Hemi-Sync® Journal 1991-1 (Winter)

and professional life changed and I was happier and much more effective and efficient. I didn’t think much about why Hemi-Sync helped me this way until last fall. I was invited to present a three-hour Short Course at the annual convention of the American Speech-Hearing-Lan- guage Association in St. Louis, Missouri, in November of 1989. In the past, ASHA conventions have represented the outer limits of my ability to cope. The meeting is usually attended by 7,000 to 10,000 persons. Sessions are held in three or four different hotels in a city, and rooms often fill quickly for the more popular lectures or topics, leaving many people unable to get into the sessions they desire. An exhibit hall the size of two to three football fields with hundreds of exhibitors pro- vides an additional auditory and visual feast. I accepted the invitation and was informed that my Short Course sold out immediately, and I could expect to teach a group of 500 persons! I had not attended an ASHA convention for ten years and had no experience with meetings of this size since my introduction to Hemi-Sync. I assumed that since my overall response to busy meetings and conferences had improved, I would have no problem with the environment of the ASHA convention. I was discouraged and disappointed to discover all of the old patterns emerging by the afternoon of the first day. ‘The fatigue was intense, and I was aware of my distracti ity and feelings of impatience, and lack of desire to socialize with old friends with whom I had anticipated spending time. I blamed it ona late arrival the night before due to airport delays and a lack of sleep. I was sure that I’d be better the next day. The next morning, I began my day with the Morning Exercise tape and created the images for an easy and relaxed day of learning. Suddenly one of the children with severe sensory integration dysfunction entered by image. There was an instant knowing that the problems I had been experiencing the day before were caused by sensory overload anda reduction in sensory integrative abilities. For the first time I saw the connection between my own difficulties and those of the children with whom I had been working. The child in my image presented me with headphones and a Hemi-Sync tape, and I saw myself wearing the headphones as I attended the rest of the convention. The remaining three days of the convention were blissful. I stuck my Walkman in my suit jacket, put on the headphones and listened to the Concentration tape during all lecture sessions. This provided the narrow focus of attention that was conducive to learning. While roaming the halls, visiting the exhibits, and moving between meetings, I changed to my favorite METAMUSIC tape, Midsummer Night, which created a more open focus for my awareness. I was immedi- ately aware of the increase in my ability to concentrate and remember what I learned in the various lectures and courses I attended. What was even more impressive were the feelings that accompanied the day. I was happy and calm. Friends I hadn’t seen for some time emerged effortlessly. Even in the midst of a crowd, the person stood out among the others and seemed to drift my way. I had looked forward to a minicourse ona topic of particular interest. When I arrived, the room was filled and I was not able to attend. I was aware of a brief sense of disappointment, but the inner sense that something more important would happen. I left the room and immediately ran into a colleague whose presentation I had attended that morn- ing. We sat down for tea and explored some of her ideas and experience in greater depth. I was immediately glad that the full room had given me this opportunity. My energy level was unusually high throughout the remainder of the convention and I enjoyed my time there without fatigue. In August of 1990 I attended an intermediate hammered dulcimer workshop at the Augusta Heritage Center in Elkins, West Virginia. I have always been a closet dulcimer player; the prospect of expanding my skills and learning to play in a group was both exciting and terrifying. The class provided a chal- lenge to my sensory integrative abilities that I had not ex- pected. New playing skills were taught primarily by learning a tune by ear, and then developing the ability to hear specific chords, embellishments, or rhythmic styles. I was expected to play what I had heard. Learning by ear has never been a strength, and situations that depended on it have usually led to frustration, and a reduction in my ability to play. In addition, we were encouraged to practice what we were learning during class. At intervals, sixteen hammered dulcimers would begin to practice a tune or technique. These were not times of playing together, and the resulting cacophony was over- whelming. I found it impossible to hear my own instrument and get any feedback in the din that resulted. I wondered if Hemi-Sync would help and decided to experiment. The next day I wore my headphones and listened to the Concentration tape softly throughout the day. I listened to the new patterns with greater ease. I was aware that even though I could not play the pattern smoothly, or even remember the --- PAGE 6 (OCR) --- HEMI-SYNC JOURNAL. tune with ease, there was not the emotional overlay I had experienced before. Rather than feeling that I would never be able to do this, I simply knew that I was learning and would be able to produce what I had learned at a later time. I don’t know whether the Hemi-Sync increased my ability to learn, but I know that it prevented me from unconsciously interfering with my own learning by eliminating negative messages and scenarios. The most noticeable difference was my ability to hear my own instrument and to concentrate during the group practice times. Even when I did not wear the headphones, there was a carryover, and the sound of my own dulcimer came to the foreground of my awareness. I was interested in exploring