The Transparent Hypnotist

Photograph by mikebaird

There are no birds chirping outside my window, in fact the only real noticeable sound is the hum of the heating system. I guess the birds have migrated and have left me here alone (for the time being) to contemplate artificial tweets. Yes, I am talking about the chirp, chirp, chirp of the busy internet nest known as Twitter.

Last month when I was busy with my journey of apple fasting, I thought it would be fun to give Twitter a go, thus letting people know in a short succinct way what was happening with the fast. As the week progressed I began to lag on my tweets and have not really gone back to it (until today when I began writing this post).

I am apparently missing something. I notice lots of short one-liner repartee that goes on between people. Is that the draw? The idea of being connected and only having to write short amounts in volley to what someone else writes?

Debbie Lane, a few months ago mentioned she had gone to a seminar on blogging and they suggested Twitter as a must. I know she is busy Twittering now as I write this (Debbie did you leave entrecard?), but I am not sure I get this whole phenomenon. I read about it constantly. It seems to always be somewhere in the internet news. So what is the deal?

My question for the day is what purpose does Twitter serve for you? Why do you or do you not Twitter? How has it benefitted you?

P.S.

If you are looking for me on Twitter, I am ellieblunt.

Now that there are turkey sandwiches in the making and Black Friday’s malay is over (let’s say a prayer for the gentleman who was trampled to death at a Wal-Mart in Valley Stream, NY), we can look forward to Cyber Monday. Personally, I managed to avoid the darkness of Black Friday, its blatant commercialism and materialism (though I understand that good deal is a good deal), and am now indulging in my own cup of capitalism.

I have spent the early morning playing with CEIVA’s Sit on Santa’s Lap Experience. Basically it is a kitsch sort of thing, selling CEIVA’s digital frames, which are pretty interesting in themselves. They offer a picture plan so that people can send images to the frame (family and friends) no matter where in the world they live. Pretty unique. The Experience is also advertising their Got a Wish Sweeepstakes. You can upload your photo (I used my avatar from a past Esoteric Saturday) and the premise is that you get to sit on Santa’s lap (supposing that you did such things when you were a child) and tell him your Christmas wish. But it makes a nice technological switch because basically your picture shows up in a frame at Santa’s workshop and he discovers your you wish by looking it up in a book. At the end of the Experience, you have an opportunity to win your wish - or rather $500. For several days, leading up to Christmas, Santa will pick a name daily and award the prize to that person.

So, the question is - what is the Transparent Hypnotist’s Christmas Wish? Sure I can go all out and wish for a new video system for the office or how about those chairs by Martha Stewart, but that seems so selfish for some reason. It is all always “me, me, me, me, me.” Yuck. So, I could wish for the overachievement and cliche of world peace (good luck with that, Santa). Okay, as you can read, I have given this a bit of a thought.

Here is my Christmas Wish. It is still a bit self-serving, but it also fills that philanthropic need I have just now. My Christmas Wish is to help women who have suffered from years of abuse, gain some self-esteem and make positive changes in their life. This is a cause very near and dear to me. And perhaps, with a bit of Santa help in the form of $500, I could embark on a not-for-profit venture to work with those in battered women shelters here locally. This way, as a hypnotist, I can pay for the fundamentals needed in beginning such a campaign.

There, that’s my esoteric Christmas wish. What is yours?

Location: Wilmington, DE
Cyber Location: www.delawarehypnosis.com

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

I am a full time hypnotist and have been for the last four and a half years. Before that I worked one and a half years part-time as a hypnotist and 18 years as a registered nurse.

2. Do you specialize in any type of hypnosis?

My training is as a 5PATH™ hypnotist, having trained with Calvin Banyan. 5PATH™ is the primary modality I use when I work with clients and is very effective for addressing the majority of reasons people who come to see me. I am also a HypnoBirthing™ —The Mongan Method practitioner and 7th Path-Transformation Self-hypnosis teacher.

