Forums IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ Paraliminals, Paraliminal Resets, Paraliminal Walkabouts, Natural Brilliance, Sonic Access anyone w/successful results w/paraliminal tapes please reply..I also need some advice

Ok i wanna hear from people that these tapes (especially the anxiety-free ones) have worked for you. I want to be sure im not wasting my time w/ this. I am using the anxiety free/fear free tapes to help me with my horrible phobia of balloons, and i want to know maybe how many times i should listen to them, or any advice on how they could work better and more efficiently for me. I also want to know how i can tell if they are working Thanks!

You should notice favorable results when you listen to the tape once the night before a day when you will experience "balloons."

Then listen again the night before the next time for reinforcement. A few times ought to do it.

If it is a severe phobia, then follow the instructions that come with the tape which says to listen to the tape once a day, alternating Sides A and B, for eight days.

Anxiety-Free has very high customer satisfaction. Go for it. If you don't get the results you want, post a message here, call for a coach, or return the tape for a refund.

There are also stories about the tape in the Paraliminal section.

Hi Sam

I prefer side B of Anxiety-free. Side B is like a healing session, where your older wiser self comforts the younger you that first "sensitized" you to, in your case balloons. But it's not only a healing session. You actually imagine yourself going into the future situation with "more choice" concerning the object of your fear.I feel very refreshed after Side B. I love side B. One way I gauge whether a tape has worked during a session, is if I feel a sense of something being lifted off me, like a weight being lifted off. And obviously you can tell by being exposed to the object of your past fear.

Kind Regards.

[This message has been edited by Grant (edited April 20, 2001).]

Hi,

While we are on the subject here can anyone suggest how to use these anxiety tapes for generalized anxiety. Most of my fears are not about specific "triggered" things but more fear of rejection, of being found out, of death kind of things. In other words more of a chronic tension that I walk around with, not necessarily set off by anything in particuliar, though I do have some of those as well.. Thank you, Harry

Hi Harry

Your fears are still identifiable, they don't have to be fears of a physical object to use the tape successfully. Paul asks on side B to know "That signal" the stimulus which causes you to mistakenly use your imagination in a self-defeating way to create uncontrolled fear. "That signal" could be just a thought of a possible future event. For example with fear of rejection, the thought of a future possible event could be "They won't like me" with accompanied imaginings, or "I'll be a problem for them to have around" with accompanied imaginings. Or in the case of being found out if you have a certain secret, the thought of the future possible event would be "Oh dear, they're gonna find out" with imaginings. "That signal" is different for all people, it is the very first stimulus, which could be a thought, which then triggers fear and unrealistic, self-defeating thoughts.

Hope this helps Harry.

Kind regards.

Thanks so much for your insightful response Grant. I will try those things, however i think that a lot of my fears are just plain out of sight. I have learned over many years to subjugate them and probably to even avoid the kind of situations which exacerbate them. I walk around with my shoulders hunched and my body tight in an effort to stave them off. i know of their existence mainly by the symptoms they produce. The anxiety is more or less chronic and therefore hard to nail down to a certain trigger. It seems that if the tapes are going to work subconsciously, then the subconscious ought to be able to decide what the problem is and not have to depend on my confused conscious mind to provide it with a "signal" in order to use the tapes.

Having said all of that, there still are, of course, many fears that I know are triggered and I will make an effort to begin to notice these triggers and use them in the manner you suggested. Once again, thank you so much for your time and knowledge.

...Warmly, Harry

Dear Harry:

If I may contribute a few insights and suggestions from my personal experience and research:

I have found that paraliminal tapes are great for relaxing while listening to a tape, but for generalized anxiety you will need something more: a "practice" that you take with you into your normal activities. This could (and probably should) take place on two fronts: the cognitive (i.e., the thoughts that you are running which keep triggering and reinforcing the anxiety) and the kinesthetic (i.e., the physical postures and tensions which not only express but also perpetuate the anxiety).

