Stage 5
Connecting To Your Inner Empath
You now have the basic tools of an empath: awareness of the Beta and Alpha skills. From chapter four you have gained information about Alpha messages and empath sensitivity. You were introduced to the process of Alpha associating, allowing impressions to forms spontaneously without censoring.
With just the first two empath letters you can begin to recognize and identify the language of Dreamtongue as it happens around you. The silent but powerful language is being spoken by everything around you. It is flowing from every person you meet, usually without his or her awareness of it.
Dreamtongue passes into your being and resonates deep within your psyche. You generate the empath language at all times, it flows from your center out through your mind/body into the world around you. To communicate with Dreamtongue requires that you look at life with the "eyes of an empath."
All of life is a language. Every living thing, every event and action, every object in existence is a part of that language. The movement and the relationship between every single thing are the silent words of Dreamtongue. You hear this language with your heart, speak it with your soul, and your thoughts can be the channel between the two.
Theta is the channel between your innermost empath sense and your outermost awareness. Whether or not Theta will someday be identified with a specific organ in the brain, like the pineal gland, the hippocampus, or the hypothalamus or if it remains simply as a "construct", is not important to your training as an empath.
It will eventually happen that science will "discover" empath abilities and will link them to specific parts of the brain. I project that empath abilities will be related to every part of the brain but will be specifically connected to the brain stem area, the amygdala, and the limbic system; areas that are tied into emotional responses, as well as general body responses. To become an empath only requires that you are aware of your empath center, or the inner empath as I call it in this course.
The purpose of this chapter is to increase awareness of your own empath center and to strengthen your connection to it. Of course you are already connected to your inner empath, so what has to be developed is enhanced awareness and skills for strengthening that connection.
Theta awareness is deeper within your body/mind than Beta and Alpha, it is in your unconscious mind. Beta is your waking state, Alpha takes place just below your waking state, but Theta is normally only available to you during sleep. In Theta your brain waves slow way down to around 4 to 7 cycles per second.
You can consciously reach Theta through a profound meditational state with discipline and practice. I teach a specific type of meditation for Empaths called "focus sitting," which helps you maintain a direct channel to Theta. Yet there are other ways to access Theta and learning those other ways is the goal of stage five of your training.
Theta is the level of vivid dreaming. When you are asleep and in a Theta state, R.E.M. (rapid eye movement) occurs as you dream. In Theta your body/mind takes everything that is going on within it and uses that material to produce a dream.
Dreams are the result of physiological states, mental and emotional states, memories, imagination, and empathic states. All of these states weave together into a tapestry we call dreams. Some dreams occur at the Alpha level and have that Alpha vagueness about them. Alpha dreams are general feelings and reactions, indistinct images, etc. Theta dreams are typically the vivid dreams that seem very real and colorful.
Dream research shows that everyone dreams every night and that all dreams are typically in color. The problem for some people is that they do not remember their dreams and/or do not remember the color. Memory of dreaming or the colors in the dream are often lost by the time a person wakes up. The place where this dream activity occurs is the Theta level.
Theta is the level where inner impressions and activities form into composite images and ideas. It is in Theta where the more defined empathic messages are available. A Theta message usually occurs as a thought that enters your awareness. "Oh, I need to call John," or "The phone is going to ring," or "This person is from Arkansas." Theta messages are basically specific by design. By specific I do not mean always exact. By specific I mean that there is more content to the message than just a general feeling.
One morning I ran into a friend that I had not seen in a while. We hugged and greeted each other. During the hug the thought popped into my mind, "She has been out west." I had no conscious reason for thinking that thought. There were no visible (beta) signs. So I asked her and she said yes, that she had just returned the day before. There was specific information but the exact state was not named. I have had countless experiences where the exact information was named but that is not always the case. This is an example of a Theta message.
Theta is the level of telepathy, for lack of a better word. The working definition for telepathy is mind-to-mind communication, or what I believe is more accurate: nervous_system-to-nervous_system communication. Telepathy occurs as two living things link up with each other at an empathic or unconscious level. Telepathy does not mean that you are reading a person's mind, like reading a ticker tape print out. There can be word for word communication but the more common type of telepathy involves just getting the same emotions and overall ideas of another person.
The sender of the message (either intentional or unintentional) may be thinking of you but not know how to reach you. You, as the receiver of the message may get a body sensation as a response to that message but would probably not notice it; you might get an Alpha response but it could be too vague to understand, if the message is persistent and you are paying attention, then you may have a Theta response in the form of a thought, "I need to call John." This whole process involves a telepathic connection but is not called telepathy until the thought occurs which encodes the message.
