Trance states have been around as long as humans have sat at fires and told stories or danced to the drums or chanted to invoke the presence of a god or goddess or both.
Trance states are what others refer to as "altered states of consciousness," In the 60s, an altered state was achieved using LSD or acid. In some American Indian traditions, the altered state is achieved using peyote. In some Eastern traditions, the altered state is achieved via meditation. In other American Indian traditions, the altered state is achieved during fasting and sleep deprivation while on a vision quest. (We now know that going without sleep for 72 hours or more will induce hallucinations by itself.) In hypnosis, the altered state is achieved using self-hypnosis or guided hypnosis.
What's the difference in all of these ways to achieve expanded consciousness? And do they all visit the same place or different places?
First, any practitioner of modern "magick" will tell you that intention means everything before and during a ritual. And in that sense, each of those practices may indeed take you to a different place based on the intention you had when you entered the state. While at the same time, many of the different states are indeed the same brainwave frequency (theta). The chemical means have their own different impacts on the brain and its chemistry.
How can intention make such a difference in the place we visit during an altered state?
Ahhhh, that's where the magick comes in. :) Early on, I used to think that all places were the same if they all exhibited the same brainwave pattern (theta state). However, in my own practice and experience with both hypnosis and meditation (we won't talk about indiscretions as a youngster!), the intention does indeed press the elevator button for whichever floor you wish to visit.
Hypnosis by itself can be quite useful for many things, including breaking old habits or starting and reinforcing new ones. But combining the spiritual aspect with a meditative state can be as powerful and often more so.
Rituals can often help achieve the altered state --- think about your own meditation practice or rituals you engage in alone or with others. Much like any other skill, practice makes it easier and faster to achieve the altered state and any rituals you have associated with it tell your body and your mind, "hey! get ready...here we go again" so that achieving the desired altered state becomes easier and easier each time. The same is true for self-hypnosis or guided hypnosis.
Until next time, enjoy your rituals, meditations, and self-hypnosis!
Monday, October 11, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Addictions: physical vs psychological and can hypnosis help?
The last month has just FLOWN by with barely a minute to breath, let alone blog. :) But I guess that's what summers are made for, right?
Lately, the old Nature / Nurture or Genetics / Environment controversy has been rattling around in my brain. How much of each controls WHO we are? And the reason this has been rattling around my brain is because my older sister's youngest has made some really BAD decisions lately that have landed him in a heap of trouble. Decisions that I wonder if he had known the full extent of the biological history on his mother's side of the family he might have avoided (if he was smart).
You see, our grandfather was an alcoholic when our mother was growing up. Mom (born in 1931) was the eldest of 5 kids, and as such she ended up taking care of the others. She used to tell me how the post master mistook her youngest sister for her baby because of the age difference. (Mom's youngest sister wasn't much older than her first daughter, my sister.) Anyway, so yea, Mom had the whole "children of alcoholics" thing going on. (There were some other things going on too, but we'll get to those it other posts. :>)
On that side of the family, several uncles had alcohol problems and then several cousins (not even those of alcoholic uncles) had problems with drugs. So you can see where the "physical addiction" part of the post is coming from.
There has been a lot of research done that established a genetic predisposition for addictions. Physical addictions. What they've found is that those with this genetic predisposition have a much higher tolerance for alcohol (or drugs) than those who do not develop a physical addiction as readily. That means they have to use more to get off on whatever it is. So, if there's that wild hair gene in your family history (however buried people may have tried to make it) then you definitely need to be aware of it and certainly keep that in mind when you're imbibing in whatever vice of your choice because if you do become physically addicted, you will have to work harder to break it and stay away from it than someone who did not have that genetic predisposition for addictions to begin with. And just to make things interesting, there's a tie between that alcoholic addiction gene and craving sweets. And yea, some of my aunts weren't alcoholics, but there was definitely something going on with the sweet tooth. ;>
Then there's the psychological side of addictions. Even without a "physical" addiction, those with addictive personalities can become addicted to ANYTHING. These are the folks you're hearing about becoming addicted to sex, addicted to the Internet, addicted to Internet sex, addicted to whatever, you name it. And those type of "addictions" we seem to hear more and more about these days.
Most addictions that we commonly think of (smoking, alcohol, drugs) are a combination of a physical addiction and a psychological (or behavioral) one. And I can attest to that from a first had basis because before stopping smoking with hypnosis, I had both problems. But I also knew that once I managed to get my smoke count to 10 or below a day, then I was just dealing with the psychological addiction because the nicotine addiction was gone (or close to gone) by that point. And I did it using my own stop smoking CD. :)
Can hypnosis help with addictions? Yes. That's why the AMA has endorsed hypnosis as a treatment to stop smoking since 1958. Hypnosis can help remove the psychological addiction and support you as you break the physical addiction. But, like any type of therapy, YOU have to be the one who decides to change your life. It won't work if your mom wants you to, or your dad, or your grandparents, or your spouse, or whoever. You have to want to do it for YOURSELF first and foremost. And that goes for any therapy no matter what the therapy is for. The only person who can change you is YOU. Therapists can help, but in the end you have to do the heavy lifting.
Hypnosis can help put you back in the driver's seat, and I have known hypnotists that have treated much worse addictions than smoking with hypnosis. That type of work takes intense DAILY sessions and a huge commitment from both the client and the hypnotist. I also know that there are hypnotists out there selling CDs for other types of addictions. Those tapes may help you and that's great if they do. But I would also suggest obtaining additional help from addiction counselors, 12-step programs, and other therapists. Addictions are a form of escape (at least it started out that way) and they can help you process and work through whatever it was or is that you were escaping from to begin with.
be well... and addiction free... until next time
Lately, the old Nature / Nurture or Genetics / Environment controversy has been rattling around in my brain. How much of each controls WHO we are? And the reason this has been rattling around my brain is because my older sister's youngest has made some really BAD decisions lately that have landed him in a heap of trouble. Decisions that I wonder if he had known the full extent of the biological history on his mother's side of the family he might have avoided (if he was smart).
You see, our grandfather was an alcoholic when our mother was growing up. Mom (born in 1931) was the eldest of 5 kids, and as such she ended up taking care of the others. She used to tell me how the post master mistook her youngest sister for her baby because of the age difference. (Mom's youngest sister wasn't much older than her first daughter, my sister.) Anyway, so yea, Mom had the whole "children of alcoholics" thing going on. (There were some other things going on too, but we'll get to those it other posts. :>)
On that side of the family, several uncles had alcohol problems and then several cousins (not even those of alcoholic uncles) had problems with drugs. So you can see where the "physical addiction" part of the post is coming from.
There has been a lot of research done that established a genetic predisposition for addictions. Physical addictions. What they've found is that those with this genetic predisposition have a much higher tolerance for alcohol (or drugs) than those who do not develop a physical addiction as readily. That means they have to use more to get off on whatever it is. So, if there's that wild hair gene in your family history (however buried people may have tried to make it) then you definitely need to be aware of it and certainly keep that in mind when you're imbibing in whatever vice of your choice because if you do become physically addicted, you will have to work harder to break it and stay away from it than someone who did not have that genetic predisposition for addictions to begin with. And just to make things interesting, there's a tie between that alcoholic addiction gene and craving sweets. And yea, some of my aunts weren't alcoholics, but there was definitely something going on with the sweet tooth. ;>
Then there's the psychological side of addictions. Even without a "physical" addiction, those with addictive personalities can become addicted to ANYTHING. These are the folks you're hearing about becoming addicted to sex, addicted to the Internet, addicted to Internet sex, addicted to whatever, you name it. And those type of "addictions" we seem to hear more and more about these days.
