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Path: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!news.kei.com!news.mathworks.com!newsfeed.internetmci.com!news.msfc.nasa.gov!info.uah.edu!hubcap.clemson.edu!aristotle!llarsen From: llarsen@cs.clemson.edu (Loren Larsen) Newsgroups: alt.self-improve,alt.answers,news.answers Subject: alt.self-improve FAQ (Part 1 of 2) Supersedes: <alt.self-improve-1-811433601@cs.clemson.edu> Followup-To: alt.self-improve Date: 17 Oct 1995 15:39:49 GMT Organization: Clemson University Lines: 1150 Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.Edu Distribution: world Expires: 21 November 1995 15:41:57 GMT Message-ID: <alt.self-improve-1-813944517@cs.clemson.edu> Reply-To: llarsen@cs.clemson.edu (alt.self-improve FAQ Coordinators) NNTP-Posting-Host: aristotle.cs.clemson.edu Keywords: FAQ self improve X-Posting-Frequency: posted on the 17th of each month A how-to-find-the-FAQ article is posted on the 7th and 27th X-Content-Currency: This FAQ changes regularly. When a saved or printed copy is over 6 months old, please obtain a new one. Originator: llarsen@aristotle Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu alt.self-improve:10208 alt.answers:12869 news.answers:55512 Posted-By: auto-faq 3.1.1.2 Archive-name: self-impr-faq/part1 ------------------------------------------- alt.self-improve FAQ revision 1.9 July 17, 1995 ------------------------------------------- DISCLAIMER This file is a collection of Frequently Asked Questions from the alt.self-improve group. This document is information collected by the editors for public use. The information is not guaranteed to be accurate and may not reflect the opinions of the editors, the editor's employers, or associated institutions. This document may be freely distributed provided this disclaimer is included with all copies. All contributions and suggestions for improvement are welcomed. The current editors are: Loren Larsen Computer Science Department Clemson University Clemson, SC 29634 llarsen@cs.clemson.edu ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This FAQ is posted on the 17th of every month. A how-to-find-the-FAQ article is posted on the 7th and 27th of every month. This FAQ is also available via World Wide Web (Mosaic): http://diogenes.cs.clemson.edu/~llarsen/llarsen.html or via ftp from rtfm.mit.edu: /pub/usenet/alt.self-improve/alt.self-improve_FAQ_(Part_1_of_2) /pub/usenet/alt.self-improve/alt.self-improve_FAQ_(Part_2_of_2) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Changes since version 1.5 (Feb. 17) - New section describing The People's Network - Updated Resources section - New biography of Tad James Changes since version 1.6 (Apr. 17) - Information on IDHEA seminars Changes since version 1.7 (May. 18) - New Web resources, notably: Covery Leadership Center hypnosis.com (Tad James and his Accelerated Human Change Companies) Forum Graduate Association - I am currently looking for a co-editor(s) to help improve the FAQ. Changes since version 1.8 - HTML version of FAQ available at http://diogenes.cs.clemson.edu/~llarsen/llarsen.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction to alt.self-improve 2. Accelerated Learning 3. Baldness Cures and Consequences 4. Bates Method (natural vision improvement) 5. Stephen Covey (7 Habits of Highly Effective People, etc.) 6. Est 7. Financial Improvement 8. General Learning and Study Skills 9. Hypnosis 10. Landmark (The Forum) 11. Lateral Thinking 12. Life-Long Learning Association 13. Lifespring 14. Meditation 15. Memory Systems 16. Mindmapping 17. Mind Machines 18. Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) 19. The People's Network 20. Physical Health 21. Anthony Robbins 22. Sales and Negotiation 23. Scientology/Dianetics 24. Software Packages 25. Speed Reading 26. Marshall Sylver 27. Time Management Appendix A. Resource List Appendix B. Biographies Richard Bandler Stephen Covey John Grinder Tad James Anthony Robbins Appendix C. Reader Ratings of Books/Audiotapes/Seminars 1. Introduction to alt.self-improve The alt.self-improve group provides a forum for discussing strategies, techniques, and principles for self improvement. The table of contents gives a good overview of the breadth of topics discussed. This FAQ has been created to provide a single document that contains a sort of history of what has been discussed in the newsgroup. New readers may find the answers to many of their questions already answered in this document. We have attempted to categorize questions by topic for easy access, but many issues don't fit neatly into a single category. The contents of this document are collected by the editors from past postings in alt.self-improve, personal e-mail correspondence, and outside sources. All suggestions and contributions are welcome. The newsgroup is not intended for commercial uses or promotion of, commercial products; however a section has been added to this document with information about contacting many of the companies whose products, seminars, or books are discussed in this newsgroup. The last section provides brief biographical information about some of the self-improvement personalities frequently mentioned in this group. This document is still in its infancy. Most of the material collected so far has been summarized based on past postings to the newsgroup. There are bound to be a number of errors. The information presented so far is probably biased toward the interests and perspectives of the editors. Hopefully both the errors and bias will rapidly be eliminated with your feedback. Please help to expand and perfect this document by contributing your knowledge. Quoted articles are acknowledged by placing the poster's name in parentheses (e.g. (From: llarsen@cs.clemson.edu). Information which is not explicitly acknowledged has been compiled by the editors from a variety of sources including past postings, external sources, and reader responses to the editors. We are considering different methods of compactly recording comments from a wide variety of sources. One suggestion is to create a rating system for books, seminars, etc. For example if you have attended a particular speed reading course or a Tony Robbins seminar, send us your opinion by rating it on a scale of 1-10. The average could be used as opposed to a huge collection of personal responses. Any other suggestions are welcome. 