Another month, another London HypnoMeet.
I really look forward to these meetings; they're great social occasions and I learn so much from watching other hypnotists at work.
This month I was a little bit later in arriving at venue due to onward travel plans and luggage (These were travel plans that didn't actually involve Mexico, although the look on Ben's face was priceless when I said they did! Sorry Ben...). The usual pub was as crowded as always but this time without yours truly, aka Muggins, having arrived early in order to secure a table we were standing at the bar. As it turned out there were just five of us this time too.
We decided to seek an alternative pub. So, pausing only to unfold the Brompton folding bicycle of hypnosis and re-inflate the tyres of somnambulism (you had to be there!) we made our merry way to a a nice quiet pub near Leicester Square.
Andy, who came to the last meet had come along again this time and brought his girlfriend Ali with him. Ben demonstrated to her his latest party trick which is an induction where he links the position of a person's hand to going in and out of trance. This was the induction he had demonstrated on me last month in fact, and there's a video of him doing it on the post for that meet. For her part Ali was definitely showing all of the signs of someone who enjoys going into trance, as Ben's routine fractionated her deeper. Soon she was in a nice deep trance.
In these situations I think it's important to fein disinterest in the proceedings, regardless of how impressive, so that the subject doesn't become self conscious. The wide eyed gawping can always wait until they have closed their eyes.
The discussion then moved on to Andy, who is relative new to being a hypnotist, commenting that he's been lacking confidence recently, and not being sure what to say. Personally, having seen Andy at work on Will at last month's meet I don't believe that he has anything to worry about. Of course the deciding factor for a hypnotist will always be confidence, not the perfect usage of words, so in order to convince Andy that he is as good as he actually is we ended up in a situation where he was hypnotising the other four of us using magnetic hands.
As always, our highly public demonstration of hypnosis barely drew any attention from anybody else in the room. Not even with four of us at once slumped over in our chairs. It never ceases to amaze me!
Likewise when Ali commented that she'd like to give being the hypnotist a try herself, and so hypnotised me with a magnetic hands induction and a staircase deepener.
There had been a distinct lack of phenomena taking place, so as a parting shot at this meet I decided to demonstrate a bit of waking hypnosis on Ali. The most enjoyable experiences I have had as a hypnotist have always been when I have been able to share it with a receptive subject who is willing to have a bit of fun, and this was one of those occasions.
I got to demonstrate my Ericksonian handshake, which is an induction that I really enjoy doing. Unusually my subject had trouble keeping her eyes open; very quickly they closed and then she went limp. Of course this isn't quite the desired effect, but given that it induced a trance I wasn't too bothered. As I have said before, everything that happens is always exactly what the hypnotist intended to happen. Always.
What followed was a fun little demonstration of waking hypnosis. I told her that her right hand was stuck to the table, then said it was time to go and offered my hand to her to shake. Of course she couldn't lift her hand to respond, so I told her that her right hand was now free, because her left hand was now stuck to her leg.
I find the "(this) ...because... (this)" is a very useful approach in waking hypnosis. After all, if one is true, why shouldn't the other be?
Eventually I got her to release her left hand by putting a finger in her right ear, which of course became stuck. I then had her release that by putting a finger in her left ear. I told her she knew how it worked now; put a finger in one ear to release the finger in the other. Finger in, finger out. Finger in, finger out. How do you escape? Why, you go really fast and eventually... that's it... they both come free. Amazing!
Okay it's a routine I stole off a YouTube video I saw a while back, but I don't care. It was a lot of fun.
Anyway, as usual I had to dash off to catch a train and as always I'm already looking forward to the next London meet.
Thursday 30 April 2009
Tuesday 21 April 2009
Seeing things
Just a short anecdote today.
A couple of weeks ago I was riding my bike to work, just like I tend to do most days. The route that I cycle is nice and quiet, away from busy roads, and so it's very rare that I come across other people at all.
On this particular occasion I was approaching a hill and concentrating on the ground in front of me. As the track started to rise I glanced up the hill for a moment and I saw another cyclist coming toward me on the opposite side of the path. I can see the image now as clear as I could then. Front on I could see their front tyre, their cycle helmet, and even white shoes spinning the pedals. Definitely a cyclist.
