Kenyon - Brain States

BRAIN
STATES

Tom Kenyon, M.A.

Copyright 1994 by Tom Kenyon

Copyright 2001 New Leaf, revised.

No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

All rights reserved.

Illustrations by: Patty Smith

Printed in the United States of America

Library Of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Kenyon, Tom

Brain States / Tom Kenyon.

p. cm.

ISBN-13 978-0-97632-495-9: $14.95

1. Self-actualization (Psychology) 2. Altered states of consciousness I. Title.

BF637.S4K46 1994

154.4 - dc20 93-23667

CIP

I dedicate this book to Pam,
best friend, confidant, lover, wife.

About the Author

Tom Kenyon, M.A., is the founder and director of Acoustic Brain Research Inc., a recognized leader in psychoacoustic research and development. Mr. Kenyon created ABR in 1983 to scientifically document the effects of sound, music, and language on the human nervous system and on human behavior. Mr. Kenyon holds a masters degree in psychological counseling from Columbia Pacific University and has more than ten years of clinical experience as a psychotherapist. He is also certified in Whole Brain Learning and NeuroLinguistic Programming and has extensive training in Ericksonian hypnosis. Through the use of hypnotic states and sound healing, Mr. Kenyon has created methods that accelerate therapy and behavioral changes. In 1987, he synthesized this portion of his work into a therapeutic modality called Body/Mind Re-education. He currently conducts professional certification programs for therapists and counselors in this form of rapid psychotherapy and in a new form of brain development training called Interdimensional Consciousness Training, which stimulates unused portions of the brain/mind. Mr. Kenyon is available for speaking engagements and seminars. Please contact him at:

Web site: www.tomkenyon.com

E-mail:

P.O. Box 98

Orcas, WA 98280

F or the last year and a half, I have worked on this manuscript at a feverish pace. I would write on weekends, late at night, and sometimes sandwiched between clients. I wrote parts at 30,000 feet on cross-country plane flights.

My efforts were driven by a recognition that wherever I taught there was a general misunderstanding about altered states of awareness, and that some of these errors were actually hindering people in their personal growth and, in some cases, posing serious dangers.

This book is a humble attempt to correct some of this misinformation and to give readers practical tools that they can use to access the mysterious, beautiful, and incredible treasures of their own inner worlds.

We are at a significant period in human history. The rate of discovery in the sciences outpaces our ability to keep up with the amount of information generated. It is very telling that over the short course of eighteen months it took to write this book, there were two significant discoveries in the brain sciences that necessitated my editing portions of the manuscript.

At no time in recorded history have we acquired so much knowledge in so short a time.

Knowledge is power. But knowledge carries with it a shadow side. For without wisdom to use that knowledge in life affirming ways, we may very well destroy ourselves.

The ancient Chinese ideogram for transformation consists of two words danger and opportunity. All transformations involve change whether it be the transformation of biochemistry into mind or the transformation of a society.

In the ever-growing complex world in which we live, we must transcend our old ways of viewing and doing things. We must discover new ways to learn and to work. This is as true on an economic level as it is on a personal one. Those societies that educate themselves to be the most creative and motivated may well be those which flourish in the coming century. And on a personal level, access to our greater potential gifts us with new levels of fulfillment and success.

It is my experience that altered states of awareness can assist us to reach beyond our current views of ourselves, and to discover a rich and powerful inner world. The insights, creativity, and sensitivity born from our own inner exploration can help us to wrestle free opportunities for greater life and growth.

This is the value I see in learning how to access ones deeper consciousness. And that is why I wrote this book.

I wish to thank my publisher, Larry Moen, for his foresight and vision to publish such a book as this. I wish to thank my editor, Ellie Sommer, for her helpful comments. I would also like to thank Bob and Judy Bennett for their help in preparing the manuscript. Finally, I would like to thank all those whose lives and stories contributed to this book and to my work.

My final words are directly to you the reader: Although we may never meet, and although I can reach out to you only with words, I trust and believe in your greatness. For no matter where we are in our attainments, we can always go further. I hope the following pages entertain, educate, and enlighten you. May they persuade you to take the Great Journey.

C. Thomas Kenyon

Orcas Island

Washington State

March 1994

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.

-Albert Einstein

A few years ago, a woman in her forties was referred to me by a clinical social worker.

When Margo walked into my office, she struck me as a woman who was used to getting what she wanted. Her words were exact, like her movements, which resembled the cut of a diamond.

As she talked with me in the late afternoon light of November, I noticed an awful anguish in her voice. She had just received an offer to fly overseas to do a story. The old journalist in her was ready to pack her bags and be gone, but her body, seemingly with a mind of its own, was dying.

The most recent of her X-rays had revealed that her cancer was spreading, and her T-cell counts elevating by the day.

It hurt to move; she was in constant pain.

As she told me of her past, I noticed that her face lightened when she spoke about Sedona, Arizona. As we talked, she revealed that one of her dreams was to live there, out on the desert.

Casually reaching over to the stereo system in my office, I asked her to close her eyes, and to just float in the music for awhile.

The music I had chosen was especially written with spacious silences between the lush phrases. Choosing my words most carefully, I invited her to have a fantasy.

I asked her to imagine that she was in Sedona. Looking across the desert floor, she would be drawn to a large boulder. When she found it, she was to nod her head. In a moment, she signaled that she was there.

I then asked her to feel and sense the healing energy coming from the geological formation. As she internally experienced the feelings coming to her from the imaginary rock, she began to relax. In fact, her entire posture changed as the imaging process continued. Soon, she was smiling and breathing easily.