After you pay a brief notice to the starting point, start to scan
slowly the various regions and organs of your body. Pay attention, for a
short while, to the various sensations of each - whether you can define
them as pleasant, unpleasant or neutral.
It is recommended to start the tour in your body - now
After completing the first tour, it is worth doing again - parallel
to reading the following paragraphs:
The head: One can feel pressure or pain or various unpleasant
sensations in different regions of the head or in all of them
simultaneously. The most common place for those feelings is in the front
of the head - in and around the eyes. A lot of itching of various
intensities is also felt there from time to time, mainly on the scalp.
The face: Though it is a part of the head it is entitled to a name of
its own. The 23 pairs of muscles of the face are in permanent and close
connection with the emotional system. Their connection is specially
strong with the active ad hoc programs(4) of the moment - mainly with the
"trashy"(10) ones, the parts and procedures of which are emotionally
loaded. The most active region of the face is that of the mouth. Most of
the problems here are mainly esthetic. The intense ones are expressed as
furrows, distortions of the face or a tightened mouth. Less often there
are "ticks" or a general hardening of the face muscles and jaws.
The nape: (and especially the root of the head): This is the upper
end of the long muscles of the back. These muscles - especially of the
upper end, are the source of headaches and other bad feelings or
discomfort of the head. Various activation programs(2) use the
controlled hardening of the muscles of this region to regulate the
intensity of various feelings and emotions, mostly to reduce them.
The throat: Usually, the precise address is the region of the vocal
cords. At this point we usually feel the lump which is hard to swallow,
the suffocating tears and other kinds of sorrow. The vocal-cords like
the muscles of the face - are always in very close touch with the
concurrently active "trash-programs".
The chest: In this big bulk there are a lot of addresses and
variegated sensations and feelings - distress, pressure, pricks,
stubbing pains, sharp and dull pains, shrinking and hammering of the
heart, contraction of the diaphragm, etc. The most dramatic occurrence
in this region is asthmatic suffocation, triggered by mental stress. The
most grave expressions of emotional stress in this area are disturbances
that affect the function and health of the heart. These stresses may
"donate" an important contribution to death due to heart failure -
especially when they are of long duration.
The belly and intestines: The external muscles of the abdomen, the
many yards of intestines and the other internal organs, have an
abundance of possibilities. Each sub-region has its own characteristic
variety of feelings and sensations. The pains of convulsions, nausea,
stress, pricks and "butterflies"... are the most common. Diarrhea,
constipation and ulcers are the most acute expressions of the effects of
emotional stress on this region.
The muscles of the skeleton: These muscles are a major part of the
body's weight - and even more so in lean people. These muscles can be
tight, stiffened, rigid, slackened, strung, stretched... or simply
painful. The majority of adults often feel pain or other bad feelings in
their back - usually in the lower part. The common name is "low back
pain". When one is out of luck, one learns from the physician its
orthopedic name - Lumbago.
Itching, scratching and other irritants: Very often we feel itchiness
(or other excitations of the skin) in the region of limbs, head, torso,
etc. Sometimes (according to the prevailing code of manners), there are
no moral, physical or health restrictions and we touch, rub, scratch or
scrape the place absent-minded (or almost so).
Sometimes we have to
refrain from doing this due to various restrictions. In these cases we
try to distract our attention, and hope for a quick disappearance of the
irritation.
Sometimes, we are forced to continue paying attention to the
discomfort for many long seconds... until we yield to the urge or reach
a compromise.
The overwhelming majority of these sensations are not of an objective
source like a sting, or an insect bite or any other irritant to the
skin, but a result of the activity of our emotional system. We shall
dwell on this subject later in a section intended for the
sensate-focusing for the advanced.
This is the end of step one
After finishing the second tour of your body, you are invited to
return to the starting point and prepare yourself for the second
step. However sometimes, while you are on the first step, unexpected
changes have happened at the starting point, and thus a surprise awaits
you there. Even if your point of departure was a significant and
unpleasant sensation, it may already be changed or even dissolved.
