Happy weekend, All!
Just wanted to post quickly and let you know that I am heading out spontaneously this evening and will not be around to post to Esoteric Saturday.
Come back for the Sunday Question, though!
Location: Chicago, IL
Cyberspace Locations:
www.leedarrow.com
www.livejournal.com/mstrhypno
www.myspace.com/leedarrow
wwwhypnothoughts.com/leedarrow (or is it /mstrhypno?)
1. Are you a full time hypnotist, part-time or hobbyist?
Full-time entertainer, of which hypnosis is a BIG part of the business, so draw your own conclusions…
2. Do you specialize in any type of hypnosis?
Primarily stage hypnosis.
3. Is there any type of hypnosis you do not do? Why?
Please! A gentleman does not discuss such things! It is indiscreet! 
4. Do you use self-hypnosis regularly in your life?If so, how?
Yep! I use it to help moderate migraines, cure hiccups and to deal with stress, when I have the time.. things happen so fast, sometimes! LOL
5. Describe your hypnosis office or work setting.
Pick a stage, any stage… or someone’s home… or banquet hall… you get the idea.
6. Describe a typical day in your life.
There is no such thing as a “typical day” in my life… seriously.
7. Where did you get your training in hypnosis and are you certified?
Mind Sight Consulting, the Baranowskis were my first certifying instructors, but that came late in my career. I have also studied with Steve Lankton, Michael Brown and a whole lot of other people over the last 40 years…
8. Most fabulous hypnosis technique you use?
The Bryan-san Oriental pressure Point Method (which is a placebo technique!)
9. Worse moment ever in a hypnosis setting that ended up being a valuable learning experience.
When a stage hypnotist I was watching had five people go into hysteria because he was stupid enough to do the “swarm of bees” routine on stage… and all five of them were deadly allergic to bee stings!
10. Any words of advice to potential clients or other hypnotist.
LEARN your craft! Understand that there’s more to hypnosis than scripts and techniques, but also understand the psychology of phobias and how to avoid invoking them as well as being careful about your own safety.
Is there a perfect chair out there for doing hypnosis? I have begun to doubt it. What I think instead is that there is a perfect chair for each client, and it is luck of the draw if yours happens to be it. When it comes to my trsuty recliner, I have gotten everything from this recliner is perfect. This recliner is too big. This recliner is too soft. This recliner needs to recline more. And oh, I think I will just lie on the floor.
When I was going to school to learn hypnosis, we sat in hard uncomfortable chairs that did not recline in the slightest, and you know, the hypnosis worked as well as any done in the best recliners. (When I was in school, I had to walk fifty miles on bare feet, through snow…)
This had led me to remember my hypno massage I had back in May. It was pretty amazing. So, here is my latest thought - would one of those massage chairs like the Human Touch HT 7450 Zero Gravity Massage Chair be a good for hypnosis sessions? Might it provide a sense of comfort for some and could one time a session to coordinate with the chair’s various settings and cycles?
I know I could go to massage therapy school, but it is just not for me, but the chair could be an interesting addition to an office setting. Any thoughts?
He snickers, skips the questions on page two and hands back my intake form. I glance at it and hand it back, smiling at the skipped questions. He sighs and begins to answer them, every so often moaning about how hard they are. Sounds like an exam, does it not? Hardly. What he is moaning about is answering the questions about what peacefulness means to him or perhaps he does not feel like divulging his phobias.
In talking about hypnosis sessions in general, there are a few things that are fairly basic. The intake form or process is a big part of the session itself and provides a guiding focus for the hypnotist. It sounds elementary and maybe so, but there is an art to the intake. Whether the client fills out the form or the hypnotist ask questions and notes them, this is not just a formality. These questions help clients to pinpoint what it is that they want to work on and gives insight that the hypnotist can use to help in relaxation processes (such as taking the client to their own particular peaceful place and doing so with words that are familiar to the client - their own). Some intakes are more in depth than others. They may ask several potential questions that seem ultra personal, but again they point to clues that the hypnotist can use.
