Parapsychology articles and blog

The famous biologist and parapsychologist Rupert Sheldrake gave a talk at Schumacher college in the UK. In this talk he presented his various research projects about telepathy, in animals and in people.

He presented his “Dogs that know when their owners are coming home” experiment with the dog Jaytee and showed an experiment video that was done for Austrian television on that. This is a very famous experiment and I’d like to hear if any of you know of a similar behavior with your pets.

He also talked about phone telepathy and showed another video of an experiment between 5 sisters which had a hit rate of 50% instead of the expected 25%. Sheldrake told that the overall hit in over 1000 trials of telephone telepathy is 42%, which is highly statistically significant. Do you sometimes know who calls you?

Sheldrake performs simple and low-cost experiments for testing telepathy, mostly because the established science hold these subjects as taboo and doesn’t provide funds. Dr. Sheldrake talks a little about this as well, in his introduction to the lecture.

There’s also a discussion of this video on our forum at: http://forum.mind-energy.net/skeptiko-podcast/1429-new-video-rupert-sheldrake.html

A link to the page on Schumacher college website or watch in below.

http://www.schumachercollege.org.uk/community/mind-and-cosmos-an-open-evening-with-rupert-sheldrake

Located just south of Buffalo, tiny Lily Dale, NY, is home to the world’s largest concentration of mediums, people who claim to be able to communicate with spirits of the deceased. Every year, thousands of visitors from all over the world flock to this quaint Victorian community to have their questions answered and grief assuaged. Directed by Emmy winner and Oscar nominee Steven Cantor (HBO’s “Devil’s Playground”), "No One Dies in Lily Dale" follows visitors on their emotional quests, chronicling their mysterious and deeply personal interactions with the town’s unusual residents.

"No One Dies in Lily Dale" premieres this Monday, July 5th at 9pm on HBO.

Some stills from the movie:

There have been numerous studies about the benefits of meditation. I have written about some of them in 2008 in the article Benefits of meditation researched by scientists.

Lately, I have found about a new study that took place in Wake Forest University School of Medicine, NC, USA. The new study is titled “Mindfulness meditation improves cognition: evidence of brief mental training” and you can read its abstract on the U.S. National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health.

The authors tried to see if the unexperienced meditators had any benefits from meditation after only several days of simple meditation. They also had a control group that listened to an audio book, instead of meditating. The results were that meditation was more beneficiary in many aspects. From the abstract:

We examined whether brief meditation training affects cognition and mood when compared to an active control group. After four sessions of either meditation training or listening to a recorded book, participants with no prior meditation experience were assessed with measures of mood, verbal fluency, visual coding, and working memory. Both interventions were effective at improving mood but only brief meditation training reduced fatigue, anxiety, and increased mindfulness. Moreover, brief mindfulness training significantly improved visuo-spatial processing, working memory, and executive functioning.

The group only had 4 days of meditation (20 minutes each day) and the benefits were already apparent. The authors of the article also suggest that in more experienced meditators the beneficial effect should be more profound.

Source: Percolator, The Chronicle of Higher Education’s blog about ideas

In 2006 I wrote a short article about Prahlad Jani, an Indian yogi who claims he can live without eating or even drinking. The news at that time were driven by another alleged “breatharian”, Ram Bahadur Bamjan, then a 16 year old boy, who was meditating for six months at that time. 

Recently, Prahlad Jani returned to the major news after he was again under a 15-day surveillance in a hospital to verify his claims of not eating and drinking.

There are many sources about the latest tests. Here are some links to learn more:

• http://www.news.com.au/weird-true-freaky/man-claims-no-food-or-drink-for-70-years/story-e6frflri-1225859946801
• http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,592544,00.html
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGF7EY2Ucm8(video)

The following paragraphs mostly summarize what’s new:

Prahlad Jani, 83, who says he has not had a bite to eat for 70 years, was put under constant surveillance to test his astonishing claims by a team of 30 military medical staff.

During a 15 day stay in a hospital in the city of Ahmedabad, India — he astounded doctors by not eating, drinking or going to the bathroom.

