The Ultimate Supervisor Manual Module H

The Ultimate Supervisor Module H Workbook on PRACTICAL Internal & Internal Motivation 1. The Art and Benefits of Meditation………………………………………………..Page 2 2. The Many Benefits of Brainwave Entrainment………………………………….Page 5 3. The Psychology of NLP and the ability to read Body Language…………....Page 7 4. The Art and Practise of Visualisation to achieve tangible results………….Page 9 5. The Benefits and practice of Self-Hypnosis……………………………………...Page 10 6. The use of Audio Affirmations……………………………………………………….Page 13

Written Compiled & Presented by Colin Dovey Copyright Chiron Concepts Consulting © 2012

1. The Art and benefits of Meditation What is Meditation?

Meditation is universal. It transcends all divides like religion, country and culture. It is a gift given to mankind to access the infinite sprit not limited by any identity. It is the only tool that can aid a person to return to innocence.

Modern life style has high exposure to anger, hate, fear and other negative emotions. These human emotions have a high tendency to duplicate and spread. For example, when a person gets cheated, he starts to suspect everything around him. This also has an impact on people around him. These emotions form strong impressions and opinions on an individual and social level. The result of which is an insecure individual and an unstable society.

Meditation helps an individual overcome these emotions to facilitate a calm peaceful mind and a healthy and stress free body. Upon daily practice an individual will blossom into an unshakable personality. With increase in the number of people who are clam, peaceful and healthy will facilitate a social transformation, enabling a society that is trusting, happy and content.

De-stress with Meditation Meditation has two important benefits:  Meditation prevents stress from getting into the system  Meditation releases accumulated stress that is in the system Both of these happen simultaneously, leaving one refreshed and joyful.

Physical Benefits of Meditation With meditation, the physiology undergoes a change and every cell in the body is filled with more prana (energy). This results in joy, peace, enthusiasm as the level of prana in the body increases.

On a physical level, meditation:  Lowers high blood pressure  Lowers the levels of blood lactate, reducing anxiety attacks  Decreases any tension-related pain, such as, tension headaches, ulcers, insomnia, muscle and joint problems  Increases serotonin production that improves mood and behavior  Improves the immune system  Increases the energy level, as you gain an inner source of energy Mental Benefits of Meditation Meditation brings the brainwave pattern into an Alpha state that promotes healing. The mind becomes fresh, delicate and beautiful. With regular practice of meditation:  Anxiety decreases  Emotional stability improves  Creativity increases  Happiness increases  Intuition develops  Gain clarity and peace of mind  Problems become smaller  Meditation sharpens the mind by gaining focus and expands through relaxation  A sharp mind without expansion causes tension, anger and frustration  An expanded consciousness without sharpness can lead to lack of action/progress  The balance of a sharp mind and an expanded consciousness brings perfection Meditation makes you aware - that your inner attitude determines your happiness.

Other Benefits of Meditation Emotional steadiness and harmony: it cleanses and nourishes you from within and calms you, whenever you feel overwhelmed, unstable, or emotionally shut down.

Meditation brings harmony in creation: when you meditate, you are in the space of vastness, calmness and joy and this is what you emit into the environment, bringing harmony to the Creation/ planet.

Consciousness evolves: with the assimilation of meditation into daily life, your consciousness evolves and in time, is able to experience the higher and refined states of consciousness.

When your consciousness evolves and expands, the disturbances in your life become negligible. Anger and disappointments become fleeting emotions that occur momentarily and then vanish. You start living in 'the moment' and let go of 'the past'.

Personal Transformation: meditation can bring about a true personal transformation. As you learn more about yourself, you’ll naturally want to discover more about the mystery of life, this universe, etc. Then the questions that arise in the mind are - What is the meaning of Life? What is its purpose? What is this world, what is love, what is knowledge...?

Once these questions arise, know that you are very fortunate. These questions need to be understood; you cannot find the answers in books. As you live through answering them you’ll witness that life transformation to a richer level.

Cosmic consciousness dawns in you With the assimilation of meditation into daily life, the fifth state of consciousness*, called cosmic consciousness, dawns. Cosmic consciousness - is to perceive the whole cosmos as part of oneself.

When you perceive the world as a part of yourself, love flows strongly between the world and you.

This love empowers you to bear the opposing forces and the disturbances in your life. Anger and disappointments become fleeting emotions that occur momentarily and then vanish. You start living in 'the moment' and let go of 'the past'.

