I have an interest in incorporating new technologies and methods coming out of the New Science (and new world view based on that science) into my work. Most traditional methods of psychotherapy came out of a world view based on scientific discoveries of the 19th century. It is time for psychology and psychotherapy to take advantage of the new ways of thinking that are part of the new world view of the New Science of the past (and current) century. 

A particularly important new area is known as Energy Psychology. It actually is based on the old and the new: the old coming from the old oriental knowledge of the body's subtle energy system, the acupuncture meridian system, and the new from recent Western scientific thought.  One might call these "acupressure point tapping methods" because they usually involve stimulating acupressure points by tapping them lightly as one focuses on emotional issues or negative beliefs.  These methods have a lot of applications and I am finding them very useful to clients in lowering the intensity of painful emotional states and in replacing negative beliefs and thinking with positive beliefs.  I like that these methods can be used by clients themselves to work on issues.  There are also ways a skilled practioner can use these methods with clients in the office to address problems they might miss or not be able to resolve on their own.

Two of these new technques are Thought Field Therapy (TFT) and Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT). I am learning more about these methods and using them with my clients in conjunction with EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Re-processing), and finding new ways to apply them.

For a summary of research on Energy Psychology as of February 2005, visit this webpage:

http://www.innersource.net/energy_psych/epi_research.htm

Another area that I am learning about is the area of brain entrainment. While it is not usually listed with other techniques in the area of Energy Psychology, it, too, is an energy based system. Brainwave entrainment uses methods such as binaural beat technology to shift the predominate energy wave frequency of the brain. Two forms of this method are Holosync and Hemi-sync. Hemi-sync is a product of the Monroe Institute and Holosync is produced by Centerpointe Research.

I have been using the Holosync method to see if it works for me.  I proceeded through the program to Awakening Level IV level. I can report as of  August 2004 that, to my disappointment, I have not been aware of positive benefits (those listed by Centerpointe Res.) that I can attribute to Holosync. I aknowledge that it is difficult to assess this because I have used several learning and personal growth methods, sometimes at the same time.  As Joe Mercola, www.mercola.com, has pointed out, this Centerpointe Holosync program is very expensive compared to its competitors (20 or 30 times more expensive, for example, than the Insight and Focus CD's that Mercola describes on his website).  The Holosync program is also very time consuming, involving meditating an hour a day with their CD and progressing through a series of CD's that takes years.  A lot of things could be accomplished if one devoted an hour a day to it.  I have not had personal experience with the Insight and Focus products described on Joe Mercola's website.

I am interested in working with those of you who are interested in combining psychotherapy/counseling or personal coaching with brainwave entrainment andbinaural beat technologies...thereby combining these two methods in order to maximize the potential for your healing and personal growth experience.  Please give me a call (925-943-1137) if you would like to do this kind of work together. It is an exciting new field and I would love to share it with you.

My interest in brain entrainment is part of a desire to put together ways to help people change core beliefs and patterns of thinking that are often behind the problems and issues that are causing them suffering. These beliefs and thoughts are largely subconconscious and unconscious and originate in childhood.  I use  EMDR, EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques), Gendlin's Focusing technique, Brain Entrainment methods, cognitive-behavioral, and psychodynamic techniques as methods to help clients change negative unconscious beliefs and negative thought patterns. Currently, I find the acupressure point taping methods like EFT one of the more useful methods in this area.

I have also used the technique of "Dialogue with the Inner Child." In some cases I have combined this with Bilateral Stimulation Processing from EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and ReProcessing). I believe there is a good chance the brain stimulation from EMDR is strengthening the inner dialogue work. The Dialogue with Inner Child method is very useful for many people. It allows you to address the needs of your inner child (the child part of you in your psyche) which is often very unconsciously reactive to situations in your life. It is often this child part that leads to the symptoms and feelings that are so distressing. Through this method you can re-parent your child (provide good parenting that meets the child's needs), and thereby reduce the symptoms and emotional distress you experience. At the same time the adult part of you is strengthened and freed to act maturely in your life. I am finding many patients are helped greatly by this method. (Updated: 8-8-04.)