My attention returned to the track directly in front of me, but as I'd registered someone else on the track ahead I looked back a few seconds later. To my astonishment there wasn't a cyclist coming at all. Instead, in exactly the same place visually, but just off the track, was a wooden post.
There are no turnings off the path anywhere near where I was, nor could the cyclist have moved out of sight in such a short interval of time. I am in no doubt whatsoever that what I saw was in fact the product of my imagination. A hallucination if you like.
Now of course this is the kind of story that most people should be able to relate to, seeing something that on closer inspection is actually something completely different, and it comes from the way in which the visual senses work.
I think what was happening with my cyclist was that part of my brain, the department of my subconscious that has learned how to see the world I live in, had detected an object at that location but didn't have enough time to fully identify what it was. Instead what it did was put in that place an image of what it most expected that object to be given all the evidence it had. Of course, given more information, it realised it was wrong and when I looked back the object became a post.
What I find interesting about this is that it illustrates to me that my brain does have the capacity to produce visual hallucinations, and of course from that I can derive the confidence that sooner or later I will be able to tap into that ability under the effects of a hypnotic suggestion.
Let's take this concept one stage further though. Let us suppose that what the conscious mind sees is not the world, but rather the subconscious mind's interpretation of the signal from our eyes. It's a heck of a lot of information to process in real time, so as we grow up the mind learns how to simplify this process by making assumptions, replacing familiar objects and scenes usually in our peripheral vision with remembered images. This suggests that a huge proportion of the world that we experience is more the product of our imagination than of our senses.
In this respect we are all hallucinating all of the time.
A couple of weeks ago I was riding my bike to work, just like I tend to do most days. The route that I cycle is nice and quiet, away from busy roads, and so it's very rare that I come across other people at all.
On this particular occasion I was approaching a hill and concentrating on the ground in front of me. As the track started to rise I glanced up the hill for a moment and I saw another cyclist coming toward me on the opposite side of the path. I can see the image now as clear as I could then. Front on I could see their front tyre, their cycle helmet, and even white shoes spinning the pedals. Definitely a cyclist.
My attention returned to the track directly in front of me, but as I'd registered someone else on the track ahead I looked back a few seconds later. To my astonishment there wasn't a cyclist coming at all. Instead, in exactly the same place visually, but just off the track, was a wooden post.
There are no turnings off the path anywhere near where I was, nor could the cyclist have moved out of sight in such a short interval of time. I am in no doubt whatsoever that what I saw was in fact the product of my imagination. A hallucination if you like.
Now of course this is the kind of story that most people should be able to relate to, seeing something that on closer inspection is actually something completely different, and it comes from the way in which the visual senses work.
I think what was happening with my cyclist was that part of my brain, the department of my subconscious that has learned how to see the world I live in, had detected an object at that location but didn't have enough time to fully identify what it was. Instead what it did was put in that place an image of what it most expected that object to be given all the evidence it had. Of course, given more information, it realised it was wrong and when I looked back the object became a post.
What I find interesting about this is that it illustrates to me that my brain does have the capacity to produce visual hallucinations, and of course from that I can derive the confidence that sooner or later I will be able to tap into that ability under the effects of a hypnotic suggestion.
Let's take this concept one stage further though. Let us suppose that what the conscious mind sees is not the world, but rather the subconscious mind's interpretation of the signal from our eyes. It's a heck of a lot of information to process in real time, so as we grow up the mind learns how to simplify this process by making assumptions, replacing familiar objects and scenes usually in our peripheral vision with remembered images. This suggests that a huge proportion of the world that we experience is more the product of our imagination than of our senses.
In this respect we are all hallucinating all of the time.
Thursday 16 April 2009
Bristol HypnoMeet
A short post this time.
I've just gotten back from a HypnoMeet, but this time in Bristol.
Not too much to report I'm afraid. Bristol was pretty quiet, so very little hypnosis occurred. It is, of course, during the university Easter holidays so a significant number of students aren't around.
There were four hypnotists turned up; the others were Enrich, Skeitel and BladeBlunter from UncommonForum. Mostly it was just us as a group exchanging hypnosis banter, although (En)Rich did managed to find a couple of girls who seemed interested and helped one of them with her fear of spiders.