Most addictions that we commonly think of (smoking, alcohol, drugs) are a combination of a physical addiction and a psychological (or behavioral) one. And I can attest to that from a first had basis because before stopping smoking with hypnosis, I had both problems. But I also knew that once I managed to get my smoke count to 10 or below a day, then I was just dealing with the psychological addiction because the nicotine addiction was gone (or close to gone) by that point. And I did it using my own stop smoking CD. :)
Can hypnosis help with addictions? Yes. That's why the AMA has endorsed hypnosis as a treatment to stop smoking since 1958. Hypnosis can help remove the psychological addiction and support you as you break the physical addiction. But, like any type of therapy, YOU have to be the one who decides to change your life. It won't work if your mom wants you to, or your dad, or your grandparents, or your spouse, or whoever. You have to want to do it for YOURSELF first and foremost. And that goes for any therapy no matter what the therapy is for. The only person who can change you is YOU. Therapists can help, but in the end you have to do the heavy lifting.
Hypnosis can help put you back in the driver's seat, and I have known hypnotists that have treated much worse addictions than smoking with hypnosis. That type of work takes intense DAILY sessions and a huge commitment from both the client and the hypnotist. I also know that there are hypnotists out there selling CDs for other types of addictions. Those tapes may help you and that's great if they do. But I would also suggest obtaining additional help from addiction counselors, 12-step programs, and other therapists. Addictions are a form of escape (at least it started out that way) and they can help you process and work through whatever it was or is that you were escaping from to begin with.
be well... and addiction free... until next time
Monday, June 21, 2010
hypnosis & other curiosities
I'm struck by the fascination we have with hypnosis and the subconscious. Do you know how many movies in the last 20 years have had some sort of hypnosis link in them? Plenty. And even "street" magicians mixing up stage hypnosis into their acts in Vegas (this one had a TV show for a while).
Stage hypnosis is how most people are introduced to hypnosis: a show in Vegas or a night club act somewhere else. That's why when most people consult a hypnotist the first time they're quite concerned that we "don't make me cluck like a chicken."
It's no wonder. We've had images of Dracula burned into our psyche --- Dracula who could hypnotize his victims. We've seen movies where the plot unfolds with an amnesia victim undergoing hypnosis to try and sort out who she is, we've had movies show us how hypnosis unlocks our mind so we can see scary dead people, and we've seen movies where hypnosis is used to help Sybil and her 17 personalties become whole again. Mostly whole, anyway.
So why are we so fascinated by it? I have several theories about that, including storytelling sitting around campfires after a long day. Hypnosis is part of who we are as people. Its roots go back to Ancient Egypt, the first medicine people, and even Edgar Cayce was touched by hypnosis. A hypnotist helped cure Cayce of a throat affliction, and it was during that session that Cacyce's healing persona emerged. I bet you didn't know that, did ya? :)
We are so fascinated by hypnosis because it is US. It is a part of us and at the same time so alien to us to think we have some powerful force inside us that we have no control over. Or little control over. Actually, we *can* shape it and work with it and understand it. And if we don't work with it, then it controls us and we run around blindly reacting to things and wondering why. Or wondering why we can't stop some things.
Anyway, hypnosis has been accepted by the AMA (American Medical Association) since 1958 as effective treatment for some problems (stopping smoking). It is still recognized as the ONLY effective treatment for multiple personalities (or dissociated personalties if you prefer the newer terminology), and more and more clinical (double-blind) studies are documenting its efficacy for a number of problems, including controlling chronic pain, helping with cancer, reducing stress, and a number of other chronic problems. Did you know that before our modern chemical anesthesias were developed, that hypnosis was used instead? Yea, it is scary isn't it!
I think part of why it fascinates us (it certainly has fascinated me since the mid 70s) is because it seems "mysterious" and it has ties to ancient worlds and ancient times, and yes magical times and magical ties. For so long it was so jealously guarded by so many in power. And now, Anyone can learn it. Of course, that doesn't mean everyone is good at it (Freud certainly wasn't), but you can learn it.
I am often reminded during sessions that not everything in this world has been categorized and explained and cataloged and dissected to death. There is still mystery and wonder and beauty. And most hypnotists will tell you that after they had been practicing for a while, sometimes when they open their mouths---they have no idea where what is coming out is coming from. Technically, this is called an "up-trance" for the hypnotist---meaning that when we work with a client, we also go into a type of trance while working with you. And we do. And where do the words come from if we're not consciously pulling them out? Our subconscious? Possibly. A higher place? Probably. And you can follow that train of thought wherever it leads you....
Stage hypnosis is how most people are introduced to hypnosis: a show in Vegas or a night club act somewhere else. That's why when most people consult a hypnotist the first time they're quite concerned that we "don't make me cluck like a chicken."
It's no wonder. We've had images of Dracula burned into our psyche --- Dracula who could hypnotize his victims. We've seen movies where the plot unfolds with an amnesia victim undergoing hypnosis to try and sort out who she is, we've had movies show us how hypnosis unlocks our mind so we can see scary dead people, and we've seen movies where hypnosis is used to help Sybil and her 17 personalties become whole again. Mostly whole, anyway.
So why are we so fascinated by it? I have several theories about that, including storytelling sitting around campfires after a long day. Hypnosis is part of who we are as people. Its roots go back to Ancient Egypt, the first medicine people, and even Edgar Cayce was touched by hypnosis. A hypnotist helped cure Cayce of a throat affliction, and it was during that session that Cacyce's healing persona emerged. I bet you didn't know that, did ya? :)
We are so fascinated by hypnosis because it is US. It is a part of us and at the same time so alien to us to think we have some powerful force inside us that we have no control over. Or little control over. Actually, we *can* shape it and work with it and understand it. And if we don't work with it, then it controls us and we run around blindly reacting to things and wondering why. Or wondering why we can't stop some things.
Anyway, hypnosis has been accepted by the AMA (American Medical Association) since 1958 as effective treatment for some problems (stopping smoking). It is still recognized as the ONLY effective treatment for multiple personalities (or dissociated personalties if you prefer the newer terminology), and more and more clinical (double-blind) studies are documenting its efficacy for a number of problems, including controlling chronic pain, helping with cancer, reducing stress, and a number of other chronic problems. Did you know that before our modern chemical anesthesias were developed, that hypnosis was used instead? Yea, it is scary isn't it!
I think part of why it fascinates us (it certainly has fascinated me since the mid 70s) is because it seems "mysterious" and it has ties to ancient worlds and ancient times, and yes magical times and magical ties. For so long it was so jealously guarded by so many in power. And now, Anyone can learn it. Of course, that doesn't mean everyone is good at it (Freud certainly wasn't), but you can learn it.