Telepathy includes the sending as well as the receiving of messages. As an empath you will learn to do both. How well you send or receive depends a lot on your personality. A person who is a good listener and is sensitive to the feelings of others tends to be a good receiver. A person who is easily distracted and is not really interested in other people's thoughts and feelings generally has difficulty receiving.
When a person is self-absorbed they have difficulty receiving. At any given moment when you are exclusively focused on one thing or activity, you may not notice a telepathic message. Sending a telepathic message only requires that you think of the person you are sending it to while you focus on the thought. The more connected you feel to the person while you are sending the thought, the more direct the message will be.
The type of relationship you have with the sender/receiver also determines the quality of the telepathy. The closer you are to someone emotionally the greater your telepathic connections. If you feel comfortable being close to someone, you are more likely to experience a telepathic connection with that person. That is why if strangers asks you to "be telepathic" with them, the connection may be elusive as you may not be comfortable being so intimate with a stranger.
Telepathic connections are very intimate. This is why you always hear of mothers detecting their child in distress or lovers doing the same. If a stranger comes up to you and asks you to read their mind, there is very little connection between the two of you for any telepathy to occur. Empath abilities work by their own natural laws and understanding these laws will help you to function as an empath. Theta messages are determined by the strength and quality of the relationship between two or more people.
As I said before, Theta messages have content that is specific but not always exact. Since Theta messages originate from within your unconscious without the benefit of the eyes or ears they are not encoded into clear signals. The empath mind encodes them with the associations you form, either consciously or unconsciously.
The big difference between Alpha and Theta comes with how associations are made. In Alpha you learn to make empath associations consciously. In Theta the associations are already made at an unconscious level that rise up to the conscious mind. Your unconscious encodes the message using whatever materials are available to it, just like it does when you are dreaming. Functioning in a pure empath state, Theta is like dreaming while you are awake.
Your unconscious tends to be very creative when encoding information. It relies on symbology, analogy, myth, beliefs, perceptions, feelings, memories, imagination, ideas, and even special effects, in order to paint a Theta message for you. Imagery that is symbolic rather than actual is Theta imagery.
Let's say you are out driving around when someone at your house tries to send you a message to pick up a gallon of milk. You know by now that the message they are sending out is a Beta signal. If you receive that signal at the Theta level, through telepathy, it may take a variety of forms. It may come through clearly as the thought, "Hey, I need to stop and the store and buy a gallon of milk." It may come through partially, "I think I need to stop at the store," with no particular thought about the milk. The intent may not come through; you might just start thinking about the person sending the message without associating any information.
It is possible to be unaware of the telepathy. You might pull into a store parking lot, walk into the store and go up to the dairy section without really thinking about what you are doing. The message could be encoded symbolically where you suddenly start thinking about dairy cows but you do not make any associations with the information. You get home and tell the sender that you were just thinking about dairy cows. They tell you," I have just been trying and trying to send you a message to pick up a gallon of milk!"
Theta is the level where empath impressions are encoded and the place where telepathy is processed. In Alpha the dream voice is heard as a faint and distant whisper. Theta is the dream voice, the voice of your inner empath. In Beta the dream voice is not heard at all, only felt through the body. In Alpha the dream voice is faint and often drowned out by the mental noise of Beta. In a pure Theta state the voice would be loud and clear. The problem for you and me is that we are normally trying to hear the dream voice while awake, in a Beta or Alpha state. What is needed is a stronger connection to the inner empath
There are two methods you can use to strengthen your connection to Theta: reducing mental noise and using an "empath totem."
First let's look at mental noise and how to manage it. I say "manage" because you will never completely get rid of mental noise. Mental noise is all of the activity of your waking mind. It is every conscious thought, perception, feeling, and reaction what is going on at the Beta level. Mental noise is generally very loud and distracting in contrast with the quiet soft nature of your dream voice. Mental noise can be any or all of the following:
1. What you are actively seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, and tasting at any given moment creates mental noise. If you are trying to listen to your dream voice and someone is revving up a motorcycle outside your window, that sound creates a lot of mental noise from your reaction to it. Until you learn to follow these Beta signals down to deeper levels, they tend to be very distracting and drown out the dream voice of Theta.
