The Transparent Hypnotist

Photograph by linh.ngân

 I am going to take three puffs on this cigarette. With the first puff your eyes are going to get tired, the second puff you’re going to want to close your eyes, but wait until the third puff, at which time close them – from Dave Elman during a teaching session (pre-1967).

Well, I could not really let this week go by without providing you with a few more hammers, screwdrivers, and saws for the old hypnosis tool box. As Ramone reminded us last Friday in his answer to the most fabulous technique that he uses, we must consider the work of hypnotist Dave Elman. Elman is a magic work among hypnotists because he pioneered inductions or ways to help clients access a state of hypnosis.

I am having some trouble actually finding a link to a pure Elman script (I have them in my records, but I must respect the copyright on them). Instead, I though it would be useful to bring back Ellie’s Favorite Five and share with you some decent adaptations of the Elman inductions.

1. David Mason, a transparent hypnotist guest blogger and 10 Question alumni member, has a delightful and concise version of a multi-stage trance induction.
2. Howard Hamilton’s Two Finger Elman Induction (on Joseph Bennett’s web site).
3. Donald Robertson’s Elman Induction.
4. Zali Segal’s The Modified 7 Steps Dave Elman Induction.
5. James Ramey’s Subconscious Override and Complete Anesthesia (I cannot find where I found it, but I read that this induction is based on an Elman). This is a PDF file, by the way.

*Elman quotation from daveelman.com.

2009 snuck in quietly last night. No blowout of champaign, just a satisfying pop from the release of the cork and a toast among loved ones. It was most peaceful.

And now here is morning, cold and alive, sparkling with potential. I shall rest today (i.e. probably read up on some psych books I have been trying to catch up on) and tomorrow shines before me, as I continue my personal quest to evolve.

I am not alone in wanting to evolve (thank goodness for that). It can be a very busy time for hypnotists, helping people with their new year’s resolutions (if you are a hypnotist who does not spend half of December and January on travel). In my own way, I wanted to give you a taste of what self-hypnosis is all about, so I present you with another of Ellie’s Favorite Fives. The following links will lead you to other hypnotists or resources that offer ways in which you can learn self-hypnosis. All are free except for one.

Ellie’s Favorite Five Self-hypnosis Resources

1. How to Perform Self Hypnosis through www.wikihow.com. I believe this was written by Conrad Raw (a short video is included) and it is very basic and straight to the point. It provides 10 easy steps.
2. Self-Hypnosis Tutorial from Bog Cooper Transformations. This site offers a couple of approaches and resources including scripts that you can record yourself and play back to yourself, downloads, and a bevy of information.
3. Self-hypnosis with mindtools.com. This site offers several suggestions in how to put yourself in a hypnotic state and as well as working with affirmations.
4. How to Do Self-Hypnosis with ehow.com. This site offers twelve steps to a relaxing hypnotic state.
5. The Secrets of Self-Hypnosis Masterclass with Adam Eason. Have you been inspired by the above links? Here is the daddy of all self-hypnosis programs. Now granted Adam is a friend of mine, but I have to say after previewing his masterclass on self-hypnosis, talk about all inclusive. It is an audio program (23 audios, I believe) and will cost you, but Adam is brilliant in his instruction. This is the sort of thing for those who are truly serious about learning how to harness the power of self-hypnosis. But you do not have to take my word for it. You can download two of the audios to preview it for free.

Still here? I appreciate your loyalty in reading all the way through, but what are you waiting for? Go try out at least on of the links and let me know what you think. Happy New Year!

P.S.

Adam did not pay me to promote his self-hypnosis program (none of these sites did). Just though you should know.

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.

Art by alicepopkorn.

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy…it is All Hallows’ Eve. Happy day (and night) all! It is good to be back and raring to go. Since my favorite holiday is occurring on a Friday, I am forgoing the 10 Questions with Hypnotists to bring you Ellie’s Favorite Five Scary Sites. I know it has little to do with hypnosis, but I hope you will forgive this one jaunt off topic. I need to get into the spirit of things for the party tonight.

1. Room 237 Origins - No this is not some elite spa, but scary stuff from the mind of my friend Jack. He has dedicated several blog post leading up to the culmination of tonight.
2. Hotel 626. This is old news (Jack did a marvelous piece about it), but it still delights me in unholy ways. It’s a game, but be warned - I have had nightmare’s from it (yeah, it is that intense). The site opens at 6:00 pm. DO check in.
3. In the Shadows - A Place to View Etsy’s Darker Side. Sarah, a polymer clay artist herself, posts about the eclectic darker art on Etsy. Its spooky to see her picks.
4. Jarek Kubicki. Designer Depot recently featured the wonderful artist. Jarek’s photographic images are haunting in a sensual way, but they also belay the horror or sheets gone astray that turn into other worldly ideas.
5. Darkness Radio. I met these gentlemen at the Louisville PAranormal Conference this year. They do a wonderfully entertaining radio show about paranormal subjects. These are things that go beyond fiction.

