Get Rid Of Your Archaeological Garbage And Get A Life; Healing From Within

Using an interview format, these two New Age programs feature host Gale Van Cott talking with practitioners of self-directed therapy and psychic healing, respectively. Get Rid of Your Archaeological Garbage and Get a Life is the better of the pair, and offers therapist Joel Colman's fast-food approach to ridding people of life's little neuroses. Using basic psychology, Colman argues that people's problems arise out of either low self-esteem and/or abuses of some kind. Having come from the field of film directing--where time is money--Colman believes in the quick fix. The tape cuts between Colman and Van Cott talking and sessions that Colman conducted with his therapy groups. Some of these clips are entertaining, others are moving, but most are badly edited. On top of which the video and audio qualities of the videotaped sessions are dark and washed-out looking, making this program unacceptable on a technical level alone.Healing From Within features psychic healers Lani and Jama Smith talking with Van Cott about their experiences with healing physical and emotional ailments. Several healing sessions are shown, during which Lani massages the patient's aura, while Jama writes down what she "hears" from the patient. She says: "When Lani opens up each energy center of the body, I'm able to hear what's going on in that person's soul." Most of what Jama parrots back to patients is typical New age-speak; however on one instance she goes beyond what might be reasonably explainable. To wit, during a session with a pregnant mother, she explains that the few-month old fetus says that it carries the soul of the baby that the mother previously miscarried. This defies any metaphysical or theological explanation that I'm aware of.Less "how-to" than profile, the technical qualities of either tape is not good enough to warrant purchase. Too, one gets the sense on both tapes that the "patients," who occasionally make references to either "auditions" or "parts," are mostly in showbiz, which means that they are probably 99% bruised ego willing to purchase a compassionate shoulder, whether it comes in the form of a tarot reading or an aura massage. These programs are not recommended. (Available from: Heartline Communications, 21119 Osborne St., Canoga Park, CA 91304; (818) 700-6370.)