An imagery exercise should not take more than half a minute. It must take place in the space which physicists call "the no-time-zone," and it is best when the exercise is as short as possible, taking almost "no time." This "no-time" leaves you with no time to think; thinking takes time. This is the reason an exercise has to be so short, in order to surprise the patient, and in every surprise, there is some slight shock, that causes a slight stress and all the body's systems mobilize to combat the stress and here the healing begins. The technique of mental exercises has been in use ever since the Biblical period. This technique was later called "Jewish Meditation" or "Kabbalah Meditation." This had been used hundreds of years in Spain in the Middle Ages. This brings back movements to parts of the body which are immobile. It also seeks to bring order to whatever lacks order within. The hieroglyphics of ancient Egypt, a language of pictures and imagery, served the Egyptians instead of words. People started to use imagery before they started to speak. Within us, in our core, we have the "all knowing part" which accesses truth. Through imagery practice, we may gain answers to all our questions, from this inner core. This process is simple and short, but extremely precise, operating in a space which occupies almost no-time, which means "no-death." This "no-time" does not permit one to think, only to see the image.The purpose of this book is to instruct people to cure themselves by themselves, based on the principle of "reversal," which means reversal of pain or difficulty into health and joy, followed by reversal of the associated image, which is also the Kabbalistic way to make repentance.In the Biblical period, the use of a mirror for prophecy was very widespread. Again this mirror was an inner one, sometimes replaced by a sea, river or well - objects that are used in many of the imagery exercises. King David, the psalmist of all times, the composer of the most significant book of healing, used also music to calm the mind and bring relief to the soul. Some of his psalms turned into a form of imagery practice in this book.Many of the exercises are based on the ethics and moral teachings of the scholars and sages, and on the generations-old mystical kabbalah of Safed (a town in the upper Galilee). The exercises in this book are organized in a readable form, with the addition of quotations and notes from the Bible, includes the Psalms and the books of the Prophets. Explanations are taken from the Jewish commentators on the Bible, particularly kabbalist sources. I used my own discoveries and analyses of this traditional knowledge to indicate the sources from where the exercises had been developed.Colette Aboulker-Muscat would say, "The essence of life is to live every instant." This saying based on the verse in Leviticus (18:5), "You shall keep My laws and My rules, by the pursuit of which man shall live, I am the Lord."
Author Biography:
I am known by the name "Aliza" though my given name was, simply "Liza". I am a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and worked for many years as a computer programmer, systems analyst and software engineer. In that capacity, I have been responsible foe establishing a computer department for the Israeli agent of an Italian marine insurance company, for whom I have also written a considerable number of programs for all their need. From the age of ten, I have lived in Jerusalem, in the same street where Colette Aboulker-Muscat, a great master of imagery heeling, lived. Owing to my deep familiarity with Jewish manuscripts and ancient Jewish literature, I am able to conduct research into Jewish historical subjects from antiquity onwards. For this reason Colette Aboulker-Muscat, who was a descendant of King David, asked me to research her family genealogy. Given this knowledge, I have been able to find many of the sources upon which Colette Aboulker-Muscat drew in developing her imagery exercises and have added references to these original sources in the book Reversal and no-Time on the Stages of Mental Imagery. In this same book I have also collected many of the pieces of the advice, Colette gave her students, between individual imagery exercises in her classes and during her meetings with the people who came to seek her out, especially during the Saturday evening gatherings at her house, which she called a "Salon." In this Salon people could ask her any questions they had about their personal lives: including questions relating to marriage and relationships with work and family. As the answers she gave both satisfied the questioners and was of benefit to all the others. I have incorporated many of her responses in the book. I am author of "The King David Families; the Genealogy of Colette Aboulker-Muscat," which reflects the work I did for Colette when she asked me to research her genealogy of her ancestors. I also authored "Slihot," a book which presents imagery exercises relating to the High Holidays of the Jewish New Year. All my work as independent researcher, including the work on these projects, has been carried out in the Judaic Reading Room of The National Library of Israel in Jerusalem, which holds an extensive collection of ancient and modern Jewish books as well as texts relating to Jewish antiquity.
