Re: LGATS - one person's experience of Lifespring
Posted by:
SeekingTruth
()
Date: June 15, 2010 07:29PM
Day 3, Saturday - What are YOU pretending not to know?
I did not get a good night sleep Friday night. Opening up the
subconscious will keep you awake. I had a feeling of anxiousness
for getting there on time Saturday morning. Boy were we trained
good. I knew all of this consciously yet could do nothing about it.
After driving around the parking garage looking for a space I ran to
the hotel to make it on time and did with only two minutes to spare.
(Oh God the music is playing, I better get to my seat.)
The session started off with another closed eye exercise in which we
were reminded of more negative things about ourselves. I kept my
eyes cracked open and was muttering things like "NOT", "No way
baby", "Not in my universe", etc. in order to help counteract the
effect of the exercise.
What these negative exercises do is to pull up the negative things
that are buried in the subconscious. This is not necessarily wrong,
but people do not realize that this is what happens.
Then we listened to this wailing blues song to put us in the mood.
After this the trainer asks
"Who wants to share?"
By this time there are several people in the group who have been
opened up psychologically and put in a sufficiently altered state of
consciousness that they are having things surface out of their
subconscious.
A row of chairs has been placed on the stage and several people come
forward to fill them.
The first one to stand up to be processed is a woman who confesses
being sexually molested as a child. The woman tells the story and
appears to be reliving the experience.
Woman: "My father is sticking his tongue in me, I don't like it."
Trainer: "Uh huh. What else is he doing?"
The trainer speaks coldly and authoritatively with no trace of
compassion in the voice. The woman confesses the entire story of
being raped by her father and is crying like a little child. The
trainer nods and acts like they have heard it all before. Several
people in the room (myself included) are crying in sympathy. The
emotion is way too intense. Tension is extremely high in the room.
The trainer walks up on stage next to the woman and screams in her
face "TELL YOUR FATHER HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT THIS! TELL HIM!. The woman
screams out "I HATE YOU! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME?"
The trainer yells "WHAT ARE YOU FEELING? WHERE IS THAT ENERGY IN
YOUR BODY?" The woman points to her solar plexus. The trainer
demands "HAVE THAT ENERGY MAKE A SOUND AND LET IT OUT". The woman
lets out a long scream into the mike and then bursts into tears. One
of the assistants helps her back to her seat.
Another grown man around 50 years old gets up and starts relating
the story of how his he and his brother were playing hide and seek.
While he was hiding, the father called them in and he didn't hear
him. The father went out to look for him and when found, the father
beat him mercilessly. While telling the story, the man is crying
uncontrollably. Again the trainer asks what he was feeling and where
it was in his body. The trainer aggressively coaches out another
long scream into the mike.
Another man gets up and confesses that he feels numb and can't feel
love. The trainer asks him to have that numbness make a sound. He
hums into the mike for a while and eventually breaks down crying
like a baby.
Person after person gets processed in this fashion by the trainer.
They all end up screaming and crying into the microphone. Amplified
by a PA system it has a powerful effect on the rest of us. This type
of "sharing", more accurately described as " catharsis " is what the previous
two days of aggressive awareness exercises produces in the
participants. These exercises, along with the sleep deprivation have
opened people up psychologically and have produced a strong altered
state of consciousness such that the childhood traumas that have
been long buried in the subconscious are now surfacing.
One man confesses that he never told his mother that he loved her.
The trainer tells him to get on his knees and visualize his mother
and tell her. While he is on his knees the staff in the back of the
room play a song about "Mommy being there to tie your shoes and dry
your eyes" through the PA system. I am thinking, "Man, they have a
song for every occasion". During one of the breaks I check out the
PA system and there are dozens of tapes in a rack.
After about 3-4 hours of this it is time for the "What do you want?" process.
In this process people pair off in chairs facing one another. One
person is the coach and screams in the other person's face at the
top of his lungs "WHAT DO YOU WANT? WHAT DO YOU WANT?" The second
person screams at the top of his lungs anything that pops up "LOVE,
LIFE, HAPPINESS, FREEDOM, etc". Sometimes something negative will
come up spontaneously. "HATE" I don't think that is what the person
wants it is just what comes up.
