Moving on high

[What follows is the verbatim record of a session.]

J: Tell me where you are now.

B: Just a kind of happiness, a kind of spaciousness. It’s a kind of reddish brown, a rusty brown color, the light is like that. I feel like I’m floating. I’m surrounded by this space. Sometimes it’s darker. The color seems to ebb and flow.

J: We need to be patient, we need to see if something appears out of that light.

B: It’s quite pleasant just to float here.

J: Just continue for a bit; take your time. Maybe it’s important for you to have a place in between; a place of rest and comfort, which doesn’t require a physical surrounding of any kind but is nevertheless very pleasant. Let’s just see if anything transpires here or whether this is just a temporary stopping off place or what it really is. So is there any sense of anyone else there with you, any sense of any presence?

B: No but there’s something that I cannot quite describe. It’s like a structure that kind of rose up. It’s not like anything I recognize. It’s like it came out of the ground, like it grew out of the ground but it’s a structure.

J: And is it the same color as the ground?

B: No, it’s a kind of golden color, a straw color.

J: Does it look like a building or something else?

B: It’s kind of like a building but not like a building I’ve ever seen before.

J: Is it tall or not tall.

B: Quite tall. With strange angles. Flat panels and strange angles.

J: Let’s just see now. Is there an entrance for example.

B: I don’t see one. Maybe. It’s right down at the bottom, round the side maybe.

J: See if you feel you need to move into this structure. It may not be. I’m not sure. See if you feel attracted.

B: I could go in … I think …

J: Why don’t you try and see and tell me what the inside is like…

B: Well, it seems dark. Kind of dank.

J: Maybe you have a flashlight with you; maybe you have some light that you can bring out. Is that possible?

B: Yes.

J: Good. Yes, just bring out a light and see if that improves the situation, or leads you in a particular direction inside.

B: Well, I can see a fire burning now, like a fire in a hearth.

J: Ah, yes. And do you feel like approaching that or…

B: It’s quite close.

J: And you can feel the warmth from it?

B: Yes.

J: Yes, very good. Well just see now if there’s anyone else, a presence there now…

B: I just have a feeling there might be people there but I’m not seeing anyone clearly.

J: Just taking whatever time it takes – we’re not in any kind of hurry here – so just see if the scene clarifies here…

B: I think I’m standing in bare feet.

J: Ah, yes. And maybe you could say a little about what you’re wearing…

B: Just seems to be a dress of some sort.

J: And about what age would you be then?

B: I seem to be a young girl. I don’t know – maybe in my teens. Maybe a bit younger.

J: Anything on your head?

B: No, I don’t think so.

J: And your name? What do people call you?

B: The name that came when you asked that was Isabelle.

J: Fine. We can go with that for now. So Isabelle is there in that situation. Not very clear who else is there or not there in that situation. But let’s move forward now to the next significant thing that takes place in that particular life… .

B: I seem to be floating again…

J: Ah, yes, and what are the colors like now?

B: There’s a deep blue… and the same color that was there before. [pause] It’s very pleasant this floating.

J: Yes, these are like way stations in between – they’re very nice – and we feel supported there, spiritually. So I’d like you to consider now that you’re moving in a spiral upwards… upwards to a higher realm where we may encounter some entities or guides or people that might be able to help. So as if now from this very comfortable place you’re moving upward in a spiral. Very gently but steadily. Moving upward just the way a bird moves upward. Steadily upward, like a white dove moving up and up and up, into higher realms, moving up and up and up, up and up and up, way beyond the realm of this incarnation. Higher and higher and higher. Higher and higher and higher. Until we get all the way up to the realm where there may be direct assistance if that’s appropriate and relevant to B. in this existence. So moving up and up and up in this spiral, higher and higher. And the light becoming more and more refined all the time, perhaps brighter, lighter. Higher and higher until finally we arrive at this upper realm. And I’d like to pause at this level and see where you are and what is around you… .

[After 30 seconds]

B: I see light.

J: Yes.

B: I just want to be with it for a bit. [hushed voice]

J: That’s fine. You don’t have to rush. It may take some time for something to appear. And you need to stay close to the feeling that is there. It’s very important, this feeling.

[After 20 seconds]

B: It’s a very beautiful light, and shining. [in awe]

J: Yes.

B: As if it’s meeting me.

J: Like a welcome?

B: Yes.

J: Yes, of course, you’re being welcomed. And it may feel like a return.

