Hemi-Sync® Journal 1991-3 (Summer)

(Hemi-Sync® Journal, Vol. IX, No. 3, Summer 1991) HEMI-SYNC® AS AN AUTOGENIC PROCESS RELATED TO THE GAME OF GOLF by Laura Batchelor, MA Laura Batchelor is an educational therapist in private practice in St. Louis, Missouri, specializing in creative/vocational expression, spiritual development, Jungian theory, and transitions. In this study, Ms. Batchelor demonstrates the effects of Hemi-Sync® on both the “inner” and “outer” game of golf. She has been a member of the Professional Division since April 1990. PURPOSE This study was designed to investigate the effects and preferred rate of application of Hemi- Sync as an autogenic, or self-regulatory, tool. The subjects in this study were men and women unfamiliar with autogenic exercises and who were interested in improving their performance in the game of golf. THEORY It is the thesis of this study that as individuals improve control of their mental, emotional, and physical elements, through the process of manifesting progressively deeper levels of consciousness, there will appear within them an especial nature capable of improving the quality of their performance, the level of their enjoyment, and the rate of their learning. REVIEW In the field of psychotherapy, it is generally understood that inner, subjective, frequently irrational realms of human experience are the most immediate and most interruptive factors in human performance. It is also generally understood that learning how to identify and overcome such interruptive thought, emotional, and physical responses is not easy. Most people in this culture are accustomed to being asked to look or listen closely to someone or something, but often are uncomfortable—even lost—when asked to imagine or feel something closely, especially when it is an emotion or a physical sensation. The premise of this study is that this cultural blind spot is a primary reason many people often do not function well; they avoid feeling their bodily sensations clearly. To a great extent, excellence in any field is a result of how aware one is. Without self-interference, one is better able to function in the “awareness state.” Everyone has experienced the awareness state at one time or another during moments of peak performance or experience. Alertness and perception are heightened, actions are flawless, and life is simple and whole. Even in the most complicated and demanding situations the effort needed is clear, and actions flow in an uncanny but appropriate way. Learning how to overcome the thoughts, emotions, and physical activities that interfere with human performance is one of the most difficult tasks to perform in life. A key to reviving this natural state of awareness is relearning how to sense or feel things. In the natural state of awareness, we first receive images in our minds, images including sight, sound, taste, or smell, then we respond by translating the images into actions or words. Rich imagery is concurrent with bodily relaxation. Relaxation does not cause imagery, but it certainly provides the environment in which imagery functions at its fullest. The natural internal communication system of performance is imagery-based. In the last decade, there has been significantly greater attention directed toward the relation between mind, body, and awareness, to tap hidden potential to heighten performance and experience. Learning how to become more aware—more conscious—of such things as tension, doubt, fear of failure, anxiety, and a limited image of performance, and then learning how to overcome them, are all at the heart of autogenic training. Autogenic training is a psychophysiologic form of psychotherapy that works with the body and mind simultaneously. As previously stated, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effects and preferred rate of application of Hemi-Sync as an autogenic tool which focuses the whole brain-mind in a singular state of awareness. Most important to this study was the learning and re-creating, from memory and at will, those states of relaxation, synchronization, and visualization needed for the game of golf. METHOD Subjects: The seven participants in the study, three females and four males from middle-class suburbs of St. Louis, were volunteers from a population of golfers at a local country club. Subjects’ ages ranged from thirty-eight to fifty-six years and lengths of time as golfers ranged from fourteen months to fifteen years, with an average of seven years. Times per week playing golf ranged from two to five, with an average of three and one-half rounds per week. Data Collection: Five measures were used: 1. Pre- and post-program eighteen-hole handicaps provided by the country club. 2. Each subject submitted three eighteen-hole-round scores (hole by hole) before and after the program. 3. The subjects completed a pre- and post-evaluation psychological symptoms checklist to describe the degree to which thoughts, emotions, and behaviors had bothered them during the last month. There were twelve thought questions, fourteen emotion questions, and twelve behavior questions. 4. Each subject kept a journal of his/her sessions to record the date and time of the session, what s/he thought about the session, how s/he felt during the session, and any post- session activity s/he would like to log, i.e., thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and visualizations. 5. Each subject completed a post-program questionnaire and a written evaluation of the program. Procedure: An introductory meeting to introduce the subjects formally to the program, and to collect the preprogram data was held. Each subject was given four Hemi-Sync cassette tapes: The Way of Hemi-Sync, Energy Walk, H-PLUS® Synchronizing, and Under Par Golf. Also provided were a stereo cassette player with headphones and batteries, a study requirement sheet, a written explanation of the golf program, a tape regimen sheet, a “Hemi-Sync Tape Taking Techniques” pamphlet, reprints of pages two and three of The Monroe Institute® catalog describing FFR and Hemi-Sync, and a note pad to record responses. Subjects were instructed to follow the regimen of tapes, including a minimum of two sessions per week. During the program, subjects met intermittently on the golf course to discuss their experiences with the tapes. Subsequently, a post-program meeting was held for debriefing. