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.

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Photograph by unrelaxeddad

Typing furiously, sipping my coffee as I pause, typing some more, I delete all the words. I repeat the process and find myself in something of an odd loop. Today the words do not flow as easily as is my norm. I know the words are there, piling up, pressing forward, but remaining behind the barricades of thought and rethought. They drivel out, one word squeaking under the pressure of the crowd, past the police tape of my mind. It is a word that really is more made up than a real word - bat’d.

Maybe bat’d conjures up imagery of flapping, creepy bird-mouse creatures or maybe for those of you who are no as dark minded as me, maybe there is the image of a Little League participant, awkwardly holding a device to send the ball, often fowl, sometimes not, back to the pitcher. Or maybe, just maybe you are a total optimist and see the grand slam (I see Cal Ripken), sound of metal and ball colliding, bat flying backward, and the slow motion run of a player begining the run to safety.

But for many others, you will have recognized the word bat’d for what it really is - an acronym for beta, alpha, theta, and delta. For one class or another, I realized I often mixed-up the order of brainwave activity. Hence, bat’d is my school girl solution.

It seems timely to discuss this now, since on Tuesday we discussed the alpha-theta machine, which helps people to experience the alpha and theta states of mind. But what does this really mean? As with the pulse that is inherent within the earth, think tidal influences and heart beats, the brain has a similar pulse. This pulse, which is what is tracked with Electro Encephalo Graph machines, has some distinctive rates that indicate different levels of consciousness.

This is where bat’d comes into play:

• Beta - (13-40 cycles per second) - this is probably the state you are in currently. It is the wakeful state of being.
• Alpha - (8-13 cycles per second) - this one is akin to a light day dream-like state, relaxation or effortless awareness. This is a good place to be for auto-suggestion (hypnotic suggestion) and for learning.
• Theta - (4-7 cycles per second) - This is the state one experiences when dreaming (REM), being totally engaged in the creative, and deep meditation. Some would say this is the area of the subconscious.
• Delta - (1/2 - 4 cycles per second) - this state is deep sleep. It is also thought to be the level where one can experience the collective unconscious.

Bat’d. Simple, easy to remember and useful when discussing consciousness.

Sources:
Brainwaves and Consciousness
The Learning Web
Psychic 101

The hypnotist looms before you. Maybe you are lucky and you have been given a few pointers on how to relax or maybe you are still a bit jittery with nervous energy. Maybe you are even wondering why you are here. You have been given instructions to hold your head straight and level. You are then asked to move only your eyes so that they are looking up toward your eyebrows. Now take it a step farther and roll your eyes up even more, as though you are looking up into the crown of your head. Perhaps your eyes are now feeling tired, maybe even slightly strained, but you must keep your eyes in that position for a few more moments and there is one last thing you must do before this hypnotic eye torture is over. With your eyes in that same position, begin to close your eyes. No, do not lower your eye balls. They must remain looking up as you close your eyes.

Okay, take a break for a moment. This little exercise is one that some hypnotist use to get an idea about your hypnotizability. My own training did not cover this approach, but it appears in various hypnosis text and is apparently still used by a few people. I was reminded of it several Monday’s ago when reading an interview about another hypnotist who uses it. So, it seemed like a good idea to really look at it.

This hypnosis susceptibility test was created by Herbert Spiegel, MD, a clinical professor at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. Basically, a hypnotist will look at the white area (sclera) of the eye between the lower eyelid and the cornea that can be seen at the end of the process described above. According to Spiegel, the more white space, judged on a scale between one and four (if there is a squint involved this is evaluated and the points added to the score), the more susceptible a person is to hypnosis. This method works 75% of the time, he said in an article in Time Magazine (1977).

I am not sure why I did not learn this little bit of historic hypnosis susceptibility (does anyone teach it now?), but I suspect there were some issues to it. There is the whole you-cannot-be-hypnotized-if-you-do-not-want-to-be thing, so even if you do well with the eye test and do not want to be hypnotized, well, this test is meaningless. And even if you do not do well on the eye roll test, but want to be hypnotized you will still get positive results.

Whether you use this tool as a hypnotist, it does show up in various inductions (very clever). There is a particularly nice one mentioned in Kaplan and Sadock’s Synopsis of Psychiatry. Hypnotists, you should check it out.