I am often reminded during sessions that not everything in this world has been categorized and explained and cataloged and dissected to death. There is still mystery and wonder and beauty. And most hypnotists will tell you that after they had been practicing for a while, sometimes when they open their mouths---they have no idea where what is coming out is coming from. Technically, this is called an "up-trance" for the hypnotist---meaning that when we work with a client, we also go into a type of trance while working with you. And we do. And where do the words come from if we're not consciously pulling them out? Our subconscious? Possibly. A higher place? Probably. And you can follow that train of thought wherever it leads you....
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Just exactly how powerful is the subconscious mind?
I was talking to an old high school friend a few days ago in IM, one that I really hadn't had any contact with in the last 30 years, and was struck by something she said about not being able to do something: "you can't do that" was the comment. We were talking about special talents and skills and I had mentioned that I'd been doing a lot of work recently on re-opening one of my special gifts. The comment was in response to the fact that I had "shut it down" to begin with as a child. (This information that had come out in past hypnosis sessions, and it is not unusual at all for us to have "shut things down" as children, especially if we were told we had overactive imaginations.)
Obviously, we were not on the same page and not even in the same book on the subject. And rather than try and go into gross detail in IM, my reply was something like, "Yea, I did. I plugged it up" and let it go at that. But my Mind wasn't about to let it go so easily. :) So you get to hear about it here.
The mind is a very powerful thing, and the subconscious mind is even more powerful than the conscious mind. Think of the mind like an iceberg: only 10% is above the surface (conscious) and the other 90% is below the surface (subconscious).
The part that is below the surface (subconscious) is the most powerful, and can be the most "dangerous" if you are unaware of what it's doing. The subconscious is the part that trips you up on all of your good intentioned diets---it is the child-like part of you that says "Screw that! We're going to eat what I like and what tastes good." It is stronger than all the willpower you can muster, and then some. It is very child-like, often rebellious, and for it everything happens "now." It is the part of us that plays the "programming" we received as kids, and it's also where our values and principals lie. It is the keeper of all the hurts we have suffered (outside of time), and until it has dealt with whatever issues it has, our conscious mind and behaviors will be held hostage to the old patterns.
Thankfully, once you are an adult, it is not easy to reach the subconscious. There are controls in place to protect because once something is inside the subconscious mind --- it Believes it to be True, even if it's obviously a lie. Let me repeat that: Once something is inside your subconscious mind, it BELIEVES it whether it is correct or not.
The subconscious is protected by a barrier known as the critical factor (This mind model is based on Gerald Kein's well known mind model. Gerry is somewhat of a legend in hypnosis, known for his mind model and instant inductions, among other things, (and yes I have studied with him). The critical factor forms over time and is not complete until somewhere between the ages of 10 and 12. Our subconscious mind is there way before that, from birth and even before. This also dovetails with some traditional Cherokee teachings that say the child's spirit is not fully in the body before 7 years of age.
Now, before the critical factor is completely formed, the subconscious mind is rather easy to access. Pretty much all children are in their subconscious mind all the time. (Even late teens and early 20s are still go there very easily.) That means things that happen before the critical factor forms go strait in --- without being filtered or checked against reality. For example, if during this time someone teaches you that a square is actually a circle and vice versa, then that's what you'll believe until enough people challenge it later, then you start thinking maybe that wasn't actually true to begin with. That's also one reason why any form of child abuse in those early years is so devastating and destructive. It can be overcome, but it will take a lot of work to do it.
Once the critical factor is formed, it's a bit harder to slide things into the subconscious. Harder, but not impossible. Outside of working with a hypnotist, other ways to reach the subconscious are: (1) trauma, (2) boredom, (3) repetition, and (4) light / sound techniques, including binaural sounds. (The recordings I do have binaural sounds embedded to ensure that you reach not only a trance state, but the theta brainwave deep trance state. And please don't worry about "induced memories" --- my training in forensic hypnotism focused specifically on how to avoid doing that. :))
Once you have reached the subconscious, you and your hypnotist (if you're doing deep work, you really need a hypnotist or hypnotherapist working with you) can then proceed to get to the root of the problem and re-frame it. You can also implant new tools to help you, for example suggesting that you don't need to count how much water you drink every day because your subconscious counts and until you've reached the optimal amount your thirst won't be quenched.
A technique often used in the subconscious is imagining yourself in a control room of sorts. Some folks see this as like the bridge of the Enterprise. And this control room houses the controls to your body and your mind. And you can adjust these various settings up or down until they are just right and just perfect for you. Using this type of technique (among others) it is indeed very possible to re-open lost or buried talents and gifts you have tucked away. :)
until next time,
melodie
Obviously, we were not on the same page and not even in the same book on the subject. And rather than try and go into gross detail in IM, my reply was something like, "Yea, I did. I plugged it up" and let it go at that. But my Mind wasn't about to let it go so easily. :) So you get to hear about it here.
The mind is a very powerful thing, and the subconscious mind is even more powerful than the conscious mind. Think of the mind like an iceberg: only 10% is above the surface (conscious) and the other 90% is below the surface (subconscious).
The part that is below the surface (subconscious) is the most powerful, and can be the most "dangerous" if you are unaware of what it's doing. The subconscious is the part that trips you up on all of your good intentioned diets---it is the child-like part of you that says "Screw that! We're going to eat what I like and what tastes good." It is stronger than all the willpower you can muster, and then some. It is very child-like, often rebellious, and for it everything happens "now." It is the part of us that plays the "programming" we received as kids, and it's also where our values and principals lie. It is the keeper of all the hurts we have suffered (outside of time), and until it has dealt with whatever issues it has, our conscious mind and behaviors will be held hostage to the old patterns.
Thankfully, once you are an adult, it is not easy to reach the subconscious. There are controls in place to protect because once something is inside the subconscious mind --- it Believes it to be True, even if it's obviously a lie. Let me repeat that: Once something is inside your subconscious mind, it BELIEVES it whether it is correct or not.
The subconscious is protected by a barrier known as the critical factor (This mind model is based on Gerald Kein's well known mind model. Gerry is somewhat of a legend in hypnosis, known for his mind model and instant inductions, among other things, (and yes I have studied with him). The critical factor forms over time and is not complete until somewhere between the ages of 10 and 12. Our subconscious mind is there way before that, from birth and even before. This also dovetails with some traditional Cherokee teachings that say the child's spirit is not fully in the body before 7 years of age.
Now, before the critical factor is completely formed, the subconscious mind is rather easy to access. Pretty much all children are in their subconscious mind all the time. (Even late teens and early 20s are still go there very easily.) That means things that happen before the critical factor forms go strait in --- without being filtered or checked against reality. For example, if during this time someone teaches you that a square is actually a circle and vice versa, then that's what you'll believe until enough people challenge it later, then you start thinking maybe that wasn't actually true to begin with. That's also one reason why any form of child abuse in those early years is so devastating and destructive. It can be overcome, but it will take a lot of work to do it.