2. Accelerated Learning Q. What is accelerated learning? A. Accelerated learning is a technique that was pioneered by the Bulgarian psychologist named Lozanov during the 1950's/60's. A typical session involves two stages - learning while in deep relaxation, and consolidating through play. In the first stage of a session, pupils are seated (or sit on cushions) in a comfortable room and are encouraged to relax, get themselves into a positive frame of mind and visualize a time when they experienced real joy at succesfully learning something. Once everyone is relaxed, the teacher will start some music. The best music has been found to be Baroque music, by composers like Bach, Handel and Vivaldi, at a tempo of about sixty beats per minute (60bpm). The students are asked to breath in time to the music to increase their relaxation - a common method is to breath in for four seconds, hold it for four seconds, breathe out for four seconds and pause, in time with the music. The teacher then reads the material to be learned, again in time with the music, and varying the tone and volume of his/her voice. If the material is, for example, the basic vocabulary of German, the teacher will read an English word, followed four seconds later by the German equivalent. The idea is the material will `imprint' itself on the minds of the students, with little conscious effort by them. The second stage involves revising the material through play, the idea again is to make the session as relaxed and enjoyable as possible. The editors have no experience of the techniques themselves, so we cannot say if they are of any value. Reports of the technique have varied from wild claims of learning 2000+ foreign words in a day, to murmurs of disapointment from people who found the sessions uninteristing and repetitive. Many people have commented that people who are good auditory learners seem to have more success than those who are good visual learners, so Anthony Robbins fans might want to check this out. The only audio material being produced at the moment (as far as we know) is by Colin Rose, who has also written a book on the subject (called, strangely enough, `Accelerated Learning'). You also might want to dig out a copy of `Superlearning' by Maria Ostrand), which describes the history of Accelerated Learning in detail and gives a complete guide to doing it yourself. 3. Baldness Cures and Consequences A summary of ways for handling balding has been contributed by a reader. Here it is: Baldness Cures and Consequences 1. Does baldness need to be cured? The answer is up to you, if you're losing your hair. It depends on your self-concept, on how happy you are with the way you look now, and how happy you'll be with the way you will look once your pattern expands to its ultimate stage. You might get some hints on this by looking at pictures of your maternal grandfather in his later years; in any case, debates concerning the actual hereditary links of male-pattern baldness, while of scholarly interest, are mostly unhelpful to individuals and thus beyond the scope of this FAQ. 2. Bald can be Beautiful Star Trek's Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) provides an excellent example of a person who, by a happy combination of personality and physiognomy, has managed to be handsome and quite sexy while still being bald. St. Anthony, while not sexy, was good looking too, despite his bald crown. Your case may be a different story. It all depends on how you want to look. You might attempt to accept the fact that baldness has always been a natural part of growing old. Are you unhappy about your baldness or are you just not accepting the fact that you're no longer 15? You may not agree with this, but there is probably a natural beauty and grace to your unaltered baldness pattern. Could you possibly learn to love that natural grace and let your inner beauty shine through along with it? Many people can and do. They save a lot of money that way. 3. Combing to cover The solution, adopted by some, of combing hair over bald spots is probably counterproductive. In other words, the larger your spot, the better you might look if you just accepted its presence and had your hair styled so that the spot was not being hidden. This is, of course, a matter of opinion, but a person with a full-cap bald pattern who tries to cover it by letting hair on the sides of the head grow unusually long and flipping it up generally looks like a person who is doing just that. Most independent observers find it odd; people who had once "combed to cover" generally find that they are perceived as much more attractive by others once they let their spots be what they are. (When used in combination with spray-on hair, however, combing to cover can produce a natural effect for some--not all-- people. See discussion below.) 4. Vitamins Severe nutrient deficiencies and extreme stress will shock your body from head to foot. If the foods you eat contain neither inositol nor any B vitamins, you may die sooner than you ought to. But, sad to say, if you have an otherwise normal diet and start popping inositol and B vitamins, your hair will still fall out. Your hairs know precisely the date when they're supposed to cash in their chips, and they'll do it right then, no matter how much inositol you feed them. Buy relaxation tapes if you're stressed, however. 5. Subliminal Suggestion Tapes and the Power of Mind The person who made a tape designed to trick your mind into keeping hair on your head was full-cap bald when he produced the tape and is full-cap bald to this very day. He's a very fine person and he even made an effective tape on how to become wealthy through prosperous thinking. The baldness tape, however, has been withdrawn from the market. Not even Krishna consciousness will help you grow hair. Do you have any idea of the number of bald swamis who have been sighted in Wyoming alone? Those who still dwell in the physical body are still bald. I know that most of them wouldn't bother lowering their vibration long enough to produce hair on their heads--and why should they, considering the delights they know. But you'd think that some of them would spontaneously sprout hair once in a while, just for fun. Ram Dass and Wayne Dyer, very wise bald sages both, have used their wisdom to talk themselves out of esteeming hair, needing hair, or wanting hair. In fact, many holy beings float so high that they realize that hair is the LEAST of their or anyone else's needs, that it's just more material stuff destined to collect in a porcelain sink, another illusion trying to convince you it's real, just one more set of material attachments from which we all, eventually, seek liberation. And they're absolutely right. Listen to what the Hindu God Krishna had to say about your physical body. Lord Krishna, addressing his friend Arjuna (who was whining about his apparent duty to kill his relatives in an upcoming battle), spoke thus: While speaking learned words, you are mourning for what is not worthy of grief. Those who are wise lament neither for the living nor the dead. Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to be. As the emboldened soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change. O son of Kunti, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed. So there. Krishna says you shouldn't even grieve for the apparent loss of your life, much less the loss of your stupid hair. Easy for the blue-skinned God to say, with long black locks flowing down his back. 6. Serious Solutions If you still don't believe that bald can be beautiful (on you) and if you still grieve for that which is not worthy of grief, then you're a terribly superficial, materialistic creature and probably a Libra too. But we still love you. The good news is that, if money is no object, you can, in many cases, have as much hair as you want. Once you have a full head of hair, it'll be easier to philosophize about how hair is one of the illusions of Maya and thus makes no difference whatsoever. As a good Libra, you'll enjoy doing that. Timing is everything. The sooner you start taking some decisive action before your baldness pattern reaches its limits, the smoother your transition from a "balding" person to one with an apparently full head