The Transparent Hypnotist

Results from If a representative of a company is rude to you, do you:
0 - Do business there anyway
7 - Take your business elsewhere (87%)
0 - You do not care
1 - Complain to management (12%)
1 - Other (12%)
Total Participants = 8

Results from Would You Prefer to Try Hypnosis:
1 - At a Hypnosis Show (8%)
9 - In a Hypnotist’s Office (75%)
0 - In a Psychologist’s Office
1 - In Your Own Home (8%)
0 - At a Party
1 - I Do Not Want to Try It (8%)
Total Participants = 12

Results from Would You Let a Stranger that You Just Met Hypnotiz You on the Street?
1 - Yes (7%)
8 - No (58%)
2 - It would depend on the person (14%)
1 - It would depend on the place (7%)
2 - I would think about it (14%)
Total participants = 14

Results from The mindset for being hypnotizable is:
4 - One of Intelligence (30%)
1 - One of Weak-mindedness (7%)
2 - It does not matter (15%)
7 - Trust in the hypnotist (53%)
8 - Being relaxed (61%)
6 - Expecting it to work (46%)
2 - Other (15%)
0 - None - hypnosis is a myth
Total participants = 13

Results from When Other Sites Link to Your Web Site, Do You:
0 - Prefer to be notified first
9 - Feel flattered (90%)
0 - Feel it is an invasion
4 - Do not need to be notified (40%)
0 - Do not care
0 - Other
Total Participants = 10

Results from How do you quiet the noise in your mind?
7 - Self-hypnosis (41%)
6 - Meditate (35%)
3 - Do something bodily active (17%)
3 - Read (17%)
4 - Watch TV or a Movie (23%)
4 - Do something creative (23%)
4 - Journal (23%)
1 - Ignore it (5%)
0 - There is no noise
Total Participants = 17

Results from Do you consider yourself:
2 - A permissive person (20%)
0 - An authoritative person
8 - Both on occasion (80%)
Total Participants = 10

Results from When thinking about the new year, do you:
3 - Make a resolution (17%)
2 - Refuse to make a resolution (11%)
2 - ignore it (11%)
6 - Use it for contemplation (35%)
3 - See it as a new begining (17%)
10 - Every day is a new begining (58%)
1 - Other (5%)
Total Participants = 17

It is good to be back at home, drinking Darjeeling today. A little change seems to go a long way. So here we are on a dark and gloomy (but warm) Monday morning.

For the last week or two I have been having flashes of needing to get of routine to freshen things up a bit in my life. And so I have. I changed teas, went adventuring on the weekend, and am now looking for new music. I use it in the background of some sessions and I try to always have something playing when clients first enter the office. Usually it is instrumental and calming. It also tends to be New Age. I tried jazz for a little while, and it seemed to stress out more than one client. Then there is the music that is familiar and distracts away from the session. Live and learn.

It has been a challenge finding background music. Little blips and spouts of samples in cyberville media help. Myspace has also been a good thing, though it gets tedious with interface and ads. Youtube is also another good source, but with social media ever expanding, one large database would be a nice change. Musicnation.com rectifies this a bit. It ties in all various sites and collects information about various artists, so you can search for the type of music you desire and find bands, music or blogs (among other things). You can search the musicnation.com database for New Age music or what ever is your cup of tea.

Musicnation.com is relatively new, but it seems as though it could reduce search time because all the information is there in one place. Apparently, one of their partners is Epic Records, so this may also prove to be a launch pad for new music in general.

So, that is my morning - new music. Life is good.

Coffee shop and laptop again today, still far from home. But it has been a fabulous weekend. Hopefully yours has been good as well.

So, I though I would share an experience I had yesterday and base the Sunday Question around it. My partner and I were in an independent bookstore happily perusing the shelves in literary bliss (bet you can relate). Now perhaps this is a new trend in bookstores and I am oblivious, but as soon as we entered the clerk (owner, God Forbid) was all over us, trying to help us. She managed to suggest a book of NASCAR stories for my partner (who would much prefer a Gerald Seymour type of reading experience and has never ever, though American, never paid any attention to NASCAR). Luckily we were rescued with the arrival of a new customer. I find this book on political satire and bring it over to my partner, who I knew would appreciate it. He thumbs through the pages and reads a few selections. Over floats the clerk who suggested NASCAR.

“That is a good book,” she says, “May I put it up front for you?”

Pushy, pushy, pushy. Before I could even think, “Back off,” she did the most astounding thing. She condescendingly began to lecture my partner and I about how this was an independent bookstore and unlike the big chains, she only has one copy of the book. If we stand there and read it then the book becomes a used book. This isn’t a library, you know.

How sad. Buy a book for its cover? Whatever happened to “don’t judge a book by its cover?” It would be like buying a new dress and not being able to try it on or return it if it did not fit (my partner’s analogy).

