The Transparent Hypnotist

Location:Prescott, Arizona

Cyber Location: transformativearts.com

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

I’ve been a full-time, PhD-prepared hypnotherapist since 1992.

2. Do you specialize in any type of hypnosis?

While I do the standard things, what I most enjoy are the unusual issues
that people come to me with. For example: a client who felt she had a
mythical entity haunting her life; an opera singer who felt a “glitch” in
her throat between her lower and higher registers; a rodeo roper who
noticed a feeling of fear and hesitation between the time he approached a
calf and when he roped it. Work on relationship issues and fertility are
other areas I find very satisfying.

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

Stage hypnosis and “instant” inductions are interesting, but they just
aren’t my style. Hypnosis for weight loss I do, but not without explaining
to clients how very complex are our reasons for overeating and for holding
extra weight, and that permanent weight loss is seldom likely without
going into those issues.

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

I use self-hypnosis daily, taking stock of — and making adjustments to –
body, mind, heart and spirit.

5. Describe your hypnosis office or work setting.

One of the most wonderful historic buildings in Prescott is the home of my
office and art studio. I’m on the top floor of the old Masonic Temple near
the courthouse square. My office is set apart at the back of my studio,
which has a high, light feeling. The recliner is a near-antique; I have
a desktop water fountain providing background sound.

6. Describe a typical day in your life.

I am so lucky! I ride my electric bicycle to the office in the beautiful
Arizona sunshine. Check email, return calls, and set up for my first
client. This includes a centering time with a standing meditation, where
I bring myself into a feeling of harmony and focus before working with
someone. I have the usual internet time, and often breaks for running
errands. My days have no fixed schedule beyond client appointments, so I
have time for writing, painting, and gardening.

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

As I was getting going in my PhD program, all roads seemed to lead me to
applications of naturally altered states of consciousness. I studied
worldwide shamanism and had my first opportunity to learn holistic
hypnosis with Richard Zarro in Woodstock, NY. That gave me my initial
certification with the National Guild of Hypnotists, the world’s oldest
and largest certifying agency. I’ve since become a certified hypnosis
instructor for NGH. As all NGH certified hypnotists are required to do,
I’ve kept up continuing education with any number of gifted teachers and
gotten certifications in several areas.

8. Most fabulous hypnosis technique you use?

My own version of inner child work (that I employ with women clients and
adapt for men) is the Fairy Godmother. She’s the magical, loving adult
aspect of the self whose greatest interest is in providing the wounded
child what that child needs. It empowers the adult as it heals the child,
as the adult draws on the huge resources of the imagination and identifies
with a powerful, magical, capable being.

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

There was the client who was very frightened of the hypnotic process, who
had an involuntary vomiting response to stress. She never actually threw
up in my wastebasket, but I learned to stay calm and have it ready when
she began to gag during her first few sessions. Then there was a young man
who associated the progressive relaxation part of my induction with
massage, who actually thought at the time that I was giving him a massage.
That taught me just how powerful the imagination can be.

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

To hypnotists: disappear, except for your skills. This time is all about
the client. Hypnosis is a self-help technique, and the more you encourage
the client to do for herself or himself, the more effective your work will
be. They are the authority and the healer for themselves; our work is to
help them to uncover, discover and use that fact.

Photograph by John Cruz

Well, the day has started off to a most unspectacular start (some personal things I shant go into), so to sooth my soul, I am again touching on poetry. There was the lovely poem by Robert Graves called Counting the Beats that I featured on an Esoteric Saturday. I could hardly leave it at that. The mixing of literature and hypnotics is something that I find so charming, it is always uplifting. I first became aware of the idea from a lecture I attended by Dan Cleary. I cannot remember the poem he used (one of the Romantics), nor did he actually say it was an induction, but as he read it aloud, its power overwhelmed me. It was beautiful and captivating. Then I notice this year, pnosis.com’s own Ralph Blenko is doing a session at the NGH conference on Lewis Carroll’s famous story for use as an induction. It therefore must be a worthy topic.

During my coherent morning moments, I researched the subject a bit. The first thing that I found were a few references to the hypnosis domination culture and erotic genre. Sadly, one had to pay for all those, so alas, I won’t be sharing those resources

Instead, I give you another of Ellie’s Favorite Five. These are either resources I believe would make great inductions or involve references to hypnosis nicely.