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

I am not trained in conducting Past Life Regression sessions.

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

Yes, I regularly practice 7th Path™ - Transformation Self-Hypnosis. I was taught 7th Path™ by Calvin Banyan during my training. I am also a 7th Path™ teacher, incorporating it into individual sessions and as a stand alone course. To witness the benefits clients receive and not do so for myself would be sad and a disservice to my clients and myself. I also found hypnosis is wonderful when getting a tattoo.

5. Describe your hypnosis office or work setting.

Let me first say I love my office. Delaware Hypnosis Partners is located below ground which creates a safe, womb-like environment (I’m an OB nurse, hence the analogy). The outer office is where new clients view DVDs on “The Truth About Hypnosis” and “The Secret Language of Feelings”. It is also where I teach classes. The inner office is where individual sessions are conducted. To the right are two chairs where new clients and I talk before doing hypnosis together for the first time. We review their paperwork, go over the benefits of the change they’re coming to see me for, and answer any questions they have. Once we’ve done that I ask them if they want to do hypnosis with me and we go over to the area on the left where there’s a large, comfortable recliner for them to sit on. I sit on a chair next to them. Oh, and there’s a desk in the left corner of the room. To see my office click on the MTV icon on the home page of my web site at www.delawarehypnosis.com

6. Describe a typical day in your life.

I am in the office four days a week and see up to 3 clients per day (9am-2:30pm). I would see more clients but I have school aged children at home who need me to pick them up at the end of school. Mondays I work from home tending to the business aspects of running a business—marketing, advertising, call backs, making CDs, writing proposals for conferences, networking, etc.. I teach 7th Path™ and HypnoBirthing—The Mongan Method classes quarterly either in the evening or on Saturdays.

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

I was certified by the National Guild of Hypnotists along with advanced training as a 5PATH™ hypnotist November, 2002.

8. Most fabulous hypnosis technique you use?

I have to name two techniques: Age Regression and Forgiveness techniques. Age Regression allows a client to get to the root cause of why they’re doing what they’re doing with clarity and understanding unlike they’ve ever experienced before. Forgiveness provides a process that frees them from the emotional baggage they’ve been carrying so they are able to move into their future anew.

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

A client rapidly and abruptly emerged herself from a very deep level of hypnosis that created disorientation such that she couldn’t remember where she was or why she was there. Then and there I witnessed how the integration of information needs a slower, more deliberate emerging process. I realized she hadn’t completely emerged and regressed her back to the beginning of her day. She opened her eyes again, more aware of where she was but still left with questions. I answered her questions in a reassuring manner, and over the course of five minutes she was fully oriented. She described the experience as if she was in a disruption of the “time space continuum” (she is a Star Trek fan and so am I) and just needed to get back in sync.

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

Advice to potential clients: If you’re wanting or needing change in your life, hypnosis is an incredible tool to make it happen. I’m biased to going to the root of why you do what you do, clearing out a cow pie versus putting frosting on it. Interview a prospective hypnotist on the phone so you can get a real feel for them and have all your questions answered. Learn more about hypnosis by going to www.ngh.net

Advice to other hypnotists: Do what you love and do it well. Always be open to learn.

The sun is shining brightly. There is the Macy’s parade (is it the Christmas Parade or the Thanksgiving parade or both?). There is 8 o’clock coffee and a warm cat sleeping beside the computer. There is hope for good food and a time to just be grateful we are alive, sheltered, and that there are good friends and family. Even if you are an isolated type, hermited with your blogging activities, you too are not alone, but cherished in this cyber realm.

These are the things for which I am grateful. But there are so many amazing places to visit on this day of giving thanks that say gratitude in meaningful ways, I am going to share my current favorite five with you.

