Hypnotic ESP Training

Milan Ryzl Training Program [From Chapter Three of Psi Development Systems]

This program deserves special attention since Dr. Ryzl is a member of the Parapsychological Association and has also published articles about psychic training in the International Journal of Parapsychology. (An evaluation of Ryzl's scientific work is included in Chapter IV.) In this original formulation, Ryzl's training was outlined in five stages:

(1) Psychological preparation of the subject prior to hypnosis.
(2) Induction of the hypnotic state.
(3) Utilization of the hypnotic state for the activation of ESP.
(4) Improvement and further cultivation of the subject's abilities.
(5) Bringing ESP under conscious control in the normal waking state" (Ryzl, 1972).

This above formulation which originally appeared in the International Journal of Parapsychology is intended as an outline for those who would like to develop ESP in others. It is not actually the basis of Ryzl's current training program, as the hypnotic state requires close personal interaction between trainer and subject.

Dr. Ryzl's current program offers an interesting contrast to the Rosicrucian program, since both are correspondence courses. Ryzl's course does not offer the attraction of ancient traditions, but offers instead detailed instructions on tape cassettes intended to train the student to enter into a psi-conducive, altered state of consciousness -a state of "alert relaxation" comparable perhaps to the "alpha level" of the Silva training. The course also includes a book authored and published by Ryzl entitled How to Develop ESP in Yourself and Others. The book is well written, is generally based on the experimental literature and offers no panaceas or immediate results. Ryzl personally does not claim to have developed his own psychic abilities and states that he is not a good trance subject himself.

After an introductory chapter on "the sixth sense," Ryzl assigns his students two exercises: "Make a list of situations in the recent past where ESP might have helped you in your personal life." "Make a list of possible uses of ESP in everyday life." Another of Ryzl's basic exercises for the effective and practical use of ESP is as follows:

(1) Send out an intensive question.
(2) Then make the mind blank, try to eliminate all influence of your thoughts, and wait until the answer emerges in your consciousness.

Ryzl states that these two conditions "seem to be the whole secret of the effective use of ESP." He adds that it is difficult to realize them in practice and they can only be attained through patience and persistence.

The tape cassettes are designed to produce a relaxed state of mind and provide the student an opportunity to practice ESP in a setting that does not require the personal presence of a teacher. With the course are ESP tests designed to be taken alone by the student and then sent in to Ryzl for analysis. Although over a thousand people have taken this course during the past several years, and some of these have sent test data in to Ryzl. Ryzl has not yet conducted an analysis of his data.

The content of this program is far more acceptable to the professional researcher than the other more popular ESP training packages but, perhaps as a consequence of this, the program itself is less charismatic and inspiring -- lacking, as it does, the elements of personal contact and a spiritual foundation.


References

Ryzl, M. How to develop ESP in yourself and others. San Jose, Calif.: author, 1977. (Originally published, 1972.) Ryzl, M. A method of training ESP. International Journal of Parapsychology, 1966, 8, 501-532.

Ryzl, M. Review of some ESP experiments with a hypnotically prepared subject. Journal of the American Society of Psychosomatic Dentistry and Medicine, 1976, 23, 40-53.

Ryzl, M. Training the psi faculty by hypnosis. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 1962, 41, 232-252.

Ryzl, M., and Ryzlova, J. A case of high-scoring ESP performance in the hypnotic state. Journal of Parapsychology, 1962, 26, 153-171.