FROM MEGABRAIN REPORT VOL. 1 NO 4
Edited by Michael Hutchison



                       MEGABRAIN SOFTWARE

HOW TO USE MIND TECHNOLOGY FOR PEAK PERFORMANCE--AN INTRODUCTION


                      by Michael Hutchison


There are intriguing parallels between the emergence of brain
machines today and the advent of the PC a decade ago. Ten years
back, computers were expensive, difficult to operate, heavy,
daunting. You had to know a computer language to even operate one.
Most of them were in labs or universities--who could have imagined
having a computer in his or her home? Most people who weren't hard
scientists or number crunchers thought computers were something
exotic that could never be of any use to them.

Today, PCs have transformed virtually every aspect of our lives,
and recent surveys show that nearly 25 percent of all households
in the U.S. have at least one PC, that PCs are used in virtually
every office in the country, and that well over 50% of the
population have some familiarity with PCs. It's hard now for many
of us to imagine how we ever lived without our computers.

What happened over the last decade that made PCs into mass market
consumer-electronics items? The first thing was that the hardware
went through a series of extraordinary and rapid transformations:
each new generation was smaller, easier to operate, vastly more
powerful and far less expensive.

The second key to the mass popularity of PCs was the development
of a huge variety of software--programs that enabled users to apply
the massive computing power of the hardware toward specific tasks,
ranging from word processing to spreadsheets to design to
publishing to game playing.  Without such software, the hardware
would have remained virtually inaccessible to most users. Think
now: how often would you use your computer if there were no
software, if you had to create your own programs and do all your
computing through your operating system?

The parallels are obvious: brain machines, which first were
unwieldy, expensive, complex, and carried the weird-scientist aura
of the laboratory, have now gone through a rapid evolution and
emerged as small, easy to operate, inexpensive and as sleekly
designed as miniature Braun coffee grinders. As an example, the old
Synchro Energizer described in the first edition of Megabrain was
the size of a suitcase, had to be manually operated, and cost over
$8,000.  Today far more sophisticated and effective devices the
size of a pack of cards, containing a multitude of computerized
programs that can be operated with the touch of a button, and
costing less than $200, are sold by the thousands through mass
market catalogues like Hammacher Schlemmer, Sharper Image and DAK.

Today the hardware of brain technology--the mind machines
themselves--exists. It is inexpensive, effective, innovatively-
designed, and, increasing amounts of scientific evidence indicate,
when used skillfully can produce peak performance brain states,
heightened mental powers and enhanced mind-body interaction.

What is lacking, in our mind-machine-PC parallel, is the mind-tech
software--the programs, systems, techniques or operating
environments that will allow the user of the mind machine to apply
its sophisticated circuitry and advanced potentials and capacities
toward specific tasks and applications, such as accelerated
learning, sports training, weight loss, or stress reduction; ways
the machines can be used--not just passively experienced as
novelties or instruments of pleasure and entertainment, but
actively used as immensely powerful tools to attain desired goals.

Because of this lack of programs, many mind machine purchasers end
up putting the devices on a shelf in the back of their closets once
the novelty of the experience itself has worn off. "I really liked
it," they say; "when I first got my light and sound machine I used
it several times a day. It was fun, I had lots of fascinating
experiences and I felt great.  But then, after a few weeks, I just
kind of lost interest. I mean, after a point, what are you supposed
to do with it?"

What follows is an initial step toward the development of a
compendium of mind machine "programs."  In this article I present
a variety of strategies/systems/applications/techniques that I have
found to be extremely powerful and effective when used in
combination with mind technology. The techniques have emerged from
my own personal exploration, from experimentation with thousands
of people in Megabrain Workshops, from the work of skilled
therapists and clinicians who have made extensive use of mind
machines in their practices, and from my conversations and
correspondence with hundreds of explorers and experimentalists
around the world.

Because this is an introduction, and due to space limitations, my
descriptions of these techniques in this issue take the form of
brief summaries (with information about where you can get more
information about each technique in a "Resources" section at the
end of the article).  In future issues of Megabrain Report I will
provide in-depth treatments of some of these techniques, including
case histories, relevant research, and detailed, step-by-step
instructions for using these techniques yourself.

The techniques are effective with virtually all of the brain
technology now available, including light/sound, binaural beats
(i.e. "brain sync" tapes), cranial electrostimulation, movement
devices, acoustic field systems (Vibrasound, Betar, Genesis, etc.),
flotation tanks, ganzfelds, biocircuits; and (it should go without
saying) they're also effective with various combinations of brain
technology used synergistically (i.e. CES while on biocircuits
while listening to binaural beat tapes; or light and sound
stimulation while on a motion system). For convenience and brevity,
I will throughout this article use the abbreviation MT for mind
technology, and it will refer to all the varieties of MTs mentioned
above.


                         DEEP RELAXATION

The first step toward making active, systematic and productive use
of your MT is to learn to use it to put you into a state of
profound relaxation. But wait, you say, isn't that the
responsibility of the machine? After all, many of these devices
claim in their literature to be "relaxation" devices, and many of
them, such as the light/sound machines, offer a variety of preset
"relaxation" sessions.

It's true that numerous scientific studies have shown that MTs can
induce deep relaxation states in untrained subjects; some studies
have found MTs even produce relaxation states in untrained subjects
as deep as or deeper than the relaxation attained by subjects with
extensive training and practice in relaxation techniques such as
Progressive Relaxation. Speaking generally, put on your MT (such
as an alpha beat frequency tape or a light/sound machine that ramps
down into alpha) and within 10 to 15 minutes you should be more
relaxed.

The problem is that qualifier "more." Many of us start from such
a high level of stress, muscular tension and/or nervous arousal
that even though we become more relaxed in relative terms, we're
still, in absolute terms, not in true deep relaxation--a highly
beneficial hypometabolic state in which muscular tension throughout
the whole body is dramatically decreased (users describe it as
feeling their body "go to sleep" or "melt away," or as simply
losing all awareness of having a physical body), and in which the
beta brainwave activity of active consciousness diminishes, while
alpha and theta activity increases and becomes dominant.

Also, many of us have had the experience of being so tense or
agitated that we know we would benefit from relaxing, we know that
using our MT would help us relax, but we're simply too wound up to
put it on, or if we do put it on, we're unable to let go
sufficiently for the MT to carry us into a relaxed state. In fact
one of the main problems with popular relaxation and stress
reduction techniques of all kinds--including biofeedback,
"relaxation response" meditation techniques, and systematic
relaxation procedures--is what the researchers call "lack of
transference." They may be highly effective in a training seminar,
during a quiet evening at home, at a doctor or therapist's office,
or when you're in a mood of curious or calm self-exploration, but
still remain extremely difficult to use effectively in the midst
of the pressures and urgencies of the everyday world.

And finally, even though the MTs are effective in producing
relaxation for most of us, in many cases it can take 30 minutes or
more to let go of muscle tension and mental chatter and reach a
truly relaxed state. If we have set aside a half hour or 45 minute
period for our MT session, then we have little time to pursue
active strategies such as those we explore in the rest of this
article before our session is over and we're back into our busy
schedule again.

