This article brings into ‘the light’ the ‘tools’ of Phil Parker’s Lightning Process and highlights the concerns I and many others have for therapies that do not fully advertise their modus operandi.
I was alerted to Phil Parker’s Lightning Process training programme by a reader of my website.
At the time I thought that rather than publish Phil Parker’s training programme here I would ask him some questions first, click on 7 Questions to Phil Parker
To which he responded, please click on: A response from Phil Parker
As Phil Parker has not come back to me since, I assume, his return from the US after all this time, I will now write about what I have discovered about his training programme. This information is readily available from his own website and I have included the links.
With this article I have included some comments to an article of mine from a client of Phil Parker’s who has found his programme beneficial. The person in question wasn’t aware of the full implications of Phil Parker’s programme which may be a problem and this highlights my concerns for future clients of the Lightning process and especially for the person who left the comments.
My point with all therapies is that they fully explain what the therapy is and what the therapist utilises and what ‘tools’ are used. Then the client can make an informed decision.
Click this link: Phil Parker The link opens a pdf file concerning the ECHM Healing course, scroll down to Page 6 and to section 9 on Meditation and Dowsing. It reads: “Module 9 concentrates on Dowsing (making predictions based on the spinning of a pendulum) using a pendulum in healing can focus your attention on the area of the client’s body that needs healing as its usage relies on energy and changes in the energy fields,” …….. “The practical section of this module combines the use of tarot/medicine cards and the use of dowsing to practically analyse the needs of a client.”
Scroll back up to Page 2 to the section on Teachers and Phil Parker and this will also help you understand him and his approach.
Phil Parker2 this link opens the course details to become an NLP Hypnotherapy and Life Coaching and NLP practitioner and if you scroll down you will see that the course content includes the Healing package described in the pdf file above.
This is not to criticise Phil Parker or his therapy but to enlighten people of his approach and that of his trained practitioners so that potential clients can make an informed decision of the route to their own health issues.
Comments from the article Whoops here we go again
Reader
I listened to that still small voice deep inside myself and it said †I think the very best thing you could do right now, would be to try the Lightning Process†So I did, and now I am well again! And yes, it had everything to do with brain washing – it taught me how to clean all the muck out of my brain which was toxifying my whole being. The Lightning Process taught me how to be in control of myself, rather than be a victim of my own wrong-thinking persuasion. There was nothing in it to do with trances or hypnotic control by someone else. The part which involves hypnosis is merely ourselves positively changing the unhealthy hypnotic states of our unconscious mind – the ways in which we have convinced ourselves of untrue, self-limiting beliefs. This is done merely by convincing ourselves of the opposite.
Would you think that if I read one of your articles and was influenced by it, that you had brainwashed me? I don’t really know what you mean by the word.
My Response
This is what I mean by Brainwashing (taken from the Word Program research facility):
“Conditioning to different behaviour The inducing of somebody to believe or do something, e.g. to buy a new product, especially by means of constant repetition or constant advertising.â€
I agree with you, reading anything, beit an article or a book, does not constitute brainwashing.
The point of my articles is not actually against any therapies but about the frustration that some therapies do not fully explain what they are. If you understand what you will be undertaking when you take a therapy on board then that is fine and if it helps that is fantastic. Phil Parker is being more explicit about his process than he was before and that is good but his practitioners (according to his website) are taught to use tarot cards etc, which if this isn’t a problem to you then there is no problem, is there? But for those who prefer to make informed decisions it makes that impossible if Phil Parker and others are not clear about their practices.
I am sincerely pleased for you that you are well again. Keep listening to that still small voice. God bless.
Reader
Hello Marianne!
thanks for your definition of brainwashing. Yes, certainly the Lightning Process teaches us to condition ourselves to different behaviour. That is the whole point. Having already conditioned ourselves, as we all do, to certain unhelpful behaviours, we merely undo that conditioning, replacing it with more helpful and healthy behaviours.
Our minds are constantly brainwashing us one way or the other, using repetition and reinforcement techniques. We tell ourselves over and over that “I’m no good at thisâ€, or “I’m ugly†or “I’m scared of spiders†and we end up believing it. All this takes place at a subconscious level usually, so we’re not very aware of it. The LP shows us how to spot these catch-phrases and behaviours and how to change them. We are only doing what our minds do anyway, only more consciously.
I’d love to know where you read that Phil Parker teaches his practitioners to use Tarot cards and also what you mean by the etc.! I would be very surprised if that were true. The LP practitioners I’ve met have been robustly practical and down to earth people. And never was tarot or any kind of psychic stuff mentioned. I would have run a mile if it had been!
My Response
Dear . . . . . .
The following link was pointed out to me by a concerned reader of my articles about the Lightning Process. I am in the process of asking Phil Parker about his therapy and have been awaiting a reply to my email.
Click this link: Phil Parker
It opens a pdf file concerning the ECHM Healing course, scroll down to Page 6 and to section 9 on Meditation and Dowsing. It reads: “Module 9 concentrates on Dowsing (making predictions based on the spinning of a pendulum) using a pendulum in healing can focus your attention on the area of the client’s body that needs healing as its usage relies on energy and changes in the energy fields,†…….. “The practical section of this module combines the use of tarot/medicine cards and the use of dowsing to practically analyse the needs of a client.â€
Scroll to Page 2 to the section on teachers and Phil Parker and this will also help you understand him and his approach.
