAT YOU HAVE.. THEY ARE UNIQUE AND BECAUSE THEY ARE UNIQUE THEY HAVE VALUE. AND YOU DO HAVE SOMETHING VALUABLE TO CONTRIBUTE.... THINGS THAT ONLY YOU CAN CONTRIBUTE. SEEING THE VALUE IN YOUR EXPERIENCES.... IN THE THINGS THAT YOU HAVE DONE AND SEEN...... AND HEARD........ AND PLACES THAT YOU HAVE BEEN...... THINGS THAT YOU HAVE FELT. THOSE ARE UNIQUE UNTO YOU AND NO ONE ELSE CAN SHARE THEM..... AND THAT GIVES THEM VALUE. KNOW THAT YOU HAVE SOMETHING VALUABLE TO CONTRIBUTE...... FEELING BETTER AND BETTER ABOUT YOURSELF.... WITH EVERY PASSING DAY. YOU BEING SEEING THE POSITIVE SIDE OF EVERYTHING AROUND YOU, ESPECIALLY THE THINGS THAT YOU DO.... THE THINGS THAT YOU FEEL. YOU DRAW TO THE POSITIVE THINGS... AND IT'S EASIER AND EASIER WITH EVERY PASSING DAY TO SUSTAIN POSITIVE THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS. NOT FEELING A NEED TO FORCE A DIRECTION IN YOUR LIFE. PLANNING..... LOOKING FORWARD TO THINGS BUT NOT FORCING A DIRECTION IN YOUR LIFE. PREPARING AND THEN FLOWING WITH THAT PREPARATION. UNDERSTAND THAT YOU SAN SATISFY ALL OF YOUR OWN NEEDS..... YOU NEED NOT LOOK OUTSIDE OF YOURSELF TO HAVE YOUR NEEDS SATISFIED. THEN, WHEN THE PEOPLE AROUND YOU SATISFY THOSE NEEDS, IT'S LIKE A GIFT. YOU TAKE THE TIME TO TURN WITHIN AND REFLECT AND UNDERSTAND WHAT YOUR WANTS, DESIRES AND NEEDS ARE. NOT LOOKING OUTSIDE OF YOURSELF TO SATISFY THEM AND UNDERSTAND THAT YOU ARE VALUABLE ENOUGH.... YOU ARE IMPORTANT ENOUGH TO TAKE TIME AND THE ENERGY TO FOLLOW THROUGH AND SATISFY THOSE WANTS, NEEDS AND DESIRES. FEELING BETTER AND BETTER ABOUT YOURSELF WITH EVERY PASSING DAY. YOU CAN SEE YOUR TALENTS, YOUR ABILITIES..... YOUR POTENTIALS..... UNDERSTANDING THAT YOU ARE UNIQUE UNTO YOU. ALSO, UNDERSTANDING THAT MANY TIMES.... THE REASON THAT WE FAIL TO SEE OUR TALENTS AND OUR ABILITIES IS BECAUSE THEY ARE SO EASY FOR US AND WE FAIL TO RECOGNIZE THAT THEY ARE TALENTS AND ABILITIES, AND THEN WE LOOK TO OTHERS AND SEE THEM DOING THINGS EASILY THAT WE FIND DIFFICULT AND WE FEEL THAT WE DON'T HAVE ANY TALENTS AND ABILITIES. UNDERSTAND THAT MANY TIMES THAT THESE PEOPLE ARE LOOKING TO YOU AND ADMIRING YOUR TALENTS AND ABILITIES. BECAUSE THE THINGS THAT ARE EASY FOR YOU, ARE DIFFICULT FOR THEM. REFLECTING UPON YOUR ABILITIES...... SEEING THE VALUES IN YOUR TALENTS AND FEELING BETTER AND BETTER ABOUT YOURSELF... MORE AND MORE CONFIDENT WITH EVERY PASSING DAY. UNDERSTANDING THAT YOU ARE VALUABLE ENOUGH TO SPEND TIME AND ENERGY GO... AND YOU SET ASIDE TIME TO REFLECT WITHIN... AND UNDERSTAND WHAT YOUR NEEDS ARE.... WHAT YOUR

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Hypnosis Certification Training 1997 WANTS ARE. SETTING YOUR OWN PRIORITIES.......NOT NECESSARILY LISTENING TO OTHERS AROUND YOU FOR THEIR PRIORITIES..... THE THINGS THAT ARE IMPORTANT TO THEM....... BUT TAKING THE TIME TO UNDERSTAND WHAT IS IMPORTANT TO YOU AND THEN SETTING ASIDE A TIME TO BRING ABOUT AND SATISFY THOSE WANTS, NEEDS AND DESIRES. TO ACT UPON YOUR OWN PRIORITIES, NOT LOOKING OUTSIDE OF YOURSELF.... OR TO SOMEONE ELSE' PRIORITIES.... THINGS THAT ARE IMPORTANT TO THEM.... TAKING TIME TO UNDERSTAND WHAT'S IMPORTANT TO YOU.... AND THEN FOLLOWING THROUGH AND SATISFYING THOSE WANTS, NEEDS AND DESIRES .... FOR YOURSELF. EACH NIGHT AS YOU SLEEP. AS YOU DREAM.... YOU HAVE BEAUTIFUL DREAMS.... AND POSITIVE DREAMS THAT HELP YOU WORK THROUGH THE SITUATIONS THAT OCCUR IN YOUR LIFE AND HELP YOU TO RECOGNIZE YOUR OWN TALENTS AND ABILITIES. YOU SLEEP PEACEFULLY. YOUR REST RESTFULLY AND YOU WAKE UP EACH MORNING, REFRESHED, REVITALIZED ..... AND FULL OF ENERGY AND LOOKING FORWARD TO THE DAY, AND FEELING GOOD ABOUT YOURSELF AND THE WORLD AROUND YOU. EMERGE YOUR CLIENT

GENERAL HEADACHE NOW YOU HAVE HAD THESE HEADACHES FAR TOO LONG. YOU HAVE HAD A NUMBER OF HEADACHES. MAYBE ONE PARTICULAR HEADACHE IS BIGGER THAN THE REST, BUT REGARDLESS OF THAT, NO HEADACHE IS SO BIG THAT YOU CAN'T GET RID OF IT. THERE IS NO PAIN SO GREAT THAT IT CAN NOT BE EXTINGUISHED. THERE IS NO FIRE SO BIG IT CANNOT BE PUT OUT. HYPNOSIS IS THE MOST POWERFUL ANAESTHETIC IN THE WORLD. NOW THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO ARE DYING OF CANCER AND HAVE SO MUCH PAIN THAT EVEN 20 GRAMS OF MORPHINE A DAY WON'T HOLD THEM, WHO CANNOT BE HELD ON THAT AMOUNT OF DOSAGE AND NEVERTHELESS, CAN BE PUT ON HYPNOSIS AND BE COMPLETELY PAIN FREE. SO IT IS A CINCH WE CAN GET RID IF A LITTLE HEADACHE AND WE ARE GOING TO. NOT NEXT MONTH, NOT NEXT WEEK, NOT NEXT YEAR, NOT EVEN TOMORROW, BUT TODAY. NOW, AS YOU SINK DEEPER AND DEEPER INTO HYPNOSIS, I WANT YOU TO IMAGINE THAT WE ARE PLACING A GREAT BIG HELMET ON YOU. IT IS A VERY UNUSUAL HELMET. IT IS A HEAVY METAL HELMET THAT FITS YOUR HEAD, EXCEPT THAT IT IS EXTREMELY BIG. IT FITS COMPLETELY ALL THE WAY AROUND. IT COVERS CLEAR DOWN, CLEAR DOWN TO THE VERY EYES AND THE FRONT AND THEN THE SIDES OF YOUR ACE, COVERING YOUR EARS, COVERING ALL THE BACK OF THE NECK, THE BACK OF THE HEAD, THE SIDES OF THE HEAD, THE FRONT OF THE HEAD, COVERING THE HEAD ENTIRELY. NOW AS YOU SINK DEEPER AND DEEPER INTO HYPNOSIS, YOU SEE THIS BIG STEEL HELMET. YOU NOTICE IT IS A VERY UNUSUAL HELMET BECAUSE IT HAS A LOT OF COILS ON IT AND IT IS CONNECTED UP. IT IS CONNECTED UP TO A CURRENT AND IT HAS FLUID CIRCULATING IN THESE COILS AND THESE COILS ARE BECOMING VERY COLD SO THAT THE INSIDE OF THE SURFACE OF THE HELMET IS BECOMING COMPLETELY FROSTED OVER. VERY, VERY QUICKLY, THIS FROST TURNS TO A THIN LAYER OF ICE AND THAT LAYER IS THICKENING WITH EVERY SECOND THAT PASSES. THICKER AND THICKER AND THICKER SO THAT THE HELMET IS NO LONGER TOO BIG FOR YOU, BUT ACTUALLY IS BEGINNING TO FIT VERY SNUGLY BECAUSE THE ICE IS FORMING UNDERNEATH AND PRESSING AGAINST YOUR ENTIRE HEAD, THE SIDES, FRONT AND BACK AND WHEN IT GETS TO THE POINT WHERE THE ICE IS TOUCHING YOUR HEAD IN EVERY PLACE, IT DOESN'T PINCH YOU ANYMORE BECAUSE THE ICE BEGINS TO MELT AND TRANSFERS THAT FEELING OF COLDNESS AND NUMBNESS TO EVERY SINGLE PART OF YOUR HEAD.

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Hypnosis Certification Training 1997 YOU FEEL IT IN THE BACK OF YOUR NECK, YOU FEEL IT IN THE BACK OF YOUR HEAD, YOU FEEL IT ON TOP OF YOUR HEAD, YOU FEEL IT ALL OVER YOUR FOREHEAD, THROUGHOUT YOUR TEMPLES, THE SIDES OF YOUR FACE, YOUR EARS, THE BACK OF YOUR HEAD DOWN TO YOUR NECK. AND AS THE ICE MELTS, IT CATCHES IN A LITTLE GUTTER AROUND THE BOTTOM AND DRAINS OFF TO A BUCKET ON THE FLOOR, BUT AS IT MELTS IT ALSO TRANSMITS THE COLD TO YOUR HEAD, MAKING YOUR HEAD VERY COLD AND NUMB. COLD AND NUMB, COLD AND NUMB, COLD AND NUMB, COLD AND NUMB, COLD AND NUMBER, COLDER AND COLDER, COLDER AND NUMBER, COLDER AND NUMBER, COLDER AND NUMBER, COLD AND NUMB, COLD AND NUMB. COLDER AND NUMBER AND COLDER AND NUMBER. ALWAYS GOING DEEPER ON DOWN...... DEEPER AND DEEPER.... DEEPER RELAXED. ALWAYS GOING DEEPER ON DOWN..... COLDER AND COLDER, NUMBER AND NUMBER.... FEELING YOUR HEAD GROW COLD AND NUMBER AS YOU GO DEEPER RELAXED. BREATHING DEEPLY, SETTLING DOWN, RESTING AND RELAXING AS YOU GO DEEPER AND DEEPER,......... DEEPER RELAXED. LETTING YOUR HEAD GROW COLD AND NUMB....... NUMB........ AND COLD........COLD AND COMFORTABLE......... RELAXED. FEEL YOURSELF GO, LETTING GO, SO COLD AND COMFORTABLE. SO RELAXED, COLD AND NUMB, COOL AND COMFORTABLE. FEEL THOSE BLOOD VESSELS SHRINK RIGHT DOWN. THEY GROW COLD, COLD AND NUMB. ALL THE PRESSURE JUST LETS GO AS YOU GROW COOL AND COMFORTABLE......SO RELAXED. COLDER AND NUMBER, NUMBER AND COLDER, NUMBER, COOLER, COLDER AND RELAXED, NUMBER, COOLER, MORE COMFORTABLE, COLD AND RELAXED. NOW, AS YOU SINK DEEPER AND DEEPER DOWN, THE EFFECT OF THE HELMET PRODUCING THE ICE IS MAKING YOUR HEAD COLD AND NUMB, COOL COMFORTABLE AND RELAXED. IT HAS ELIMINATED EVERY TRACE OF DISCOMFORT FROM YOUR HEAD SO THAT THE HEADACHE HAS COMPLETELY VANISHED. YOU MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE HEADACHES IN YOUR LIFE; YOU MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE SITUATIONS IN YOUR LIFE WHICH YOU TERM A HEADACHE, BUT YOU ARE THROUGH HAVING THE ACHES IN THE HEAD. YOU ARE THROUGH HAVING PAINS IN THE NECK. YOU MIGHT HAVE A THING THAT YOU CALL A SITUATION THAT YOU'D CALL A PAIN IN THE NECK OR A SITUATION THAT YOU WOULD CALL A HEADACHE, BUT THE REAL PAINS AND DISCOMFORT AND ACHES IN THAT REGION ARE GONE. GONE COMPLETELY. PERMANENTLY IN EVERY WAY FOR YOU ARE GOING TO KEEP THIS COOL, COMFORTABLE FEELING RIGHT WITH YOU AS A PREVENTATIVE TECHNIQUE SO THAT A HEADACHE NO LONGER EVEN GETS A CHANGE TO FORM. IT DOESN'T HAVE A CHANCE ANYMORE. IT IS THROUGH FOR ME AND YOU ARE THROUGH WITH HEADACHES COMPLETELY IN EVERY RESPECT. AND, AS YOU GO DEEPER AND DEEPER YOU REALIZE THE TRUTH OF THIS. AND WHEN YOU ARE FULLY CONVINCED AND WHEN YOU REALIZE THAT YOU ARE COOL AND COMFORTABLE AND RELAXED AND THE HEADACHE IS COMPLETELY GONE IN EVERY RESPECT, THEN YOU CAN LIFT THIS HELMET OFF YOU. IN YOUR MIND'S EYE, YOU JUST LIFT IT OFF AND SET IT ASIDE. NOW IT IS VERY COLD SO BE CAREFUL. AND IT IS HEAVY BECAUSE OF THE ICE, BUT YOU JUST LIFT IT OFF AND SET IT ASIDE AND REMAIN COOL AND COMFORTABLE FROM THIS MOMENT ON. NOW YOU GO DEEPER AND DEEPER RELAXED AND LET ALL THESE SUGGESTIONS THAT I HAVE GIVEN YOU TAKE COMPLETE AND THOROUGH EFFECT UPON YOUR MIND, BODY AND SPIRIT, FOR THEY SEAL THEMSELVES IN THE DEEPEST PART OF YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS MIND AND REINFORCE THEMSELVES OVER AND OVER DURING THE PERIOD OF SILENCE WHICH FOLLOWS NOW. AFTER A WHILE, EMERGE CLIENT

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HEADACHE (MIGRAINE) NOW, YOU HAVE BEEN PLAGUED WITH A VERY PAINFUL, FRUSTRATING AND DISAGREEABLE DISORDER WHICH WE CALL MIGRAINE HEADACHE. ALONG WITH THIS YOU MAY HAVE HAD NAUSEA OR VOMITING. JUST BEFORE YOUR HEADACHE YOU MAY ALSO HAVE HAD TINGLING OF THE LIPS, YOUR HAND OR NOSE OR SOME OTHER PART OF YOUR BODY. AND YOU JUST KNEW YOU WERE GONG TO HAVE ONE OF THOSE MIGRAINES. WELL, THIS IS NOW A THING OF THE PAST.... ONE OF THOSE MEMORIES OF THE PAST. YOU ARE SO GLAD AND THANKFUL THEY ARE IN THE PAST, BECAUSE WHEN I AWAKEN YOU AFTER THIS SESSION THEY WILL BE A THING OF THE PAST. FIRST OF ALL, I AM GOING TO EXPLAIN EXACTLY WHAT A MIGRAINE HEADACHE IS AND HOW IT HAPPENS. AS CERTAIN TENSIONS AND EMOTIONS BUILD UP IN YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS MIND, THE NEED IS THERE TO BE RELEASED. THERE IS A BUNDLE OF NERVES (LIKE A TELEPHONE CABLE) THAT GOES FROM YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS MIND TO THE BLOOD VESSELS IN YOUR BRAIN. WHEN THOSE TENSION BUILD UP TO A CERTAIN LEVEL, OR PRESSURE OR A "RIGGER INCIDENT" OCCURS, IMPULSES (OR MESSAGES) ARE SENT UP THESE NERVES FROM THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND TO THE BLOOD VESSELS. THIS CAUSES AN OVER CONSTRUCTION OF THESE BLOOD VESSELS, WHICH IN TURN, CAUSES A DIMINISHED BLOOD SUPPLY TO A PARTICULAR AREA OF YOUR BRAIN. THIS IS WHAT CAUSES THE TINGLING OR NAUSEA OR WARNING THAT A MIGRAINE IS COMING ON. WE CALL THIS THE AURA. THEN SUDDENLY THE IMPULSES CEASE BECAUSE THE TENSION HAS BEEN RELEASED. THEN COMES THE OVER DILATION OF THE BLOOD VESSELS. THIS IS WHAT CAUSES THE SEVERE THROBBING HEADACHE AND ALL OF THOSE ATTENDING SYMPTOMS THAT ENSUED TO CAUSE YOU SO MUCH DISTRESS. WE ARE GOING TO CHANGE ALL THAT NOW. IN YOUR MIND'S EYE, I WANT YOU TO IMAGINE YOU CAN SEE THIS BUNDLE OF NERVES I DESCRIBED TO YOU....... THERE IT IS...... IT IS SOMETHING LIKE A TELEPHONE CABLE FROM THE SUBCONSCIOUS PART OF YOUR MIND BY PASSING THE CONSCIOUS UPPER PART OF YOUR MIND AND CONNECTS TO THE BLOOD VESSELS IN YOUR BRAIN. SEE IT VIVIDLY NOW. (PAUSE). O.K. IN YOUR MIND'S EYE CALL A STONEMASON AND HAVE HIM BUILD A WIDE THICK HIGH WALL AROUND THIS BUNDLE OF NERVES..... THE MORTAR IS VERY FAST DRYING AND WILL BE SET BY THE TIME THE WALL IS BUILT. I WILL GIVE HIM ABOUT 30 SECONDS TO GET THIS JOB COMPLETED...... STARTING NOW (30 SECOND PAUSE) .... NOW THE WALL IS COMPLETE WITH THE BUNDLE OF NERVES GUNNING THROUGH THE CENTRE OF THE WALL, RIGHT? O.K...... NOW IN YOUR MIND'S EYE HAVE THE ELECTRICIAN USE HIS WIRE CUTTERS AND COMPLETELY CLIP THIS BUNDLE OF USELESS NERVES ON THE BLOOD VESSEL SIDE OF THE WALL..... MAKE SURE HE CUTS THEM CLOSE TO THE WALL......... NOW HAVE THE STONE MASON BUILD ANOTHER WALL OVER THE CUT END OF THE NERVE SO AS TO COMPLETELY COVER THE EXPOSED ENDS OF THOSE NERVES. AGAIN HE WILL HAVE ABOUT 30 SECONDS TO COMPLETE HIS JOB (30 SECOND PAUSE) NOW..... THE 2 WALLS ARE BUILT WITH THE CUT END OF THE BUNDLE OF NERVES DEEPLY IMBEDDED INTO THE MORTAR AND STONE. THIS NOW WILL COMPLETELY PREVENT ALL FUTURE MIGRAINE HEADACHES, BUT .... THIS IS LIKE FASTENING THE LID OF A BOILER OR A TEA KETTLE DOWN TIGHT AND NOT TURNING DOWN THE FIRE. SO WE WILL GIVE YOU ANOTHER RELEASE OR SAFETY VALVE FOR THE RELEASE OF THE TENSIONS THAT MAY BUILD UP IN THE SUBCONSCIOUS. AGAIN, CALL THE ELECTRICIAN AND HAVE HIM PUT IN A BYPASS. IN YOUR MINDS EYE HAVE HIM HOOK UP A JUMPER WIRE FROM THE BUNDLE OF NERVES FROM THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND THAT IS EMBEDDED INTO THE WALL TO THE NERVES TO YOUR LEFT LITTLE FINGER. IT SHOULD TAKE HIM ABOUT 30 SECONDS TO DO THIS JOB. (30 SECOND PAUSE). NOW YOU HAVE A SAFETY VALVE OR A BYPASS SO THAT SHOULD THE TENSIONS IN THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND EVER BUILD UP TO THE POINT YOU WOULD HAVE HAD A MIGRAINE, THE IMPULSES OR MESSAGE WILL TRAVEL UP THE BUNDLE OF NERVES, RUN INTO THE WALL AND IF NECESSARY CAN GO UP AND AROUND THE

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Hypnosis Certification Training 1997 BYPASS TO YOUR LEFT LITTLE FINGER. AND GUESS WHAT WILL HAPPEN YOU GUESSED IT, YOUR LEFT LITTLE FINGER WILL TWITCH. SO WHO CARES IF YOUR LEFT LITTLE FINGER TWITCHES ON OCCASION. IT IS ONE HELL OF A LOT BETTER THAN THOSE MISERABLE MIGRAINE HEADACHES YOU USED TO HAVE. IF YOU HAVE DONE ALL THOSE THINGS I TOLD YOU IN YOUR MIND'S EYE, YOU ARE NOW CURED OF YOUR MIGRAINE HEADACHES FOREVER. YOU MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE ALSO NEEDED A FULL HYPNOANALYSIS OF THE DEEP SEATED CAUSE OF THESE HEADACHES....... IF YOU HAVE, THIS WILL GREATLY EXPEDITE YOUR CURE....... IF YOU HAVE NOT NEEDED THE FULL ANALYSIS IT SHOWS THAT YOU ARE AN ESPECIALLY FORTUNATE PERSON AND THIS WAS ALL THAT WAS NEEDED TO EFFECT A CURE. EITHER WAY, ISN'T IT A WONDERFUL FEELING TO KNOW ALL THOSE MISERABLE MIGRAINES ARE A THING OF THE PAST? NOW I WANT YOU TO COMPLETELY RELAX AND GO INTO A DEEP STATE OF HYPNOSIS. GO OVER IN YOUR MIND'S EYE ALL THE PREVIOUS SUGGESTIONS I HAVE JUST GIVEN YOU. CHECK THE WALL, THE MAIN NERVE BUNDLE AND THE BYPASS. MAKE SURE THE WALL IS STRONG, THE CONNECTIONS ARE FIRM AND COMPLETE. IF THEY ARE NOT, THEN IMMEDIATELY MAKE THEM SO. NOW SEAL ALL THESE SUGGESTIONS INTO YOUR DEEP SUBCONSCIOUS MIND, NEVER TO BE RELEASED AS LONG AS YOU LIVE. THESE SUGGESTIONS ARE FOR YOUR BENEFIT AND ARE PERMANENT. I WILL NOW GIVE YOU 60 SECONDS TO ENSURE ALL IS IN ORDER AND TO SEAL THESE SUGGESTIONS IN YOUR MIND FOREVER. NOW GO EVEN DEEPER RELAXED (60 SECOND PAUSE). NOW ALL THE SUGGESTIONS ARE COMPLETELY ACCEPTED AND PERMANENTLY SEALED IN EVERY CELL OF YOUR BODY, MIND AND SPIRIT, NEVER TO BE RELEASED AS LONG AS YOU LIVE. NOW AGAIN..... GO DEEPER RELAXED AND FEEL THE WONDERFUL FEELING OF RELIEF. THERE WILL NOW BE A PERIOD OF SILENCE TO REFLECT UPON THESE SUGGESTIONS AND ENJOY THE WONDERFUL FEELING OF RELIEF. EMERGE

INSOMNIA AND NOW YOU ARE GOING DEEPER AND DEEPER RELAXED. YOU HEAR ALL THE SOUNDS AROUND YOU, BUT THEY JUST KIND OF FADE INTO THE DISTANCE AND YOU PAY NO ATTENTION TO ANY OTHER SOUND BUT THE SOUND OF MY VOICE. I WANT YOU TO VISUALIZE, I WANT YOU TO VISUALIZE IN YOUR MIND'S EYE A BEAUTIFUL RESTFUL SCENE IN THE SWISS ALPS. SEE THE TOWERING SNOW-CAPPED MOUNTAINS, SURROUNDING A BEAUTIFUL CLEAR LAKE. THE WATER IS A DEEP BLUE AND SMOOTH AS GLASS. OVER LOOKING THE CALM WATERS OF THIS PEACEFUL LAKE IS A PICTURESQUE SWISS CHALET. A THIN CURL OF SMOKE GENTLY RISES, GENTLY RISES FROM THE OLD STONE CHIMNEY OF THE HOSPITABLE INN, PERCHED ON THE SIDE OF A BEAUTIFUL MOUNTAIN, OVERLOOKING THE LAKE. THE HUGE AGED LOGS WHICH FORM THE STRUCTURE ARE AN INVITATION TO YOU, THE TIRED TRAVELLER TO OBTAIN A TRANQUIL REST INSIDE THE MOUNTAIN HOSTILE. NOW THAT YOU HAVE THE OUTSIDE OF THIS BEAUTIFUL MOUNTAIN HOTEL VISUALIZED, WANT YOU TO WALK UP TO THE DOOR YOU WILL FIND YOURSELF IN A LARGE COMFORTABLE ROOM WITH MASSIVE PINE BEAMS CROSSING THE ARCHED CEILING, LOW LEATHER COUCHES SURROUNDING THE OPEN FIRE PLACE. THE JOLLY SWISS INNKEEPER SMILES AT YOUR HOSPITABLY FROM BEHIND HIS DESK AND INFORMS YOU THAT A ROOM ALREADY HAS BEEN RESERVED FOR YOU. YOU SIGN THE DESK REGISTER AND THE INNKEEPER GIVES YOU YOUR KEY, INDICATING TO YOU THAT YOUR ROOM IS THE SECOND DOOR ON THE LEFT, ON THE SECOND FLOOR. TIRED AND WEARY FROM THE PHYSICAL EXERTION OF TRAVELLING A LONG DISTANCE, YOU CLIMB THE TIME WORN STEPS, NOTICING THE HIGHLY

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Hypnosis Certification Training 1997 POLISHED WOODEN HANDRAIL AS YOU ASCEND TO THE SECOND FLOOR. WALKING DOWN THE HALLWAY YOU FIND THE SECOND DOOR ON YOUR LEFT. INSERT THE KEY, UNLOCK THE DOOR AND STEP INSIDE. YOU CLOSE THE DOOR BEHIND YOU, PLACING THE KEY ON YOUR DRESSER TO THE RIGHT. IMMEDIATELY YOUR ATTENTION IS DIRECTED TO THE LARGE, COMFORTABLE BED WITH CRISP, CLEAN WHITE SHEETS, AND AN OLD FASHIONED DUVET. YOU OPEN THE FRENCH DOORS IN FRONT OF YOU WHICH LEAD OUT ON TO A BALCONY OVER LOOKING THE LAKE, IMMEDIATELY AS YOU OPEN THE DOORS YOU FEEL A RUSH OF THE FRESH, COOL, PINE-SCENTED MOUNTAIN AIR. YOU TAKE A DEEP BREATH. (HYPNOTIST TAKE A DEEP BREATH) YOU STEP OUT ONTO THE BALCONY RELAXING COMPLETELY. OVER TO THE SIDE OF THE BALCONY YOU DISCOVER THREE LARGE STONES. YOU BECOME VERY CURIOUS ABOUT THE PRESENCE OF THESE STONES AND YOU DEVELOP AN UNCONTROLLABLE URGE TO CAST THESE STONES INTO THE LAKE. YOU PICK UP THE FIRST STONE AND IT MAKES YOU VERY, VERY TIRED. WHEN I COUNT TO FIVE AND AT THE COUNT OF FIVE YOU WILL THROW THE STONE INTO THE LAKE. ONE ..... TWO......THREE......FOUR......FIVE .... AND..... AWAY........ IT IS.... GONE.....IN THE AIR.......SPLASH. AS THE STONE HITS THE WATER, RIPPLES BEGIN MOVING FROM THE POINT OF IMPACT, OUTWARD TO THE EDGES OF THE LAKE. AND AS YOU STARE AT THESE RIPPLES YOU BECOME EXTREMELY DROWSY AND SLEEPY, SO DROWSY AND SLEEPY THAT YOU CANNOT STAY AWAKE NO MATTER HOW HARD YOU TRY. EVERY MUSCLE IN YOUR BODY RELAXES, YOUR GARMENTS FEEL LIKE LEAD AND IT TAKE YOUR LAST OUNCE OF STRENGTH TO LIFT THE SECOND STONE. AS TIRED AS YOU ARE, AT THE COUNT OF THREE, YOU NEVERTHELESS MANAGE TO HEAVE IT INTO THE LAKE: ONNNNNNNE, TWOOOOOO, THREEEEEEE AND AWAAAAAAY IT GOES..... SPLASSSSSSSH. THE RIPPLES START ONCE AGAIN AND CHANGE THIS STATE OF HYPNOSIS INTO A DEEP STATE OF NATURAL SLEEP. YOU FALL INTO BED, EYES CLOSED UNABLE TO LIFT THE THIRD STONE. AND THEN, WITH THE LAST OUNCE OF SUPER HUMAN STRENGTH, WITH BOTH HANDS, YOU LIFT THE LAST STONE, TOSSING IT IMMEDIATELY INTO THE LAKE, THERE IT GOOOOOOES, SPLASSSSSH. AND BEFORE THE RIPPLES THUS PRODUCED HAVE FADED AWAY YOU WILL FAST ASLEEP.. YOU WILL BREATHE DEEPLY, REMAINING COMPLETELY RELAXED AND FAST ASLEEP, FOR WHATEVER LENGTH OF TIME YOUR BODY REQUIRES. WHEN YOU DO WAKE UP, YOU WILL WAKE UP CLEAR-HEADED, REFRESHED AND ALERT, FEELING WONDERFUL IN EVERY WAY. YOU WILL NOT FALL ASLEEP IN MY OFFICE BUT WHENEVER YOU CONCENTRATE ON THIS SCENE AT HOME WHEN YOU WANT TO FALL ASLEEP YOU WILL FIND IT WILL WORK FOR YOU RAPIDLY AND THOROUGHLY IN EVERY RESPECT. YOU WILL UTILIZE THIS SAME TECHNIQUE AT HOME EVERY NIGHT. YOU WILL LIE ON YOUR BACK COMPLETELY RELAXED, FREE OF OUTSIDE STIMULUS, CONCENTRATING ON THE SWISS CHALET, THE BED, THE ROCK, THE RIPPLES IN THE LAKE, UNTIL YOU DRIFT INTO A DEEP, NATURAL SLEEP. THEREFORE YOU ARE GOING FROM THE STATE OF HYPNOSIS INTO NATURAL SLEEP, RATHER THAN FROM THE WAKING STATE AND BECAUSE YOU HAVE MOVED FROM THE WAKING STATE INTO HYPNOSIS, YOU HAVE ALREADY GOTTEN RID OF ALL YOUR CARES AND WORRIES SO IT'S EASY TO GO TO SLEEP FROM THE HYPNOTIC STATE. YOU WILL FIND THAT YOU WILL BE SOUND ASLEEP BEFORE THE RIPPLES CEASE AFTER THE THIRD STONE AND MANY PEOPLE ARE SOUND ASLEEP BEFORE THEY EVEN THROW THE THIRD STONE. IN EVERY CASE, IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO ERASE ALL THE RIPPLES FROM THE CLEAR SURFACE OF THE LAKE THE THIRD TIME BEFORE YOU HAVE ALREADY DROPPED ASLEEP. IN FACT, A MUCH DEEPER NATURAL SLEEP WILL B INDUCED IN THIS MANNER THAN CAN BE OBTAINED IN ANY OTHER WAY. NOW YOU WILL RELAX COMPLETELY AND YOU REMEMBER THE ENTIRE SITUATION AND YOU REMEMBER THE ENTIRE, THE ENTIRE EXPERIENCE , ALL THE WAY FROM BEGINNING TO END. FOR YOU ARE GOING TO RELAX NOW, VERY DEEPLY AND IN A FEW MOMENTS IT WILL BE REPEATED TO YOU EXACTLY AS I HAVE SAID IT BEFORE. NOW RELAX, SLEEP. EMERGE

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MEMORY IMPROVEMENT NOW, I AM GOING TO GIVE YOU A FEW SUGGESTIONS ABOUT MEMORY RECALL. IN THE FIRST PLACE, THE ART OF MEMORY IS ATTENTION. YOU MUST PAY ATTENTION TO ANYTHING IN ORDER TO REMEMBER IT. PEOPLE WITH EXCELLENT MEMORIES THAT DON'T PAY ATTENTION, DON'T REMEMBER. PEOPLE WITH MOST EXCELLENT MEMORIES - HEADS OF STATE, GOVERNORS, FAMOUS DOCTORS, LAWYERS, WHO ARE AT A PARTY AND ARE INTRODUCED TO PEOPLE MAY SAY, "HOW DO YOU DO, MR SMITH?" AND ONE MINUTE LATER DON'T KNOW WHAT THE MAN'S NAME IS. THEY DON'T KNOW, WHY? BECAUSE THEY DIDN'T REMEMBER. WHY DON'T THEY REMEMBER? BECAUSE THEY PAID NO ATTENTION AT THE TIME HE WAS BEING INTRODUCED. TO REMEMBER SOMETHING, YOU MUST PAY ATTENTION. YOU THINK OF THE NAME, YOU LOOK AT THE MAN, YOU ASSOCIATE THEM, YOU WANT TO KNOW THE MAN'S NAME. YOU REALLY WANT TO REMEMBER. SOME PEOPLE CARRY THIS IN-ATTENTION OVER FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES AND JUST PAY NO ATTENTION. THEY DON'T REALLY CARE ABOUT REMEMBERING TILL THE TIME COMES THAT THEY NEED THE INFORMATION, THEN THEY WANT TO REMEMBER. THAT'S NOT GOOD. THE VERY FIRST LESSON IN BEING ALE TO RECALL SOMETHING IS TO REMEMBER IT IN THE FIRST PLACE. YOU HAVE TO PUT THE FACTS IN A MEMORY BANK BEFORE YOU CAN RECALL IT. WHEN YOU FEEL EXCESSIVELY FATIGUED AND WHEN YOU'RE TIRED AND WHEN YOU'RE WORN OUT AND WHEN YOU DON'T FEEL GOOD, THE TENDENCY IS TO PAY "AH, THE HECK WITH IT. I WON'T PAY ATTENTION TO THAT". AND THEN YOUR MEMORY FADES. IT'S NOT BECAUSE YOU DON'T HAVE A GOOD MEMORY. YOU HAVE AN EXCELLENT MEMORY, BUT YOU'RE NOT USING IT BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT PAYING ATTENTION. YOU MUST LITERALLY PAY ATTENTION. THEN YOU STORE THE FACTS PROPERLY IN THE MEMORY BANK AND IT'S READY FOR YOU WHEN YOU NEED IT. SO THE FIRST POINT IS, FROM THIS MOMENT ON, I DON'T CARE HOW FATIGUED YOU ARE, I DON'T CARE WHAT DIFFICULTY YOU FEEL, I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU'VE GOT ON YOUR MIND, FROM THIS MOMENT ON, YOU'RE GOING TO UTILISE THE GOOD MEMORY YOU HAVE BY PAYING ATTENTION. PAYING ATTENTION TO WHAT'S GOING ON AROUND YOU, TO WHAT'S BEING SAID AND WHAT YOU HEAR, WHAT YOU SEE, SO THAT WHEN YOU NEED TO GO INTO THE MEMORY BANK TO MAKE A WITHDRAWAL, YOU DON'T HOLD THEM UP WITH A PISTOL. YOU FILL OUT A WITHDRAWAL SLIP OR WRITE A CHECK AND HAVE IT CASHED. YOU DO THE SAME THING WITH A MEMORY BANK. YOU DON'T FORCE THEM TO GIVE YOU THE MONEY. YOU DON'T FORCE YOUR MEMORY BANK TO GIVE YOU THE INFORMATION. AS SOON AS YOU TRY TO FORCE, YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO THINK OF IT. YOU SAY "I'VE GOT TO KNOW THAT, I"VE GOT TO KNOW THE NAME OF THAT SONG. I NEED TO KNOW THE NAME OF THAT PERSON OR PHONE NUMBER. WHAT WAS IT? WHAT WAS IT? WHAT WAS IT?" IMMEDIATELY, YOU FIND YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS MIND REBELLING AGAINST YOU AND THE HARDER THAT YOU TRY, THE HARDER IT IS TO REMEMBER. THIS DOES NOT MEAN YOU HAVE A BAD MEMORY. THIS IS TRUE FOR EVERY SINGLE LIVING HUMAN BEING. IT'S PART OF THE WAY WE ARE MADE. IT MERELY MEANS YOU ARE USING HE GOOD MEMORY THAT YOU HAVE IMPROPERLY. JUST LIKE IF YOU WENT UP TO A BANK WITH A GUN, YOU'D BE USING THE BANK IMPROPERLY. YOU'LL GET MORE MONEY BY WRITING A CHEQUE THAN BY USING A GUN. THAT ONLY LEADS TO FRUSTRATION AND THAT SAME THING IS TRUE WITH A MEMORY BANK IF YOU TRY TO FORCE IT. IT WILL LEAD TO FRUSTRATION. IN ORDER TO RECALL, YOU LET THE SUBCONSCIOUS DO THE RECALLING FOR YOU. AND IT COMES TO YOUR MIND NATURALLY, AND IF IT DOESN'T COME IMMEDIATELY, FORGET IT. AND IT WILL WASH UP ON THE SANDS OF CONSCIOUSNESS IN A FEW MOMENTS WHEN YOU LEAST EXPECT IT. ONE METHOD OF RECALL KNOWN TO EVERYONE IS BY SIMPLY GOING DOWN THE ALPHABET. WHAT WAS THE NAME OF THAT HOTEL? WAS IT B OR C OR D? OR, D. THAT'S IT! IT'S THE DUBUQUE HOTEL. THAT IS TO SAY YOU HAD A HOOK, A HOOK WHICH YOU STRETCHED DOWN INTO THE BANK AND WITHDREW YOUR MEMORY. JUST LIKE THE CHEQUE THAT YOU WRITE. YOU WROTE THE CHEQUE. BY PICKING THE PROPER LETTER, YOU GAVE THE LETTER TO THE TELLER OF YOUR MEMORY BANK AND UP CAME THE ANSWER IN CASH. NOW THE SAME THING CAN BE DONE IN MAY WAYS, NOT ONLY THE ALPHABET. IF YOU WANT TO REMEMBER WHERE YOU LEFT SOMETHING, YOU SIMPLY GO THROUGH THE MOTIONS OF WHAT YOU WERE DOING AT THE TIME THAT YOU LEFT IT YOU RETRACE YOUR STEPS MENTALLY. BY RETRACING THE STEPS SINCE THE MEMORY IS HOOKED IN WITH IT, YOU WRITE A CHECK AND IT'S

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Hypnosis Certification Training 1997 CASHED BY THE MEMORY BANK. IN MANY MANY WAYS, YOU'RE GOING TO LEARN TO RETRACE YOUR STEPS MENTALLY. TO WRITE THAT MENTAL CHECK BY DOING SOMETHING THAT'S ASSOCIATED WITH THE MEMORY YOU WANT. YOU USE THAT OTHER BIT OF INFORMATION AS THE CHEQUE THAT YOU WRITE IN ORDER TO GET A WITHDRAWAL FROM THE MEMORY BANK. THIS FACT ALONE, THE PRACTICE OF THIS SYSTEM, WILL INCREASE YOUR ABILITY TO RECALL 200%! YOUR MEMORY HAS ALWAYS BEEN GOOD. IT ISN'T A QUESTION OF NEEDING TO IMPROVE YOUR MEMORY. IT'S A QUESTION OF PROPERLY UTILIZING THE MEMORY BANK THAT YOU HAVE IN ORDER TO OBTAIN THE MAXIMUM RECALL OR WITHDRAWAL FROM THAT BANK. NOW ALL THESE SUGGESTIONS I HAVE GIVEN YOU ARE VERY IMPORTANT, FOR THEY REPRESENT THE PROPER WAY TO BEGIN UTILISING THE GOOD MEMORY YOU HAVE FIRST, YOU MAKE THE PROPER DEPOSIT IN THE MEMORY BANK BY PAYING ATTENTION, SECOND, WHEN YOU WANT TO MAKE A WITHDRAWAL FROM THE MEMORY BANK, YOU'RE MEMORY RECALL IS SUCCESSFUL BECAUSE YOU WITHDRAW IN THE PROPER MANNER USING A CHEQUE, NOT A PISTOL. YOU DON'T FORCE IT. YOU UTILIZE SOME ASSOCIATION THAT YOU ALREADY KNOW TO BRING IT OUT. THESE SUGGESTIONS ALONE WILL IMPROVE YOUR MEMORY RECALL OVER 200%. YOUR MEMORY FROM TODAY ON IS IMPROVING IN EVERY DEPARTMENT. YOU SHALL ALWAYS REMEMBER WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW AT EVERY MOMENT OF TIME. THE IMPRESSIONS RECEIVED WILL BE CLEARER AND MORE DEFINITE. WHATEVER YOU WISH TO RECALL WILL IMMEDIATELY PRESENT ITSELF IN THE CORRECT FORM IN YOUR MIND. YOU ARE IMPROVING RAPIDLY EVERY DAY AND VERY SOON YOUR MEMORY WILL BE BETTER THAN IT HAS EVER BEN BEFORE. WHATEVER YOU NEED TO REMEMBER WILL BE EASILY AND READILY RECALLED. WHENEVER YOU NEED SOMETHING FROM YOUR MEMORY, YOU WILL FORMULATE THE QUESTION IN YOUR MIND, STAY RELAXED AND WAIT FOR THE ANSWER. WHATEVER YOU NEED TO REMEMBER WILL BE EASILY AND READILY RECALLED. WHENEVER YOU NEED ANY BIT OF INFORMATION IT SPRINGS NATURALLY TO YOUR MIND JUST LIKE WATER GUSHES FROM THE SOURCE. WHENEVER AND WHERE EVER YOU HAVE USE FOR A GIVEN BIT OF KNOWLEDGE, THE VERY NEED OF THAT MATERIAL MAKES YOU CALM AND EASY. THE MERE NEED OF THAT BIT OF INFORMATION OR KNOWLEDGE MAKES YOU FEEL AT EASE, CALM AND SELF POSSESSED BECAUSE YOU KNOW YOU HAVE A BETTER MEMORY.

YOU NOW HAVE A GREATLY IMPROVED MEMORY FOR MANY REASONS. YOU ARE MORE INTERESTED IN RETAINING EVERYTHING. YOU ARE MORE INTERESTED IN REMEMBERING BECAUSE IT MAKES FOR A MORE INTERESTING LIFE. ALL OBSTACLES WHICH UP TO NOW MAY HAVE INFLUENCED YOUR MEMORY ARE FACING AWAY AND EVERYDAY IN EVERYWAY YOUR MEMORY IS BECOMING BETTER AND BETTER. WHATEVER YOU HAVE LEARNED OR NEED TO REMEMBER IS ALWAYS AT YOUR BECK AND CALL AND YOU ARE ALWAYS CALM, AT EASE AND COMPOSED. WHEN YOU ARE FACED OR CONFRONTED WITH ......................... ALL THE MATERIAL THAT YOU HAVE LEARNED FLOWS FREELY AND EASILY THROUGH YOUR MIND AND IS EASILY RECALLED. EMERGE CLIENT

THE 3 PARTS OF GOOD MEMORY 1. 2. 3.

IMPRESSION = YOU CONCENTRATE ON WHAT YOU NEED TO REMEMBER RETENTION = YOUR RETENTION SPAN IS STEADILY INCREASING RECALL = WHATEVER YOU NEED TO KNOW FLOWS FREELY AND EASILY THROUGH YOUR MIND.

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PAIN CONTROL AFTER ESTABLISHING SOMNAMBULISTIC STATE: SAY... YOU KNOW IT'S A TERRIBLE THING, I KNOW HOW SICK YOU HAVE BEEN THIS LAST (STATE TIME) AND I KNOW YOU HAVE HAD A LOT OF DISCOMFORT. BUT I WONDER IF YOU REALIZE HOW MUCH MORE DISCOMFORT YOU'VE HAD THAN YOU REALLY HAVE TO HAVE. DID YOU EVER REALISE THERE IS A LO T MORE DISCOMFORT IN YOU AT THE PRESENT TIME THAN HAS TO BE THERE? (SUBJECT: I HURT, ETC) I KNOW, AND I'M NOT DENYING THAT YOU HURT. I'M NOT SAYING YOU DON'T HAVE PAIN. BUT LET ME TELL YOU SOME OF THE FUNDAMENTALS OF PAIN AND THEN YOU'LL UNDERSTAND WHY YOUR FEELING THINGS MORE THAN YOU HAVE TO FEEL THEM. WHEN YOU HAVE A LITTLE PAIN, WHAT DO YOU DO? YOU TENSE UP, DON'T YOU? AND THEN WHAT HAPPENS? WELL, BECAUSE YOU TENSE UP, YOU FEEL THE PAIN ALL THE MORE. AND THEN BECAUSE YOU FEEL THE PAIN ALL THE MORE, YOU TENSE UP SOME MORE. AND IT BECOMES A VICIOUS CYCLE AND THIS KEEPS UP DAY AFTER DAY, WEEK AFTER WEEK, MONTH AFTER MONTH. FINALLY YOU ARE FEELING THAT PAIN AND THAT HURT, OF SO MUCH MORE THAN YOU HAVE TO FEEL IT. NOW, LET ME SHOW YOU HOW WE CAN JUST UNWIND, GET RID OF SOME OF THAT TENSION AND LET YOU FEEL HOW LITTLE YOU FEEL WHEN YOU FEEL IT AT AN ORDINARY LEVEL. WOULD YOU LIKE TO DO THAT? I CAN HELP YOU, IF YOU LET ME HELP YOU. [1. ESTABLISH TRUE SOMNAMBULISM]: EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE YOUR RELAXATION WILL BECOME MORE INTENSE. [2. AFTER SOMNAMBULISM, ESTABLISH COMA STATE]: NOW YOU KNOW THIS IS GOOD RELAXATION MENTALLY AND PHYSICALLY AND YOU CAN ALREADY SEE HOW MUCH BETTER YOU FEEL. BUT YOU KNOW THERE IS A STAGE OF RELAXATION BELOW THE ONE WHICH YOU NOW HAVE. THE VERY BASEMENT OF RELAXATION. AND I WOULD LIKE TO TAKE YOU RIGHT DOWN TO THE VERY BASEMENT. I WANT YOU TO SEE HOW GOOD YOU FEEL RIGHT THERE IN THAT BASEMENT OF RELAXATION. I'LL TELL YOU WE'RE GOING TO START OUT FOR THAT BASEMENT. I WANT YOU TO KNOW JUST AS YOU CAN MAKE A FIST TENSE, SO THAT YOU CAN'T MAKE IT ANY TIGHTER, YOU CAN ALSO MAKE A MUSCLE LOOSE SO THAT YOU CAN'T MAKE IT ANY LOOSER. AND I WANT YOU TO MAKE EVERY MUSCLE IN YOUR BODY LOOSE LIKE THAT SO THAT RELAXATION IS THROUGH EVERY MUSCLE IN YOUR BODY. THEN NOTICE HOW LITTLE YOU FEEL THINGS. SO WE'RE GOING TO START DOWN TO THE BASEMENT OF RELAXATION AND I'LL KNOW WHEN YOU GET THERE AS YOU WILL GIVE OFF CERTAIN SIGNS. SO THE FIRST THING I'M GOING TO ASK YOU TO DO IS JUST IMAGINE YOURSELF ON YOUR OWN ELEVATOR OR ESCALATOR, WHICHEVER YOU PREFER. WE'RE GOING TO RIDE DOWN TO THE FIRST FLOOR NOW, THAT WILL BE FLOOR "A". WE'RE HEADING TO THE BASEMENT OF RELAXATION AND WHEN WE GET TO FLOOR "C", THAT WILL BE THE ACTUAL BASEMENT. NOW, IN ORDER TO GET TO "A" YOU HAVE TO DOUBLE THE RELAXATION. IN ORDER TO GET TO "B", YOU HAVE TO DOUBLE THE RELAXATION YOU HAVE AT "A". AND TO GET TO "C" YOU HAVE TO DOUBLE THE RELAXATION YOU HAVE AT "B", BUT WHEN YOU'RE AT THE BASEMENT OF RELAXATION, YOU WILL KNOW IT BY THE WAY YOU FEEL. NOW, I'M GOING TO COUNT TO 3, SNAP MY FINGERS AND IMAGINE YOURSELF ON THIS ESCALATOR OR ELEVATOR RIDING DOWN TO FLOOR "A" AND LET YOURSELF RELAX AS YOU GO AND SAY THE LETTER"A" OUT LOUD WHEN YOU REACH FLOOR "A". 1-2-3 HERE WE GO (SNAP). NOW SAY THE LETTER "A" WHEN YOU FEEL TWICE AS RELAXED AS WHEN WE STARTED THAT ELEVATOR OR ESCALATOR GOING. (WAIT UNTIL THE SUBJECT SAYS "A")

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THAT'S IT... NOW WE CAN GO DOWN TO FLOOR "B" FROM HERE. YOU'VE GOT TO DOUBLE YOUR RELAXATION AND NOTICE HOW MUCH BETTER YOU FEEL ON EACH LOWER FLOOR. NOW I'M GOING TO COUNT TO 3, SNAP MY FINGERS AND YOU'LL BE ON THE WAY TO FLOOR "B". WATCH 1-2-3HERE WE GO (SNAP). NOW IF YOU CAN'T SAY THE LETTER "B" OUT LOUD, THAT MEANS YOU'RE RELAXING YOUR MUSCLES TO THE POINT THAT THEY WON'T WORK. THAT'S WHAT I WANT TO HAPPEN. SO, IF IT BECOMES DIFFICULT FOR YOU TO SPEAK, DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT, BUT TRY YOUR DARNDEST TO SAY THE LETTER "B" WHEN YOU GET THERE. (WAIT UNTIL SUBJECT SAYS OR TRIES TO SAY THE LETTER "B".)

[INTRACTABLE PAIN] THAT'S BEAUTIFUL. NOW NOTICE HOW GOOD YOU FEEL AS A RESULT OF IT. NOW LET'S GO DOWN TO THE VERY BASEMENT, LET'S DOUBLE YOUR RELAXATION AGAIN AND TAKE YOU RIGHT DOWN TO THE BASEMENT OF RELAXATION, 1-2-3 AND HERE WE GO (SNAP). [PAUSE - IF CLIENT DOES NOT SAY "C" ASK HIM TO SEE IF HE CAN TELL YOU WHAT FLOOR HE IS AT. IF HE CAN STILL SPEAK, TAKE HIM TO FLOOR "D" ETC.]

[TEST FOR COMA - DO NOT TEST FOR PAIN] 1. AUTOMATIC ANAESTHESIA (NOT WITH PAIN CLIENT) 2. STATE "TRY TO LIFT YOUR RIGHT LEG" 3. STATE "TRY TO OPEN YOUR EYES" 4. TEST FOR CATATONIA. NOW, YOU'LL BE ABLE TO HOLD ON TO THIS. YOU'LL BE ABLE TO HOLD ON TO THE WAY YOU FEEL EVEN AFTER I HAVE YOU OPEN YOUR EYES. [TRAIN FOR POST-HYPNOTIC H SUGGESTION TO REESTABLISH RELAXATION WHEN NEEDED. (E.G. FINGER PINCH KEY-WORD EAR PULL ETC)] [OR JUST SAY...] AND, I WANT YOU TO HOLD ON TO THIS UNTIL YOUR NEXT VISIT. I WANT YOU TO FEEL SO GOOD AND I WANT YOU TO SEE HOW LITTLE YOU FEEL ANYTHING, JUST BY STAYING RELAXED LIKE THIS.

EMERGE BY SAYING... YOU KNOW THERE COMES A TIME, WHEN IF YOU DON'T OPEN YOUR EYES WHEN I TELL YOU, YOU CAN'T HAVE THIS WONDERFUL STATE AGAIN. SO BRING YOURSELF UP A FLIGHT, YOU'LL BE ABLE TO MAKE THOSE EYE MUSCLES WORK AND NOTICE HOW GOOD YOU FEEL WHEN YOU OPEN YOUR EYES. NOW BRING YOURSELF UP AND OPEN YOUR EYES. HOW DO YOU FEEL ?