Once the critical factor is formed, it's a bit harder to slide things into the subconscious. Harder, but not impossible. Outside of working with a hypnotist, other ways to reach the subconscious are: (1) trauma, (2) boredom, (3) repetition, and (4) light / sound techniques, including binaural sounds. (The recordings I do have binaural sounds embedded to ensure that you reach not only a trance state, but the theta brainwave deep trance state. And please don't worry about "induced memories" --- my training in forensic hypnotism focused specifically on how to avoid doing that. :))
Once you have reached the subconscious, you and your hypnotist (if you're doing deep work, you really need a hypnotist or hypnotherapist working with you) can then proceed to get to the root of the problem and re-frame it. You can also implant new tools to help you, for example suggesting that you don't need to count how much water you drink every day because your subconscious counts and until you've reached the optimal amount your thirst won't be quenched.
A technique often used in the subconscious is imagining yourself in a control room of sorts. Some folks see this as like the bridge of the Enterprise. And this control room houses the controls to your body and your mind. And you can adjust these various settings up or down until they are just right and just perfect for you. Using this type of technique (among others) it is indeed very possible to re-open lost or buried talents and gifts you have tucked away. :)
until next time,
melodie
Monday, May 24, 2010
Past lives... and graveyards as a "safe, happy place"
A favorite topic when someone finds out you're a hypnotist is past lives. Are they real? Where do they come from? Does that mean reincarnation is real?
When I was first starting out, I would avoid that controversial issue by simply saying something like "I don't know where they come from or whether they are real. All I know is that if I work with them to resolve whatever issue they've presented, it also takes care of that issue or problem in this life. The therapy around the past lives works, and that's all I care about for my client."
And that is true. One doesn't have to believe in past lives to experience them in hypnosis. (See the separate page on past lives that talks about young souls.) And at the same time, a belief in past (or future) lives doesn't have to conflict with your spiritual or religious beliefs.
For the subconscious mind, all time is NOW. There is no past and no future. Everything happens NOW. So when you're experiencing something in hypnosis, you are indeed experiencing it the same as you would at that time, whenever that time exists whether that is in the "past" or "future" to your current perspective. Linear time does not exist in the subconscious mind. (There are techniques to minimize the emotional impact of revisiting a traumatic incident so that you do not have to relive it quite as intensely as the first time around.)
This correlates with some current theories on time as a circular river, where if we could pop our heads up above the waterline, we'd see all of time existing at the same time. Others tell us that Time and Space is the 4th dimension for our physical 3-D existence.
I don't know whether it is or not. All I know is that often, when the subconscious sees its chance to work on something, it takes it. This happened with my very first paying client many years ago. He came in for a specific problem he wanted to work on; however, his subconscious mind had a different problem in mind. I was guiding him to a "safe and happy place" to do this work----but his subconscious led us to a graveyard! (Of course, I'm thinking OMG! Now what do I do????, but never let him know that.) Most people go to a mountain meadow or beach or something.
Graveyard as a "safe and happy place?" So, I'm cool. I've been taught well and I've been taught to "deal with what emerges" in hypnosis, whatever that may be. So I ask him to find a path in the graveyard and start following it.... That worked until he ran into a WALL and then proceeded to tell me that his Heart Was Buried inside the walled off portion of this graveyard.
Now he was getting agitated, as well as me. This wasn't what he bargained for, and it wasn't what I bargained for either! So we did a little work around his heart being buried in here, then we emerged. I gave him some paper and pencil and asked him to draw what he saw. He did. And as he did, we talked a bit more. It seems that many years before he was an artist, but the "day job" had been keeping him from expressing his creativity, which had been coming out in some other ways --- the original problem he had consulted me about. His daughter had give him a set of drawing pencils for Christmas the year before, but he had not been using them.
Before I sent him on his way, I suggested that he spend some time each week allowing his creativity and artistic talents to express themselves and that it would probably help. Needless to say, it wasn't what he had expected for his first hypnosis session (me either!) and he didn't return as a client. I only hope that he followed the suggestion to express his artistic drives in a healthier way.
And that was my first lesson on how when the subconscious sees an opportunity (especially if it thinks it won't get another one), it will take it.
until next time... relax, breathe deeply, and exercise those creative impulses in healthy ways. :)
---melodie
When I was first starting out, I would avoid that controversial issue by simply saying something like "I don't know where they come from or whether they are real. All I know is that if I work with them to resolve whatever issue they've presented, it also takes care of that issue or problem in this life. The therapy around the past lives works, and that's all I care about for my client."
And that is true. One doesn't have to believe in past lives to experience them in hypnosis. (See the separate page on past lives that talks about young souls.) And at the same time, a belief in past (or future) lives doesn't have to conflict with your spiritual or religious beliefs.
For the subconscious mind, all time is NOW. There is no past and no future. Everything happens NOW. So when you're experiencing something in hypnosis, you are indeed experiencing it the same as you would at that time, whenever that time exists whether that is in the "past" or "future" to your current perspective. Linear time does not exist in the subconscious mind. (There are techniques to minimize the emotional impact of revisiting a traumatic incident so that you do not have to relive it quite as intensely as the first time around.)
This correlates with some current theories on time as a circular river, where if we could pop our heads up above the waterline, we'd see all of time existing at the same time. Others tell us that Time and Space is the 4th dimension for our physical 3-D existence.
I don't know whether it is or not. All I know is that often, when the subconscious sees its chance to work on something, it takes it. This happened with my very first paying client many years ago. He came in for a specific problem he wanted to work on; however, his subconscious mind had a different problem in mind. I was guiding him to a "safe and happy place" to do this work----but his subconscious led us to a graveyard! (Of course, I'm thinking OMG! Now what do I do????, but never let him know that.) Most people go to a mountain meadow or beach or something.
Graveyard as a "safe and happy place?" So, I'm cool. I've been taught well and I've been taught to "deal with what emerges" in hypnosis, whatever that may be. So I ask him to find a path in the graveyard and start following it.... That worked until he ran into a WALL and then proceeded to tell me that his Heart Was Buried inside the walled off portion of this graveyard.
Now he was getting agitated, as well as me. This wasn't what he bargained for, and it wasn't what I bargained for either! So we did a little work around his heart being buried in here, then we emerged. I gave him some paper and pencil and asked him to draw what he saw. He did. And as he did, we talked a bit more. It seems that many years before he was an artist, but the "day job" had been keeping him from expressing his creativity, which had been coming out in some other ways --- the original problem he had consulted me about. His daughter had give him a set of drawing pencils for Christmas the year before, but he had not been using them.
Before I sent him on his way, I suggested that he spend some time each week allowing his creativity and artistic talents to express themselves and that it would probably help. Needless to say, it wasn't what he had expected for his first hypnosis session (me either!) and he didn't return as a client. I only hope that he followed the suggestion to express his artistic drives in a healthier way.
And that was my first lesson on how when the subconscious sees an opportunity (especially if it thinks it won't get another one), it will take it.
until next time... relax, breathe deeply, and exercise those creative impulses in healthy ways. :)
---melodie
Monday, May 17, 2010
relationships
There are some family birthdays coming up this month and next and that so soon after Mother's Day has me thinking. About relationships. Our relationships with our spouses or lovers are relationship patterns we learn from our parents.
