Jose Silva – The Man Behind
the Silva Mind Control method

This is the story of the man behind the Silva Mind Control Method.

If you want to learn more about the Silva Mind Control Method and the man behind this self-help technique, I recommend the book "The Silva Mind Control Method" by Jose Silva & Philip Miele, published by Pocket Books.

Besides describing the Silva Method in detail, the book also talks about the history, thinking and philosophy behind the Silva Mind Control Method. Although it was first published in 1977, it’s still as relevant today as it was then.

If you can't get the book, download the FREE ebook & lessons on the Silva Mind Method.

Meet Jose Silva

Jose Silva was born in 1914 in Laredo, Texas. His father died when he was four. His mother soon remarried and Jose, his elder sister and younger brother moved in with their grandmother. Two years later, Jose became the sole breadwinner for the family, selling newspapers, shining shoes and doing odd jobs to support his sister and brother through school. In return, in the evenings, they would teach him to read and write.

Jose’s life changed when he was 15 years old. He was waiting to get a haircut in a barber shop when he read a lesson from a correspondence course on how to repair radios. Jose asked the barber if he could borrow the lessons but the barber would only rent it to him, and on the condition that Jose would complete the examination in the barber’s name.

Jose agreed, and soon the barber had a diploma in repairing radios, while Jose started repairing radios for a livelihood. Soon, his radio business became the largest in the area, allowing him to finance his 20-plus years of research into the Silva Mind Control method.

How Jose Got Interested in Mind Control

During World War 2, Jose joined the Signal Corps. As part of the joining process, they had a psychologist ask men joining the Signal Corps a series of question. Apparently, the psychologist was asking a series of really stupid questions.

"Do you wet your bed?", "Do you like women?", etc. etc. etc. (I guess psychology wasn’t so sophisticated then...=P)

Wisdom begins in wonder

That led Jose to wonder why the psychologist was asking such stupid questions, and started Jose off on his own personal research and study into psychology and mind power abilities.

During the war, Jose studied advanced electronics to become an instructor in the Signal Corps. So, when he was discharged, Jose became a part-time electronics instructor in the Laredo Junior College. At the same time, he also started rebuilding his radio (and later, television) repair business.

His business soon became very successful and Jose soon gave up his part-time teaching job. By then, Jose was working long hours at this business. At nights, after work and putting his children to bed, he continued his studies into mind power and psychology.

Ultimately, it was his children’s poor results in their studies (seeing a string of F’s on report cards usually leads to some form of reaction from parents...=)...) that led him to wonder again whether a person’s I.Q. or learning ability can be improved through some form of mental training.

What Jose Discovered

From his research, Jose knew that the mind generates electricity and the Alpha brain wave rhythm. He also knew from his electronics background that the ideal circuit is one with the least amount of resistance, because then, it gets to use most of its electrical power.

Jose Silva wondered, would the brain be more efficient if its resistance was lowered? Can its resistance be lowered?

Using hypnosis to slow the brain down, Jose discovered that the brain actually becomes more energetic when it becomes less active.

In other words, the power of the mind actually increases when the brain slows down (which can be observed by the frequency of the brain waves). At slower frequencies, the mind’s ability to receive and store information actually increases.

However, Jose also observed that, at these slower brain waves, the mind is usually daydreaming or sleeping. The problem was how to keep the mind alert at these lower frequencies.

Hypnosis had proved effective at slowing down the brain but the people being hypnotized were typically in a semi-conscious state.

Not much point being able to remember more stuff if you’re semi-conscious or falling asleep, right?

So, Jose Silva began trying out other mental techniques to slow down the mind but still remain alert and conscious. He figured that this would lead to improved memory and learning abilities, hence increasing a person’s I.Q.

After several years of experimenting and refining the mental techniques, Jose Silva discovered that with a combination of relaxed concentration and mental or creative visualization exercises, he would be able to retain full consciousness and alertness whilst operating at Alpha or Theta brain wave frequencies.

Jose Silva called his self-help technique the Silva Mind Control method, and was the first person to prove that we can learn to function fully & with total awareness at the slower Alpha and Theta brainwave frequencies.

Jose’s Neighbors Get Involved

Soon, Jose Silva’s neighbors noticed that his children’s grades in school were improving significantly. The neighbors knew of Jose’s experiments with his kids in mental training and asked Jose to teach their children his Mind Control methods.

Before long, he had trained 39 other children in Laredo in his Mind Control techniques. Over the next few years, Jose further refined and developed his Mind Control course until it became the standard course 40 to 48 hours course that is it today. The Silva Mind Control course is a 40 to 48 hours course, and has proven equally effective for both adults and children.

The Silva Mind Control Course Today

Now, what took Jose Silva’s Mind Control course to the next level was a newspaper article by one of the Silva graduates who wrote about how the Silva Method cured his migraine attacks, after years of suffering and medication.

Not surprisingly, the next time there was an introductory lecture, the course was absolutely mobbed and sold out immediately.

Today, the Mind Control organization course is a family business, administered by the Silva family. By 1977, over 500,000 people had taken the Silva Mind Control course. There are Mind Control lecturers and centers in all 50 states in the US, and an international presence in over 34 countries.

Besides improving learning and memory skills, other benefits of the Silva course include headache and migraine reduction, increased mind power, weight loss, stop smoking, increased entrepreneurship, improved sports performance, etc. etc. I could go on further but nothing tells it like the many testimonials of the Silva Mind Control graduates.

As a graduate myself, the only thing I can say is that the Silva Method delivers what it promises and more...

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