HELLINGER FAMILY CONSTELLATION WORK:  I have been learning about some other new methods of healing, learning and personal growth. One of these methods is FAMILY CONSTELLATION work as created by Bert Hellinger of Germany. This method is difficult to describe briefly and is best known by experiencing it. It is very popular in Europe. Not all of what it does fits into the world view that has been predominant in western culture. I see this family constellation work as another method that fits more into the emerging paradigm and world view that is now coming forth. This form of FAMILY CONSTELLATION work allows people to heal parts of themselves that often deeply affect them but are hidden. These parts often have to do with our relationships to our relatives in past generations, like our grandparents, great grandparents and their families. This work allows us to bring these issues to light and heal them and in the process not only heal our relationship with our deceased relatives, but to help heal our relatives in their place in the world of spirit. That may be difficult to believe and understand for someone still living with the old world view. This method looks to have potential for bringing healing and reducing violence in our world. My hope is that I can work together with other health care and coaching professionals to bring this work to you, to our clients.

If you are interested in doing Family Constellation work and you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact:  Nico Eichlseder at nicoe@earthlink.net or (415) 383-9295.

As I mentioned above, I am interested in methods of brainwave entrainment. If you have information or personal experience with this method, I would be interested in talking/communicating with you. If you are already using this technology and want psychotherapy, I would be glad to work with you.[text updated 1-7-04]

I would like to see us create a world  (1)  with peace, cooperation and non-violent conflict resolution between all nations and peoples; (2) that places top priority on creating and maintaining a healthy Earth and its natural ecosystems; (3) where there is social and economic justice for all peoples; and (4) where love, peace, and joy replace pain and suffering. 

In thinking about who to vote for in political elections, you can use the criteria I have listed above to evaluate the candidates and then make your choice. Which candidate shows by his behavior as a politician and government leader that he believes in and is trying to create a world with these four characteristics?

What we can all do is focuses on the kind of world we want, think about it, visualize what it we be like and by placing our energy on it in this way, we will be helping to bring it about. We will be more likely to take actions consistent with this vision and we will support creating this kind of world. We can pray for this kind of world.

May it happen soon! May it be so!

(Updated 11-6-2004.)

TOWARD A PARTICIPATORY WORLD VIEW:

GREGORY BATESON:
"If you put God outside and set him vis-a-vis his creation, and if you have the idea that you are created in his image, you will logically and naturally see yourself as outside and against things around you. And as you arrogate all mind to yourself, you will see the world around you as mindless and therefore as not entitled to moral or ethical consideration. The environment will be yours to exploit...

If this is your estimate of your relation to nature and you have an advanced technology, your likelihood of survival will be that of a snowball in hell. You will die either of the toxic by-products of your own hat, or, simply, of overpopulation and over-grazing."
--Bateson.G. 1972. STEPS TO AN ECOLOGY OF MIND. San Francisco: Chandler. p. 462.

THOMAS BERRY:
"There is a single, integral community of the earth that includes all its component members, whether human or other than human. In this community, every being has its own role to fulfill, its own dignity, its own inner spontaneity. Every being has its own voice. Every being declares itself to the entire universe. Every being enters into communion with other beings. This capacity for relatedness, for presence to other beings, for spontaneity in action, is a capacity possessed by every being throughout the entire universe."
--Berry, T. 1999. THE GREAT WORK: OUR WAY INTO THE FUTURE. New York: Bell Tower. p. 4.

Patients have a choice each time they seek a medical service and they can switch from plan to another. Both patient and health professional can choose which side of the plan they want each time a patient seeks service.