So, we were unable to support the independent bookstore. We put down all and any of the books we were thinking of transporting home and after a few minutes of recovering from the shock we left (as did a few other customers who received the same lecture or her busy-body ways). One has to wonder how she has manages to stay in business (we know she has been there for at least five years if not longer).

This all leads to the Sunday Question, which can either be a contemplation or a legit question:

In business or work - are you there to serve and help others or are you there because of another reason (other than to make money)? In other words, what motivates you to pursue a certain career path and does this help with your success in your field or does it hinder progress?

Today I am blogging away from home and have been trying to do so on my iPod Touch. Does not seem to like Blogger. Hmmm. So, my partner has taken pity for me and the coffee shop and is letting me post this on his laptop.

You will note the moving figure on the left (though I am not sure it moves if you are looking at this in Safari). You can find out more about it and its functions at theunwindingpath.com. What I think is interesting about this particular moving thing is that it changes directions depending on your mode of consciousness. You can make it move through concentration or just thinking about it. My thoughts are that this would make a potentially wonderfully visual eye fixation for a hypnotic induction. One could use suggestions such as “when the figure changes directions, you go deeper into a state of pleasant hypnosis.”

Any thoughts?

Location: Bournemouth, Dorset

Cyber Location:
www.adam-eason.com
www.adam-eason.com/blog

1. Are you a full time hypnotist, part-time or hobbyist?

Full time… As much as I can allow it to be. Hypnosis and its therapeutic applications is my main love – there are only so many people I can see in a day. So I speak on the subject in various forms across the world, run seminars and courses so my time is spent with other things too.

2. Do you specialize in any type of hypnosis?

I teach and heavily advocate the use of self-hypnosis… Are there any other ‘types’ of hypnosis?

I work very indirectly and subtly with hypnosis and incorporate a range of other interventions I find useful from the fields of NLP, CBT, classical psychiatry and other related fields… My belief is that hypnosis is inherent within all these things.

3. Is there any type of hypnosis you do not do? Why?

I do not do past life regression. I have a firm belief in congruence leading to the effectiveness and success of the therapist. For that reason, I tend to believe that if you do not wholly believe that what you are doing is going to be useful, successful and yield tangible results, then it should not be done. I am uncertain as to where my beliefs and understandings of past life regression lie and therefore refer enquiries to other therapists in this field.

Although my personal life is punctuated with certain elements of spirituality and is flavored with ‘new-agism’ here and there, my professional practice is free from these things – I like it that way and it has lent itself to my career advancement I believe.

4. Do you use self-hypnosis regularly in your life? If so, how?

Of course we all spend much of our lives in some form of trance… I have taken myself into hypnosis formally approximately 5 times a day for the past 14 years. I go into hypnosis when I work with clients – it is the best way to ensure they go there too! Erickson spent most of his therapeutic time in trance and any good hypnotherapist ought to be doing the same. When you want someone in a particular state – best to be there yourself. Any practitioner, or anyone claiming to be a professional practitioner or even advocate of hypnosis, needs to be regularly experiencing the state – yet so few do. If you do not regularly enter hypnosis yourself, why would you presume to understand and empathize that you are successfully inducing the same in others?

Am I allowed a gratuitous plug here?…. My book ‘The Secrets of Self-Hypnosis’ (the best selling book on self-hypnosis in the past 10 years) explains the system I use and how to apply it to varying aspects of your life.

5. Describe your hypnosis office or work setting.

I have my consulting rooms on the very south coast of England that overlook the beach and the sea. With the windows open, you can hear the sea and boy, do I utilize that sound in my sessions!

It is large and airy, we have leather sofas, tall bookcases, reclining chairs, a sound system in the ceiling and all manner of hypnotic goodies to enhance people’s experience of being here.

6. Describe a typical day in your life.

Hmm… Having kissed my beloved Katie and made her tea, I run along the sea front – often as part of my training for one the marathons I run each year. Having showered and had breakfast, I blog, answer emails, write articles for my weekly ezine and chat with my business colleagues. I then see 4-6 clients in my consulting rooms for the day. I email them all on notes and further reading relating to the work we are doing together and I head home. I often cook for Katie, we do all manner things with our evenings – we are currently being taught how to dance properly for our wedding in May… Fridays, I finish early, especially if I am working overseas or running a diploma that weekend.

7. Where did you get your training in hypnosis and are you certified?

I think I have enough letters after my name to complete several large sentences and that does not make for interesting reading. Having originally been a psychiatrist, I abandoned conventional medicine due to its seeming ineffectiveness with my own problematic skin condition that was finally overcome with hypnosis.