The person claims to not have eaten for 70 years. That's quite a hard claim to swallow, frankly. A 15-day surveillance sounds good but the suspicious fact here is that the 2003 study and this one were conducted by the same hospital in Ahmedabad, the Sterling hospital. I think it was even the same crew leading researcher, Dr. Sudhir Shah.

What is new this time is that 1) the test was longer (15 days and not 10) and 2) that the study initiated by India's Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO). I hope they're not as naïve as to let the hospital run the test without overseeing it themselves.

So, it is interesting news and it would be better, more reliable, if this man was tested by some western hospital, to reduce the chance of fraud by co-operating.

I originally learned about this new test from our forums. OC68 has posted the original news and much conversation still follows. You're welcome to join the discussion there.

What do you think about all this?

There’s a documentary movie, released in 2009, called “The Living Matrix ”. As some other movies in the field before, it is a mix of documentary, interviews and computer graphics. The movie’s focus is what’s called energy or alternative medicine.

The movie interviews a list of notable guests, some of whom appeared in other movies, such as What the Bleep!? and my recently reviewed Something Unknown. The list of guests include:

• Lynne McTaggart – author of “The Field: The Quest for the Secret Force of the Universe ”
• Dr. Bruce Lipton, PhD, MD – a cell biologists, author of “The Biology of Belief ”
• Peter Frasier – expert in traditional Chinese medicine and author of “Decoding the Human Body-Field ”
• Dr. Eric Pearl, DC – healer and author of “The Reconnection ”
• Edgar Mitchell, PhD – scientist, Apollo 14 astronaut and the founder of Institute of Noetic Sciences
• Marilyn Schlitz, PhD – President of the Institute of Noetic Science
• Rupert Sheldrake, PhD – Professor and Cambridge biologist, and author of “The Presence of the Past: Morphic Resonance and the Habits of Nature ”, “Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home: And Other Unexplained Powers of Animals ”
• Dean Radin, PhD – Author of “The Conscious Universe: The Scientific Truth of Psychic Phenomena ,” senior researcher at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, international speaker and cofounder of the Boundary Institute
• Fritz-Albert Popp, PhD – Biophysicist, professor, researcher, founder of the Institute of International Biophysics, and author of “About the Coherence of Biophotons”
• 8 more guests from the field of alternative medicine

The movie also includes numerous stories told by people who recovered from difficult diseases using alternative medicine and the power of intention.

The movie presents of picture where the human is body is described not only being controlled by chemicals and DNA but also by our intentions, intra-cellular communication in the form of biophotons and other effects that are on the fringe of science. It does not speak about parapsychology, or psi as "Something Unknown" movie by Renée Scheltema does.

If you are interested in the alternative medicine, especially in finding scientific explanations to some of its possible explanations of effectiveness, I can recommend “The Living Matrix ”.

I’ve recently published my review of a documentary called “Something Unknown is doing we don’t know what”. The film researches the evidence behind the “Big Five” psi phenomena and I liked it greatly. Take a peek at my review for some more info. Today I’m glad to present you my interview with Renée Scheltema, the filmmaker and producer of Something Unknown (link to my review of the movie). Despite this being my 15th interview that I publish here on the site, this is the first one that I did live, using Skype. Please excuse our accents and non-professionalism. Also, I’d like to remind you that Renée and I opened a forum to discuss "Something Unknown" and its topics. Renée is going to be there as well to discuss it with you. In fact, she had already posted a short welcome message there. So come over and join us at forum.mind-energy.net. It’s right near the Skeptiko podcast forum, which you should also participate in, in my opinion. We had a very conversational tone with Renée and the interview starts right in the middle of a sentence.

You can read the redacted transcript below or listen to the audio using the player below or download the MP3 directly.

Renée Sceltema: …I hear what you’re saying because Professor Tart, he told me there’s actually – you could call it the “Big Seven.” But then there are two in the “maybe” category. And one is mediums, you know, talking to dead people which – that’s scientifically you can’t prove that. I investigated it but somehow there’s a reasoning that goes in circles. So I didn’t complete it. And then the other in the “maybe” category is near-death experiences.

Jacob: I actually wanted to ask you about these, as well.

Renée Sceltema: I researched it a little bit and then because Professor Tart said it’s in the “maybe” category I decided not to include these – the film was already very full as it was with information. Couldn’t get that in, as well.

