Hypnology Magazine: Issue 2

Transcription

Issue 2: January 2014
The journal of hypnosis and consciousness exploration
In This Issue
• • • • • A Note from the Publisher: Understanding Hypnosis
An En-Lightning Experience – Paul Aurand
How to Enter a State of Hypnosis – Roy Hunter
The All-Powerful King – Scott Schmaren
Sermon, It's Ironic – Rev. Dr. C. Scot Giles
• • • • A Symbolic Life – C. G. Jung
Sports Psychology vs. Sports Hypnosis – John Wier
My Search for the Meaning of Life – Lambert Matias
The Politics of Science – Imants Baruss
CONTENTS FWRD
Hypnology Magazine is, for me, a dream come true.
That’s why I am offering a FREE subscription to
the first 1,500 people who see this message and visit
www.hypnologymag.com.
Best wishes,
Fred Kutchins
Publisher
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Copyright ©2014 Fred Kutchins
BACK CONTENTS FWRD
you can’t truly know what it is UNTIL YOU EXPERIENCE IT is also a MEDITATIVE STATE
CONSTRUCT a PERSONAL REALITY that is FREE OF SELF-LIMITING IDEAS AMAZING
CONSCIOUSNESS is as LIMITLESS as the IMAGINATION use IMAGINATION to CREATE
“SYCHRONICITY,” which can be thought of as IRONY on STEROIDS PHYSICAL RESPONSE
CREATE my SAFE PLACE in my MIND FLOATING in a CLOUD, WALKING into the WOODS,
Will we ever BE THE SAME AGAIN? ...VALIDATE the IMPORTANCE of the MIND in SPORTS
In This Issue
Click the listing to go
directly to that article.
2A Note From the Publisher: Understanding
Hypnosis by Fred Kutchins, CH
4An En-Lightning Experience
by Paul Aurand, MHt
11How to Enter a State of Hypnosis
by C. Roy Hunter, MS, FAPHP
18The All-Powerful King
by Scott Schmaren
20The Irony of It All
by Rev. Dr. C. Scot Giles
26A Symbolic Life
by C. G. Jung
29Sports Psychology vs. Sports Hypnosis
by John Wier, BCH, CI
33My Search for the Meaning of Life
by Lambert Matias
Issue 2: January 2014
Fred Kutchins
Editor & Publisher
David Wood
Creative Director/Designer
Lambert Matias
Director of Development
All opinions expressed in any article
herein are strictly those of the author.
The publisher does not have any
control over and does not assume any
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websites or their content. The ideas,
procedures and suggestions contained
in this publication are not intended as
a substitute for consulting with your
physician. All matters regarding any
aspect of your health require medical
supervision. The publisher shall not
be liable or responsible for any loss
or damage allegedly arising from
any information or suggestion in this
publication.
Please direct all inquiries to:
fred@fredkutchins.com
www.hypnologymag.com
37The Politics of Science
by Imants Barušs, PhD
39Author Bios
40 Hypnology Sponsors
Copyright ©2014 Fred Kutchins. No part of
this publication may be reproduced except by
permission. Articles herein are copyrighted by
the individual authors thereof.
BACK
FWRD
you can’t truly know what it is UNTIL YOU EXPERIENCE IT
A Note From the Publisher:
Understanding Hypnosis
by Fred Kutchins, CH
As a child, I was puzzled by the lyrics of most popular songs since they usually were
about romantic love, and I had no idea, really, what that kind of love was. It was only
when I got a little older, and developed a crush on a little girl in my class at school,
that I began to understand the meaning of the songs.
The same thing applies to hypnosis—you can’t truly know what it is until you
experience it. And even then one is hard put to find words for something so
subjective. There is, in fact, no agreed upon scientific definition. Attempting to define
hypnosis it is like walking across a valley toward a far-off mountain: The closer you
get to the mountain, the more it seems to recede into the distance.
Nevertheless, there are many useful working definitions. One of my favorites is by
psychiatrist Herbert Spiegel: “Hypnosis is a dynamic state of attentive, responsive
concentration even to the point of dissociation.”
The keyword here is dynamic. People often assume that hypnosis is a kind of sleep.
In actuality you are hyper-alert during hypnosis. All your senses are intact—you
can hear, speak, move around and think. But what happens is that your subconscious
moves into the foreground of your mental field, while the more analytical part of
your mind slips into the background.
This is significant because the subconscious mind holds the essence of who you
really are. It is the seat of your emotions, habits, memories, dreams, intuition and
creativity. It is the repository of “forgotten” or repressed material extending back into
the womb (and perhaps even farther). It is where your deepest beliefs and motivations
are stored. But unlike your conscious mind, the subconscious is not bound by the
imperatives of logic and linear thought. It takes everything as literal fact, responds
best to simple imagery and tends to think globally rather than analytically. It has
difficulty comprehending negation or negative polarity as expressed by words such
as no and not. For the subconscious, past and future do not exist; it lives totally in
the Now.
(While many of the foregoing characteristics are associated with the right
hemisphere of the brain, I do not mean to imply that the subconscious is located
there or synonymous with it. The term subconscious is simply a metaphor for certain
cognitive processes that occur below the level of awareness.)
From birth until around the age of six you live completely in your subconscious.
Although you are actively engaged with the world around you, you have not yet
developed what has been called the Critical Factor, i.e. a conscious, reasoning,
judgmental mind—in effect, a gatekeeper to your subconscious. Without this
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Hypnology magazine | w w w. Hy pno l o gy M ag.c om
BACK CONTENTS FWRD
CONSTRUCT a PERSONAL REALITY that is FREE OF SELF-LIMITING IDEAS
protective shield, you are vulnerable to any impression
that comes your way. Everything you see, hear and
feel leaves a permanent imprint.
In The Art of Living Consciously: The Power of
Awareness to Transform Everyday Life (Simon and
Schuster, 1997), psychologist Nathaniel Branden puts
it this way:
“All of us are moved by ideas and values of
which we may or may not be aware. We hold
premises, implicit if not explicit, about the nature
of man and woman, the things that most matter
in life, the ways human beings should relate to
one another, right and wrong, good and evil,
the meaning of work, love and sex, the nature
of justice, the relationship of the individual to
society and the government, and so on. When
asked to articulate these beliefs, people often
have difficulty. Their philosophy is largely
subconscious, and has never been brought into
the light of full awareness. (Italics added.) This
makes it more difficult to check against reality
or to revise; they are stuck with old thinking that
might not even have been theirs in the first place
but merely absorbed uncritically from others.”
What, then, is hypnosis? It is a quick link to our
internal imaginative ability. It helps us to integrate
creative potentials within our personality and
get unstuck from old patterns of thinking and
behavior. Hypnosis preoccupies and quiets the
conscious mind thereby creating an ideal condition
for your subconscious to receive, and incorporate,
transformative suggestions and/or insights.
control, only influence. Whether or not you follow
his/her instructions is always your own decision
(notwithstanding hypnotism stage shows, which
are contrived to create the appearance of hypnotist
control).
Recently, a man called me and said he wanted to stop
smoking. “Fix me!” he pleaded. I explained that I
was not a “fixer” but rather a guide or a coach. I told
him that my service as a consulting hypnotist would
consist of helping him to utilize hypnosis in order
to reinvent himself as a non-smoker. “Smoking is a
choice,” I said. “If you want to stop, you can. It’s your
decision.” I even added that often a single hypnosis
session is all that is necessary. This was not what
the man wanted to hear. He was disappointed—even
angry—and he ended our conversation abruptly.
Apparently he had hoped that I could “make” him stop
smoking, presumably while he slept. (I learned later
that he had called me only to placate his wife.)
The great promise of hypnosis is that it affords us the
opportunity to construct a personal reality that is free
of self-limiting ideas, beliefs and patterns of behavior
acquired in the past. But old habits sometimes die
hard. As part of the hypnotic process, we must be
willing to confront our demons in order to see just
how hollow they really are. Only then can we move
forward into a fuller realization of our true human
potential.
Hypnosis can help you to understand that many of
your dominant beliefs are purely arbitrary—that
your most compelling fears and compulsions are
groundless—that you have unexpressed talents
awaiting release—and, most importantly, that there
exists within you a reservoir of untapped strength for
positive change.
But change cannot be imposed upon you. A hypnotist,
like any other trusted advisor, has no actual
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The Meditative Rose by Salvador Dali
BACK CONTENTS FWRD
"NO! GET OUT OF MY BODY!" I scream in my MIND
An En-Lightning Experience
by Paul Aurand, MHt
July 17, 1998. As the storm approaches from a distance there is talk of delaying the
swim meet. We are all disappointed. Do we really need to follow the ten minute rule
and delay the meet for ten minutes because of the distant rumble of thunder? The
thunder seems so far away. It hardly seems a threat. As the sky grows darker I watch
the clouds approach from the other side of the lake. A giant bolt of lightning, way on
the other side of the lake lights up the sky. Orion, our little three year old, asks to go
home. "It’s OK, RyRy. Don’t worry" I say. A few minutes later there is another huge
bolt of lightning, closer this time but still at the other end of the lake. Orion becomes
more insistent. "Go home Daddy, go home!" he pleads with me. It is getting darker
and the clouds fill the sky. The meet was delayed again and I decide to take Orion to
the car. As I climb the hill to the car, my wife Lindsey and Nicole, our fifteen year
old niece visiting us from Arizona, gather up the beach chairs and cooler and follow.
I set Orion down in the street next to the car in order to unlock and open the door.
I pick him up and place him on the front seat. Leaving the door ajar I go around to
the back of the car to load the trunk. Nicole comes up behind me with the cooler and
a chair as I lift the tailgate.
As we begin to load the car there is an incredible explosion and searing flash of white
light. It is as if a bomb has gone off. There is no warning, no thunder, no flashes, just
a huge explosion. And then it starts. I an being electrocuted. My feet and legs begin
to vibrate. My whole body goes rigid. And the sound! A roaring buzz fills my body
as the electricity climbs up through me into my chest and arms. I feel completely
helpless. The ground is alive with current that is killing me. I can’t move. I can’t run.
There is no place to go. I cannot escape. I feel my feet vibrating in my sandals as the
lightning comes up out of the street and climbs over the rubber soles into my legs.
It is the most excruciating pain I have ever experienced. Every muscle in my body
tenses and cramps. Like thousands of Charlie horses all at once. My car keys fly out
of my hands, my hat pops off my head, and my glasses are blown off my face.
I think to myself "Will it ever stop?" I rage against the relentless charge of energy
invading my body. "NO! Get out of my body!" I scream in my mind, as I fight with
all my strength. I grow weaker as I bounce rigidly, upright on the pavement. It feels
like an eternity, I wonder if it will ever end. Will it stop or will I die? I don’t know
which will come first. And then stiff like a statue I am thrown backwards. Out of the
corner of my eye I can see Nicole, in the same upright position falling backwards
too. There is no way to brace myself from the fall. My muscles don’t respond and it is
all happening too fast anyway. I feel my head bouncing on the street as I am thrown
down. The pain of my head hitting the pavement is nothing compared to the searing
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BACK CONTENTS FWRD
Why is this HAPPENING?
pain of my convulsing body. Later, eye witnesses say
we actually flew about six feet in the air like missiles.
Then the rain begins. A few drops and then torrents
of rain mixed with hail. Some call it a white out.
Everything seems to be in slow motion. People are
walking to their cars stunned by the blast, checking to
see if their children are alright. I feel invisible. "They
don’t know I just got hit by lightning. They don’t know
I am dying." Then I try to move but can’t. One arm
moves slightly. There is no response in my Legs. Some
parts of me are numb and some are in intense pain.