I once read someone’s intake that asked specifically about a person’s sexual preference. At first it seemed a little like privacy invasion, but the reason for it was sound. Say the client is wanting to work on intimacy in a relationship and part of the session includes focusing on the partner, if the hypnotist makes an assumption, the whole session may be a no go because the partner was described in the wrong sex.
So here are two questions for you out there.
Hypnotist - do you ask enough questions to get a true picture of the client?
Clients or potential clients - do you feel the intake forms you have filled out ask things that make you uncomfortable?
Hypnotist - do not be afraid to ask everything you need to know. Just be ready to explain why it will help you to know the items on your intake form.
Clients - do not be afraid to ask the hypnotist why he or she wants to know something, if it makes you uncomfortable.
All the cliches come into your mind - swinging stop watches, swirls, a hypnotic voice that sounds a bit like Dracula honing in on his victim, people barking like dogs and quaking like ducks. Seem familiar? If you were to ask a modern day hypnotist about these things he or she would probably just grimace or embrace the cliche. But they are cliches none the less, and cliches, like stereotypes have come about for a reason. The reason is because people live up to the expectations.
So, here is where we will start our discussion on tradition hypnosis, keeping in in mind that hypnosis is all about using suggestions to create some form of inner change, whether long-term or short-term. The idea of traditional hypnosis fits this definition perfectly as it means that the hypnotist will make suggestions to the subconscious or unconscious part of the clients mind. It relies on post-hypnotic suggestions that the client responds to after the session. Post-hypnotic suggestions are instructions that the subconscious mind utilizes to help create the inner change.
So what happens during a traditional hypnosis session? You will probably fill out an intake form, be given a pre-talk, begin a relaxation process or be given a simple mental task to focus on, will be given a method to deepen your relaxation, which will be followed by the suggestions. Then you will be brought back to normal consciousness. Depending on the hypnotist, you may or may not be tested to see how suggestible you are to that particular hypnotist’s suggestions or may be given convincers that you are in a hypnotic state. We will delve into all this sooner rather than later because these concepts are found in much hypnosis work.
So what do the stereotypes have to do with all this? Well, the swinging watch is what is called an eye-fix induction, where the person being hypnotized is directed to focus on the object. While he or she focuses, suggestions are given for relaxation. This involves a little more than just saying the words “You are getting sleepy.” The placement of the watch in proximity to the client is important as are the visual cues the client gives during the process. The same goes for the swirl. The hypnotic voice? This is a simple technique to instill a little monotony, trust, and calmness. Barking like a dog and quaking like a duck? Those are the post-hypnotic suggestions (we will talk about this later, but rest assured you will only do what you are inclined to do with the post hypnotic suggestion, in other words you will not do anything against your will).
In a traditional hypnosis session, the session relies mainly on the hypnotist, who will do a great deal of talking. As the person being hypnotized, you will not be asked to interact very much, other than responding to various instructions. For most people, it is an incredibly relaxing experience.
Brrrrr!
Last night I started thinking about the whole idea of hypnosis in classic fairy tales a little bit more. For awhile I was pleasantly pleased by the idea that fairy tales involve a lot of trance factors. Then it dawned on me (okay, so I am a little slow) that in every instance I could think of that remotely related (all the poisoned apples and finger pricks) were done by the hands of the evil so and so. So much for the mythic trance. Darn. That is awful PR (public relations in this case, not page rank) for us. So, maybe it is time to write our own positive fairy tales where hypnosis saves the day.
In blogging about serious subjects, ahem, like hypnosis, every now and then, a break is needed. I dread monotony like I dread the cold descending upon the body that has been warmed in the blankets of sleep.