1. First, lets go back to the 1500s. Bring forth the Earl of Dorset, Thomas Sackville and his poem - The Induction. To tell the truth, I would not use this an induction, too many negative things for my comfort level. But it does depict an interesting journey.
2. Thanks to Andre M. Weitzenhoffer and his publication The Practice of Hypnotism, we do find a lovely tale of hypnosis in the Finnish epic poem The Kalevala.
3. James Whitlark and Lynn Whitlark show a novel Ericksonian approach to Walt Whitman’s Song of the Open Road.
4. The very charming Elena V. Moonray wrote Be Like Water, My Friend, which could really make a decent induction.
5. Maybe my favorite of all - Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb, as pointed out by Michael Raugh.

The crowd was sitting before me. They were quiet, so quiet I was not sure they were even really breathing.  There were no smiles.  No friendly faces. My little quips landed like water balloons that not only missed their target, but did not explode; just a dull, unsatisfying, slushy thud. The silence echoed. When I finished my talk, there was a very long pause where there should have been polite clapping.  Nothing.  Then one amorphous hand shot up, rigidly straight like the bayonet of a rifle.  The question came out, each word staccato like random gunfire.

“How does it feel, Ms. Blunt, to be a fraud?”

Now before you do the really nice thing and maybe comment about how I am a not a fraud (okay, is it really wrong to fish for comments?), you should probably know that this  has never happened. It is based on my own occasional phobia of public speaking. It was from a passage in my journal. Maybe some of you can even relate.  God knows, I have enough clients that walk through my door that can sympathize.

Okay, so now you think I have this horrible fear before I talk in front of a group.  But that is not correct, either. Through the miracle of a little self-hypnosis, I always get by it. Whenever I feel the pangs of nervousness about such a thing, I take a few moments out of my day and go through the self-hypnosis process.  Sometimes I do it directly, working with positive visualizations and sometimes I use a CD that I made for myself.

But I noticed something interesting the other day. Two of us were scheduled to speak to a women’s group. The other speaker and I were having coffee before the meeting and she mentioned feeling completely agitated about having to speak (her topic was on gardening). She asked if I could help.  So, I did, I took her through a fifteen minute session and she did great in her talk.  And so did I. In fact, I did much better than I do even with my own self-hypnosis.

It seems as though, after several years of being in the hypnosis profession, that I have trained myself to go into a fairly significant trance when working with clients.  I actually go deeper than I do when I am not working with someone else.  Maybe it is actually saying the words that does it.  Interesting phenomenon.

I have a confession to make. I am a Disney fan. When I write about standard network shows that include episodes involving hypnosis, chances are I have not actually seen the show. Ever. It is true I rarely watch TV these days, but you know what? When I do turn on the tele, I am very apt to watch the Disney Channel. It is much less stressful than the news or even the addictive prime time shows (I used to watch Grey’s Anatomy, but had to give it up because I would cry for hours after it finished). With Disney, its interesting to see what is influencing the generations of tomorrow. It is sort of like a head’s up

So, it has not escaped my notice that Radio Disney is doing free concerts at Morey’s Pier in New Jersey. I mentioned to a friend that if it were England’s Jersey Shores, I would be sorely tempted to go (nothing against New Jersey - there are plenty of Things to do in New Jersey). Then I laughed and she looked mystified. It turns out she has been to Morey’s Pier and had the willies over the giant ferris wheel that is beside the Radio Disney Stage. In jest, I mentioned that there were other Wildwood events she and her children could embark on while I went to the concert (if we actually went on July 26, we could go to the grand finally at the convention center featuring Raven-Symone - see no ferris wheel). Granted when we had this conversation, we were at dinner after a fairly grueling day. But once a hypnotist, always a hypnotist.

The conversation wrestled its way back to phobias. No light, silly Disney-washed conversation for me. In the end, I did the expected sales pitch for hypnosis. And like so many before her, she mentioned another phobia - the fear of what would come up during the session. I disarmed her with talk of confidentiality, of being nonjudgmental, and that any unpleasantness met in the session would be dealt with then and there, giving her the opportunity to work with it so that it would become something that would not cause issue again.

