Hemi-Sync® Journal 1994-4 (Fall)

(Hemi-Sync® Journal, Vol. XII, No. 4, Fall 1994) BODY WISDOM IN THE PRESENCE OF DEATH by Genia Pauli Haddon, DMin, PhD Professional Member Genia Pauli Haddon is a Hemi-Sync OUTREACH Trainer, retired Protestant minister, and depth psychotherapist with degrees in biology, religion, and counseling. A recognized authority in the field of spiritual development, Dr. Haddon has contributed chapters to several prestigious anthologies. Her knowledge of body, psyche, and spirit includes practicing and teaching yoga, studies at the Jung Institute in Zurich, and shamanic training with Michael Hamer. She lectures and teaches nationwide on topics relating to her latest book, Uniting Sex, Self & Spirit, and has been interviewed on several radio and cable television shows. Our own bodies, male and female, show us four distinct styles in which both matter and energy are patterned. These patterns repeat in all of life. Watching for the four styles helps us be more alert and conscious in any setting. We learn to notice and understand dimensions of experience that otherwise might have escaped awareness, including underlying attitudes and beliefs. While these four configurations are found everywhere, it is convenient to remember them as seen in sexual functioning. Two styles of energy are illustrated by the male sexual organs. The first is exemplified by the erectile penis: active, expanding, rising up, standing out, advancing, overcoming, penetrating, goal-oriented. Such qualities characterize the Hero, the triumphant Warrior, the Pioneer. Although these attributes have long provided our culture’s definition of ideal masculinity, such a definition does not take into account the other half of a man’s sexual anatomy. The testicles illustrate a very different sort of masculine energy. They “hang in there,” quietly nurturing the seed, epitomizing stability, steadfastness, faithfulness, resourcefulness. Notice that the man’s sexual body expresses one active style and one quiescent style of life energy, which I’ve termed the phallic and the testicular modes. Another two styles of energy are illustrated by female sexual functioning. The womb in its gestating phase is receptive, welcoming, nurturing, safe-keeping. This is the sort of energy our culture attributes to the ideal woman. But it is only half of the womb’s story. During birthing, the womb is anything but receptive, as it pushes mightily to thrust forth something new. This is active, assertive, exertive, transformational energy. So the woman’s body illustrates both quiescent and active modes, too, which can be called gestative and exertive. Although the exertive and the phallic styles both are active, they are not identical. Phallic action is linear, aims toward a goal, moves from here to there. Exertive action emerges from a context, brings forth, effects transformation. The two quietive patterns likewise are distinct. Gestative quiescence welcomes, embraces, surrounds, and nurtures, while testicular quiescence supports, resources, stabilizes, and undergirds. Writing and teaching about these four body-based patterns for the past seven years, I have been amazed again and again by how effectively they map new areas of thought and experience. Recently, how these templates can help us know our own hidden attitudes about dying—and better understand the behaviors and needs of loved ones as they approach death—have been explored and shared with others. My mother’s death led me to focus deeply and personally on the dying process. “Coincidentally,” I had preregistered nearly a year before for The Monroe Institute’s LIFELINE® program. As a result, I took this training just a few months after Mom’s death, learning how to help those who had left the physical find their way to a parklike “reception center” in Focus 27. Knowing that we can be present in such a way to those who are at the threshold for exiting the physical, I had the inspiration that perhaps the skills learned in LIFELINE could be used not only to retrieve strangers who have gotten stuck after dying, but also to help loved ones accomplish the transition out of the physical. In the months since, I have catalyzed a circle (modeled loosely on TMI’s Dolphin Energy Club network for healing at a distance) of LIFELINE participants who feel called to help from a distance when people request assistance near the end of physical life. Later during that LIFELINE week, Bob Monroe unveiled plans for a system to provide special Hemi-Sync tapes for dying persons and their families [Ed. note: These tapes are now available as GOING HOME]. Such tapes could enable interested LIFELINE graduates to “ident” on a dying person from “this side” and usher them over and on their way. This cluster of exposures to death and dying drew me into deep immersion in the subject. In the process, a workshop was developed which uses the four body metaphors to map one’s beliefs, hopes, fears, and expectations about death. The purpose is to know ourselves better, to see our personal beliefs in the context of a spectrum of possibilities, and to become better able to be with our loved ones during the dying process. My lifework is to support others in their spiritual growth, while continuing my own development. The course of this development has included service as a Christian pastor, depth psychotherapist, shamanic healer, Kripalu yoga teacher, author of metaphysical resources, and OUTREACH Trainer. Workshops have been presented in many locations nationwide, drawing on this wide spectrum of trainings. Whatever the specific subject of a workshop may be, Hemi-Sync tapes, delivered through stereo room speakers, are always incorporated. This both enhances the day’s experience and introduces participants to a family of resources