July/August 2004 Living Now
Peak States of Consciousness and Quality of Life

by Grant McFetridge

Rational study in an irrational field

Discoveries in the last decade have created whole new ways to understand, study, and induce the so-called "higher" or "peak" or "spiritual" or "shamanic" states of consciousness, although skepticism here is well founded. Eighteen years ago when I first started actually doing the potpourri of practices available, I noticed some glaring inconsistencies. Each tradition I tried implied or outright said that all the others were working towards false goals. Obviously they couldn’t all be right about that. There was something there - but what?

I decided to apply the Western scientific approach, and in 1996, I co-founded the Institute for the Study of Peak States in Canada, and became its first research director. Many of the same conclusions we have come to, are being reached independently by people throughout the world in an amazing display of parallel development.

Spiritual and shamanic practices confer different peak states

The idea that there is a hierarchal ladder to "enlightenment" just doesn’t match the data. Instead, we found that there are at least 17 completely distinct, unique and non-sequential peak states of consciousness. One gives a permanent underlying happiness no matter what else you might be feeling. Another gives a permanent underlying peace regardless of what else you might be feeling, along with the absence of any emotional pain to past memories. Another makes everything feel effortless, and gives the sensation that your body is made out of air rather than flesh and bones. Another makes you feel "whole". Another gives a sensation of "aliveness" and a knowledge of "spiritual truths"; another puts you in direct connection with the "plane of light" that is so well described in near-death experiences. Another gives a continuous feeling of joy; while another gives the ability to manifest your desires in the world.

Clearly, these peak states are not "altered states," with which they are sometimes confused. Living in any of these states makes our quality of life, sense of wellness, and ability to live productively in the world much, much better! It’s not the absence of pain that makes life feel worth living, but rather it’s the presence of the qualities and feelings that these states confer that makes life feel exceptional. The famous phrase "the pursuit of happiness" well describes our unconscious yet usually futile search for peak states in our work, relationships, and activities.

Peak states are everyone’s birthright

It turns out that peak states are everyone’s birthright. In the last two decades, a number of techniques were developed that allow one to recall trauma that happened while still in utero. To most people’s surprise, when regressed to these memories they find that they were self-aware. People also find that their fetal consciousness is quite different from their everyday consciousness. This is because the fetus has most of the peak states. It turns out that we acquire different peak states during specific developmental events as our organism grows more complex. If these events are experienced without trauma, after birth we have the states. If these events are experienced with minor trauma, we can move in and out of the states to one degree or another, particularly when using spiritual practices. If they are experienced with major trauma, almost nothing can evoke the states. There are other mechanisms that also block peak states, but this one dominates.

To summarize, in the past the people developing methods had been asking the wrong question. "How can I work towards getting a peak state?" makes the problem virtually impossible to solve. They should have been asking "What do I have to eliminate to get peak states?" This change in approach is why the new techniques are so successful.

The newest techniques are fast and effective

Most of us have assumed that even if peak states of consciousness exist, we’d have to dedicate our lives to getting and maintaining them. The image of oneself sitting in lotus position captures this feeling. In the last few years, partially due to breakthroughs in methods for healing trauma, our blocks to having peak states can be eliminated more directly and quickly. A number of techniques, all invented independently, have appeared worldwide. They’re typically fast - hours to days - and any given technique works on more than half the people trying them.

In my opinion, currently four of the best of the new peak state techniques are: "The 15-Minute Miracle" by Jacquelyn Aldana; "Resolving Dualism with PEAT" by Zivorad Slavinski; "Biocybernaut Brainwave Training" by Dr. James Hardt; and my own "Inner Peace Process". However, this field is in rapid change with new techniques appearing and old ones improving, so be sure to shop around.

Will the new techniques work for you? The bad news is that they’re not sure things, albeit a huge improvement over the old approaches. The good news is that they’re relatively fast and generally inexpensive. Different techniques give different states. As any peak state is usually a drastic improvement over ordinary consciousness, go ahead and try them all.

Grant McFetridge is the director of research for the Institute for the Study of Peak States in Canada (www.PeakStates.com) and the author of Peak States of Consciousness: Theory and Applications, Volume 1: Breakthrough Techniques for Exceptional Quality of Life. He will be giving a workshop on acquiring peak states of consciousness at the Birch Creek Arts and Ecology Center at historic Trillium Farm near Ashland, Oregon on August 13-16 trillium@deepwild.org, 541-899-1696.