The Transparent Hypnotist

His voice, electronic and tin sounding, floated through the air  around the house. It would repeat itself, sometimes stopping in mid-sentence. It annoyed me. The clacking of the typewriter also annoyed me. Each hit of a key unnerved me more and more. And like the rebellious teenager I was, I turned up the volume on whatever glam band was on the radio. This of course, after a while, annoyed my mother, who was at the heart of the typewriter clacking sound. But my mother knew exactly how to deal with me. She came into my room, not bothering to knock as I would never have heard the sound, strode over to the the radio, did not turn it off or lessen the volume, but instead plugged in my head phones and handed them to me. Then she walked back to the upstairs home office where she and my father cloistered themselves for eight hours a day.

The effect of this was maddening to the confrontational angel I had become. It also produced a fabulous sense of guilt and remorse once the anger subsided. So, into their sanctum I marched and there was just my mother. She was transcribing my father’s dictation onto clean, white paper, now marred with not the rabble I had heard, but with the lines of coherent thought. My father, not a particularly good one finger typist had found that by recording his reports, he and my mother had a more peaceful working environment. No more wasted time with short hand for her or long hours of him having to re-say what he thought he had just said. As far as my mother was concerned, this concept was a blessing.

After that seemingly unspectacular encounter, during their working hours I respected their need for quiet. But I recently realized how much those years of my mother’s typing for my father affected me.

Now, in my grown-up incarnation, I audibly record all my hypnosis sessions. I do this to have a record so I can go back and refresh my memory on the session if the client returns. I also use those recordings as a personal learning tool, much like an actor scrutinizing his performance through video tapes. And I also have the recordings for the client if they have any questions. The problem with this system is that there are times when listening to audio takes more time than I would prefer. I have to fast forward and rewind to get to sections that provides information I need. It would be so much easier to have them transcribed. Skimming only takes a few moments and the answers would be right there.

Yet, I have never had my sessions transcribed. I remember vividly the hours my mother spent transcribing for my father. It was a full time job. There is no way I could afford such services at this point in my career. It is luxury (and no, my mother refuses to transcribe for me - these are her dessert years, she tells me). Then I looked for software that might transcribe my sessions. Most were not so compatible for the Mac or were extremely expensive (again the luxury idea enters my brain like the glam rock that I head-banged to as a teenager).

Over the past few weeks, I have noticed several blogs talking about the Dragon (no, not the road with umpteen-million curves). I like dragons, faeries, witches, warlocks, and talking trees, so of course, I read several of these posts. It seems there is a new transcription software out there called Dragon Naturally Speaking. At first, I dismissed it - only PC-based, so I thought. Oh, but I was wrong. It is Mac compatible. In this case Dragon Naturally Speaking is a recognition engine (that which recognizes the words) for the product MacSpeech Dictate (that which does the transcription). According to the web site, this product types three-times faster than most humans. So, I gave it a go on with Dragon’s typing speed test! YIKES!!! I will not share with you my accuracy or time (both were extremely humble provoking). The program has a reported 99% accuracy rating with the ability to everyday in every way, get better and better (LOL). The question is how well will it do when transcribing the soft hypnotic mumble of clients who are within a trance?

Okay, and the tech junky in my soul actually is intrigued with the potential to be able to use my computer verbally, rather than using keystrokes or the mouse. Wonder if it would do the motion work for dropping entrecards? Ah, the potential…

So, will I truly follow in my Da’s footstep? Will I eventually have a home office, do dictation, and argue with a sullen teenager. I sort of hope not, except for the dictation part.

Several month’s ago, on theunwindingpath.com, I did a project based on Sophie Nicholls’ Hypnotic Journaling. It was great. Sophie also was a fabulous support mechanism as I went through the week of implemented the suggestions in her book of the same name.

Recently she emailed me to let me know she is doing a new online course about Creative Writing for Personal Development, Health and Well Being.

I thought it would be best to highlight her writing career here (based on her own web site bio). She is very impressive:

She gained a doctorate from the University of Sussex in Creative Writing and Personal Development and went on to develop courses in writing from life and creative writing for personal development for the universities of Sussex, Leeds and York in the UK.

Even if you are not into hypnosis but want to improve your writing skills and ideas, Sophie just might be your girl. You will not find any swinging watches or pendulums. No one telling you to go “deeper.” This new program runs from October 20, 2008 to April 2009 and is all done online.

If you want to learn more, visit her site at wordsauce.com.