I moan at first, my body still
jerking. The moans grow
into howls and then, at last,
words form and I scream
for help. A figure comes
toward me reaching out.
"Don’t touch him" someone
shouts, and he runs away for
fear of being electrocuted
by me. I still can’t move.
Then another person
approaches. He checks me
and then Nicole as we lay
in the street only a few feet
apart. Someone brings a
blanket. Others try to call
for help but their cell phones
don’t work because of the
intensity of the storm.
of the rain, at last. We wait for help. The police arrive
soon after the calls are made but the ambulance is
taking forever to get here.
Reunited with Lindsey and Orion, we are all crying
and in shock. Nicole is still not talking. When we ask
her questions she can only cover her face and cry.
Lindsey is saying she was carried by the angels. All
we can do is cry and thank God we are alive. Still
waiting for the ambulance. I am starting to feel my
body again. Now my head hurts as the bump swells.
The cop is sitting in the front seat with Lindsey,
drenched through, taking
names and addresses for his
report. He goes out into the
rain again to get me an ice
pack for my head.
After 45 minutes the
ambulances finally arrive.
They do their triage and
put Lindsey and Orion in
one ambulance and me
and Nicole in another. The
road to the local hospital is
closed as some trees, felled
by the storm, block the way.
They take an alternate route
to a small country hospital
in Warwick, NY.
Then Lindsey, comes over. She touches my head and
tells me to pray. "Call the angels. Call the angels"
she says. My mind is rushing "Nicole is OK. What
about Orion? Check Orion!" My legs won’t move.
And my arm, it doesn’t work either. Oh God, what is
happening? The rain is heavy now. I am getting wetter
and wetter.
Lindsey is hit too, at the same time as Nicole and me.
Her legs sore, she is limping and her arm is burned.
Thank God I got Orion in the car just seconds before
the explosion. I am too wet and the water in the street
is getting deeper and deeper. With help I sit up but am
unable to stand. Nicole and I are carried to the car, out
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Will we ever BE THE SAME AGAIN?
During the ride I find I can
move my arm again. What a
relief. And the feeling in my legs begins to return. I’ll
be able to walk! Every time I ask Nicole how she was
all she can do is cry. She still can’t talk.
We are taken into the ER, Nicole on the stretcher, I
in a wheel chair and Lindsey in one too with Ryan in
her lap. They take us to separate rooms. My chest is
shaved and electrodes are attached for the EKG. They
take blood and urine too. We are in shock. We move
between sobbing and laughing, cracking morbid jokes
and thanking God. Lindsey is ordering deep dish
pepperoni pizza from the ER doctor and I’m walking
around with a blanket over my shoulders saying I’m
the savior.
BACK CONTENTS FWRD
I REFUSE to LIVE MY LIFE IN FEAR
What the hell is happening to us? Why is it
happening? Will we ever be the same again? What are
the effects of being hit by lightning? Are we ok? Are
we alive? Finally Lindsey and I are able to hug. The
tears flow. Orion is alive, Jon-Paul, our eleven year old
son, is spared, we still have each other. But, Nicole,
is she going to be alright? After J.P. talked to her a bit
she begins to talk. Words at last!
We have to call Nicole’s mom at work. "We are OK;
we are in the hospital; we were hit by lightning!" I
tell my sister. She is speechless. She drops the phone,
her boss picks it up and puts us on the speaker phone.
We need authorization to take blood and run an IV
on Nicole. I get on the phone with Lynette trying to
reassure her. We got hit by lightning but we are OK.
"Are you sure?!" She asks, dumbfounded. I can’t talk
anymore. Lynette gets the details from the nurse and
makes arrangements to catch the next flight out.
The doctor is explaining that the lightning can make
our hearts beat irregularly or make them stop. It also
drives certain elements out of the muscles causing
muscle damage and possibly overloading the kidneys.
They have found blood in Lindsey’s urine and want to
do more tests. Nicole goes to the bathroom but forgets
to fill the sample cup with urine. She will have to try
again. My IV is about done and now they want to do
another. I just want to go home.
They really don’t know what to do with us so they
decide to discharge us. The television news teams are
waiting for us. We make the evening news and the
front page of most of the newspapers.
Dazed and confused we return to the sight of the
lightning strike to retrieve our car. We realize we are
in no shape to drive and have friends take us home.
The next day we realize we are in pretty bad shape.
Still in shock and sore everywhere. It is hard to move.
It feels like I ran a marathon and then got run over by
a steam roller.
I call my insurance company to report the emergency
room visit and they insist we go back to a better
hospital immediately. "You never should have been
released! Your heart can stop any time in the first
twenty-four hours after being hit by lightning." If my
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health insurance company is insisting we go back
to the emergency room immediately I know we are
in rough shape. Three doctors and two emergency
medical clinics refuse to see us. They just don’t know
what to do for lightning strike victims. Finally, a
hospital with a doctor who has treated lightning cases
agrees to admit us and off we go.
It has been days since we were discharged. The initial
injuries are healing but we are noticing other long
term affects. My upper back is in chronic pain. We all
have substantial short term memory loss. We forget
what we are doing, people's names even where we are
or how to get home. I stop to put gas in the car and
wonder why the tank is already full. My son reminds
me that I just stopped a few minutes earlier and filled
it up. I have no memory of doing it.
The other big after-effect we notice is sensitivity to
storms and to electricity in general. I am scared to
open the refrigerator door or to turn on a lamp. Hours
before a storm arrives I can feel it. My legs hurt like
they did the day after the lightning.
Our friends the Cottens are healers and they work
on us. They have learned a unique treatment for
electrocution. They put our feet in galvanized metal
buckets of water and attach the buckets to pipes with
jumper cables to ground us and drain the residual
electricity from our bodies. They pass microchips over
us from head to toe and we feel the waves of energy
leaving. Following the treatment we feel much clearer
and less confused. Our bodies feel less charged.
Weeks have passed. My energy level is still
frustratingly low and the memory loss is frightening.
So many questions arise. I’m trying so hard to get
back to normal these days. But, do I really want
normal? What is normal anyway? Was I ever normal?
What do I want this life to be? I almost lost this life.
In striving to restore some sense of normalcy in
my life will the unique opportunity to make more
conscious, perhaps even divinely inspired choices
about how I live this new life fade as I fall into the
same old routine? Or, will I make the most of it?
Will I in some profound way, be guided to be or do
something exceptional?
BACK CONTENTS FWRD
And, in that MOMENT knew that it was BECAUSE I WAS LOVED
Some say I was touched by God. Others say
devils were after me. I refuse to live my life in
fear. Something deep inside me knows that some
"good" will come of this. Although it is a traumatic
experience it isn’t a disaster. No life was lost. We are
not outwardly wounded or scarred. We don’t even
glow in the dark. I know something is different, but,
I don’t know what it is yet. Will we write a book,
develop some extra sensory perception, become great
healers or just be a little nutty?
"He is a changed man since he was struck by
lightning" they say. But, what has changed? How has a
brush with death changed me? Can I ever be the same
again? Do I want to be the same? Promising myself I
will change is a far cry from being changed. And that
raises an important question. Did I choose this? Was
it chosen for me? What am I supposed to get out of all
this? These are questions I live with each day.
Knowing the long term effects of trauma held in the
body, I began to search for ways to release the fear
and pain that I carried from the experience. Hearing
of the empowerment intensive workshop being
offered by David Quigley, I signed up hoping to have
the opportunity to release as much of the trauma as
possible.
During this intensive weekend each attendee had
the chance to have an individual session with David
facilitating and the group supporting the process. I
couldn’t wait to do the work and was one of the first to
volunteer for a session.
As I got comfortable on the pad on the floor, David
began to gently regress me to the event. The first
image that came was one that has been recurrent
since the lightning strike. For me that image was the
doorway to the past and the healing that I sought. I
saw myself setting Orion down in the street next to
the car, opening the door and placing him on the front
seat. With this image comes the realization that had
he stood in that spot a few seconds longer, he would
have been killed by the lightning strike. I thank God
every day that I got him into the car that, although he
witnessed the whole event, he was safe and unhurt.
It was this image that began the process of reliving the
entire event in very slow motion. David, supported by
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the whole group, skillfully guided me to the moment
the lightning entered my body. By going through the
event again, this time in very slow motion I was able
to feel and process what had taken a fraction of a
second, over a period of about three hours.
As I regressed further my feet began to tingle and
then they started to shake. Slowly at first and then
more and more violently. The shaking slowly rose up
my legs following the same course the lightning had
traveled. Ten or fifteen minutes into the regression my
legs shook harder and faster than I could have possibly
moved them if I had tried. People in the group were
amazed and a little scared too. As the shaking rose
up into my hips and back, my whole body began to
convulse. My body undulated on the floor in wave
after wave of release. Each wave bringing more
memories of the terrible pain I had experienced. Each
wave releasing more of the trauma held in the muscles
and nerves.
I remembered that as I was being electrocuted by
the lightning it ran through my body in waves. Each
pulsation bringing me closer to death. At this point
David encouraged me to welcome the lightning into
my body. I thought he must be crazy or perhaps even
cruel. But, as I had fought the lightning with all of
my strength when I was hit, much of the energy
and trauma was stuck in my body. It became clear
to me during this process that the back pain I was
experiencing was connected to the tremendous
unprocessed energy that had become lodged in my
back. So, letting go and letting that tremendous force
pass through me was just what I needed to do.
As I stopped fighting and "welcomed" the lightning
into me, my body began to relax. The violent shaking
and convulsing gradually subsided. And then came
death. I remembered the few moments my heart had
stopped and I was "dead." Supported by the group I
curled up into a ball and went into the fetal position
lying on my back. Everything grew dark and I entered
that great void, that "nothing" place people report in
their near death experiences. I remembered screaming
"NO!" I don’t know how much choice I had in the
matter but as far as I was concerned, there was no way
that I was ready to die yet.
BACK CONTENTS FWRD
...charged with HEALING ENERGY and encouraged me to LET IT FLOW THROUGH ME...
From that very quiet and peaceful void, I heard
David quietly guiding me to ask, "Why? Why had
this happened? What was I to learn from it?" And, in
that moment knew that it was because I was loved.
"Loved? This is how you love me? What kind of love
is that?" I thought. But then I felt it, that indescribable,
unconditional love that is limitless, bathing me.
And the other message that came to me was, "Listen.
Listen to spirit, meditate, turn inward and listen. Spirit
speaks to you constantly, all you need to do is listen.
Listen with your heart. Listen with your body. Use
your wonderful mind but listen to spirit."
Flooded with love for all that I am and all that I have
done to help others I began my return journey back
into my body. I came back to life. New, fresh, reborn,
I came back, slowly uncurling. Opening up. Becoming
aware of my surroundings, almost three hours had
passed since the beginning of my regression. I felt
completely transformed. Like a baby starting over.
I was blessed with the chance to do it again, in a new
and better way.
As I opened my eyes I was greeted lovingly by the
entire group. "Welcome back!" No one could believe
what they had just witnessed. I was speechless. David
suggested we go outside to feel the earth and see the
sky. I was helped outside and knew I had to take my
socks off to feel the earth beneath my feet. It was like
feeling the earth for the first time in my life.
As the group made a circle around me to offer a group
hug, the sun, which had been hidden in grey skies
all day, burst forth and shone so brightly through the
autumn leaves blessing this profound moment.