And yet true relaxation is a key to most of the various strategies
and techniques that follow, from accelerated learning to
visualization to problem-solving to self-healing to attaining a
state of hyperreceptivity and hypersuggestibility. Fortunately,
since the MTs themselves are helping induce deep relaxation, they
speed up the learning process enormously: relaxation techniques
that might take weeks of disciplined practice to master without the
use of MTs can be mastered in just a few sessions on an MT.  In
fact, research suggests that all methods of relaxation or mental
or physical self-regulation work more powerfully and effectively
in combination with mind machines than in any other environment.

So no matter what MT we use, and no matter what our levels of
stress, tension and arousal, all of us can profit enormously, and
amplify the power of our MTs, by learning and practicing a
relaxation technique that we use in conjunction with our MT. I
suggest that each time you put on your MT your first step is to use
your relaxation technique. Soon this will become almost automatic,
and the relaxation process will accelerate: a technique that at the
start might allow you to reach deep relaxation in ten minutes will
soon take just seconds.  Over time, your relaxation technique will
become linked with your MT, so that simply by putting on your MT
you will find yourself returning almost instantaneously to a
relaxed state.

Herbert Benson of Harvard Medical School has studied the
beneficial, healing "relaxation response," as well as many of the
techniques, ranging from ancient meditative disciplines to modern
systems, used to trigger this response. He found that they all
worked by using certain specific techniques or elements in
combination. The key elements he identified are:

Mental Device. There should be some sort of constant stimulus, such
as a word or phrase repeated silently or audibly, fixed attention
on an object or process. Attention to this mental device or
technique shifts you away from logical, externally oriented
thought.

Passive Attitude.  Let the process happen, do not attempt to force
it or control it.  If distracting thoughts arise, simply observe
them, let them go, and return to the process.

Decreased Muscle Tonus. Get into a comfortable position so that
minimal muscular tension is required.

Quiet Environment. Try to use your MT where you won't be
interrupted or distracted by external stimuli.

By using these elements in combination with your MT, you can
quickly reach deep levels of relaxation. Following are brief
summaries of some of the relaxation techniques that can be used to
enhance your MT experience.


                        Breath Awareness

Abdominal Breathing. Relax your abdominal muscles, so that when you
inhale, your belly expands, when you exhale your belly contracts.
Shallow breathing (expanding and contracting the chest and rib
cage) is physiologically linked to the fight-or-flight response;
thus chest breathing causes the autonomic nervous system to remain
in a state of arousal and inhibits relaxation.

Nose Breathing. One effective technique is simply to focus
attention on the breath as it passes in and out of the nose.  Feel
the air, the coolness at the tip of your nose as you inhale.  As
you exhale, focus on the warmth at the same spot.  If you wish,
count your inhalations, numbering each from one to ten; when you
reach ten begin with one again.  Should thoughts rise into your
awareness, don't resist them but allow them to pass, and then
return all attention to your breathing.

Moving Around the Body. With each breath, direct your total
attention to a particular spot in your body. Move systematically
through your body (e.g. you may begin at the top of your head, and
move breath by breath downward through your head, neck, chest,
right arm and fingers, left arm and fingers, torso, right leg and
foot, left leg and foot, and back up again to end at the top of
your head; some find it more effective to count each spot,
beginning at the top of the head with one, and ending up back at
the top of the head at a count of sixty or so). As your attention
moves from place to place it creates and is accompanied by strong
body sensations--feelings of melting, warmth, brightness, growing
"softer."  By the time you have made a full cycle you should be
deeply relaxed.

Visualization of Light. The nostril breathing practice described
above can be combined with visualization: see the air entering your
mostrils as pure white light.  As you inhale, follow the flow of
light through your nasal passages, into your abdomen; visualize it
radiating to every part of your body. The as you exhale, see the
light flow back out of your body.  Focus on your breathing
entirely.

There are many variations.  For example, use visualization of light
in combination with the moving around the body technique--with each
count, as you focus your attention on another part of the body, see
the light flow to that part, see it glowing warmly. Move the light
around your body.

                           Mindfulness

Breath awareness is one element of a practice called mindfulness
that can not only be an effective relaxation technique, but if
practiced regularly can lead to profound transformations in your
life.  On the most basic level, mindfulness involves simply being
aware, observing patiently, with detachment and without judging,
what you are doing. Ultimately, with practice, mindfulness can lead
to "waking up" from ordinary consciousness into a state in which
each moment is a peak experience, and in which one has direct and
immediate access to one's full powers.

The first step to mindfulness is breath awareness.  As in the
exercise above, simply focus your attention on your breathing and
hold it there. Be aware of the sensations that accompany your
breathing.  Pay attention. Don't attempt to do anything; don't
attempt to control your breathing; don't attempt to think about
your breathing.  Simply be aware.  As thoughts arise, don't fight
against them, don't judge them, simply be aware of them and then
return your attention to your breathing. If you suddenly realize
something has carried your mind off, notice what it was, and return
your attention to your breathing.

You will find this practice rapidly calms the body and mind. Very
quickly you become aware of your thoughts and feelings, and by
observing them and returning your attention to your breathing, you
learn that you are not your thoughts and feelings, that you can
detach yourself from them. In time it can lead to feelings of inner
stillness, clarity, and centeredness.

Body Scan. As your mindfulness practice progresses, and you find
you can maintain sustained periods of continuous attention to your
breath, you may want to practice other types of mindfulness. One
technique is the Body Scan. As you become relaxed, turn your
attention from your breath to your body, moving in a step-by-step
fashion around your body, focusing attention on each part in turn,
being aware of sensations, feelings, thoughts, whatever arises into
consciousness, and then returning awareness to that part of the
body. Feel each region fully, breathe to that region, be in that
region, and then let go, feel all the tension and fatigue in that
part of the body flowing out, and finally move on to the next
region.

Mindfulness can also be directed at music: use a music tape in
conjunction with your MT, and as you become relaxed, turn your
attention from your breath to the music, not thinking about it or
listening to it judgmentally, but simply being aware of the music,
moment by moment, as pure sound, hearing each note.  If thoughts
arise or your attention is drawn away, simply return awareness to
the music.

As your practice progresses, you may want to focus your attention
on the thoughts that flow through your awareness. Be aware of their
content, and the emotional charge that may accompany them, but
don't judge them; simply observe them as "events," and let them go.
Notice what thoughts keep coming back to you, what feelings and
moods; don't get drawn into thinking about your thoughts, simply
notice them and let them go.

Mindfulness and enhanced perceptions. Mindfulness is a practice
that can be carried beyond your MT session into the rest of your
daily life.  The evidence is that it can have profound effects,
ranging from boosting your immune system to enhancing your mental
functioning to heightening your awareness to intensifying the
pleasure and the quality of your life. One series of studies done
at Harvard Medical School tested a group of subjects who practiced
mindfulness and a control group, and compared their abilities to
perceive brief, millisecond flashes of light on a device called a
tachistoscope.  The mindfulness group's perceptions were
extraordinarly keen: while the control group was barely able to see
the flashes or separate one flash from the next, the mindfulness
group was able to perceive the flashes with such clarity that they
could observe the instant the flash started, the moment it reached
its peak, the moment the flash began to cease, the moment the flash
was gone, etc.

