I'm hoping to see at least some of my fellow 5-PATH 10/07 graduates at the NGH convention in August.
Since the NGH is only a few miles from my home, I drove over and registered for the convention in person and also got a tour of the NGH headquarters from Eric Newhall. They have a LOT of video tapes there! I'm looking through the NGH video catalog and it's mind boggling how many different topics are available.
My current dilemma is that there are so many good sessions on the NGH Convention schedule that I'm having trouble picking which ones I'd like to see most. I've also noticed that I may need to skip breakfast and lunch for the three days of the convention, just so I can go to more sessions.
I look forward to seeing my fellow grads and meeting new people there.
I want to wish all you guys a happy christmas and wonderful new Year...It was a pleasure getting to know all of you and hope we get the opportunity to meet up in 2008.
Great news: My first child client (whom I feared might not show up due to lack of confidence in Hypnotism by the father) did come back and pleasantly surprised me with MAJOR improvements after the first session. Tics are 90% gone, he's sleeping much better and has been so relaxed during the week -despite a tremendous homework load- that both parents were very impressed with the results and excited about the process (not to mention grateful, as some of his Obsessive/Compulsive behaviors had started to cause major problems in the boy's life). Needless to say, I felt great for having been an instrument in the kid's improvement, especially after learning that his family Doctor, Neurologist and Psychologist were not able to help him, despite trying their best for months. I was sure to let parents and boy know that all improvements were due to the child's subconscious, and I was merely a coach in teaching him how to leverage such a powerful element of his mind (the kid liked that very much).
Second session went real well, this time I used the Blast-off induction, and I included the standard Eye-Catalepsy convincer plus Arm Catalepsy (just because I know he'd enjoy that and probably feel even more convinced of the power of hypnosis), and then proceeded to do AR work. Session was long, due to his high intellect and overly analytical mind trying to get in the way, so I had to remind him a few times that anything was possible in the magic of the mind and that his subconscious had the data there and could access it simply by suggestion, if he let his conscious mind relax and not attempt to intellectualize every request (to give you an idea, when trying to regress to ISE, he said something like "long term memory capacity is not really complete until past the 9th month of life, so I don't think I'll have the capacity to remember or relive anything prior to that"" and "How will I be able to communicate with you if I'm just a baby without the ability to speak?" cute, right? ;-) ). Anyway, we did find ISE (at birth), performed ICT and run him through ISE and a few SSEs, ending up with putting the little one in his center and a segue way to DS (there is nothing wrong with you, etc...).
I'm looking forward to next session, where we'll re-run through ISE just to make sure changes have been permanent and then move through all remaining significant SSEs. If time permits, I'll try to move into FOO and FOS, because it might be hard for him to live a whole week with unreleased anger. All in all, I'm very pleased with this boy's progress and am excited to know that now his mother has also requested to go through 5-PATH with me (starting this Thursday), and his father has explicitly said that he'll be next. It's great to know that one can help a precious life avoid years of pain and suffering, while also promoting our practice to new clients.
In another good note, this week I served as Graduate Teaching Assistant during the Week of Power (5-PATH and 7th Path training for experienced hypnotists) and the experience was incredible because: 1) One always learns more when you're teaching others (and I helped Cal coach students during their practice exercises) 2) All students had years of experience in the field, which made the class an enriching experience, as they all drew from their experience and prior training and shared with the group. 3) Doing 7th Path in a group potentiates its power significantly, so it was really nice to re-live the group experience after having gone almost a month of individual practice alone. 4) Receiving the class material again, GREATLY enhances the mastery of the class content. It was inspiring to see Cal deliver a top-notch class once again, and many important points came through in a new light. So I highly encourage everyone to take advantage of Cal's free re-take policy and attend a class again, you'll see how much better you understand many concepts and how much more confident you grow by reviewing 5-PATH and 7th Path.