1. The Gratitude Campaign. Scott Truitt has devised a wonderful way, using gesture, to say thank you to our service men and women.
2. The Gratitude Experiment. This begins with a beautiful, visual meditation about gratitude. If you enjoy it, you can join the experiment for a 42 day process. For each of the 42 days, you will receive via email, more short meditations to help you increase the gratitude and positive energy in your life (I may under take this on The Unwinding Path. Care to join me? It is free.).
3. Paul Gaston’s NPR Gratitude List MP3. Paul does a quick segment on all the things he is grateful for in Ohio.
4. The Gratitude List. Pick the top 10 things you are grateful for and add it to the list.
5. Natalie Merchant-Kind And Generous. It think this says it all, my faithful (and new) readers. Thank you for your generosity and honesty that you gave me (and give me) in the day-to-day processes of this blog.

Photograph by katmere

Though it is the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and all in the house are prepared to feast tomorrow (a hypnotist, her partner, and a cat), I am pretending that today is Monday. I have been remiss in my scheduled blogging posts, but some would say being too predictable is not a positive. LOL. So, here is what has transpired in the world of hypnosis since I last blogged about it.

Good

Everyday there seems to be a proliferation of people who mention that they have Irritable Bowel Syndrome or Crohn’s Disease (sometimes I wonder if these are not fad diseases similar to the likes of ADD - I am not saying people do not suffer from them, but sometimes I think there is a rut and its easy enough to foist people into categories for quick, cross-your-fingers-and hope-it-works treatment, but I digress). Like so many things out there, there are various ways to treat the problems. One can do medication, diet changes, and of course, hypnosis. For those of you reading this that suffer from the symptoms of IBS or Crohn’ (or are just curious), US News and World Report did a wonderful article on using hypnosis for treating both IBS and Crohn’s.

How odd our preconceived notions can be. They tell so much about a person - for instance how little I know about hypnosis in Iran. According to Presstv.ir, rather than having a mother-to-be use hypnosis in the birthing process, Iran now has had two successful cesarians under its belt using hypnosis for anesthesia. Bravo!

But, let’s not forget about using hypnosis to help with non-cesarian births. We have mentioned using hypnosis for birthing practices many times, but there seems to be momentum gaining on this particular hypnotic genre. NBC Augusta

And we can also talk more about the trademarked hypnobirthing with Lasi Leavy, a certified doula, and a childbirth hypnosis instructor with Hypnobabies. Learn more about this program by reading the www.readingeagle.com article.

Congrats go to Daniel Araoz, a practicing psychoanalyst and internationally known author who helped shape the “New Hypnosis,” a treatment model using both psychoanalysis and hypnosis, who just received the title of Senior Professor at at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University.

The Bad (as in super cool)

This category is usually reserved for news about celebrities using hypnosis for smoking cessation, weight loss, or even in creative pursuits. Now the tables are turning, and I find myself writing about a celebrity who has become a hypnotist. Catherine Hickland of One Life to Live has been studying the art of hypnosis and has just done her first comedy hypnosis show. Very cool, Catherine! (media.www.asuherald.com).

Odd or Controversial

Let’s go back in time a bit, perhaps to February 1980. We are at the University of Alabama. There are two young, female college students. One shoots the other in the back of the head, twice. Now we have one dead college freshman, and another who has not been convicted in those 20 years. Now 47, Jamie Kellam Letson has been arrested for the murder. For years police have pointed at her with suspicion, until now when they finally arrested her. But that is not what has caught my attention. Instead it is a reference to hypnosis - that the detective tried to have Letson hypnotized because:

“A lot of times under hypnosis people will tell you something they wouldn’t tell you otherwise,” he said. “I wanted her to go under.”

So, he had her hypnotized by a doctor, who ended the session abruptly without giving a reason for the conclusion. Interesting statements all in all. This is another myth that seems to float around out there - that hypnosis can be used as a lie detective sort of test. In reality, when people are in a hypnotic state, they can lie very convincingly. Sure in some cases (not many any more), some people use hypnosis to remember details, but that is different than trying to get someone to “tell you something they wouldn’t tell you otherwise.” I suspect the doctor in the case had many reasons to stop the hypnotic process (al.com).

