ELEMENTS OF PSYCHOLOGY

1G Greek words---Psyche—Mind and Logos---knowledge or study.

2) Myers defines psychology as the science of behaviour and mental process. To Coon and Atkinson, et al, psychology is the scientific study of behaviour and mental process. Lahey also defines the subject as the science of behaviour and mental processes.

3) Other definitions----science of behaviour, scientific study of human and animal behaviour, scientific study of organisms and their behaviour.

4) Overt behaviour is any activity, action or responds which can be seen by others

5) Para psychology is about events which cannot be verified by a second or third party or through any of the known scientific methods.

6) Clairvoyance is the ability to see what is happening at a particular place at a certain time without having prior knowledge of the event.

7) Telepathy is thought transfer from one person to another without the mediation of any known channel of communication.

8) Precognition is the ability to perceive and accurately predict or foretell future events without having any prior knowledge.

9) Psycho kinesis is the ability of an individual to exert influence over animate and inanimate objects by will power.

10) Extra sensory perception.

11) Pseudo Psychology means false Psychology. They are practices which are giving the semblance of psychology but which in the real sense of the word are not. Egs. Graphology, palmistry, phrenology.

12) Graphology is the belief that an individual’s handwriting reveals his or her personality and that it could be used to predict one’s performance on the job.

13) Palmistry is the belief that the nature and pattern of the lines in an individual palm can be used to tell his destiny since it has something to do with his personality.

14) Phrenology is the believe that the bumps on one’s head and the shape of one’s skull determine one’s personality, intelligence, and other individual characteristics.

15) Greek Philosophers such as Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle in the 4^th and 5^th century debated fundamental questions about human nature, mental life, perception and consciousness.

16) Plato believed that one could understand human nature and behaviour by asking the relevant questions and employing rational argument to arrive at conclusions.

17) Aristotle believed that observation, rather than mere logical argument is of critical importance in an attempt to understand human behaviour.

18) Description usually proceeded by observation and involves naming, classification and the provision of other details and characteristics of a given behaviour or phenomenon.

19) Understand means the ability to explain the factor/s of a given behaviour after a careful description.

20) Prediction is another goal with is the ability to foretell the occurrence of an event or behaviour on the basis of established principles or facts.

21) Control means changing the circumstance which influence behaviours or the occurrence of any given phenomenon.

22) Measurement

23) Six methods of acquiring knowledge----tenacity, intuition, rationalism, empiricism, authority and science.

24) Intuition occurs in the right hemisphere of the brain while logical thinking occurs in the left hemisphere. Intuition is the process of coming to direct knowledge or certainty without reasoning or inferring.

25) Rationalism refers to the use of thinking and logic to arrive at an answer.

26) Empiricism assumes that if something is experienced, then that thing exists hence the experience is valid and true and must be accepted. Seeing believes.

27) In Science empiricism refers to the collection of data using scientific methods.

28) CHARACTERISTICS OF SCIENTIFIC METHOD

29) Objectivity, free for bias, prejudice, personal expectation ect

30) Operational Definition means the procedure followed in measuring a concept must be clearly defined so as to allow concepts to be tested in real world terms.

31) Control

32) Replication is about the possibility of reproducing the same or similar result as arrived at by another person in his or her previous work----following the same steps, resulting in the same answers.

SCIENTIFIC ASSUPTIONS

33) Uniformity or Regularity---means there is order in nature and natural occurrences follow a certain known pattern and principles

34) Skinner asserted that science is a search for order, for uniformities and for lawful relations among events in nature.

35) Reality----there is a logical and rational basis for the existence of everything in nature

36) Rationality events which occur in nature could be understood through logical thinking since the is a rational basis for almost everything that occurs in nature.

37) Causation and Discoverability ----everything in nature has a cause and does not just happen. Discoverability is a natural sequence of the assumption of causation.

SCIENTIFIC STEPS OR PROCEEDURE.

38) Problem Identification which is preceded by observation

39) Review of Literature and hypothesis formulation-----a hypothesis usually expresses a relation between an independent and a dependent variable.

40) Study design----serves as a guide

41) Data collection and Data analysis-----the researcher makes observations and collects relevant data according to the procedure prescribed in the design.

42) Interpretation, Discussion and Conclusions---raw data does not make much sense and thus has to be analysed. Analysis however may take the form of simple data representation

FIELDS OF PSYCHOLOGY

43) Basic psychology deals with research and the accumulation of knowledge whereas applied psychology deals with application of psychologically knowledge in tackling practical problems.

44) Industrial or organisational psychology

45) Ergonomics-----deals with designing work tools, machines and equipment in line with human physiology and the demand of specific jobs with aim of facilitating higher productivity.

46) Environmental Psychology deals on the impact of human act on the environment and how the environment affects human behaviour.

47) Clinical psychology deals with diagnosis, classification, prevention and treatment of psychological disorders. It also helps peoples to make decision about life transmissions such as marriage, career ECT.

48) Counselling psychology deals with helping people to understand themselves and plan their lives as well as make informed decisions on issues of everyday life including education, career, and marriage. Ect

49) Community psychology deals with how communities could be assisted to promote their wellbeing.

50) Consumer Psychology deals with finding out the characteristics of product users, their needs, and preferences and how to satisfy them.

SUB AREAS OF UNDER FIELDS

51) Educational psychology deal with the dev. And evaluation of educational curriculum and programs, teaching and learning materials and the training of teachers.

52) School psychology deals with helping primary and secondary school students make informed decisions about life

53) Developmental Psychology is concerned about human development in terms of growth from birth to old age.

54) Comparative Psychology deals with studying animal behaviour focusing on its similar and differences as compared to human behaviour and primates.

