Intuition & Energy Medicine + What Happened To Caroline Myss' Nice Ways?

[Mike]

I used to unreservedly recommend Caroline Myss.  More recently though I bought (from sounds true) a audio recording of her talking on "Your Power to Create" but she was just so aggressive and patronising and derogatory and self-satisfied that I "returned" the download (and sounds true kindly gave me a refund).  I kept another download "Channeling Grace" but there is quite a bit of anger there too (and at one point in either that one or the other she does say "people shouldnt waste their time meditating they should pray to God" ... hmmm).

This morning I came across thru' random surfing some marterial about her "fake" PhD (allegedly/apparently from a school now struck off in a department she created?) and charging $20k to do talks.  Also looking up the best reviewed review on http://www.amazon.com/Intuition-Mystical-Life-Caroline-Myss/dp/1591791049 I see I am not the only one 

I used to think the world of Caroline Myss. Pinkola Estes and Myss make a wonderful, magical combination. However, Dr. Myss is getting pedantically infatuated with herself, to the point that she has become her own self parody and worst archetype. It is finally becoming clear in her recent presentations that she enjoys ridiculing her audience and that she uses her sharp tongue and mind to belittle our shortcomings and fears. Intuition and the Mystical Life could have been a great edition, but Dr Myss's input did not help Dr. Pinkola Estes' great contribution. I feel sorry for Myss and wish that her guardian angel would rescue her from herself.

I popped into her forum and read one thread where some guy had pointed out that she was referencing some guru who had been caught for cheating and pedophiliia with young boys  ... I couldnt read the thread very much as this guy just got shot down in flames and ridiculed - "how dare you" etc etc.  Oh well ...  plenty of followers will always stay in the bunker till the last conflagration I guess and still think the great guru is above any error.

So "buyer beware" these days I feel ... perhaps like Wilber who equally in the past could be devastatingly "on the money" but is now losing many of his longest supporters ... perhaps too much admiration from acolytes/worshippers in the end is poison.  If so not the first time and not the last  ... and at this point I guess I should thank you all for the messages of disgust and contempt I regularly recive from y'all which help keep me firmly grounded.  Tehe.

Anyway this is from Caroline's heyday and even if I am "right" (whatever that means) and its "buyer beware" for her recent stuff it certainly wasn't in the past and she was an enormously important and influential figure

Energy Medicine and Intuition
by Caroline Myss, Ph.D.

I disappoint some people when I discuss intuition because I firmly believe that intuitive or symbolic sight is not a gift but a skill -- a skill based in self-esteem. Developing this skill -- and a healthy sense of self -- becomes easier when you can think in the words, concepts, and principles of energy medicine. So as you read this chapter, think of learning to use intuition as learning to interpret the language of energy.

The Human Energy Field

Everything that is alive pulsates with energy and all of this energy contains information. While it is not surprising that practitioners of alternative or complementary medicine accept this concept, even some quantum physicists acknowledge the existence of an electromagnetic field generated by the body's biological processes. Scientists accept that the human body generates electricity because living tissue generates energy.

Your physical body is surrounded by an energy field that extends as far out as your outstretched arms and the full length of your body. It is both an information center and a highly sensitive perceptual system. We are constantly in communication with everything around us through this system, which is a kind of conscious electricity that transmits and receives messages to and from other peoples bodies. These messages from and within the energy field are what intuitives perceive.

Practitioners of energy medicine believe that the human energy field contains and reflects each individual's energy. It surrounds us and carries with us the emotional energy created by our internal and external experiences -- both positive and negative. This emotional force influences the physical tissue within our bodies. In this way your biography -- that is, the experiences that make up your life -- becomes your biology.

Experiences that carry emotional energy in our energy systems include: past and present relationships, both personal and professional; profound or traumatic experiences and memories; and belief patterns and attitudes, including all spiritual and superstitious beliefs. The emotions from these experiences become encoded in our biological systems and contribute to the formation of our cell tissue, which then generates a quality of energy that reflects those emotions. These energy impressions form an energy language, which carries literal and symbolic information that a medical intuitive can read.

