The Transparent Hypnotist

Photograph from imageabstraction.com

Quotes of the Week

• If you look at your mind like an iceberg, your conscious part would be the tip of the iceberg — that’s the part where your logical thinking comes from, your willpower comes from there. Your subconscious mind is like the bottom on the iceberg, it’s the powerhouse. It’s huge and it has an unlimited capacity. And it stores everything you’ve ever learned, everything you believe, all your emotions.
  From an interview with hypnotist Nathalie Kelley in the Burlington Free Press.

• Although we can’t undo traumatic events from the past, we can undo a person’s reactions to it, and bring down the pain.
  From an interview with Sherrie Kitto in the Prince George Citizen.

• “I use the color green…We put a positive trigger of the color green in your subconscious, and when you feel stressed, you look at the color green and become more calm, relaxed, and think more clearly.”
  From an interview with hypnotist Chris Pennell on the chron.com.

• The comment I get most often is, ‘I’ll never be hypnotized, I’m too much of a control freak.’ The truth of the matter is, you never lose control when you are in hypnosis.
  From an interview with hypnotist Paul Nguyen on wickedlocal.com.

Proof

It seems like a fine time to add this category to the good, the bad, and the ugly news. Proof means that there was some sort of study or such done (or another form of positive validation) that shows the advantages of hypnosis.

• We will start this off with an article in US News and World Report. In an article called In Chronic Pain? You Might Need Psychotherapy: Talk therapy and biofeedback are two treatment options by January W. Payne, Payne writes about talk therapies and concepts like bio-feed back and hypnosis were found by Robert Kerns, a professor in Health Psychology to positively effect chronic low-back pain. Chronic is the the important word here.

• Synaesthesia. That is a fun word. It is something that Roi Cohen Kadosh from Imperial College London has been studying. What is it? According to my computer’s dictionary it is:
  

  the production of a sense impression relating to one sense or part of the body by stimulation of another sense or part of the body.

  What this study found out is that hypnosis can induce this phenomena in ordinary people. Otherwise it is something that seems more prevalent in Savant sorts. The impact of this is that hypnosis may “reactivate connections that had been suppressed by the brain.” (NewScientist Health)

The Good

• For a school that regularly offers Tom DeLuca hypno shows, Northwestern enjoyed the pursuits of hypnotist Rebecca Lauer. Rather than doing a full-blown hypnosis show, she presented a talk on the benefits of hypnosis. The writer, Will Storey, shares his positive experience in the article Hypnosis and hypno-therapy lead to a healthier and happier you.

• The trend in writing about hypnosis seems to be experiential these days. Jim Moore of seattlepi.nwsource.com was inspired (this is my theory) by all the sports hypnosis in the news lately. He interviewed hypnotist Craig Sigl about the various people Sigl has helped in getting game. For those of you who have said “yes” you would use hypnosis for sports (in the weekly poll), well, Sig is a hypnotist for you. Moore also enjoyed a session for himself (it seemed like Sigl worked on relaxation, though Moore wanted to work on three separate things…).

• Speaking about sports and hypnosis, hypnotists unite! How could we not over the recent decision by the school board to cancel the use of hypnosis to help the St. John High School basketball team in St. John, Kansas increase their focus and concentration to play better? An article on lehighvalleylive.com gives voice to the rationale behind hypnosis in this case.

The Bad (as in cool)

Well, who knows what to believe about Lily Allen and hypnosis. However her hypnotist Susan Hepburn has helped many other people fight the fat according to an article in the Times Online. Hepburn has also written a book on weight loss and hypnosis that is due out on February 23. It is called F–k Diets. Some of her philosophy:

For someone who makes a living helping people to eat less (or quit smoking, drugs or other harmful behavior), she’s remarkably opposed to diets. Instead she trains patients to eat less, chew more, drink lots of water, and visualize themselves at their ideal size.

Transparent Hypnotist 10 Question Alumni

• Paul Durbin has entered the debate that seems to occasion rises between hypnosis and religion (it comes up behind-the-scenes on this blog with entrecards who will not allow me to advertise on their blogs because of their religious beliefs). In the Digital Journal, Paul is sited as rebutting some of the issues some Christians have with hypnosis. The article talks about positive benefits of hypnosis to help those with cancer as well as Scientologist view on psychiatry and the Bible Discernment Ministries refutation of hypnosis via means of the bible.

• Canada.com features a fun article on Janice Mason called `Love’ guru puts the zip back in your zap. Now how could you not read something with that title. LOL.

Article by Another Hypnotist

Hypnosis is a Natural Medication for Stress and Anxiety by Randy A. Gilchrist (Funny thing here. There was an ad for Dientetics front and center when I read the article. Interesting ad placement).

