I'm not ridiculing the technique as such;
I've used a home-brewed variant of it for years, primarily just before sleeping. For me, the hard part is relaxing; what we're talking about is a variant of a whole slew of "meditation" techniques. True, allopathic medicine is seen as a short cut, and Americans tend to be really into short cuts; but things don't have to be beneficial to 100% of the individuals in the population to have some overall benefit. IOW I see: no reason this couldn't work, much experience of my own to suggest it does, and a great possible benefit from it. I was simply suggesting a spinoff; the Ronco version, as it were.
And really, consider that millions of television "viewers" take in, oh, things like Home and Garden TV, in which watching grass grow is one of the more interesting things. Golf. The shopping networks (if those people are able to make shopping fascinating -- as they apparently do -- there is no limit to what can be accomplished). My wife left for an evening out with the neighbor, and left the TV on -- HGTV is currently announcing an exciting half-hour program devoted to watching other people house hunt. And they have viewers. And advertisers. I rest my case.
As for restrictions on tyros, þbbt!
Regards,
Ric