Spoon Bending Exercise: It is the Mind that Bends

In a workshop I attended more than 10 years ago, there was a spoon bending exercise that I can still recall today. I’m updating this post with photos of the spoons that I have kept on my desk. 

During the exercise, we were handed some metal spoons and asked to bend them – not by using the hands but by the power of our minds.

Nancy, the facilitator, offered this advice, “Be One with The Spoon”. 

“Sounds like mambo jumbo,” I could hear my skeptic saying. 

How do you BE One with a Spoon, for crying out loud???

The weekend had culminated with an exercise that required us to bend a metal spoon, not by brute force but by the mental focus of thought. Nancy shared that we, be it spoon or human, are made up of energy.  Therefore, instead of viewing ourselves as separate from another matter, we are One. Through the awareness that we are One, it was suggested that we could alter the appearance of the metal spoon.

The Silva workshop that I was attending was on BEing, with a course outline of helping participants improve on creative, intuitive and spiritual abilities. I had signed up for it some weeks back, knowing that my husband would be free to take care of the kids, while I attend the workshop.

The Spoon Bending Exercise at the Workshop 

So it was….during the last hour of the workshop that we were handed ordinary metal spoons bought from the supermarket. I tested the spoons to check if it was possible to bend them with my hands. Nope….no way it would be easy! The spoons were made of solid stainless steel and thick at the handle. Urrgh…..I felt a lump in my throat, in nervous anticipation about the whole exercise. 

Although I could theoretically agree with the concepts of energy and focused thought, I was sceptical at what Nancy was suggesting – that it was possible to bend anything made of thick solid metal.

However, in about 15 minutes or so into the exercise, a number of my classmates managed to bend their metal spoons. Some not only bend their spoons but twisted them out of shape.

Great job!!

The other half of the class was still in deep concentration, holding on their spoons, as if “willing” them to bend.

Sigh….including myself.

Another 10 minutes lapsed.

My spoon refused to budge.

Damn!! Not even for a millimetre or a half degree angle, could I bend it.

A Battle In The Mind

I could barely keep myself from launching into a stream of expletives!

It became clear to me that I was stuck in a s****hole of disbeliefs – I just could not do it!!!

It was no longer just a battle with “willing” the spoon but one I sought to wrestle in my mind. Now that some of my classmates have proven that it was possible to bend a solid matter out of shape, it was more about how much I believed in my own abilities….

Was I capable of focused thought?

Doubt clouded my mind. I began to feel as if my whole life now depend on whether I could bend spoons with mental focus or not.

Our energy is in proportion to the resistance it meets. — William Hazlitt

It was suggested that we attempt to visualise a flame that was burning the handle of the spoon, enough for it to melt and making it easy for us to bend it. Also, while focused attention is needed, BEing one with the spoon also required us not to “force” things to happen nor try too hard.

So I imagined a candle flame burning a part of the handle and focused my attention on it. In the end, I had to give up. We were running out of time in class.

Despite feeling exhausted, I swore that I would not sleep the same night after the workshop until I got my spoons bent. I had lots of emails to attend to when I got home, but nothing was as important to me as the battle that was going on in my mind. I barely looked at my inbox, before shutting down my laptop.

Spoon Bending: From Doubt To Elation

I told my husband deftly that he would not be allowed to sleep until I finished Mission Impossible!!

Luckily for him, lest he would lose sleep, he had already bent and twisted metal spoons himself in an Energy Conference some years back. He offered some useful suggestions. Visualise the spoon as red hot, he said. Only if it was red hot enough, could the molecules in the spoon part enough for its structure to be altered.

That was when I realised that perhaps imagining a candle flame was not good enough to “melt” the spoon. The visualising and intent just not strong enough!!

So instead of a candle flame, I visualised the spoon over my kitchen stove fire at full blast. My visualisation was so vivid that I almost dropped the spoon a couple of times because it felt burning hot in my hands!!

And instead of taking things the easy way out as some would by focusing on the nape of the spoon at the weakest point between the handle and curved end, I placed my concentration on the thickest part of the spoon handle. I held on to my focus, pushing away thoughts of doubt. In steady focus, I continued.

In about 15 minutes or so, I could feel as if the molecules in the handle of the spoon were parting and not as tightly packed. The metal was softening and that was when I went in for the “kill”. In an instant, I managed to bend the handle. At another go, the handle got twisted very easily. 

The fire of my imagination must be so hot that another spoon, which I tried after the first piece, broke into two! By the time I got to the third spoon, I was tired mentally and only managed to bend it at the nape.

Yippee!!! I went to bed on a high, happy with my latest collection of “art” pieces!

“Thoughts create a new heaven, a new firmament, a new source of energy, from which new arts flow. ” —Philipus Aureolus Paracelsus

Lessons from the Spoon Bending Exercise 

I learned about what it means to bring about strong focus in order to bend the spoon. 

Perhaps the biggest lesson about spoon bending is also affirmed in the Matrix movie too. 

Boy: Do not try and bend the spoon. That’s impossible. Instead only try to realise the truth.
Neo: What truth?
Boy: There is no spoon.
Neo: There is no spoon?
Boy: Then you’ll see that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself.

The insight that it is the mind that needs to bend first is profound indeed! 

Interested To Do the Spoon Bending Exercise?

Metal spoon bending is not a party trick. Neither do you need psychic powers to do it. Nor do you have to attend a workshop to try this exercise on your own. 

There is no use of magic. As some would have you believe that it can be some form of ancient art too. At least, not from what I’ve experienced. 

I can also assure you that the spoons are not the thin ones either. They are ones that you can get from your kitchen. Definitely, no trickery involved here.

Feel Empowered After Doing the Spoon Bending Exercise

If you can bend metal spoons, it feels as if you can do almost anything! You gain a great deal of confidence, by knowing that you can use the power of your mind for manifesting. 

It sure feels good to be empowered. And all with the aid of a spoon bending exercise. 

Signed,
Evelyn Lim
Powerful Mind Bender

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