Soul Challenges

Article: The Healing     Power of Imagery

News & Events

Aromatherapy

Recommended Reading

Stephane's 3 challenges to you: I challenge you to:

1. Commit yourself to a 2 week detox. diet.

2. Come up with 5 new affirmations that inspire you and that you can repeat out loud to yourself daily.

3. Make a list of actions and decisions that support your life purpose at this time and get to them!

PSYCHO SPIRITUAL THERAPY certificate for all practitioners and future practitioners. Starting in May See calendar for dates.

New WEIGHT CONTROL certificate (also for practitioners) is planned for Mondays 12:30-3:30 pm. In Kirkland. Please register soon as attendance is limited.

New English intervention group for women with breast cancer starting in May. Date and time to be confirmed. Registration is accepted. The program is financed in large part by the RPSS. For more information please contact Stephane.

For more events visit Psysante's Calendar HERE

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Sandalwood

Aromatic Description: Sandalwood has a persistent, sweet, woody base note with a delicate, spicy, oriental undertone.

Possible Uses:
Sandalwood oil is one of the oldest perfume materials and has been in use for at least 4000 years. It is profoundly seductive and a true aphrodisiac. It has long been used as an aid to meditation to help focus the mind and has a calming, cooling effect on body and mind. 

Rosewood

Aromatic Description: Sweet, woody, fruity, floral aroma.

Possible Uses: Lifts mood and dispels muscular tension , use it in massage blends and therapeutic baths to relieve nervous tension and stress -related conditions.

Caution: Do not take internally. Many oils cannot be applied directly to the skin, consult a practitioner for specific directions and usage.

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Power over Force
by David Hawkins

Review by Cate Montana

Imagine being able to accurately assess a book's content value, a teacher's ability, a sales person's integrity, the spiritual level of a guru, the skill level of a Tai Chi master, the safety of a product, a criminal's innocence or guilt. This is exactly what Hawkins proposes - all through the use of the simple, self-taught methodology of applied kinesiology.

When Hawkins discovered kinesiology, he was an incredibly successful psychiatrist who had experienced a spiritual transformation and the miraculous healing of a fatal illness at age 38. After his spiritual transformation, during which he essentially became "one" with what he calls The Presence, he was able to brilliantly diagnose and psychically uplift and help heal thousands of patients. But he was dismayed by how small his efforts were when faced with the tide of human suffering, which, he recognized, was solely the result of mankind's identity with the ego and resultant distancing from the God self.

When he discovered kinesiology, which is the use of muscle testing to determine whether a substance (or an idea, another person, a teaching etc.) makes the body weak or strong, he was instantly amazed by its potential. The body doesn't lie. It knows what it knows. It doesn't have opinions or worries or judgments that might interfere with pure knowing . By using the body to calibrate levels of truth, Hawkins hit on a reliable tool that people could use to self-test anything in - or out of - the world. Insights could be gained through kinesiology that were ordinarily out of reach for people unless they had developed the spiritual capacity for high levels of intuition.. Not something the western world is noted for.

Complete review HERE

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3 Principles of Guided Imagery

Guided imagery works because of 3 very simple, common sense principles.

First Principle: The Mind-Body Connection

The body interprets images created in the mind as actual, real events and thus believes the image to be reality . The mind doesn't quite get the difference. That's why, when we read a recipe, we start to salivate. The mind is constructing images of the food -- how it looks, tastes and smells; it might even be evoking the sounds of the food cooking or the feel of its texture as it's being chewed. In the meantime, the body is perceiving "dinner is served", and is responding by generating saliva and appetite.

The mind cues the body particularly well if the images evoke sensory memory and fantasy - sights, sounds, smells, feel and taste - and when there is a strong emotional element involved. So, for instance, a strongly evocative image might be remembering the time you were skiing down an ungroomed trail where you feel the adrenalin rush, hear the swish of the snow flying about, and feel on top of the world. These sensory images are the true language of the body, the only language it understands, immediately and without doubt.

Research in the field of psychoneuroimmunology shows that the body directly responds to a created image indicating that there is a physiological pathway mediating the mind-body connection. As an example, a cancer patient imagining an army infantry unit (symbolizing natural killer cells of the immune system) infiltrating and destroying the enemy camp (a tumor mass) will produce actual and immediate physiological mobilization of the immune system. Similarly, athletes who visualize their abdominal muscles tightening up actually produce a measurable muscular contraction in the abdomen.

Second Principle: The Altered State

In the altered state, we're capable of more rapid and intense healing, growth, learning and performance . We are even more intuitive and creative. In this ordinary but profound mind-state, our brainwave activity and our biochemistry shift. Our moods and cognition change. We can do things we couldn't in a normal, waking state - lift a tree that has fallen on a child; write an extraordinarily delicious poem; replace our terror of a surgical procedure with a calming sense of safety and optimism; abate a life-threatening histamine response to a bee sting.

We wander in and out of altered states all through the day, as a matter of course. Sometimes it's not a conscious choice, and we drive past our exit on the highway. At best, the altered state is a state of relaxed focus, a kind of calm but energized alertness, and a highly functional form of focused daydreaming. Attention is concentrated on one thing or on a very narrow range of things.

As this happens, we find we have a heightened sensitivity to the object of our attention, and a decreased awareness of other things going on around us, things we would ordinarily notice. We are so engrossed, we lose track of time or don't hear people talking to us. Or we are so focused on our tennis, we don't realize we were playing on a twisted ankle, and the pain isn't fully perceived until the game is over.

The altered state is the power cell of guided imagery. When we consciously apply it, we have an awesome ally, an exceptional source of internal strength and skill.

Third Principle: Locus of Control

When we have a sense of being in control, that, in and of itself, can help us to feel better and do better .

Feeling in control is associated with higher optimism, self-esteem, and ability to tolerate pain, ambiguity and stress. Decades of research in ego psychology informs us that we feel better about ourselves and perform better when we have a sense of mastery over the environment. Conversely, a sense of helplessness lowers self-esteem, our ability to cope and our optimism about the future.

Because guided imagery is an entirely internally driven activity, and the user can decide when, where, how and if it is applied, it has the salutary effect of helping us feel we have some control. This effect is particularly important when people are faced with a medical diagnosis in which they are informed that their only hope is relying on medical treatment. Their traditional coping strategies are now deemed ineffective and this newfound powerlessness can wreak havoc on the disease process. Having a tool that allows participants to have a sense that they are making a difference in their recovery is truly vital.

So, when you put all this together, you have a technique that generates an altered state, in which the mind is directed toward multi-sensory images that the body perceives as real. This is done exactly when, where and how the user wishes. And that's why it's so effective.

To create a successful imagery program, it is recommended to consult a therapist skilled at using imagery.

Copyright Stephane Bensoussan, 2005-2006