We then moved on to a slightly better pub; a Wetherspoons I think. Rich asked me to demonstrate the Erickson handshake to him, which I was happy to do. He said he did manage to zone out for a minute, but unfortunately we'd chosen a table which, over my shoulder, afforded a view of parties of women coming and going.
Gah! Some people are far too easily distracted...
It was a short meet. I only got there after 7pm, and as always the time to leave in order to catch the train home came all too soon. Unlike London there aren't trains until after midnight. The 22:20 from Bristol is the last train, so there was no way I was going to miss it.
Rich had been kind enough to let me leave my folding bike in the back of his car, which he'd parked in a multi-storey car park. I had a surreal moment as I carried it down several flights of stairs to street level... going down that staircase, going deeper and deeper... although I doubt staircase deepeners usually involve the subject imagining carrying a bicycle at the time.
Anyway a fun evening! Looking forward to the next meet, which of course will be in London.
I've just gotten back from a HypnoMeet, but this time in Bristol.
Not too much to report I'm afraid. Bristol was pretty quiet, so very little hypnosis occurred. It is, of course, during the university Easter holidays so a significant number of students aren't around.
There were four hypnotists turned up; the others were Enrich, Skeitel and BladeBlunter from UncommonForum. Mostly it was just us as a group exchanging hypnosis banter, although (En)Rich did managed to find a couple of girls who seemed interested and helped one of them with her fear of spiders.
We then moved on to a slightly better pub; a Wetherspoons I think. Rich asked me to demonstrate the Erickson handshake to him, which I was happy to do. He said he did manage to zone out for a minute, but unfortunately we'd chosen a table which, over my shoulder, afforded a view of parties of women coming and going.
Gah! Some people are far too easily distracted...
It was a short meet. I only got there after 7pm, and as always the time to leave in order to catch the train home came all too soon. Unlike London there aren't trains until after midnight. The 22:20 from Bristol is the last train, so there was no way I was going to miss it.
Rich had been kind enough to let me leave my folding bike in the back of his car, which he'd parked in a multi-storey car park. I had a surreal moment as I carried it down several flights of stairs to street level... going down that staircase, going deeper and deeper... although I doubt staircase deepeners usually involve the subject imagining carrying a bicycle at the time.
Anyway a fun evening! Looking forward to the next meet, which of course will be in London.
Wednesday 15 April 2009
With one word
One word has the potential to completely change the course of a trance.
By this I mean that whilst a hypnotist may have the intention to create a specific effect with their words, those words can sometimes engender unintended consequences for the subject due to their associations with and interpretation of those words.
The first time I came across this effect was back in December when I went to London to meet up with Will, Ben and Darren. I had hypnotised Will, suggested amnesia for the trance and was giving other suggestions, which I was compounding. Will came out of the trance and told me that he had been forgetting what the suggestions had been quite effectively until I used the word "remember", as in "...so remember that..." when I went to reiterate what I'd said, and at that point he did indeed remember everything.
An unintended consequence, and a lesson to steer clear of such words in future if I want to induce amnesia.
More recently I experienced this phenomenon for myself as a subject, and it has given me an even more real insight into how important it can be as a hypnotist to choose ones words carefully.
To set the scene, sometime in the past I remember somebody asking me the question “Are you afraid of the dark?”
To this I answered something like “No, only the nightmarish creatures that lurk therein.”
The remark was made in jest of course, but as with so many of such remarks that I make it contains a tiny element of truth. Many years ago I went to see the film Jurassic Park when it was first released, and in particular the scene in the kitchen with the Velociraptors left quite a lasting impression on me. I am able to admit this freely in the knowledge that it's not just me, there are many guys of my age who suffered the same effect from that film.
I do like to credit myself with having a good imagination, and much of the reason for the above is that it can backfire on me. If I'm on my own somewhere and those images pop into my mind I have little trouble imagining a peril of my own, cretaceous or otherwise, somewhere nearby and in images as clear as day. I guess it all goes back to primal fight or flight instincts that we all have.
So no I'm not scared of the dark, but please don't put me on my own somewhere and let my imagination start down that road. That way lies the potential for irrational terror if the critical part of my mind can't keep it in check.
