Success tips from Juan Silva

(This interview, conducted with Juan Silva in 1996, draws on his 45 years of research and experience in the field. The interview was conducted by Ed Bernd Jr., who worked closely with Juan as coordinator of SIGA, the Silva alumni association that Juan founded in 1982. They begin with a discussion about why it is important to practice entering deep levels of mind.)

by Juan R. Silva

We always use our relaxation techniques with conscious awareness. The deeper we go, the more benefits we will be able to derive from the lower brainwave frequencies, because achieved these levels with consciousness awareness.

Principally, we will be able to program our biochemistry a lot better, because by then we will have ventilated a lot of impediments.

Consequently we are able to program our mind and body at all of these levels, where we can be able to control our biochemistry a lot better, and be able to program -- transmit -- better in programming people, programming the cases we work.

So the deeper we go, the more benefits we will be able to derive.

Q: Benefits such as what?

Well, you are a vehicle. As a vehicle, you will be able to transmit, receive, you will be able to transfer energies by your programming. So when it comes to helping other people, and helping yourself, you can become very efficient at that.

The best of you will surface.

The natural you will surface. This is a beautiful feeling.

In the process of you achieving these levels, you have to work yourself down to a deeper level every time. As you go deeper, you are ventilating these particular impediments, negative factors that you have recorded. You are able to erase, or ventilate, these factors.

So the deeper that you go into these levels, the more that you will be able to benefit from your natural functions of your body.

All these impediments are blocking your natural functions of your body from functioning properly.

Your natural functions of your body are what keep you healthy.

We haven't been healthy for a long time, so as we ventilate all these negative factors, then we are getting closer until finally we receive that -- we feel a lot better, it feels like an extremely light feeling; even the sun shines differently.

Q: How do we get contaminated in the first place?

We don't have any means of neutralizing all these negative inputs throughout the day, throughout the week, throughout the month, that our five senses are able to record.

We do it unconsciously. When we hear any noise that impresses us, fear always takes over. That's the strongest factor in our survival mechanism.

Everything is related to fear of one thing or another. That's what we acquire, and that's what impedes the natural function of our body from functioning naturally.

So when we ventilate these, it makes a difference.

Anything that is impressed with fear is impressed much stronger than anything else, so this is why we have to neutralize it.

We don't have any means of neutralizing this, until you go through all these exercises. You take this progressive relaxation exercise; then when you very deep, you are able to ventilate these gradually.

Q: Where does this fear come from?

This kind of fear could come from any source: a gun that goes off, or somebody who threatens you, or you come close to getting run over by a car...whatever you perceive as a threat.

Principally in dreams.

In dreams there is no shock absorbing method to control that. It goes full blast.

You are going to dream about the most outstanding things that happened to you that day. So it is not only that one time that you heard it, that it happened to you. When it comes to dreaming about it, there is no shock absorbing thing to control it, so it is worse that the event that you experienced.

It triggers off all of your glandular, body chemistry, and this is no good.

So that is what is impressed in us, and it is what starts blocking our natural way of living and working and thinking.

The best way to deal with it is deep relaxation. The deeper the better. Then you will be able to neutralize all these things.

Q: How do you recommend doing it?

You can memorize the Long Relax. Memorizing is a good word to use. But you should memorize it the way you think you read it. You don't have to memorize it word for word. It is the context of what you are memorizing that matters.

When you read it the first time, the importance of this was recorded in your mind already. Consequently, afterwards, when you try to memorize it, it does not have to be word for word, because you already have the meaning.

So you memorize it. Don't let anybody else recite it to you. Don't listen to a tape of it yet, don't let somebody read it to you.

You do it yourself - you on your own efforts.

You have to do it yourself because nobody else can tell you how much you're hurting. Nobody else can tell you how badly you need this, but yourself.

So consequently, that's why you should not let anybody else recite this to you.

You memorize it. You use your imagination. You use your programming the way you should.

This is very important because you are involving your emotion. When this happens, you are putting in the greatest desire to get well that can be used.

Q: Suppose I don't sense a fine vibration, a tingling sensation, or any of that. Is that important?

It is important. But you may not sense it the first 10 or 15 times, because you are new at this.

In every facet of this relaxation, you are not as deeply relaxed as you would be the tenth time that you practice this, because everything is new to you. Consequently, you are not going to feel a lot of things. You might even go to sleep. Hibernation will take over and pull you into a sleep cycle, rather than go through the whole thing, because you are not accustomed to this.

So you see, so many things happen to you when you are first experiencing this conditioning. The fact that you don't feel this tingling sensation is one of them. You won't feel it the first time, but by the tenth time you will. You'll start feeling a tingling sensation, because you are totally relaxed at every level.

