A Few Thoughts from Michael about the NGH Conference
Well, it has been over a week since the festivities of the National Guild of hypnotists had their convention. Unfortunately I was unable to attend, but Michael did and here are some excerpts from his emails (I have his permission to do this) about the conference:
The highlight for me was, once again, Gloria Constantas. In addition to giving an expanded version of her “Verbal Impact” presentation she also did a session on “Hypnotic Rejuvenation.” Pragmatist that I am, I went to that expecting something new-agey and on the edge of credibility. Instead I was happily surprised at the content and message Gloria had to impart. She started, as she always does, by challenging our existing mindsets. This time it was with a short demonstration of the powerful effects of visualization. She discussed with the class many of the so-called signs of aging such as memory loss, wrinkles, physical deterioration, slowing down, and then challenged us to consider to what extent those “inevitable” symptoms are caused by our expectations rather than by the body just wearing out. And then, to the delight of my practical heart, she talked about a study done in California of 7,000 people that found seven common life habits of long-lived people: they sleep 7-8 hours a night, they eat breakfast, they never smoke, they stay active — all things that hypnosis can help motivate someone to do. It was a brilliant presentation.
Bernard Yam gave two very interesting talks that discussed aspects of hypnosis in terms of hard scientific data. In one he discussed the science of sleep and how hypnosis has been demonstrated effective in helping people to sleep more easily and better. In the other, called “Answering the Skeptics,” he cited and discussed a number of formal research studies, many of them quite recent, that when taken together prove pretty conclusively that hypnosis is a real state, that people responding to hypnotic suggestions are actually experiencing the phenomena suggested rather than lying to please the authority figure. Bernard received an award from NGH for his work and is an all-around cool guy.
It appears from the program that NGH is now positioning itself as the organization for beginner hypnotists. Almost every one of the included one-hour sessions was geared toward “all levels” of audience, meaning you didn’t need to have much experience with hypnotism to understand the material. Talks for experienced hypnotists, even among the extra-charge 2- and 3-hour sessions, were few and far between. I have nothing against offerings geared toward the beginning hypnotist, mind you, but the lack of advanced options seems to suggest that once you reach a certain level of skill in hypnotism NGH has little to offer.
Thanks for the comments, Michael!
August 19th, 2008 at 7:43 am
Interesting comments, Michael. Something for NGH to consider.
Gloria is a brilliant speaker and knows her stuff. I envy you sitting in on that class. However, I get to live and work near her, so there!
August 20th, 2008 at 10:28 am
I am very please with what Michael had to say about my seminar. I would like my clients and others who are not yet my clents to be able to find this information about me, so I’m wondering if you could correct the spelling of my last name? Please?
August 20th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
Interesting article Michael.
I wish I could have made it this year.
August 21st, 2008 at 3:50 am
Gloria - sorry about the misspelling. It should be fixed now.
Ellie
August 23rd, 2008 at 12:11 pm
I think Michael is an all around cool guy as well! Thank you for the kind words, I just want to reply to the point “It appears from the program that NGH is now positioning itself as the organization for beginner hypnotists.” It might appear that way, but if you think about it from the speaker’s point of view, it’s a very different prespective. Proposals for lecture topics are competitive, I had a personal history of rejections. A speaker would want to submit something that is for “all levels”, so to give it the maximum chance of acceptance. Also, it’s easy to draw a big crowd when you say your talk is “All levels”, oh and they give a you nicer room too. : ) In any case, a good speaker will be able to communicate advanced ideas in ways that beginner can understand and vetrans can appreciate. I think the Guild have a lot to offer high level hypnotists. Top level hypnotists usually have done and seen it all, so they tend to use the conference as a networking event. Conversations at the bar and dinner tables tends to be more current and insightful, but it takes a certain level of experience to fully appreicate its context. : ) Great meeting you at the convention, looking forward to next year.