55) Personality psychology studies individual unique characteristics and other factors that make a person different in many ways from others.

56) Social Psychology focuses on human interactions and behaviour in group setting.

57) Cultural Psychology deals with how ones cultural background deals with his behaviour in general

58) Experimental psychology relies solely on experiments in gathering information regards areas as sensation, emotion, communication, learning ECT.

59) Medical Psychology studies the relationship between stress, personality type, susceptibility to emotional breakdown and diseases as heart attacks, high blood pressure and ulcers. It deals with prevention and control.

IMPORTANCE OF RESEARCH

60) Provision of information

61) Input for projects and policy decisions.

CHALLENGES OF RESEARCH

62) Funding----expertise, financial resources

63) Attitude of the Public

64) Lack of Professionalism----Professionalism means going about duty as the dictates of one’s profession requires

EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH

65) Zimney (1961) defines a psychological experiment as objective observation of phenomena which are made to occur in a strictly controlled situation in which one or more factors are varied and the others kept constant.

Name of school	Subject Matter	Methodology`	Personality
Structuralism	Structure of the mind	Introspection	Edward Titchener, Wilhelm Wundt
Functionalism	Function of the mind	Observation Experimentation	William James, Charles Darwin
Behaviourism Gestalt	Observable behaviour,(stimulus and response	Observation	J B Watson I Pavlov D. F Skinner Thorndike
	The whole organism, object.	Feature analysis, demonstration	W kohler K. Koffka M. Wertheimer
Psychoanalytic	Unconsciousness	Interviews Observation	Sigmund Freud
Empiricism	Personal experiences	Data collections, Interviews	Aristotle, john Locke

66) Manipulate the independent variable under study to find its effect on the dependent variable.

67) Experiment-----two or more groups of study, objective, systematic, hold constant all variables.

CONTROL OF EXTRAEOUS VARIABLES.

68) Remove, generalise among groups, randomization----is a technique that gives equal chance to a population as being included in a selected as participants for a study. Random assignment places the participant into groups by chance.

LONGITUDINAL STUDY AND CROSS SECTIONAL STUDY

69) Longitudinal study is a developmental field study that repeatedly measures the same characteristics in a single sample of individuals at selected time intervals

70) Cross sectional is a developmental field study that measures the same characteristics in representative samples of individuals at different levels or age.

SURVEY

71) Survey is a method of collecting standardised information by interviewing a representative sample of a given population

72) Survey process---identify the population, sample size,---ages, educational level sexes---- selection of respondents

73) Valid---able to tap information, reliable---the consistency in measurement over a period of time

Two Types of Clairvoyance

There are two types of clairvoyance.

When an individual is able, at will, to see in and investigate the inner worlds, and is the master of himself and what he is doing, he has developed positive,voluntary clairvoyance.This type of clairvoyance is developed through pure, helpful living, and the individual must be carefully trained in its use, in order that it may be completely effective and useful. When the sights of the inner worlds are presented to an individual beyond his control, and he sees what is given to him to see and can in no way control this sight, it is negative or involuntary clairvoyance. This type of clairvoyance is dangerous,laying the individual open to possession by discarnate entities and,if permitted to go far enough, presenting the possibility that his or her life, in this world and the next, will quite literally not be his or her own. Although both positive and negative clairvoyance exist, it is only with positive clairvoyance that an individual can accurately see and investigate the inner worlds and advance himself along the evolutionary path. Negative clairvoyance cannot be counted upon as a reliable tool of investigation, it often brings about the highly undesirable situation of personal control from an outside source,and it can cause evolutionary regression of the individual concerned.The development of negative clairvoyance is much easier because it is merely a revival of the mirror-like function possessed by man in the far past, by which the outside world was involuntarily reflected in him. This function was afterward retained by inbreeding. With present-day media, this power is intermittent, which explains why they can sometimes “see” and at other times, for no apparent reason,fail utterly to do so.

Therefore, the aspirant must feel not a wish to gratify an idle curiosity, but a holy and unselfish desire to help humanity. Until such a desire exists, no progress can be made in the attainment of positive clairvoyance. What It Involves Opening inherent clairvoyant gifts has to do with DNA activation of encoded cellular memories, activations of chakras, raising frequency, balancing energy bodies, self-esteem and the ability to trust in what is heard and seen, and the present emotional state(clearing issues that block/or influence the information you get). Expand your knowledge base in all areas of 3D. If you haven’t studied a language, it sounds like gibberish and its written symbols make no sense at all. The brain will have no way of interpreting the language into something you can understand. With the archetypes seen in meditation, dreams, etc.,the brain needs some sort of frame of reference in order to understand. Every reading is modified, and markedly colored, by own powers of interpretation, partly governed by the degree of technical knowledge concerning the character and partly by the level of mental and intuitional development. The neophyte must comprehend what he or she sees in the Desire World. Being clairvoyant does not mean that all truth is at once open to us and that we can “see all about” the higher worlds. The mere ability to see does not give us universal knowledge of that which we see. It requires much study and application to know about even that infinitesimal part of physical things that we handle in our daily lives. Hereditary and evolutionary backgrounds affect nature of interpretation.

Once clairvoyant gifts are opened, it is like any other exercise; it gets easier and easier. Some people mediate daily not for these messages but just to keep their sheath bodies in balance. They receive few images; but like to relax and feel at peace. When clairvoyant, solid objects are seen both inside and out. Space and solidity, as hindrances to observation, have ceased to exist.