of hair will be. This, of course, should be obvious. If your hair is just now starting to thin, very few people other than you and those very intimately involved with you will either notice or care if you start to make changes. But if you're completely bald on top, or have a full-crown bald spot, then its sudden disappearance will be noticed by many people. This involves potential psychological problems. If you make an abrupt transition, some people will ask you what you've done to your hair. Maybe the comments will be well meant or innocuous, such as, "Whatever you've done to your hair, it looks great." Few will say, "I like your new wig." That's because few--if any--will notice. The reason why few people will notice most subtle changes you make to your hair is that most people don't actually see you each time they cast their eyes on you. What they "see" is their pre-formed mental image of you (your "gestalt"). Their eyes scan you for identifying features and then, satisfied that the person they are scanning matches (more or less) their internalized gestalt of you, they're satisfied about that and go on with what they're truly concerned about, which is usually themselves. That's why people who have had beards for a long time are often surprised that many people don't mention it when they shave the beard off. At best, a few people will say, "There's something different about you; did you used to wear glasses or something?" There are exceptions, however, to what we just said. Men who are losing or have lost their hair are generally as perceptive as raptors when it comes to other men's hair. If you used to look bald and then start to look hairy, you'll be leaving the balding ones behind. Some will resent the fact that you're choosing to leave the bald club; somehow they've convinced themselves that they have to be in that club for life and they believe you deserve the same sentence. Another group of exceptions will be the few people who actually walk around with their eyes open. Why do they do this? No one knows, but some people actually have nothing better to do than to go around seeing and enjoying the real world, rather than seeing their pre-formed image of it. You can be assured that those people are few in number and are usually such enlightened souls that they wouldn't think of embarrassing you in public or private. In any case, the avoidance of any comments at all is preferable to most people. We want to look better, but not radically better. If you look radically better, then your current gestalt will not match people's preformed image of you and you'll wake them out of their daze. A seamless transition is thus the ideal. If you gradually make positive changes early in your pattern's progression, you will get minimal or no unwelcome comments from others. If you are currently fully bald, it will be harder to make slow, seamless changes, but it is possible. To ease the social transition, you might even consider going away for a while as you make your changes. (Fleeing is not recommended, but you might think about making your change if, for example, for other reasons you do need to move to a new city or go on a long vacation. In that case, you can start again fresh.) A. Spray-On Hair in a Can. Don't laugh. This stuff REALLY works--but only if you just have a small spot to cover. Forget it if you don't have any hair that can be combed over your spot and still look natural; in that case, it will just look like you painted your head! Cost: $5.00 per can at some retail stores; $19.95 plus 4.95 shipping and handling (for a larger can) when sold on late-night infomercials. Several brands are available. The one called Instant Hair Plus is a good one. (a) Advantages. If you just have a small spot, this stuff has you covered. Its odd texture somehow creates the appearance of full hair, but only when mixed with a sufficient amount of your own thinning hair. (b) Disadvantages. The powder might come off on your pillow, shirt, and hands. Get used to ring-around-the-collar. The better types come off only when mixed with water and soap. You need to apply for spray every day, or after you wash your hair. Spray-on hair is hardly a long-lasting solution, only a stop-gap measure. Eventually, you won't have enough real hair to make it work. Alternative: Try Clairol Loving Care Hair Color Mousse (all colors available) (about $6.00). Smear some of it on a plastic bag and rub it full strength over your (small) spot and mix it with existing hair. The effect might be the same as spray-on hair, and, when dry, the mousse does NOT readily come off on pillows. Once again, this works only on small spots and in combination with at least some real hair. B. Wigs Hairpieces of various sizes, qualities, and shapes are rarely called wigs by companies like Hair Club For Men, Hairmakers, etc., but they're selling nothing other than wigs. They call their wigs "systems" or "pieces." Pick the euphemism you prefer. They sew--with a needle and thread--the hairpiece to your existing hair, which is first prepared by making a braid in your own hair along the sides. Other techniques involve attaching the piece to your braid by means of clips. The clips allow you to remove the piece whenever you desire; when the thing's sewn to your head, it's terribly difficult to get off without assistance, but in most cases you wouldn't want to do that anyway and so that doesn't create a problem. Cost: From $700 to $1500 for an initial hairpiece plus about $60 every 5 weeks for a haircut and servicing. If you can afford it, you should eventually get two pieces, so one can be worn while the other is being repaired every few months. Normal monthly servicing-with-haircut takes about an hour of concentrated effort from a specialized hairstylist, who therefore deserves at least a $10 tip. (a) Advantages. The truth is that a lot of people come out of these salons looking fabulous! No one could deny it. The best shops--you have to find them yourself by careful comparison--give you human hair matched to your own color and texture. The results depend upon a variety of factors that may not be totally within your control. Wigs are (or should be) handcrafted items; the quality of such object depends on the skill of the people who make them. Don't submit to pressure sales tactics. You will need to return to the company regularly for servicing. If you distrust them at the beginning, you might be even unhappier with them later. So it is possible to get a hairpiece that not only covers your baldness but also makes you look great. You get used to having it on after a few weeks; then it almost seems normal. Practically no one will know you're wearing it, especially if you start before you really need one, and if you return regularly to have your piece serviced. Remember, most people don't think nearly as much about your appearance as you do. That should be comforting. (b) Disadvantages. A wig is a wig is a wig. It's not a part of you; it's a prosthesis of sorts. You grow, but it doesn't. Your natural hair replenishes itself. The hair on your piece will get old faster than you do, fade, and even fall out. From time to time, therefore, you will need to have your piece dyed professionally as part of your monthly servicing and to have lost hairs replaced strand by strand, or clump by clump ($25 or so). You should attend to these details meticulously every few months. There's nothing worse than a balding or faded wig! In any case, if you meet someone who gets intimate and wants to stroke your head, well, unless the person has a glove on, s/he'll probably realize the stuff on your head is not exactly real. Most people who keep their hands to themselves won't care or notice by visual measures alone. (c) Warnings. Before you accept your first hairpiece, make sure it's of excellent quality. For example, the piece they first try to tie onto you might not have been designed by a person who knew or cared what s/he was doing, the hair might not match your own color or texture very well, the piece might actually be an off-the-shelf model they're selling you for a custom-made price, etc. Try to avoid signing contracts that do not refund most of your money if you're not completely satisfied. However, out of fairness, you should realize that there is a reasonable cost involved in having a custom-made piece designed for you in the first place. If you frivolously decide you don't want to go through with the process after they've manufactured your piece, the company can stand to lose several hundreds of dollars--but certainly not the full price they're charging you. You need to negotiate on this issue. C. Sutured Wigs Some companies claim to permanently "cure" baldness by actually attaching what are no more than wigs or hairpieces to your scalp, not your existing hair. Cost: Whatever it is, it's a horrid waste of money. (a) Advantages. There are none. The supposed advantage is that, unlike with sewn-on-your-own-hair hairpieces, the surgically-installed ones won't come loose as your real hair grows. (b) Disadvantages. They are legion. This is a surgical procedure that, logically, is bound to be unsatisfactory for many very good reasons. First, your poor scalp will probably never completely heal from this until you get it removed for good. Second, if you need, every month or so, to have a sewn-on hairpiece removed for servicing, you surely would need to have the sutured thing removed too for cleaning and the addition of new hair for the hairs that inevitably fall out. But you can't do that servicing without undergoing yet another surgical procedure. Feel sorry for anyone who has actually undergone this procedure. Don't do it yourself. E. Minoxidil (Rogaine) This product of the Upjohn company is widely advertised as the only approved cure for baldness. Cost: ? (a) Advantages: Scientific studies have proven that this drug works to restore growing hair for many people, especially those who start early and especially those with loss only in the crown. Apply a bit twice a day, and eventually and slowly, hair comes back. (b) Disadvantages: Your hair grows back, but painfully slowly. If you stop using the drug, the hair falls out again. For many people the gains are not aesthetically significant. Sure, there's more hair or peach fuzz there, but you still look bald. The cost is relatively high, and you can never stop buying it. Read the list of side effects of a drug you might need to take forever. F. Hair Transplants and Baldness Reduction Procedures. This is the ultimate solution. It is the only one that, when it works, works permanently, such that you don't need to do it again! There is nothing like your own growing, regenerating hair. Cost: $8,000 (for just a bald crown) to $40,000 (for full-cap bald). (a) Advantages. If you have the bucks to spend, well spend them here. You will eventually get your money's worth, if you don't decide to buy a house instead. Quite simply, a doctor will take hairs from the sides or back of your scalp and install them onto your bald or balding areas. These transplanted hairs are the ones with strict genetic instructions to stay with you until your last breath. An assistant will sew the donor sites together ("donor closure") so you won't have gaps on the side of your head. Once the new stuff grows in, it's yours. No more hairpiece servicing, no more bottles of drugs or colored hairspray to buy, just your own hair. Sound good? Read on. (b) Disadvantages. The prices listed are actually rather realistic, if you're going to get pleasing results. You wouldn't need to spend all of that money all at once, however. Each procedure will cost from $900 to $2000. The 8 grand would cover four or five procedures over at least a year and a half and could result in pleasing results for a person who looked like O.J. Simpson's lawyer (but only for his crown, not for the front). (With that guy's money, one wonders why he never did this.) This could involve two baldness-reduction procedures (galeoplasty) spaced 3 months apart and then three transplant procedures. Try to do as much reduction as possible; this procedure produces fastest results. A crescent moon-shaped or star-shaped slice of bald scalp is simply cut out, and then the remaining scalp is sewn together. Rather quickly, you're much less bald. Your scalp is elastic enough to tolerate this. After this heals, the remaining bald spot is covered with hair grafts. The scars remaining after a reduction procedure heals will disappear under the transplanted hair from later procedures. The 40 grand figure is an uneducated guess at what a full-cap bald person might need to spend, ultimately, to get the BEST possible results. (Actually, for 40 grand, maybe they'll do something about your nose too!) You'll need to consider the amount of donor hair you have, however. Captain Picard just would never have enough to make it work. Of course, he could have tufts growing in several places, but no one would ever mistake him for a person with full head of hair. Still, procedures and surgeons are constantly improving. So it all depends on your pattern: how far bald you're likely to get. If you think your pattern will never make you fully bald, you might want to try turning things around in the hirsute direction. (c) More Disadvantages: It is true that the surgical procedures themselves are almost completely painless. You are given nitrous oxide and a local anaesthetic, so you feel next to nothing as you watch television, sip on a soft drink, and chat with your surgeon. (In actuality, you'll be high as a kite from the nitrous thinking that you'd really enjoy this if those guys would just stop chopping on your head.) You probably won't even see a drop of blood during the procedure; the companies really try to hide the blood, since it upsets some clients so much. You'll feel, painlessly and vaguely, someone drilling into your donor sites and then preparing similar holes in the transplant sites. The transplants themselves will be little cylindrical cores of follicles Immediately after either a baldness-reduction or transplant procedure, you'll look like an Indian Sikh with a white turban. (If people mistake you for a swami, tell them you're using spiritual powers to grow hair.) The bandage comes off after just one or two days, revealing a healing wound. After a baldness-reduction procedure, you'll look like someone just hit you in the head with an axe; after a typical transplant procedure, you'll look like a rabid woodpecker had its way with your head--actually, after a few days, it won't be SO bad. You can start washing your hair again, very carefully, after two or three