The music surrounded me and I was not lost. There was no surrender to the external rhythm, no movement within my soul. Instead I stood there, mountain air flowing around me, the morning begging for something more from me - a letting go, a freedom needing to be experienced. I tried to give in and be a part of the moving on, listening for the beat and trying to express it. Nothing.

This experience happened the Monday before last during a morning movement session at my retreat. I pondered about it at the time, watching all the others writhing about without inhibition on the grand porch. Was it inhibition? No. I have always been the type to be the first on a dance floor, even if it meant dancing alone. I just could not find the flow. And I realized that I had become static in life - more rigid than normal in my routine. Sure I walk or do Yoga most days, but both of those have become more internally centered than externally experienced. I go within, work on breathing and relaxation when I engage in it. Not that this is wrong, but to come out of it and experience the world around me suddenly seemed incredibly odd when called to do so and I am not so happy about it.

So, to sooth my inner dancer, ragging at the lose of external connection, it is now time to expand my horizons and make some changes within my exercise practice. Sure, I could use self-hypnosis for motivation, but at the moment I am startled enough to find I need to reengage, so that should be enough. I spent yesterday looking for movement type classes, but I kept coming up with excuses not to sign-up. Bad timing, what about my knees, too far away, and the protest kept flowing. So, then I thought about DVDs and the inner protest was silent. Videos and like have always been a great inspiration to me for trying new things. It is how I began my yoga training (from a month of video, I joined a class, received private lessons and now am mostly on my own).

Movement. Action. Flow. Those are the key words for me. Whoa. There is one more - groove. I need the music. I need to feel my body and mind lost in the groove of motion and sound. And this thought led me to XFLOWSION, trainer Eric Paskel’s combination power yoga, martial arts, and ah yes, sweet music, dance. Live band (well, when they filmed one of the DVDs), surround sound, and the idea of toning up some of the stubborn softness that the walking and yoga never seem to touch. It sounds doable, dare I say it - even fun.

Maybe you are wondering why I am sharing these thoughts with you on a hypnosis blog? Several reasons, really. First, I promised to share with you some of my consciousness experiences from last week’s retreat and this was definitely a consciousness where I need to reconnect. Second, I am setting an intention here by allowing the words out of my head and onto the blog. As hypnotists we are often stuck in the mind and it is good to occasionally pay attention to the body. The third point is that hypnosis practices often include the idea of creating a health body. If we just listen to what our body really wants (going past the couch-sitting-I’d-rather-sleep thoughts), we can reach our goals. We can use exercise to relax (gosh knows I go there with yoga), to feel alive, and to be moved.

Perhaps at some point, I will reengage the unwinding path blog and see how the Xflowsion series of DVDs, books and audios do for me. I will keep you posted.

It was one of those nights I do not actually remember sleeping. Yet, a half a pot of coffee later, I feel fairly awake. How about you?

I am looking at my pile of snail mail and I noticed a friend of mine sent me a postcard for an event she is hosting at her office. The postcard itself is quite lovely, glossy card-stock with the image of a painting on it (she is having an art show). The back side, of course, has all her information. It is pretty snazzy and it looks expensive.

She and I have discussed her postcards before. This is not the first time she has sent me something like this. They arrive fairly frequently. I have once heard that such mailings are usually tossed aside and show little return for the effort. But in talking to her, I asked what this sort of marketing does for her business. She says it usually brings about a 15% return. Now granted I do not know the marketing statistics, but I suspect this might be pretty good. So, then I asked her what she feels is the key to her success with such promotions. Her answer was two-fold.

To have a good return on a mailing, it all depends on the content. Is the item something you might want to look at - good design, not too much text, and good quality paper (especially in terms of post cards)? If so, it is probably a winner. I admit I asked about the cost of producing such a thing. Seems like that would entail hiring a designer (gotta do it right) and spending a lot on actual production.

“No, indeed,” was her response. Apparently she actually uses vistaprint.com for her mailings. She utilizes their coupons and splurges on graphic design. She uploads her image onto their site, gets an electronic proof back and there you have it - Postcards done cheap (and well). For a little extra, they will even handle mailing it for you.

Interesting idea. I know when I wrote about vistaprint.com before, a few of you mentioned that you use them and have had good luck (as have I). So, if this has inspired you to give such a mailing a go, the coupon code for 50 Free Oversized Postcards is PC50. (P.S. - the image above is one of their free designs…I just liked it).

Excuse me while I get another tissue. Sneezes abound. Good grief!

You know, I thought I was done talking technical stuff, but I guess with running a business in this day and age, it is hard to ignore it. I think it is as much a part of life as was learning to type (which I never learned…but some how picked up) and wishing for a good secretary.