The confluence of knowledge, understanding and practice makes life complete. When you grow into higher states of consciousness, you become beautiful yet strong - a soft, delicate and beautiful blossom capable of accommodating different values in life without any conditions.

How to get the benefits To experience the benefits of meditation, regular practice is necessary. It takes only a few minutes every day. Once imbibed into the daily routine, meditation becomes the best part of your day!

Meditation is like a seed. When you cultivate a seed with love, the more it blossoms. Similarly, the sapling of consciousness is within you. It needs to be nurtured with simple meditation techniques.

Some palm trees yield in three years, some in ten years. And those that aren’t nurtured - never yield! They simply exist.

Busy people from all backgrounds are grateful to pause and enjoy a refreshing few minutes of meditation each day. Dive deep into yourself and enrich your life How to Meditate With the hectic pace and demands of modern life, many people feel stressed and over-worked. It often feels like there is just not enough time in the day to get everything done. Our stress and tiredness make us unhappy, impatient and frustrated. It can even affect our health. We are often so

busy we feel there is no time to stop and meditate! But meditation actually gives you more time by making your mind calmer and more focused. A simple ten or fifteen minute breathing meditation as explained below can help you to overcome your stress and find some inner peace and balance.

Meditation can also help us to understand our own mind. We can learn how to transform our mind from negative to positive, from disturbed to peaceful, from unhappy to happy. Overcoming negative minds and cultivating constructive thoughts is the purpose of the transforming meditations found in the Buddhist tradition. This is a profound spiritual practice you can enjoy throughout the day, not just while seated in meditation.

Meditation Posture When we practise meditation we need to have a comfortable seat and a good posture. The most important feature of the posture is to keep our back straight. To help us do this, if we are sitting on a cushion we make sure that the back of the cushion is slightly higher than the front, inclining our pelvis slightly forward. It is not necessary at first to sit cross-legged, but it is a good idea to become accustomed to sitting in the posture of Buddha Vairochana. If we cannot hold this posture we should sit in one which is as close to this as possible while remaining comfortable.

The seven features of Vairochana’s posture are: (1) The legs are crossed in the vajra posture. This helps to reduce thoughts and feelings of desirous attachment.

(2) The right hand is placed in the left hand, palms upwards, with the tips of the thumbs slightly raised and gently touching. The hands are held about four fingers’ width below the navel. This helps us to develop good concentration. The right hand symbolizes method and the left hand symbolizes wisdom – the two together symbolize the union of method and wisdom. The two thumbs at the level of the navel symbolize the blazing of inner fire.

(3) The back is straight but not tense. This helps us to develop and maintain a clear mind, and it allows the subtle energy winds to flow freely.

(4) The lips and teeth are held as usual, but the tongue touches against the back of the upper teeth. This prevents excessive salivation while also preventing our mouth from becoming too dry.

(5) The head is tipped a little forward with the chin slightly tucked in so that the eyes are cast down. This helps prevent mental excitement.

(6) The eyes are neither wide open nor completely closed, but remain half open and gaze down along the line of the nose. If the eyes are wide open we are likely to develop mental excitement and if they are closed we are likely to develop mental sinking.

(7) The shoulders are level and the elbows are held slightly away from the sides to let air circulate.

A Simple Breathing Meditation The first stage of meditation is to stop distractions and make our mind clearer and more lucid. This can be accomplished by practising a simple breathing meditation. We choose a quiet place to meditate and sit in a comfortable position. We can sit in the traditional cross-legged posture or in any other position that is comfortable. If we wish, we can sit in a chair. The most important thing is to keep our back straight to prevent our mind from becoming sluggish or sleepy.

We sit with our eyes partially closed and turn our attention to our breathing. We breathe naturally, preferably through the nostrils, without attempting to control our breath, and we try to become

aware of the sensation of the breath as it enters and leaves the nostrils. This sensation is our object of meditation. We should try to concentrate on it to the exclusion of everything else.

At first, our mind will be very busy, and we might even feel that the meditation is making our mind busier; but in reality we are just becoming more aware of how busy our mind actually is. There will be a great temptation to follow the different thoughts as they arise, but we should resist this and remain focused single-pointedly on the sensation of the breath. If we discover that our mind has wandered and is following our thoughts, we should immediately return it to the breath. We should repeat this as many times as necessary until the mind settles on the breath.