I looked up to see the most brilliant light I have ever
seen as an electric angel appeared to remind me of
the power I had been instilled with as a result of
this incredible experience. It reminded me to share
the power in this experience with others. It showed
me that I was now charged with healing energy and
encouraged me to let it flow through me into the other
members of the intensive. As I opened my arms to
share the energy everyone in the group felt waves of
energy pass through them. What a healing. What a
transformation! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.
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I am completely free of the chronic back pain I had
experienced and far less fearful of electric storms and
electricity in general. I know the long term affects of
trauma held in the body and am glad to have found a
way to release it through the empowerment intensive.
As a healer and hypnotherapist I am able to use the
powerful techniques that David uses to help me in my
work with others.
In addition to the powerful regression and trauma
release work there are a few other treatments that
have helped greatly in my recovery. As there is so
little information available on how to treat lightning
strike victims and their residual symptoms, I feel it
would be helpful to mention the things we found most
beneficial.
After emergency medical care and being released from
the hospital for the second time I received a life saving
acupuncture treatment. My pulses were over charged
on the right side of my body, which was the side that
the lightning had entered. And, my pulses were almost
non- existent on the left side where the lightning had
exited. This severe imbalance of the pulses often
precedes death. It took quite a long treatment but,
with persistence my pulses evened out and I felt some
relief. At times during the treatment it felt as though
mild electrical shocks were moving through my body.
Acupuncture seems to be helpful in balancing the
system after electric shock.
Massage therapy helped ease the muscle pain that
remained after the violent convulsing. It also aided the
release of trauma from my body. With each treatment
I felt more and more comfortable. It helped me begin
to process the fear and shock that I held in my body.
Upon the advice of a nutritionist we began taking a
number of supplements that, over time, helped heal the
muscle and nerve damage and reduce the short term
memory loss.
For over a month following the lightning strike we all
experienced a tremendous thirst. We drank gallons of
water every day and still felt thirsty. Our nutritionist
advised us to take trace minerals. The lightning forces
minerals out of the muscles and into the blood stream.
We had to replace these minerals by taking liquid
BACK CONTENTS FWRD
KAVA KAVA was a great help in REDUCING THE ANXIETY
minerals or trace minerals. Another benefit of the
trace minerals is that they help improve the electrical
conductivity in the nervous system. Our brain function
improved by taking the minerals daily and our
persistent thirst subsided.
For the short term memory loss we started taking
phosphatidylserine. This supplement helps with
memory retrieval and is used to treat Attention
Deficit Disorder. Within a few weeks of starting this
supplement we noticed less forgetfulness and less
memory loss. It has been a great help.
B vitamins help repair nerve tissue. Especially
effective is Inositol which is in the B vitamin family
and is supposed to help with repairing the myelin
sheath that protects the nerves. This protective coating
gets burned as the lightning travels through the
nervous system. Inositol aids the re-myelinization of
the nerves and is often recommended to patients with
Multiple Sclerosis for this reason.
The herb Kava Kava was a great help in reducing the
anxiety we experienced daily following the accident.
It especially helped calm us during storms and other
anxiety producing events.
I feel certain that treating these conditions
immediately following the lightning strike may
lessen the long term effects of being hit by lightning.
I would be glad to help any lightning strike survivor
with information, experience, referrals and healing
sessions.
Image from the movie Powder (Buena Vista Pictures, 1995)
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People don't realize HOW VAST THE SUBCONSCIOUS IS.
Dean Stockwell 1936 –
Dean Stockwell on Acting and the Subconscious
I hate to admit it, but you can't do a role unless it's somewhere
in your psyche. People don't realize how vast the subconscious
is. It's like infinity.
Dean Stockwell in The Boy With Green Hair
(RKO Radio Pictures, 1948)
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SELF-HYPNOSIS is also a MEDITATIVE STATE
How to Enter a State of Self-Hypnosis
by C. Roy Hunter, MS, FAPHP
© 2005, revised © 2011
Before learning how to enter a state of self-hypnosis, let’s briefly discuss what
constitutes the state of self-hypnosis, and the role of imagination.
Meditation became popular years ago in various forms. While some people endeavor
to “blank the mind” or silence the conscious thoughts while meditating, the
meditative state of mind is a state of altered consciousness.
Self-hypnosis is also a meditative state, which I prefer to call meditation with a
focus…such as imagining standing barefoot in the sand on a beautiful beach with a
gentle breeze blowing, or being in a mountain meadow with a nearby waterfall that
you can see or hear. While your conscious mind knows your location at any moment,
simply imagining being in a peaceful place while physically relaxed helps you enter a
state of altered consciousness.
Self-Hypnosis = Altered Consciousness
I frequently explain hypnosis to a prospective client by asking a question such as,
"When is the last time you cried real tears during a powerful movie? Even though
your conscious mind knew you were sitting in a theater watching actors and
actresses, your subconscious accepted them as real characters because you were in a
state of altered consciousness – or more accurately, a state of guided self-hypnosis!
Even though the "critical faculty" can be bypassed when we get engrossed in a good
movie, that motion picture does not control us; it only guides us through its story. It
could be said, then, that the movie is our hypnotist until the closing credits cross the
screen. We could get up and walk out or turn off the DVD player if we wanted to,
so we could more accurately say that the movie puts us into a state of guided selfhypnosis, similar to meditation because our brain waves are in the alphastate.
The Four States of Mind
There are four states of mind: beta, alpha, theta, and delta.
Beta
We are in the beta state for most of your waking hours. It's a good thing, too, since
beta is like high gear, a good place for decision making, reasoning and logic. Brain
waves are above 13 cycles per second, often greatly higher, and may or may not be
rhythmic.
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CONSCIOUSNESS is as LIMITLESS as the IMAGINATION
Alpha
As our brain waves slow down to between 8 and
13 cycles per second, we enter the alpha state of mind.
The door between conscious and subconscious is
opened, and it becomes easier to access the memories
and storage of new information. We may become
mellow in this relaxed state, finding it easier to use
the imagination, which is why our favorite actors and
actresses become the characters they play while the
movie fills our senses of sight and sound.
Theta & Delta
Below the two conscious states are theta, the
dream state, and delta, which is deep sleep or total
unconsciousness. Whether or not you remember your
dreams, you must pass through theta on the way to
and from delta. Likewise, you must pass through alpha
on the way to and from sleep. We enter a state of selfhypnosis at least twice daily, on the way to and from
sleep.
Now that you have read about the alpha state, are you
ready to experience it?
Entering Self-Hypnosis…
The number of ways of entering an altered state of
consciousness is as limitless as the imagination. I’ll
describe the most common technique, and provide
two others methods for the benefit of those who have
difficulty responding to the first exercise, which is
called progressive relaxation. If you have learned
another method from another book (or from a seminar)
use what you prefer as long as your chosen method
works.
I suggest you read through this exercise once or twice
to become familiar with the contents before you begin
using the actual technique. The specific words you
will use can vary from the typical session suggested
here, but you should follow the basic format. Scripts
are like training wheels, serving only as a guide to get
you started.
Progressive Relaxation
Now let's begin the session. Find a comfortable place
to recline or lie down. If you wear hard contact lenses,
12
remove them. If you chew gum, throw it away. Also,
be certain that your clothing feels comfortable. If
possible, unplug your phone or turn on your answering
machine - and make certain to put your pets in another
room. Some animals seem to sense the mental peace
you feel in the alpha state, and will want to be close.
(Experience taught me that a cat suddenly pouncing
on your stomach during relaxation can be quite a jolt!)
Now that you're comfortable, take several deep
breaths. Close your eyes if you wish. Imagine yourself
letting go of all of your cares and tensions as easily as
you let go of the air from your lungs.
Background music is optional - but recommended if
you meditate in an area where there may be distracting
outside noise.
Think to yourself words like the italics on the
following pages while fantasizing being in a peaceful
place. That peaceful place can be a beach, the woods,
a waterfall, lake, stream, meadow, etc. Note the
grammar is often imperfect, because the words are
intended for the subconscious. Three dots indicate a
pause...
As I now imagine a relaxing sensation entering my
toes, my breathing continues to be free and easy
- just as when I sleep. The relaxation becomes
more and more real with each breath I take,
moving up into my feet...
It feels soooooo good to relax that it becomes
easy, comfortable, and automatic for the relaxation
to move up into my ankles... The relaxing
sensation becomes more and more real with each
breath I take. It now moves up into my calves. All
my nerves and muscles just let go, responding to
my desire to relax... The relaxation moves right on
through my knees, going up into my thighs... all
the nerves and muscles letting go into a deeper
and deeper state of relaxation.
My hips relax. It feels soooooo good to relax, that
the feeling continues right on into my stomach
muscles and up around my rib cage.
With each breath I go deeper and deeper relaxed.
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finding that TIME seems to CONDENSE or EXPAND
The relaxation moves on into my lower back, going
right up into my shoulders - just as though gentle
fingers have just given me a soothing back rub.
The soothing feeling of relaxation moves down
through my elbows, going right on out through my
hands and fingers... With each breath I take, I just
go deeper and deeper...
The back of my neck relaxes... My scalp relaxes...
It feels soooooo good to relax that the feeling of
soothing comfort moves into my forehead and
temples. With each breath I just go deeper and
deeper. My cheeks relax. My jaw muscles relax...
My entire body now feels completely relaxed...
At this point you may very well be in a light or
medium state of alpha consciousness from this sample
induction. If you practice self-hypnosis at night before
going to sleep, you may find yourself sound asleep
long before you finish the exercise. Some of my clients
tend to fall asleep before getting past their knees. If
you still feel considerable awareness, however, you
may wish to deepen the relaxation by using additional
self-talk as follows:
As I now count from ten down to one, I become
deeper and deeper relaxed with each number just drifting down into a very soothing tranquility.
Number Ten - deeper and deeper, relaxing
physically...
Number Nine - deeper and deeper, relaxing
mentally...
Number Eight - deeper and deeper, relaxing
emotionally...
go deeper...
Number Three - just drifting into total relaxation...
Number Two - just drifting into deeeeep hypnotic
peace...
Number One - waaaaaaaaaaaaay down deep...
Again, some people may benefit by also fantasizing
a peaceful place with pleasant sights, sounds and
feelings. Others may prefer to use the script as written,
without the added "safe place." Make your own choice.
If you prefer, you can record this script into a tape
player, changing all the "I" and "my" words into the
second-person format.
You may experience time distortion - finding that time
seems to condense or expand (ten minutes seems like
two - or twenty). Also, you may notice that your mind
tends to wander. In fact, your thoughts may wander
considerably as you go deeper into the alpha state.
You may have to keep bringing yourself back to each
new number, sometimes forgetting the last number
counted. If this happens, just go on with the first
number that comes to your mind. Some of you may
have to count down twice to get deeper, or count from
a higher number. Many people start the countdown
with 20 - and some even start with 100. You make the
choice.
You may return to full beta awareness by simply
telling yourself that you feel wonderful and wideawake at the count of five. Then count from one to
five either mentally or out loud. If you wish, use the
following script as a guide...
Number Seven - deeper and deeper, relaxing
totally...
Now, I am going to count from one up to five and
then I am going to say "fully aware." At the count
of five, my eyelids open and I feel calm, refreshed,
relaxed, fully aware, and normal in every way.
Number Six - every nerve and muscle relaxes
completely...
One... Slowly, calmly, easily, and gently returning
to full awareness once again.
Number Five - each number taking me deeper and
deeper...
Two... Each muscle and nerve in my body is loose,
limp, and relaxed, and I feel wonderfully good.