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PROCRASTINATION I UNDERSTAND YOU MIGHT BE HAVING A LITTLE TROUBLE GETTING THINGS DONE. MAYBE YOU'RE PROCRASTINATING, MAYBE YOU'RE RATIONALISING, NOT TAKING ACTION. MAYBE ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS MAKE A PHONE CALL, BUT YOU'RE PUTTING IT OFF. FIRST OF ALL, LET'S REALISE THAT YOU'RE ATTEMPTING GREAT THINGS IN YOUR LIFE. RIGHT? AND GREATNESS DOES NOT COME EASY. THAT'S WHY THERE IS SO MUCH MEDIOCRITY AROUND. BUT, YOU ARE A STAT, YOU ARE ABOVE AVERAGE. YOU ARE A RHINOCEROS. YOU ARE A SUCCESS AND ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS THIS ONE THING THAT YOU ARE PUTTING OFF AND YOU ARE GOING TO RISE ABOVE THE MEDIOCRITY. NOW I KNOW THAT YOU COULD NOT DO IT. YOU COULD EASILY FORGET ABOUT IT AND NOT WORRY ABOUT EVER DOING IT, JUST LIKE THE OTHER FAILURES IN THE WORLD WOULD DO. IT'S SO EASY TO QUIT. IT SPELLS AUTOMATIC FAILURE AND YOU ARE NOT BUILT THAT WAY, ARE YOU? YOU'RE A STAR AND IF YOU DON'T DO WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE, NO MATTER HOW INSIGNIFICANT IT MAY SEEM, IT'S GOING TO EAT AT YOU INSIDE. YOU WOULD BE FRUSTRATED BECAUSE YOU WOULD NEVER KNOW WHAT THE RESULTS MIGHT HAVE BEEN. IT COULD HAVE BEEN THE TURNING POINT OF A FABULOUS SUCCESS STORY. SUCCESS IS A SERIES OF DOING THINGS THAT FAILURES WILL NOT DO. AND WHEN YOU'RE ON STAGE TELLING YOUR SUCCESS STORY, IT'S GOING TO BE THE RESULT OF WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO DO RIGHT NOW. THIS LITTLE THING YOU'RE GOING TO DO IS THE KEY TO YOUR SUCCESS. IT'S THE KEY TO YOUR ROLLS ROYCE, YOUR APPEARANCE ON THE JOHNNY CARSON SHOW, YOUR TRAVELLING AROUND THE WORLD, YOUR DREAM HOME ON THE HILL. YOUR PEACE OF MIND KNOWING OTHERS WILL KEEP THE BALL ROLLING FOR YOU AND YOU'RE HELPING OTHERS ACHIEVE SUCCESS. ALL THINGS HINGE ON WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO DO RIGHT NOW !!! O.K. FIRST LET'S SET THE PROPER ATTITUDE, AND THAT ATTITUDE IS THAT LIFE IS A JUNGLE. NOW THAT IS EXCITING BECAUSE YOU ARE A RHINOCEROS. YOU'RE FREE TO RUN WHERE EVER YOU WANT. YOU'RE FREE TO ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING YOU WANT. THE JUNGLE CAN BE VERY EXCITING, IF YOU MAKE IT EXCITING. NOW, THERE ARE A LOT OF WILD ANIMALS OUT THERE BUT YOU ARE BIGGER THAN ANY OF THEM ANYWAY. RIGHT? AND LET ME TELL YOU WHAT THE ALTERNATIVE TO THE JUNGLE IS. THE ALTERNATIVE IS THE PASTURE, AND YOU KNOW WHAT THEY KEEP IN THE PASTURE ! COWS ! DIRTY, OLD LAZY, GOOD FOR NOTHING, DISGUSTING COWS. AND TALK ABOUT BORING! ... ALL THESE COWS DO IS WANDER THE BOUNDARIES OF THE PASTURE, FOLLOWING EACH OTHERS' TAILS, EATING ALL DAY GETTING FATTER AND FATTER AND FATTER. THEN ONE DAY, A LITTLE EXCITEMENT. THE FARMER OPENS THE DOOR TO THE PASTURE, THE DAY HAS COME. THEY ARE FAT ENOUGH AND THE COWS ARE LED OFF TO THE SLAUGHTER HOUSE. THAT IS THE ALTERNATIVE. SO, LET'S GET OUT OF THE PASTURE AND GET INTO THE JUNGLE RIGHT NOW. THE JUNGLE IS WHERE THE OPPORTUNITIES ARE, THE REWARDS AND THE RISKS. THE EXCITEMENT AND THE CHALLENGES, AND BEST OF ALL THE OTHER RHINOS, YOU WOULD BE PRETTY LONELY AS A CHARGING RHINO IN A PASTURE, FULL OF COWS. O.K. THE JUNGLE IS CHARACTERISED BY ACTION. SO NOW THAT YOU'RE IN THE JUNGLE THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE GOING TO DO - TAKE ACTION. LET'S GO BACK TO THE TASK YOU HAVE AT HAND TO DO NOW. THIS ONE, MAYBE, UNCOMFORTABLE TASK THAT IS THE KEY TO YOUR FANTASTIC FUTURE. YOU'RE GOING TO TAKE CARE OF IT RIGHT NOW. YOU'RE NOT GOING TO SIT AROUND LIKE A COW. BECAUSE YOU'RE IN THE JUNGLE NOW. AND IF YOU DON'T TAKE ACTION YOU'LL GO DOWN IN THE QUICK SAND. AND IF YOU DON'T GET MOVING RIGHT NOW, THE GNATS ARE GOING TO REST ON YOUR EYES AND TORMENT YOU. DO IT NOW OR THE SUN WILL BAKE YOU AND YOU'LL ROT RIGHT WHERE YOU STAND. GET CHARGING. YOU'RE A SUCCESS. YOU'RE A RHINOCEROS !!!! GO DO IT NOW. MAKE GOOD THINGS HAPPEN. YOU'RE A FABULOUS STAR WITH A FANTASTIC FUTURE BECAUSE YOU CHARGE ON EVERYTHING YOU TAKE ON. ALL OF US RHINOS OUT IN THE JUNGLE ARE ROOTING FOR YOU. WE WANT YOU TO DO IT SO YOU CAN BE WITH US. GO DO IT NOW. YOU'RE A WINNER BECAUSE YOU TAKE ACTION. EXCITING THINGS ARE RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER BUT YOU'VE GOT TO WALK AROUND THE CORNER TO FIND OUT WHAT'S THERE. GO DO IT

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Hypnosis Certification Training 1997 RIGHT NOW BECAUSE IF YOU DON'T YOU'LL NEVER KNOW WHAT MIGHT HAVE HAPPENED. CONGRATULATIONS ON RISING ABOVE MEDIOCRITY AND KEEP CHARGING ! EMERGE

ELIMINATE TENSION NOW TENSION IS THE OPPOSITE OF RELAXATION. NO ONE CAN EVER RELAX AND FEEL COMFORTABLE WHEN THEY ARE TENSE. YOU MUST RELIEVE AND RELEASE TENSION IN ORDER TO RELAX FULLY AND COMPLETELY. TALKING ABOUT IT WON'T DO IT. TO RELEASE EMOTION YOU HAVE TO FEEL THE EMOTION FLOWING RIGHT OUT OF YOU YOU HAVE TO ACTUALLY RELIEVE YOURSELF FROM ENERGY BY RELEASING IT TO THE OUTSIDE. OTHERWISE IT WILL OVERFLOW ON THE INSIDE AND CAUSE SYMPTOMS. THAT'S CALLED THE ORGANISATION OF SYMPTOMS, THE ORGANISATION OF ENERGY. THIS EXCESS TENSION LEADS TO SYMPTOMS IN THE VERY BODY ORGANS THAT NEED TO BE RELIEVED OF THE TENSION. NOW, THERE ARE MANY WAYS TO RELEASE TENSION. YOU CAN EXPRESS HOSTILITY IN A SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE MANNER. YOU CAN PUNCH A PUNCHING BAG, YOU CAN BEAT THE DRUMS, YOU CAN PAINT A PICTURE. YOU CAN THROW THINGS, BEAT THINGS, VIGOROUSLY CLEAN A HOUSE. YOU CAN TEAR DOWN OR DESTROY SOMETHING THAT NEEDS TO BE TORN DOWN OR DESTROYED; YOU CAN SLASH OR CUT UP SOMETHING THAT NEEDS TO BE SLASHED OR CUT UP; YOU CAN HUNT, THERE ARE HUNDREDS OF WAYS. PERHAPS ONE OF THE BEST WAYS IS THROUGH SEXUAL INTERCOURSE. AS THE OLD SAYING GOES, SEX DOES RELIEVE TENSION. AND THE MORE OF IT YOU HAVE, THE MORE TENSION IS RELIEVED AND RELEASED. IT IS VERY DIFFICULT TO FIND A TENSE PERSON WHO HAS AN EXTREMELY ACTIVE SEXUAL LIFE. IT'S VIRTUALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO REACH FIVE OR SIX CLIMAXES A DAY AND REMAIN TENSE. ONE JUST CAN'T DO IT. LIKEWISE, IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO RUN A MILE, PLAY A FULL SET OF TENNIS OR SWIM THE CHANNEL AND REMAIN TENSE. GOOD STRONG HEAVY PHYSICAL EXERCISE RELIEVES TENSION AND ENABLES THE MIND, THE BODY AND THE SPIRIT ALL TO RELAX. RELAXATION IS GOOD FOR YOU, BUT IN ORDER TO ACCOMPLISH IT YOU MUST FIRST RELEASE TENSION. RATHER THAN RELIEVING TENSION BY JUST ONE METHOD, IT'S BETTER TO RELIEVE IT BY ALL THE METHODS COMBINED. THEREFORE, FIRST EXPRESS WHATEVER HOSTILITY AND ANGER YOU FEEL IN A SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE WAY. TWO - ENGAGE YOURSELF IN HEALTHY BUT STRENUOUS EXERCISE IN WHICH YOU BECOME GOOD AND PHYSICALLY TIRED. THREE, KEEP YOURSELF PHYSICALLY FIT BY EXERCISING REGULARLY AND WORKING OUT. FOUR - MAKE CERTAIN THAT YOU HAVE A FULL AND ACTIVE SEXUAL LIFE, SEEING TO IT THAT YOU REACH AN ADEQUATE NUMBER OF CLIMAXES FOR YOUR DAILY. THIS CHANNELS YOUR EMOTIONAL ENERGY AWAY FROM INTERNAL SYMPTOMS AND ALLOWS YOU TO EXPRESS YOURSELF EXTERNALLY IN A SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE MANNER. NOW THESE SUGGESTIONS WILL RELIEVE YOUR TENSION AND WILL ENABLE YOU TO RELAX FULLY AND COMPLETELY IN EVERY WAY SO THAT THERE IS A HALT TO THE PRODUCTION OF INTERNAL SYMPTOMS BROUGHT ABOUT BY THE INTERNALISATION OR ORGANISATION OF THE TENSION. NOW, I AM GOING TO COUNT TO FIVE AND AS I COUNT TO FIVE, I WANT YOU TO TENSE EVERY SINGLE MUSCLE IN YOUR BODY JUST AS TIGHT AS IT'S POSSIBLE FOR YOU TO TENSE, EXTREMELY TIGHT. 1...FEEL YOURSELF TIGHTENING UP. YOUR HAND TIGHTENS UP, YOUR ARMS TIGHTEN UP, YOUR ELBOWS TIGHTEN UP. EVERYTHING. YOUR LEGS TIGHTEN UP, YOUR FEET TIGHTEN UP AND STIFFEN, EVERY SINGLE MUSCLE TIGHTENS. EVEN YOUR NECK PULLS BACK AS EVERY SINGLE MUSCLE TIGHTENS AND YOU FEEL YOURSELF DRAWN UP INTO A KNOT. 2...EVERY SINGLE MUSCLE TIGHTENS, EVERY SINGLE MUSCLE IN YOUR BODY TIGHTENS, TIGHTER AND TIGHTER AND TIGHTER, PULLING AGAINST EACH OTHER, TIGHTENING VERY VERY TIGHT. 3...YOU'VE NEVER BEEN SO UP-TIGHT BEFORE. VERY VERY TIGHT AND TENSE IN EVERY WAY, ALMOST LIKE YOU WERE GOING TO JUMP RIGHT OUT OF YOUR SKIN. 4...EXTREMELY TIGHT AND TENSE. AND NOW 5...VERY VERY TENSE, TENSE AS ALL YOU CAN EVER BE IN YOUR LIFE ...

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Hypnosis Certification Training 1997 AND, IN A FEW MOMENTS I'M GOING TO CLAP MY HANDS. AND WHEN I DO, YOU'RE GOING TO RELEASE ALL THIS TENSION COMPLETELY IN EVERY WAY. BUT, YOU'RE TIGHT AND TENSE RIGHT NOW. VERY TIGHT AND TENSE AND YOU'LL HOLD ON TO IT LONGER THAN YOU'D THINK IT'S POSSIBLE FOR YOU TO DO. AND IN A FEW MOMENTS I'M GOING TO CLAP MY HANDS AND WHEN I DO, YOU RELEASE IT COMPLETELY. NOW GET READY TO RELEASE AND RELEASE ! (CLAP) RELEASE COMPLETELY IN EVERY WAY AND ALL YOUR MUSCLES COMPLETELY RELAX AND LET GO FOR YOU'RE GOING TO RELAX COMPLETELY NOW. LET ALL THAT TENSION GO WAY DOWN, WAY DOWN. ALL THE MUSCLES IN YOUR BODY COMPLETELY RELAX IN EVERY WAY AND YOU SINK, DEEPER AND DEEPER AND DEEPER. DEEP IN THE DEEPEST, MOST PROFOUND HYPNOTIC TRANCE YOU HAVE EVER BEEN IN BEFORE. AND ALL THESE SUGGESTIONS TAKE COMPLETE AND THOROUGH EFFECT UPON YOU - MIND, BODY AND SPIRIT. AS YOU GO DEEPER AND DEEPER RELAXED. EMERGE

WEIGHT LOSS (ONE SESSION) [PARAGRAPH #1] AS YOU KNOW, THE REASON YOU ARE HERE IS BECAUSE YOU WOULD LIKE TO LOSE A FEW KILOGRAMS. HERE IS HOW YOU WILL DO IT. STARTING TOMORROW MORNING, YOU WILL HAVE 3 MEALS PER DAY. YOU WILL HAVE BREAKFAST, YOU WILL HAVE LUNCH AND YOU WILL HAVE DINNER. [PARAGRAPH #2] YOU WILL FIND THAT AFTER EATING A REGULAR MEAL THAT YOUR STOMACH WILL FEEL SO FULL AND SO SATISFIED THAT YOU JUST COULD NOT ADD TO THAT FULL SATISFIED FEELING. AND YOU WILL FIND THAT THIS WONDERFUL FULL AND SATISFIED FEELING WILL LAST RIGHT UP TO YOUR NEXT REGULAR MEAL. IF FOR ANY REASON YOU EVER FEEL THE DESIRE TO EAT BETWEEN YOUR REGULAR MEALS, ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS STOP, CLOSE YOUR EYES AND TAKE A DEEP BREATH. AS YOU SLOWLY EXHALE THIS DEEP BREATH, THAT FEELING, THAT DESIRE WILL DISSOLVE AND DISAPPEAR AND YOUR STOMACH WILL ONCE AGAIN FEEL SO FULL AND SATISFIED THAT YOU JUST COULD NOT ADD TO THAT WONDERFUL FULL AND SATISFIED FEELING. [PARAGRAPH # 3] YOU HAVE DECIDED TO TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR LIFE INSTEAD OF ALLOWING LIFE AND FOOD TO CONTROL YOU. WHEN YOU SIT DOWN TO ONE OF YOUR 3 REGULAR MEALS, WHEN THE FOOD IS RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU AND THERE IS NOTHING ELSE FOR YOU TO DO BUT BEGIN EATING, YOU WILL BRIEFLY CLOSE YOUR EYES AND SAY SILENTLY BUT FORCEFULLY TO YOURSELF, THE WORDS ONE HALF YOU WILL OPEN YOUR EYES AND BEGIN TO EAT YOUR MEAL. YOU ARE GOING TO BE AMAZED TO FIND OUT THAT AFTER YOU HAVE EATEN ABOUT ONE HALF OF THE FOOD ON YOUR PLATE YOUR STOMACH FEELS SO FULL, SO SATISFIED THAT IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE FOR YOU TO ADD TO THAT WONDERFUL FULL AND SATISFIED FEELING. YOU WILL PUSH YOUR PLATE AWAY AND AS YOU DO, YOU WILL DEVELOP A WONDERFUL PROUD FEELING KNOWING THAT YOU NOW CONTROL FOOD AND THAT NO LONGER DOES FOOD CONTROL YOU. FROM THIS TIME ON YOU ARE ONLY GOING TO EAT THOSE FOODS THAT YOU KNOW IN YOUR OWN MIND ARE CONDUCIVE TO GOOD HEALTH AND WEIGHT LOSS. WHAT THIS STATEMENT REALLY MEANS IS YOU WILL STAY AWAY FROM THE JUNK FOODS, DONUTS, ICE CREAM, POTATO CHIPS, PIZZA AND ALL OTHER FOODS THAT YOU KNOW ARE JUNK FOODS. I REPEAT, YOU WILL ONLY EAT THOSE FOODS THAT YOU KNOW IN YOUR OWN MIND ARE CONDUCIVE TO GOOD HEALTH AND WEIGHT LOSS. DON'T WORRY, YOU WILL CONTINUE TO ENJOY THE FOODS YOU DO EAT BECAUSE WE'RE NOT HERE TO TAKE ANY ENJOYMENT AWAY FROM YOU. ONCE YOU HAVE ATTAINED YOUR GOAL WEIGHT, YOU WILL EAT ONLY ENOUGH, I REPEAT, ONLY ENOUGH TO MAINTAIN THIS NEW FOUND SLIM, TRIM, HEALTHY, BEAUTIFUL, (OR HANDSOME) BODY.

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Hypnosis Certification Training 1997 NOW, AS YOU KNOW THERE IS ONLY ONE WAY FOR ANYONE TO LOSE WEIGHT AND THAT IS TO TAKE IN FEWER CALORIES THAN YOU USE. IN ORDER TO DO THIS, YOU HAVE TO HAVE CONSTANT CONTROL OF YOUR EATING HABITS. CONSTANT, CONSTANT, CONTROL. IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE THIS CONSTANT CONTROL, TWO THINGS ARE ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. MANY, MANY PEOPLE AT THE SUBCONSCIOUS LEVEL DO NOT LIKE THEMSELVES FOR WHATEVER REASON, REAL OR IMAGINED. BECAUSE THEY DON'T LIKE THEMSELVES, THEY FEEL THAT THEY ARE NOT WORTHY OF ACHIEVING THE WEIGHT LOSS THEY DESIRE. LET'S UNDERSTAND SOMETHING - YOU ARE A VERY SPECIAL AND UNIQUE PERSON. ON THIS ENTIRE PLANET OF BILLIONS OF PEOPLE, THERE IS NO ONE EXACTLY LIKE YOU. IN THE ENTIRE PAST HISTORY OF MAN ON THIS PLANET THERE HAS NEVER BEEN ANOTHER PERSON EXACTLY LIKE YOU. IF THERE WAS, THERE WOULD BE NO NEED FOR YOU TO BE HERE NOW. IN THE FUTURE, THERE NEVER AGAIN WILL BE A PERSON EXACTLY LIKE YOU. IF THAT WAS NECESSARY, AGAIN, THERE WOULD BE NO REASON FOR YOU TO BE HERE NOW. YOU ARE A UNIQUE, ONE OF A KIND PERSON. AS THE SAYING GOES: "WHEN THEY MADE YOU, THEY THREW THE MOLD AWAY". YOU ARE JUST AS GOOD AS ANYONE ELSE SO YOU DESERVE TO ACHIEVE AND MAINTAIN THIS WEIGHT GOAL YOU DESIRE. IN ADDITION TO THIS, YOU NOW BECOME AWARE OF YOUR BODY. MANY PEOPLE ARE NOT AWARE OF HOW THEIR BODIES LOOK, HOW THEY WALK OR EVEN HOW THEY TALK. YOU NOW BECOME AWARE OF HOW YOU LOOK - RIGHT NOW AND HOW YOU WILL LOOK ONCE YOU HAVE ACHIEVED YOUR WEIGHT GOAL. YOU WILL FIND THESE TWO THINGS WILL HELP YOU TO ACHIEVE THAT CONSTANT CONTROL OF YOUR EATING HABITS, WHICH IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY TO ACHIEVE THE WEIGHT LOSS, SECONDLY, AND MORE IMPORTANTLY TO MAINTAIN THAT WEIGHT LOSS. LET THE GOAL OF ACHIEVING YOUR IDEAL WEIGHT BECOME YOUR NUMBER 1 PRIORITY. AS OPPOSED TO THAT OTHER PRIORITY OF EATING FOR FALSE PLEASURE OR SECURITY. THAT PRIORITY YOU WILL FIND, IS ONLY A MOMENTARY, FLEETING THING THAT LASTS ONLY AS LONG AS YOU ARE EATING. THIS MAY BE ANOTHER REASON WHY PEOPLE TEND TO OVEREAT -THEY WANT TO PROLONG THAT TIME THEY ARE FEELING FALSE PLEASURE OR SECURITY. IT IS PLEASURABLE, BUT IT IS A HABIT YOU WANT TO ELIMINATE. I REPEAT, LET THAT PRIORITY OF ACHIEVING YOUR GOAL WEIGHT BECOME NUMBER 1 AT THIS POINT IN TIME, AS OPPOSED TO THAT OTHER PRIORITY OF FALSE PLEASURE OR SECURITY. THE NUMBER 1 PRIORITY BECOMES VERY, VERY IMPORTANT TO YOU AT THIS POINT IN TIME. I SAY AGAIN, ONCE YOU ACHIEVE YOUR GOAL WEIGHT, YOU WILL THEN EAT ONLY ENOUGH TO MAINTAIN THAT SLIM, TRIM, HEALTHY BEAUTIFUL BODY. YOU WILL BE CONSTANTLY AWARE OF YOUR NEW BODY AND YOUR NEW WEIGHT. SO SHOULD YOU DEVIATE 1 - 2 OR 3 KILOGRAMS FROM YOUR GOAL WEIGHT, THIS AWARENESS WILL TELL YOU THAT YOU HAVE SLIPPED BACKWARDS A LITTLE. WHEN YOU REALISE YOU HAVE DONE SO, YOU AGAIN PAY MORE ATTENTION TO YOUR EATING HABITS SO THAT YOU RETURN TO YOUR GOAL WEIGHT EASILY AND EFFORTLESSLY. IN A MOMENT I WILL COUNT FROM 1 TO 3. AT THE COUNT OF 3 YOU WILL NOTICE THAT YOU WILL BEGIN TO FEEL DRY IN YOUR MOUTH AND AROUND YOUR LIPS. (COUNT FROM 1 TO 3 SLOWLY) THE DRYNESS THAT YOU ARE BEGINNING TO FEEL IN YOUR MOUTH AND AROUND YOUR LIPS IS THE BODY'S NATURAL THIRST FOR PLAIN, CLEAR, UNCOLOURED WATER. AND THE ONLY THING THAT WILL SATISFY THAT THIRST IS PLAIN, CLEAR, UNCOLOURED WATER. FROM THIS MOMENT FORWARD, EVERYTIME YOU EXPERIENCE THAT DRYNESS OR THAT DISCOMFORT OR THAT FEELING OF NEEDING SOMETHING IN YOUR MOUTH, YOU WILL RECOGNIZE IT AS YOUR BODY'S NATURAL THIRST FOR PLAIN, CLEAR, UNCOLOURED WATER. AND YOU SATISFY THAT THIRST IMMEDIATELY AND WITHOUT HESITATION FREELY AND FREQUENTLY, THROUGH YOUR DAY WITH LARGE, REFRESHING, HEALTH GIVING, ENERGISING, DELIGHTFUL DRINKS OF PLAIN, CLEAR, UNCOLOURED WATER. AND THE WATER IS SO REFRESHING AND SO DELICIOUS IT IS EXACTLY

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Hypnosis Certification Training 1997 WHAT YOUR BODY HAS CRAVED. AND THE WATER IS SO CLEANSING IT WASHES AWAY TOXINS AND BROKEN DOWN FATTY PARTICLES. AS YOU CONTINUE, DAY BY DAY TO GIVE YOUR BODY THE PLAIN, CLEAR, UNCOLOURED WATER THAT IT NEEDS FOR PROPER FUNCTION, YOU FREE YOURSELF FROM ANY NEED TO STORE OR RETAIN FLUIDS. AND SO THOSE STORED OR RETAINED FLUIDS ARE TURNED LOOSE TO FLOW AWAY, LEAVING YOU LIGHT AND FREE, FEELING WONDERFULLY ALIVE, WELL AND FREE.

AFTER READING THE PATTER THE FIRST TIME DO THE FOLLOWING: 1.

REPEAT PARAGRAPH # 1

2.

GO OVER PARAGRAPH # 2 AND CREATE 3 VISUALISATION SITUATIONS, WHERE CLIENT IS USING DEEP BREATH TECHNIQUE. TELL THEM : "EACH TIME YOU USE THIS TECHNIQUE IT BECOMES STRONGER THAN THE TIME BEFORE"

3.

GO OVER PARAGRAPH # 3 IN THE SAME MANNER AS ABOVE. EMERGE

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SELF HYPNOSIS INDUCTION WHENEVER YOU ENTER THIS STATE, YOU ALLOW YOURSELF TO GO BACK INTO THE SAME BEAUTIFUL STATE THAT YOU ARE NOW IN. EACH TIME ALLOWING YOURSELF TO GO BACK DEEPER, EACH TIME ENJOYING IT MORE AND MORE, FEELING TERRIFIC IN EVERY WAY. WHENEVER YOU ENTER THIS STATE, THE INSTANT YOUR CLOSE YOUR EYES, YOUR MUSCLES BECOME INSTANTLY CALM VERY DEEPLY RELAXED AND YOU ALLOW THE SOUND OF MY VOICE TO GUIDE YOU DEEPER INTO RELAXATION. FOLLOWING MY SUGGESTIONS GUIDES YOU DEEPER INTO RELAXATION AND THE DEEPER YOU GO INTO RELAXATION, THE BETTER YOU FEEL AND, THE BETTER YOU FEEL, THE MORE AND MORE YOUR BODY RELAXES WITH JUST WONDERFUL FEELINGS GOING THROUGH YOUR BODY AND HAPPY THOUGHTS GOING THROUGH YOUR MIND. SO RELAX AND LET YOURSELF GO. NOW I WANT YOU TO RELAX STILL TO A DEEPER STATE OF RELAXATION. MUCH MORE RELAXED. SO, AGAIN I'LL COUNT FROM FIVE DOWN TO ONE AND AS I COUNT FROM FIVE DOWN TO ONE, YOUR BODY WILL DOUBLE THE RELAXATION YOU HAVE RIGHT NOW AUTOMATICALLY. 5 ... RELAXATION STARTING TO DOUBLE. 4 ... RELAXATION DOUBLING MORE AND MORE. 3 ... VERY COMFORTABLE, VERY RELAXED. 2 ... RELAXATION IS NOW ALMOST DOUBLED IN YOUR BODY. 1 ... RELAXATION NOW HAS DOUBLED IN YOUR BODY FROM THE TOP OF YOUR HEAD TO THE TIPS OF YOUR TOES. EVERY FIBRE, EVERY TISSUE, EVERY ORGAN, EVERY GLAND, EVERY PART OF YOU HAS DOUBLED IN ITS RELAXATION. YOU FEEL FINE. I WANT YOU TO IMAGINE, OR VISUALISE, IN FRONT OF YOU IS A LONG STAIRCASE THAT IS LEADING DOWN INTO RELAXATION. WE HAVE NEVER FOUND A BASEMENT, A BOTTOM OF A PERSON'S ABILITY TO RELAX. IT'S ENDLESS. EVERY BREATH YOU EXHALE TAKES YOU DOWN ANOTHER STEP ON THIS STAIRCASE OF RELAXATION. EVERY BREATH TAKES YOU DEEPER INTO AN ENDLESS STATE OF RELAXATION, YOU DRIFT DOWN FEELING WONDERFUL, FEELING COMFORTABLE. RELAX AND LET YOURSELF GO. JUST RELAX AND LET YOURSELF GO. I STILL WANT YOU TO RELAX TO A MUCH MORE RELAXED STATE. AGAIN, I WILL COUNT BUT THIS TIME FROM TEN DOWN TO ONE. AS I COUNT FROM TEN DOWN TO ONE, YOUR CONSCIOUS MIND WILL RELAX AS MUCH AS YOUR BODY IS RELAXED AND YOUR MIND AND BODY WILL DOUBLE THE RELAXATION THAT IT HAS AT THAT TIME ON EACH AND EVERY COUNT 10 ... YOUR MIND IS AS RELAXED AS THE BODY IS RELAXED AND THE BODY IS DOUBLING ITS RELAXATION ... 9 ...THE MIND IS RELAXED AS THE BODY IS RELAXED AND THE BODY IS DOUBLING IT'S RELAXATION ... 8 ...MIND RELAXED AS THE BODY IS RELAXED AND THE BODY AGAIN IS DOUBLING THE RELAXATION IT HAS AT THIS TIME ... 7 ... THE SAME THING ... 6 ...KEEP RIGHT ON GOING NOW ...

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5 ... 4 ...3 ... 2 ... 1 ...MIND RELAXED AS THE BODY IS RELAXED AND YOUR BODY HAS DOUBLED ITS RELAXATION MANY TIMES OVER. BY RELAXATION I MEAN THE ABSENCE OF ALL CONTRACTIONS. YOUR BODY IS LOOSE, LIMP AND MOTIONLESS. YOUR MUSCLES OFFERING NO RESISTANCE JUST AS IF YOU WERE A RAG DOLL. COMPLETE RELAXATION MEANS THE ABSENCE OF ALL MOVEMENT. IT MEANS THE COMPLETE ABSENCE OF HOLDING ANY PART OF YOUR BODY RIGID. SO AS YOU ARE COMPLETELY RELAXED, ALL THE MUSCLES ATTACHED TO YOUR BONES ARE LIMP. IF YOU MAKE ANY VOLUNTARY MOVEMENTS YOU CAN ONLY DO SO BY CONTRACTING SOME GROUP OF MUSCLES, BUT WHEN YOU ALLOW THESE MUSCLES TO BECOME COMPLETELY DORMANT, YOUR NERVES TO AND FROM THESE MUSCLES CARRY NO MESSAGES. THE NERVES ARE COMPLETELY INACTIVE. AND ITS CERTAIN THAT COMPLETE RELAXATION IN ANY SET OF NERVES SIMPLY MEANS ZERO ACTIVITY IN THESE NERVES. AND IT IS PHYSICALLY IMPOSSIBLE FOR YOU TO BE NERVOUS IN ANY PART OF YOUR BODY. YOU'RE FEELING BETTER THAN YOU'VE FELT IN A LONG TIME. OUTSIDE NOISES WILL NOT DISTRACT YOU. ANY YOU MAY HEAR WILL ONLY ASSIST YOU IN RELAXING MORE AND MORE DEEPLY AND YOU GO DEEPER. WITH EVERY BREATH, DOWN ANOTHER STEP ON THAT ENDLESS STAIRCASE OF RELAXATION. THE SOUND OF MY VOICE KEEPS GUIDING YOU DEEPER INTO RELAXATION. FOLLOWING MY SUGGESTIONS KEEPS GUIDING YOU INTO DEEPER RELAXATION. AND THE MORE AND MORE YOU ALLOW YOUR BODY TO RELAX, THE BETTER YOU FEEL AND THE BETTER YOU FEEL, THE MORE YOUR MIND AND BODY WILL RELAX. YOU HAVE COMPLETE CONTROL OVER EVERY NERVE IN YOUR BODY, CONTROL OVER YOUR WHOLE NERVOUS SYSTEM, AND YOU DRIFT MUCH DEEPER, MUCH DEEPER INTO RELAXATION. ... AND NOW THERE ARE ONLY THREE MORE LEVELS OF RELAXATION FOR YOU TO GO INTO NOW. LEVEL A, LEVEL B AND LEVEL C. NOW TO ACCOMPLISH THESE LEVELS, YOU MUST KNOW IT WILL WORK, LET IT WORK. YOU CAN FEEL IT WORKING, FEEL IT WORKING AS IF YOU ARE GOING DOWN AN ESCALATOR TO DEEPER LEVELS AT ALL TIMES. SO NOW, I WANT YOU TO GO FROM WHERE YOU ARE TO LEVEL A THOUSANDS OF TIMES DEEPER. YOU KNOW IT WILL WORK,LET IT WORK. FEEL IT WORKING, FEEL YOURSELF SINKING DOWN TO LEVEL A AS IF YOU'RE GONG DOWN AN ESCALATOR. VERY GOOD! NOW I WANT YOU TO GO FROM LEVEL A TO LEVEL B. AGAIN YOU KNOW IT WILL WORK, LET IT WORK. FEEL IT WORK AS IF YOU YOU'RE GONG DOWN AN ESCALATOR FROM LEVEL A TO LEVEL B, THOUSANDS OF TIMES DEEPER, AUTOMATICALLY GOING DOWN. VERY GOOD. NOW I WANT YOU TO GO FROM LEVEL B TO LEVEL C, YOUR BASEMENT OF RELAXATION TODAY. YOU KNOW IT WILL WORK, LET IT WORK. FEEL IT WORK. FEEL YOURSELF SINKING DOWN THOUSANDS OF TIMES DEEPER TO LEVEL C. THAT'S FINE. EVERY DAY YOU WILL FEEL BETTER AND BETTER, HAPPIER AND HAPPIER AND MORE CONTENTED EACH TIME YOU ENTER THIS BEAUTIFUL STATE OF RELAXATION. YOU'LL GO MUCH DEEPER THAN THE TIME BEFORE. BEGIN YOUR THERAPY ........... OR. .............. EMERGE

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HOW TO GIVE YOURSELF SUGGESTIONS 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Write the suggestion on a suitable card or paper. Place yourself in a SAFE and COMFORTABLE position. GIVE YOURSELF A TIME LIMIT. Hold suggestion in left hand and read 5 times slowly, concentrating on each word. When you begin to read it for the fifth time, raise your right index finger. When you read the last word of the suggestion, lower your finger and drop into a deep state of hypnosis. TURN YOUR LIGHT SWITCH OFF. 6.While in hypnosis DO NOT think about or try to help the suggestion. (This will cause the suggestion not to work). Just relax. You may find the words of the suggestion floating around in your midn. They may be out of order. That’s O.K. Just stay relaxed. 7. Emerge when you feel that your time is up. FOR THE FIRST TWO WEEKS During this time, use only one suggestion per week. After the first week, you may change the suggestion and ue this new suggestion for a full week. You should give yourself the suggestion 2 or 3 times per day. FOR THE THIRD AND FOURTH WEEK You may give yourself a different suggestion every day, but not more than one suggestion per day. Give yourself the suggestion at least twice per day. AFTER THE FOURTH WEEK You may give yourself as many suggestions as you like; as often as your like, but limit yourself to only one suggestion for each self hypnosis session. Occasionally use your deepening tape to establish and maintain deeper levels of hypnosis. Select the suggestion - say it 3 times (powerfully). Set limit on time and lights out!

SELF HYPNOSIS INSTRUCTIONS BASIC METHOD 1. Place yourself in a SAFE AND COMFORTABLE position. 2. Give yourself a TIME LIMIT 3. Raise and lower your index finger. When your finger touches whatever it is resting on, close your eyes and drop into a deep state of hypnosis. TURN YOUR LIGHT SWITCH OFF. 4. While you are in hypnosis DO NOT THINK ABOUT THE TIME, your subconscious mind will do that for you. 5. Emerge when you have the feeling that your time is up.

METHOD FOR USING DEEPENING TAPE 1. Get into a SAFE and COMFORTABLE position. 2. Press PLAY button on your tape recorder. 3. Raise and lower your index finger (DO NOT GIVE YOURSELF A TIME LIMIT, THE TAPE WILL EMERGE YOU). TURN YOUR LIGHT SWITCH OFF. Drop into a deep state of hypnosis, and just follow the instructions on the tape. 4. The tape will emerge you at its completion.

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SELF HYPNOSIS SUGGESTIONS 1

EVERY DAY IN EVERY WAY I AM BECOMING BETTER AND BETTER

2

MY ABILITY TO SUCCEED IS UNLIMITED

3

I EXERCISE DAILY AND LOVE IT

4

I AM BECOMING MORE ALIVE IN THE MORNING AND I LOVE IT

5

I NOTICE OTHERS MORE AND ENJOY PAYING THEM SINCERE COMPLIMENTS

6

I AM BECOMING MORE SELF ASSURED AND MOR SELF CONFIDENT EACH DAY

7

MY SELF CONFIDENCE IS INCREASING BY LEAPS AND BOUNDS

8

MY MEMORY IS IMPROVING STEADILY EVERY DAY

9

MY RETENTION SPAN IS STEADILY INCREASING

10

WHEN I AM STUDYING MY MIND WORKS CLEARLY AND SHARPLY AND I RETAIN THAT WHICH I LEARN

11

WHEN I AM STUDYING I AM FULLY ABSORBED AND COMPLETELY ENGROSSED

12

WHATEVER I LEARN WILL BE EASILY AND READILY RECALLED

13

IN SELLING, I AM DEVELOPING MORE ENTHUSIASM EVERY DAY.

14

MY WORK OUTPUT IS STEADILY INCREASING

15

I CAN SPEAK ON MY FEET AND THE THOUGHTS FLOW FREELY THROUGH MY MIND

16

I AM DERIVING PLEASURE AND EXCITEMENT FROM DEALING WITH OTHERS

17

I AM BECOMING MORE INTERESTED IN OTHER PEOPLE AND IN EVENTS OUTSIDE MY LIFE

18

I AM DEVELOPING MORE ENERGY AND VITALITY EVERY DAY.

19

WHEN I BOW (GOLF ETC) MY MIND IS FULLY ABSORBED AND COMPLETELY ENGROSSED IN WHAT I AM GOING

20

I GET MORE FILLING SATISFACTION FROM LESS FOOD EVERY DAY.

21

I FIND MYSELF EATING SLOWER AND TASTING FOOD MORE

22

I EAT ONLY AT MEAL TIMES, SPARINGLY AND PROPERLY.

23

I FIND"X" NUMBER OF CIGARETTES A DAY MORE THAN ENOUGH FOR ME.

24

AT THE END OF THE DAY I AM STILL FRESH, ENERGETIC AND FULL OF VITALITY.

25

I AM BECOMING A WORTHWHILE AND INTERESTING PERSON, I HAVE MUCH TO OFFER.

26

I AM COMPLETELY RELAXED WHEN I INTERACT WITH OTHERS.

27

I AM BECOMING MORE ASSERTIVE AND CAN STAND UP FOR MYSELF.

28

I TAKE GREAT PLEASURE IN DOING THE THINGS THAT I WANT TO DO

29

I FIND HAPPINESS IN LIFE AND I AM ENJOYING MYSELF MORE

30

I CAN CHANGE MY LIFE TO ANY DIRECTION THAT I DESIRE

31

THROUGH RELAXATION, I FIND I CONTROL MYSELF TO A GREATER DEGREE

32

MY SELF HYPNOSIS EXERCISES ARE CREATING THE CHANGES THAT I DESIRE

33

I FIND THAT I AM GAINING MY GOALS THROUGH SELF HYPNOSIS

34

THERE IS ONLY ONE OF ME. I AM UNIQUE. I AM PLEASED WITH MYSELF

35

I RELAX EASILY OUTSIDE MY HOUSE AND WITH OTHERS.

36

I AM A NON SMOKER AND WILL REMAIN A NON SMOKER FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE

37

CIGARETTES ARE POISON TO ME AND I REJECT POISON IN ALL ITS FORMS

38

I AM A NON DRINKER AND WILL REMAIN A NON DRINKER FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE

39

ALCOHOL IS POISON TO E AND I REJECT ALCOHOL IN ALL ITS FORMS

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40

EVERY DAY I REMAIN ON THE JOB, I AM BETTER PREPARED FOR THE FUTURE.

41

I AM A SUCCESS AND ACHIEVE MY GOALS

42

I AM ALWAYS PREPARED AND WILL SUCCEED.

43

I AM CONFIDENT ABOUT LOSING WEIGHT

44

I HAVE DECIDED TO BECOME THIN AND ATTRACTIVE

45

I GET FULL QUICKLY

46

SUGAR IS POISON TO ME AND I REJECT ALL POISONS

47

SMOKING STINKS AND DOES NOT INTEREST ME

48

MY MIND ABSORBS LIKE A SPONGE AND I RECALL FOR TESTS EASILY

49

I REMEMBER THE RIGHT ANSWERS FOR TESTS

50

I SLEEP LIKE A BABY EVERY NIGHT

51

I FACE DIFFICULTIES AND CONFLICTS CALMLY AND POWERFULLY AND DEAL EASILY WITH THEM

52

THE PAST IS DEAD AND I AM FREE

53

DRUGS ARE DUMB AND DISGUST ME

54

MY ENERGY IS BOUNDLESS AND I FEEL ALIVE

55

I AVOID SUGAR, COFFEE, ALCOHOL AND TOBACCO

56

I AM A GREAT TIME MANAGER

57

I RECEIVE LOVE BY GIVING LOVE

58

I LOOK TO THE FUTURE WITH A BRIGHT, POSITIVE AND CONFIDENT ATTITUDE TOWARDS MYSELF.

59

EVERY DAY I WILL ACT LIKE THE PERSON I WANT TO BECOME

60

I WILL DEVELOP A STRONG, HEALTHY AND POSITIVE ATTITUDE TOWARDS MYSELF

61

FORGIVENESS IS THE ERASER OF GUILT AND FEAR AND I AM FORGIVEN

62

I FORGIVE ALL THOSE PEOPLE OF MY PAST WHO HAVE EVER HURT ME IN ANY WAY AND I AM FREE

63

I AM ALIVE, HAPPY AND FREE

64

I LOVE LIFE AND LOOK FORWARD TO EACH DAY WITH EXCITEMENT

65

I FORGIVE YOU (NAME) AND SET YOU FREE

66

WHEN I AM FACED WITH OR CONFRONTED WITH............... ALL THE MATERIAL THAT I HAVE LEARNED, READ OR HEARD FLOWS FREELY AND EASILY THROUGH MY MIND AND IS EASILY RECALLED.

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Notes on Self-Hypnosis Self-Hypnosis is not as easy as ‘Hetero-Hypnosis’, for the simple reason that it is difficult to keep one part of your attention in consciousness (to keep the process on track), while at the same time working within the subconscious mind. The following suggestions are relevant: 1. Start off with practicing deep relaxation, and anchoring that deep state several times. Simply emerge when you are done. You can do this by taping your own voice delivering (a) A deep induction, (b) reminding yourself to anchor at the deepest point, and then (c) emerging yourself. Alternatively, ask someone to induce you into a deep state, anchor, and emerge. Do this several times. Tape the session. Once the anchor is in place - usually after three or four such practice sessions, you can consider working with installing suggestions. 2. When designing autosuggestions, write the suggestions down on paper. You may use suggestions printed in books or tapes. Then notice whether there is any part of you that objects to the phrases used, and modify the suggestion until it is personal and palatable to you. 3. Try and state the suggestion in the positive and present tense. “I am becoming ...” is an endless process, which can lead nowhere. Rather state the desired intention: “I am ...”, or I now do ...”. Some regard this as being unrealistic - eg: Someone who wants to lose weight may find it silly to say “I am now slim and healthy”, when they are in fact still overweight. View this statement of the desired outcome as the energising of a potential, activating and nurturing this potential until it becomes a manifested reality: “Fake it till you make it”. 4. Eliminate negative terms, such as “never”, “stop”, “forget”, etc. Rather re-state the suggestion in terms of what you want to achieve (versus what you want taken away, or what you want to stop). 5. It may be very useful to state the same suggestion in three different ways: “I”, “You”, and “(your name)”. Often, limiting beliefs and attitudes were transferred to you indirectly, such as your mother telling your father that you will never amount to anything, and you overheard it. Therefore, including the suggestion that “You, (your name), are now ....”, and “S/he (your name), is now ...”, alonf with “I now...”. 6. Please remember to repeat the suggestion several times (compounding). 7. When you have clarified the suggestions you wish to install, activate your anchor, and say the suggestions to yourself. Alternatively, record the suggestions on tape and press “play” once you have activated your anchor. Remember to emerge and ground yourself ! 8. Do not weaken your anchor by activating it inappropriately, or by activating it when you are not in the right frame of mind or environment. 9. Repetition is always beneficial.

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REGRESSION HYPNOTHERAPY CERTIFICATION TRAINING

Empowerment Concepts

Neil M. Orr & David. R. Patient Tel: 011-886-7734 * * * Fax: 011-886-9499 P.O. Box 411947, Craighall, 2024

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Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997

HYPNOSIS & REGRESSION HYPNOTHERAPY CERTIFICATION The Empowerment Concepts' Hypnosis and Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training has been approved by the National Board of Hypnosis Education and Certification (USA) as adequate and sufficient for certification as Master Hypnotist and Master Regression Hypnotherapist by Empowerment Concepts. In 1996, the NBHEC was incorporated into the National Guild of Hypnotists (NGH), the largest accredited Hypnosis body in the USA. As a result, the Empowerments Concept's trainings have been accepted by the NGH as "approved school" status. The following accreditation process applies for certification as “Master Regression Hypnotherapist” by Empowerment Concepts, and then certification as “Certified Hypnotherapist” by the National Guild of Hypnotists (USA): Completion of both the Hypnosis Training and the Regression Hypnotherapy Training. This is followed by at-home essay work to be submitted, and the submission of two transcripts of actual regression sessions. Upon completion of all these requirements, the delegate is certified by Empowerment Concepts as Master Hypnotist and Master Regression Hypnotherapist. The graduate can then write the NBHEC examination, which, upon completion and submission to Empowerment Concepts for marking, yields a letter of recommendation to the NBHEC. The graduate then submits the letter of recommendation, plus a membership application form and $85 for certificate and mailing, to the National Guild of Hypnotists (USA) for certification as Certified Hypnotherapist. Apart from the $85 application fee to the NGH, all other requirements are included in the course price for the Regression Hypnotherapy Training. Total training duration is 80 hours (Including Hypnosis Training): 32 Hours supervised training (Hypnosis) 32 Hours supervised training (Regression Hypnotherapy) 13 Hours at-home essay work post-training (Regression Hypnotherapy) 03 Hours for regression sessions which are submitted (Regression Hypnotherapy) SUBMISSION OF AT-HOME WORK 1. Regression Post-Training Essays (refer end of this manual). 2. Transcripts of Two Regression Sessions. * All written work submitted needs to be neatly written or typed. Illegible work will be returned unmarked. * Please do not bind written work in a folder. Simply staple in top left-hand corner. * If mailing written work, please send registered or insured post, in case of loss. Ensure that you retain a copy of all written work, as (a) it can get lost in the mail, and (b) marked work is not returned - only the result is made known. Preferably deliver by hand all written work for marking, although Fast Mail will suffice. * Allow up to six weeks for marking of work. Notification of results will be in writing or by fax. Please ensure you enclose a fax number or postal address with written work. * Certification will occur only after all written work is completed and marked, and successfully passed. Certificates will be mailed to you. * After certification by Empowerment Concepts, the NBHEC examination is written, at home, then submitted for marking. Once marked, results will be mailed to the graduate, along with the letter of recommendation, NGH membership application, and where to send it. All mailing is to the following address: Empowerment Concepts PO Box 411947, CRAIGHALL, 2024, RSA.

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INDEX OF CONTENTS Hypnosis & Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Submission of at-home work

Page

Index of contents

02 02 03

SECTION 1: HISTORY & BACKGROUND Brief History of Major Therapies in the 20th Century Sigmund Freud & Psychoanalysis Ego Analysis: Horney, Fromm, Sullivan, and Silverberg Adler Analytical Psychology - Jung Gestalt Therapy Behaviourism - Pavlov, Skinner and others Conversational Therapy - Carl Rogers Transpersonal Psychology - Assagioli & Durckheim Psychodrama - Moreno Transactional Analysis (TA) - Bern NLP (NeuroLinguistic Programming) - Bandler & Grinder The Eclectic Approach Summary

06

SECTION 2: PRINCIPLES OF REGRESSION Introduction to Regression Therapy Definition of Regression Therapy Regression Techniques and Hypnotic Techniques Structure of the Human Mind Structure of Experience Areas of Memory Genetic Memory Self Memories Interaction between Genetic and Self Memories Communication in Regression Valences Restimulation Ethics

11

12 13 15

16 18 19 20

(Index of Contents continued on next page...)

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SECTION 3: REGRESSION TECHNIQUES BASIC STRUCTURE OF A REGRESSION SESSION

21

1. Pre-Regression Preparations

22

1 (a) - Therapist (Personal Preparation)

22

1 (b) - Client Preparation (Before & after arriving) Client Profile & History Script Checklist (Short and Long Version)

24 26 28

1 (c) - Environment

30

1 (d) - Therapist-Client Discussion Locating the Core Issue Client Scenario #1 and #2

31 39 41

2. Induction

43

Progressive Relaxation

44

Mental Relaxation: “Twenty Steps Down”

46

Safe Space

53

Transition to the Past

55

3. Regression Process

56

4. Emerging: “Count Five Breaths”

62

5. Grounding

63

6. Post-Regression Discussion and Integration

64

(Index of Contents continued on next page...)

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SECTION 4: ADDITIONAL TECHNIQUES

65

Genetic Memory Regression

66

Core Transformation

69

SECTION 5: POST-TRAINING KNOWLEDGE EVALUATION

78

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Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997

SECTION 1 HISTORY & BACKGROUND BRIEF HISTORY OF MAJOR THERAPIES IN THE 20TH CENTURY Every time a ‘new’ therapy comes along, it is assumed that it is based upon some novel and unthought-of-before concept. Sometimes this is true. However, for the most part, new theories and therapies are developed over time, usually starting from some already-existing theory, and is then adapted and changed over time as new insights are gained through experiences. There is thus inevitably an ongoing thread weaving it’s way through all therapies and theories, even if that connection is it’s opposition to a previous theory. Sigmund Freud and Psychoanalysis: Sigmund Freud was a trained medical doctor, from a Germanic (Austrian) background. Until Freud, people who had serious mental problems were considered to be either ‘possessed’, and later, considered to have some physical defect. Invariably, at least in Western societies, such people were incarcerated in asylums, where they remained for most of their lives. Conditions were appalling in these asylums, and people were chained, beaten, and often sexually abused. Therefore, when understanding what may appear to be a rather outdated perspective which Freud brought into the psychological arena, the radical nature of his theories and therapies becomes apparent, particularly in the light of the nature of society at the time, namely Victorian Europe, with immensely powerful taboos regarding sexuality. Unfortunately, people often simply associate Freud with sex, and the notion that sex is the basis of all problems. This is a very unfair assumption, as his theory and therapy extended far beyond just sex. For one thing, the concept of the conscious, subconscious, and unconscious mind were formulated by Freud. Also, the notion that “the re-experiencing of a past (painful) experience, disappears the experience”. In other words, the process of catharsis. Also, the notion that the past influences the present, often in ways which we are completely unaware of, comes from Freud. He also introduced the notion that there is an aspect of ourselves the Id - which strives for pleasure, instant gratification, and avoidance of pain. Related to the Id is the ‘life force/sex force’, called the libido. He also introduced the notion of Life Urges (Eros) and Death Urges (Thanatos), the Oedipus and Elektra Complexes, and the very notion of ‘complexes’. What we call our ‘conscience’ also derived from Freud, which he called the Super Ego. The importance of childhood experiences - particularly the first six years - and parental influences, are all Freudian concepts. A commonly used Freudian concept is that of ‘mental defences’, such as projection, rationalisation, sublimation, denial, and many others. It is interesting to note that the concept of the was originally created by Freud to mean “I”, and nothing else. In translation from the German “Ich”, it became ‘Ego’, and over time, many misunderstandings arose around this simple concept. Freud also formulated the first psychotherapies: Free Association, where a person lies down and simply says what comes to their mind in response to another word, and the use of hypnosis to access past memories. Dream analysis is also his development. Freud also identified the process of transference, where a client projects their feelings towards one of their parents onto the therapist. Today, there are very few practicing psychoanalysts. Reasons include the requirement of a minimum level of intelligence for this kind of therapy, and that the client is required to commit to * Knowledge in Action * Page 6

Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997 therapy at least twice a week for several years. Another problem is that psychoanalysis encourages - in fact requires - the forming of dependency upon the therapist, in order to facilitate transference from parents to the therapist, so that subconscious childhood issues can surface, be identified, and dealt with. It is quite apparent that, even although modern psychology has moved away from Freud, our everyday language and understanding of the mind is still very strongly influenced by Freud. Ego Analysis: Horney, Fromm, Sullivan, and Silverberg Sometimes referred to as the Neo-Psychoanalysts, these four figures present the first break-away from Freud, and his theory that everything can be linked to sex. However, they included much of Freuds’ concepts, changed them a little, and added some of their own. Their basic starting point is that the focus of a person’s life is the need to control his or her environment, and satisfy their desires. For example, where Freud said that women envy men’s penises (‘Penis Envy’), they said that women envy men because men have greater control - professional, socially, and culturally. They also said that behaviour is the result of feelings, values, and goals/aims, and that any neurosis (mental-emotional distress) can be ascribed to frustration or failure to achieve control and fulfillment of these desires, goals and values. They classified neuroses into three categories: Selfabnegating (putting yourself down), Expansive (over-compensating, trying too hard), and Resigned (give up). Their basic therapeutic approach is to first assist the person to find the conflicts, and then to realize who they really are. Adler Adler added a social dimension to psychoanalysis. He, like Freud, stated that the origins of all neuroses were in childhood. However, unlike Freud, he said that the central issue concerned socioeconomic disadvantages which create a feeling of inferiority and helplessness. He viewed neurosis as a defence against the environment. Social recognition and striving for respect allows the client to compensate for their inferiority complex. Adler was the first to ask “What purpose does it serve (i.e., the problem/neurosis) ?”. This perspective is still evident in many alternative approaches i.e., pay-offs, secret benefits, secondary gain. Analytical Psychology - Jung Jung has always been considered the most ‘mystical’ of the major theorists, as he introduced concepts such as mandalas (shapes with meaning), archetypes (images which everyone shares, such as the ‘goddess’), the Shadow Self (the parts of ourselves which we are not aware of and seek to hide), the ‘masks we hide behind’ (roles we play), and was deeply interested in eastern philosophy, dreams, even past lives. He also introduced the notion of the Collective Unconscious, which is the history of humanity which we can all access and share. His main therapeutic approach was to assist the client in finding the unconscious ‘shadow’ parts of themselves, integrate and accept these parts, so that the person can become ‘whole’. Thus Jung can be considered one of the Western forerunners of the ‘Wholistic / Holistic” approach.

