7. Mindpower Techniques

Tranquillity

Many of us find it difficult to reduce the amount of information pouring into our minds because we feel guilty if we slow down. we feel that we are failing ourselves and those around us if we sit and watch the world go by for a minute or two. We have been conditioned to think that only by pushing ourselves as hard as possible will we ever achieve anything worthwhile or win the respect of those around us.

Pressured by exppectations, we are always in a hurry, rushing from crisis to crisis and struggling to cram as much as we possibly can into every moment of our lives. We rush through life at top speed, making ourselves ill by pushing ourselves so hard, and failing to gain any real pleasure from the thiings we do because we are doing them so quickly.

There are few places as peaceful and relaxing as graveyeards.

Most of us day dream when we are small. But our teachers and our parents teach us that it is wasteful, undesirable habit that we must lose. in fact, it isn't bad habit at all. It is, on the contrary, a natural technique which can help you relax your mind thoroughly and achieve a beneficial level of tranquility even when things around you are just as hectic as ever.

When you daydream, you uuse a cut-out process which your mind has available but which it has forgotten how to use. To daydream effectively you have to allow your imagination to dominate your thinking and to take over your body too.

Start by finding somwhere comfortable to lie down. your bedroom is probably the best place. Close the door and lock it if you can. Put a 'Do Not Disturb' notice on the outside door handle. Before you go into your room, by the way, take the telephone off the hook, put the cats out and make sure that there isn't anyone due to call or arrive home for 15 or 20 minutes or so.

Now lie down on your back and make yourself as comfortable as you can get. Take big deep breaths and try to conjure up some particularly restful and relaxing scenes from your past. Don't let anyone else wander in your daydream, beacuse if you do, the chances are that your daydream will either become a fantasy or a nightmare.

Daydream One

Imagine that you are in a dressing gown, lying down on a large soft, four-poster bed in a country hotel. Above your head, the bed is hung with a brocade canopy made of a rich red and gold material. Matching curtains hang at all four corners of the bed and are tied back with red ropes, knotted neatly into bows. The room is panelled in oak and there is one window on your right. It is an old-fashioned metal lattice-work windows with thick, red velvet curtains hanging on each side of it. through the windows you can see a corner of a peaceful, typically English country garden and beyond, in the distance, there are pleasant acres of rolling countryside. In front of the windows, there is a long window seat covered in material that matches the curtains.

To your left as you lie on the bed there is a door. This is almost impossible to distinguish from the walls, being made by the exactly same sort of panelled oak. A large key protrudes from the lock and a bolt has been drawn as an added security.

You don't know what the weather is like outside, but in your bedroom it is warm and cosy. Directly in front of your bed, there is a large open fireplace and a wood fire is crackling away. The fire itself look solid enough to last for several ours, but there is a huge pile of fresh logs stacked neatly in the hearth.

Your eyes are closed as you lie back on your bed, but you can hear the crackle of the fire and feel its warmth. Outside you can hear the birds, and a few farmyard animals in the distance. A gentle breeze plays with the tops of the nearby trees. There is a faint smell of woodsmoke in the room.

You lie back, drifting comfortably into a sleepy sort of state and knowing that you have nothing to do for several hours. You've had a fairly tiring morning walking through the countryside and your damp outdoor clothes are all being dried downstairs. You've had lunch and had a bath and several hours to go before dinner. The hotel staff who are looking after you are quite, caring and considerate. They obviously feel well-disposed to you and you know that your evening is going to be peaceful and enjoyable. You have nothing to do but rest, doze and drift peacefully and calmly into a sleepy and relaxing state of mind.

Daydream Two

Imagine that you are lying on a warm, sunny each. It is a mid-summmer day and yet the beach is quite deserted. In the distance to your right and to your left, there are one or two families scattered around and you can here the faint sound of children playing. Infront of you the waves were breaking gently on the soft sand and behind you a slight breeze rustles through the long grasses growing in the sand dunes. High above, you ca hear seagulls calling to one another as they circle overhead. They and the far-off children are the only sounds  that disturb the peace and tranquility of the afternoon.

The most insistent sensation is, however, that of warmth. The sand underneath you is warm on your skin. You've oiled yourself carefully with sun lotion and can smell it still. If you opened your eyes, you'd be able to see your skin glistening in the sunshine. But the sun is bright on your eyelids and you don't want to open your eyes just yet. Still and peacefull, you soak up the sun and enjoy the afternoon warmth. (If you find it difficult to create this scene, try using a sunlamp to stimulate the warmth of the sun and a sound effects record the sound of the sea.)

Daydream Three

Imagine that you are lying back on a grassy bank by the side of a slow-moving stream. It is a clear, fresh stream with the pebbles that make up its base clearly visible through the bright water. As the stream meanders along, you can hear the sound it makes rippling sound over the pebbles. You can hear birds up above you in the branches of a huge oak tree. You can hear insects in the fields behind you and in the field across the field the stream you can hear the accasional sheep. High in the sky there are birds circling, but you cannot see you cannot see them for the sun is too bright for you to open your eyes. It is a warm, relaxing summer sun and the gentle coolness of the grassy bank on which you lie makes a pleasant contrast.