It hadn't occurred to me at all to link the above to hypnosis, but as I'm constantly finding hypnosis seems to find its own way down into every corner of my mind, whether I want it to or not.
What happened to me recently went as follows. Over a skype video chat a friend had hypnotised me, talking me down into quite a deep state of trance (deep for me anyway), and the intention was to try to get me to experience a hallucination. This is one side of hypnosis that absolutely fascinates me, and I'm simply yearning to learn how to do it. I've already mentioned how, at the last HypnoMeet, Ben managed to get me to imagine a clock, picture it, know where it was in the room, etc.
So the patter reaching my ears was encouraging me to engage my imagination, to try to imagine what it would be like if I could see something what wasn't there in reality, and so on. After all, people do this all the time; see something in passing and then at a second glance realise that it's not really there, or it's something else entirely. The same goes for feeling things, or hearing things, etc.
It was at this point that somehow the words "your fears" came into the narrative.
The context was completely innocent, it was merely an example of how the imagination can play tricks on the mind, but the word "fears" kick started an unexpected avalanche of thoughts. I was sat on my own in a darkened room and without warning the thoughts I have described above came bubbling to to the surface from the depths of obscurity.
Some part of my mind already knew what it looked like, where it would be in the room, and this time it wasn't a clock!
I was still intent on the hypotist's voice as they continued to give me instructions to picture the illusion they were intent on generating, and I was following that, but of course we all know what the imagination likes to do when it is told not to think of something. I felt the fear and it was strong, irrationally so; I was amazed how real it was.
What would I see if I opened my eyes? Would I see the illusion I was being asked to imagine, or would I see the thing I was trying so hard to stop myself picturing? I knew which was stronger. I didn't want to open my eyes.
As that emotion escalated inside of me I reached the point where I considered asking to come out of trance. It was at that point that somehow I regained control and suppressed those feelings; pushing them back down deep. I suspect I did this in my usual critical fashion and at the expense of the depth of the trance I was in.
We continued the session, and it seemed as though those disturbing thoughts went away just as quickly as they'd arrived, but sadly I proved unable to produce a hallucination.
It occurred to me after the session that what I must have experienced was probably what's known as an abreaction, albeit a minor one. I raised the subject with my friend and we chatted about it for a while. I was told that I did seem to loose a lot of my response after the fear comment.
Whilst the experience was quite intense when it happened and my emotional response took me completely by surprise I do not regret having had it for a moment. I see it as a valuable lesson and I gained a lot of insight into both the way my mind works and hypnosis in general. It certainly hasn't put me off trying to see that elusive clock either!
The lesson here is to choose your words carefully. It only takes one word to completely change a trance.
By this I mean that whilst a hypnotist may have the intention to create a specific effect with their words, those words can sometimes engender unintended consequences for the subject due to their associations with and interpretation of those words.
The first time I came across this effect was back in December when I went to London to meet up with Will, Ben and Darren. I had hypnotised Will, suggested amnesia for the trance and was giving other suggestions, which I was compounding. Will came out of the trance and told me that he had been forgetting what the suggestions had been quite effectively until I used the word "remember", as in "...so remember that..." when I went to reiterate what I'd said, and at that point he did indeed remember everything.
An unintended consequence, and a lesson to steer clear of such words in future if I want to induce amnesia.
More recently I experienced this phenomenon for myself as a subject, and it has given me an even more real insight into how important it can be as a hypnotist to choose ones words carefully.
To set the scene, sometime in the past I remember somebody asking me the question “Are you afraid of the dark?”
To this I answered something like “No, only the nightmarish creatures that lurk therein.”
The remark was made in jest of course, but as with so many of such remarks that I make it contains a tiny element of truth. Many years ago I went to see the film Jurassic Park when it was first released, and in particular the scene in the kitchen with the Velociraptors left quite a lasting impression on me. I am able to admit this freely in the knowledge that it's not just me, there are many guys of my age who suffered the same effect from that film.
I do like to credit myself with having a good imagination, and much of the reason for the above is that it can backfire on me. If I'm on my own somewhere and those images pop into my mind I have little trouble imagining a peril of my own, cretaceous or otherwise, somewhere nearby and in images as clear as day. I guess it all goes back to primal fight or flight instincts that we all have.