days. These inevitable stages don't have to be psychologically or socially traumatic for you, however. This is definitely the time to get out your hat collection, to adjust your schedule so that you won't return to work for at least four days (though some people could physically do so the very next day). Transplanted hair falls out a month after surgery; it then--slowly-- regrows. Aesthetically pleasing regrowth takes about 6 months (d) Cautions. Your results will depend on the skill and caring of your surgeons. Experience counts a lot. Investigate before you invest! Lots of micro or mini transplants are ultimately better than just a few larger-sized transplants. The little ones take better. Your transplants should certainly be MUCH, MUCH smaller each than a dime; more the size of, say, three pinheads put together. Each time you get another transplant procedure near a spot where a former transplant was done, the earlier transplants will be disturbed. Some might die, but most will temporarily bald again from the shock but then come back, after the normal 3 to 4 months. (e) Variations. There are flap procedures in which a whole flap of sideline hair is cut out, twisted, and stuck onto a prepared bald spot. This allegedly provides instant results of varying quality, especially for people bald in front. The advantage is supposed to be that the flap of hair never completely loses its blood supply since part of it is still attached to its original location on the scalp. A variation of the baldness-reduction procedure is to expand the scalp beforehand by surgically inserting balloon-like devices into which more and more liquids are forced over the course of several weeks. This makes the bald scalp bulge out; the extra skin, once loosened in this way, is then snipped away. As the balloons fill, the client begins to look like a creature from outer space. If you can possibly stand looking like this, logically the procedure should work, since you'll rid yourself of more bald skin than is possible with normal baldness reduction. You may also enjoy an unanticipated facelift in the process. (That is not a joke! Think about it. When extra scalp is cut away, the remaining skin on your head is tightened up. Same with normal (balloon-free) baldness reduction procedures.) G. Combining Approaches Actually, it is possible, if you start early enough, to combine several approaches discussed above so that you have minimal embarrassment and maximal success. The following steps are logical and relatively pain free. We did not say cheap. Now that you know what each procedure entails, you can combine them to suit your particular situation. (a) Start with a hairpiece or spray-on hair. Even though hairpieces are undesirable prostheses, if you get a good one and start well before your pattern's reached its peak, practically no one will notice what you've done and you'll have taken your first step. Yes, you can indeed swim with it on, blow dry your hair, everything they say in the infomercials, except that when someone put his/her hands through your hair, it might not feel like real hair. If you have minimal hair loss now, you might be able to start with spray-on hair and omit the hairpiece entirely from your schedule. For example, you might order relatively small baldness-reduction procedures, ones designed to produce small scars that can be covered by the spray after a few days. (b) Get baldness-reduction procedures or transplants. Each procedure takes about an hour. Have your stylist take your hairpiece off just before you go in for surgery and then have it put back on about 3 days after your surgery. This will work fine, if you just keep your wounds clean by spraying isopropyl alcohol right through your hairpiece. And voila. No one will think you were attacked with an axe; no one will notice anything--except for people you live at home with. And you'd be surprised--even some of them won't notice. Each time you have your piece serviced, you'll get a look at the (slow) progress you're making. Only you and your stylist will see this. As your surgical wounds heal and eventually disappear, the early stages will be unsightly. We do NOT recommend your trying to go through baldness-reduction procedures (of normal size) without having a piece to cover it up as fast as possible. It just looks too ugly. We presume you always want to look your best. (c) Wean yourself from the hairpiece, if necessary, by using spray-on hair. As soon as it seems possible, see if the spray-on hair will fill in the gaps for you. If you just had a bald crown, you could be free of the hairpiece within just two years. If you start too early, before you're really sure what your final pattern will turn out to be, for some time you'll find yourself never running out of bald spots to keep getting transplants on. So weaning yourself from the hairpiece might take longer. About the Cost: The cost will be high if you desire excellent, permanent results. But this is an investment in yourself that will last for the rest of your lifetime. If you invest wisely, you'll enjoy the results much longer than you will any new car you'll buy. Final Words: In every town there are private stylists who used to work for outfits like Hair Club for Men and now do the same work, perhaps much more caringly, affordably, and professionally, on their own. If you can find one of them, you might be much happier in the long run. Look in the Yellow Pages and call the companies with the smaller ads first. If you can't find a small company, you might start with a large company and if you don't like it ask your stylist if s/he'd consider doing the same work at home. Surgery is serious business. The abilities of surgeons vary. You therefore want a rather well established company for the surgical procedures, so look for the bigger ads. Companies with large ads but rather small offices can be fine, however. Surgeons who do transplants usually do other types of surgery in hospitals on other days, so you shouldn't insist on a large hospital setting; such outpatient procedures can be done safely in a specialist's office. Wild-sounding procedures, whether covered or not covered here, should be investigated thoroughly. No endorsement of any particular companies (other than Clairol's Chocolate Mousse) is implied here. Trust your feelings when you visit a hair-service company. Do the employees seem happy? If they don't, find a place where, at the very least, they do. Before you buy, interview a company's current clients. That research, if you do it well, may pay off handsomely. Good luck. And once you have all the hair you've ever wanted, read again that hair is an illusion like all the others. True, it's less of an illusion now that it's sprouting abundantly above your brain. But it's all just a bunch of material stuff, and none of it has much to do with who you really are. Or does it? Your body might be an illusion, but that doesn't mean it has to be an unsightly, dreadful illusion. Why not let your illusion touch your highest ideal, if that's what you truly want to do. 4. Bates Method Q. What is the Bates Method? A. The Bates Method is a set of vision improvement techniques originally developed by William H. Bates, MD, back in the 1910's and 1920's. Many people have expanded on the techniques since then. There are at least a dozen books in print. The basic theory is that we develop excess tension in the muscles in and around the eyes, and it is this tension which causes poor vision. The vision improvement techniques are designed to relax the muscles in the eyes and to allow us to see better. There are 3 basic techniques for relaxing the eyes: 1. "Sunning" is shining a bright light on your closed eyes. Use as bright a light as you can stand without squinting. Concentrate on relaxing the eyes while you do this. Eventually you will be able to increase the intensity of the light and use the sun as your light source. This technique is done for 5 to 20 minutes (no more than 5 minutes facing the sun). It is best if you can follow your sunning with palming. 