In the Physical World, objects at least are dense, solid, and do not change in the twinkling of an eye. In the Desire World, they change in the most erratic manner. This is a source of endless confusion to the negative, involuntary clairvoyant, and even to the neophyte who enters under the guidance of a teacher. The teaching the neophyt receives, however, soon brings him or her to a point where he or she can perceive the Life that causes the change in Form and knows it for what it is, despite all possible and puzzling changes.

Clairvoyants must first be trained before their observations are of any real value, and the more proficient they become, the more modest they are about telling of what they see; and the more do they defer to the versions of others, knowing how much there is to learn and realizing how little the single investigator can grasp of all the details incident to his or her investigations. This accounts for the varied versions of the higher worlds, which are often an argument against the existence of these worlds. They contend that if these worlds exist, investigators must necessarily bring back identical descriptions. However, each has his or her own peculiar way of looking at things and can describe what he or she sees only from his or her particular point of view.

The account he or she gives may differ from those of others, yet all may be equally truthful from each individual observer’s viewpoint. Another important distinction to be made is that the power that enables one to perceive the objects in a world is not identical with the power of entering that world and functioning there. The voluntary clairvoyant, though able to distinguish the true from the false in the Desire World, is in practically the same relation to it as a prisoner behind bars. He can see it but cannot participate.However, further exercises given, furnish the aspirant with a vehicle in which he or she can function in the inner worlds in a perfectly self-conscious manner.Clairvoyance connects to the right side of the brain — the feminine,creative, and intuitive aspects. That is why physical sensations may be felt on the left side of the body when working clairvoyantly.Possession of such faculties does not indicate an unusual degree of spiritual development; nor is their manifestation dependent upon purity and unselfishness of character. They are merely evidences that one or more of the astral senses are partially able to act independent of their physical counterparts.Every cell in our bodies is being affected by the raising frequencies of the planet. We are being activated whether we want to be or not. Humanity is returning to an age of enlightenment in which we are all activating and we see the truth of our reality. At that time, psychic abilities become our total experience — the spiraling evolution of consciousness thought.

2. What Is Its History? There have been reports of clairvoyance and clairvoyant abilities throughout history in most cultures. Religious belief and custom have always profoundly affected the status of such powers, and their development along lower or higher lines has run parallel with, and has been a fundamental part of, the growth and influence of religion among the people. When the mysteries were still influencing the life of ancient Greece, a high type of clairvoyant was used in the sacred oracles. The priestess on the tripod was considered holy, and was cherished and protected from contamination of any sort. The temples of Aesculapius in Greece;where the art of healing was developed, and the most remarkable cures were performed; were a recognized part of the mysteries themselves.

Edgar D. Mitchell, in his book Psychic Exploration, cites many examples of precognition or clairvoyance as being a part of recorded history. He states that cases of precognition go back to the Greek civilization of 700 B.C. Battle strategies were decided by consulting the Delphic oracle. Proof that precognition was used in 400 B.C. is seen in the military victory of the naval chief,Themistacles. After consulting the Delphi oracle, he built 300 wooden ships and gained victory over the stronger and larger Persian ships by guiding them in the Straits of Salamis.Ancient Hindu religious texts list clairvoyance as one of the siddhis (an Indian term meaning skills) that can be acquired through appropriate meditation and personal discipline. However, a large number of accounts of clairvoyance are of the spontaneous variety among the general public. Many people report cases of “knowing” in one form or another when a loved one has died or was in danger before receiving notification through normal channels that such events have taken place.

During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, psychics were accused of practicing witchcraft and were put to death by the Church.Clairvoyance was a phenomenon reported to have been observed in the behavior of somnambulists, people who were mesmerized and in a trance state (nowadays, equated with hypnosis, by most people) in the time of Franz Anton Mesmer. The earliest recorded report of somnambulistic clairvoyance is credited to Marquis de Puysegur, a follower of Mesmer. The incident took place in 1784 when he was treating a local dull-witted peasant named Victor Race. During treatment, Victor would go into trance and undergo a personality change, becoming fluent and articulate, and giving diagnosis and prescription for his own disease as well as for those of other patients, and forgetting everything when he came out of the trance state.

As late as 1837, spirits communicated the idea that spiritual communication would be a global experience. The first investigative group was formed in 1851 and was called the New York Circle. This group was formed to study the Fox sisters who had obtained information regarding a murder. The murder was discovered and the information provided by the Fox sisters was verified as being correct. However, the source of the Fox sisters’ information remains a mystery.The journal, Spirit World, says there were 100 mediums in New York and approximately 50 to 60 private spiritual circles in Philadelphia by the middle of 19th century. Spiritual movements existed in England, France, Germany, and Italy. Clairvoyance was one of the aspects studied by members of the Society for Psychical Research(SPR).

Psychics of many descriptions have claimed clairvoyant ability.The present cycle started with the rise of modern Spiritualism in the middle of last century. The movement spread very fast, first through America and later to some of the European countries. By this time, there had been a growing interest in cures affected by means of hypnotism. Combined with new possibilities that these experiments suggested, the spiritualistic movement was welcomed as a new revelation. Reputed clairvoyants developed into mediums, and “Spirit Circles” were formed in many famiies.By the last quarter of the 20th century, tremendous interest had been aroused in every sort of abnormal power. As more and more people from various sections of society got attracted to it and media focused attention on these groups, glamour had been cast over it.