Such studies are a clear indication that the practice of
mindfulness can have dramatic effects on brain functioning and
consciousness.  Fortunately for users of MTs, reports from users
suggest that MTs can be a powerful adjunct to mindfulness, not only
helping novices learn mindfulness, but actually increasing our
powers of mindfulness and attention.



                           Open Focus

For over 20 years Dr. Les Fehmi has been one of the leading
biofeedback researchers, with a particular interest in developing
techniques to induce peak performance brain states.  His research
led him to believe that one key to peak brain function was whole-
brain synchrony--a phenomenon in which the dominant brainwave
activity throughout the whole cortex shifts into a single,
coherent, in-phase rhythm.

Fehmi designed a biofeedback device that would monitor the
brainwaves for synchrony, and give the user a signal when synchrony
was occurring. I have written in Megabrain about this device, the
Biofeedback Brainwave Synchronizer. I've also used it extensively
in Megabrain Workshops, and have found it's an extraordinarily
effective tool for rapidly teaching users to produce heightened
states of consciousness. But of course few can afford to own a
$3,000-plus biofeedback machine. Fehmi began searching around for
a simple technique that would induce the same state of whole-brain
synchrony as could be learned by using the Brainwave Synchronizer.

To do this he hooked subjects up to the Brainwave Synchronizer and
tried various spoken inductions and procedures, searching for
something that would produce synchrony.  As he experimented, Fehmi
drew on his own experiences as a Zen meditator.  He felt that
whole-brain synchrony was linked to attention. In modern western
civilization, he observed, we value the ability to have a narrowly
focused attention: the ability to concentrate on a single matter
and ignore other "distractions" is highly rewarded.  Unfortunately,
Fehmi became convinced, this narrow focus of attention also leads
directly to tension, stress, and all the stress-related ailments.

Experienced Zen meditators, on the other hand, strive to open up
their field of attention to take in everything.  They have what
Fehmi called open focus. When he analyzed the brain state it took
to produce whole-brain synchrony on his Biofeedback Brainwave
Synchronizer, Fehmi discovered that it too was an open focus state.
He found, as he told me, that brain synchronization "is correlated
experientially with a union with experience, an 'into-it-ness.'
Instead of feeling separate and narrow-focused, you tend to feel
more into it--that is, unified with the experience, you are the
experience--and the scope of your awareness is widened a great
deal, so that you're including many more experiences at the same
time. There's a whole-brain sensory integration going on, and it's
as if you become less self-conscious and you function more
intuitively."

Seeking a simply way to produce this widening of attention, this
open focus, Fehmi developed a spoken induction that uses
"objectless imagery" to guide the listener through a progressive
opening of focus. When subjects were hooked up to his Brainwave
Synchronizer EEG, he found that the open focus exercise produced
a state of whole-brain synchrony. As he began to experiment with
the open focus exercise, he also found that it was effective in
learning enhancement, stress management, pain control, improved
health, psychotherapy, and peak sports performance, among others.

When you listen to the basic Open Focus exercise, what you hear is
a voice asking you a series of questions that begin with the words,
"Can you imagine. . . ?"  You begin with an opening of awareness
in your head (Can you imagine the distance between your eyes . .
. between your ears . . . the volume of your tongue . . . the space
inside your throat) that progresses throughout your entire body,
requiring a gradual opening of awareness (Can you imagine the
distance between your hands, the volume of your fingers, the space
between your feet, the volume of your feet), and moves you beyond
the limits of your own body to an awareness of everything within
you and around you.

The tape ends by having you imagine that you can enter this open
focus state any time you wish, and there's no doubt that after
you've gone through the exercise enough times you can learn to
enter the open focus state at any time, simply by remembering what
it feels like and by intentionally being there. Most importantly
for the purposes of this article, the open focus state adds an
extraordinary dimension to the use of any mind machine.

On the first level, you can listen to an Open Focus tape while
using an MT, and I think you'll find there's a unique synergy: the
MT seems to make you more "into it" (to use Fehmi's terms), more
at-one with your experience, and thus more able to enter the open
focus state; the guided exercise on the tape, on the other hand,
seems to organize or give shape to your MT experience, giving it
a direction and a dynamism that it might otherwise lack.

On the higher level, once you have learned to enter the open focus
state quickly, on demand, you can begin all of your MT experiences
by putting yourself into open focus and then doing whatever else
it is your primary purpose, such as accelerated learning, sports
performance training, self-suggestion, self-healing, etc.  Being
in open focus seems to make all these other techniques and
practices even more effective.



                      ACCELERATED LEARNING

One of the most often-mentioned uses for MTs is as "superlearning"
tools.  Some MT manufacturers even label their products "relaxation
and learning" devices.  But exactly how are these tools supposed
to be used for learning?  There are several quite different
techniques, each of which has different results and can be used for
different types of learning.  I will summarize these different
accelerated learning techniques in this section.

But first, it's important to point out that the manufacturers'
claims (and the widespread perception) that MTs are effective tools
for accelerated learning are based on strong scientific evidence.
I'll review a few of the most compelling studies linking MT use
with increases in types of learning (for more detailed discussions,
see the new, revised and updated 1992 edition of Megabrain).

At Texas A&M, a controlled study compared the learning and thinking
abilities of a group that heard the lessons while relaxing in a
dark room with a group that heard the same lessons while in a float
tank. The groups were later tested on how much they'd learned, with
the learning being evaluated on three levels of increasing
difficulty: 1) simple memory or rote learning, 2) the ability to
apply the learning to new situations and problems, and 3)
"synthesis thinking," the ability to combine the ideas learned in
new and creative ways.

The results showed that the float group learned much more than the
control group on every level.  Most intriguingly, as the degree of
difficulty and complexity of the learning tasks increased, the
superiority of the float group over the control group increased
sharply.  The scientist who conducted the study concluded, "There's
no question that the [float] group learned more, but where they
learned is the most important point. People who floated learned at
a different cognitive level.  The results showed that the more
difficult the concept, the bigger the difference in the performance
of the two groups."

In a carefully controlled study of learning, Dr. Daniel Kirsch and
Richard Madden compared the learning abilities of a group that was
given a computer-learning task while being stimulated with low
levels of cranial electrostimulation (CES) with a group doing the
same computer-learning task without receiving CES.  The CES group
not only learned more than the control group, but over repeated
trials, when the control group's learning levels dropped off
(perhaps due to boredom or fatigue), the CES group's learning rate
continued to increase. Other studies using CES have shown increased
learning as a result of CES, and still others have demonstrated
increases in IQ (for alcoholics and subjects with brain damage).

Investigating the effects of motion devices (such as the Graham
Potentializer and the SAMS Potentializer), EEG researcher Marvin
Sams of Dallas has found that such devices can optimize the Neuro-
Efficiency Quotient--the speed with which neurons pass information-
-an EEG measure that is closely correlated with IQ. Ongoing studies
using light/sound machines and light/color devices (such as the
Lumatron) suggest that these devices can have powerful learning-
enhancement effects.

Granted the evidence that MTs can serve as excellent accelerated
learning tools, how can they be used most effectively for specific
learning tasks?