It would be a mistake to think of anxious thoughts and/or physical components (hunching your shoulders, etc.) as merely "symptoms" of anxiety. They are, in fact, an integral part of the anxiety PROCESS--and as such can also be a key to interrupting and changing that process.

There are many cognitive "tools" which can be used--such as thought-stopping or saying (mentally) "STOP!" or "CANCEL" when you catch yourself running anxious thoughts--to help you to become more aware (and to get back control) of the thinking processes which are now running amok and creating anxiety for you.

There are also many physical "practices" you can do--from taking a deep breath and consciously relaxing every time you feel yourself breathing tensely and shallowly (N.B., the practice of breath awareness is, in itself, an unbelievably powerful tool) to consciously relaxing your shoulders every time you notice that they are tense.

Believe it or not, these practices can quickly make an enormous difference (if consistently applied) in your level of anxiety. And as anxiety goes down, personal efficacy and functioning go up.

It may also help you to take the relaxed feeling you get from listening to the paraliminal tapes (assuming that they "zonk" you the way they do nearly everyone else), and "map" it over onto more of your ordinary waking activity. Remember how that feeling of mental and physical relaxation FEELS [now I sound like Paul, talking about how a feeling feels, LOL], and consciously relax (both mentally and physically) while recalling it--as often as you can remember to do so--throughout your day.

Of course there are many books on these subjects, and many practices (ranging from simple to very complex and esoteric) you can use--but NOTHING will override or offset what you are continually doing (running anxious thoughts, physically tensing up, etc.) on a moment-to moment basis to generate and perpetuate anxiety. Only YOU, with your ongoing awareness, intention and application, can change this process--and you CAN do it. It is just a matter of doing it until it becomes more habitual than the self-torment that is currently your habitual behavior.

Remember, I speak from personal experience here. I experienced extreme physical and emotional abuse for the first 19 years of my life, which instilled incredible anxiety and all the discomfort and dysfunction that go with it. So I am sharing what works for me, in hopes that it will save you a lot of running around looking for solutions, and help you to start making progress on your own--beginning as soon as you start applying it.

Sure, there are ancillary tools (tapes, therapies, etc.) but none of these will relieve you of the necessity of practicing new behaviors [perhaps you would find the paraliminal tape New Behavior Generator helpful here, if you are willing to identify and work with your own mental and physical "anxious" behaviors] during your ordinary activities.

The good news is, you don't have to dig up all the why's and wherefore's of anxiety to solve the problem. Insight is always nice, but only you can change the behaviors (and thus the anxiety)--regardless of what trauma may have first instilled them in you.

I hope this will be of help. In any case, best wishes to you in your quest for wholeness and peace of mind.

[This message has been edited by shinsei (edited April 24, 2001).]

Wow Shinsei, I feel like you should be sending me a bill for all the thoughtful and sage suggestions you have offered. I know that I will refer back to them often. I actually am working hard at awareness, especially of the physical feelings. I have been doing the Sedona Method, as well as Focusing, both feeling based. Also I've just finished "The Power of Now", by Eckhart Tolle and have been reinspired to work at being present, which as you have said is probably the real solution to so many of our problems. It is a hard one to remember though, especially as our minds seem to so enjoy picking our difficulties to pieces rather than just acknowledging how they feel.

I like your suggestion to try and carry the feelings that the tapes generate along with me. Yes, they zonk me out as well. Thank you so much for sharing some of your own story. That it has worked for you, despite such a difficult history gives me hope and inspiration. Knowing that it has worked for others is essential for me to maintain the discipline it takes to follow this kind of thing through. I fully intend to follow your advice and I thank you so much for taking the time to offer it. Warm regards....Harry

Dear Harry:

Your reply made my day. Seems it is more than coincidence that I, too, just finished reading The Power of Now... and share your interest (although I've never purchased the course) in The Sedona Method and similar practices (I have read Patricia Carrington's book, Releasing, which outlines the basic techniques--along with many other related books and articles).

This stuff DOES work; the difficulty is that the moment we lose present-moment awareness, the old conditioned patterns take over (think of it as going on auto-pilot). That conditioning has considerable momentum, due to all the practice we have given it (even if unconsciously and unwillingly), so it is reasonable to assume that we may need to devote substantial time and repetition to changing that behavioral momentum (to a direction which serves us better).