We have our appointment set. She wants to see how well it will do by road-tripping to New Jersey. Heck, she has even looked into Wildwood nj motels. Good grief. I’ll have to miss one of our Monday In Our World to go to a Disney Magic Monday ( July 7th, 14th and 21st). At least these are free, as opposed to the finale. But, I am not opposed to paying for the ticket, finding the adolescent within, and going. With the bought ticket, we would get great discounts on the Pier entrance or water park. Hmmm…

So, maybe then, this Disney fetish will get me a free trip (and a new client). So, why does that feel really odd?

Here it is, another Monday. Starting off this week, I am sitting here with a cup of gunpowder tea. To shake things up even more, I am trying a teaspoon of honey in it. Rumor has it you can develop immunity to certain allergies by having a teaspoon of local honey every day. We’ll see.

And now it is time to see what transpired in the hypnosis world this past week.

The Good

The Times Online published a nifty little article on the benefits of hypno-anaesthesia. Here is a great quote from it:

Whether hypnosis is an objective physiological phenomenon is debatable, but scientists have used brain imaging to show how its techniques can reduce the perception of pain.

Want to know more about sports and how hypnosis can improve your skills? Martin Lancaster published an article about this in RoadCyclingUK.com.

For all off you near Manchester in the UK, Manchester Hypnosis hypnotist Steve Williams is offering an opportunity for you to win a free weight loss session. Click here for more details.

Kudos to CFR Inc. in Oklahoma. According to NewsOK.com, this company takes pretty good care of its employees, such as paying for hypnosis for smoking cessation.

Last week I mentioned that Marti Thompson opened up the Bellevue Hypnosis Center. This week reporter Jason Glenn wrote more about her in the Bellevue Leader, as he himself explores hypnosis for weight loss.

The Bad
In the 1964 UK murder of 12 year-old Keith Bennett, murderer Myra Hindley apparently petitioned the powers-that-be to let her undergo hypnosis to help her remember the location of the body. Her request was denied. This came out in reports that were recently released, as per the Northern echo.

As for The Ugly - I have nothing!!!

Several years ago at an NGH conference, I went to a session on helping people with their weight loss. It ended up being about scare tactics to gross out any client. And though I have not used them with anyone (I don’t play that way), they effected me profoundly. Like a lot of people, I was a vegetarian for a few years, but eventually came back to a carnivorous reality.  After this session, I still ate meat, but the guilt factor involved as huge. I would lament this to all of my friends who were health nuts or would seem empathetic.  Most were helpful, but the guilt has been with me now for too many years.  Why not just give it up, you ask? Well, there are many reasons (none too good), but suffice to say, I have never felt like it was my time or place to take that road again.

So, while on travel, I had a conversation with a friend who is about to “grow meat.”  She has bought a farm and is getting into the free-range, farm-fresh cow trade. I asked her she was going to handle eating “Flossy.”  She laughed at me (roared, really) and said she would feel much better about eating meat that she herself raised - she would give the cows a longer, fuller, happier life, without all the bad stuff.  Okay, I see her point. I let it go and thought to myself - I could never do that…take an animal I had raised and have it for dinner.

Well, without hypnosis, I think the suggestion finally took. When our air conditioner went out, my partner had a “meatfest” grill night.  We fired up the grill and cooked steaks and hamburgers to last us awhile (we could just microwave them and not heat up the kitchen more). We had a lovely steak dinner that night.  Shortly after, I became very ill (my partner was fine).  The next night, we had hamburgers. Shortly after, I became very ill. Now again last night, we had hamburgers and I became very ill. Hmmmm.

So, my meat eating days might just be over.  Thank you, Ms. Subconscious.

Here is this week’s question:

What subconscious thing has caused you to make a change that you were really not so sure you were ready to change?

…at least I think it might be one of the last. I promised this posting so long ago, I had almost forgotten about it. But I feel like this will add a little closer to the Mesmer topic. (Yeah, I know, its not you that needed the closure. LOL).

We’ve seen Harry Potter (maybe) and we were either are titillated or slightly offended by the character Snape. Ah, Alan Rickman - what a fine, slightly villainous character you are. But take away the over-dyed black hair, and underneath his pallor is another character - Mesmer.

To my feminine willies, Rickman makes for a sensual Mesmer, more so than I imagined.  I guess I have always thought if I were back in the day, there would be something repulsive about Mesmer, something that would make me feel like taking an acid shower to remove the ickiness of the intensity of the experience.  However, maybe not (thank you Mr. Rickman for saving me from myself).

