Cutting the Ties That Bind: Growing Up and Moving on [Paperback]

Most human beings are fragmented - some more than others. In order to gain wholeness we need to cut the ties that bind us - whether these ties be to people, unhelpful held beliefs or to past situations. We also need to remember to reconnect to the higher consciousness so as to live a fulfilling life in full knowledge of who we are.

I would recommend buying this book for one particular visualisation exercise that with daily practice can help a person to cut their emotional ties with someone they are overly attached to or who has had a strong influence on their life that is not helpful anymore. (Could be a parent, a lover, teacher, friend, authority figure, etc). The idea is to recreate your own independent space whilst retaining respect for the other.

This exercise is in Chapter 3 in my edition (1991 Reprint ISBN 1-8530-125-2) and seems to be the core exercise of the work. It is called the Figure 8. Basically you settle down into a comfortable seated position in a chair or on the floor with the spine erect (no slumping). You imagine drawing a circle around you and visualise the circle as a tube of golden light with you at its centre. Then you imagine a similar circle outside yours with the circumference touching yours. In this circle you imagine the person from which you wish to detach yourself in the centre of their circle. You and the person may move about a bit so you have to keep visualising until you are both in the centre of your own circles. When both are centred imagine a neon light flowing insight the golden tube starting at the centre of where the two circles join and moving in a clockwise direction first around the other person's circle back to where the circles meet and then around you in a figure of 8. There is more to the activity but I will allow the reader to discover the details. The idea is that if you repeat this everyday the message to your subconscious mind is that you wish to become an independent individual. The subconscious mind understands pictures and symbols and this exercise is best practised first thing on wakening and just before falling asleep.

The Figure of 8 is the basic visualisation and the book details ways it can be used. The book further elaborates on how you can also bring in a symbol for the higher consciousness (named the 'High C' which can be characterised by an archetypal faith figure depending on your beliefs - for instance Christ, Buddha, Quan Yin, Therese de Liseaux and so on) to act as a go-between or triangle between you and the figure in the other part of the figure of 8. You can then offer up any issues between you to the 'High C' and then wait for the answer on the way forward.

The figure 8 connected to the 'High C' is just a taster (a very effective one) of the visualisation exercises that are available to work with in this book. There are many other techniques including mainly connected to Jungian psychology and the use of archetypes [e.g. the anima (female aspect)and animus (male aspect), etc]. There is also the recording of dreams in order to further work on any issues between yourself and another person (often the person and yourself appear in different roles and apparent lives and this can be insightful as to what is going on now).

All of the exercises can be used to cut the ties that bind us and liberate us to move on and gain further growth and insight in life. Sometimes we just need that little help when we get stuck and attached to people and situations at certain points in our lives. This book gives the lay person and the therapist tools to use in such situations. The tools help to access our own inner guidance and the source of our lives.

Reclaim freedom, release the true self by cutting through the conditioning and attachments acquired as you move through life. A few simple right brain visualisation techniques practiced with diligence can work wonders on the subconscious mind and can relieve long-held unhelpful beliefs and recent stressors.

On our journey towards wholeness, we can help ourselves out of beliefs in our sickness, and separation from others, by practicing this now well known visualisation exercise shown in this book, that can benefit nearly everyone. I highly recommend it infact, I use it within my coaching/healing practice.

Cutting the ties that bind is a powerful book that I read several years ago. It is written simply and with love and includes easy visualisation techniques for protection and healing. Phillis Krystal is a devotee of Sai Baba and, I believe, a great healer of our time.