2. The Many Benefits of Brainwave Entrainment Brainwave entrainment has been around for some time but is only beginning to gain mainstream popularity. Some people have a misconception that brainwave entrainment is ‘mystical’ or ‘new age’.

The truth is that brainwave entrainment is completely scientific and based on years of scientific research.

What benefits can you expect?      

improved health less stress lower anxiety better sleep improved memory and IQ and the ability to achieve numerous altered states of consciousness

What is Brainwave Entrainment?

It is fairly common to be quite sceptical of brainwave entrainment until it is tried. The concept can be vaguely confusing and hard to understand. It can seem too simple to sit with headphones and listen to some pulses and expect great change.

However I can speak from personal experience that once they are tried you will be telling everyone you know. I found the benefits to be practically instant and the change in my well being and my stress levels were significant. It is actually quite exciting when you think of all that can be achieved with brainwave entrainment.

It is not magic… but they do work and with consistent usage you can get dramatic results.

Theta Meditation Secrets & Benefits Theta meditation has become extremely popular. Chances are that you may have heard of it but don’t know exactly what it is.

What is Theta Meditation?

Theta meditation produces brainwaves of a very low frequency. Theta brain waves are in a frequency range of between 4 – 8 Hz. This is very close to the Delta brain waves which are the lowest frequency that you can achieve and produces a state of deep sleep and complete lack of body awareness.

When you are in theta meditation your brain waves produce an extremely relaxed state and you will likely feel very drowsy and possibly begin to dream.

Very often Theta brain waves appear more often in children and artists as well as in extroverts and people who have spent many years practicing meditation.

When you are in Theta meditation the low frequency theta waves in your brain can help produce intuition, creativity, strong emotional connections as well as lower your stress and anxiety. As you can imagine there are so many fantastic health benefits that can be experienced if you are able to effectively achieve theta meditation and experience these very low brain frequencies.

10 Key Benefits of Theta Meditation Very high levels of creativity – Often artists, musicians, and very creative people will have high levels of Theta waves.  Heightened intuition – Everyone has intuition but often it can get blocked by your Beta waves.  Ability to tap into the subconscious – When you experience the total relaxation of Theta meditation you are able to put your conscious mind aside and tap right into your subconscious mind.  Reprogramming of the subconscious mind – Once you have put our conscious mind aside you can make positive suggestions to our subconscious and re-program it for positive change in your life.  More intense emotional connections – Theta brain waves will produce a very high level of emotional sensitivity and allow for deeper emotional connections.  Overall sense of calmness – It has been shown that people with high levels of Theta brain waves are much more relaxed with very low levels of stress and anxiety. Theta waves can greatly help with producing a very balanced and calm state of being.  Improved problem solving skills and learning ability – Theta meditation allows you to lower your Beta waves and therefore remove the mental blocks that are hindering you thus allowing your creative abilities to take over. At this point you are able to retain much larger amounts of information in a shorter period of time.

1. Better focus and concentration – We often hear of athletes talking about being in the “zone”. This zone is the Theta brain wave zone. It allows you to become extremely focused and able to solely concentrate on what you are trying to achieve.  Healing of the body – Theta waves can actually communicate to your brain to produce positive chemicals such as epinephrine as well as lower your amounts of cortisol. This in turn creates a much stronger immune system which helps the body to fight illness and disease.

Theta waves can actually help bring your body back into balance and therefore allow it to heal. They can also help to balance your serotonin and melatonin levels which will help to aid depression as well as insomnia and jet leg.  Far more energy – After your body has had the chance to heal and renew itself you will experience far more energy then you have had before. The Theta waves are extremely relaxing but also allow you to be far more energetic in your daily life. 

3 Ways to Achieve Theta Meditation There are three main ways that are known to help experience Theta brain waves. The first two take a LOT of practice and time. The third option (by far my favorite) is much easier and quicker.

1. Yoga – Yoga can be very beneficial for many reasons and is well known for being very effective in helping to achieve Alpha waves and Theta waves. Although it is very possible to experience Theta brain waves with yoga it can also take an extreme amount of time, practice, patience and discipline.

2. Meditation – Just like yoga, meditation can be very effective in producing Theta brain waves. Also like yoga it takes an extreme amount of practice and dedication in order to produce this state.

3. Brainwave Entrainment – It is much easier to experience the benefits of Theta meditation by using brainwave entrainment products. This involves listening to either MP3 downloads or

CD’s that use binaural beats, monaural beats or isochronic tones. What makes this option so appealing is that it provides the frequencies needed to get the brain to produce the specific brainwave frequency that you desire. It can easily and quickly bring you into the Theta state with very positive effects.