Number Four - the deeper I go, the easier it is to
Three... From head to toe I am feeling perfect in
every way... physically perfect, mentally alert, and
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use the IMAGINATION to CREATE a PHYSICAL RESPONSE
emotionally serene... and when I get behind the
wheel of your vehicle, I am totally alert in every
way, responding appropriately to any and all traffic
situations.
Number four... My eyes begin to feel sparkling
clear, just as though they were bathed in fresh
spring water. On the next number now, my eyelids
open and I am then calm, rested, refreshed, fully
aware, and feeling good in every way.
Number five... Eyelids open now. I am fully aware
once again.
Take a deep breath, fill up your lungs, and stretch.
While some clients find that they can enjoy
progressive relaxation during the first attempt, most
others find that they must practice the technique
several times first. A minority of clients may discover
the need of other techniques; so some of my readers
may be asking an important question: "What if I don't
respond to progressive relaxation?" I can best answer
that question by providing additional options...
Alternate Exercises
A minority of people may find their patience wearing
thin trying to enter self-hypnosis with the technique
described above. Although you certainly have the
option of choosing a hypnotherapist to help you, one of
the following alternate inductions may help you attain
an alpha state...
droopy and drowsy... The harder I try to keep my
eyes open, the more they want to close... As I
breathe deeply and slowly, my entire body just
wants to relax and let go... relax and let go... until
my eyes just want to close all by themselves...
Repeat this until you find your eyes getting so
tired that they have to close. Once your eyes finally
close, continue with the deepening described in the
Progressive Relaxation script.
This eye-fixation technique works well as an
alternative for some who might fail to respond to
progressive relaxation. A Boeing employee told me
some years ago that he could stare at a candle and
simultaneously imagine his arm feeling lighter than
air. Within seconds his arm floated in an apparent
weightless feeling. He demonstrated his ability in my
office, putting himself into a rather deep trance within
one minute. Naturally, his ability made my work much
easier! He combined eye fixation with a variation on
mental misdirection, discussed next.
Mental Misdirection
Some hypnotherapists use the imagination to create
a physical response, misdirecting the conscious
attention in order to produce a trance. You can do this
for yourself by taking one of the exercises described in
Chapter 2 of my book, Mastering the Power of SelfHypnosis (2nd Ed., Hunter: Crown House Publishing,
2011) and holding the imaginary water bucket a little
longer.
Eye Fixation
Get comfortably seated, reclined, or lying down.
Stare at an object, such as a candle or a dim light. A
candle works well, because the flickering produces
eye fatigue (although you may use any object if your
eyes are sensitive to light). Take two or three very
deep breaths before you begin. Now stare at your
chosen object, and imagine your eyelids are getting
heavier and heavier with each breath you take. Say to
yourself...
As I try to keep my eyes focused on the candle
[light, or other object], my eyelids become heavier,
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FLOATING into a CLOUD, WALKING into the WOODS,
LYING on a BEACH LISTENING to waves of RELAXATION
Get comfortably seated or reclined. Now hold your
arms up in front of you and imagine you are holding
a bucket in one hand, and a hundred helium balloons
with your other hand.
I now imagine that a cord is tied to my wrist, and a
hundred helium balloons are tied to the other end
of the cord, tugging my arm upward. I can SEE the
balloons and FEEL them tugging...
I'm holding an empty bucket in the other hand, and
someone pours water into the bucket. I can SEE
the water pouring, HEAR the water splashing, and
FEEL the bucket getting heavier as it gets fuller
and fuller... heavier and heavier... pulling my arm
down... heavier and heavier, fuller and fuller... as
my other arm gets higher and higher...
As the bucket gets heavier and fuller, my arm just
wants to release the bucket as I release myself
into trance... The harder I try to hold up the bucket,
the heavier it gets...until I release the bucket and
release myself into trance... When I release the
bucket, my arm drops and I just drop off into deep,
hypnotic peace... or I can release myself into total
relaxation...
If you feel responsive to your imagination by now,
you can drop both arms down and proceed with the
counting as described earlier in this chapter; otherwise
continue...
Someone DOUBLES the number of helium
balloons, while someone else drops a rock into my
bucket... The bucket is getting SO HEAVY that it
would be so easy to just release the bucket and
release myself into trance... It's so easy to release
the bucket and just release myself into trance...
Drop your arms into your lap now, and proceed with
the counting previously described for deepening your
trance. Use the awakening technique described above
when you are ready to return to beta consciousness.
Very few of my clients use mental misdirection
to enter self-hypnosis; but some of my students
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report satisfying results. You may wish to try all the
techniques described in this chapter several times, and
choose the one you like the best.
Personal Observations...
Some people drift off to sleep practicing self-hypnosis,
so be sure to set an alarm unless you have time for a
nap!
Many people remain very aware and start noticing
distracting sounds or distracting physical feelings,
such as uncomfortable clothing or an itch, etc. When
you enter a light state of alpha, you have an increased
awareness of anything perceived through the five
senses. Rather than thinking that you might not be in
hypnosis because of hearing background noise, etc.,
recognize your increased awareness as a signal that
you already reached a light trance state!
If the counting fails to deepen you to your satisfaction,
you may try other helpful techniques involving
additional use of your imagination. For example, if
desired, you can use an imaginary elevator to help
you go deeper. If you don't like elevators, use an
escalator, slide, or steps. You could also be floating
into a cloud, walking into the woods, lying on a
beach listening to waves of relaxation, or you may be
getting into an imaginary Jacuzzi. (Note: Do NOT do
this exercise while sitting in a real Jacuzzi!) Again,
you may incorporate these deepening techniques
with any of the induction exercises described in this
chapter. Another deepening technique involves adding
a peaceful place to the meditation. (A later chapter
contains an empowerment exercise to help you enjoy
your peaceful place.)
The degree of success varies from person to person.
Some of you may find the progressive relaxation
technique works great the very first time. Others may
have to practice all the above techniques (as I did)
until finding the best one. In fact, I had so much stress
when I first tried self-hypnosis that I had to go to a
hypnotherapist for post-hypnotic suggestion to help
me learn self-hypnosis. Even simple meditation had
proven difficult previously, because others instructed
me to simply "blank out" my mind. Well, that's
difficult at best if not almost impossible for me to do,
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CREATE my own SAFE PLACE in my MIND
because even when I relax, my mind still runs a thousand miles per second. (That's why I create my own safe
place in my mind when relaxing. You may find benefit in doing likewise.)
Practice entering self-hypnosis through each of the exercises in this chapter at least once before attempting any
of the other self-hypnosis exercises in this book. As you develop your ability to relax, you may find yourself able
to enter an alpha state easily by taking two or three deep breaths and thinking the word "relax" each time you
exhale. Numerous clients create what they call a "centering" technique to help them enter the alpha state more
easily each time; and some of my students refine their centering into a signal for quickly entering the alpha state.
Employing such a trigger for instant self-hypnosis has many benefits.
If you feel you need help, find a qualified hypnotherapist in your area to work with you. If you wish, you may
record your voice on a cassette tape for any of the above scripts and listen to the suggestions to relax. If you prefer
this method, remember to change the to the "you are" format rather than keeping the first person format.
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NOTHING WORKED until the clubhouse manager referred him to the HYPNOTIST
Tobacco Strikes Out!
Though baseball is considered America’s most wholesome sport, it has long been associated with the unhealthy
and disgusting habit of “dipping” tobacco. Recently San Francisco Giants manager Bruce Bochy was able to stop
his 36-year dipping habit after one session with Scottsdale, Arizona hypnotist Alvera Paxson.
Although he had looked on the dip as a means of relaxing, Bochy ultimately came to the realization that the dip
was probably what created a need to relax. “Now, I'm not dipping, and I'm fine, I'm comfortable,” he said in an
interview published in the San Francisco Chronicle. “You'd get nervous about it, and you'd start kicking yourself
for ever starting.” Bochy had tried to quit many times, but nothing worked until the clubhouse manager referred
him to the hypnotist.
Bochy said his three-hour session with Paxson seemed like only half an hour. “I just remember sitting in the
chair, and she was talking to me. There wasn't something swinging in front of me. She just puts you in this
relaxed state of mind, very calm, but she makes sure you don't go to sleep.”
Having learned of Bochy’s success in quitting, a stream of people has sought Paxson's help. One man, she said,
flew to Arizona from Thailand. “Many of them will tell me, ‘If I could just find a way of thanking him (Bochy)’,”
Paxson said. “They respect him and respect who he is. They're grateful that he's willing to talk about it because
so many people have hang-ups about it and they're closed off to this kind of therapy.”
Bruce Bochy, Manager, San Fransisco Giants
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Your SUBCONSCIOUS MIND controls every ASPECT
and FUNCTION of your body and mind
The All Powerful King Inside of You
by Scott Schmaren
Inside of you is an “All Powerful King” who is capable of making all of your dreams
come true. Whatever you tell him you want with purpose and conviction he will
make it happen in your life. He has that much power and he resides inside of you
right now even as you are reading this article however you must be very careful
because he takes whatever you tell him literally, good or bad. So be careful of
what you tell him you want. He believes what you tell him to be true, even when
it isn’t and he can make bad things happen just as well as good things. Good or
bad whatever he produces for you he believes it is the right thing for you. He takes
everything you say literally.
Does that sound like a fantasy or a crazy story? It isn’t. I am talking about your
subconscious mind and what I have described to you is exactly how it works,
whether you believe it or not. Very little of what we do we do is at a conscious
level. Neuroscientist now know that only about 10% of what we do is at a conscious
level and 90% is subconscious. Your subconscious mind controls every aspect and
function of your body and mind. Your heart beating right now, the breath you just
took, every chemical and hormone being released and used in your body right now
is being controlled by your subconscious mind. If you think about it, you will realize
how amazing that really is.
Many times the reason you seem to have such a hard time letting go of bad habits is
you try to change them at a conscious level and that doesn’t work. Your subconscious
mind believes the bad habit is actually good for you and will at some point override
your conscious mind. It is how you can rationalize or make excuses for your bad
habit. It is the reason for so many years I would lose 50 or 100+ pounds and then I
would put the weight back on, even though I didn’t want to. My subconscious mind
perceived me as being fat and that being fat was a good thing, even though that
sound crazy. That is how you get stuck in such negative patterns in your life and
can’t seem to change them.
So, how do you change these negative images and beliefs you have about yourself?
Long term change almost never happens at a conscious level. It has to happen at a
subconscious level first and then it becomes part of our conscious reality. When I
changed the perception of myself from being fat to being thin, then I was able to
change myself physically. Change happens from the inside out not the outside in.
You have to change the movie that is running all day long inside your head. Your
homework today will help you do that and it is simple, easy and fun to do.
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You are AMAZING
Your Daily Homework
Do this exercise every night as you go to sleep.
As you are laying in bed ready to fall asleep close your eyes and visualize exactly how you want your life to be.
See it in great detail. Hear the sounds you would hear if it were real and feel all the emotions you would feel.
Then fall asleep on that visualization. All night long your subconscious mind will be working on that image you
created and as you do it more and more you will begin to make adjustments in your habits , values and beliefs. It
is simple and it is very powerful and overtime it can change your life! In Napoleon Hill’s classic book on success,
“Think and Grow Rich” he discovered that the most successful people in the world did this every night as they
were going to sleep. People like Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Alexander Graham Bell, The Wright Brothers and
many more did this powerful exercise
So do the exercise every night. You are going to go to sleep anyway and the exercise requires no additional time
from your day. How great is that? You are amazing, so do things that help you discover how amazing you are.