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Daydreaming has got one important advantsge over the type of meditation favoured by some doctors and many religious groups. With meditation you have to empty  your mind completely and replace real anxieties and troubles with a clinically, empty, clean space. That isn't easy thing to do. When you day dream, you replace your natural fears wiith calming, comfortable, tranquil memories, which do themselves have a useful and a positive effect. Meditation does undoubtedly halt the damage caused by he pressures of the outside world. When you feel the void instead with peaceful, tranquil thoughts, you don't just halt the damage - you do much more. You can build up your inner strength by filling your mind with positive, health-giving feelings. Once you have learned how to day-dream properly, you will be able to use the same technique just about wherever you are and whatever you are doing. if you're stuck in a traffiic jam, for example, and you feel yyour heart rate rising and your muscles tensing, just lie back and get as comfortable as you can. Close your eyes, and imagine that you are on your beach or in your country hotel. replace the real fears and frustrations of the world around you with the relaxing feelings and memories of a scene that you find soothing and calming.

Incidentally, if you do want to prove to yourself just how useful this techinique can be, take your pulse when you start a daydreaming sessionand then take your pulse again, when you finish. You'll almost certainly find that your pulse rate will fall noticeably during a 10 or 15 min day dream session.

Try not to make this a routine test, however. It is all too easy to turn a relaxation technique into a competitive exercise. You won't benefit from this technique if you end up trying to ge your pulse rate lower and lower and worrying about the natural variations in your heart rate.

Finally, a word of warning. When you have relaxed, don't get up suddenly. If you have relaxed efficiently, your blood pressure will havve fallen fairly considerably. And if you do get up too quickly, you will probably feel rather dizzy. Instead stretch your arms and legs carefully and genlty for a minute or two. If you have been lying down move slowly into a sitting position and stay like that for a few seconds more in order to give your body time to re-adapt.

Physical Relaxation

Your mind has a number of very obvious practical effects on your body. If you ge angry, your skin will go red. If you are afraid, your skin will go pale and you may sweat. Your heart will beat faster and your muscles will tense. Your rate of breathing will increase and, if you are susceptible to asthma, you'll probablyy start to wheeze as well.

All these changes can produce a number of quite devastating physical effects. For example, tensed muscles commonly produce headaches, back pains and stiff necks. If you suffer from any problem caused by physical tension, all sorts of professionals will be able to help you.  Orthodox doctors can help you deal with the symptoms of the disease. And if your symptoms are produced by muscle tension, a physiotherapist or masseur should be able to help you by relaxing your muscles.

But seeking help from a medical professional when you are suffering from a stress-induced disorder can only provide you  with a short-term solution. It's obviously much more sensible to learn how to deal with your symptoms yourself.

Select one of the following techniques

1. Take slow, deep breaths. Anger or fear will make you breathe faster. Tou can, however, soothe your mind by deliberately taking slower, deeper breaths. If you are anxious because you are about to make a public speech, try taking long, slow, deep breaths. You'll find that your anxiety will be kept under control.
2. Keep your voice as low as you can. Anger and other emotions often make you want to shout. sometimes you must let your anger out. But if that is totally inappropriate, whisper - and you'll find it difficult to stay angry.
3. Learn to relax your muscles. When you are angry or upset, your muscles will become tense. That tension wiill then produce symptoms like muscle pains and headaches. you can deal with those symptoms and help reduce the tension in your mind by deliberately relaxing your body.
4. Remember that tiring physical work can be extremely relaxing. Do not overdo things, of course. You must stop as soon as your muscles begin to ache. It is possible to ease the troubled mind by simple physical exertion.
5. Muscles which are tensed and sore can be eased by simple massage - and the soothing effect thatt the massage has on the muscles will also soothe the mind (The link between the mind and the body is the close one: a tense mind can produce tense muscles, and soothed relaxed muscles can also produce a relaxed, soothed mind.) You can massage your own feet, legs and arms and may even be able to massage your own neck muscles. But back problems are best massaged by another pair of hands. Remember that a little oil will make massage far more soothing and effective as a restorative.

Mental imagery

The relationship between imagination and reality is closer than you think.

William Shakespeare wrote that,

"There is nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so.'

And more recenlty, the philosopher announced that, iin his opinion too, human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, change the outer aspects of their lives, and there by control their own destinies.

While the majority of physicians and surgeons around the world have continued to concerntrate on using knives, poisons, electricity, chemicals and rediation to attack disease and disorder, a small but persistent number of researchers have continued to experiment with techniques involving he imagination.

As is well known, the human imagination can prove destructive and damaging. If a man thinks he has cancer developing, there is a very good chance indeed that he will develop a cancer. If a woman thinks she is going to lose her baby, the chances of her losing the baby are greatly enhanced. If a man thinks he is going to have a heart attack, he will probably have a heart attack. If a women thinks she is likely to die, she will probably die.

When the professional suggests to the patients that he will get better, the patient's imagination responds by triggering the release of natural pain-relieving hormones (or endorphins). And when patient duly gets better, the professional usually takes the credit.