Experimental research into clairvoyance has become more systematic.Perhaps the most well-known studies of clairvoyance in recent times was the US government-funded remote-viewing project at SRI/SAIC during the 1970s through the mid-1990s. Results of some parapsychological studies suggest that clairvoyance does exist (though that interpretation is disputed by critics). The studies also show that clairvoyance does not, in general, require another person to send the information being received, i.e., it can, to some extent, be distinguished from telepathy. Documented evidence by responsible and authoritative people, whose past has been unfolded before their eyes and who have been allowed a glimpse of the future, are seen in Psychic literature. They include famous personalities such as Abraham Lincoln, President of the USA during the American civil war, Lord Balfour, a former Prime Minister of Great Britain, Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, and recently, the former President of the United States of America, Ronald Reagan, and the First lady Nancy Reagan.Throughout history, royalty, heads of state and politicians, as well as common people, have consulted a variety of seers in an effort to be forewarned of events to come, to seek advice, and to find answers to the problems that surround them. There have been some remarkable accounts of mishaps being avoided, advice which eventuated in an accidental event, of unexpected changes in a person’s life coming to pass and of changes in attitude leading to a more positive and beneficial outlook on life.Similarities and Differences between Clairvoyance and Witchcraft,
Telepathy, Telekinesis, and Precognition Explained Before explaining in detail what the differences and similarities between clairvoyance, witchcraft, telepathy, telekinesis, and precognition are, let us see what they are, in a nutshell:

Clairvoyance: The ability to perceive and understand objects and events beyond the range of ordinary perception, i.e., remote viewing.

Precognition: The ability to perceive and understand future events and states not yet experienced, i.e., seeing into the future.

Telekinesis (psychokinesis): The ability to influence objects by direct mental manipulation, i.e., to cause the movement and manipulation of physical objects by the power of your mind.

Telepathy (mind-reading): The ability to directly transfer your thoughts into the minds of others and to perceive the thoughts of others, i.e., the ability of perceiving and projecting thought.

Witchcraft: Witchcraft is a religion. It involves a system of belief and practice, and is, for many, a way of life. It is the power and ability to draw energy from the earth, concentrate it, and sent it out into the world.

The average person sees the world around them with only their physical eyes, but clairvoyance is a way of perceiving things beyond the scope of the eyesight. For example, the clairvoyant inner vision may see through walls, or witness events taking place at some distant location. Some psychics believe that clairvoyance happens to people who are able to get out of the physical body and “see” by means of the astral body. They shift their centre of consciousness outside of themselves.

“Clairvoyant” is a word now used to describe someone with second sight.
Telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition have in common the ability of conveying knowledge across space or time. They are grouped together because in the fourth dimension, space–time is a field, and spatial translations are the same as temporal translations. The mechanism is an impression on the generalized preconscious that exists throughout space–time. Although all the

5 ESPs represent the power of mind as the centre point, witchcraft is entirely different in theory, practice, and nature from the rest.

CLAIRVOYANCE

1. What Does the Term Clairvoyance Mean and What Does It Involve?
We predict the future all the time, but we usually, if not always,do it by taking into account our experience, knowledge, and surroundings. Some predictions by psychics come true. So do some predictions by non-psychics. No doubt much of our anticipation of the future is unconscious and second nature, but it is based on quite natural and mundane abilities and not on mysterious or supernatural powers.

Clairvoyance, a psychic ability to see things beyond the range of the power of vision, is often called the “sixth sense.” Clairvoyance is the art of “seeing” with senses beyond the five we normally use.It is usually associated with precognition or retrocognition.

Clairvoyance is related to the images that are always present in your mind that bring messages from other realms. These images can be shape, colors, still, animated, remain on a few seconds, or last a longer time. You may “see” them with your eyes open or closed.The faculty of seeing into the future is called second sight if it is not induced by scrying, drugs, trance, or other artificial means.

The word clairvoyance means “clear-sighted,” or being able to see in the invisible (to physical vision) worlds. It is a faculty latent in all and will eventually be possessed by every human being in the course of his or her spiritual unfolding.Although, inherently, each of us has this faculty, a persistent effort is required to unfold it in a positive manner, and this seems to be a powerful deterrent. If it could be bought, many people would pay a high price for it. Few people, however, seem willing to live the life that is required to awaken it. That awakening comes only by patient, persistent effort. It cannot be purchased: there is no royal road to its acquisition. A Gallup poll indicates that belief in clairvoyance has increased from 26 percent to 32 percent over the past decade. It is,undoubtedly, the element of prophecy that makes clairvoyance so fascinating to many people. To be able to cheat time, so to speak,becomes almost a passion with some. Yet, such attempts to glimpse into the future, when successful, bring dissatisfaction, unrest, a centering of attention upon oneself, and a general loss of equilibrium; when unsuccessful, they are futile indeed.The true clairvoyant power, on the other hand — which takes its beginnings in unselfish love — brings with it no such unhappy results. It is a power used at will by the master of life; in us it feebly manifests as flashes of intuition, hunches, warnings in dreams, and the like. A person who knows “instinctively,” as we say,what to do in a crisis, when to act, and when to refrain from action, who can make swift decisions, perhaps on momentous questions, that contain no flaw of judgment, who has a balanced sense of values is merely exercising the clairvoyant power of “seeing straight.” Some people find it easy to tune their frequencies in to the other side to “see.” Other people develop the skill with practice. Some people can never master it. Some people become clairvoyant after a unique experience such as a Near-Death Experience, ET Abduction, high fever, serious accident, blow to the head area, or opening of the kundalini energies. Some people use chemical stimulants or hallucinogens to heighten their awareness.This is something I do not advise as the information may not be accurate and physical side effects may occur later on.

The very qualities such as discrimination and sound judgment, the natural attributes of the well-developed individual, indicate that normal evolutionary growth leads us sanely, even if imperceptibly, towards the acquiring of clairvoyant powers. The highly specialized powers of the adept, the normal higher human faculties, developed, refined, and expanded to a universal scope, must always rest on such secure foundations of character.