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Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997 Gestalt Therapy It is difficult to make a direct translation of the term ‘gestalt’. In some ways, ‘gestalt’ can be understood as ‘whole-ness’, including the foreground (what is close and apparent) and the background (what is not close and seen), which is similar to the concepts of the conscious and subconscious. It also concerns the seeking of ‘closure’ (completion). Gestalt therapy is a creative process. For example, in gestalt dream analysis, you literally have a conversation with the various objects in your dream. The creative aspects of the individual personality are utilised to make the client aware of their own evasive/avoidance behaviour, so that fears of social relationships can be reduced, and that their emotional needs can be experienced and satisfied. Gestalt therapy starts with the assumption that we bring all our needs and desires into every situation, and that our emotions directly influence everything that happens to us. Ultimately, we are responsible for our own behaviour, and a scapegoat does not exist outside of ourselves. Your perception of the world IS your world - we have personal universes. Many modern motivation and selfimprovement workshops and trainings contain strong gestalt influences. Behaviourism - Pavlov, Skinner and others Apart from Freud, Behaviourism has had the most dramatic effect and influence on 20th century psychology and the understanding of the mind. Pavlov, a Russian physiologist, conducted experiments on dogs. He noticed that when he rang a bell every time he gave food to the dogs, after a few days the dogs would begin to begin secreting saliva, even when it was just the bell that was rung, without the food. It was if the dogs had connected the sound of the bell to mean that food was on it’s way. Thus the notion of association learning (bell = food) was formed: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Stimulus 1( Food) ... produces Response (Dog salivates). S1 = Response. Stimulus 2 (Bell) presented at the same time as Stimulus 1, produces the same Response (Dog Salivates). S1+S2 = Response. If S1 (Food) and S2 (Bell) are presented together a number of times, so that the dog comes to automatically associate (link together) S1 and S2, then ... Remove S1 (Food), present only S2 (Bell) .... produces Response (Dog salivates). S2 = Response.

Most behaviourist experiments were conducted on animals, as it was assumed that people would be no different. Behaviourism assumes that the mind is like a ‘black box’ - you can not know what is in it, and you can not study it. All that you can study is what goes in, and what comes out. Behaviourism dominated American psychology for decades. Effects of this were the disappearance of imagery techniques in therapy, and the assumption that, as all behaviour is learned, it can be unlearned. Central mechanisms of behaviourism were Positive and Negative Reinforcement (i.e., reward and punishment), Stimulus-Response, Compounding (reinforcing an association), and Extinction (breaking an association). One factor found to influence the formation of associations was the time interval between the two stimuli (i.e., food and bell) - if they were too far apart, the association did not form. A consequence of this approach is the notion that no behaviour is inborn, everything is learned, and that people are the product of the society they live in. Interestingly enough, in the early 1960’s, this argument was successfully used in defence of a criminal. The judge agreed that the person was the ‘victim of their upbringing’, and had no choice but to be a criminal. He then sent the jury - representing society - to jail instead! Behaviourism thus denied personal responsibility. However, many important and useful principles were established.

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Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997 Conversational Therapy - Carl Rogers This therapy is also referred to as client-based or client-centred therapy. It starts with the assumption that learning processes which have an unfavourable outcome have led to behavioural disturbances. In a warm environment, the client is listened to with a sympathetic ear, and an atmosphere of positive esteem (value). Under these conditions, the client will be more likely to express their deepest emotions and become aware of their conflicts, which the therapist reflects back at them. In this way, the emotional conflict is removed step by step. The client uses their own strength to self-actualise. Life-Line uses a similar counselling approach. Transpersonal Psychology - Assagioli & Durckheim This type of therapy consists of body awareness training, meditation, biofeedback, and artistic expression. Extra Sensory Perception (ESP) and various forms of altered states of consciousness are accessed through yoga, meditation, trance, or drugs. The assumption is that all people are capable of realizing their full potential and innate capabilities. If this natural flow is blocked, this leads to crisis, and creates behavioural disturbances. Everything should be accepted, intensely experienced, and then let go. Through letting go of barriers, and looking at the whole and experiencing it, the client should become calmer, and find internal peace. Psychodrama - Moreno Moreno used the theatrical method to allow his clients to experience a “here and now”, which facilitates a letting go of the past. He believed that acting out the problems and conflicts, the client would experience a healing effect, and let go of past experiences that weigh them down. Therapy occurs in three stages: Finding the problem (warm up), Acting out the issue thereby treating the problem area, and Discussion and integration. Transactional Analysis (TA) - Bern Berne believed that there are three stages in experience and behaviour: The Child Ego, the Parent Ego, and the Adult Ego. By making the client aware of the ego-role they are in, it will assist them in recognising their communication pattern, and this would bring about the desired changes in behaviour. It is the communication between these various ego roles that is analysed for transaction patterns and life designs. Another concept introduced by Berne is called the TA TRIANGLE, which concerns the roles/games that people play with each other, such as the Critical Parent. NLP (NeuroLinguistic Programming) - Bandler & Grinder NLP is a relatively new approach, which is strong on technique, with less emphasis placed upon indepth theory. Basic premises are that ‘the map is not the territory’, and that any skill or behaviour can be learned, through a process of ‘modelling’. Other key principles are that all behaviour has a positive intention, the client has all the resources they need, ecology checks, the Meta Model, there is no such thing as failed communication - only feedback, rapport skills, Structure versus Content of experience, VAK representation systems, the uniqueness of each client, and several other principles. Known primarily for it’s high-tech rapid intervention methods.

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Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997 The Eclectic (Various / Combination) Approach Most practicing therapists do not use only one theory or therapeutic approach, but instead use a variety of methods. This is called eclecticism. Summary A major disadvantage of basing a therapy upon only one specific theory, is that the theory defines what you should see, and what the answer should be. This is why most therapists are eclectic in their approach. Obviously, each theory has it’s merits. The key is to use whatever works, and combine it all together. The major advantage of basing a therapy upon a theory is that it provides a starting point, a perspective, to ask questions which may lead to solutions. It is also apparent that there are certain themes running through most major theories and therapies, such as: (1)

Painful past and present experiences exert an influence on the present and future. Thus, releasing painful past experiences is beneficial.

(2)

Incomplete past experiences exert an influence on the present and future. Thus, completing the past (unfinished business) is beneficial.

(3)

Values and goals are important for well-being.

(4)

The therapy situation and approach is important in determining what the person will or will not deal with.

(5)

The client has the answer, somewhere inside of themselves.

(6)

The therapist’s job is to assist the client in finding the answer/solution.

(7)

A ‘problem’ is only a ‘problem’ when it interferes with present experience.

(8)

Experiences and the mind have both a certain Structure (eg., conscious, subconscious), as well as Content (memories of events).

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Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997

SECTION 2 PRINCIPLES OF REGRESSION

INTRODUCTION TO REGRESSION HYPNOTHERAPY Definition of Regression Therapy: The term ‘regression’ refers to the process of placing your attention to a time before the present moment. In practical terms, this means that you would recall memories from the past, whether this is in the present life, in the womb, inbetween lives, or past lives. It is also possible to do a ‘progression’ into the future, based on the assumption that existing decisions strongly influence the direction of the future, until such time as those decisions are changed. The term ‘therapy’ refers to the use of regression for therapeutic purposes, typically the alleviation of a mental, emotional, or physical discomfort. Even the use of regression for discovering your ‘purpose’ can be described as the alleviation of mental discomfort, namely uncertainty and absence of direction in life. Regression Techniques and Hypnotic Techniques: Both ‘standard’ hypnosis and regression are based on the same principles - inducing a state of altered consciousness, using ‘hypnotic’ induction techniques. Therefore, the difference between hypnosis and regression is largely technical, because ‘standard’ hypnosis usually refers to inserting beneficial suggestions into the subconscious mind, while regression usually refers to finding the cause of the problem, with few (if any) suggestions being inserted. Hypnosis rarely ventures into the past, while regression focuses exclusively on the past, where it is assumed the cause of present issues and behaviours is located. In this training, we intend to cover the basic principles and techniques which you would require to master in order to do regression hypnotherapy. It is not an all-encompassing training, as there are many different techniques and theories existing. Instead, we hope to provide a solid basis for further study and discovery. It is certainly possible to pick up a book and immediately thereafter apply the techniques to do regressions. However, ‘regression’ is simply applying a technique, and is not necessarily based upon any understanding of the intention, mechanisms, ethics, or theoretical structure of regression therapy. The purpose of regression therapy is not to do regression as an end in itself. The purpose of regression therapy is to use whatever knowledge and technique available to you, taking into consideration the needs of the client, the ethics of therapist-client interactions, in order to arrive at an alleviation of the issue or discomfort presented by the client. In order to do this, you need to

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Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997 establish a trusting relationship, listen carefully, adjust yourself and your approach to the client’s frame of reference, and retain full awareness of the present-time presenting issue. Flexibility is essential, as each client is totally unique in their frame of reference, which approach would be acceptable to them, their past experiences and history, and their presenting issue. Regression therapy can not be conducted from an approach of using the same technique for everybody.

STRUCTURE OF THE HUMAN MIND As explained in the Hypnosis Training, the human mind can be understood to basically consist of: Conscious Mind (logic, analytical, present time, short term memory) Subconscious Mind (long term memory, Illogical, Creative, Child-like) Unconsious Mind (maintaining human body temperature, heart beat, breathing) However, it should be clearly understood that the three divisions (conscious, subconscious, unconscious) are not related to actual physical components of the brain, even although there are links between certain functions (eg., creativity) and the left and right halves of the brain. Logically speaking, when a past memory - which has been subconscious - emerges during a regession, and therefore becomes conscious, it does not ‘move’ from one area of the mind to another, nor from one part of the brain to another ! It is much more useful to think about the mind - and specifically past memories - in terms of what the person is aware of, or where their attention is located, at each moment in time. For example, when you sit and listen to someone speak, your attention or focus is on what they are saying (not always !), which is locating your attention on (a) present time events, and (b) the meaning and tone of their voice. While this is occurring, your attention is not on some past or future event, nor is your attention focused on your feet, breathing, or the colours of the walls. In this respect, you can say that: Whatever you are aware of at each moment in time defines what you are conscious of, at that moment in time. All the other “not-aware-of-right-now” things are, by definition, subconscious or unconscious - not in present consciousness. This does not mean that the not-aware-of memories or present-time sensations do not exist, nor that you can not access or focus upon them. Instead, it is simply a matter of shifting your attention away from one thing, on to another thing. That is what the technique of regression accomplishes - it is nothing more than the shifting of attention. Therefore, all that you need to be able to do is to shift the client’s attention from one thing to another thing. How you accomplish this, whether the client has his/her eyes open or not, and where you shift there attention towards, depends on each client.

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Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997

STRUCTURE OF EXPERIENCE Each and every experience that you have - past or present - has certain fundamental ‘parts’ to it: 1. TIME: It has a beginning and an end, and it has a duration (the time that passes between the beginning and end). This may appear to be ‘obvious’. However, it is of major importance when doing regression. If, for example, you do not locate the beginning of the event, or take it through to the end, how is it possible to make the whole event conscious ? Also, an experience ‘builds up’, with one action, feeling and thought following another. If the beginning part is not made conscious, it is very difficult to make sense of the rest of the event. Sometimes, in the past event, there was a period of waiting or expecting something to happen, which is also part of the event. One of the main reasons why regressions fail to fully resolve a problem is because there is a ‘part’ that is missing, and that ‘part’ would allow the event to be placed into proper perspective. Also, when the client has not been taken through all the way to the end of the event, whether this is the death or when the pain stopped, they tend to ‘carry’ the event into present time. Quite simply, it is not ‘finished’ in terms of being made conscious. Their mind will seek to find the ‘end’, even after they have been emerged. Failure to cover the event’s beginning and end often causes the client’s attention to be ‘stuck’ in the past, which is not good regression practice. It is of fundamental importance that the client’s attention is directed firmly back into present time after a regression session. 2. MEMORIES ARE GROUPED ACCORDING TO SIMILARITIES: It is a fundamental principle of regression to remain aware of the importance of similar events. If, for example, a person recalls an event where they were hurt by someone, then it becomes important to determine whether there are any similar events, particularly earlier similar events. As with each event, similar events have a PRIMARY EVENT, which is the very first time something happened. Also, it is just as important to LOCATE THE PRIMARY EVENT, otherwise the entire ‘group’ of similar events will not fully resolve. 3. PHYSICAL ASPECTS & ACTIONS: Each event contains physical sensations (pictures, sounds, actions, movements, buildings, heat, cold, presence of other people). These are usually the first aspects of an event to become conscious during a regression. However, it is important to remember that these physical aspects of an event do not contain the critical components necessary for producing change. It is a mistake - and a waste of time - to spend too much time exploring the physical details of an event. All that is required, is to get the sequence clear, the basic physical setting and actions, and then move along to the next aspect of the event - the emotions and pain (if any). However, it is usually necessary to spend a few minutes clarifying and getting specific about the physical parts of the event, otherwise, the emotional parts do not emerge. 4. EMOTIONS AND PAIN: As will explained in the next paragraph, the decision made at the end of the event is the key to producing change. However, this decision or thought will not emerge until such time as the emotion or pain - which led to the thought - is located and explored. Usually, this means that you observe the client as they describe the physical parts of the event, watching for the presence of some kind of emotional reaction, such as discomfort. This is usually a good indicator of the “Hot Spot” - the important part of the event. Usually, the ‘end’ of the event is close to this “Hot Spot”, although there may be more than one “Hot Spot”. * Knowledge in Action * Page 13

Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997 A common misconception regarding the objectives of regression concerns this emotional or painful part of some past event. It is not necessary for the person to directly and fully re-experience this emotion. Nor is expressing or reliving this emotion or pain (catharsis) of much importance. It’s importance is linked only to the fact that the DECISION which is causing the problem, is located in or immediately after this emotion or pain. Therefore, it is sufficient to identify an emotion from a dissociated perspective, until you locate the critical seconds of the ‘Hot Spot’, namely the moment(s) where the person made some decision about themselves, other people, or the world around them. Some regressionists get a fright when the client locates the emotions and pain of the past event. Often, there is the tendency to ‘fix’ the emotion by pulling the client ‘out’ of the event or emotion. This is a mistake. Keeping in mind that (a) the client does not have to directly re-experience the emotion or pain, and (b) that the key to the process is the decisions made during this emotion and pain, the regressionist must ensure that the client CONTINUES TO MOVE THROUGH the emotion and pain, NOT TO STOP it, or run away from it. If the client is vividly and directly re-experiencing the emotion or pain, all that is required is to move them to a more dissociated (distant) perspective, so that they can continue to describe the event, emotion and pain, until the decision is located. 4. THE DECISION MADE: When a person experiences intense fear, pain, or hurt, the emotion or pain has a beginning and an end. However, somewhere in this sequence is the “Heart of the Hot Spot” - the peak - where a strange thing happens: Normally, when there is pressure, anxiety or activity happening, the frequency of brain waves increase to Beta (quite fast) waves. Brain waves of relaxed states are slower (Alpha Waves). However, in an event containing pain (physical or emotional), the brain generates increasingly faster brain waves until it suddenly ‘dips down’ to a very deep and slow brain wave (Delta or Theta) for about twenty seconds, then returns to the fast Beta waves again. It is during this ‘dip’ that the mind automatically enters the subconscious state. Therefore, any thought or decision made during those twenty seconds has a profound and lasting effect, very much like a hypnotic suggestion during a deep trance state. This is why it is referred to as the “Heart of the Hot Spot”. If the thoughts and decisions which occur during these twenty seconds are not made conscious and changed, then the effects of that event will continue, regardless of how much emotional catharsis occurs, or how much fascinating and detailed descriptions of the place and event is obtained. Therefore: The primary objective of all efforts by the regressionist is to find that decision or thought, make it conscious, so that the client can change it if they so choose. All other efforts are designed to locate this decision as efficiently as possible, including tracing the Primary Event.

AREAS OF MEMORY

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Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997 Total Memories = (Self Memories + Body Genetic Memories)

Genetic Memory Genetic memory can be understood as the body’s own memories, passed on from generation to generation, genetically. Genetic memories revolve around pain and forces of pushing or pulling. When one regresses along the genetic line, one can trace the history of any specific bodily sensation, including pain, and release it by de-energising the very first time it was experienced, regardless of how many generations ago it occurred. It is also possible to research the evolution of the human body along the genetic line. The key identifying feature of Genetic Memory recall is the fact that the person does not feel emotionally involved in the described event, regardless of how terrible it is. They may say "Oh, that is terrible", but will tend not to say "I feel terrible” (in the event itself). There is little identification with the event itself, or even the person involved. This is often the cause for the question "Are you sure I didn't make that up ?"

Self Memories This concerns present and past lives. There is a degree of emotional identification experienced when recalling events, even when not operating from within the body. Concerns ‘Spirit’ (“I”) moving from body to body over time. Generally, “I” do not enter the body until just before, during or after birth. Therefore, recall in the womb is not as likely. Womb recall is more likely genetic memory, particularly because being in the womb is subject to experiences of pressure, pain, pushes and pull forces. Statements made from outside the womb during these pressures are recorded. For example, when parents having sex during pregnancy. “I” has a low tolerance for pain. Therefore, 9 times out of 10, “I” leaves the body BEFORE death, and watches it from a distance. The same applies to NDE’s (Near Death Experiences). Therefore, generally, recalling death is not painful.

Interaction Between Genetic and Self Memories It is extremely unlikely that “I” ever encounters the same genetic memory bank again, and only shares memories during occupation of that specific body. However, when “I” experience some trauma (physical or emotional), and make some sort of decision like “I can’t see where I’m going!", this powerful statement can activate not only Self past memories, but also Genetic memories, and psychosomatic illnesses and pains can surface.

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Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997

COMMUNICATION IN REGRESSION Regression therapy is a two-way process of communication. It assumes that the therapist listens carefully, that the client speaks and describes what is happening, and that the therapist then asks questions in order to clarify and explore what is being recalled. Normally, the client will answer the therapist’s questions verbally, sometimes with a bit of a delay. It is the therapist’s responsibility to get an answer for each question, even if that answer is a “I don’t know”. It is also acceptable to ask the client to repeat what they said, if it is not clear or audible. Therefore, the therapist should avoid bombarding the client with questions before the client has had an opportunity to answer the previous one. However, the therapist can insist on an answer, so that attention can shift to the next stage of the process. Unanswered questions keep attention stuck. Therefore, get an answer of some kind. One way of dealing with “I don’t know” is to provide a range of possibilities. For example, when the client says “I don’t know” to the question of “How long ago was this ?”, the therapist may reply: “Well, is it more or less than a hundred years ago?” If the client says “Less”, then the therapist responds: “More than fifty years ago, or less ?”, and so on. Similarly, the therapist can respond to “I don’t know” in a variety of ways, depending on the issue: Inside or outside ? Sand, stone, grass ? Man, woman, child ? Young, teenager, adult, old ? Soft hands or hard hands ? Cold, warm or hot ? Africa, Asia, Europe, America, somewhere else ? Another issue concerns total non-verbal communication. Sometimes the client feels unable to verbalise what is happening. Return them to their safe space, and ask them what is going on. If they literally find that the past event blocks their verbal ability, then devise a hand-signal method of communication, such as one finger of the left hand indicating “Yes”, and the same finger on the other hand indicating “No”. Ask the client which finger is Yes, which is No. Then the therapist returns the client to the non-verbal experience, and through a process of elimination, much in the same way as described in the previous paragraph (“Is it cold?” - remember to only do one item at a time - it is not possible to answer yes/no to a questions such as “Is it hot or cold ?” !) When the client is describing something abstract and insubstantial, or they say that they “don’t know” what is happening, and the therapist has no idea of what is happening, the standard fall-back question is “What are you feeling right now ? How does that make you feel ? What are you feeling in your body right now?” When a client describes a scene where absolutely nothing happens, such as “I’m just standing on beautiful green grass”, and you ask them if there are buildings or people around, and they reply “No - just me”, and then, when you ask “What is happening, is there something about to happen, is there a place you can walk towards where something happens ?”, and again the reply is “No nothing happens here, I’m just standing on the grass, feeling calm and peaceful”, then you know that they are probably in an inbetween stage, otherwise called “Inbetween lives”. When this occurs, ask the client to fade the scene out and move earlier in time, to where something DOES happen !

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Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997 Use the client’s words/references: When they say “It’s millions of years ago”, then ask them to “Move to a time millions of years ago”. When they say “He’s short and dark”, then ask “What does this short and dark man do to you ?” Feedback/Confirm that you heard what they said: Every now and again, particularly when the client seems to be having difficulty in expanding/exploring the imagery any further, give them feedback/confirmation of what they have already told you. Once again, use the exact same words they used. Therefore, it is imperative that you write down what they say, as they say it, so that you can refer to this. For example: “OK, so you are standing on a cold marble floor, and you are barefoot. You are a young boy, and you are alone. It is about 500 years ago, somewhere in a place that feels like Greece. On the walls are paintings. You feel afraid of something behind you” (Repeat what they have told you) ... “Now, tell me why/what....” If the client goes into a deep hypnotic level where they stop responding to your communication, or they fall asleep, then the regressionist has several options: You can either very gently touch the client on their shoulders, hands or feet, in order to get their attention. However, if you do this, then you must ensure that you have obtained prior permission from the client to touch their body. Another, more elegant method, is to re-establish non-verbal rapport with the client, by matching their breathing. Match their breathing in such a way that they can hear your breath’s inhales and exhales, close to their ear. Do this for a few minutes to establish rapport, then slowly increase your rate of breathing. If you have established rapport, they will follow your lead and increase their breathing rate, whih will automatically emerge them from the deep state of trance or sleep. An alternative matching technique is to gently touch / squeeze their hand with your hand, at the same rate as their breathing, and then increase the tempo until they wake up. If the client does not respond by increasing their rate of breathing when you increase your breathing or touch tempo, you have not spent enough time establishing rapport. Match their breathing again, then try to lead again. It is important to remember that Level 5 Deep Trance is not a good level for doing regression, simply because of the communication break-down that occurs - by definition, the client loses 100% contact with present-time reality, including the regressionist’s voice. If you know that someone easily slips into this deep state, hold their hand (or ask someone else to hold their hand) while you do your induction and regression. This physical touch seems to prevent Level 5 from occurring. Level 3 and 4 is the ideal depths of trance to do regression, because the client can recall the past clearly, while at the same time remains in touch with the regressionist’s voice and directions.

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Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997

VALENCES The word ‘valence’ means ‘force applied in a specific direction’. In regression hypnotherapy, it is not uncommon to find that the client is recalling something from the perspective of some other person’s valence (perspective). There are three kinds of valences: 1. Power Valence: The reason why this is called a ‘power valence’, is because there is a force issue involved, typically a situation where someone was overwhelmed by another person, and the ‘victim’ was helpless to respond and experienced a great deal of pain in the overwhelm. Typically, when totally overwhelmed, the ‘victim’ psychologically feels compelled to ‘become the strong (abusive) one’ as a matter of survival. It is therefore not surprising that, in the regression, the person will say that they are someone like Hitler, Napoleon, Ghengis Khan, or even their own present-life father or mother. 2. Guilt Valence: Sometimes, the situation is reversed, where the person relates the event from the perspective of the ‘helpless victim’, whereas they were actually the ‘brute’ in the situation. The reason for this may have to do with tremendous guilt, and unconscious recognition that the acts will be rejected and condemned by others. Also, guilt seeks punishment in order to obtain relief. Therefore, it is psychologically easier to translate the guilt into ‘being hurt and punished’, as the ‘victim’, as this prevents rejection by others (and gets their sympathy), as well as acting as punishment. 3. Sympathy Valence: The most common kind of valence. A person loses someone they admire or love tremendously. In order to ‘hold on to’ that person, they take on the lost person’s identity, dreams, ambitions, and qualities. It can occur due to tremendous sympathy, such as events where the person was vulnerable, hurting, needy, and easily influenced, and they were heavily influenced by some powerful and charismatic personality. When something happens to this powerful person (eg., they get killed), the person may be so devastated that they assume the dead person’s identity in order to ‘continue’ the other person’s life. They literally incorporate the other person’s personality into themselves, and ‘become’ that person.

How do you know, or suspect, that there is a valence operating ? 1. The imagery described does not begin to fade away, even after the person has described the entire sequence of events from beginning to end. 2. Even although the client says that they have reached the first event in a series, the imagery does not fade once described in full. Dealing with valences is not difficult. If there is a suspicion of a power valence, ask the client to relate the ‘being the powerful person’ parts again. First ask them to describe the physical movements (eg., being stabbed, beaten) of the ‘powerful person’, and then reverse roles, and describe what it would feel like (physical movements) as the ‘poor victim’. They will tend to resist this reversal of roles, however, encourage them to do so. Once they have experienced both sides, ask them to say which one was easier to feel and describe, and more intense. If your suspicion is confirmed, then ask them to consider that they were the ‘poor victim’. You may want to first take * Knowledge in Action * Page 18

Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997 them back to their safe space and discuss the action-reaction balance - what you did has probably been done to you - and ask them how they feel about the possibility of being the other person. The same procedure is followed for the Guilt Valence, with roles reversed. Resolution of the Sympathy valence occurs in the same way as the abusive one: Ask the person to imagine being one of the ‘honoured few’ that were allowed to be in the powerful person’s presence, and to describe it. Then ask them to describe what happens to the other person, and how it must feel to lose such a person. Note of caution: Do not automatically assume that everytime a client says that they are some wellknown historical person, that they are in a valence. The possibility exists that they were indeed that person. However, it is more likely that they were in that person’s valence, and one therefore needs to err on the side of caution, but not with total scepticism.

RESTIMULATION ‘Restimulation’ refers to the process where something in the present situation reminds (consciously or subconsciously) the person of some past event. This phenomena is based upon the mind’s fixation on similarities. For example, you may be driving along as happy as can be, radio playing, hair blowing in the breeze, on a warm sunny day. Ten minutes later you are crying. Why ? Possibly, the song on the radio was the same song that was playing when your first lover walked out on you. Any sight, sound, tone of voice, smell or ‘kind of situation’ can trigger off a restimulation. This is also why the decisions made in the past have such a powerful effect: In the present situation, you may say or think something quite innocent. However, that same thought may be a central aspect for some past pain, which is then dragged along into the present, by sheer virtue of it’s association with the thought. Genetic Memory regression is based upon this principle.

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ETHICS There are fundamental rules which safeguard both you and your client. This discussion is not comprehensive, but covers some of the more important ones: 1. Maintain strict confidentiality of anything a client divulges to you. This includes that fact that they have consulted with you. 2. Do not make promises or guarantees to clients regarding results and outcomes. Rather explain what you do, and how you work, and agree to do whatever you feel competent to do. 3. Fees charged to clients need to be appropriate to your skills and time expended. 4. Respect the client’s freedom of choice. Do not engage a client who is presenting for regression under duress by someone else. 5. Deal only with what you feel competent to deal with. If in doubt, refer to a professional, or someone who is more competent in a specific area. 6. Do not advise a client to refrain from medical treatment or prescribed medication. 7. Do not physically touch a client without their expressed (preferably witnessed or recorded) consent. Sexual activities with a client is completely unacceptable and illegal, and a total violation of their trust. 8. Preferably do not do hypnosis or regression on your spouse, children, close friends, or other family members, as your objectivity may be impaired due to emotional bonds. 9. Hypnosis and hypnotherapy are simply tools, appropriate for specific situations and issues. Do not use hypnosis or hypnotherapy when a more efficient or beneficial method is available. 10. Ensure that your client leaves with full awareness of present time and place, and not disoriented. This is dangerous to their physical and emotional well-being. Never rush the grounding and orientation process. 11. As far as humanly possible, ensure that the client does not leave a session without closure regarding the session and it’s contents. This means that you do not rapidly emerge a client due to distress. Instead, strive to ensure that “that which is opened is closed”. 12. Refrain from making untrue claims regarding your qualifications and experience. 13. Do not engage in practices or unnecessarily prolong intervention to the detriment of the client, simply for personal gain. 14. Negotiate and reach agreement with the client regarding intervention objectives.

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SECTION 3 HOW TO DO A REGRESSION

Basic Structure of a Regression Session A regression session can be subdivided into the following components and sequence:

1. Pre-Regression preparations (a) - Therapist (Personal Preparation): Physical Needs Centering (b) - Client Preparation (Before & after arriving): Before: Drugs & Alcohol Hunger & Thirst Arrival: Bladder Script Checklist (c) - Regression Environment: Distractions & Noises Orientation to the Room (d) - Therapist-Client Discussion: General Guidelines Rapport Been Regressed Before ? Common Fears & Misconceptions Discuss Violence Patter Fear of intense emotions emerging Locating the Core Issue

Time Planning Clearing after the session Fees & Duration of session Fatigue Client Profile & History

Physical Comfort Room Temperature & Air Circulation Discuss Client Profile & History Understanding of Regression ? Check Present Time Awareness Select palatable imagery Why do they want a regression ? Is Regression appropriate ?

2. Induction (a) - Physical & Mental relaxation (b) - Include Violence & Sound Patters & Encouragement (b) - Safe Space

3. Regression Process 4. Emergence & Grounding 5. Post-Regression Discussion & Integration

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1. PRE-REGRESSION PREPARATIONS In this section we will focus upon basic pre-regression preparations. You will notice that a great deal of the structure of the pre-regression focuses upon addressing the Critical Factor.

1a - Therapist (Personal Preparation) Probably the most neglected aspect of preparation concerns the therapist herself/himself. Physical Needs: A therapist who is tired, hungry, needs to go to the toilet, has a headache, is in pain, is not as effective as a therapist who is rested, fed, and clear-headed. Emotional upsets can be included, and this makes the therapist prone to restimulation by events described by the client. It is therefore advisable to ensure that the therapist is not overburdened with clients, that the therapist is rested, goes to the toilet when necessary, and that pain is taken care of. Time Planning: Regarding emotional upsetness, it is imperative that the therapist first ‘centres’ themself - puts their own ‘stuff’ aside - before the client arrives. There are various methods of centering yourself before a client arrives. There are direct ways, such as confronting issues as they arise in your personal life, completing projects, and ensuring that you do not make appointments which conflict with therapy sessions. If, for example, you have to buy milk before the shops close, and you have allocated only 15 minutes for this task after a 2-hour session, then you are likely to sit and worry about whether the client will be completed in time, and may even take short-cuts in order to end the session on time ! Therefore, arrange your schedule around sessions, and ensure that there is always additional time available. It is advisable to assume that all sessions will run over time, and always plan on that contingency. Just as the therapist assists the client in detaching from their issues in order to place their exclusive attention on the past, so the therapist also needs to detach from their own issues in order to focus exclusively upon the client. If necessary, make written notes of things to remember to do, people to call, and anything else you need to remember. Place it outside of your head where it is safe and secure, and you do not have to keep any attention upon it during the regression session with your client.

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Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997 Centering:

Centering Process: An example Sit down somewhere comfortable and quiet. Close your eyes, and take five deep, slow breaths. Focus exclusively upon your body while doing this.

Visualise standing on a beach, dressed as you are now, looking out to the sea. The sea reflects your mental, physical and emotional world. Notice if the sea is calm, stormy, choppy or agitated, whether there are ships, winds, or any other activity.

Now make a concerted effort to calm the sea, and clear all the ships away. If necessary, send all the ships - which represent your worries and concerns of things to do and remember - into a safe harbour, or ensure that they are securely anchored. Get the wind to calm down.

When you have calmed your inner world, take another deep breath, and open your eyes. *** A final exercise is to imagine that you are surrounded by a cocoon of light, which will ensure that you do not absorb the client’s emotions, and that your energy will not be drained from you. Clearing After the Session: Once your client(s) have left, it is essential that you ensure that you are not ‘carrying’ any of their issues or energy with you. It is highly advisable to wash your hands or take a decent shower, simply to cleanse yourself of all residual energy. If you are concerned about issues that emerged during sessions, write these concerns down, and then forget about them. Do something totally unrelated to regression afterwards. Acknowledge that you have done the best you know how, and that you never will know the totality of another person’s experience, nor the reasons for their thoughts, feelings and actions. You are responsible for your own actions, not theirs. If you are truly concerned about a client, phone them to check that they got home safely, and ask them not to place any emphasis upon what happened in the session. Advise them to let things settle, and then phone them again in a few days. Usually, it is simply a matter of a day or two before emotions and confusion settle. With traumatic sessions, place a temporary block on the client so that they can rest that night, and then reschedule them the next day to complete the work.

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1b - Client Preparation Prior to arrival, every client must be informed of the following factors. Do not assume they will know this already:

Drugs and Alcohol Drugs - particularly psychoactive drugs, whether prescribed or not - and alcohol, do not go together with regression. A person on appetite suppressants, sedatives, stimulants, even strong headache medication, is not in a position to consciously deal with emotionally charged events. Although a person under the influence of drugs or alcohol can be sometimes regressed, it is not advisable, simply because the process of release can not occur in full, because the person is not fully conscious. It is not unusual for people to disguise the fact that they are using certain drugs, such as weight-loss tablets or sedatives. It is indeed frustrating to do a regression under these circumstances, as imagery is difficult to elicit, the process is slow, and there is never true trust or rapport, hence the Critical Factor never being de-activated. Probably the worst thing that can happen, is that the person’s memories emerge as confused, lacking cohesiveness, almost like a tangle in a ball of string. It is therefore important to make it clear to the client, when they make an appointment, that you can not do a regression if they have consumed drugs or alcohol within the last 24 hours (12 for alcohol). If they do, they need to recognise that this will slow the process down. Exceptions to these rules exist: If hypnotherapy is crucial, and the person is on prescribed medication (eg., Prozac or some other antidepressant or sedative), then schedule the client for a session early in the morning, before they take their first dose of the day. If the person is on psychoactive medication for psychiatric disorders, do not - NOT - do hypnosis or regression, regardless of the circumstances.

Fees & Duration of Session Tell the client how much you charge, and that the session will take anywhere from one hour to two hours, depending on what emerges.

Hunger and Thirst When a person is hungry or thirsty, or their bladder is full, these physical needs will severely interfere with regression. Therefore, if the client is hungry or thirsty, ensure that they eat something right at the onset of the discussion, so that at least 30 minutes have passed before the regression begins. Also, ensure that they go to the toilet to empty their bladder before the regression. However, if they have eaten a big meal, this can also hamper regression, due to natural lethargy during digestion. Allow at least 45 minutes to an hour after a big meal before doing a regression. It is preferable to provide tea and biscuits to a hungry client instead of a heavy meal.

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Fatigue If a person is physically tired, regression is difficult, as their natural inclination is to sleep. Focus is difficult. Advise the client to have a good sleep the night before the regression. Similarly, it is not advisable to do regression late at night, for example after 8 pm. Exceptions can be made if they have had a decent nap beforehand.

When the client arrives, the following issues need to be addressed:

Bladder Ask the client if they need to go to the bathroom, and tell them that you can not do a regression if their bladder is full.

Client Profile & Script Before you do any regression, ensure that the client has completed and signed a Client Profile & History form. You will gain a great deal of knowledge from this form, regarding specific images that they are afraid of - to ensure your induction is successful - as well as health issues, drug usage, and similar issues. Time permitting, ask the client to complete the Script Checklist (short version, or long version). These can also be given to the client to complete before they arrive for their session. These forms are on the following pages.

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Strictly Confidential CLIENT PROFILE & HISTORY Full Names:___________________________ Name you like to be called:__________________ Age: __________ Date of Birth:_____________________ Gender: (Male / Female):_______ Marital Status: ____________________ Number of Children: __________________________ Occupation:___________________________________________________________________ Contact Telephone Number(s): _______________________(W) ______________________ (H) Postal Address:_________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ Do you currently have any illness or injury ? If so, please state what it is: __________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ Are you currently under medical treatment ? If so, please state reasons: ____________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ Are you pregnant ? (If applicable) YES/NO Do you suffer from heart disease ? YES/NO Do you suffer from epilepsy ? YES/NO Do you suffer from diabetes ? YES/NO Are you currently utilising prescribed or non-prescribed medication/drugs ? Include diet pills, alcohol, sedatives, etc. If so, please state what it is, and how long you have been using it: ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ Are you currently under psychiatric or psychological treatment or therapy ? If so, please briefly state the reason: ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ Do you have a past history of psychiatric or psychological treatment or therapy ? If so, please state briefly when, duration of treatment, reasons, and outcome: ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ Briefly describe the issues you have been working on with your therapist: ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ Have your efforts to resolve this issue worked? ________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ *Please note that, in the event that you are currently under psychological or psychiatric treatment, AND you have not discussed with your therapist your intention to consult me for the purpose of hypnosis, please be advised that I am not willing to utilise hypnosis until such time as this has been discussed with your therapist, and the therapist provides in writing, approval for such hypnosis and/or regression hypnotherapy. Regardless of whether you have stated that you are/are not currently under psychological or psychiatric treatment, please ensure that you have read all the questions on this page, and answered them honestly. Then please sign the following:

I understand the above paragraph pertaining to psychological and/or psychiatric treatment, and state that I have honestly answered all the questions on this form: Signature of Client: ______________________________________ Date: __________________

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Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997 Have you been hypnotised or regressed to an earlier time before ? If so, please state when, by whom, and for what reason. Also state whether you got what you wanted from the session(s). Also state whether there were any difficulties in being hypnotised or regressed: _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ Do you experience emotional fear or discomfort when encountering any of the following, either in actual reality, or in visualisations: Heights

___

Stairs

___

Tunnels

___

Water

___

Rooms

___

Closed spaces

___

Roads

___

Flying

___

Fire

___

Darkness

___

Thunder

___

Loud Noise

___

Men

___

Women

___

Strangers

___

People

___

Crowds

___

Eating

___

Death

___

Loneliness

___

Pain

___

Sex

___

Illness

___

Ridicule

___

Mistakes

___

Animals

___

Dogs

___

Cats

___ Horses

___

Bees

___

Insects

___

Snakes

___

Flowers

___

Germs/Dirt

___

Buried alive

___

Needles

___

Sharp Objects

___

Any other:__________________________________________________________________________

Why do you want a hypnosis session or regression (whichever is applicable)? _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ I understand that the contents of this questionnaire and the regression session(s) will not be disclosed to a third party, and I declare that the information I have provided is truthful.

_____________________ Signature

_________________ Date

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SCRIPT CHECKLIST (Short Version) The following questions will allow me to understand your background and issues a little more clearly. Please answer them as honestly as possible, on a separate piece of paper. All information will be held in the strictest confidentiality. Thank you. 01.

Are you having marriage/relationship problems ?

02.

Are you having sexual problems ?

03.

Is religion important to you ? What religion do you adhere to ?

04.

Do you experience frequent headaches ?

05.

Has anyone close to you died recently ?

06.

Are your parents alive ?

07.

What do you consider to be the problem you are seeking advise/help for ?

08.

List how this issue (refer Q7) affects you physically.

09.

Why are you seeking help now ? Are you being pressured into some type of action ?

10.

How long has this been an issue in your life ?

11.

What aspects of your life do you find stressful ?

12.

Have you read books, listened to tapes, or attempted to resolve this issue on your own ? If so, please describe what you have done.

13.

Do you have any questions or concerns about hypnosis ? If so, please state.

14.

Describe yourself.

15.

How did your parents make you feel when you were little ?

16.

Describe the bad feelings you have most often.

17.

When did you first feel it ? (refer qu.16)

18.

If all goes well, what will your life be like in five years ?

19.

If all goes badly, what will your life look like in five years ?

20.

What makes you feel most happy, loved, successful, and glad to be alive ?

21.

What makes you feel most unhappy, unloved, depressed, and wanting to die ?

22.

If you could change anything about yourself by simply making a wish, what would that be ?

(Long Version - Additional Script Questions)

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Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997 23.

Number of brothers, sisters, and their ages.

24.

Describe your father.

25.

Describe your mother.

26.

Are you a winner or a loser ?

27.

When did you decide that ?

28.

When you were little, what did you want to be ?

29.

What did your mother want you to be ?

30.

What did your father want you to be ?

31.

What was your father's main advise to you ?

32.

What did your father say when he complimented you ?

33.

What did your father say when he criticised you ?

34.

What was your mother's main advise to you ?

35.

What did your mother say when she complimented you ?

36.

What did she say when she criticised you ?

37.

What do you wish your mother had done differently ?

38.

What do you wish your father had done differently ?

39.

How did your mother react when the going got tough ?

40.

How did your father react when the going got tough ?

41.

What was your favourite childhood fairy-tale, story, hero, book ?

42.

What part of qu.41 did you like best (part of story, hero, etc) ?

43.

What were all your nicknames during your growing up years ?

44.

What childhood accidents or illnesses do you remember ?

45.

How did your parents react to you when you got ill or had accidents ?

46.

Who was your favourite relative ? Why ?

47.

What happens to people like you ?

48.

What famous person would you most want to be like ?

49.

When are you going to die ?

50.

How are you going to die ?

51.

Who will be present when you die, and why do you want them to be there ?

52.

What will your last words be ?

1c - Environment

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Distractions & Noises In a regression, the client is required to enter an altered state of awareness, with awareness of present-time greatly reduced. This is very difficult when the environment does not produce a perception of physical safety - ie., secluded, secured (no invasion by others, including animals), and private - nor where there are distractions and noises - i.e., where the Critical Mind, as well as that part of the mind responsible for security and safety, has to keep on asking “What was that?”. All these things cause distractions during a process of highly focused attention. There are indeed times where noises are unexpected and unavoidable. For this very reason a “sound patter” is installed in the induction, so that the person is not unduly disturbed by having his/her attention ‘locked’ onto the noise in an attempt to ‘block it out’. Blocking noise out is not effective, as it requires conscious effort, hence preventing regression into the subconscious. Instead, the principles of “not resisting” is more effective. ACKNOWLEDGE - IDENTIFY - INCORPORATE One application of this principle is to inform the client of the source of noises, so that thoughts of “What is that ?” can subside. In fact, when unavoidable noises occur, the best route is to incorporate it somehow - use it, instead or try to block it out.

Physical Comfort Physical comfortability is also important, in terms of sitting, lying down, heat, cold, and air flow.

Orientation to the Room If there are strange or unusual objects in the therapy room, it is advisable to inform the client of what they are, so that their conscious or subconscious attention is released from these objects.

Room Temperature & Circulation Ensure that the regression room is comfortable, with good air circulation. Ask the client if they are cold or warm, and if necessary, provide a blanket if they are cold. Even if they are not cold, it is advisable to provide a light covering during the regression, as the process can release energy, inducing a feeling of coldness. A light covering is also useful for first-time clients, as they feel less exposed when lying down with their eyes closed.

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1d - Therapist-Client Discussion General Guidelines When conducting the initial pre-session interview, it is useful to keep the following thought in the back of your head: “What possible factors connected to the Critical Factor can I remove/address ?”

In terms of the regression, it is useful to view this discussion as consisting of two basic areas of focus: 1. Locating a focus that is specific enough to allow you to guide the person through the maze of subconscious connections to the root cause of their issue. 2. Removing or preventing as many reasons possible for the Critical Factor to interfere in the regression itself. Therefore, even if the person does not mention certain things, such as the notion that hypnosis is bad or that it involves them giving up their control, it is certainly advisable to address these issues during the discussion, as they may be lurking in the back of their heads, and they may feel that it would be impolite to mention it. Often, the client does not feel that it is appropriate to ask certain questions, such as exactly how you are going to do the regression. Tell them as much as you can, and answer all questions clearly and honestly. The Client Profile & History questionnaire is a very useful tool to use before the discussion begins, as it gives you a good idea of why they have come for a regression, and whether there are problems which may prevent the use of regression, or at least require special attention. For example, if the client has a heart problem or is pregnant, regression would need to be very gentle, and the installing of a ‘violence patter’ - i.e., that they will not physically react strongly - is vital. Also, a person with serious mental-emotional problems needs to be treated very gently, with great care to avoid traumatic events. If you do not feel you can deal with certain problems, it is perfectly ethical to say so, and to decline. We strongly urge you to refrain from doing hypnosis or hypnotherapy with clients who are experiencing serious (clinical) emotional or psychiatric problems, unless you are qualified in that area.

Rapport It is considered a given that this discussion (and the regression itself) is conducted with full rapport, as described in the Hypnosis Training.

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Discuss Client Profile & History Read through the profile, and ask for clarification on any answer written down. It is important to check whether the client has any fears (eg., water, heights, etc), so that you know which images to avoid when doing the induction. Pay close attention to pregnancy, heart problems, epilepsy, and diabetes. Such clients must be dealt with very carefully (see General Guidelines).

Have they been Regressed before ? If the client has been regressed before, this can provide a range of useful information to make the proposed regression more effective. In particular, it is important to ask which technique was used, and if there were any problems with visualisation. For example, if the client had difficulty visualising a tunnel used in the induction, you know not to use that image, and you can ask which images - stairs, roads, flying, etc - they would find easier to imagine. It is also important to ascertain what approach the previous regressionist used, and how the person felt about it. There is nothing more useful than learning from someone else’s experiences. Ask if there were any difficulties in terms of relaxation, visualisation, and if any experiences emerged which they do not feel complete with. If there are any incomplete experiences, ask if they would like to return there to complete it. Please note: It is unprofessional to criticise another therapist in front of a client. Not only do you only have one side of the story, but it also fosters a sense of distrust. You have no idea why or under what conditions the previous session was held. Simply listen carefully, and tactfully suggest that there are perhaps other ways of doing things, if they feel they would like to review specific experiences. Explain to the client how you operate, your principles and methods, and how this differs from someone else’s approach. It is not necessary to make yourself ‘right’ and the other therapist ‘wrong’, even if you strongly disagree with another therapist’s methods. Accurate information and education, not criticism, is more appropriate. The truth is that the other therapist may have very good reasons for their way of doing things as well ! However, this kind of issue does not arise frequently, nor should one view therapists as ‘competition’. Each has their way of doing things, and are better at certain issues compared to others. Keep things in perspective. If you don’t know why someone used a specific method, them simply say so. It is also important to be aware of clients who state that they have been to many different therapists. It is possible that these clients are “therapist hoppers”, with no interest in getting issues resolved, but are more interested in getting attention, or proving to themselves and others that “I’ve tried everything, and no-one can help me”.

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What is Their Understanding of Regression ? There is no need to impress a client with your knowledge and experience. Simply explain what regression therapy is all about, in ordinary, easy to understand language. Keep psycho-babble jargon to a minimum. Remember to work within their frame of reference. Use everyday examples, such as explaining altered states of consciousness in terms of daydreaming, and regression being the same as remembering what happened yesterday, except that you will remember much further back. Keep it non-mysterious, and emphasise the true naturalness of the process, which it is. Be aware that people have many strange ideas about hypnosis, past-lives, regression, and even therapy. Often, they find it scary, mysterious, and intimidating. There may also be religious conflicts with the notion of past lives, and also an attempt to prevent being ‘controlled’ by stating that “I can’t be hypnotised - I’m too analytical - I have a very strong will !”. Don’t argue with these statements: AGREE and SHOW ADMIRATION/APPROVAL for these attitudes. After you have done this, the Critical Factor is floored ! Furthermore, once the client realises that you are not trying to dominate or control them, they become much more open to a factual discussion. Once again, work within their reality ! Time spent explaining the in’s and out’s of what you intend to do, what hypnosis and regression are, and how the mind works, is never wasted - never. Be quite specific about your method - what kind of induction you intend using (ask if that will work for them), how you are going to shift their attention to the past, and how you are going to bring them back into present time. An informed client is a more relaxed and co-operative client. Also let them know that you can’t predict what will happen, thus the importance of always telling you what is happening. Ask the client what they want to know or need to know about what you are going to do. Tell them how long it will take, the various stages, the kinds of problems that can happen, how you will deal with them if they happen, so that there is no worry keeping the Critical Factor on alert.

Common Fears & Misconceptions A common fear is that they will not ‘wake up’ afterwards. The best way to deal with this is to take the fear to it’s extreme, such as if the therapist dies of a heart-attack in mid-session. Tell them that even if this happens, that, in the kind of regression method you use, the worst that can happen is that they will fall asleep, and wake up in an hour or so. At all times you will be talking to them, and they will be talking to you. You will be asking questions all the time and prompting them for answers, so that even if they do want to fall asleep, you will not allow that to happen! Regression is a conversational process where there is constant two-way talking. Also point out that you are not interested in deep trance, as this prevents active communication, and that such a deep level is not necessary for effective regression. Ask the client whether it would be acceptable to them for you to lightly touch their shoulder or hand if they go into a deep trance or fall asleep, so that you can continue to communicate with them.

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Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997 Preconceived Expectations: One source of potential confusion comes from non-regression therapists who may have detected certain things indicating that the person has had specific past-life or present-life experiences. Regardless of the merit and possible truth of these statements, the client has been told what to expect in their past, without first-hand experiences. Naturally, they expect to find these things! A distinction should be drawn between being told that “You were a Russian Princess” versus “You seem to have had power and influence in a past life”. The latter is sufficiently open-ended to prevent unreasonable expectations, while the former is not. Another source of fear is that they will be ‘controlled’ or that they will not be able to ‘get out of something horrible’. Inform them that there are various ways in which you will deal with this, should it happen. One thing that needs to be emphasised, is that they are in full control, all the time. If they do not like something, they can simply open their eyes, or say that they want to move to something else. Furthermore, if something traumatic comes up, you will tell them to either pull back to a distance where they can watch the event without being emotionally involved, or they can return to their safe space. Naturally, they can simply open their eyes if they want. Emphasise that THEY have the control to do this. Technically, the process of getting someone to see themselves experiencing something, is called DISSOCIATION. For example, if you were to imagine watching yourself being ripped to pieces by dogs, that would be a dissociated perspective - it’s as if it was happening to someone else. “What if I feel that I’m making it up ?” Do not deny that this happens, because it does. Instead, explain the value of imagination, and that it is a very good place to start. Explain the nature of imagination - composed of fragments from real experiences - give the example of not being able to imagine an elephant without some past visual experience. Also mention the fact that, if they feel that they are talking about something they read or saw in a movie, point out that they have seen and read many things, and that it is important to ask why they have chosen those specific images at this moment in time. As was discussed in a previous section, it is also possible that the person will access body memory (Genetic Memory), which is essentially NOT their ‘own memory’ (in terms of spirit/soul/self). In fact, one of the distinctive qualities of genetic memory is the sense that “it’s not my own memories - it feels like I’m making it up”. “What if I can’t relax ?” The truth is that there are ways around being not relaxed. When you think about what you did yesterday, you AUTOMATICALLY enter a state of altered consciousness, and your body AUTOMATICALLY relaxes. The physical relaxation processes which form part of the induction are very useful to speed up the process. However, they are not 100% necessary. “Will I remember everything ?” The answer is “Yes - however, there may be details which may slip your mind later, but I will be recording/making notes as we go along, to refresh your memory”. Also tell the client that the only time they will “forget” anything, is in deep trance, and that you will check that they do not enter this deep state, as it serves no benefit for regression. “I think I am too analytical”. Response: “Great ! The more analytical you are, the easier it is”. Point out the difference between being analytical - wanting to make sense of what is happening versus critical - denying and distrusting what emerges. Also point out that the nature of regression is such that the meaning or sequence of events is not always clear right from the start, and that it requires exploration and expanding. Therefore, ask the client not to jump to conclusions before this exploration has occurred, and to focus on simply stating what they see before they begin to ask “Why ?”