So, have you just asked someone in your vicinity to watch you do this and look at the white space? What are the results?

Photography by Dawn Endico

The day has begun, not with a cup a tea or an indulgence of coffee, but with a rather simple cup of hot water (warm actually). My apple fast has begun. But, in spite of this opening, this post is actually about something I meant to cover quite awhile ago.

Over the summer, I posted a few things about using hypnosis during pregnancy. I had referred to it as “hypnobirthing,” My tendency to make everything “hypno” this or “hypno” that caused me to disrespect the HypnoBirthing trademark. I was unaware of it at the time I posted, but a reader quietly sent me an email about my faux-pas.

So, my apologies to Marie Mongan for infringing on her trademarked HypnoBirthing®. If you are not familiar with the idea of using hypnosis to make the birthing process more comfortable and such, you can get an idea about it by visiting Marie’s HypnoBirthing® website.

Or if you prefer, you can check out the actual faux-pas - I did it twice:

• Awaiting the Storm and Other News
• Hypnobirthing in Australia

Maybe there was a time in your life when you wanted to change something. Maybe you were able to use sheer will power to make the change a reality such as giving up an addiction (smoking, caffeine, or the big dogs - drugs, sex or even  rock and roll).  But what about the changes that did not come so easy or seemed to be just outside of your grasp? This is where hypnosis becomes the tool for manifesting those change sin your life. And the thing is, hypnosis is not just one tool. There are several - self-hypnosis (the basis of all hypnosis), suggestion work, client centered hypnosis, regression, and parts therapy to name a few. The latter acts as follows:

The negotiator enters the space. On one side, there is the problem. On the other side is the one who needs certain things to happen for one’s well being. Both sides state their points and the negotiator makes sure both sides are truly heard. One side presents a desired outcome, the other takes this into consideration. This element is tweaked, that idea given up, and after the process, change happens. This is the mental world that Roy Hunter inserts himself - negotiator, hypnotist, trainer, extraordinaire.

One of Roy’s biggest claims to fame is the book he wrote,called Master the Power of Self-Hypnosis. With a background in sales, and the soul of  trainer, he became a distinguished member of the hypnosis community providing a valuable resource of hypnotic methods. His text books and training methods are often used in many schools for teaching the hypnotic arts. He also became a member in the International Hypnosis Hall of Fame in April of 2000 (for his writing prowess). In 2004, St. John’s University awarded him with an honorary doctorate in clinical hypnotherapy.

I did not know any of this when I met Roy. He was selling his books at an National Guild of Hypnotists conference, but for all I knew, he could have been a friend helping sell the Roy Hunter books. Almost walking past his table, he caught my eye and said hello. Feeling obligated to at least look at the products in his booth, I picked up the book Conflict Resolution: Introducing Parts Therapy. After looking at the table of contents (and several pages of the text to be sure it was not academia speak), I realized this was one of those kismet moments. This particular book seemed to address all my needs for helping a certain client. I bought the book (and Roy autographed it) and consumed it immediately. I looked up his other books (and those of his hero Charles Tebbits). When I felt confident enough, thanks to his well explained methods, I gave parts therapy a shot with my client. I became the negotiator for the conscious and subconscious parts of the client’s mind. With this technique, we broke through the client’s block in healing his chronic pain.

By the time I finished Conflict Resolution, I realized I had learned an awful lot. Not only did I gain experience from his knowledge and methods, as well as new techniques to help my clients, I learned more about the subconscious mind. I had tiptoed around so much, fearful of not saying the right words or even really understanding how the subconscious worked. Sure I had lots of theory to help explain it, but it seemed completely mystical and like a delicate, fine, blown-glass figurine. Handed the wrong way or even breathed upon, it could break. Yes, it is delicate, but thanks to Roy, I know better how to handle it. I can communicate with it (within myself and others) and know I have a way to conduct a responsible, helpful dialogue.

His theories and knowledge and the ability to disseminate it all make Roy Hunter one of my personal heros. He explains self-hypnosis in a way that many could really find beneficial. He explains hypnotic techniques in a way that can help a number of hypnotists help others. Roy Hunter’s work goes beyond the man behind the books, it is carried on through the work of others.