Enhancing your psychic power

3 Learning to use psychic techniques

The material in this section forms two distinct sections. The first consists of background information on the brain, the mind and the nature of consciousness. If you follow the instructions closely, you'll develop the ability to manifest psychic experiences at will, including goal setting and achievement, telepathy, psychokinesis, clairvoyance and precognition.

HomePsychokinesis

How to use psychic techniquesThe Brain, the Mind and Consciousness

A question which often arises when people begin to develop their psychic ability is:

'How do psychic events relate to our everyday consciousness?' To answer this, we need to consider the activity of the human brain and mind. We all intuitively realize that psychic events do not 'just happen'. Occasionally, of course, we spontaneously experience telepathy, or have a flash of insight that turns out to have been precognitive. Generally, however, such events are rare; they tend to occur only under unusual circumstances: when we are relaxed and daydreaming, for example, or perhaps when we are under a great deal of stress.

Oddly enough, it is this observation which provides a clue to the nature of psychic experience. Psychic events tend not to occur during our normal, everyday, waking consciousness, but in special states of consciousness.

Let us digress here and consider what is meant by consciousness. It can be defined as 'that property of the mind which enables us to feel, perceive and think'; in other words, to be aware. Aware of what? you may ask. Well, aware of the world around us. Aware, also, of our own existence. And, indeed, aware of our own consciousness. Obviously this last statement is at one level tautological. Yet it sums up the problem precisely: how can we use our conscious thinking ability to analyse our own consciousness? Many of the philosophers and scientists who have approached this problem have begun by debating whether brain and mind are separate realities, whether mind is an illusion, or whether mind is a by-product of the brain's activity. For the time being the observation central to our discussion is this: the mind can work on several levels, and its activity is closely linked to that of the brain. Let us consider these points in greater detail.
When a person thinks or dreams, or even when just asleep, the brain is active. We know this because electrical impulses in the nerve cells of the brain produce a very small but quite distinctive pattern of electrical activity on the scalp and forehead. This activity can be measured on an electroencephalogram, or EEG. The EEG has shown that the electrical activity of the brain varies according to what we are doing. For example, during everyday life, particularly when the mind is directed to some problem or when anxiety and tension creep up on one, there are waves of electrical activity running from the back of the head to the front at anything between fourteen and twenty-two cycles per second. These are called beta waves. Other well defined frequencies of brain waves include alpha, theta and delta.

Alpha waves are those with a frequency of between fourteen and seven cycles per second. They are common during moments of peace and calm, and during certain phases of dreaming and sleep. Theta waves extend down from seven to four cycles per second and occur in most people during sleep and briefly in the daytime when problems result in strong emotions or frustration. They are also associated with very creative periods. Finally there are delta waves, which need not concern us here because they occur only during the unconscious periods of deep sleep. Thus it is clear that, at least to a certain extent, brain wave activity changes according to the activity of the mind - in both consciousness and the unconsciousness of deep sleep. This is a key point in our discussion. Rather than try to define a specific state of consciousness in which psychic work can take place, we must turn to an analysis of brain wave activity and see if we can pinpoint any feature which is characteristic of psychic work. In fact, the changes in brain activity during psychic work are well documented.

The Russians were amongst the first researchers in this field. In March 1967 one of their research groups was conducting a test of telepathic communication between two men: Karl Nikolaiev in Leningrad, and Yuri Kamensky in Moscow. Nikolaiev was the receiver, Kamensky the transmitter. Both men were wired up to EEG recorders. The researchers noticed that when Nikolaiev indicated he was ready to receive impressions, his brain was producing regular alpha wave activity. They described his associated mental state as 'relaxed but attentive'. A similar pattern of brain and mind activity was observed in Kamensky when he began transmitting. The most successful subjects of the experiments of Rhine, Moss and other research scientists also displayed alpha waves; the effect is, in fact, a, general one which is seen in all kinds of psychic work. (There is some evidence, mainly from research on Nelya Mikhailova, that PK and perhaps one type of psychic healing involve the production of theta waves.

All in all, then, the evidence points to one inescapable conclusion: psychic work takes place in a state of mind, or consciousness, characterized by brain wave activity of a frequency lower than normal. This conclusion raises an interesting question: are brain waves of the alpha frequency the cause of, or merely the result of, a particular state of mind? There is no clear answer to this question, but it is much more likely that externally measured brain waves are nothing more than a sign of underlying physiological mechanisms. In the words of Lyall Watson, 'It seems certain that both telepathy and psychokinesis occur only under certain psychological conditions and that these are the ones marked by production of a particular frequency.' In other words, by learning to develop a state of mind in which alpha wave frequencies are dominant, you can develop your psychic ability.

Here is an extract from the writings of the pioneer psychologist William James:
... our normal waking consciousness, rational consciousness as we call it, is but one special type of consciousness, whilst all about it, parted from it by the filmiest of screens, there lie potential forms of consciousness entirely different.

The 'potential form of consciousness' with which we are presently concerned is the state of mind associated with the production of alpha waves by the brain. This is difficult to describe to someone who has not experienced it. Phrases like 'controlled awareness', 'concentrated passivity' and 'relaxed attentiveness' do not convey the true meaning. The most obvious characteristic of this alpha level is that both mind and body are relaxed: tension produces beta waves, which disrupt the alpha needed for psychic work. Equally obvious is the fact that analytical and calculating thought disrupt alpha and produce beta. But despite this, it is possible to think at the alpha level if one reduces the conscious effort involved to a minimum. This is necessary for two reasons. First, the conscious mind is associated with sensory input and stimulation from the physical world, where ESP is a rare event. But, more fundamentally, the psychic sense - the part of the mind which receives and transmits information psychically - is normally beyond conscious awareness: it is subconscious. We only become aware of it, or at least make an approach to it, when we lessen the activity of the conscious mind to a minimum. Information can then pass into our awareness with very little disruption (although the problem of primary process distortion remains). At first, all of this seems like mere conjecture. However, it is correct. We know this because the use of a tool such as the dowsing rod, to display psychically received information, bypasses the conscious mind entirely - and the results, at least for a beginner, tend to be much more accurate.