So no I'm not scared of the dark, but please don't put me on my own somewhere and let my imagination start down that road. That way lies the potential for irrational terror if the critical part of my mind can't keep it in check.
It hadn't occurred to me at all to link the above to hypnosis, but as I'm constantly finding hypnosis seems to find its own way down into every corner of my mind, whether I want it to or not.
What happened to me recently went as follows. Over a skype video chat a friend had hypnotised me, talking me down into quite a deep state of trance (deep for me anyway), and the intention was to try to get me to experience a hallucination. This is one side of hypnosis that absolutely fascinates me, and I'm simply yearning to learn how to do it. I've already mentioned how, at the last HypnoMeet, Ben managed to get me to imagine a clock, picture it, know where it was in the room, etc.
So the patter reaching my ears was encouraging me to engage my imagination, to try to imagine what it would be like if I could see something what wasn't there in reality, and so on. After all, people do this all the time; see something in passing and then at a second glance realise that it's not really there, or it's something else entirely. The same goes for feeling things, or hearing things, etc.
It was at this point that somehow the words "your fears" came into the narrative.
The context was completely innocent, it was merely an example of how the imagination can play tricks on the mind, but the word "fears" kick started an unexpected avalanche of thoughts. I was sat on my own in a darkened room and without warning the thoughts I have described above came bubbling to to the surface from the depths of obscurity.
Some part of my mind already knew what it looked like, where it would be in the room, and this time it wasn't a clock!
I was still intent on the hypotist's voice as they continued to give me instructions to picture the illusion they were intent on generating, and I was following that, but of course we all know what the imagination likes to do when it is told not to think of something. I felt the fear and it was strong, irrationally so; I was amazed how real it was.
What would I see if I opened my eyes? Would I see the illusion I was being asked to imagine, or would I see the thing I was trying so hard to stop myself picturing? I knew which was stronger. I didn't want to open my eyes.
As that emotion escalated inside of me I reached the point where I considered asking to come out of trance. It was at that point that somehow I regained control and suppressed those feelings; pushing them back down deep. I suspect I did this in my usual critical fashion and at the expense of the depth of the trance I was in.
We continued the session, and it seemed as though those disturbing thoughts went away just as quickly as they'd arrived, but sadly I proved unable to produce a hallucination.
It occurred to me after the session that what I must have experienced was probably what's known as an abreaction, albeit a minor one. I raised the subject with my friend and we chatted about it for a while. I was told that I did seem to loose a lot of my response after the fear comment.
Whilst the experience was quite intense when it happened and my emotional response took me completely by surprise I do not regret having had it for a moment. I see it as a valuable lesson and I gained a lot of insight into both the way my mind works and hypnosis in general. It certainly hasn't put me off trying to see that elusive clock either!
The lesson here is to choose your words carefully. It only takes one word to completely change a trance.
Tuesday 14 April 2009
Trance of the month
Apologies for the lack of posts so far this month. There has been quite a frustrating and almost demoralising lack of any hypnotic activity for me in the last couple of weeks, as hypnotist or subject, and that has curbed my enthusiasm somewhat.
In fact, with my girlfriend out of the country for over a month and many of my friends having gone away for Easter, a lack of hypnosis seems to have been the least of my worries. I have felt more in danger of turning into some kind of hermit. It was to this end, faced with a four day Easter weekend of moping on my own in my flat, that I decided that I really should get out and do something.
What I did do was pull out my bike and clock up 125 road miles over 3 days.
Now, I have recently read and heard some of Igor Ledochowski's comments on exercise and how it relates to trance and they explain a great deal to me. Essentially what he says is that when someone is able to go out jogging, say, and enjoy the experience it is because they are able to access an altered state of mind as they are doing it; they are in a trance, and of course trance feels good.
I have never been able to enjoy jogging or running any distance because it hurts too much, but cycling? Now we're talking!
I doubt many people would immediately see the link between getting on a bicycle and riding 50 miles for fun and hypnosis. Indeed I expect most people would be shocked at finding the words "bicycle", "50 miles" and "fun" in the same sentence. It seems to me though that the more I practice going into trance as a hypnotic subject the more I am able to enjoy going out and riding my bike, especially if I'm out on my own.