Photograph by YuvalH

The thoughts, they twirl around in my mind. Wrtie about this, wrtie about that. Yes, you read that correctly. THat is what I typed quickly - wrtie. Just a little dyslexia merging into my life, I fear. Normally I would not share my typo’s with you, but as I was typing quickly, I suddenly found it insanely interesting that I managed the same typo, perfectly the same way. Funny how the mind/finger relationship works, eh? The mind is an interesting thing, which is why I guess I am in  a mind field.

And so here I am playing with words, fretting over internet connection, and realizing I am late. I am late. I AM LATE.

Oh dear gosh. How the heck did it get to be Monday? How did it get to be Monday without me realizing it? This particular Monday, I find myself over booked and already behind. Therefore, if you are here because you are a regular reader, well, then, good morning. If you are here expecting the hypno world news, I fear that must wait a bit. It takes a long time to compile those posts and I am afraid with the rush I am in, I just cannot make it happen. I am thinking about reorganizing those future posts a bit. That may mean just changing the day. The blogging experts always say that you should be constant in regular posting features, which I am Friday through Sunday, and if that is the case, I may need to change the news day. Or does it matter to you when I post it? I would really like to know.

But I hate to leave you without some sort of Monday treat, so when one of my artist friends sent me link to www.wordle.net, it was so cool I just had to share it. It creates word pictures like the one above based on the URL or words you provide. This one, I believe is based on my most recent blog posts. If you like it and do your own, please leave a comment with a link, I would love to see it.

Satiated. This is the word that comes to mind this morning. Last night I went to bed in a swirl of chocolate sensations (do not tell me to get a room - I mean literal taste, as in palate). Having no real thoughts of what I could do for my partner for Valentine’s Day, hypnotist and friend Kate Beaven-Marks planted a most wonderful suggestion that pushed the day right over the top. In conversations of congratulations (she is to be a speaker at the NGH conference), she sent me an incredible recipe for chocolate cake. This was no ordinary chocolate cake. It is baked in a cup in the microwave, and the ingredients are things most people have on hand in their kitchens. It was so amazing!!! My partner was astounded. We had come back from spending a night bowling each other over - literally. It was my first experience at a bowling alley. So, as we were getting settled in for the evening, I slipped into the kitchen and made Kate’s chocolate concoction as a surprise. So, many thanks, Kate. The cake, indeed, was all that!

But lets go back to the bowling part of my night. Yes, somehow I have managed to have never trespassed upon a bowling alley before and found myself incredibly challenged. As unbelievable as it sounds, there are still people, middle-aged as they may be, who have never felt the heaviness of an eight pound, Goliath of a ball before, and I would be one of those (people not balls). With thoughts of one, two, three release; step, step, glide; get lower to the lane; aim your thumb with the arrows; do not cross your arm in front of your body; it is like a pendulum - feel the pendulum affect; and gosh knows what-else, I was just happy to have a pin or two collapse based on my effort. But as one of my friend’s put it - I hate not being perfect at everything, that seems to always be the case. LOL. No, I celebrated every downed pin, thank you very much.

Now I would like to improve, should I ever cross the wood floor in clown-shoes again. I know - I ABSOLUTELY KNOW - that hypnosis can help me improve. And whether you have answered my poll about using hypnosis to increase your sporting skills, especially those who answered in the negative, I most certainly will use it. The question is one about what to do. I have no idea where to even begin, being that I am complete novice. I have some ideas, but I am so open to suggestions.

Therefore today’s Sunday Question involves two questions - the first is more philosophical. Would you or would you not use hypnosis to increase your sports potential and why (cause the “no’s” on my poll have me baffled)? The second question is about bowling. Does anyone have any pointers for a newbie?

Photograph by nflorence2012 (such time en-route)

Mmmm. Champagne in bed with a side of black coffee. Blueberry pancake smell wafting through the house. This was my Valentine’s morning. No commercialism. No store-bought high-fructose corn-syrup products to threaten the weight loss (we will not talk about the two slices of pizza we had for dinner last night). It is always a nice way to celebrate love (mind you we do this at least once a month - maybe not the champagne, though it figures into many of the celebrations of life - winning small grants, contracts, publications, the whole shebang of living). So no matter if you are celebrating February 14 in all its glory, believe it is a greeting card holiday, or are just letting the day go by without a second thought, it does not matter. Celebrate the day and everything good it brings (for those of you who are depressed, just give it a try…think of three things that make the day more pleasant, even if it means celebrating a comfortable pillow to hug at night, a warm blanket, or even a month-long supply of anti-depressants). I know - easier said than done…but hey…it is worth a shot (I have dealt with my own depressions and find thinking of three good things a day is a real boon in getting balanced again).

