It was a curious sensation. I was aware of the people
around me, but it seemed they didn't physically exist. My head felt heavy. I
could dimly hear Rakshit telling us we were now in alpha level. In the
background was playing a tape that sounded like a moving train.
Day two was spent on memory control and problem solving. Most of these
exercises involved strong visualization. We were asked to create a mental
screen and project various objects on it. These were then examined minutely,
sometimes changing their shapes and color, and feeling their texture, odor
and taste. I could actually smell the varnish of a newly polished chair and
taste a sugary sweet apple-vivid details to which I had paid no attention in
my daily life.
Rakshit says: "No
scientist has been able to invent a computer like the human mind. From the
time a person is born, he records everything that he sees, hears, smells or
tastes. The key lies in being able to tap the memory at will." This is
what mind control is all about. According to Silva, a person can do this best
when he is in alpha level.
An important exercise
in the course involved setting and meeting targets. "Go to level
everyday and tell yourself that within a set time you will meet your
target," Rakshit announced. Many in the room claimed this had worked for
them. A. Sawhney, an Indian businessman and one of the many graduates
repeating the course, said he had first done the course 20 years ago. He used
to smoke heavily then, he said, a habit that Silva helped him kick.
The Silva book is replete with examples of people who have been able to
cure headaches, migraine and insomnia, lose weight or get promotions. One of
the first-timers, Dev Ashish, told the remarkable story of his aunt who had
been diagnosed with a tumor—which later dissolved by regular practice of the
Silva method!
The course also included a dream control exercise. Rakshit pointed out that
dreams are communications from the subconscious and have unique symbolic
significance. He asked us to go to level, program ourselves to remember a
dream and write it down in the morning. The Silva Method claims that by
interpreting our dreams, we can explore our inner consciousness and solve
problems. This involves going to level, stating the problem and asking for a
solution.
That's about as far as the first workshop goes. For a deeper understanding
of the Silva Method, there are two advanced courses—the Ultra Seminar,
conducted once in three years by instructors chosen by Jose Silva, and the
12-day Ultimate Seminar, which Silva himself conducts at his Psychorientology
Institute in Laredo, Texas, headquarters of the Silva organization. For both,
you have to be a Silva graduate. The Laredo center also conducts regular
research to keep improving the Silva Method. The Silva course material has
been successfully translated into 29 languages across 106 countries.
