About Larry Berkelhammer, MFT

Larry Berkelhammer, MFT

My work has evolved from many years of training and personal experiences with many teachers.  The teacher I have been most influenced by (both personally and professionally) is O. Carl Simonton MD, from whom I learned about the vast potential of the mind to change the course of life-threatening illness. I have also been influenced both personally and professionally by Lawrence LeShan PhD, from whom I learned about the potential of finding meaning and purpose to stimulate recovery from major illness.  From Jeanne Achterberg PhD, I learned about the power of the images in our minds to change physiology, and how to improve health outcomes by working with healing images and rituals. From James F.T. Bugental PhD, with whom I trained for six years, I learned the importance to one’s health of pursuing authenticity. Gerald Jampolsky MD taught me about the healing potential of attitude, gratitude, love, and acceptance.

My work is also influenced by my many years of working with people with life-threatening and chronic medical conditions at The Center for Attitudinal Healing in Sausalito, California.

I have received certification from several professional training programs, including The Simonton Cancer Center (O. Carl Simonton MD) and The Academy for Guided Imagery (Martin Rossman MD and David Bresler PhD). However, my greatest training has not come from any outside source; it has come from my own “inner work.” 

Over the years, I have been able to improve my own health by giving priority to the practice of changing the way I think and image.  This has resulted in my needing less medication and fewer medical treatments.  For example, I have learned to use my mind to self-convert cardiac dysrhythmias to normal sinus rhythm, reduce a malabsorption problem that had caused very severe osteoporosis, and recover from painful and debilitating Ankylosing Spondylitis.  I am currently in a self-designed study (n of 1) to see if I can improve my lymphocyte count.  I have managed chronic arthritic pain by learning to access the opioids produced by my endogenous pharmacy (See endogenous pharmacy page.) through the practice of mental imagery.  Medications have worked better than expected, and with fewer adverse effects, and I believe it is because I always imagine them working well.

My daily personal practice consists of observing my breathing throughout the day as a mindfulness anchor. I also pay attention to my emotional state throughout the day, identifying the thinking that either created that particular emotional state, or resulted from it. I examine the pleasant emotions as well as the unpleasant; this helps me recapture the pleasant ones when I am not feeling well. In addition, my practice includes setting aside specific times to use my mind to effect specific physiological changes. Two to three times a day I spend 20 minutes engaged in a practice which has elements of both concentration-type and insight-oriented meditation. During that time I imagine the health outcome I want, often utilizing very specific mental imagery.  The focus of concentration is on the imagining of various specific physiological processes in order to catalyze various healing mechanisms.

One of my other personal practices capitalizes on a conditioned response and placebo effect.  I go into a focused, receptive mind state and imagine taking a medicine (including the appearance, taste, smell, and feel of that medicine) which has worked well in the past, and imagine it having the desired effects; doing this allows me to be able to get the benefit of the drug without the expense and side effects of the actual drug.  At the same time, I imagine myself as vibrant and robust.

I work in partnership with my doctors, valuing their expertise and experience.  However, I believe that I am living a full life today primarily because I practice what I teach those who come to see me.  I would prefer to have perfect health. However, accepting medical conditions as a challenge and adventure gives my life meaning, purpose, opportunities for experiential learning and about the world of possibilities. Also, it is because of living this way that I have something to offer others.