Jerry was a verbal student with autism. He had a photographic memory that he often used to memorize information about favored movie stars. Jerry was a very social kid and loved to say hello to others throughout the school. He often initiated conversations by providing rote compliments to the person he wished to interact with. When working with him to on academics, it was important to break everything down line by line, otherwise he became overwhelmed and seemingly lost in tangents relating to his personal agenda.
One day, out of the blue, Jerry said to a member of the staff: “Is your husband’s name Gregory Garner?” The staff member said, “No, but that is my father’s name.” Another time the same staffer was working with Jerry and a few other boys in a small group. One of the other students had just been released form the hospital, and they were talking about the hospital he had been in. The staffer then went on to say that there were other hospitals in Milwaukee. Gerry then said, “I know, you went to another hospital on Sunday because your father, Gregory Garner, had a heart stroke on Saturday.” She was taken aback, because it was true that her father Gregory Garner had a heart attack on Saturday and she had gone to visit him in the hospital on Sunday. Jerry provided these unsolicited remarks with others too. He would usually have the names right, but the relationship wrong; he might say brother name when he meant father and so on.
Since he demonstrated this special ability, I wanted to see if he seemed to have some of the abilities of my nonverbal kids, so I randomly put colored blocks behind his head. He could identify all of them. He was also able to send the colors to another student as I had done for him. I was in proximity so I am not sure if that variable had an effect. I then tried it through a seven-foot opaque partition and he was just as successful. Later I found he could also correctly identify colors over the phone, as could several other students in my class. I wondered if it was the intensity of our connection and lack of interfering stimuli from others that allowed for our success over a distance. We were about five miles apart and both using landlines.
Although he was successful when the category was limited; for example, requesting colors, he did not have the ability of my non-verbal students who could type any word or sentence, I deliberately sent to them. I noticed the same need for category by the other verbal students; for example, I would have to specify I was looking for a color, number, or shape.
Lessons I learned from Jerry:
• Some kids are able to give unsolicited information that was not received through ordinary channels.
• Some verbal kids are receptive to thought sending if the information is limited by category: colors, numbers, and shapes. Nonverbal kids do not seem as limited as they can type letter by letter what you send them.
• Some kids are not dependent on proximity control but can receive information through telephone lines.
Some kids can send to other kids if limited by a category.
I have served as a teacher of individuals with autism for 18 years. What they have taught me was to be sure of nothing, and open myself to the extraordinary. Please check our other anecdotes if you are interested in reading more about these remarkable individuals.
Mary Ann Harrington
Photos: The first was taken of the charred hillside along side the road. I snaped the second photo of Richard and Gigi stretching their legs after the long drive.
Remembering and Intuiting Dreams
By Barbara Garcia
In order to intuit your dreams fully, you will need to train your mind to remember them. Strong dream patterns and symbols that are reoccurring are significant intuitive codes that signal your cognitive state. Remembering your dreams can be tricky because the moment you awaken and get out of bed, your dreams fade away.
Catching a good night’s sleep with the use of drugs is not the best way to remember and intuit your dreams. Natural, restful sleep is healthier than drug-induced sleep and allows genuine dream monitoring to occur. Sleep medications not only make you feel groggy when you wake up but also influences night mares and disquieted dreams.
The best way to train your mind to remember your dreams is being aware of the first segment of dream pictures. These occur when you are drifting off. At this moment simply tell yourself that you are aware that you are dreaming. Also tell yourself that you will remember your dreams when you awaken. Do these every night as you fall asleep, mentally repeating these statements over and over as you go deeper into sleep. It is much better than counting sheep or taking a sleeping medication.
It is also a good idea to keep on a regular slumber schedule. Preparation for relaxation may include a warm bath, listening to soothing music, or meditation. Eating meals before bedtime will interfere with your relaxation and sleep program. Alcohol is not recommended nor is smoking.
Keep a journal or tape recorder on your bed stand. You will train your mind to awaken following every dream and jot down your dream, you will be scribbling but that is fine. If you have a tape recorder that is voice activated, then train your mind to verbalize your dreams as you have them. Training on a regular basis, night after night for about a month is all it will take to have control over remembering your dreams. You may even want to go deeper into lucid dreaming later.