I went on to train with several large, prominent schools in the UK, US and Europe – I have trained with Paul Mckenna, Richard Bandler, John LaValle, Robert Dilts and many others. I have several diplomas and have written two research theses in hypnosis related topics. I was a Director of and complaints officer for the Hypnotherapy Association for a number of years until time meant that I could not commit further to the roles. You can read a long, lengthy and fully comprehensive list of my qualifications at my website, it is certainly the least interesting page there though!

8. Most fabulous hypnosis technique you use?

I love the presupposition that if this is the most fabulous technique, that there must be others with a degree of ‘fabulousness’ too!

‘One’ of the most fabulous techniques that I use often is hypnotizing couples to be each other… In much the same way that David Calof wrote about in his wonderful book of the same name… When you hypnotize a couple that are struggling with their relationship – they become each other for that session and have to interact with the other as if they are the other one… Some intriguing and incredibly beneficial insights are gleaned and much change occurs without having to do much else…

9. Worse moment ever in a hypnosis setting that ended up being a valuable learning experience.

As a younger, inexperienced man, I allowed a client to intimidate me with his high life standing and intellect. The therapy was largely ineffective until I told him by mistake that he was ‘pissing me off’ … Ooops, desperately unprofessional! However, it really interrupted his pattern, jolted some mutual respect, allowed me to do what was more effective and lead the therapy sessions in a way that helped us both.

10. Any words of advice to potential clients or other hypnotist.

Find a hypnotist you like and feel comfortable being yourself with. Hypnosis is intimate and requires a sense of trust and belief in what you are doing… As a hypnotist be yourself… Truly on every level… So many hypnotherapists are simply bland versions of people attempting to be something to everyone. Be different, enjoy your idiosyncrasies, be who you really are and those that like you will plant their flag in the ground beside you.. Those that don’t can find someone more suitable to them… When you attempt to be everything to everyone, you end up being a bland, rather lame version of all the other people who are forming part of the herd and unfortunately I encounter hundreds of therapists each year with great training and knowledge, yet incapable of attracting clients, using their hypnosis skills in life and not managing to make a good living… Congruency and authenticity rules ok!

If you are interested in reading more about me you can visit www.adam-eason.com and you can download for free a rather fantastic hypnosis session which has sounds coming in both ears at the same time, evocative language and especially recorded music for maximum hypnotic effect. If you want to read my usual rantings which often require me to wipe the foam from my mouth afterwards, then my blog is www.adam-eason.com/blog …. Lots of my podcasts are at my site along with all manner of other hypnotic stuff… I’ll stop plugging now… Best wishes to all your regular readers, I do love the transparent hypnotist blog…

For a little while, we romanced Charcot and his hysterical ideas that hypnosis could only be experienced by those thought to suffer from hysteria. Well, alas, it is time to wipe our hands clean of the spectral from this early performance art and get back to the therapeutic side. But before you roll your eyes, yawn and click off this post, the story is hardly boring.

It is time to introduce Hippolyte Bernheim, nemeses of Charcot. Can you hear the hisses from the Salpêtrière School (where Charcot practiced)? Enter in the idea of suggestibility. That’s right. This is where that whole concept begins to manifest itself into consciousness. (1) Bernheim believed that Charcot’s provocation of hysteria during hypnosis came about from suggestions given at that time - hence the hysteria was induced via suggestion not heredity. He also took Charcot’s studies forward a bit and believed that hypnosis could be used therapeutically. He even surmised that hypnosis could be used to even treat hysteria. Charcot’s main interest was in studying hysteria, not helping those suffering from it. (2)

Now we need to add a little somnambulism to the mix and we have a most modern notion of hypnosis. While a professor at the aculté de Médicine at Nancy (or the Nancy School of Hypnosis), Bernheim learned about a gentleman doctor who worked with patients using artificial somnambulism. This gentleman was Liébeault. So, this acquaintance influenced Bernheim to adjust his views of hypnosis a bit more. He defined hypnosis as a heightened state of artificially induced suggestibility. (2) Amen.

So, powerful advocate of modern hypnosis - Yes! Friend of Charcot - No. Not only did Bernheim disagree with Charcot’s ideas, he also implied that the study controls of Charcot’s students were suspect, as well as Charcot.

Sources:
Library of Congress Exhibit
Serendip

One of yesterday’s sessions ended in a very odd way. There was nothing very unusual in the request - smoking cessation. My client was a young man who had quit before using hypnosis. It had last a few months until a crisis happened and he started up again. Also he had quit during his wife’s pregnancy with no effort, then when the child was born, he started again. But, before he turns 40, he had wanted to be rid of the habit. No problem.

We went through the pre-talk. I asked him what he remembered about his first hypnosis session. He did not remember too much. Again, no problem. I always ask about people’s other hypnosis experiences to get a feeling where they are in comprehension of hypnosis and what differences to expect from me.