Phil Parker2 this link opens the course details to become an NLP Hypnotherapy and Life Coaching and NLP practitioner and if you scroll down you will see that the course content includes the Healing package described in the pdf file above.
This is not to criticise Phil Parker or his therapy but to enlighten people of his approach and that of his trained practitioners so that potential clients can make an informed decision of the route to their own health issues.
For you personally as you were unaware of the full impact of the training of his practitioners then they may not have used the dowsing or tarot cards at your sessions. If you are concerned about the route you have taken and your own healing then pray about it and listen to that still small voice of yours. My personal stance is that it is Jesus Christ who heals so if it was me I would ask Jesus to cover any healing I have received.
I am concerned that this information may have upset you, please email back or speak to someone if you have a concern about anything I have said here.
I think these comments flag the concerns that I and others have with this therapy. The root of The Lightning Process has not been obvious and it appears to be involved with occultish aspects. Phil Parker even uses the term magical, it can be found in the pdf link on page 2 about teachers.
This may not be of any concern to some, to others it may appear as quackish and to others it may be a bonus, but as a Christian it is of concern to me.
A percentage of the population accepts spiritual aspects and Christians believe that if the spiritual aspect is not through Jesus Christ then it is the occult.
However what I don’t understand is why Phil Parker doesn’t advertise the full package of his Process/therapy. I don’t understand why he wasn’t forth coming in the beginning with his Process/therapy and has only recently admitted to NLP and Hypnotherapy and has not admitted the spiritual aspects to potential clients or advertised this on his website. It begs the question: ‘Why?’.
Came here to do some research about LT for a friend who has M.E. like me and is considering taking it up.
This is a lovely site with well balanced articles.
Love your post about your lurcher. I found a lovely old whippet from Whippet Rescue for the same reason as you. I told the woman there ‘I want a dog that’s old and tired like me ’! and we fit like hand and glove.
Thank you very much for the linke to Phil Parker’s European training site. This was so useful in giving me an idea of the qualifications of his practitioners. It seems that basically these people are healers as well as hynotherapists NLPers etc.
Now I know that we all have the ability to heal. It seems to me from this that if I have what is classed as moderate ME, and can learn to understand and manage one’s activities then I can perhaps go a long way to heal myself. These thoughts may not be appropriate for anyone else with ME.
Thank you for providing me with some very useful insights into the LP.
Dear Marianne
Like you, I am really intrigued to know more about what the Lighning Process actually involves. Having spent a small fortune over the past 12 years pursuing a cure for my own CFS (thus far to no avail), it is only natural to want to find out as much as possible prior to embarking on yet another new and expensive treatment.
It puzzles me that if the Lighting Process can be learned/explained so quickly, that nobody who has benefitted from it has bothered to explain in forums like this one exactly what the treatment involves. I’d like to think that if the LP cured me of my CFS, then I’d share the good news with others. After a few hours combing the web, details on what the treatment entails are scant to say the least.
It is understandable I suppose why Phil Parker is cagey about giving a detailed response to your questionnaire. It could be that in being completely transparent, he would be giving away his trade secret and with it his source of income. Besides wanting to protect his livelihood, maybe his reluctance to open his kimono is because the LP is SO simple that most people reading about it (as opposed to learning about it in a structured environment) would dismiss it instantly as a load of bunkum instead of really giving it the commitment it deserves.
I am desperate to find a cure for my CFS which is wrecking my life. When you feel exhausted and unwell for prolonged periods and experience repeated relapses as I do, life becomes joyless and very depressing. If I knew that the LP was going to work, I wouldn’t hesitate to enrol on the course. However, since I am currently not working, I cannot afford to get my fingers burned pursuing another quack remedy. I don’t wish to sound cynical but having tried a lot of complementary medicine as well as conventional medicine (i.e. antidepressants and immune boosting drugs), all of which have failed to cure me of my illness, hopefully people can understand my scepticism. And I’m sure there are many other sceptics out there like me.
I would like to end with this request. If there is anyone out there who has undergone LP and been cured of their CFS/ME, then PLEASE, would you share with Marianne and the rest of us the details so we feel like we are making an informed decision rather than taking a gamble.
Thank you.
Dear Chris
I think you can make an informed decision on the Lightning Process based on the following:
As far as I am aware there are no clinical trials on the Lightning Process.
There are clinical trials on the Perrin Technique
The following is is from the website: Roxanne Louise.com
Using a Pendulum as a Major Therapeutic Tool
This may explain the Lightning Process.
I am ‘doing’ the Perrin Technique myself and even at this early stage I can say categorically that it helps. It makes so much sense to me. So please check the Perrin link above and decide for yourself.