If you can practice Theta meditation by using binaural beats, monaural beats or isochronic tones you can literally achieve the much sought after Theta waves in a very short time period and enjoy the benefits that come with it.

3. The Psychology of NLP and the ability to read Body Language

What is NLP? NLP is the psychology of excellence and the technology of achievement and success 'Neuro' refers to the mind and how we organize our mental life. 'Linguistic' is about language, how we use it and how it affects us. 'Programming' is about our sequences of repetitive behavior and how we act with purpose. NLP is an accessible model to enhance effective communication, personal change, and personal development.

"The way you think affects the internal and external language and the concepts you hold. This in turn affects the way you behave. It is a dynamic and synergistic process: the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Any internal or external change to any of the components will have an impact on the whole."

Main Benefits of Using NLP NLP explores how we think and feel and studies or 'models' excellence in every walk of life. NLP is first and foremost about action. By using NLP you can give yourself more conscious choice over what you do and the way you act. Using NLP at work and in your personal life will sharpen your skills and boost your achievements. "The theories and practices of NLP will help you discover what makes some people excel in all aspects of their lives, and will enable you to do the same.

The awareness of how you do what you do is the key to self-management and influence. You can't control people or events, but you can manage our response to them. Your skill and your ability to manage yourselves directly affect the extent to which we achieve your goals.

NLP Rules of Self-Motivation 1. Motivation is not a product of external influence; it is a natural product of your desire to achieve something and your belief that you are capable to of doing it.

2. Positive, pleasure-oriented goals are much more powerful motivators than negative, fear-based ones. The correct combination of both is the most powerful motivation mix.

3. You could start with just visualising your future success, and model the feelings you will experience when you achieve it.

4. Walk mentally on the path towards this success, and model your feelings at different milestones along the way.

5. Assign a high priority to the task.

Changing your behaviour – a practical NLP approach The Swish Pattern.

The Swish Pattern is often the first sub-modality pattern taught in introductory NLP career training programs. It is designed both as a starting place to learn about how to use basic sub-modalities (size, brightness, location, association and dissociation) and how to set up generative change. The Swish Pattern is used to create behavioural changes, going from a present undesirable behaviour to a future, desired replacement behaviour.

Swish Pattern Steps: Choose a current behaviour you would like to change.

Choose a replacement behaviour.

Create a square picture of seeing yourself (dissociated) having the new behaviour. This picture should, when you look at it, give you the good feelings you will have about yourself when you have made this change. Create another square picture of seeing what it is that triggers the current behaviour, seeing through your own eyes (associated) and having the feelings that you now have, when you have the old behaviour. EXAMPLE: Seeing chocolate and feeling hungry.

Once you have this picture let it fade out (or do a break state) before going to step 5.

Now take the big, bright picture of the current behaviour (seeing what you saw when it was triggered), and in the lower left hand corner of the picture, put a small dark image of you having the replacement behaviour.

Now take the big bright one and make it dark while taking the smaller one in the corner and making it bigger and brighter until it completely covers the whole thing. Then open your eyes and reorient to the room (break state). It is very important to reorient to the room at this point otherwise you could create a chain going from problem state to desired state back to problem state. In other words, you could create a loop unless you break state between the steps.

Repeat step 6 five times as rapidly as possible opening your eyes (breaking state) between each run.

Go back and look at what used to trigger the old behaviour and notice how your feelings have changed.

4. The Art & Practice of Visualisation to achieve Tangible Results The key to personal success lies in obtaining left and right brain congruency. Your left brain is the logical, analytical, verbal, sequential, statistical hemisphere whereas your right brain is the creative, artistic, imaginative, spatial, holistic, rhythmic, colour and dimension oriented hemisphere. That is a pretty long-winded description. In simple terms, the left hemisphere is dominant in controlling willpower while the right hemisphere is dominant in controlling imagination and emotion.

If you are a product of the westernised education system, there is a good chance that you are predominantly left- brain oriented and have been largely unaware of the tremendous right-brain power that you possess. It is analogous to having two powerful outboard motors on a motorboat and only using one of them. Yet, where your brain is concerned, it results in far less than a 50 percent utilisation of the power available. The engines are designed to work in tandem and are complementary to each other.