IN-SESSION LEARNING

The most obvious method of MT accelerated learning is presenting
the material to be learned while in the midst of the MT experience.
The research of Bulgarian psychiatrist and educator Georgi Lozanov
(popularized as Superlearning in a book of the same name by Lynn
Schroeder and Shiela Ostrander) suggests that we can tap into the
brain's extraordinary powers of learning and memory by presenting
the material to be learned while the learner is in an optimal
learning state.  The essential elements of this optimal learning
state include:

        --Relaxation. Lozanov and similar accelerated learning
techniques attempt to induce relaxation in the learner by using
rhythmic breathing and playing slow stately music (such as Baroque
largos) intended to produce relaxation and slow brainwave activity.
Interestingly, researchers studying the Lozanov technique have.
found that not only is deep relaxation essential to the process,
but the deeper the relaxation, the more the student is able to
learn.

        --Slow brainwave activity. The various Superlearning
techniques use music, breathing and relaxation to shift the brain
from the beta brainwaves of ordinary waking consciousness to the
slower alpha and theta brainwaves, characterized by a heightened
receptivity to new information, and (as suggested by the Texas A&M
study mentioned above) a heightened ability to synthesize ideas,
think creatively and master difficult concepts.

The Lozanov and other similar Superlearning techniques have proven
to be extremely effective in boosting learning abilities.  However,
a wealth of research into the effects of MTs suggests that they can
be far more powerful learning boosters, in part because they simply
are more effective in producing the essential elements of
accelerated learning. As for relaxation, for example,  as we have
seen, MTs can assist the user in rapidly attaining states of
relaxation far deeper than most people can reach without MTs, even
though they may have extensive training and practice in relaxation
techniques.

As for slow brainwave activity, most MTs are designed with the
specific purpose of slowing brainwave activity into the alpha and
theta ranges through such techniques as entrainment, restricted
environmental stimulation, or rhythmic movement of the body.

Virtually all MTs can be used in combination with audiocassettes.
Some, such as CES devices, binaural beat frequencies and flotation
tanks, can be used with videocassettes as well.  An ideal program
for accelerated learning would be to begin use of the MT, use one
of the quick relaxation techniques described above, and then, after
five to ten minutes, begin presenting the material to be learned
via audiocassette.  One convenient way of doing this if you're
working by yourself is to put the material to be learned on a
cassette that begins with five to ten minutes of relaxing music and
then moves on to the material to be learned.

Alpha or Theta? Since many MTs, such as light/sound devices and
beat frequency tapes, permit the user to select a target brainwave
frequency, the question arises as to what is the best state, or the
"appropriate depth," for learning: the relaxed, receptive alpha
state, or the hypersuggestible, drowsy, dreamlike twilight or theta
state.

Evidence suggests that alpha is ideal for learning new information,
data, facts, material that the learner wants to be fully aware of
and readily available in waking consciousness. On the other hand,
theta is the ideal frequency range for the uncritical acceptance
of external suggestions, for bypassing defense mechanisms and
resistance and presenting important self-change messages to the
deeper parts of the mind.  That is, to present messages having to
do with attitude or behavior change to the unconscious mind,
without the critical screening present in waking consciousness, it
is best to get into the theta range.  As Dr. Thomas Budzynski
points out, "the material is being stored in the brain much the
same as verbal information assimilated during anesthetic surgery,
i.e., it cannot be recalled, but does influence behavior."

Thus a suggestion for those who have light/sound machines and other
variable frequency devices and want to find the best program for
peak learning:  if the material to be learned is informational, a
useful program might be to begin by entraining brainwaves from a
waking EEG (anywhere from 14 to 18 Hz--experiment to find what
"feels" right), ramp down slowly to a low alpha frequency (from 8
to 10 Hz, again find out what feels right), remain at this
frequency for the duration of the learning tape, and then ramp back
up to a final relaxed but alert frequency (from 10 to 14 Hz).

Those wishing to learn material having to do with attitude or
behavior change would begin by entraining brainwaves in beta, ramp
down slowly to theta (around 4 to 6 Hz seems most effective),
remain at theta for the duration of the learning session, and then
ramp back up to 10 to 14 Hz.  For both types of learning the
material seems to be better assimilated if the user spends several
minutes after the learning material has been presented remaining
in a relaxed alpha or theta state before ramping back up to beta,
ending the session and returning to ordinary consciousness.

CES devices, of course, permit you to use a wider range of learning
modalities, including reading, writing, typing, using a computer,
etc.  Evidence from several studies, and anecdotal reports by many
CES users, suggest that when you're using the machine your memory
and concentration are at a peak.  Some speculate that the
electrical stimulation of the brain "turns up the volume" on the
reticular activating system (the brain's alertness and attention
control system) and stimulates the hippocampus (a key to the
formation of memories).


POST-SESSION LEARNING

Most MT users notice a feeling of mental clarity and sensory acuity
that lasts many hours after a MT session. This can be explained by
the continuing elevation of certain neurochemicals associated with
heightened consciousness, and with the continuing presence of slow
brainwave activity.

There is evidence, from tests of blood and cerebrospinal fluid,
that MTs, including light/sound and CES devices, produce elevations
in such neurochemicals as beta-endorphin, norepinephrine and
dopamine, all of which have been linked by neuroscientists to
feelings of heightened mental clarity and to the formation of
memories. In addition, research indicates that the slow brainwave
activity induced by the MTs can be detected many hours, even days,
after an MT session.  One study of floaters, for example, found
that a one hour float raised theta activity sharply.  But
surprisingly, when the researchers did follow-up EEG tests of both
the float group and a control group, they found that they could
still detect higher levels of theta activity in the brains of the
floaters three weeks after their float session.

There's no doubt that most MT users experience an increase in
mental and physical acuity for several hours after a session. That
makes this post-session period an ideal time for enhanced, high-
efficiency, high-quality learning: the brain is still extremely
receptive to external information, and still in a free-floating
state that is conducive to imaginative and creative thinking.  Many
have found that it's in the hours after a session that they find
themselves discovering solutions to problems or being seized with
new ideas, and often notice that this is a time when reading,
studying, listening to music and so on are particularly rewarding
and productive.

Remember also the Texas A&M study mentioned above demonstrating
that users of one type of MT (the flotation tank) not only learned
more than a control group, but as the difficulty of the concepts
to be learned increased, their superiority over the control group
increased. And it was in the highest, most difficult type of
learning--"synthesis" thinking or creativity--that the float group
was most superior to the control group.  Since the period after a
session still partakes of many of the elements of the session
itself--relaxation, mild euphoria, heightened clarity, slow
brainwave activity, elevated mind-enhancing neurochemicals--it
makes sense that this period is an ideal time for learning,
particularly learning of the more difficult type, learning that
involves opening up to new ideas and trying to understand difficult
or subtle concepts.  This is the time, for example, to open up that
philosophy text, or to get your mind around the ideas in that book
about the new physics, or to synthesize some of the concepts in
that sprawling world history or comparative religions book.  This
is the time when the exciting Eureka! can take place.

PRE-SESSION LEARNING

There are certain types of learning, I believe, that are best
accomplished when the learning takes place before the MT session.
The best example of this is one I cited in Megabrain. One floater,
a flower-farmer from Long Island who was trying to learn Dutch (for
his flower-buying trips to Holland), told me that he had recently
gone for a float immediately after his Dutch lesson.  He didn't get
time in the next few days to review the lesson or to study at all,
but when he went in for his next lesson, he had virtually total
recall of the last lesson, and his instructor remarked that he must
have studied very hard!  He felt that somehow the float had
subconsciously solidified the information in his brain.  Was that
possible?