A unique feature of the plan is called resource balancing.  If the Standard side of the plan becomes too bureacratic and/or reimbursement unsatisfactory, patients and providers may chose the Independent side.  If too many patients and providers leave the Standard side, reimbursements are raised on this side and the subsidy on the Independent side is lowered.  For example, the Standard size reimbursement could be raised 5% while the payment on the Independent side is lowered from 85% to 80%. This supports the Standard side, makes improvement of quality possible, and attracts patients and providers back to the Standard side.

This is a brief summary that serves to introduce you to this proposal. It is considered an evolving proposal at this time and when weaknesses are identified, the proposal will be modified. For more information, see the website www.PatientChoiceSystem.com

(posted 11-1-2003)

OTHER WAYS TO HAVE QUALITY HEALTH CARE

In order to have quality health care with reasonable costs we need to return the power of health care decisions back to the health care recipient and the health care professional. When health insurance companies created the managed care concept of health care, they did great damage to our health care system by taking power from health care recipients and their doctors and healers. They created costly bureaucracies that attempted to manage health care delivery and took power away from you and me to make our own health care decisions. To have quality health care we need to return that decision making power to the recipient of health care so you can make decisions about our health care in consultation with your doctor and healers. You need to be in the position to make the decisions about your health care and how your money is spent.

What can you do now? You can begin to make changes to get the health care decisions out of the hands of your employer and insurance companies and into your hands. One step you can take is to create your own health care savings plan. Start a savings account or plan where you put money that is to be used for your health care needs. In this way, YOU have control over how this money is spent. Put whatever amount you decide upon in a savings account (or choose a certain amount each month until you reach your desired amount). Second, businesses and employers are starting to offer health care savings plans. One form of this is called "defined contribution," taking its name from the retirement plan with that name. Place whatever amount you choose in a health care savings plan sponsored by your employer. In this way you have a two-tiered health care savings plan. You pay for your health care out of these two accounts.

For major and catastrophic health care needs and expenses, have an indemnity insurance plan that allows you to choose any doctor, health care professional, or healer so you make the choices about your health care. This is an emergency, back up plan, for very major health care needs and expenses. If your needs have exhausted your health care savings plans, you turn to your indemnity insurance, which in effect will have a large deductible.

This is how you can get started in creating a health care plan that puts you in charge of your health care. Tell your employer you do not want them making your health care decisions and you do not want insurance companies making those decisions. Tell them you want to make the decisions about your health care. Tell your government representatives that you want a plan where non-profit insurance companies pay a fixed dollar reimbursement for each visit along with a sliding scale co-pay that you negotiate with your health care professional. Tell them that you and your health care professionals must retain decision-making power in health treatment, not insurance companies, employers, or government bureaucracies. Tell your employer that you want to take control of your own health care. You no longer want them involved in your health care decisions: what kind of benefits you get, what kind of treatment and what kind of plan. You want these choices to be your choices. Tell you employer you want the insurance company to pay a flat rate for each visit to the health care professional of your choice and you will work out the co-pay with the doctor you are seeing.

It is possible to have quality health care and control costs if we have a system that places those decisions in the hands of the person receiving health care services.

(posted 10-22-2001)

HOW WE CAN PROTECT THE PRIVACY OF OUR MEDICAL INFORMATION

The new HIPPA statute and regulations that went into effect earlier this year actually reduced the privacy of our medical information while sounding like it increased our privacy rights. For more information visit the website of The National Coalition of Mental Health Professionals and Consumers, Inc. at www/TheNationalCoalition.org.

