The Transparent Hypnotist

It is nothing but rush, rush, rush, this morning. So, my attention is somewhat out of focus for the moment.

So, I thought I would quickly sum up why hypnosis alone is not brain washing for those who may be thinking it is the ends to the means. There seems to be a lot of teenagers (at least they sound like teenage boys on the phone) who are fascinated by the concept of being able to force others to do their bidding. I admit in high school it would have been very pleasant to have snapped my fingers and make my Calculus professor believe all my wrong answers were correct. But alas, had I perfected my hypnotism skills back then, I still would have struggled with the subject.

The key to hypnosis is suggestibility - the acceptance of suggestions given during a hypnotic session. It is a person’s free will to accept or decline such suggestions. For there even to begin to be the semblance of mind control, there has to be a lot more manipulation than just suggestions. If I suggest that you become my slave and you do so, you have chosen to do this.

This is the challenge for the modern clinical hypnotist. It is finding a route for the suggestions to be accepted by the client. This is why there is not a 100% sucess rate to the profession. Sometimes it is hard to find the right way to input a suggestion that the client’s subconcious mind will accept.

So, if you are in a trance and someone suggest that you do something totally against your free will or that you do not accept, you simply will not do it. A good resource for this is the Mythbusters‘ TV show. In season five, they put this concept to test - can hypnosis make you do something against your will - and they busted the myth.

Hence with all this in mind, another person cannot control your mind. Hypnosis is not the same thing as mind control.

Putting down the tea cup, what I want to know is how many of you have worked with lucid dreams using hypnotic suggestion, either as a hypnotist giving the suggestions or as the person being hypnotized? Or…have you used self-hypnosis to lucid dream?

I have to begun to think (and I may be slow on the uptake here) that maybe to become proficient with lucid dreams, the techniques are all self-hypnosis with maybe the exception being the use of the dream machines…but that seems hypnotic, too, just not so vocal based.

All this comes into my mind from perusing Bill Perry’s Lucid Blog. Bill was kind enough to respond to the Sunday Question about lucid dreaming, and I am so glad he did. His experiences are pretty interesting, as is his approach. He uses an anchoring technique and it is as follows:

• As you are lying in bed, simply visualize the dream you would like to have. Experience it as you would like to experience it. Get as far into the visualization as you can. Hear the sounds, see the sights, smell how it smells. As you are getting into this visualization, clench your hands into fists. Not tightly, but relaxed fists. Use it as an anchor.
• Allow your brain to tie the feeling of clenching the hands into fists with he feeling of what your prospective dream feels like.
• Next time you are lucid, clench your dream fists and remember the dream you want to have. Much like running a computer program, your dream will now “load up” for you.
• And, since you are now altering the content of the dream, you don’t have to stick exactly to the “script” you’ve made in your visualization. You can now make things happen by the power of sheer thought.
• Dream on!

This was taken from his blog posting How to Control Your Dreams. Using both self-hypnosis techniques and NLP, is this just another fabulous tool of hypnosis? When I was debating using the home-made sunglasses dream machine to use the lights as an anchor to remind you that you were in a dream and now could take control of it, Bill’s technique does this without all the gadgetry. Definitely worth exploring.

So, have you looked at the world from an upside down perspective, yet? I am looking at the world from a sleepy perspective at the moment.

Here is a question (no, I am not waiting until Sunday): Where are people getting the idea that they need a potential booster session or that they need some sort of reinforcement for hypnosis to be truly effective?

Is it because hypnotists tell them this in order to get more business? Is it a lack of self-trust?

I do offer a more than one session option in my pricing, but I do this for the concept that there may be several things that the client would want to work on, such as is the case with weight loss, where one might need suggestions for portion control, self-esteem, and exercise motivation. So, I would do three sessions for this, not the same thing over and over again.

What I also wonder is if the brain occasionally rebels against repeating the suggestion over and over again for instance as one might do with an audio product. If they use the same audio to help them fall asleep at night, might it get to the point where it does just the opposite?

