Mind over matter

Wednesday, May 11, 2005 | 9:50 a.m.

Eyeballs tell Barbara Russom when she's beginning to penetrate the soul of another Coyote.

"The eyes start to float back and forth under their lids," she said. "That clues me in to their state of relaxation."

Russom, the maharishi of the Community College of Southern Nevada baseball team, is mostly known as Aunt Bee to everyone associated with the program because she is Tim Chambers' aunt.

Nostrils can be just as important to her routine as eye lids.

When versatile left-hander Mike Dunn visited Aunt Bee for a hypnosis session in her home in a cozy neighborhood just about a mile from the CCSN campus, a series of questions led her to selecting a favorable scent for success for Dunn.

"I don't know if it was something weird, but it appealed to me," he said.

It was a lavender-labeled blend of spruce, rosewood, blue tansy and frankincense in a base of almond oil, dubbed "Valor" by the company that produces it.

"He just sounded like he needed to get his courage up," Aunt Bee said. "You do whatever you think will work. It's pungent. It's all in the bag of tricks. You do whatever it takes, whatever you think will work and whatever a person needs."

After a poor first game in a doubleheader at Eastern Utah on April 1, Aunt Bee descended the stands and met with Dunn, then waved a cotton ball, with "Valor" dabbed on it, under his nose.

"I relaxed, then went 2-for-2 in the second game," he said. "Just seeing her, you want to relax. She reminds you to relax and helps everyone out. It's a great thing."

As the seventh-ranked Coyotes (46-12) prepare to play host to Dixie State (39-13) in the best-of-three Region 18 championship, which starts Thursday, Aunt Bee has emerged as a behind-the-scenes, motivational guru for CCSN.

Nobody required that aid more this season than Dane "Kalani" Ponciano, a switch-hitting freshman catcher who started 2005 poorly and pressed himself into a spiral.

Two months ago, Chambers suggested that a trip to Aunt Bee's home might prove beneficial. Yearning for help from any source, Ponciano was more than willing to meet with Aunt Bee.

At Morse Stadium later that day, Ponciano had his best batting-practice session of the season. Dunn said he and his teammates immediately saw a different Ponciano when returned from Aunt Bee's haven.

"Before he went, he was down on himself, pushing in batting practice and not having fun," Dunn said. "When he came back he had smiles on his face. We hadn't seen a smile from him in three or four weeks. He went back to having fun again.

"I think it helped him a lot."

Ponciano then recorded his first two-hit game of the season, and he had CCSN's only hit in the first 10-run-rule defeat in the program's history, a 10-0 defeat at Salt Lake on March 11.

He was hitting about .170 before seeing Aunt Bee. Since, Ponciano has improved his batting average to .241.

Ponciano repeatedly pauses, unable to pin down the exact or appropriate words, when talking about his two sessions with Russom.

"I was at that point where I needed to try anything," he said. "I just wanted to succeed. Somehow, she opened the door. Yeah, it's a good story. She's so nice. She's the most wonderful, sweet little lady I've ever met."

Heavy eyelids

The 5-foot Russom, 64, sleeps under stars that glow on her bedroom ceiling. Four certificates, in either hypnosis or hypnotherapy, rest on her fireplace mantle, and two La-Z-Boy recliners and a couch occupy a simple living room.

A "subject" sits in the recliner by the door. A stereo, which plays relaxing theta-pulse music during sessions, lies under a side table. Candles and incense, when appropriate, are always a reach away, as is a polyoptic light.

Aunt Bee was first introduced to yoga, meditation and hypnosis about 35 years ago in Utah. She counts herself fortunate to have been tutored by both Yogi Bhajan, in New Mexico, and Swami Sivananda Rada, in Canada.

She spends 31 minutes doing deep-breathing exercises, in Kundalini yoga fashion, every morning.

"The mother of all yogas," she said. "It takes away all my grief, and anything else. The yoga is a way of life for me."