In such a case, you can choose for the second step, any other uneasy
or unpleasant sensation you still have. In the rare case where you
cannot find any - leave the sensate-focus training and have a good time
while it lasts. When an unpleasant feeling or sensation returns you will
be able to resume the training.
If you are one of those people who are hard to stop while things are
unfinished, you can still resume this step, even if you have lost the
last of the bad feelings. In this case you can choose as a substitute,
one of the facial muscles that are on the left of the mouth. (If you are
left-handed - try the right side.)
A somewhat more sophisticated means to this end is: the "opening of
the nape* of the neck", recycling of emotionally loaded memories,
structured imagery and self-provocations. However, if you are doing this
step without the aid of an experienced focuser - be careful not to
invite too intense feelings.
- __________________
- *
- Opening the nape is a term used in this book to name the act of
reclining the head slightly backwards on a comfortable support. This act
relaxes the muscles of the nape and neck. As a result, their ability to
lower the intensity of subliminal sensations of the body diminish and
they become perceptible.
- This activity is usually like opening a tap. You can set it to
achieve the required intensity of feelings by "tuning" the amount of the
relaxation of the muscles of the neck. The crude tuning is done by
adjusting the curvature and slope of the support used for the back and
the head. The fine tuning is done by a minute adjusting of the extent
you lean back, and the extent you direct your chin up or down.
- ------------------
Second step - finding the exact address
After the "general visit of courtesy" to the feelings and sensations
of various parts and "regions" of the body, try to localize the exact
address of one of your body sensations. Choose the one you know the
most, the one which is the most interesting or the most intense.
The aim of the following task is to
deepen your acquaintance with the felt
senses of your body. In spite of the obstacles and inconveniences you
may encounter in the first trial, it is worth doing for a few seconds -
before you resume reading about the obstacles and the explanations as to
how to overcome them.
This is the recommended point at which to execute
the first trial of the second step.
After doing the task once, it is recommended that you do it from time
to time, while you read the following paragraphs. There are many
difficulties you may encounter in this step - which seems so innocent at
first - hopefully not all of them on the first day of focusing. Following
are the most prominent ones and their remedies:
It is hard for anyone who is not skilled and experienced, to continue
concentrating on a point of the body without drifting into some other
physical or mental activity. Sometimes, the focusing itself arouses a
chain of associations or other cognitive processes. This might interfere
with the ongoing focusing or even prevent its continuance.
Following are three options one can implement when this happens:
- a)
- Give in and change what you do for a while.
- b)
- Intensify the efforts of focusing to overcome the distractions.
- c)
- Choose any simple word or a
syllable that first comes to your mind and repeat it silently many times.
This repetition paralyzes the distracting thoughts and enables you to
continue focusing during the recitation*.
- ___________________
- *
- In their verbal games, children find that the fast repetition of a word
obliterates its meaning and stops all other thoughts. Scientists have
found the same effect in their laboratories, during cognitive studies
and call it semantic satiation. The Mantra of the Yogi has the same use
in the various Eastern meditations. This tactic is also recommended to
stop unpleasant or disturbing thoughts occurring in other circumstances.
- ------------------
Sometimes, because of the expedition of the processes of the natural
biofeedback, the effort to perform the first step may cause the
unpleasant sensation to migrate. In that case, one can join the
migrating sensation and "escort" it along its course. In such a case,
you can substitute the task of demarcating a course for that of locating
a point.
The general tour of the body itself, and especially the effort to
locate the precise address of a sensation, may cause a swift and
uncontrolled process of natural biofeedback. In this case, trying to
implement the second step may cause a weakening, flickering, or even
disappearance of the sensation, before completing the mission of finding
the exact address.
This can happen due to the regular ("spontaneous") work of the
relevant activation processes and programs - as in normal daily life. It
can also be the result of the intensification of natural biofeedback
resulting from your unintentionally "meddling with the natural flow of
the emotional stream". This is the usual outcome - whenever one
increases that part of the resources of the brain and mind which one
dedicates to any sensation of the body (through intentionally or
unintentionally paying it more attention than before).
Though this lengthens the time needed for the location of the
address, it is not recommended to rely on memory while trying to locate
the address of an evasive sensation.