Lastly, on a bad note, my first client for 2-session smoking cessation didn't show up for this 2nd session. I should have known better when he said his commitment to quit was "none, I'm just here because my girlfriend payed" but I guess my unbridled optimism made me expect better, since first session went great (but if it didn't, I'll bring tape to supervision meeting to make sure I didn't make any mistakes or if I did, to correct and improve so as to avoid recurrence of no-shows).
In summary, what I learned this week is: 1. Never underestimate the power of hypnosis to effect great change, even where Neurologists and Psychologists have failed and despite doubts from parents. 2. Re-take classes whenever possible, you'll reinforce what you learned and most likely understand the material to deeper levels. 3. Don't expect someone who doesn't even pay for his own sessions to be a great hypnosis client. If his pocket is not at risk, his commitment is zero.
Hope everyone have a great V-Day weekend (Veteran's Day in the US).
Just a quick post to let you know, I almost have my Practise up and running....Just a few minor details with furniture and im ready to open for business......
My business cards and flyers are all sitting ready to go and my first ad goes into the local newspapers next week so im really excited and nervous about the whole thing....I will keep you up to date with the opening and will be doing a video post of the office to let you see what kind of enviroment I will be working from......I will be working on Cal's model of the professional enviroment so I will keep you updated.
1. I had my first Child client on Thursday (a pre-teen boy). In the days leading to the first session, I went through a bunch of books and DVDs (Gerry Kein's Working with Children, Kathleen Skott-Myhre's Hypnosis & Hypnotherapy for Children, Cal Banyan's Supervision CDs Volume 19 Parts 1 and 2, Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy with Children by Olness Kohen and 101 Healing Stories from George Burn) and was VERY pleasantly surprised to find out that indeed children are awesome hypnosis participants (was tempted to say subjects, but pictured Cal's face frowning upon the term ;-)). Induction went incredibly well (used Kein's "blowing up balloons" deepener after a modified "Magic TV" induction) and client was very complaint and passed covert somnambulism tests with flying colors (loosing the numbers and fractionation). Since client was more fond of videogames than TV, I made him play a magic game on his "PS4" where all his favorite video game characters were there, and reacted to the game in unusual but very funny manners. He got so much into it, that I almost laughed with him as he was enjoying the absurdity of the non-complaint game characters on the game (loudly). I then proceeded to use one Del Hunter's Great Escapes script (Burning the Ship) and he really got a work out of writing all his pressures down for later burning. Then we did lots of ego-affirming DS and finished up with the Red, Red, Red post-hypnotic suggestion/convincer.
The problem is two-fold: The kid is a certified genius (IQ of 150) with everything going for him (money, good family, social skills, lots of friends, exceptional intelligence, musical prowess, outgoing personality, kind demeanor, perfect physical health, sports ability, responsibility, etc...). Only problem is he's too concerned with being perfect (to the point of obsession/compulsion) and that's bringing out undesirable traits such as ticks. Additionally (or perhaps because of it), parents are not bad parents, but in the contrary, they seem to be trying WAY TOO HARD to be good parents, and that seems to be bringing up a lot of unreasonable demands on the child. Session went well, but I would improve in 2 particular areas as follows:
WELL DONE= Parents were not willing to leave boy alone for session (though his psychologist and neurologist both advised parents to have kid try hypnotherapy, it seems parents never had allowed him to be alone with anyone, including his psychologist!). I assured parents that all sessions were recorded for the protection of the child as well as the hypnotherapist, and that California State Law gave them specific rights to such records if they ever decided to subpoena them, but that I would ask them for a verbal agreement that we could work in confidentiality with the child and that they would not request session videos unless it was absolutely necessary. This helped calm them down and they finally agreed to leave the room. Another big shocker for them was my suggestion that at least one of the parents go through 5-PATH as a means of showing the kid they were willing to go through the process with him (in separate rooms and sessions, of course) and to make sure they would fully understand and support his moving through the 5-PATH therapeutic process.