for continued growth. A resource display includes samples of my own products and an assortment of METAMUSIC®, MIND FOOD®, and HUMAN PLUS® tapes. At the close of a workshop, any tapes used are mentioned by name and that they may be purchased. Most people are not fully at ease with the subject of this program, so there is usually some apprehension as the group gathers. METAMUSIC plays in the background to invite relaxation and openness. Highland Ring is used as people arrive and during the initial bonding activity. Participants quickly learn to recognize the four styles of life-energy through a series of simple (nothing X- rated!) enactments. Using a lightweight blanket or sheet as the only prop, they pantomime each type of energy through physical movement, accompanied by matching mood music created by blending evocative melodies with Hemi-Sync tapes by using two tape players and a mixer panel. The goal-oriented, heroic, triumphant phallic style is enacted while wearing the sheet like a Superman cape, striding purposefully toward goals in various places in the room, accompanied by the stirring theme from Star Wars augmented by faint tones from MIND FOOD Awake and Alert. To experience gestative quiescence, each person tenderly wraps and cradles him/herself, gently rocking to a delicate piano rendition of “Jesus Loves Me” accompanied by very low- volume Hemi-Sync tones from the MIND FOOD Introduction to Hemi-Sync. In this way, the warmth, acceptance, and nurturance of gestative energy is appreciated. Testicular quiescence is pantomimed by folding the sheet into a square foundation upon which to sit or kneel. As the repeating motif of the Pachabel Canon plays against a backdrop of Hemi- Sync Surf, the person becomes aware that important things never change. Trimmings and trappings may change, but our essential core remains. This is an opportunity to savor the trustworthy faithfulness of testicular energy. The exertive enactment begins by covering oneself completely, head-to-foot, creating a womb within which to await the moment of birth. The eerie theme from the 1986 movie Alien, intermixed with the expectant swirls of sound from the introductory segment common to many tapes in the GATEWAY EXPERIENCE, sets the stage. And then—birthing energy pushes new life forth from the cocoon …. Through such enactments, the body itself resonates with the concepts, storing the information in the physical as well as the mind and activating innate bodily wisdom. Each style of energy choreographs a different manner of engaging with the dying process. From the phallic perspective, it can be the Warrior’s striving for victory over the disease, followed by a heroic Journey toward the glorious Divine City. In contrast, a person whose process is shaped more by the receptive, gestative pattern can be very accepting of everything, “as it comes.” Unlike the phallic patient, who is best helped by optimistic encouragement to bravely conquer the illness, the gestative person appreciates lots of TLC, both physical and emotional, and assurances that they are safe, cared-for, and can rest easy. Gestative wisdom knows that ultimately dying is returning to the Divine Bosom, going home to the motherly embrace of God. The testicular orientation recognizes that a person’s essential core is forever. Death, then, is leaving behind the trimmings and trappings, and simply being that Essence. Even in the midst of hospital chaos, this person feels stable and secure. He or she most appreciates knowing that loved ones are dependably there for them. In the exertive configuration there is no such thing as meaningless suffering. This person experiences the pains and difficulties of a terminal illness as birth pangs and sees death as spiritual evolution. To be present with a person who is dying exertively requires being willing for your loved one to transcend your love. From this perspective, death is the transcending of the earthly self. While these ideas are presented and discussed, MIND FOOD Concentration plays softly in the background. It is emphasized that all four perspectives are valid. None is innately best. One may be best for a particular person, at a certain time. Each of them can express in ways that serve Spirit, or in ways that cripple. It is valuable to discover which body metaphor has shaped one’s own beliefs and feelings about dying, and to realize that this is but one of several valid options. Knowing of the other ways can help one appreciate and support the varied needs of loved ones who approach death differently. The centerpiece of the workshop is a twenty-minute Hemi-Sync supported imagery exercise, during which participants are guided to envision their own successful dying. The background for this segment is usually METAMUSIC ARTIST Sleeping through the Rain. Either Cloudscapes or Inner Journey from that series work well, too. After entering a quiet meditative state, the person asks to be given a vision of the perfect setting in which to do their dying, knowing that they can have with them whatever people and resources would help them in that work. In this setting, they “try on” each of the four styles of dying in succession: as an adventure, a Journey taking them onward to the Divine City; as returning home to the Divine embrace; as an experience of the Essential Self which goes on forever; and as a quantum leap in spiritual evolution, transcending earthly life. Many people find this a moving, inspiring experience. Some feel deeply disturbed. Time is devoted to sharing and debriefing at length. I feel this program design demonstrates how standard Hemi-Sync tapes can be used creatively to support each phase of a self-development workshop. Hemi-Sync® is a registered trademark of Interstate Industries, Inc. © 1994 The Monroe Institute