I did something quite fun yesterday and I could not have done it without my computer. In beginning to work with clients in a long distance capacity, I still struggle with phone issues (dropped calls, etc. - by the way, Michael, I think you mentioned Skype…but when I use it there is an echo and it sounds awful. Am I doing something wrong?). I have also learned that I rely heavily on visuals. So, I decided to try video.

Yesterday I turned on my MacBook, logged into iChat, as did my client (Mac users unite) and off we went. The latest MacBooks have a built in web cam. Granted I was tempted to make it look like I was in Paris (Eiffel Tower, thank you very much) but for professional purposes I kept the back ground as my office. Upon our scheduled time, there she was. The audio is very clear (I do use a mic) and the picture quality is good enough to see visual cues). I could see her environment (a bit) and know if there were distractions on her end, see her reactions, and it seemed much easier than just going by sound. It’s not like being in the same room, but it is close.

So, I cannot say enough about the joys of the MacBook. I run everything in my business off of it - my financial side of the business, my blogging fixation, my filing, everything…

Stop grimacing PC people. I accept that Macs may not be for everyone, but neither are PCs. I guess it is like any relationship…sometimes something just clicks and you find the one for you.

Oh…and for those who are thinking about going all Apple, there are various discounts and Apple couponsavailable. There are great deals to be had.

Photography by grafixar

You may be happy to know that today I am off my video embedding jag. Instead today is slated to be one of those “get things done” days. My files are in a bit of disarray, the floor needs vacuuming, and every time I log on to post here, there is a reminder message that it may be time to upgrade Word Press (the open source program that powers this blog). And being a hypnotist and not a total technical geek (I mean that in the nicest of terms…I am a bit of a video game geek myself - and if any teenagers are reading this and rolling your eyes at just how uncool I sound, well, remember, someday you too, will be my age), I tend to cringe a bit at doing too much to the blog. It always seems to be one of those task that take much longer than planned (my partner says that about home improvement - what looks like a five minute thing, usually is not). So, maybe after another cup of tea, I will consider the upgrade a little more seriously

Now you have my confession - I am not web geek. And yet, it is surprising how many people ask me for web or blog advice. Again, I am a hypnotist, people (okay, okay, you caught me, I am flattered when you ask for my advice on web stuff…I figure it must mean that I look okay in the cyber world). But I am going to hand off any of the hosting questions to someone else. There are just so many Go Daddy verses the world conversations that are tolerable. But despite their controversial marketing campaigns (though I have hopes that they have gotten better), they are cheap and the tech service has been there round the clock for me. But, I do realize they may not be for everyone so all I can do is assert an opinion on my experience.

But if you really want to know about hosting and not hypnosis, there are web hosting geeks who rate and review various plans. Seriously, they are the Web Hosting Geeks. They review various services and give a run down by price, features and such.

Sigh.

There.

I have said my peace and am now going to turn in my web geek hat to the people who deserve it.

It is good to be a hypnotist.

Photography by D. McAbee

Imagine if we could put the relaxation benefits of what we do in a pill. Just pop it in your mouth along with the other vitamins, take a nice big swig of water and in thirty minutes - calm, peaceful and focused. Suddenly the work day would seem perhaps more bearable (for those who have work related issues); that little on going spat with a co-worker would seem like mindless drivel that no longer engages you; deadlines become like candy; and speaking before the board of directors? That becomes as easy as talking to your best friend over dinner.

Often after a session with a client, I will hear back from them about some of the side effects of hypnosis. Comments about how much easier life is (even after doing smoking cessation); how much more productive they are and on the list goes. So one would think that said clients would benefit from learning self-hypnosis. How could they not?

But that’s the rub. I have found that about half my clients do not practice self-hypnosis after I have taught them. The excuses are predictable - I don’t have time. I just don’t think about it. I forgot how. And indeed I have heard, “it would be so nice if I could get the benefits in a pill.” Sigh.

So there it is. The question is - is there such a pill that could help you to relax and deal better with work? The truth is, there just might be. There is a product called AbsoluteCalm. It is a magnolia-extract-based Nutraceutical. If you are saying “enough with the big words, Ellie” - all a Nutraceutical means is that it is an extract of food that claims to have a medicinal effect on human health. This particular product, if taken on an empty stomach creates the positive effects of relaxation in about 15 minutes (yes, I know hypnosis enthusiasts, self-hypnosis works in a shorter time frame). If you take it on a full stomach the effects begin in about an hour.