Anyway, I am going to take it leisurely today. It had been my hope to unveil a new audio on this occasion, but it has been put on the back burner for a little while until it can have my full concentration. Instead, I am going to send you to another site for a heart centered meditation. It is extremely simple to engage in and today, out of all the days in the year, anyone can use a good pampering of the heart. So, please take a moment and take care of your heart with this heart centered meditation.

Source: http://www.freemeditations.com/heart-centered-meditation.html

Cyber Locations:
www.trancedout.com
www.freehypnosiscommunity.com

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

I am a hypnotist full-time - working with clients, training upcoming hypnotists, and filming DVDs. Along with my blog, I run a hypnosis community website- www.freehypnosiscommunity.com.

2. Do you specialize in any type of hypnosis?

I specialize in creating powerful experiences. Recently my friend Josh Houghton and I filmed a DVD set on instant inductions, which teaches people confidence and how to have an exciting stage presence. While working with clients, I developed a dual induction method that opens up the senses and allows a person to go into hypnosis with the colors turned up. My goal is to develop new ways of doing hypnosis that are more fun, involved, and imaginative.

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

Occasionally I have to turn down requests to do sessions. This can happen when a person comes in with all the wrong expectations, or isn’t suited for the program. My preference is in working with “star” subjects, so sometimes I have to let clients go.

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

Self-hypnosis is a great tool that I’ve used to become more focused and disciplined, improve clarity, and release stress. I use a lot of conscious skills for solving challenges as well.

An example is that when you imagine a bubble, and you step into it. Imagine that your body fills up with power - and just outside the bubble the word “Confidence” appears, Spoken slowly. And as you grab hold of the word and drag it into the bubble, it morphs into a symbol that represents confidence for you.

These types of self-hypnosis exercises are more interactive for me and can be combined with any personal development or goal-setting process that might be new for the day.

5. Describe your hypnosis office or work setting.

I have a professional space with an ultra-comfortable recliner, that allows you to nearly go to sleep when you are hypnotized. The temperature is set to allow the relaxation to begin. Depending on the goals of the session, we will usually talk and explain concepts, and get really comfortable, before the hypnosis starts.

6. Describe a typical day in your life.

Depending on how many client sessions I have scheduled, I get up as early as I need to, but sleep in as long as I can. I drink some orange juice and have toast, and get on my laptop to check on my websites and statistics. I spend a while making everything work great, then I jet to go see the clients.

Recently a client came in for one of my “Immersion Bootcamps” where we actually spend several days pushing our way through some of the toughest issues so they can become masterful at whatever they do - including hypnosis. Every day is different when we do one of those.

Some days I will have back to back meetings with clients until 10 at night and start again at 7 in the morning. Other days I take just to plan, use my whiteboards, and to start new projects. I spent this past week traveling, filming, and networking with people, which was exciting.

I like to take action on ideas and also to have a great time. So I am implementing new stuff constantly. This means that I’m always striving for more time to try out something new. At the end of the day, it’s almost always lots of fun and I can’t believe I get to do it again tomorrow.

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

I’m a Certified Membership Instructor for the Society of Experiential Trance, which means that I teach people how to use hypnosis. I’ve been very privileged to meet some of the most prominent hypnotists out there and to develop some great connections with them.

When I was in high school, I took an interest in hypnosis through my classes in psychology. I picked up one of Ormond McGill’s books and started practicing what I had learned with the kids at school. What I found is that it was a lot of fun, but it got me in trouble along with some of my other friends.

In college I started seeing clients, and learned impromptu hypnosis by doing both street hypnosis, and hypnosis at parties. I became a master at making everyone want to be hypnotized. My reputation spread all over the campus, and my videos became popular on the internet. All my friends started calling me ‘Hypno.’

After that I took a year or two to get things off the ground. I took a job but ended up wanting to informally hypnotize everyone. Now that my time is free, I’m starting to release products, and to do more seminars.

This means I can meet a lot of great people, enjoy the freedom that I have in working for myself, and travel all over the world. For most places all you need is ten people and I’ll do a seminar there. It’s fun for me. I get to do what I love - how many people can say that?

8. Most fabulous hypnosis technique you use?

Give them a suggestion to believe they are -not- hypnotized, prepare an instant reinduction trigger, then bring them up and ask them if they knew how far they were into a deep trance. They’ll deny it, but are wide awake and still in hypnosis. It’s fun because this time they pretend to not know that they’re hypnotized.

