By Pat O’Malley, PhD, Acting Director of Research
Certified Life Between Lives Hypnotherapist, USA
Recently, MNI investigated the practicability of doing LBL sessions online. One interesting statistic showed that over two-thirds of the study participants (67% to 72%) said they discovered there was little difference in the quality of doing an in-person LBL session vs an online session. This interesting fact begs the question, how is it possible that an online session can offer the same quality of experience as doing it in person?
As trained LBL facilitators, we have inadvertently believed that our physical presence, our close proximity to a client, is a necessary component for a successful deep state hypnosis session. Under this belief, we were correct in assuming that online sessions would therefore, not be as successful and at the very least the quality of the work would suffer. Yet, through our investigations, we’ve learned that this may not necessarily be true. This calls us to further explore our belief about what actually happens between therapist and client during a session of any kind, and especially during an LBL session.
The HeartMath Institute (HeartMath.org) has released a thought-provoking study that may shed some light on this particular phenomenon. In their report entitled The Energetic Heart: Bioelectromagnetic interactions Within and Between People, these scientists report the answer lies in the human heart, which possesses an energy field that radiates outward and can be detected by others, oftentimes without conscious awareness.
Western medicine has identified that the brain is a principal energy force, yet through this research, the heart actually has an electrical field estimated to be 60 times the amplitude of the brain. These researchers have shown in multiple studies that the electromagnetic field that is generated by the physical heart of one person is felt by another person. It gives new meaning to the saying “heart to heart”!
When speaking about the interaction between two human beings during an LBL session, the connection between the facilitator and the client is “a very sophisticated dance” that involves many subtle factors. Most people tend to think of communication solely in terms of overt signals expressed through facial movement, voice qualities, gestures and body language. Evidence supports the perspective that a subtle yet influential electromagnetic or “energetic” communication system operates just below our conscious level of awareness… suggesting that this system contributes to the “magnetic attractions… that occur between individuals. It is also quite possible that these energetic interactions can affect the therapeutic process.” (McCraty, 2004, p.547)
Some data suggests that a pattern of resonance or entrainment happens between two individuals when their electromagnetic fields become more coherent or organized, as suggested through a trance state. It’s been shown that the signals and information between the two individuals are communicated in this energetic pattern and can influence feelings of care and love.
A few studies done by Russek and Schwartz, (1994) show that positive emotions like care and love can increase the physiological response of coherence and create a resonance or kind of entrainment of energy between two people, such as a facilitator and client, that creates a deep healing effect. Therefore, through the hypnotherapeutic process of an LBL session, the facilitator and client can experience a sense of coherence, of deep energy connection that does not rely on physical proximity, but on the heart connection that is created.
Is it possible that coherence building approaches to our work as LBL facilitators, can lead to facilitating the healing process by simply establishing a heart connection with our clients? In which case, is physical proximity a necessary component to establishing that connection?
It seems that there may be some question about this. There is a far greater force of energy at work here, and by exploring the deeper subtle energies of our “heart to heart” experiences with our client, we as LBL practitioners can potentially enable intuitive connection and communication to promote healing, even virtually. ♥
REFERENCES
- McCraty,R. (2004) The energetic heart: Bioelectromagnetic interactions within and between people. in Bioelectromagnetic Medicine, eds P. J. Rosch and M. S. Markov (New York: Marcel Dekker), 541–562.
- Russek L & Schwartz G. (1994) Interpersonal heart-brain registration and the perception of parental love: A 42-year follow-up of the Harvard Mastery of Stress Study. Subtle Energies 5 (3):195-208.
Pat O'Malley is an LBL Facilitator in Wilmington, IL, USA and online worldwide