For me, the key (as Eckhart Tolle puts it so well) is this: as soon as you become conscious in the present, YOU ARE FREE. Conditioning only operates when you are not present. Keep taking yourself OFF "auto-pilot," and you will experience larger and larger intervals of freedom.

One gentle hint from LO-O-O-NG experience, regarding your statement that "Knowing that it has worked for others is essential for me to maintain the discipline it takes to follow this kind of thing through. I fully intend..." If you are like me, you already have a long history of beating yourself up over "failures" to perform up to your own standards, to exercise enough "discipline," and to do as you "intend." Therefore, this attitude (even though well-motivated) can trip you up--watch out!

Those negative associations can send you right back into unconsciousness (as Tolle defines it), thus setting you up for more "failure." That is likely to discourage you from continuing your practice.

Also, "intending" (as I continually remind myself) is projecting into the future and hence causes you to immediately lose your Presence! What a funny paradox: as soon as we resolve to "always stay present" or even to "practice being present," we've already LOST it! [This insight could be frustrating, but I recommend a good old "zen koan" type laugh at this point.]

When we catch ourselves not-present (having once again fallen asleep at the wheel, so to speak), let us be gentle, even humorous, in our approach to coming back into the Present. After all, even a few moments of self-berating are that many moments spent in the past instead of the Present! And, in the interests of good behavioral science, we should make "becoming conscious" (even of just having been UNconscious) as pleasant and reinforcing as possible. Think of it as a game, if you will--a game that is a lot more fun and self-honoring than most of the games you've been playing with your awareness up to this point.

One more note: often, when one is right on the brink of making a real inner change, a mysterious "wall" of resistance (to the practice that is causing the change) seems to appear. If this happens--often it takes the form of cynicism, malaise, apathy, etc.--I hope that you will remember to greet it as a sign of progress and persist in your practice despite a (possibly strong) disinclination to do so. But that's in the future; the best insurance that you will be Present THEN is to be here NOW. Have fun!

Again, best wishes to you in Waking Up!

[This message has been edited by shinsei (edited April 26, 2001).]

Hi Shinsei,

So when is your book coming out? Put me on the list, I'd like to be one of the first to buy it.

I hear what you are saying, loud and clear. When I say discipline, what I mean, I guess is, just more of the ability to remember to practice. It is so easy to just forget to do it and, as you mentioned, this forgetting could just be resistance in disguise. I am just now beginning to recognize this process. Resistance, to me, always seemed like it would be a "no, I won't do it kind of thing". For me, it seems, it manifests in more of a forgetting, or moving on to something else, or just feeling depressed and thinking this will never work, who am I fooling.

When I read people like Tolle or about your own experiences it helps me stay the course and not feel like I am just making it up. My whole life I have tried to "fix" the way I am and be the way I think worthy people are. I have had very little success. This kind of tack we are speaking of gives up on all of that, but my ego sabotages me by saying "well sure, you are only trying this because you can't measure up in the real world. You are just bailing out." So I need and relish the sustenance to persevere that I receive from others who have abandoned the way of the ego with success. I know at some point I have to just rely on myself, but at this point I am relying on myself to choose wise people like yourself to listen to and to benefit from their experience.

You don't really need the tape set to do Sedona as you seem to realize. It is an extremely simple process, at least mechanically. I enjoy the tapes, because they are like practice sessions and keep me in the habit of doing it. They are also very supportive, which is valuable to me. I am really impressed with the Focusing techinque devised by Gendlin. I try to do that in a session kind of thing, while Sedona I can do more on the fly. God,I sound like this is my career or something, but in reality, I talk about it more than I do it.

My favorite Tolle quote is "Every time you realize you have not been present, you become present." Simple, but it just gives the whole thing the optimistic, fun kind of spin you speak of. I also like when he says being judgmental of your thoughts is just letting ego in the back door. How true!

Be well, Harry