Either we subconsciously repeat the patterns we saw in our family or we decided to be the *exact opposite* of what we saw in our family. Sometimes that's good, and sometimes it's not so good. If we find ourselves repeating the same pattern of relationship over and over and over again with different spouses or lovers, then that may not be so good. Especially if your family fell into that 99% of families in the US that was/is dysfunctional.
But the good news is that you can break that repeating relationship pattern. If you want to. And the fastest and easiest way to do it is using hypnosis.
Repeating patterns are buried in the subconscious, and when given the choice of the "devil we know" or the "devil we don't know" the subconscious will indeed chose the devil it knows. Again and again and again.
There are several techniques we could use, including re-parenting, healing the inner child self, making certain that you don't see yourself as "half a person" (most often that applies to females), and making you a happy and complete "whole person" all by yourself. Then what happens, once these repairs or adjustments are done is that you will attract a different type of mate or lover, one that will not fall into that old pattern the subconscious used to choose, thereby breaking the old pattern.
Of course, that doesn't really apply to Karmic Relationships. That, my friends, is an entirely different ball game. :)
Either we subconsciously repeat the patterns we saw in our family or we decided to be the *exact opposite* of what we saw in our family. Sometimes that's good, and sometimes it's not so good. If we find ourselves repeating the same pattern of relationship over and over and over again with different spouses or lovers, then that may not be so good. Especially if your family fell into that 99% of families in the US that was/is dysfunctional.
But the good news is that you can break that repeating relationship pattern. If you want to. And the fastest and easiest way to do it is using hypnosis.
Repeating patterns are buried in the subconscious, and when given the choice of the "devil we know" or the "devil we don't know" the subconscious will indeed chose the devil it knows. Again and again and again.
There are several techniques we could use, including re-parenting, healing the inner child self, making certain that you don't see yourself as "half a person" (most often that applies to females), and making you a happy and complete "whole person" all by yourself. Then what happens, once these repairs or adjustments are done is that you will attract a different type of mate or lover, one that will not fall into that old pattern the subconscious used to choose, thereby breaking the old pattern.
Of course, that doesn't really apply to Karmic Relationships. That, my friends, is an entirely different ball game. :)
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Mothers, Fathers and Re-Parenting Ourselves
Mother's Day is tomorrow, and Father's Day will be coming up next month. These "holidays" often remind me that our parents gave us the best they could; the best they knew how to give --- but often it wasn't what we needed. Or it wasn't enough. Or it was too much.
That reminds me of a line at the end of the movie Smoke Signals where the voice-over comes in and says:
As a hypnotist I deal with the subconscious and I believe that most if not all of our problems have their roots in our subconscious mind. That means childhood for a lot of things, and if our souls have been engaged in repeating patterns it could be many childhoods of many lifetimes, each time the problem going deeper and deeper into the subconscious. If the messages have been compounded enough or traumatic enough, it may even be necessary to "re-parent" ourselves as part of our own healing.
There are special techniques in hypnosis that deal with this re-parenting technique from Alchemical Hypnotherapy, and I have known some who have needed to re-parent themselves with an entirely new family. I have also known some who have "lost years" of growing up---indicating a family life so horrible, that their conscious minds have completely blocked all recollection of them.
In hypnosis, we can recapture those years if wanted. Or we could just work to repair the damage of those years. And some of the techniques used would indeed involve "re-parenting" yourself, comforting yourself, and bringing in your "adult" self to work with the "inner child" self.
So even though your own parents may not have been the best or most loving or most understanding, you CAN claim control of that part of your life in your own self-help work. Because in the end, we are all responsible for ourselves, our own actions, and our own reactions.
Happy Mother's Day,
---melodie
That reminds me of a line at the end of the movie Smoke Signals where the voice-over comes in and says:
How do we forgive our fathers? Maybe in a dream. Do we forgive our fathers for leaving us too often, or forever, when we were little? Maybe for scaring us with unexpected rage, or making us nervous because there never seemed to be any rage there at all? Do we forgive our fathers for marrying, or not marrying, our mothers? Or divorcing, or not divorcing, our mothers? And shall we forgive them for their excesses of warmth or coldness? Shall we forgive them for pushing, or leaning? For shutting doors or speaking through walls? For never speaking, or never being silent? Do we forgive our fathers in our age, or in theirs? Or in their deaths, saying it to them or not saying it. If we forgive our fathers, what is left?That applies to mothers as well.
As a hypnotist I deal with the subconscious and I believe that most if not all of our problems have their roots in our subconscious mind. That means childhood for a lot of things, and if our souls have been engaged in repeating patterns it could be many childhoods of many lifetimes, each time the problem going deeper and deeper into the subconscious. If the messages have been compounded enough or traumatic enough, it may even be necessary to "re-parent" ourselves as part of our own healing.
There are special techniques in hypnosis that deal with this re-parenting technique from Alchemical Hypnotherapy, and I have known some who have needed to re-parent themselves with an entirely new family. I have also known some who have "lost years" of growing up---indicating a family life so horrible, that their conscious minds have completely blocked all recollection of them.
In hypnosis, we can recapture those years if wanted. Or we could just work to repair the damage of those years. And some of the techniques used would indeed involve "re-parenting" yourself, comforting yourself, and bringing in your "adult" self to work with the "inner child" self.
So even though your own parents may not have been the best or most loving or most understanding, you CAN claim control of that part of your life in your own self-help work. Because in the end, we are all responsible for ourselves, our own actions, and our own reactions.
Happy Mother's Day,
---melodie
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Spiritual Dieting: What's with this new fad?
I read an article the other day that "spiritual dieting" is becoming all the rage. Spiritual dieting? Now there's a term I hadn't heard before and certainly not two words one generally puts together in the same sentence.
After reading the article and doing a quick Google search, it does indeed seem to be a topic buzzing around the Net. And after thinking about it a few minutes, it makes a certain kind of sense for a particular type of person.
Think about the 12-step programs, including Overeaters Anonymous. All 12-step programs include a centerpiece of believing in a higher power --- a spiritual power --- and focus on making it through one day at a time. Other programs involve Angels and asking them for help or agreeing to ask these Light Beings to replace whatever it is that you're craving with something that's better for you.
In hypnosis and hypnotherapy, we can do these things as well and they may have an even greater impact on your psyche and your life than they do when they're done in your normal waking state. But unlike OA, we don't view food as something to be avoided. (OA advises avoiding those foods that are "trigger foods" for you, much like a recovering alcoholic avoids alcohol.) If you do that with ALL foods, you'll end up anorexic. And this does by it's very nature make "dieting" or "weight management" or "weight loss" (we don't like that word because when we LOSE things often our subconscious will look and look and look until it FINDS it for us) more difficult than quitting smoking or drinking alcohol or most other addictive substances because when those other substances are given up, you literally do not have to touch them EVER again. Not true for food.
We have to eat to live; therefore, we can't just avoid food. So moderation in eating those foods that are not that good for us becomes key. Another key item we must deal with is emotional eating. And when we're eating for emotional reasons, then yes indeed your spiritual beliefs may indeed provide additional help for you to avoid the chocolate or ice cream or brownie.