In the movie of the same name (Mesmer), I was quite touched by the portrayal, though I believe this movie may be one of the sources for some misconceptions on the reality. But there is one scene in particular that so sums up the occasional disappointment that can result from a hypnosis movement that does not go quite the way a hypnotists might hope. In the scene, Mesmer worked with a group of malady-ridden humans who have demanded healing. This is before the baquet, so he was attempting to cure the group by having them join hands and hang onto magnetized rods. With much sensationalism, he began, but it ended with a whimper, then loud anguished cries of frustration. The experiment failed. Mesmer was devastated.

Anyway, just one of the moments one can relate to when you are hopeful something is going to work, but for various reasons does not. It was extremely well done and handled in the movie.

Location: Manchester, England

Cyber Location: adriantannock.com

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

I’m a full time clinical hypnotherapist with four years experience in working with clients to help overcome a range of issues. Like most hypnotherapists, I have experience in wide range of problems, such as smoking and weight loss, but I tend to specialize in matters to do with letting go of the past, anxiety, and confidence.

2. Do you specialize in any type of hypnosis?

I have trained in NLP, and so tend to use Ericksonian approaches, conversational techniques, indirect elicitation, that kind of thing. I really enjoy the use of language and how it affects our experience of hypnosis. My strategy for therapy involves releasing any negative emotion associated with unconscious memories, plus looking to utilize unconscious resources in order to be happier, healthier, more confident, etc.

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

I don’t do “Stage Hypnosis” - not because I find it unethical, or that I feel that stage hypnosis detracts from its clinical application (although many of my colleagues think that) - just purely because I’d be kicked out of my hypnosis association if I did!

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

I use self-hypnosis each day, both for relaxation purposes and also to give affirmations, using NLP interventions, and also post-hypnotic suggestions. According to “Heartland’s - Medical and Dental Hypnosis” 20 minutes self-hypnosis per day can really help with stress, motivation, and the like.

5. Describe your hypnosis office or work setting.

I rent a consulting room in Manchester city centre (UK); it’s nice, although it can be noisy sometimes. The noise isn’t too much of an issue however; I tend to use some Ericksonian style utilization “And the gentle noise of the traffic outside can remind you that all you need to do is relax even more…”

6. Describe a typical day in your life.

Like any self-employed therapist, I have had to work long hours to build up my practice. Although I tend to spend less time on my business now, and more time reading or studying, I still “work” twelve to fourteen hours each day (I say “work” because I love what I do, it doesn’t really feel like work at all!) So I’ll usually arrive in my office at 9am; answer email inquiries and the like; spend some time studying (usually a couple of hours), and then I’ll begin seeing clients. As I don’t “charge by the hour” my sessions with clients mostly last around 90 minutes, and sometimes around 2 hours. I work with an array of different presenting issues, which means my days are nice and varied. I would not enjoy spending all day, every day working with people hoping to lose weight or stop smoking!

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

I’ve been on many training courses - they were all accredited by some awarding body or other. In the UK there is no regulation of the field of hypnotherapy; however I think that will be changing. At present I am working my way to UKCP (UK Council of Psychotherapy) accreditation. The course I most enjoyed was actually an NLP training course with Richard Bandler in London. Richard Bandler, although a controversial figure, as a very entertaining guy!

8. Most fabulous hypnosis technique you use?

I extensively use ideo-motor signaling as a way of inquiring of the “Unconscious Mind” (whatever that is?) to find out what the problems are. I tend to use hypnosis in an NLP style - less associated revivification of repressed material (I’m not one for tears and snot bubbles) and more dissociated styles. I think my favorite tool is the fast phobia cure (the visual kinesthetic dissociation technique) - the number of applications that tool has is basically limitless.

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

Just after I’d begun my practice, a lady and her husband came for (separate) smoking cessation sessions. The work with the husband went well, as he really wanted to stop. The wife was more challenging, however - even though she strongly protested that she wanted to stop, she was very awkward in answering the questions, and “couldn’t do” the NLP techniques I tried. I use a long, progressive relaxation induction, and after a while I noticed that she kept pinching herself! She complained “Was that supposed to be relaxing? It just gave me a headache!”

I felt quite angry (although I didn’t show it) for the fact that she was wasting my time, but  then I realized she’d been pressured into coming and just wasn’t ready to stop smoking. So, with that in mind, rather than being angry I remembered that people are people - you can’t force them to change, they have to want to change. That was a valuable lesson.