When meeting an unstable sensation, do not panic into hasty activity,
as it is not the last time you will "hear" from it. You are bound to
meet with this unpleasant sensation again and again during the following
weeks. Only numerous repetitions of the drill can cause a common
unpleasant feeling or sensation to change into an infrequent visitor.
As mentioned above, it is sometimes hard to find a sensation to focus
on. Usually it is the work of the cover-programs and only very seldom
the result of other mechanisms. Both of them restrict the ability of
emotional processes to breakthrough to the conscious without "a proper
invitation", as if they "know better" what is good for us.
Sometimes however, the opposite is true: the failure of the
cover-programs to regulate the entrance of the felt sense to the
awareness results in the intensification of the unpleasant feeling to an
almost unbearable level. Following are a few corrective measures.
If a sensation becomes too strong, beginners are advised to refrain
from being "heroes" and do one of the following instead:
- a) Focus for a while on another feeling or sensation.
- b) Do something else for a while.
- c) Do something to curb them. For instance:
- 1)
- Rub the palms of the hands intensively against each other in order to
"trim" the inflated unpleasant sensation to a bearable level. The quick
palm rubbing floods the brain centers, which create the too intense
sensation, with sensory input. As a result, their ability concurrently to
create the unpleasant sensation is weakened. The same palms when held
together as if in prayer - help to regain concentration when focusing is
disturbed.
- 2)
- Constrict the muscles of the mouth and press the lips against each
other. The mouth - which is activated by many supra-programs, is the
most useful eraser for emotions and other felt sensations. The pressure
of the two lips one against the other activates the restraining and
inhibiting functions of the mouth on the creation of the felt
sensations. It serves the conscious when applied intentionally, and the
unconscious - when done spontaneously.
- Certain patterns in which the muscles tense the mouth, inhibit
specific feelings and sensations. The introduction of a gap of only a
millimeters between the lips - with or without the added intrusion of
the tongue between the frontal teeth - will cause a progressive
relaxation of the mouth muscles. This causes a decrease in the ability
of the lips, as well as that of the other muscles of the mouth, to erase
or inhibit emotions and their felt sensations.
- 3)
- The other important "eraser of emotions" and felt sensations is the
"nape of the neck" and its muscles. The Biblical nickname "stiff neck"
for stubborn people is an example of popular knowledge. Hardening the
muscles of the nape of the neck blots out the current emotions and
feelings.
- The voluntary hardening of these muscles - just before, or in
the early stage of the development of bad feelings - helps us to repel
the induction of unpleasant feelings. We usually do it without being
fully aware of the fact.
- Mainly we do it before a painful medical
treatment or when unpleasant feelings are imposed on us by those wishing
to intimidate us. The conscious hardening and relaxing of those muscles,
will enable you to regulate your sensations without too much effort.
Prolonged focusing can be perplexing because of its peculiarity -
even after being experienced many times - especially for those who are
not used to paying attention to mild and weak sensations of their
body. A few trials will be necessary before you get used to it and even
love it.
The following paragraphs will describe the preferred way of executing
the task of finding the accurate address of the sensation of a feeling,
an emotion, a mood or any other felt sensation.
First of all we repeat, emphasize and clarify that the task of
finding the exact address is to be a nonverbal one. There is no need to
find a verbal name for the location, as no mail is sent there. Sometimes,
the very effort to find a verbal name makes things worse, it is nearly
always redundant.
The preferred way of getting over the obstacles in the process of
finding the address of a sensation is by an imaginary probing and
touching there with a soft and elongated object. The fastidious ones can
use an imaginary paintbrush - the rest can use in their imagination the
more convenient pointing finger.
When one uses a pointing finger, one can imagine bringing the index
finger near the sensation, or even placing it there for a short
time. When one uses the imaginary paintbrush for the same purpose (a
soft one is to be preferred), one can put it there instead of the
finger. Most of the time, however, sensation is not on the surface of
the body but within it. Thus, both the finger and the paint brush can
reach the place by imagery only.