This is like gaining a level in your hypnosis session. You’ve just created an advantage that will let you hypnotize them even “deeper.”

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

I was doing a program on confidence building, and after giving a talk, there was a client who wanted to get over his fear with women. I got him to walk up to the first woman that passed, who happened to have just gotten coffee spilled all over her. She was already mad and cursed out our client, and he got really paranoid.

What I didn’t see because I was trying to coordinate so many things, was that the situation could have been easily avoided. The client got over it although we had to change locations, and what I learned was to always scope out the environment and get a feel for a place before jumping in.

Many of the people who have met me can attest that I am very persistent and driven when I want something to work. What I learned from this situation is to always be driven with a purpose - to always know where you’re going and where you want to end up. It’s served me very well since then and I’ve become a better hypnotist as a result.

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

Practice a lot and network with people similar to you. Join local practice groups and our free hypnosis community. Meet people. Make sure to learn a lot every single day. Set your goals high and then fly with the eagles. Get over your neurosis and figure out who is going to help you become a master.

I meet so many people who are almost there. I could meet them five years from now and they’ll still be almost there. Take the jump and make your life happen on purpose.

All was well in my world until the dreaded words came pouring out of my partner’s mouth - we need to consolidate our storage units. Our goal is to go from having two units to one. It seems worthy of my “keep it simple” goal for this year (visit The Unwinding Path), yet to contemplate moving boxes of books, my collection of vintage clothing, old computers, and long forgotten relics of lives lived singly, it makes my head and stomach churn. It makes me tired. Just as I begin to get caught up from my long absences this past winter…

Oh for a vacation - a real vacation - one that includes no obligations to friends or family, no packing, moving or chauffeuring the family elders around to the cold and sterile realm of grocery stores, banks and post offices.

Sorry, I really do not mean to spill my negativity onto you. It is so much harder to live under the pressure of enlightenment when one is tired out.

Okay. There is no fun vacation insight. How do I make this into a positive thing? Well, more meditation, a little self-hypnosis and the world is oddly tolerable again. Add to it some fun and games and well - a relief from a bit of a pressure holiday.

There was a time when I played Stupid Monkey Ball (bet it was really called Super Monkey Ball). It was stressful at the time because I had never played it and I had a group of other people watching and well, you know, performance anxiety. But that experience did not diminish my love of games, granted my personal favorites are Zombie-based.

But today I was up for a little passive fun and joined the MagNext Virtual community. I have a been able to embrace my inner marble with this game for that is what your avatar resembles. What attracted me was the marketing for this community (yes, I am a sucker for good marketing). It talked of things that reminded me of the Law of Attraction. The premise is that the little marbles are like magnets, attracting others in a community experience (we are all One, don’t you know).

There I am, logged in (ellieblunt) with a cute little ball. There is some sort of gladiator community game you can play with others, but I admit it, I am not quite there (though I believe this community is touted for young people and is fairly simple, they are the ones with nimble fingers and spot-on dexterity). Yet, I did enjoy the car game - where the goal is to keep your car running on the track (it loses momentum the farther you drive) and to collect gold coins. Then there was the roller-coaster game where you are rolling along the track, but pieces are missing so you have to choose the right shape of track or your marble falls into oblivion.

It was fun diversion from my stress. MayNext is light and probably good for dexterity and keeping the mind sharp. Now back to life in the real world.

Photograph by Jim Frazier

The rant begins with a tired looked, perhaps a sigh, and the door opens.

“I don’t want to have an email conversation. I want to have a telephone conversation,” she says looking at me in earnest. I nod and wait for her to continue.

“What is wrong with picking up the phone and using your voice? It is so hard to communicate everything with an email.” She cracks open the seal on her bottled water and drinks for a moment. I wonder if she is using this as a break to gain momentum. Her black-eye-lined eyes flash at me.

But she is not upset with me. This is not a gripe against my methods of out-of-office communications (though I have to admit the phone call leading up to this session was one in which I myself would have preferred email). She has come to me to see if she can get to the heart of why she feels bound to unsuccessful habits and change them into more productive ones.

She is a free-lance graphic artist and she cannot seem to get beyond the hand-to-mouth style of life and is frustrated by it. She does not have an internet connection at her house. She goes to a local coffee shop to check her email three to four times a week. However, it seems that all her potential clients (advertising agencies and such) rather like to communicate via email. She will call them to a ask a question about a job only to get their voice mail and an email response five minutes later. When she asks them about this, they always tell her that they are too busy to take a phone call and the information is in the email.