You (or we in hypnotherapy) can strengthen those spiritual ties that you have and believe in and help reinforce those ties so that you can have food cravings taken from you and replaced by a craving for something better.
You (or we in hypnotherapy) can help strengthen your desire for eating a more nutritious diet. The less processed a food is, usually the lower the glycemic index, the higher the fiber, the better the vitamins and the denser the nutrition.
Interestingly enough, many religions have nutrition and dietary guidelines. For example, Judaism and Adventists advise against "cloven-hooved" animals as "unclean." This grouping includes pork and many wild meats. They also advise against filter-feeding fish (scallops, clams, muscles, etc.) and also scavenger fish (catfish). Judaism also goes into great detail about not combining certain foods at the same meal, which I won't go into here. But the point is, that certainly in the last several years there has been a revival somewhat of diets that adhere the biblical dietary guidelines. If we look even farther East, many other religions recommend a vegetarian diet.
Hypnosis can help you reinforce whatever dietary guidelines it is that YOU wish to follow. Helping to instill them into your subconscious makes it much, much easier to follow them in your conscious, waking state. So, what about this new fad? I'd say it's really just some old-fashioned guidelines that have been revived.
Be well and eat healthy until next time,
---melodie
After reading the article and doing a quick Google search, it does indeed seem to be a topic buzzing around the Net. And after thinking about it a few minutes, it makes a certain kind of sense for a particular type of person.
Think about the 12-step programs, including Overeaters Anonymous. All 12-step programs include a centerpiece of believing in a higher power --- a spiritual power --- and focus on making it through one day at a time. Other programs involve Angels and asking them for help or agreeing to ask these Light Beings to replace whatever it is that you're craving with something that's better for you.
In hypnosis and hypnotherapy, we can do these things as well and they may have an even greater impact on your psyche and your life than they do when they're done in your normal waking state. But unlike OA, we don't view food as something to be avoided. (OA advises avoiding those foods that are "trigger foods" for you, much like a recovering alcoholic avoids alcohol.) If you do that with ALL foods, you'll end up anorexic. And this does by it's very nature make "dieting" or "weight management" or "weight loss" (we don't like that word because when we LOSE things often our subconscious will look and look and look until it FINDS it for us) more difficult than quitting smoking or drinking alcohol or most other addictive substances because when those other substances are given up, you literally do not have to touch them EVER again. Not true for food.
We have to eat to live; therefore, we can't just avoid food. So moderation in eating those foods that are not that good for us becomes key. Another key item we must deal with is emotional eating. And when we're eating for emotional reasons, then yes indeed your spiritual beliefs may indeed provide additional help for you to avoid the chocolate or ice cream or brownie.
You (or we in hypnotherapy) can strengthen those spiritual ties that you have and believe in and help reinforce those ties so that you can have food cravings taken from you and replaced by a craving for something better.
You (or we in hypnotherapy) can help strengthen your desire for eating a more nutritious diet. The less processed a food is, usually the lower the glycemic index, the higher the fiber, the better the vitamins and the denser the nutrition.
Interestingly enough, many religions have nutrition and dietary guidelines. For example, Judaism and Adventists advise against "cloven-hooved" animals as "unclean." This grouping includes pork and many wild meats. They also advise against filter-feeding fish (scallops, clams, muscles, etc.) and also scavenger fish (catfish). Judaism also goes into great detail about not combining certain foods at the same meal, which I won't go into here. But the point is, that certainly in the last several years there has been a revival somewhat of diets that adhere the biblical dietary guidelines. If we look even farther East, many other religions recommend a vegetarian diet.
Hypnosis can help you reinforce whatever dietary guidelines it is that YOU wish to follow. Helping to instill them into your subconscious makes it much, much easier to follow them in your conscious, waking state. So, what about this new fad? I'd say it's really just some old-fashioned guidelines that have been revived.
Be well and eat healthy until next time,
---melodie
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Healthcare reform & Complimentary medicine
Why did they give us "healthcare reform" when we only really wanted "health insurance reform?" Most of us are happy with our access to healthcare, our doctors, and our treatments. What most of us are unhappy with is health insurance. We're unhappy with "preexisting conditions" (after a certain age, we ALL have preexisting conditions---it's called LIVING!) and insurance companies that make us fight for every penny of coverage once we do submit a claim. I once had to fight with Blue Cross/Shield to cover a surgical assistant for goodness sake! My doc only hand 2 hands during surgery, and that would have left none (0) to actually do what was needed during the procedure. They did cover the assistant, but I had to fight the denial and get it kicked up to their medical board. At least my doc's office had seen it enough to tell me to fight it. Apparently, most people don't closely monitor what their insurance is covering and what it isn't and what it really Should be covering when it's not. Anyway, I digress.
We're not really going to see any changes for 4 years --- only pay in the taxes for it immediately. Hmmm... that smacks of an INSURANCE policy, doesn't it? :D When I saw my doc a few weeks ago, I asked her what she thought was going to happen. (She's a specialist, not a GP.) She said the only thing she knew for certain was that she was going to be seeing more patients. And that means a longer wait for an appointment.
So that got me to thinking---if we're going to have to wait 3 months to get an appointment with a doc (not out of the question---when I arrived in Colorado at the tail end of the dot-com boom, I couldn't find a dentist for a normal cleaning that didn't have a 3 month wait), those of us who already have a tendency to seek out complimentary modalities are going to be seeking them out even more often. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if more folks started seeking out those modalities. So, hypnotists, acupuncturist, Reiki and energy workers, and pretty much all complimentary therapists: get ready!
until next time,
Sunday, March 28, 2010
The Mind/Body connection, a brief history of hypnosis, Madison Ave. & our 44th President
Our mind is like an iceberg: only 1/10th is above the surface — the conscious mind; the other 9/10ths is below — the subconscious mind.
Brief History
This section provides a brief history of hypnosis and hypnotherapy, and also introduces some concepts on how we influence the mind / body connection that science is now verifying has such an impact on our physical health.
The mind/body connection lies in the immune system and the endocrine system, and more and more studies are now verifying this. Hypnosis can directly influence the immune system, and bioenergy treatments (such as Reiki and Therapeutic Touch) can influence the endocrine system via the body's chakra or energy systems, each of which is associated with an endocrine gland. I'll write more in detail on the endocrine system and chakras later since that is more properly addressed when talking about bioenergy therapies. If you can't wait, please visit the Luna Wellness Center for more information. I address it in detail on the energy healing page.
The reason for providing this brief history is to help alleviate any fears that may be lingering out there about hypnosis. You know the ones: "Is it mind control?" "Will I lose control?" "Will I cluck like a chicken?" "Isn't it the devil's work?" "And what about those Dracula movies? Didn't he hypnotize his victims?"
During hypnotherapy and hypnosis you are in absolute control at all times. You're the one doing the work, not the hypnotist. You're the one that allows the hypnotherapist to guide you through your own subconscious to the part that's been troubling you or causing you problems. The subconscious is where we can get at those monsters under the bed or in the closet, and finally confront and destroy them so you can SET YOURSELF FREE.