Here is an example of the kind of message the energy field may communicate. Lets say you had some trouble with math when you were in elementary school. Knowing the fact that twelve makes a dozen would not ordinarily carry an emotional charge such as would alter the health of cell tissues. On the other hand, if you were humiliated by the teacher because you didn't know that fact, the experience would carry an emotional charge that would create cellular damage, especially if you were to dwell on that memory through adulthood or use it as a touchstone for determining how to deal with criticism, or authority figures, or education, or failure. An intuitive might pick up the literal image of your exchange with the teacher or any other negative symbol linked to that experience.

Positive images and the energy of positive experiences are also held in the energy field. Think of a time when someone praised you for a job well done, or a kind act, or for some help you gave someone. You feel a positive energy -- a surge of personal power within your body. Positive and negative experiences register a memory in cell tissue as well as in the energy field. As neurobiologist Dr. Candace Pert has proven, neuropeptides -- the chemicals triggered by emotions -- are thoughts converted into matter. Our emotions reside physically in our bodies and interact with our cells and tissues. In fact, Dr. Pert can no longer separate the mind from the body, she says, because the same kinds of cells that manufacture and receive emotional chemistry in the brain are present throughout the body. Sometimes the body responds emotionally and manufactures emotional chemicals even before the brain has registered a problem. Remember, for instance, how quickly your body reacts to a loud noise before you've had time to think.

As Dr. Pert said on Bill Moyers's Healing and the Mind,

    Clearly, there's another form of energy that we have not yet understood. For example, there's a form of energy that appears to leave the body when the body dies. . . . Your mind is in every cell of your body.
    Moyers: . . . You're saying that my emotions are stored in my body?
    Pert: Absolutely. You didn't realize that? . . . There are many phenomena that we can't explain without going into energy.

Reading the Field

In addition to reading specific dramatic childhood experiences, sometimes an intuitive can even pick up on superstitions, personal habits, behavior patterns, moral beliefs, and preferences in music and literature. At other times the energy impressions are more symbolic. For instance, from one patient who was suffering from tightness of breath, I kept receiving the symbolic impression of him being shot in the heart before a firing squad. Obviously this had not literally happened to him, but he had undergone extensive medical tests, which could locate no known physical cause for his condition. After I shared my impression with him, he told me that his wife had betrayed him several times with other men, and being shot through the heart was exactly how he felt about her actions. By admitting these emotions, which he had previously tried to ignore, he was able to address the problems both in his marriage and in his health.

Our emotional energy converts into biological matter through a highly complex process. Just as radio stations operate according to specific energy wavelengths, each organ and system in the body is calibrated to absorb and process specific emotional and psychological energies. That is, each area of the body transmits energy on a specific, detailed frequency, and when we are healthy, all are in tune. An area of the body that is not transmitting at its normal frequency indicates the location of a problem. A change in intensity of the frequency indicates a change in the nature and seriousness of the illness and reveals the stress pattern that has contributed to the development of the illness.

This way of interpreting the body's energy is sometimes called vibrational medicine. It resembles the most ancient medical practices and beliefs, from Chinese medicine to indigenous shamanic practices to virtually every folk or alternative therapy. The truth is that energy medicine is not new; but I believe my interpretation of it and of how you can use it to heal spiritually in conjunction with contemporary medical treatments is unique. If a person is able to sense intuitively that he or she is losing energy because of a stressful situation -- and then acts to correct that loss of energy -- then the likelihood of that stress developing into a physical crisis is reduced, if not eliminated completely.

