GETTING PSYCHED

Got a hunch that you may be psychic? These classes might prove you right.

By Tracey Middlekauff
Illustration by Lynda Nardelli

There were times when I thought I was crazy for being psychic,” says Rina Persico, a 29-year-old executive assistant. “I was afraid of being sensitive to spirit presences.” For the past year, Persico’s been taking psychic development classes at the Holistic Studies Institute of New York. In her time as a student of the paranormal, she’s attended séances, given readings to her classmates and, she says, learned to unlock her own latent psychic ability.

For many, psychic phenom-ena are the stuff of fiction—fine for an X-Files plot device, but definitely not the stuff of real life. The idea that some people can “see” things that exist beyond the five senses has been around since ancient times. Today, parapsychologists—coming from disciplines as diverse as psychology, sociology, even physics—have attempted to prove or disprove the existence of psychic ability by experimental means.Depending on where you stand, their efforts are either laudable or laughable.

But there are some groups in the city—like the Holistic Studies Institute and the Association for Research and Enlightenment—who don’t need scientific proof. They not only believe that psychic ability is real, they maintain that everyone possesses it. And they say they can teach anyone to develop his or her intuition—it just takes desire, practice and know-how. If you’re open to it, the results may seem impressive; if not, you could chalk it all up to luck and coincidence. But if you’re at all curious to see whether or not there’s a John Edward lurking inside you, it can’t hurt to take a class. It might even help: Proponents believe unlocking the psychic within can have positive emotional and spiritual benefits. “Since I’ve become more open,” Persico says, “I’ve learned to have faith and trust in myself.”

At the Holistic Studies Institute (208 W 30th St, 212-337-3017; www.hoisticstudies.com), the course work is, in many ways, just like that at any other school. There are textbooks, lectures, exercises and, yes, students are expected to take notes. Completing the four course levels (which range from simple meditation to codes of ethics for counseling) can lead to certification by the American Board of Holistic Practitioners as an intuitive counselor—basically, a professional psychic, though not of the $5 storefront variety. But most students don’t come to HSI looking for a career change; they’re curious and they want to learn.

While the structure of HSI’s classes may be traditional, the subject matter is anything but: the philosophy and history of spirit communication, meditation, telepathy, clairvoyance and auras. As class levels progress, subjects get more in-depth andesoteric—among other topics, astral projection, trance work and reincarnation are introduced. The lectures are supplemented with exercises so that students can develop and hone their abilities. In the Level I classes, for example, students practice psychometry (receiving impressions from physical objects) or trying to telepathically send images of fruits to one another. In the final level, students devote a part of each class to giving one another readings.

HSI founder Stephen Robinson, a certified hypnotherapist, psychic medium and intuitive counselor, believes developing your psychic ability can reduce stress, focus the mind and even make you more extroverted. “Putting psychic and development together does a disservice to this work, but that’s what the public understands,” he says. “The real title of the course should be Psychic Awareness, because people are already psychic, they’re just not aware of it. It manifests through the unconscious? [that's] the seat of our soul and of our psychic ability.”

Felix Lee Lerma, 28, is a television production assistant and practicing psychic medium. He’s up to Level IV, and despite the fact that he’s been working on his psychic ability since he was 15, he was nervous when he started at HSI. “I thought everyone would be better than me,” he says. But he’s learned it’s not a matter of ability, so much as an issue of confidence. “We get signs and impressions all the time from psychic energies. But we need to not be afraid to speak up.”

Robinson believes psychic impressions can be received directly through the energies of a person, object or spirit—which is why the curriculum also incorporates receiving messages from the beyond, and séances are conducted during every class. Contrary to what you might think, there is nothing creepy about a séance, at least not at HSI. Everyone sits in a circle in a darkened room and Robinson leads the group in a meditation. At the s?©ance I attended, I detected no ectoplasm, shaking tables or strange voices. When Robinson or a student senses a spirit with a message, they give it to the appropriate party. There were some hits: a woman’s dead husband was identified by name; I was told I’ll be making more money by fall. Another attendee, “Anne,” came because her ex-husband recently passed away. Robinson received a message that Anne was to call her ex-husband’s cousin, a lawyer. “That’s something he would have said to me,” Anne says.

Another venue for course work in intuitive development is the Association for Research and Enlightenment (150 W 28th St, 212-291-7690; www.arenyc.org), but here, there are no séances. The ARE follows the teachings of the late Edgar Cayce, believed by his proponents to be a great mystic and medical intuitionist. While the Caycean method does have similarities to what’s taught at HSI—the idea of being able to receive messages from some other entity and the use of meditation, among others—instructor Coni Buro says that there isn’t the same kind of duality regarding psychic impressions. Intuiting things means being able to tap into a superconsciousness that we all share, she explains. That higher consciousness can be thought of as “God,” “energy” or “creator”—whatever you’re comfortable with, Buro says. In other words, it’s not your late Uncle Ralph talking to you, even if that’s how you hear it.

In a recent introductory class, many (myself included) got their first taste of tapping into their intuition by giving someone a reading. Buro paired us up and talked us through opening our heart chakras to one another. Holding a piece of paper with our partner’s signature, we were instructed to receive impressions about their personality, their talents and finally get a message on their behalf. We weren’t supposed to think—but just be open to receiving whatever came. For my partner, I saw a motorcycle and a cowboy bar where everyone wore fringe suede jackets. I was unsure: Was this a psychic impression or a newfound fantasy? But my partner found this significant: “Does this mean I should go to the Southwest? I’ve been wondering about that!”

Many in the class felt more confident than I did. One woman said she started to sweat, and found out her partner was from a hot region. Another felt strongly that his partner would travel within a week, which was confirmed. “It’s because your heart’s opened up,” Buro said, pleased. “The focus and intent allowed you to make the connection.”

Scientifically speaking, whether or not we all have innate psychic ability is up for debate, even among those scientists who are convinced of the reality of ESP and clairvoyance. Dr. Edwin May is an experimental nuclear physicist and president of the
Laboratories for Fundamental Research. For 20 years, the U.S. government funded research at his lab to determine if people can be trained to be psychic. And while Dr. May is convinced of the existence of ESP, he says there is “No evidence that we can teach psychic ability to anyone.” He adds, “Anybody who is paying good money for psychic development is getting screwed.”

Dr. Dean Radin, senior scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences in California, is less absolute. He believes that everyone may have some psychic ability in the same way we all have sports or musical abilities— only a small percentage will be really good. “For a world-class performance, you would need Olympic-athlete talent plus practice,” Radin says. “Can you bring out intuitive ability? Probably.”

Whether or not you believe in innate intuitive power, it’s hard to disagree with the concept of “getting in touch with your feelings,” so to speak. “We live in a stressful city,” Buro says. “The more you can be at peace and in balance, the more you will have the opportunity to make correct decisions.”

HSI’s next Level I course begins March 20.
ARE’s next Five-Week Psychic Empowerment course begins March 24.