Exactly the same applies with your left and right brain hemi-spheres. Most goal-setting exercises of any value will encourage you to write out affirmation cards and repeat the goal statements to yourself on an ongoing basis. This is left-brain activity. You will certainly attain far more success in your life by repeating affirmations than you would without them. However, it is like using just the one outboard motor.

If you are repeating positive statements to yourself on an ongoing basis but at the same time your right brain is conjuring up pictures that contradict those affirmations, you have a recipe for frustration. You will go much further by combining left and right brain activity and following the autogenic conditioning process which ensures left and right brain congruency. Other means of obtaining left and right brain co-operation are the regular use of mind maps and goals posters.

AUTOGENIC CONDITIONING Achievers regularly bring to mind the self-image of the person they are becoming. Your next step therefore is to carry out daily creative visualisation exercises in which you see yourself as the winner you are going to become. Visualise yourself with your goals attained, enjoying the benefits and rewards of their attainment. Spend 20 minutes twice a day on these visualisation exercises utilising the autogenic conditioning technique I have outlined. Not only must you see yourself with the goals already achieved, but you must believe you are worthy of achieving them. Like any other belief it strengthens with repetition, and the daily visualisation and emotionalisation exercises together with the reading of your affirmation cards as explained, will provide this repetition.

When programming yourself for success, the main ingredient of the process is the autogenic conditioning that you will be carrying out twice a day for 20 minutes each time. The alpha brain wave state is achieved naturally at night just before you drop off to sleep and in the mornings as soon as you wake up. These are good periods in which to condition your mind. However, if for one or other reason you are unable to utilise these periods to best effect, you can induce the alpha state by conscious effort simply by observing the progressive relaxation procedure outlined before.

Remember the essential elements of autogenic conditioning: (1)Deep relaxation permitting access to your subconscious mind.

(2)Verbalisation of positive statements (your goal and belief affirmations).

(3)Visualisation of your desired end results and associating these with the positive state- ments.

Emotionalisation of the experience.

Try to make the situation as real as possible by using as many of your senses as you can. (By clearly visualising the benefits and rewards that will accrue to you and your family on attainment of your goals, you should be able to generate tremendous feelings of satisfaction which will enhance your motivational level.)

The Subconscious Mind Here we go into a little more depth as your subconscious mind is the mechanism through which you programme yourself for success. I have previously likened the subconscious mind to a plot of soil in which seeds are sown and then, through a gradual transformation process, the seed becomes the flower, or the fruit, vegetable, plant etc.

Similarly, the seeds that you plant in your subconscious mind are thoughts and pictures which may be as varied as the number of seeds that can be planted in the same plot of fertile soil. It is your responsibility to take charge of this seed-sowing process. It is absolutely impossible to achieve positive results if you are sowing seeds of negativity in the form of thoughts of doubt, anxiety, apprehension or fear. To sow seeds effectively in the subconscious mind you need to enter an altered state of consciousness referred to as the alpha level.

When the subconscious mind is in the alpha or theta brainwave levels, it is most susceptible to the power of suggestion.

There are several important points to realise when taking deliberate control of the programming of your subconscious mind: (1) The role of the conscious mind is to habitually feed the subconscious mind with thoughts, in the form of crystal-clear images, of your major goals already achieved.

(2.) The role of the subconscious mind is to transform these images into feelings and behaviours consistent with the images.

(3) The subconscious mind is controlled by the power of suggestion. It accepts whatever suggestions are repeatedly imparted to it whether they are true or false.

(4) The reasoning of the subconscious is deductive. It is incapable of inductive reasoning.

(5) It tends to repeat previously learned behavioural patterns 5. The Benefits and practice of Self-Hypnosis Hypnosis sometimes appears to be exotic, mysterious, and even perhaps a bit magical. So it is tough for many people to even consider using self-hypnosis, and to grasp how they can personally benefit from the guidance of a skilled hypnotist. The truth is - hypnosis isn't magical, and it is only confusing when you do not know how it works.

Hypnosis is no more exotic or puzzling than watching a movie. Why do you think you can get so engrossed in a film and connect deeply with the characters? It is because you are in a light state of trance and the film become believable at an unconscious level. It is a totally natural phenomena.

In fact, hypnosis is totally a natural state that everyone experiences on a daily basis. At a minimum, you are in a hypnotic state at least twice a day and almost always more!

You will also experience differing levels of trance and self hypnosis as you gaze into your television set! In fact the TV is the greatest hypnotist on planet Earth!