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Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997 “I’ve tried before, and it didn’t work !” A valid fear. Yes, sometimes specific techniques do not work with specific people. The important thing to keep in mind is to ask specifically, what did not work ? How far did they get ? Which method was used ? Then propose and discuss how you will deal with those problems. It is not true that some people can not be regressed. Yes, there may be obstacles, and yes, it may take some work to remove those obstacles. However, once the specific obstacles have been identified and addressed, there should be no reason why a regression can not occur. “I tried to do it to myself, but nothing much happened”. Not surprising, although some people can do it themselves from the start. Also, once the ins-and-outs are known, there is little reason why anyone can’t do it themselves. However, before that becomes easy to do, you need to recognise that it is not easy to overcome your own obstacles (Critical Factor) by yourself, as it takes some time to first figure out what the Critical Factor is likely to put in the way. When you have been regressed several times, you have the reassuring knowledge and experience that (a) You can stop the process at any point; (b) You can control the process using certain methods; (c) You trust yourself enough to acknowledge and confront the images that emerge. Oddly enough, it is the latter obstacle which is the most difficult to overcome. And (d) you know how to keep your attention focused upon the issue you want to explore. Often, self-regression fails because the focus is not specific enough to carry you through the multitude of connections in the subconscious mind. Also, fear of what you may find may block that process. Therefore, it is always advisable to start with being guided into regression, until your confidence is high enough to overcome the Critical Factor by yourself. It takes time and practice to both see and guide yourself. “What if I go blank and can’t see anything ?” Once again, do not deny that this happens. Focus on relating how you will deal with this, and that it is a natural process. One way you will deal with this is to focus on what they are feeling in their body. When a person can not visualise, it does not mean that something is not happening. It simply means that you have to find ‘where’ it is happening, and then focus in on that, such as sensations in the body. There are other reasons why people can not visualise, but the previous reason is sufficient for the initial discussion. Other reasons include: 1. The issue was not adequately defined and specified. Too vague - no association-chain to follow. 2. Present-Time concerns. Eg: Parking meter, time constraints, etc. Critical Factor not disconnected. 3. The person is predominantly auditory or kinesthetic, not visual. Suggest they try looking upwards before closing their eyes, as this shifts the eyes into visual recall mode. Alternatively, based upon your observations of their dominant VAK representation system, start with their dominant mode (eg., feelings or sounds), and then lead towards the images. 4. Body issues: Full bladder, hunger, fatigue, pain, drugs, alcohol. If pain/discomfort is the cause, do Genetic Regression on the pain itself. Always ensure bladder is empty !

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Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997 5. Person is 'left-brained', analytical. Deep induction, emerge, do again. Or shift posture to Associated State. Alternatively, focus upon imagery first, then build up and lead to feelings and sounds, during initial induction and Safe Space process. 6. There is a past decision to not see: “I can’t see” (this can apply to hearing or talking as well). You will not know this until you explore this option. 7. There is an actual past event which the person has landed in which contains certain conditions which prevent speaking or seeing. For example, being drugged, blind-folded, buried alive, etc. Hand-signals are the most effective route around this. 8. Guilt: Probably the most overlooked reason. Sometimes, when a person suspects, consciously (but usually subconsciously) that they have committed some crime in the past (real or imagined), the Critical Factor will block entry into the past. Remedy: While still in normal consciousness, ask “What is the worst thing you can imagine one person doing to another person - anything - just make it up". Get the person to 'make something up', then pretend 'as if' it is a real past event, and explore what happened. It soon becomes apparent to them that this is not imagined. Then discuss the notion of karma - cyclic action-reaction - and that everyone has these kinds of past experiences, just as they have past experiences in which it has been done to them. This usually effectively releases the guilt. Be prepared for physical releasing, such as diarrhea in the next few days, and let them know this. 9. Present-Life Trauma: Sometimes, when a person has suppressed early (present life) trauma, there is a very powerful Critical Factor resistence to recalling a past event earlier than that, or in that region. This can be detected by examining the nature of the ‘safe space’ which is visualised in the induction process. Classical indications are: Small, closed and confined dark spaces, steel boxes, etc. When this is encountered, return the person to present-time and discuss what you suspect. Propose a series of sessions to address these issues. There are ways around this, in terms of inserting temporary ‘caps’ (temporary blocks to prevent these experiences from emerging when you are doing past-life regression). Note: These ‘caps’ are temporary - be very careful of how you phrase these ‘caps’, so that you do not make it more difficult to access these traumas at a later stage.

Ensure that the client understands that: “At all times, tell me exactly what is happening or not happening, so that we can work around it. There is always a reason and a method to deal with specific problems in regression. Sometimes it takes a little while, but it can be dealt with ”. Inform the client that the kinds of issues that come up are quite normal, so there is nothing “wrong” with them if it happens !

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Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997

Check Present Time Awareness Under no circumstances do you do a regression with someone who is psychotic, schizophrenic, or clearly not in touch with present-time reality ! The reason for this is simple: The sole purpose of doing regression (ie., go to the past) is to find the source of an issue which is affecting the person’s present time experience. You do not do ‘tours of the past just to see what you see’, at least not for therapeutic reasons. If someone is psychotic, disoriented, schizophrenic, glassy-eyed, and clearly not in touch with present time, the very last thing you need to do is regress them, because their condition indicates that their attention is already stuck somewhere in the past. To regress someone in such a condition can make their condition worse. The best thing that you can do for someone in such a condition, is to recommend that they get plenty of rest, orientate them in terms of touch, sight and sounds in the present environment, and refer them to a professional psychologist. The same guidelines apply to someone in shock.

Discuss Violence Patter Regardless of whether the client has been regressed before, by you or anyone else, and regardless of their appearance and behaviour, you must install the Violence Patter as a precaution against violent reactions during the regression. However, ethically, you must first tell the client that you are going to install the Violence Patter suggestions, and ask their permission. Explain why you are going to install these suggestions, read the suggestions to them, and ask them if they have any objection to these suggestions. Apart from minor changes to the phrasing of the suggestions, do not delete any part of the Violence Patter. If the client does not want the Violence Patter suggestions used, advise them that you are not willing to do the regression.

Select Palatable Induction Imagery The regressionist needs to pay careful attention to the kinds of fears that the client has, such as water, heights, tunnels, stairs, insects, or animals. A great deal of this information is derived from the Client Profile & History. Never assume that you can use a standard induction metaphor for every client. With people who have physical conditions requiring careful consideration - pregnancy, high blood pressure, heart ailments, and epilepsy - ensure that you do not use anyh ‘active imagery’ such as walking or running up stairs. The subconscious mind will act out these images, and send signals to the various muscles while creating these images. Instead, focus on static images - lying in bed, sitting near a fire, lying down on a lawn - which do not imply any activity. For epileptics, you have to be extremely careful. The trigger for the seizures may be wood, flowers, or anything whatsoever. Keep it as bland as possible.

Fear of Intense Emotions Emerging

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Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997 Most clients are concerned about the possibility that deep and intense emotions may surface during the regression. This fear is justified, as it is quite possible for this to occur. Under no circumstances can you tell the client that this will NOT occur ! Instead, explain to the client what you will do, with their permission, if intense or unpleasant emotions surface. The steps you will take are as follows: 1. You will NOT get a fright and emerge them immediately ! 2. Instead, you will ask them to first pull about six to ten feet away from the scene (dissociate), so that they can continue to observe the event, without feeling the emotions, almost as if they were watching it happen to someone else. This dissociated perspective is encouraged by changing the wording of your reference to the person from first person to third person: Instead of “what are YOU seeing ?”, you say “what is SHE seeing ?”. 3. Secondly, if the ‘stepping away from’ method does not work, you will ask them to return to their safe space, where you will discuss what has happened. Then, with their permission, you will return to the event, safely observing from a distance. 4. Advise them that it is not a good idea to suddenly pull away from the event, or to end the regression because of intense emotions, as this will leave the feelings hanging around, incomplete. 5. If all else fails, they can open their eyes at any moment, because they are in full control at all times.

Why Have They Come For a Regression ? The true art of regression lies in (a) skillful location of the real issue, and (b) locating the decision in the past event which forms the basis for the present problem. The second part is most effectively done only if the first part is done skillfully. People come for regressions for many reasons. Sometimes a regression is not what they require this is discussed later. Generally, however, reasons for regressions fall in the following areas: 1. Relationship issues 2. Health Issues 3. Meaning, purpose, career, talents & direction 4. Fears, Phobias, Anxieties 5. Exploration: Wanting to know if it is real.

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Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997 LOCATING THE CORE ISSUE Whatever the reason given, narrow the focus to SPECIFICS. Do not, under any circumstances, tolerate vague or generalised issues. Vagueness is a recipe for difficult and frustrating regression. The following is a 'recipe' that seems to work for all issues. It is also fast, and cuts down on 'waffle'!

1. EXPLORE & ELABORATE: "Tell me more about it". Do this until you detect the 'hot spot', indicated by physical/emotional indicators of upset or irritation. Do not permit waffle - keep them on track. Remember that you are trying to locate the 'hot spot', and not engage in a lengthy sympathy session ! 2. LOCATE A SPECIFIC EVENT WHEN THE ISSUE WAS EXPERIENCED: "Tell me about the last time this happened - please give me all the details". 3. WHEN THE 'HOT SPOT' IN THE EVENT IS LOCATED: "What specifically were you experiencing in your body, and what thoughts went through your head as that happened - be very specific and describe it exactly as you experienced it then, not what you think or feel about it today. Perhaps you would find it easier if you closed your eyes to do this". 4. TRANSLATE EMOTIONS INTO PHYSICAL SENSATIONS: If they describe emotions during the 'hot spot', such as anger, ask them to be very specific about the physical sensations (heat, cold, tightness, pressure, dull pain, sharp pain) and where specifically in their body these sensations were located. WRITE THESE DOWN EXACTLY AS THEY DESCRIBE IT - THEIR WORDS.

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Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997 Example: Client:

"A friend of mine says you do regression, and I'm curious."

Therapist:

"I don't do sight-seeing regression, simply because it is essential to have something specific to guide the mind into the past. Is there a specific problem you seem to be having which we can work on, either health, relationships, confidence, or anything else ?"

Client:

"Well, I guess I would like to know more about my relationship with my husband."

Therapist:

[ELABORATE & EXPLORE] "Oh ? Tell me about your relationship. What areas of your relationship seem to be a bit of an issue for you."

Client:

(Describes some problem in her relationship)

Therapist:

[LOCATE SPECIFIC EVENT] "When was the last time this happened ? Tell me all the details, from the beginning till the end of the event"

Client:

(Describes recent event in general terms)

Therapist:

[SPECIFICS - LOCATE 'HOT SPOT']. "Ok, could you please tell me again, starting from the beginning, but this time I want you to tell me exactly what happened - what you did, what he did or said, how you felt, and what you thought".

Client:

(Relates event in greater detail. Therapist notes where emotions/ physical abreactions occur).

Therapist:

"I noticed that when you were talking about (...) that you seemed (irritable, uncomfortable, etc.) What were you feeling and thinking as that happened ? If you want, close your eyes and tell me about that part again, in great detail, as if it were happening right now".

Client:

(Describes in great detail, including emotions and thoughts in 'hot spot').

Therapist:

"Where exactly in your body did you experience that ?" and "Describe the sensations".

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Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997

CLIENT SCENARIOS (ROLE PLAY EXERCISE) The following are two fictitious client scenarios. Working in pairs, role-play scenario #1, with one person being the client, and the other being the therapist. Then reverse roles and do scenario #2 in the same way. Instructions for Therapist Role: (a) Answer the client's questions fully regarding their fears about regression. (b) Work with the issue they present, using the 'recipe' described in the previous section. Ensure it results in something specific. Don't waffle ! Instructions for Client: (a) Ask the therapist the given questions about regression. Pretend the issues are real for you. (b) Pretend that the 'issue' presented is real for you, and act-out the 'recipe' part.

CLIENT SCENARIO # 1 Name: Mavis Brown Age: 38 Married, 3 children (a) Initial Phone call: “I want a regression - can you do it ?” “How much do you charge, and how long is the session ?” “Is there anything I need to know or do before I come ?” Pre-Regression Session: Sits nervously, looking around. “I have a problem relaxing” “Will I remember anything ?” “What if I don’t wake up ?” “What if I feel than I’m making it up ?” (b) Issue: “I want to find out if I have known my husband in a previous life” CLIENT SCENARIO #2 Name: John Brown Age: 46 Divorced, 1 Child (a) Initial Phone Call: “I was referred by Mavis Brown, who said you do regressions”. “When can I come to see you ?” (Says nothing else) Pre-Regression Sesion: Sits with arms crossed, at a distance from you. “I can’t be hypnotised !” “I went to another person for a regression, and nothing happened” (Guided visualisation - they couldn’t see anything) “Are you going to put ideas in my head ?” (Suggestions) (b) Issue: Anger - always snapping at people, critical, irritable.

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Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997 Regression, like any other therapy technique, is merely one of many tools. It is highly effective for specific kinds of issues, and less useful for other issues. Regressions are highly effective for issues which do not appear to have any basis in present time or recent life history. For example, fears of water or heights, or an irrational fear of hummingbirds ! There may be no logical reason for such fears, as the person may have never had any experience of pain related to this fear that they can remember. However, if it appears that the client has low self-esteem, and that the reason why their relationship is not working is because they just don’t know how to say “no”, or that they do not know how to speak Spanish, and therefore are anxious about their trip to Spain, then the appropriateness of regression is questionable. Do not seek complicated answers when simple ones will do. In the case of the person who is having relationship difficulties, a regression will not “solve” the relationship problem. However, a regression may serve to explain and release some irrational compulsion that they have, such as being irrationally attracted to men with glasses ! Finally, we once again reiterate the need to refrain from using regression for clients with psychiatric conditions, and for clients who are in the midst of an extreme distress. For such clients, regression may simply make things worse, as such conditions - including emotional shock and extreme upset reflect the fact that the person is not in full contact with present time and place, and that their attention is most likely fixated in the past somewhere. If intervention is crucial, then do presenttime orientation exercises instead - touch, look, smell, listen to the present surroundings. For someone who is in the midst of a crisis, a good sleep and a hot bath may be much more beneficial than a regression. Use your common sense in such matters.

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Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997

2. INDUCTION Once the Pre-Regression preparations are completed, including the specification of the issue, the client is asked to sit or lie down somewhere comfortable, taking into consideration all the various factors previously discussed (e.g., room temperature). In this section, we will do a step-by-step induction process, utilising a physical and mental relaxation procedure that is suitable for first-time clients. As described in the Hypnosis training, you can modify the induction to suit the client (e.g., change the imagery) and create your own personal style. The induction process has the following essential components, regardless of the kind of imagery or approach you use: 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5

Physical Relaxation Mental Relaxation Safe Space Sound Patter (inserted in 2.1, 2.2, and 2.3, at least three times). Violence Patter (inserted in 2.1, 2.2, and 2.3, at least three times).

For your convenience, the Sound Patter and Violence Patter are already inserted in the Physical Relaxation and Mental Relaxation (“Twenty Steps Down”) process. It is assumed that you have already discussed the suggestions contained in the Violence Patter with the client, and they are comfortable with those suggestions. The “Twenty Steps Down” induction is ideal for first-time clients, for two reasons: First, it is long, and usually induces a level 3 or 4 trance. Ensure that you maintain constant communication with the client, to prevent them slipping into level 5, or falling asleep. Ask them whether they have done each step, and encourage them. Secondly, the induction itself asks and answers most of the concerns that first-time clients have regarding regression itself. It therefore de-activates the Critical Factor quite well. Remember: Unlike hypnosis, Regression is an INTERACTIVE process. Therefore, even during the induction, maintain a two-way communication. Do not simply read the induction ! Every few minutes, ask the client if they are doing OK, “can you do that ?” - “have you done that” - after instructing them to, for example, step down to the next step, and open and close the boxes. If you fail to ask and prompt the client for answers and feedback, they are likely to fall asleep with a long induction. ENCOURAGE the client - ask HOW ARE YOU DOING ? DON’T RUSH THE PROCESS - BUT ALSO DON’T DRAG IT OUT (the client will fall asleep). When you arrive at the Safe Space, pay very careful attention to the way in which the client has constructed it. Be aware of confined spaces, steel boxes, and feelings that it is not entirely safe. This may indicate trauma (e.g., molestation, abuse as a child, or rape). If you are suspicious, do not proceed with the regression until you have discussed this with the client. BEFORE YOU START .... ASK CLIENT TO GO TO TOILET TO EMPTY THEIR BLADDER !

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Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997 Now that you feel safe and comfortable I'd like you to close your eyes and keep them closed until I tell you to open them. Just let your body relax....... nice and easy....... now' I'd like you to take a real good deep breath and hold it ..... now let it out s-l-o-w-l-y ... (Encourage:) ... good.

Now I'd like you to take another real good, deep breath..... fill your lungs up real good, and let it out s-l-o-w-l-y again ... (Encourage:) ... excellent. Now, I'd like you to take one more good deep breath, fill your lungs up real good now ....... and hold it. Now let it out slowly and already you can feel your body starting to relax ... let that warm, wonderful feeling of relaxation flow all the way down to your feet..... feel your feet becoming very loose and limp ... let this relaxation flow up into your ankles ... from your ankles up to all the large and small muscles of your lower legs to your knees ..... from your knees now, into your thighs ... from your thighs into your hips .... from your hips now ... into your stomach area ...

(Say the following as they exhale:) ...With each breath you exhale ... just let your body go deeper and deeper ... relaxed.

Just let it all go ... more and more ... let that warm

wonderful feeling of relaxation flow up all the muscles of your back ... let all the muscles of your back go loose and limp, like a rag doll ... (Encourage:) ... wonderful ... Let this relaxation flow up into your shoulders ... now over your shoulders ... and down into your chest ... all the muscles of your chest ... relaxed ... all the muscles around your chest relaxed ... just let that warm wonderful feeling of relaxation flow down your arms ... to your elbows ... from your elbows to your wrists..... from your wrists into your hands ... going out to the ends of your fingertips ... guiding you deeper and deeper ... relaxed ... just letting it all go ... Now let that warm, wonderful feeling of relaxation flow up all the muscles of your neck ... let all the muscles of your neck go loose and limp ...... let this relaxation flow up into your head ... now over your head and down into your brow ... all the muscles of your eyes relaxed ... all the muscles around your eyes relaxed... all the muscles of your cheeks relaxed ... all the muscles of your chin relaxed ... Now ... if your teeth are clenched then just unclench them now ... and let your jaw sag ... just let it all go ... more and more ....... deeper and deeper ... relaxed ... (Encourage:) ... yes .. good ... Now ... I'm going to count from three down to one ... on each count just allow yourself ... let yourself ... (Say as they exhale:) ... go deeper and deeper ... relaxed ... Three ... going deeper and deeper ...

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Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997 relaxed ... Two ... One ... so deep ... so comfortable ... so relaxed ... just letting yourself go ... more and more ... (Encourage:) ...well done ... you are doing fine ... (Sound Patter) Outside noises will not disturb you in any way ... in fact any you might hear will help to guide you deeper into relaxation ... always letting go ... more and more ...

Now ... I'm going to count from 5 down to 1 ... on each count let the relaxation double throughout your whole body

... 5 ...

relaxation starting to double ... 4 ... relaxation

doubling more and more ... 3 ... very comfortable ... very relaxed ... 2 ... relaxation now almost double in your whole body ... 1 ... relaxation now has doubled in your body ... every nerve ... every tissue ... every fibre ... doubled in its relaxation ... more and more ... deeper ... letting go ... (Encourage:) ... you are doing great ... (Sound Patter) Just letting yourself go ... more and more .... you will always be aware of your surroundings ... you may hear sounds in the background but those sounds will not disturb you in any way ... the only sound you will be interested in is the sound of my voice and the sound of my voice actually helps you to relax even more. (Violence Patter) If at any time you feel afraid or in danger, I will, with your permission, touch your shoulder and this will anchor you into present time. At no time will you act out on any aggression. So at no time will you feel aggressive towards me, yourself or any other person during this session. In the event that you act aggressively, I will snap my fingers and you will immediately sink deeper and deeper into a state of peaceful relaxation and anything that you were experiencing will be faded from your mind. Is that clear?” [Wait for a response]. Do you agree with this suggestion ? [Wait for a response and then continue.] [Commence Mental Relaxation - “Twenty Steps Down”]

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Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997

MENTAL RELAXATION: “TWENTY STEPS DOWN” (Feedback:) Am I going too fast or too slow for you ? [Wait for response]. How are you doing ? Are you doing OK ? [Wait for response]. OK, now that your body is completely relaxed, let us focus on letting go of any worry that you may have at this time. In order to do this, in a few moments I am going to ask you to begin imagining going down twenty steps. On each step, there will be a little box, which you are going to open. You will place any worry that you may have in this box, close it, and then go to the next step. In this way, you can leave behind these worries, so that they do not bother you for a while. When you go down the steps, try to imagine what it feels like to have your feet on the step. We are going to do each step one at a time, and I will tell you when to go to the next step. (Sound Patter) And as you go deeper and deeper in this wonderful state of relaxation, know that any sounds that you hear, including the sound of my voice, will not disturb you. They will merely enhance the relaxation you are experiencing and will not disturb you at all.

Let us start with the top stair, number 20. Feel your feet on the step. Create the feeling of standing on the step. Can you do that ? [Wait for response and encourage:) Good. Now imagine that there is a box on the side of the step. Feel yourself touch this box, and open it up. [pause for client to create the feelings and imagery]. Place any worry about things you have to do today, and things you have to remember to do later, in this box. These things will be safe there, and when you leave today, you will remember these things that you want to do. So put them safely away in the box, and close the lid of the box. Have you done that ? [Wait for positive response and then encourage:] Great. You are doing wonderfully.

Now feel yourself take a step downwards, to step number 19. Feel yourself standing on step number 19. [Pause]. On the side is another box. Open this box. Feel yourself open this box. [Pause]. Place any worry you have about being able to do a regression in this box. Feel yourself relax because it does not matter whether you can or can not do a regression. What happens is what happens. Know that your value and worth does not

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Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997 depend on whether you can or can not do a regression, and that even if you can not do it today, you will be able to do it some other time. So let that worry go, and place it in the box. Very good. Now feel yourself close the lid of that box.

Am I going too fast or too slow for you ? [Wait for response]. OK.

Now take one more step downwards, to step number 18. Feel the step under your feet. On the side, is another box. Feel yourself open that box. If you have any concern about whether you have some mental block that will prevent you remembering certain past experiences, put that concern in the box. If you are aware of some previous attempt where you tried to remember and could not, also place that experience in the box. Then is not now. Just let it go, and put in the box. Have you done that ? [Wait for positive response]. Good. Now close the lid of the box, and take another step downwards.

(Sound Patter) And as you go deeper and deeper in this wonderful state of relaxation, know that any sounds that you hear, including the sound of my voice, will not disturb you. They will merely enhance the relaxation you are experiencing and will not disturb you at all.

You are now on step number 17. Feel that step under your feet. [Encourage:] You are doing wonderfully. In the box on that step, place any thoughts and worries that you have about not being relaxed enough. Let that thought go, as it does not really matter how relaxed you are. You have done the best you can at this moment in time, and that is more than good enough. So put those thoughts in the box, close the lid, and let it go.

Notice that you have relaxed a little more, just by letting go of some of the worries you have. That is good. If some worry or thought comes into your mind that we have already talked about, remember that you can place any thought or any worry you may have in any of the boxes, at any point in time. Are you doing OK ? [Wait for response]. Am I going too fast or too slow for you ? [Wait for response, then encourage:]. Great - you are doing wonderfully.

(Violence Patter)

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Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997 If at any time you feel afraid or in danger, I will, with your permission, touch your shoulder and this will anchor you into present time. At no time will you act out on any aggression. So at no time will you feel aggressive towards me, yourself or any other person during this session. In the event that you act aggressively, I will snap my fingers and you will immediately sink deeper and deeper into a state of peaceful relaxation and anything that you were experiencing will be faded from your mind. Is that clear? [Wait for a response]. Do you agree with this suggestion ? [Wait for a response and then continue.]

Take another step down, to step number 16. Spend a few moments getting the feeling of standing on this step. Now place any concern you have about not having full control in this box. The truth is that you can stop at any point, and just open your eyes. You are in control, I am only the guide. If something is uncomfortable, you can say so. Will you do that? [Wait for positive response]. You can talk at any time, and I will ask you what you want to do all the time. Even if you are not sure about what something means, or what it is that you are experiencing, just tell me, OK ? [Wait for response]. So there is no need to worry about not being in control. So place those concerns in the box, close the lid, and let those worries go.

Now take a step down to step number 15.

On this step is the box which is for the

concerns you have about making things up and imagining things, and that what you will experience is not real. Remember that you can not imagine something that you have never seen. You may certainly make things up, but that is perfectly OK, because the images that you make up come from some memory in the past. Even if you see things which you know came from movies or books, that is OK, because there is a reason why you chose those images, and not others, from the millions of things you have seen or read about. Underneath these images are the real thing. If you feel that you are making things up, then you say so, and I will assist you in finding the real images which come from your past. So don’t worry about imagining things. Imagination is a very good place to start in the search for real [past memories / past life memories]. So place those worries in the box, and close the lid of the box. Let that worry go.

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Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997 [Note: Step 14 is specifically for past life regression. If the induction is not directed at past lives, insert the Violence Patter here instead, after “Now step down to step 14”. Then go to step 13].

Now step down to step number 14. Now, in this box, I want you place any present life pain and abuse which might block going into past lives. Sometimes, childhood pain and abuse may block remembering past lives because the mind tries to block you from that pain, in the fear that the pain and fear will surface again. We will not investigate those pains, so tell your mind that it is OK to remember past lives, and that it safe to do so. Make a decision not to let those present life experiences interfere or surface. Is that aceeptable to you ? [Wait for positive response]. Good. Now place those memories in the box, and as you close the lid of the box, make a clear decision that they will remain there during the past life regression, and will not interfere. Once you have closed the lid of the box firmly, turn away from it, and take another step down.

(Violence Patter) If at any time you feel afraid or in danger, I will, with your permission, touch your shoulder and this will anchor you into present time. At no time will you act out on any aggression. So at no time will you feel aggressive towards me, yourself or any other person during this session. In the event that you act aggressively, I will snap my fingers and you will immediately sink deeper and deeper into a state of peaceful relaxation and anything that you were experiencing will be faded from your mind. Is that clear? [Wait for a response]. Do you agree with this suggestion ? [Wait for a response and then continue.]

You are now on step number 13. Place any expectations you have about what you are going to find in the box on this step. You may have been told that you were something or the other or did certain things in [your past / a past life]. Until you see for yourself, you will not know for certain. So let go any expectation of what you will find in this box, and close the lid. [Encourage:] Well done. You are doing exceptionally well. Am I going too fast or slow ? [Wait for response].

Take a step down to step number 12. Feel the step under your feet. On the side is another box. Open the lid. Place any concern you have about seeing anything terrible, or

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Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997 that you will become involved in some painful and traumatic experience, in this box. At all times, I will ask you if you are comfortable with what you are seeing and experiencing. If you are uncomfortable, I will ask you if you want to move along, away from it, or whether you can pull yourself away to a safe distance, where you can see what happened without being emotionally involved. You will always have the freedom and control to do this, and to say that you have had enough. Is that acceptable to you ? [Wait for positive response]. Thank you. So do not concern yourself about this. Place this worry in the box, and close the lid. (Sound Patter) And as you go deeper and deeper in this wonderful state of relaxation, know that any sounds that you hear, including the sound of my voice, will not disturb you. They will merely enhance the relaxation you are experiencing and will not disturb you at all.

Step down to step number 11. See the box on step 11, and open it up. In this box, I ask you to place any thoughts about not being able to see anything, of being blank, or of not being able to find anything. This does happen sometimes, but it easy to work with. If this happens, just tell me, and I know what to do about it. Do you agree to tell me if you can not see anything ? [Wait for positive response]. Great. Thank you. It’s just that being blank or notseeing anything may simply indicate that something is happening in your body, and then we focus upon that. From that will come the images and memories. So do not worry about that, as it happens all the time, and can be worked with. Place that worry in the box, and close the lid. Then take a step down.

Are you doing OK ? Still relaxed ? [Wait for response]. Great - you are doing just fine. Remember that it is perfectly OK to scratch if you itch somewhere, alright ? [Wait for response].

You are now on step number 10. See the box on this step, and open the lid. This box is for the worry that you will not understand or make sense of what you see or feel in the [past / past life] memory. Sometimes, a person sees things, other times, they just sense it, or feel it. Sometimes, the images are very clear, while other times they are vague and difficult to see and make sense of. It does not really matter how clear it is, or whether you

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Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997 make sense of it. All you do is say what you see and hear and feel, and then I will assist you in finding more details, until it makes sense to you. Will you do that ? [Wait for response]. Thank you. Usually, you will see something, but not know why it is happening, what it means, what caused it, or what happens next. That is what I help you with. It is like seeing one slice of a whole series of events, and we will explore it until we find the beginning and the end, and fill in the details. That is what I am here for, so do not worry about it. All you do is say what is happening, exactly as you see it. So place that concern in the box, and close the lid of the box. Let that worry go.

Take a step down, to step number 9. As you stand on step number 9, know that there are some past memories that are your own past memories, which are called your soul or spirit memories. Also know that your body has it’s own memories, passed on from generation to generation. They are not the same, and when you recall them, they will not feel the same. When it is your own soul memory, you will feel some level of emotional attachment to that event. If it is your body’s memory, which we call genetic memory, it will feel as if you are making it up, because it seems as if it happened to someone else. The body’s memories are not as intense and vivid as your own soul memories. We can not know beforehand which kind of memories will come up, as we do not yet know where the issues you want to investigate come from.

They may be your own past, or the body’s memories. That

remains to be seen. Both kinds of memory, your own, and your body’s, are useful in understanding and resolving issues. Now, take a slow deep breath, and take another step down.

You are now on step number 8. You are more than half-way down the stairs. Are you still doing OK ? [Wait for response]. I’m not going too fast or too slow ? [Wait for response]. At this point, know that it is more important that you trust yourself, than what I think of what you tell me. You may see things which may seem very strange and which make no sense to you, or you think are ridiculous. You may decide that you will not say that you see these things, because you think I will think you are being silly. That will not happen. I will not laugh or judge what you say. I will simply allow you to make sense of it, and explore it. There are many things which you may see which you have never heard about or seen before. Simply trust yourself, and allow yourself to continue focusing on it until it makes sense to you. So do you agree to tell me when something is happening even if you think it

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Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997 is silly or makes no sense ? [Wait for positive response]. Thank you. Now take a slow deep breath, and as you breathe out, step down to the next step.

You are now on step number 7. As you stand with your feet on this step, know that, at the end of the regression, I will ensure that you are firmly back in touch with present time. We will talk about what happened, and I will be taking notes of what happened so that you do not have to worry about remembering all the details. Is this OK ? [Wait for response].

Now step down to step number 6. Feel yourself relax even further. Know that you are safe and secure, and in control. Know that you will not be judged. Step down to step number 5. Relax even further. If there are any concerns or worries, let them go now. And step down to step number 4. Just relax and let go. And down to step number 3. You are very relaxed, even more relaxed than before. Step down to step number 2. Very relaxed, comfortable. And down to the last step, step number 1. You are completely relaxed, yet you are able to hear my voice, and talk to me. (Sound Patter) If there are any sounds other than my voice, they will not disturb you. You do not have to try to block them out. Just let them be.

[End of Physical and Mental Relaxation parts of the Induction, and beginning of the stage where visualisation imagery is used to move the person into (a) a ‘safe space’, and from there, (b) into the past.]

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SAFE SPACE Now that you completely relaxed, I want you to imagine that there is a passage in front of you, and that you can not see the end of the passage yet. Feel yourself walk down the passage, and you see that there is a bend in the passage. As you go around the bend in the passage, you see an entrance to another place. Walk through the entrance, into a beautiful, peaceful, safe place. This can be a beach, a garden, or any place where you are totally safe and peaceful.

[Pause for client to create their own unique safe space. Ask them if they have done that].

Allow yourself to just enjoy this peaceful safe place. There is no-one there except you. No-one else can enter this place without your permission. This is your safe place, where you can go when you want to be safe and peaceful.

Describe this place to me, in as much detail as you can. [You can prompt the client with the following questions:] What do you see ? [Wait for a reply]. What do you hear ? [Wait for a reply]. What time of day is it ? [Wait for a reply].

Notes on the Structure of the Safe Space

Pay careful attention to this created safe space. Ask them to describe it in detail. Suppressed trauma is likely to be reflected in the structure of the safe space - steel boxes, closed, tight containers - highly over-protective and restricting places, or they can not make the Safe Space completely secure and safe. If this occurs then discuss what you suspect.

Do not proceed with the regression until you have discussed your suspicions with the client, in the Safe Space itself. If you suspicions are confirmed, emerge the client and discuss. If you suspicions are not founded, thank them, and then continue the regression.

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Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997 Now, find a comfortable place to sit, such as a bench or a rock. Allow yourself to rest comfortably on this bench or rock. Imagine that you see a soft pink mist rising up from the ground, gradually filling the air around you. It is a beautiful safe pink mist, and you know that this mist is protective of you. Whenever you feel the mist, you feel protected and safe. Allow yourself to breathe this mist into your body, feeling the warmth and safety of the mist. Fill your entire body with the mist. Good.

Now just spend a few minutes enjoying this feeling of being completely safe and warm.

*****

[You are now ready to take the client back into the past (refer next page), as they are now partially disconnected from the present place and time.]

Notes About Later Uses of the Safe Space During the regression, if upsetting experiences occur, return the client to their safe space, and discuss what they think/thought feel/felt about what happened. Then ask if they want to continue along the same line. This is important in order for some form of integration to occur before continuing, and emotionally calm the client before continuing. At the end of the regression - when they are tired or time has run out, return them to their safe space for a minute or so to relax, and as an intermediate stage in the emerging process into present time.

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Transition to the Past “Now you are completely surrounded by the pink mist, and you can not see anything else anymore.

Although you are still in your safe place, the mist has dissolved any sense of

time or place, and you feel yourself drifting in time, totally safe and protected by the pink mist.

As you drift in this timelessness, bring to mind the issue that you want to work with and explore. Just get the feeling or thought of that issue, nothing more. ... Now, I want you to feel yourself, allow yourself, to drift back in time, to a previous time, to a different time and place, which is related to the issue that you want to work with. “

Remind them of the issue that was discussed in the pre-regression discussion. Using their own words and references, ask them to create the feelings or thoughts in their mind - just the thought will do - and allow everything else to fade away. Then instruct them to create the feeling of going back in time, to a place and time where those same feelings/thoughts were experienced. This will take a few seconds, as they ‘float backwards’ or ‘towards’ the past.

At this point, the regression exploration begins.

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3. REGRESSION PROCESS 3.1

LANDING - LOCATING A PAST PLACE & TIME: “Create the feeling of having landed somewhere”. “Get the feeling of having your feet on the ground”. [Pause to allow client to do this].

[If they take too long to ‘float’, then tell them that you will count backwards from ten to one, and when you reach one, they will arrive somewhere. Do this: “Ten ... nine ... (till) ... one ! Now create the feeling of having landed somewhere. Get the feeling of having your feet on the ground”. If they say that they have arrived somewhere, but can’t get the feeling of having their feet on the ground, ask them to begin describing the place where they are, and whether they can see someone there. ]

3.2

BODY ORIENTATION “If you can not see anything, that is fine and normal. I want you to imagine that you can shuffle you feet on the ground, to get a sense of whether the ground is sand, stone, grass, or something else. Try that, and tell me what it feels like”. [Wait for client to do this]. “Now imagine that you can look down at your feet. What do you see ?” [Wait for response]. “Are those young feet, old feet, the feet of a woman, or a man ?” [Wait for response]. “Now look at the hands. Are those the hands of someone who works hard ?” [Wait for response]. [Continue asking questions about the body and clothes: old/young, male/female ...]

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3.3

ORIENTATION TO PLACE “Now look around you. What kind of place is this - Are there trees, plants, any buildings?” [Wait for response]. “Are there people anywhere ?”

[Continue to explore the surroundings - do not get too detailed. The point is to locate the person in space. If the person says that there are no people, and that they are standing all by themself on green grass, and that nothing happens here, it is likely that they are in an inbetween life stage, and you need to ask them to fade that image away, and ‘float towards a time and place where something DOES happen !]

3.4

ORIENTATION TO ACTION “What is happening ?” [Wait for response... If nothing is happening, then ask the client:] “Move towards the place where something happens - the events related to the issue you are working on - just trust yourself and move there” [Wait for client to move to some active event]. “What is happening ?” “Start with the physical events - what you see, feel and hear...”

[If the client has difficulty with this, provide option-type questions, such as: “Are you sitting or lying down ? Is it day or night ? Are you indoors or outdoors?”]

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3.5

ESTABLISH SEQUENCE OF EVENTS: “Move to the beginning of the event. How does it start ?” “What happens next ?” “And then what happens ?”

[As they describe each part of the event, prompt with questions such as:] [Physical Aspects:]

“What is he doing ? What are you doing ?”

[Emotional Aspects:]

“How do you feel about that ?”

[Do this until the event comes to an end].

[Remember: If strong emotions emerge, do the following:]

IF THERE ARE INTENSE EMOTIONAL REACTIONS TO THE EVENT: 1. “Do you want to step out of this event and look at it from a less emotional view ?” 2. “Imagine you can step out of that body, and look at what is happening from about 10 feet away. Can you do that ? [Wait and ensure this has occurred]. Then proceed with exploring the event. 3. If the ‘stepping out’ is not enough, ask the client to return to their Safe Space. Then spend a few minutes ensuring that the client calms down and feels safe. Then discuss what happened (while in the Safe Space). Suggest to them that it would be better to find out what happened, all the way till the end of the event, but that they must consciously focus on remaining out of the picture, watching safely from a distance. Usually, they agree. Then return to the event again. 4. If the client does not want to return to the event, you can ask them to choose between going to another time and place, or emerging and ending the regression. However, if they choose not to pursue the issue, suggest that you go to a pleasant event, unrelated to the issue, and explore that for a while before emerging.

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3.6

Locate the “HOT SPOT” - PAIN & CRISIS Usually at the end of the event: [Somewhere in the event - usually at the end - is the “Hot Spot” - characterised by: Pain - Death - Overwhelming Sense of Loss or Hopelessness. In this “Hot Spot” is the CORE DECISION which needs to made conscious in order for the client to find resolution to their present-time issue]. [As the client moves through the event, monitor their emotional responses. You will notice that somewhere - usually the end (eg., death) - there is intense sadness, pain, anger, hopelessness. This is usually where the “Hot Spot” is located.] “Tell me exactly what is happening - what are you feeling ?” “As this happens, what thought goes through your head ?” [If associated]. “As this happens, what thought does she/he have ?” [If dissocated]. “Try to be as specific as possible - The actual thought or words used” [Write down exactly what they say. Ensure they are specific]. NOTE: PARTICULARLY IF THIS IS THE FIRST EVENT OF IT’S KIND, IT IS ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL THAT YOU ENSURE THAT THE EXACT AND SPECIFIC THOUGHTS OR DECISIONS MADE IN THE “HOT SPOT” ARE MADE CONSCIOUS. There are only Three Reasons why the Core Decision is not reached: 1. It is not the first event OR 2. True beginning and end not uncovered 3. The person is describing the event from a VALENCE perspective This may involve doing through the event and the ‘Hot Spot” again, to ensure that the client is fully aware of that decision or thought. It is perfectly acceptable to ‘hassle’ them to be more specific ! If a Valence is suspected: Ask client to describe the physical motions of the 'other' person in great detail - which arm, body part, direction, etc. Then do the same for the 'self' in the event. If the client can describe the 'other' person's actions, emotions, thoughts in greater detail and with more energy, it is highly likely that a Valence is at work - 'Other' is actually 'Self', and visa versa. Gently, ask client if this is * Knowledge in Action * Page 59

Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997 possibly the case. Usually client sees this. Then identify decisions etc. It is usually helpful to take the person back to an even earlier event/life where the situation was reversed (someone did something to them). This helps to balance the perspective.

3.7

Closure (complete) the event “Move to the end of the event”. [If the event involves pain or death, then:] “Move to the time where ... ...you know that the body is dead” (or) ... the pain is gone”. “How do you know ... ... that the body is dead ?” (or) ... that the pain is gone ?”

[Other Options:] “How do you feel as you look back at that event / life ?” "What thought did you think at that moment ?" "What did you decide about yourself or about life at that time ?" "Now that the body is dead, and you look back at that life, what decisions did you make about yourself ? What things were left unfinished ?” “What lesson did you learn that you carry with you still ?" [Client gives some feedback indicating completion or overall perspective]. “Is there anything else that you want to look at in that event ?” [If ‘yes’ - then explore the incomplete area, and then ask whether there is anything else in the event they want to look at, until you get a ‘no’ answer.] “Are you ready to move along, away from that time ?” [If ‘yes’ - proceed. If ‘no’ - go back to event until complete]

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3.8

Earlier Similar Event ? “Is there an earlier similar event, related to the issue you are working on ?”

[Usually, the client does not conscious know, so you say:] “You may not consciously know if there is such an earlier event. Just trust yourself, and tell me whether you feel there might be such an earlier event”.

[Unless the client is certain that there are no earlier events, say:] “Allow the last experience to fade away from your mind. Now allow yourself to float towards an earlier similar event ... just allow yourself to float to that event, where something happened directly related to the issue you are focusing upon, and which is even earlier than the event you have just looked at...”

3.9

Repeat Steps 3.1 to 3.8 Steps 3.1 to 3.8 are repeated until: (a) There are no more earlier similar events, or ... (b) The client is tired, and the session has gone on for more than an hour, by which time they are usually very tired.

3.10 Return to the Safe Space to Discuss Briefly “Return to your Safe Space”. [then] “You are safe”. “How was that ?” “Can you see how that decision has influenced your present life ?” “What do you know now that you did not know then ?” [Basically, reframe the decision in terms of facts and reality.]

[Proceed to Emerge (or begin with new issue)].

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“Count Five Breaths” In a moment, I am going to count from one up to three. At the count of Three, and not before, you will begin to take five breaths at your own speed, and then open your eyes, feeling totally alert, totally refreshed, feeling wonderful in every way.

ONE, slowly, easily, and gently, feel yourself coming back to your full awareness, slowly becoming aware your present environment.

At the count of TWO, you are still relaxed and calm, but a wonderful feeling of new energy flows through throughout your mind and body, and your eyes under your eyelids feel as if they are clearing, as if they are being bathed in a cool mountain stream. And you gradually become aware of the sounds in this room and outside.

On the next count, you will begin to count five breaths at your own speed, and then your eyes will open, feeling fully alert, feeling wonderful and marvellous in every way. Get ready now. All right, number THREE... begin counting five breaths at your own speed,and then open your eyes... (when they open their eyes, say:) Eyes open fully alert. Notice how good you feel. HOW DO YOU FEEL?"

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5. GROUNDING Once the person has opened their eyes, it is time to ground them into present-time.

The first question is: “Is your attention still stuck anywhere in the past ?” “Is there something that you have seen that is still holding your attention ?”

If there is, immediately ask them to close their eyes, go back to their Safe Space, and then go back to the event which is holding their attention. Re-examine the event until they are content that they have seen everything they want to. Return to Safe Space again, and reemerge again, as per usual. Then repeat the grounding process.

Then ask them to become aware of the chair/bed/couch under their body, or pictures on the wall. Ask them to touch their face. Ask them what the date is.

Grounding can be easily done by walking, talking, eating a biscuit, going to the toilet, having a cigarette, or a cup of tea. Anything which brings the person’s attention out of their head, out of the past, and facilitates shifting their focus to the present world around them, can be used for grounding.

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6. POST-REGRESSION DISCUSSION & INTEGRATION In the integration process/discussion, you tell the person what you wrote down - what they said - and then ask them whether it makes sense to them in terms of their present life and experiences. Sometimes it does,and sometimes it doesn’t. It may take a few days of ‘settling’ before all the pieces fall into place. Tell them this, and advise them not to brood over the experiences. Assist in any non-invasive way to get the client to relate the similarities and differences between then and now.

If issues still need to be addressed, recommend another session, and be specific about why you feel it is necessary. Sometimes, the person simply needs time to settle down and integrate what they have learned.

The emphasis of this part of the process is WORKING WITH THE DECISIONS MADE IN THE PAST, WHICH ARE AFFECTING THE PRESENT.

Discuss the decisions made in the past. Ask the client whether they now know differently, and the knowledge and experience they have which makes that decision no longer true. Ask them to ‘re-decide’. If necessary, ask them to close their eyes, and recall the person they used to be (in the earlier events). Then ask them to imagine telling that ‘past self’ whatever they need to in order for that ‘past self’ to feel that all is not lost, or feel reassured. Also ask the client to thank that ‘past self’ for the lessons it brought, and that the client knows that that ‘past self’ did the very best it knew how to do at that time, with the resources it had to work with.

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SECTION 4 ADDITIONAL TECHNIQUES

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GENETIC MEMORY REGRESSION CRITICAL OBJECTIVES: * ENSURE YOU ARE WORKING WITH A SENSATION PRESENTLY EXPERIENCED * SENSATION/PAIN WILL NOT RELEASE UNLESS VERY FIRST EVENT IS LOCATED * LOCATE DECISION MADE IN FIRST EVENT, AND ENSURE LINK BETWEEN 'THEN' AND 'NOW' IS MADE, IN ORDER TO DE-ACTIVATE THE TRIGGERING THOUGHT IN PRESENT TIME. ***** 1. PRE-SESSION DISCUSSION - Explanation of issues and Problems - Location of focus of regression (Refer 'Recipe' described in previous sections) - List specific sensations *** - Ask “What does it feel like ?” WRITE THIS DOWN VERBATIM !

2. INDUCTION (Not always) 3. SAFE SPACE (Not always)

4. FOCUS ON SENSATION “Get a sense of that sensation (repeat what was described)”. “What would one person have to do to another person” or “What would have to happen to another person’s body in order to create the feeling of...” OR

“Remember you said that it feels LIKE ..... ? Create a picture of that happening to someone else”.

IF PERSON IS RESISTENT: “Just make it up ! Play with it ! This is not about you”.

5. ESTABLISH FORCES AT WORK TO PRODUCE SENSATIONS:

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Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997 “From which direction - front, back, left, right, top, bottom would something have to happen to cause that sensation?”. “What object would have to be used to cause that ?” “Sharp, blunt, heavy, long, wood, metal.... what object or force would create that sensation, if it was happening to someone else ?” “Would someone be holding that object ?”

6. ESTABLISH SEQUENCE OF EVENTS: “Tell me when this started, what happens next, when does it end ?” “Describe to me exactly who did what, what was felt...” “Does the body die ?” YES “How does it die ?” “Describe exactly what happens to kill the body” “Move to the point where you know the body is dead” “How do you know the body is dead ?” NO

“Exactly where in that body is the pain ?” “Describe the pain exactly - hit, cold, sharp pain, dull pain ...” “Move to the point when the pain ends”. “How do you know that the pain is ended ?”

6. EARLIER SIMILAR TILL FIRST EVENT “Is there an earlier similar event, where something happened to cause the same kind of sensations ?” “Tell me exactly what happened”. (Same guidelines as above, in #5). “Is this the first time this sensation was experienced ?”

YES - Ensure you get the decision associated: “What did that person think/feel when this was happening ?” “When last did you think that thought ?” (LINK TO RECENT TIME).

NO - Repeat process until first time is located. OR ...

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Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997 “Imagine that you are standing on a tar road”. “This tar road represents the history of this sensation”. “On this tar road there are white painted numbers” “Where you are right now is numbered ‘One’”. “Imagine that you can float down the road, until the tar road ends.” “What is the number written at the end of the tar road ? Trust yourself”. “Nearby is a place to sit down, where no-one else can see you.” “As you sit there, you look around, and see someone else”. “They can not see you”. “Something is about to happen to this person - something physical”. “Tell me what happens to this person”. (Do Steps 4 onward, as per normal).

7. EMERGE & DISCUSS Establish link between present-life event and past first event. (Refer Step 6 YES). NB: Decisions such as “I can’t see !” Explain how such decisions activate body memory Genetic Memory = (Pain) + (Thought) You innocently think the (Thought), and the (Pain) automatically also activates, through sheer association. No-one’s ‘fault’.

8. BREAK SIMILARITY & DECISION Reframe the decision made in this life which activated genetic memory. Possibly use Core Transformation. Eg: “Can you see your future now ?” This can require additional therapy, to change the core decision: “Is this still true for you ?”

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CORE TRANSFORMATION Core Transformation is a process designed to access the core or root of a specific behaviour, feeling, habit or thought pattern. It is a powerful process when used correctly, and does not involve confrontation or judgments of any kind regarding the undesirable behaviour.

The source of this process is NLP (Neuro-Linguistic

Programming), specifically the book Core Transformation: Reaching the Wellspring Within, by Connierae Andreas & Tamara Andreas, Real People Press, 1994. In this training, we will introduce a shortened version of the original. Core transformation recognises that each and every thought, emotion, behaviour, habit, and action, no matter how destructive it appears (to self or others) has a POSITIVE INTENTION.

However, the Positive Intention may be heavily disguised, to the extent that the person can not understand why they behave or react in that way.

Thus, when doing Core

Transformation, DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES JUDGE OR CRITICISE OR LABEL AS 'BAD' THE BEHAVIOUR OR REACTION. ALSO, INSIST THAT THE CLIENT REFRAINS FROM JUDGING THEIR BEHAVIOUR. This is vital - no exceptions. It should be clearly understood that, although the behaviour may be limiting or destructive, it's true power of force depends upon the hidden Positive Intention. Core Transformation seeks to find the true Positive Intention, which allows the behaviour to change.

Basically, due to painful past events, a decision was made. A 'part' of the person breaks away from their conscious control, and seeks to attain some positive state (the hidden Positive Intention) under the misconception that it can only achieve this positive state (the Core State) through specific means, which may be destructive to the body or limiting in terms of personal interactions. THE ‘PART’ IS ALWAYS A SUBCONSCIOUS 'PROGRAMME' - THEREFORE, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD IT BE IMPLIED THAT THE PERSON 'WANTS TO' BE

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Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997 SELF-DESTRUCTIVE. The following phrasing is usually helpful in preventing unnecessary defensiveness (critical factor involvement) and also self-blame by the client:

"Joe, you have clearly tried everything you know how to resolve this issue. However, it seems as if there is a part of your subconscious that is sabotaging all your good efforts. Would you mind if we explored this subconscious sabotage part ?"

When is the process used ? Usually, it is used when the client consciously seeks to change a specific reaction, habit or thought pattern, but a self-sabotage mechanism seems to kick in every time, over-riding all conscious effort. The same applies to hypnosis - where hypnosis is applied, but it seems as if there is a more powerful mechanism at work, sabotaging all efforts.

When is the process not used ? We have observed the following: When a person is not in touch with the physical-sensation or emotional aspects of the blockage/issue, Core Transformation tends to yield unsatisfactory results. In other words, it is most powerful when the blockage is being experienced at the time of the intervention. For example: A client says they can not concentrate on their studying, and come for a hypnosis session for memory improvement. The hypnosis patter is done, but the client reports back that they still can not concentrate and remember what they are studying. At this point, the hypnotist would propose Core Transformation on the "part" that seems to be blocking their memory/concentration. This would be most effective if the client is in the midst of the studying, and thus experiencing the blockage and emotions attached (eg., anxiety, frustration, or panic).

However, should the client not be experiencing the blockage

currently - they may have experienced memory/concentration problems some time ago then the process does not tend to work well, simply because the feelings of frustration are not presently experienced.

Likewise, when a person is 'stuck in their head' (ie.,

intellectualising the process - 'thinking' - it also tends not to produce the desired results. Therefore, check to see if the person is dissociated first, then adjust their physical posture to an associated state.

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Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997 When does the process work well ? (a) When the client is presently in touch with the physical-sensations and emotions connected to the blockage or issue.

(b) When the client is in an associated state.

(c) When the issue/blockage is very clearly and specifically defined, not just some vague concept. For example, "I can't seem to stop smoking" is not clearly and specifically defined. However, "When I try to stop smoking, like this morning for example, I had to fight the feeling of desperation and of tension in my temples. It was almost as if I had to have a cigarrette ! I felt so helpless against the need for that cigarrette."

How does one clarify and specify a blockage or issue ?

The key is to locate and identify specific physical sensations in the body, associated with the blockage. Sensations are: tightness, tingles, heat, cold, pressure. For example, the emotion of anger may be experienced as clenching of hands, heat in the solar plexus, a knot in the stomach, tensed shoulders. It is difficult to work with an issue that is vague or abstract, such as 'unhappy' or 'frustrated' or 'depressed'. The physical sensations and body tensions need to be identified to describe these emotions. When a client says they want to work on a specific issue, use the following guidelines to clarify and specify the issue: 1. “Tell me more about it” - (elaborate, explore). 2. “When was the last time this happened ?” (or “Give me an example of a time when this was experienced”). Locate an actual, specific, event which exemplifies the blockage when the blockage was directly experienced and real. 3. “Tell me exactly what happened” (in the event). “Describe the physical sequence of events, what you felt (emotions), what you thought, and when you felt and thought these things”. 4. When person locates the 'hot spot' (the intense emotion/upsetting part of the event), ask them to describe exactly what they were feeling (emotionally), where specifically they experienced this emotion in their body (in terms of actual physical location and specific

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Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997 sensations), then what specifically went through their mind at that point. Ensure they verbalise the thought as accurately and exactly as possible, and not a summary or generalised version.

During all of this, write down exactly what they say, particularly concerning the sensations and thoughts during the 'hot spot' of the event. Don't summarise or interpret what they say - just write it down exactly as they say it.