He did great when I put him through a few paces to see how he processed information and to get an idea about how our rapport was working out. And so I believed it would be a good session (I am still pretty sure it was - it was just odd) and worked with a permissive, traditional approach. Induction, deepener, depth test and convincers before beginning the suggestion work. Excellent, textbook responses.

At the end, once he had opened his eyes, he looked at me and said that he had heard every word going on in the office below me, as well as the outside street noises. I explained that some people experience a hyper-awareness of the senses. Then he said I needed to get what his other hypnotist used - a sound system where the client wears soundproof earphones and I do the session speaking through a microphone that is connected to the earphones (yikes, more wires everywhere). This means there is no opportunity for outside noises to be a distraction. I see the point. But I come from the school of philosophy that says hypnosis does not require sense deprivation or total silence other than the sound of my voice. I work the background noises into my patter and allow the client plenty of time to acclimate to the various noises around us.

Then my client remembered his whole first session. It sounded like a lovely guided visualization. But I found myself on edge a bit, as though I was about to be criticized. I know there was a comparison process going on within him, but it felt like he was going to be not so favorable to my version (now mind you, I suspect this was an internal thing within me and not him). Before he could start to unravel the work we had just done, I remembered I had given him a post hypnotic suggestion to lose a certain number when counting. I suddenly asked him to count and the number was gone. I snapped my fingers twice (which was also suggested during the session) and the numbers came back. He looked very startled. He said he had thought it impossible, he knew the numbers, but then just could not say the one I suggested he lose.

He left with the standard - hope I never see you again line. (Me too.) Then as he was walking out the door said he would be calling me in a few months to work on weight loss.

And so I have gotten out of bed again. The day smacks of being potentially too hurried, but maybe with a little deep breathing work, it will remain calm and casual. How does your day look?

Yesterday, my partner wanted to know what The Sunday Question was and he responded verbally. Pancakes. Pancakes help him to change things up and make life worth getting up in the morning. Now that is a nice answer. The question remains open for your response as well.

My answer? I try to avoid too much ritual in general. I try to not confine myself too much to any box, except for those that I find most pleasant. I blog in the mornings, have my coffee or tea and figure out the rest of the day at that point. That is the plus side of owning your own business. Others do not dictate your work hours. I go the office when I have clients or just need some quiet time. It is rarely ever the same.

Interesting poll results on Would You Let a Stranger that You Just Met Hypnotize You on the Street? So far the majority says “No.” Perhaps I should have included a question about stage hypnosis. Ah, there I think we have a new poll. Just give me a few…

Tentative upcoming plans for the blog this week:

1. Who the heck is Hippolyte Bernheim?
2. Another variation of the definition of hypnosis
3. Maybe, just maybe another of my favorite five somethings
4. 10 Questions with Adam Eason

And of course, we must not forget Esoteric Saturday and The Sunday Question. Animal hypnosis is still high on my list, but it needs time to do it properly. In our discussion on forms of hypnosis, we are still on the divergent history of the French Schools.

Also, on The Unwinding Path, I am still on the second chapter of The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, but I did post my pre-reading-the-book-drawings over the weekend.

It has been a week of wanting a vacation and indulgences. Though some say Sundays are the begining of new weeks, internally they really seem to be the end for me. It is the last breath before plunging into Monday. So, as usual the Sunday question will reflect the theme of the past six days.

What do you add into your normal routine, be it business, be it weekends, be it how you conduct a hypnosis session, that helps keep life fresh and new for you or even worth getting out of bed?

*50 entrecredits for a my favorite response (you must include your entrecard number if you want the credit).

Two aspirin, a glass of orange juice, and a heck of a lot of water and I am fine. Wondering if I am taking a cold or remedying a hangover? If you choose the latter, that would be correct. Please realize that I am neither promoting nor condemning alcohol, but push has come to shove and it was time to try HQ Hpnotiq for myself. My partner and I indulged in splitting a 375ml bottle last night so I could finally give a rundown on it for Esoteric Saturday. I mentioned it this past summer, but had not been able to experience it till now.

And the verdict? Why, it makes for a mighty fine aperitif. A little tart in its blend of vodka, cognac, and fruit juices. The liquid is indeed nuclear blue and the bottle is frosted glass. So what you see is what you drink.

Being a little excited, we decided to try some of the recipes on hpnotiq.com. The first was Lemon-TIQ, which involves mixing HQ with some Lemoncello. It is served over ice. Personally, I prefer plain HQ. So that led to the Hpno-Grand Shot of HQ, comprised of grenadine, HQ and vodka. Not at all pleasant in my book. Needing to remove the taste, the last recipe we tried was by far the best - Hpnotiq Sangria. This recipe called for HQ, red wine and orange juice. Very nice and refreshing.

So, children do not try this at home. LOL. Well try it (if you are of legal drinking age), but maybe not indulging in such a variety of mixed drinks.