IMPROVEMENTS NEEDED = Because I was so nervous, and so focused on reading and learning child-specific techniques, I forgot to include convincers (overt tests) for the benefit of the client, so that he would have further assurances that he had been indeed hypnotized. This is a particularly important point, considering that the father -in front of the child during the pre-hypnosis interview and after the session- voiced outright skepticism of the whole art and science of hypnosis; and that was my second weak point: I should have talked to the parents SEPARATELY from the child to let them know how important it was for them to show they believed in the process, technique and outcome, as children borrow Critical Factor from parents or tending adults and a negative view from an authority figure can undo the Direct Suggestion work done during the session. If I could do it over, not only would I have told parents to reserve their "witch-doctor" assessment of hypnotherapy to themselves at least when the child was present; but I would also have gone through AR to provide more relief to the kid. In the other hand, kid was unofficially considered ADHD (not formally diagnosed, but parents referred to him that way), and between watching the 2 videos (pre-talk and TSLOF), going through an extensive pre-hypnosis interview and about 30 minutes of actual hypnosis session, I guess he was a little tired. Still, having seen the change on him right after parents left room (his hyperactivity and nervousness went away, and as the door was closed, he exhaled a sigh of relief, as if a big weight had been lifted from his shoulders, which should have let me know that I needed to either go through AR right there and then or offer some "protection" like in the "water off a duck's back" patter, to give him some relief at least from his external pressures...).
Anyway, both kid and mom are due for sessions next Thursday, and if they come in, I'm going to be far more prepared to offer them more effective hypnotherapy (I'll do AR with kid and MAJOR convincers with mom so that both can walk out feeling hopeful and convinced, with big improvements on the child's symptoms). Whether they come in or not is an open question, as bill-paying dad didn't seem too convinced. I'll keep you guys posted (cross your fingers, as I'd really love to save a precious life from suffering for years if his issues are not resolved now).
BETTER DONE= On a better note, I also had my first Quit Smoking 2-session client. He came in with absolutely no desire to quit smoking "I'm here only because my girlfriend pressured me... and she paid" was his introductory statement. Normally that would have been automatic grounds for not moving forward, but somehow I felt he really did want to be there, just couldn't admit it to himself. I told him it was obvious he didn't really have a problem with nicotine, but that there was something deep inside him that perhaps he hadn't allowed himself to feel so he used tobacco as a distractor (went through a rapid-fire introduction to TSLOF), and gave him the choice of either walking out now and saving himself time and money or staying and switching to a 5-PATH program, where we would uncover what was really going on inside him that needed resolution, and that quitting smoking would be only a by-product of solving the underlying issue. Fortunately, he told me nobody had talked to him that way before, but that it made sense and that he knew some anger and frustration had been building up on him for various reasons. He agreed to stay and do the full 5-PATH, and when we did session (using Low Road/High Road script), he was an incredible hypnosis partner. Lost the numbers on 3, eye lock worked like glue by number 2 and his whole facial expression changed dramatically -for the better- when session was over. Time distortion went like a charm (he thought session lasted less than 10 minutes, when in fact it lasted one hour, since I also gave him the first recognition of 7th Path). All in all, it was very pleasant to turn around an impossible client into a deeply convinced one, he was soooo into the session, I almost had to kick him out! (just kidding there, but I got the feeling that if I didn't move things along, he would not mind staying another hour in post-hypnotic interview and we don't do counseling).
LAST NOTE= Week has been full of events, so I apologize if this has been too long already, so I'll be brief: Today the "week of power" has started and I'm attending as a Graduate Teaching Assistant (pretty much filling the role that Marc played during our recent class). The beauty of it is that all the participants are hypnotists and hypnotherapists that have been practicing hypnosis with clients for years. As always, Cal has attracted a high-caliber class from all over (from Switzerland to Wisconsin) and each one of them is bringing a wealth of experience and wisdom, so I'll be coaching them in specific 5-PATH and 7th Path techniques, while also learning from their tips and tricks that only experience can bring.
Have a great week and feel free to comment, critique or ask anything.