Now, is it important?

Yes, it is important. It is important because you are going to have to imagine and concentrate on that area where you want to feel that tingling sensation. That's important for your relaxation. It will induce your relaxation, and it will be a lot better than otherwise.

Q: You have talked about not holding anything back when you do the Long Relax. What do you mean by that?

To get completely involved. If you don't get involved completely in what you're doing, that means you have a conflict within yourself.

What could it be?

Possibly that you don't believe in what you are doing, that you might be wasting your time, that you have other things to do. So you must get involved.

You must offer yourself to either the lecturer's instructions, or if you are doing it on your own, you must be able to devote this hour or so solely to what you are going to do.

The reason that you are doing it must be established. The reason is very important, because that particular reason is going to be your desire.

There should always be a desire for you to practice your relaxation exercise.

A desire for what? A desire to accomplish what? You must establish this before you do the exercise.

So this is why it is important for you to get totally involved in this. Forget everything else.

Q: It seems like some people don't want to give up control.

If you don't get involved totally with this, then there is something wrong.

Now, if you do want to relax and still you have this tendency, then practice the exercise over and over. It will be a lot easier the second time to relax, and even easier the third time to let go of your control, because you have learned how to relax.

A lot of people don't want to relax because they are afraid. They are afraid because they think that they may pass out, or because they feel some sensations that are very strange. Maybe they start getting short of breath, or their heart beats faster.

These things do happen. They happen because you are relaxing.

How can you relax your lungs and your breathing mechanism evenly? One will relax more than the other, and this will cause this breathing rhythm that you will start noticing.

You have never felt your heart beating this vividly because you have never relaxed.

This is what scares these people and keeps them from trying to relax. But it is the best thing that could happen to you.

It is only natural that you will feel these things. You might feel them a little less the second time. As you keep practicing, you won't even notice them.

The other thing that happens is going to sleep. You go to sleep easily because you have never relaxed like this, and you don't have experience relaxing so much without going to sleep.

So rather than to follow through with this, you have a tendency of falling asleep, because you don't have any practice in relaxing.

Once you acquire the practice, you can stay awake and do just great.

Q: How do you learn that? A lot of people have a problem with falling asleep during the Long Relax.

You just keep on practicing, with conscious awareness.

We're talking about conscious awareness -- that we should relax with conscious awareness. So you should work harder to be able to activate yourself in the process of your relaxing -- using your imagination, or whatever, to stay awake. The first time it won't be easy, but it will be a lot easier later on, when you acquire expedience.

Q: Is it important to continue practicing the Long Relaxation Exercise after we are experienced at it?

Yes, it is very important to continue to practice it from time to time. The fact that we were at level doesn't mean we're going to stay there. That's what's wrong with a lot of graduates.

A lot of graduates can't work cases any more, because they think that just because they acquired a ten cycles per second level at one time or another that it's going to last forever.

If they don't practice it, these levels will start resurfacing. And they lose it, and don't have this level anymore. That's why their telepathy doesn't work, that's why their caseworking doesn't work as well.

A lot of graduates think that they shouldn't lose it, but they do if they don't practice it. So they must practice to bring it back on again.

If you don't have your level, don't waste your time trying to program for this and that. It might work off and on, might work in spurts, you know; but if you want to do it on a regular basis, practice.

I still practice the Long Relaxation Exercise once a month.

Q: You have talked, in relation to business, and to selling, about letting the real you come out. Who is the real you?

The real person is yourself. Like I said a little while ago, you are the vehicle.

You must program yourself. You must practice your relaxation exercises, and then you must program yourself for the scenario that you are going to encounter, the people involved, etc.

You are going to program all of this in a very positive fashion: That you are going to close the deal, that you are going to sell this person what he needs, that the price you are going to ask for is perfectly normal, that you are not stealing from anybody, that it is nothing out of the ordinary, just something that is going to help this person.

Now, you irradiate your own self, what should be your self, in trying to help others.

As you well know, every time we acquire these deep levels of concentration, the first thing we want to do is to help others.

It's as if we went back to our normal functions, the way we are supposed to live, and this includes helping a lot of other people.

Consequently, you, as a salesman, are not going to look like a salesman. You are going to look like a person who is trying to help your client. He will detect that immediately because of what you radiate, because of your vibrations.

He will see that you are honest, that you are sincere, and this will help in accelerating the transaction.

This is your self. You have to prepare yourself for these occasions, by relaxing, and by practicing your relaxation exercises, and programming with anticipation the scenario that you are going to encounter.

Q: Does this also help business people?

If a business person has not yet learned to relax, he is going to use his own means of concentration, which may be good for him. But you are not just dealing with only yourself. You may have a board of directors, a group of people that you have to deal with. So the better prepared you are for that occasion, the better it is going to turn out.