Shortly after that I was reading some reports of sensory-
restriction research and read of a study in which researchers read
a lengthy passage from Tolstoy's War and Peace to two groups of
subjects.  They didn't tell the subjects to remember this passage,
didn't even say why they were reading the passage.  Then the
control group stayed in an open room while the experimental group
went into a sensory-restriction chamber.  After 24 hours the groups
were retested.  The researchers found that while there was a steep
drop in retention of the Tolstoy passage for the control group,
there was none for the experimental subjects.  In fact, the
sensory-deprivation group remembered more after 24 hours than at
first!  In interviewing the subjects, the researchers found that
none of them had expected a retest on that material, and only one
had reported that he had even thought about the Tolstoy passage
during the interim.  The researchers dubbed this the "reminiscence
effect."  Somehow, simply being in a state of sensory restriction
caused an increase in memory for something that happened before
the sensory restriction.

How to explain this?  Scientists now agree that there are at least
two different types of memory, generally known as short-term memory
(STM) and long-term memory (LTM). STM deals with information we
need to hold in our minds temporarily, like a phone number, but
which can then be quickly forgotten.  On the other hand, there's
another type of information that can be held in consciousness just
as fleetingly as, say, a telephone number, but can become so
permanent taht it can be recalled with absolute clarity a lifetime
later, such as the memory of some brief event observed momentarily
by a child, but remembered clearly 90 years later.  This is
information that has passed into LTM.

Studies using drugs that inhibit protein synthesis in the brain
have proved that STM consists of short-acting electrochemical
changes in the brain, while protein synthesis in the brain (i.e.
actual physical growth of axons or dendrites, increase in number
of glia, increase in number and reichness of dendritic connections)
is necessary for LTM.  When drugs that inhibit protein synthesis
in the brain are given soon after subjects learn something, the
information is forgotten--that is, it never makes it into LTM.
However, when the drugs that inhibit protein synthesis are given
more than an hour (in some studies two hours) after the learning,
the information is not forgotten, which means it has already become
a part of LTM.  In other words, information passes into LT
protein-synthesis takes place in the brain--during the hour or two
after the information is received.

Other studies by psychologists have demonstrated a similar sort of
disrupting effect on learning by interposing other events or
information.  That is, when subjects are given something to learn,
and then, within an hour (i.e. before  protein synthesis has taken
place in the brain and the information has passed into LTM)
something else happens--a vivid event, other types of information
to be learned--the original material is not remembered as well.
To return to the "reminiscence effect," we can surmise that this
effect results from the fact that after being given the
information, the sensory-restriction group was placed in an
environment that cut them off from new sensory input, from things
that would compete with the information for long-term memory. Thus,
the original information, in this case the passage from Tolstoy,
was given enough time for protein synthesis to take place, enough
time for the information to "solidify" or become a part of LTM.

Clearly MT users can put this reminiscence effect to good use as
a part of their MT accelerated learning program. Whatever
information they want to put into their long-term memory should be
studied prior to their MT session (or should be presented via video
or audio tapes during thed early part of the session).  The session
that follows--ideally at least an hour--should allow time for the
necessary protein synthesis to occur in the brain to permit the
information to become consolidated and committed to long-term
memory.

This pre-session learning, I believe, is ideal for certain types
of learning, specifically rote-learning types of information:
vocabulary words and tenses, facts, data, details. The kind of
material you want to feed into your own data banks. On the other
hand, this is probably not the best time for complex or synthesis
types of learning. That kind of subtle learning dependent on
synthesizing ideas and information from many different sources
probably does not get directly translated to LTM very effectively,
since it's largely dependent on creating new information from
information that already exists in LTM. The ideal time for this
type of synthesis or creative learning, for understanding difficult
concepts and combining these concepts in original and imaginative
ways--to come up with new answers to problems, to create new
knowledge--is, as suggested above, during the session itself or in
the post-session period.

There's no doubt MTs can be a revolutionary instructional tool,
with students of all fields of study using MTs as a means of
rapidly absorbing large amounts of information and gaining insight
into difficult concepts.  But where MTs can be of greatest value,
I suspect, is on the cutting edge of knowledge--in solving
problems, in creating new wisdom and understanding. For it the MT's
learning-enhancement effect increases as the difficulty and
complexity of the material being learned increases (as the Texas
A&M float tank study suggests), then it must be the scholars, the
original thinkers, the creators, the finest nminds, dealing with
the newest and most difficult information and concepts, who will
profit most.


      BEYOND RELAXATION: SELF-HYPNOSIS AND SELF-SUGGESTION

One of the most direct and powerful ways to use the MT experience
to effect changes in your attitudes and behavior is by using
autosuggestion while you are in a hypersuggestible state. This is
just another way of saying self-hypnosis.

As noted above, one of the characteristics of the theta or twilight
state is hypersuggestibility (i.e. suggestions or statements enter
directly into your brain or unconscious mind, and are accepted as
being true, bypassing the mental filters and critical defense
mechanisms by which we usually judge such statements). In theta,
as Budzynski points out, our mind has the property of "uncritical
acceptance of verbal material, or almost any material it can
process." Our subjective experience of theta, however, is one of
a drowsy, largely unconscious state--as soon as we become
conscious, or begin actively paying attention to something, we pop
out of theta, and are no longer hypersuggestible, since our
critical screening defenses are once again operating.  For that
reason, the best way of profiting from the hypersuggestibility of
theta is by using audiotaped suggestions (or suggestions spoken by
someone else).  That way we can stay in theta and let the
suggestions wash over us without paying any attention to the
suggestions or the process.

Self-hypnosis, on the other hand, permits us to enter a
hypersuggestible state and to actively offer ourselves suggestions
for personal action and change even while monitoring ourselves to
be certain we remain in a hypersuggestible state and while
remaining in conscious control of the process.  Self-hypnosis is
not a difficult or arcane procedure.  It is quite simple, and can
be easily learned from any of the popular "how to" books available.
It consists mainly of three elements: deep relaxation, focused
attention, and suggestions.

We know that MTs are unprecedented tools for producing states of
profound relaxation. As for focused attention, I've suggested above
in the sections on Mindfulness and Open Focus that MTs, in part by
effectively blocking out external stimuli, provide an unparalleled
environment for calming, clarifying and focusing the mind. Some
research with MTs and hypnosis has been done, and as you might
expect, it shows that people using MTs go into a deeper state of
hypnosis than they do when hypnotised without MTs.  In addition,
there's evidence that MTs significantly increase hypnotizability-
-that is, people who ordinarily can't be hypnotized can go into
deep hypnosis when using an MT.  One study of flotation, for
example, concluded that some of the subjects who initially were
virtually unhypnotizable "became hypnotic virtuosos" in the tank.

The first step toward self-hypnosis is called induction.  Without
MTs, this process can be lengthy, but much of the time is spent in
becoming progressively more deeply relaxed and mentally focused.
However, with MTs, this process can be speeded up enormously,
simply by using one of the relaxation techniques described above,
and combining it with a focusing of attention on the induction
procedure, using the focusing skills gained from your practice of
mindfulness or Open Focus.