I know for sure that I am accessing trance as I ride along. I can leave the concerns and worries of everyday life behind and it feels good just to focus on the road ahead; think about the next bend, the next hill. Before I know it I will roll up to my front door after one of my epic tours of South Oxfordshire and wonder where on earth the last 4 hours went.
It was after one of these long rides yesterday that I was also able to conclusively prove to myself another of Ledochowski's observations, quite by accident. In the Deep Trance Training Manual Vol.1 he says that one of the many things that can induce trance is the release of tension. This could be anything from simply allowing the subject's hand or arms to drop to their lap in the 8-word or magnetic hands inductions, to the effect that someone experiences after a prolonged period of exercise.
Yesterday I had just such an experience. I got back with 51.5 miles showing on the cycle computer feeling pretty good but physically exhausted and, being drenched in sweat, decided that a bath was in order. My body was tired but my brain was very active so I just lay there relaxing, enjoying the warmth, eyes closed, letting my thoughts wander... and before I knew it I slipped into a trance. This was without any outside suggestions or any deliberate effort on my part. It simply happened.
It was probably one of the deepest trances I've ever had too. A whole 45 minutes seemed to pass in a heartbeat as I lay there. Before I started learning about hypnosis I might mistaken what happened for falling asleep, but having had a few deeper trances before now I was able to recognise the sensation. Besides, falling asleep in the middle of the day never leaves me feeling that alert or refreshed afterward.
It was quite an incredible experience, and something tells me it won't be long before I'm back in the saddle.
Trance of the month. Look! No hypnotists!
In fact, with my girlfriend out of the country for over a month and many of my friends having gone away for Easter, a lack of hypnosis seems to have been the least of my worries. I have felt more in danger of turning into some kind of hermit. It was to this end, faced with a four day Easter weekend of moping on my own in my flat, that I decided that I really should get out and do something.
What I did do was pull out my bike and clock up 125 road miles over 3 days.
Now, I have recently read and heard some of Igor Ledochowski's comments on exercise and how it relates to trance and they explain a great deal to me. Essentially what he says is that when someone is able to go out jogging, say, and enjoy the experience it is because they are able to access an altered state of mind as they are doing it; they are in a trance, and of course trance feels good.
I have never been able to enjoy jogging or running any distance because it hurts too much, but cycling? Now we're talking!
I doubt many people would immediately see the link between getting on a bicycle and riding 50 miles for fun and hypnosis. Indeed I expect most people would be shocked at finding the words "bicycle", "50 miles" and "fun" in the same sentence. It seems to me though that the more I practice going into trance as a hypnotic subject the more I am able to enjoy going out and riding my bike, especially if I'm out on my own.
I know for sure that I am accessing trance as I ride along. I can leave the concerns and worries of everyday life behind and it feels good just to focus on the road ahead; think about the next bend, the next hill. Before I know it I will roll up to my front door after one of my epic tours of South Oxfordshire and wonder where on earth the last 4 hours went.
It was after one of these long rides yesterday that I was also able to conclusively prove to myself another of Ledochowski's observations, quite by accident. In the Deep Trance Training Manual Vol.1 he says that one of the many things that can induce trance is the release of tension. This could be anything from simply allowing the subject's hand or arms to drop to their lap in the 8-word or magnetic hands inductions, to the effect that someone experiences after a prolonged period of exercise.
Yesterday I had just such an experience. I got back with 51.5 miles showing on the cycle computer feeling pretty good but physically exhausted and, being drenched in sweat, decided that a bath was in order. My body was tired but my brain was very active so I just lay there relaxing, enjoying the warmth, eyes closed, letting my thoughts wander... and before I knew it I slipped into a trance. This was without any outside suggestions or any deliberate effort on my part. It simply happened.
It was probably one of the deepest trances I've ever had too. A whole 45 minutes seemed to pass in a heartbeat as I lay there. Before I started learning about hypnosis I might mistaken what happened for falling asleep, but having had a few deeper trances before now I was able to recognise the sensation. Besides, falling asleep in the middle of the day never leaves me feeling that alert or refreshed afterward.
