What José Silva Really Taught Helene Hadsell

One of the biggest misconceptions I frequently hear is that José Silva taught Helene Hadsell how to manifest all those prizes she became famous for winning.

He didn’t.

In fact, Helene had already won the fully furnished home before she ever met José Silva.

If you read the first edition of The Name It & Claim It Game, you’ll see that Helene’s original winning formula came from ideas she learned through reading The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale. Her method was simple: select a goal, never entertain doubts, and convince yourself it was possible.

Helene and her husband won the house in 1965. Because it was a new build, they didn’t move in until the summer of 1966. Later that year, she met José Silva and became one of his assistants, a role she held from 1966 to 1971, before joining the metaphysical lecture circuit following the publication of her first book.

So if José didn’t teach Helene how to win, what did he teach her?

He taught her the technique that may have saved her life.

On that New Year’s Eve, Helene was involved in a near-fatal car accident. Using methods she learned through The Silva Method, she was able to stop the bleeding long enough to get to the hospital.

To me, that’s an even bigger gift than teaching someone how to win a contest.

Helene always gave credit where credit was due. José Silva didn’t teach her how to manifest prizes. He taught her skills that helped her survive one of the scariest moments of her life.

And that’s an important part of her story that often gets overlooked.

NOTE: This is the only photo I have of Helene with José. The woman in the middle is Maya Perez. You may recognize her name from The Missing Chapter PDF as the well-known lecturer and psychic from Balboa, California.