Relaxed and focused, you can proceed with your induction by using
some sort of sequence that takes you progressively deeper into
hypnosis. For example, you might count backwards from 100 to 0,
combining your count with suggestions to yourself that you are
becoming more suggestible, more focused and more relaxed with each
count, and that by the time you reach zero, you will be in a deep,
relaxed, focused, hypersuggestible trance. (There are countless
ways of moving into trance; examples include visualizing yourself
walking down stairs or moving down a series of escalators, each one
taking you deeper into hypnosis; floating downward through clear
tropical waters; somersaulting backwards through space, with each
somersault taking you deeper into trance, etc.)

Once you are deeply relaxed and focused, you can offer yourself
suggestions for personal change. A few general principles that will
enhance the effectiveness of suggestion include:

        Suspend judgment (try to feel that the suggestion is true,
experience it as real in your imagination);
        Be positive (positive suggestions seem to have more force than
negative ones; instead of "I am not afraid . . ." you might say,
"I am bold . . ." or "I reject fear .  .  .");
        Be concrete and specific (brain research indicates that right
hemisphere speech comprehension is simple and concrete, that that
it doesn't process abstract material well, if at all);
        Use many senses (don't simply use a verbal suggestion, but
visualize--actually see yourself successfully performing the
activity--and, where appropriate, smell and feel the activity);
        Repeat (repetition is perhaps the most widely used suggestion
technique, used by everyone from political leaders to TV
commercials; repeat your suggestion several times using various
wordings and images);
        Use rhythm (suggestions are more effective when stated
rhythmically, and linked to your own rhythms of breath and voice;
researchers have found that voice intonation and rhythm are
processed through the right hemisphere and can have greater
emotional impact--compare the powerful rhythms and changing voice
intonations of gospel preachers with the monotonous, unrhythmic
speech patterns of a Henry Kissinger).

While in trance you should capitalize on your hypersuggestibility
to implant suggestions that will help you reenter the hypnotic
state quickly and easily.  Many like to use a signal or cue word:
e.g. you might suggest to yourself that when you are in a relaxed
state and speak the word "shazam" to yourself, it is a signal for
you to go directly into a deep hypnotic trance, relaxed, focused
and hypersuggestible.

Ideomotor Signals. While in a trance state one has more direct
access to hidden or unconscious material.  One effective way of
learning information that is hidden away in your unconscious mind
is the use of ideomotor finger signals: suggest to yourself that
you will ask yourself questions, that you will respond to those
questions truthfully, and that if the answer to a question is "yes"
you will respond by moving your right forefinger; if the answer is
"no," you will move your left forefinger.  This is a valuable
technique for everything from uncovering past (and long suppressed)
traumas to making decisions to remembering where you put the car
keys.


                            Anchoring

One of the most remarkable features of being in a trance state is
that you can plant suggestions so that they take effect at some
later point, when you're no longer in trance.  We're all familiar
with the concept of post-hypnotic suggestion: the hypnotist plants
the suggestion in the hypnotized subject that when the subject
receives a certain signal or stimulus, a whistle, for example, the
subject will then feel compelled to tie his shoelaces.  In recent
years a variation of this technique has been developed and refined
that permits individuals in trance to give themselves a trigger
mechanism that later, when it's employed, can automatically
activate specific desired behaviors or states. The device is called
an anchor.

An anchor is basically a stimulus/response mechanism: Pavlov
conditioned his dogs to salivate at the sound of a bell by teaching
them to associate the bell with food.  Anchors are created whenever
we're in a heightened or intense mental state, and we receive a
specific signal or stimulus at the peak of that state: at that
point a neurological link between the stimulus and the state is
created. Pavlov's dogs were in a heightened state (hunger) when
they were given food, and at the peak of that state the bell rang;
in time the bell alone was enough to cause the dogs to salivate.
In a similar way hundreds of Oldies but Goodies trigger a response
in me: I was in a heightened state (sexual arousal) in the back
seat of a car, for example, when the Fleetwoods came on the radio
playing "Mr. Blue," and now thirty years later when I hear the song
it triggers a Pavlovian response in me--the song is an anchor for
that intense psychophysiological state.

Anchors can be created under virtually any circumstances--we do it
all the time, when we unconsciously link a specific slogan with a
specific product ("Just Do It"), or a signal with a feeling-state
(a Christmas tree), or a signal with an action (the stop light
turns red). Athletes anchor themselves constantly: the batter tugs
his shirtsleeves just so, pounds the bat twice in exactly the same
spot, pulls the bill of his cap once, and only then, having
anchored a feeling of confidence, is he ready to swing at the
pitch.  However, we now know that the more intense or heightened
our mental state, the more rapidly and powerfully are we going to
create anchors, and the longer will those anchors last. Mind
machines, as much evidence indicates, are highly effective tools
for creating intense and heightened mental states. In the self-
hypnotic trance we enter a heightened and intensified condition
called hypersuggestibility. The combination of these two, self-
hypnosis and mind machines, is one of the most extraordinarily
effective and rapid ways of creating powerful anchors that has yet
been discovered.

How do you create anchors?  The first step is to get into the state
you wish to anchor. This is where self-hypnosis is so valuable.
Let's say you tend to get flustered and slow-witted when in the
midst of staff meetings, and want to anchor a feeling of cool-
headedness and verbal ease, fluency and control. You put on your
MT, enter your hypnotic trance, and when in a hypersuggestible
state, you visualize yourself at a staff meeting, seeing all your
associates, creating the meeting room, hearing the sounds, smelling
the smells, feeling your chair, all in concrete detail; and you
experience yourself as being fluent, cool-headed, witty and
controlled.  You experience this as intensely and powerfully as
possible.  Then, at the peak of this entire experience, when you
are fully and intensely experiencing the exhilaration, the
confidence, the sensations of mastery . . . at that point, create
your anchor.

The anchor may be any distinctive stimulus.  You might, for
example, place your thumb against the first knuckle of your right
forefinger. Evidence indicates that the best anchors are those that
combine several different sensory modalities--sound, image,
sensation, etc.  So you might want to create an anchor that
combines the thumb against right forefinger with a spoken word
(something like "Speak Now"); perhaps you might even want to add
an image to the anchor (perhaps a bright image of a sun shining).

Once created, the anchor serves as a sort of post-hypnotic
suggestion.  The next staff meeting when you feel the need to speak
you will then activate your anchor. You will find yourself
experiencing the feelings of verbal mastery and coolheadedness that
you experienced in your trance state: these feelings are
neurologically linked to the anchor.

If you create your anchor when you are in a highly focused and
intense state, one time will be enough to produce a strong response
when you activate it later.  However, in all cases repetition
serves to strengthen an anchor. By enabling you to quickly,
consistently and reliably return to your deeply relaxed, focused
state, MTs are invaluable for the creation of strong and effective
anchors.

