HAVE you ever felt like there was something more you should be doing with your life? Maybe you felt that you had a hidden talent just waiting to burst into success, or a special mission you are ready to achieve?
This week business editor SARAH GUNTHARDT   has been taking a closer look at The Silva Method a unique course designed to unlock your full potential through the intense power of your own mind. 

Karin Barnes has been a graduate of The Silva Method - the world's leading personal transformation system - for more than a decade.

She is one of only eight instructors in the UK and when I discovered she was running a course here in Peterborough I immediately signed up for the three-day training course in Peterborough.

Feeling fairly disillusioned with life after a year of personal upheaval which ended in divorce I must admit I approached the course with some degree of intrepidation and scepticism. But I am happy to say that I emerged three days later bursting with optimism for a more positive, brighter, happier future.

I'm one of those people who has previously suffered from an overactive mind and find it difficult to switch off with the result that I haven't slept well in months and more often than not wake up feeling exhausted and anxious about the day ahead.

Sleep deprivation studies have indicated that it is important that we spend sufficient time the alpha level - inner conscious - during our sleep. When we are deprived of alpha sleep, there are serious side effects, such as irritability, loss of ability to learn and recall information, and sometimes even mild hallucinations.

All that is set to change now however.
Through the Silva Method I've learned the sleep control technique where there is enough mental activity to keep you busy so you are not concerned with your problems.

I've also learned a method to help me drift into a peaceful sleep, how to control my dreams to tap into my inner conscious to help solve problems while I'm dreaming. I've also learned pain control, how to use a mental screen to visualise goals and desires for the future, how to break-free from long-held beliefs that may be restricting your own personal growth, and a memory technique which would be invaluable for studies and exams.

The Silva Method is a self-help technique practised in 111 countries around the world and the three-day course involves several hours of learning mental techniques and exercises to achieve your own goals.

In short, the Silva Method teaches you to discover the full potential of your own mind with a positive mental attitude.

Today's lifestyle dictates that as adults we generally use only the left side of our brain - the academic side which is objective, logic, reasoning and analytical. But with Silva Method you learn to reach your inner conscious to use the information in your right side of the brain. The right side tends to be more creative, with ideas, day dreams, inspiration, instinct and intuition.

Karin, a Nutrition Advisor and Biomagnetic Therapist, is extremely passionate about The Silva Method and enjoys nothing better than using her skills to help people.

She said: "I am very passionate about this; I know people who come to my clinic get better much quicker  by doing this. It can help people who have gone through traumas or are going through a difficult patch in their lives and one leading cancer specialist uses it to help his patients.

"It's also very good for helping relationships and for students who want to improve their study skills, for sports people and those in business and for all areas of everyone's lives."