The Silva Method is a self-help program that uses positive thinking, visualization, meditation, and self-hypnosis to improve health and reach the mind’s full potential. Its claims are not supported by scientific evidence, and some criticize it for being more like a religion than science. The program includes weekend courses and training the mind to reach an alpha state for relaxation. Participants report improvements in stress levels, self-image, and overcoming destructive habits.
The Silva Method, named for its creator José Silva, is a self-help program based on using the mind-body connection to minimize stress, improve health, and use the mind to its fullest potential. Researched and developed by Silva in the 1940s, the key elements of the program are the use of positive thinking, visualization meditation and self-hypnosis. The Silva Method is now a global enterprise. Critics of the program point out that the claims the program makes regarding its benefits are not supported by any scientific evidence. Some say it’s not science at all, but more like a religion.
When he began researching his program, Silva was studying the use of hypnosis on intelligence. She experimented with her children to see if hypnosis could improve IQ. During these tests, she allegedly discovered that one of her daughters was clairvoyant. Silva may also have been influenced by the work of Roger Wolcott Sperry, a neuropsychologist who shared the Nobel Prize in Medicine with two other men for his contributions to split-brain research. Silva eventually concluded that a person can access information in the subconscious, usually only accessible through dreams or hypnosis, while in an awake, conscious state.
Further speculation about the Silva Method included that only about 10% of the population, mostly geniuses, think with both hemispheres of the brain. The ability to think at this level is inherent in everyone and can be achieved by training the mind to function in a higher state. Upon attaining this higher consciousness, the additional thinking of the right brain puts the mind in touch with its own intuition and powerful creative forces. This heightened consciousness, which Silva sometimes called Christ consciousness, enables a person to accomplish whatever he desires.
Gaining Christ consciousness could lead to new mental powers such as clairvoyance, the power to heal the body, and to find God. It also allows a person to engage in remote viewing, where the person mentally and emotionally projects themselves to visualize events in another location. Once the mind is projected, a person can connect with a higher intelligence, which can mean God, for guidance in life’s problems.
The brochures for the Silva Method list weekend courses such as reconditioning to relax, hand levitation, and projection onto trees, metals, and other objects. There are also alpha breaks for rejuvenation. Part of the course work involves training the mind to reach an alpha state in which brain waves remain within a certain frequency range. This state clears the mind and allows the body to relax.
Critics of the Silva method argue that its theories and claims are not supported by scientific methods or evidence. Any program validation comes from statements by program participants or instructors. Others note that his claims about how the mind works are outdated or just plain wrong. Some also think that because of its ideas on Christ consciousness, the method is more religion than science. Program participants, however, reported life improvements such as less stress, improved self-image, and overcoming destructive habits such as cigarette addiction.
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