Archive for July, 2009

He Did What He Wanted (1927)

July 29, 2009

He Did What He Wanted

I am currently vacationing in New York City before attending the National Guild of Hypnotists annual convention. I’ve been envious of my husband who has a blog on the global water crisis. He has vowed that while here he will post a daily entry on the subject of water in New York City. He has plenty of issues to draw on. I, on the other hand, have been at a loss to tie hypnosis to New York City. But then today at the MOMA, I came across this painting. As I was studying it, my husband pointed to the placard next to it. “You’ll be interested this one,” he said. And, indeed, I was! Take a look:

Yves Tanguy
American, born France. 1900-1955

He Did What He Wanted (1927)
Oil on canvas

Bequest of Richard S. Zeisler, 2008

This painting was exhibited as part of Tanguy’s first solo show, at the Galerie Surréaliste, Paris, in 1927. Before the exhibition opened Tanguy and Surrealist leader Andre Breton invented titles for the paintings based on a 1922 book called Treaty of Metapsychics by Charles Richet, a Nobel Prize winner for medicine, which explored mysterious forms of cognition—a subject that resonated with the Surrealist interest in the unconscious and in dream states. The title of this work refers to a phenomenon Richet describes in which hypnotized subjects refuse to obey external commands. In early works, such as this one, Tanguy defined his signature style: a vaguely geological, otherworldy terrain strewn with symbols and enigmatic creatures. His biomorphic forms, rendered with a painterly treament of surface that approaches abstraction , had a profound impact on postwar painters such as Matta and Arshile Gorky.

For folks interested in poet surrealist poet, André Breton and automatic writing, see my previous post.

For folks wondering what’s up with hypnotized subjects who refuse to obey external commands, I should explain that it isn’t surprising for me to read that “He Did What He Wanted.” All hypnotized subjects do what they want—and thank goodness for that.  No need to worry about a hypnotist making you bark like a dog or empty your bank account into hers. One must be a willing subject for hypnosis to work.

Everyday Self-Hypnosis by Forbes Robbins Blair

July 21, 2009

I came across this article on Ezine and love the author’s creative approach for incorporating self-hypnosis into daily routines. Enjoy!

Everyday Self-Hypnosis – How to Use Your Daily Routine to Change Your Life
By Forbes Robbins Blair

Abe Lincoln apparently said, “If I had six hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend the first four sharpening the axe.” I believe my approach is a different way to incorporate self hypnosis. I meld the power of autosuggestion with the symbolism of daily tasks to get results easier and just as effectively. That’s what you need to spend most of your time sharpening.

You’re just missing out on a huge opportunity for self-improvement by not taking your daily simple chores and applying the symbolism of applied psychology to change your habits.

Here’s a good way to start to understand what I mean. When you consider conventional hypnosis or self hypnosis, you probably just think about closing your eyes and entering a deep trance. Good. But you’re leaving out those trances you enter into each and every day which are called “natural trances.” They can be used to promote powerful personal growth when repeated through the various and multiple daily tasks you perform.

Natural trances are a kind of hypnosis you experience in daily life. You slip into and out of them while performing common chores like cooking, cleaning or driving. You tend to go on automatic as your brainwaves slow down into what is called the “alpha state.” You can take advantage of these natural trances as you go about your everyday routines.

Self-talk and Goal-setting — Powerful Tools For Self-growth

Dr. Shad Helmstetter, Phd, one of the founders of modern personal life coaching and author of thirteen books on personal programming and goal-setting, said this in his ground-breaking classic, “What To Say When You Talk To Your Self”:

“My objective all along has been to find the real solution to self-improvement — to separate the practical from the not-so-practical, and find out what works for real people.”

He encouraged people to ask themselves the right questions first. He’d thoroughly researched that there was real value when you apply daily positive self-talk to find your direction, stay motivated, and move forward.

My twist on that concept combines aspects of the science and art of self hypnosis with Jungian symbolisms, and then shows how you can apply those lessons to everyday tasks.

How I Discovered It

I began using natural trances to improve my physical and emotional health one morning a few years ago. It started like any other morning: I was taking my usual morning shower. I was becoming very relaxed as the warm water passed over my body. My mind was drifting off very pleasantly. But instead of just humming or reflecting in that private moment, I carried out an experiment.

Little did I know I was about to stumble upon a way to take that simple experience, apply its symbolism, and then rearrange it into a personal meditation that would help me reach my life goals. So, with this “simple” idea, my life began to change very positively over the coming months.

