It's so important to be realistic about personal growth programs, no matter how convincing their material is. I don't think skepticism is necessary, but a healthy level of critical thinking is likely to save anyone alot of time and alot of money when it comes to these sorts of programs.
I've just bought Awakening Prologue and I've been using it for only a few days. I had it recommended by three people independently of each other before I really started to look into it for myself, and once I did, I read over as much material as I could get my hands on before I handed over the cash. From what I know about the brain, and what I understand about meditation, I have summised that Centerpointe are really leaders in the field. I truly believe that I've bought the best product of its kind. I've persevered with a few different kinds of meditation in the past, finding that a Buddhist mantra type meditation was the most effective for me. I know when meditation is 'working' when I feel a sense of elation, almost a literal, physical upliftment. My body lightens, feeling almost like a balloon, and I tend to see light in front of my eyes. Where I only got flashes of this feeling with mantra meditation in the midst of hours of difficult concentration and relative discomfort, I have to say that the Awakening Prologue CD's get me there almost instantly, and I'm not even started with the Immersion Phase yet. Very impressive stuff.
However, like most people on the forum evidently, I'm not too impressed with the marketing strategy Centerpointe have used and continue to use, though its clear that it works since the company continues to expand. I'm also not impressed with the list of benefits attributed to Holosync technology: increased happiness, prosperity, capacity for intimacy, etc... While I agree that meditation can help to make all of these potentials real, meditation is not a formulaic guarantor to 'success'. Rather, I think its something that needs to be humbly viewed as a part of an entire way of living. Periods of deep relaxation are useless unless you decide to really do something with the active time. Reaching theta and delta states is useless if you continue to choose dysfunctional paths, beat yourself up, talk yourself down, etc... Where I believe, and have experienced, that Holosync technology makes 'meditation' far easier, the idea that it's 'The End': the one and only program required for healing and betterment, is a crock. There IS no one and only program, there's no answer, there are only ever tools: tools that need to be tried and tested to see what works best.
I'm also in partial agreement about how much it costs to do the program: given the cost to the company, the price is utterly exorbitant. A bit of an ethical quandary, really. My solution is that once I'm done with Awakening Prologue, I'm going to sell it to a friend for slightly cheaper, who'll sell it on once she's finished, and we'll do the same with the rest of the program. It could ultimately go on forever! (I'm unsure about how the higher levels work, with the personalised affirmations etc...? So unsure about whether we could puchase the whole program in this way, but I like the idea of it) Despite the quandary, I think its important to keep in mind that Centerpointe are in a tricky market, especially now that its so easy to simply burn a CD and pass it on. This, and the rather specialised market, means that Centerpointe probably aren't making quite the billions we think they are, though there's still no real excuse for charging so much.
For the moment I'm just enjoying it, and learning everything I can. Bit concerned about the new thread re: beta brain waves and brain frying, etc... though!!!!
