Miscellaneous

Story from S.H

As a member of the Scout Association I was asked recently to assist on a weekend Venturer Leadership course (16 & 17 yr olds).  On Saturday afternoon I asked whether they had noticed anything different about the sessions I conducted.  The immediate response was that I was playing quiet music which they said was great.  On Sunday I continued to use your A/L Music tapes and the responses were very favourable.  Most responses were to the effect that they felt relaxed and enjoyed my sessions.  When I asked them what was the best, one Venturer immediately said that it was in the silence that followed after I had asked a difficult question because it was easier to concentrate.  Others agreed.

Story from unknown (weird!)

I am writing to you — having recently participated in the CALM Life Skills Seminar in Brisbane and wanting to share some information and feedback.

What particularly struck me after seeing and using your material was how “user friendly” it was. You provided the tools, the “how to”, in a simple way which helps to make it easier to implement as part of your daily life, to feel and live the difference. In addition you are so accessible, supportive and encouraging — welcoming ongoing contact to help continue the momentum that has been created.

I would like to share with you my PP experience when I returned home after the seminar. My PP is a real place not far from where I live and is located in the National Park.  I call it ‘Grassy Knoll’ and for some time I have said I would like to have my ashes cast into the wind and sea from here. It is my special spiritual, contemplative place that I like to escape to. It is a rugged grass headland, perched high above the rocks with fantastic views of the surrounding coastline, and to the vast horizon. Each time I visit there is a slightly different mood, depending on the wind, cloud cover and sea conditions. It is ever-changing, and just being there, feeling connected with nature and God is inspiring and renewing.

Around 5:30 am on Monday morning after arriving back to reality, I went with a sense of excitement to check out my PP in the flesh, and to drink in some new sights, sounds, smells and feelings to include in my visualisations. My husband came along for the walk too, then waited and left me to enjoy my PP in solitude. As he was waiting and looking out to sea he saw some dolphins which were heading off into the opposite direction. Knowing how I included dolphins playing off the headland as part of my visualisation, he closed his eyes, and tried concentrating hard, and visualised them turning and coming back this way. In fact he experienced a strange vivid visualisation of seeing a red outline around a dolphin and seeing right through the body to a young baby inside the mother. This x-ray vision is in fact how dolphins do see. He felt quite moved by this experience and by coincidence, or otherwise, they did in fact turn around.

When I opened my eyes I saw water cascading into the air with a huge splash. In the five years I have been going down to the cliffs and beach, I have many times seen the dolphins playfully porpoising, but never have I seen them hurling themselves as high into the air and in such a recklessly, exuberant fashion. Not only had they turned and come back, but were right in front of us, putting on an amazing performance. The emotion that I felt as they repeatedly rose so majestically and wonderfully out of the depths and crash landed with a huge spray was incredible. I couldn’t help but call out “WOW” each time they “flew”. What a superbly fitting and fantastically meaningful emotional anchor for me to now have. Dolphins seem to embody so many of the qualities to which we humans aspire — the unconditional love, the spontaneity, the pure joy, the spirituality, peace and happiness.

During the seminar you had said it was imperative to have some physical reminder to encourage you to practise Alpha and PP, and make it automatic. A few days later my husband presented me with my perfect physical reminder, which I now constantly use, and which helps me to visualise with emotion. It is a silver bracelet with the words “Peaceful Place” and “Alpha” engraved on it and has a dolphin charm attached.

I hope you enjoy this feedback, and get fulfilment from knowing how you continue to impact in such a positive way on the lives of others, and the ripples extend wider and wider. Thank you Sandy!

Story from A.C, SA

Recently I was delighted to meet up with a former student whom I taught some years ago as a Year 6 student. The main thing she remembered was the relaxation classes I taught (I was using “Piece of Mind” as my inspiration). It gave me a great thrill to hear that she remembered the relaxation. In 1998 I spent four weeks on a safari truck in Africa and when I got very tired I would use my PP to visualise an increase of energy — of course, it works!

Story from F.J, ACT

When I start to think about what I have been able to achieve since I did your Seminar three years ago I am pleasantly surprised. So far I have: bought a house, eradicated consumer debt, got married on a tropical island, began and completed a Masters Degree and established a growing business. A good tally, considering where I was starting from!