The Coalition and other organizations are part of a lawsuit that attempts to correct this invasion of our privacy rights. It is Citizens for Health v. Thompson (Civil No. 03-2267), pending in the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Your financial support is needed to help in this effort. Donations can be made to NCMHPC and designated for "The Privacy Legal Defense Fund."  Send to : NCMHPC, Box 438, Commack, N.Y. 11725.  Phone 631-424-5232. Website: http//www.thenationalcoalition.org/

(Posted 11-1-2003)

"THOUGHTS IN THE PRESENCE OF FEAR"
by Wendell Barry


The time will soon come when we will not be able to remember the horrors of September 11 without remembering also the unquestioning techological and economic optimism that ended on that day.
II.This optimism rested on the proposition that we were living in a "new world order" and a "new economy" that would "grow" on and on, bringing a prosperity of which every new increment would be "unprecendented."
III. The dominant politicians, corporate officers, and investors who believed this proposition did not acknowledge that the prosperity was limited to a tiny percent of the world's people, and to an every smaller number of people even in the United States; that it was founded upon the oppressive labor of poor people all over the world; and that its ecological costs increasingly threatened all life, including the lives of the supposedly prosperous.
IV. The "developed" nations had given to the "free market" the status of a god, and were sacrificing to it their farmers, farmlands, and communities, their forests, wetlands, and prairies, their ecosystems and watersheds. They had accepted universal pollution and global warming as normal costs of doing business.
V. There was, as a consequence, a growing worldwide effort on behalf of economic decentralization, economic justice, and ecological responsibility. We must recognized that the events of September 11 make this effor more necessary than every. We citizens of the industrial countries must continue the labor of self-criticism and self-correction. We must recognize our mistakes.
VI. The paramount doctrine of the economic and technological euphoria of recent decades has been that everything depends on innovation. It was understood as desirable, and even necessary, that we should go on from one technological innovation to the next, which would cause the economy to "grow" and make everything better and better. This of course implied at every point a hatred of the past, of all innovations, whatever their value might have been, were discounted as of no value at all.
VII. We did not anticipate anything like what has now hapened. We did not foresee that all our sequence of innovations might be at once overridden by a greater one: the invention of a new kind of war that would turn our previous innovations against us, discovering and exploiting the debits and the dangers that we had ignored. We never considered the possibility that we might be trapped in the webwork of communication and transport that was supposed to make us free.
VIII. Nor did we foresee that the weaponry and the war science that we marketed and taught to the world would become available, not just to recognized national governments, which possess so uncannnily the power to legitimate large-scale violence, but also to "rogue nations," dissident or fanatical groups and individuals-whose violence, though never worse than that of nations, is judged by the nations to be illegitimate.
IX. We had accepted uncritically the belief that technology is only good; that it cannot serve evil as well as good; that it cannot serve our eneimies as well as ourselves; that it coannot be used to destroy what is good,including our homelands and our lives.
X.We had accepted too the corollary belief that an economy (either as a money economy or as a life-support system) that is global in extent, technologically complex, and centralized is invulnerable to terrorism, sabotage, or war, and that it is protectable by "national defense."
XI. We now have a clear, inescapable choice that we must make. We can continue to promote a global economic system of unlimited "free trade" corporations, held together by long and highly vulnerable lines of communication and supply, but now recognizing that such a system will have to be protected by a hugely expensive police force that will be worldwide, whether maintained by one nation or several or all, and that such a police force will be effective precisely to the extent that it oversways the freedom and privacy of the citizens of every nation.
XII. Or we can promote a decentralized world economy which would have the aim of assuring to every nation and region a local self-sufficiency in life-supporting goods. This would not eliminate international trade, but it would tend toward a trade in surpluses after local needs had been met.
XIII. One of the gravest dangers to us now, second only to further terrorist attacks against our people, is that we will attempt to go on as before with the corporate program of global "free trade," whatever the cost in freedom and civil rights, without self-questioning or self-criticism or public debate.
XIV. This is why the substitution of rhetoric for thought, always a temptation in a national crisis, must be resisted by officials and citizens alike. It is hard for ordinary citizens to know what is actually happening in Washington in a time of such great trouble; for we all know, serious and difficult thought may be taking place there. But the talk that we are hearing from politicians, bureaucrats, and commentators has so far tended to reduce the complex problems now facing us to issues of unity,security, normality, and retaliation.
