Why a Balloon Up the Nose?

I will diverge here to give a brief overview of shamanism, and I refer you to Tom Cowan's book Shamanism as a Daily Spiritual Practice (ISBN 0-89594-838-9) for a much more complete overview of the subject. In short, we have traumas that occur both in this lifetime and perhaps in past lives as well (depending on your beliefs). Such past traumas (of this lifetime) often arise from early childhood, when something happens that is perceived as being traumatic (even though it may seem small and inconsequential to an adult). For a child's perception is everything, due to his or her limited scope of understanding of the world. Such a trauma could be physical, emotional, mental or spiritual in nature (or any combination of all four). Since the body is the temple of the soul, a trauma in the physical, emotional or mental bodies can have a great impact on one's spirit. Much like when someone surprises you by jumping out in front of you and saying "BOO!" and it feels like part of you "jumps out of your skin", you are so startled. In shamanic terms this would be considered a mild case of "soul loss". Each time in life that we have a trauma of any nature we have potential for soul loss or fragmentation of one's spirit. A shamanic practitioner will "journey" to "non-ordinary reality" to recover "soul parts" which are lost through a past trauma (this life or before) and bring it back to the person to help make them more whole.

With ESR - Inner Opening Technique™ I am creating a "controlled trauma". This is much like a smaller, controlled fire in forest management to prevent larger, uncontrolled forest fires from happening. So if someone is in a place in their life where they need to shift or change, this technique can help facilitate a huge change without the typical adverse affects associated with "an uncontrolled traumaâ occurring to force them to change with its many potential negative side-effects. (You know how life can "kick us in the butt" when we are resisting change or growth?! "My whole life changed after that bad accident!").

By inflating the inflation device (balloon) up one of the nasal passage ways to move the sphenoid bone, I am "adjusting the sacred architecture or geometry of the skull" which houses the brain or mind which is where much of our conscious spirit resides. This "adjusting" is done all according to very precise and specific testing. Another key principle of this as a spiritual opening technique, is creating "sacred space" (another shamanic concept) which roughly translates as "safe space" where one is totally safe and protected from any other-dimensional negative interference. In this sacred space one can readily open up to accessing missing soul parts for healing and becoming more whole.

So I (and usually with the help of an assistant) create such a sacred space prior to doing this technique, so one can feel as safe and supported as possible. And since the very nature of this procedure is actually creating a controlled trauma inside a very sacred space (literally "in your face"), then it is doubly important not to create any further soul loss. So if any soul parts try to escape ("jump ship" or "jump out of your skin") as this controlled trauma accesses tissue memory of past traumas, they then are "netted" and returned immediately after the inflation. Other soul parts needing to return that may be necessary at that time for the person's healing process are also delivered back at this time as well helping to make them more whole.

The reason an inflation device is even used, is because our fingers are too large to fit up through the nasal passage to access the sphenoid bone directly. Whereas an inflation device can get back into the nasal pharynx (back of upper throat) to exert a gentle pressure on this very important and centrally located bone which houses the pituitary gland and hypothalamus (which together regulate many of the key functions of the body, both hormonally and neurologically). The amount of force exerted by the inflation device is much less and more gentle than would be given by a more rigid finger. This bone can be gently manipulated externally with one's hands (such as through Caniosacral Therapy, which I have extensive training in), but from my experience, is less direct and much less effective.