I have given up the idea of sleeping…at least for tonight. Maybe it is true that as one gets older, one needs less sleep?

And so, while waiting for the kettle to wake up, I shall continue my diatribe about doctors.

Paul had some good advice yesterday about handling referrals.

After attending last year’s NGH conference, it seemed to be stressed, particularly by the doctors, that we should let them know if we are working with one of their patients and give them a follow up. I totally respect this, as this is how they work with their medical peers. However, this leads to a few problems. Many of my clients say they mention to their doctors that they want to try hypnosis. Several have reported that the doctors often look at hypnosis as a crack-pot remedy (still?). Now to me this just speaks of an uneducated, over-worked-with seeing-the-pharmaceuticals or surgical instrument sales people. Sorry. Transparent enough, for you? Now for those of you doctors who do recommend concepts like hypnosis, good for you. You have my complete respect (and positive thoughts).

Now I do understand that doctors provide their own form of healing, which is why we go to them traditionally. Hypnosis may not even be on their radar, and that is fine as well (I cannot speak about all the minutia involving prescriptions). All that I am saying is that if your patient, my potential client, feels this might be a positive step in their wellness, do not just disregard it along with the snake oils. Rather than doing them a disservice and making them feel small for the suggestion, try looking into it as an option for your patient.

Well, shoot. My tea is ready and I am spent.

It was good to hear that Paul is still getting the old, “do you use a pocket watch?” question when he tells people of his interest in hypnosis.

I thought of another type of comment I have gotten a few times upon telling people about my involvement with hypnosis.

“That’s very interesting. I already quit smoking so I don’t really have a need for any hypnosis, but that’s very interesting.”

This is a fun response because it says so much. It says that they at least heard what you said. It says they know just a little about hypnosis. It says either you are coming off with a marketing pitch in your introductions (which I suppose is quite possible) or that that is how they network: looking for that balance of what can I do for you, what can you do for me. I suspect the answer is how that comment is delivered. It may also say, I would like to hear more or change the subject please. Gosh but I love social communication.

But, no matter what, it is still a great opening for, “Ah, true enough, but there is so much more that hypnosis is used for these days.”

That keeps the dialogue flowing and voilà, instant education opportunity.

Perhaps this is arcane subject matter for me to bring up, but there was a time when such comments would end the conversation with me (I can be a little slow on the uptake), but I have gotten it enough that I finally understand it could make for an interesting conversation.

Still on a parenting kick, as I have a few clients I am working with in this genre (coincident? Universal consciousness? After I posted about childing-birthing hypno, a client just came to me to help her lessen anxiety about an upcoming adoption). In finding resources to send her way, I stumbled across an interview on the New Millennium Series (I think they are not very recent) with Charles Thomas Cayce, a child psychologist.

During this interview on raising children intuitively, he mentioned a story about his own daughter. She was (is?) a teenager who had some insomnia issues. So Dr. Cayce created a suggestion tape for her to listen to at night so she would sleep better. It worked and it sounds like the issues have gone away.

It is all good up to this point. He suggest other parent try this route - remembering that this is not hypnosis. WHAT? The tape part is all good, but why is it not hypnosis? He goes on to explain this. It is not hypnosis because when giving the suggestions, you as the parent, do not use commands or a commanding voice. You give gentle suggestions.

Ummm.

So therefore, is the definition for hypnosis something to the effect of: Hypnosis is a command issued to another during a relaxed state?

It is interesting to hear what the psychology world thinks about hypnosis. The odd notions that are batted about and then you have people like Dr. Eimer and Dr. Peterson who utilize it in their practices in a very positive way, very worthy of a hurrah from those who only practice it.

Perhaps I am not being fair to Dr. Cayce. He is the grandson of Edgar Cayce. If you ever look at any of the Cayce Readings of which Edgar Cayce gave when in a state of hypnosis, his conductor (nice word) used commanding language. And I am not judging Dr. Cayce’s utilization of hypnosis. I suspect if he does use it in his practice, he’s probably brilliant. His use of suggestion with his daughter is a wonderful story, but a rose by any other name is still a rose.