Photograph by John Cruz

Well, the day has started off to a most unspectacular start (some personal things I shant go into), so to sooth my soul, I am again touching on poetry. There was the lovely poem by Robert Graves called Counting the Beats that I featured on an Esoteric Saturday. I could hardly leave it at that. The mixing of literature and hypnotics is something that I find so charming, it is always uplifting. I first became aware of the idea from a lecture I attended by Dan Cleary. I cannot remember the poem he used (one of the Romantics), nor did he actually say it was an induction, but as he read it aloud, its power overwhelmed me. It was beautiful and captivating. Then I notice this year, pnosis.com’s own Ralph Blenko is doing a session at the NGH conference on Lewis Carroll’s famous story for use as an induction. It therefore must be a worthy topic.

During my coherent morning moments, I researched the subject a bit. The first thing that I found were a few references to the hypnosis domination culture and erotic genre. Sadly, one had to pay for all those, so alas, I won’t be sharing those resources

Instead, I give you another of Ellie’s Favorite Five. These are either resources I believe would make great inductions or involve references to hypnosis nicely.

1. First, lets go back to the 1500s. Bring forth the Earl of Dorset, Thomas Sackville and his poem - The Induction. To tell the truth, I would not use this an induction, too many negative things for my comfort level. But it does depict an interesting journey.
2. Thanks to Andre M. Weitzenhoffer and his publication The Practice of Hypnotism, we do find a lovely tale of hypnosis in the Finnish epic poem The Kalevala.
3. James Whitlark and Lynn Whitlark show a novel Ericksonian approach to Walt Whitman’s Song of the Open Road.
4. The very charming Elena V. Moonray wrote Be Like Water, My Friend, which could really make a decent induction.
5. Maybe my favorite of all - Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb, as pointed out by Michael Raugh.

So much for feeling better. I have stayed home for two days, but I have a few things I cannot put off today, so in a bit, off I go to the office.

With this in mind, and trying to keep my voice from doing odd things during my sessions, I have become desperate and am looking up homeopathic remedies as a solution.

Now I present to you - Ellie’s favorite five throat soothers.

1. Honey and lemon juice. Mix a bit of these two together and take a teaspoon every so often, letting the concoction sit in your throat.
2. Cinnamon. Boil a teaspoon of coarsely, powdered cinnamon in a cup of water, along with a pinch of pepper and two teaspoons of honey. I suspect you drink it down for relief.
3. A tea made out of (you guessed it) lemon and honey, along with apple cider vinegar, and Cayenne pepper. Basically, boil a plain cup of water. Then mix in a teaspoon of the vinegar and one of the honey. Add a pinch of cayenne and the juice of 1/4 of the lemon and there you have a delightful drink. You can have up to four of these a day.
4. The Tylenol Fix (and no this is probably not what you think). Rather than just taking two and calling me in the morning, this requires one to mash up one Tylenol into a fine powder. Add a few drops of water to the powder until it has a mud-like consistency. With a finger, spread this paste on the back of your tongue. (Yuck).
5. Yoga. It always comes back to yoga, does it not? Based on the lion pose, one does not need to do the whole pose. Rather, just stick out your tongue as though you are trying to touch your chin with it. When it seems it can go no farther, stretch it out just a little bit more, giving it all you have got. If you do it until you almost gag, you know you are doing it right. And that is it. Do this a couple times a day.

Sources:
Health911.com
Home Remedies
About.com
Thrifty Fun
Associated Content

*Yes, I have to put in a disclaimer here. The above information is just that - merely information. Ellie Blunt and The Transparent Hypnotist do no claim that any of these are cures or even recommend their use. Again they are what they are, information, and you as the reader may do with them what you will, realizing the author of this post is held harmless.

Ellie needs a vacation. January has just plum tuckered her out, but alas there is no reprieve insight for awhile (well that’s not right, there are a few road trips planned for a few weekends, but I want it now. LOL). So, to help me refuel my batteries and with hopes that this will help you as well, I decided to list my current favorite five vacation scripts. For those non-hypnotists who read this, I recommend Robert Hughes’ By the Sea because it has almost everything one needs to have a full hypnosis experience, except a recorder.

Ellie’s Favorite Five

Silvia Hartmann - Ice River. Reading like poetry, this visualization takes a winter scene and turns it into a mystical experience. Silvia refers to this experience as a “hypodream,” differentiating it from regular hypnosis because it does not seek earthly results (weight loss, smoking cessation, and so on). It has a bit of New Age thrown in and seeks to help those interested with Lucid Dreaming and entering the psychic realms. It is a vacation from the ordinary.

Robert Hughes - Relaxation by the Sea. This is a fully encompassing script that is originally suggested for creating your own, personal hypnosis audio. It involves an induction, a countdown deepener, and even physical response. The imagery is gorgeous and very soothing.