Jacob: I see. Could you tell us a bit more about yourself and why you decided to make this film?

Renée Sceltema: Okay, that’s in the film. I had those psychic experiences and I wanted to know whether I was deluding myself. I sort of knew that parapsychologists were doing research on this kind of stuff, but I hadn’t kept up. I’m not a “woo-woo” kind of person who believes all this stuff. Actually I don’t believe a lot of it.

But on the other hand, the first experience with my father was very strong. I guess in scientific terms you call it “crisis telepathy.” It happened when I was studying at the University of California, Berkeley, during the day. I would call my parents every three months. I had just phoned my parents a few days before. While I was with my nose in the books, there was this strong force that told me that I had to get up and phone them again. I remember walking down the street thinking: ‘This is weird. Why am I walking to the phone booth? There’s no reason for this. It’s the wrong time of the day.’

Then when I phoned, my brother picked up the phone, which is very unusual because he had left home and would never even pick up the phone. Then he told me my father had had a stroke and was fighting for his life at the intensive care. So that seared into my mind because I just picked up something there that was real and I guess it’s part of our survival instinct, no?

In Christianity, all these psychic experiences they call it “from the Devil” and it’s not been too long since they burned witches. And so according to this belief system all these psychic things are all thrown into one corner together with the witches and the weird soothsayers.

Long before that time, when we were living as Bushmen or Aboriginals, there would always be the Shaman who was capable of reaching beyond our minds; capable of doing these kinds of things. For them it was normal. So it’s only been in the past couple of centuries that psychic experiences have been suppressed.

I read a book long ago about Mutant Message Down Under, a beautiful book about an American woman who lives with the Aboriginals. She notes down what they experienced. They could heal; see remote view kangaroos, etc, just because it was just the only way to go.

So I guess it’s part of our survival instinct. So I didn’t regard it as abnormal when I had this experience with my sick father. I just thought, ‘Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.’

Also I guess, I’m at a certain age where I felt confident enough to tackle this kind of subject. I don’t think I would dare to make this film 25 years ago.

Jacob: Okay, it is also written there that you started to work on the film about 10 years ago. Why did it take so long?

Recently I have had the pleasure of seeing the DVD of a new movie called Something Unknown is doing we don’t know what…. This is an indie documentary filmed by Renée Scheltema that explores the science behind psychic phenomena. The award-winning movie, which was released in late 2009, is the best documentary that I’ve seen to date on this subject. Stay with me for a more detailed review of the film.

There are several things to like about Something Unknown, if you’re serious about learning more about ESP and psychic phenomena. First, the movie mostly focuses on interviewing and showing the work of the leading scientists in parapsychology, such as Dr. Dean Radin (Chief scientist of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, showing presentiment experiment), Dr. Rupert Sheldrake (biologist, talks about telepathic dogs, and telephony telepathy) and Professor Charles Tart, who guided Renée through the film and many more. Other names include Professor Gary Schwartz, Dr. Roger Nelson, Dr. Hall Puthoff, Dr. Edgar Mitchell, Dr. David Dosa and more. In short, the “casting” couldn’t be better.

Secondly, it shows these scientists in their homes or working environments, which is much more interesting than seeing them talking in “sterile” studios, which is what other movies that I’ve seen do. This adds an additional personal dimension to the experience of watching it.

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It took Renée almost 10 years to shoot and edit this film, funding it from her own money, which says a lot about her determination and serious approach to this endeavor. She decided to go on this journey after having a couple of unexplainable experiences herself. I liked the movie so much that I asked Renée to let me interview her for Mind-Energy. I’m glad to tell that I’ve recorded the interview and will post it in a couple of days. So stay tuned.

What else is in the film? She met with Dr. Jack Houck, the organizer of PK parties and she also accompanied him to one of them. These are the famous PK parties which he holds in the US, where people bend spoons. Spoon bending is a thread throughout the film, being used to connect the various parts of it, although it’s not a scientific subject by itself.

There’s footage from Brazil of psychic surgeries, there are shots from other healing events and places. You see introductions about such projects such as Global Consciousness Project and Remote Viewing from the first hands, from the scientists themselves.

The film is 105 minutes long and is available on DVD in NTSC and PAL format. You can learn more about the film and purchase it on its official site.

