Yes, there is a quote from Bates' book which sums
this up well:
PSWG pg 101
"To secure permanent relaxation
sometimes requires considerable time and much
ingenuity. The same method cannot be used with
everyone. The ways in which people strain to see
are infinite, and the methods used to relieve the
strain must be almost equally varied. Whatever
the method that brings most relief, however, the
end is always the same, namely relaxation. By
constant repetition and frequent demonstration
and by all means possible, the fact must be
impressed upon the patient that perfect sight can
be obtained only by relaxation. Nothing else
matters."
The phrase that echoed in my mind was those last
three words. "Nothing else matters".
So, the emphsis is drawn away from any particular
technique like palming bringing about "x"
specific result, and it is therefore given a much
less direct cause and effect conception.
To give you an example of this:
One time a lady was palming and not having much
fun at it. She kept seeing an orange ball of fire in
her field of vision, and the more she saw it, the
angrier she became with it. This went around and
around for several minutes as I began slowly to draw
her attention into not trying to change anything.
Finally, I had an intuition as to what was happening,
and I said to her the following words:
"How would it be, if you conceive that this
orange ball of fire, is simply a picture of your own
frustration with it."
Two seconds later she said, in a tone of
astonishment mixed with relief and disbelief -
"It's gone". She exhaled much air with
those words.
So it was not palming that achieved the change
here, but her own understanding of what she was doing
as she was palming. Palming, in a sense, was bringing
up right in her face an aspect of her personality
that was simply an out of control feedback loop. It
was something she had difficulty identifying, and a
mental habit - as soon as the futility of this way of
relating to herself (and the world in general) was
brought to her awareness however, it left
immediately.
This kind of scenario happens often, but it's
never the same - one time another lady saw stars
zooming past, and she was terrified, and wanted them
to slow down. The solution? Don't strain, let them be
that fast - again within seconds she said
"They've slowed down."
Another student once said to me that she was aware
of an enormous mental block in the way of her palming
- that she could sense it. This student had a lot of
insights from various other disciplines, and she
checked in with her "inner guidance" as she
put it, to which the answer, much to her surprise,
was - don't do anything to it.
I commented to her that that is exactly right,
because as soon as you try and do anything to change
what's there, you do the very thing that creates the
block. Two weeks after this, she told me that the
block had dissolved - all that was required was that
she become conscious of it.
Boredom is a tricky one, because it is in a sense
a kind of disengagement, and it is hard to bring it
out to the surface. Things like anger, and fear are
easily engaged - they are obvious "actions"
being taken by the person, and redirecting them is
taking in hand an energetic involvement that is
already active.
If you think of boredom as coming from the act of
palming, then introduce the idea that in fact it is
something you do at other times, and palming is
showing you your habit of boredom. You can probably
conceive that somewhere inside you is the knowledge
you can sit quietly with no stimulus other than what
your ears and skin tell you, and be perfectly happy.
Where that place is, is probably at present quite
safely out of bounds for one reason or another.
But always the essential ingrediants are -
observe, wait, and if things are not working and
becoming unproductive, stop, and let it settle.
Pushing palming is as unproductive as any other form
of strain.
It is, however, possible to take a less direct
"hit" off the boredom (or anger or
frustration etc.), and assume more of a witness
position with yourself ("I feel bored. I notice
this happening to me, how interesting") - and in
that way you can engage with your responses in a
non-judgmental manner. Increasing the level of easy,
non-judgmental engagement is always going to help.
This is relaxed activity.