Now before you think I am selling hypnosis short, I most certainly am not. I do understand that people want something outside of themselves to help them. If it is a pill, then its a pill. I see a potentially complimentary product here. It could work very well in tandem with hypnosis - we could use the actual pill taking (depending on how one reacts to the pill) as an anchor (a subconscious reminder that the mind is to manifest something). The pill also might be a good catalysis for helping people understand what calm feels like and what it is like to get through a day with less stress. One could use that in a session then and potentially increase it.

Have you been here before? No, I don’t mean this blog, but have you lived before this life, a life that did not include reading blogs in the morning with your coffee, a life that was very different than qualms with a nine to five or taking the kids to yet another soccer practice? I suspect this topic is the line in the sand for many when it comes to hypnosis. Past life regression. I can hear the chorus - I don’t believe in that (and you are just about to move on, but don’t, try to be a little more open minded) or the voices say “fascinating.” But for those of you nonbelievers, that’s okay. It is not necessary to believe (that is just my opinion). The information that does come up, real or imaginary, can be really helpful in dealing with difficulties. Some believe it was indeed a past life and in this life, you must overcome the obstacle that held you back in a past incarnation. Other’s believe it is your subconscious giving you signals that will help you cope better with something else, almost like your own metaphorical story

Anyway, Oprah is the lady of the day or at least her show should be in our consciousness. Why? Dr. Oz is on and the topic is past life regression. Since the show is pre-filmed, apparently Dr. Weiss was also present and took the audience on a group past life experience. Dr. Weiss wrote the fascinating book Many Lives, Many Masters.

To find out when the show airs at your location, click here.To learn more about the show, visit the Oprah web site.

It is good to be back at home, drinking Darjeeling today. A little change seems to go a long way. So here we are on a dark and gloomy (but warm) Monday morning.

For the last week or two I have been having flashes of needing to get of routine to freshen things up a bit in my life. And so I have. I changed teas, went adventuring on the weekend, and am now looking for new music. I use it in the background of some sessions and I try to always have something playing when clients first enter the office. Usually it is instrumental and calming. It also tends to be New Age. I tried jazz for a little while, and it seemed to stress out more than one client. Then there is the music that is familiar and distracts away from the session. Live and learn.

It has been a challenge finding background music. Little blips and spouts of samples in cyberville media help. Myspace has also been a good thing, though it gets tedious with interface and ads. Youtube is also another good source, but with social media ever expanding, one large database would be a nice change. Musicnation.com rectifies this a bit. It ties in all various sites and collects information about various artists, so you can search for the type of music you desire and find bands, music or blogs (among other things). You can search the musicnation.com database for New Age music or what ever is your cup of tea.

Musicnation.com is relatively new, but it seems as though it could reduce search time because all the information is there in one place. Apparently, one of their partners is Epic Records, so this may also prove to be a launch pad for new music in general.

So, that is my morning - new music. Life is good.

Alas, the weekend is over and here I am, a tad frustrated. Between my own health insurance boggle and starting the new blog, which I manage to keep crashing, here I am with a cup of tea that has grown cold.

So, I suppose I will answer my own Sunday question about - When working on self-change or helping others with their desired changes, do you find you do better with a permissive or authoritarian style?

The answer would be that I do better on both accounts with permissiveness. I am not one to tell someone how it is unless forced to do so. I see it as forcing a moment to its crisis. But as Michael has said, there are times for being authoritarian as a hypnotist. I used to flounder around, but now if it is what it takes in the process, it is what it takes.

Now to catch-up:

If you were keeping up with the Blog Battle Royale III, congratulations to Courtney for once again (third time in a row) winning the contest. It was well deserved. But huge thank you to those who supported my entry as well. FOr the short time i had to put it together, I though I did okay.

And you may remember me posting about a friend who was trying to decide between being hypnotized to lose the urge to date or just jumping into the frog pond of being an available single. She ended up with the latter. But occasionally I mention where she is in the process. We talked about dating agencies and such. She is rather neutral in that experience, but her intuitions have told her that she needs to be careful out there. There is a Date Screening Website out there for just this purpose. Sorry guys,www.WomanSavers.com is one for women that targets abusive and cheating men through a rating scale. I also feel there should be one that does the same with women. But, for my male readers, you might want to just make sure you are not on the list. That would be awful. However, I do think such resources are necessary. Abuse should not be tolerated. I see a lot of aftermath from abusive relationships and it is always heart breaking.

So, that’s that. I am still working on the new blog that I had hoped to unveil Friday, but it was more complicated than I thought. Stay tuned for that, as well as more on permissive hypnosis.