Theta Digital Mind'sEye User’S Manual & Reference Download

Page: 14 / 64

6 Mind State Management

control of a subject with a weak or suggestible mind.

As a result of these misconceptions, hypnosis held a relatively narrow path for learn-
ing MSM skills. Nevertheless, a dedicated person can usually learn hypnosis and ul-
timately self-hypnosis with the help of an instructor, or from books and tapes. How-
ever, for this individual the results are often hit-or-miss. Practice is abandoned before
the MSM skills are properly learned and integrated.

Mind alteration:

North American consciousness explorers in the 60s began experi-

menting with the mind-altering properties of hallucinogenic drugs. These did indeed
alter the user’s state of consciousness, but in largely uncontrolled, and sometimes
dangerous ways. What’s more, many of these drugs were not only illegal, but toxic,
which required the body to metabolize the substance before returning to a normal
state of consciousness. What people really wanted was a quick, effective, natural pro-
cess for mind-state alteration.

Meanwhile, some researchers were experimenting with sensory deprivation. In float
tanks, one floated in large, dark, quiet tanks of water at body temperature. The buoy-
ancy provided by a high level of Epsom salt allowed the user to float effortlessly. All
sensory input—sight, sound, smell, taste, kinesthetic feeling—was denied. This was
effective in inducing relaxation, euphoria, accelerated learning, and various mind
state phenomena (Hutchison, 1984,

The Book of Floating

); however, the tanks were

cumbersome and not very practical.

Ritual practices:

The 1970s brought an increasing awareness of the value rituals

practiced by other cultures might offer to our secular consumer-oriented society. Be-
sides Eastern religions and philosophies, there was a growing appreciation for North
American aboriginal people and the reverence they held for nature. This resonated
with the dawn of the ecology movement. The idea of using natural rituals somehow
seemed to make more sense. The idea of social and mind altering ceremonies—bath-
ing in the warmth and flicker of firelight, chanting, drumming and dancing—in-
voked a curiosity and earned a place in the North American cultural mosaic.

Mind machines:

Another significant trend arose from the neuroscience experi-

mentation of W. Gray Walter and his colleagues in a series of studies on the effects
of photic stimulation. The addition of sound patterns to augment photic stimulation
led to the proliferation of mind machines, most of which were still expensive and
cumbersome. By the early 1980s, however, advances in computerization, miniaturiza-
tion, and microchip technology allowed for the mass manufacture of light and sound
machines (research reviewed in Hutchison, 1986, 1990-92; Budzynski, 1991, and
other sources). Not long after, researchers and neurotechnology engineers closed the
gap in mind state management by developing portable, inexpensive light and sound
machines

(LSMs).

At last, those who wished to learn how to gain mastery over their

mind states now had an appropriate technology:

• It would generate noticeable results almost from the outset of training (instant

gratification and demonstration of effect).