Course #20: Introduction to Peak States
Survey Course for Laypeople
This workshop is for the general public, and is a good way to get introduced to the Institute and its work, and the teaching faculty.
Just what does 'peak states' mean?
Have you ever had a time where you just felt amazing? Perhaps it was with a special person, or looking at something of overwhelming beauty, or just for no apparent reason at all... Most people have had these moments, called 'peak experiences', and dream of feeling like that all the time.
What most people don't know is that researchers all over the world have been working on just this problem for decades. And they've finally made breakthroughs in understanding this phenomenon. More importantly, they've also come up with a number of ways to turn those amazing moments into present-time, continuous 'peak states'.
In this workshop, we'll present a few of the simpler peak states, an overview of what causes this phenomenon, and the new methods to acquire peak states - some that we normally think of are the sole domain of saints, spiritual seekers, shamans, the gifted, and the blessed.
This field is currently exploding with new ideas, techniques, and discoveries, a bit like the Silicon Valley personal computer revolution in the '80s. The workshop will provide an overview of what is happening, give you an experiential taste of some of it, and a chance to meet some of the people who are making it happen.
Workshop overview
This workshop is primarily experiential, with enough theory to make what you will be experiencing understandable, and give you an idea of what is now possible and available in this field.
We'll start by introducing Jacquelyn Aldana's process called 'The 15-Minute Miracle". This short, daily practice can have a profound effect on our ability to enjoy life and manifest our desires in the world. This will be followed by Dr. Win Wenger's 'Image Streaming' process. With practice, this process often helps one resolve questions and get ideas to solve them.
We will then teach a quick and easy healing technique called EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique). Participants will be using this amazingly fast and powerful process on themselves to actually do processes later in the day.
Participants will also learn a process that can often help individuals regain lost peak experiences, and turn them into present day lived states of being.
We'll finish our experiential portion of the day with the Inner Peace Process from the Institute for the Study of Peak States. This process will give around 50% of the class a sensation of inner peace, no matter what is happening in one's life at the moment.
For those who want to understand how all this works, and get an overview of this new and rapidly changing field, this day is for you. Part of the day will offer a peek into the lives of the men and women who are making this work happen all over the world - Dr. Martin Seligman, Dr. James Hardt, Alexandre Nadeau, Jacqueline Aldana, The Institute for the Study of Peak States, etc. We'll also discuss the latest work in understanding what causes peak states, and how experiences before you were born block you ability to have these states.
Who can benefit from this workshop?
This workshop is for anyone who wants a better quality of life, or has questions about the latest work in understanding humanity's place in the great scheme of life.
If you have an interest in this field and wants to taste what it's about, this is a great way to start. You will get an overview of the current state of the art, and a feeling for where the field is now heading. Finally, you'll get a chance to share in the worldwide excitement with pioneers in the exploration and development of practical applications of human consciousness research.
Optional Reading
- You might want to start by looking over the peak states material on the research website.
- You might enjoy the first few chapters of Peak States of Consciousness, Volume 1 by Grant McFetridge et al.
Course length:
- 1 day
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Revision History
1.1 September 3, 2009: Revised the workshop time to 3.5 days.
1.0 January 20, 2007: Initial description of this course.