The truth is, I could easily take their side. When I have people doing work for me, I tend to be the same way - unless the information I feel they need is better being said in person. However, when working with clients and potential referrers, that requires a whole different approach. It takes a little finesse to try to understand everyones preferred method of communication. I have some clients who only want to deal with me on the phone or in person. Other’s only want email. When it comes to the people who pay your meal ticket, I feel they deserve some consideration (within reason).

In my client’s case, she has very few repeat customers because though they like her work, she has been labeled hard to work with since she does not answer email in a timely matter and is also clingy. She has heard this repeatedly. Though she is still in the “I” stage (wanting everything to be on her terms), she has begun to see that it is not working so well. Even though she tells her clients upfront about her lack of internet, this does not really help when there are ten other people who want the work, have the talent and skills, and internet to boot.

As we are still in the process of working with her mindset, I cannot say how the sessions are working out, but I still thought this was an attitude issue worth sharing. It is not a unique problem and from my end, it seems so simple - get internet (or a cell phone that allows you to receive email). Problem solved. But it never is that simple when it is your problem.

Photograph by Curious Expeditions

The honey went down much smoother today than it did yesterday. Somehow I awoke feeling rested and significantly more awake than I have in days.

As I left you yesterday with only one story in Ellie’s hypno world news, here are the relevant items I left off:

The Good

Congratulations to Estil Boyd for doing his first hypnosis CD Slim for Life. He is quoated as saying: a diet is replaced with treating yourself to the right foods in the right amounts … you become better acquainted with your appetite. Nice! - www.western-star.com

Thank you, Miriam Stoppard for writing a provocative and honest piece about hypnosis. It is always nice to read about someone who was a skeptic about hypnosis, tries it and is awakened to the potential. She is The Daily Mirror’s expert on health, sex, relationships and family, and author of more than 50 books.

Curious about what happens at a hypnosis show? Check out this article about James Munsey Comedy Hypnosis.

The Ugly

Well people, I do not know what to say. In the poll I have been running, most of you seem to want to know about crimes before the person in question is found guilty. Let us just hope you are never in a situation where you are thought guilty of a crime and have it publicized before you are found guilty. I imagine it is fairly awful.

So, there is news that belongs in this “ugly” category. However, in the case I am referring to, the defendant has been sentenced. This is the case of Maurice D. Brooks, Sr. He is a hypnotist in Texas. But his legal problems are not hypnosis related. I think it is important to say that before one assumes he is guilty of misconduct through hypnosis. No, his crime was to defraud the disabled. He did this in another line of work - seattlepi.nwsource.com

And in honor of yesterday’s post, please be sure to answer this week’s poll question.

Photograph by wollbinho

Could you hear the screams? They were headache loud in my mind, ending with a moan that awaited a sigh. The sigh has yet to come forth. I stumble around, still in my robe, the teaspoon of honey from my tea siting in my stomach, globed and over-sweet. Where did I put my aspirin? Yes, I said aspirin. I need a little help with the sudden pressure. No wait, I am going to go meditate for a moment. That is what enlightened people do, is it not? Alright, I am going…

Sigh.

I am back. The honey still sits in my stomach, undissolved and uncomfortable, but I will get past this moment and the moment before. What is it that it find so troubling?

My dear friend Mr. Terry O’Brien sent me a news clipping (ah Terry, do not feel bad about this ranting…I suspect you knew it would goad me into a small flurry of words). Happy was I last week to read about a young lady, basket ball player who uses self-hypnosis to get through her arthritic pain (she is a record breaker, don’t you know). I was also pleased to read all the articles during the past Olympics about athletes using hypnosis to increase concentration and focus so that they could bring their best game forward.

Now, let us take two steps back. The St. John High School somewhere in Kansas used hypnosis to help them during a time when they were not playing up to their full potential. Mind you, the hypnosis sessions were not mandatory and the players need parent permission before they could participate. Last Monday (I think), the local school board vetoed the idea of using hypnosis. Most of the reasons given were typical of those who have not spent any time understanding what hypnosis is and is not (yes, they are uneducated in this matter). They prefer to wallow in the mud of imaginary fears and beliefs. What a shame.

I guess I can see the point though that if parents want their children to use this powerful tool, then they can find a hypnotist on their own. Maybe the one’s who did benefit from hypnosis (huge, monster kudos to the parents who signed those permission slips) were impacted positively. Then they can help re-educate those who suffer from delusions. Also, here is a cyber pat on the back for the coach who decided to try hypnosis. It will be interesting watching how the team does the rest of the season. Just from the sessions the players were involved in, I believe wonderful things will happen.

For now, I think that is all I am going to write. I will catch you with other hypno happens a bit later.

Source: St. John abuzz over teammates’ hypnosis