Since 1995, people have been experiencing their own mental afterlife connections by having psychotherapists guide them into a state of mind in which the connections occur.  The psychotherapists are using two procedures: Induced After-Death Communication [1] and Guided Afterlife Connections [2].  The psychotherapist helps the experiencer enter a special state of mind in which he or she is open to the afterlife connection. The success rate for the Induced After-Death Communications procedure is around 70% [3], while the success rate for the Guided Afterlife Connections procedure is 95% or more [4]. Both procedures use a psychotherapy method called bilateral stimulation.

I co-authored books with the originators of the two psychotherapy methods.  With my understanding of how people enter the state of mind in which the afterlife connections occur, I resolved to develop a procedure that would allow people to have afterlife connections with loved ones without the aid of a psychotherapist, medium, or psychotherapist.  Unfortunately, the two procedures used by the psychotherapists are not suitable for self-guided connections because the psychotherapy method on which they are based (bilateral stimulation) affects the mind in such a way that repressed traumatic memories or unresolved psychological issues can surface, causing acute psychological difficulties for the experiencer.  A state-licensed psychotherapist must be present to help the person deal with any emerging traumatic memories. As a result, it might be dangerous to teach people how to use bilateral stimulation to bring themselves into the state of mind that allows the afterlife connection to occur.  They might uncover traumatic memories they are unable to deal with. 

However, I believed that it should be possible to help grieving people come into the state of mind produced by the two psychotherapy procedures using methods that would not open up traumatic memories.  Based on my knowledge of the two procedures the psychotherapists are using, I realized that the experiencer must learn to enter a relaxed, open state of mind that allows the loved one to take control and make the connection.  With my background as a certified hypnotist, I surmised that a self-guided hypnotic trance should enable the experiencer to relax into allowing an afterlife connection.  However, some training in how to allow natural unfoldment without interrupting or constraining the unfolding connection would be necessary.  People normally manipulate and direct their mental experiences.  They must learn how to relax into being an observer, without controlling the experience.

The result was development of the Self-guided Afterlife Connection procedure to help any grieving person have a connection with loved ones living in the afterlife without the aid of a medium, psychotherapist, or psychotherapist.  The training results in the person’s being able to enter the state of mind at will, using a self-hypnosis technique. The procedure is in these stages:

1.      Participants log onto the website containing the link to the procedure (http://selfguided.spiritualunderstanding.org). 

2.      The procedure begins with two preliminary stages containing reading material about afterlife connections.

3.      When they are ready to go on to the third stage, they put on a set of headphones to listen to the recordings of the procedures.  The recordings have barely audible background music they listen to while the narrator gives instructions. This stage of the procedure trains the experiencer to allow free, uninhibited unfoldment of whatever comes during the experience.  The experiencer learns to suspend control and relax into being a passive observer.

4.      The fourth stage takes the experiencers into a hypnotic trance during which they are instructed to go to a place of great beauty filled with love.  In that place of great beauty filled with love, there is a bright light that is the portal to the afterlife.  They step into the light and find their loved one there.  They ask questions and wait patiently for responses to unfold. A period of 25 minutes of music follows with no further guidance so whatever unfolds can come naturally.  If they had a connection, they go on to Stage 6.

5.      If they did not have a connection in Stage 4, they perform the activities in Stage 5 to help them better understand and allow natural unfoldment.  They are led into a hypnotic state and start a dialogue with their loved one, whether they believe the loved one is involved or not.  The purpose is to help experiencers who are inhibiting the connection by controlling the experience or by having high expectations that cannot be fulfilled to relax into having a conversation that unfolds naturally.  They continue the dialogue, speaking or asking questions and allowing responses to unfold. A period of 25 minutes of music follows to allow whatever unfolds to come naturally.

6.      In Stage 6, the participants are provided with background music, but are to take themselves into a hypnotic trance using a short self-hypnosis script.  By this stage, they have learned to allow natural unfoldment of the messages without interrupting them, and they have learned how to enter the hypnotic trance through self-hypnosis.  The only aid they have is the meditation music.

7.      Finally, in Stage 7, the participants are asked to take themselves into the hypnotic state with no music and no guidance. The purpose is to help them learn how to have a connection with their loved one at will, anytime.

Participants must go through the stages in order so they learn how to enter the state of mind in which the connection can occur before they attempt to make the connection.  They are given a user name and password for each stage after they have completed the previous stage.

A study was performed to determine how many people are able to experience afterlife connections using the procedure.  The study began on August 23, 2012, and continued until November 30, 2012. When the Center for Spiritual Understanding sent e-mail announcements that a self-guided afterlife connection procedure would be available for research subjects to use, 30 people signed up to go through the procedure.  An additional 15 people signed up during period of time the research was going on.

