How to Get the Most Out of Viewing
You are about to start an adventure in personal growth and exploration called "viewing". As a viewer, you will be assisted by a "facilitator" who is trained to help you to relieve any emotional stress you may be experiencing and to acquire insights concerning life and the condition in which you find yourself, with a view to achieving personal ability and happiness.
The facilitator will help you, but it is you who will have to do most of the work. And, although viewing can be very enjoyable -- and sometimes amusing -- it is also hard work. There are certain actions -- and certain precautions -- you should take to prepare yourself for this work and to ensure that all your personal resources are to hand.
While you are engaged in viewing, you should:
* Get plenty of sleep. A sleepy or tired person should
not be trying to do viewing.
* Be well-fed. You should make sure you have something
to eat before coming in for a session, and you should strive to
eat a balanced diet, not just "junk food". When a person
is hungry or malnourished, his awareness level and state of emotional
balance are compromised. It seems to be helpful for a viewer to
take ample quantities of vitamins, particularly Vitamins E, C,
A, D, B1, and B-Complex. It is also recommended that a person
take a calcium and magnesium supplement.
* Avoid mind-affecting drugs. This would include medically
prescribed drugs, such as tranquilizers, sleeping medications,
and pain-killers, as well as street drugs of any kind. It does
not include most antibiotics, and decongestants. It may include
certain antihistamines that have a sedative effect. Alcohol should
be avoided within 24 hours of receiving a session. Drugs tend
to lower a person's awareness, and since the process of viewing
depends entirely on the viewer's level of awareness, drugs are
counter-productive. On occasion, a person may need to take some
kind of mind-affecting medication or pain-killers for medical
reasons. In such cases, a person could possibly still do viewing,
and the viewer could work with his doctor to taper off on the
medications as his condition improves. But in any case, you must
let your facilitator know when you are taking such medications.
* Wear comfortable clothing. Tight clothes or shoes can
be a distraction and can affect GSR meter readings.
* Do not talk about the content of your sessions. Friends,
relatives, and colleagues may, understandably, be curious about
what goes on in your viewing sessions. It has been found, however,
that the contents of your sessions are best kept to yourself.
One of the things that makes viewing sessions safe is that they
are sharply compartmented off from the rest of life. The facilitator
has, as part of his code, a principle that session material will
never be divulged to anyone except to a supervisor, and never
used for any purpose except to help you and to improve the skill
of the facilitator. If you allow yourself to be persuaded to talk
about your sessions, this safety factor may be compromised. Well-meaning
friends and relatives tend to offer evaluations, interpretations,
or invalidations of the session material they hear about, which
may serve to make it seem unsafe to bring up certain topics in
a session. Also, outside input about material that has come up
in a viewing session can get in the way of your reaching your
own decisions about what you are viewing in your sessions. Further,
if two viewers compare notes on their sessions, the result of
such discussions can be a sense of disappointment or inferiority
on the part of one or both of the viewers. So it is not a good
idea to talk about the content of your viewing sessions.
* Let your facilitator know before the fact, if possible, if
you are planning to receive any medical, dental, or chiropractic
treatment. The facilitator may want to revise the plan for
your sessions to coordinate with such treatment. It is also possible
that a physical complaint may be psychosomatic or stress-related,
and that a viewing remedy may be helpful.
* Let your facilitator know if any other major changes have
occurred in your life. If you have changed your job, gotten
engaged, become ill, or suffered some severe loss, the facilitator
and the Technical Director will want to know so that the viewing
plan can be modified accordingly.
* Plan to receive frequent sessions, if possible. Viewing
acquires its own momentum, and you will get results much faster
and more efficiently when your viewing is done intensively. If
your sessions are scheduled only weekly or less often, you will
find yourself spending a great deal of time handling the "slings
and arrows" that life throws at you between sessions. In
other words, you can find yourself playing "catch up"
most of the time. When sessions are given intensively, life doesn't
have time to catch up with you between sessions, and by the time
something negative occurs in life, you are in a much better condition
to cope with it, having handled the fundamental case issues that
have interfered, in the past, with your ability to manage your
life.
* Select a facilitator with whom you feel comfortable.
Facilitators are trained to provide a safe space in which viewing
can occur. Occasionally, however, you may be assigned a facilitator
with whom you simply don't feel comfortable. Under these circumstances,
either the issues that are causing the discomfort need to be resolved,
or you need a different facilitator. If you have been working
well with a facilitator for some period of time and then get abruptly
uncomfortable, chances are that the discomfort will be easily
resolvable in the process of viewing. The important thing to remember,
as a viewer, is to communicate any feelings of discomfort you
may have about a facilitator, either to the facilitator or to
another staff member. Facilitators understand the importance of
personal compatibility and a safe space and appreciate open communication
on the subject when the space seems not to be safe.
* Please give 24 hour notice of a cancellation. If, for
any reason, you must cancel a session or arrive late for one,
please give notice well in advance. In this way, your facilitator
can arrange to work with someone else at that time. There may
be a fee for missed appointments, where you have not given at
least 24 hours' notice. Please give notice as far in advance as
possible, however.
* Plan to arrive ten or fifteen minutes early for your appointment.
This gives you a chance to unwind and relax before your session.
It is also possible that the facilitator may have gotten out of
his last session early and can therefore take you in early.
* Schedule another session. After your session, make sure
that you know when your next session is going to be. Schedule
it if it is not already scheduled.
* Please be patient if your facilitator is tied up with
another viewer. Viewing sessions do not have a fixed length. Although
the facilitator will try to find a good stopping point in order
to be on time for his next appointment, he also has an obligation
to his viewer to get him through whatever he may be involved in.
He will do the same for you, if need be.
Excerpted from:
JOURNAL OF METAPSYCHOLOGY
Article 33 April 14, 1989
Frank A. Gerbode, M.D.