B: Yes.

J: Returning home.

[20 second pause]

B: It feels like there’s a woman there. Not a person exactly, just a feeling of a feminine being.

J: Yes, it doesn’t have to appear as a form that we’re used to. It can be just… and you don’t have to have a visual, you can just sense that this presence is there. And how does that feel – being with that …

B: It feels wonderful.

J: Yes. Yes. So I think it gives you a sense of what real love and support is.

[15 second pause]

So with this feminine presence that is there now, accompanying you, in this environment that is … very, very high … it’s possible for you to ask … ask anything that you need to ask … although the questions from the lower level may not appear to be as important any more … but still … there is a very important first question about what it is that you are to do with the rest of the incarnation that you’re in at the moment. So this would be a great opportunity for you to ask this question – which you can just ask in your thoughts – and see what the response is, … if you could tell me what the response is.

B: I’m aware of light opening up above me, sort of in a circle. There’s tremendous light there.

J: Yes.

[50 second pause]

And does the feminine presence have anything to tell you about this or is this just what you need to experience?

B: I think it’s just what I need to experience. The questions seem unimportant.

J: Yes.

B: Irrelevant.

J: Right. It’s true. … So something is being provided for you here … as it were an opening to something that’s not usually available.

B: And now it’s using my body.

J: Yes. [pause] So this may have something to do with what is really meant by resurrection – where the physical body too needs to be transformed. The level of vibration of the body needs to move also into the light. So that it’s not only a question of the higher parts rejoining. Because of the needs of the planet right now, it’s important for individuals to feel this movement from the highest levels even down into the physical body which in the process becomes, as you say, suffused with this light in a way it changes its composition entirely – and in a way it doesn’t – but nevertheless there’s a movement taking place, a movement from on high as it were.

[25 second pause]

B: My whole body is glowing with this light.  A kind of shimmering.

J: Just be very open to this movement … feeling it take place through the whole body … every part of this body. Opening. Receptive.

[90 seconds silent]

And is this process still going on?

B: It’s changed. It’s kind of ebbing away … the light … I’m in a different place. Not the same; it just feels different.

J: Yes, there are certain levels that we can’t stay at for very long. Let’s see then where it is you need to go next … what needs to happen … and is that feminine presence still accompanying you?

B: I can’t quite tell … I think she’s behind … I’m not sure … [short pause] I think she wants to speak to me.

J: Very likely. So just tell me what she says. [pause]

B: I feel like she’s transmitting something but it’s not in words.

J: Yes, it may be that. I must confess I use the computer term “downloading.”

B: Yes. (agreeing)

J: But there is a sense of a package being received just as in telecommunications there are packages received. But the package is received and then it has to be digested, processed, so that an understanding is then come to … maybe now, maybe later … it’s hard to say. But you may feel an internal movement taking place as a result of what has been received.

B: The phrase “I am your mother” is there.

[60 second pause]

J: And what is happening now?

B: There’s something flowing into me, it’s very lovely, there’s a … a kind of blueness … it’s the kind of a color I haven’t seen before … it’s hard to explain …

J: Yes, the colors can be very hard to describe.

B: There’s a flow into me.

J: Into which part of you? All over, or…

B: Mostly into my heart, my chest … that whole area … There’s a filling up. It’s way beyond my physical body, but connected to it too. It extends out beyond my physical body – that’s what I meant.

J: Yes, so the other interpenetrating bodies are probably involved, particularly the … well, all of them maybe…

B: And it’s definitely coming from this feminine presence. It’s like she’s stirring it up now. It’s a kind of pulsing. There’s a sense of joy. She’s very joyous in doing this.

J: So it’s not a chore; it’s a real joy to transmit this.

B: There’s a gentle pulsing in my body now, my whole body but mostly in my torso. My hands and my arms too and my legs now

J: It’s because something has been received that is very precious.

[60 second pause]

B:  I asked what am I meant to understand here. And the reply was “It will come.”

J: I’m sure it will. … Maybe you could ask, if you need to have this contact again in the future with this feminine presence, if so what you need to do to make that contact.

[40 second pause]

B: The word that’s coming is “Just open.” It’s like my whole body is opening up.

J: So that’s all you really need to do, is to open, for this contact to take place.

B: I feel like there’s this exchange of energy going on right now.

J: It’s fine. Just allow that to take place. We need to take whatever time we need to take.