Christine Davies - Holiday Stroll. This is a beautiful walk that one might take when staying at a hotel. It has lovely guided imagery of a garden and then a beach. This would require another induction and deepener or could be used for imagery work itself.

Wayne F. Perkins - A One Minute Vacation. Who cannot use a one minute vacation? This is a self-hypnosis relaxation exercise that allows the participant to choose the vacation or place of peace. It is very permissive.

Ron Stubbs - A Mental Vacation. I include this because it is extremely similar to Wayne Perkins’ One Minute Vacation. There are only slight modifications. I am not sure which script came first, but it is a good example of either Universal Consciousness or influence. They are interesting in their slight differences.

It has turned out that this little feature is harder than I thought originally. There really are not that many sites out there who give away their scripts and then finding ones I like creates a challenge.

So, we continue on our discussion of forms of hypnosis. We have been talking about permissive hypnosis.

R.A.Neves - Permission To Trance: Multi-Purpose Permissive Script - this is a wonderfully permissive induction.

David Mason - Hypnosis Script: Sitting an Exam or Test - David actually analyzes his script on this page, dividing it into sections and for each, gives information, so it is a wonderful learning tool.

Terrance Watts - Permissive Quit Smoking Script - This is not the first time Terrance has been one of my favorites. To use this script, you would need to do an induction and deepener first.

American Pacific University - Creative Abilities - a short script that is used after an induction and deepener, this one relies on letting the client fill in the blanks. It does not specifically point the client in a given direction, but allows the client to create their own ideas.

Dan Elliott - Skin Problems This is an interesting script that walks the line a bit between permissive and authoritative, but it falls closer to the former. Again you would need an induction and a deepener to add to this.

Since we are exploring the subject of analytic minds, here are my five favorite analytical scripts (this week) with you. When you look at these, you may notice that they are a bit different from the progressive relaxation inductions I posted a few weeks ago. These involve a form of giving the conscious mind a task to focus on or adding an element of confusion to the mix and thus stopping the mind in its tracks and causing it to take a coffee break.

1. Healing Stories and Scripts - Chaplain Paul G. Durbin - An Induction for the Analytical and Indirect Suggestible Client. This is Paul’s adaption of a script by Gordon Boyd. It is based on the idea of referencing the client’s experience of the hypnotic process and with a touch of little guided imagery suggestion.
2. Alliance Self-Empowerment, Inc. - Roy Hunter - Inductions for Analytical Resisters - Roy is one of my personal heroes in the world of hypnosis. I have learned so much from all his books that I just had to include him. This link takes you to his theories and ideas about analytic resisters and how to create an induction for them. It is not a straight script in that you can just print it out and read it to your next client, but it takes each section of the induction and explains it.
3. Hypnosense.com - Terrance Watts - Seven Plus or Minus Two. Michael and I are both big fans of this particular script. It is based on the idea that the conscious mind can hold a certain number of separate thoughts at one time. There is much thinking and maintaining in this induction.
4. Andy Moore Hypnosis - Double Dice Deepening or Induction. Andy presents an interesting script here that keeps the mind occupied with visualizations and tasks, along with suggestions for relaxation.
5. The Blackboard. This is one of my favorite inductions that I actually use for a deepener. It works really well for most people, no matter what personality. You will notice no link to this. It is because I could not find a free version of it in which to include. Just do an internet search for it and consider buying it from someone. It involves visualization, asking the client to pay no attention to your words, and suggestions for relaxation.

Since one of the subjects that we are focusing on are intake forms, I have included links for Ellie’s favorite five intake forms. They are all very different, but worth sharing. There is a lot one can learn by looking at these.

1. Harwell Hypnosis & Healing - Janet Harwell’s intake form is very inclusive and makes a point of mentioning the comfort process, in other words, does the client wear contacts and is it a problem to have one’s eyes closed for a 45 minutes or more duration. It also ask about hearing problems (brilliant) and if the client would like any religious references mentioned. It is available online as a word document or a PDF.
2. Advanced Hypnotherapy Services - Rex A. Jones’s intake form is a three page PDF download. It includes a disclosure and consent form for hypnosis/hypnotherapy, client history and medical background, and a client consulting agreement that both Rex and the client signs. This is very straight forward and basic, but the addition of the disclosure and agreement as a nice touch of professionalism.
3. Insyht Hypnotherapy - Natasha Khachaturian has her intake form as a form to be filled out online. It asks both medical information and questions about the client’s goals and has great functionality to it.
4. Addison Hypnosis Center - John Evans’ intake form is short and sweet. I love the questions “What are you doing, feeling, thinking or saying to yourself that you would like to change?” and “What experience would you like to be having instead?” This is a text format download.
5. Vital Voice - Joanne Padawer’s intake form blew me away. It is a 12 page download, but talk about thorough. Six pages are typical hypnosis intake questions with a fair amount of space to give answers. It also includes a stress level profile, a challenges checklist, and a release statement.