The techniques I learned through the course have been immensely useful in improving my health, in practising new sports and in relationships. Academically, the PP strategies, along with the mind-mapping and visualisation processes, have proved themselves to me, especially in tackling my current study — a law degree which I’m on track to finish nine months from now (one year ahead of the usual time required).

If that all sounds incredible, well what can I say, it seems that way to me too, but it’s true. Naturally success is a team process and the quality of relationships is fundamental. And of course just about everything worth doing seems to involve tremendous effort, stress and often enough, fear — but I know from experience that the strategies I learned on the course — and which are now inter-woven through my daily routine — help make things manageable.

Story from C.J, NSW

Attending your CALM seminar some years ago has had an extremely positive impact on not only my life but also the life of my family.  On many occasions I have been so grateful for the skills learnt and the wonderful effect of 'peaceful place'.  The knowledge you imparted has allowed me to develop personal and business skills that I probably would never have acquired.  This has resulted in much deeper, satisfying and enjoyable relationships and has, I believe, assisted in the growth and development of our children.

Thank you for undertaking and continuing to undertake this work, and congratulations on the wonderful contribution you are able to make in assisting people to develop happy and productive lives.

Story from R.B

I have now attended three of your seminars, and at each of these seminars I believe I have come away a better person.  I too am a Vietnam Veteran and have suffered over a long time, so much so that I have been on pills to allow me to sleep.  After the last seminar I decided to really test and prove to myself, that I can control my mind with your relaxation techniques.  I told myself that if it really works then I can give the pills away.  I did so, and while I still have dreams and flash backs I can go back to sleep easier.

I also practice and use relaxation techniques, in my job as a fitness instructor, and have had a lot of success with clients, not only with the physical side but also with the use of the mind and their general life skills.

Story from K.C-H, Sydney

I attended your seminar early this year and also late last year.  I just wanted to drop you a line to let you know about the results of the seminar.  At the last seminar I attended I specifically wanted to work on my confidence level as I had started a new job and was rather nervous about it.  During our meditation on the Sunday I was trying to focus on my career and for some reason visualisations of a wedding, a man and relationships kept overpowering my thoughts of my career focus.  I spoke to the group about it and then realised that I probably needed to really focus on a relationship.  This is something that I had been very much avoiding at this stage because of a prolonged history of unsuccessful relationships.  At 42 years of age I had given up the idea of ever finding Mr Right! - He wasn't out there and if he had been, he certainly by-passed me!   I had been getting up every morning with much enthusiasm and meditating between 1½ to 2 hours and had written down what I wanted in life, including marriage and career path, having more patience, etc...  Getting to the heart of the story, I am now getting married in a couple of months.  I did meet what I believe to be Mr Right as he had all the qualities that I had asked for in my meditations.  I met him after 2 months of doing the last seminar.  Of course I am very happy and my anxiety levels related to my new job have subsided resulting in me feeling more confident.  I do want to thank you for what you have introduced to me.  You shall be definitely seeing me again Sandy.  I look forward to hearing from you.

Story from S.R, Vic

Just a few lines to pass on my sincere thanks for a wonderful weekend recently.  I gained so much and am determined to make Alpha and Theta a big part of my life.  So far, so good.  I have been going to Alpha on an average of 10-15 times a day, and so far I have managed to have one big session per day since the weekend.  I would just like to share this experience with you ... when we did the pain release meditation, for some reason, I had this scary feeling whenever the colour dark blue was mentioned - it was like a fearful feeling, and I also had an uncomfortable feeling in my throat at the end.  However, during the next meditation I asked for answers to the experience and I cried and cried almost throughout the whole meditation.  The feelings however were of happiness and the answer I got was that I needed to release my feelings more and cry more than I do.  I could really relate to this as I try really hard to be an empathetic listener and can cry tears for others, but when it comes to dealing with my own feelings, I'm afraid I've been notorious for stuffing the feelings down and fighting back tears, to the stage that I often find it difficult to cry.  By the way, the colour dark blue hasn't been a problem for me since.  Once again, thank you for sharing yourself with all of us - seminar was fantastic.

