Chapter 5

VI. SPECIAL PROJECTS (cont.)

(second section - for advanced focusers only)

VII. Impossible missions???

The following targets, and the steps to be taken in order to achieve them, are intended for advanced focusers only. The missions contained in this chapter are written sequentially, not because they are to be worked accordingly or in any other order. The subjects of this chapter - if they are relevant to you and you are motivated to tackle them - can be worked on in parallel. All of them (or their implications) are very significant and their relationship to specific aspects of the quality of life are clear.

A different aspect of the following missions is their being like general maintenance activity, as it is hard to show a specific aspect of our life to which they are not contributing. Some of the missions are divided into specific consecutive steps, and you are advised to preserve their sequence.

It appears that a good return for the efforts made will fall only to those that are well versed in the six steps of the beginner - first stage of this chapter. It might happen that focusers who have not trained themselves with the various steps and tactics of sections II and section III of this chapter (that deal with daily focusing) will find themselves tackling impossible missions, and thus, be highly disappointed at the lack of expected results. They may even encounter bad experiences and unpleasant feelings that will be very hard to deal with. So be warned!!!

1) Steps to be taken against psychosomatic disturbances

There are many disturbances in the smooth functioning of the body, that are called "Psychosomatic". These disturbances - like Asthma, Hemorrhoids, Eczema, Migraine, etc. and their "eruptions" or "attacks" - were found to be the result of the combined contribution of psychological factors ("stressors") as well as being physiologically based.

The physiological base can be acquired or innate, and may need a chemical or mechanical trigger to set it off. The relative contribution of the psychological factor, as well as that of the physiological factor, varies from person to person and from one attack to another.

As the psychosomatic attacks generally do not contribute to the well-being of that particular person, it is obvious that their psychological components are trash-programs of one kind or another, (mostly inefficient emotional supra-programs). Having the appropriate physiological and the psychological base, the attacks may be activated by trash-programs - with or without any discernible contribution of chemical or physical agents. It seems that in the overwhelming majority of cases, the leading factors are the psychological ones, especially the trashy emotional supra-programs.

An important point to emphasize on is that the following suggestions are not intended to be an alternative method for any medical, psychological or other treatment the reader has had in the past, may have now, or may be intending to receive in the future. The suggestions we offer here, and those we offer in other parts of this book, are intended to supplement the other measures you have already taken.

In this section we offer procedures that use the natural biofeedback processes in order to decrease or even temporarily (short or long periods) to stop the psychosomatic events. This can happen if one succeeds in stopping the trash-programs from contributing their share to the creation of the psychosomatic processes (symptoms and attacks included). These procedures are meant to supplement the focusing on natural biofeedback received from any other steps you may be taking, in order to improve the quality of your life, and are not intended to supplant them.

By changing the psychological factors, one can lighten or alleviate the deleterious and unpleasant aspects and effects of the psychosomatic attack, even at the peak of its intensity. Though ongoing psychosomatic processes respond to focusing gradually, they do fade faster than expected. Thus, during the focusing training attacks and other eruptions tend to become milder, they become less and less frequent, and after a few months of focusing, they practically disappear for months or years.

Though we still do not know exactly how the sensate focusing contributes to the cessation of psychosomatic processes, it seems that the weakening or disappearance of the unpleasant sensations of the psychosomatic processes gives the physiological component a lethal blow. It seems that asthma without the choking suffocation, and hemorrhoids without pain, are like Migraine without a headache, Eczema that does not itch or a car without an engine.

During my focusing and that of my trainees, we found that it is possible to stop, to weaken or to at least bring significant alleviation to the following psychosomatic phenomena:

• Strong and long frequent headaches of suspected Migraine;
• Recurrent and sporadic headaches of indeterminable origin, of varying
• duration and intensities;
• Pains and pressures of diagnosed Sinusitis;
• Chronic and acute allergy of the nose (including its passages and
• sinuses);
• Repeated burning sensation and pressure in the upper chest (including
• "Globous Hystericus") and other "projections" of pains originating in the heart;
• Choking attacks of asthmatic origin;
• Pain of hemorrhoids;
• Chronic constrictions of muscles - those that distort the facial
• expressions or "freeze" them as well as those that take place in other parts of the body;
• Various feelings and sensations of burning related to ulcers or "pre-ulcers"
• Various unpleasant sensations of the lower abdomen related to the menstrual cycle;
• Many other unpleasant physical sensations of undiagnosed origins.

There is no reason why this technique should not help with other psychosomatic processes that are not included in the list. The actual struggle with the disturbances mentioned above comprises several steps:

First: you have to acquaint yourself intimately with the introductory sensations that come before the full onset of the unwanted psychosomatic process - sometimes called "aura".

Second: experiment with repeated focusing on various intensities of the unpleasant sensations.

Third: acquire the habit of focusing intensively on the relevant sensations and feelings involved, starting with the introductory stage and on, until the end of the process - when the sensations become subliminal and impossible to discern.

Fourth: between eruptions of the psychosomatic process, focus frequently on the location where it takes place: on the various felt sensations, on the faint ones barely discernible, and on the subliminal ones that are always there.

Fifth: continue with a relatively intensive focusing on the location of the psychosomatic process and its vicinity, even after the "attacks" become infrequent, particularly on the first few months after they cease to occur. In this step it is most important to focus on any sensation that is even barely suspected of being related to the target processes.

It is important to remember that the psychosomatic disturbances are the results of the integrated activity of many activation programs, and that each of these programs has a large number of variations. Therefore, it is most common, that in the first few focusings you can achieve only slight relief or alleviation of the symptoms. Sometimes even that might be hard to discern, especially if the attacks are strong and you still use medical drugs to soften them.

The advanced fading of the symptoms, or even a significant decrease in them, needs many weeks of repeated focusing on them. It appears that the complete fading of the disturbance and its symptoms can be attained, but only for or at a price: you can attain success only after the rehabilitation of the main psychological factors involved has taken place. You can attain this only by means of an intensive training with the sensate focusing technique, adding to it a special attention to all the trash-programs involved with your special affliction.

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