It was quite an incredible experience, and something tells me it won't be long before I'm back in the saddle.
Trance of the month. Look! No hypnotists!
Tuesday 7 April 2009
I know what I'm doing!
I recently heard somebody say that fake confidence is no different from real confidence.
This comment was made in answer to a question from a newbie to hypnosis. What was being asked was this: Where does the novice hypnotist find the confidence to approach their first subject and perform their first induction?
Well, in my opinion that's what makes somebody a hypnotist. A hypnotist doesn't do anything supernatural, nor are they using words or phrases that nobody else is able to. There's nothing to stop anybody doing what a hypnotist does, or saying what a hypnotist says; what makes a hypnotist a hypnotist is the fact that they have the confidence to look their subject in the eye as they say and do these things, and of course take it seriously.
Confidence is the key.
Now, on a seemingly completely unrelated note this weekend offered me the opportunity to try my hand at something that I've never tried before despite having lived in Oxford for several years now, which was punting on the river Thames.
I was in town showing an old school friend and his girlfriend the sights, and next to a certain pub in Oxford, the one at which we all met for the Oxford HypnoMeet in fact, there is a landing stage. It seems that from here it is possible to hire all manner of small craft in order to go out and have a bit of fun on the river. We had been sitting outside the pub in the sunshine watching various parties attempting to maneuver their punts upstream against the current and back to the landing stage, to various degrees of their own embarrassment.
It was at this point that my friend's girlfriend suggested that we should give it a go.
A punt is basically a small flat-bottomed boat that is propelled and steered by means of a pole pushed against the river bed. It's an easy experience if you're one of the passengers sat in the bottom of the boat, but rather less so for the poor unsuspecting fool who has to try to pilot it. Eessentially the unfortunate first time punter will find that what happens when you hire one is they tell you to stand on a little platform on the back of the incredibly wobbly boat, give you a 15-foot long wooden pole and push you off into the current telling you to head downstream and then come back up again against the current if you want any chance of getting your cash deposit back.
In this respect I was lucky in that my friend volunteered to go first, by being stood in the wrong place at the wrong time, and I was able to watch to see what worked and what didn't.
It was when it came to be my turn to drive that I realised just how much I have changed over the last few months. I still had absolutely no idea what I was doing when I climbed up onto that platform; I've never done anything like it before in my life. What was crazy though was that I found that I was able to outwardly put on the impression not only that I knew what I was doing, but also that I wasn't terrified of losing my balance and falling head first into the Thames.
It was also clear to me that confidence is probably a large percentage of acquiring a new skill. Against what the laws of common sense would dictate given my inherent clumsiness I was somehow able to propel us back upstream to the landing stage where our deposit and a walk to the next pub for some dinner were waiting for us.
"Are you sure you haven't done that before?" I was asked. To which of course I could only insist that I hadn't!
This is something that I have learned from becoming a hypnotist, and I think in many ways being a hypnotist is more about ones approach to a situation, any situation, than any specific set of techniques or language patterns, useful though those are.
"I know what I'm doing! I meant to do it that way!"
It's about being the master of the situation and always appearing to be on top of things. Does the subject know that you've not tried that particular induction before, or that maybe that last suggestion didn't quite work as you expected it to? If you're a good hypnotist probably not, because you're acting as though everything that happens is as you always intended.
So if you're a novice hypnotist just starting out on this amazing journey consider this:
The fear of falling is always going to be there; get used to it, because it will never go away. That said, the rewards of success are there for the taking if you want them enough. In any case, how much would it matter in the grand scheme of things if you did metaphorically fall in the Thames? Sure people might laugh at you, but the only person who can take away your dignity and make you feel embarrassed is you. Laugh along with them, because it really doesn't matter.
Similarly it's a bad idea to consider confidence as something tangible of which you posses a specific quantity. To have confidence, all you need do is believe that you have it, or pretend that you have it. The effect is the same.
So you've read the books and you're looking to do that first induction. The next and I think far more important step is to get yourself into that mindset, the hypnotist's mindset, and trust me everything will work out.
