that some tapes advertise. Subliminal messages means the message is not audible. On these tapes, in addition to the special modulated frequencies to control brain waves, the voice, if one is present, is audible. The voice on The Monroe Institute tapes is a very soothing one which encourages the listener to relax. Tape One, the Pre- Op tape, for instance, is a wonderfully relaxing, affirming tape in which the narrator takes the listener step by step through conscious relaxation head to toe. First, let your jaw, let your Jaw go limp and relax, let the muscles and nerves of your jaw go limp and relax. Now, your eyelids. Let your eyelids relax and go limp. Now, let your lips, let the muscles and nerves in your lips relax, relax easily and go limp. Now, the muscles in your forehead . . . Chances are that by the end of this tape you're asleep or at the least, very relaxed and no longer anxious. iii --- PAGE 4 (OCR) --- The instructions note that you should use the Pre-Op tape as many times as possible prior to surgery, both before and after admission to the hospital. I found this tape unbelievably soothing and used it many times before surgery. One night I found it hard to sleep—I was anxious and the persistent, intermittent sound of the foghorn out on Lake Michigan bothered me. “I hope the tape will knock out the foghorn sound,” I thought as I put the Walkman™ on, It didn’t, but it made me feel so good and so relaxed, that I wasn’t bothered by
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Hemi-Sync® Journal 1992-2 (Spring) · 1 Hemi-Sync® Journal 1992-2 Spring.pdf
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the foghorn anymore. After the surgery, I realized that the tape did the same thing with pain and discomfort—it was still there but it didn’t bother me, just as the tape said, As I wrote at the time (Shirley Bliley of the Institute had suggested I keep notes on my use of the tapes): Several times anxiety hits me and I listen to the Pre-Op or, a couple of times, the /ntra-Op tape, and find despite my thoughts still being somewhat anxious, I’m surprisingly calm and feel an inner peace. After a disconcerting doctor visit and as anxiety builds the night before, the tapes help. The morning of the surgery I listen to them at 5:15 a.m. on the way to the hospital. I listen waiting to be taken down to surgery and in the pre-op area. I discussed them with the anesthesiologist—he’s very interested and more than willing to help by being sure the earphones stay on during surgery and replacing the /ntra-Op tape with the recovery room tape when I go into the recovery room. I woke in the recovery room to the soothing sounds of the recovery tape . . . Let the others help you restore your balance . . . You accept the green, blue, and purple healing energy that they are bringing to you; the bright healing, warm energy they are giving to you . . . The nerve signals of pain Now through you and do not register during this period now Tt was a far better way to wake than my previous four surgeries when I remembered waking either to searing pain
(in the laparotomies) or the dread feeling of not quite knowing where I was and being in a haze. The tape made me feel that although I was feeling pain, I would be able to manage it and I was! It helped me feel that I could manage until my blood Pressure came upa little and they could give me an injection of Demerol™. Later I learned that while I was listening to the Intra-Op tape during the surgery, the surgeon and anesthesiologist listened to some of the Recovery tape. In one part of the tape it says that the caregiver should check that the message is going into the right ear of the patient. The surgeon and anesthesiolo- gist joked that they hadn't known they should check and wondered if it had rearranged the hemispheres in my brain for me. Was I left-handed now?! Tuesday, the day after the surgery: On the Recuperation tape, the soothing voice says that the pain signals are no longer important, for now, to allow you to sleep. I like that very much—a way to be aware of what's happening to your body so you can take the necessary pain meds or rest or not try to do too much, yet at the same time not to let the pain and discomfort messages take over. It helps impart or put you in touch with a wonderful sense of equilibrium. Wednesday, the second day after surgery: I feel better but then become restless, a little blue, irritable about the music and voices upstairs—is this the third-day blues? I put the Recuperation tape on and despite my restlessness and inability