Abortion - the USA’s dirty little dark side, something still not to be talked about in good company. However, a certain study done in Canada found that hypnosis helps reduce the pain of having an abortion. The ramifications for this are substantial, but in a good way. If hypnosis helps reduce the pain in this procedure, it may help reduce the pain involved with other gynecological procedures that are extraordinarily painful (doctor.ndtv.com).

Good Interviews with Hypnotists

Lisa Cairns, hypnotist for Newcastle’s St Oswald’s Hospice in Tyneside, is currently working on her PhD, which involves a study on using hypnosis to help control symptoms in patients with motor neurone disease (www.chroniclelive.co.uk).

Rona French of HArmony Hypnosis in Hilton Head, SC (www.islandpacket.com). She discusses waking hypnosis.

Peter Mabbutt, Director of Studies at the London College of Clinical Hypnosis (www.brudirect.com.)

So, here it is - night. There was no morning tea. There was no quiet sunrise and you. There was just a quick shower, coffee-to-go and the blurry morning of pure change. I have been writing a bit about the upcoming holidays, never really internalizing it. Sure I can write it, but living it, breathing it - that is a whole different deal. Today I came face to face with it all.

Morning arrived much like it always does (though I switched mattresses and no longer feel like a need a hip replacement). I fed the cats. I stumbled around, nearsightedly looking for my house shoes. I peered under the bed. I checked the laundry hamper, the bathroom, the kitchen, and finally the area where my coats reside in the winter. Ah, yes,there they were - warm comfy Uggs just waiting for my cold feet to slide into their promised warmth. Only, they were not on the floor. They were hovering in the air, held by human hands - familiar human hands. As my focus left the sinewy digits in custody of my prized shoes, and slowly levitated upwards, there was a face - a familiar face. As I squinted to bring facial feature detail into sight, I realized there were two faces - familiar faces.

“Ellie, march back in there and get your walking shoes. We are going out,” said one of my dearest friends, whom I had not seen since …well, the memory falters here in a most unflattering way…let’s just say, in a long while. She and another friend of mine are in town, visiting relatives for Thanksgiving. My partner had apparently let them in while I was showering and had conveniently neglected to tell me we had company.

In the whirl wind that accompanied those first words of my friend, I found myself dragged bodily away from my computer, the blogging realm, and into a hubbub (humbug) of pre-holiday shopping and warm cinnamon rolls, ah the blessed cinnamon rolls. I have finally stumbled back to the quietness of this tranquil cyber space.

I hope your day has been pleasant…and I hope you missed me.

Well, the morning is rapidly disappearing and I feel the need to change things up. Today is busy and crazy, so I am not sure when I will be able to catch things up in the hypnosis world. But for now, I leave you with this quote to ponder:

“We are all in a post-hypnotic trance induced in early infancy.”
R. D. Laing

Art by Eddi 07

One of the discussions on this blog from the past week was about the idea of hypnosis susceptibility (sorry, Michael). This is the idea that one can tell if another person can be hypnotized and to what level before even beginning trance work. We looked at Speigel’s eye roll method for testing hypnotizability. This has lead to several questions, which I think should be asked here. Rather than having one Sunday Question, I have two.

The first question for hypnotists is: what is your personal philosophy about hypnotizability or a person’s susceptibility to hypnosis?

Now on to another question: do you do any testing before inducing hypnosis  to see how a person will react to your form of hypnosis?