You also experience hypnotic states when you drive to a well known destination but do not remember the actual drive because you were engaged in some other mental activity!

You pass a trance state just before you fall asleep, and just as you are waking.

It is true that stage hypnosis can be extremely funny and highly entertaining. The comedic antics of hypnotized audience members can have you rolling about the floor with laughter as the hypnotist works conscientiously to keep hypnosis mysterious because it’s all part of the show.

Easy self-hypnosis But if this is the only exposure you have had to hypnosis you are missing out on a lot!

Self hypnosis has lots more practical uses that can greatly benefit many areas of your everyday life.

Here is 5 simple ways you can use self hypnosis to help in your life: 1. Restful Sleep!

Hypnosis is incredibly effective for curing insomnia. The vast majority of people need just one session. Even those who have suffered from insomnia for many years have experienced immediate positive changes in their sleeping patterns.

2.

Altering Beliefs

This is one of the best uses for self hypnosis. Actually changing negative beliefs that have held you back can dramatically improve your life. Your beliefs are the things that determine your thoughts and your actions. Change your beliefs and you change your thoughts and actions and thus you will change the results you get in life!

3. Eliminate a Bad Habit Would you like to stop – smoking, biting your nails, or some other habit that you have been unable to break? The subconscious mind is responsible for maintaining the desires that drive these habitual behaviours and accessing it, through hypnosis, means you can change those desires!

4. Cure a Phobia Almost everyone has some sort of phobia from a fear of heights to a fear of spiders. Well a fear is merely a learned reaction to a genuine, or imagined, event. The fear takes place in the mind and therefore can be changed in the mind through self hypnosis!

5. Pain Relief This is the most common medical use for hypnosis. The mind seems to play a very important role when it comes to the body. It seems to have direct control over just about every aspect of your physical self. Through the power of self hypnosis some people have cured ailments and removed discomforts.

However, even if you cannot cure the body through the power of hypnosis you can certainly remove pain! Pain is merely the brains interpretation of electric impulses sent from the body and it can be trained to ignore them – thus removing the sensations of pain!

How to Self-Hypnotise A.

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Go to a quiet room and sit in any comfortable chair or couch. Although some people prefer to lie down, you are more susceptible to sleep than when sitting up. Whether you sit or lie, ensure you do not cross your legs or any part of your body. You may be in this position for a while and this could end up being uncomfortable.

Make sure you will not be disturbed for at least 30 minutes Close your eyes and work to rid your mind of any feelings of fear, stress, or anxiety. When you begin, you might find it difficult not to think. You may find that thoughts keep intruding.

When this happens, don't try to force the thoughts out. Observe them impartially, and then let them slip away.

Recognize the tension in your body. Beginning with your toes, imagine the tension slowly falling away from your body and vanishing. Imagine it freeing each body part one at a time starting with your toes and working its way up your body. Visualize each part of your body becoming lighter and lighter as the tension is removed. Relax your toes, then your feet. Continue with your calves, thighs, hips, stomach and so on, until you've relaxed each portion, including your face and head. Using imagery techniques of something you find comforting or soothing, such as water (feel the water rushing over your feet and ankles, cleansing them of tension) can be effective as well.

Take slow, deep breaths. When you exhale, see the tension and negativity leaving in a dark cloud. As you inhale, see the air returning as a bright force filled with life and energy.

Appreciate the fact that you are now extremely relaxed. Imagine you are at the top of a flight of 10 stairs which at the fifth step start to submerge into water. Picture every detail of this scene from the top to the bottom. Tell yourself that you are going to descend the stairs, counting each step down, starting at 10. Picture each number in your mind. Imagine that each number you count is further down and one step closer to the bottom. After each number, you will feel yourself drifting further and further into deep relaxation. As you take each step, imagine the feel of the step under your feet. Once you are at the fifth step imagine and truly feel the refreshing coolness of the water and tell yourself that you are stepping into an oasis of purity and cleanliness. As you begin to descend the last five steps, start to feel the water getting higher and higher up your body. You should now start to feel somewhat numb and your heart will start to race a bit, but notice it and let any qualms about the situation just drift away into the water.