Having intentionally created one anchor you can then move on toward
the creation of an entire repertoire of anchors--one for
relaxation, one for a sudden burst of physical energy, one for
pleasure, one for intense concentration, one for creativity, one
for self-healing, one for pain relief, one for confidence, etc. (In
fact Robert Monroe, creator of the Hemi-Synctm tapes, has devised
a tape series that in effect helps you create a multitude of
anchors.  He has called the series H-Plus (Human Plus), A Program
of Planned Self-Evolution.  Each of the more than 50 tapes presents
the listener with a new anchor [what Monroe calls an "action
signal"], ranging from anchors to enhance memory to anchors for
enhanced circulation to the brain.  I recommend this series highly,
and have found it works well when used in combination with other
MTs.)  In any case, your ability to create and use anchors is
limited only by your imagination.


                 SELF-REGULATION AND EXPLORATION

Once you have learned a few of the simple techniques outlined
above, a whole new universe of ways to use your MT opens, and your
MT use becomes not simply a way to relax and passively entertain
and enjoy yourself, but a versatile tool for actively transforming
your life.  In the sections below I will briefly touch on a few of
the ways you can use your MT for self-exploration, problem-solving
and personal growth.

PAIN RELIEF

There's abundant research showing that virtually all type of MTs-
-float tanks, CES, light/sound, motion systems, binaural beats at
certain frequencies--are effective in alleviating pain. Evidence
indicates that, among other pain-alleviating effects, many of these
MTs stimulate the release of beta-endorphins, with their opiate-
like pain reduction properties.  However, there are ways of using
MTs to increase and accelerate their pain-reduction power.

Body-Scan. Perhaps the best way to start working on your pain is
to use the mindfulness body-scan technique mentioned above. Use the
body-scan to focus on your pain, and to become aware of how it
effects the rest of your body and your life. This mindful body-scan
may provide you with information about how you can alleviate your
pain, and how you might be able to change your style of living or
your activities to alleviate the pain.  For example, someone with
chronic headaches might find on an attentive body-scan that they
have tension in their shoulders or neck, and that by loosening that
tension they can eliminate their headaches. Similarly, by using
your MT session to conduct a daily body-scan, you can be aware of
the increases and decreases in your pain, and begin to associate
levels of pain with your daily activities: you might find, for
example, that your lower back pain peaks the day after you spend
long hours completing a report on your computer, something you've
never noticed before, and then take action to change your physical
posture at the computer.

Breathing. Having completed a body-scan, you might want to then use
one of the breathing techniques outlined above and visualize each
breath as a white light that eliminates pain--as you inhale, the
pain-relieving light flows directly to the source of your pain,
where it creates a glowing ball of light.  With each inhalation,
the ball of light grows in intensity, with each exhalation, you
visualize yourself exhaling pain. In a very short time you'll find
the pain diminishing and disappearing.

Self-hypnosis. Or, after completing your body-scan, you may want
to do a self-hypnosis induction.  Having reached a state of
hypersuggestibility, you may suggest to yourself that your pain is
gone--this suggestion can be strengthened by using different
sensory modes, for example visualizing your pain as a tight knot
and then seeing it loosen, expand and dissolve, like a Chinese
paper flower in water; or, experiencing your pain as being red hot,
and then replacing it with ice, and feeling it become cool.  When
you're truly hypnotized, the powers of suggestion are enormous--
hypnosis has been widely used to anesthetize patients undergoing
serious surgery, childbirth and dental work, and afterwards the
patients report experiencing no pain whatsoever.

RESCRIPTING

Much of our behavior as well as our image of ourselves and our
beliefs are the result of suggestions or programs that have lodged
themselves in our psyches in moments when we were particularly
receptive or suggestible.  Many of these suggestions, or "scripts,"
are a result of childhood experiences.  Dr. Thomas Budzynski points
out: "If you slap a child,or in any way get it into an altered
state . . . and then say something to the child, you're going to
be laying down a script in the right hemisphere, which may not have
access later on to consciousness in the left hemisphere, but
nevertheless will alter the behavior and attitudes of that child
as an adult."  Budzynski points to such scripts as "You're no good"
and "You'll never amount to anything" and "You'll never learn" as
particularly powerful scripts, leading to constant self-sabotage
in adult life.

However, the MTs are a perfect tool for counteracting these
negative scripts, or "rescripting."  Dr. Budzynski, who uses MTs
for rescripting in his own practice, observes that "The technique
involves, first, the uncovering of the scripts, second, the
creation of counter-scripts which present a more positive outcome,
and third, the repeated presentation of the counter-script,
preferably while in a deeply relaxed or hypnotic state. The L/S
[light/sound machine] is used both to facilitate the uncovering and
the rescripting itself."  Budzynski notes that "the L/S, during the
uncovering, can help produce this deeply relaxed state and,
possibly, entrain the EEG pattern that was dominant at the time of
the trauma." This refers to the fact that light/sound machines can
help users to enter the theta state--the brainwave state that is
predominant during most of the childhood years, when the original
scripts are laid down. "During the rescription phase," Budzynski
continues, "the L/S again helps produce the deep relaxation (or
facilitates the hypnosis) as the positive outcome scene is
repeatedly imagined."

Uncovering. The first step toward rescripting is uncovering.  After
putting on the MT, relaxing and moving into a deep theta state (or
entering a self-hypnotic trance), you may find suppressed memories
surfacing spontaneously in the form of visual flashbacks or images.
You may want to proceed with a conscious process of uncovering by
using ideomotor finger signals.  You may ask if the problems you
want to deal with are the result of a single traumatic experience.
If so, you may continue using your ideomotor signals to narrow in
on the date (how old were you when the experience occurred), the
location, etc.  You may combine this with suggestions that you can
visualize the experience.  Dr. Budzynski points out that
"Uncovering is a very sensitive and potentially anxiety-evoking
process" and recommends it be attempted only by trained mental
health professionals.  However, you may feel confident that you can
confront these past experiences; and you may provide an additional
safeguard by having another ideomotor finger signal (such as a
movement of the thumb) that indicates to you, "I don't want to deal
with this material at this time," and is a signal for you not to
delve more deeply until a later time.

Rescripting. Once the harmful script has been uncovered, the next
step is to develop a counter-script.  Budzynski mentions several
types of rescription: "The client can change the way he or she was
thinking in the situation (cognition), or the external behavior
(behavior), or the words that were said (verbal), or any
combination of the three.  Usually, a change in external or verbal
behavior will produce a change in the other person's behavior and
therefore, a different, hopefully more adaptive, outcome."

While in your deeply relaxed state, you should recreate the
original traumatic experience, using as much concrete detail and
as many sensory modalities as possible.  However, as the scene is
recreated, you should alter it in such a way that it produces a
positive outcome.  Budzynski describes a case of a woman who had
an inexplicable pain in her arms who, upon going into hypnosis and
using ideomotor signals, revealed that while she had been
hospitalized and unconscious after a fall from a horse, and while
a nurse was inserting an IV in her arm, a visiting relative
remarked, "Gee, that looks like it would sting!" The woman's
unconsious mind, in an altered state, apparently took this as a
command. "The rescription was simple," says Budzynski, "an old but
wise 'Dr. Welby' type physician was introduced to the scene.  When
the triggering remark was made, the wise physician said, 'Oh sure
it stings for a few seconds, but then it feels as good as new.'
When the client awakened, the pain was gone!"

Like anchoring, rescripting gains in power with repetition, and the
more vivid the rescripted experience (engaging several senses and
with contrete details) the more power it has to counter the old
script.