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The measuring instruments used provided a starting point, or base, on which to expand the use of the above theories and program. Any further research would require that data collection procedures be more carefully developed. The data collected in this study and any interpretations made do not necessarily reflect a true representative sample of the population, only the particular results and responses of the individuals involved. The hypothesis presented has not been tested in accordance with accepted formal scientific procedures. The results found do have a particular educational significance and I encourage further research in this area. While the golfers learned to exercise and strengthen outer, physical aspects of their performance, they also learned to consider the internal, nonphysical aspects of motivation, self- control, and self-interference. The cooperative manner in which the men and women volunteered for this program suggested to me that the average sportsperson may be hungrily seeking education in self-improvement. While six of the subjects openly expressed a desire and need to improve their games, one stated that he wanted to participate in the program for what he felt it could bring to his everyday life. Before the program, none of the subjects had used a Hemi-Sync autogenic tool. The use of visualization was known to six of the subjects. One subject had previous experience of visualization in a group setting only. None of the subjects were familiar with autogenic exercises. During the introductory meeting, two of the subjects openly expressed skepticism toward the efficacy of the program and discounted any hope of immediate effectiveness. A common question among the group was, “Are these tapes the same as subliminals?” My response was that the tapes do not contain subliminals, rather, low audibles of blended and sequenced sound patterns. My assessment of the group was that, generally, they were unfamiliar with states of consciousness other than a usual ego or sleeping states. Therefore, I used terms such as “being in the zone” and “on target” to describe other states related to performance that they may have experienced at one time or another. All seven subjects who began the program completed at least the minimum eight-tape session requirement. Three exceeded the requirement, two having completed eleven sessions and one having completed eighteen. Although one subject recorded twelve sessions, three of those were not fully completed due to distracting noises, thoughts, and emotions. The three subjects completing the most sessions reported the greatest effects. The subjects who completed eleven sessions both showed a thirty-nine-percent change on the psychological symptom score and the subject who completed eighteen sessions showed a forty-eight-percent change. These percentage changes reflect point reductions in all three categories—thought, emotion, and behavior—indicating a lessening of self-interference. Of the two subjects completing eleven sessions and showing a thirty-nine-percent change, one lowered his handicap by one point and the other by two points. The subject completing eighteen sessions and showing a forty- eight-percent change raised her handicap by one point. To assess subjectively the various depths of consciousness the subjects seemed able to achieve, I looked to their journal entries. Using certain nomenclature from The Monroe Institute which can be related to the use of Hemi-Sync exercises: Focus 3 is a state of profound relaxation; Focus 10 is a state of mind awake/body asleep; and Focus 12 is a state of conscious awareness expanded beyond the physical body. It appears that the two subjects completing eleven sessions learned to achieve a Focus 10 state during the tape exercises, while the subject completing eighteen sessions learned to achieve a Focus 12 state. One subject who completed nine sessions showed a reduction on the psychological symptom scores of seven percent while her handicap remained the same. Analysis of her journal suggested that she was able to achieve a Focus 3 state. The three remaining subjects fulfilled the prescribed minimum of eight tape sessions. Of these three, one subject lowered her handicap two points and decreased her psychological symptom score by thirty-three percent, another subject lowered his handicap one point and decreased his psychological symptom score by sixteen percent, and the third subject lowered his handicap one point and showed no percentage change. Journal analysis indicates that all three learned to achieve, at most, a conscious Focus 3 state. Of the four means of collecting data—handicaps, hole-by-hole scores, written evaluations/journals, and psychological symptom scores—I found the hole-by-hole and handicap scores to be the least reliable in terms of revealing any direct effects of the autogenic tool. The accumulation of play throughout the season alone could have affected the changes. While the subjects looked primarily to the handicap reports as a measure of change, I focused mainly on the psychological symptom scores, the subjects’ post-program evaluations, and their journals. Of these tools, I found the psychological symptom test to be uniquely reflective of and specific to the areas of change. The journals were far more revealing then I had expected. Each of the subjects, in his/her own way, indicated a specific level of investment and particular