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I believe the UNIVERSE tends to MAXIMIZE IRONY
The Irony of It All: A Sermon to Countryside
Church, Unitarian Universalist
– Given on Labor Day, Sunday, September 1, 2013
by The Rev. Dr. C. Scot Giles
Introduction
Labor Day for me is a holiday of reflection. As my ministry requires that I give away
about half the time I work for free, I end up working a large number of hours. Labor
Day is one of the few days in the course of a year when I am not working, so it has
come to be a day of spiritual reflection for me. Today I share some of those spiritual
reflections with you.
I have a metaphysical theory. I believe the universe tends to maximize irony.
Whatever happens will tend to be the thing that messes with you the most. What's
more I think we all know this. Here are some examples:
Imagine it's Friday, and your backup hard drive crashes on your computer. Rather
than immediately running out and replacing it that same day, you promise yourself
that you will pick one up at the store after church on Sunday. It's only a couple of
days, right?
Now just about every one of you can guess what I'm about to say: that sometime
before Sunday arrives and you make a new backup of your computer, the main drive
will crash and you will lose everything.
You're all expecting that punchline because you also believe that the universe tends
to maximize irony and therefore of course that is what is going to happen.
You close on your dream house, which you know is a bit of a financial stretch but
it's the home you've always wanted. So of course the next day is the day when your
company announces lay-offs.
You decide you've really got to do something about your weight. So you eat a
light lunch. You stop off at the health club on the way home and take out a gym
membership. So of course when you arrive home you will discover that your spouse
was in the mood to bake pies.
Examine your feelings. Almost none of you are surprised by the scenarios I've just
described because you know, as do I, that it almost seems like there is a metaphysical
principle at work here. In our universe irony is always maximized whenever possible.
Or at least it seems that way.
Irony is usually defined as a contradictory outcome of events, as if in mockery of the
promise and fitness of things. It's a romantic and literary notion but I think there is
more to it than that. This morning I want to explore the whole notion of irony and see
if perhaps there isn't some religious and spiritual truth to this notion.
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The HUMAN BRAIN seeks MEANINGFUL PATTERNS
in apparently RANDOM INFORMATION
Apophenia
Is it irony really one of laws of the universe or does it
just seem that way? There is a psychological principle
called Apophenia coined in 1958 by Klaus Conrad,
a German psychiatrist, in an attempt to explain the
distorted thinking of early stage schizophrenia.
The human brain seeks meaningful patterns in
apparently random information. A bunch of random
stuff happens, but our minds project a pattern onto
it and we think there is some sort of meaningful
order to it. Then, we come up with an explanation
for that order and volia we think we have seen an
omen, or a miracle, figured out how to win at roulette,
discovered a portrait of Jesus in a burned potato chip
or discovered evidence of a new conspiracy theory.
In your order of service today I had printed a short
piece labeled "To Be Read During the Sermon." Open
up your Bulletin and find it and take a minute to read
it now.
90% of the people in this room will have read this to be:
7H15 M3554G3
This Message
53RV35 7O PR0V3
Serves to Prove
H0W 0UR M1ND5 C4N
How Our Minds Can
D0 4M4Z1NG 7H1NG5!
Do Amazing Things!
1MPR3551V3 7H1NG5!
Impressive Things!
1N 7H3 B3G1NN1NG
In the Beginning
17 WA5 H4RD BU7
It was Hard but
N0W, 0N 7H15 LIN3
Now, on this Line
Y0UR M1ND 1S
Your Mind is
R34D1NG 17
Reading it
4U70M471C4LLY
Automatically
W17H 0U7 3V3N
With Out Even
7H1NK1NG 4B0U7 17.
Thinking About it.
Klaus Conrad, MD, 1905 – 1961
That's Apophenia. There are no words in the original
passage.
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MENTAL ILLNESS are in fact
EXAGGERATIONS of NORMAL STATES of human CONSCIOUSNES
It's only meaningless characters that sort of resemble
words. Your mind sees the resemblance, the pattern,
and projects a meaning onto them, and you read it as if
it were English text instead of the lines of gibberish it
actually is.
Most mental illness are in fact exaggerations of
normal states of human consciousness. Depression
is an exaggeration of normal sadness. Anxiety is an
exaggeration of normal worry. Dr. Conrad believed
that schizophrenia was an exaggeration of normal
Apophenia in which the patient see levels of meaning
in random events to a degree that overloads the
processing power of the human brain.
Could it be that irony is just another example of
Apophenia? Random stuff happens, but because
it happens in a way that makes us feel regretful or
rueful, our mind projects a pattern onto it an we think
it's meaningful?
There is actually no connection between the fact that
I just washed my car and that fact that a rainstorm
happened them moment I put the hose away; I just
think that there is because of Apophenia. Certainly,
this is what is happens some of the time, and I think
that’s kind of neat.
Why This Ability Evolved
According to Evolutionary Theory, the behaviors and
qualities we possess, develop for a reason. The reason
is they help us survive. If the world is such that it is
better to be big rather than little, the most successful
creatures will be big. On the other hand if the world is
such that it is better to be little than big, the opposite
will happen.
Why have we evolved with the capacity for
Apophenia? Why have our minds developed in such a
way that we automatically seek meaningful patterns
in even random information? What purpose does that
serve?
It relieves stress.
There is no stress greater than the feeling of
helplessness.
Martin Seligman at the University of Pennsylvania’s
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School of Professional Psychology began a series of
famous experiments in 1967 in which he conditioned
dogs to feel helpless about being able to escape pain.
The dogs quickly learned that there was no response
they could make in the experimental situation that did
not result in some sort of electrical shock.
After a series of repetitions, the animals simply gave
up trying to fight back. They stopped trying to avoid
the pain, and even when obvious opportunities were
provided to the conditioned animals to escape, they
would not.
They had learned they were helpless and simply
endured the pain with stoicism, while unconditioned
animals quickly jumped out the open door to pain free
freedom. Experiments with other animals produced
the same result, as did some interesting experiments
on human subjects.
Seligman believed the stress had caused the animals
to become too depressed to care about their own
condition. He reasoned that stress must have reduce
serotonin activity in the brain, especially in the
basolateral amygdala which controls motivation. This
is to say that Seligman believed the physical stress
of the electrical shock produced a psychological
depression in the mind of the dogs.
However, more recent work has shown that
Seligman was mistaken. Stress doesn’t just produce
psychological and emotional distress, it actually
causes permanent physical change.
Scientist Moises Velasquez-Manoff wrote in a recent
New York Times article that current research shows
the “the more helpless one feels when facing a given
stressor,...the more toxic that stressor’s effects. In fact,
the earlier one experiences helplessness, the worse
it is. For a child’s nervous system, by evolutionary
design, is impressionable.”
The research shows that the early developmental
experience of feeling helpless actually changes a
person’s DNA making them more prone to illness. As
such experiences are far more common among poor
children than among wealthy, this has come to be
called the “Status Syndrome.”
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Having a SENSE of MEANING MAKES US STRONG
In people who experienced feelings of helplessness
in early life, the telomeres, the structures at the tips
of the chromosomes become measurably shorter.
This causes accelerated aging, inflammation and a
predisposition for degenerative diseases like heart
attacks and diabetes. Bruce McEwen at Rockefeller
University in New York calls this the “biological
embedding” of stress.
To quote Velasquez-Manoff, “Your parent’s social
standing and your stress level during early life
change how your brain and body work.” As more
American children grow up in poverty than in other
developed nations, this may explain why as a nation
we are sicker, even though other first-world nations
have people who smoke or drink more than we do on
average.
Because stress is so toxic, especially to children, it
appears we have evolved a mechanism to fight back,
and that mechanism is Apophenia. When we are in
a bad way our mind tries to figure out a pattern or a
meaning. This helps us maintain hope.
Austrian Psychotherapist Viktor Frankl who was sent
to the concentration camp at Auschwitz in 1944 and
lived as a prisoner there, when he was released, wrote
a great book, Say Yes to Life In Spite of Everything,
published in English under the sexist title Man’s
Search for Meaning.
Frankl based his findings on what he had experienced
in the concentration camp. One of the things he said
was “If you know the Why, you can deal with any
How.” That is, if your suffering and anxiety have
meaning to you, then you will be able to deal with
them better because you will not feel helpless.
The rabbi at Auschwitz who believed he was suffering
to uphold the honor of the Jewish people could keep
hope and survive better than the person who thought
the suffering had no meaning.
Having a sense of meaning makes us strong. And so
our mind instinctively looks for meaning, even in
random things. It knows that if it can find a meaning,
we will do better than if it cannot. So we have evolved
the ability to do that, and much of the time it works.
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You become resilient.
Irony, is what we experience when we think we have
found a meaning in events, only to have circumstances
conspire to make that meaning problematic. It’s the
emotion we feel when we realize that our meaningmaking mechanism has sputtered and flopped.
You resolve that from now on you will make your own
decisions, which causes you to make a bad investment
because you ignored expert advice.
You resolve to concentrate on your graduate studies
and then realize you were too busy to go to church
because you were home studying theology.
Someone you know chokes to death because they
decided to finally sit down and eat a healthy meal of
root vegetables.
You learn that the most shoplifted book in the United
States is the Bible, and that some environmental
organizations which want to ban fire extinguishers
because they contribute to global warming.
Illusion or Reality?
But is that all there is? Really?
1. Feeling helpless in the face of events is really toxic.
2. To combat that toxicity, our mind automatically tries
to find a meaning in events, because that makes us
feel better.
3. Sometimes the meaning we make turns out to
be obviously wrong, When we realize that we
experience the emotion of irony.
4. But even when the meaning doesn’t turn out to be
obviously wrong, it’s still just something that we
made up, right?
Now, this would be a really appropriate place to insert
the final quote from the Narrator at the end of the
Rocky Horror Picture Show:
“And crawling on the planet’s face,
Some insects called the human race.
Lost in time. Lost in space.
And meaning...”
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“SYCHRONICITY,” which can be thought of as IRONY on STEROIDS
But the reason I’m not going to do that is because I
don’t think that’s true. I believe there is a spiritual
reality behind this world and that it filters through into
this world and that irony actually helps us see it.
There can be no proof of such a reality, but there
can be evidence for it. That there may, in fact, be a
meaning behind events.
Synchronicity
We make our guesses as to what life means.
Sometimes that works, and sometimes that’s ironic.
But occasionally, there is what William James called,
“a Something More.” This is what my favorite
religious philosopher/psychiatrist Carl Jung, called
“Sychronicity,” which can be thought of as irony on
steroids.
Sometimes, there is layering of coincidences that
is so deep, so overdetermined, that the probability
of this actually being a coincidence drops close to
zero. At that point what seems to be a collection of
coincidences becomes something else--as if there were
something leaking into our universe from somewhere
else that isn’t explainable as simple randomness.
In 1952, Jung himself wrote about such an experience
in his book titled Synchronicity:
"A young woman I was treating had, at a critical
moment, a dream in which she was given a golden
scarab. While she was telling me this dream, I sat
with my back to the closed window. Suddenly I heard
a noise behind me, like a gentle tapping. I turned
round and saw a flying insect knocking against the
window-pane from the outside. I opened the window
and caught the creature in the air as it flew in. It
was the nearest analogy to a golden scarab one finds
in our latitudes, a scarabaeid beetle, the common
rose-chafer..., which, contrary to its usual habits had
evidently felt the urge to get into a dark room at this
particular moment. I must admit that nothing like it
ever happened to me before or since."
Jung handed the beetle to the woman, and said “here
is you scarab” and immediately she had an immense
personal breakthrough in her therapy.
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Now if that’s not creepy enough, consider the case
of the “Pauli Effect” reported by the great physicist
George Garnow.
