MASTERS OF THE MIND, (continued):

"Our scriptures say that you can go through lifetimes before you reach the point where you know when you have synchronized your breath and mantra, he continued. "It's just like music, you see. 'Do re mi fa ...,' you play it as a student, and even when you are master, you do the same. It is not unlike the aging process. When we are young, we like variety and abundance. As we become older, we become more selective. As you grow older and begin to discriminate and discern subtle differences in your breathing and speech, quality begins to form. Quality is the aim of all our practice."

Shyam Bhatnagar uses mantric sounds and syllables in psychotherapy and reports outstanding results for students and patients, many of whom have failed to respond to conventional therapies. "An example of the efficacy of sound would be the cure of stress," he said. "Sound can induce relaxation and free one from dependence on tranquilizers. Similarly, there are sounds which help fight anxiety, fear, distress and insomnia."

If this seems remote from the more esoteric yogas which lead to greater spiritual awareness, it is only by matter of degree, according to Bhatnagar. "My approach is therapeutic," he said. "Eventually, this leads to a spiritual approach because that is all there really is.

"There are layers we go through to strike upon the phenomenon as it is, the spiritual 'truth,' if you will. Who ever heard of a psychologist who became spiritual? But I know several who learned to apply the method of sound to their students and to their own lives, and who become InnerTuning® sound therapists and more inward and calm."

Discounting the myth that a mantra wrongly repeated can induce psychological trauma ("Psychological trauma? That is the state of most people anyway!" he said with a smile of compassion), Bhatnagar says that any mantra except a seed mantra can be recited with confidence and safety. "The sound of a truck passing will damage you more than a mantra done at the wrong frequency," he said. "It is never damaging. Only a seed (bija) mantra, transmitted by a teacher, is risky if the student is ill prepared. Before accepting a seed mantra, you must have proper preparation mentally and physically. The occurrence and acceptance of altered states of consciousness has steadily declined in the West since the Middle Ages."

All of the techniques used in InnerTuning® relate to the basic principles of Microchakra Psychology™, which Shyam Bhatnagar developed from his own experience and training. Microchakra Psychology™, Bhatnagar explains, is a basic framework for understanding the chakra energy system of the human body, and how it influences both psychological and emotional behavior. Through it, one can see how various chakra blockages, which happened in childhood, affect as well as create adult psychological problems.

"Microchakra Psychology™ helps you determine your own areas of growth," he said. "For example, different sleeping postures attend different states of chakra consciousness. If, at the age of 80, you sleep like an infant, on your stomach, this means you've lived with postural problems for 80 years. Do exercises, breathing, diet -- work methodically to get out of it with the guidance of an InnerTuning® therapist. This is what is meant by psychology: learning to feel better."

Although Bhatnagar has traveled and lectured widely, he has never written a book on InnerTuning® and Microchakra Psychology™. "I'd rather be known as a therapist than a writer," he said. "It is vital for the patient or student to have personal contact with the teacher. While books have their place, they are no substitute for living practice."

In the interest of preserving and perpetuating this centuries-old tradition of teaching and healing through yogic techniques the SRI Center in Princeton and SRI Centers International in New York City and Europe continue to offer workshops and seminars on integrating both hemispheres of the brain. Their goal is to help men and women realize their potential as total human beings, freed from the anxieties and agonies, which go hand-in-hand with 20th life.

< previous page |