I concede that success does breed confidence and confidence breeds success, but to get into that elusive upward spiral requires a little of that fake confidence that I mentioned before, because fake confidence and real confidence are the same thing.
As they say: Fake it 'till you make it!
This comment was made in answer to a question from a newbie to hypnosis. What was being asked was this: Where does the novice hypnotist find the confidence to approach their first subject and perform their first induction?
Well, in my opinion that's what makes somebody a hypnotist. A hypnotist doesn't do anything supernatural, nor are they using words or phrases that nobody else is able to. There's nothing to stop anybody doing what a hypnotist does, or saying what a hypnotist says; what makes a hypnotist a hypnotist is the fact that they have the confidence to look their subject in the eye as they say and do these things, and of course take it seriously.
Confidence is the key.
Now, on a seemingly completely unrelated note this weekend offered me the opportunity to try my hand at something that I've never tried before despite having lived in Oxford for several years now, which was punting on the river Thames.
I was in town showing an old school friend and his girlfriend the sights, and next to a certain pub in Oxford, the one at which we all met for the Oxford HypnoMeet in fact, there is a landing stage. It seems that from here it is possible to hire all manner of small craft in order to go out and have a bit of fun on the river. We had been sitting outside the pub in the sunshine watching various parties attempting to maneuver their punts upstream against the current and back to the landing stage, to various degrees of their own embarrassment.
It was at this point that my friend's girlfriend suggested that we should give it a go.
A punt is basically a small flat-bottomed boat that is propelled and steered by means of a pole pushed against the river bed. It's an easy experience if you're one of the passengers sat in the bottom of the boat, but rather less so for the poor unsuspecting fool who has to try to pilot it. Eessentially the unfortunate first time punter will find that what happens when you hire one is they tell you to stand on a little platform on the back of the incredibly wobbly boat, give you a 15-foot long wooden pole and push you off into the current telling you to head downstream and then come back up again against the current if you want any chance of getting your cash deposit back.
In this respect I was lucky in that my friend volunteered to go first, by being stood in the wrong place at the wrong time, and I was able to watch to see what worked and what didn't.
It was when it came to be my turn to drive that I realised just how much I have changed over the last few months. I still had absolutely no idea what I was doing when I climbed up onto that platform; I've never done anything like it before in my life. What was crazy though was that I found that I was able to outwardly put on the impression not only that I knew what I was doing, but also that I wasn't terrified of losing my balance and falling head first into the Thames.
It was also clear to me that confidence is probably a large percentage of acquiring a new skill. Against what the laws of common sense would dictate given my inherent clumsiness I was somehow able to propel us back upstream to the landing stage where our deposit and a walk to the next pub for some dinner were waiting for us.
"Are you sure you haven't done that before?" I was asked. To which of course I could only insist that I hadn't!
This is something that I have learned from becoming a hypnotist, and I think in many ways being a hypnotist is more about ones approach to a situation, any situation, than any specific set of techniques or language patterns, useful though those are.
"I know what I'm doing! I meant to do it that way!"
It's about being the master of the situation and always appearing to be on top of things. Does the subject know that you've not tried that particular induction before, or that maybe that last suggestion didn't quite work as you expected it to? If you're a good hypnotist probably not, because you're acting as though everything that happens is as you always intended.
So if you're a novice hypnotist just starting out on this amazing journey consider this:
The fear of falling is always going to be there; get used to it, because it will never go away. That said, the rewards of success are there for the taking if you want them enough. In any case, how much would it matter in the grand scheme of things if you did metaphorically fall in the Thames? Sure people might laugh at you, but the only person who can take away your dignity and make you feel embarrassed is you. Laugh along with them, because it really doesn't matter.
Similarly it's a bad idea to consider confidence as something tangible of which you posses a specific quantity. To have confidence, all you need do is believe that you have it, or pretend that you have it. The effect is the same.
So you've read the books and you're looking to do that first induction. The next and I think far more important step is to get yourself into that mindset, the hypnotist's mindset, and trust me everything will work out.
I concede that success does breed confidence and confidence breeds success, but to get into that elusive upward spiral requires a little of that fake confidence that I mentioned before, because fake confidence and real confidence are the same thing.
As they say: Fake it 'till you make it!
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