THE SWISH
A slightly different rescripting technique is widely used by
practicioners of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), and is called
the Swish pattern. NLP teaches you how to do a Swish pattern in
ordinary consciousness.  However, I've found that using this (and
other NLP techniques) in the midst of an MT experience boosts it
to a higher order of effectiveness.  I have used this technique in
many of my Megabrain Workshops, and have found that it can produce
rapid and dramatic effects.  As Anthony Robbins writes, "A swish
pattern takes internal representations [i.e. scripts] that normally
produce states of unresourcefulness and causes them to
automatically trigger new internal representations [i.e.
counterscripts] that put you in the resourceful states you desire."

Having uncovered, for example, the script that causes you to
overeat, you create a script that would counter the overeating
script, and establish a mental link between the two scripts, so
that each time you think of overeating, the counterscript would be
triggered.

Once you have entered the MT experience and taken yourself to a
deeply relaxed, theta or self-hypnotized state, the first step is
to identify the behavior you want to change. Having done so, the
next step is to create a visual image of it--a simple but vivid
scene or "picture."  The next step is to crfeate a second picture-
-a representation of yourself as you would be if you had made the
desired change in your behavior.

The next step is to "swish" these two pictures to that the unwanted
behavior automatically triggers the new behavior.  Anthony Robbins
describes this procedure:  "Start by making a big bright picture
of the behavior you want to change.  Then, in the bottom of the
right-hand corner of that picture, make a small dark picture of the
way you want to be.  Now take that small picture, and in less than
one second, have it grow in size and brightness and literally burst
through the picture of the behavior you no longer desire.  As you
do this process, say the word 'wooosh' with all the excitement and
enthusiasm you can."  Having done this, open your eyes for a split
second to break the state, and then repeat.

The key to the swish is speed and repetition.  Once you're in your
theta state, or your hypnotic trance, perform the swish pattern
over and over, taking only a second or so for each repetition.  If
you experience this swish pattern intensely enough, you should find
that whenever you begin to act out your old, harmful script, you
will immediately find yourself switching to your new script.

FOCUSING

Another learning/uncovering, mindfulness, and problem solving
technique that is highly effective when used in combination with
MTs is called Focusing. Developed by University of Chicago
psychologist Eugene Gendlin, focusing enables practicioners to
manipulate their brains in such a way that they reach new insights
that lead to dramatic and beneficial behavioral changes.

In focusing, one attempts to get a "felt sense" of the problem, and
through a series of focusing steps that turn attention away from
the external environment and increase awareness of subtle emotional
states and physical sensations, one reaches a point at which one
experiences a "felt shift," an experience marked by a sudden
release of tension, a feeling of deep physical relief, a sense that
the problem or unclear feeling has been understood.

We've all experienced focusing and felt shifts. For example: you
leave your house and soon have an uneasy feeling you've forgotten
something. You "focus," trying to identify the problem: have you
left the gas on? the water running?  In each case you know that's
not the answer because you feel no inward release.  Finally you get
the correct answer--you forgot your briefcase--and with a "felt
shift," a feeling of understanding, release from tension, and
satisfaction sweeps over your body.  Aha!

One EEG researcher was curious to find out what happens to
brainwave activity when one of these "felt shifts" occurs.  Making
a computer analysis of over 8,000 EEG readings, he discovered that
just preceding the moment the felt shift occurs, there were peaks
of alpha and theta activity.

If alpha and theta activity accompany the focusing process, it's
likely that by actively inducing alpha and theta activity by using
an MT, we can induce or facilitate the focusing process.


                            RESOURCES

To learn more about some of the techniques and procedures I've
touched on above, you might want to consult some of the following
books and tapes.

Relaxation. A number of relaxation techniques are included in my
work The Book of Floating (Morrow/Quill, 1984). See also The
Relaxation Response (Morrow, 1975) and The Mind/Body Effect (Simon
& Schuster, 1979) by Herbert Benson, M.D.; also Minding the Body,
Mending the Mind, by Joan Borysenko (Bantam, 1988), and The Fine
Arts of Relaxation, Concentration and Meditation, by Joel Levey
(Wisdom Publications, 1987).

Mindfulness.  Perhaps the best introduction to mindfulness
meditation is Full Catastrophe Living, by Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D.
(Delacorte, 1990).  Other excellent works are Seeking the Heart of
Wisdom: The Path of Insight Meditation, by Joseph Goldstein and
Jack Kornfeld (Shambala, 1987), Stephen Levine's A Gradual
Awakening (Anchor/Doubleday, 1979), and Shunryu Suzuki's Zen Mind,
Beginner's Mind (Weatherhill, 1986).

Open Focus. The best introduction to Open Focus is The Open Focus
Handbook by George Fritz, Ed.D. and Les Fehmi, Ph.D., or the Open
Focus Audiotapes, available in a six-tape or twelve-tape series,
leading from a basic introduction through advanced tapes for pain
control and sports training.

Accelerated Learning.  A fine overview of accelerated learning
techniques is Superlearning by Sheila Ostrander and Lynn Schroeder
(Delacorte, 1979) and the more recent Super-Memory: The Revolution,
(Caroll & Graf, 1991) which includes information about the use of
brain machines for enhanced mental functioning.

Self-Hypnosis. An introduction to self-hypnosis is included in The
Book of Floating (William Morrow/Quill, 1984), which I wrote before
writing Megabrain. For more, see Leslie LeCron, Self-Hypnotism
(Prentice-Hall, 1964).  A superb and consciousness-transforming
work that includes much valuable information about self-hypnosis,
including sample induction and self-suggestion scripts, is The
Psychobiology of Mind-Body Healing by Ernest Rossi (Norton, 1986).
See also The Answer Within: A Clinical Framework of Ericksonian
Hypnotherapy, by Lankton and Lankton (Bruner/Mazel, 1983).

Anchoring and the Swish Pattern. For a good introduction to these
and other NLP techniques, see Unlimited Power by Anthony Robbins
(Fawcett, 1986).  The "H-Plus" tape series from the Monroe
Institute of Applied Science provides numerous "action signals"
(i.e. anchors), delivered in combination with binaural beat
frequencies and a spoken induction that guides you into a hyper-
suggestible state, delivers the action signal, then brings you back
to waking consciousness.

Rescripting. See Thomas Budzynski's excellent articles,
particularly "Brain lateralization and rescripting," Somatics, 3,
1-10 (1981), and "Clinical applications of no-drug-induced states."
In B. Wolman and M. Ullman (Eds.) Handbook of States of
Consciousness (Van Nostrand-Reinhold, 1986). A wonderful classic
is Programming and Metaprogramming in the Human Biocomputer by John
C. Lilly (Julian, 1972). See also the valuable Software for the
Mind: How to Program Your Mind for Optimum Health and Performance
by Emmett Miller (Celestial Arts, 1987).


Focusing. See Focusing by Eugene T. Gendlin, Ph.D. (Everest, 1978).

Visualization. An excellent introduction is Seeing with the Mind's
Eye, by Mike Samuels, M.D. and Nancy Samuels (Random House, 1975).
See also Creative Visualization by Shakti Gawain(Bantam, 1985) for
helpful guided visualization and self-suggestion techniques and
scripts.