Recovering self-esteem through holistic counselling

All therapies, whether established medical or "alternative" ones, use a basic instrument to study a patient. In my own holistic counselling, I study yantras, or diagrams which represent, in form and colour, the subtle energies hidden in people's names and surnames. The word "yantra" has been familiar in India for thousands of years and is a symmetrical geometric shape representing the energies of a "mantra" (one or several words dedicated to a deity and used to still the mind during meditation). In yoga and meditation it is normal to chant a specific mantra, namely OM , considered to be the first word uttered by God in the process of creation. The yantra corresponding to OM is called the Sri Yantra and is a symmetrical diagram combining the masculine and feminine energies involved in creation. After a series of spiritual experiences in India and Spain , I realised that the names and surnames of people were personal mantras, and yantras could be obtained from them in the same way they are obtained from religious mantras. The investigation resulting from the mentioned experiences led me to develop Yantrologia â (Yantrology), combining the study of forms, colours, chakras and numbers, all hidden in our name.

The yantra guides us (a) to what led to the disharmony within us and points to an age when it began, (b) the nature of the disharmony according to the temperature of the healing ray (red, orange and yellow are hot colours while green, blue, violet are cold colours). Chronic chakra disharmony provokes disharmony in adjacent chakras leading to emotional problems of all kinds, complexes and even depressions, which are gradually dealt with in different sessions. Yantrology contributes to the difficult task of showing people how to love themselves more, to recover their self-esteem and to live better in what may seem to be a cruel and unfair world.

What do yantras look like?

The image is of a personal yantra divided into three different zones as shown. - White background representing the flash of blinding light when a child is born - A disc representing the chakra that tends to block - The yantra whose colour is the healing ray that cleans the chakra that tends to block

A Case History Anne was reacting positively to holistic counselling over a period of 12 months and thought I could help her 17-year-old daughter, Lucy. A mother of three girls, Anne was worried that Lucy was going to fail her exams because she had started to go out with unsuitable company and had a desperate need to be accepted by them. Lucy's yantra showed that she had a chronic disharmony in the Solar Plexus chakra and help from the blue ray. This meant she had a natural tendency to feel inferior to others and in specific situations searched for approval of her peers, especially those that bossed her around. The blockage started when she was 6 years old and seemed to be related to someone ignoring her when she needed comfort after a traumatic experience. The blue ray, related to communication, would not become fully active until her 43 rd birthday. On examining the yantra, Lucy compared it to a woodpecker. This was very significant as the woodpecker is the noisiest bird, working hard to inform other birds that it exists and has something important to say. The blue ray is related to communication, but Lucy would be unable to communicate what she really wants to say until she is 43. My deduction was that something had happened to her when she was 6 that had reduced her self-esteem to zero and that as nobody had listened to her at the time, she had difficulty in talking about problems with her parents. Associated to each yantra, there is a visualisation therapy. After only six months, Lucy is another person. She passed all her exams with 8s and 9s and no longer has the need to go with girls who want to abuse her weaknesses.

Biodata Robert Goodman came to Spain in 1972, contracted by a multinational paint company to manage a new research laboratory. In 1980, he abandoned the chemical industry due to illness. After teaching English for 9 years, he started writing and counselling work after developing YANTROLOGIA â (Yantrology) in 1992, the year when this new therapy was officially accepted by the International Association of Colour Therapy of Great Britain. In 1996, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Alternative Medicines by the University of Calcutta for his contribution to alternative medicines. He is married to Isabel Mola, a yoga teacher, has one adopted daughter and lives in Torrelodones. Submitted by Robert Goodman

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