Resource:

Roy Hunter’s Web Site

Author’s note: This post is part of a group writing project called Heroes of Healing and is the brain child of Jenny Mannion. Please visit both sites.

Photograph by Kent K. Barnes / kentkb

As you are sitting there reading this, maybe drinking something of worth (tea, coffee, what have you), think about your insurance for a moment. Are you happy with it?  Or are you a bit disgruntled like myself?  If you will remember (or not) last winter, I lost my health insurance for a few months. It got reinstated, though…but I can never have a claim that involves headaches or allergies.  Why?  Because those were two things that appeared without resolve on my records. And gosh forbid, the insurance company is just protecting their little ol’ selves from potential insurance fraud. Yeah.  Whatever.

Originally, I was angry.  Then I realized my headaches are pretty much just related to my hormonal cycles (yeah, that is on my health records as well and has been for over a year), so they are controllable without medical attention (beyond what little I had before). So…that left allergies. Heck.  Maybe this is a blessing in terrible disguise? Twenty years of allergy shots did nothing for me. Then while in college a new allergist put me on pills. This has been good, until the company stopped making the pills….so…here I am.

Well, I have maintained my allergies very well with some self-hypnosis.  Whenever I feel like they are about to blossom in the form of a red and runny nose, I take a deep breath, count myself down and I open up to the allergy.  I do not try to fight it. I do not try to deny it. Instead, I try to soften it and let the moment pass. And this has been working really well…until recently. I am thinking of going to another hypnotist to tackle this one.

I know this is not the Sunday Question, but have any of you out there had success working with allergies through hypnosis?

Another early morning and a long day ahead. Don’t get me wrong, it is all good, just that there is a lot seemingly going on. It is back to back to back to back, so this is going to be short.

What is going through my mind currently (and I sort of wish it were not) is the whole idea of intelligence verses ignorance. When I was receiving my training, my mentor always said it was much easier to help an intelligent client get to a hypnotic place rather than one that is ignorant. I sort of rebelled against this with the idea that with a little hypnosis education, it could level the playing field. If I explained hypnosis well enough, well, the sky’s the limit. Ah, ha. How naive I was.

What I think my mentor should have said was it is easier to hypnotize someone who may be intelligent (even if slightly skeptical) than someone with a lower IQ aptitude in basic reasoning and logic. I think there is a moment when it is easy to fool one’s self into believing that a person who says they think the can’t be hypnotized because they have a strong will is right and it is easy to believe that the person who comes into it embracing the myths will be a piece of cake. Not so. Not even close. I have come to revel in the intelligent give and take of the discussion about strong will. This often includes having the opportunity to truly dispelling the myths and work on real rapport. It is the client who comes in, who is not so versed in logic or reason and believes the myth. It is the ones the are stubborn enough not to let go to their beliefs that I am a puppet master, making them unconscious so they do not have to do anything at all.

I really do not think this has anything to do with intelligence (IQ maybe, though I am not that well versed in the reality of IQ testing). Nor do I believe successful hypnosis has any real bearing upon the strong willed (unless they are strong willed against being hypnotized). I think it is the ones who stubbornly hold onto a concept that hypnosis is magic and they do not have to be a part of the process that are beyond being a challenge.

It is the last teaspoon of Darjeeling. It is a sad moment, but it has been a lovely satchel of tea and a new beginning for some other type. Tomorrow will be a reinvention of my morning ritual - a whole new flavor experience

Perhaps today should be about new flavors then. There have been times when I am a little terse or even a tad bit harsh on psychology attitudes and views on hypnosis. I suspect I have parceled them together and lumped them in a category that is not so favorable based on a few personal experiences where I found certain members of the psychologist family to be just awful and completely useless. I do realize this is so not fair (and when I dug into my notes yesterday, I found many of the ones I have thought to be useless were not psychologist at all, but trained social workers). I shant go into a negative rant, but rather will shift the balance to the positive. Psychology (and social work) is like everything else. There are the good and the bad. For every bad, I suspect there are two or more good ones out there.

But, I am human and it is easy to get peeved by those psychologists (those in the western hemisphere particularly) who blow off the value of a good hypnosis session. I suspect these same psychologist are annoyed at me for blowing off long-term talk therapy. But then there is the other side, as I was reminded on Monday by the Australian psychologists who do not want to deregulate hypnosis so that the lay population can practice it.

