The first paragraph would work well as a poem.

Nicely Done!

In an initial consult I often try to get a feel for whether a person is resistant to the notion of entering a deep state of trance. I utlize similar techniques using language such as "you may or may not notice... but as you do decide about the things that YOU would like to pay attention to... you may take comfort in this new sense of control that you have discovered....that enables you to relax more deeply than you imagined possible...paying attention to the things that are important to you....and where you would like to go...."

Hello Rob, here is a story for you, one about a previous experience of doing Ericksonian hypnosis in a _public_ venue.

A few years ago, here in Japan, I was teaching a seminar on linguistics, and agreed to meet my seminar students informally, a basic get-to-know-you session (it was the beginning of the school year). We met at a noisy Italian restaurant in Tokyo. Naturally enough, the students were curious to know about me (I was a substitute teacher that year for a colleague away on sabbatical). I told them that my background was psychology and that I had a deep interest in Erickson’s approach to psychotherapy, and hypnosis. Needless to say, the latter word provoked surprise in my students (in Japan the only hypnosis for which people are familiar is the authoritarian kind, or what I refer to as “Hollywood Hypnosis”).

They wanted me to do a demonstration, and I said I could only do so if I felt there was a way I could help the hypnotized subject. They persisted, so I agreed. One of the students had expressed to me some anxiety about writing her senior thesis in English. I used the hypnotic session as a way to diminish her feelings of anxiety. I should add, before I go on, that I had no formal training in hypnosis, but had studied Erickson’s works intensely and tried to figure out whatever I could from all the videos of Erickson actually working.

For this session, I used the hand shake induction. I instructed the subject to pay attention to my voice. I said, “There will be noises around us, so please focus your attention on my voice.” As I shook the subject’s hand, I began to loosen my grip, until our hands were barely touching, and then I moved it away (like your previous demonstration of catalepsy). At this point, the subject’s hand was levitating on it’s own, and the other students began to make all kinds of assorted surprised sounds, to go along with the noise in the restaurant. While they were doing that, I kept talking about how challenging it is to write a senior thesis in a second language, and that it can be an anxious time in one’s life, and that soon, in a short matter of time, she would complete the task and would have no recollection of the anxiety she felt but would, instead, have feelings of pride and accomplishment for a deed well done, and that this is all she would remember, that she had fun during the process. In this manner, this went on for awhile.

I realize this is not the ideal situation for a hypnosis session, but your lesson reminded me of it, so I thought I’d share it.

Postscript: At the end of the school year, the senior theses were all collected and processed. When I met this student again afterwards, I asked her how she felt about writing her senior thesis. She told me she had fun and enjoyed writing it a lot more than she thought possible. Success? Perhaps. (Long post--apologies for that!)

Rob listening to this - I had this feeling in my body that denoted to me "OPTIONS" and that there is something that can be done about something - what I don't really know yet. I'm curious to find what my mind comes up with.

Also now coming to what you're teaching - I like hypnotizing people in a normal kitchen chair. I make use of discomfort and distractions of sound to help them utilize their focus.

I got the idea from my mom. We were talking about how she used to study in school and university; she excelled as a student and what she told me was that she would sit on her knees and study. The discomfort made her focus more and better. She ended up with a photographic memory as a result.

Then when I worked with James Ramey - they utilized the uncomfortable kitchen chair too - it stops you from going into a state of aphasia. In my impromptu session yesterday at the mall - I made use of the sounds and uncomfortable position she was sitting in. :)

Thank you for this recording - and for the lesson. Much learned!

Sounds, feelings, distractions, language, repetition, relaxation, timing , emphasis, rhythm, images, large and small words , external noises, speech noises, are all helpful. For me the best part was learning to deal with constant chatter in my head. Not everything has to be analysed at the time. That can be done later. This is all useful with groups as well, so i like to hear the artistry of it all mostly.