Photograph by cosmonautirussi

Since Christmas seems earlier than normal this year, I will continue to reference it today. Still in keeping with our Esoteric Saturday theme, let’s have a quick look at a holiday play called Sorry, Wrong Chimney. I came across this because Picayune On Stage (Mississippi) is doing a current production of it. Written by Jack Sharkey and Leo W. Sears, its hilarity as a play involves hypnosis antics. The plot seems to be based on the idea that our main character secretly moonlights as Santa Claus so that he can buy his new wife a totally fabulous gift for Christmas. Now bring in their neighbor, a psychiatrist with a handy-dandy knack for hypnosis and you get an idea where this probably goes. It is one thing to pretend to be Santa Claus. It is totally another to believe you are the noble Father Christmas.

Anyway, if you are in Mississippi and get a chance to see a performance of this or have seen it else where, please feel free to leave comments. Otherwise, you can read the Picayune Item review or glance over the script.

Happy early holiday thoughts!

Location: Princeton, NJ
Cyber Location: www.princeton.edu/~hypnosis/

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

I guess I’m a part-time hypnotist as opposed to a hobbyist. I don’t operate a conventional practice, but a hypnosis workshop at my school (Princeton University). Because my workshop is supported by the university and defined as a community resource, I won’t charge for my sessions.

2. Do you specialize in any type of hypnosis?

Because I work with a university campus, I specialize in a lot of student-centric treatments: stress management, test anxiety, increased confidence for public speaking, the ability to focus stronger on school work and minimize distractions, etc. I also picked up a specialty for past-life regressions somehow, which is ironic to me, as I don’t know if I believe in them myself.

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

When I began my hypnosis training, I really liked the Dave Elman / Jerry Kein school of thought. I decided I wanted to master their approach before I branched out into Ericksonian techniques or NLP. I’ve been a strict Elman man for about two years now, and I think I’ll probably remain so for at least another three.

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

I do a lot of autosuggestion, but not much full-blown self-hypnosis. I much prefer to work with a live hypnotist than hypnotize myself; I get too distracted on my own.

5. Describe your hypnosis office or work setting.

My hypnosis workshop operates at Princeton University, so we regularly meet in a regular classroom in the basement of the Classics Dept. If I’m meeting a client outside of the regular meetings, we borrow an unused classroom for a session. Its all I can afford given that I’m a grad student with absolutely no money for a proper office.

6. Describe a typical day in your life.

Well, I’m a full-time graduate student in Computer Science, so most of my days are filled by long hours in the library. I specialize in Internet technology, and am currently working on a more cost-effective way for a large corporation to implement their computer network across the Internet.

When I have time for hypnosis, I lead my workshop once a week. Occasionally I also meet one-on-one with an individual client. Currently I have perhaps one such client a week.

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

I consider myself self-educated. I learned hypnosis by starting another hypnosis workshop in New York City. I gradually learned hypnotism by watching others, trying it myself, then gradually finding clients in the NYC area. This summer, I studied with Ed Morris and Pat MacIsaac to formerly attain basic NGH certification.

8. Most fabulous hypnosis technique you use?

I do stage shows, and I’m tempted to name some stage techniques here because I love doing them. However, in the interest of keeping things a bit more clinical, I’ll say that I like using a technique I’ve quasi-developed that I just call “Talking with your subconscious.” Essentially, I ask a hypnotized client to think about a problem they are wrestling with and then be very aware of any images that suddenly pop into their head. The theory is such images are the subconscious talking back to the client, and the solution to a problem lies in what the subconscious is imaging. It is a very interpretational technique.

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

Early in my career, I regressed a friend back to the age of five. She grew very upset at the end of the experience and ab-reacted. To this day, I think regressions are immensely powerful… but I am extremely careful when I do them.

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

To a potential client: Before your first session, ask a million questions about hypnosis, particularly about if a hypnotized person is under the control of the hypnotist. Once you truly learn there is no control surrendered in a hypnotic session, you’ll feel far more comfortable.

To a budding hypnotist: Practice. The first three months feel awful because you think you are making no progress whatsoever. Just grit your teeth and keep practicing. Expertise comes only after many mistakes; so just go ahead and make those mistakes.