TMI Journal 2013 No. 1

Three months following their submission, those most cherished notions of selected to participate in Phase 2 received, via email, a second consent form; a survey identical to the Phase 1 version; a set of specific follow-up questions based on spiritual “evolution” and their Phase 1 responses; and instructions for completing and returning the forms. The inclusion of the Phase 1 questionnaire was to allow participants to revise philosophical “progress” or add to their initial responses on their own accord. Participants could indicate their desire to participate in Phase 3. may be questioned… Next Page 9 TMI JOURNAL 2013 Six months following their Phase 2 submission, others and they share their own experiences and selected participants were invited to participate in Phase thoughts, no matter how “far out.” 3. Initially, they receive an email from me containing a third consent form and what were projected as Comments like these reminded me of the late, great the initial questions in an ongoing, back-and-forth mythologist Joseph Campbell’s suggestion that what interview/dialogue that would be carried forward via we’re all really seeking is not an intellectual meaning email as long as there were questions remaining and the for life, but rather a direct “experience of being alive,” participant was willing to respond. This chart tallies the number of responses since the study’s inception ( June2011): I seem to explore Total number of participants submitting consent form for Phase 1: 68 deeply the notion of Total number of participants completing survey for Phase 1: 42 Total number of Phase 2 surveys sent: 30; Responses soul, full potential, and how to bring that received: 14 Total number of Phase 3 invitations: 11; Responses received: 10 All of the participants who completed surveys for Phases 1 and 2 provided some portion of the requested potential here. demographic data. I have recently been conducting a systematic study of the data as a whole, in which I look for patterns in which our everyday personality makes direct contact reflective of the unity or commonality of experiences, with the deep source of our existence, “so that we as well as the diversity, divergence, and uniqueness of actually feel the rapture of being alive.” individual responses. The second impression is a finding that surprised me. A number of individuals reported that their Here are a few very preliminary impressions, to whet greatest experience of wonder at TMI was not a your appetite. spectacular OBE, NDE, or other type of otherworldly journey, but rather, what might be dubbed an “in-the- Could it be that the induction of wonder and its body experience” or IBE. These participants insisted that concomitants of delight, joy, rapture, and even ecstasy they had had no difficulty in the past (sometimes as far might be the primary purpose or driving force behind back as early childhood) inducing OBEs or other non- the EHE? If so, some of our most cherished notions of ordinary states of consciousness, and accepted them spiritual “evolution” and philosophical “progress” may be as a natural part of human existence. However, they questioned, insofar as they have assumed the meaning indicated that they had never really felt completely at of life to be achievement and work, with values such home in their physical bodies and that their previous as play, humor, and joy being secondary. As one of my non-ordinary-state activity was to some extent an participants put it, “When you abandon the need to escape from what they perceived as an unpleasant daily determine if something is or is not true, you are free to life. The transformation that occurred in the IBE was entertain any possibility.” And this, she added, brings a sudden and often shocking embrace of physicality, with it an exhilarating sense of “fun” as she contacts relationship, and its emotional vulnerabilities; the Next Page 10 TMI JOURNAL 2013 bittersweet pains and pleasures of embodied life; and Similarly, James Hillman has noted that the ancient the vital connection to the earth. shamanic image of the soul’s descent or “growing down” into the world became eclipsed by the ascension model One such participant wrote: favored by Greek and biblical thinking, and also by “In Guidelines, I got the message that while going our modern economic and psychological perspectives, out of body was all well and good . . . I was missing an in which “up” equals good, and “down” equals bad. We important point: that I’m in a body and I should take want to grow up; be up; experience an upward trend advantage of the experience because there might come a or uptick; climb up the ladder of success; etc. However, day when I’d regret not participating more in the Earth as Hillman observes, “even the tallest trees send down Life System . . . ” roots as they rise toward the light.” On this much older view, we need a deeper sense of rootedness to And another: counterbalance, and at the same time strengthen, our “I seem to explore deeply the notion of soul, full higher spiritual aspirations—to burn our way back into potential, and how to bring that potential here. Not the body, as my participant so eloquently put it. through working my way out of karma or conditioning Perhaps these IBErs are a philosophical vanguard like I had been doing so far, but by directly connecting that will lead us in a more fruitful direction—full circle. to soul and burning my way back into the body. And just here a stiff dose of humility may be in order. Bringing it to manifestation. Like building a clear As Dr. Stanislav Grof, the Czech-American psychiatric bridge. And I can also see how that has to happen at researcher, has observed, we may “have to admit that the the same time as grounding and getting deeper into the basic philosophy of the Western scientific worldview is materiality of this world.” seriously wrong and that in many ways shamans from illiterate cultures and ancient cultures have had a more Now this kind of comment strikes me as a peculiarly adequate understanding of reality than we do.” interesting, and potentially very fruitful, development at Or, as Socrates declared, true “wisdom” means this particular historical juncture. recognizing one’s own ignorance. In 1932, Carl Jung stated that our greatest challenge Well, so be it. would be to give the reality of both consciousness and matter their equal due and to “reconcile ourselves with the mysterious truth that the spirit is the living body seen from within, and the body the outer manifestation of the living spirit—the two being really one.” Back to page 1 11 TMI JOURNAL 2013 SOUND AND MOVEMENT: THE ETERNAL DANCE THAT FACILITATES WHOLE-BRAIN LEARNING Presented by Carmen Montoto Carmen María Montoto graduated from the University of Puerto Rico with a BA in History of Art. She also studied Home Design, Kinesiology (level I), Photo Reading and Ayurveda Massage and is a Hado Instructor, Brain Gym and TMI Outreach Facilitator. Carmen has offered conferences in Iceland, Boston Latino Institute, TMI, Cuba and Puerto Rico about Hemi-Sync® and its uses. As a Member of the Professional Division, with nine university students, she generated a research project on the use of Hemi-Sync to enhance learning. With Jacqueline Mast, she organized the International Conference on Special Education in Puerto Rico. W e all know the power of Hemi-Sync by itself. During the Professional Seminar, Carmen Montoto demonstrated the power of Hemi-Sync when combined with other tools. Since 2007, Carmen Montoto has collaborated with several universities in Puerto Rico, investigating in elementary schools the effects of sound and movement to enhance cognitive functions and facilitate whole-brain learning. The research has used combinations of Hemi-Sync, the educational kinesiology of Brain Gymº, and affirmations. The sounds used are Hemi-Sync frequency patterns, and the movements are the Brain Gym exercises. During her presentation, Professional Seminar members practiced some of the Brain Gym exercises used in the research. Key to the exercises is the role of the inner ear, which combines sound and balance. Montoto starts with Carmen leading participants in a Brain Gym exercise. this description: “You can separate sound from movement; in the music of their eternal dance, matter is created and transformed. Nature in its perennial wisdom re-creates this in the brain. Entirely embedded in bone is the labyrinth of the inner ear, where sound and movement are processed together. They are part of the vestibular-cochlear system considered by Dr. Alfred Tomatis as the dynamo of the brain and the threshold to whole-brain learning.” Brain Gym is applied educational kinesiology, which was created by Paul Dennison, Ph.D., and Gail Dennison. Brain Gym consists of twenty-six exercises and activities committed to the principle that moving Next Page 12 TMI JOURNAL 2013