differences between open focus and narrow focus of attention during the dulcimer class. The Concentration tape provided excellent support for the narrow focus of attention. In the past, I have achieved the wider, open focus by listening to a METAMUSIC tape. This, however, was not an alternative when the desired open focus was on a broader awareness of another piece of music or playing style. One day I listened to the Free Flow 12 tape during class. I found my consciousness flowing with the music, but flowing right out of the room—with a clear feeling of having missed most of what was being taught! I listened to the Surf tape and felt an intense desire to close my eyes and nap! I ended up moving toa relaxed, open Focus 10 or Focus 12 state without the tape and my awareness of the total feel of a piece of music increased. I now often listen to Hemi-Sync tapes or meditate just before practicing my dulcimer. When I do this, there is an automaticity and flow to my playing. It almost feels as though there is a road map on the dulcimer and my hammers know just where to go. I have experimented with different types of earphones during the past year. Ideally, I would like for my Hemi-Sync backup to be unobtrusive. I do not wish to give the impression that [ am not paying attention or am listening to something unrelated. As an alternative to headphones, I have tried the small, in-the-ear buttons. These have not worked well for me because in order to stay easily in the ear, they must fit tightly. This puts the Hemi-Sync into the foreground rather than the background, and detracts from listening to a speaker. Al- though headphones are larger and are obvious to others, they allow sound to come in around them, enabling an easier mix of the Hemi-Sync and room sounds. CONCLUSIONS Hemi-Sync enhances the sensory integrative abilities of the brain. The responses to Hemi-Sync signals are most dramatic in children and adults with severe sensory integra- tive dysfunction. However, a similar improvement in process- ing and focusing abilities is seen in individuals with normal sensory integrative abilities. Each of us varies in the ability to organize and integrate internal and external sensory informa- tion for learning. We are aware of situations in which our abilities emerge with ease, and other situations in which a sense of overload and disorganization predominates. Hemi- Sync can help each of us learn and function in the easy and effortless way that is associated with high levels of sensory organization and integration. @ CRANIOSACRAL THERAPY AND HEMI-SYNC: A CASE STUDY ee by Robert S. Siciliano Robert Siciliano is co-owner and co-director of the Rainbowbridge Institute near Heidelberg, Germany, where he provides seminars, programs, therapies, and counseling for “new ways of life.” Among the body therapies available at the Rainbowbridge Institute is cranio- sacral therapy, the gentle manipulation of specific cranial bones. Mr. Siciliano has been a member of the Professional Division since May 1990, and is an accredited GATEWAY OUTREACH Trainer. Craniosacral therapy is administered as the client lies ona massage table, fully clothed and as relaxed as possible. Follow- ing diagnosis, the therapist administers treatment by using the hands to palpate and encourage the movement of certain cranial bones. These bones are attached to membranes within the cranial cavity and very directly affect the environment of the brain and spinal cord. This process is accomplished while using the client’s craniosacral pulse, or rhythm, as a monitor. The intensity and amplitude of the pulse or rhythm indicates to the therapist the presence of inhibitors or restrictions within that system that are affecting the client’s health and well-being. Encouraging the movement of those bones which are attached to intracranial membranes causes a series of events that er the system’s self-correcting capabilities, thereby releasing inhibitors or restrictions. It is common during a session for the client to relax very deeply and enter an alpha state. It seems this state is an environment the body and nervous system are able to use for balance and restoration. It is also common for a client to experience long-forgotten memories and related emotions, or emotional charges. Craniosacral therapy is a very powerful tool for releasing emotional restrictions. The following case study is of the first client with whom I have used Hemi-Sync while administering craniosacral therapy. CASE STUDY CLIENT: female, thirty-nine years old, married seventeen years, mother of one son, housewife. The client is of average or above-average intelligence, mentally and emotionally stable, and has no serious medical problems. At the time she came to me for craniosacral therapy sessions in the Dr. Upledger technique, she was bored with her role as wife, mother, and human being. She wanted more from life and had begun --- PAGE 7 (OCR) --- Winter 1991 investigating alternative “New Age” concepts. She was reason- ably healthy except for some aches and pains resulting from accumulated habit patterns. We had one session per week for four weeks. She responded very well to the sessions and accompanying counseling. Dur- ing the sessions she experienced deep states of rest and many old memories surfaced. She reported that in her daily life she was experiencing increased feelings of self-worth, personal power, independence, and much more freedom in “feeling,” both physically and emotionally. Overall, she felt wonderful and was quite happy with her direction. It became obvious that she was experiencing a personal transformation. At the fifth session, I had her listen to a thirty-minute Hemi-Sync tape called METAMUSIC Cloudscapes. I began the craniosacral therapy after the tape ended. During the one- and-one-half-hour session, she experienced the usual deep states of rest, alternating with old thought patterns and drifting. We met for the sixth craniosacral therapy session (the