Ask a question before retiring and find your answers in your dreams when you are awake. You can do this by analyzing your own dream symbols and keeping a good record. Within about 6 months you will have created your own dream library. Looking at published dream libraries can give you an idea but it is better to intuit the workings of your dream world yourself and not be influenced by someone else’s ideas. For example, I often dream of houses. I also do a lot of inner work; therefore a house in my dream represents my inner world. But to someone else it may actually represent a future home.
The most significant aspect is to be patient and be persistent. You will gradually find it easy to recall your dreams and intuit their meaning.
Alex - The Boy Who Insisted on Facing North
By Mary Ann Harrington
I had the habit of referring to the kids in my class as my angels. Even in that altered realm, Alex seemed a bit more otherworldly. Thus, I referred to him as my “Archangel.” At other times “Wild Man” or “Roadrunner” seemed to suffice. When I first met Alex, he climbed on everything and seemed to prefer to walk on tables.
Unlike many of my students who were hyper-sensitive to sensory input, Alex appeared to be hypo-sensitive. He did not appear to feel his body enough. Each morning, he would run up and down the cafeteria, it appeared to me that he needed to do this to feel his body. Most people interpreted his incessant running as hyper-activity. I interpreted it as hypo-activity.
He was on medicine for hyperactivity, which never quite made sense to me. It appeared to me that his hyperactive movements were needed to feed his hypo-active system. Although medicine temporarily appeared to calm him down, it also appeared to exacerbate his movement disturbances. Often, if Alex improved in one area, he showed decreased function in another. For example, his fine motor movements would improve—he would be able to copy words and pictures—but at the same time he would get stuck executing gross motor patterns; sometimes he could not even put on his coat, or feed himself. I remember him getting stuck on the way to the serving line in the cafeteria or on his way to the bathroom. Usually a slight push would get him started again. It was reminiscent of the scenes in the movie “Awakenings.”
Alex often looked up at the sky as if he were seeing things that were invisible to the rest of us. He seemed totally entranced with whatever it was that caught his attention.
Alex appeared to be controlling himself from outside his body. When required to select correct responses from a field of choices, it was as if his spirit was controlling his body from above as his arms awkwardly reached out to select the correct response without even the quick peripheral sideways glance. He was invariably correct. It was amazing!
In the fall of 2001, right after 9-11, Alex was going through puberty and seemed to take a turn for the worse. His behavior, which was always intriguing, became astonishing and alarming. Alex had always been a compulsive eater. Now, he refused to take in any nutrition. He would bring a favored snack item to his lips and then push it away. Even more frightening, he refused to drink water. Throughout the day, he would run from the room find a position and face north. Often his arms would be at his sides with his palms outstretched similar to what you see in religious statues. At other times after finding his preferred spot he would assume Muslim prayer position on the floor, hands at sides and head bowed forward. Of course, he was always facing north.
Facing north became an obsession. If headed north, Alex walked forward. If headed south, he insisted on walking backward. When headed east or west, he walked sideways, so his eyes were always facing north. When we were on our daily walks through the woods, he adjusted his stance to always insure that he was facing north, turning from side to side as he twisted and turned on the meandering trails. I often thought about it, but I never did attach a compass to his head to see how close to north he was able to maintain.
Another amazing thing Alex did during this time was spontaneously jump up from a seated position, step on the narrow back of a typical classroom chair. As frightening as it was to witness, Alex seemed to know the exact fulcrum point and never once did I witness the chair even slightly tipping.
The situation was obviously out of control. His mother and I, fearful of him not taking in enough liquid amongst other things, had him admitted to the county mental health complex for evaluation. His medication was changed and his newly adopted odd behaviors began to slowly subside. Most importantly, he began to drink and eat again.
Alex eventually became very proficient at using PECS. The first time he really seemed to get it, was in February, the second year he was in my class. It finally clicked that if he gave me the picture of the candy heart, he would actually get a candy heart. Soon after that initial realization, he was selecting the correct pictures from a huge field of choices. At the time, I had all my walls covered with strips of Velcro with Mayer-Johnson pictures attached, and I had put them in categories. This way, I would always have the pictures handy for visual cuing. It helped the kids search and recognize categories.