With collaboration with Renée we've added a dedicated discussion forum for Something Unknown and its topics at Mind-Energy forums. Please join us in discussing it with Renée and other viewers.

The following article was sent to me by Buryl Payne in early 2009 but somehow I’ve only now got to publish it. I’m also putting the original PDF file that he sent me, which is better formatted. Buryl seems to be heavily into research of Biofield or what he calls “Spin Force”. The article discusses one of his experiments with remote healing.

Remote Healing Measured by the Biofield Meter

Buryl Payne, Ph. D. Psychology, Psychophysics Laboratories, P.O. Box 514, Soquel, CA. 95073

Abstract

A force around the human body different from electric, magnetic, gravitic, photic, or thermal has previously been discovered and was used in this research. Originally called a ‘biofield’ and now called a ‘spin force’, it was found to vary in amplitude with lunar phase, solar activity, vitality of the subject and other factors. It was found to vary in amplitude with intended remote healing attempts. In 17 out of 20 trials in this pilot study, with healers from 50 to 3,000 miles distant, a clear change in amplitude of the spin force was observed. Keywords: remote healing, subtle magnetism, biofield, spin force.

Introduction

It is known by experience that prayer and other means of visualization at a distance enhance healing, although no satisfactory explanation has been found to explain this effect. This study shows the operation of a different type of force may be involved. Called a spin force, torque, or rotational force, it is hypothesized to exist around all living organisms.

Biological spin force was accidentally discovered by the author while investigating ‘pyramid energy’ in 1976. The author’s device, called a Biofield Meter, displays a spin force when placed around an organism. It was found to exist around every human tested, a couple of plants, a grapefruit, watermelon, cat, dog and horse. Presumably it exists around all living organisms and its existence has been observed by other researchers. The amplitude of rotation of the Biofield Meter varies with solar and geomagnetic activity, changes direction temporarily at times of new and full moon and varies to some degree with the health of the subject.

Several researchers have observed some physiological changes in humans as a response to remote healing. Ron Hruby, a retired NASA electrical engineer, made his own version of the Biofield Meter and hypothesized that it might respond to distant healing attempts on a subject. He found this to be the case. In 18 trials with four subjects, he found 100% correlation of changes of the Biofield Meter amplitude of rotation with attempted healings by a small group ten miles distant from the subject. This study expands upon the work of Ron Hruby, and attempts to verify his results while using variable distances between the healers and the subjects.

Materials and Methods The Biofield Meter consists of a square frame, made of 0.25 inch diameter wood dowels, 16 in. on each side. Six ring magnets are centered on each dowel and 16 in. long strings are attached in the center of the six magnets on each dowel. The strings angle to a center where a set of two mirrors of 1.5 inch diameter are glued back to back. A hook and additional string is used to hang the apparatus over the subject’s head at eye level. The device looks roughly like a pyramid frame.

In practice, the Biofield Meter rotates a few degrees after being placed over a subject. Given an initial impulse, and because it is a string suspension, the torque on the string, or winding force, limits continuous rotational movement. It winds up and unwinds, in other words, oscillating back and forth for a few minutes. The number of degrees of initial rotation was used as a measure of spin force around the body.

This experiment was conducted in Santa Cruz, California. Twenty trials were conducted May to June, 2005. The first trial was completed with a small group of remote healers in Sheffield, Massachusetts, a distance of 3,000 miles from Santa Cruz. Three Biofield Meters were set up around three subjects. The subjects’ first names were supplied to the distant healers. The healers chose one subject for the healing attempt, which was unknown to the observer. A start time was determined for the healing attempt, and observation of the biofield meters began at that time. Movement of the three biofield meters were measured and recorded during the trial period. Following the trial period, the name of the chosen subject was revealed to the observer. In addition to this initial trial, seventeen other remote healers were invited to attempt distant healing on one of two subjects chose by the experimenter. Seventeen subsequent trials involved one to three subjects and one to four remote healers. It was not feasible to repeat tests using multiple subjects as it was too difficult to coordinate them. Two more trials were conducted on a radio show called ‘Out of Time’ in Hot Springs, Arkansas. On this show the author invited the listening audience to attempt remote healing on a subject sitting next to him. There were two main subjects who where involved in most of the trials.