To sum up what I have been saying: the development of the alpha state can provide a key to unlock the door to the psychic world. How are we to do this, though? Some people - perhaps ten per cent of the population - seem to spend most of their time in alpha naturally. (It is very likely that the successful subjects of the experiments described in the chapter on telepathy, clairvoyance and precognition all fall into this ten per cent.) Another group of people who show great development of the alpha state are practitioners of meditative disciplines such as Zen Buddhism and yoga. Not only can they slow their brain wave frequency down from everyday beta into alpha or even theta, but they can also maintain production of alpha for long periods. However, it takes months, if not years, to learn alpha production with these techniques. Moreover, as is well known, the devotees of these arts often withdraw from society to practise their skills. No matter how much we might like to do this, it is just not practical.

It is sometimes suggested that alpha is generated whenever a person shuts his eyes. Indeed, there are people who can practise telepathy and the other psychic skills discussed in this book just by closing their eyes and directing their mind to whatever they wish to achieve. However, for most people, shutting the eyes is not enough. This is because the great majority of people are too emotionally and physically tense (even with their eyes shut) to enable psychic impressions to pass from their subconscious to their conscious. Or, more specifically, the conscious mind is too .alive with stress and worry to notice the subtle psychic impressions received by the subconscious. So alpha produced by the simple act of shutting the eyes remains 'scrambled' by everyday beta. To produce prolonged, pure alpha is a different matter altogether.

When one is physically relaxed in alpha, one tends to feel very calm and peaceful. Indeed, there are many real benefits associated with alpha. For example, the breathing rate slows down from the normal twelve breaths per minute to about six breaths per minute. The depth of each breath is also reduced. The heart rate, too, slows down. The implication of this is that the body is using less oxygen. Since oxygen consumption is a Measure of the metabolic rate, the metabolism of the body must be slowing down. This happens because the anxiety and stress which make us all excited and overactive during normal life are cut out, thereby allowing a state of deep rest to develop.

There are various systems available for training oneself to function in alpha. One such system which is widely available at the time of writing is the Silva Method. This comes highly recommended for its ease of use and the rapid way in which you can get in touch with your powerful psychic, sensory abilities and the remarkable way you can function with mind at the alpha level. boosting one's alpha wave production during short periods of the day, so that the effects carry over into the remainder of the day's activities and thereby lower stress and tension. It is a useful way of controlling one's own mind and it has gained great popularity because of its effectiveness. One of the interesting things about Silva is that it acts, quite independently, as confirmation of the importance of alpha in psychic work.

The research which was the foundation of Silva began in the 1950s when Jose Silva, a Mexican-American who owned an electronics business, but had no formal education, taught his children to relax in such a way that with vivid mental visualization they could learn much more effectively. What he was in fact doing, as we now realize, was training his children to go to a deeper level of mind corresponding with the alpha wave frequency. The most astounding thing happened on one occasion when his daughter was being questioned about her schoolwork: she answered a question before it had been asked - while it was only a thought in José Silva's mind, in fact. Clearly the training to go to alpha level had in some way led to the ability to experience telepathy. Over the next thirteen years, he developed a simple, practical course which, in three days, can train anyone to develop alpha. The point is that everyone can learn to produce alpha waves and the particular state of mind associated with them.

As Jose Silva wrote in his book The Silva Mind Control Method:

At the alpha level ... you cannot bring your feelings of guilt and anger with you. If these feelings intrude, you will simply pop out of the level. As time goes on, they stay away for longer, until one day they are gone for good. This means that those activities of the mind that make the body sick will be neutralized. This is the first step in mind control, and by itself it will go a long way towards setting free the body's healing powers and giving it back the energy squandered on tension.

The Silva Method will allow you to use the alpha state to actually make a goal into a reality (such as obtaining a new job, moving home, making money, making better relationships, even healing serious illnesses); experience telepathy; employ distant healing and diagnosis; develop speed learning; use dreams to solve problems; and make events occur just as you need them.
By the way, you may wonder why people do not remain in alpha naturally, since this state is apparently so useful. The answer is simple. Alpha wave production starts in the creative part of the brain, a part which is overwhelmed by the emotional and reasoning part in the majority of people. As we have seen, emotions and reasoning in everyday life are conscious activities which elicit beta waves, and these swamp alpha (and theta). Training the creative side of the brain to be more active in producing alpha and theta waves does not stop the emotional and reasoning part working, but it does reduce its dominance.

How to Develop Your Psychic Ability

Practising the exercises described below for two fifteen-minute periods twice a day for about two to four weeks is enough to give you the ability to develop the correct state of mind for psychic work whenever you want. You will also learn the trigger technique which is useful for psychic work during the day.

An easy and simple introduction to psychic techniques - Learning to relax and visualize
Remember - this is the key to ESP, psychic healing, problem solving, and a whole lot more. The results are well worth the time and effort involved. Choose times when you are free from pressures. Whenever you choose, you will need two periods of about fifteen minutes, one in the morning and one in the evening. Here is what you will do.