Also, if you need clarification or more detail, ask for it until you are certain you have an exact and specific description of the 'hot spot'. Pay careful attention to their body language: The 'hot spot' is indicated by aggitated, energetic movements, facial features animated, flushing of cheeks, etc. If these do not occur, they are probably not really in touch with the event. Either get them to re-tell the event, or find another event that they can re-experience and describe with greater awareness of physical sensations. With 'intheir-head' clients, first shift them into an associated posture and state. Persist, or refrain from doing Core Transformation until they can get in touch with their feelings.

Make it clear that in order for this process to work, they must:

(a) Keep an open mind, and not criticise the subconscious Part

(b) That they are not to speak on it's behalf - let it speak for itself.

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Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997 How do you know if the person has reached a Core State ? A Core State is a very distinctive phenomenon. It may appear as an intense emotion, but it is more accurately described as a 'Peak State', such as Beingness, Oneness, Bliss, etc. Usually, but not always, the Part wil say that there is nothing more that it wants. There are specific criteria for a Core State: 1. It does not depend on someone else (eg., “Being loved”, “Respect”, “Recognition” are not core states). 2. Not self-reflective (eg., “Loving Myself” is not a core state).

3. Reflects a state of Being (eg., Oneness, OK-ness, Beingness, etc).

Problems encountered when doing Core Transformation:

(1) Client does not reach Core State, but instead repeats dependent states (eg: "I want love, respect, etc), and says the part wants nothing more....

When a person seems to go around and around in circles, always coming back to the same thing, or insisting that all the part wants is some dependent state, then you need to have a look at why they can not get beyond what that part says it that wants/needs. For example, if a person says they want recognition, or to be loved, and refuse to budge on these dependent states, then I ask them FROM WHOM specifically they want the recognition or love. Ensure they are specific. I suspect that this is the key to breaking that block.

Let the part imagine/experience/have that love/recognition from that specific

person, or more than one person, completely, then ask them what they will feel about themselves as a result. Then take it further from there. The wording of the question “If you have.... then what does having that ...” can be rephrased in many ways to get beyond ‘stuck’ states. For example, “How will you feel when you have that ?” or “When you have that, what else does that allow you to feel and have ?”. This shifts the emphasis away slightly from “more important”, to another state which is possibly easier to deal with. (2) How do you know if it is the part answering ?

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Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997 Tricky question, as someone can say that it’s the part speaking when in fact their logical mind is figuring out the next answer instead of the part. That is why I ask the person to thank the part each time, ask if it likes having whatever the thing it is imagining having, ask what the part is doing, etc.

Usually, this is only a problem when the person is going straight into Core Transformation, without prior work, and the Critical Factor is still operating. It usually doesn’t happen when the person FEELS the part that is blocking them. Also, when there is not 100% certainty that the person doesn’t WANT to let go of something.

(3) What if the person has difficulty in identifying the part and communicating with it ?

This is probably the most important question of all. It is vital that the person 'feels' the reality of the part that needs to be worked with. This is an issue when the client has been rushed into the process, with not much work to reach the awareness of what is actually the problem. Alternatively, the process has not been explained clearly.

It is essential that the client is specific about the part, and the therapist must avoid assuming that the 'part' is some all-encompassing, generalised thing. The more specific, the more 'felt' the identification of the part BEFORE the process, the easier it is.

As with regression, it is vital that enough time is spent discussing what is happening, and listing everything they say. It is better to assume that there are many parts involved in a specific problem, and to list and work with them one by one, instead of assuming that there is this 'One' part that will solve everything.

Most importantly, it is strongly advised that the part is FELT in the body - whether this refers to an emotion or thought. Use the same narrowing process used in regression: (a) What is the problem ? Tell me more about it; (b) When was the last time it happened ? Be specific - what happened ? Details; (c) What did you feel in your body - where ? What thoughts went through your head? Be specific!

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Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997 During the initial stages of the Core Transformation, ask them whether they are seeing or hearing the Part speaking, or whether they are thinking on it's behalf. It is useful to first establish the Part as some entity outside of their body, with a shape, size, face, so that clear communication can occur. Also encourage them to be non-critical of the Part, and let it speak for itself.

CORE TRANSFORMATION PROCESS 1. Identify Part through usual methods. Ensure that it has a shape, size, face, etc. Get client to place Part outside of their body.

2. Welcome the Part - client states this out loud - Client tells Part it knows it has a positive intention

3. Ask client, out loud, to ask the Part what it wants [want #1]. Ensure that the client listens to Part. Ask what it says.

4. Ask client to tell Part to imagine achieving that [want#1]. Then ask Part, out loud,

"If you can achieve that [want #1], what will you experience ?" [want #2]

or... "Imagine having that [want #1], completely. What does that allow you to have, that is even more important ?" or... "When you have that - imagine having that [want #1] - what will you then experience ? [want #2]" 5. Ask client to ask Part to imagine achieving that [want #2]. Repeat step 4 & 5 till Core State is arrived at.

6. Ask client to tell Part to enjoy and experience Core State for a few moments.

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Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997 Example: Assume that Part had 10 states leading to Core State [want#1 ...want 10]

7. Ask client to say to Part: "Now that you have achieved this state of [Core State], is it still necessary for you to achieve [want #10 - the last state before Core State] ?"

8. Then bring in the previous state [want #9], then [want #8], ... [want#1], restating each want as the next one is brought in:

(a) "Now that you have already achieved this state of [Core State], fully and completely... ...is it still necessary for you to strive for [want #10] ?" [client usually says "no, it's not necessary".] (b)

"and now that you have already achieved this state of [Core State], fully and completely... AND IT IS NO LONGER NECESSARY FOR YOU TO STRIVE FOR [WANT#10] ... ... is it still necessary for you to strive for [want#9] ?"

(c)

"and now that you have already achieved this state of [Core State], fully and completely... AND IT IS NO LONGER NECESSARY FOR YOU TO STRIVE FOR [WANT#10] AND IT IS NO LONGER NECESSARY FOR YOU TO STRIVE FOR [WANT#9] ... is it still necessary for you to strive for [want#8] ?"

(d) Repeat for each Want, until reaching Want#1, and the 'problem'. This can be quite protracted, especially when there were a lot of steps in the 'want' list. However, this continual isolating, restating, and compounding is quite powerful, and reinforces the letting go.

9. Ask the Part to go back in time to where it first started. Alternatively, ask it how old it is. [This is also the point in time where the Part began - what happened ?]. Ask it if it wants to

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Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997 come forward in time to the present, with the Core State present and intact all the time. Let it do that.

It is at this point that Objecting Parts can emerge. This becomes apparent when the Part will not or can not come into Present Time. Identify the Objecting Part(s), one by one, and do the entire procedure with them, one by one, then come back to this point afterwards, and let the original Part come forward in time. Regardless of how many parts there are, each one is taken through the entire process and integrated. Once all objecting parts are integrated, then you return to the part that was blocked by the objecting part, and complete the integration process.

10. Allow the client to experience the Part in present time, outside of their body. Then ask them to pull it into their body, and experience the Part, with Core state flowing through every part of their body. This is the re-integration of the Part into the Whole again. (Exception: When dealing with diseases, the Disease Part may want to leave - Let it go get client to say farewell and thank it for it's lesson].

11. Anchor the Core State [eg: use finger-drop technique.] Allow them to experience the Core State for a minute or so throughout their entire body. It is not unusual for them to be emotive at this point.

12. Emerge & do conscious integration.

Do a regression on the origin of the Part -

decision made - use time-line event identified by the part when asked how old it was.

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Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997

SECTION 5 POST-TRAINING KNOWLEDGE EVALUATION

All the following assignments are to be completed at home, and then submitted for evaluation. Refer to page 2 for details.

1. You are busy with your induction, and your neighbour starts mowing the lawn. Do you: (True/ False): [2 1/2 marks] A__ Run outside quickly and try to get your neighbour to stop making the noise. B__ Tell the subject to ignore the sound and block it out C__ Acknowledge and identify the sound for the subject D__ Incorporate the sound into the relaxation procedure E__ Use the Sound Patter several times during the relaxation 2. Create your OWN complete induction. Write it out in full. It needs to address the following: [20 marks] (a) Physical & Mental relaxation [2 x 7 marks] (b) Safe Space / Protection [3 marks] (c) Emergence from induction [3 marks] This induction will be negatively scored (marks subtracted) for: Absence of encouragement, eg: “Great - you are doing fine” Absence of Pacing, eg: “Can you do that ?” & “Am I going too fast ?” Absence of compounding (repetition for reinforcement of suggestions) Not asking subject to describe safe space or opportunity to elaborate Absence of Sound & Violence Patters - at least twice is necessary 3. When a client starts getting distressed (abreacting) during the regression, do you: [True or False] [2 marks] A__ Activate the Violence Patter instructions immediately B__ Ask if they can move to a safe distance and just watch C__ Ask if they want to return to their safe space D__ Emerge them immediately before it gets worse

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Empowerment Concepts Regression Hypnotherapy Certification Training 1997 4. In a Genetic memory regression, how do you know if you have arrived at the First Event in the memory-chain? [True or False] [1 1/2 marks] A__ I will ask the subject if this is the first event B__ If the pain/sensation goes away, it must have been the first event C__ Intuition 5. What do you do when you get to what the person says is the First Event in a Genetic Memory, but the pain does not begin to fade or go away ? [3 marks] 6. Regardless of whether the pain fades in a Genetic Memory, what must be made conscious before the present-life pain can be effectively ‘switched off’ ? Briefly explain why this is so. [3 marks] 7. The following are typical issues that clients present. In order to do a regression, write down how you would locate the basic issue. Use the “Elaborate - When Last ? - Feelings in the Body - Thoughts?” model. Do each one. [6 x 3 marks] (a). I want to know if I have known my husband (or wife) in a past life. (b). I’m not sure what I want to do with my life. What is my purpose ? (c). I can’t sleep at night. (d). I had an accident years ago, and the bones won’t heal. (e). I find myself crying for no apparent reason. (f). I’m terrified of driving at night.

[TOTAL = 50 MARKS]

And .... 8. Do a full regression (present-life or past-life). Write down the entire session. Submit a copy of this session. Do not bother writing down the induction or emerging. 9. Do a full Genetic Memory Regression on an actual pain. Submit a written description of this session.

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Empowerment Concepts 1997 1

Reiki Usui First Degree Neil M. Orr & David R. Patient (Independent Reiki Masters)

Empowerment Concepts 1997

INTRODUCTION I believe there exists One Supreme Being - the Absolute infinite a Dynamic Force that governs the world and universe. It is an unseen spiritual force that vibrates and all other powers fade into insignificance beside it. So, therefore, it is Absolute ! I shall call it "Reiki".... Being a universal force from the Great Divine Spirit, it belongs to all who seek and desire to learn the art of healing. - Hawayo Takata Reiki is an ancient method of healing, using various ancient symbols to build a bridge between the Universal Life Force and the person who asks for healing. The role of the reiki practitioner is to build that bridge. The word "Reiki" is a Japanese phrase, which can be broken into two segments: "Rei", meaning universal or God, and "ki", which means force or energy. Therefore, the word "Reiki" can be translated to mean "Universal Life Force" or "God Energy", or any other combination. Reiki does not have a religious system of beliefs. Indeed, you do not have to believe in anything in order to use Reiki for healing yourself or others. However, when healing, it is necessary to ask permission from the person before you can direct Reiki energy towards them. Traditionally, Reiki is used as a form of hands-on healing, although this is just one application. Reiki can also be used in situations requiring emotional healing, learning new things, and many other nonhands-on areas. Can Reiki be used for negative purposes ? No, not at all. It is a fail-proof method, as it does not use the energy of the healer - it simply channels universal energy through to the person who seeks healing. Reiki (Universal Life Force) is by it's very definition a positive, healing and loving energy, and can therefore not be changed or misused. This also means that you can not make a 'mistake' or do it wrong ! Reiki (Universal/God Life Force or Energy) has an intelligence of it's own, independent of the practitioner. If you, for example, think that the problem is in one place, and it is actually somewhere else, Reiki will guide itself to the true cause of the problem. All you do is intend to heal - Reiki will take care of itself, and do it's work where it is needed. Until recent years, Reiki has never been written about to the general public, and has been kept secret except for those who have been taught how to use it. The rule used to be "sacred and secret". However, there are now books on the subject, with all the 'secrets' made open. No longer is it 'secret'. However, it is still sacred, as it is a profound and powerful method of healing.

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The key to being a Reiki practitioner, is your Intention. Intention means that you are clear in your desire to facilitate healing, and to direct Reiki energy for such healing. When you do Reiki, and you worry whether you have done it correctly, you are in fact stopping the process by holding on to the energy. Just intend to heal, do what you have been shown how to do, and then let it go. Reiki, as mentioned before, will do what it does by itself. All it requires is for someone - you - to activate it and give it a direction, determined by your intention. It is said that Reiki is everyone's birth-right, and that everyone has Reiki inside them. This is true. You can not 'give' Reiki to someone - their intention and desire for healing determines whether Reiki will flow through you towards them. A Reiki practitioner is nothing more than an informed channel of Universal Energy, much the same as water pipe is the channel of water. You can channel that Reiki through you, however you can not determine whether the other person will open the tap at the end of the pipe, to receive the water ! *** There is much speculation and legend surrounding Reiki. This is to be expected, considering how it has been secret for thousands of years, and has been passed down by word-of-mouth. It is said that Jesus and the Buddha used Reiki methods to heal, and that there was once over 200 symbols used in Reiki. Today there are only 6 symbols. How much of the legends and so-called history is truth, and how much is just legend, we do not know. In the final consideration, it does not matter - what matters is that it works. However, Reiki has been passed down from one person to another for so long, that a tradition has formed over the centuries. The reason why it can not be taught in a book, is that the activation of Reiki within a person occurs only through a process called an 'attunement', which can only be done by someone who already has Reiki activated within themselves. The theory and techniques can be learned, but the use of the symbols and techniques all depend upon the attunement process. This is why the secrecy surrounding Reiki has fallen away, as the symbols and methods are useless without the actual attunement process, in much the same way as a motor car can not run without a battery, no matter how much you understand how cars are built, or how well you know how to drive! Similarly, the attunement process is like jumpstarting someone's battery, and once it is activated, it never loses it's charge, regardless of whether it is ever used by that person. The techniques of Reiki were rediscovered in the 1800's by a man called Dr Mikao Usui, which is why the Reiki methods taught today are called Reiki Usui.

THE REIKI STORY The Traditional Reiki story begins in the 1800s, but Reiki was ancient even then. The Traditional Reiki story begins in the mid 1800’s with Dr. Mikao Usui, who was principal of the Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan. Some of his students asked to be shown the method by which Jesus did healing. As it mentions in the bible, Christ states, “You can do as I have done, and even greater things.” The students wanted to know why there weren’t many healers in the world today performing the same act. Usui was unable to answer the question, and bound by his honour as Dean, Usui resigned. Usui then began a tenyear quest to find and learn the skill. After studying Christian texts in the West, and not finding any answers or information on the methods Jesus used to heal, he returned to Japan and resided in a Zen monastery. It was here where he found the texts describing the healing formula, which he could now read in their original Sanskrit. The material did not include information on how to activate the energy and make it work. As has been stated, such obscuring of information in the Sutras (ancient eastern scripts) was intentional, done to keep the often powerful material from hands not ready to know and use it

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properly. Having found the theoretical aspects of the method, Usui needed to find a way of activating the process within himself, as there was no-one to do an attunement on him. So he went on a three-week period of meditation, fasting and prayer on Mt. Koriyama in Japan, hoping he would discover the way through prayer and meditation. He chose a meditation site and piled twenty-one small stones in front of him to mark the time, throwing away one stone at the end of each day. On the final morning of his quest, in the darkest hour just before dawn, Usui saw a projectile of light coming toward him. His first response was to run from it, as he was afraid it could kill him. As he looked at the light, he realised that the light had consciousness and that it was communicating with him. He realised the light had the healing power he was looking for and if he was to receive what the light had to offer, he must allow the light to strike him. He had sought long and hard for all those years - he just could not give up. He decided to accept what was coming, even if it meant death. The light struck his third eye (centre of the brow) and he lost consciousness for a time. Rising out of his body, he was shown “millions and millions of rainbow bubbles”, and then he saw the Reiki symbols as if on a screen. As he saw each symbol, he was given information about each of them to activate the healing energy. It was the first Reiki attunement, and the psychic rediscovery of an ancient method. Mikao Usui left Mt.Koriyama knowing how to heal as Buddha and Jesus had healed. Walking down the mountain he experienced what is traditionally known as the four miracles: First, he stubbed his toe walking, and instinctively put his hands on it. His hands became hot and the torn toe was healed. Secondly, he reached a house that served pilgrims at the bottom of the mountain. He asked for a full meal, not a wise thing to do after twenty-one days fasting on water ! However, he ate the meal without discomfort. Thirdly, the woman serving the meal was afflicted with toothache, and her jaw had been swollen for days. Placing his hands on the sides of her face, the fourth miracle occurred, as the pain and swelling began to disappear. On his return to the Zen monastery, he was told that the abbot (chief of the monastery) was in bed with arthritis. As Usui shared his experiences with the monk and laid his hands on the arthritic areas, the pain disappeared. Usui decided to go and work in the Beggars Quarter of Kyoto. He hoped to heal the beggars so that they could receive new names at the temple [symbolizing their 'new life' and 'new beginning'], and thus be reintegrated into society. After healing each of these people, he asked that the person start a new life, but he found the same faces returning. Seeing people that he thought healed still begging instead of making an honest living, he became discouraged. The people themselves were angry because with their disease healed, they could no longer make their way as beggars and would now have to work. Usui realised that healing of the Spirit was every bit as important as the healing of the body. He also realised that he had failed to teach them gratitude. He saw by that having given Reiki away he had further impressed the beggar pattern of asking and receiving something but giving nothing in return, not even work, ie: “keeping them stuck”. He also realised the importance of an exchange of energy. People needed to give back for what they had received.

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At this time, Dr. Usui created the five principles of Reiki. 1. Just for today do not worry 2. Just for today do not anger 3. Honour your parents, teachers and elders 4. Earn your living honestly 5. Show gratitude towards every living thing It was also at this time that the purposes of the symbols he had envisaged became clear to him. He would use them to attune people so that they could take responsibility for their own well-being. By helping them amplify their energy, they could take a bigger step toward their own mastership. Mikao Usui went on a pilgrimage, taking Reiki on foot through Japan, carrying a torch and lecturing. Usui began to train teachers, young men who would join him on his travels. In this way, he met Chujiro Hayashi, a retired naval officer. Hayashi received his Reiki Master’s training from Usui in 1925. Dr Usui asked Dr Hayashi to accept responsibility of preserving Reiki so that it would not be lost as it had been in the past. Hayashi became Usui’s successor. Mikao Usui died in 1930, having attuned between sixteen and eighteen Masters. Chujiro Hayashi trained teams of Reiki practitioners, both men and woman, including sixteen Masters in his lifetime. He opened a healing clinic in Tokyo, where healers worked in groups on people who lived at the clinic during their time of healing. Reiki healers also went to homes of people who were unable to come to the clinic. Hawayo Takato was born at dawn on December 24th 1900, on the island of Kauai, Hawaii. Her parents were Japanese immigrants and her father worked in the sugar cane fields. She worked very hard as she was growing up. She eventually married the bookkeeper of the plantation where she was employed. His name was Saichi Takata and they had two daughters. In October of 1930, Saichi died at the age of thirtyfour leaving Mrs. Takata to raise their two children. In order to provide for her family, she had to work very hard with little rest. After five years she developed severe abdominal pain, a lung condition and had a nervous breakdown. Soon after this, one of her sisters died and it was the responsibility of Hawayo to travel to Japan where her parents had moved to deliver the news. She also felt she could receive help for her health in Japan. She took a steamship and was accompanied by her sister-in-law. After informing her parents of the death of her sister, she entered a hospital. It was found that she had a tumour, gallstones and appendicitis. After resting several weeks, she was ready for the needed operation. On the operating table, just before the surgery was to begin, Hawayo heard a voice. The voice said, “The operation is not necessary. The operation is not necessary.” She had never heard a voice speak to her like this before. She wondered what it meant. The voice repeated the message a third time even louder. She knew she was wide awake and had not imagined the voice. It was so unusual, yet so compelling that she decided to ask the doctor. She got off the operating table and asked to speak to the doctor. When the doctor finally came, she asked if he knew of any other way that her problems could be helped. The doctor told her about Dr. Hayashi’s Reiki clinic. This was something she wanted to try. At the Reiki clinic, she began receiving treatments. She had never heard of Reiki before and did not know what it was. Using their Reiki through their hands, the practitioners could sense what was wrong with Mrs. Takata. Their diagnosis was similar to the doctor’s at the hospital. This impressed her and gave her confidence in what they were doing. Two Reiki practitioners would treat her each day. The heat from their hands was so strong that she thought they were using some kind of equipment. She looked around, but saw none. Seeing the large

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sleeves of the Japanese kimono, one of the practitioners was wearing, she thought she had found the location of the equipment. She grabbed the sleeves, but found nothing. The startled practitioner wanted to know what she was doing and when she explained, he began to laugh. Then he told her about Reiki and how it worked. Mrs. Takata received daily treatments and got progressively better. In four months, she was completely healed in mind, body and spirit. She asked to be trained in Reiki but was refused at first, not because she was a woman, but because she was a foreigner. Hayashi did not want the practice of Reiki healing to leave Japan at the time. Her persistence finally paid off and Hawayo Takata received her Reiki first and second degree and returned to live in Hawaii. In the winter of 1938, Chujiro Hayashi visited Takata in Hawaii. She received her Reiki III training, and on February 22, 1938, Hayashi announced Hawayo Takata as a Master/Teacher and as his successor. He also told her to come to him immediately when if he sent a message to summoned her. In 1941, Takata awoke one morning to psychically see Hayashi standing at the foot of her bed. She knew this was the summons and took the next available boat to Tokyo. Dr. Hayashi was a powerful mystic. He sensed that a war was coming and that all involved with Reiki in Japan would perish and that the clinic would be closed. As a naval officer, and not wanting to be drafted to participate in the violence of the coming war, Hayashi decided to die. On May 10 1941, Chujiro Hayashi stopped his own heart by psychic means, and consciously left his body. The great war he predicted was World War II, and Reiki was indeed no longer available in Japan, and the clinic was taken over, and was no longer allowed to operate as a healing center. Takata was the means by which Reiki continued. She brought it first to Hawaii and then to the United States and finally to Canada and to Europe. She lived to be eighty years of age, but she always looked decades younger. She trained hundreds of people in the Reiki healing system. She initiated twenty-two Reiki Masters. Hawaya Takata died on December 11, 1980. Since Hawayo Takata’s death, Reiki has gone through many changes. Phyllis Furumoto, Takata’s successor and granddaughter, has been named the Grand Master of Usui Traditional Healing There are currently two groups of Reiki Masters: The Reiki Alliance, who continue to charge $10000 for the Master level, and the Independent Reiki Masters, who feel that the time has come to make Reiki available to all, at minimum costs. Both groups teach Reiki in the same way, using the same methods. The difference is only in prices charged. Neil Orr and David Patient were initiated as Reiki Masters in December 1995 by Bev Moss. The following is their Reiki lineage (history): 1. Dr Mikao Usui 2. Dr Chujiro Hayashi 3. Hawayo Takata 4. Phyllis Furumoto 5. Pat Jack...Carol Farmer 6. Cheri Prasuhn...Leah Smith 7. William Rand 8. John Williams 9. Maggie Lemin 10. Nina Morris 11. Bev Moss 12. Neil Orr...David Patient

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HOW DOES REIKI WORK ? What does Reiki do ? Well, it does all of the following: - Balances energy - Increases awareness - Heals - Amplifies energy - Works at the causes of diseases - Releases stress - Helps release emotions - Increases creativity ... and much more ! In Reiki, the healing flows through the hands and solar plexus, and enters through the top of the head. Some people receiving Reiki experience relaxation, some feel tingles, heat, while others sees colours and images. Each person experiences it differently. When you do hands-on Reiki, you do so by placing your hands gently on the other person's body, as described in the section concerning hand positions. Your fingers are held closed - fingers together (like wearing a glove with no separation between the fingers - with the hand flat and open. The receiver may feel heat or cold coming from your hands. Some people fall asleep during the treatment, and this does not affect the effectiveness of the treatment. Sometimes, past experiences and memories may surface for them, and there may be tears or laughter, which are both signs of release. Although the hand positions are usually done with your hands touching their body, this is not necessary, as it works just as well when the hands are not touching their body. It is important to note that Reiki will affect the client in many different ways, sometimes physically, other times emotionally, mentally or spiritually. Sometimes it does all these things, as Reiki addresses the person's needs in a wholistic manner. The effects of Reiki are often different to what is expected. Reiki has a logic of it's own, and will always go to where it is needed. Therefore, there is no need to make a diagnosis of what the problem is, nor can you make a mistake. Sometimes a person comes for a treatment for one thing, and then report that something else has changed. For example, a person coming for treatment for arthritis may find that the arthritis is not affected, but that their attitude towards certain people begins to change. Reiki always goes to the true cause. * Reiki supports the body's natural ability to heal itself. * Reiki vitalizes both body & spirit. * Reiki established mental and spiritual balance. * Reiki operates on physical, emotional, mental and spiritual levels. * Reiki balances the body's energies. * Reiki loosens up blocked energies, and promotes relaxation. * Reiki cleanses the body of toxins. * Reiki adjusts itself to the needs of the client. * Reiki works on plants and animals. * Reiki can not do any damage, as it flows according to the client's needs. What effects does Reiki have on the person doing the treatment ? The Reiki practitioner is only a channel for Reiki - they are not the source. Instead, the Reiki practitioner simply places themself as a bridge or channel between the Universal Life Force and the client. No special effort is required. In fact, when you use Reiki on someone, you yourself are being charged with Reiki energy as well.

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Sometimes it feels like something is flowing through your hands, either like a warm liquid, or like electricity. Sometimes your hands are hot, other times they feel cold. Afterwards, you feel calm, relaxed, and energised. Reiki treatment can result in a detoxification process at the physical level, with increased or more frequent bladder and bowel movements, fever, mucous secretion, or even an intensification of symptoms. This is referred to as the "Healing Crisis", which is caused by releasing of whatever blockage caused the problem. For this reason, the client may have a few days of feeling 'worse', as the blockages are released and come to the surface.

LEVELS OF REIKI Traditionally, Reiki is taught in four levels: 1. Reiki I: - History of Reiki - How Reiki works - Centering meditation or prayer - The Reiki I attunement - Hand positions for self-healing - Hand positions for healing others - Energy-centre (chakra) balancing 2. Reiki II: - Reiki II attunement - The first three symbols are taught - Distant Healing methods 3. Reiki Advanced: - Advanced Reiki attunement - The Usui Master Symbol 4. Reiki Master: - How to do attunements & teach Reiki - Two master symbols used for attunements

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CENTERING PRAYER OR MEDITATION A simple way of centering yourself before doing a Reiki treatment, is to focus upon your breathing, with eyes closed. Focus upon each inhale and exhale, seeking to breathe all the way from the bottom of your stomach, imagining that you are breathing in a circular fashion, with inhale and exhale connected.

REIKI I ATTUNEMENT The attunement is an ancient Tibetan process in which channels are opened for Reiki to flow through the student. In Reiki I, the physical channel is opened, in Reiki II it is the emotional channel, and in Advanced Reiki the mental channel is opened. Attunements cleanse the body and heighten psychic awareness. The attunement can only be conducted by as Reiki Master, who opens the crown (top of head), third eye (brow), and palm chakras (energy centres). As Reiki symbols have their own consciousness, it is possible to meditate upon them and receive guidance on how to use them.

REIKI SELF-HEALING HAND POSITIONS When doing self-healing, hold the fingers of the hands together, as if your hands were in a mitten/glove - all fingers except thumbs touching.

Head Positions: 1. Hands (finger tips pointing upwards) over cheekbones-eyes-brow. 2. Hands over ears with fingertips touching at the top of the head. 3. Hands over bumps at the back of the head, with palms on top, and fingertips pointing downwards. 4. One hand on forehead, other hand on back of neck.

Upper Body Positions: 1. Right hand on front of neck, other hand on heart area, with fingertips of left hand reaching centre of breast-bone. 2. Hands under breasts, with hands pointing inwards, and fingertips touching at solar plexus area (approx. 1 inch below bottom of breast bone).

Lower Body Positions: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Hands over navel, with fingertips meeting at navel. Hands towards groin/pelvic area, with fingertips pointing downwards. Thumbs on hips, hands around back, with fingers meeting at spine. Hands behind, on lower back, fingertips meeting at end of spine (coccyx).

Leg Positions: 1. Hands on knees. 2. Hands on soles of feet.

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REIKI TREATMENT (OF OTHERS) HAND POSITIONS Suggest that they take their watches off, and loosen belts. Explain what you are about to do, and where you will be placing your hands. Have the correct intention while healing. Ask Reiki guides, Angels, to help you heal your client. Hold each position for 3 minutes, or longer if the area needs it.

FRONT OF BODY As they are lying down, stand at their head, facing their feet: 1. Place the heels of your hands at their forehead, with your fingers over their eyes (not touching their eyes), and finger tips reaching over their cheekbones. 2. Place heel of your hands on the top of their head, with your fingers touching their ears. OR Cover their ears with the palms of your hands, with fingers pointing towards the front of their neck. 3. Turn their head gently, so that you can place one hand under the bump at the base of the back of their head, and then do the same for the other hand. Both hands need to cover the bumps at the bottom of the back of their head. 4. Slide one hand downwards so that it goes over the back of their head (sideways), and remove the other hand and place it over their forehead (sideways). Keep this position for longer than three minutes if emotional problems are detected. 5. Place one hand sideways across the front of their neck, with the other hand over their heart, with fingertips on the breast bone. OR, place one hand on the front of the neck, and the hand on the heart (breast bone area). OR, place the heels of your hands on their shoulder / collar-bone area, with your fingers pointing downwards and towards the heart area.

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Move from above their head to stand next to their chest, on their side: 6. Place both hands over the solar plexus area, so that the fingertips of one hand and the heel of the other hand overlap at the breast bone. Ie.,your hands both point in the same direction, one behind the other. 7. Still standing at their side, place both hands over their navel area, one hand behind the other, with fingertips of one hand meeting the heel of other hand at the navel. 8. Place hands over the hip area, in the same way as step 7, with fingertip of one hand and heel of other hand meeting in the middle. Now move down to their legs, to stand at their feet: 9. One hand on each knee, with fingertips pointing towards their head. 10. One hand over each top of their feet, with your fingers pointing towards their head.

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BACK OF THE BODY: 1. (Standing at their head): Heel of hands on top of shoulders, with fingers pointing towards their feet. 2. (Move to side of their body): Hands across shoulder blades, fingertips of one hand touching heel of other hand, meeting in the centre of the spine corresponding to the Thymus Gland (one inch below top of breast bone). 3. Hands across back, below shoulder blades, overlapping fingertip of one hand and heel of other hand, above the heart area. 4. Hands across the small of the back, overlapping as above. 5. Hands across base of back (coccyx), overlapping as above. OR, one hand across the base of their back, and the other hand on the shoulder-blade area. 6. Hands on the soles of their feet. 7. Sweep their aura in a clockwise direction to finish off the treatment.

CHAKRA BALANCING OTHER PEOPLE 1. Client lies on their back. One hand at the base of their spine. Other hand just under their head. Hold till it feels balanced. 2. One hand on their forehead, other hand on hip/pelvic area. 3. One hand on throat, other hand on solar plexus. 4. Place both hands on the top of each other, over the heart area.

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Reiki Usui Second Degree Neil M. Orr & David R. Patient (Independent Reiki Masters)

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REIKI SYMBOLS Reiki symbols are sacred. The three Reiki II symbols are only revealed to those who have done the Second Degree Attunement. In Advanced Reiki, there is one more symbol, and Master Reiki has a further two symbols, used only for the attunement process. Reiki symbols have been handed down over centuries, and have, until recently, never been written or published. Traditionally, during Reiki II, the Reiki Master shows the student the symbols, the student then practices them on paper and with their hands, and then those pieces of paper are burned. Traditionally, the names and shapes of the symbols are not allowed to be shown or said out loud to anyone who has not done Reiki II. However, in 1995, the first book containing all the shapes and names of the Reiki symbols was published : Essential Reiki: A complete guide to an ancient healing art, by Diane Stein. This book represents the first break-away from the tradition of 'sacred and secret'. Now, the symbols are still considered 'sacred', but no longer secret. The truth is that, in and of themselves, the symbols do not do much unless the person using them has received the attunement. What are the symbols ? The symbols, although drawn two-dimensionally, are actually four-dimensional 'bridges' connecting the Universal Energy Source and the world we live in. Although this connection exists already, the symbols represent tools to consciously direct and focus specific frequencies or forms of that Universal Energy, for a specific purpose. The symbols have an intelligence and consciousness of their own, and will always ignore the superficial or apparent reality, and go directly to the source of the problem or issue. Why bother with the symbols ? Why bother to do anything regarding healing ? Why not just 'let things go their own natural course' ? Although pain may be considered to be a 'natural' phenomena, this may only be true of the tangible limited physical world we live in. "I" - the essential and true Self, is not part of that world, although it enters and interacts with that physical world. Furthermore, Self has Choice and Free Will, which makes it possible for Self to consciously utilize and direct energy for the purpose of alleviating pain. Reiki is the conscious and choice-motivated utilization of Universal Energy to alleviate pain and uplift consciousness. The symbols are the bridge or tools for that process.

THE POWER SYMBOL The first Reiki symbol. Named "Cho-Ku-Rei", meaning "Put God here", or "God is Here", or "Put the Power Here". The purpose of Cho-Ku-Rei is to open, close, and amplify energy. Some people refer to it as 'the light switch', because it is used as the first symbol at the beginning of any treatment, and also the last symbol, to end or seal processes off. Cho-Ku-Rei amplifies energy in a powerful way, up to 100 times. For example, if you do Cho-Ku-Rei first, then any symbol that follows is amplified in it's effects up to 100 times. Traditionally drawn counter-clockwise, although Reiki practitioners in the Northern Hemisphere claim it works better drawn clockwise there. Cho-Ku-Rei draws energy into one focused location.

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THE EMOTIONAL SYMBOL Named "Sei-He-Ki". Traditionally used for emotional and mental healing, balancing of the left and right sides of the brain, bringing harmony and peace, and balancing of the upper chakras (upper energy centres - heart, throat, brow and crown). Means "God and Man becoming one", or "As above, so below", or "Key to the Universe". Essentially, Sei-He-Ki brings divinity into human energy patterns. Particularly useful in working with someone who is emotionally distressed, feeling nervous, frightened, depressed, angry, sad, addictions (eg., smoking), weight loss, and any other emotional distress. Sei-HeKi has been referred to as the emotional-mental symbol, but it's true purpose is more in terms of emotions, and the next symbol (HonShaZeShoNen) is more aptly the mental symbol. This symbol is important in physical healing, as all physical dis-eases have some or other emotional component. For example, suppressed anger can lead to suppressed immune functioning, and thus disease. Often, Sei-He-Ki, when used with someone with a physical disease, can activate and release some forgotten trauma or pain, thus allowing the dis-ease to begin healing. Sei-He-Ki also is very useful when working with animals who are distressed and in pain. Sei-He-Ki is also used for other purposes, specifically protection and guarding against negative energies. These uses are discussed later.

MENTAL & DISTANCE HEALING SYMBOL Name: "Hon-Sha-Ze-Sho-Nen". Means "No past, No present, No future", or "The Buddha in me reaches out to the Buddha in you to promote enlightenment and peace". This symbol transmits Reiki energy across time, space, and distance, which is why it is used to send distance healing to someone, no matter where they are, and also in healing the past or future. However, this symbol is also used in direct healing, and some consider it the most powerful of the Reiki II symbols. This symbol can be used to enter and heal past events, karmic debts, and thus change the future. This symbols works at the level of conscious decisions made in events, whereas Sei-He-Ki works at the level of the subconscious emotions of those events. Therefore, when working with trauma, start first with SeiHe-Ki to unlock the emotional aspects, then use Hon-Sha-Ze-Sho-Nen to unlock and release limiting decisions made during that event. This usually occurs in a series of sessions.

DISTANCE HEALING (BEAMING) There are many methods for sending Reiki healing to someone who is not physically present. For example, you could imagine a rose bud, give the rose bud the person's name, send Reiki to it, see it bloom and open up, then see it dissolve. REGARDLESS OF HOW YOU DO DISTANCE HEALING, USE THE HON-SHA-ZE-SHO-NEN, which is the 'carrier' of Reiki over time and space. Add the other symbols after it, then close the 'package' with it again. What if you do not know if the person wants healing or not ? The ethic of getting permission is essential to Reiki. However, there are times when you do not know if they want it or not, or there is no way of asking them. One way to overcome this obstacle, is to send the Reiki with the clear intention that it will be accepted by free will only. In other words, if they want it, they are welcome to it. If not, they are free to reject it. However, also ensure that you state that, if they reject it, that the energy will go somewhere else, such as the Earth, or someone else who wants it. Some people take a photo of the person, or something that reminds them of the person, even if it is their name written on a piece of paper, and place

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it under a candle. Then they close their eyes, centre themselves, state their intention to send healing to that person, see the person, draw the symbols, and let the energy go. They then blow out the candle as an indication of letting the energy go. Another method of distance healing is to imagine that you are doing a full Reiki treatment on the person, then send it to them with the Distance Symbol. When doing distance healing, be open to what you see in your mind. Remember that the Reiki will go where it is most needed. When a distance healing is done, return to the present moment, and forget about it. To wonder whether it worked or not blocks and holds on to the energy. Let it go. With non-critical conditions, sending Reiki once or twice is sufficient. However, as with hands-on treatment, critical conditions may require several or regular treatments. One way to do that is to use Hon-Sha-Ze-Sho-Nen, and state that you want the healing repeated every 5 minutes, until the person no longer needs it, or until the healing is completed. It is important to place the limit on the healing, otherwise it will repeat itself endlessly. How exactly do you do Reiki in these distance-healings ? One you have visualized the person or whatever represents the person, state your intention regarding healing, permission, and then draw the symbols, starting with Hon-Sha-Ze-Sho-Nen, see the symbols reach that person in your mind, seal the process with Cho-Ku-Rei, then let it just go. If you want, you can also imagine you are doing a full Reiki treatment on them, using your hands. When doing a standard Reiki Treatment, draw the Distant Healing symbol, and stand at their head, and hold your hands palm facing them, and just send (beam) Reiki to them. This will go to where it is most needed.

PROTECTION & CLEARING NEGATIVE ENERGIES Sei-He-Ki is a powerful protective symbols, as well as clearing negative energies. Draw it in the four corners of a room, house, or your car to protect it. To clear negative energies, draw Sei-He-Ki, state your intention that you do this to clear negative or heavy energy out of the room/house, then send the symbol to all four corners of the room/house. Then draw Cho-Ku-Rei and send it to the four corners to lift the energy and revitalize the room/house.

OTHER USES FOR THE SYMBOLS Food: Draw Cho-Ku-Rei over your food to increase it's nutritional value, and also as a blessing for the meal. If you aren't sure whether something is fresh, draw Sei-He-Ki over the food for purification and cleansing. Crystals: You can clean crystals of negative energies using Cho-Ku-Rei and Sei-He-Ki. First draw SeiHe-Ki over the crystal, see it sink in and release negative energies. Repeat until the crystal feels clean of negative energies. Then send Cho-Ku-Rei to the crystal in the same way, until the crystal feels sparkling and radiating. When using the Cho-Ku-Rei, you can also programme the crystal for a specific purpose. Medicines: Use Sei-He-Ki over the medicine to clear away negative side-effects of the medicine, then use Cho-Ku-Rei to boost the positive aspects of the medicine. Goals: When using Reiki for goals, you need to be very aware of the ETHICS of achieving your goal, so that no-one is harmed. One way to do this is to always preface your goal-setting with the following

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statement: "I ask for these things, or their equivalents or better, according to free will, harming none, and for the higher good of all concerned". Be very specific about what you ask for. Think carefully about it. Write your list of goals on a piece of paper, then place yourself in a meditative quiet state, and use your hands to put Reiki in it, then draw Cho-Ku-Rei on it, and the other two symbols if your want. When you are done, place the list under a lit candle. You can continue to send Reiki to the list until it manifests. Surgery, Trauma & Accidents: When yourself, or someone else, has experienced physical or emotional trauma, or has had surgery, use the Sei-He-Ki to seal the tears in the aura, and to seal it off from negativity.

SCANNING The Reiki attunement process has opened up the energy centres in your body, including your hands. You can now begin to use this increased sensitivity to energy, by scanning the aura (energy field around a person's body) with your hands. Begin at the top of their head, and with your hands flat and open (palm towards their body - not touching their body), and slowly scan their energy down to their feet. You may feel heat, cold, tingles, bumps, dents - any irregularity, indicating that something is not balanced in the corresponding part of their body. Sometimes, the 'causal thought' linked to that imbalance pops into your head. When you encounter these irregularities in their aura, beam Reiki to that part of their body and aura, and see it heal.

REMOVING ENERGY BLOCKS When you are doing scanning, and you detect a blockage somewhere in their body, you can remove them in the following manner: Draw Sei-He-Ki at the blockage, then, with your one hand, scoop the energy into a little ball, and lift it away from their body. With your other hand, make a slicing motion near the skin, as if your were cutting the connection between the ball in your one hand, and their body. Then, using both hands, hold the blockage energy, and surround it with white light. Use Sei-He-Ki to dissolve the blockage, and then let it go - see it leave. Draw Cho-Ku-Rei over the area where the blockage was, to revitalize the area's energy flow.

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REIKI TREATMENT 1. Talk with the client to establish trust and rapport. Explain the Reiki process and the hand positions, and answer any questions they may have about the process. 2. Make sure that both you and your client are comfortable. It is easier, but not necessary, to have the client lie down on their back, with a small pillow under their knees, and beneath their head. Hands and legs uncrossed. Remember not not cross your legs or ankles ! This will block the energy, and it will get stuck in your body ! The same applies to your hands and arms. 3. Before starting the treatment, ask them to close their eyes, and focus upon the feeling of gratitude for healing, and to be open to the healing. If they want, they can invite their guardian angel(s) to be present. 4. Centre yourself (eg., breathing slowly from stomach to chest, connecting inhale and exhale into a single cycle of breath.) 5. Draw the Power Symbol (Cho-Ku-Rei) over the palm of one hand. Tap your palm three times as you repeat the name Cho-Ku-Rei. Repeat with the other palm. State your intention silently, that you are opening your palm energy centres to channel healing to your client. 6. Draw Cho-Ku-Rei in front of all your energy centres (chakras), stating your intention to open, clear and balance your energy centres. 7. Draw the Power Symbol (Cho-Ku-Rei) in the air, and say the name silently three times. Do the same with the Sei-He-Ki and Hon-Sha-Ze-Sho-Nen symbols. Intend that their energies will fill the room, clear all negative energies, and fill the room with light. 8. Scan the body with your hands, slowly, to detect any blockages. 9. Begin the standard treatment, using the Reiki I hand positions. As you do this, you can visualize the three Reiki II symbols over areas that need attention. 10. Standing about 6 feet away from them, beam Reiki towards them with your palms facing them. This distance is necessary in order for you to be outside their aura. 11. Seal the process by closing their aura. This is done by visualizing a door or gate in their aura, draw the Power Symbol (Cho-Ku-Rei) over it, and see it close and lock closed. The door is located at their solar plexus. As you do this, place your hands on their solar plexus briefly. 12. WASH YOUR HANDS IN RUNNING WATER ! This cleanses any energy that is clinging to you. This is important. 13. Once the client has left, clean the room with Cho-Ku-Rei and Sei-He-Ki, and quietly relax, and do some self-healing on yourself. * After a treatment, Reiki energy is high and flowing. Use this time to do goal setting and distant healing. REMEMBER: WITH THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE SYMBOLS, COMES RESPONSIBILITY. RESPECT FREE WILL AND CHOICE. BE CLEAR IN YOUR INTENTIONS WHEN USING THE SYMBOLS. Go in Peace.

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Reiki Usui Advanced Degree (Reiki III) Neil M. Orr & David R. Patient (Independent Reiki Masters)

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INTRODUCTION TO ADVANCED REIKI Advanced Reiki introduces one additional symbol, the Usui Master Symbol (not to be confused with Master Level Reiki. In Master Reiki, there is an additional Master Symbol, the Tibetan Master Symbol). In many respects, Advanced Reiki signals an adventure into a totally different, more basic, yet higher domain: Purpose, Higher Self, and Divine Nature. The physical body, and the physical world, is understood to reflect the 3rd dimension. The emotional and mental levels, including the aura, reflects the 4th dimension, where time is not solid, and is more fluid than in the physical dimension. In Advanced Reiki, we venture into the 5th dimension, the dimension of Intentionality, Purpose, and Higher Self. Just as the 4th dimensional mental-emotional creates the physical 3rd dimension, the 5th dimension is the more basic cause of the 4th. In the physical, there is a multiplicity of expression, and in the 4th dimensional aura, there are the 7 chakras. In the 5th dimensional Hara Line (more about this later), there are three energy centres. Finally, in the 6th dimension, there is the singular Core Star. This system has given rise to the mystical 1-3-7-many symbology. Therefore, in Advanced Reiki, we concern ourselves not with the aura and seven chakras, but with the root or underlying forces which give rise to the chakras and aura, which is called the Hara Line, containing three specific centres. It is at this more fundamental level that the Usui Master Symbol operates.

USUI MASTER SYMBOL There are two forms of this symbol - the traditional, and the non-traditional. The traditional symbol is no longer widely used, and most Reiki practitioners now utilise the more powerful non-traditional DaiKu-Myo (pronounced: Dye-Koo-Mee-oh). We will only use the non-traditional version in this manual. Translated, Dai-Ku-Myo means the following: "Treasure House of the Great Beaming Light" or... "God shine down and be my friend". * It is a Zen expression for one's own true nature or buddha-nature, of which one experiences Enlightenment or Satori (moment of enlightenment). Use of the Usui Master Symbol creates a stronger connection between the physical body (and world) and your Higher Self, hence it's connection with Life Purpose, Personal Birth Vision, and your inner divine nature. Dai-Ku-Myo allows unlimited wisdom and power to manifest directly into the physical world, leading to "the manifestation of the divine in physical form". This symbol also protects any healing work, and is used in all healing. Whereas in Reiki I and II, you were advised to always start a healing session with Cho-Ko-Rei (Power Symbol), you now use Dai-KuMyo at the beginning of all healing, and then follow it up with Cho-Ku-Rei and other symbols. All the Reiki symbols are enhanced and boosted with this symbol. It is similar in this effect to Cho-Ku-Rei, except that Dai-Ku-Myo operates at a much higher vibration than Cho-Ku-Rei, and thus results in higher energy and power in healing. The Usui Master Symbol can be used for any healing, manifesting, or personal transformation work.

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USUI MASTER SYMBOL MANTRA A mantra is a verbal (spoken or silent) statement, sound or word, used as a focusing or meditation tool for centering. The following mantra can be used at any time, even when you are driving - you do not have to close your eyes. First, just think "Reiki". Then, when the Reiki is flowing through you, repeat the following to yourself, out loud or silently: "Dai-Ku-Myo, Dai-Ku-Myo, Dai-Ku-Myo, I now establish my Divine Presence on Earth". Do this as many times as you please. Feel the power you bring through into this world.

USUI MASTER SYMBOL MEDITATION Reiki meditation works best if done every day, especially in the morning. However, you can do it any time you choose. The following meditation produces physical relaxation, mental alertness and focus, and increases your ability to visualise, expands your consciousness, and increases your general energy levels. Try doing it in the shower or bath in the mornings ! 1. Sit quietly in a comfortable position, with your hands and legs uncrossed. Place your hands on your lap or any other place on your body. Breathe slowly and just think of Reiki flowing through your body. 2. Draw the Usui Master Symbol in front of you. Use your whole hand (with fingers together), and visualise white or violet light coming out of the ends of your fingers, creating the symbol in front of you with this light. 3. Hold the image of the symbol in front of you in your mind, and repeat it's name (Dai-Ku-Myo) three times. Say it out loud if there is no-one else around to hear you. Hold this image of the symbol for several minutes, or as long as you can - do the best you can - it gets easier with practice. 4. When you are finished visualising and meditating on this symbol, imagine it moves up into a field of light above your head, then bring your attention back to in front of your eyes. 5. Repeat steps 2, 3, and 4, with the Power Symbol (Cho-Ku-Rei), the Emotional-Mental Symbol (SeiHe-Ki), and the Distant Healing Symbol (Hon-Sha-Ze-Sho-Nen. 6. After completing all the above steps, you are centred and charged with creative healing energy. If you want, you can now do distant healing, or visualise your objectives and goals, sending Reiki to these images.

LIFE PURPOSE (BIRTH VISION) Dai-Ku-Myo operates at the level of Higher Self Purpose, otherwise referred to as your Birth Vision. This concerns the reason you have come into this life, your 'mission', or intention. Most people are not consciously aware of their Birth Vision. How do you know what your Birth Vision (Purpose) is? This is not a simple matter: First, recognise that your Birth Vision is not something that is given to you - it is what you have chosen to do or accomplish. Secondly, it is not about what you have come to this world to obtain. Instead, it is what you have come to give - your gift. Thirdly, recognise that your Birth Vision is not some abstract, vague concept - it is a doing. It does not have to be some saintly or lofty ideal - it can be simple and practical. Think about the times when you really were alive and enjoying whatever you were doing. It could be cooking, running, teaching, talking to someone - anything. Then ask yourself what is was about that event or experience that you really enjoyed. It is usually something you have a talent for, a knack for doing or being. The irony of your Birth Vision is that you have been doing it since your were born, except you were not aware of it. We only become unhappy when we stray from our Birth Vision, out of fear and other limiting feelings. Being aware of your Birth Vision keeps you on track and happy.

FEAR

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Fear is the major obstacle to your Birth Vision. We fear loss of approval, rejection, failure, success, vulnerability, and many other things. This is the reason why you feel unhappy, and not fulfilled. It is also the main reason why you have lost touch with your Birth Vision, and why you have compromised it. Fear concerns "What if...?" For example, "What if I do this, what will people say? What if I fail ? People (usually specific people) will reject me !" Recognise that, at the end of the day, you answer only to this question: "Have I done what I have come to do ?" Dealing with fear: Answer the question "What if... ?" It is the uncertainty which keeps the fear in place. So, if the worst possible outcome occurs, how will or could you deal with it ? Until you answer the question, you will remain in fear. How to do this ? (a) Draw a picture of that feared worst outcome. (b) Then make a plan of how you could deal with that possibility. It does not matter whether you like the outcome, nor whether dealing with it would be pleasant. Just make a plan, or even a back-up plan as well, for dealing, coping, surviving, or coming to terms with the feared outcome. You do not have to like it - simply state consciously how you could cope if it happens. If necessary, what preparations could you begin making now, to ensure that, if it ever happens, it would be easier to deal with ? The main criteria is that you arrive at a point of knowing that, if it (the feared outcome) should happen, you could get through it, or cope with it somehow. This shifts a highly energised potential future event into the area of just another (less energised) possible future event, for which you now have a plan to cope or deal with. When you consider that the mind has to produce images of the feared outcome when you are afraid, and that visualising specific images is the key to attracting things towards you, you will understand why this process greatly reduces the chances of the feared event happening. By addressing the fear directly, the mind can stop creating the imagery, thus reducing the likelihood of it's manifestation. Once you have done this, you also no longer have to worry about it - you have an idea of how you could deal with it. Move beyond your fears by confronting them. Move into alignment with your Birth Vision. Get beyond fear of an unknown Future, and move into living Now.

MANIFESTING GOALS The following can follow from the previous meditation (see page 5 and 6), or can be done separately: 1. Honestly ask yourself whether you have any fears or doubts about having or achieving your goal. Remove your fears using the above method. If there is a part of you that believes that you do not deserve to achieve or have this goal, do the Core Transformation (detailed later) with that part of you. 2. State your goal out loud to yourself. Create a picture of it in your mind, and visualise the four Reiki symbols around it. Hold this image for several minutes (or longer), with the feeling of satisfaction and completion, and feeling grateful for what you know is already on it's way towards you. This attitude of gratitude and absence of "What if it doesn't come ?" or "I hope I'm doing this right", is essential. Simply assume it is yours already, and let it go. (If you find this difficult, do Core Transformation on the part of you that objects or thinks that this is not possible, or thinks that you do not deserve it). 3. When you are done, state: "I ask this with Love and Wisdom, and ask that it manifests in a time and manner which is appropriate for the higher good of all concerned". Then send the image up into the field of light above your head. 4. Do this for all your goals, as well as any distant healing. If you have difficulty visualising: Write or draw the goal or person's name (for distant healing) on a piece of paper. Draw the four Reiki symbols around it (in the air, or on the paper itself). Then assume

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the state of gratitude and absence of doubt, and state the sentence described in step 3 (above). 5. To finish the Reiki meditation, place your tongue on the roof of your mouth (lightly), and focus your attention on the area just behind your belly-button (navel). Draw the Power Symbol (Cho-Ku-Rei) down the front of your body (in reverse - as if you were looking at it from behind the normal view). Pat your stomach three times, and say the name of the Power Symbol (Cho-Ku-Rei) each time you pat your stomach. Hold your attention on this spot steadily for several minutes. This will release any excess build-up of energy in your head, and store it in the power centre. 6. While breathing slowly and deeply, slowly open your eyes. When doing goals and distant healing, it is useful to imagine that doubts and fear are requests from the mind to cancel what was asked for: "Excuse me, but I don't think I really want that!" It also brings into question your sense of deservingness. If this is an issue for you, do some work on your sense of deservingness, and your reasonableness. See Core Transformation.