The lights are dimmed and the process begins. The trainer and the
staff cruise the room shouting in people's faces too. Whenever one
comes by me I scream out "QUIET" or "A REFUND" or "PRIMAL SCREAM
THERAPY". (I gotta have some fun with this). During this process
there are a few shivers of emotional release. I don't know what I am
releasing. Guess it doesn't matter.
This process went on for an ungodly amount of time. At the end we
were coached to let out several screams (no words). Over 100 people
in a hotel ballroom screaming at the top of their lungs. At the end
we are to hug the other person and listen to another song.
I Want To Know What Love Is - Foreigner
I gotta take a little time, a little time to think things over
I better read between the lines, in case I need it when I'm older
Now this mountain I must climb, feels like the world upon my shoulders
Through the clouds I see love shine, it keeps me warm as life grows
colder
In my life there's been heartache and pain
I don't know if I can face it again
Can't stop now, I've travelled so far, to change this lonely life
I want to know what love is, I want you to show me
I want to feel what love is, I know you can show me
I'm gonna take a little time, a little time to look around me
I've got nowhere left to hide, it looks like love has finally found me
In my life there's been heartache and pain
I don't know if I can face it again
Can't stop now, I've travelled so far, to change this lonely life
I want to know what love is, I want you to show me
I want to feel what love is, I know you can show me
I want to know what love is, I want you to show me
(And I wanna feel) I want to feel what love is
(And I know) I know you can show me
Let's talk about love - I want to know what love is
The love that you feel inside - I want you to show me
And I'm feeling so much love - I want to feel what love is
No, you just can't hide - I know you can show me
I want to know what love is (let's talk about love), I know you can
show me
I wanna feel it too - I want to feel what love is
I wanna feel it too, and I know and I know - I know you can show me
Show me love is real, yeah - I want to know what love is...
After this we were instructed to find a spot in the room and sit or
lay down on the floor. The trainer starts another closed eye
process. (Jeez, can't we take a break? We keep getting slammed with
process after process.)
This process starts out with "walking down a spiral staircase into
the darkness". This is a classic hypnotic induction technique. We
are led through dark passageways in a maze like fashion. After being
led through the catacombs of our consciousness we come to a door. At
this point the tunnels we have been led through collapse behind us.
The only way out is through the door. There is a saying in hypnosis
that you have to go through the basement to get to the attic.
When we open the door we are led into a room of bright light. After
ascending a golden staircase we sit down on a special chair. We are
guided to pick up a photo album representing our lives.
When we look up from the album, standing there is your mother. We
were told to say anything we wanted to our mother. Some people were
crying, others were screaming, others were having conversations with
their mothers. We repeated this with our fathers. Then we repeated
this with other family members. I found that I didn't have any
buried resentments against my parents. It was emotional though. Pass
the kleenex.
Next we were led through a process where we meet our inner child and
the child gives us a gift. The gifts are different for each person
and reflect something in their consciousness. This is a very moving
and touching experience. These types of processes are done in
seminars done by John Bradshaw and others. However I don't believe
Bradshaw does this aggressive breakdown stuff beforehand. One of the
staffers was next to me on the floor and she was boo-hooing big
time. She had done Lifespring. I asked her if she had done this
process before. She said no. Apparently Lifespring does not have an
inner child process. I found a link for a similar type of inner
child meditation that we did.
We setup the chairs and sit back in our seats. Now the trainer
becomes "seductive and charming" and invites people to share what
they experienced. I was wondering when the changeover to "nice"
would take place.
After this we took a meal break for an hour and a half. When we came
back the music is cranked up and there is an hour of dancing. I will
point out here that this type of physical exertion is helpful at
this point. People have just released major emotional stuff. It
also releases a lot of the tension and gets your energy flowing
again.
The moving meditation, hug line, or love bomb process - This process
involves a long snaking circular line. Where we are given the
opportunity to silently interact with every person in the room
including the staff. We are instructed to vote with our fingers: one
finger means no contact, Two means to look the other person in the
eyes, three fingers for a handshake, and four to give a full body
hug. None of this lean over and keep your pelvis away type of hug
stuff. This is full contact head to toe. Most everyone votes to hug.
It is a very moving experience.
We are dismissed early (before 10) in comparison to the last two
nights. Homework was given to try to reconnect with a family member
or someone from the past.