Dr? Wayne Dyer, woo woo extrordinaire

I PBS must be having a pledge drive since they're parading out the quack motivatoinal speakers. Dr Wayne Dyer is on tonight and he was going on about always keeping the correct sort of "energy" around you. He gave a bizarre example of his son listening to a rap cd. To prove that this CD had negative energy he compared it to a source of positive engergy, that being a organic banana. His son held the banana to his chest and put his arm out and Wanyne attempted to put the arm down with two fingers. Supposedly the positive banana energy repelled his efforts and the arm stayed up, but when his did this same thing with CD, the dark energy apparently weakened him and the arm went down. Oh that evil rap music!

What more than likely happened is that Wayne exerted more force to make sure he made his point, or his son relented to make him go away lol. It all makes me wonder if Wayne took the CD and spun it backwards to see if it contained Satanic messages.

Was wondering what ever happened to him.

A banana versus a rap cd? Are you sure this guy isn't really a very subtle stand up comic?

I guess his point is the banana is mightier than the rap cd

I use that demo in class every year--not with rap and bananas, but with "negative energies". It has worked every year thus far (although there are easy ways to cheat if it does not). It is the easiest way I know to very saliently demonstrate the need for double-blind testing.

I ask a volunteer to hold his/her arms out and resist my pressure, while I push down on both elbows. Then I "take down the energy from the left side" with some dramatic hand movements, comments about how strong their energy is, and very intense looks. After this, I press down on the elbows again, and (thus far) invariably, the "energy-diminished" arm drops much more easily (to the very real astonishment of the volunteer). To prove it is not me, I bring up another volunteer to push the elbows, and restore the energy of the first volunteer (verified by the new elbow-pusher), then take the energy down from the other arm (again, verified by an astonished new elbow-pusher).

Now that they are convinced in the reality of the phenomenon, I restore the energy of the volunteer, then ask for the person to now stand with closed eyes. I make all the noises of "taking down the energy", but none of the hand-waving, no movement at all, really. The arm drops like a stone, demonstrating that it is the belief of the volunteer that was crucial. We then discuss ways (I demonstrate a few) in which the elbow-pusher could (consciously or non-consciously) influence the outcome. It soon becomes very evident that both the subject and the elbow-pusher must be blind to the conditions in order to demonstrate a real phenomenon. Anything less opens the door for expectancies, either a weaker arm from the subject or a stronger push from the elbow-pusher.

It is a very nice demonstration, and my students really love it.

Oh....and I can't stand Wayne Dyer.

originally posted by Mercutio:

Oh....and I can't stand Wayne Dyer.

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That's because your Karma isn't right.You need to burn some sandalwood and drink green tea.It will return your ability to care about the insane.

Mercutio said:

It is a very nice demonstration, and my students really love it.

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From what I can tell, Dyer seems to really love it, too... I've also seen him use it to demonstrate the power of "affirmations," e.g. your arm is stronger if you say nice things about yourself. I think he's been using this for a long time.

I went to school with Wayne Dyer in the "60's in Detroit. He's a very clever guy who knows how to make a buck with touchy-feely
seminars, books and tapes. He was a newage con man then and I see he still is. He is so full of crap I can't believe people don't challange some of the obviously made up stories he constantly tells about himself and his family.

The story he tells in his seminars about finding his estranged father's grave is so improbable it boogles the mind to find that people believe it.

New age wisdom for Smurfs from Dr. Wayne.

He wouldn't last 10 minutes on Australian TV. "New Age" motivational speakers don't do Australian TV - they know we're a VERY cynical bunch here. They prefer the live circuit with a captive audience of paying stoog...erm...converts. This guy would be fodder for stand-up in a week.

Great demonstration Merc! Thanks for the explanation. Now, if only we could get that sort of thing on national TV, we might have something.

Nigel said:

Great demonstration Merc! Thanks for the explanation. Now, if only we could get that sort of thing on national TV, we might have something.

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Wow...I always liked the demo, but never really thought about building up a lecture-circuit show based around it. That would be so easy to do, too...

...and since Mercutio is always in need of money...

Mercutio said:

Wow...I always liked the demo, but never really thought about building up a lecture-circuit show based around it. That would be so easy to do, too...