CORE TRANSFORMATION Core Transformation is a powerful process designed to access the core or root of a specific behaviour, feeling, habit or thought pattern. It is used when you consciously seek to change a specific reaction, habit or thought pattern, or manifest a goal, but a self-sabotage mechanism seems to kick in every time, or you become aware that you feel you do not deserve to have it. When does the process work well ? (a) When you are presently in touch (feeling) with the physicalsensations and emotions connected to the blockage or issue; (b) When you are not 'in your head'; (c) When the issue/blockage is very clearly and specifically defined, not just some vague concept. For example, when visualising your goals, and you detect a doubt, state very clearly what the doubt or fear is. Core transformation recognises that each and every thought, emotion, behaviour, habit, and action, no matter how destructive it appears (to self or others) has a Positive (Higher) Intention. However, the Positive Intention may be heavily disguised, to the extent that the person can not understand why they behave or react in that way. Thus, when doing Core Transformation, do not, under any circumstances, judge or criticise the behaviour or thought or reaction. This is vital - no exceptions. It should be clearly understood that, although the behaviour may be limiting or destructive, it's true power or force depends upon the hidden Positive Intention. Core Transformation seeks to find and achieve the true Positive Intention, which allows the behaviour to be released. All parts of you, and the world, have a hidden spiritual positive intention. It is only judgment and fear which distort or hide this positive higher spiritual intention. A Core State may appear as an intense emotion, but it is more accurately described as a 'Peak State', such as Beingness, Oneness, Bliss, etc. There are specific criteria for a Core State: (a) It does not depend on someone else. For example, "Being loved", "Respect", and "Recognition", are not core states. Nor is "Freedom" a core state, because it implies freedom from something. (b) Not self-reflective. For example, "Loving Myself" is not a core state. (c) Reflects a state of Spiritual Being. For example, Oneness, OK-ness, Beingness, One with God, Bliss, etc.

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It should be clear that the Core State is in alignment with Higher Self, and supports your Birth Vision. This is why it is so powerful, especially when it is distorted by fears, which leads to powerful limiting thoughts or behaviours. When doing the Core Transformation, remember to ensure that the Part speaks for itself. Also, if you find that the Part comes back to saying that it wants the same thing all the time, such as Love or Respect, ask it: "From whom specifically do you want that (love, respect, etc) ?". 1. Close your eyes, and centre yourself. Cho-Ku-Rei all your chakras. Visualise the Dai-Ku-Myo symbol completely covering your entire body. 2. Identify where in your body this Part of you (eg., doubt, feeling of not deserving) is located. Then give it a shape, size and colour, even a face if possible, and project it outside of you, so that you can have a dialogue with it. When you have done that, send the four Reiki symbols to it, intending that the Part will reveal it's higher positive purpose, and release the fears that distort it's higher purpose. Surround it with love. 3. Welcome the Part. Tells the Part that you know it has a positive intention, and that you want to support it in attaining that higher purpose. 4. Ask the Part: 5. Ask the Part: 6. Ask the Part: 7. Ask the Part:

“What do you want ?”. Listens to the Part. When it tells you, say thank you. “How will you achieve that ?” "When you have that - imagine having that - what will you experience as a result of having that ?" “Now that you have that, completely, what else do you want that is even more important ?

8. Repeat question 4 to 7. This results in a series of 'wants', each one leading to the next, like the layers of an onion. 9. Keep on repeating steps 4 and 7 until the Part says it wants nothing more. For example, it says it wants Beingness, and then when you ask it what it will experience as a result, or what having this Beingness will produce that is even more important, the Part says "Nothing". Then 'Beingness' is the Core State. (see previous description of Core States in the text box on page 7). 10. Ask the Part to enjoy and experience the Core State for a few moments. Send it Reiki, using the four symbols. 11. Ask the Part: "Now that you have achieved this state of [Core State], completely and fully - you have achieve the final goal - is it still necessary for you to [the original doubt, fear, sabotage behaviour] anymore, in order to obtain it, even although you already have it, right now?" [The logical answer is "No"]. Send Reiki to the Part, using Dai-Ku-Myo, Cho-Ku-Rei, and Hon-Sha-Ze-Sho-Nen to heal the past. 12. Ask the Part if it wants to move forward in time, till the present time, with the Core State intact through each moment in time. Continue to send healing to the Part as it moves forward in time, from the

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past, to the present. 13. Integrate the Part into yourself, and allow the Core State to fill your entire body and mind. Visualise the Dai-Ku-Myo symbol over your entire body. If there are difficulties during the process: Sometimes, Objecting Parts can emerge. This becomes apparent when the Part says it still necessary to continue the limiting behaviour or thought pattern, or it finds it difficult to imagine having the Core State, or any of the steps leading up to it. Whenever there is a hesitancy by the Part, or it seems to have a problem imagining something, ask the Part if there is another Part or Parts which object to it having that outcome, or which are blocking it. If this happens, then identify the Objecting Part(s), one by one, and do the entire procedure with them, step by step, then come back to this point afterwards. Regardless of how many parts there are, each one is taken through the entire process and integrated. When all Objecting Parts are integrated, then you return to the Part that was blocked by the objecting part, and complete the integration process. It is important to realise that there is usually more than one Part involved in any limiting behaviour or thought pattern. Deal with them one by one, as they are experienced. Be aware that physical release can be intense after this process. This process can also be done with pain (except headaches), with the pain as the Part to whom one speaks. Pain is there to tell you something. Speak to it, and discover it's positive intention. Then it can leave. Lead all Parts of you towards their Higher Purpose, and they will cease to block your Birth Vision. All Parts have separated from your inner self due to fear and pain. Core Transformation, in conjunction with Reiki, allows those Parts to return to your inner Self, to re-establish wholeness, and to clarify and intensify your Birth Vision: "Dai-Ku-Myo, Dai-Ku-Myo, Dai-Ku-Myo, I now establish my divine presence on Earth".

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THE HARA LINE The word 'Hara' means 'Lower Belly' in Japanese, stemming from the fact that one of the points on the Hara Line - the Tan Tien - which is used as a focus for many martial arts practices - is located in the belly area. The Hara Line creates the aura and chakras. Where the Aura and Chakras operate on the emotional-mental level (4th Dimension), the Hara Line operates at the level of INTENTIONALITY or PURPOSE, which is 5th dimensional level. The Hara Line has three points (all in the mid-line of your body), joined by a laser-thin line of energy: (1) The first point is called the Individuation (ID) Point. It is located about 3-and-a-half feet above the head. It looks like an upside-down ice-cream cone, with the wider open end about 8mm in diameter, so that it appears as if you are wearing a miniature hat above your head. This point represents our direct connection with God, or the point through which we enter and connect with the world (ie., Divine-World connection). (2) The Soul Seat is the second point. It is located about three inches below the hollow of your throat, near the Thymus Gland. This point concerns spiritual longings, or your sense of purpose and passion. It represents everything that our soul wants to be, from the moment-to-moment desires and interests, to the large-scale dreams and passions. Interestingly enough, this point corresponds to the thymus gland, the gland which produces the majority of white blood cells, which have a profoundly important role to play in the immune system. This point is about 1 to 2 inches in diameter, and expands with meditation. Its colour is the diffused blue light of a candle-flame. (3) The Tan Tien is the third point. Located about 2-and-a-half inches below the navel. This is the centre of gravity of the body. This point holds the body in physical manifestation. It is connected to the second point in the chest, and also to the centre of the Earth. It is about 1-and-a-half inches round in size. When your Hara Line is connected (from Above through the three points, through to the core of the Earth), you will experience being on purpose with your life task, and purposeful, because your are connected to your higher purpose, and Universal Purpose. If two people individually have their Hara Lines connected and aligned, they can not be adversaries, as both will be connected to Universal Purpose, which has no adversaries. Fear distorts and breaks the connections of the Hara Line, leading to absence of purpose, fear for the future, and ill health. How will you know if someone has their Hara Line aligned or not ? If they have their Hara Line connected and aligned, they will not concern themselves or argue with what is right or wrong. Instead, they will focus upon what-is. It is clear that Dai-Ku-Myo has a direct connection with the Hara dimension, specifically concerning issues of purpose in life. For example, a person who has the Soul Seat clouded or closed, will feel hopeless, and as if there is no sense or purpose to life.

DAILY REIKI & HARA LINE EXERCISE Close your eyes, and focus upon your Tan Tien point, located about 2-and-a -half inches below your navel. Visualise it as being red, and connected by a very thin line to the centre of the Earth. Then draw Dai-Ku-Myo over that point, and send the symbol into it, intending that it become red hot and burning brightly. Imagine the symbol in the centre of the Tan Tien point. When you feel that the point is connected securely to the centre of the Earth, and it is bright, whole and red hot, shift your focus to the Soul Seat, about three inches below the hollow of your neck. It is the purple-blue of a candle-flame, and is a diffuse light. Draw Dia-Ku-Myo and send it to this point. See it enter the Soul Seat, and that the Soul Seat becomes whole, and connected to the Tan Tien with a thin line. This will connect you to your purpose and Soul's Dream. Now shift your attention to a point about three-and-a-half feet about your head, the Individuation Point. Imagine a small upside-down cone there. Draw the Dai-Ku-Myo symbol, and send

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it there, seeing it become bright. Keep sending the symbol until you can see or feel the line connecting the other two points in your body entering into the cone of the ID point, thus connecting all three points with a thin line. You are now connected above to Divine Purpose, and to the Earth below. (This treatment can also be done on someone else.)

CHAKRA BALANCING When a person has experienced trauma, stress, or is not feeling well, their chakras are invariably out of balance. Once you have connected their Hara Line (see above), then it is useful to extend the treatment to balancing their chakras, so that the energy now flowing through the Hara Line can spread throughout their aura, and thus their bodies. There are seven major chakras (energy centres), arranged along the spine: (1) The first chakra is at the base of the spine, at the coccyx, and projects out about an inch below the navel. It's colour is red. Note: Although this chakra is at the bottom of the spine, it projects out of the body above the second chakra. However, when placing hands, you put them in the area of the navel, about an inch below the belly-button. See diagram below. (2) The second chakra is located at the pubic bone (area of the ovaries, about 2 inches above the genitals). Colour is orange. (3) Third chakra is in the area of the solar plexus. Colour is yellow. (4) Fourth chakra is in the heart area. Colour is green. (5) Fifth chakra is in the throat. Colour is blue. (6) Sixth chakra is in the forehead (third eye). Colour is indigo (purple-blue). (7) Seventh chakra is at the top of the head (crown). Colour is violet.

CHAKRA BALANCING METHOD ONE With the person lying down (not essential; can also do this on yourself), place your hands on the following points, sending Reiki through your hands. Leave your hands there until you feel the two points are balanced. This can take up to 10 minutes. 1. Right hand on Navel - Left hand on Top of Head. (Chakra 1 and 7) 2. Right hand on Pubic Bone - Left hand on Forehead. (Chakra 2 and 6) 3. Right hand on Solar Plexus - Left hand on Throat. (Chakra 3 and 5) 4. Both hands on Heart or Breastbone area next to the Heart. (Chakra 4) This can be done by itself, or after a standard Reiki treatment.

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CHAKRA BALANCING METHOD TWO The following exercise can be done by itself, or after a standard Reiki treatment. When doing chakra balancing, do the standard opening of your hand chakras with the Reiki symbols, and prepare as you normally would for a Reiki treatment. Remember to be clear on your intention for healing and balancing. Your Right Hand on their...

Your Left Hand on their...

LEGS 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Right Foot...................................... Right Knee..................................... Left Foot........................................ Left Knee....................................... Left Hip..........................................

Right Knee Right Hip Left Knee Left Hip Right Hip

BODY 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Chakra 1 (Inch below Navel)...... Chakra 2 (Pubic Bone)................. Spleen (Left side of navel).......... Chakra 3 (Solar Plexus)................ Chakra 4 (Over Heart)..................

Chakra 2 (Pubic Bone) Chakra 3 (Solar Plexus) Chakra 3 (Solar Plexus) Chakra 4 (Over Heart) Midchest (Upper breastbone)

ARMS 11. 12. 13. 14. 15.

Right Wrist................................... Right Elbow.................................. Left Wrist..................................... Left Elbow.................................... Left Shoulder...............................

Right Elbow Right Shoulder Left Elbow Left Shoulder Right Shoulder

NECK & HEAD 16. 17. 18. 19.

Midchest (centre breastbone).... Chakra 5 (Throat).......................... Chakra 6 (Forehead)..................... Chakra 7 (Crown/Top of head)...

Chakra 5 (Throat) Chakra 6 (Forehead) Chakra 7 (Crown/Top of head) Higher Chakras (approx. 1 foot above the top of their head).

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PSYCHIC SURGERY Negative energy gets blocked in the aura and chakras, or lodges itself in and around the physical organs. Psychic surgery is a powerful process which will speed up the healing, whether the problem is physical, emotional, or mental. It is done together with Reiki: First do the psychic surgery, then do a standard Reiki treatment. At Master Reiki level, the treatment will start with the Healing Attunement, then psychic surgery, then standard Reiki treatment. Prepare Self and Room, before client arrives (or while they close their eyes), do steps 1 to 4: 1. Always have a mechanism (eg., a burning candle) to deal with the negative energy (eg., the energy block which s causing the problem). Negative energy needs to go somewhere - to be transformed or transmuted - or it might ‘hang around’. 2. Healer centres themselves. Draw Usui Master symbol (Dai-Ku-Myo) on both hands, tapping palms three times as you silently say the name of the symbol. Do the same with the Power symbol (Cho-KuRei), Emotional symbol (Sei-He-Ki), and Distance Healing symbol (Hon-Sha-Ze-Sho-Nen). Draw Power symbol down front of your body for protection, and over your heart and crown chakras to open them. 3. Clear the room by drawing all four symbols in the air (in the centre of the room), intending that they clear out any negative energy, and that they will then fill the room with light, healing, and protection. 4. Say a prayer, either out loud or to yourself. Invite your Guides, Angels, God, to assist you in the healing. State your intention for the healing. Ask that the healing occurs within the boundaries of divine love and wisdom for all concerned. Prepare Client for Healing (Steps 5 and 6): 5. Client either sits or lies down. They must not cross arms or legs. 6. Move behind client. Ask them to describe the problem. Where is it situated in the body ? Ask them to close their eyes, and then to tell you what shape and colour the problem seems to have. ASK THEM IF THEY ARE WILLING TO LET THE PROBLEM GO ! Extend Psychic Fingers as follows: 7. Imagine you take one hand, and pull the fingers of the other hand out into the air, so that the fingers extend about 6 to 8 inches into the air. Do both hands the same way. Do three times per hand. Draw Dai-Ku-Myo and Cho-Ku-Rei over the ends of each psychic finger to seal them. Doing Psychic Surgery: 8. With your psychic fingers, draw Dai-Ku-Myo and Cho-Ku-Rei over the area of their body which needs to be healed. The healer now uses their psychic fingers to dislodge and remove the energy blockage. Imagine you can see the shape described by the client, and imagine your psychic fingers enter that area, and cut it loose, and then you scoop it up and throw it away, away from their and your body, into the ground (or towards the candle). You may have to do this several times, from different angles, so as to get most of it loose and thrown away. Allow yourself to be guided as to what to do. 9. After doing this for a few minutes, ask the client how they feel, and if there is any change in the shape and colour of the problem. 10.Healer continues psychic surgery until they intuitively feel enough has been removed. Remember to constantly ask the client how they feel, and if the shape and colour of the problem is changing.

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Ending Psychic Surgery process: 11. Once the pulling out of the energy is done, the healer cuts the air between themselves and the client, by using one hand to chop/cut the air between their hands and the client. This breaks the psychic connection between the healer and client. Mentally visualise that all energy/psychic connections between healer and client are cut. Retracting Psychic Fingers: 12. Healer retracts psychic fingers. Imagine that the extended fingers withdraw back into the physical fingers. Alternatively, 'push' the psychic fingers back into your hand, using the other hand. After Psychic Surgery: 13. Reiki the area worked on for a few minutes. Then commence standard hands-on Reiki treatment. 14. To seal the process, mentally state that you now seal the healing process, and imagine a door over the area worked on closing. Draw Cho-Ku-Rei on the door, and see a key turning and locking the door. 15. The healer must cleanse the room and him/herself of the negative energy which has been released. Washing hands under running water is essential. Open the windows or vacuum the floors.

CRYSTAL GRID Quartz crystal has been used for centuries to amplify energies and frequencies. For example, the very first radio receivers designed used a quartz crystal as the means to boost incoming radio signals. When energy-pressure (eg., radio waves) is exerted on quartz crystal, it results in a boosting of that signal, due to an electrical effect called the Piezo Electric Effect. It is this same effect which is utilised in the crystal grid, where crystals are used to store, boost, and transmit Reiki and/or other intentions (eg., distant healing to someone, protection, affirmations). Clearly, crystals can be powerful amplifiers and transmitters of 'programmed' thought frequencies. However, it is also equally important to keep them 'clean', ie., to ensure that unwanted frequencies are removed, and only the desired frequencies are transmitted. Therefore, once your crystal grid is cleaned and programmed, do not let anyone else touch it. Also clean the crystals regularly, to ensure that the negative energies released during healings do not become part of your crystal's programme, which will result in these energies being transmitted from client to client, and to you. Just as you use water to clean off negative energies after a treatment, so should your crystals be cleaned often.

Selecting Crystals for the Crystal Grid You will need two kinds of crystals: One Master crystal, and eight Amplifying crystals. Most crystals are quartz, with various chemicals resulting in different colours. When choosing crystals, do not pay too much attention to size. Rather select eight crystals of similar size. Big is not better. Most people use clear quartz for the eight Amplifing crystals, but you may select crystal with various colours, such as shades of green, pink, blue or purple, which are healing colours. When selecting a Master crystal, the following criteria applies: Look for a crystal that is either in a pyramid shape, a quartz ball, or a crystal that is double-terminated (both ends have faceted surfaces), or a crystal that has some symbol inside, or has streaks of green or purple inside.

Cleaning Crystals There are various methods for cleaning crystals, including placing them in the full moon. An easier (and quicker) method is to place them in a bowl of tap water (not hot), with 2 to 3 tablespoons of dissolved salt, for half an hour to a few hours. Salt absorbs negative energy, and cleans the crystals. For added effectiveness, place one teaspoon of apple cider vinegar in this water. Then rinse the crystals under running tap water, while visualising white light flowing through them from above, to the earth, and cleaning them completely. Throw away the used salt water - do not re-use it.

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Please ensure that you do not use hot water when dealing with crystals, as sudden and dramatic heat changes can cause then to crack and break. It is important to clean crystals whenever you change their purpose (programme), and when you are using them for healing, after each person. For this reason it might be advisable to have two crystal grids, one for immediate use, and another being cleansed while the other is being used. Once your crystals have been cleaned, do not allow anyone else to touch them, as this will contaminate them with the other person's energies. However, it is advisable for you to handle your crystals as often as possible, so that your imprint becomes strong.

Charging (Programming) Crystals after Cleaning After cleaning the crystals, hold them (one by one) in your left (receiving) hand. Point the crystal to your heart centre. Visualise a pink or white light coming from your heart towards the crystal, opening it's energies with love. When you feel it has opened up, then point it towards your Third Eye (centre of forehead). Now ask the crystal to help you, in the name of love and light. Inspire the crystal (programme it with what you want it to do). For example, ask it to assist you in your healing. Also ask it to assist the other crystals in the grid in providing healing energy. Charge the crystal with Reiki, using the first three symbols. Then, as you inspire it with it's purpose, draw Dai-Ku-Myo over the crystal, and send it into the crystal. Then place the crystal into position on the grid.

Constructing the Crystal Grid There are various crystal grid designs. We will describe two, the Star, and the Pyramid designs. For the base, you can use cardboard, wood, a mirror, or copper. In the diagrams, the arrow-heads indicate the faceted pointed 'faces' of the crystals. The Master crystal is always in the centre. Thin lines indicate directions only. The Master crystal is used to concentrate and radiate the healing energy from the outer crystals.

To complete the crystal grid: (a) Star Formation: Hold the Master crystal in your right hand. With it in your hand, begin to draw pieshaped movements, starting with the centre, moving out towards and over one outer crystal, then across to the next outer crystal next to it, back in again to the centre. Repeat for all eight 'pie' sections of the grid, moving clockwise and around the grid. Then place the Master crystal in the centre again. As you do this, repeat an affirmation, such as "I empower this crystal grid with love and light". (b) Pyramid Formation: With the Master crystal, draw a clockwise circle which connects the four outer crystals, so that they energise each other. Then draw four pie-shaped movements over the inner and outer crystals, similarly to (a). Place Master crystal in centre. As you do this, repeat an affirmation. See (a). Remember to charge your grid every day, or as often as possible, in the same way.

Empowerment Concepts

Now take a photograph of yourself, or a piece of paper with your name, and draw the four Reiki symbols on it. Place it under the Master crystal in the centre. Include an empowering affirmation, such as "I am perfectly protected and healed - now, and on all levels".

Distant Healing or Manifesting Goals with the Crystal Grid Obtain a picture (or write the name) of the person you wish to send healing to. For goals, write down your goal. Then draw the four Reiki symbols around it. Hold it in your hands, and send Reiki to it. Place it inside the crystal grid, anywhere within it's borders.

Enhancing and Protecting the Crystal Grid Make a four-sided pyramid out of cardboard or wood to cover your grid. This will prevent dust settling on it, and will also prevent other people touching your crystals. Furthermore, if you orientate your grid with a pyramid over it so that one side of the pyramid faces true North, this will grealy enhance the energy of the grid. * Note: You can use Sei-He-Ki to clean your crystals, and Cho-Ku-Rei to energise them. Dai-Ku-Myo is for inspiring (programming). Hon-Sha-Ze-Sho-Nen is to send healing over time and distance.

Empowerment Concepts * * * Reiki Master Manual * * * 1997

1

REIKI ATTUNEMENTS (NON-TRADITIONAL)

Neil M. Orr & David R. Patient

Empowerment Concepts * * * Reiki Master Manual * * * 1997

REIKI ATTUNEMENTS The outline in the following pages is intended as a guide for Master Reiki practitioners who want a blow-by-blow detailed check list when doing attunements. It assumes that the Master knows how to contract and close the Hui Yin point and the point at the top of the mouth. It also assumes that the Master knows the various symbols, and how to draw them. There are a range of attunement methods, with a number of variations. Some systems use six symbols - including the Tibetan Master Symbol (Dumo) - while others only use five. Some methods use the Fire Serpent, while others use Raku. These are simply two variations of the same symbol. Some methods place the symbols into only one hand, while others place them in both. Some methods use the Violet Breath (Hui-Yin and mouth points closed), others do not. The method described here uses six symbols, the Fire Serpent, the Violet Breath, and placement of the symbols into both hands. THE ATTUNEMENTS FOR REIKI 1, REIKI 2, ADVANCED REIKI, AND MASTER REIKI ARE IDENTICAL IN STRUCTURE, WITH SPECIFIC DIFFERENCES, WHICH ARE HIGHLIGHTED WITHIN BOXED TEXT. THESE ARE: STEP 3:

STATEMENT OF INTENTION

STEPS 9.2, 10.3, and 10.4: The number of symbols attuned / placed into the Crown, Base of Brain, Hands and Third Eye: REIKI I & II ... 3 Symbols REIKI ADVANCED ... 4 Symbols REIKI MASTERS ... 6 Symbols Apart from these differences, the attunement for the various levels are identical. It is also important to remember that a Master does attunements in collaboration with the client/student’s guides, and the Master’s guides. If the symbols are not perfect, or the procedure is accidentally deviated from, this will be rectified by the guides, as long as the intention is true. However, this does not mean that a casual attitude towards attunements is appropriate. On the contrary: Reiki Attunements are powerful and sacred processes.

Empowerment Concepts * * * Reiki Master Manual * * * 1997

STEP 1: PREPARE CLIENT FOR ATTUNEMENT 1.1

EXPLAIN PROCESS BRIEFLY: Explain to the client what a Reiki attunement is, and that there may be a period of days or a week in which releasing of emotions, flu-like symptoms, and similar signs of release may occur (detoxification). This is normal.

1.2

PERMISSION TO TOUCH THEM: Explain that process requires you to gently touch their head, hands, and shoulders, and that they need not be alarmed when this happens. Ask if this is OK.

1.3

ANTAHKARANA UNDER FEET: Place the Antahkarana under their feet to enhance the healing attunement. If necessary, explain that this is an ancient Tibetan symbol which helps the process.

1.4

EYES CLOSED & HANDS IN PRAYER POSITION:

Ask the client to place their hands in a prayer position in front of their chest, and to close thir eyes. Explain that they need to keep their eyes closed all the time, until you tell them to open them. Also tell them that you will be reaching over from behind and lifting their hands to above their head at some point, and that they are asked not to resist this, and that you will place their hands back into the prayer position afterwards. Finally, inform them that at some point you will be taking their hands, opening them up, and tapping into their palms. This is all part of the process, and you will close their hands and place them back into the prayer position afterwards.

Empowerment Concepts * * * Reiki Master Manual * * * 1997

STEP 2: PREPARE YOURSELF 2.1

DRAW ALL SIX SYMBOLS ON EACH OF YOUR PALMS: Draw each symbol into both of your palm chakras, silently saying their names three times, and gently tapping your palms.

2.2

POWER SYMBOL (CHO-KU-REI) INTO YOUR CHAKRAS: Draw the Power Symbol (Cho-Ku-Rei) over all your chakras, down the front of your body. As you do each chakra, be conscious of the intention of this step, namely to open your chakras to the light. You may state this silently as you do each chakra.

2.3

PROTECT YOURSELF FROM RELEASED NEGATIVE ENERGY: Draw a large Cho-Ku-Rei over your entire body, intending that this will protect you from any negativity, and that no negative energy will enter your aura. State silently that any negative energy released during the attunement will be transformed and transmuted by the angels of transformation and transmutation.

STEP 3: PREPARE THE ROOM 3.1

ALL SIX SYMBOLS INTO ROOM: Draw all six Reiki symbols into the air. Do them one by one, first into the centre of he and then sending each one to the corners of the room. Intend that their energy fills the room with protection and light. Dumo...Dai-Ku-Myo...Cho-Ku-Rei...Sei-He-Ki...Hon-Sha-Ze-Sho-Nen...Fire Serpent.

oom,

3.2

SILENT PRAYER & INVITE GUIDES: Say a silent prayer, asking for the assistance of all your guides, Reiki guides, angels, archangels, and ascended Masters. Ask them to assist you in this attunement.

3.3

STATE THE INTENTION OF THE ATTUNEMENT: Silently state your intention: "This is a Reiki I attunement". OR: "This is a Reiki II attunement" OR: “This is an Advanced Reiki Attunement” OR: “This is a Master Reiki Attunement”

THIS STATEMENT OF INTENTION IS THE ONLY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A REIKI OR II ATTUNEMENT. THERE ARE NO OTHER DIFFERENCES. ADVANCED & MASTER ATTUNEMENTS CONTAIN MORE SYMBOLS PLACED INTO THE CROWN, HANDS, BASE OF BRAIN, AND THIRD EYE.

Empowerment Concepts * * * Reiki Master Manual * * * 1997

STEP 4: CONNECT CLIENT'S CHAKRAS 4.1

MOVE BEHIND CLIENT

4.2

DRAW FIRE SERPENT TOP-TO-BOTTOM Without touching them, draw the Fire Serpent symbol from the top of their head (crown chakra) down to the base of their spine (base chakra). This connects all their chakras, and prepares them for the attunement itself.

4.3

INSERT THREE POWER SYMBOLS INTO BASE OF SPINE Without touching them, draw Dai-Ku-Myo, Cho-Ku-Rei, and Hon-Sha-Ze-Sho-Nen at the base of their spine (the coccyx). As you do each symbol, visualise it travelling into the base of their spine (the base chakra).

STEP 5: LINK CLIENT: EARTH & HEAVEN The purpose of this step is to (a) ground the client, and (b) connect them to the energies from Above and Below. 5.1

PLACE YOUR HANDS ON THEIR SHOULDERS LIGHTLY: Stand comfortably behind the client, and rest your hands lightly on their shoulders. Close your eyes, and relax for a moment. 5.2

VISUALISE GROUNDING TO EARTH Visualise (or think) roots growing out of the client's feet, extending into the ground, and that these roots reach the centre of the earth. (The purpose of this is to ensure that the client does not become 'spacey' or leave their body during the attunement.)

Then see the hot red centre of the earth, and this energy rising up into the client through the base of their spine, into their body, and into their head. 5.3

VISUALISE CONNECTING TO HEAVEN Visualise a beam of light which comes from above, entering through the client's head.

5.4

LINK EARTH AND HEAVEN ENERGIES IN A CIRCUIT: Visualise the energy from Above and Below now flowing in a connected circuit, from the top of their head down to the base of their spine, and back up again, in one continually moving circuit.

IF YOU ARE DOING THIS ATTUNEMENT FOR ONLY ONE PERSON... ... PROCEED TO STEP 6. IF YOU ARE DOING THIS ATTUNEMENT FOR MORE THAN ONE PERSON... ... REPEAT STEP 4 AND 5 FOR EACH PERSON. You may choose to do step 4 on everyone first, then step 5 on everyone. Alternatively, do both steps 4 and 5 one person before going to the next person. ... THEN GO TO STEP 6.

Empowerment Concepts * * * Reiki Master Manual * * * 1997

STEP 6: CLOSE YOUR HUI-YIN POINT It is now time to begin the attunement itself. The first step is to seal off the energy exit points in the Reiki Master, allowing energy to enter, and not leave, thus building up a high level and frequency of Reiki energy for the attunement. 6.1

CLOSE FRONT OF ROOF OF MOUTH POINT Place the tip of your tongue at the front of the top of your mouth. This seals the top energy point.

6.2

CLOSE HUI-YIN POINT Contract the muscles at the base of your spine to close the bottom energy point.

6.3

KEEP POINTS CLOSED UNTIL THE END OF THE ATTUNEMENT

STEP 7: ACCUMULATE & CONCENTRATE REIKI ENERGY Now that the energy is accumulating in the Reiki Master's body, which can only exit through his/her breath or hands, the following step serves to focus the accumulating energy into a very high frequency. 7.1

HANDS ON THEIR HEAD: Remove your hands from their shoulders, and place them on top of the client's head, so that your thumbs and first fingers touch, forming an open triangle between your two hands.

7.2

BREATHE IN: Breathe in, visualising the breath as a white light which comes into the top of your head (crown chakra), going down to the Hui Yin point (base of spine), and up again.

7.3

WHITE LIGHT - BLUE LIGHT - VIOLET LIGHT: Visualise the white light as rotating clockwise inside of you, which then turns into a blue light, and then into a violet light. See this violet light as a mist inside your head. 7.4

VISUALISE TIBETAN MASTER SYMBOL (DUMO): Visualise Dumo within this rotating violet mist inside your head. If you can not visualise this, just get the thought of Dumo placed in violet light. Spend a few moments to get this idea or image clear.

Empowerment Concepts * * * Reiki Master Manual * * * 1997

STEP 8. BLOWING MASTER SYMBOL TO CLIENT'S CROWN AND BASE OF BRAIN 8.1

SYMBOL: DUMO ... BLOWING & ANCHORING, HEAD & HEART: This step involves FOUR simultaneous actions. (a) BLOW SYMBOL INTO THEIR HEAD: Using the Violet breath, blow Dumo (keeping tongue on top of mouth) into the top of their head. Blow slowly so that you can do this step in one outward breath. (b) SEE SYMBOL MOVING.... FROM...: YOUR CROWN... to their... CROWN... to their ... BASE OF BRAIN (BOTTOM BACK EDGE OF THEIR SKULL) As you blow, visualise Dumo moving from the top of your head into the top of their head, and then moving down to the base of their brain; (c) ANCHOR EACH POINT WITH YOUR DOMINANT HAND: As you blow and visualise the symbol moving from your head to their head and then base of their brain, you use your dominant hand to touch each point (top of their head, and the bottom edge of their skull), as the symbol reaches these parts. This touching (anchoring) is a light touch. (The other non-dominant hand can remain on their head as before).

(d) SILENTLY SAY "DUMO" THREE TIMES WHEN ANCHORING: As you blow the symbol into the top of your head, you silently repeat the word "Dumo" three times as you anchor it in the top of their head, and again three times as the symbol reaches the base of their brain. NOTE: Some methods of attunement do not use Dumo at all, and the above step is done by blowing Dai-Ko-Myo instead. Therefore, one variation of this specific step, for all four levels of attunement, is to: REPEAT STEPS 7.4 AND 8, BY BLOWING DAI-KO-MYO INTO THE CROWN AS WELL. This variation is optional.

Empowerment Concepts * * * Reiki Master Manual * * * 1997

STEP 9. TRANSFER SYMBOLS TO CLIENT'S CROWN, HANDS, AND BASE OF BRAIN 9.1

BRING THEIR HANDS TO THE TOP OF THEIR HEAD Reach over their shoulder with one or both hands, take a firm but gentle hold of both of their clasped hands, and draw their hands upwards gently, so that their hands (still in prayer position) rest on top of their heads. 9.2

PLACE SYMBOLS (WITHOUT BLOWING) INTO: (a) HANDS ..... (b) CROWN ..... (c) BASE OF BRAIN For each of the listed symbols, do the following, one at a time: FOR EACH OF THE FOLLOWING SYMBOLS, ONE AT A TIME, SYMBOLS INSERTED FOR: REIKI I & II (3 Symbols)

1. CHO-KU-REI 2. SEI-HE-KI 3. HON-SHA-ZE-SHO-NEN

ADVANCED (4 Symbols)

MASTER (6 Symbols)

1. DAI-KO-MYO 2. CHO-KU-REI 3. SEI-HE-KI 4. HON-SHA-ZE-SHO-NEN

1. FIRE SERPENT 2. DUMO 3. DAI-KU-MYO 4. CHO-KU-REI 5. SEI-HE-KI 6. HON-SHA-ZE-SHO-NEN

(a) HANDS: Draw the symbol in the air over their hands. SEE the symbol move into their hands, and SILENTLY SAY the symbol’s name as you ANCHOR it in their hands, by gently touching their hands (either side). (b) CROWN OF HEAD: Now SEE the symbol move from their hands into the top of their head (crown). When you see the symbol there, SILENTLY SAY the name of the symbol, as you ANCHOR it there by gently touching the top of the head. (c) BASE OF BRAIN: Now SEE the symbol move from the top of their head (crown) into the base of their brain. When you see the symbol there, SILENTLY SAY the name of the symbol, as you ANCHOR it there by gently touching the bottom (back) edge of their skull. 9.3 REPLACE CLIENT’S HANDS BACK IN FRONT OF THEIR CHEST: Take their clasped hands in yours, and gently lift and move them back down to their original prayer postion in front of their chest. IF ONLY ONE CLIENT, GO TO STEP 10. IF MORE THAN ONE CLIENT, DO STEPS 8 & 9 FOR EACH, THEN DO STEP 10.

Empowerment Concepts * * * Reiki Master Manual * * * 1997

STEP 10. SYMBOLS TO THIRD EYE and PALMS OF HANDS 10.1 10.2

MOVE TO THE FRONT OF THE CLIENT OPEN THE CLIENT’S HANDS SO THAT THEY ARE FLAT Gently bring their hands from the upright prayer position to a position resembling open cupping of their hands. Support their hands with your non-dominant hand.

10.3

SYMBOLS INTO THIRD EYE: FOR EACH OF THE FOLLOWING SYMBOLS, ONE AT A TIME,

SYMBOLS INSERTED FOR: REIKI I & II (3 Symbols)

1. CHO-KU-REI 2. SEI-HE-KI 3. HON-SHA-ZE-SHO-NEN

ADVANCED (4 Symbols)

MASTER (6 Symbols) 1. FIRE SERPENT 2. DUMO 1. DAI-KO-MYO 3. DAI-KU-MYO 2. CHO-KU-REI 4. CHO-KU-REI 3. SEI-HE-KI 5. SEI-HE-KI 4. HON-SHA-ZE-SHO-NEN 6. HON-SHA-ZE-SHO-NEN

DO THE FOLLOWING: (a) DRAW the symbol in the air in front of their third eye (between eyebrows). (b) SEE the symbol enter into their third eye. (c) SILENTLY SAY the name of the symbol THREE TIMES as you ANCHOR (gently touch) the symbol into the area of the third eye. 10.4

SYMBOLS INTO BOTH PALMS OF HANDS: FOR EACH OF THE FOLLOWING SYMBOLS, ONE AT A TIME,

SYMBOLS INSERTED FOR: REIKI I & II ADVANCED (3 Symbols) (4 Symbols)

MASTER (6 Symbols) 1. FIRE SERPENT 2. DUMO 3. DAI-KU-MYO 4. CHO-KU-REI 5. SEI-HE-KI 6. HON-SHA-ZE-SHO-NEN

1. DAI-KO-MYO 1. CHO-KU-REI 2. CHO-KU-REI 2. SEI-HE-KI 3. SEI-HE-KI 3. HON-SHA-ZE-SHO-NEN 4. HON-SHA-ZE-SHO-NEN DO THE FOLLOWING: (a) DRAW the symbol in the air above their hands (or draw it onto one of their hands) (b) SEE the symbol enter into their hands. (c) SILENTLY SAY the name of the symbol as you TAP (gentle slap) the palms of their hands THREE TIMES (eg., tap their left, right, left hand) 10.4

REPLACE THEIR HANDS INTO ORIGINAL PRAYER POSITION IN FRONT OF THEIR HEART.

Empowerment Concepts * * * Reiki Master Manual * * * 1997

STEP 11. BLOW: HANDS-SOLAR PLEXUS-THIRD EYE-CROWN The purpose of this step is to move the Reiki energy through the client. Keep your tongue at the top of your mouth. 11.1

HOLD YOUR HANDS OVER THEIR HANDS: Now that their hands have been placed back into the prayer position in front of their heart, cover their hands gently with yours.

11.2

GENTLY BLOW, IN ONE CONTINUOUS MOVEMENT: (a) OVER THEIR HANDS, (b) DOWNWARDS .... TO THEIR SOLAR PLEXUS, (c) UPWARDS, OVER THEIR HANDS, TO THEIR THIRD EYE, (d) UPWARDS, TO THEIR CROWN, (e) DOWN, OVER THIRD EYE, HANDS, TO SOLAR PLEXUS, (f) OVER HANDS AGAIN CROWN

HANDS

THIRD EYE

THIRD EYE

HANDS

HANDS

SOLAR PLEXUS

HANDS

SOLAR PLEXUS

IF JUST ONE CLIENT, GO TO STEP 12. IF MORE THAN ONE CLIENT, REPEAT STEP 10 & 11 WITH EACH CLIENT, THEN GO TO STEP 12

Empowerment Concepts * * * Reiki Master Manual * * * 1997

STEP 12. BLESS AND SEAL PROCESS 12.1

BLESS CLIENT: (a) PLACE YOUR HANDS ON CLIENT’S SHOULDERS: (b) IMAGINE RED BALL AT THEIR BASE CHAKRA (BASE OF SPINE) (c) PLACE LOVING AFFIRMATION IN CLIENT’S MIND: Eg: “You are empowered with Reiki” “You are filled with love and healing” * INTEND that their mind will accept this affirmation * REPEAT AFFIRMATION THREE TIMES

12.2

SEAL PROCESS: (a) BRING YOUR HANDS TOGETHER. PLACE YOUR THUMBS AT THE BASE OF THEIR SKULL (c) STATE SILENTLY TO YOURSELF: “I now seal this healing process with love and light” ... or... “I honour the light and love within you”, etc. (d) VISUALISE A DOOR ABOVE THE TOP OF THEIR HEAD... NOTE: NOT THE ACTUAL CROWN OF THE HEAD ! SEE THE DOOR ABOUT ONE FOOT ABOVE THE CROWN! You do NOT close the crown - only the aura above it. See the DOOR CLOSE, See a key turn and LOCK THE DOOR Draw or visualise CHO-KU-REI over the locked door. (e) DRAW FIRE SERPENT DOWN CLIENT’S BACK (Crown...Base Spine) (f) INTEND that the process is sealed and complete, and that the client is now connected to the Reiki Source.

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STEP 13. END ATTUNEMENT 13.1

MOVE TO FRONT OF CLIENT

13.2

PLACE HANDS (PALMS FACING TOWARDS CLIENT) ON HIPS

13.3

BEND KNEES SLIGHTLY

13.4

INHALE ...., AND ON YOUR EXHALE, RELEASE HUI-YIN AND TONGUE (INTEND exhaled breath to be a blessing for the client.)

13.5

ASK CLIENT TO TAKE A FEW DEEP BREATHS, AND OPEN EYES WHEN READY.

STEP 14. ASK CLIENT HOW THEY FEEL 14.1

ASK CLIENT: “How do you feel right now ?” It is not unusual for the client to feel spacey, or even emotional.

14.2

ENQUIRE WHAT CLIENT EXPERIENCED DURING ATTUNEMENT Eg: “Did you feel any sensations, see any colours”, etc ?

14.3

REMIND THEM OF POSSIBLE RELEASING AFTER-EFFECTS Remind them that they may experience some form of releasing in the next few days, such as emotions coming up from nowhere, flu-like symptoms, or old memories and sadnesses emerging. These will merely come to the surface, and then go away by themselves, and are part of the clearing (detoxification) process that the attunement produces. It will pass naturally in a few days.

14.4

DOING REIKI ON SOMEONE ELSE It is beneficial for the client to do some Reiki on someone else after the attunement, as this tends to get the Reiki energy stabilised faster for them. If there are two or more students who have had the attunement, let them spend a few minutes doing the Reiki hand positions on each other.

Empowerment Concepts * * * Reiki Master Manual * * * 1997

THE HEALING ATTUNEMENT The Healing Attunement brings a higher frequency, and consequently more powerful, level of energy than a standard Reiki treatment.

INTENTION = DESIRE + BELIEF + ACCEPTANCE The key to this (and all) healing is Intention: (a) Desire by the client to release the pain, problem, or blockage. (b) Belief that they personally deserve to be relieved of this blockage, and that this can be achieved. (c) Acceptance of the consequences of being free from the blockage. During the attunement, the client's guides will align with their intention to be relieved of the blockage, and assist in the process. The Healing Attunement is done before psychic surgery or other hands-on-healing. Once the attunement is completed, proceed with standard treatment. The attunement clears away negative psychic energy in the body, aura, and chakras, and also releases unconscious negative feelings and thoughts that block achievement when doing goal-setting work. You may also do the attunement prior to a Core Transformation.

Empowerment Concepts * * * Reiki Master Manual * * * 1997

STEP 1: ESTABLISH SHAPE & LOCATION OF THE BLOCKAGE Before proceeding with the attunement: 1.1 DESCRIBE PROBLEM: Ask the client to describe the problem they want to be healed. 1.2 LOCATION OF PROBLEM: Ask client: If the problem was to be represented in the body, where (location) would it be? 1.3 SHAPE AND COLOUR OF PROBLEM: Ask the client to imagine that the problem as a shape and colour, and then to describe this shape and colour.

STEP 2: CLIENT'S INTENTION TO RELEASE BLOCKAGE Although it is normal to assume that the client would want to release the blockage, it is essential that this intention is stated consciously: 2.1

ASK CLIENT TO CONSCIOUSLY STATE INTENTION FOR HEALING:

Ask the client: "Are you willing to release this problem / pain / blockage ?"

STEP 3: PREPARE CLIENT FOR ATTUNEMENT Only if the client has said "Yes" to the question in 2.1, do you proceed as follows: 3.1

EXPLAIN PROCESS BRIEFLY:

Explain briefly to the client what a healing attunement is, and that is it designed to assist them in releasing the blockage / problem / pain. 3.2

PERMISSION TO TOUCH THEM:

Explain that process requires you to gently touch their head, back, and shoulders, and that they need not be alarmed when this happens. Ask if this is OK. 3.3

ANTAHKARANA UNDER FEET:

Place the Antahkarana under their feet to enhance the healing attunement. If necessary, explain that this is an ancient Tibetan symbol which helps the process. 3.4

EYES CLOSED & HANDS ON LAP:

Ask the client to place their hands on their lap, and to close their eyes. Explain that they need to keep their eyes closed all the time, until you tell them to open them.

Empowerment Concepts * * * Reiki Master Manual * * * 1997

STEP 4: PREPARE YOURSELF 4.1

USUI MASTER SYMBOL (DAI-KU-MYO) & POWER SYMBOL (CHO-KU-REI) INTO YOUR HANDS: Draw the Usui Master Symbol (Dai-Ku-Myo) and Power Symbol (Cho-Ku-Rei) onto your palm chakras. 4.2 POWER SYMBOL (CHO-KU-REI) INTO YOUR CHAKRAS: Draw the Power Symbol (Cho-Ku-Rei) over all your chakras, down the front of your body. As you do each chakra, be conscious of the intention of this step, namely to open your chakras to the light. You may state this silently as you do each chakra. 4.3 PROTECT YOUR AURA FROM NEGATIVE ENERGY RELEASED: Draw a large Cho-Ku-Rei over your entire body, intending that this will protect you from any negativity, and that no negative energy will enter your aura. State silently that any negative energy released during the attunement will be transformed and transmuted by the angels of transformation and transmutation.

STEP 5: PREPARE THE ROOM 5.1 ALL SIX SYMBOLS INTO ROOM: Draw all six Reiki symbols into the air. Do them one by one, first into the centre of the room, and then sending each one to the corners of the room. Intend that their energy fills the room with protection and light. Dumo...Dai-Ku-Myo...Cho-Ku-Rei...Sei-He-Ki...Hon-Sha-Ze-Sho-Nen...Fire Serpent 5.2 SILENT PRAYER & INVITE GUIDES: Say a silent prayer, asking for the assistance of all your guides, Reiki guides, angels, archangels, and ascended Masters. Ask them to assist you in this healing. 5.3 STATE THE INTENTION OF THE ATTUNEMENT: Silently state your intention: "This is a healing attunement".

STEP 6: CONNECT CLIENT'S CHAKRAS 6.1

MOVE BEHIND CLIENT

6.2 DRAW FIRE SERPENT TOP-TO-BOTTOM Without touching them, draw the Fire Serpent symbol from the top of their head (crown chakra) down to the base of their spine (base chakra). This connects all their chakras, and prepares them for the attunement itself. 6.3 INSERT THREE POWER SYMBOLS INTO BASE OF SPINE Without touching them, draw Dai-Ku-Myo, Cho-Ku-Rei, and Hon-Sha-Ze-Sho-Nen at the base of their spine (the coccyx). As you do each symbol, visualise it travelling into the base of their spine (the base chakra).

Empowerment Concepts * * * Reiki Master Manual * * * 1997

STEP 7: LINK CLIENT: EARTH & HEAVEN The purpose of this step is to (a) ground the client, and (b) connect them to the energies from Above and Below. 7.1

PLACE YOUR HANDS ON THEIR SHOULDERS LIGHTLY:

Stand comfortably behind the client, and rest your hands lightly on their shoulders. Close your eyes, and relax for a moment. 7.2

VISUALISE GROUNDING TO EARTH

Visualise (or think) roots growing out of the client's feet, extending into the ground, and that these roots reach the centre of the earth. (The purpose of this is to ensure that the client does not become 'spacey' or leave their body during the attunement.) Then see the hot red centre of the earth, and this energy rising up into the client through the base of their spine, into their body, and into their head. 7.3

VISUALISE CONNECTING TO HEAVEN

Visualise a beam of light which comes from above, entering through the client's head. 7.4

LINK EARTH AND HEAVEN ENERGIES IN A CIRCUIT:

Visualise the energy from Above and Below now flowing in a connected circuit, from the top of their head down to the base of their spine, and back up again, in one continually moving circuit.

IF YOU ARE DOING THIS ATTUNEMENT FOR ONLY ONE PERSON... ... PROCEED TO STEP 8.

IF YOU ARE DOING THIS ATTUNEMENT FOR MORE THAN ONE PERSON... ... REPEAT STEP 6 AND 7 FOR EACH PERSON. You may choose to do step 6 on everyone first, then step 7 on everyone. Alternatively, do both steps 6 and 7 one person before going to the next person. ... THEN GO TO STEP 8.

Empowerment Concepts * * * Reiki Master Manual * * * 1997

STEP 8: CLOSE YOUR HUI-YIN POINT It is now time to begin the attunement itself. The first step is to seal off the energy exit points in the Reiki Master, allowing energy to enter, and not leave, thus building up a high level and frequency of Reiki energy for the attunement. 8.1

CLOSE FRONT OF ROOF OF MOUTH POINT

Place the tip of your tongue at the front of the top of your mouth. This seal the top energy point. 8.2

CLOSE HUI-YIN POINT

Contract the muscles at the base of your spine, and close this bottom energy point. 8.3

KEEP THESE POINTS CLOSED UNTIL THE END OF THE ATTUNEMENT

These points are kept closed until the end of the attunement process.

STEP 9: ACCUMULATE & CONCENTRATE REIKI ENERGY Now that the energy is accumulating in the Reiki Master's body, which can only exit through his/her breath or hands, the following step serves to focus the accumulating energy into a very high frequency. 9.1

HANDS ON THEIR HEAD:

Remove your hands from their shoulders, and place them on top of the client's head, so your thumbs and first fingers touch, forming an open triangle between your two hands. 9.2

that

BREATHE IN:

Breathe in, visualising the breath as a white light which comes into the top of your head (crown chakra), going down to the Hui Yin point (base of spine), and up again. 9.3

WHITE LIGHT - BLUE LIGHT - VIOLET LIGHT:

Visualise the white light as rotating clockwise inside of you, which then turns into a blue light, and then into a violet light. See this violet light as a mist inside your head. 9.4

VISUALISE TIBETAN MASTER SYMBOL (DUMO):

Visualise Dumo within this rotating violet mist inside your head. If you can not visualise this, just get the thought of Dumo placed in violet light. Spend a few moments to get this idea or image clear.

Empowerment Concepts * * * Reiki Master Manual * * * 1997

STEP 10. SYMBOLS TO CLIENT'S HEAD AND HEART 10.1

SYMBOL #1: DUMO ... BLOWING & ANCHORING, HEAD & HEART:

This step involves four simultaneous actions. (a) BLOW SYMBOL INTO THEIR HEAD: Using the Violet breath, blow Dumo (keeping tongue on top of mouth) into the top of their head. Blow slowly so that you can do this step in one outward breath. (b) SEE SYMBOL MOVING: YOUR HEAD...THEIR HEAD & HEART: As you blow, visualise Dumo moving from the top of your head into the top of their head, and then moving down to their heart; (c) ANCHOR EACH POINT WITH YOUR DOMINANT HAND: As you blow and visualise the symbol moving from your head to their head and then heart, you use your dominant hand to touch each point (top of their head, and their back, behind their heart), as the symbol reaches these parts. This touching (anchoring) is a light touch. (The other non-dominant hand can remain on their head as before). (d) SILENTLY SAY "DUMO" THREE TIMES WHEN ANCHORING: As you blow the symbol into the top of your head, you silently repeat the word "Dumo" three times as you anchor it in the top of their head, and again three times as the symbol reaches their heart. 10.2

SYMBOLS #2, 3, 4 & 5, WITHOUT BLOWING 1.... DAI-KU-MUO 2.... CHO-KU-REI 3.... SEI-HE-KI 4.... HON-SHA-ZE-SHO-NEN

For each of the four listed symbols, do the following, one at a time: (a) Draw the symbol over the crown of their head, silently saying it's name three times; (b) Picture the symbol entering the crown of their head, and anchor it there with your dominant hand, while silently saying it's name three times; (c) Then picture the symbol moving downwards from their crown, into their heart. Anchor it there with your dominant hand, while silently saying its name three times. IF ONLY ONE CLIENT, GO TO STEP 11. IF MORE THAN ONE CLIENT, DO STEP 10 FOR EACH CLIENT, THEN GO TO STEP 11.

Empowerment Concepts * * * Reiki Master Manual * * * 1997

STEP 11. SYMBOLS TO THIRD EYE, HEART & SOLAR PLEXUS 11.1

MOVE TO THE FRONT OF THE CLIENT

11.2

FOR EACH OF THE FOLLOWING SYMBOLS, ONE AT A TIME, 1... DUMO 2... DAI-KU-MYO 3... CHO-KU-REI 4... SEI-HE-KI 5... HON-SHA-ZE-SHO-NEN

DO THE FOLLOWING: (a) DRAW THE SYMBOL OVER THE TOP OF THEIR HEAD (CROWN) (b) REPEAT THE NAME OF THE SYMBOL AS YOU... GUIDE and ANCHOR each symbol with your dominant hand FROM their... ... THIRD EYE (BETWEEN EYEBROWS) TO their... ... HEART... TO their... ... SOLAR PLEXUS (CENTRE & BELOW RIBS) (In other words, starting with Dumo, you draw one symbol, guide and anchor in their Crown, Third Eye, Heart, then Solar Plexus, then draw the next symbol, and do the same, until all five symbols have been done).

