Hemi-Sync® Journal 2006-1&2 (Winter/Spring)

PROFESSIONAL SEMINAR OVERVIEW HEMI-SYNC® Journal In the early afternoon of March 25, 2006, the first of thirty- five participants arrived at the Nancy Penn Center for the Twentieth Professional Seminar, Hemi-Sync: the Bridge between Magic and Reason. The day began blustery and rainy, but the weather inside was warm and cheery as old friends greet- ed each other with cries of delight and hugs. By the time every- Vol. XIV Winter/Spring 2006 Nos. 1 & 2 one sat down to a candlelight dinner, first-timers also felt like old friends. After a welcome by Laurie Monroe and introductions, everyone headed to their CHEC units to rest up for the next day. A Research and Educational “Reasonable Magic & Magical Reason: The Philosophy of Publication of The Monroe Institute Robert Monroe,” the keynote address by Joseph M. Felser, PhD, created the context for the seminar. Dr. Felser examined Robert Monroe’s contention that ours is “a half-brained society”—bereft of right-brain “magic”—and considered Hemi-Sync as a tool for producing a more balanced view of mind and reality. In “Sensory Processing and Hemi-Sync,” pediatric physical therapist Jacqueline Mast, PT, MSEd, led participants in exploring their individual responses to internal and external sensory stimuli via the Short Sensory Profile screening test, as well as discussing the use of Hemi-Sync to modulate the sensory processing styles of her young clients at Mast Clinic Incorporated. Jonathan Holt, MD, covered lots of ground in his presentation, “Hemi-Sync and Psycho-Oncology.” After explaining the genesis of psycho- oncology, Dr. Holt discussed an ongoing clinical trial using Hemi-Sync to relieve the fatigue and pain of radiation oncology patients and concluded by describing the case of a suicidal can- cer patient who benefited from GOING HOME.® Ronald Russell, MA, moderated a lively Open Forum session to exchange ideas for developing additional Hemi-Sync resources IN THIS ISSUE for learning-disabled children. Synchronistically, the Open Forum was followed by “Dancing with the Wind,” the story of the innovative Sound/Music/Movement Program developed by IN THIS ISSUE Elizabeth Kuder, MFA, and Davis Fleming, MA, to reach stu- PROFESSIONAL SEMINAR OVERVIEW dents with multiple disabilities. F. Holmes “Skip” Atwater, BS, PSYCHO-ONCOLOGY AND engaged his rapt audience with a talk on “RNG Entropy during HEMI-SYNC . . . . . . . . . . ii the GATEWAY VOYAGE®,” the final results of a four-year study examining quantum entropy fluctuations during that program. Jonathan H. Holt, MD, describes how Hemi-Sync Skip also shared preliminary findings from the ongoing STAR- LINES program survey. enriched his practice of psycho-oncology, benefited Without ever leaving our chairs, we enjoyed a Hemi-Sync cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy, and helped world tour with International OUTREACH Trainers Carol Sabick, PhD, Kevin Turner, MA, Carmen Montoto, MA, and to mitigate end-of-life fears for a patient Deborah Sachs, MEd. Their engaging delivery, supported by with terminal cancer. gorgeous PowerPoint slides, took us from Europe to Japan and Puerto Rico with a final stop in Brazil. Eva E. Lange, MD, PhD, shared “Genetic Cleansing, Part II: A Sacred Spiral,” the con- SEMINAR CD ORDER FORM . . . . . . . vi cluding segment of her odyssey through the death transition with her beloved mother and details of lessons from TMI programs that affected their relationship. Participants learned and laughed as Brian Dailey, MD, presented a smorgasbord of Hemi-Sync exercises and their uses, illustrating the main points with © 2005 The Monroe Institute 365 Roberts Mountain Road, Faber, VA 22938 434/361-1252 HEMI-SYNC® JOURNAL PowerPoint slides and humorous film clips. The final presenta- with cancer, both those in the initial phases of illness and those tion, by Patricia Macca Peters, MFA, was an introduction to the nearing the end of their earthly lives. Mental health professionals Creative Flow workshop. The centerpiece of the evening was the interested in the illnesses and lives of cancer patients have come showing of a “work in progress”—a video montage of Bob’s life to be called psycho-oncologists. This field reached a noticeable that is being created from archived film clips. Then Laurie led a size in the 1970s, as did the interest in behavioral correlates and lively “synchronized” brainstorming session. Afterward, the treatments of medical illness that was later termed behavioral whole group settled down with popcorn for a surprise advance medicine. showing of The Celestine Prophecy movie. Psycho-oncology primarily refers to psychiatrists working in On the last day of the seminar, Patricia laid out brilliant the filed of oncology. A seminal figure in this field is psychiatrist poster paints, brushes, and butcher paper in David Francis Hall. Jimmie Holland, MD. She is married to oncology surgeon James Hands-on creative expression was interspersed with Creative Holland, MD. She worked at the State University of New York Flow Hemi-Sync exercises. The resulting artwork was displayed at Buffalo through the early’70s. She and her husband moved to that evening at the Roberts Mountain Retreat reception. New York City in 1974, where she worked at the Albert Einstein Gregory Carroll’s excellent piano playing was complemented by College of Medicine in the Bronx and later established the psy- the full-throated participation of two guests with classical opera chiatry department at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. training. Refreshed by quality time in the Blue Ridge, a caravan Dr. Holland published “History of Psycho-Oncology: of participants headed down Roberts Mountain Road on March Overcoming Attitudinal and Conceptual Barriers” in the journal 29, with ideas for the Twenty-first Seminar in 2008 Psychosomatic Medicine in 2002.1 While admitting the contribu- already fermenting in their minds. tions of psychologists and other nonpsychiatric mental-health workers, she and other psycho-oncological psychiatrists tend to emphasize traditional psychiatric diagnosis and pharmacological treatment. A notable exception to this is the work of William Breitbart, MD, who has designed and fostered existential therapy PSYCHO-ONCOLOGY groups for cancer patients, inspired by the work of Viktor Frankl.2 AND HEMI-SYNC® Prior to and during the nineteenth century hypnosis was used by some practitioners for symptom alleviation in various medical disorders, including cancer. Then in the 1950s, ‘60s, and ‘70s, psy- chologists Hilgard and Hilgard published studies on cancer