2. "Palming" is covering your eyes with your cupped palms. Try to cut off all light from your eyes. Relax and think of something pleasant. Do this technique for at least 5 minutes. You can do this as much as you like. The record is 20 hours. I recommend one 20 minute session per day. 3. The "long standing swing" is standing in the middle of a room and turning back and forth from 90 degrees left to 90 degrees right. Turn your head with your body and keep the eyes looking forward. Start with the eyes lifted and looking at the line where the wall meets the ceiling, and lower your gaze with each pass. Do not try to focus on everything that passes in front of your eyes; just let your gaze fall where it will. Start with 30 swings, and work your way up to 100 swings. This should take no more than 4 minutes. All the techniques should be done with the eyes relaxed. If you feel tension around your eyes and you can't relax it, stop the technique. There are other techniques to correct vision defects like astigmatism and poor left-right fusion. I recommend you get a copy of the book titled "Do You Really Need Eyeglasses" by Marilyn B. Rosanes-Berrett if you would like more info. This is the best book I have found on the subject. The ISBN is 0-88268-104-4. Q. Is there any empirical evidence to support the Bates Method? A. (msieweke@hayes.com) writes: There is empirical evidence to support the Bates method, and there is a limited amount of experimental evidence. Bates documented many successes, and each of the other books documents many successes. There are reports of patients who were brought to 20/20 vision and had astigmatism corrected. I have one book that lists three studies showing vision improvement in patients using something similar to the Bates method. I seldom mention them because the data is difficult to interpret, and because I don't like the book (Natural Vision Improvement) as much as some others. One study lists visual acuity before and after training. Results vary... One patient started at 20/400(both eyes) and ended at 20/400(r), 20/300(l) after 15 months. Another patient started at 20/800 and ended at 20/60 after only 6 weeks! 5. Stephen Covey Q. Who is Stephen Covey? A. Stephen Covey is the author of "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" which has been on the New York Times Bestseller list for the past several years. The subtitle of 7 Habits is "Restoring the Character Ethic". This sums up how Covey's work is different from many other approaches. While at Harvard doing his MBA he researched a large portion of the self improvement literature going back as far as the 18th century. What he noticed was that early on the work focused on character traits and principles and that long term success depended upon this. Early this century, the focus shifted to what he calls the "personality ethic" which became the dominant theme in success literature. In the personality ethic, success is viewed as a function of personality, public image, attitude, skills, and techniques. If you learned the right techniques and could impress the right people and you would be successful. Much of Covey's work is focused on restoring the character ethic as the principle focus, skills and techniques can only be successful in the long term if they are built upon a strong character ethic. Covey received his PhD from Brigham Young University where he spent many years as a professor in the School of Management. He is also the founder of the Covey Leadership Center and the nonprofit Institute for Principle-Centered Leadership. Stephen and his center are widely sought by major corporations as speakers and consultants. In addition to his 7 Habits he has authored, "How to Succeed with People", "Principle-Centered Leadership", "First Things First". In addition to his business writing Covey is also very popular among members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for writing books dealing with religious and spiritual topics. Some of these books are, "Spiritual Roots of Human Relations", "The Divine Center", and "Marriage and Family Insights". 6. Est Q. What is Est? A. Est (Erhard Seminars Training) was started by Werner Erhard and was one of the most popular and influential self-improvement movements of the 1970's. Q. Is Est still around? A. Est is no longer taught in its original form, but a number of groups have evolved from Est and their current teachings borrow heavily from the original Est. The most prominent is Landmark Education which offers The Forum. 7. Financial Improvement Q. What are some available resources for managing finances? A. The most well known source of information about personal finance information is probably Charles Givens (see next question). Another book that is highly recommended is called _Your Money Or Your Life_ by Joseph Dominguez and Vicki Robin. This book takes a "holistic" approach to financial success, meaning that it treats finances as an integral part of your entire life, not one seperable part that can be talked about separately. It discusses attitudes toward money, spiritual feelings about money, whether how you are making money is consistent with your values, etc. Q. What do people know about Charles Givens? A. Charles Givens is probably the biggest name in personal finance these days. He gives seminars around the country and is the author of the best-selling books, "Wealth Without Risk", "More Wealth Without Risk", and "Financial Self-Defense". He is also the founder of the "Charles J. Givens Organization" which is supposedly the largest organization of it's type in the world, that is dissiminator of personal finance information and advice. His organization was recently sued (and lost) for giving misleading financial advice. He has also reportedly lied about the story he often tells of losing his fortune 3 times and coming back as a millionaire 3 times. Many people have used his book and there is certainly some very good advice there. The key is choosing what information will be useful for you and that which won't. No readers of this group have reported gaining great wealth from following his advice. Q. What are some other reseources for information? A. One excellent place to look is in the misc.invest FAQ. 8. General Learning and Study Skills 9. Hypnosis Q. What is the relationship between hypnosis and self-improvement? A. Hypnosis is used by many different forms of therapy. Self-hypnosis is also possible and many people report positive experiences with hypnosis. This topic is not often discussed in much detail in alt.self-improve. Hypnosis can be used in many ways for self-improvement. It can allow the mind to utilize its resources in new ways and to change behavior and create new desired behaviors. Q. How do I learn more about hypnosis? A. Read the newsgroup alt.hypnosis, which has a very good FAQ. There is a World Wide Web site describing hypnosis training by Tad James as well (See Appendix A). Tad has recently been elected President of the American Board of Hypnotherapy (ABH). NLP also utilizes hypnosis in various ways. An excellent book on hypnosis is "Trace-formations" by John Grinder and Richard Bandler. 