The Transparent Hypnotist

(Guest blogger: Michael Raugh)

Yes, it’s been a long dry spell at The Transparent Hypnotist.  Things have been quite busy, personally and professionally, for both Ellie and me.  Ellie was not able to make the NGH convention this year, so I thought I’d post a few reports while I’m here for the benefit of those who aren’t here.

This year’s theme is “Join the Leaders.”  I’ll have to ask some people who saw Dr. Damon’s keynote for highlights because I missed it.  (Why do they schedule it for 8am Friday, anyway?)   My session choices this year are a mixture of basic skills, marketing (a major weakness of mine), and things that either look like fun or feature presenters I admire and enjoy.

The day started with a session on Abreactions given by Marx Howell.  Marx’s field is forensic hypnosis rather than therapy, so his approach to the subject is quite different from what I’m used to seeing presented.  Often in therapy we seek to cause an abreaction as part of the process of resolving inner conflict; Marx works exclusively with victims and witnesses to violent crime, though, and as a result is more focused on protecting the client from that emotional trauma while eliciting information reliably.  He had a lot of good points on how to avoid an abreaction if that’s the goal.

Next up was Marilyn Gordon’s session on Hypnosis And The Internet.  I have to say this was a disappointment to me.  Marilyn is very well known and respected within NGH, but it became painfully obvious early on that she was presenting on a topic that she barely understands herself.  Gloria Constantas was sitting with me in that session and got to see me wince repeatedly as Marilyn tossed out inaccurate web terminology and asserted that “right-brained” people have a hard time understanding tech.  I would attend another Marilyn Gordon seminar without hesitation, but not if the topic is in any way related to technology.

Next came play time:  Joann Abrahamsen’s session called Gimmicks, Gizmos and Gadgets.  Several years ago I took a similar session, then given by Laura Amoroso, and it was so much fun that I wanted to see Joann’s take on it.  She brought out a suitcase full of various toys and demonstrated how they can be used as induction props.  Several were simply novel eye fixation objects, including a plastic ‘magic wand’ with a flashing pink star at the tip and an hourglass.  Joann also demonstrated an auditory induction using a pair of Chinese singing balls and a kinesthetic induction using a pair of soft, squishy stress balls.  It was a nice way to close out the morning.

After lunch I have Joann Abrahamsen again for a three-hour paid workshop all about inductions.  Admittedly this falls squarely under “fun” on my selection criteria, but every hypnotist knows that while we may have a couple of go-to inductions that we tend to use the most it’s always good to experiment with more.  A hypnotist who knows, and can confidently use, a wide range of induction techniques is more versatile and therefore better prepared for that eventual client who just needs something a bit different for the best experience.

More as it happens.

<MR>

This entry was posted on Friday, August 7th, 2009 at 9:38 am and is filed under Guest Blogger, Hypnosis, NGH, Special Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.