[3 minute pause]

J: Is it any different now? Is it the same process?

B: No, it’s … I feel I’m coming back down to Earth, to the way.

J: Yes, because this cannot be maintained for too long. Is the feminine presence still there?

B: Ah … kind of … but I feel she might always be there, you know.

J: Yes. Yes. Maybe we could just ask if there’s any final message for B. here … before we leave. [30 second pause]

B: The words that came are “Remember me.”

J: I would like to ask also if the feminine presence has any message for J.

[30 second pause]

B: Well, there’s no words but the … the energy seemed to intensify again and there was a feeling of sweetness … and affection.

J: Yes. That’s a message. …

So I think we have to gradually move back now, allow the body to feel that it’s returning … and the mind … and the spirit. So moving back closer to the present time and place but before we’re gone entirely to engage in an expression of the feeling of gratitude.

B: That’s definitely there.

J: Yes … for what has been received … enormous gratitude really … that these channels were open for us today. And very important to remember that that presence needs to be remembered and is available. Very important information. So coming back now, back towards the physical body in this incarnation because of course this is an incarnation, we have to move back into the incarnation … continue the life … but now with some very precious new material added to the existence here.

Ricky Wolf

Photo H. Velzaquez

Ricky thought that the experiment would be cool. It took a while to get the electrodes properly attached to his forehead where they would measure the frequencies being emitted by his pre-frontal cortex. Finally it was done and he relaxed comfortably back into the big, green leather chair and let out a big sigh.

More fiddling with the video camera and finally we were ready.

Eyes closed, big breath and the journey begins.

“I am in an iglu. It feels very familiar … like I’ve come home.”

“Then what happens?”

“I’m sitting very still and I begin to see power animals appear around me.”

“Do you know what to do now?”

“No. I feel like the sorcerer’s apprentice who has called up something he knows nothing about. But that’s because the current ‘me’ knows nothing. So I have to enter back into that time more fully. Give me a moment more to get there.”

“How are you doing? Can you get there?”

“I am entering the wolf. I am looking through his eyes. My vision is different. I see differently now.”

“What is it like?”

“I cannot tell you that. There are no words for that. I am looking at a different world. My head is very still. I am aware of my sense of smell. Strongly aware. I have no fear. Nothing separates me from the world I am in. The ice and the snow and the sky and the beating of my heart are one. It is good.”

“What takes place next.”

“I am now with a tall man. He is showing me something. We are outside, a little beyond the iglu now. The land and the sky stretch out before us, away from us into the distance. It is incredibly beautiful. The air is sweet.

“Something strange begins to happen. Vision gets extended as he waves his hand further, as if his hand was extending the vision. The moon is there, then Mars, Jupiter, Saturn with its rings. They stretch out into the distance as if we were moving past them. But we have not moved we are still standing in the same place, the snow crisp beneath our feet.

“He smiles at me, looking down at me as if from a great height. ‘You see,’ he says.

‘Yes, I see very well now,’ I said.”

“And what happens next?”

“Nothing more. The scene is fading. Just black. It is over. I feel joy … and incredible sadness.”

Recorded by Jean-Charles Chabot (www.life-between-lives.ca)

The electroencephalogram reading above has some unusual characteristics. Notice that the highest amplitudes are in the lowest frequencies. These low frequencies are associated with deep sleep, healing and dementia. The higher frequencies are associated with the intellect, with thought, and with what is thought of as consciousness. But Ricky was not unconscious and remembered all that took place quite clearly. What is mind? What is reality? What am I?

Perfect pitch …

Freddie called one day and explained that he wanted help in achieving perfect pitch. He’d learned how to play the guitar first and then moved on to the base guitar which fascinated him even more because it was closer to the quality of sound that something in him was striving toward, a sound that contained more possibilities. However, when he had learned to play he had done it by rote. He would find the notes using his mind and not his ear, memorizing the fret positions and the intervals between notes. It was his ear, his perception that he wanted to refine.

Freddie had grown up in Lebanon during the war. Each day was a matter of life and death; danger was everywhere. So was courage. Hearing about his childhood made me think there would be deep psychological issues that needed resolution and that there might be many obstacles to overcome before anything as specific as perfect pitch could be addressed.

Freddie at 35 years of age was fluent in French, English and Arabic. He had studied martial arts, Chi Gung (Qigong) and more recently Tibetan Buddhism. He learned pranic healing in Malaysia and worked with it in Lebanon but found that it was accepted only with difficulty and by very few people. Later he moved to Montreal, where he now lives.