This past weekend, I saw the movie Enchanted (which I loved by the way) and then last night in perusing the tele, there was some horror movie themed around Snow White. So, three is a charm. There is a new book by Harald Walter Azmann called The True Snow White - Limited Premiere Edition. So there she is, ever popping into my life this week. Am I feeling the ungraceful elements of aging or the a blossoming experience of adulthood, which Azmann’s book delves into?
But one thought about that story has continued to nag at me today. It is the whole poisoned apple thing. Is this not perhaps another form of hypnosis - such as chemical hypnosis? I should add that to the list. One could look at the poisoned apple as literal poison with an antidote (or anti-venom) that is caused by the components of a simple kiss. Or is it something more akin to hypnosis - the suggestion that only a true love’s kiss can awaken the princess from her trance or that without she would die if it was not administered at a particular time (I suspect Sleeping Beauty’s fate is a more apt reference, but since Snow White is the one nagging at me, I feel inclined to discuss her). One might say it is not so much suggestion because how did Snow White know the parameters of the poison? Here we could go even farther and say it was Universal Consciousness. LOL.
Actually now that I think about it, fairy tales are a great subject for hypnosis and how it could be an element in so many. And really, when you come down to it, fairy tales are a form of Ericksonian hypnosis, hypnosis based around metaphors and such. We will definitely be talking about this more.
Before going into lengthy diatribes about the various forms of hypnosis, I thought it might be fun to get a general definition.
What is Hypnosis?
Some might say this is a tough question. Merriam-Webster defines hypnosis as:
a trancelike state that resembles sleep but is induced by a person whose suggestions are readily accepted by the subject…
Nice. Cut and dry, yes? No. What exactly is a “trancelike state”? What does “induce” mean? Wait. Backtrack again to the word “state.” Whoa Nellie.
Confused? It could be really easy to become confused when grappling with subjects of consciousness and the brain. Suffice to say, we are still learning what really goes on in the mind, which I suppose, is akin to the mystery of life.
To simplify or better yet - Ellie’s Definition of hypnosis:
hypnosis is all about using suggestions to create some form of inner change, whether long-term or short-term.
Now one could take this farther and use the word “state” from the Merriam-Webster’s definition, but again this gets fuzzy. There are a few different camps of hypnosis theory. One says that hypnosis is a “state of mind” or an “altered-state of consciousness.” Another says it is focused concentration and expectation that create the results. Personally, I believe the answer is found in both. Focused concentration means putting your mind in a certain “state” of consciousness. The two go hand in hand. I suspect later we may need to devote sometime to delve into this more (and feel free, as always to leave you thoughts on this).
But for now, you have my definition, which may help clarify the perspective in which my words revolve on this blog.
Last I week I mentioned we would be talking about the various forms of hypnosis, and guess what - we are. It is not something that can go in one post, but is going to take some time. Also, please feel free to jump in the comment section to voice your thoughts, opinions, and questions. It would be great if we could get a definitive list of types of hypnosis, but it seems to be ever growing and changing.
Here is a basic list of what comes to my mind this Tuesday morning:
Again, this is just what comes to my mind on my first cup of tea. I really would like to keep the list going, so please do add to it.
When looking at last week’s poll, no one checked doing charity work during the holidays. It really is hard to make time for such things with all the hubbub of craziness that seems to be around.
What makes me think of this is that our local police department dropped by the office a few days ago to collect for their own charity. I was rather surprised by this. I suggested that I would be happy to volunteer my time or do a class in emergency hypnosis or relaxation techniques for the police officers or even to do the occasional guided meditation for de-stressing. But, what they really wanted was extra funds. It seems our tax dollars do not provide enough monies to keep our law enforcers in tactical equipment, such as that provided by 511 tactical. I was really shocked to hear this. I would have thought Kevlar vest were standard issue, but apparently not.
I did donate to the cause, but was a little saddened that they had no interest in my volunteer time. However, I may pitch it to the higher-ups anyway.
Do any of you volunteer your hypnosis services to help other’s in the community and if so, what sort of experiences have you had?
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