Dr. Wolfgang Pauli was notorious for causing
scientific equipment to break. He didn’t actually
damage it himself, but all he had to do was walk into
a laboratory and scientific equipment that had been
working perfectly suddenly would go haywire.
One day in his lab in Gottingen, Professor James
Franck had a complicated machine for the study of
atomic phenomena suddenly collapse for no reason
he could find. Franck sent a humorous letter to Pauli,
who Franck believed was in Switzerland, about this.
He quickly received a response from Pauli telling him
that at the exact moment when the machine collapsed,
Pauli was in Gottingen on a train sitting in a railroad
station on his way to visit their mutual colleague
Neils Bohr.
Most of us have had experiences like this. You pick
up a telephone that has not yet rung and find that the
person you intended to call is actually on the line and
was in the process of trying to call you. A book falls
off the shelf and opens to exactly the passage you were
looking for.
Sometimes there is layering of coincidences that is so
deep, so overdetermined, that the probability of this
actually being a coincidence seems to drop close to
zero. At that point what seems to be a collection of
coincidences becomes something else--as if there were
something leaking into our universe from somewhere
else. In your gut you know it isn’t fully explainable as
simple randomness.
Jung thought they were incidents of the collective
unconsciousness, a group mind composed of all
minds, breaking into our lives in a way that nudges us
toward greater wholeness.
These are the moments that the mystics of both East
and West hold up as evidence that there is something
more to our universe that just matter and energy, cause
and effect. These moments, and we’ve all had them,
are not PROOF that there is a spiritual reality, but they
are EVIDENCE that one may truly exist. That there
may be a deeper order.
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one knows it IN ONE’S GUT as something that is JUST OBVIOUSLY VALID
I stress I make no claim of proof. One cannot convince a spiritual skeptic. But like Jung, I make personal
testimony to the sense that there is something more at work in life, at least from time-to-time, and that one has
what philosophers call an “a priori” sense of this. That is, one knows it in one’s gut as something that is just
obviously valid.
A Priori Understandings
Philosophers have long suspected that there is a sense of basic knowledge that is actually built into the structure
of the human mind. Now, some decisions are really complicated and one has to think them through carefully to
figure out right from wrong, good from bad, praiseworthy from blameworthy, wise from unwise. Some are so
complex as to defy any clear analysis.
But still, there does seem to be a baseline sense of what is true, as Harvard Philosopher John Rawls puts it in his
book A Theory of Justice.
Remember that commercial by Ally Bank from 2009 where a market researcher is stilling at a table with two
little girls and asks one is she would like a pony? She says yes and he reaches into his pocket and produces a little
toy pony. Then, he asks the other girl if she would like a pony and when she says sure, he kickers and calls over
a real pony and gives it to her. "You didn't say I could have a real pony," says the first girl. "Well," says the man,
"You didn't ask."
Then the announcer say "Even kids know it is wrong to hold out on somebody. Why don't banks?"
Why not indeed? The point of that commercial is that we all do have a sense of what is correct and what is not,
at least in certain cases. Where does that inner sense come from? Perhaps the same place as the awareness
that something special has happened when coincidence piles upon coincidence in a way that defines logic and
becomes a something more. May we reflectively cherish that something more.
I do. And that’s my sermon.
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Only the SYMBOLIC LIFE can express the NEED OF THE SOUL
A Symbolic Life
– From a seminar talk given in 1939 to the Guild for Pastoral Psychology, London
by C. G. Jung
C.G. Jung (1875–1961)
You see, man is in need of a symbolic life – badly in need. We only live banal,
ordinary, rational, or irrational things... but we have no symbolic life. Where do we
live symbolically? Nowhere except where we participate in the ritual of life.
Have you got a corner somewhere in your house where you perform the rites, as you
can see in India? Even the very simple houses there have at least a curtained corner
where the members of the household can perform the symbolic life, where they can
make their new vows or their meditation. We don't have it; we have no such corner.
We have our own room, of course, – but there is a telephone that can ring us up at
any time, and we always must be ready. We have no time, no place.
We have no symbolic life, and we are all badly in need of the symbolic life. Only the
symbolic life can express the need of the soul – the daily need of the soul, mind you!
And because people have no such thing, they can never step out of this mill – this
awful, banal, grinding life in which they are "nothing but...” Everything is banal;
everything is "nothing but," and that is the reason why people are neurotic. They
are simply sick of the whole thing, sick of that banal life, and therefore they want
sensation. They even want a war; they all want a war; they are all glad when there
is a war; they say, "Thank heaven, now something is going to happen - something
bigger than ourselves!"
These things go pretty deep, and no wonder people get neurotic. Life is too rational;
there is no symbolic existence in which I am something else, in which I am fulfilling
my role, my role as one of the actors in the divine drama of life.
I once had a talk with the master of ceremonies of a tribe of Pueblo Indians, and he
told me something very interesting. He said, "Yes, we are a small tribe, and these
Americans, they want to interfere with our religion. They should not do it," he said,
"because we are the sons of the Father, the Sun. He who goes there" (pointing to the
sun) – "that is our Father. We must help him daily to rise over the horizon and to
walk over heaven. And we don't do it for ourselves only; we do it for America; we
do it for the whole world. And if these Americans interfere with our religion through
their missions, they will see something. In ten years Father Sun won't rise anymore
because we can't help him any more."
Now, you may say, that is just a sort of mild madness. Not at all! These people
have no problems. They have their daily life, their symbolic life. They get up in the
morning with a feeling of their great and divine responsibility; they are the sons of
the Sun, the Father, and their daily duty is to help the Father over the horizon – not
for themselves alone, but for the whole world. You should see these fellows; they
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...when people feel that they are LIVING THE SYMBOLIC LIFE,
that they are ACTORS IN THE DIVINE DRAMA.
have a natural fulfilled dignity. And I quite understand
when he said to me, "Now look at these Americans;
they are always seeking something. They are always
full of unrest, always looking for something. What are
they looking for? There is nothing to be looked for!"
That's perfectly true. You can see them, these traveling
tourists, always looking for something, always in the
vain hope of finding something. On my many travels I
have found people who were on their third trip around
the world - uninterruptedly. Just traveling, traveling;
seeking, seeking. I met a woman in central Africa
who had come up alone in a car from Cape Town and
wanted to go to Cairo. "What for?”, I asked. "What are
you trying to do that for?" And I was amazed when I
looked into her eyes – the eyes of a hunted, a cornered
animal – seeking, seeking, always in the hope of
something. I said, "What in the world are you seeking?
What are you waiting for? What are you hunting
after?" She is nearly possessed; she is possessed by
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so many devils that chase her around. And why is
she possessed? Because she does not live the life that
makes sense. Hers is a life utterly, grotesquely banal,
utterly poor, meaningless, with no point in it at all. If
she is killed today, nothing has happened, nothing has
vanished - because she was nothing! But if she could
say, "I am the daughter of the Moon. Every night I
must help the moon, my Mother, over the horizon"
– ah, that is something else! Then she lives; then her
life makes sense, and makes sense in all continuity,
and for the whole of humanity. That gives peace,
when people feel that they are living the symbolic life,
that they are actors in the divine drama. That gives
the only meaning to human life; everything else is
banal and you can dismiss it. A career, producing of
children, are all maya compared with that one thing,
that your life is meaningful.
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...in fact, he had not the SLIGHTEST IDEA what had happened.
A Case of Spontaneous Hypnosis
In his introduction to The Portable Jung (Viking Press, 1971), mythologist Joseph Campbell relates an intriguing
story of spontaneous hypnosis that occurred around 1905 in Jung’s lecture class in psychiatry at the University of
Zurich:
“A middle-aged woman on crutches came into the room one day,
led by a maid. She had for seventeen years been suffering a painful
paralysis of the left leg; and when he (Jung) had placed her in a
comfortable chair, bidding her tell her story, she went on at such
interminable length that he had finally to interrupt. “Well now,
he said, “we have no more time for so much talk. I am now going
to hypnotize you.” Whereupon she closed her eyes and fell into a
profound trance without any hypnosis at all, continuing, meanwhile,
her talking, relating the most remarkable dreams. The situation for the
baffled young instructor, before his twenty students, was becoming
increasingly uncomfortable; and when he tried to wake her, without
success, he became alarmed. It took some ten minutes to bring her to,
and when she awoke, she was giddy and confused. “He said to her,”
I am the doctor; everything is all right.” At which she cried out, “But
I am cured!” threw away her crutches, and was able to walk. Flushed
with embarrassment, Jung said to the students, “Now you can see
what can be done with hypnosis!” Whereas, in fact, he had not the
slightest idea what had happened. The woman departed in the best of
spirits to proclaim her cure, and himself as a wizard, far and wide.”
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...VALIDATE the IMPORTANCE of the MIND in SPORTS
Sports Psychology vs. Sports Hypnosis:
What’s the difference?
by John Weir, BCH, CI
The origin of sports psychology dates back many decades, and the field first
started gaining popularity in the 1930’s with the classic basketball experiment
conducted by Dr. Blaslotto at the University of Chicago. Since that time, there has
been an increasing emphasis placed on the role of the mind in sports due to the
growing number of institutes such as Stanford University and Harvard University
conducting research studies into peak sports performance. In the 1970’s, Dr. Bob
Rotella, a famous golf psychologist, hit the scene which helped popularize the use
of psychology in golf, and helped to further validate the importance of the mind in
sports. Besides sports psychology, the other field that was simultaneously gaining
popularity and proving effective was the area of sports hypnosis. In this article, I will
explain to you the differences between sports psychology and sports hypnosis as well
as shed some light on the truth about hypnosis in sports.
In my opinion, I think sports psychology is a great thing. However, I feel that it
is limited in an area that is so very important. I believe that sports psychology
contributes two major elements to athletes. First, sports psychology has been
excellent at gathering research, conducting experiments, and providing data about
athletic performance. With more and more graduate level programs being offered in
this field it is opening the doors to grant money to fund more research projects and
ongoing experiments. This leads me to the second contribution of sports psychology
which is the data they accumulate and produce. Sports psychologists have definitely
provided very insightful information into the minds of athletes and what is needed to
produce results.
The downside or the limitation of sports psychology that I see is not in the
information, but in the vehicle of communication used to transfer that knowledge to
athletes. I believe that sports psychology deals with the wrong part of our mind to
affect change or improvements in a person’s behavior. Sport psychologist’s primarily
deal with our conscious mind. If we were going to summarize the role of the
conscious mind in a nutshell definition it would be: The primary job of the conscious
mind is to judge, evaluate, and critique all the information we are exposed to. It
then filters this information and only allows into the subconscious mind information
congruent with the habits/beliefs established there. Since sports psychologists
communicate to and work with an athlete’s conscious mind, the information has to
go through our filters and processes of analysis. The end result is the information
is intellectually understood but rarely applied in one’s performance. Athletes will
know what to do with sports psychology, but following through with the insights and
applying it is another story entirely.
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SPORTS HYPNOSIS provides a UNIQUE TOOL to ATHLETES
The most powerful contribution to the sports world
in regards to sports hypnosis is the vehicle of
communication. Sports hypnosis provides a unique
tool to athletes who want to speed up the learning
process. The subconscious mind is a person’s biocomputer that operates things like the automatic
processes of the body, provides the storehouse for
memories, triggers your habits, and maintains your
self-image to name a few.
natural part of your performance. Finally, hypnosis
makes it easier for athletes to create life-like
visualizations and virtual performance experiences.
When an athlete does mental rehearsal like this,
the subconscious mind begins developing stronger
neuro-pathways to physically execute the task. The
Brain Imaging Center in San Antonio, Texas said
that visualization actually creates 80% of the neurostructures in the brain to perform a task.