1. Sit down comfortably on a soft chair with your back vertical and well supported. Your thighs should be parallel to the floor with your knees slightly apart. The angle between the. upper and lower parts of your legs at the knee should be as near ninety degrees as possible. Your feet should point forward, although they may be slightly apart. Although a headrest is not essential, as it is quite easy to balance the head in an upright position, if you do find that your head flops on one side when you relax then it may help. Overall, the idea is to find a position where the body muscles can completely relax and are free from any tension. To ensure that this is so, you will need to ensure that you are not wearing any tight clothing. Some people try the exercise when lying down full length on a bed; there is no basic objection to this approach, but the association of bed, relaxation and sleep may make you fall asleep, which is of no help whatsoever!

2. Close your eyes. The room should be a reasonable temperature. There should not be any distracting lights shining into your face when you try the exercise.

3. Test the tension in your body by checking each area in turn. Roll your head from side to side and concentrate on the muscular tension. You will probably find that you become aware of tightness which you previously did not know about. Relax these muscles. Do the same for your face, shoulders, arms and legs by consciously 'feeling' them in your mind. You will probably be astonished at the tension you have built up, particularly if this is the first time you have tried it.

4. Say to yourself mentally, 'I am very peaceful'. Picture yourself, perhaps, lying full length on a sun-soaked beach with the waves breaking leisurely on the sand. Whatever image you use, the mental phrase is 'I am very peaceful'. (Do not be too upset if you find your mind wandering. When you realize what is happening, repeat three times: 'Not now. At this time, I am very peaceful.' After practising you'll find that your mind will remain on your relaxation.)

5. When you have quietened mental activity by a conscious thought of peace and quiet, you can begin to relax each part of your body in turn. The feeling associated with complete relaxation will be heaviness, or a sense of losing touch with your body, or even lightness. This is caused by a complete loss of muscle tension. Go through each part of your body in turn and say, 'My right (or left) hand is getting heavy'; 'My forearm is getting heavy'; 'My upper arm is getting heavy'; 'My chest and back are getting heavy'; and so on, for each part of your body in turn.

6. The final phase of relaxation is to ensure that your abdomen is relaxed. This is done by repeating mentally, 'Right in my middle, down there, is pleasantly warm.'
Next, you can create your alpha state by visualization. Most people find it easy to create a vivid mental image or picture after only a little practice. It is this procedure which stimulates the production of alpha in the brain. Silva teaches its students to imagine a mental screen onto which all their visualization is projected. The screen is imagined to be some distance away from the body. This is done while sitting upright with the eyes turned upwards (behind closed lids) at an angle of twenty degrees to the horizontal. (If you were lying down, the screen and body would take the same relative positions.) Other authorities on visualization, however, do not suggest the use of a mental screen: they claim that simply forming a vivid mental image or picture is sufficient. What is best for you is probably what you are most comfortable with.

7. Once you are happy with your procedure for visualization, create the following images (eyes closed, remember):
(a) Any brightly coloured object such as an orange or lemon.
The discovery of one particular colour which you can perceive most vividly is the goal. Basically, the exercise enables you to think creatively, a process with which we have very often lost touch these days. Note '... if you find the first exercise easy, the others will be no problem. So ensure that you have achieved it before moving on. Avoid thinking about what you are doing; the time to assess any experience is after you have finished.
(b) Try to visualize yourself walking around the object. Touch it, feel it and look at the texture. The more vivid your imagery, the better. You will be able to use this procedure for solving problems and more practice now will aid you later on.
(c) Visualize another person or a scene for which you feel some particular affinity. There will be some inner experiences and reactions. Try to remember these, but do not analyse them yet.
(d) Count down from five to one. Each number might form the image of a solid object on your mental screen. Be satisfied that you have a genuine perception of a number before counting downwards. This can take anything from ten seconds to three minutes. Each time that you do count down breathe out deeply. (When you come to do this, you may find that your breathing has been regular and shallow. This is a sign of deep rest of the body.) Breathing deeply while you count down will do two things: first, it will send the body to a deeper state of rest, which is good because it is easier to lose awareness of the body when it is relaxed; second, it will set up an association between the five deep breaths and your brain activity, so that the five deep breaths come to act as a trigger which lowers your brain activity towards alpha levels. The most important thing is to keep your conscious mind active but controlled - this is the state of controlled awareness which we shall encounter many times in psychic work. Try going deeper by counting from fifty or one hundred to one. You may be able to feel the deepening of your state of mind. Practise visualization.

8. After a time, when you are happy with your achievements, come back to normal levels of mind by repeating these phrases mentally: 'I will feel much, much better each time I go down to the alpha level and I will keep control of the images I create. I am now coming back up to normal levels of mind by counting from one to ten. As I do so, I will have no headache or feeling of discomfort of any kind. I want to open my eyes, and I will be able to open my eyes, wide bright and clear.' Count slowly from one to ten. Do not rush it!
As you come back to a normal level of mind, notice how awareness of your body gradually returns. If you are still deep by the count of five, gently move your arms. Flex them, clench the hands and stretch the arms upwards. Then breathe out deeply and enjoy the feelings of stretching each part of the body. When you reach ten, stand up slowly and open your eyes. You may find that it takes a little while to come back to normal awareness, so do not immediately jump off the chair and rush about. Take your time.

Using the exercise for psychic work

The enjoyable feelings of relaxation will help you to recover from the stresses of the day. However, the exercise does more than that. The gradual development of mental imagery is aided by the relaxation to the point where you function in alpha. You will know that you have achieved this when you can relax quickly and control your visualization. For most people, this takes about four weeks. And then you are ready to try psychic work! There are two ways you can do this:

1. By using two fifteen-minute periods of visualization each day to achieve some objective (healing, ESP, obtaining your goals and desires, problem solving, or indeed anything you wish to try). Full details of the methods of these techniques are included in the relevant chapters.