The patient needs only to believe in the power of his imagination in order to benefit from its potential strength. He has to learn a few simple creative 'tricks' in order to harness these powers, but the basic requirment, the fundamental, essential prerequisite is that he believes.

To walk a tight-rope, you need faith in your skills, and you need to believe that you will succeed. If you don not have that faith and belief, however great your skills may be, you will fall.

When you fall ill and need to use the power of your imagination to help you combat very real symptoms, there are a number of simple ways in which you can stimulate your imaginaion to help you.

1. Always think of yourself getting better and try to see yourself fully recovered, doing all the things you would normally do.
2. Never think of any disease as being strong or powerful. If you have an infection of any kind, think of the infective organism as being evil, but weak, homeless, lonely and frightened. If you have a cancer, think of it as an uncertain intruder, struggling to survive.
3. Try living your body if you are suffering from pain or some specific illness. Decide that you will move to a far corner of the room and settle yourself down to help heal your body. Imagine that you can see yourself from the front, the side, the back and from above. Leave the pain or the illness behind. now see teams of skilled and dedicated doctors working on your body to remove the disease and eradicate the pain. Visualise the disease as a pile of rubbish that simply needs to be cleaned out and carted away. Imagine that the pain in your body is transmitted along special wires and try to see the doctors cutting those wires. don't re-enter your body until you are satisfied that the doctors have done as much as they can for the time being.
4. If you are being treated with drugs of any kind, imagine each tablet or capsule as being full of special miniature fighting forces. Imagine those beings released in your stomach, finding their way into your bloodstream and travelling around your body, fighting the disease that is affecting you. Imagine the white blood cells in your body fighting also on your behalf. Think of your fighting forces as cowboys, as cavalry, as spacemen or as mediael knights of the round Table. It really doesn't matter how you use your imagination as long as you use it in positive and dramatic way and as long as you pick images which you can believe ib and have faith.

Some of this may sound alarmingly simple. But that is only beacuse we have been trained to think of medical technology as having all the answers and of our bodies as being fundamentally weak and fragile. As children, we are told off for fantasising and daydreaming. As adults, we are encouraged to put our faith in the professionals. And yet all the evidence now available shows that the professionals have very few answers, while our bodies contain many forces that we have consistently underestimated. Our minds can make our bodies ill. But hey can also keep them healthy - and make them well again.

The Healing Touch

Many modern healers don't really approve of faith healing, however. And healing certainly isn't necessarily mystical, nor does it need to be associated with any religion or religious group. Most surprising of all, perhaps, is the fact that the majority of practising healers do not believe that there is anything particularly exceptional in what they do. 'Healer', one healer has said, 'is not a special gift, it's just that the full-time healers practise a lot and get quite good at it.'

Dolores Krieger, Professor of Nursing at New York University and one of the best known healers in the world, has convinced many sceptical doctors by running contolled clinical trials whicha have shown that blood changes produced by healing can be measured in the laboratory. You really can't get better evidence than that.

Intuition

Increasing number of people provide us with practical illustrations of the remarkable ways in which the mind often operates. There have been the countless stories of individuals having dreams and then discovering that their dreams were very close to reality. The mind, it seems, can work in many remarkable ways.

If you want to use your intuitive powers more constructively, read through the following paragraphs.

1. If you tend to spend ages making relatively minor decisions - and find yourself getting into quite a state trying to decide  what to wear, what to eat and so on - then give yourself a 10-second limit for making your decision. Simply make up your mind to follow whatever thought sprang first into your mind. Don't waste mental energy thinking about it for an hour and trying on everything else. The chances are that, your first, instincitve solution was probably the best. And with fairly minor decisions like these, you haven't got much to lose anyways. The longer you spend worrying before you come to a conclusion, the greater the price you'll have to pay for defying your sense of intuition. Remember too, that if you don't do what your instinct tells you to do, you'll curse yourself afterwards, and probably never be really satisfied with your solution.
2. If you have difficult problem to solve and you've spent hours worrying about it, give up and do something completely different. Your sunconscious mind will have continued to work on the problem and will have produced  soluton for you.
3. When you're looking for a solution toa problem, try writing down a string of possible answers. Scribble them down just as fast as possible as you can. Do this for 10 or 15minuted or so and then sit down and look at what you have produced. You'll find that many of the things you've written still look silly or downright stupid. These can be discarded straight away. But many of the others will be useful. One of your jottings will very problably be the solution you're looking for.
4. If you want to try sharpening your powers of prediction, try guessing what are going to be the lead stories in tomorrow morning's newspapers. Or try guessing whose picture will appear on the cover of one of the weekly news magazines. Or try to predict the outcome of forthcoming  sporting events or elections. Try to see a particular individual winning. Or try to see yourself holding a newspaper with a headline clearly visible. Remember that visual images are easier to play with than any other kind. So when you're trying thins type of exercise always try to 'see' something happening, rather than trying to think about it in cold, analytical terms. If you try this type of technique regularly, your brain will become more and more efficient at sorting out information and come up with instant answers - your intuitive sense will be improved.