2. Your conscious thoughts act as mental noise. When you are analyzing, judging, evaluating, and trying to interpret information, this creates mental noise. Critical thoughts are mental noise. Self-criticism is the most oppressive form of mental noise. Thoughts of "I can't do this," " This is pointless," "This is something only other people can do," are the most distracting forms of mental noise.
3. Imagined impressions are also mental noise. Imagination is very useful in empathic functioning because it serves as an endless reservoir of imagery. Through imagination you are able to make Alpha associations, which is a way to mentally feel around in the unconscious, searching for empath content. Imagination is material that is fashioned by your psyche. Anything fashioned by your imagination has the potential to encode empath content.
Do not be afraid of imagination, it is not the nemesis of empath evidence. Imagination is a powerful ability that can be utilized in many ways. I will give you an example of this in the following discussion of "empath totems." Still, imagination can also generate mental noise. When your imagination generates images that do not have empath content, then it is mental noise.
4. Memories can also act as mental noise. Remembered impressions can interfere with empathic impressions. If you are empathically trying to determine what to get a loved one as a gift, and the memory of all the things you've gotten before, or the memory of things they've told you keeps popping up, this acts as mental noise which drowns out the empathic information available through Theta.
Typically these four types of mental noise are all happening together in one big mesh of mental distraction. The Beta mind is a busy place with heavy traffic. The next important skill for an empath is to learn how to manage mental noise.
Managing Mental Noise
Apart from practicing overall stress management, taking good care of yourself, and having private time to reflect on your life, the best way to manage mental noise is to create a conditioned relaxation response within yourself.
There are many advanced ways of creating a relaxation response within yourself, but I offer here a simple method useful for Empaths. I call this exercise , "empathic breathing."
1. Set aside 10 to 20 minutes a day for empath breathing.
2. Be consistent and do not skip days. Under even the worst conditions you can squeeze in 5 minutes for the exercise.
3. Practice the exercise when you are awake and alert. Do not do it right before going to sleep or within the first fifteen minutes of waking up.
4. Practice the exercise where you feel you have enough privacy and with the least amount of distraction. Do not try this exercise with the television on or where you can hear human voices. Hearing people talking is very distracting.
5. Sit in a comfortable position where you can hold your spine erect. Do not strain or sit stiffly. Make sure pillows support you (or a chair) and that you feel stable before you begin.
6. The exercise is very simple; it involves counting your inhalations and your exhalations. Learning empathic breathing prepares you to learn the focused sitting meditation I mentioned earlier. Your first goal is to be able to do three sets of ten breaths. When you first start this you may not be able to do all of the breaths in perfect order. You will build up to this in time. Do not strain or do anything that makes you feel uncomfortable. Relax and breathe normally between breaths when you need to.
7. Your second goal is to be able to take long slow breaths that start in the diaphragm and fill up to your chest. This inhalation is then held to the count of four and is followed by a long slow exhalation.
8. The first breath begins by inhaling slowly through your nostrils, filling your lungs from the "bottom up." Fill up your lungs without straining. When your lungs are full then hold the breath to the count of four. Exhale slowly by pursing your lips and blowing out a long silent whistle. Empty your lungs as much as possible without straining. When your lungs are empty hold to the count of four again. This counts as one breath.
9. Repeat for up to ten breaths. Controlling and counting the breaths develops the concentration and focus that you need in order to manage mental noise. When you first do this you may only be able to do one set of ten breaths. You may not even be able to do ten breaths, so do what you can. Whatever you do will start to work for you. It is important that you do not do anything that will make you uncomfortable. The idea is to relax and work with your breathing. Your breathing becomes something you are creating and refining. Each time you sit you work on improving your breathing and learning to relax into the experience.
10. Your eventual goal is to perform three full sets of ten breaths. You can do more sets if it suits your capacity. As you do your sets count your breaths and keep your thoughts focused on the count. Other thoughts and images will come into your mind, simply let them be. Do not try to do anything with those thoughts and images.
11. Sometimes you will find yourself traveling through different states of consciousness while you do this. Other times you will stay in a Beta state throughout the exercise.
Empath breathing is one of the best things you can do for yourself for many reasons. It will help you learn to manage your mental noise and it will help you increase your overall energy level as well. After you have practiced empathic breathing for a period of time, which differs from person to person, you will be able to literally turn down the mental noise in your head by taking ten breaths and counting each one.
Empath Totems
Another way to strengthen the connection to your inner empath is to work with an empath totem. An empath totem is a symbol that you choose to represent your own empath nature. It can be in any form you select with no limits. It is only important that the symbol have meaning and connection for you. It becomes your logo as an empath. In the same way that European families had family shields and crests representing their lineage, an empath can establish a totem to represent their particular link to the empath levels.
