Releasing Depression and Anxiety office and phone sessions

Redfield, The Celestine Prophecy.

Bradshaw, John. Homecoming: Reclaiming and Championing Your Inner Child.

Goldsmith, Living the Infinite Way

Walsch, Neal, Conversations with God

Zukav, Gary, The Seat of the Soul

Many years ago, a wise king set out to teach his son, the crown prince, the wisdom necessary for him to become a great ruler. To do this, the king thought to send the prince to the forest alone for one year. The instructions the wise father gave the son were to return to him in exactly one year and describe the sounds of the forest.

The dutiful son did as his father bade him. He went to the forest and listened for all the sounds he could hear. He returned in one year and happily told his father what he had heard: leaves rustling in the wind, leaves falling to the earth, birds singing, bees buzzing, insects whirling and chirping, small and large animals coming and going, waters gurgling up from crevices in rocks.

But the king was not pleased. He frowned and admonished his beloved son to go back to the forest and listen some more, and when he had discerned the true sounds of the forest to return home again to report his observations. So the boy went back to the forest.

He sat alone beside huge trees and lay in the forest grasses, pondering his apparent lack of understanding. After many days and nights, the prince began to sense a strange awareness about him. He knew that at last he could return to his father with honor.

So the young boy ran home, bursting with the excitement of his new learning. He came to his father and reported that finally he had heard the leaves of the trees awakening in the morning dew, the sound of the woodland flowers opening and closing, the clamor of earth as it bared itself to the warming rays of the noonday sun, the heartbeats of a thousand animals and birds.

His father was pleased. “My son,” said the king, “to hear the unhearable is one’s best discipline for being a great leader. The best rulers must truly hear unspoken joys and pains of their people. It is easy to hear the obvious and the superficial, but great kingdoms are built only by hearing the secret sounds of those around you. You have learned well the wisdom of the forest for your lifelong journey.”

When we all become quiet enough and listen to our spirits - we will know ourselves and our journeys. Rapid Eye and the Life Skills, if done with a desire to heal, can change our lives and bring us to the pure love of the Christ Energy that heals us on all levels. We love you…

Research has confirmed that such spiritual practices as yoga and meditation produce changes in the electrical activity of the brain, leading to an increase in alpha and theta rhythms. Theta is found to be a characteristic brain wave pattern of long-term meditators. Further, shamanic drumming, in the majority of cases, consists of a steady, monotonous beat of 3 to 5 beats per second, or at the frequency of theta waves.

Dr. Maxfield's research supports the theories suggesting the use of the drum by indigenous cultures in ritual and ceremony has specific neurophysiological effects. Drumming has the ability to elicit temporary changes in brain wave activity. Thereby facilitating imagery and possible entry into an ASC especially the Shamanic State of Consciousness (SSC). Here are her subjective results:

A pattern that incorporates approximately 4 to 5 beats per second is the most inducting for theta gain. Drumming in general, and rhythmic drumming in particular, often induces imagery that is ceremonial and ritualistic in content and is an effective tool for entering into a non-ordinary or even when it is extracted from cultural ritual, ceremony, and intent.

The pattern of the drumbeat as it relates to beats per second can be correlated with resulting temporary changes in brain wave frequency and/or subjective experience, provided the drumming pattern is sustained for at least 13-15 minutes.

A.) The drumming also elicits subjective experiences and images with common themes:
B.) Loss of Time Continuum
C.) Movement Sensations:

• body parts pulsating or expanding
• pressure on the body or parts of the body
• energy moving in waves through the body
• sensations of flying, spiraling, dancing, running, etc.

D.) Energized
E.) Temperature Fluctuations (Cold/Hot)
F.) Relaxed, Sharp/Clear
G.) Discomfort (emotionally or physically)
H.) Out-of-Body Experiences or Visitations
I.) Images:

• Vivid Imagery
• Images of Natives
• Images of Animals/Landscapes
• Images of people: past, faceless, teachers, nonnative drummers, etc.
• Images of a journey
• Non-Ordinary or Altered States of Consciousness (ASC)

Why is it that indigenous cultures rely so heavily upon drumming? Virtually every American Indian tribe, nearly all African tribes, most South American Indian groups, and the Australian Aborigines include drumming in their most sacred ceremonies. Even in modern Western society the drum is important in music. It seems to do more than hold the beat of the tune. It is as though it gets into our very being. We feel the beat. Indigenous cultures utilize the drum to enter altered states of consciousness (ASC) in order to do work of a spiritual nature. Is there something in this drumming that can be used by the technician? Could this be a tool overlooked because of its origin in “lesser” cultures? Melinda C. Maxfield, Ph.D., in her 1984 doctoral dissertation, Effects of Rhythmic Drumming on EEG and Subjective Experience, introduces us to The Journey of the Drum. Journey drumming consists of a regular drum beat of a pattern that duplicates a certain brain wave frequency. The brain waves sought for are:

• Delta waves at 4 Hz or 4 beats per second. This wave is associated with sleep or unconsciousness.

• Theta waves at 4 to 8 Hz or 4 - 8 beats per second (a fast drum beat) are associated with states of reverie and hypnogogic dreamlike imagery.

• Alpha waves at 8 to 13 Hz or 8 - 13 beats per second are associated with states of relaxation and general well-being. Alpha generally appears in the occipital region of the brain (the visual cortex) when the eyes are closed. Consciousness is alert and unfocused, or focused on the interior world. It is the world of RET.

• Beta waves at 13 Hz or higher are associated with active attention and focus on the exterior world. It is also present during states of tension, anxiety, fear and alarm.