I am intrigued as to why you would latch onto the use of tarot or pendulums to increase sensitivity to a patients problems when this is obviously(from reading the literature) a very minor part of the training which also leads to a recognised NLP qualification. You also use an extract from another site, not connected to the Lightning Process because it ‘may’ explain LP. In doing so you ‘may’ persuade people not to try it who would benefit from the process. That would be a great shame becuase it does work and IS in fact undergoing current clinical trials.
Having suffered severe depression/anxiety and taken a course along with 2 ladies who had ME I am convinced of it’s effectiveness. As to shaing the details, the course took around 12 hours to complete and I don’t see how it can be simply explained. If I told you to get behind the wheel of a car and put your foot on the accelerator, would you be able to drive? Your personal problems/symptoms need to be discussed with the therepist and the language wihich you then use monitored carefully or it will not work. You change your language to change the way that you think. Brainwashing? Horror! What has happened to me? Actually ALL that happened was that I recovered from constant fear and stress. There are growing numbers of us who have successfully healed. I was worried at spending the money, especially as I had to stay away from home too. I don’t regret a penny.
Hi Jude
Thank you for taking the time to write again. I am sure others will be interested in what you say.
God bless
Marianne
The Lightning Process is stressed as a ‘training program’ Just as with a diet if you are not committed and fail to stick to the routine carefully then it won’t work, thus no guarrantees are offered. The magic is that it can work so quickly. Thankfully I have not had CFS/ME but my training was with two ladies who suffered. Their recovery also convinced me of the programmes effectiveness. LP also treats ME very much as a physical problem. I would say that the course is firmly based in NLP/Hypnotheray and AT NO TIME were tarot cards used nor any form of hands on healing, and I practice Reiki healing myself. However would you say that prayer is good? Yet some pray to the devil, so prayer itself is a tool, neither good or evil. Could not tarot and pendulums also simply be tools? My instinct is that healing like this must be of the light, evil doesn’t heal. Whatever path you choose may your path to healing be as swift as mine was after so many years of fear & stress.
Hi Judi
Thank you for leaving a comment. I am a Christian and many people who read my site are Christians too and want to avoid any therapies which may have influences from other aspects.
Phil Parker was using words like magic cure and one young man is extremely angry that Phil Parker’s promise of a magic cure didn’t work for him.
I wanted to know how Tarot cards were used and found the site mentioned above very informative.
I couldn’t help wonder if some of Phil’s trained Lightning practitioners use their course on Healing when they treat people using the Lightning Process. I wondered if it explained Phil Parker’s own use of the word magic. It did make me and others wonder if a form of ‘magic’ was involved in Phil Parker’s Lightning Process.
I do wonder if there are two very different areas that are the cause of CFS/ME which may in the future provide two different labels to this multi-faceted illness – physical areas and negative thinking areas.
I am wondering if the NLP used in the Lightning Process is the real ‘bit’ that may be helping some people to get better especially those whose ‘ME’ is from the negative thinking area.
I do like the idea of sorting out negative thinking and feel personally for me that people like Ashok Gupta’s programme sounds more straight forward or an NLP practitioner or a counsellor. But as I’ve said before I as a Christian prefer to ask God.
I know that my CFS/ME is a physical cause. I have felt ill since contracting shingles. Then as a teenager and young adult I felt ill since contracting tonsillitus as child but childbirth seemed to kick start me back to better health.
I can feel the toxins leave my body with every treatment from my Osteopath and slowly but very surely I am feeling better.
Thank you so much for letting me and the readers of this site know how the Lightning Process has helped you. I am very pleased for you that you have recovered from the constant fear and stress. I hope you will gain full recovery from CFS/ME soon.
God bless
Hi there
When I was first looking into The Lightning Process, I came across this site. My daughter had a very late diagnosis of CFS/ME. However, over the four years of her illness I tried everything and anything to get her well. She attended top London Clinics at Guys, Ormond Street and finally UCLH where she FINALLY got exhaustive testing and a diagnosis. As well as conventional treatments and PACE we tried Naturopathy, Homeopathy, Accupuncture, Chinese medicine, Osteopathy, Cranial Osteopathy… money dribbled through my fingers.
When I first heard about Lightning Process my immediate reaction was BOL**CKS!! But then I came across Esther Rantzen’s article in the Daily Mail and decided to research more. I read about Ericksonian Self-Hypnosis and Neurolinguistic Programming and was fortunate to track down some people who had done LP and were happy to discuss their recovery. I was fortunate to have a relative prepared to pay the fee, so asked my daughter’s consultant (a specialist in adolescent CFS/ME) what her thoughts were. She said she’d seen too many of her patients make astounding recoveries through LP to have anything but a positive attitude towards it. So we went ahead.
Within days of the 3 day course my daughter was no longer bed-bound… infact she was attending school full-time! Four years of HELL are over. She has her life back.
So I’m here just to say – it works. My daughter says it is hard work at first – the hardest thing she’s ever done. It takes real commitment.
I am still a member of a discussion forum at dailystrength.org where I have detailed my daughter’s recovery in my online journal which I have kept ‘open’ for anyone to read. I am listed as emmasquarepeg. If I can persuade just one person to undertake LP, then I will have gone some way to repay the kindness shown me by those who helped my daughter.