Information is processed by the subconscious mind
non-critically the same as a computer. It doesn’t
discern the difference
between good or bad, it
simply moves towards a
person’s most dominant
thoughts. Additionally,
it doesn’t know the
difference between real
events or vividly imagined
ones, and will actually
develop the neuropathways during intense
visualizations virtually
the same way as if the
action was actually being
performed.
Sports hypnotists also have the advantage because
they can utilize the information gained from sports
psychologists and
can condition it in the
subconscious mind of
an athlete. This is so
powerful and important
because hypnosis is able
to help athletes take
the information they
intellectual understand and
transform it into actual
behaviors, which then
become like second nature
for the athlete. Hypnosis
goes beyond understanding
and intellectualization, and
accelerates the process of
application, integration,
and the formation of
positive habits.
In my opinion, the natural
communication process
of hypnosis gives sports
hypnotists a tremendous
advantage over sports psychologists. First, as you
can see from the description above, the subconscious
mind accepts information non-critically as opposed
to dealing with the critical conscious mind. This gives
athletes the ability to change negative belief systems
and habitual behaviors much faster and easier than if
dealing only with the conscious mind, which judges
all the content. Next, when the subconscious mind
accepts an idea, it acts upon it without having to
consciously think about the task. Do you have to think
about your habits or do they just naturally happen?
Sports hypnosis is a way to eliminate negative habits
quickly by going to the source of them and makes
it easier to implement new positive behaviors as a
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The main disadvantage in regards to hypnosis is that
it is a process that is misunderstood by athletes. Many
still hold the common misconceptions about hypnosis
due to false portrayals from Hollywood. There is a lot
of information available that reveals the truth about
hypnosis, but let me give you a quick summary.
Hypnosis is a naturally occurring process of our
minds that is deeply rooted in science and validated
by scientific testing using fMRI’s, EEG’s, and
more. When a person gets hypnotized they don’t go
unconscious or to some mystical place, it is merely
an alteration in their brainwave frequency which
naturally occurs seven-to-ten times everyday so subtly
that you don’t even realize it. If you have ever driven
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The MIND plays a PIVOTAL ROLE in PEAK PERFORMANCE
your car on auto-pilot and arrived at your destination not remembering how you got there then you know what
I am talking about. There are four major brainwaves; beta, alpha, theta, and delta. Beta is a fully alert, waking
state, and Delta is unconsciousness or sleep. Alpha and Theta waves are the in-between states of mind which are
utilized in hypnosis. Everyday when you wake up and every night when you go to sleep you go through each of
the brainwaves. Hypnosis is a process that makes use of the alpha and theta states of mind because they are our
super-learning states in which we can process positive information non- critically and to the subconscious. Also,
the alpha state is what all athletes are in when they are in the zone.
Believe it or not, athletes have been using forms of hypnosis for decades. It has just been packaged under a
variety of different names. Athletes are more familiar with terms such as visualization, positive thinking, guided
imagery, and mental rehearsal which are all elements of the hypnotic process. However, for whatever reasons they
shy away whenever they hear the word hypnosis. When an athlete incorporates these elements while in the superlearning state, or hypnosis, they are able to accelerate the learning curve in their sport, increase their ability to
execute tasks related to performance, and establish positive habits that lead to success.
The mind plays a pivotal role in peak performance in any sport. Whether you support sports psychology, sports
hypnosis, or both just make sure you are incorporating some type of mental training into your practice regimen.
When the mind and body come together that’s when excellence happens in sports.
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“I was TRAPPED by my IGNORANCE—and we both KNEW IT.”
The Witch Doctor’s Secret
In Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient: Reflections on Healing
and Regeneration (W. W. Norton & Company, 1979), Norman Cousins
recounts an experience he had—probably in the early 1950s—while visiting
the famous physician/theologian/pianist Albert Schweitzer (1875 – 1965) at his
African clinic:
“At the dinner table of the Schweitzer Hospital at Lambarene, I had
ventured the remark that the local people were fortunate to have access
to the Schweitzer clinic instead of having to depend on witch-doctor
supernaturalism. Dr. Schweitzer asked me how much I knew about witch
doctors. I was trapped by my ignorance—and we both knew it. The next day
le grand docteur took me to a nearby jungle clearing, where he introduced me
to un mes collegues, an elderly witch doctor. After a respectful exchange of
greetings, Dr. Schweitzer suggested that his American friend be allowed to
observe African medicine.
“For the next two hours, we stood
off to one side and watched the witch doctor at work. With some patients,
the witch doctor merely put herbs in a brown paper bag and instructed
the ill person in their true use. With other patients, he gave no herbs but
filled the air with incantations. A third category of patients he merely
spoke to in a subdued voice and pointed to Dr. Schweitzer.
“On our way back to the clinic, Dr. Schweitzer explained what had
happened. The people who had assorted complaints that the witch
doctor was able to diagnose readily were given special herbs to make
into brews. Dr. Schweitzer guessed that most of those patients would
improve very rapidly since they had only functional rather than organic,
disturbances. Therefore, the “medications” were not really a major
factor.
The second group had psychogenic ailments that were being treated
with African psychotherapy. The third group had more substantial
physical problems, such as massive hernias or extrauterine pregnancies
or dislocated shoulders or tumorus conditions. Many of these problems
required surgery, and the witch doctor was redirecting the patients to Dr. Schweitzer himself.
“Some of my steadiest customers are referred to me by witch doctors,” Dr. Schweitzer said with only the slightest
trace of a smile. “Don’t expect me to be too critical of them.”
“When I asked Dr. Schweitzer how he accounted for the fact that anyone could possibly expect to become well
after having been treated by a witch doctor, he said that I was asking him to divulge a secret doctors have carried
around with them ever since Hippocrates.
“But I’ll tell you anyway,’ he said, his face still illuminated by that half-smile. “The witch doctor succeeds for the
same reason the rest of us succeed. Each patient carries his own doctor inside of him. They come to us knowing
the truth. We are at our best when we give the doctor who resides within each patient a chance to go to work.”
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I was looking for some MEANING, a PURPOSE,
a REASON or ANSWERS
My Search for the Meaning of Life
by Lambert Matias
We ask ourselves questions like, ‘What is the meaning of life?” or “Is this all there
is?” or “What is my purpose?” and “What am I supposed to be doing?”
I don’t have all the answers yet, but let me share a story with you.
Years ago, I met a complete stranger by chance that changed the course of my life.
I was attending a business conference in Chicago and the stranger was manning
a booth outside of the main room. But unlike the other booths, this one was being
completely ignored. It was as if there was a “No-Fly Zone” around it.
Being the gregarious trendsetter that I am and always looking for a different
adventure—it’s the Sagittarius in me—I walked to straight over to the stranger in the
empty booth.
Looking back today, I now realize that I was meant to meet this person. At the time,
however, I had no idea of the impact it would have on my life.
The booth signage and a stack of flyers spread out on a table indicated that the man
was a hypnotist. Ah-ha! That’s why no one went near him. I guess people didn’t want
to be clucking like chickens for the rest of the conference!
Not me—I wanted to cluck like a chicken! I walked straight over and began a
conversation.
I could tell the man was happy to have someone, anyone, stop by his booth. I wasn’t
all that impressed. But I took a card and a flyer anyway. I’m not sure what I was
looking for. I just knew I was looking for some meaning, a purpose, a reason or
answers to some of my questions about life.
I had often wondered what my purpose in life was. Is life like peach or a nectarine?
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maybe, the ANSWER might be SOMEWHERE I HADN’T THOUGHT TO LOOK BEFORE
What’s the difference? Should you just live a normal
life that you feel is just like everyone else’s? Or can
you live a life that you define for yourself and that
gives you so much satisfaction that you have to pinch
yourself each day to make sure you’re not dreaming?
I hadn’t found the answer at work; I hadn’t found it
at home; I hadn’t found it with my friends. Maybe,
just maybe, the answer might be somewhere I hadn’t
thought to look before.
Later, as I sat perusing the hypnotist’s flyer, one
sentence jumped out at me:
“I teach people how to unlock the
hidden potential they have inside.”
Something hit me at that moment. I’ve read many
self-help books. I’ve read all the sales and success
manuals. But nothing had truly worked for me. Maybe
this hypnotist guy has something that could be a little
different, I thought.
Long-story short, I called him when I got back to my
office and left a voicemail. When he called me back,
I made an appointment to see him later in the week. I
was very excited, but despite my expectations, I came
out of the session with a feeling that I didn’t really
have any hidden potential. And although I felt relaxed
I thought that the $100 fee I had paid for the hour may
have been in vain.
But, after a few days, I noticed a curious change about
myself. For the first time in a long while, I was in a
good mood and I had a really rosy attitude. I actually
had a positive feeling about life, about my business,
my clients, and I had a fresh outlook on my future. I
actually felt a sense of control! Maybe the meaning of
life for me was to just start feeling good about things.
Shortly thereafter, a friend whom I will call John,
phoned me and said he was going through a really
hard time. He said he was completely stressed-out,
struggling with problems with his business, needing to
figure things out, etc. He sounded almost as if he was
ready to kill himself.
34
I didn’t know what to say and I didn’t want to seem
preachy, but toward the end of our conversation, I
casually mentioned to John that I had recently gone for
a hypnosis session that had helped me and that maybe
he would benefit from one as well. I gave him the
hypnotist’s phone number and forgot about it.
I didn’t find out until months later that the hypnotist
may have saved my friend’s life. I learned that John
was so greatly affected and helped by the hypnotist
(he had gone for a series of sessions, it turned out) that
he decided to attend hypnosis school and become a
practitioner himself!
Today, John is a well known and respected certified
consulting hypnotist and a sought after speaker on
many personal development topics.
I had no idea. I never dreamed that a casual, offhand suggestion could impact somebody’s life so
dramatically. But that’s not the end of this story.
You see, in return for my simple act of referring him
to the hypnotist, John was adamant about giving me
free lifetime hypnosis sessions if I ever needed his
help.
Little did I think that I ever would have to take up
his offer.
But it happened in 2009, when the financial markets
crashed and the housing crisis was in full swing. I had
been working in the mortgage industry, and I found
myself in the middle of a house-of-cards that was
falling down all around me. I watched many friends,
colleagues and clients get completely destroyed
financially and emotionally. And I would have been
one of them had it not been for John.
I had lost hope, lost my way, lost my business, lost
my house, my car and I even lost my dog. My family
moved away and I was sleeping on a sleeping bag in a
cheap apartment. I had a stress-induced heart attack.
I was a mess.
Remembering John’s offer of free hypnosis sessions,
I called him in desperation. It was now his turn to
return the favor I had done for him.
He became my sounding block, my emotional Rock
BACK CONTENTS FWRD
find the STRENGTH that WE ALL HAVE INSIDE OF US
of Gibraltar. He put me back on the path of life, with a
focus and determination to pick myself up, dust myself
off, and keep fighting the fight and moving forward
one step at a time.
He got me to calm down and relax and find the
strength that we all have inside of us. Yes, I did have
“inner potential” after all! Finding the strength to stay
“in the game” lead me to one opportunity, which led to
another, and yet another. With John’s help, I managed
to get back on my feet, stronger than ever.
I’ll always be a work in progress, but today I am I am
stable, strong and very happy. If it weren’t for John, I
know I wouldn’t be here today.
So that brings me back to the question: What is the
meaning of life?
The answer comes in the form of another question.