STEP 12. BLOW FROM SOLAR PLEXUS TO CROWN The purpose of this step is to move the Reiki energy through the client, and to shift the blockage upwards and outwards. Keep your tongue at the top of your mouth. GENTLY BLOW, IN ONE CONTINUOUS MOVEMENT: (a) UPWARDS FROM THEIR... SOLAR PLEXUS to ...HEART to ...THIRD EYE to ...CROWN, (b) DOWNWARDS FROM THEIR... CROWN to ...THIRD EYE, to ... HEART, to ...SOLAR PLEXUS, then... (c) UPWARDS AGAIN (HAND-ARM SWEEPING UPWARDS).... THIS TIME USE YOUR HANDS TO GUIDE YOUR BREATH UPWARDS (in a hand-arm movement that resembles lifting from their solar plexus up to their head, and then pushing it away, beyond their head), WITH THE INTENTION TO SWEEP THE ENERGY-BLOCK UPWARDS AND OUT, AS YOU BLOW... FROM THEIR SOLAR PLEXUS, to ...HEART, to ... THIRD EYE, to ... CROWN AND UP BEYOND THEIR HEAD. Exhale all remaining breath at the top of the sweep.

Empowerment Concepts * * * Reiki Master Manual * * * 1997

STEP 13. BLESS AND SEAL PROCESS 13.1

BLESS CLIENT AND HEALING: (a) PLACE YOUR HANDS ON CLIENT’S SHOULDERS: (b) IMAGINE SOFT PINK BALL OF LIGHT IN THEIR HEART (c) PLACE LOVING AFFIRMATION IN HEART: Eg: “You are filled with love and healing” “The healing has begun” etc * INTEND that their heart and mind will accept this affirmation * REPEAT AFFIRMATION THREE TIMES

13.2

SEAL PROCESS: (a) PLACE DOMINANT HAND ON CLIENT’S BACK (BEHIND HEART) (b) PLACE OTHER HAND ON THEIR SHOULDER (c) STATE SILENTLY TO YOURSELF: “I now seal this healing process with love and light” ... or... “I honour the light and love within you”, etc. (d) VISUALISE A DOOR ABOVE THEIR HEAD (approx. 1 foot)... See the DOOR CLOSE, See a key turn and LOCK THE DOOR Draw or visualise CHO-KU-REI over the locked door.

STEP 14. END ATTUNEMENT 14.1

MOVE TO FRONT OF CLIENT

14.2

PLACE HANDS (PALMS FACING TOWARDS CLIENT) ON HIPS

14.3

BEND KNEES SLIGHTLY

14.4

INHALE ...., AND ON YOUR EXHALE, RELEASE HUI-YIN AND TONGUE ! (INTEND exhaled breath to be a blessing for the client.)

14.5

ASK CLIENT TO TAKE A FEW DEEP BREATHS, AND OPEN EYES WHEN READY.

Empowerment Concepts * * * Reiki Master Manual * * * 1997

STEP 15. ASSESS CHANGE THEN PROCEED AS NEEDED 15.1

ASK CLIENT: “Is the blockage still there ?” ENQUIRE HOW IT HAS CHANGED, SHIFTED, COLOUR CHANGED, ETC.

15.2

IF THE BLOCKAGE IS STILL THERE:

Even if the blockage has changed colour, size, intensity or location, it is advisable to do either standard Reiki treatment, or Psychic Surgery followed by standard treatment, to further shift and release the blockage. When this has been done, remember to seal their aura again, through a gentle and soothing stroking motion, called Unruffling the Aura. (Unruffling: Both hands moved in gentle, inward flat circular motion - as if you were ‘smoothing’ something - in the aura above the location of the psychic surgery).

Karuna Ki Reiki Level 1 & II Neil M. Orr

Karuna Ki Reiki – Level 1 – Neil M. Orr – September 1999

INTRODUCTION TO KARUNA-KI REIKI The word ‘Karuna’ means ‘Compassionate Heart’ or ‘Compassionate Action’. The word ‘Ki’ (Japanese for the Chinese ‘Chi’ or the Hindu ‘Prana’) means life-force, Universal Life Source, or ‘energy’. Karuna is a Sanscrit word used in Hinduism, Buddhism and Zen. It translates as ‘any action that is taken to diminish the suffering of others’ – compassionate action. Buddhist principles also state that Karuna needs to be directed by ‘parjna’ (wisdom) in order to be effective. The principle is that ‘All is One’, and therefore, as each person heals, we all benefit – what is done to one, is done to all. Therefore, compassion is an entirely logical thing to do – as you would want to heal your pain, so you would want to heal the pain of another. The reverse is also true: As you demonstrate and practice compassion on yourself, you are helping others, and you simultaneously become more receptive to the Karuna-Ki of enlightened beings.

In various religions there are beings who represent the aspect of Compassion: Mother Mary, Jesus (Christian), Avalokiteshvara (Buddhism), Quan-Yin (or Kuan-Yin – Chinese; KannonJapanese), and Chinrezi (Tibetan). Angelic presence and assistance is also associated with Karuna-Ki, such as Archangel Michael (when the client is fearful) and Archangel Gabriel (when the client has deep issues which needs to be healed, and guidance is required on how to do this). One of the characteristics of Karuna-Ki Reiki is a closer connection to such beings, Ascended Masters, and higher aspects of yourself. This is also one reason why many people find Karuna-Ki Reiki more powerful than standard Usui Reiki.

Karuna is the key quality of all enlightened beings who are presently working towards ending the suffering on Earth. An unlimited supply of healing energy is being sent to us. When you practice Karuna-Ki, you become more receptive to such healing energy.

The Karuna-Ki Reiki symbols are used in the same way as the standard Usui symbols, in any Reiki treatment. They can also be used in conjunction with the Usui symbols.

The Usui CHO (Power) symbol is used to amplify the Karuna symbols. Use the HONSHA symbol after the Karuna-Ki symbols to take the symbols where they are needed.

In Karuna-Ki Level 1, the four symbols are typically used in a certain sequence, although this is not necessarily so: ZON is used to begin the session and prepares the client for deep healing; HAL is used to heal deeply; HAR is used to heal the heart, and RAM is used to ground the client back in his/her body at the end of the session. Obviously, there are other applications for each symbol.

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Karuna Ki Reiki – Level 1 – Neil M. Orr – September 1999

HISTORY OF KARUNA KI Reiki was rediscovered by Mikao Usui in 1914, in Japan. In 1922 he founded the Usui Shiki Reiki Ryoho (Usui System of Natural Healing). One of the people he taught was Chujiro Hayashi. He in turn taught Hawaya Takata, who returned to Hawaii and founded what we now know as Reiki Usui in the West.

Takata founded the Reiki Alliance. Prior to her death, she nominated her grand-daughter, Phyllis Furimoto, to be her successor (Grand Master). Furimoto turned the offer down. Takata then nominated another student, Barbara Ray Weber. However, just before Takata died, Furimoto changed her mind, and so there were two Grand Masters. The situation was untenable, so Weber branched off and founded the Radiance Technique, while Furimoto continued the Reiki Alliance. Keep in mind that this occurred under the mistaken assumption that Hayashi, then Takata, were Usui’s ‘successors’.

Due to regulations imposed by Takata, a fee of $10 000 was, and still is, charged for Reiki Master Degree by the Reiki Alliance. In the 1980’s, some Reiki Alliance Master’s broke away from this regulation, and became known as the Independent Reiki Masters. The reason was to make Reiki more accessible to people by reducing the fees. The culmination of this breakaway movement was the publication of ‘Essential Reiki’ by Diane Stein. For the first time, all the symbols (as taught to Takata) were published. This prompted a resurgence of research into the life of Usui, and the origins of Reiki. Previous histories state that Hayashi (and hence Takata) were the ‘successors’ of Usui, this is factually incorrect: Hayashi was simply a student of Usui, and a respected Reiki teacher. Nor did Reiki ‘die out’ in Japan after World War Two, as previously claimed – it has continued to be taught and practiced without interruption. This effectively means that there was no such thing as a ‘Reiki Grand Master’, until Takata introduced the title. Furthermore, Usui used manuals with the symbols for students, a practice prohibited by the Reiki Alliance. Usui also attuned his students with all the symbols at once, although training in the applications of the symbols was taught over time. It has also been discovered that Usui was neither Christian or Buddhist, as previously claimed. He was simply a healer who sought a more effective way of healing, at the request of his students. Finally, Usui was not unique in receiving some form of enlightenment on Mount Kurama – many have experienced similar events.

Sai Baba is a guru from India who is credited with having channeled an alternative system of Reiki. He is known for his ability to manifest objects and holy ash (muthi) from thin air. In 199091 Marcy Miller met Sai Baba in India, and was told that the attunement process taught by Takata was not complete, and that the Earth needed the Reiki system intact at this time. Sai Baba retrieved the first Karuna symbol (Zonar) and missing attunement procedures from the inner planes, and bilocally transmitted it to Miller in February 1991, while she was with Kathleen Milner (author of ‘Reiki and Other Rays of Healing Touch’). In April 1991, the second and third

2

Karuna Ki Reiki – Level 1 – Neil M. Orr – September 1999 Karuna symbols (Harth and Halu) were channeled, and this was followed by Rama (also called Mara).

Since then, additional symbols and adjustments to the system have been made by William Rand, Gary Jirauch and others. For example, Pat Courtney (Shanti symbol) and Margrette Sheldon (Kriya symbol). Symbols from Tibetan, Egyptian and modern sources have been added.

Although Marcy Miller claims that the symbols were channeled from Satya Sai Baba, recent investigations reveal that they derive from two ancient Tantric Reiki systems, namely Karuna (Compassionate Action) Reiki, and Dai Nichi (Great Sun) Reiki. Together, these form what is called The Ascended Masters Reiki. The Ascended Masters are enlightened beings who are focused on sending as much healing energy to Earth, to end suffering. An unidentified messenger of the White Brotherhood is focusing on filtering these symbols through to us. S/he states that the aim of all Reiki is spiritual transmutation. Dai Nichi Reiki is apparently a previously secret version of Reiki. In Usui Reiki – as we know it in the West - there are three, sometimes four levels of teaching Reiki. In Japan, there are six levels. Presumably, Dai Nichi Reiki is part of the other two levels. The intention of these ‘new’ symbols is to rebuild the original Reiki system as used by Usui. Questions began to arise as to the completeness of the present Usui System, as the ‘new’ symbols were clearly Reiki symbols. One line of reasoning in this regard is that Hayashi either did not attune Takata to all the symbols, or that Takata did not teach all the symbols. The former theory seems more plausible, considering that Japanese culture prior to WW2 treated women as less than third-class citizens, and it was unheard of that a woman be taught such closely guarded secrets. We conclude therefore that Hayashi only taught Takata a section of the Reiki System and symbols.

Additional Personal Notes on Karuna-Ki Reiki There are presently two ‘Karuna’ Reiki systems: Karuna Reiki (William Rand), and Karuna-Ki Reiki. I have completed the Master Attunement for both systems. The symbols in the two systems are the same, except that Karuna-Ki Reiki has one additional symbol, namely MotorZanon. Furthermore, the two system teach different healing techniques. I have chosen to teach the Karuna-Ki system for several reasons: (a) The training and certification process of KarunaKi Reiki is less complicated and restrictive than Karuna Reiki; (b) Karuna-Ki has an extra symbol which is potentially very useful, and which, due to the restrictions on altering course materials in Karuna Reiki, can not be taught as part of the Karuna Reiki system.

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Karuna Ki Reiki – Level 1 – Neil M. Orr – September 1999

LEVELS OF KARUNA-KI REIKI There are three levels of Karuna-Ki Reiki. Karuna-Ki Levels 1 and 2 are taught after the student has completed Usui Reiki level 3 (Advanced Reiki / Master Reiki Part 1). Level 3 (Master Karuna-Ki level) is only taught after the student has completed Usui Reiki Master Degree (all parts):

1.

Usui Reiki

First Degree

2.

Usui Reiki

Second Degree

3.

Usui Reiki

Third Degree (Master Usui Degree)

4.

Karuna-Ki Level One

Fourth Degree

5.

Karuna-Ki Level Two

Fifth Degree

6.

Karuna-Ki Level Three

Karuna-Ki Master degree (Sixth Degree)

LEVEL 1:

KARUNA REIKI (Formerly SAI BABA REIKI)

Four Symbols: ZONAR, HALU, HARTH, RAMA Restoring balance / Deep healing / Release karma & past-life issues / Clear channels to higher consciousness / Balance lower & upper chakras Techniques: Trauma Release / Guided visualization

LEVEL 2:

DAI NICHI REIKI (Previously called The White Brotherhood Symbols)

Four Symbols: GNOSA, SHANTI, IAVA, KRIYA Linking to Higher Self / Manifesting / Claiming your unique reality Techniques: Polar vs Non-polar Reiki / Unification technique

LEVEL 3:

MASTER/TEACHER Four symbols: One healing & three attunement symbols OM, MOTOR-ZANON, DUMO, RAM-NAGA (Fire Serpent) How to do enhanced Tibetan attunements Violet breathe / Master Healing symbol Ascended Master Reiki Guide Meditation

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Karuna Ki Reiki – Level 1 – Neil M. Orr – September 1999

PRANA – THE ESSENSE OF REIKI The following material is not part of the original Karuna-Ki manual which I received when I completed my Karuna-Ki Reiki Master attunement. However, I feel that the opening of the Heart Chakra is the essence of Karuna-Ki, and have thus inserted this material as part of the training. The techniques are based upon the work of Tom Kenyon and Virginia Essene. The explanations are mine, based upon the same material. (Source: Kenyon, T., & Essene, V., 1996, The Hathor Material, S.E.E. Publishing Company, Santa Clara, Ca., USA.)

Reiki is prana. Prana is life force. It is also called Universal Energy, and a range of other names, including vitality, and aliveness. Without prana, your body will cease to exist. Indeed, life at all levels would cease. All living creatures utilize prana.

You exist at many levels - physical body, etheric body, emotional body, mental body, causal body, ketheric body, celestial body, and so on, ad infinitum. These exist 3-dimensionally and beyond - interpenetrating the physical body.

The Etheric Body is also called the Pranic Body, or the Ka (Egyptian origin) . It's prana interpenetrates and vitalizes the physical body. How much prana (life-force) you draw into yourself determines how much energy is available to the physical body system, the clarity, power and impact of your thought, and the quality of your emotions.

Imagine that the Ka is a field of energy that surrounds your physical body, and that it interpenetrates it, almost like a sponge saturated with water, within a bucket of water. The sponge is the physical body, and the water is the Ka.

Figure 1

Figure 2

3-Dimensional Representation

2-Dimensional Representation

of Energy Bodies

of Energy Bodies

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Karuna Ki Reiki – Level 1 – Neil M. Orr – September 1999

The Pranic Tube In figures 1 and 2, you will notice that the pranic energy field seems to enter/exit at the top and bottom of the body. This is true - energy enters/leaves through the top of the head (crown chakra) and the base of the spine (base chakra). There is an actual energy 'tube' connecting these two entry/exit points through the physical body, called the Pranic Tube (refer Figure 3). If you touch your thumb and second finger, the circle formed is about the size the diameter of your own pranic tube.

Figure 3

The Pranic Tube

Do not confuse the Pranic Tube with the chakras, which are located along the spine itself. The energy line connecting the chakras is called the Sushumna. If you are standing with your back straight, the Sushumna and the Pranic Tube coincide and overlap. If you bend your back, the Sushumna will curve as well, as it is linked to the spine itself. However, regardless of whether you stand straight or bend your back, the Pranic Tube does not bend - it always forms a straight line between the top of your head and the base of your spine. This is probably why so many body posture practices and yoga place so much emphasis upon having a straight back the Pranic Tube can then 'feed' pranic energy into the chakras directly.

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Karuna Ki Reiki – Level 1 – Neil M. Orr – September 1999

The Human Experience A human being has access to two primary sources of prana: (1) Earth Prana; and (2) Cosmic Prana. In figures 1, 2, and 3, you will see that prana enters into the physical body from above (Cosmic / Heavenly / Spiritual / Divine energy), and from below (Earth energy). A simpler way of viewing this is to state that you are half physical, and half spirit. You are both - not one or the other (at least while you have a physical body). You are a spiritual being operating within a physical universe. Some people who claim to be 'on a spiritual path' (as if there is any other path, and as if that there is anyone who is not doing the same thing in a different way) believe that this means that their 'lower' nature - the body - must be denied, ignored or suppressed. You can do this. However, it does not work very well, simply because you are disconnecting a powerful source of prana, namely Earth prana. This is largely experienced by people who are 'in their heads' most of the time - wonderful ideas, little action or physical pleasure and feeling. Conversely, there are people who deny or ignore their spiritual nature, and focus exclusively upon the five-sensory experiential world as the only reality that exists. This is a valid option. However, once again, this means that the person is reducing or eliminating a powerful source of prana - Cosmic Prana. Examples of such prana are Purpose, inspirational ideas, and so on.

The Heart Chakra - The Bridge In Chakra 4 – the Heart Chakra - the Earthly and Cosmic energies meet. For example, where physical impulses are blended with Purpose, so that action and inspiration can be focused with Will, Action, Love, Insight, and so on. It is the domain of love - self-love, love of another, and Universal love. This is where the Divine meets the physical world, and where true balance is found. This is the domain of Compassion.

Feeling - Thinking - Emotion - Action The language of the Soul is Feeling. Feeling is not an emotion - it is the multitude of sensations of the physical and non-physical world that are experienced by the body. An emotion is the result of attaching a meaning to those sensations/feelings.

Example: It is a cool overcast day - sensations of coolness (Feeling). You then decide that this is 'not good' - it is a 'dreary miserable day'. (Thinking). You then say you feel miserable because it is a dreary day. (Emotion). You then decide to do something to change your reality - go indoors. (Action).

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Karuna Ki Reiki – Level 1 – Neil M. Orr – September 1999 Most people will tell you about their emotions. Few are aware of the real feeling, or the thinking that they attached to the feeling to make it an emotion. How do you know if it is a feeling or an emotion? Feeling has no interpretation or meaning attached. Feelings are neither positive or negative - they are simply physical reports about what is happening.

Feelings are not part of the Pranic (Etheric) Body - they are instead part of the Emotional Body. The Emotional Body has a direct connection to the Pranic Body, which in turn affects the physical body. For example, if you hold a specific feeling strongly - e.g., anger - the Emotional Body will activate streams of energy which penetrate the Pranic Body, and this in turn penetrates the physical body. Logically therefore, long-standing and strong emotions can cause powerful effects upon your physical health.

Powerful feelings - such as during moments of intensity - e.g., emotional or physical trauma - in and of themselves do not cause health problems. However, if a thought/decision/meaning is attached to that powerful feeling, then it becomes a powerful emotion. If you resist either the intense feeling or emotion - "It is a bad feeling" - then the emotion becomes 'frozen' or locked up in your energy system, and does not move through your energy system - it gets 'stuck'. It is these 'stuck' feelings and emotions which have a chronic impact upon the physical body.

When there are 'stuck' emotions and feelings in the Emotional Body which the person is resisting and avoiding, the person tends to shift his/her focus to the Mental Body - the intellect.

However, by avoiding the Emotional Body, the person is missing out on the most direct and accurate information available about the world, and his/her place in it at any point in time, namely feelings (internal and external sensations). This is not, I repeat, the same as emotions.

Furthermore, when you 'get stuck in your head' - become overly mental in approach - you become driven by feelings and emotions which you are not aware of. Ironically, the more nonfeeling and mental you become, the more your Unconscious Mind grows, which is the exact opposite of Becoming Aware, or evolving as a human being! The irony is that many people who place all their energy into mental activities, are in fact creating larger Unconscious Minds, and are therefore sometimes often more 'stuck' in their personal growth than someone who places less emphasis upon his/her mind. Balance is the operative term.

The point is that it is crucial to become more aware of your Feelings. Secondly, it is important for many reasons, including physical health - to unlock the frozen energies of past emotions, so that the trapped feeling energy can return to flow into your system.

Finally, an important point is that there are specific feelings which have a tremendously beneficial effect upon the physical body, namely unconditional love and unconditional acceptance. Both of these depend upon the absence of judgments. This is the domain of the Heart Chakra.

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Karuna Ki Reiki – Level 1 – Neil M. Orr – September 1999 The breathing exercises described will seem complicated initially. However, like most things, after a few practices it becomes quite simple, effortless, and automatic.

OPENING YOUR HEART CHAKRA Karuna is about compassion. Compassion is about the heart, and action that flows from the heart. The most fundamental aspect about Karuna is therefore ‘love’. Unfortunately, the word ‘love’ has been used so often in so many contexts, many of which concern emotions such as affection, lust, desire and romance, that it is difficult to truly explain what love is. One method of explaining what love is – and is not – is to use the chakra system. Sexuality and sensuality is the domain of the second chakra, as is desire for gratification. Excitement –“I’d love to do it!” is the domain of the second and third chakra, as it involves action and challenge. Unconditional love – personal and Universal – is the domain of the fourth (heart) chakra. The element of this chakra is air, not fire (action), nor water (emotion). Love – and compassion – is based upon acceptance, which is the absence of judgement. It has little to do with liking or disliking, lust, or emotion. Therefore, when speaking about parts of yourself which you ‘love’, this refers to parts of yourself that you can accept without judgment of good/bad, right/wrong, and ugly/beautiful. The same would apply to another human being, animal, plant, place or situation. Acceptance means that you allow perceptions of separation to fall away, and ‘connectedness’ occurs – All is One.

It is important to note that the nerve plexi which are associated with the Heart Chakra (Pulmonary Plexus, Cardiac Plexus, and Brachial Plexus) largely govern the lungs (breathing), heart, and arms-hands. Most Reiki healing is done with the hands, which is governed by the Heart chakra. Furthermore, ‘love’ and breathing is centred around the same energy centre. In a very real and physical sense, Reiki is thus a Heart Chakra system, and there is an intimate connection between the hands, love and breathing. There are two crucial principles to consider regarding ‘love’: (a) It cannot be ‘thought’ – it needs to be felt; (b) The vibrational frequency of unconditional love is sufficient in and of itself to heal any disease.

In terms of healing, it is important to remember that the judgement of a pain, blockage, or disease, is in and of itself an obstacle to unconditional (non-judgmental) love, and thus healing. Compassionate action (Karuna) emerges out of a non-judgment of the condition itself, in conjunction with the expression of a choice to experience something else. Think carefully about the implications of this concept.

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Karuna Ki Reiki – Level 1 – Neil M. Orr – September 1999

PRANIC BREATHING - LEVEL 1 INHALE 1: Take a slow deep breath, and at the same time, imagine that you are drawing energy up from the Earth, into the base of your spine, and up to the top of your head. In other words, breathe up into the Pranic Tube.

EXHALE 1: Hold your breath for a brief moment, as you focus upon the Pranic Tube. Relax, and exhale with a sigh. This is preferably done through your mouth, although not necessarily. As you exhale, shift your focus to your entire body. Imagine that the prana is flowing out of the Pranic Tube into all parts of your body.

INHALE 2: Take in another slow deep breath, and at the same time, imagine that you are drawing energy down through the top of your head, and down your spine. In other words, breathe down into the Pranic Tube.

EXHALE 2: Hold your breath for a brief moment, as you focus upon the Pranic Tube. Relax, and exhale with a sigh. This is preferably done through your mouth, although not necessarily. As you exhale, shift your focus to your entire body. Imagine that the prana is flowing out of the Pranic Tube into all parts of your body.

FOCUS OF INHALE 2

FOCUS OF EXHALE

FOCUS OF INHALE 1

The above two breaths can be repeated several times, as needed. The prana flow is determined by your attention and focus: Energy follows Awareness (or "Where thought goes, energy flows").

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Karuna Ki Reiki – Level 1 – Neil M. Orr – September 1999

PRANIC BREATHING - LEVEL 2 STEP 1: (a) Place your attention on your heart. (b) Think of a part of yourself, or someone or something that you love and/or accept unconditionally. 'Thinking' it will not do - ensure that you actually feel it. You may need to take a few minutes to identify the person or thing.

STEP 2: With your awareness on the heart centre, and holding the feeling of unconditional love and acceptance …. (a) INHALE and draw prana UP FROM THE EARTH into your pranic tube. (b) HOLD the breathe for moment, as you focus on the pranic tube, still holding the feelingstate of love and acceptance. (c) EXHALE: As you exhale, SHIFT YOUR ATTENTION INTO YOUR PHYSICAL BODY, and allow the prana to move out from the pranic tube into your entire body.

STEP 3: Return your attention to your Heart Centre. With your awareness on the heart centre, and holding the feeling of unconditional love and acceptance …. (a) INHALE and draw prana DOWN FROM THE SPACE ABOVE YOUR HEAD into your pranic tube. (b) HOLD the breathe for moment, as you focus on the pranic tube, still holding the feelingstate of love and acceptance. (c) EXHALE: As you exhale, SHIFT YOUR ATTENTION INTO YOUR PHYSICAL BODY, and allow the prana to move out from the pranic tube into your entire body.

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Karuna Ki Reiki – Level 1 – Neil M. Orr – September 1999

Suggested Guidelines for increasing Prana The following suggestions are exactly that – suggestions. Use them as you please.

1. Eat 'light' foods. I.e., food which is high in Earth prana. This is largely fresh fruit and vegetables. No, diet is not a spiritual path - it is just a technical method of enhancing prana. Furthermore, when your Pranic Body is activated and vibrant, the importance of diet is largely eliminated. However, until that point in time, diet is very useful to get you there.

2. Drink lots of clean water, as (clean and fresh) water is high in prana. It also flushes out toxins.

3. Be aware of your posture. As far as possible, keep your back upright so that the Sushumna and Pranic Tube overlap.

4. When you feel emotional, breathe deeply, and keep your back straight. This will allow the energy to flow through you, and not get stuck. Do not judge what you are feeling - just let it be there.

5. During and after any process, practice the Pranic Breathing method, as previously described. The function of the technique is to stabilize and enhance your pranic energy.

6. Do not waste energy in unnecessary ways, such as talking for the sake of talking.

7. When there is an opportunity, get fresh air, sit outside, and generally connect with Earth prana.

8. Consider your judgments of the illness or problem that you are presented with. Consider that you have no idea of whether it is useful or not useful to that person’s personal evolution. Determine the person’s choice regarding the condition.

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Karuna Ki Reiki – Level 1 – Neil M. Orr – September 1999

ETHICS OF KARUNA-KI I have added the following ethical guidelines to the Karuna-Ki Level One manual. Some of these ethical guidelines are based upon those presented by William Rand in the Karuna™ Reiki manuals.

1. Heal yourself. Trust yourself. Continue learning.

2. Respect the Free Will and Choice of yourself and others. If you do not have permission from someone to send him/her Reiki, then you may send love – not for the purpose of change, but for the purpose of acknowledging and accepting him/her as part of your reality. S/he may do with the love energy as s/he deems fit.

3. If there are children in your household, heal them when they become ill. The same applies to pets and plants. You are the guardian of their innocence and well-being.

4. Respect your clients and students, including his/her body. It is inappropriate to touch the genital area and breasts, or to ask the client to take his/her clothes off. Refrain from any sexual comments, references, or jokes with clients or students.

5. Respect all Reiki practitioners and Masters, regardless of their lineage and affiliations.

6. Allow clients and students to choose the Master or practitioner from whom they want healing or teaching.

7. Encourage students and students to do the best s/he knows how with the Reiki programme s/he has access to. Encourage him/her in his/her personal growth and self-healing.

8. Refrain from diagnosing physical or mental-emotional conditions, or presenting prognoses. It is important to acknowledge to the client that Reiki works in conjunction with other healing methods, including medical treatment. Refrain from suggesting that a client ceases or changes prescribed medications or medical treatment. If a client has a medical problem, suggest that s/he consults a medical professional.

9. Refrain from making statements regarding curing anything. Make no guarantees in this regard.

10. Refrain from false advertising in terms of what you do, and course contents.

11. Refrain from using drugs or alcohol during any professional activity. 12. When using someone else’s copyrighted material, give credit and obtain permission first.

13

Karuna Ki Reiki – Level 1 – Neil M. Orr – September 1999

USING THE AMR (KARUNA-KI LEVEL ONE) SYMBOLS The following notes have been added to provide clarity to the practical use of the symbols. In Karuna-Ki Reiki, the use of Toning and Chanting is not emphasized, although it is stressed as a highly effective method in KarunaTM Reiki. Please note that the explanations of the four symbols are derived from three sources: The Karuna-Ki Reiki manuals, KarunaTM Reiki Manuals, and Kathleen Milner’s ‘Reiki and Other Rays of Healing Touch’. The only differences in explanations between these three sources is the depth and detail of applications of each symbol, and not their fundamental nature.

The AMR symbols (Ascended Masters Symbols) are used in conjunction with the Usui symbols:

(a) First insert the symbols into the palms of your hands, using the method(s) taught in the Usui system. This would include all the Usui healing symbols as well – DAI, CHO, SEI, and HON, followed by the AMR symbols – ZON, HAL, HAR, and RAM. (b) Prepare yourself as you normally would – CHO symbol into your chakras, DAI symbol to connect Hara Line, and large CHO symbol to seal and protect yourself. Invite your guides, Guardian Angel(s), Ascended Masters to assist in the process. State your intent.

(c) Spend a few minutes centering yourself with the Pranic Breathing, to open your Heart Chakra.

(d) When using specific AMR symbols, first draw the CHO symbol, followed by the specific AMR symbol, as CHO will amplify the AMR symbol(s). Then draw the HON symbol so that the AMR symbol(s) go to where they are needed.

(e) The AMR symbols are typically used in the following sequence: ZON (to prepare the client for deep healing), followed by HAL (to release deep-seated blockages), then HAR (to fill the area with truth and love, and finally, RAM (to ground the client into his/her body).

(f) The AMR symbols may be used alone as well, depending upon your intent. Use the CHO symbol to amplify it’s effects.

(g) Allow your intent and intuition to guide the process.

(h) When doing self-healing, use the same process as you were taught in the Usui system, and simply add the AMR symbols. For example, use the HON symbol first, then do the ‘treatment’ on your left-right leg, or visualize the treatment on yourself.

(i) The same guidelines concerning obtaining permission from the client apply as taught in the Usui system.

(j) A powerful method of empowering the symbols is Toning, which is basically chanting the name of the symbol at least three times, slowly, before or during a treatment.

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Karuna Ki Reiki – Level 1 – Neil M. Orr – September 1999

ZONAR To Draw: Draw a ‘Z’, starting at the top left corner. (a) Top, across to the right, (b) down, (c) and across to the right at the bottom. (d) Then draw the infinity sign (anti-clockwise direction) THREE times.

KEY CONCEPTS: •

Prepares client for deep EMOTIONAL / CELLULAR healing, followed by Halu.

•

Cellular Memory & DNA level, with HON.

•

Karma release (with Halu) – Genetic memory, Trauma, Abuse, & Past Life issues.

•

Spiritual Anaesthetic effect.

Zonar is typically used at the beginning of a treatment, in conjunction with HON, as it prepares the client for deep healing. The infinity symbol releases emotional pain and blockages. Zonar is then typically followed by Halu, Harth and Rama. Pain and trauma from the past – whether genetic memory from your previous generations, or past lives or present-life trauma – is locked into the cells of your body. Zonar penetrates into the DNA of cells, unlocking and releasing the memories – especially the emotional trauma – of past events. Therefore, when using this symbol, combine it with HON so that Zonar travels to the appropriate location of the cellular memory which is holding a past trauma in the body.

Pain and trauma from the past, especially trapped within cells and DNA, can prevent the normal healing process from taking it’s course. Therefore, applications of this symbol would be in the area of chronic physical pain and disabilities, restricted movements, and possibly genetic issues. Therefore, Zonar is used to unlock and release suppressed emotional trauma, including child-hood abuse, genetic issues, and past-life patterns. When emotional issues are released, this affects the clarity of your thoughts in present-time. Therefore, another application of Zonar is the release of false beliefs, confused thinking, and delusions.

Archangel Gabriel may be invited to assist in such healing, especially in the area of trauma and past-life blockages. Think of the issue, get a sense of the energy of the issue, activate Zonar, and send the energy to Gabriel, with the request that he heals it. If you choose, you may ask that the lesson/gift of the issue be revealed to you in time.

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Karuna Ki Reiki – Level 1 – Neil M. Orr – September 1999

HALU To Draw: Draw a standard Zonar (Steps ‘a’ to’ d’). Say it’s name three times to activate it. Then… (e) from the top left corner of the ‘z’, draw a line into the centre of the infinity symbol; (f) Draw a line from the bottom right corner of the ‘z’ into the centre of the infinity symbol, where it meets the previous line; (g) Draw the ‘pyramid’, starting at the top-left corner of the ‘z’ upwards, then (h) down to the top-right corner of the ‘z’. (i) Draw the circle on top of the pyramid, anticlockwise.

KEY CONCEPTS: •

Releases Unconscious Mental Patterns – Addictions, Beliefs, The Shadow Self.

•

Represents Truth (reality-as-it-is) versus truth (beliefs).

•

Operates at the level of the nervous system.

•

Protection from Psychic Attack.

Where Zonar operates at the level of deep-seated emotional aspect of issues, Halu operates at the level of deep-seated mental dimensions – typically Unconscious – of an issue. It is therefore a powerful healing symbol for addictions, the Shadow Self (aspects of ourselves which we deny and suppress), and any negative behavioural or emotional pattern which we do not know the cause of.

Most unconscious beliefs and patterns are based upon perceptions (perceptions) of separation during events of pain and loss. Halu shatters these unconscious patterns and beliefs with Truth, and thus reinstates love, harmony and beauty. Clearly, Halu operates at the level of the nervous system.

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Karuna Ki Reiki – Level 1 – Neil M. Orr – September 1999 Halu is an amplification of Zonar, and is typically used in conjunction with it, as Zonar enters into the blockage or issue, shakes it up, releases the emotional charges attached, and then Halu dissolves the mental decisions and beliefs which are attached, and raises consciousness to a higher level of truth.

For addictions, including drug abuse, use this symbol in conjunction with Zonar and SEI in order to remove the mental-emotional need for the addictive substance. Send these symbols with HON symbol. Obviously, use CHO to empower the symbols first. A similar method is used with dissolving behaviours and emotional reactions which seem irrational and instinctive, and which you cannot seem to control. These unconscious beliefs usually emerge as habitual coping styles – arrogance, low selfworth, stubbornness, martyrdom, greed, self-destruct, and impatience. Use Halu to locate and release the decisions made in the past which keep such coping styles in place.

Halu is formed by adding a pyramid on top of Zonar, and it is this aspect of the symbol which represents the mental (nervous system) aspect of deep healing.

Many of these deep-seated issues are located in the first chakra (feeling unwanted, desparate) second chakra (guilt), and third chakra (shame; low self-worth). Ask the client to get a sense of which part of his/her body the issue is located. Activate Zonar, then Halu and HON, and send it into that part of the body. Toning the symbols as you do this empowers the method further.

When dealing with sexual abuse (second chakra) and physical abuse (usually first chakra), Zonar and Halu enables the release of the trauma without the person necessarily fully reexperiencing the trauma again. An understanding of what took place – Truth – may emerge instead. Therefore, these symbols are very useful with childhood abuse issues.

Psychic attack is created by an unconscious invitation of some kind. Halu can release that unconscious part of yourself that invites such attacks.

When working with chronic diseases, such as cancer, Halu will facilitate becoming conscious of the decisions made during trigger events which have contributed towards to alteration of cellular activity. It also enables the release of such unconscious beliefs and decisions, and replace these with Truth. Halu can also used in conjunction with psychic surgery to release and dissipate cysts and tumours. Essentially, the function of Halu is to enter into dense energy and to increase it’s vibration so that falsehood dispels. This occurs at the frequency of thought, not emotion. Halu is also associated with Earth Healing, due to it’s affinity with Beauty and Harmony.

17

Karuna Ki Reiki – Level 1 – Neil M. Orr – September 1999

HARTH To Draw: First draw the ‘crucifix’ part: (a) Draw the central line downwards, then (b) the ‘crossbar’ from right to left. From the point where these lines cross over, (c) draw the left-hand ‘leg’ downwards and out, and continue by (d) drawing the left-hand line inwards again, towards the bottom tip of the ‘cross’. (e) and (f) are the same as (c) and (d), except on the right-hand side. Finally, (g) draw the three circles, starting at the left-most corner, then the bottom one, and finally the right-hand circle. All circles are drawn anti-clockwise.

KEY CONCEPTS: •

From, and to, the Heart – Love - Compassion.

•

Beauty, Harmony, Balance, Acceptance, Connectedness.

•

Relationships – Co-dependency.

•

Fills the energy ‘holes’ where love is absent, or where healing has released a blockage.

Harth operates from and towards the Heart chakra. Reiki has been described as “The secret art of inviting Joy and Happiness”, and this is exactly what Harth does: It fills you with love – personal love, and Universal love.

The process of healing invariably involves energetic loss, in the form of releasing emotions and beliefs which are causing a specific problem. It is largely due to this fact – that healing results in loss, and that a person can only handle so much loss at a time – that healing can take a while. However, if the loss – energetic ‘holes’ where the released energy was before – can be rapidly filled with Love (i.e., the person can ‘have’ energy to fill these ‘holes’), healing can occur at a much accelerated speed. When such ‘replacement’ energy is not provided, it is possible that the old blockage can be held on to, a new problem surfaces to fill the energy ‘hole’, or that the issue will be released slowly. Therefore, when any release has occurred, such as release due to the use of Zonar and Halu, use Harth to fill those ‘holes’ with love energy.

The same principle applies to addictions and trauma release. Addictions are usually the result of past events of physical or emotional abandonment, which leaves an energetic ‘hole’ where the

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Karuna Ki Reiki – Level 1 – Neil M. Orr – September 1999 desired love ‘should’ be. Addictions are thus an issue of the Heart chakra, and the addictive substance or behaviour is the result of trying to use the Will (3 rd chakra) to provide a substitute which will fill the ‘emptiness’ in the heart. Such substitutes provide only temporary satisfaction, and the craving remains. Use Harth, in conjunction with Halu and SEI, to fill the heart with love.

Sometimes, old beliefs which we think we have let go of, simply do not leave. Often, this is the result of not willing to let go of some identity we have of ourselves. Again, the issue of loss (of identity) is the issue. Use Harth, Zonar and SEI to let these beliefs go.

As Love is All There Is, Harth represents the superconscious, while Halu represents the conscious, and SEI represents the unconscious. In combination, these work powerfully to overcome feelings of abandonment, separation, and loneliness. Furthermore, spiritual healing emanates from the heart, and it is therefore important to heal your heart. This is important if you experience feelings of withdrawal, depression, grief and sadness. Use Harth to heal your heart, and to strengthen your commitment to compassion.

Harth (followed by HON) is also sometimes used to connect with beings of compassion, such as Jesus, Mary, Quan-Yin, and Avalokiteshvara. Guidance from these beings reveal that compassion is not sacrifice, but is rather a logical application of the Truth – that All is One. Therefore, the use of Harth serves to increase your capacity for Unconditional Love, and Compassionate Action, which is the essence of Reiki.

Another application concerns problems when communicating with someone, which is the result of perceived separation. Harth works well when you simply cannot ‘get through’ to someone. It also works well in revealing the truth when someone is lying, face-to-face, or telephonically.

Harth is especially appropriate for healing relationships, and issues of codependency. Codependency is the mental-emotional belief that “I need you in order to be whole”. ‘Needing’ someone is not the same as ‘wanting’ to be with someone. ‘Needing’ someone’s love and approval means that you believe that you do not have love and worth inside of yourself, which is not the Truth. Co-dependency implies that “I am not whole”. Often, individuals come together in a relationship with an unspoken agenda to support each other’s perceptions of not-whole-ness. Use Harth, in conjunction with HON, to heal your relationships. The result is the healing of the individuals concerned, and the relationship itself. Such healing may be experienced as a closer, wiser, and more trusting relationship in which problems are dealt with more maturely, or it may be experienced as a redefining of the relationship, such as separating.

When you are having difficulty committing to some healthy activity, such as exercise, first use Zonar, Halu and Harth to heal the unconscious blockages. Then send Harth to the new ‘habit’ you wish to acquire. Write the ‘new habit’ on a piece of paper, and hold it between your hands while you empower it with Harth. Do this every day. Then act upon this desire – put it into action, no matter how small the action is.

19

Karuna Ki Reiki – Level 1 – Neil M. Orr – September 1999

RAMA To Draw: The ‘hockey sticks’ are drawn first, and each one is drawn in one movement, starting with the shorter (bottom) piece, going downwards, then upwards (the ‘handle’ part) to complete the ‘hockey stick’. (a) Draw the left-hand hockey stick first, (b) then the right-hand one. (c) The spiral is drawn from the top, moving downwards. The central spiral coincides with the place where the two 'hockey stick' cross over. There are two complete spirals above, and two below this central spiral.

KEY CONCEPTS: •

Grounding into the body.

•

Shifts Compassion (4th chakra) towards Compassionate Action (3rd and 4th chakras).

•

Opens the feet chakras to Earth energy - Connects to the Earth and the four elements.

•

Balances lower chakras with each other (balances pranic flow).

•

Balances the higher chakras with the lower chakras.

•

Used at the end of a treatment, and also after attunements and intense release work.

•

Cleanses healer’s chakras and hands after a treatment.

Rama (sometimes referred to as Mara) pulls consciousness into the Earth and it’s four elements. Each spiral represents an element (earth, water, fire, air), with the central spiral representing the heart (love). Therefore, the symbol grounds the person into his/her body, and then balances the upper (universal prana) with the lower (earth prana), with love (heart).

With this balancing and grounding to Earth prana, an influx of Earth prana enables the release of energies released during healing. The released energies are pulled into the Earth (and thus cleansed from your system), and Earth prana rises up through the feet to fill the space left by the released energy. Rama thus acts as a cleansing symbol, and can be used to cleanse yourself after a healing, instead of, or together with, washing of hands.

Rama is thus a powerful symbol when you need to be centered, alert to present time, and need to let go of confusion, dizziness, pressure and pain. Imagine Rama on the soles of each of your

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Karuna Ki Reiki – Level 1 – Neil M. Orr – September 1999 feet to achieve this present-time grounding effect. The same method is used with clients after a healing, to ground him/her into present time and his/her physical body. To cleanse your energy before or after a treatment, draw or visualize Rama between your hands. Then slap it into each palm. Imagine Reiki energy flowing into the upper spirals of the symbol, and that the undesired energy or pain is being flushed out the lower spirals, into the Earth. Quite effective after a tiring day.

The same method can be used to flush out past-based fears, such as fears of failure and success, as it allows us to focus on present time, and thus connect with our Purpose.

During healing (or dreams or meditation), the person often leaves his/her body. During this time, insights and awareness may occur. However, upon re-entering physical awareness, these insights may be lost. Rama will assist in bringing such awareness into present-time.

Rama can also be drawn in the centre of a room and the four corners to clear out undesired energies. Then fill the room with Harth (love). This works well when discussions occur in a room, as Rama brings reality-based clarity and decisiveness to the proceedings.

Healing of fractured bones, accidents, and wounds can take longer than necessary when a person’s awareness is still trapped in the event itself. When a person is in a coma, his/her attention is still stuck in the traumatic event. Use Rama to bring the person’s awareness and consciousness back into present-time., and to flush out the pain of the event. This will speed up the natural healing process. For similar reasons, Rama – together with the Karuna-Ki Master symbols – may be used to achieve spirit releasement. The manifestation of desires involves the creation of the desire at the Causal Level (love, ‘yes it is possible, gratitude), which then works its way through the Mental Level (formulate a plan), Emotional Level (get excited and motivated), and finally, the Physical Level (action), at which point physical manifestation begins to occur. This ‘pulling down’ through the various levels is greatly facilitated by Rama. This symbol, by harmonising the upper and lower chakras and energy levels, acts as a magnet for manifestation and healing. When using Rama to manifest desires which will benefit everyone – including yourself – the presence of Archangel Michael and other enlightened beings is often felt. Therefore, Rama also acts powerfully to pull abstract ‘in-the-head’ concepts and realities into present-time reality, and activates the 3rd chakra to initiate ACTION and DOING, instead of just being a good idea.

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Karuna Ki Reiki Level 2 Neil M. Orr

Karuna Ki Reiki – Level 2 – Neil M. Orr – September 1999

LEVEL II – DAI NICHI REIKI POLAR & NON-POLAR REIKI Reiki energy – Ki / Qi / Chi – is a neutral (non-polar) and unconditional energy. Since 1991 many Reiki Masters have been adding polarization techniques to increase the effectiveness of the energy flow. This is done by using the CHO-symbol, by using the direction of the symbol.

When CHO is drawn from left-to-right (clockwise spiral) it assumes a negative polarity (YIN – receptive), while right-to-left (anti-clockwise spiral) creates a positive porlatiy (YANG – active). [Note: It is unclear whether this applies in the same way in the Southern Hemisphere, or whether the directions should be reversed to obtain the same effects. As the CHO is reversed for normal usage in Usui Reiki, I would suggest the same applies for polarity work].

YANG

YIN

Active

Passive

Positive Polarity / Sun / Masculine

Negative Polarity / Moon / Feminine

Left side of brain / Right side of body

Right side of brain / Left side of body

Contracts energy fields

Dispels energy fields / Cleanses Auras

Draws energy in

Anaesthetizes / Calms

Creates movement / action / expansion

Creates receptivity / Contraction

Extroversion / Involvement

Introversion / Conservation

1

Karuna Ki Reiki – Level 2 – Neil M. Orr – September 1999

POLARITY REIKI SANDWICH Draw the Yin CHO-symbol, followed by any symbols that you are using, and then end with a Yang CHO-symbol.

VITALIZATION EXERCISE To energize the client, point two fingers of your dominant hand towards the Hui Yin (base of spine) of the client. Take a deep breath and call in the Yang CHO-symbol. As you do this, imagine the energy running into the client’s hands, up her/ his shoulders, and down his/her spinal chord to his/her Hui Yin.

CALMING EXERCISE To calm the client down, point two fingers of your dominant hand towards the Hui Yin (base of spine) of the client. Take a deep breath and call in a Yin CHO-symbol. As you do this, imagine the energy up from the client’s Hui Yin, up his/her spine, and out through his/her shoulders.

WHEN TO USE POLAR REIKI Polarity implies direction. Therefore, when you want to bring, for example, a goal, down through the etheric into the physical, you could use the CHO-symbols to create a more rapid movement through the energy layers.

Also, when there are intransigent blockages, such a depression, polar Reiki may assist in obtaining movement in that area.

With diseases such as cancerous tumours, you could use the Yin CHO to dispel the diseases cells. In diseases such as leukemia, where there is an over-active production of white blood cells, the Yin Cho could be used to slow this down. You could try the same method with hyperactivity and similar over-active metabolic and emotional states, including hypertension.

The Yang CHO can be used when the situation calls for a stimulating effect, such as lethargy, low blood pressure, or and under-active thyroid gland.

2

Karuna Ki Reiki – Level 2 – Neil M. Orr – September 1999

GNOSA To Draw: (a) Draw the horizontal infinity symbol, starting at the right, and drawing it anti-clockwise; (b) Then draw the vertical infinity symbol, starting at the top, drawing it anti-clockwise; (c) Draw the triangle, starting at the bottom-left corner, drawn clockwise (i.e., from left to the top, down to the right corner, and back to the left corner); (d) Draw the circle in the centre, clockwise. Say “GNOSA” three times as you draw the symbol once.

KEY CONCEPTS: •

Links you more strongly to your Higher Self. Brings Higher Self into the physical body.

•

Heals the mind – Nervous system – Organizes the mind – improves comprehension.

•

Improves communication – reading and writing.

•

Inspiration – New ideas - Creativity.

•

Allows new ideas to integrate more easily – excellent for learning new things.

•

Connecting with your Guardian Angel

•

Communicating with your spiritual and Reiki guides.

•

Inner knowledge and spiritual growth – Self Knowledge – Self Discovery - Meditation.

The Greek word gnosis means knowledge in spiritual matters. Linked to the ancient mystery school axiom Gnothi Seuton (‘Know Thyself’). It’s origin is Egypt and the Gnostic system. This symbol can be activated by the Tibetan Master Reiki system (DUM). It appears to be directed at healing mankind.

Because GNOSA brings the Higher Self into the physical body (especially with RAMA), it can be used for very deep healing. It penetrates deeply and lifts out emotional pain, often bringing an awareness of the true cause of the pain. Because it opens the mind to new ideas, it can be used for learning new skills, studying, tests and exams. Clarity of thought also brings about a healing in communication, and it guides you to sources of information that you need, such as during a research project.

3

Karuna Ki Reiki – Level 2 – Neil M. Orr – September 1999

IAVA (Pronounced ee-aa-vah). To Draw: (a) Draw the ‘three’ first, starting at the top and drawing downwards, mentally saying ‘Spirit’ as you draw this; (b) Draw the curly part on the back, starting at the top again, mentally saying ‘Earth, Water, Wind, Fire’ as you do this.

KEY CONCEPTS: •

Reclaiming your power from people around you, or those from the past.

•

Releasing guilt and fear, to create your life the way you want it to be.

•

Heals co-dependence by releasing unconscious agreements that are not healthy.

•

Respect for independent realities of yourself, and of others.

•

Helps you to act on your intentions, even when others do not agree or approve.

•

Connect to the consciousness of Earth – plants, clouds, crystals, etc.

IAVA is a Tibetan symbol connected to the purification of the five elemental colours – blue, green, white, red, and yellow. Use in this manner, it protects and heals the Earth. The ‘A’ in IAVA is white light breaking down to each element.

The principle energy of IAVA is that it connects your own soul with your own physical reality. Often, our physical reality is the result of other people’s expectations, not our own. Therefore, IAVA assists you in reclaiming your power to create your own reality. Only when you take responsibility for your own reality, can you heal it. Use with KRIYA to create healing. Use with GNOSA and HON to activate personal wisdom, intelligence, and power. Use with HARTH to heal addictions.

Works well for manifestation of any kind, as it insulates your plans and goals from the negative intentions of others.

4

Karuna Ki Reiki – Level 2 – Neil M. Orr – September 1999 We often give our power away due to fear and guilt. IAVA moves through that fear and guilt which unconsciously allows others to dictate your reality so that you can reclaim your power and ability to create your own reality. This applies to relationships as well, especially when there are unhealthy unconscious agreements and a sense of responsibility for someone else’s happiness.

Furthermore, IAVA helps you to realize that your reality should be based upon what is inside of you, and not upon the expectations of people around you. The reverse is also true: IAVA helps you to respect the free will of others to create their own reality, without you needing to control them.

This symbol therefore assists you in acting upon your own goals and intention, with or without the approval of other people, including people from your past, such as your parents. IAVA will connect you with the sense of joy that comes from manifesting, and taking responsibility for, your own goals and reality.

Finally, IAVA is a Spirit-Earth energy, connecting Spirit with the Earth elements. It therefore is powerful in connecting you to nature, such as trees, house plants, flowers, crystals, etc.

5

Karuna Ki Reiki – Level 2 – Neil M. Orr – September 1999

SHANTI To draw: (a) Draw the ‘ < ‘ part first, starting at the top, moving downwards; (b) Then draw the vertical curve, starting at the top and moving downwards; (c) Draw the horizontal curve, starting at the left, and finishing at the right. Mentally say SHANTI with each of the three parts.

KEY CONCEPTS: •

Peace – breaks up the fear matrix.

•

Connect to the flow of life (Now) – releasing fears of the future, and of the past.

•

Heals insomnia and nightmares, fear, panic attacks, chronic fatigue.

•

Enhances clairvoyance by clearing the Brow Chakra.

•

Helps in the retrieving short-term memory.

SHANTI is the all-purpose White Brotherhood symbol that can be used with any and all other symbols. The word ‘Shanti’ means ‘peace’. It is a version of an ancient Usa symbol which emerged from Egypt. It is known by various other names: The Sacred Eye, The Eye of Ra, The Eye of Horus, the All Seeing Eye, and the Healing Eye. It has been used for thousands of years as an amulet to protect against evil influences (from outside and from within ourselves). Meditation on this symbol creates resistence to evil thoughts from outside and inside.

SHANTI is the symbol for peace through healing. Used with KRIYA it soothes auric disturbances and works through fears. Fear is often held in the knees. Therefore, apply SHANTI to your knee chakras when working with fears, including fears of the future.

Meditate on the point of SHANTI going into the Brow Chakra. Maintain this single pointed focus to clear the Third Eye, thus enhancing clairvoyance.

Fear from the past tends to create fear for the future as well. SHANTI heals fears from the past, including past-life fears, and helps to release fears for the future. This helps in healing chronic fatigue, insomnia, nightmares, panic attacks, and short-term memory loss. Use with RAMA (now) and KRIYA (manifest) to bring about peace and a sense of effortlessness in the achievement of goals.