Sometimes, especially when the sensation is hazy or spread over a
large region or both, it is hard to focus on the entire chosen area at
the same time. In a case like this one can choose any point in the
region and concentrate on it alone. When this approach does not help one
can try another "trick":
Sometimes, a slight pressure, caress, or a gentle rubbing of the skin
near that sensation helps mobilize the needed attention and
concentration. Some times the needed resources are mobilized by
repeating the above actions a few times for a short while. However,
sometimes the physical contact which is intended to help is itself a
distractor. When this happens, one can start focusing on the after-image
of the gentle contacts instead.
In all these versions, one starts focusing with a few seconds of
attention to the feelings caused by touch. Then, gradually - while those
feelings are fading - shift to the genuine one.
Before you continue with the following step, do the
second step again. This time dedicate to
it a whole minute - or even two.
The third step - a more intimate acquaintanceship with sensations
Concurrent to the reading of the following paragraphs, imagine
that you are really touching the specific place of the
sensation with your finger or paint brush.
When the actual area of the sensation is bigger than the tip of the
finger or the brush, try gently to demarcate the borders of the area of
the sensation with one of them. If you used your real finger to mark the
surface of the place of the sensation, take it away now. The sensations
of contact with the body might distract you. If you are using the
imaginary paint brush - you may leave it there.
Sometimes the border of the region of the sensation you are focusing
on is blurred. In such a case it is nearly impossible and unimportant to
demarcate the exact borders. So, just try to find, inside the general
area of the sensation, the sub-region where the sensation is the
strongest.
Stop paying attention to the various sensations,
and concentrate on reading the following
paragraphs, until the fourth step.
The third step summarizes the chapter about the search for the exact
address of the sensation to be focused on. It has six main purposes:
- a)
- To acquaint you with the specific sensation to be focused on, in the
fourth step and in the future.
- b)
- To bring about a gradual perfection of the search programs you will
use to find the natural body sensations.
- c)
- To contribute to the gradual weakening of the habits and the activation
programs that usually prevent you from long concentration of attention
power on body sensations.
- d)
- To improve your acquaintance with the specific sensation so it will
be easier to focus on in the future.
- e)
- To enable you to recognize quicker the first changes that will happen to
the sensation in the near future.
- f)
- To register a clear and stable picture of your usually felt sense of
the pre-focusing area as a base line - for your private follow up.
The fourth step
This step is dedicated to the work on the felt sensation itself. It
is recommended that you choose for it the sensation(s) you have paid
attention to during the previous steps. If, for any reason, it is no
longer existent*, you can carry out the fourth step on any other
sensation that you like, on condition that it is not of a pure somatic
origin, as - for instance, the pressure of your body on the surface on
which you are sitting.
- __________________
- *
- Frequently, the processes of the brain which are responsible for
entering changes into the ad hoc programs involved with the ongoing
sensations are accelerated by even a scant increase of attention. This
happens due to the intensification of the natural biofeedback arriving
from the sensations when attended to. And thus, after the request for
added attention expressed by the sensation has been fulfilled, the
notice is no longer needed.
- ------------------
Now, after finding and getting to know the region of the sensation it
is time to focus on the point where it is the strongest or where it is
most easily paid attention.
Find this point now and in your imagination, put the tip of your
finger, or the tip of the imaginary paint brush on that
point. Remain in this state a few seconds before
continuing the reading. Let it become for
a short while the central focus
of the body as a whole.
The fifth step
This step is an enhanced and more focused repetition of the previous
one. Before repeating it, read the following paragraphs.
Whenever we pay attention for a while to any place in the body which
is not too cold, we start a multistage process: first, the focusing of
the attention increases the clearness of the natural biofeedback it
supplies to the brain and strengthens its impact on all the ongoing
processes. This especially influences the processes which are
responsible for the entering of changes into the ongoing ad hoc
supra-programs.
This results, at first, in the gradual relaxation of the muscle
fibers in that area - including those of the walls of the blood
arteries. As a result, the arteries expand a bit, increase the amount of
blood streaming there and rises the temperature of the attended
area. Usually, after a while, this, and the increase in the
effectiveness of the natural biofeedback of the area to the brain, helps
the subliminal sensations of rhythmic pulsations of the arteries there
to gain admittance to awareness.