One of my memories of Alex was the day he selected a picture of a stick of butter, a picture of a nut, and a picture of a quarter. I was totally confused, but the picture of the quarter made me think of the vending machine as I remembered that he had run into the teacher’s lounge earlier in the day. I took him to the vending machine to see if this combination of tickets made any sense. Sure enough, there was a package of "NutterButter" cookies.
Although Alex could now spontaneously use PECS and could copy printed sentences on his own and at the computer, he could not generate any typed or written communication on his own. He needed the visual provided by PECS and Speaking Dynamically Pro. Our last year together, he was finally able to initiate by drawing pictures He began to finally initiate by drawing some to designate desired snack items he wanted.
After I was no longer Alex’s teacher, I planned to visit his class. I decided to get him some favored treats to see if he would draw pictures to request them. The night before, as I was in the supermarket, I was thinking of him as I selected the items. I got him a few fish candies, a tiny pack of chocolate chip cookies, and a tiny pack of donuts along with his beloved butter cookies. The next day I visited his class, but I forgot about the treats and left them in the car. When I was about to leave his classroom, I told him I had some butter cookies for him in the car and would bring them in. I drew a picture of the butter cookie as I handed it to him. To my utter shock, he took the piece of paper, drew a circle and put marks in it to indicate the chocolate chip cookies. He then drew a donut and a triangle with a spine through it, which I assumed indicated the fish candy. It was if he had said, “Don’t forget the chocolate chip cookies, the donuts and the fish candy!”
How did he know what was in my car? Was it because I was thinking of him so intently while I was selecting the items the night before? Or was he capable of remote viewing? I don’t know! It is one more reason for his nickname. “Archangel”
Lessons I learned from Alex:
• Some children may possibly direct their bodies from outside themselves.
• Some children may see things that we cannot see.
• Some children can select correct responses without ever appearing to look at the material through their own eyes.
• Some children may be sensitive to directionality or magnetic fields.
• Some children may demonstrate an ability to balance way beyond the capability of typical children.
• Some children’s fine and gross motor capabilities fluctuate and change.
• Some children have extreme discipline when insisting on doing what they believe is best for self-organization.
• Some children develop strategies to make their bodies work.
• Some children may have developed ability for remote viewing.
• Some children are their own best doctors and therapists.
I have served as a teacher of individuals with autism for 18 years. What they have taught me was to be sure of nothing, and open myself to the extraordinary. My emphasis in my anecdotes of the children and my articles is the currently unexplainable phenomena I have encountered.
Mary Ann Harrington
http://web.mac.com/maharrington
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Altered States of Inner Mind
By Barbara Garcia
Altered states of consciousness are known to be induced through hypnosis, ecstasy, meditation, trance and other circumstances that produce euphoria. These sublime states stimulate visions and messages of profound significance through magnificent writings and works of art as found in the works of Shakespeare or Bach.
Without falling into a category of superstition, altered states of consciousness may actually be a part of the human condition. Accessing information in this reservoir of greater knowledge may also stimulate our greater intentions.
Serious documented studies in altered states of consciousness began in the early 1970s at the Monroe Laboratories. These early pioneers took on tedious assignments in design experiments that resulted in the development of technology for creating specific altered states.
There are essentially four states brain wave activity that have been scientifically studied- beta, alpha, theta and delta. Our alert waking states is the beta function and is measured at 20 cycles per second. Lower brain wave frequency of approximately 15 cycles per second and lower take us into the alpha state; this is a right brain function. Theta and delta states are associated with sleep, although deep trance and meditative states of consciousness is accessible in theta. Intuition is a right brain activity and engaged through the alpha state.
Performance in altered states is noted by some of the world’s greatest minds such as the works of Albert Einstein who allocated deep relaxation of his mind. Interestingly, it is reported that he came up with his theory of relativity while sunbathing. Other great thinkers such as Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison employed similar relaxation techniques.
Mediums and psychics of varied sensitivity and expertise access information through the alpha and theta states at will. It is also common to hear authors and artist speak of a zone in which information flows through them as they work. They speak of it similar to explanations presented by trance mediums and psychics.