I know, I know. Relax my fellow hypnotists who do not live in places where hypnosis is regulated. I shant preach about why or why not it should be regulated, but we should take a pause here. What does this actually say about hypnosis, this little fight down under. In many ways it is actually exalting hypnosis. It preaches the validity of it. If psychologist over there are so concerned that in the wrong hands, hypnosis could be a bad thing - is that not an acknowledgment of the potential benefits for hypnosis? Okay, so it is a bit skewed - it does not do much for the general public to hear all this because it could lead to fear or more misconceptions. But on a professional level, it is really very interesting.

Any thoughts?

Egregiously late again, I still owe Ellie and you a Monday post.  It should have had something to do with Memorial Day, I suppose, but that’s not quite where my heart is.

I mentioned my girlfriend, Julie, in posing the Sunday Question.  She’s back home now, 500 miles away, hopefully still smiling as much as I am.  Which has me thinking about how hypnosis comes in handy in the oddest ways.  Yes, even with a long-distance relationship.

Julie is a kinesthetic type, meaning her mind tends to represent and recall data in terms of body sensations.  Because her mind naturally leans that way, Julie is very good at recalling and even reproducing sensations of touch, texture, and warmth — she can even hallucinate them with very little prompting.  Which makes it very easy for me to send her a warm hug, for example, by posthypnotic suggestion.  It’s still not the same as physically being there with her, but it makes her feel good and I (being an auditory type) get to enjoy hearing her sigh when she feels it.

Skype is our friend, of course.  The call quality is generally outstanding and the price is unbeatable (free).  People who use computer voice chat also tend to do it with headsets, which eliminates the problem I mentioned before about dropping the phone.  I’ve talked with other hypnotists who’ve done whole sessions over Skype with distant clients and gotten very satisfying results.  No surprise, then, that another powerful way to connect is to do a form of guided visualization (or the kinesthetic/auditory equivalent) over that voice connection — with a little hypnotic help, we can create a shared space where we can sit together, cuddle, and talk.  It’s quite nice, and again adds to the feeling of connectedness that’s so hard to sustain across multiple state lines.

I could go on, but I didn’t clear this topic with Ellie beforehand and it would be dangerously easy to drift into Too Much Information. ;^)  So instead let me just suggest that those of us who work with people in relationships, or who are in relationships ourselves, take a few quiet minutes and ask, are we making the most of the tools we have at hand, for ourselves and for our clients?

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Hypnosis has so many applications within modern medicine that it I often think most hospitals should have a hypnotist or two on staff.   The effectiveness of hypnosis for managing pain has been well documented, but there is a lot more than just that going on in an average hospital that could keep a staff hypnotist busy.

Case in point:  the well-known Magnetic Resonance Imaging, or MRI, test.  It’s a pretty intimidating procedure.  You lie down on a sliding table, get inserted into a narrow tunnel inside a huge round machine, which then begins to make loud chunking noises all around you — while you’ve been admonished to remain absolutely still.  Some patients are so unnerved by the noises, or by the close confines of the tube, that they panic and technicians have to pause or redo parts of the test.  In extreme cases the patient has to be sedated to keep them calm long enough to take the images.

A few weeks ago a dear friend of mine was scheduled to undergo an MRI exam of her pelvic region.  She was fairly experienced at being hypnotized and wondered whether I could give her some suggestions that would help her to remain still and calm during what she knew from prior experience would be a relatively unpleasant process.  Of course, I told her.

We arranged a Skype voice chat for the evening before the test.  I took my friend into hypnosis and we walked through the procedure in her mind:  arriving at the hospital, changing into the usual little gown, getting on the table, being slid into the machine, hearing the noise, etc.  Then I used the noise, which she could remember from prior MRI sessions, and made that noise a trigger for her body to become totally relaxed and still.

My friend got through the exam quickly and easily.  The loud clunking of the machine, which had been unnerving and startling to her before, became a welcome trigger into a state that made the imaging time pass very quickly for her (hooray, hypnotic time distortion!).  I won’t claim that hypnosis made the MRI experience pleasant, but she did feel pretty good during most of it.  And the test results were happy ones, so everything worked out well.

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