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.
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.
As those who were in my class may remember, I was experiencing echoes of physical pain as we were learning 7th Path. I just wanted to let you all know where I've gone with it.
After class was over I started over with just Delta 1 for a week, then I added Delta 2 for another week. Tomorrow I'm going to add Delta 3.
The PVCs (premature ventricular contractions) in my heart continued through my Delta 1 week and for most of the past week, but a couple of days ago they just faded away. I think the cup has emptied enough to knock down the heart pain! I'm not sure whether or not it will start back up when I add Delta 3 and/or Delta 4, but I'm really looking forward to letting them work on the things that they work on. That's not to say that Delta 1 & 2 aren't still stirring some things up inside me, but the heart PVCs (which originally showed up a year ago and were medically diagnosed as being caused by excessive job stress) have abated during 7th Path and I see that as a good thing.
Sometimes I've had the coolest experience when doing 7th Path the past few days. It didn't happen this morning, but it has happened a few times. Like I said, things are still getting stirred up, so just a few repetitions into Delta 1 usually has me in a condition that can be likened to driving on a bumpy road. Things get rougher and rougher as I go along, but on a few occasions I'll be near the end of my Delta 1 period or somewhere in my Delta 2 period and all of a sudden the bumps will stop and it will be like driving on a road that's as smooth as glass. And when this happens I feel something that's almost like being physically lifted up to a higher level. Everything is calm, smooth, and clear. Most of my echoes at that point are things like, "Wow, this is so cool!"
I hope that 7th Path is working wonders for everyone else, too.