Results

In the first trial, one of the three Biofield Meters rotated more than 720 degrees, (more than 2 complete rotations). Later phone communication showed that this was the subject chosen for the healing attempt. The subject did not report any sensations or feelings at the time of the attempted healing or on the following days.

In seventeen out of twenty trials, the Biofield Meter showed deflections from about 3 degrees to four full turns (1440 degrees) around the subject chosen for healing. These seventeen included the trials involving the radio show audience. No obvious ‘healing’ effects or sensations were observed by one of the two main subjects. The other subject felt sensations four times which resulted in some healing one time. In three trials where it was offered the remote healers correctly identified problem areas for one subject.

Discussion

In the 1980’s, the author’s initial observations of biofield amplitude used a different version of the Biofield Meter (heavier with more magnets) and showed rotations of only a few degrees. In this experiment the maximum observed was 1440 degrees. The lighter version of the Biofield Meter used in this experiment may be more sensitive than the heavier version.

This experiment shows remote healing at distances of up to 3,000 miles can be indicated by the Biofield Meter. However, the foregoing results need to be replicated with trials in which Biofield Meter rotations are measured more accurately. A scale or rotation counter, perhaps measured in 1/8 rotations would improve measurement.

Another factor to take into account would be the subjects own intrinsic biofield. A control measurement could be made where the subject would sit quietly for at least 5 minutes to allow the Biofield Meter to come to rest. In addition, it would be better to schedule experiments at times of quiet solar / geomagnetic field activity. This can now be predicted to about 70% accuracy. Solar flares can be predicted even more accurately.

Russian Scientists apparently discovered a similar force to that which is measured by the Biofield Meter. They called it a ‘Torsion field’ and did not notice that it was present around living organisms. One Russian researcher found possible evidence that torsion fields appear to propagate significantly faster than the speed of light. He designed a device which could detect the Torsion Field from stars and found that the effect was larger when he pointed his device at the place where the star would be today rather than where it was when the light left the star some time ago. This possible high velocity of spin field could be a factor in healing at a distance.

Theoretical revisions may need to be made as a result of this discovery, if it is verified. If the spin field travels much faster than light, this will require a slight revision in the explanations of electron spin experiments which have puzzled physicists for many years. Since the presence of a rotational force or torsion field can be easily verified by anyone in an hour or two by using a Biofield Meter, an expansion of some physics theories may be required.

From the results of this experiment, one can hypothesize that healers have a much greater influence on the biofield than other effects, such as phase of the moon, solar storms, the proximity of some planets, vitality of the subject, or willful intention of the subject (psychokinesis). Many studies can be made both on the biofield and on remote healing.

This experiment did not distinguish between non-healers (the radio audience) who focused on the subject or people who identified themselves as remote healers. One future study could be on the ability of an individual to affect the biofield of the subject simply by focusing their thought on the subject, without attempting to heal.

Conclusions

In summary this pilot study shows the ability of a simple instrument to detect spin force around humans and opens up a large variety of speculations and possible experiments. Several future studies should be conducted to expand this new area of research.

Acknowledgments

I would like to give many thanks to all the healers and subjects who freely donated their time and services to this project.

References

1. Payne B. A new device which detects and measures an energy field around the human body. American Journal of Acupuncture 1983; 11(4): 353-358.

2. Peschka W. Kinetobaric effect as possible basis for a new propulsion principle. Raumfahrtforschung 1974; trans. by D. Reed, In: t. Valone (ed), Mechanical Energy from Gravitational Anisotropy, Integrity Research Institute, Washing ton, DC, 1996.

3. Payne B. Polarity shifts in a human biofield at times of new and full moon. National Council on Geocosmic Research, Mar. 1985, 17- 19.

4. Hruby R. Empirical detection and measurement of Savely Savva’s Bio-Field. Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, Feb. \ Mar. 2003.

5. Payne B. Planetary positions and sunspots. The National Council for Geocosmic Research Journal 1993; Winter 92-93: 33-39.