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Karuna Ki Reiki – Level 2 – Neil M. Orr – September 1999

KRIYA To Draw: Draw each CHO-symbol as you would normally (starting at the top across stroke, then downwards, then spiral inwards). You can do each one separately (sequential), or use both hands to draw the two symbols simultaneously.

KEY CONCEPTS: •

Manifesting goals – energize affirmations and purpose.

•

Grounding & Prioritizing.

•

Healing the Human Race.

KRIYA utilizes the energetic resonance of CHO by polarizing the energy in order to manifest intent at the physical level.

The first application is in terms of grounding. Draw or visualize it going down each leg. The upper part of the symbol is visualized at the hip level, with the spiral parts in your feet. This will create a strong connection to the Earth, and bring your consciousness more fully into your body. This will assist you in being more practical in terms of manifesting your purpose and intent.

This grounding effect will also be felt when you are confused or have difficulty focusing. KRIYA, drawn over your entire body or head, will help you clarify your priorities and sort out what is practical and important for you right now. In the same way, KRIYA helps people to work together in harmony, as it focused attention and energy on what is practical, versus philosophical differences and opinions. It is thus said to heal the human race. It is suggested that you send KRIYA into a room or situation where conflict exists, or is possible, to facilitate a win-win practical outcome of meetings and discussions. Use in conjunction with RAMA and HARTH in such situations, as well as DAI-symbol to focus the group on their over-riding Soul’s Purpose.

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Karuna Ki Reiki – Level 2 – Neil M. Orr – September 1999

KRIYA MANIFESTATION EMPOWERMENT 1. Be clear on what it is that you want to manifest. Use IAVA to release the intentions and expectations of other people. Meditate a few minutes to clarify your intent.

2. Be specific. Formulate your request into a few words or a short sentence. Do not incloude words such as ‘not’, ‘stop’, ‘never’ (negative words). State the intent using positive words. 3. Write your request on one side of a 3” x 5” card (or piece of firm paper).

4. Put your hands in the prayer position, and place the card between the first and second fingers of both hands. Extend your arms in front of you so that you can see the request in front of you.

5. Imagine and call in (three times) CHO-symbol. Then imagine and call in (three times) the KRIYA symbol. First imagine the left side of the KRIYA symbol spinning in a clockwise direction on the side of your left hand. The imagine the right side of KRIYA symbol spinning in an anticlockwise direction on the side of your right hand. The card is slightly above the spirals but below the ‘handles’ of KRIYA.

6. Then state:

From my luminous body I have … Released all fears, angers and guilt from my conscious and unconscious mind Surrendered myself to changes without resistence Accepted abundance into my life I am a magnet for good and positive THOUGHTS I am a magnet for good and positive FEELINGS I am a magnet for good and positive ACTIONS

7. Read out loud what you desire to manifest.

8. Imagine and call in DAI-symbol and HON-symbol, each three times.

9. Raise your hands so that the knuckles of your thumbs physically touch your third eye. Remain in this position for as long as possible. Do not try to meditate at this point . Know that you guides are with you in spirit and are opening your third eye so that your manifestation will become a reality.

10. Close the session by lowering your arms and stating: “It is accomplished. I give thanks. I give thanks. I give thanks”.

11. Keep your manifestation card on your Prayer Altar or in a special place. Repeat the exercise once a day until it becomes a reality. Be persistent and know that your request will be granted.

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Karuna Ki Reiki – Level 2 – Neil M. Orr – September 1999

TRAUMA RELEASE TECHNIQUE 1. PREPARE: Prepare yourself (symbols into hands) and the room. 2.IDENTIFY ISSUE: Ask the client whether there is a specific trauma – past or present – that s/he would like to release. Then work to formulate an appropriate affirmation or manifestation statement with the client.

3. UNLOCK ISSUE: To obtain guidance regarding the root of the issue, stand behind the client and place your hand on his/her crown chakra. Visualize and call in HARTH three times to shatter the delusions surrounding the issue ZONAR to access any karmic lesson, HONSHA to work with karma and to link the client to his/her guides, SHANTI (Level II) to reaffirm that all is well, and CHO to energize the formula.

If the client becomes uncomfortable from the use of the symbols, connect with Spirit and ask “Do we stop or do we continue?”. Ask the client the same question. Trust your intuition.

4. EXPLORE ISSUE: Ask the client to verbally describe the issue, to become familiar with the psycho-spiritual nature of the trauma. Do not push too hard, and be willing to end the session at this point. If ending the session here, follow with a chakra balancing (or Standard Reiki Treatment).

5. SCAN FOR BLOCKAGES: Scan the client to determine where the energy is blocked. Move your dominant hand in a counterclockwise motion to set up an etheric swirl. Make the CHO symbol with your other hand, also in a counterclockwise direction over the client. Focus on HONSHA symbol to connect to your Higher Self, and with the client’s Higher Self. If the client has done Usui Second Degree, ask him/her to also focus on HONSHA.

6. PLACE HANDS IN POSITION: Instruct the client to place his/her left hand on her/his forehead, and his/her right hand on the back of her/his head for polarity. Place your dominant hand on his/her clavicle, and your non-dominant hand on her/his abdomen and his/her waist.

7. CIRCUIT WITH CHO-SYMBOL: Notice the energy between your hands. Sense any blocks. Visualize the CHO-symbol in both hands. Create a circuit (imagine/feel energy running) between your hands and running up one arm and down the other. Continue circulating with CHO-symbol.

8. STATE AFFIRMATION / MANIFESTATION STATEMENT: While running the CHO-symbol energy circuit, state the affirmation or statement out loud. If the client is willing or able, ask him/her to do the same. For example:

9

Karuna Ki Reiki – Level 2 – Neil M. Orr – September 1999

From the Lord God of my being, to the Lord God of the Universe, I release all prior vows of chastity, of poverty, or the sins of my ancestors.

(Add the individual statement or affirmation at this point).

I release all fears of relationships. Repeat this affirmation/statement over and over again, so that the unconscious mind accepts it. If you are using a manifestation statement, call in extra energies so that the statement is etched into the body-mind-etheric template. Try to see, hear and feel the statement. As the physical organism shapes itself to the suggestion of the etheric template, it manifests in physical reality. The aura creates the body, not the other way around.

9. MEDITATE: After stating the affirmation/statement, meditate on SEI and HONSHA to implant the correct thinking.

10. CIRCULATE ZONAR: Circulate ZONAR and HALU (or Motor-Zanon, Zonar and Halu if you have done Level 3) in the same way as described in step 7. Watch the body for signs of release, such as physical jerking, crying, yelling, and deep sighing. Once you feel the trauma has been released, ask if there are any more blocks. Continue to run the energy circuit, asking the client if there are more areas to release. Watch for signs of release.

11. CLEAN AURA AND CHAKRAS: Scoop up any negative energy that has accumulated in the chakras or aura (Aura Scrape) and release it to the light (or direct it to a candle flame). You can also use RAMA to do this.

12. FEATHER FLOWER: Ask the client to visualize a closed feather flower and then take short deep breaths out to open it.

13. BREATHE INTO THE HEART: Inhale through your crown and base chakras at the same time, mix the breath together in the heart, visualize CHO-symbol over the client’s solar plexus, and exhale the energy (prana) over that area.

14. SEAL AND BALANCE: Complete the session with a Reiki balancing and aura cleansing (Unruffle Aura).

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Karuna Ki Reiki – Level 2 – Neil M. Orr – September 1999

KARUNA UNIFICATION TECHNIQUE When Atlantis was destroyed thousands of years ago, a few people survived, but many died and reincarnated back on Earth. Knowledge of Sacred Geometry was continued by the survivors, and sometimes channeled through those reincarnated, under the guidance of Thoth (also known as Hermes Trimegestus, or Tehuti, the ibis-headed Egyptian deity).

The Council of Ascended Masters determined the six basic karmic frequencies to be involved with mankind’s expression and evolution. Two triangles were created and inherently blended together in what is now known as the “Six Pointed Star” or “The Star of David”. This multidimensional energy expression directly aligned to universal energy is extremely powerful when used in healing and spiritual communication, as well as with Reiki treatments.

This six-pointed ‘star’ represents a 3-dimensional object known as a Star Tetrahedron which consists of two tetrahedrons (pyramids with a triangular base, and all sides exactly the same triangular shape) enmeshed with the other, forming the larger Star Tetrahedron. The technology of this Star Tetrahedron forms the basis for the Mer.Ka.Ba (Egyption for Spirit-Body Vehicle), which is essentially the process of enlightening the physical body, emotional and mental bodies to the speed of light for the purpose of Ascension without physical death.

Future challenges send us into Yang mode, enhancing responsibility and creativity at the expense of Yin energy, which enhances receptivity and contentment. When a person has been under tension and feels that s/he has no more to give and no more resources to draw upon, a process of strengthening and balancing Yang / Yin energies would increase his/her energy and stamina in the face of challenges, both physical and emotional. Identifying and expressing what the challenge is helps a great deal in beginning the balancing process. However, this specific Reiki technique can help a great deal in balancing the energies for current and past tensions.

When you administer this technique (it is strongly advised that you do open your Heart Chakra as described in Level One beforehand) you may feel heat, pulsations, softening or tingling. When you experience quietness, cooling down, or a settled feeling, the cycle is complete. Always hold the position until the cycle is complete.

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Karuna Ki Reiki – Level 2 – Neil M. Orr – September 1999

SIX-POINTED STAR TECHNIQUE FRONT: Step 1: Have the client lie or sit comfortably. Step 2: Touch the…. and the …

THIRD EYE

with your LEFT HAND

BASE CHAKRA

with your RIGHT HAND (not physical touch).

Step 3: Touch the … and the … Step 4: Touch the … and the …

RIGHT SHOULDER

with your LEFT HAND

LEFT PELVIC AREA

with your RIGHT HAND.

RIGHT PELVIC AREA

with your LEFT HAND

HAND LEFT SHOULDER

with your RIGHT HAND.

BASE OF THE OCCIPUT

with your LEFT HAND

BACK: Step 5: Touch the …

(Back of the head) and the …

SACRUM

with your RIGHT HAND.

(Base of spine, immediately above the coccyx) Step 6: Touch the … and the … Step 7: Touch the … and the …

Physical

RIGHT SHOULDER

with your LEFT HAND

LEFT PELVIC AREA

with your RIGHT HAND.

RIGHT PELVIC AREA

with your LEFT HAND

LEFT SHOULDER

with your RIGHT HAND.

Spiritual

Physical-Spiritual

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Karuna Ki Reiki – Level 2 – Neil M. Orr – September 1999

DAI NICHI GUIDED VISUALIZATION This is an exercise which is best done each morning, but also works whenever you have the time. Begin by imagining the symbols in the way described below, but spend extra time to contemplate the GNOSA and IAVA symbols with the intention of discovering which relationships are harmful to your evolution. Allow yourself to be open without fear to the forces of change.

This visualization will help you to detach from painful memories and from human and social relationships which are harmful to spiritual progress. It should be used whenever you need to clear your emotions or to sever with places and circumstances that are keeping you from your goals.

By doing this visualization often, you will increase your ability to assess social interactions correctly and you will discover which relationships are needed for your social and emotional balance which will allow you to serve the community and the world, as well as for your spiritual growth. You will also become more aware of the relationships that hinder you.

The process has two steps. Master the first part before doing the second part.

STEP 1: CONTEMPLATING THE SYMBOLS 1. Sit in a comfortable position, and place your hands over your eyes, over your heart chakra, or in the prayer position with thumbs touching the heart, or place your hands on your lap. Close your eyes, breathe slowly and deeply (suggested: Pranic Breathing to Open the Heart Chakra), and feel the Reiki energy within your aura.

2. Imagine the CHO-symbol in a violet light in the air in front of your Third Eye.

3. Hold the image of the CHO-symbol in your mind and repeat its name three times. Continue holding the image steadily until you can hold it for approximately 10 minutes.

4. After you have finished contemplating the CHO-symbol, you are ready to repeat the process with the Dai Nichi Reiki symbols, in the following order: GNOSA, KRIYA, IAVA, SHANTI. As you contemplate these symbols, focus on your self-confidence and willpower (Third Chakra).

5. After contemplating the symbols you will be centred and charged with creative healing energies. (continued on next page …)

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Karuna Ki Reiki – Level 2 – Neil M. Orr – September 1999

STEP 2: TRANSFORMATIONAL PROCESS 1. To rid yourself of emotional attachments to: •

An institution, you should represent it with a symbol. This symbol may be its meeting place, the logo, seal, coat-of-arms, or any group or visual, auditory, olfactory and kinaesthetic memories that represent the group.

•

Emotional attachments from past events, place the visual, auditory, olfactory and kinaesthetic memories in the shape of a sphere about a metre (yard) in diameter.

•

Emotional attachments to a person still in your life, imagine that person.

The symbol, sphere or image should be imagined at a distance of about 30 metres in front of you.

2. Imagine multiple energy strands (like a spider web) connecting to this institution, event or person (that you want to detach from) to your seven major chakras and to your feet. These connective strands may differ in width, colour and texture.

3. Breathe deeply, rhythmically, and allow yourself to be in a mental state of confidence and dignity.

4. Now coordinate this breathing with the imagery as follows: As you inhale, imagine the reabsorption of your strands. You do not have to consciously choose which ones to absorb – it will happen automatically. These filaments will be integrated into your auric field again.

As you exhale, all threads that are not yours should detach from your body and fall down to the floor, without power of their own. Work each and every area of the body – each chakra – and when every thread of a specific area goes into its proper place, proceed to the next one. Usually the heart, solar plexus and spleen chakras will need more work than the other areas.

5. After clearing each area, sign the HON-symbol and say its name three times over that area. Feel the energy and its power as you focus your will with the idea that the Reiki energy will protect against the formation of new links.

Repeat this guided visualization every day until you feel no more emotional reactions concerning the subject of your exercise.

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Karuna Ki Reiki – Level 2 – Neil M. Orr – September 1999

Anulona Viloma

ALTERNATE NOSTRIL BREATHING Alternate nostril breathing alternates the flow of breath/flow through one nostril then the other. In a healthy individual this occurs every two hours. Yogis learn to control this flow of ki (prana) in order to influence two principle nadis, the Ida and Pingala, which relate to Yin and Yang, respectively. Ida (yin) works through the left nostril, and Pingala (yang) works through the right nostril. When these two polarity ki energies are balanced, a neutral ki is created. This activates the kundalini at the base of the spine. If the kundalini rises up the spine and reaches the crown chakra – even for a few minutes – enlightenment is permanently achieved. Anuloma viloma also has the following benefits: •

Balances the Autonomic Nervous System

•

Balances Left and Right hemispheres of the brain

•

Improves concentration, relieves headaches

•

Stimulates the Third eye (Ajna Chakra)

•

Increases awareness of each chakra

•

Purifies each of the 72 000 nadis (energy channels) in the body

•

Aligns Individual energy with Universal Energy

This breathing method is always done in the following ratio: 1-4-2 (Inhale-Hold-Exhale). In other words, if you inhale for 2 seconds, you hold for 8 seconds, and exhale for 4 seconds; if you inhale for 3 seconds, you hold for 12 seconds, and exhale for 6 seconds. 1. Place the middle and index finger of your right hand on your Third Eye (centre and slightly above eyebrows). Your thumb is placed lightly on your right nostril. Your ring finger is placed lightly on your left nostril. Close your eyes. 2. Block right nostril – inhale for 2 seconds through left nostril (or 3 seconds) 3. Block both nostrils – hold for 8 seconds (or 12 seconds) 4. Block left nostril – exhale for 4 seconds (or 6 seconds) 5. Keep left nostril blocked – inhale for 2 seconds through right nostril (or 3 seconds) 6. Block both nostrils – hold for 8 seconds (or 12 seconds) 7. Block right nostril – exhale for 4 seconds (or 6 seconds). 8. Repeat three to seven times. Increase duration of inhale/hold/exhale as you practice.

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Karuna Ki Reiki Level 3 Master-Teacher Neil M. Orr

Karuna Ki Reiki – Level 3 (Master Level) – Neil M. Orr – September 1999

DUMO This master symbol (sometimes referred to as the Tibetan Master Symbol) is considered to be an enhanced DaiKuMyo (Dai kU MyO), and is used in the attunement process as well as for healing. In healing it is used to pull in the energy.

Two versions are shown here. The left-hand version is used in Karuna® Reiki, while the righthand version is used in Karuna Ki Reiki. The only difference is the second stroke, and the manner in which the small strokes in the centre are drawn. It is used with the Violet Breath. It connects the recipient to Mother Earth and the Earth Star chakra. It thus assists you in being centred and grounded in your spiritual purpose.

OR

OM This is a Sanskrit Master symbol used to open the attunement process. It is also used in some purification processes, in combination with other symbols. It represents One-ness.

OM is the word or sound for the invisible divine power or sole causative factor and activating force that upholds all creative vibration. When sounded, its vibration reverberates throughout the universe. OM can be thought of as the word or sound for: Instant God, Purification, Instant Light. Exercise: Visualize it on top of your head in white light and chant OM.

Functions: •

It shakes off debris attached to the aura

•

Settles and stabilizes the auric field

•

Seals the aura

•

Protects the aura

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Karuna Ki Reiki – Level 3 (Master Level) – Neil M. Orr – September 1999

RAM NAGA This symbol is also known as the FIRE SERPENT. Ram Naga (Fire Serpent) is related to the Fire God, Dumo, and the rising kundalini. It is used at the beginning of the attunement process to connect the student’s chakras. It connects all the energy bodies and chakras, to prepare for the depth of the Karuna Ki healing or attunement. It is first drawn from the crown (stroke 1) downwards to the base of the spine, with the ‘serpent’ (stroke 2) going down the spine, ending with the spiral at the base chakra. Then it is drawn in reverse – spiral at base chakra, upwards to crown chakra, ending with stroke number 1.

MOTOR-ZANON This symbols has two names: MOTOR for going in (with Yang Chokureis), and ZANON for coming out (with Yin Chokureis). Draw DUMO, with three Yang Chokureis to polarise and activate the little lightning bolt. Say ‘MOTOR’ as you do this. Send it in for about three minutes. The symbol enters the body and eliminates inappropriate tissue, viruses, bacteria, parasites, cysts, excess fat tissue, tumour tissue, and energies. Then redraw DUMO, this time with Yin Chokureis. Send it into the area which requires healing, saying ‘ZANON’. The symbol will disperse released energy residue. This method is best used with the Violet Breath method. MOTOR-ZANON works well in combination with HON-symbol, ZONAR, and HARTH. Yang – Northern Hemisphere. Yin – Southern Hemisphere

Yin – Northern Hemisphere. Yang – Southern Hemisphere

2

Karuna Ki Reiki – Level 3 (Master Level) – Neil M. Orr – September 1999

VIOLET BREATH EXERCISE In order to give the Karuna Ki attunements you need to be able to do the following exercise:

1. Contract the Perineum Hui Yin Point (muscles at base of spine), and place your tongue to the roof of your mouth.

2. Inhale slowly, and imagine the breath entering your crown, in the form of white light. See it travel from your crown downwards, through your tongue, down the front of your body (functional channel), down to the Perineum Hui Yin Point at the base of your spine. Then imagine the breathe (white light) travel up your back, along your spine (governing body), to the centre of your head. Imagine that a white mist begins to fill your head.

3. Allow the white mist in your head to turn blue, and then imagine it begin to rotate clockwise (i.e., back of head to left to front to right side). As it rotates, imagine that it turns into a violet mist.

4. Within this violet mist/light, imagine the DAIKUMYO (Usui Master Symbol) symbol. 5. Exhale and gently blow the DAIKUMYO symbol into the student’s crown. Imagine that the symbol travels to the base of the student’s brain, as you chant the name DUMO silently three times.

The DAIKUMYO symbol is used to start the attunement process with the violet breath. It can and should be used during treatments. DUMO relates to the Tibetan Fire God (hence it is sometimes referred to as the Tibetan Master Symbol), and the rising kundalini.

The violet breath is an ancient Tibetan method for divine inspiration. It is a blessing from external sources which transforms the potential inherent in a person’s mind. Two Tibetan syllables – Byin-Rlabs (pronounced ‘jinlap’) is a blessing that means “To be transformed through inspiring magnificence”, which is the violet breath.

When blowing in the symbols, exhale all your violet breath, then inhale again. On the inhale, the intensity of your imagination (intent) and visualization of the symbol will bring God consciousness, healing and stabilization of your spiritual and emotional life. Thus the cycle is completed – giving and receiving.

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Karuna Ki Reiki – Level 3 (Master Level) – Neil M. Orr – September 1999

THE KARUNA-KI ATTUNEMENT PROCESS STEP 1: PREPARATION OF SELF, STUDENT(S), AND ROOM 1.1

PLACE CHAIRS: Place the chairs in the room. Straight rows are useful when doing larger groups.

1.2

CENTRE YOURSELF: Place the symbols into your hands: DUMO – DAIKUMYO – OM – RAM NAGA

1.3

ROOM: Seal the room with DUMO – OM – DAIKUMYO – KRIYA – CHOKUREI. Draw each symbol, and say it’s name as you send it to the centre of the room, the four corners, the floor, and the ceiling.

1.4

SEAT AND PREPARE STUDENTS: Seat the student(s) comfortably. Obtain permission to touch head, shoulders and hands. Tell student that sh/e is required to hold the Hui-Yin points when you ask this. Tell students that, when you tap him/her on his/her shoulder, s/he is to move his/her hands to the top of his head in prayer position. Ask student to place his/her hands on his/her lap, palms facing upwards, with the thumb and first fingers of each hand touching (receptive mudra). Demonstrate this. Explain that you will be moving his/her hands up the front of her/his body. Demonstrate.

1.5

INVITE GUIDES: Say a silent prayer which invokes the assistance of your Guides, Angels, Ascended Masters, White Brotherhood, Reiki Guides, Tibetan Masters, Egyptian Masters, all beings of light, Sri Satya Sai Baba, or any combination of these, whichever feels most comfortable for you.

1.6

STATE INTENT OF ATTUNEMENT: Clearly state your INTENT OF THE ATTUNEMENT – Level I, Level II, or Level III.

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Karuna Ki Reiki – Level 3 (Master Level) – Neil M. Orr – September 1999

STEP 2: CONNECT STUDENT’S CHAKRAS 2.1

STAND BEHIND STUDENT: Place your hands on the student’s shoulders to announce your presence.

2.2

DRAW FIRE SERPENT DOWN TO BASE OF SPINE: Draw RAM NAGA (Fire Serpent) from the student’s crown to the base of his/her spine. With your hand a few inches away from the student’s base of spine, ‘call in’ (imagine and intend) three CHOKUREI’s, three OM’s, and three DUMO’s. Imagine that they enter the base of the student’s spine.

2.3

DRAW FIRE SERPENT UP TO CROWN: Now draw Ram Naga again, starting at the base of the spine with the spiral part of the symbol, drawing it up to the crown of the student. With your hand a few inches away from the student’s crown, ‘call in’ (imagine and intend) three CHOKUREI’s, three OM’s, and three DUMO’s. Imagine that they enter into the student’s crown.

* REPEAT STEP 2 FOR EACH STUDENT.

5

Karuna Ki Reiki – Level 3 (Master Level) – Neil M. Orr – September 1999

STEP 3: SYMBOLS INTO HEAD & BODY (FROM BEHIND) 3.1

HANDS TO TOP OF HEAD: Tap the student on his/her shoulder to indicate that you want her/him to raise his/her hands to the top of her/his head, in the prayer position. As you have not yet closed your Hui-Yin Points, you may ask this as well. Hold the student’s hands with yours.

3.2

STUDENT CLOSES HUI-YIN: Ask the student to close her/his Hui-Yin point and tongue on top of mouth.

3.3

CALL IN SYMBOLS: With your hands, point the student’s hands so that the finger tips are pointing to your Third Eye chakra (Brow Centre). In this position, ‘call in’ (intend and imagine) the following symbols:

3.4

Level I:

ZONAR - HALU - HARTH - RAMA

Level II:

GNOSA – KRIYA – IAVA – SHANTI

Level III:

DUMO – MOTOR-ZANON – OM – RAM NAGA

CLOSE YOUR HUI-YIN – DROP SYMBOLS – RELEASE HUI-YIN: Take a deep breathe, and close your Hui-Yin point, and place the tip of your tongue on the roof of your mouth.

Imagine that the energy rises in the student, from his/her base of spine to crown.

When the energy reaches the crown of the student, release your Hui-Yin points (exhale), as you imagine the appropriate symbols falling into the centre of the student’s being.

As you exhale and imagine the symbols falling into his/her centre of being, seal the symbols by moving your hands from her/his crown to her/his spine in a sweeping movement.

Tell the student that s/he may release his/her Hui-Yin points, and place her/his hands back on his/her lap, in the receptive mudra.

* REPEAT STEP 3 FOR EACH STUDENT.

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Karuna Ki Reiki – Level 3 (Master Level) – Neil M. Orr – September 1999

STEP 4: SYMBOLS INTO HANDS (FROM FRONT) 4.1

MOVE TO FRONT OF STUDENT: Move from behind the student to stand in front of him/her. His/her hands are on his/her lap, facing palms upwards, in the receptive mudra position.

4.2

SYMBOLS INTO PALMS: Call in the appropriate symbols (imagine and intend), and tap them into the student’s palms (once per palm per symbol). Imagine they enter his/her palms.

4.3

SEAL PALMS: Place your fingers in his/her palms, with the intention of sealing the symbols there.

STEP 5: SEAL FRONT OF BODY 5.1

PLACE HANDS IN PRAYER POSITION: Take the student’s hands, and place them in the prayer position in front of his/her solar plexus. Hold them with your hands.

5.2

MOVE HANDS FROM SOLAR PLEXUS TO THIRD EYE & BACK AGAIN: Guide the student’s hands from the solar plexus, to the heart, to the throat, and up to his/her third eye. Then take his/hands back to his/her solar plexus.

5.3

EGYPTIAN SEAL POSITION: Take the student’s hands, and cross his/her arms over her/his heart. Hold them there for a few moment. This is the Egyptian Seal Position.

5.4

PLACE HANDS BACK ON LAP: Place the student’s hands back down on her/his lap, palms facing upwards.

* REPEAT STEP 4 and 5 FOR EACH STUDENT.

STEP 6: 6.1

SEAL PROCESS

SAY BLESSING: “I perfectly seal this initiation with love and light. I bless you in the name of the Cosmic Christ. I seal you in the Temple of your Being. May you dwell there in the House of God forever. Om Sai Ram Svaha”.

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Karuna Ki Reiki – Level 3 (Master Level) – Neil M. Orr – September 1999

NOTES ON DIFFERENT METHODS The symbols and attunement process described thusfar is according to the Karuna Ki system. The Karuna Ki and Karuna® systems differ at Master Level in two areas:

(a) Karuna Ki Reiki uses four master symbols, while Karuna® Reiki uses three (it does not have the MOTOR-ZANON symbol. The use and meaning of the other three symbols is identical, although DUMO is drawn slightly differently. On page 1, the left-hand DUMO is the Karuna® version, while the right-hand version is from Karuna-Ki.

(b) The attunement process differs in certain regards. The Karuna® attunement is described below for comparison.

STUDENT PREPARATION: 1. Demonstrate receptive mudra – pinky and ring fingers tucked into palm, hands in prayer position. Index fingers and middle fingers remain pointed. Explain that the hands go up to the third eye in normal prayer position, and when returned to position in front of heart, they resume receptive mudra. 2. Do brief grounding meditation. 3. Eyes closed and hands in receptive mudra (prayer position in front of heart).

TEACHER PREPARATION: 4. Draw DUMO into your palm of each hand. Repeat it’s name three times as you clap your hands three times. Do the same for DAIKUMYO, FIRE SERPENT and OM. 5. Draw CHOKUREI on each of your chakras starting with the root chakra. 6. Draw a large CHOKUREI down the front of your body for protection. 7. Draw OM in centre of room. Draw CHOKUREI on each wall, ceiling and floor. 8. Say a prayer for assistance from guides, angels, Ascended Masters and other spiritual beings.. 9. State your intent (Karuna I, II or Master part 1 or 2) in this prayer. 10. Optional: Choose one enlightened being you would like to work with, and invite him/her to enter your being and do the attunement through you. 11. Draw all the symbols that you will be attuning the students with, into the centre of the room to raise it’s vibration.

FROM BEHIND STUDENT: 12. Stand behind the student. 13. Steady the student’s aura with your non-dominant hand by placing your hand six inches away from his/her body. 14. Draw the Fire Serpent down the student’s back. 15. Draw CHOKUREI at the base of his/her spine.

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Karuna Ki Reiki – Level 3 (Master Level) – Neil M. Orr – September 1999

16. Draw the Fire Serpent backwards up the spine to the top of the head, using your dominant hand. 17. Using the Violet Breath (close HUI-YIN POINTS), blow DUMO into the crown of the student. Using your hand, direct it to the crown and base of the brain. Say its name three times as you do this. 18. Draw DAIKUMYO vertically over the crown. Direct it to the crown and base of brain, saying its name three times. 19. Draw OM vertically over the crown. Direct it to the crown and base of brain, saying its name three times. 20. Move to the next student, if there is more than one. Repeat steps 12 to 19.

FROM THE FRONT: 21. Move to stand in front of the student. Your Hui-Yin points are still closed. 22. Take the student’s hands, and open them flat, resting on your non-dominant hand. 23. Draw each of the appropriate symbols over the hands horizontally. Level I –

Only

ZONAR / HALU / HARTH / RAMA

Level II –

Only

GNOSA / SHANTI / IAVA / KRIYA

Level III - A

OM / DUMO / FIRE SERPENT plus ZONAR / HALU / HARTH / RAMA

Level III - B

OM / DUMO / FIRE SERPENT plus GNOSA / SHANTI / IAVA / KRIYA

After drawing each symbol say it’s name to yourself three times. Motion the energy into the hands with your dominant hand. Then pat the hands (both at the same time) three times. This is done for each symbol. 24. Close the student’s hands into the prayer position, with all fingers extended. 25. Move the student’s hands upwards so that their thumbs touch their third eye. 26. Hold their hands there with your non-dominant hand. 27. With your dominant hand, draw each symbol (in the order listed in #23) over the fingers. After drawing each symbol, motion the energy into the finger tips. As you say it’s name three times, tap the finger tips three times. 28. Move the student’s hands back to their original position in front of the heart. Ensure that the fingers are placed back into the receptive mudra positions. 29. Draw OM over the crown of the student. 30. Draw only the symbols listed in #23 over the crown of the student’s head. 31. Move to the next student (if more than one), and repeat steps 21 to 30.

BACK OF STUDENT: 32. Move to the back of the student. 33. Place your hands on his/her shoulders. 34. As you look into the crown of the student, silently say a positive affirmation intending that it enters their heart chakra.

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Karuna Ki Reiki – Level 3 (Master Level) – Neil M. Orr – September 1999 35. Blow lightly into the crown, imagining that it enters their heart, while you focus upon Divine Love and Compassionate Action: You may use an affirmation such as “You are a powerful and successful Karuna Reiki (level) Practitioner filled with love and compassionate action”.

SEAL THE PROCESS: 36. Place your thumbs at the base of his/her skull. 37. Picture the Usui Power Symbol (CHOKUREI) at the base of the skull. 38. Say to yourself: “I seal this attunement process with love and compassionate action”, and say the prayer “I honour the light and love within you, and I am grateful to have shared this space in time, in touch, in love with you”. 39. Imagine that there is a door there, and that it closes and locks with a key. 40. Place both hands on the student’s shoulders. 41. Meditate on how both of you are blessed for having taken part in this process. 42. If there is more than one student, repeat steps 32 to 41.

RELEASE AND END: 43. Move to the front of the student(s). 44. Inhale. As you exhale towards the student(s), release your HUI_YIN points. Intend that this final exhale is a blessing for the student(s). 45. A prayer of blessing may be done at this point. 46. Ask the student(s) to place his/her hands on his/her legs, or on his/her heart centre, and to contemplate the meaning of Karuna and the new symbols. You can also place their hands on the heart of legs yourself.

End of process.

Note: Karuna® Reiki does two Master Attunements. The first is for teaching Level I, and the second is for teaching Level II.

In Master Level I, the symbols inserted are the three master symbols, plus the four level one symbols.

In Master Level II, the symbols inserted are the three master symbols, plus the four level two symbols.

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Karuna Ki Reiki – Level 3 (Master Level) – Neil M. Orr – September 1999

TEACHING KARUNA KI REIKI 1. Describe the history of Karuna Reiki. 2. Describe how to draw each symbol. 3. Describe how to activate each symbol. 4. Describe the uses of each symbol. 5. Give the appropriate attunement for the specific level. 6. Allow time for students to practice drawing the symbols. 7. If doing a Master (Level III) class, allow time to practice the attunement process. 8. Demonstrate chanting and toning. 9. Allow time for students to practice the uses of each symbol.

Time:

Karuna Ki Level I:

5 to 7 hours

Karuna Ki Level II:

5 to 7 hours

Karuna Ki Level III:

5 to 7 hours.

If the students have read the material beforehand, the time can be reduced to about 3 hours per level.

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Afterword

Afterword Recommended Reading Take Two One “My voice will go with you David...” We’ve come a long way from the Dark Ages of Europe and “deepest, darkest” Africa in the late 1990s too for that matter.

Recommended reading: My Voice Will Go with You: The Teaching Tales of Milton H. Erickson by Sidney Rosen

Two “Go off for a walk in the hills around Phoenix (Harare?) and have an experience...” “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” ~from a Chinese proverb The Mount Everest example - PNI, hypnotherapy and Reiki are a Sisyphean Task by the way “btw” Washington – Africa’s a walk in the archetypal park in comparison Mr. President Joe “Ulysses S. Grant” Biden, sir! And “life is for living.” See Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience.

Recommended reading: Phoenix: Therapeutic Patterns of Milton H. Erickson by David Gordon and Maribeth Meyers-Anderson

Three “My Contract is “I am loveable.”” Self-hypnosis patter example: “I shall use all my conscious and unconscious resources to find out everything there is to know about Life, The Universe and Everything Douglas Adams.” Overkill? Keep the kettle on the boil Milton.

Recommended reading: Patterns of the Hypnotic Techniques of Milton H. Erickson, M.D. Volumes 1 & 2 by Richard Bandler and John Grinder

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Afterword

Endnote, Postscript and Over and Out Milton H. Erickson, M.D. One “Come in Houston! We have liftoff!” My own continuing journey of life, love and hopefully health too. It has been an honour presenting this valuable material to a wider audience and the scrutiny of a discerning public. Milton by highways and byways deserves his place in history – as does David. If I am a conduit for making that happen then I am more than happy. I’ve come a long way from smoking my first joint and getting completely drunk for the first time in 1995. Not long after that it was LSD and Ecstasy and cocaine and an unforgettable U2 concert in Johannesburg that really got the ball of teenage superstardom rolling “Hollywood”, Avondale, Harare – Hollywood being our name for the weed dealer. I then went cold turkey and hadn’t had as much as a cigarette for six months when I met Geraldene in about the July of 1998. If HIV/AIDS was David’s “demon,” drugs and alcohol was mine. As of this writing I’m almost two years sober and clean but still smoke cigarettes which are my only crutch. Coffee anyone? Things progressed quickly with Gil, and I pretty much dropped out of school (ILSA College – which just happened to be adjacent to or on the block of the then US Embassy to Zimbabwe in the Avenues of Harare, which would prove crucial many years later Jerusalem and Langley). My decided lack of interest in my studies (apart from English Literature which I loved) would do an about turn. What were separate “boring” subjects of English, Biology and Mathematics at school would become one all-encompassing love of knowledge under the unwitting umbrella of psychotherapy (sex therapy too?) – a passion of mine that continues to this day. Anyway. Enough said CIA? Have we done our forensics 9/11 and David Icke? The Fifth Tribe of Israel PNI team.

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Afterword

Two “Pen, paper. You write your contract.” I am loveable. I am brave. I am strong. I have courage. I am valuable. I am honest. I can control my impulses. I am beautiful. The final “process” at the end of day three of a four day rollercoaster ride that is the Advanced Personal Empowerment, or APE “workshop,” – is Contacts. Only you know your true self and its purpose here on Planet Earth, and thus your personal Birth Contract for this life and incarnation. It’s one thing to read a book but it’s quite another to “book” yourself into therapy – excuse the pun. Ultimately human contact means something fundamental in the process of healing. Once you identify your one-liner Contract (everyone has a slightly different one) spend some time writing a few pages (“homework” trigger warning) about what your Contract means to you, and how that knowledge of your Birth or Spiritual Contract will change your life. The next step and the focus of APE day four is “future-pacing” or “passion for life.” Imagine yourself ten years from now writing a letter to yourself in the present (ten years earlier) about what your life is like and how things have changed for you in the decade since. Goal setting and developing a love of all life has to offer is an essential conclusion to a life-changing four days with the tender loving care “TLC” of world-class psychotherapists. Call it psychoneuroimmunology, call it therapy, call it what you like. It’s valuable and it works if you work it. Easy does it but do it.

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Afterword

Three “ ’Do not go gentle into that good night’ Anti-vaxxers and Psychiatric “David” Patients alike” It’s your body! It’s your choice! And may the world never forget it. Nine years to the day after September 11 on the 11th of September 2010 – sitting in the garden having a peaceful cup of tea at home in Harare – my life irrevocably changed for good. One minute I was fine and the next I was overtaken by a “psycho-spiritual” entity which remains a part of my “mind-body” system and my reality to this day. As a direct result of this “attack” on my autonomy (and with a complete loss of innocence) I chose to side with my doctor on the delicate matter of psychiatric treatment – treatment that also continues to this day. Between the Zimbabwe Government and a quiet and ongoing conversation with the Central Intelligence Agency there really was no realistic option but compliance. However. And it’s a big “but.” By the unusual turn of history that is COVID-19 – and the anti-vaxxer debate that is part and parcel of it – the essence of my personal hell and struggle with compulsory medication would, overnight, become the whole world’s daily issue. Now I am no longer a voice in isolation or alone in the wilderness. That said, that said. It is vital to point out that any word or symbol – or event for that matter – carries hypnotic “value” and can thus be used for good or ill John Milton. The major culprits of the modern “postapocalyptic” world are 9/11, COVID-19 and to some degree “Russia”. These have sadly become every newscaster’s loaded gun – U2’s song “Walk On (Ukraine)” is a mild example. Heed the warning. Use the tools. Change your little corner of the world. Send Reiki distance-healing to those in need. Believe what a wonderful world and life it could be if everyone had the knowledge contained in these pages. Finally a much needed vote of thanks to David Patient, posthumously, and to Neil Orr, for setting the example so that others may follow in their footsteps. We certainly wouldn’t be here without you both. To David and Geraldene beyond the veil. I know you’re here with me in spirit helping to jot down these final notes of what will surely be an historic volume. All my love Jonathan N. Wakeling (also known as Chief Speak-a-little-French, Native American aka “Makanaka”) At NASA at Big Tree Harare, Monavale, Harare, Zimbabwe On this day, April 3rd 2023 https://jnwakeling.com/ P.S. Unfinished business complete (in more ways than one) dear reader!

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Afterword

On Completion: Proof! And “Eureka!” Moments One “Life is made up of lots of small miracles – look on the bright side!” – Jonathan N. Wakeling

Figure 1 - Photo © Jonathan N. Wakeling

I cleansed this quartz crystal (see Figure 1 above) in the morning sunlight for a few hours. (As I complete the final edit today, 4th of April) I thought of picking a Tarot card for its new home in my room, here at NASA, Big Tree Harare, (it is a hand-me-down from my dear Mother!) and I think the Spirits are talking because at random I picked the card of The Sun!! Wow. Someone is listening touch wood. Thanks to Cat Pierce for The Wandering Star Tarot deck – it’s so beautiful and works too!

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Afterword

N.B. “Blank Space by Taylor Swift” – an example to follow deep space and depth hypnosis N.B. Although my final interaction with David was on Facebook I know he was also on Twitter – I would love to have heard his one-liner about its new owner in the form of Elon Musk (or on the topic of AI for that matter!) had he lived to see it. I know we missed out on many possible future classics. Anyway. I was scrolling through Twitter this afternoon and came across the following Tweets by Vice President Kamala Harris. They just seemed synchronistic so I have included them here, given my mention of NASA and to highlight that much had changed in the world since this journey started in 1998 – (Taylor Swift included Midnights and Eras...)

“For the first time in decades, America is sending humans back to the Moon. The pioneering Artemis II crew announced today –Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen – are writing the next chapter of human spaceflight.” “In addition to paving the way for further deep space exploration, these four brave astronauts are breaking barriers as the first woman, first person of color, and the first international crew to enter the moon's orbit.” “To Reid, Victor, Christina, and Jeremy: Your courage and conviction inspire our nation. You will help generations of young people see themselves in the future of space — and will encourage them to dream with ambition and aspiration. @POTUS and I could not be more proud of you.” ~@VP Vice President Kamala Harris on Twitter

Nota Bene: A vote of thanks to The White House “Press Secretary” – yours truly, btw NASA. You have to go the distance with this task, without a question of a doubt Africa, America and Milton “Sisyphus” Erickson. The Moon and back Washington! And a trillion thanks too, to my all time favourite songster, Taylor “Tranquillitatis” Swift – a “Sea of Crises” to be sure, but exquisite Blank Space!! Review.

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Afterword

Two “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get.” –Forrest Gump

Figure 2 - Photo © Jonathan N. Wakeling

A prayer of protection for not only my precious Tarot deck, but also for the wonderful adventure it has been compiling this volume. A prayer and Reiki for you, the reader, too, for getting through the book(s)! May it change lives for the better and be guided from above – for all those in need, Gaia aka Planet Earth. Sometimes a sad song can cheer you up rainy days and Mondays...and sometimes the sun comes out just when you least expect it! And I certainly am feeling a little older too (see overleaf).

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Afterword

“Rainy Days And Mondays” by [The] Carpenters Talkin' to myself and feelin' old Sometimes I'd like to quit Nothin' ever seems to fit Hanging around Nothin' to do but frown Rainy days and Mondays always get me down What I've got they used to call the blues Nothin' is really wrong Feeling like I don't belong Walking around Some kind of lonely clown Rainy days and Mondays always get me down Funny, but it seems I always wind up here with you Nice to know somebody loves me Funny, but it seems that it's the only thing to do Run and find the one who loves me (The one who loves me) What I feel has come and gone before No need to talk it out (Talk it out) We know what it's all about Hanging around (Hanging around) Nothin' to do but frown Rainy days and Mondays always get me down Funny but it seems that it's the only thing to do (Only thing to do) Run and find the one who loves me (Ooh) What I feel has come and gone before No need to talk it out (Talk it out) We know what it's all about Hanging around (Hanging around) Nothin' to do but frown Rainy days and Mondays always get me down Hanging around (Hanging around) Nothin' to do but frown Rainy days and Mondays always get me down

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Afterword

Three “F.I.G.J.A.M. – Fuck I’m Good Just Ask Me” – David R. Patient

Figure 3 - Photo © Jonathan N. Wakeling

Paperweight? Excuse my French Chief Speak-a-little-French. There's no doubt that swear words get people's blood moving. I've used them sparingly in this review or “edit” – however they play an important role in both presenting as a "human" therapist, and helping the "client" (or reader) learn to "just be themselves" and accessing deeper aspects of the human psyche. They are, however, a personal choice and that should be well noted – no one is making you do anything you don't want to do – a basic ethic. Remember Milton? Last thoughts on Milton H. Erickson? Or as I like to say: “Trained by the best David Patient.” Over to you valiant reader and the best of luck! The end of one chapter and the beginning of the next without a doubt Neil...

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Afterword

“Last Thoughts On Woody Guthrie” by Bob Dylan. The end. [Intro] I have a poem here. It's not a poem, it's... This is the first concert I played alone in New York, really. An a fellow in Brooklyn State Hospital, his name is Woody Guthrie. But Woody is more than a folk singer. He's really something else more than a folk singer and there's this book coming out that's dedicated to him. And they asked me to write something about Woody, like what does Woody mean to you in 25 words. And I couldn't do it, I wrote out 5 pages and I have it here. I have it here by accident actually. But I'd like to say this out loud. So this is my feelings towards Woody Guthrie. Cannot really be told in how many records of his I buy, it's a lot more than that actually. So if you can roll along with this thing here this is called "Last Thoughts On Woody Guthrie" [Verse 1] When yer head gets twisted and yer mind grows numb When you think you're too old, too young, too smart or too dumb When yer laggin' behind an' losing yer pace In a slow-motion crawl of life's busy race No matter what yer doing if you start givin' up If the wine don't come to the top of yer cup If the wind's got you sideways with one hand holdin' on And the other starts slipping and the feeling is gone And yer train engine fire needs a new spark to catch it And the wood's easy findin' but yer lazy to fetch it And yer sidewalk starts curlin' and the street gets too long And you start walkin' backwards though you know its wrong And lonesome comes up as down goes the day And tomorrow's morning seems so far away And you feel the reins from yer pony are slippin' And yer rope is a-slidin' cause yer hands are a-drippin' And yer sun-decked desert and evergreen valleys Turn to broken down slums and trash-can alleys And yer sky cries water and yer drain pipe's a-pourin' And the lightnin's a-flashing and the thunder's a-crashin' And the windows are rattlin' and breakin' and the roof tops a-shakin' And yer whole world's a-slamming and banging And yer minutes of sun turn to hours of storm And to yourself you sometimes say "I never knew it was gonna be this way Why didn't they tell me the day I was born" And you start gettin' chills and yer jumping from sweat And you're looking for something you ain't quite found yet And yer knee-deep in the dark water with yer hands in the air And the whole world's a-watching with a window peek stare And yer good gal leaves and she's long gone a-flying And yer heart feels sick like fish when they're frying Page 10

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Afterword

And yer jackhammer falls from yer hand to yer feet And you need it badly but it lays on the street And yer bell's bangin' loudly but you can't hear its beat And you think yer ears might a been hurt Or yer eyes've turned filthy from the sight-blinding dirt And you figured you failed in yesterdays rush When you were faked out an' fooled while facing a four flush And all the time you were holdin' three queens And it's making you mad, it's makin' you mean Like in the middle of Life magazine Bouncin' around a pinball machine And there's something on yer mind you wanna be saying That somebody someplace oughta be hearin' But it's trapped on yer tongue and sealed in yer head And it bothers you badly when you're laying in bed And no matter how you try you just can't say it And yer scared to yer soul you just might forget it And yer eyes get swimmy from the tears in yer head And yer pillows of feathers turn to blankets of lead And the lion's mouth opens and yer staring at his teeth And his jaws start closing with you underneath And yer flat on your belly with yer hands tied behind And you wish you'd never taken that last detour sign And you say to yourself just what am I doing On this road I'm walkin', on this trail I'm turnin' On this curve I'm hanging On this pathway I'm strolling, in the space I'm taking In this air I'm inhaling Am I mixed up too much, am I mixed up too hard Why am I walking, where am I running What am I saying, what am I knowing On this guitar I'm playing, on this banjo I'm frailin' On this mandolin I'm strumming, in the song I'm singin' In the tune I'm humming, in the words I'm writin' In the words that I'm thinking In this ocean of hours I'm all the time drinkin' Who am I helping, what am I breaking What am I giving, what am I taking But you try with your whole soul best Never to think these thoughts and never to let Them kind of thoughts gain ground Or make yer heart pound But then again you know when they're around Just waiting for a chance to slip and drop down 'Cause sometimes you hear'em when the night times comes creeping

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Afterword

And you fear that they might catch you a-sleeping And you jump from yer bed, from yer last chapter of dreamin' And you can't remember for the best of yer thinking If that was you in the dream that was screaming And you know that it's something special you're needin' And you know that there's no drug that'll do for the healin' And no liquor in the land to stop yer brain from bleeding And you need something special Yeah, you need something special all right You need a fast flying train on a tornado track To shoot you someplace and shoot you back You need a cyclone wind on a stream engine howler That's been banging and booming and blowing forever That knows yer troubles a hundred times over You need a Greyhound bus that don't bar no race That won't laugh at yer looks Your voice or your face And by any number of bets in the book Will be rolling long after the bubblegum craze You need something to open up a new door To show you something you seen before But overlooked a hundred times or more You need something to open your eyes You need something to make it known That it's you and no one else that owns That spot that yer standing, that space that you're sitting That the world ain't got you beat That it ain't got you licked It can't get you crazy no matter how many Times you might get kicked You need something special all right You need something special to give you hope But hope's just a word That maybe you said or maybe you heard On some windy corner 'round a wide-angled curve [Bridge] But that's what you need man, and you need it bad And yer trouble is you know it too good 'Cause you look an' you start getting the chills [Verse 2] 'Cause you can't find it on a dollar bill And it ain't on Macy's window sill And it ain't on no rich kid's road map And it ain't in no fat kid's fraternity house

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And it ain't made in no Hollywood wheat germ And it ain't on that dimlit stage With that half-wit comedian on it Ranting and raving and taking yer money And you think it's funny No you can't find it in no night club or no yacht club And it ain't in the seats of a supper club And sure as hell you're bound to tell That no matter how hard you rub You just ain't a-gonna find it on yer ticket stub No, and it ain't in the rumors people're tellin' you And it ain't in the pimple-lotion people are sellin' you And it ain't in no cardboard-box house Or down any movie star's blouse And you can't find it on the golf course And Uncle Remus can't tell you and neither can Santa Claus And it ain't in the cream puff hair-do or cotton candy clothes And it ain't in the dime store dummies or bubblegum goons And it ain't in the marshmallow noises of the chocolate cake voices That come knockin' and tappin' in Christmas wrappin' Sayin' ain't I pretty and ain't I cute and look at my skin Look at my skin shine, look at my skin glow Look at my skin laugh, look at my skin cry When you can't even sense if they got any insides These people so pretty in their ribbons and bows No you'll not now or no other day Find it on the doorsteps made out-a paper mache And inside it the people made of molasses That every other day buy a new pair of sunglasses And it ain't in the fifty-star generals and flipped-out phonies Who'd turn yuh in for a tenth of a penny Who breathe and burp and bend and crack And before you can count from one to ten Do it all over again but this time behind yer back My friend The ones that wheel and deal and whirl and twirl And play games with each other in their sand-box world And you can't find it either in the no-talent fools That run around gallant And make all rules for the ones that got talent And it ain't in the ones that ain't got any talent but think they do And think they're foolin' you The ones who jump on the wagon Just for a while cause they know it's in style To get their kicks, get out of it quick

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Afterword

And make all kinds of money and chicks And you yell to yourself and you throw down yer hat Sayin', "Christ do I gotta be like that Ain't there no one here that knows where I'm at Ain't there no one here that knows how I feel Good God Almighty THAT STUFF AIN'T REAL" No but that ain't yer game, it ain't yer race You can't hear yer name, you can't see yer face You gotta look some other place And where do you look for this hope that yer seekin' Where do you look for this lamp that's a-burnin' Where do you look for this oil well gushin' Where do you look for this candle that's glowin' Where do you look for this hope that you know is there And out there somewhere And your feet can only walk down two kinds of roads Your eyes can only look through two kinds of windows Your nose can only smell two kinds of hallways You can touch and twist And turn two kinds of doorknobs You can either go to the church of your choice Or you can go to Brooklyn State Hospital You'll find God in the church of your choice You'll find Woody Guthrie in Brooklyn State Hospital [Outro] And though it's only my opinion I may be right or wrong You'll find them both In the Grand Canyon At sundown ~Genius dotcom https://genius.com/Bob-dylan-last-thoughts-on-woody-guthrie-annotated

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3, 2, 1...? That’s all folks! From the offices of Libra Balances the Books it’s bye for now. And remember you’re not alone on this journey – I’ve got your back for one. A “happy” ending Wakeling. P.S. The Sun tarot card interpretation fyi folks...

XIX ◇ THE SUN Light ● Life ● Energy Rejoice! The Sun is shining and gives freely of its warmth and light. If you have been shivering in the shadows, now is the time to step out into the golden rays and let yourself be nourished and healed. Every breath will bring you renewed energy and vitality. Allow joy to enter your heart and watch the wounds of the past diminish and fade. Now is a time to rekindle your youthful, childlike fire. Run through fields, play and live fearlessly, and dance and sing without shame. You will bloom and flourish in this time. Enjoy! ....................... "I believe the world is incomprehensibly beautiful – an endless prospect of magic and wonder.” – Ansel Adams

~from The Wandering Star Tarot Deck Guidebook by Cat “Sunshine” Pierce

three two one question mark? “I wanna be defined by the things that I love Not the things I hate Not the things that I'm afraid of, I'm afraid of Not the things that haunt me in the middle of the night I, I just think that You are what you love” ~Taylor Swift, Daylight

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Appendix

Appendix Reiki Symbols Reference: Reiki Illustrated: The Visual Reference Guide of Hand Positions, Symbols, and Treatment Sequences for Common Conditions by Hae Lee

1. Cho Ku Rei (Power Symbol)

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Appendix

2. Sei Hei Ki (Mental/Emotional Symbol)

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Appendix

3. Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen (Distant Symbol)

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Appendix

4. Dai Ko Myo (Master Symbol)

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