Unfortunately, the urgent often overwhelms the important in our lives, much as the squeaky wheel gets the grease. The last exercise may have revealed a difference between the amount of energy you’re currently putting into certain priorities and the amount you’d like to devote. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to change that pattern where you can. Pick three areas you’d like to improve and list some goals. Then rank those goals in order of most important to least important to help you know where to start.

Here’s an opportunity to see how well you’re balancing the priorities in your life. First, see how much energy you’re currently putting into each of the major areas of your life. Using the key below, decide whether you’re making it a low, moderate, or high priority. Next, assess each area’s true level of importance to you. Using the key again, decide whether you want to make it a low, moderate, or high priority. Remember, your priorities may change.

Major         Energy         Level of
Priorities    Spent           Importance
Family        _________     __________
Friends       _________     __________
Significant Other ________   ________
Time alone   _________     __________
Recreation   _________     __________
Exercise      _________     __________
Hobbies       _________     __________
Work           _________     __________
Volunteer activities _______    ________
Spiritual involvement _____    __________

Benjamin Hoff wrote a wonderful book, “The Tao of Pooh,” in which he expounds the Eastern philosophy of “Tao”, as intuitively applied by Pooh, the all time favorite “bear of little brain”. He suggests that we can learn much from Winnie the Pooh’s easy, accepting, uncomplicated philosophy--”while Eyeore frets, and Piglet hesitates and Owl pontificates . . . Pooh just IS.” Hoff writes: “When we learn to work with our own Inner Nature, and with the natural laws operating around us, we reach the level of Wu Wei. Then we work with the natural order of things and operate on the principle of minimal effort. Since the natural world follows that principle, it does not make mistakes. Mistakes are made--or imagined-- by man, the creature with the overloaded Brain who separates himself from the supporting network of natural laws by interfering and trying too hard.”  We love Pooh because he doesn’t try too hard. He lives in the present moment. He just is.

Have you noticed what happens when you are trying really, really hard to remember something or to hit a base ball just right or solve a problem? Invariably, you don’t get the results you want. In their search for ideas and solutions to problems, most people note that they have their greatest success while they are engaged in activities where they are naturally relaxed. Hence they have their brain gems in the shower, in the bath, in bed, in the toilet: places where we relax easily.

To understand the scientific angle, when we relax, our brain rhythms move into a slower mode--the alpha mode--where we are far more able and creative. Results come easily. When you step into a warm shower, you naturally relax. In bed, the same happens; and so you will find you get ideas in bed! You can be very creative in the bedroom. You are open to ideas in the toilet, because you have to relax in there just to get the job done!

Of course, physical relaxation is equally important for peak performance. As we relax our physical body, our whole metabolism comes into balance; our blood pressure drops, our breathing becomes deep and easy, and the organs in our system work harmoniously.

On a broader scale, the same picture emerges. We get the best results in our life when we are prepared to go with the flow. This means finding the delicate and elusive balance between effort and relaxation, between attachment and letting go. It is no simple thing to achieve!

Again, we can take our lead from nature. The birds and the animals work, but they don’t work day and night. Even the soil needs a rest every so often. That one gets us into trouble too! We plant beans on the same plot for twenty three consecutive years, we cram the earth with chemicals to keep them popping up, and wonder why the beans taste worse than the fertilizer. Everything needs a rest. Everything takes time to regenerate, to have an ebb and flow.

Nature always takes her time. Great oaks don’t become great overnight. They also lose a lot of leaves, branches and bark in the process of becoming great. Diamonds aren’t formed in a week either. Everything of value, of beauty, of majesty in the universe took time to become so. So it will be with our own growth and development. Let us recognize the way things work down here, and so be gentler on ourselves when assessing our own progress. It takes time to build confidence, to build a healthy body or a positive outlook. It takes time to build a business of value or to create our own financial independence. In the real world there are very few instant, overnight successes. Inner work is a life-style.

CYCLES
As sure as the earth revolves around the sun and winter follows the spring, so must our life move in cycles. So there will always be easy times and there will be hard times, as sure as one season follows another. One of the great challenges of life is dealing with the winter while you are waiting for things to get better. Things will get better. They always do. The trouble is that many people give up and go home too early. The tide will always turn.

REST
Nature has a rest from time to time. The soil needs a rest, bears and snakes hibernate; even fish sleep with their eyes open. We can learn from this approach. We need to take time out; to rest, to review, to ponder, to be. If you decide that you are indispensable and that you must always have your nose to the grindstone, then you can live your life like that. Your belief that you can never rest will be your reality until such time as you decide differently. When we do make rest a part of our life-style, like the soil we become so much more productive when we work. Having said this, I believe that as humans we are engineered for enterprise and activity.

People with Alzheimer's disease are losing this grid pattern, this map for how to store and retrieve information. Remarkable results are being achieved with Alzheimer's patients through the use of music technology. An interesting phenomenon is occurring. The elements of the earth, the minds and hearts of the people on the planet are beginning to polarize.

There is a gathering of order, a gathering of those who follow the principles which created our universe. There are multitudes of people making a choice for order. What is left is chaos; that which is in conflict with order. Each person is responsible to make conscious choices about the level of vibrations which influence them.

When all our levels are in alignment (physical, emotional, mental and spiritual), we are in tune. We will feel in alignment with the universe and the principle of harmony and rhythm. We have once again aligned with the “one song.” “You are a part of the universe, no less than the stars and trees, and you have a right to be here. And whether it is clear to you or not, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should . . .”. --Desiderata

We are part of the universe and our lives are governed by he same laws that govern the rest of the cosmos. We need to keep a balance as does the rest of nature. We take time to grow and time to heal. Our lives will always move in cycles because that is the universal law. We need time to rest and recuperate, as do all other living things.