So if this business person has not tried to relax with conscious awareness, he must.

It is a must, because when he goes to these deep levels, information is going to start flowing, intuitively. All he has learned, the experience he has had, and even information he is acquiring from the others who are sitting in front of him, will be there for him to use.

This is why this is important, that they should relax, that they should use this progressive relaxation exercise.

If they don't, they go back to what they are doing right now. Some people might be effective. In this manner, not only will he be effective, but he is going to impose this in a stronger manner, to be able to acquire what he needs, or what he is dealing with.

He's got to perfect his vehicle, perfect himself, prepare himself properly, then go in there.

Q: Does this help in the family as well?

It is the same thing with the family. The young ones may not be experienced in relaxing, so we might have to do most of the work.

You are going to help them by advising them. But how are you going to advise them? What are you going to tell them?

If you prepare yourself, if you program yourself, if you practice the Relaxation Exercise and acquire a deeper level of consciousness awareness, you're going to do a better job with them.

Other than that, you can advise them, you can counsel with them, but they are young kids. There is no formula for their behavior. You are the one who is keeping track of them, so every so often, you should sit and talk with them about things.

There is always that disadvantage of a parent: The parent wants the child to do what they want, what they suggest.

Just be aware of that, don't expect that from them. They are about 20 or 30 years younger than you are. Try to work it into their lifestyles. Think ahead for them, but don't try to impose your wish on them.

You can do a better job by your being prepared.

Q: You have also mentioned that you do the Long Relax when you go to sleep at night. Do you program when you do that?

Oh, this is where you go to work, yes.

The Long Relax Technique is definitely related basically and most importantly to your dreams.

Along the way you are programming yourself and you are using your imagination, going into your areas where you need to be programming, using a lot of imagination - you exaggerate the curing process.

Say it is aspirin that you rely on a lot, that you have a lot of faith in. So you dissolve a lot of aspirin in a big bucket of water. Then you use a big brush like you use to paint a house with, to be able to go through your fibers in that area until you see that they are definitely cured; not that they will be cured, but that they are cured.

But you have exaggerated your imagination, because we know that you are going to dream about the most outstanding things that impressed you during the day. Whether you came close to being run over; whether you were brushed by a big paint brush - you are going to dream about that.

Hopefully then you will dream about this, which you will, and since your mind was programmed that you were cured, when this mind really focuses on this whole thing, it finds out: hey, you're not cured. So then it goes to work on you. It starts instructing all your biochemistry glands to secrete the proper dose of medicine that you need for that purpose. Not an exaggerated amount, not a lack of it, but the proper dose.

This is what's good about this, because what caused your problem was an excess of chemicals applied to that area. If you feared that you had an ulcer, because your daddy had one, whatever, every time you have this fear coming through you, you are going to apply these chemicals in trying to counter this infection. But you don't have one.

And every time that you fear that again, or that you might even dream about it, you are going to apply more chemicals, and an excessive amount of chemicals can hurt you just as bad as not enough.

This is what caused the problem to begin with.

Now, your mind is sending a proper dose to counteract that particular condition.

This is why this technique is related definitely to our dreams. That's why we have to exaggerate our imagination as much as we possibly can.

Q: Does this also work on business problems?

What you do is focus on programming for the business purpose, all through the exercise, and you go to sleep on this.

And you maintain that technique.

Now this technique is what you are going to use when you come up against this transaction, the business people. This is what you are going to use because you have acquired it at the low level, the lowest possible level, and it's going to be a deep one.

While you are sitting there waiting for your customer, you can program for the whole thing. You relax, and when he sees you, he thinks, "The guy looks good, I think he's honest..." At the same time you've already programmed him that you are going to close this deal because it is going to benefit him, and so forth.

Q: What guidance do you give to people with health problems who are not Silva graduates?

They are supposed to keep on practicing the technique. They can practice it in the daytime and apply it at night.

The only reason I want them to practice it as much as they can is so they can acquire that low level of consciousness awareness sooner. Some of these people are in pretty bad shape, they have irreversible conditions, and I want something that works fast.

And I don't want to use a tape.

I don't want to use a tape because it will automate them, and it will lose its effectiveness. Their desire is neutralized to a great extent when they listen to something automated.

So I just tell them to practice it and apply it at night.

They can use the Alpha Sound tape.

Q: Why don't you want these people to use a tape recording?

I don't want them to use a tape, because I don't want them to start automating them, and just start reciting the whole thing with no meaning.

So all the time they're doing this, they are applying their concentration and exaggerating their imagination, with no other noises that can distract them.