Story from G.C, Vic

Thank you very much for changing my life around with the seminar we went to in Melbourne.  Your seminar changed my life around as far as my business has doubled and I have a better outlook on life.  I am very calm nowadays and don't let things get me stressed.  I still remember most of your little tips and yes, they do work and I am still going to my PP several times a day.  Another thing has happened since your seminar - I no longer have the shakes and I can't remember when I didn't shake!  Thank you for everything.

Story from C.J, NZ

Note from Sandy:  I recently received the following letter which I thought was so very brave of the person who sent it to me.  It is not easy to have such a brutally honest look at our own personal situation and appraisal of ourselves ... and then do something about it.  It has indeed taken a lot of courage and to the person who wrote it ... I thank you and salute you.

Dear Sandy,

Thought you might like to hear about a recent breakthrough I have had in personal growth.

Given that our lives are largely shaped by experiences of the first 6 years of life, it seems a mammoth task to change the mould. I will not pretend that my own childhood was anything less than a nightmare in post war Britain. My first 12 years were spent in a house bereft of plumbing and for the most part 2 adults and 3 children were cramped into one miserable, dingy living room of dimensions that didn't exceed 3.5 metres square. Seems hard to comprehend these days but for economic reasons the sitting room was out of bounds except on special weekends such as Christmas and Easter.

Matters weren't helped by having a tyrannical father who led everyone to believe that as a war hero he was entitled to do exactly as he pleased and abused all of us with violence and mental cruelty. (It was only in later years that my own son having been an army regular, discovered that my father was nothing more than a blanket stacker in the supply corps having been thrown out of a front-line regiment!)

Being the eldest child, things took a turn for the worse when my twin brothers arrived when I was 3. Multiple births in those days were rare and my father viewed the event as evidence that he was superman, after all, what more proof did the world need! In many ways I became surplus baggage and interaction twixt me and my siblings was discouraged on the grounds that I should play on my own as the twins were a composite entity and didn't need me.

Things were made even more unbearable by my father's unfortunate behaviour. He was a loud, overbearing, bad mannered bully with personal habits that would make a tramp cringe! Despite being extremely intelligent, my mother was psychologically beaten into a pulp, a woman who didn't have an opinion, someone who dared not say she liked a piece of music for fear of offending the Omen.

Needless to say I left home at 16 and put distance between myself and family. I resolved to be as different from my parents as possible and became more urbane and street savvy than them. Although superficially it appeared I escaped, it is only of recent that I have really discovered that for the most part, my life has been clouded by what I now refer to as a twisted mould!

Although I was more subtle, the insidious behaviour of my formative years dominated who I was and despite trying to be different there were parental traits that I seemed powerless to be able to shake off.

For example, my husband is heavy-footed and slams doors. This behaviour invokes urges of violent rage in me as such noises are interpreted by the subconscious as warning signs of a bad tempered father arriving home with the inevitability of violence. Any of the classical pieces my father liked I simply cannot listen to. One example is Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto, the first bars of which send me into apoplexy. Strangely enough I warm to the second and third movements (which my father didn't have).

But despite loathing my childhood experiences, there is clear evidence that I am a chip off the old block, whether I like it or not. Recent introspection has revealed alarming results. For example, while my father was and still is universally hated, I myself am not a popular person. It is something that hitherto I preferred to ignore, although I would never put myself up for any form of office where votes are cast, knowing full well I would get no support.

In his books, Wayne Dyer points out the folly of allowing one's happiness to be dependent on other people liking us. To do so means that personal happiness is controlled by external forces, whereas it should come from within. However, I think that this can be misinterpreted. Through visualisation, I decided that the higher self didn't necessarily want to be better liked, but for inner peace there was a need to alter behavioural patterns.

With hindsight, much of my social interaction was tedious, argumentative, smart and cruel. In conversation, my brain was always looking for opportunities to indulge in smart quips, cutting comments, risque behaviour, self-aggrandisement etc, much of which I lived to regret. But I suppose therein is the difference between me and my dad. I can recognise the folly of my ways  he doesn't give a stuff (or at least that's what he says).