10. Landmark (The Forum) (Editor note: The following two questions about The Forum are from an email conversation between one of the editors and an alt.self-improve reader, Rex Ballard. Included here with permission.) Q. The promises of Est are basically the same as every other self improvement program ever devised. How does it work? Why does it get results where others fail? A. Transformation - the "fruit" of a "self-help" program, comes, not from telling or talking to, but from the inquiry. Tranformation comes as the result of a conversation for fulfilling a possibility. It is much like learning to ride a bicycle, I can tell you how to ride a bicycle: "grab the handlebars, push off, and pedal". But it is only in the inquiry that one actually discovers balance. Without the experience of balance, there is no riding a bicycle. Without the inquiry, the distinctions are just "interesting information". From the inquiry, the particpant can expect a breakthrough - the fulfillment of possibilities that would not otherwise happen. A major alteration in relationships, confidence, effectiveness, or decision making that they may have been putting up with, resisting, or trying to change for years with no significant effect. Landmark offers free introductory seminars nearly every day at their various centers and sites throughout the country. In these seminars, the introduction leader will explain some of the key distinctions of the Forum. Many people who never do the Forum still end up taking on their lives in a new way out of going to a 3 hour introduction. About 1/3 will register for the Forum itself which lasts 3 days and an evening, usually Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 9 AM to 11 PM or 1 AM (If there are a bunch of Lawyers in the room, plan on a long night friday). By the end of each night, you will not be tired until you want to be. Tuesday night, you return to complete the homework. The course is actually 5 days, but two of them are "laboratory" days. In the 3 day program, a highly trained leader leads an inquiry in a room with 100-200 successful people who are highly committed to having a breakthrough. The leader will describe a distinction and then ask people to share their experience. In a room of 150+ people, there are several who want to share. As that person shares, the Forum leader asks questions, soon the whole room is seeing how this conversation can impact their lives. By the end of the converstation, everyone in the room not only has an insight, but also sees an opening for action at the first opportunity. Q. Can you provide any details about the process that occurs at a seminar? My understanding is that in the early days of Est, participants were not allowed to give out details of what went on at the seminars. Is that still the case in Landmark Education? A. I could give you detailed descriptions of the entire Forum, but it wouldn't really make a difference. The process is actually a series of distinctions that create the foundation for other distinctions. The structure is such that an inquiry that would normally take 20 years (I had been DOING the 12 steps for 10 years and was astonished by Saturday Morning) is conducted with the intended result in 3 days. Sunday afternoon seems like a course in advanced Zen. By Sunday night, there is what I call (personal opinion/experience here - not Landmark) a spiritual awakening. The key distinctions of Landmark based on that we have a past consisting of what happened, and our interpretations/opinions/ feelings/judgements about what happened. For example - what happened is that - - the first girl I ever dated through a cup full of soda pop in my face and 50 people laughed. What I made it mean was that I was UGLY and UNATTRACTIVE. The problem is that I didn't separate the two. I now interacted with all women, for the next 26 years as if I was Short, Fat, Bald, Cross-eyed, with Polka-dot zit and scab covered skin. In fact, by the time I was 18, I was 6'1" tall, 155 to 180 pounds, a professional dancer, model, and actor, and going to a school with 900 women and 5 heterosexual men (another 20 were gay). I had men pursuing me every day. I was about as tall dark and handsome as a man could get, but when it came to asking a woman for a date - I WAS UGLY AND UNATTRACIVE, EVEN REPULSIVE. Of course, this communicated to the women in the form of avoiding romantic intimacy, only having arms-length friendships. I actually became a bit disgusting, not bathing for days, not grooming, wearing big, baggy overalls, and acting like a sex pervert (more evidence to be UGLY). I even married a woman who I was not attracted so that I wouldn't be hurt when she discovered that I was UGLY and UNATTRACTIVE, it took her 9 years to finally agree with me, (she married a man 10 years younger than me, a Tom Sellek type). In the Forum, I realized that all this woman did was throw a glass of pop at someone who, at that time, was not well liked by most of her friends. She may have been trying to impress them, she may have been insulted by my being late, she may not have liked the ring I gave her (that she asked me to give her). This brings up the other major distinction. Psychology tells us that we are the way we are because of our past. This was a better model than the one that preceded it which was "Circular" (as the seasons come and go, we just suffer through whatever comes). At Landmark, we say that we are the way we are because of the Future we are living into. If I told you that I talked to your boss and he was going to have to let you go, you would act and think a certain way (looking for another job, fear, anxiety). If I just handed you a winning lottery ticket, for which the number was announced an hour ago, you would live very differently (what color shoes go with a black Mercedes) even though you hadn't recieved a penny of the money yet. Why it LOOKS as if we are given by the past is that we keep putting the past into our future. Everytime I would go to ask a woman to dance, every other rejection by women would be right there with me, I eventually never got more than two steps toward the woman I wanted. That night, I saw that I was not a bad looking guy, and went to a dance and danced with several women (who were astonished and pleased that I asked them to dance). One of them told me that women thought I was stuck-up and a snob because I was so aloof. Since this discovery in the Forum, I've gone to several single's events. I even put an ad in the personals section. I even posted a personal on the internet, and answered one. Which brings up a third key distinction of the Forum. Though the inquiry may be useful, and the insights may be interesting, even exciting, there is little value in any of that unless there