June 2003
Spiritual Frontiers Fellowship
Raleigh, NC
Issue 178

Stephen Larsen, Ph.D.
The Self-Liberating Power of the Mind: Brain, Biofeedback and the Energy Body

Traditional spiritual paths have always held out a promise of ìliberation to the questing candidate. Paradoxically, however, internal
freedom may take enormous effort, as in the yogic quelling of desires, Buddhist detachment, or the awesome austerities practiced by shamans to acquire special powers. But most people of our time and culture do not live in ashrams, temples nor mountain caves, environments that support the extraordinary periods of concentration necessary to make progress in these paths.

Fortunately, the very electronic culture which bodes to disquiet, or even enslave us, also has come up with a remedy for our malady, a method for our madness: biofeedback; a deceptively simple procedure using electronic devices to read physiological signals, with profound effects.

In this talk Dr. Larsen moves from the traditional practices of biofeedback--with simple examples of self-regulation that can be used in everyday life, through a cook's tour of the astonishing research that has
accumulated over the last fifty years of biofeedback, to the cutting edge field of Neurofeedback, or EEG-based therapies for maladies of the nervous system--which lead us back full circle to the concept of the Energy Body and the Soul.

The talk will also explore the usefulness of LENS or the ìlow-energy neurofeedback stimulation of Dr. Len Ochs and this technology's implications for the future.
Clinical examples are presented of people using these techniques to recover from the after effects of closed head injuries (or TBI's), Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (or PTSD), receive help with anxiety and depression, addictions, insomnia, and learning disabilities, including attention problems such as ADHD, ADD and dyslexia. Attention is also given to Optimal Performance, (flow, or peak performance) and how already well functioning people can use neurofeedback to hone their skills to a fine edge.

The talk will be accompanied by a Power Point slides.

Dr. Stephen Larsen: Therapeutic Training and Internships

B.A. Columbia College, psychology; M.A. Columbia University, Developmental Psychology; Ph.D. The Union Institute, Counseling Psychology.

Clinical Internship and Training: C.G.Jung Institute, Zurich, 1976
Didactic analysis/professional training E.C. Whitmont, M.D., 1970-1999
Clinical Training Internship: Stanislav Grof, M.D. 1972-74
Guided Imagery Training: Bernard Aaronsen, Ph.D.
Internship: Mythic Studies, Prof. Joseph Campbell, Prof. 1964-87
Prof. Training Roger Woolger, Ph.D. Jungian Analyst: Focus on Past Life (1983-2002)
Prof. Training William Baldwin Ph.D. and Judith Baldwin: Spirit Releasement
Therapy
Biofeedback Training: Adam Crane, and Siegfried and Susan Othmer
Clinical Internship and Certification: Len Ochs, Ph.D
1996 Certified A.I.B.T.
1998 Certified BCIA-EEG

The Self-Liberation Practicum: An Experiential Workshop
A Workshop with Stephen Larsen, with Robin Larsen and Larry Garwood
Saturday, June 7, 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM, break, &
2:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Cost $100 at the door
$80 if paid by June 5
Location: Health Space

Register and pay for the workshop at the lecture on June 5 and save $20!

In this didactic and experiential workshop Stephen Larsen will introduce some of the techniques he developed over thirty years of consciousness programs and clinical biofeedback practice. Topics will include the
brainwave ranges and their relationship to both clinical problems and consciousness; the respective roles of the heart and the brain, heartrate variability and RSA's or Respiratory-Sinus Arrhythmias; classical
neurofeedback and its success and failures and the history of EEG-driven stimulation, culminating in the current state of LENS, which uses radio-waves instead of light to produce subtle but powerful effects on both brain and energy fields.

Clinical topics include EEG slowing, the 'driven' nervous system, repetitive loops such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), stereotypy and self-limiting behaviors. The uses and misuses of depression and anxiety,
coping with irritability, hypersensitivity and overarousal, the relation of central neural plasticity to peripheral problems, the use of photonic stimulation and qi gong in therapeutic regimens, and the relationship of
neurofeedback to psychotherapy, meditation and spiritual development.

The workshop will offer a number of experiential exercises, and equipment-mediated experience, including a chance to watch, train, and/ or stimulate brainwaves. It will also offer a chance to do photonic stimulator work and Heartmath protocols. Biofeedback equipment will be on hand for hands-on experience.

Individual Therapeutic or Counseling Sessions with Dr. Larsen $150/hr, $250 for two-hour extended session.

Time and Location TBD

Realizing that particular approaches might fill the needs of different clients, Dr. Larsen is offering consultations in the following areas:

LENS neurofeedback brainmapping, or offset evaluation and/or Heartmath, generic biofeedback either independently or together in session, depending on nature of problems. For CNS problems, esp. TBI, Fibromyalgia, depression, etc.

Full map, consultation and evaluation = two hours

Consultation, evaluation, offset = one hour

Consultation FNS session = one hour

Heartmath evaluation = one hour

Transpersonal/Mythic/Dream Processing (One or two hour session)

Dreamwork or multiple dreams (longer session), creative or mythological
impasse in life-story development.

Dr. Larsen invites clients to bring art work, writing, journals, life/creative project plan to session; sandplay, if available. (You be the judge of how much time you might need.)

Shamanic/ Spirit Releasement, Ancestral /Past-Life Work (Two hour suggested)

Sometimes people have encounters with animals in dreams or waking life, visionary experiences in nature, feel they have invisible companions or hitchhikers, feel healthy or unhealthy relationships to parents or ancestors further back in the family tree, feel there is a dark energy in an obsession, feel that history is repeating itself "Y'all come back now, y'hear?" Thorough experiential recovery and processing can be very healing of ancestral or past-life-related problems.

Most 'spirit-attachments' or energy-body drains, can be relieved by diligent and skillful inquiry. Dysfunctional energies or obsessions can be released or engaged, depending on
the nature of the energy. Clients are encouraged to bring a journal and meaningful personal talismans.

No Lecture in July


 

 
 

Thursday,
June 5, 2003

Doors Open: 6:30 PM
Lecture: 7:15 - 9:30 PM
Cost: $5

We hold most of our meetings at the Community United Church of Christ on the corner of Wade Avenue and Dixie Trail in Raleigh. 814 Dixie Trail, Raleigh, NC 27607.




Healing Meditation
(See Below)

Time: 6:30 - 7:00 PM

Cost: Free

An open guided meditation will be held at 6:30 p.m. in the Bradow Room (on side of church that faces Dixie Trail) at Community United Church of Christ.

The lectures begins at 7:15 PM following the meditation. Light refreshments will be served at the mid-point break in the lecture. We look forward to seeing you on Thursday, May 1.

 

Special Healing Meditation

This month's early meditation will be presented by Diana Henderson as her last one in her capacity as SFF Healing leader. Following this meeting, Diana will be taking on the role of SFF chairperson.


Bookstore Lecture:
A Fire in the Mind
Stephen and Robin Larsen.
(One and one half hours with questions.)
Time and Location TBD

The Larsens worked with, and enjoyed the friendship, of Joseph Campbell for twenty-five years. They wrote his authorized biography, A Fire in the Mind, originally published by Doubleday, and now, recently reprinted by Inner Traditions International. The Larsens also edited Campbellís Indian Journal (1954), Baksheesh and Brahman, published in 1999.
In this lecture they trace the biographical events, the intellectual discoveries, and the spiritual breakthroughs, of one of the greatest
mythologists of our time.

The Larsens accompany their slide-illustrated
lecture with storytelling and reminiscences of Campbell during his own life-journey.