When Paul was referred to me, I was in the midst of juggling my work as a speech and language therapist within the NHS in the north of England with my Academy of Spiritual Sciences Post Grad holistic therapy training. I received an urgent telephone call from Paul’s sister asking for help with her brother who had Down’s syndrome. He had lived with his parents in a busy seaside town until tragically, both parents had died of heart attacks within months of each other. Following the intervention of the local Social Services, Paul moved away from the only home he had known, to live with one of his older sisters who was a single parent with a little boy of her own. Paul and his sister came from a large family but all was not well because family members were not on speaking terms with each other. At a family meeting, Paul’s siblings had been against him living with a member of the family, although this particular sister had wanted to take responsibility and care for him.
Paul was in his early twenties and had a very marked stammer (stutter), his breathing was shallow and fast which exacerbated his communication difficulty. In our first session, he told me he had ‘nice dreams’ when his Mum came to talk to him and asked him how he was. He said that he told her he was fine and said that she told him that she was missing him a lot.
I continued to see Paul on a weekly basis for a period of six months with monthly visits to his sister to offer support and monitor Paul’s progress. With the help of energy alignment (Emerald Alignment) and vocal toning (sound vibration through voice) where the focus for expression shifts from words to non speech sounds, Paul’s confidence grew and his speech became fluent during our sessions. He loved the energy alignment exercise and enjoyed practising the heart tone /HA/, which resonates with the heart centre. I suggested that Paul practice the tone on a daily basis at home because he was now taking deeper breaths to sustain his voice, he was stammering less and his singing voice was improving. He had aspirations for stardom and was keen to develop his creative talents by writing stories and play scripts . As a one man band, he entertained his sister and her young son by writing musicals, playing all the parts and singing all the pop songs, he integrated into the script.
Paul was certainly talented and had an understanding of the continuity of consciousness which made our weekly conversations memorable. I was fascinated by his stories of his own life and of other lives, which he believed he had lived before in a previous incarnation. Each week he would bring me his scripts and embody the characters. One of his stories was about a ‘special boy’ who was the victim of bullying, of love not returned and of murder . In this story the boy left the life dramatically in torment only to return to haunt those who had mistreated him. This ‘special boy’ was eventually given his spiritual freedom by a young priest, who asked God to release him from ‘the darkness’.
In another story, his main character died of a broken heart leaving behind the girl who had not returned his love. However, the boy returned to earth in another life as the girl’s son. When I asked Paul what had been the learning of the life of the boy who had died of a broken heart, he said that he had to learn to be peaceful and was given another opportunity to come back as the girl’s son. In Paul’s stories, there was often the conflict of a ‘good guy’ and a ‘bad guy’. He was very articulate, and his intuitive understanding of life after death gave him comfort and helped him to process his grief. Paul explained that he wanted to rid himself of ghosts from the past so that he could come to terms with the loss of his parents, who he said were visiting him in his dreams and helping him.
A lifelong dream was to stage a production of his musical story of star crossed lovers, within a local group for adults with learning disabilities. He wanted to perform it in the seaside town in which he had lived for so many years. I was treated to the songs as well as the dialogue. One of his favourite songs written into the script was ‘I Close My Eyes’ from ‘Joseph and his Technicolor Dream Coat’. I was invited to join in with the chorus. However, Paul was a perfectionist and I made several abortive attempts before he was satisfied with my singing contribution. His speech was fluent when talking about the things he loved. When following his heart and in creative mode , he had no problem with interaction.
Although Paul didn’t have a religious background, his main character was often besieged by evil forces with a voice in his head saying ‘Don’t go down’. I remember this phrase when times are difficult . Regular practice of energy alignment began to rebalance and stabilise Paul’s energy and strengthened his intuitive connection. The heart tone opened his heart to endless creative possibilities.
Unable to settle in the local neighbourhood, Paul’s sister eventually made a decision to return with Paul and her son to the seaside town where Paul had once lived with his parents. I later heard that Paul was actively involved with a local Drama group where he found an outlet for his many talents………
When Paul was referred to me, I was in the midst of juggling my work as a speech and language therapist within the NHS in the north of England with my Academy of Spiritual Sciences Post Grad holistic therapy training. I received an urgent telephone call from Paul’s sister asking for help with her brother who had Down’s syndrome. He had lived with his parents in a busy seaside town until tragically, both parents had died of heart attacks within months of each other. Following the intervention of the local Social Services, Paul moved away from the only home he had known, to live with one of his older sisters who was a single parent with a little boy of her own. Paul and his sister came from a large family but all was not well because family members were not on speaking terms with each other. At a family meeting, Paul’s siblings had been against him living with a member of the family, although this particular sister had wanted to take responsibility and care for him.
A lifelong dream was to stage a production of his musical story of star crossed lovers, within a local group for adults with learning disabilities. He wanted to perform it in the seaside town in which he had lived for so many years. I was treated to the songs as well as the dialogue. One of his favourite songs written into the script was ‘I Close My Eyes’ from ‘Joseph and his Technicolor Dream Coat’. I was invited to join in with the chorus. However, Paul was a perfectionist and I made several abortive attempts before he was satisfied with my singing contribution. His speech was fluent when talking about the things he loved. When following his heart and in creative mode , he had no problem with interaction.