2. By using the five deep breaths to trigger an alpha state which you can use at any time of the day for ESP, dowsing, divination, PK and other techniques.
The effectiveness of the five deep breaths as a trigger depends upon its continued association with the alpha state. So go through the full relaxation and visualization exercise fairly regularly - at least once a day - even if you are not using it for healing or some other specific objective. If you do not have a special objective, simply go through the full. exercise and mentally repeat statements like: 'I am relaxing completely and all stress and tension is going away completely.' At some point during this exercise, make sure you count down from five to one, breathing out each time you repeat a number.

Many books claim that it is impossible to stay in alpha with your eyes open. This is quite wrong. For one thing, we have seen that ten per cent of population spend a great deal of their time in alpha naturally. And secondly, scientific research has shown that people m practise Buddhism, meditation, The Silva Method, or visualization all develop prolonged alpha during the day. Of course it all takes time.

You may find you can work psychically with the eyes open. Whether or not you can do this depends upon both you and the technique are using. With some techniques - divination and dowsing, example - you have to keep your eyes open. The key to success here is being in alpha and being able to direct your attention inwards while forming a suitable mental image or question directed towards what you wish to achieve. Other techniques such as healing are best done with the eyes closed. Details can be found in the relevant section of this website.

This is not to suggest that every psychic technique depends on visualization. For example, divining or dowsing with the I Ching is conducted while you think of the question you want answered.

In later sections of the website we examine how you try many psychic techniques, from dowsing through to telepathy.

20 Feng Shui Tips

1. When purchasing land ensure the plot is a rectangle or square as they allow Qi to be distributed evenly. Another shape that is lucky is one that is narrow at the front and widens at the rear.

2. Do not live near factories, power plants or electrical cables.

3. Living near hospitals, respite centers and nursing homes is a constant reminder of illness.

4. Do not buy a terrace or rectangular shaped building that has a swimming pool in the west. Choose one that has a pool in the East and Southwest directions.

5. Make sure that there are no large trees or power poles opposite your front door as they block beneficial Qi entering your home.

6. Stand at your front door looking outward and observe if there are any arrows pointed at your door.

7. Do not have plants that are in poor condition as they represent death.

8. Do not place a mirror opposite your front door as you may invite other people's bad luck into your home.

9. Do not have a blank wall opposite your front door. Decorate the area with inviting furniture and objects.


10. Do not hang Bagua mirrors inside any building as they should only be used externally in extreme cases where there is Sha Qi entering your building.

11. If you have large square pillars in your home soften them by using plants and objects of art.

12. Overhead beams in a home can push down on your personal Qi. Paint them the same colour as the ceiling and cover with flowing material.

13. If you sit at a desk with your back to a window keep the blinds or curtains closed to give the impression that you have a solid wall behind you.

14. Qi will circulate through your home easily if it is neat and clutter free.

15. If the stove is the first thing that you see when you enter your home this is considered bad Feng Shui. A stove has a fire nature, which can be irritating to you. Also seeing a kitchen first may make you think of food.

16. Do not gossip or say negative things about others as these create negative energy around your home.

17. When you move into a new building burn Sandalwood incense as it will clear the environment of negative Sha.

18. When moving into a new home purchase new pillows and bed linen to create sweet dreams.

19. Be compassionate and kind to others as Heaven has eyes and sees all. You will be rewarded for all your efforts.

20. Remember to bring Feng Shui into your life not have Feng Shui be your life.

Feng Shui Home - How to Get Started with Feng Shui - Feng Shui Basics

Master the 7 Basic Steps of Feng Shui

Getting started with feng shui can be easy when you start with the feng shui basics and gradually move on to the more complex feng shui levels. To help you get started, here are some helpful feng shui steps for beginners:

1.Clear Out your Clutter, get rid of everything you do not love. Clutter Clearing is a time and energy consuming process that will feel like therapy, but it will help you "lighten up the load", so to speak. Do not skip this step, as it is an essential one in creating a harmonious, clear energy in your space.

2.Have Good Quality Air and Good Quality Light in your space - these two crucial elements are very important for good Chi, or energy.
Open the windows often, introduce air-purifying plants or use an air-purifier. Allow as much natural light as possible into your space, and consider using full-spectrum lights.

3.Define the Ba-Gua of your space by using the feng shui compass. You will find out which areas of your space are connected to specific areas of your life by looking at your Ba-Gua. For example, Southeast area is connected to the flow of abundance in your life.

4.Study the Five Elements Feng Shui Theory to help you balance all the feng shui five elements in your home, as well as strengthen specific elements in specific areas. For example, if you are working on attracting more Abundance, you will introduce the feng shui element of Wood, as well as the Water element into the Southeast area of your space.

5.Find out your Feng Shui Birth Element and create your environment to support your own personal feng shui element. For example, if your own element is Fire, you would introduce the expressions of Fire, as well as Wood element, as Wood feeds the Fire in the feng shui relationship of the five elements.

6.Find your Kua Number and position yourself so that you benefit throughout the day from your best directions. Adjust the position of your bed, your home office, dining, etc. For example, if your Kua number is 1, you would do your best to face one of the following directions: Southeast, East, South, and North.

7.Always be mindful of the state of your home and how the energy in your home influences your well-being. Make a habit of paying close attention to the so-called "triangle" that is deeply connected to your health - your bedroom, your bathroom and your kitchen. Nothing is static in the world of energy, be wise and keep your house happy.After you have mastered these seven basic steps, you can explore the deeper levels of feng shui, such as, for example, the flying star school of feng shui, and others.