...and since Mercutio is always in need of money...

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Maybe at TAM3....

Nigel said:

Maybe at TAM3....

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Funny...I thought of that, but then realized just how difficult it would be to find a person in an audience full of skeptics for this to work on!

...I mean, I'd probably have to go outside the Meeting participants, maybe get a showgirl to volunteer, and...

...ok, TAM3 it is!

I wonder what would have happened if he tested a Bananarama CD?

Arms and the man

I am also aware of at least one chiropractor who uses the arm-pushing deal to decide on dosages for vitamins and supplements. Hold some pills in your hand, he pushes down...no, a couple more... push push... there, that's the proper dosage.

No kidding (as if you thought I was).

He also got dosages for infants by doing the same thing with the parent while the parent holds the child.

I wish I hadn't remembered this. I have to go lie down now.

Welcome, Kteutsch. You forgot the part where the chiropractor first implants a programmable detector in the patient's hand. Each pill is coded and the detector reads the dosages, calculates whether they are appropriate, then activates/deactivates the patient's arm muscles.

~~ Paul

Gosh... I never knew how it worked.

I had assumed it was some kind of pseudoscience.

Re: Arms and the man

kteutsch said:

I am also aware of at least one chiropractor who uses the arm-pushing deal to decide on dosages for vitamins and supplements. Hold some pills in your hand, he pushes down...no, a couple more... push push... there, that's the proper dosage.

No kidding (as if you thought I was).

He also got dosages for infants by doing the same thing with the parent while the parent holds the child.

I wish I hadn't remembered this. I have to go lie down now.

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Well your chiropractor is obviously a quack- my neighbor's chiro can test my neighbor and prescribe supplements for her DAD who is not even in the chiro office, but at home!

Re: Arms and the man

kteutsch said:

I am also aware of at least one chiropractor who uses the arm-pushing deal to decide on dosages for vitamins and supplements. Hold some pills in your hand, he pushes down...no, a couple more... push push... there, that's the proper dosage.

No kidding (as if you thought I was).

He also got dosages for infants by doing the same thing with the parent while the parent holds the child.

I wish I hadn't remembered this. I have to go lie down now.

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I saw this "arm-pushing deal" on a TV infomercial for Phase 4 Orthotics a couple weeks ago. They were doing a "man-on-the-street" demo asking passers-by to try them. The host could push down people's arms with no problem...until they stood on the revolutionary orthotics.

I've enjoyed it the couple of times I've heard Wayne Dyer, in a similar fashion to how I used to come home from school and flip on the Bob Ross painting show. Puts me in a mellow state.

I just came across Guru Dyer giving his banana talk. I think I'll mail PBS and let them know that I shall be re-routing my donation to JREF once again.

Dyer can do his bananas all day long and still won't have appeal.

I made a fool out of a guy who was trying to demonstrate "chi" using the arm pushing gag.

He had me hold my arm out and pushed on it and asked me to resist. He was "apparently" was unable to push my arm down. He then waved his hands around to "disrupt" the "chi" and when he pushed again he was able to push my arm down.

The people watching were impressed...Until I got some rope and tied it in a loop around a heavy chair. I then asked him to repeat the demonstration, but instead of pushing down on my arm to hang the chair on my arm.

The guy was really puzzled as to why the trick didn't work.

Peter S. said:

The guy was really puzzled as to why the trick didn't work.

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So...did dawn break for this guy? Did he realize that he might....just might...have been able to tip the scales a bit due to his own expectations?

(I take your description to imply that he was honest in his ignorance)

Mercutio said:

So...did dawn break for this guy? Did he realize that he might....just might...have been able to tip the scales a bit due to his own expectations?

(I take your description to imply that he was honest in his ignorance)

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I'm quite sure the guy is still a believer, but the whole thing made quite an impression on the people who were watching.

Re: Re: Arms and the man

zakur said:

I saw this "arm-pushing deal" on a TV infomercial for Phase 4 Orthotics a couple weeks ago. They were doing a "man-on-the-street" demo asking passers-by to try them. The host could push down people's arms with no problem...until they stood on the revolutionary orthotics.

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hehe

Without the product, your body lines go all non-horizontal apparently.