Russom turned hypnosis into a serious hobby in 1984, when her husband, Chuck, was diagnosed with cardio myopathy, a heart disease. He called the hypnosis "voodoo," but she watched it have a positive effect on him.

"I was just looking for ways to keep him with me for as long as possible," she said. "I made tapes that I'd play in his sleep, then I'd hear him tell friends and family things he could have only heard on those tapes.

"I knew it worked, and it helped me. It took stress out of me."

Heart transplants were arranged for Chuck twice, but experimental medication and Barbara's hypnotic efforts were achieving results. Barbara earned her first hypnotherapy certificate in 1992, but Chuck died instantly in a car accident in Utah a year later.

She allowed herself to grieve for the first 10 minutes of a day, then she got on with life. The most peaceful, positive person Chambers has ever known doesn't believe she's stopped grieving for her husband.

Aunt Bee moved to Henderson two years ago and has lived with Chambers' mother, Rena, for almost a year.

Chambers' high-energy, 11-year-old daughter McKenzie has even had sessions with Aunt Bee, to help her relax and have fun while participating in gymnastics.

"It helped," Chambers said. "And when Kalani came to practice that day, after seeing Aunt Bee, you could tell the pressure was off. He was smiling and relaxed. Guys saw him and started asking."

Calvin Beamon and David Hamilton visited her home last season, but it didn't catch on with the rest of the team like it did after Ponciano experienced such dramatic improvements.

Seven of Ponciano's teammates met with Aunt Bee after his initial visit, and he and Shawn Olsen have made return trips.

Olsen, named the Most Outstanding Player of the Scenic West Athletic Conference after leading the Coyotes by hitting .368, went to Aunt Bee's place when he started slumping a bit.

"Moving too fast," he said. "Working way too fast on the field. Since then, I've been much more relaxed and my mind's been clear."

Russom also makes road trips and occasionally attends practice, to watch players' body languages -- clenched jaws and droopy heads are verboten -- and gain insight about potential near-future visitors.

Each session in her home unravels differently, as Aunt Bee mainly reacts to what each subject reveals about himself and his dominant desire in life at that moment, and how to focus on setting goals to achieve that desire.

Many pick a mandala, or symbolic drawing, to concentrate on during deep-sleep descensions. Ponciano chose a sort of coyote with wings. Bryce Massanari, whose father is a minister, picked a cross between two cupped hands.

"They tell me what they want, and I give it to them," she said.

"That sounds like her," Olsen said. "She's really modest, and always giving. A great lady. She's awesome."

Diving deep

They start to drift away by breathing deeply, in to a count of eight, holding for a three count, then out for a count of eight. That's repeated with one nostril closed for a stretch, then the other.

Chris Siewert, hitting .345 this season, said he felt like his mind was going 100 mph before he met with Aunt Bee.

"Long, slow and deep breaths," she said. "When they're able to do that, they slow down an overactive mind. Like meditation on your breath."

Then progressive relaxation takes over, from the tips of their toes to the top of their head. Soon after muscles relax, she said, eyes flutter beneath those lids.

"They get to a deeper state of unconscious awareness, where they can receive positive messages about themselves," Aunt Bee said. "Then we start doing the work. There's a time when I become silent, so they can give themselves suggestions.

"It makes me feel good to know that they've actually wanted to learn it. When I'm gone from this planet, they'll go on and teach it to someone else."

Purging the players of negativity is a major theme to the sessions that last anywhere from an hour to 90 minutes, or longer.

"Get rid of the negative energy and try to stay positive, even if you fail," Siewert said. "Think of the good instead of the bad ... you don't understand it until you go through it.

"Wow. It was like the best night sleep you ever had, then multiply it by 100. That's how you wake up feeling."

Aunt Bee escorts a visitor to her front door and insists that none of this is about her. The players simply tell her what they want and need, then it's up to them to follow up by continuing with certain exercises.

It's not about me, she said. It's all about them.

They say otherwise.

"I never, ever in my life would have thought that I'd get hypnotized," Siewert said. "But I'm glad I did it. She helps us so much. There are so many things to be positive about in life."

archive