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

To a fellow hypnotherapist, I’d say three things: be creative and eclectic in your approach to therapy; respect the fact that your client’s model of reality will be different from your own, and - most importantly - get training in other psychotherapeutic philosophies and skills; hypnosis is a wonderful tool but it is not blunt instrument that will fix all problems, it needs to be applied with precision and skill.

To potential clients, I’d say the most important thing is: you do not have to suffer with your difficulties indefinitely. However, when choosing a therapist to help you with your problems, consider this: their methodology - which tools they use, how they use them, and why; their experience - how long have they been helping people for, and finally - your rapport with them. If you like their company, this kind of helps!

There was a famous woman who had a life full of titillating adventures. Some would say she was interesting, some would say she was awful, and some would just purse their lips and remain silently righteous. Now in the light of today, I can’t remember who this mystery person was (I did a  lot reading yesterday), but her story was not just one of questionable societal morals, but a story of transformation. Her path led from a life with weak foundation to a strong one as her life became devoted to compassion and helping others. But in this reading, it made no reference to the latter part of her life. It was about the sensationalism of her beginnings, reveling, glorifying her awfulness.

Take Marie Laveau for instance.  It is hard to get a thumb on her - the legend is larger than the reality, I suspect.  You may well know her as a queen among witches, famous for her voodoo talents in New Orleans. But I have read that she eventually gave up that lifestyle and dedicated herself to more christian pursuits (I am really going to have to dig for those sources). But the thing is, she did a lot of good - she helped those suffering from Yellow Fever and such.

So, then, why is so hard for others to let people transform their lives? Why do we revel in their past, judging them by that alone?  Their misdeeds, even if their good deeds are larger, seem some how unforgivable. Would the Widow Paris (Laveau) be appalled o know that it is her horror stories that are most remembered and people flock to her grave for the hopes of experiencing her witchcraft form the dead? Or is she and so many like her, beyond it, transcended and forgiving of those would seek to be obstacles?

Perhaps we should take a cue from the eastern religions where some of their great big-wigs started out with less than reputable ambition, only to transcend their digressions and become religious saints and icons. They seem inspirational - giving everyone the opportunity to become something much more than what their past dictates.

Being in a profession whose pulpit is “positive change,” any story of transformation is wondrous. For those of us with an interest in the “change” processes, maybe this is something we really need to consider - the western co-dependancy of non-change we tend to utilize when we see people we love trying to change. If the general population prefers a good story of evil and omits the true story - that of transformation and transcendence, and encourages members of society to remain static, are we missing something crucial in the picture? What can we do to help people past the negativity of others to revel in their own desire for positive change?

It is the last teaspoon of Darjeeling. It is a sad moment, but it has been a lovely satchel of tea and a new beginning for some other type. Tomorrow will be a reinvention of my morning ritual - a whole new flavor experience

Perhaps today should be about new flavors then. There have been times when I am a little terse or even a tad bit harsh on psychology attitudes and views on hypnosis. I suspect I have parceled them together and lumped them in a category that is not so favorable based on a few personal experiences where I found certain members of the psychologist family to be just awful and completely useless. I do realize this is so not fair (and when I dug into my notes yesterday, I found many of the ones I have thought to be useless were not psychologist at all, but trained social workers). I shant go into a negative rant, but rather will shift the balance to the positive. Psychology (and social work) is like everything else. There are the good and the bad. For every bad, I suspect there are two or more good ones out there.

But, I am human and it is easy to get peeved by those psychologists (those in the western hemisphere particularly) who blow off the value of a good hypnosis session. I suspect these same psychologist are annoyed at me for blowing off long-term talk therapy. But then there is the other side, as I was reminded on Monday by the Australian psychologists who do not want to deregulate hypnosis so that the lay population can practice it.

I know, I know. Relax my fellow hypnotists who do not live in places where hypnosis is regulated. I shant preach about why or why not it should be regulated, but we should take a pause here. What does this actually say about hypnosis, this little fight down under. In many ways it is actually exalting hypnosis. It preaches the validity of it. If psychologist over there are so concerned that in the wrong hands, hypnosis could be a bad thing - is that not an acknowledgment of the potential benefits for hypnosis? Okay, so it is a bit skewed - it does not do much for the general public to hear all this because it could lead to fear or more misconceptions. But on a professional level, it is really very interesting.

Any thoughts?