What are you doing to have a positive effect on the
lives of others? One thing I have learned is that your
life does not become meaningful until you serve and
help others, that is, until you are living for something
bigger than yourself. It all comes back to you. In this
world, what you put out is exactly what you get.
Call it karma or call it the Law of Attraction. No
matter what you call it, this unseen hand works for
everyone the same way.
Maintain your vehicle with regular servicing and will
it serve you. Nurture your money and it will grow.
35
The same is true of your relationships and every other
aspect of life. That is what gives life meaning.
If you live your life in fear of losing things and are
focused on what’s lacking, then life will always be
taking things away from you and it will always seem
like there is not enough. You must give first. You must
be the one to add energy into the equation.
A body at rest stays at rest. And,
a body in motion stays in motion.
Something has to provide the starting energy or the
stopping energy. That energy needs to come from you.
It takes energy to maintain relationships and do things.
Life gives you what you put into it. If you think you
have nothing to give, you are wrong. You must change
your mindset. Change how you think.
For all those questions I had about life, the only place
I hadn’t looked for answers was inside myself. And
even though I had always thought of myself as an
intuitive person, I needed someone to guide me at first.
I needed John. Anyone can pick up and swing a golf
club naturally, but you need someone in the beginning
to show you the technique(s) of doing it right, and then
you can go practice yourself.
You need someone who can help you from a different
perspective than your usual pattern of thought. And
it needn’t always be someone with a degree in mental
health. It can be a life-coach, a mentor, a hypnotist or
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...LAST FRONTIER to be EXPLORED is in the deepest regions
of the SPACE BETWEEN OUR EARS.
just a good friend and confidant who has achieved the
kind results that you want to achieve. Like a weightlifting partner who can spot you, or a trainer who can
work with you, you need some help to reach certain
levels of achievement.
Leaders are readers. I am reading three or four,
sometimes five books at a time. I am always reading,
studying learning.
If you want to make significant changes in your life,
you will need to change your mindset and maybe learn
some new skills too.
The Four Most Dangerous Words
in Life: “I already know that.”
You’ll never learn about the meaning of life if you
don’t live life. Part of living life is learning and
experiencing new things, seeing things from different
perspectives, changing things up.
Sometimes you need a change of scenery or a
significant life event to happen, as in my case, for
these changes to occur.
A long time ago one of my mentors told me that
you can’t get out of a situation using the same kind
of thinking that got you into the situation. The
“Aha!” moments in life come when you learn to
think differently. Many people don’t find out what
the meaning of their life is until they get old. Some
never do. Why wait? You can begin now, and then
you’ll have the rest of your life to enjoy doing you’re
supposed to be doing.
With all due respect to the late Jacques Cousteau and/
or Carl Sagan, I believe with my friend John that the
last frontier to be explored is in the deepest regions of
the space between our ears. All the answers are there.
36
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many PEOPLE end up TRUSTING PUTATIVE EXPERTS for the
EVALUATION of the EVIDENCE
The Politics of Science
by Imants Barušs, PhD
An excerpt from Dr. Baruss’
book Science as a Spiritual
Practice, Imprint Academic,
2007, pp. 14–16.
I have argued that materialism is wrong on the basis of evidence about the nature
of matter and the occurrence of anomalous phenomena. Matter does not comply
with our naïve intuitions about its nature. Presentience challenges our notions of
determinism. And the synchronistic behavior of REGs (random access generators) is
contrary to the mechanistic conduct of billiard balls. For a materialist interpretation
of the world to be false, only one counterexample is necessary… Why, then, the
pervasive persistence of materialism?
I think there are a number of reasons. The first is that academics, including many
scientists, appear to be unaware of advances in science outside their own areas
of expertise; and, if they are aware of them, have not really thought about the
implications of such advances. There has been some awareness of more salacious
anomalous phenomena, such as the anomalous resonance between human activity
and REGs, but a lack of awareness of the robustness of the scientific evidence
of such phenomena. This is compounded by the problem that sometimes studies
of anomalous phenomena have been incorrectly described in secondary sources
leaving readers with the erroneous impression that nothing anomalous has ever
really happened. Quite frankly, though, most academics neither have the time, nor
perhaps the expertise, to read the primary literature, nor to seek out and witness for
themselves the empirical investigations on which judgments about the phenomena
are based. This is true even more so of the interested general reader whose access
to the necessary resources could be limited. The result is that many people end up
trusting putative experts for the evaluation of the evidence.
The problem with listening to the putative experts is that there is a strong bias in
the scientific community against research that challenges a materialist view of
reality. If anything, that is an understatement. The politics of science are such that
open discussion of fundamental problems with materialism is discouraged. There
is a power structure in science, held in place through the admission of students to
graduate programs, the approval their research projects and theses, the ring and
promotion of university faculty, the approval of research grants, and the review and
acceptance of academic papers and books for publication. The power of academics
and scientists permits them to exclude from the scientific community half-baked
fantasies about reality. The problem is that materialism is so entrenched that any
disapproval of it can be censored. There is a price to pay for challenging authority
and that price is exclusion from the scientific community. And thus, prevailing
doctrines, such as that of materialism, can be sustained despite the evidence
against them.
37
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AUTHENTIC SCIENCE aims at a TRUE UNDERSTANDING of REALITY
If all of this sounds as if something has gone terribly wrong the, yes, it has. Science, as I understand it, was
intended to be an open-ended exploration of nature and not a foreclosure of lines of investigation that tread upon
prevailing opinion. Science in its oppressive form has sometimes been called “scientism” and is not authentic
science at all. For scientism, a materialist word view is dominant and governs what perceptions are acceptable.
For authentic science, world views are shaped by the actual evidence that emerges in the course of examining
whatever subject matter is of interest using whatever methods seem most appropriate. Furthermore, scientism
has as its goal the collection of an objective body of facts, whereas authentic science aims at a true understanding
of reality. In other words, I think that the point of science is the acquisition of actual knowledge by the scientist.
And, of course, such knowledge could be contrary to popular opinions, including materialism.
“The important thing is not to stop questioning.”
– Albert Einstein (1879–1955)
From an interview published in Life Magazine, May 2, 1955
38
BACK CONTENTS FWRD
hypnosis and consciousness EXPLORERS
Contributors to this Issue of Hypnology
Fred Kutchins, CH, is a consulting hypnotist and founder of the Braid Institute, an educational forum pertaining
to hypnosis and motivation. For more information, visit www.fredkutchins.com.
Paul Aurand, MHt, is the past President and lead trainer of The Michael Newton Institute for Life Between Lives
Hypnotherapy. He is the Founder and Director of the Holistic Healing Center in New York City and has over
30 years experience as a healer, hypnotherapist and counselor. Paul is an award-winning Master Hypnotherapist
and Certified Hypnotherapy Instructor. A dynamic educator, Paul teaches and lectures widely in Europe, North
and South America, Australia, Africa and Japan. He has been featured on both radio and television for his unique
work with The Body Wisdom Process – a synergistic combining of hypnotherapy, interactive guided imagery and
healing touch. He can be reached through his website at www.holistichealingcenter.com.
C. Roy Hunter, MS, FAPHP is a well-known hypnotherapy instructor, a prolific author on the subject of hypnosis
and a professional speaker. He is the recipient of numerous awards. In April 2000, Roy was inducted into the
International Hypnosis Hall of Hypnotherapy Fame for his written contributions to the field. His latest text,
co-authored by Bruce Eimer, PhD, is entitled The Art of Hypnotic Regression Therapy: A Clinical Guide
(Crown House Publishing, 2012). For more information, visit www.royhunter.com.
Scott Schmaren, NueroPerformanceologist Scott Schmaren is a nationally known speaker, coach and author.
He has spent over 20 years learning powerful success technologies. He has used what he has learned and created
to transform his life, losing 180 pounds and maintaining it while rediscovering his vitality. Scott is co-author of
the book, Stepping Stones to Success, along with Jack Canfield, Deepak Chopra and Dr. Denis Waitley. Scott’s
forthcoming book is entitled, Neuroperformanceology: Transforming Your Life in 30 Minutes a Day. He can be
reached at scott@ultimatevisionarymind.com.
The Rev. Dr. C. Scot Giles is a Board Certified Chaplain with a flair for hypnotism. He holds a Doctor of
Ministry Degree from Meadville/Lombard Theological School at the University of Chicago With Highest
Distinction and two academic prizes. Dr. Giles has an international reputation as a hypnotist, is an Advisory
Board member of the National Guild of Hypnotists and is known all over the nation for his work with cancer
patients. He can be reached via his website, www.csgiles.org.
John Weir, BCH, CI, is an award winning hypnotist who has been helping people achieve excellence in their
lives since 2001. He is a Board Certified Hypnotist and Certified Instructor of Hypnotism through the National
Guild of Hypnotists. A published author and the president of Today's My Day Productions, Inc., which specializes
in making self-hypnosis audio programs, John is the creator of many hypnosis programs including the Mental
Caddie-Golf Enhancement System. For more information, visit http://johnweirhypnosis.com.
A. Lambert Matias is a tech-savvy entrepreneur with business management experience in a variety of fields.
His latest venture, GovMobile, LLC, provides value-added machine-to-machine (M2M) and wireless solutions
primarily to the federal government and public sector. He is also the founder of the E-Team, a mastermind group
of entrepreneurs and average people who share a passion for creating happiness and a more enjoyable life. He can
be contacted via www.evantagesolutions.com.
Imants Barušs, Bsc, Msc, PhD, is a Professor of Psychology at King’s University College at the University of
Western Ontario. He teaches courses in psychology, mostly about consciousness, and has written or co-authored
4 books, 27 papers, and 17 reviews, and given 64 presentations, mostly about fundamental issues concerning
consciousness. He can be contacted at baruss@uwo.ca.
39
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Hypnology SPONSORS
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Midwest: Our office is in Chicago, IL
312-675-8300
866-740-9288 Fax
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What if you were in Baghdad, Iraq on 9/11?
Famed hypnotist Larry Garrett was! This
remarkable and deeply insightful tale of Larry’s
hypnosis sessions with the infamous Uday Hussein,
elder son of Saddam, is now
available in a brand-new
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http://www.amazon.com/
HYPNOTIZING-THEDEVIL-LARRY-GARRETT/
dp/1927005337.
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If you would like to join our growing association of Sponsors or to add an Event please contact Fred Kutchins at:
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Hypnology EVENTS
The Sunday Circle
Interested in Hypnosis? You’re Invited!
The Sunday Circle brings together an amazing group
of people who are open to new ideas and are willing
to discuss much of what others just dream of. We
meet on the first Sunday of every month at 1:00 PM
at the Garrett Hypnosis and Wellness Center. We
discuss a variety of topics which may teach us a way
of feeling healthier in life—physically, emotionally
and spiritually. Join us for great interaction with
like minded friends who are here to explore the
possibilities of improving life. There is no charge.
Garrett Hypnosis and Wellness Center
3020 N. Kimball Ave.
Chicago, IL 60618
(773) 395-6100.
AAEH
(Association to Advance Ethical Hypnosis)
Monthly Meeting
When: Second Tuesday of every month
Where:Leaning Tower YMCA,
6300 W. Touhy Ave., 9th Floor,
Niles, IL 60714
Time:8:00pm
Email: aaehgroup@gmail.com
Always a MESMERIZING speaker!
($5.00 donation)
www.garrettwellnesscenter.com
If you would like to join our growing association of Sponsors or to add an Event please contact Fred Kutchins at:
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www.HypnologyMag.com
Copyright ©2013 Fred Kutchins
BACK CONTENTS

Hypnology Magazine: Issue 2

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