First Story Tellers, First Medicine People, First Hypnotists
All those fears and stigmas and stories and myths that have come to be associated with hypnosis and hypnotherapy over the years. And it has been many, many years. The history of hypnosis and hypnotherapy goes back to long before Mesmer in the 18th Century to those first story tellers and medicine people who helped others sitting around the fires night after night after long days full of the physical exertion of hunting and gathering.
Many shamanistic techniques such as chanting, drumming, and dancing are really techniques designed to induce a hypnotic trance state; an altered state of consciousness. These techniques allow the mind to drop into automatic, and once this occurs, the subconscious comes to fore.
Listening to an excellent story-teller by the fire after a long day of physical exertion allows the mind to drop into the subconscious and the trance state. The combination of physical exhaustion and repetition allows one to slip into the trance state, then accessing the subconscious mind is easily accomplished with the dancing words of the story teller --- the ebb and flow inside, hypnotically luring and easing us, penetrating our deepest subconscious depths. Even the rock paintings, so beautiful and simple and elegant could also be used as a way to induce a trance state. You've seen the Hitchock classic thriller Vertigo haven't you? Spinning circles tire the eyes, and tiring the eyes is yet another way to induce a trance state. Just imagine how those rock paintings looked when the only light available was the fire in the middle of the cave . . .
Hypnotic techniques are used by all good speakers, preachers, teachers, story-tellers, helpers, and healers of all kinds, whether they are aware of it or not. (And to answer your question about our 44th President, yes he definitely uses hypnotic techniques in prepared speeches (pacing, repetition, and of course establishing very good rapport --- the "I'm like you and you can trust me" feeling while also only giving broad brush strokes instead of details on policies and plans, allowing our subconscious minds to fill in the details. So of course, the details are different for each of us until they are actually written on paper somewhere.) And you can also bet your butt, the advertising firms on Madison Avenue know about trace states and they use it very well when you plop down in front of the TV at night after a long day of work and are exhausted. They use the trance state induced by the flickering light of the TV to sell you things, make you think you need things (that are really just wants), and they and they use it very, very, very well. (Remember, Hollywood tested a more subliminal form of these types of suggestions back in the 50s, and it pushed popcorn and soda sales through the roof!)
In the Beginning . . .
As far back as 3,000 BC, the Egyptians had knowledge of and were using hypnotism, which is proven by hieroglyphics found on tombs of that period. The hieroglyphics show a person apparently asleep in a sitting position with others gathered about. The Greeks also understood it, as well as the Maya of South America. It was also used by Hindu Fakirs, the Chinese Teachers of Religion, the Persian Magi, the Celtic Druids, and African Witch Doctors. Rituals around the world handed down since the dawn of time incorporate the trance state.
Some believe that hypnosis was spontaneously discovered in each civilization of the world as its history unfolded, and that it will become known by any group of people in any setting. In all likelihood, the first hypnotists soon became the first witch doctors, wise men, shamen, and medicine people, and the art of hypnosis was jealously guarded by shrouding it in mysticism and religion. So, is it any wonder then that it has taken so long for it to gain widespread recognition and acceptance? Absolutely not, because its secrets were kept secret from the average human for millenia.
Another reason for the general lack of knowledge of hypnotism is even more inherent in humans because of our natural tendency to fear and ridicule what we don't understand. Fear of the unknown is a basic human fear found in all cultures of the world. However, every science of the world, and hypnosis is a science as well as an art, has traveled the same path from disbelief, to fear, to common acceptance.
Even the Wall Street Journal recently ran an article on how the traditional medical community is now doing studies that show if the doctor is upbeat and positive about a new drug or therapy they prescribe for their patients, the patients respond better and faster to the treatment. That's hypnosis because for many, many years our Western society viewed (and some still do) medical doctors as nearly Gods, not body mechanics. And the medical doctors' belief in the treatment heavily influences the patients' belief and faith in the treatment. Today, more and more scientific studies come to light expanding on the interaction between the mind and the body. Hypnosis uses this connection between the mind and the body to accomplish what some describe as waving a magic wand.
More and more studies are coming to pinpoint the mind / body connection as lying in the immune system and the endocrine system. The immune system is easily impacted by our core thoughts and beliefs. This is why creative visualization (we have many names for hypnosis that seem more palatable somehow) and viewing your white blood cells as PacMen eating cancer cells or "bad" cells is so effective.
The endocrine system we'll address more in an entry discussing bioenergy treatments because each endocrine gland is associated with a major chakra (energy center) in the body.
Today, hypnosis is recognized as both an art and a science: The art comes from the hypnotist or hypnotherapist and the techniques and tools they use to help anyone who wants to reach the hypnotic trance state. The science comes from the numerous studies done on the various states of mind and brainwave patterns found in those different states of mind, as well as the numerous studies on the mind-body connection. (Suffice it to say that we ALL pass through a hypnotic state at least twice a day --- when we wake up and when we go to sleep, and if you're driving very far, chances are you're entering a light trance state during the ride as well (when you slide into "automatic.")
The hypnotic pioneers fall generally into four categories: (1) Early, Unscientific Group, (2) Semi-Scientific Group, (3) Scientific Group, and (4) Modern Groups. Hypnosis has become more recognized by the scientific community because increasing numbers of its proponents are more scientific in their approaches. Thousands have contributed to the advancement of hypnotism and those recognized by the scientific community are those who took a more scientific, as opposed to anecdotal, approach.
Early Unscientific Group
This group includes most of those who experimented with hypnosis without knowing it by that particular name. The word itself is a misnomer derived from the Greek word Hypnos, meaning sleep. But hypnosis is not a state of sleep; it is instead an altered state of conscious awareness that each and every one of us enters at least twice a day: When we wake up, and when we go to sleep. That half-awake, half-asleep state we pass through where we are aware of our surroundings, but really don't want to elicit the effort to open our eyes and see what's going one.
Those in this group share in common that they generally misunderstood the things they were accomplishing, and instead accredited their achievements to magic, or magnetism, divine power, or some other outside force. Those in this group include Genghis Kahn, who used group suggestion to create hallucinations. Albertus Magnum, Roger Bacon, Raymond Lully, Pico della Mirandola, Paracelsus, Holinotius, Robert Fludd, Father Kirchner, Maxwell, Burcq, and Father Hell, as well as many others whose names never made it into the history books. This group also includes the Seers and Sages of Ancient Greece, the leaders in self-hypnosis, as well as the Ancient Egyptians, and all those other story tellers and medicine persons dating back to the dawn of time. Some even believe Jesus used hypnosis as part of his healings.
Semi-Scientific Group
This group started experimenting and researching hypnotism as a science, although some of them never heard the term "hypnosis" during their lifetime. Probably the most famous pioneer of the hypnotic trance state was Anton Mesmer, who most call the "Father of Hypnosis." Others include Father Gassner, the Marquis De Puysegur, as well as James Martin Charcot.
Scientific Group
This group includes those who first removed hypnosis from the realms of "mysticism" and started experimenting with what hypnosis could actually do. Elliotson, Braid, and Esdaile made much progress towards establishing its use in medicine, ending the first dark age of hypnosis. (The American Medical Association has recognized hypnosis as effective treatment to stop smoking since 1958.) Other scientific pioneers include Liebeault, Bernheim, Brewer, and Freud.