6. Payne B. The Body Magnetic. Boulder, CO: PsychoPhysics Press, 1988: 276.

Reprint address:

Dr. Buryl Payne
P.0. Box 514, Soquel, CA 95073 
buryl@buryl.com 
www.buryl.com

I practice Qigong. "Qigong (or ch'i kung) is an internal Chinese meditative practice which often uses slow graceful movements and controlled breathing techniques to promote the circulation of qi within the human body, and enhance a practitioner's overall health" - Wikipedia.

The specific style of Qigong that I practive is called YiQuan and we focus on health benefits of Qigong. I've been now practicing it for more than 3 years. I've written about my first YiQuan Qigong lesson in late 2006 and also a review of YiQuan almost a year later.

Unfortunately, there's not much information about Qigong in English, espcially free information. There are some books, many translated book and it's good. Lately, though, I've found a good Qigong podcast (audio, like a radio). This is a weekly podcast, with each episode about an hour long, which is available through Blog Talk Radio. The podcast is called "The Secrets of Qigong master" and you can listen to it on their site, download the sound files or subscribe using iTunes for automatic updates, which is what I do.

Every episode is an interview with a different Qigong master and the host brings the best people such as Mantak Chia, Chunyi Lin, Dr. Norman Shealy, Li Junfeng and many others.

Listening to some of these episodes I found it fascinating how masters of different styles and schools share the same vision of Chi, the universe and health. Some of the questions and answers go deep into these issues which makes the interviews very interesting.

So, if you're into energy practice, energy healing, internal martial arts, and especially if you practice some form of qigong, don't pass on this fine podcast.

This is a beginning of new year and this year Mind-Energy.net will turn 5 years old. Wow, it's been an interesting ride.

I now have the ability to do some more for Mind-Energy then previously and I would like to know what you, my readers, would like me to focus more on. Is it on the scientific parapsychology stuff, is it the interviews, book or product reviews, articles about energy healing, some health "hacks" for different situations, like the nose congestion massage or 1-minute energy exercises?

Maybe you'd like something that I didn't even consider.

Please take a minute to think and write in the comments to this article about your wishes from Mind-Energy.

Thanks, Jacob.

I’ve recently got myself an iPhone. One of the applications that I downloaded was a simple to use application from Russell Targ, a famous ESP researcher. Russell Targ is a physicist and author who was a pioneer in the development of the laser, and cofounder of the Stanford Research Institute’s investigation into psychic abilities in the 1970s and 1980s (from his web site, espresearch.com).

The ESP trainer was developed under a NASA program by Russell Targ at Stanford Research Institute.

We have found that people are able to improve their ESP scores by using a machine just like this and get in touch with the part of themselves that is psychic. This is often called a clairvoyant ability, and can enhance your life in many surprising ways.

In a year long NASA program with 145 subjects (under Contract 953653 NAS7-100) many were able to significantly improve their scores. Four of the subjects improved their scores at the hundred-to-one level or better. This approach has been used with surprising success on Wall Street. But of course, past results are no guarantee of future performance.

Because you are learning a new skill, slower is better than faster.

The application itself is quite simple and totally free. You’re presented with 4 colored squares and need to guess where the picture is (pick the correct one of the four). If you succeed, you will hear a chime, feel a vibration, and see a large color picture.

If you find yourself frequently scoring 12 or more out of 24 trials, you should contact Russell Targ.

Click to open the application on iTunes store.

Michael Tymn has a very interesting blog at his gaia page. Michael often writes about the issues of survival after death, such as mediumship and NDE. Recently he published a short interview with Dr. Charles Tart.

Tart is a professor emeritus of psychology at the University of California (Davis campus), where he served for 28 years and is now a core faculty member of the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in Palo Alto, Calif. He has authored more than a dozen books, including Altered States of Consciousness (1969) and Transpersonal Psychologies (1975). He studied electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before deciding to be become a psychologist. He received his doctoral degree in psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1963, and then received postdoctoral training in hypnosis research with Professor Ernest R. Hilgard at Stanford University.

Michael Tymn starts with generic questions about how Dr. Tart came to parapsychology and about his latest book, The End of Materialism . But later focuses his questions on the subject of survival. I must say that Dr. Tart had some really interesting answers. He definitely holds his own opinion about things. He also thinks that the basic 5 ESP types, such as telepathy and precognition were proven beyond reasonable doubt.

Read the full interview with Dr. Charles Tart.