Once they've done this 10 or 12 times, then they can use the tape, if they desire. They will have already established the points of reference.

My idea is that we don't want any interference, anything distracting them from what they are supposed to be doing.

(When I'm teaching people my healing technique) I sit there with them for about an hour and a half. And while I'm sitting there in front of them, talking to them, I am programming them, mentally, by what I'm saying. I look into their eyes, and I may distract them for a moment with a pause, and program them.

When we are done I give them a copy of the technique. I tell them not to let their wife read it to them, or anybody. I tell them to memorize it, however they can, the context of it, not word for word, but just the context of the whole thing.

Then they can come in with the tape, after that. But I don't think we should use anything else with their first efforts. Their first effort is where they are going to establish their points of reference. We'll let it be the genuine thing, their own emotional involvement in there, their own desire, and not be driven by something to acquire these lower levels.

I want them to do it. If somebody else takes them to level, if they listen to somebody else, they are not totally involved.

If they have the desire to get well - and this is why they've come to me - then let's use it.

The reason they are in front of me right now is because they need the help. Nobody can help them, nobody can tell how they hurt, how they feel.

The most important thing is that we are dealing with conscious awareness. Every relaxation level that they must acquire will be with conscious awareness.

We don't want them to neutralize, to diminish the importance of their desire. You want the help awfully bad, so bad that you are here... If I ask you why you are here, you tell me, because your brother needs you, your mother needs you, everybody needs you except you. But it is really you. So if you are willing to go through all of that, even falsify the reason that you are here, that means that you have a tremendous desire to get well.

Let's not mess it up. Let's try to transmit this desire to a lower level , gradually, of conscious awareness -a lower level of brain wave frequency, with conscious awareness. Because we know that the lower that we get, without altering this condition, your desire is going to get stronger, and stronger, and stronger.

So we transport your initial, emotional, desire that you have to the proper level where we can program it without altering it.

And I believe that we would alter that if we played a tape, used a noise, or whatever.

So once we do this, down to the level of the proper programming frequency, we've got it made. Because it is going to be a strong desire by then.

This is the reason I don't want any tapes, or any other noises. Afterwards, okay, if you want to be coached along every week or every month, you can play your tape or whatever. But not initially.

A long time ago we labeled the course "Dynamic meditation." I was the one who used that phrase, in Mexico. This is why: because it is dynamically used to keep you going, to keep you active, to find these levels. But then we don't want to alter your desire, if possible.

Q: Why in the class do we guide them to level?

We're talking about two different things. We're talking about a person where we don't have time to do that. Then we have a person where we have time.

A person that has time, we'll take him through the coursework and learn all of it.

But a person I have now who needs help immediately, we'll do this.

If they have time, we'll take them through the whole thing, that's best of course.

On home study course, guide them on the tape, but then, for them to do it all by themselves, forget about the tape that they just heard, and just do it the way we instruct them to do it. And it will work.

The only thing that's going to be lacking there is the work of the programmer - me for instance. But if they follow through, it is going to be effective.

When I hear of someone with a problem, I don't tell them I can help them. I want the person who wants to be helped to come to us on his own volition, because he needs the help. He wasn't coached, because if he does it on his own, it's going to be much more effective, than if I push it on him. That's always been my way of thinking.

Q: What tips do you have for the best way to program to get things?

You should not program for something that you want. You should program for something to resolve the problem that you have.

Don't ever specify what you want, because you may not ever get it. And it may not be correct, what you want.

Program for the problem to be resolved. That's what you're interested in.

Unpaid bills: I will convert this into a solution by imagining that these bills will be paid eventually, and that everybody will be pleasantly affected with the solution. You're not trying to get away with anything, they will be paid.

Maybe this will bring down the 30 bills that you have to perhaps 10. Seriously, that's the way I would do it.

Remember, while you are programming this, it is very important; that's why you are programming it. Because you care.

But how will it be resolved? It will be resolved. But don't program that "I want to have these bills paid by the end of the month." It will be resolved to the satisfaction of all concerned.

Q: How would I program to find a girlfriend?

First of all, I wouldn't want you to do what I'd do.

This is supposed to come from you, from your own personal emotions.

I couldn't dream of the necessity that you have for finding a girlfriend. I wouldn't have an idea. Oh, I might have, but what I'm saying is, don't do what I do. Use your own programming, your own work.

What I can say is this:

You program to go down to those deep levels of conscious awareness, using the Long Relaxation Exercise. You'd be surprised.

Program that you want a true friend, that you can live happily ever after with as your companion. But don't start painting her with blond hair and everything else.

Q: What happens if everybody programs for the same thing? Who gets it?

It's just like you programming specifically for what you want. It's not going to work.