Meeting Betty Bethards--My First Exposure to the Metaphysical Via Meditation and Dreams

It all started in the mid-1980's, when I was an art student in San Francisco, CA. I had an interest in dream interpretation since I was a teenager, reading a book or two about dreams, but never really making much headway with the subject. One day I was driving on the freeway listening to the local talk radio station, and on came Betty Bethards, giving callers interpretations of their dreams. Betty was a mystic and teacher of meditation and dream analysis, based in the north bay with her organization, the Inner Light Foundation. (Betty crossed over in 2002, but I believe her husband still runs the foundation in Petaluma, CA. Their website is at www.innerlight.org.)

I was fascinated by Betty's interpretation of dream symbols, and found her to be practical, down-to-earth, understandable, entertaining, and convincing. She gave monthly lectures all over the SF Bay Area, and I began attending, and also started devouring her many books and tapes on various spiritual subjects. Also, I met Betty in person one day for an individual reading, which is another story for later. Of course, I started using her meditation method, which resulted in some interesting experiences which I will describe in future posts.

I have since had many of my own experiences and learned new ideas from other teachers apart from Betty, but she'll always hold a special place in my heart.

Here is Betty's method for meditating (from the ILFs site)...

The ILF method of meditation is simple but powerful. Meditation is a deep relaxation of body, mind, and spirit. It should be done on a daily basis for twenty minutes. The easiest way to meditate is to listen to your favorite songs and music. While sitting with your spine erect, you are aligning your energy to the God Force.

1. Sit in a chair with your spine erect, shoulders relaxed, feet flat on the floor. Fold your hands together in your lap and close your eyes.

2. Take three slow, deep breaths, exhaling to the base of your spine, and feel yourself relaxing. Sit with your hands together for ten minutes.

3. After ten minutes, open your hands, palms up, laying them gently in your lap. Keep your focus on the songs and music.

4. At the end of this second ten minute period, when your energy is at its highest, most centered point, you can do your affirmations and visualizations, such as "The perfect career is manifesting in my life now," or whatever you are choosing to create in your life, i.e., wisdom clarity, prosperity. If your buttons were jammed during the day, you can review the situation, see what your positive lesson was, and visualize how you would like to have handled it. This way, next time it comes up, as it will until the lesson is learned, you will handle it with love.

5. After completing your affirmations and visualizations, close your hands into a fist and feel a balloon of white light one block all around you so that you're at the center. This sends love and healing out to the masses and buffers stress and negativity from coming in to you.