While I can parse the language of energy for you so that you can begin to see and feel the human energy field, begin to understand its corresponding spiritual anatomy, begin to know the sources of your personal power, and begin to develop your own intuition, I have some trouble explaining exactly how I personally acquire energy information. Other intuitives appear to have the same difficulty, but we all pick up on information that has the strongest impulse -- the most intensity. These impulses usually relate directly to the part of the body that is becoming weakened or diseased. As a rule, a person's energy system transmits only the information that is essential to bring the conscious mind to an awareness of the imbalance or disease. Like the shot in the heart image, symbolic information can sometimes be disturbing. But this intensity is necessary in order that the body's message can break through the habitual mental or emotional patterns that caused the disease to form in the first place. Medical intuitions cooperate with the body's intention to promote its own health and life; that is, our energy will always seek health, in spite of what we may do to ourselves physically. If, for example, we tell a lie, our energy field will often communicate to the other person the energy fact that we are not telling the truth. Energy does not and cannot lie.

Stay with Your First Impression

When you receive an intuitive impression about yourself or the person you are reading, pay attention to whatever image comes up. Most people are looking for safe intuitions, not healthy ones, and safe insights, not healthy insights, because they usually want a safe passage into the future, into the unknown. So you may be tempted to dismiss a disturbing image that you receive, or one that is not congruent with your own desires or those of the person you are reading. Most people who come to me for an evaluation have already intuited themselves that something is wrong, but they are hoping that I will give that feeling some other meaning, such as "You're merely going through a natural body change, but nothing is wrong with you physically".

This article is excerpted from Anatomy of the Spirit by Caroline Myss, Ph.D. ©1997. Excerpted by permission of Three Rivers Press, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Info/Order this book.

[Mike]

ps thinking about this sad thing (kind of been at the back of my mind for a little while ... I was so surprised/shocked by the tone of the mp3 talk i returned) the totally indigestible note is a consistent one of contempt for people (other than herself) ... its like somewhere along the line she got poisoned somehow (reading all those sick people day in day out? (she did somewhere talk about not having a holiday "for years, as I, unlike many of you, am prepared to work hard"  (or some such words)).

This is the most reviewed negative review from http://www.amazon.com/review/R2P4ZPM5S6URWY/ref=cm_cr_pr_viewpnt#R2P4ZPM5S6URWY on this CD set ... so I am clearly not the only one (tho' plenty of reviews from folks for whom the emperor is never wrong)

37 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars If you can get past her ranting and raving and yelling, March 3, 2007 By    C. Rose

This review is from: Your Power to Create: From Wishful Thinking to True Manifestation (Audio CD)

First of all I too have followed Myss for years but she is so self-righteous and condescending that it makes it VERY difficult to listen to her. One more CD of her ranting and rageing at her audience. She always sounds so angry and sarcastic.

I find it very sad that Myss who has an incredible understanding and depth and is amazing when it comes to teaching the Truths of the Universe feels she has to abuse people verbally in order to teach. I must say she lost me on this one as I was so distracted with her continuous yelling that I coundn't hear what she was teaching.

I have given this alot of thought and have come to the conclusion that she is actually yelling at herself in hopes SHE will GET what she is teaching under the guise of teaching others. I hope she gets it soon so she can eventually put out an audio that is respectful of her audience and stop projecting her anger and rage onto them.

Some people say she is taking off the gloves, and refer to her rousing ways... I say "the emperor has no clothes on." They can call it whatever they want but verbal abuse is verbal abuse.

I have found that I do much better with reading her books. I have friends who refuse to listen to her tapes or read her books anymore. This audio almost put me in their camp but I have decided to stay with her books however, after hearing so many of her audios I can sometimes still hear her condescention, shaming and sarcasm but not to the same degree.

I believe in Truth wherever I find it and so I brace myself whenever I listen to a Myss tape and try albeit not easy to ignore her persona and be open to the Truth that comes through her. I must admit it was more difficult this time then usual. This is one CD set I could have lived without and one other thing, in addition to the verbal abuse most of what she talked about is on many of her other audios. So for you Myss supporters and those of you who just discovered her ... know that if you can get past her sarcastic and condescending delivery she teaches great truths, and shares her understandings and excellent insights.

