Silva Method

The Silva Method is a meditation and self-help program created by José Silva. It claims to improve a person's capacity through relaxation, raise the intelligence quotient, develop higher brain functions, use the mind to cure the body, and develop psychic powers like clairvoyance.

It has been condemned as pseudoscience and has been categorised as a self-religion, a new religious movement, and a cult.Powers, A. M. (1984). Silva mind control international: An anthropological inquiry (Parapsychology, cults, psychic, religion). Wayne State University.

 Biography of José Silva
José Silva (August 11, 1914- February 7, 1999), was an American electronics repairman who grew up in Laredo, Texas. In an attempt to improve his children's IQ, he became interested in psychology. Silva made the decision to find out more about the development of psychic skills after conducting experiments and his daughter's unexpected clairvoyance.Swain, P. (2020). The Silva Method. BDJ Team, 7(7), 36-37.

Silva started creating his technique, which was called Silva Mind Control, in 1944.  Before making it publicly available in the 1960s, he used it on his friends and family.

A biography of Silva was published in 1990.

 Technique 
The method seeks to reach and maintain a mental state known as the alpha state, in which the frequency of the brainwave is between seven and fourteen Hz. Daydreaming and the transition to a state of falling asleep are alpha states.

Silva claimed to have created a method that taught individuals how to achieve specific increased awareness levels in their brains.  He also said that he had created a number of methodical mental techniques that could be applied during these moments, enabling a person to mentally project with a particular goal. Silva claimed that the mind can be projected to see far-off places or objects or to communicate with higher intelligence for guidance. The projected mind is then said to understand the information as ideas, images, feelings, scents, tastes, and sounds. Problems can be solved by using the knowledge gathered in this way.

 See also 
 Autosuggestion
 Extra-sensory perception
 Visualization
 Remote viewing
 Samyama
 Self-help

 References

 External links 
 Silva Method Case Working Site
 The Silva Method official website
 The Silva Method Official Partners

Category:Large-group awareness training
Category:Pseudoscience
Category:Self religions
Category:Cognitive training
Category:New religious movements established in the 1960s