When the region is not too cold, when one is not too troubled and
when there is no "veto" by any supra-program - it takes only a few
seconds (up to thirty) of focusing till the throbbing of the pulse (or a
change in it) begins to be felt.
In like fashion, it will probably happen at the point of focusing you
have chosen. This will help you to sustain longer the focusing of
attention there. Afterwards, as tends to happen with most other
sensations and points of focused attention, your power of concentration
and the portion of your attention paid to the sensation will decrease,
and the sensation of blood pulsation will recede to the subliminal
status again.
Now do the fourth step again. During its course, focus on the central
point of the sensation. Try to discern the pulsation and
the other changes that might occur there.
If, while you were doing this step, you have not encountered any
problem, and if you are not curious to know which obstacles you missed -
go to the sixth step. Otherwise, you may find in the following
paragraphs a lot of useful information.
Sometimes, when you are attending to the sensation of an area,
focusing for a longer period of time is needed till one can feel the
pulse. This usually happens when the place of focusing is marginal, when
the number of blood vessels there is small or when prejudice is
involved. Usually even in these places it does not take much longer than
half a minute till one starts to feel the pulsation.
Sometimes nothing helps and even the enhanced natural biofeedback is
not strong enough to make one aware of the pulsation and it remains
subliminal. This is not critical since the feeling of the pulsation is
only an auxiliary device used to help the new trainee in the process of
focusing his attention and not an essential precondition for its
success.
Sometimes, the receptors located in the walls of the blood vessels of
an area are less sensitive than those of the small muscles there. This
may cause the focuser to feel a localized relaxation of the muscles and
the emerging of felt sensations which are like the "pins" and needles
experienced when a limb has `gone to sleep'. The focuser can use them as
pointers - just as he uses the pulsation of the blood.
Sometimes it is hard to pay attention for a prolonged period of time
to a point or area of the body. Many factors contribute to this
difficulty. The following are the most common obstructions and the
preferred means to overcome them:
From time to time, a short absent-mindedness occurs or a momentary
"falling of tension" in the processes that regulate the concentration of
attention and enable focusing. Usually, it takes only a minimal
mobilization of resources to redeem the ability to concentrate and to
resume focusing.
Sometimes, sensations or pulsations in other parts of the body
increase. These may deflect one's attention away from the point of
focusing. Often, one can overcome the distraction by heightening the
efforts of concentration on the original point. It is also possible to
compromise and focus on both - the original and the distractor. It is
also permissible - and sometimes preferable - to yield to the distractor
and to change the point of focusing to the place of the new sensation.
Sometimes, as the activity of focusing continues, various thoughts
start to gain prominence in the consciousness. As long as they do not
hinder the focusing, let them continue their own course. If they do
disturb the focusing (or the focuser), obliterate them. This can be done
easily by monotonous repetition of a simple, short word or a syllable -
silently and without even moving the lips - in parallel with the
focusing. When the intruding thoughts disturb the focusing too much, it
might be easier to stop the training for a while, and return to it
later.
It happens sometimes, that the difficulties encountered are "side
effects" of positive developments. Frequently, even a short focusing can
supply the processes mending programs with a sufficient amount of
natural biofeedback. This enables them to solve very quickly the problem
responsible for the arousal of the felt sensation and thus stop it. In
this case, just search happily for another felt sensation to focus on.
The sixth step
After the primary focusing you reach a stage when the main work of
the natural biofeedback, enhanced by the focusing, is done. This stage
can be short - a few seconds. It can also be as long as a few
minutes. It depends mainly on the region on which you focus, on the
sensation or feeling you are focusing on, on the strength of your
concentration of attention, and for sure, it also depends on the
supra-programs involved - especially the one which causes the sensation
on which you are focusing.
As we described in other chapters, the primary sensation you
concentrated on, and those that joined or replaced it, are natural
biofeedback. This feedback is the output from processes activated by
various ad hoc activation programs of the mind - mainly the emotional
type - and it feeds both the processes responsible for the concurrent
execution of those ad hoc supra-programs and those responsible for their
improvement.