In my role as his hypnotherapist, I hoped to find a way through the mind that would lead him to the relaxation that would help his ear hear what he needed to hear. We began with a visualization in which I asked him to imagine himself in a pyramid of shimmering white light that surrounded him completely and within which he floated comfortably at a level about a third of the way up from the base.

I then gave a very general indication that we were going off on a journey to look for information related to his quest – his quest in general but also specifically his quest in relation to sound. I did not mention perfect pitch.

I said that the place we needed to go would appear at the count of three. After the word three was spoken and without hesitation, Freddie began to relate the following story. Only very occasionally did I have to say something such as, “And what happened after that?”

“I’m standing in front of a house. It’s red with a white door and white window frames. The roof is steeply slanted. The fields are green and there is a background of blue sky. There’s a walkway leading past a white fence up to the front door. The door is closed but as I approach it opens. At first it’s dark inside because the light outside was so bright. Gradually, I see stairs leading to the second floor on the right and on the left a long narrow hallway. I make my way down the hallway. There are pictures of people on the wall but I don’t recognize any of them. Then I come to another set of stairs leading down.

As I make my way down, it feels moist but welcoming. The walls are green and feel very good to the touch. Warm and moist. I keep going down. There is a wonderfully comforting feeling. I continue going down and I come to another long corridor which I begin following. Suddenly I come to the end and I find myself in a large cave that contains a small lake. The water is blue, very clear, and it is shining as if light were coming out of it. I’m looking at the water. Then I notice that there is someone sitting on a bench on the other side of the lake. I can’t tell if it’s a man or a woman. This person is wearing a long brown cape with a hood.

Suddenly there is a small raft there that I can use to travel to the other side. I step on and I find that it’s a bit wobbly but just the same it begins to take me there. Now the water disappears but the raft continues to float. Below it is a white, golden light. The raft floats to the other side and I step off. But the person is not there any more. So I continue walking deeper into the cave. Suddenly it becomes huge and there’s a lot of water. Stalactites hang from the ceiling of the cave. There is water everywhere. A ray of sunlight shines down from a hole in the roof of the cave. It strikes a point way out on the water.

I walk into the water and it’s a bit cold at first. Then I jump right in. I feel very comfortable and I’m swimming under the water. I still see the ray of sunlight from underneath and I come up to the surface where it strikes the water. I climb up the side of the cave and pull myself out through the hole in the roof.

I am standing on a mountain top. There are huge valleys, grey clouds. The sun has disappeared. I climb up higher until the clouds are all below me and the sky is blue, clear and calm. There is no one else, just me, all by myself.

Suddenly, I am back at the door of the house. This time I enter and go up the stairs on the right instead of down the hallway. But now my feet are very heavy. Each step is hard. I’m struggling a bit. It’s a long way and it’s very hard. The wall on the right is white until I come to a mirror. I look into it and see the other side of the stairway reflected in it but I don’t see myself. I keep walking up until I reach the second floor. There are two rooms on the right and another staircase leading up on the left. I walk into one of the rooms. The room looks like a house our family had in the mountains. I leave that room and go to the other one. There’s just a bed and a woman sleeping there whom I don’t know. I walk through the room and out onto a balcony from which I see a tree and a car.

The balcony detaches from the building and I’m floating up and up. Floating over the town. I lie down. We come to a huge library. It’s round and has many floors. I enter on the ground floor. There are many old books. It’s strange because I’m looking at the building from above it and from below it at the same time. On the bottom floor there is a fountain and I go and drink from it. It is very sweet. I walk towards a computer on the table. I try to start it, but it doesn’t start. Then I begin looking at the books. One big, dark red book grabs my attention. It’s written on the outside “Grimoire”. [textbook of magic] I grab it. It’s heavy and big and I carry it over and put it on a table. I open it up to check out the inside. There is one full page and one half page but nothing is written on these pages. I keep turning the pages but I can’t find anything. There is a light coming out of the pages and connecting with my third eye. Information is being downloaded, [his head jerks] white light coming in. I shut the book and it disappears. It’s pages had become like empty filing folders.

On each floor of the library there are different people playing musical instruments. I recognize them as people who had influenced me. I see them playing but I don’t hear anything. Although I see them, their shapes are not solid.