Freud
At this point the mention of Freud deserves some clarification. According to many accounts, Freud took up hypnotism before fathering psychoanalysis. The story is that he was just so very bad at hypnosis that he went back to cognitive talk therapy and started using many hypnotic techniques. This combination of talk therapy and hypnotic techniques birthed what the world came to know as Psychoanalysis. Unfortunately, Freud also became responsible for another dark age of hypnosis, and we can only speculate on why he started bad-mouthing it.
Modern Group
This group includes those who teach and promote hypnotherapy as an art and profession of its own, as well as those who research it as a science. Unfortunately, there seems to be a chasm between the scientific community and those many dedicated full-time hypnotherapists who are and have been successfully helping their clients change their lives. You could legitimately divide this group into the modern scientific group and the modern artistic group.
Probably the most famous and brilliant 20th-Century scientific researcher is recognized as Milton Erickson, MD. Trained as a psychiatrist, Erickson's metaphorical stories and techniques are legendary in the hypnosis community. It is said that he could place folks in trance without formal inductions, just by talking to them and telling them stories. Stories rich in metaphor that the subconscious mind latches onto and where it recognizes itself and its own behavior. Many recognize Erickson as the Grandfather of Hypnotherapy and the Father of Counseling Hypnotherapy.
The interesting thing about Erickson is that those with advanced degrees and / or medical backgrounds look at Erickson's work analytically, trying to analyze why he did things the way he did. From the other end of the spectrum, practicing, professional hypnotherapists, those practicing it as an art, consider Erickson a master who worked intuitively.
In my humble opinion, I believe Erickson combined the best of both worlds, analyzing himself and what he did after he did it, but also going with the flow and listening to his intuition while in session with those he helped. Erickson could reach people when no other had been able to. There are stories of those in institutions no one could reach, no one could calm, and yet Erickson the Master was able to reach them and calm them and do therapy with them, and the way he did it was by using hypnotic techniques to enter the patient's world. Once there, he established rapport, because only after this is established --- only after the connection and the trust is established --- could he then begin therapy that could help.
If you look at scientific research historically, if you look at the brilliant minds of history, they all combined this analytical side of themselves with their intuition. Following what they could logically and analytically, and then when they had to or needed to, following their instinct and intuition. If I remember the Myers-Briggs correctly, that type of logical thinking followed by an intuitive jump is less than 2% of the population.
The modern artistic group is what the scientific community refers to as "lay hypnotism" because although the practitioners may have been doing it for 40 or 50 years, and although many in the scientific community have actually learned their techniques from those "lay hypnotists," they do not have medical certifications or doctorates of psychology or psychiatry. These are the ones recognized as Masters of the Art of Hypnosis. Names like Ormond McGill, Charles Tebbetts, Roy Hunter, Gerald Kein, and Gil Boyne. Some of these have formed professional hypnosis associations, some of them came up through the stage hypnotist ranks. All have dedicated themselves to helping people using the arts of hypnosis and hypnotherapy.
Please understand that there is an overlap between these two modern groups because some of the 20th Century researchers did not obtain the usual advanced degrees common to today's scientific researchers. Likewise, some with outstanding credentials and degrees have also recognized hypnosis as an art and have accepted the validity of hypnotherapists who are competent artists even though they might lack advanced academic degrees.
* Much of this information is discussed in detail in The Art of Hypnosis and The Art of Hypnotherapy by Roy Hunter.
Additional books on the ancient history of hypnosis:
- Trance: A Natural History of Altered States of Mind by Brian Inglis
- Jesus the Healer: Possession, Trance, and the Origins of Christianity by Stevan L. Davies
- Shamans of Prehistory: Trance and Magic in the Painted Caves by Jean Clottes
- Trance: from Magic to Technology by Dennis R. Wier
- The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art by David Lewis-Williams
- The Mayo Clinic, information on hypnosis: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hypnosis/SA00084
- The National Library of Medicine and
- The National Institues of Health has a wealth of information on hypnosis and hypnotherapy.
Copyright 2003-2013
Melodie Hawkins
Complimentary not "alternative" medicine please
Sometimes people get confused about the difference between COMPLIMENTARY and ALTERNATIVE therapies. And as both a writer and a complimentary therapies practitioner, I often get my panties in a bunch when people confuse them. Hypnosis is indeed a form of complimentary medicine, as is Reiki and the healing touch therapies, as is guided imagery and meditation and prayer, as is vitamin therapy and amino acid therapy, as is many herbal remedies.
Here's a link to the National Library of Medicine where they have devoted an entire section to complementary and alternative therapies:http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/alternativemedicine.html
The complementary therapies I practice are wonderful adjuncts to traditional western medicine as well as other complementary therapies. I prefer the term "complementary" because they are NOT alternatives to traditional Western medicine — if I have a serious, acute traumatic problem, I want an MD or PhD or PsyD around, because more intensive treatment is needed for acute injury and trauma. As a hypnotherapist, I deal with the wounds that have been there a while, the wounds from childhood that never really healed but which result in behaviors that once were adaptive but that are now getting in your way, or the wounds that went straight into your subconscious, which have never truly been dealt with. And yes, often times wounds compounded over time and over many lifetimes. It is like peeling a onion once you start working on your own issues: with more work, another layer gets peeled off, and yes, it's hard and there are usually some tears, but in the end, the onions are what give us the most flavor, spice, and seasoning.
The therapies I offer are complementary, and designed to be used in conjunction with other therapies if you desire. Complementary therapies are quite helpful for chronic conditions. These adjunct therapies are useful for stress reduction, chronic pain management, and increasing your body's ability to heal itself. Many of these therapies are finally getting the attention of western medicine, just look at the links on a few of my pages to the Mayo Clinic, the National Institutes of Health, and the National Library of Medicine.
I can hear the question: "So, Melodie, if I can find a MD or PhD or PsyD who is also trained in hypnotism, energy medicine, and story telling, why not see them instead of you?" My answer to you is this: Wouldn't you rather have a specialist who specializes in hypnotherapy and hypnosis? A specialist who specializes in bio-energy medicine? A specialist who specializes in the combination of those two, combined with yet a third, magnifying technique? And a specialist who is known for her communication skills and bedside manner? A specialist who specializes in the subconscious part of the mind and the form of energy medicine concerned with cellular memory release. A specialist who knows your "inner child" very well, and who has experienced first hand many of the same growth steps you are working on now? I know in my own life, I am always much more comfortable with someone who has not only the specialty I need but who has also experienced the therapy I'm about to endure. I believe it increases their empathy for what I'm about to experience.
Shortly after beginning my practice, it became very obvious and reinforced what I had already learned many times over on my path: We are Never sent anything that we cannot handle. We may think we are, but we humans are quite a resourceful, creative, resilent lot. To quote one of my favoriie old sci-fi movies:
"You humans are at your best . . . when things are at their worst."
— Starman 1984
Directed by John Carpenter
Oscar-nominated performance by Jeff Bridges a the "starman"
— Starman 1984
Directed by John Carpenter
Oscar-nominated performance by Jeff Bridges a the "starman"
Until next time, remember to see most "alternative" therapies as complimentary instead. :)
---melodie
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