Oh well ... just let go  

[aronaya]

Haven't read much of Myss.  In general, we need to be our own gurus and teachers these days.  There is no shortage of wise people publishing books, but after a certain number of readings, workshops, etc., you have to ask yourself, "do I get it?", and then, if your answer is "yes", then put a stop to reading or following, and go out and DO.  Teachers and authors who rely on ever-widening audiences are thus invited to spend less time doing their healing work, which starts with self-healing. 

The information is out there now, at forums like this, but most importantly residing in our bodies.  Feel, listen, and learn, then do.

Great point about the teacher needing to hear her own words.   Every time I teach, I have learned to ask myself, "OK, now how does what I just told THEM, apply to ME, right now?".

[Mike]

Hi Aronaya

Nice to hear from you

Well the early Myss Stuff eg "Anatomy of the Spirit", "Why People Dont Heal" etc are genre classics.  Worth checking out next time you see them in a book store.

"do I get it?"

...most importantly residing in our bodies.  Feel, listen, and learn, then do.

Absolutely 

And one might add "keep doing" ... one might have found ones centre but the glue isnt always that strong and the winds and the waves can soon drift us away from it (eg Ms Myss perhaps).

Every time I teach, I have learned to ask myself, "OK, now how does what I just told THEM, apply to ME, right now?"

Great idea!

When I have my admin hat on I will have to copy this kindly shared sagacious wisdom to the "Tools to Try Today" section 

I did hear of one shamanic teacher over here who asked his students to keep their eye on him and let him know if ever they thought he was losing it.  Interesting and brave idea ... especially amonst the neophyte students in the UK there are plenty with such huge egos they turn up to lesson one thinking they know more than the teacher

Take care and shine on

Mike

[Mike]

Of course I am not the only one to have noticed this from an amaozn.com review of "why people dont heal"

Comparing and Contrasting two Audio CDs: "Why People Don't Heal," 1994 and "Intuitive Power: Your Natural Resource," 2004.

Each audio CD is not a reading from that book, but a talk given by Myss to an audience that ranges over the major points, with her spontaneous ideas. The version of "Why People Don't Heal" that I received included 2 CDs, the first one is a lecture of her main points, and the second is her replies to written questions the audience has submitted. "Intuitive Power: Your Natural Resource," was four CDs, which actually say little about archetypes but allow her time to describe what she has discovered since retiring from being a medical intuitive and moving full time into educating medical intuitives.

About the sarcasm: In both audiobooks, Myss' voice has a sarcastic tone. Why People Don't Heal was recorded about ten years earlier than "Intuitive Power: Your Natural Resource"__ and to me her tone sounds even more sarcastic in the later recording. Her sarcasm is toward her readers/listeners, which I will describe later in my review. Sarcasm doesn't bother me too much, and I must say, her sense of comic timing has greatly improved from the earlier recording. In "Intuitive Power: Your Natural Resource"_, the audience actually laughs when she makes fun of them, and I found myself laughing out loud a few times myself. Laughing about oneself can be healing... however, by the end of both audio books, I felt heavy and tired from the nonstop barrage of criticism.

Sarcasm Not Present in her Books:
My wife and I have both read Caroline Myss' books and we did not sense sarcasm in the written books. We were both surprised to discover the degree of sarcasm in her recorded voice. I did not tell my wife about the sarcasm before I gave her the CDs. After she listened she shyly told me that she had to turn off the CDs because the sarcasm became too much for her. She too, said she was surprised to hear the sarcasm because she had not noticed any sarcasm while reading the books. Perhaps she has good editors?

...

My recommendations:
I recommend "Why People Don't Heal" highest rating for both people with healing issues and for students of intuition. While some sarcasm is present, it is easier to dismiss. "Intuitive Power: Your Natural Resource" would work for a student of intuition who is fearless and unaffected by the teacher's impatience and sarcasm (or perhaps it stands as a historic study of how a teacher changes over time).

Whichever audio lecture you choose, keep in mind that the path to healing or to intuition, while challenging, is a lot more fun and more rewarding than these CDs reveal.