Sound wave technologies are a popular method of inducing altered states. Musical formulas that mask binaural beat frequencies in the four brain wave functions are a well- regarded approach to blissful states of harmonic brain and body function. Mechanical devices and instruments in EEG biofeedback are also available in support of altered state performance.
Visual experiences of a sunset, the repetitious sounds of the ocean or the rain drops on a window sill are hypnotic in nature and produce the same effects as mechanical devices.
Research and technologies serve as an opportunity to explore and develop control over the different regions of altered states for anyone. We also have available guided meditations that induce relaxation and deepening levels to enhance our overall healing and renewal abilities.
All of us hold within the power and resources to create or re-pattern our brainwaves to follow our intentions whether we use a mechanical device or the visual and sound disciplines of Mother Nature. These blissful states of awareness are proven to enhance the body’s natural healing abilities and take us even further into unprecedented states of higher mind and intention. We each have within the power to raise our personal energy levels to match those higher frequencies through the emotions we feel behind our thoughts and words.
Our desires and intentions for our life and the world manifest through altered states of our inner mind. Utopias of Camelot or Shangri-La are created and manifested through altered states of inner mind.
As we continue to develop and evolve through altered states of inner mind, we will one day be able to walk anywhere, speak to anyone, be in any state or country in complete safety.
Practical Psychokinesis
By Barbara Garcia
There will always be a place for practical psychokinesis in our fast paced, high tech society that we have become so accustomed. The physical nature of psychokinesis is a manipulation of concentrated mental energy focused upon an inanimate object. Bending metals may not be a practical daily application but ‘warm forming’ is great for opening tightly sealed jars, doing a temporary fix for a leaky faucet, or turning those long stop lights green and a multitude of other jobs that take time or muscle to get done.
Back in the 1980’s, researcher, Jack Hauck began holding PK parties throughout the United States. The parties proved to millions of people that the ability to manipulate metals is within all of us. The mystery of metal bending began to dissolve as people in all walks of life began to explore this phenomenon. Those ground breaking experiments in psychokinesis research that were conducted in years past have launched us into a new frontier of psychokinetic possibilities today. Those of you who are advanced will be happy to know that new remote models are being explored. Imagine performing tasks at home while away at the office. Sounds fantastic doesn’t it!
If you are new to psychokinesis, it might be helpful to get the feel of the energy that you are capable of generating before delving into large tasks. Try this simple exercise for a minute or two.
• Put your hands together, palms facing each other about an inch apart. Focus your concentration upon the empty space. You will begin to feel (sense) energy between your palms. As you do, move them slowly apart about three inches and turn your hands as though you are holding an invisible ball. You will then notice the energy much stronger. If you have ever practiced the art of Tai Chi or Chi gung you will find a strong similarity.
Once you have attained a certain amount of control over the energy by moving your hands farther apart, you are ready to try warm forming. For this exercise you will need use a spoon or fork that you really don’t need in your silverware setting.
• Place the spoon between your thumb and index finger and slightly rub the then neck area of the stem while focusing your concentration on the metal softening. You will feel a slight sensation in your fingers and when this occurs, stop rubbing and with a flip of your finger the spoon will bend like putty.
Use warm forming in all those household tasks that involve metal. A leaky water pipe can be mended through warm forming but it is a temporary patch.
Other areas of practical psychokinesis can be developed with a few exercises such as making a toothpick spin in a glass of water. This has been a favorite among practitioners for years.
Select a six ounce glass and fill with water. Drop a toothpick on top. Collect your thoughts and mentally move the toothpick clockwise. Then try it counterclockwise. You can also try placing your hand about five or six inches above the glass and turn your hand clockwise or counterclockwise. The energy will build up and the toothpick spins.
By being creative and choosing small projects such as these, you will develop your ability and perform stronger, larger tasks that will save time and money. It is amazing how a few exercises can tap directly into the vast storehouse of energy that is buried deep within our minds.
On your next drive to the city, try moving your mind into the stop light and trigger the mechanism to change. You will be amazed at how well you do.
With each success you will notice a remarkable change in your attitude that increases your personal magnetism. You will also notice how easily you begin to work through challenges and how quickly you find solutions in your life situations.