Though most of your supra-programs are quite similar to those of
other people, they are unique to you. Therefore, every description we
outline in the following paragraphs (and those previously outlined) will
not be entirely the same as those you may experience.
Now find the precise place of the previous target of focusing (if it
still exists) or the most suitable sensation that you have now.
Focus on it for about a minute with all the attention you
can recruit for this task. Whether you feel the
pulsation or not - try to sense the minute
changes that happen all the time to
the intensity of the sensation,
its quality and its borders.
After a minute, resume the reading.
If after a short time, the unpleasant feeling has already faded,
shift for the remaining time to another sensation or area.
If the original sensation you were focusing on disappeared or changed
into another or changed address - don't worry. Even when one laughs in
the face of suffering and plays games with it - it still does not go
away forever after only one session of focusing. Thus, there is no need
to panic. The unpleasant sensation will come back after a short
time. (Usually it will return a little bit weaker but in the not too
exceptional cases it may even become stronger.)
If after a minute, the unpleasant feeling has not yet changed, try to
continue the focusing, in spite of the accumulating doubt, while you
read the following paragraphs*. It is important to take into account
that this may happen frequently in the first stages of focusing.
- __________________
- *
- It was found that all the experienced focusers and many beginners can
divide their attention to a few concurrent tasks. Usually, they can
focus on two or more sensations simultaneously or focus on a sensation,
in parallel to any other duty of the daily stream of life.
- ------------------
While doing it, focus concurrently on the felt sense of your choice
From time to time stop the reading for a minute
and focus all your attention on it.
Sometimes one meets a nasty and stubborn sensation that takes a long
time to overcome - especially if psychosomatic problems are
involved. This may happen from time to time even in the advanced stages
of training and to veteran focusers.
Sometimes, not only does the unpleasant sensation not decrease its
intensity after a few minutes of focusing, but rather increases it.
Sometimes, these sensations can really be nasty and unpleasant even
becoming unbearable. In these cases cowardice is a virtue. So don't be a
hero. Stop focusing until you get over the bad experience. When the
worst happens, it is usually better to take a break of a few hours
before continuing the focusing.
The following are a few items of information that can make the sixth
step easier, more meaningful, and more efficient:
- A)
- If you have started to notice a pulsation at the place you are
focusing on, during any of the previous steps or in this one, you can
treat it as part of the target of the focusing. The added focusing on
the pulsation strengthens the focusing on the place with the unpleasant
sensation and weakens the distractors.
- Many times, after a small number of seconds of a joint focusing on the
pulsation and the unpleasant feeling, one starts to feel that the target
place constricts and dilates like a throbbing balloon (to the rhythm of
the pulsation). Usually, that "balloon" inflates gradually till it fuses
with the surrounding skin. If at the beginning this is the only sensation
there, don't worry, very soon a more interesting sensation will join it.
- B)
- If the quality of the sensation or its place changes after a short
focusing, do not stop focusing on it. Just change to the new place or the
new sensation. In many focusing sessions, the first sensation encountered
is the result of a "covering supra-program"(17) (a "defense") for another
supra-program. Sometimes when one focuses on a covering supra-program, it
gives way very quickly and after a few seconds, one meets the real trash-
program's sensation which was covered by the original one. In cases
like this, the focusing is similar to a two-stage missile.
- C)
- If you suffer chronically from a lack of unpleasant feelings or
sensations to focus on, or those you do have dwindle after a few seconds
- do not worry. There are many alternatives to them. As we explained
elsewhere, one can always summon a felt sensation or focus on the faint
sensations of the facial muscles and the vocal cords. This kind of
focusing will cause changes in the ongoing ad hoc activation programs
even "without their formal request" submitted as a spontaneous felt
sense.
- D)
- Sometimes, the unpleasant sensation you focus on is intensified at
the beginning of the focusing. This usually happens in cases where the
covering-programs ("the defenses") are giving the covered programs only a
partial covering service, and the initial seconds of focusing weakens the
cover- programs quicker than it changes the covered programs themselves.
In these cases the initial sensations are mainly signals of the covered
programs weakened by the cover-programs. Thus the net results of the
initial seconds of the focusing is the paradoxical increase in the un-
pleasant sensation, though no real complications are involved.