XV. National self-righteousness, like personal self-righteousness, is a mistake. It is misleading. It is a sign of weakness. Any war that we may make now against terrorism will come as a new installment in a history of war in which we have fully participated. We are not innocent of making war against civilian populations. The modern doctrine of such warfare was set forth and enacted by General William Tecumseh Sherman, who held that a civilian populaton could be declared guilty and rightly subjected to military punishment. We have never repudiated that doctrine.
XVI. It is a mistake also-as events since September 11 have shown-to suppose that a government can promote and participate in a global economy and at the same time act exclusively in its own interest by abrogating its international treaties and standing apart from international cooperation on moral issues.
XVII. And surely, in our country, under our Constitution, it is a fundmental error to suppose that any crisis or emergency can justify any form of political oppression. Since September 11, far too many public voices have presumed to "speak for us" in saying that Americans will gladly accept a reduction of freedom in exchange for greater "security". Some would, maybe. But some others would accept a reduction in security (and in global trade) far more willingly than they would accept any abridgement of our Constitutional rights.
XVIII. In a time such as this, when we have been seriously and most cruelly hurt by those who hate us, and when we must consider ourselves to be gravely threatened by those same people, it is hard to speak of the ways of peace and to remember that Christ enjoined us to love our enemies, but this is no less necessary for being difficult.
XIX. Even now we dare not forget that since the attack of Pearl Harbor-to which the present attack has been often and not usefully compared-we humans have suffered an almost uninterrupted sequence of wars, none of which has brought peace or made us more peaceable.
XX. The aim and result of war necessarily is not peace but victory, and any victory won by violence necessarily justifies the violence that won it and leads to further violence. If we are serious about innovation, must we not conclude that we need something new to replace our perpetual "war to end war."
XXI. What leads to peace is not violence but peaceableness, which is not passivity, but an alert, informed, practiced, and active state of being. We should recognize that while we have extravagantly subsidized the means of war, we have almost totally neglected the ways of peaceableness.
We have, for example, several national military academies, but not one peace academy. We have ignored the teachings and the examples of Christ, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and other peaceable leaders. And where we have an inescapable duty to notice also that war is profitable, whereas the means of peaceableness, being cheap or free, make no money.
XXII. The key to peaceableness is continous practice. It is wrong to suppose that we can exploit and impoverish the poorer countries, while arming them and instructing them in the newest means of war, and then reasonably expect them to be peaceable.
XXIII. WE must not again allow public emotion or public media to caricature our enemies. If our enemies are now to be some nations of Islam, then we should undertake to know those enemies. Our schools should begin to teach the histories, cultures, arts, and language of the Islamic nations. And our leaders should have the humility and the wisdom to ask the reasons some of those people have for hating us.
XXIV. Starting with the economies of food and farming, we should promote at home, and encourage abroad, the ideal of local self-sufficiency. We should recognize that this is the surest, the safest, and the cheapest way for the world to live. We should not countenance the loss or destruction of any local capacity to produce necessary goods.
XXV. We should reconsider and renew and extend our efforts to protect the natural foundations of the human economy: soil, water, and air. We should protect every intact ecosystem and watershed that we have left, and begin restoration of those that have been damaged.
XXVI. The complexity of our present trouble suggests as never before that we need to change our present concept of education. Education is not properly an industry, and its proper use is not to serve industries, neither by job-training nor by industry-subsidized research. It's proper use is to enable citizens to live lives that are economically, politically, socially, and culturally responsible. This cannot be done by gathering or "accessing" wht we now call "information"- which is to say facts without context and therefore without priority. A proper education enables young people to put their lives in order, which means knowing what things are more important than other things; it means putting first things first.
XXVII. The first thing we must begin to teach our children (and learn ourselves) is that we cannot spend and consume endlessly. We have got to learn to save and conserve. We need a "new economy", but one that is founded on thrift and care, on saving and conserving, not on excess and waste. An economy based on waste is inherently and hopelessly violent, and war isits inevitable by-product. We need a peaceable economy.

--POSTED 10-22-01.


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