So here was the dilemma. On a conscious level I didn't like the way I interacted with people, but seemed helpless to change the software. I also indulged in excessive self-righteousness. If I had been sinned against then the world had to know about it with the result that my over-reacting caused far more suffering to me than the original wrong-doing! Oh how I needed to make a big song and dance about every little thing.

Of course, acknowledging one's faults is half the battle; paradoxically finding the antidote has been almost too easy for words. This is why I am taking time out to share my experience with you in the hope that others may derive benefit.

I simply went into peaceful place and worked very hard at recalling recent events, how I behaved, how I reacted, and more important, how others reacted towards me. It was as if I was visualising from above and what I saw made me realise that just like my father, I was excessively heavy-footed in everything I did. It appeared that I was acting up in order to get the attention of others. In metaphorical terms I was the one who dented all the cushions, left a smell in the bathroom, made too much noise, espoused too much wisdom and overstayed my welcome in a bid to emphasise my own self importance.

The higher self was mortified! The visual aberration was not me. The real me is a person who floats into situations, fleet of foot, makes the minimum of disturbance, makes no splashes and creates very little wake. The real me is a person is happy at just being me and doesn't need to indulge others in the minutiae of everyday life, just allowing achievements (if any) to talk for themselves. Thus, by deporting myself in a way concurrent with my higher thoughts, then as Wayne Dyer says, I don't have to worry what others think - it is unimportant.

Notwithstanding the fact that I needed to invoke powers that would override what seemed to be instinctive behaviour, I introduced a simple mantra in my morning meditation, repeated during subsequent visits to peaceful place throughout the day. The mantra takes the form of:

I am fleet of foot, I float into situations and float out on the breeze. I make minimal noise and take care to avoid negative impact on people, places and things. In so doing, I best serve my higher self, my fellow human beings and create inner contentment.

Nothing has had such a profound effect on me as this one simple exercise. By confronting my demons I have created space for my higher self to predominate and that's a really great feeling. Instead of the mind being on high-alert for things to attack, my thinking processes are dominated by the mantra. No longer do I need to win every argument or go to extraneous lengths to seek retribution. Hey, life is so good now!

In a matter of weeks my life has turned around completely. Doors seem to be opening that were previously locked and bolted not to mention an incredible sense of calm and serenity. My relationships with people are so much better, in fact opportunities seem to be coming at me from all angles.

Without indulging in false modesty, I suppose the real achievement is self-honesty; this has allowed me to see reality from a global perspective. Nonetheless, had it not been for the basic skills you imparted on that weekend course in 2001, none of this would be possible. (I would also be 91 kilos instead of 67-68)

My eternal gratitude.

Story from C.G, NSW

It was after attending your CALM Seminar that I decided that I did not want to be an accounting manager any longer, but instead assist people with disabilities achieve their potential through swimming.  Four years after, there is a 24 year old receiving a bronze medal at her first paralympics.  Words will never describe that feeling we both shared.  Sarah (not her real name) is now aiming for the Gold Medal at Athens 2004.  Thank you for helping me to coach Sarah to this bronze medal.  It is amazing how a seminar can change your life.  Working with the people that I now do has given me so much satisfaction and purpose in life.  I honestly believe it is my passion and I thank you for my direction in this career change.

---

Sandy's E-Report - - has tips that will use calm techniques in every day life.  We will answer questions you ask and with your permission publish your successes stories using the CALM techniques so that you can assist others.  To Register and to receive SWITCH ON  Click here.

---

Links to Seminar/Shopping

• Books, Audio Tapes, CDs, Videos - Life Skills Self Development Aids
  
  
• Seminars
  
• Seminar Program
  
• Sandy's Inspirational Talks
  
  
• Active Meditation - 3 hour Seminar
  
• 3 Hour Seminar Registration (SECURE)
• Life Skills - 2 day Seminar
• Life Skills - 2 day Seminar Registration (SECURE)
• CHI - 4 day Seminar
• CHI - 4 day Seminar Registration (SECURE)
  
  
  
• Order from Calm Online shop (SECURE)