At this point at the bottom of the water you shouldn't really feel anything, just a floating sensation. You may even feel like you're spinning. Once you have achieved this state you should proceed to address your problems and decide upon what it is you want from where you are. (Note: if you do not feel as stated above, try again, slower with a will to grasp what is happening.) Now start to narrate what you are doing, speak in the present and future tense quietly to yourself, or as if you are reading it from a page. Start to picture three boxes under the water that you have to get to. Once you have found the boxes open them slowly one at a time and narrate to yourself what is happening when you open the box. For example 'As I open the box I feel a radiant light engulf me, I feel it becoming a part of me, this light is my new found confidence that I can never lose as it is now a part of me' and then proceed on to the next box. You should avoid using statements with negative connotation such as "I don't want to be tired and irritable." Instead, say, "I am becoming calm and relaxed." Examples of positive statements "I am strong and slender," "I am successful and positive," and, if you have pain, "My back is beginning to feel wonderful."

Repeat your statement(s) to yourself as many times as you wish. 2 or 3 times should be enough Once you are satisfied with what you have done and embraced, swim back to the stairs and feel with each step you take the water becoming lower and lower until you have once again reached that fifth step. Once you are out of the water and are on the sixth step you may start to feel heavy or as if there is a weight on your chest. Merely wait

J.

on the step until this passes, constantly repeating your aforementioned statements. Once it passes continue up the stairs visualizing each step by its number, feeling the steps underneath you, will yourself to carry on up the stairs.

Once you have ascended, give yourself a few moments before opening your eyes.

You may want to visualise yourself opening a door to the outside world, do this slowly and imagine the light that pours in through the door way, this should make your eyes open. Take your time getting up. Then out loud tell yourself "Wide awake, Wide awake" or something maybe that your mother used to say when she woke you up in the morning as a child. This will put your mind back in the conscious state.

6. The Use of Audio Affirmations Once you become comfortable with visualization, you may want to consider adding some regularity to your sessions, in the form of a "mental workshop" that you create for yourself and regularly visit. This Workshop will become a familiar place, full of familiar faces and useful tools. The purpose of the Workshop is to provide you with a relaxation Anchor, and to provide a safe, consistent place where you can build confidence and security.

Creating the Perfect Workshop: Your mental workshop should be a room that is perfectly suited and customized to you. If you can, take a moment to think of an appropriate location. If your perfect workshop is a Japanese-style house in the middle of a Zen garden, use that. If your perfect workshop is a palace built into the side of a mountain, use that. There are no limits, except that you should be 100% comfortable and at peace when you think of this place.

Once you have created a location and a building, start work on the inside of the building. Decorate it as you wish. Make sure to create a desk, a projection screen and a shelf full of tools for every problem.

Workshop Staff: Pick 2 or 3 people to work with you in your mental workshop. These people can be anyone, from your role models to members of your family.

The purpose of staffing your workshop is to give you a unique perspective. Imagining a conversation can be just as enlightening as a real conversation. Think of a dream in which you had a conversation that resulted in an insight, or a fresh perspective. Like dreams, visualizations can often be a gateway to the answers and solutions we seek.

Using the Workshop for Relaxation: Start by using the workshop as a place you regularly imagine yourself at. Picture (and feel) yourself on the workshop couch, relaxing by the fireplace, or by the window or anywhere else you feel at peace.

Using the Workshop to solve problems: Inside your shop you have all the tools needed to solve any problem, and obtain any answer.

You can call up any memory you like and project it onto your own personal movie screen, or you can use one of the thousands of tools on your shelf to solve any problem, such as healing a wound or ridding yourself of a condition. Inside your workshop is an innumerable number of objects which can be used for any number of purposes.

Using the Workshop to confront yourself: While in the workshop, you are deep within your own brain, and in the middle of your subconscious mind. When you talk to people in your workshop, you are essentially talking to yourself - just a different part of yourself. You can use this to learn more about who you are, to see yourself objectively or to confront your inner demons.

In your Workshop, imagine a door-sized panel that opens from the bottom up has a pane of Plexiglas in front, similar to the barriers you would see used in a zoo to protect visitors. On your desk imagine that there is a button to open the panel. Upon pushing the button the panel opens slowly, revealing whoever your subconscious decides to show you. Do not decide who will appear before the panel reveals it. As the panel slowly moves up, you will see the person's feet, then legs, then torso, and so on until he or she is fully revealed. Once done, talk to the person. It may be very interesting to hear what he or she has to say. Remember, of course, that Plexiglas protects you and keeps you safe at all times. Also keep in mind that you are in YOUR workshop. While there, you control everything and are completely safe.