An empath totem is formulated at the Theta level, using symbology and association. Yet all levels of the empath are incorporated into the totem. To choose a totem simply requires that it be the one you desire, you feel connected to, that has meaning for you, and that it feels right.
Totems can evolve, change, grow, diversify, and transform. Whatever totem you choose now for your empath training will go through many stages of development as you grow in your life. The totem acts as a mirror of sorts reflecting the obvious and hidden parts of your psyche. It grows and changes as you grow and change. It becomes the connection to your empath self and acts as an extension of you. It is one of the most beautiful and powerful of the tools available to Empaths. Many fascinating uses and experiences with totems have been shared with me over the years.
A totem does not need to be secret but it does need to be sacred or special. It is a tool that is empowered when you treat it with respect and with purpose. It can be an abstract symbol, it can be a traditional symbol; it can be represented by an animal - real or "imaginary," It can be mythological or entirely created by your imagination. It will be the vessel into which your empath nature will flow. A totem acts as a tangible or visible connector to your essentially invisible empathic nature.
Select a totem in your own time. You may already have one in mind or you may need to work on it for a while. You may be drawn to a totem by an Alpha or Beta message, or it may come to you through a dream. Once you have selected your totem you can begin to take steps to externalize it. You can externalize your totem in different ways. You can obtain pictures that have your totem in them. You can obtain objects, jewelry, and decorations of your totem.
You can create your totem through any type of medium you desire. After a while, your totem will take on a life of it's own directed by and connected with your own empath nature. Eventually you will be able to retrieve empath impressions through your totem. In this capacity your totem can act as a Guide. Just having a totem acts as a grounding mechanism for your empath nature, energizing you and reinforcing the connection with your Theta level.
Record the selection of your totem in your dreamtongue journal. Also indicate in your journal your empathic breathing sessions. You may just want to record how long the session was but it would better serve your training record if you were to record your response to each session for the first three months. After three months empathic breathing will become a natural skill for you and you could just comment on it as you like.
This completes the fifth stage of your preliminary training. At this point you have many thoughts and activities in motion that are shaping your development.
Before closing this chapter I want to share one very intense Theta experience, where imagery was used in a symbolic fashion. Alpha and Beta impressions were also involved, but the Theta image was very clear.
Back in 1978 I was sitting in a meditation group. We sat in a circle in a quiet room meditating together for about an hour. I was relaxed and was calmly observing images as they passed through my mind. Suddenly the outlined images of a map appeared in my mind. It looked like an outline of the southern portions of the U.S. and the northern portions of South America.
The image stayed in place and I became intrigued. A red spot appeared on the map near the South American portion. I watched as the red spot grew larger and larger. It was as clear as if I were watching it on TV. The spot grew into a large and vicious looking dragon. The dragon became larger than the map as it twisted and growled fiercely. An intense feeling of horror and grief flashed through my body like a gust of wind. Then the image and the feeling disappeared.
When the meditation was over I shared the images with friends but no one could offer any explanations. I did not have any further feelings or information about it. So I went home that night and turned on the TV. Within minutes of turning on the TV news bulletin came on showing Jonestown, Guyana. They described the discovery of more than 900 bodies and the nightmare that had taken place. The time that this discovery was made was the same time that I was seeing the image of the dragon.
I have never forgotten that experience. Many such events in my life have caused me to lose interest in debating with people about the existence of empath phenomenon.
Stage Five Review
1. The goal of stage five is to learn about accessing Theta messages and to learn how to strengthen your connection to Theta (the inner empath).
2. Learning Dreamtongue involves looking at the world through the "eyes of an empath," seeing that all life is language.
3. Theta acts as an inner channel between your outermost and innermost senses.
4. Theta is normally only available to you while you sleep and dream.
5. Theta messages typically occur as thoughts and symbolic information.
6. Telepathy is a Theta function. Telepathy occurs when two living things link up in some form of relationship.
7. The ability of sending and receiving in telepathy is shaped by the personality of the sender and receiver.
8. The relationship between the sender and receiver will determine the strength and quality of the telepathy.9. Theta uses imagination to encode empathic impressions.
10. Empathic breathing is an important skill used for managing mental noise.
11. An empath totem can be used to strengthen and nourish your own empath connections.
Stage Six: Developing the Eyes of an Empath