Participants logged onto the Web page containing the procedure and went through the seven stages of training and connection procedures on their own.  They submitted journals describing their experiences after each stage.

Of the 22 participants who completed the Stage 3 training session and at least one of the Stage 4 through 7 induction sessions, 19 had afterlife connections, or 86%.

Five participants completed all seven of the stages and continued to have additional sessions.  To date, one participant who continued to engage in connections has had over 60 connections.

Example excerpts from participant journals follow.  As part of the research design, participants agreed to allow excerpts from their journals to be included in reports such as this, with names omitted or changed. The full report about Self-guided Afterlife Connections with many more excerpts from participant journals is available at this link: http://selfguided.spiritualunderstanding.org/Self-guidedAfterlifeConnections.pdf

~ Participant Journal Excerpt ~

Prior to this exercise, thoughts of my husband mostly brought me sadness. I did this exercise twice. The first time was a trial run, and I ended the exercise at the count of five. The second time, I found it to be so wonderful that I continued the exercise for an extra fifteen minutes, enjoying the soothing guitar music. This was truly the first time that I found my sacred, quiet, love filled place. I had been looking for this during prior meditations, but it all came together for me just now. I found the room in my parents' house where my husband, his mother and my parents and sons would gather for holidays, to be the warm, loved-filled room where my loved ones who had passed were gathered. I hugged each one and smiled a lot. Then I opened the screen door and sat on the concrete steps with my husband, holding his hand and putting it up to my face. He did not say anything, and no one else did. I did all the talking, but I felt a tremendous love and warmth.

This was extremely healing, simply because thoughts of my husband now can make me smile, and I can go there on my own now. It is truly bizarre that I could not do this before without breaking down. Now I can spend time with him, his mother and my father (who passed two months before my husband), while feeling love instead of the sadness I feel at their physical loss.

I believe that my feelings of love represent clairsentience.

I truly appreciate this meditation and find it of tremendous value.

~ Participant Journal Excerpt ~

When I went through into the white light, it was blank for a while as I decided what image or setting I was going to create. I thought about the 'loving' place I had just come from and invited my Grandma for a quiet 'beer', but I didn't need to worry as the Garden scene from the previous session unfolded in front of me and there was my Gran, looking in her late 30's looking radiant.

The garden was mainly an impression of one, but was very vibrant with lots of colors and Gran was picking big bunches of flowers and then she placed them gently on the ground and invited me to sit on the grass with her.

I got a deep sense of the spaciousness of 'over there', the vastness, the feeling that it's more real that here. I could see why people who cross over just want to get on with things as that is the more 'real' aspect to their life.

I asked Gran if she had reincarnated yet and how it worked. I got the impression of a yellow daisy. Within that image I unpacked the information which translated to..."each petal is a life experience yet it's still part of the whole flower. That is how I can communicate with her, while she has incarnated again."

She also 'showed' me how she sends energy to her two daughters who are still alive who very much need some good energy. She almost waves sparkles of energy across their consciousness while they're asleep. This is also to help them remember faster when they do eventually cross over.

~ Participant Journal Excerpt ~

I was ahead of the process, as soon as I arrived at the very beautiful garden scene my Dad and Fallon [her dog that had passed] were already there. My Dad looked young and handsome and bursting with excitement about seeing me, as was Fallon. It seemed that they wanted to just celebrate our being together while I wanted to apologize for not being the best daughter and caretaker, apologizing because I felt they deserved more and better from me while they were here. I guess I expected a different response from them. I expected them to reminisce with me my shortcomings and accept my heartfelt apologies but they were like "forget that, be here in this grand moment, right now and be joyful with us".

Invaluable.... another amazing experience that I had not expected.

What made the whole thing real for me is that it was not what I expected. I would have, and tried to, script the entire thing differently. I wanted to use the opportunity to apologize and for them to recognize my sorrow and accept my apology, but they would have none of that! They were all about the BOUNDLESS JOY!

~ Participant Journal Excerpt ~

I saw my father, my brother and my son as a group together. I then asked if I can first just talk Andre. George, my brother replied that they understand. I started having a conversation with Andre regarding very painful circumstances surrounding his death. Especially the last 4 months. I asked him if he would still have been here with me, if I used another approach. If I didn't fight for his life, but just been loving and supportive and not anxious and desperate and in the process just added to his desolation. He replied that if that did not happen, something else would have. That we had an arrangement to play these roles in each other’s lives. That he is learning and exploring with me. He reminded me that he chose me and again he said: "Always remember, I chose YOU!"  I asked him, Would things have been different if I used another approach? He commented that he would have manipulated it anyway and it would have been no use.