Now I’m floating. Just moving up, checking each floor one by one. Each floor has a different color. Now I’m at white. I can feel that each floor has a lot of books and these books have a lot of knowledge, hidden treasures. Now there’s light. It’s a very light green, and now it’s turning to blue, then grey, then yellow. The library has disappeared.

There is nothing now but a rainbow spiraling around me. I’m floating with it. The colors mean something. The rainbow is starting to go into my right ear and then into my left ear. It is spiraling inside my head and inside my body.

Suddenly I’m back in front of the white house and I’m a little kid wearing shorts and a T-shirt. I’m holding hands with two people. And these two people hold hands with two people and pretty soon there’s almost a thousand people holding hands and encircling the house. There is a fire at the top of the house but the house is not burning. The house is in good shape. The fire is just coming out the top of it. Yellow flames.

I see some kind of animal, an animal I don’t recognize, leaving the house and running towards me. It’s weird looking. It jumps into my arms. I put it on my left shoulder. I’m caressing it. It climbs around on my shoulder and head.

All the people disappear. [pause]

And now I see the same figure I saw by the underground lake. It’s wearing red and is seated on a floating carpet. It’s a male figure; he looks oriental. He has a flute but he is not playing it. The carpet floats down. Now I’m facing it and it is floating only a few inches above the ground. I sit down on the carpet facing the figure of the man. A golden light comes out of this scene and merges into me. It’s like a merging into that; it’s not a person; a golden, sparkling light. It’s like I’m becoming that light. I’m hearing music but it’s very far away.

Now everything has disappeared. Total emptiness. Very quiet. Just floating there.”

Photo © Theresa Conti (www.reconnecting2you.com)

Dear Friends:

I didn’t know how to end this piece. When we go to another world and come back, what is there to say? It reminds me of some place in the Bible where it says of a man who did just that — “And he opened his mouth to speak and he spake not.”

So I thought it best to end this piece with this amazing image from Ravenna, Italy taken by my dear friend Theresa Conti, who practices Reconnective Healing in New York.

But then today something more happened. A piece of writing arose out of me. Of course it doesn’t really fit here — except that it is related to the image. So even though my monkey mind says it doesn’t fit here, I will put it here anyway. I hope it can speak to you.

Something came

But it was not a word

It was a touch – the touch of a wing

On my back –

Unmistakable

But immeasurably light

And overflowing with significance

With meaning –

Simply true.

In that eternal instant

Knowing unconditionally

That I am with …

With that …

Regardless of how far

I may have wandered

Or how far I may have distanced myself

No matter –

I am

Loved.

And knowing too

That each living earthly thing

I meet

Can remind me of that.

Jack Cain

The mystery of coming back to oneself…

William called late one night, beset with deadlines, stress and tension. He felt he needed a boost to get through the next 10 days leading up to a presentation and he wanted to arrange for an energy session the very next day. But the day was booked solid for me so I suggested that I could do a session then and there if he wanted to by making it a “distance session.” I explained that I did about two thirds of my energy sessions as distance sessions. With the energy modality I use – Reconnective Healing® – as with a number of other such modalities, it is possible to do the session when the client and I are in different locations. The quantum physics principle of non-locality is often used to explain this – since the work is with vibrations it seems reasonable that the fundamental laws of vibration would apply.

We set a time half an hour away. I called back to confirm and to ask him to simply stretch out, close his eyes and be aware of whatever took place. Then I hung up the phone, and proceeded to move my hands above the imagined body of William stretched out in front of me. Right away, the usual prickling sensation of the energy was present in my hands and I proceeded to allow my body and hands to move as seemed best to them. My job is to maintain the connection and “play” with the energy or “stretch” it by moving my hands. I make no diagnosis and I have no perception of the client’s problems or issues. The source of the energy decides what will take place and it will be only what is appropriate for that person at that time. The energy is not transmitted through me; it is received directly by the client from the source.

After half an hour I called back and received the following report:

“Very intriguing. It was a lot of fun in a strange way. I had no idea what was happening. I was alone, lying down on my bed, comfortable, relaxed, with lots of thoughts running through my head, the usual torrent of them. I did an invocation at the beginning, and after that a number of deep breaths. Gradually the massive amount of trivial thoughts began to die down.

Then there was a sensation of a subtle heat around the solar plexus. Not a heat in or on the body but outside of it. Could it be a subtle form of annealing?