is an opening for immediate action. We have many reasons for not doing what we really want to do, but that is not the same as doing something worthwhile. In the Forum, we look to see what actions are worthy of taking (expressing love to another person, parents, spouses, children...) and take appropriate actions even when it may not be "convenient". We can call someone at 1:00 A.M. to tell them someone died, but we can't call them to tell someone we love them, even though this may be the first time we've said it in many years). In the introduction seminars, guests reach the end in one of four places. They are ready to register, they know that they never want to do the Forum (very rarely), they have something they need to work out (time, money, babysitters). They have something intangible "I just need to think about it", "I need to check this out" something that is usually familiar, these are usually the ones who want to be more decisive. The time and money can be worked out, but for the maximum value out of the Forum (the Forum begins when you register), one of the most powerful distinctions is to register that night, not knowing how it's going to work out, but committed to having it work out. Those are the people who not only end up being able to say how their own lives go, but can actually become leaders in their community and simply cause things to happen when no one knows if it will work out. If you were madly in love with your wife, and I threw your wedding ring over a brick wall and told you that if you didn't give it back it would be delivered to your wife by a beautiful blonde, you would find a way to get over the wall to save your marriage. Most people come to the introduction with something at stake, they want to save/revitalize a relationship with their spouse, kids they love, parents they haven't spoken to, bosses they hate, or jobs they dread. Everything else is just great though. The weird thing about the Forum is that when I did the Forum, EVERYONE ELSE CHANGED. My boss was nicer, I was promoted and my coworkers wanted to work for me, my girlfriend wanted me back, my ex-wife wanted to talk to me when I came to see the kids, her husband even invited me to spend Christmas with them. I even had more time and money to spend on things I wanted. What each person gets out of the Forum is different. Part of the application to do the Forum is that you have to specify 3 things that you want to get out of the Forum. These are things that wouldn't happen anyway, and that you do not presently know how to do. Q. Is there an organization for Forum graduates? A. Yes. The Forum Graduate Association (FGA) can be contacted as: David Shaw, President Forum Graduate Association 6008 Wendron Way Alexandria, VA 22315 (703) 971-3693 (Home) (301) 457-1242 (Office) email: fgainc@gcr.com 11. Lateral Thinking Q. What is lateral thinking? A. The term lateral thinking was coined by Edward deBono in his books "Lateral Thinking" and "The Use of Lateral Thinking". The basic idea of lateral thinking is that instead of moving directly and automatically from a goal to a solution, the mind searches in many different directions to find a solution. It involves avoiding solving problems in the most familiar or obvious way. His books are quite readable and enjoyable. 12. Life-Long Learning Association Q. What is Life-Long Learning Association A. The LLL association is a source of self improvement products. The assoc. sends you the product of the month ( usually a 6 audio or video seminar) or you can choose an alternate selection if the program doesn't suit your interests. You also get a subscription to the world premiere audio magazine "Inside Edge" which covers current trends in development, etc. and a subscription to "The Destiny Report" newsletter. The above is sent to you monthly for $50 US. The assoc. was set up to make LLL affordable on the monthly basis which it is required for results. The retail of what you get is close to $100. A good portion of the product comes from Nightingale-Conant, a company LLL recently merged with. See Appendix A for contact information about the Life-Long Learning Association if you are interested. 13. Lifespring Q. What is Lifespring? A. From: jmd@bear.com (Josh Glazenburg-Diamond) Hi! Josh Diamond here. I am a graduate of the entire Lifespring program -- I took the trainings back in 1990, and found them to be incredibly valuable.I work as an investment analyst at Bear Stearns & Co. -- an investment bank in New York City. I came into the Lifespring trainings looking for breakthroughs in my career and in personal relationships (esp. with women), and all I can say is that since then I have more than tripled my income, and gotten married to a truly wonderful and beautiful woman (amongst other things). We just bought a co-op, and will be having our first child next year. My wife has also done the trainings, as have several of my friends and co-workers. Lifespring, EST, and a few other such trainings all have a common lineage. The basis was a research program at Stanford University back in the early 70's. This spawned an organization called Mind Dynamics, which later split up into Lifespring, EST, and the others. EST eventually mutated into Warner-Earhardt and then Landmark Education -- with a program now called The Forum. Lifespring kept its name, but has undergone continuous modernization as new techniques in personal growth have emerged. There are now Basic and Advanced trainings, as well as several other workshops and programs. The Lifespring trainings are an opportunity to uncover and redesign the underlying assumptions out of which you live your life such that you experience a profound shift in your ability to relate to yourself and others, empowering you to fully engage your heartfelt commitments with freedom and passion. Participants often invite friends to a guest event -- a free evening designed to allow you to learn about what the training is and how it can support you. It provides a small preview of the training experience. At the end of the evening you are given an opportunity to enroll in the training. At the moment I believe that the tuition in New York City $495, with a 100% money back guarantee. It may be lower elsewhere (it was when I took the trainings). I would say that it is worth attending. You can leave at any time, and there is no obligation to pay if you just attend the guest event. Oh, BTW, people who enroll their friends in the trainings do _not_ get any rewards for it (no tupperware or toaster-ovens). Mostly people bring guests to these evenings because they see some breakthrough possible for them -- not like something is broken, but like a higher possibility exists -- maybe something that had not been thought of before. Often our friends see things that we do not. Your friend probably sees some possibility for you in the training, and that is why they have invited you. I say take the chance and go for it. 14. Meditation Q. What experiences do people have with meditation and what results have they experienced? A. Many people in the group have some experience with meditation. Some report very good results, others have had less dramatic experiences. This topic is not often discussed in detail in alt.self-improve although it does seem relevant. A related newsgroup is alt.meditation