• Do not press for information. The psychic will give you everything he or she receives. A good reading is designed to help you cope with your life.
• Be discerning. Not critical.
• Keep an open mind—but not a sieve!
• Remember the percentage of accuracy varies with each psychic. Get the perspective of friends whose judgment you trust to review the reading with you. Sometimes our blind spots interfere with our evaluation!
• Inaccuracies can occur in readings if the psychic is reading your mind (telepathy) or misinterpreting information he or she receives. It can be a good idea to ask how the person receives the information. You may recognize the information while he or she may be interpreting from his or her own experiences. Be willing to verify.
• After the reading is completed, share the information that you can verify. Psychics are human and feedback can be very helpful for them. If the psychic makes predictions, it would be very thoughtful to write and let the person know the outcome.
• Do not try to prolong the reading beyond the agreed-upon time limit.
• Do not expect the psychic to remember your reading—and maybe even you!
2
Relaxation and Concentration: The First Lesson
Since tension and interference by the intellect are the most common barriers to the psychic processes, relaxation and concentration are the most important keys to using your ESP. Intuitive impressions are subtle and sometimes elusive. Too much tension acts as a kind of anesthetic that numbs your sensitivity to higher levels of awareness. This static blocks your sensitive feelings. Relaxation, on the other hand, increases your sensitivity to physical and mental perception of all kinds. In fact, each of your intuition exercises should begin with some type of a relaxation technique, such as the one offered in this chapter.
As you explore your own intuition, it will become clear why relaxing the body and concentrating the mind are so important. But in addition to developing ESP, there are many more good reasons for relaxation and concentration. One is stress reduction. Stress is one of the major causes of physical, mental, and emotional disease. Excessive stress on the body and the nervous system can result in imbalance, often leading to illness, bodily disorders, and even premature death. In the last few decades, society has recognized this problem and has responded with increased emphasis on “wellness” programs, physical exercise, yoga, and meditation.
In addition to quieting the mind and relaxing the body, relaxation techniques have positive effects upon an individual’s physical health and mental/emotional well-being. In many ways, relaxation is similar to the practice of meditation, which has been scientifically proven to be beneficial. Individuals who practice meditation regularly experience a calm and relaxed state of body and mind, renewed vitality, mental alertness, and increased concentration. They feel less stress in their lives and seem to cope better when stressful situations arise. Meditators also report having more restful sleep patterns or require less sleep to begin with.
Psychologists who have studied meditation have found regular meditators to be happier, more relaxed, and often able to demonstrate more openness and empathy in their relationships than individuals who don’t meditate. Meditation has also proven to be effective in curing or improving physical and mental disorders such as ulcers, allergies, asthma, depression, anxiety, arthritis, and even epileptic seizures.
Developing ESP, like practicing meditation, requires more than relaxation. It requires concentration. I define concentration as keen, one-pointed attention. It is the process of focusing the content of your awareness to such a fine point that it is able to break through to an even higher finer level of sensitivity. Like relaxation, concentration involves letting go. It involves releasing all of the thoughts and the worries that preoccupy your mind and instead focusing your attention upon a single object of concentration. As you learn to let go of the tension in your body and mind while focusing your attention on the matter at hand, you will find that intuitive exercises are easier and much more fun than you imagined.
Although this may sound labor-intensive, working with your intuition is actually a lot simpler than the ways in which we normally attempt to accomplish something. In fact, I find it much easier to simply relax and concentrate on what I need to know or gently focusing upon what problem I need to solve (allowing the process of ESP to do the work for me) rather than feeling as though I must “DO” something. I sometimes say, “ESP is for lazy people.” And by lazy, I don’t mean being irresponsible or doing nothing; I mean doing things in an easy, relaxed manner. Many of us have a difficult time with relaxing because we are taught that to be productive, worthwhile individuals we have to struggle and work very hard. I enjoy working, but because I often do things in an easier fashion, I have the time and energy to enjoy myself, no matter what activity I’m involved in.
It is helpful for the intuitive process to include a relaxation and concentration exercise before every ESP exercise. Two exercises, one long and one shorter version, are included here for you to try. The longer exercise can be used at the beginning of any intuitive session and the shorter version can be used before beginning any other techniques you might choose to explore during the session. It is not so important what techniques you use, but it is important that you take time out for some kind of relaxation before attempting any exercise.
The technique I use the most often involves tensing and relaxing the body’s major muscle groups. Tensing and relaxing your muscles helps you to relax and let go while facilitating your concentration by focusing your attention on specific areas of your body. As you relax, you will become much more aware of your body and your physical environment, and you may even begin to notice small physical discomforts that you were not aware of before. For example, you may find that you are sitting in an uncomfortable position or that your nose has started to itch. Your clothing may feel tight or restricting, or you may become aware of the pressure of your watch, ring, or earrings. Perhaps your shoes will feel like they are pinching your feet. The first thing to do is to attend to all of your distractions so that they are no longer there. Change positions or find a more comfortable chair. Remove your jewelry. Slip out of your shoes. Loosen your collar or belt. Take the time you need in order to make yourself feel as comfortable as possible.
As you begin, you may also become aware of all of the little distractions in your environment. Little sounds that you were not really aware of in your normal conscious state may become amplified to the point where they are annoying. When I find this happening to me, I mentally travel around to all the sounds and put them into an imaginary box with a volume control knob on it. When I have collected all of the sounds in the box, I mentally turn down the volume control knob until the sounds no longer bother me. In time, you may discover your own methods of tuning out environmental distractions; whatever works for you is fine. The important thing is to remember not to ignore the distractions but instead to attend to them in some way so that you can go beyond them. If you find your attention wandering during the exercise, simply bring it back very gently to your own breathing or to a single point of focus within yourself.
It doesn’t matter if you sit in a chair, on a pillow, or lie down on the floor to relax, but it may be best to sit in a straight back chair so that you do not fall asleep during the relaxation experience.
There are several ways to conduct this exercise. If you are practicing with a group, have someone read the exercise aloud or pretape the exercise on a recording device. If you are not in a position to record your own CD, you may wish for someone else to read through the exercise for you slowly, or you could read it through yourself beforehand and then do the exercise mentally, one muscle group at a time.
If someone is leading