The body sensations were experienced in and around the mundane thoughts. Then the thought process changed and instead of the mundane thoughts, I was placed in a space where I was able to catalog the diverse sets of techniques and strengths I would need to help me handle my presentation. It was a kind of preparation. I fundamentally understood how to approach the problem, the logical strategies to use – just realistic good thinking. I understood how to make a prelude, how to bring in some media, and sound into the room, floating sequences over each other. A seeding process. I realized I have enough, I have what I need. I realized I’m going to be OK.

Then there was a return to the scampering thoughts, thoughts like squirrels or scorpions. I watched them dwindle away and once again I experienced the energies weaving through me, and then I thought of Jack over there in another part of the city doing his weaving work.

A bit later, as a sort of deepening of the invocation, I began to see something suspended above me that resembled an Australian aboriginal painting. It was a human body of speckled dots being distinguished from a background also of dots because the dots on the body were brighter. It was a body like mine, bright grey dots coming out of the field, in 3D, tendril things, just coming down, descending toward my body and entering into my body. Lovely. Now I don’t know what happened after that; nothing else so remarkable. But a clarity remained.”

Sleep that knits up the ravell’d sleeve of care

When something is barely seen…

Barely seen though clearly there is an intense light at the center of it. How do we find our way to the center? Maybe the light was only seen briefly, then once again the darkness comes and we doubt. How to find confidence in the path of becoming who we know ourselves to be.

In a way these are very private discoveries – it’s up to me to find the path. Sometimes there are indications, help of various kinds, but I must be able to recognize an indication as an indication, I must have the humility to accept the help that is offered. Sometimes this is not easy. But once acceptance is there, what was heavy is suddenly light as a feather.

I am blessed now with being on a path of accompanying others on such journeys. And I am beginning to gather a body of experiences that I feel would be good to share. None of these tales have an ending. They are only segments extracted from individual lives – lives that go on with what might inevitably seem to be “good and bad luck”. And yet, these experiences seem to be critical junctures just the same.

Judith spoke lightly, almost cheerfully, about her difficulty – forty years of waking at 2 am, anxious and not able to get back to sleep. At best there would be one or two hours more of rest before having to get up to go to work. We began with my usual process of relaxation that lead to that in-between world of images, a world where the conscious mind has not been left behind, but has been given a back seat so that there is access to the much larger mind of all previous experience. And once that contact was firmly established I asked for precisely those scenes from an earlier time that were relevant to the issue at hand – her insomnia.

Very quickly Judith is back in her bed, age 8, with a fever, alone and no one is coming to check on her. On the floor she notices a dark shape. Terror enters as her mind decides it is a rat. Later she finds it was only a piece of clothing. But now, back there once again and reliving the scene, the terror is palpable. The body is white with fear. The breath is held.

Returning to a scene in this special way, the experience is not just remembered, it is relived. But more importantly it can be repaired. This childhood incident is packed with emotion. An emotion that has never been released. The deeper, subconscious mind does not know that time has passed because for that mind all time is one. No one came to check on Judith of 8, no one came to provide comfort and reassurance. So I ask Judith of today to return and comfort Judith of 8. Take her in her arms, love her and comfort her until the fear is assuaged and she can sleep. In her mind’s eye Judith sees the little one smiling now and looking up at her with love and gratitude. I suggest that she rock the child until once again she is able to sleep. And sleep easily returns.

We go further back. Judith is 3 and has left her bed to stand at the top of the stairs. She is afraid. From the room at the bottom of the stairs a harsh light pours out and she hears angry voices. More through the emotion than the words, the meaning becomes clear. “I’m not looking after her while you go out – she’s your problem.” Once again we engage in repair. Judith of today gathers up Judith of 3 and takes her back to her bed, and comforts her once again until she can fall asleep.

Following this repair, I take the adult and child on a walk near the sea, a favorite and calming spot from childhood, so that they have time together and can reinforce the bond. Now the child knows that there is someone who will always be there for her. And the adult knows too that there is a responsibility to the child in her heart.

Our work done – and I say “our” deliberately since it was Judith doing the work with only a little guidance from me – we return gradually back to the present moment.

Judith was amazed. She remembered both these incidents but had never connected them to her problem sleeping. Every individual’s case is unique so I could only say that we would have to see what the result of our work would be. In this case, we were heartened by immediate success: on the night following the session, Judith began sleeping straight through seven hours. We did a couple more sessions as reinforcement and then left it at that. Months later the result was still the same.