If the intensification of the unpleasant sensation is not unbearable,
continue focusing. However, you can regulate the intensity of the
focusing to suit yourself according to the intensity of the sensation you
prefer to work with.
If the sensation becomes too much: change the focus of attention,
stiffen a bit the muscles of the nape of the neck, rub the palms of the
two hands together or even stop the focusing for a while.
Even short and unsuccessful focusings aborted at their beginning,
initiate gradual change and weakening in the trash-programs focused on.
This is so because the cessation of the intentional focusing on the
unpleasant sensation does not abruptly stop all the attention given it.
As a result, somewhat heightened attention continues to be allocated to
it for a while, even after the bulk of it has moved elsewhere. Even
afterwards, when conscious attention to the sensation has ceased
completely, an enhancement of the natural biofeedback processes
continues for a while on a subliminal level.
- E)
- Verbal thoughts often integrate with the programs on the sensations
of which we are focusing, and activate other programs - as an addition
or as a substitute. Sometimes, the nonverbal programs one is focusing on
activate, during the focusing, other supra-programs which create
different sensations.
In both cases you can respond as suggested above - fight against the
change, yield to it or compromise. One can treat the intruding verbal
processes, just as suggested in previous steps on how to deal with
competing thoughts.
- F)
- More frequently than one can imagine, a pleasant sensation may occur
even during this step. When it happens, one is advised to shift all one's
attention to it, and focus on it as long as possible. Masters and Johnson
(the sexologists) have already discovered how potent this focusing is,
when one tries to solve long lasting problems.
Summary of the first stage
If the emotional supra-program(s) of the mind, which created the
sensation you applied to the six steps of focusing, was not protected
too much, you have already felt an improvement. In the early stages of
focusing, one does not usually meet supra-programs that are protected
too much. Therefore, the majority of new focusers experience their first
improvement during the first trial.
However, though it does sometimes happen, usually one does not get
rid of a feeling that is "a frequent uninvited and unwelcome visitor"
after one successful session of focusing. In order to make it disappear
for long stretches of time, one has to repeat the focusing for quite a
few trials during the course of a week or two.
Those of us not disturbed by unpleasant sensations and feelings most
of the time are a small minority of fortunate persons. Most of the time,
most people in our culture are stuck at various points, problems or
troubles - or on all of them together. Those of the majority and even
those of the lucky minority, can be sure that focusing will work for
them. Up to the present, all those who learned the focusing technique,
through implementing the first six steps, improved their quality of
life.
The following is a partial list of chronic or semi-chronic sensations
and feelings that yielded easily in the first stage of training of fresh
focusers:
Pressures and pains in the head; feelings of suffocation, pressure,
pain or tears in the throat (including the "ball of lead" which is
usually called "Globous Hystericus"); pressures, suffocation and pains
in the chest; constriction and other disturbances of the diaphragm;
pains, pressures, constriction, spasms and other nasty feelings in the
intestines; too many or painful visits to the toilet; various problems
with muscles of the skeleton of the body - especially those of the lower
back.
Readers who experienced the six steps of the first stage and profited
from them are advised to practice the various steps in the following
chapter. However, they are advised to do this only after they are sure
that they have already derived a substantial benefit from the first
stage. Those who tried and did not get any benefit from it are advised
to give this book to a friend or leave it in a public place.
(=====BACK
Specific (and general) suggestions, questions, and other positive (or
negative) feedback of readers and of new trainers are welcome. Just use the E-Mail link.
Back to the CONTENTS
To do it yourself - now
To the Daily Focusing
To the recycled emotions
To the Special projects
To the Guide for the guide
To the Emotions
What are the emotions
The activation programs
Ad hoc activation programs
Supra-Programs
The emotional Supra-Programs
The cover-programs
The trash-programs
How it really works
to the Impossible missions???
To get back ON-LINE with the
Biofeedback WITHOUT instruments
The other Home Pages:
http://members.tripod.com/~alternativ_psy
http://flag.blackened.net/ishalif/anarchy.html
The E-Mail:
ilan@shalif.com
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