Achieving Everyday Self Hypnosis, Step by Step:

1. Attach the correct symbol to the task. I asked myself the question of what kind of symbolism showering or bathing carried. The answer was cleansing. Then I thought about how I could create a kind of autosuggestive mantra.
2. Create an appropriate auto-suggestion phrase. I’d repeat that out loud three times with emotion, “I cleanse myself of all accumulated anger, fear and self-doubt.” I imagined that the symbolic form those negative emotions took became like dirt leaving my body and going down the drain. Taking that shower had become a symbolic ritual for cleansing my inner self!
3. Do this on a daily basis for as long as it took to see a positive change in myself. At first, I barely noticed anything. But after several days of repeating this everyday self-hypnosis I noticed my mood brightening and my thoughts turning much more positively toward how to get what I needed and wanted in my life. It seemed that the natural trance state together with the power of everyday self-suggestions were really paying off.
4. Create a list of task-symbols-suggestions to cover your most common daily tasks. Here are just two examples (of many): Ironing my dress shirts became a way to use natural trance to “iron out the wrinkles in my relationships.” Driving to the farmer’s market became a way to work on “driving myself to greater success.”

It’s An Easy Method to Create Self-Empowerment

There’s nothing complicated about the technique. Here’s how you can start to incorporate it too:

* Select an ordinary activity,
* Recognize its underlying or symbolic meaning as it applies to your life,
* Create a beneficial suggestion to accompany that activity,
* Recite the suggestion three times as you initiate the task, and
* Await the positive life changes you want.

You can choose among several activities you perform on any day. If you follow the rules of the technique, after about a week you’ll start to notice genuine change start to manifest in your thoughts, emotions, actions — and then behaviors. (For stubborn habits I suggest that you stick with this new system for at least three weeks.)

It’s a Powerful Technique for Busy People

I’m a very busy person and you might be as well. You might not have enough time to use the traditional closed-eyes methods of self hypnosis.

Everyday self hypnosis allows you to use natural trances during the things you have to do each day (brushing your teeth, walking the dog, etc.) to get the benefits without interrupting your life.

Everyday life tasks turn into powerful opportunities for personal transformation. The combination of natural trance, suggestion and the symbols found in your daily tasks makes a strong impression on the subconscious mind.

Generic affirmations cannot compare.

Forbes Robbins Blair is the author of the new book Self-Hypnosis Revolution: The Amazingly Simple Way to Use Self-Hypnosis to Change Your Life, which makes the understanding of everyday self hypnosis clear in many varied and effective ways. His website, http://www.instant-self-hypnosis.com, educates people about how self hypnosis can benefit them.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Forbes_Robbins_Blair

Article on the effectiveness of hypnosis for test anxiety

July 5, 2009

NaturalNews-Logo_360x100

See Steve G. Jones’ 5/18/09 Natural News article, “Hypnosis Improves Academic Performance and Reduces Text-Anxiety.”

Included in the article is the result of a 1990 study on the effectiveness of hypnosis for test anxiety and achievement:

Sapp (1990) studied the role hypnosis plays on treating test-anxiety in college students. The participants in the study were randomly divided into two groups. One group served as the control group and received no form of treatment. The other group received cognitive-behavioral hypnosis. The researcher evaluated the effects of hypnosis in improving academic performance and decreasing test anxiety.

Both groups were enrolled in a demanding psychology course. All students were evaluated based on their midterm grade and anxiety levels. The hypnosis group reported a significant reduction in test anxiety and improvement in academic achievement. Both groups were evaluated 6 weeks after the end of the course and the hypnosis group was found to have maintained their hypnosis treatment gains in achievement and reduction in anxiety. Cognitive behavioral hypnosis is a highly effective form of treatment that helps students improve performance and reduce anxiety.

Two Wolves

July 4, 2009

The Moon

Tonight I was reminded of a story that I heard Sandra Ingerman tell on  Caroline Casey’s KPFA radio show, The Visionary Activist (4.26.07).  The story, from indigenous traditions, is included in her book How to Heal Toxic Thoughts:

“A grandfather was talking to his grandson about many things. He said, ‘I feel as if two wolves were fighting in my heart. One wolf is vengeful, angry, violent, and the other is loving, compassionate and strong.’ The grandson asked the grandfather, ‘Which wolf will win the fight in your heart?’ And the grandfather replied, ‘The one I feed.’”

I love this story because it demonstrates our nature as multifaceted beings. From time to time we all face internal conflicts in which the best part of us goes head to head with the not-so-best part of us. We can choose to “feed” or cultivate the part that speaks to our highest interests, and hypnotherapy is a wonderful tool for this.

Al Franken won the senate seat. Did he do his daily affirmations?

July 1, 2009

Franken Won

I was thrilled to hear that Franken won the senate seat. I marvel when I think it was he who taught me everything I once knew about affirmations—mainly that they were to be made fun of. Back in the early 90s—or was it the late 80s?—I watched his popular Saturday Night Live skit, “Daily Affirmation with Stuart Smalley” and would recite with his character, I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me.

As a hypnotherapist, I have a new appreciation for the power of the affirmation. In hypnotherapy, affirmations are used as  hypnotic suggestions.  Through my work, I have learned that if an affirmation doesn’t ring true at all, then it will be rejected as a suggestion and ineffective. For an affirmation to have the power to create change, some part of the affirmer has to believe in its potential—even if it is only a small part.

I work with my clients to craft suggestions/affirmations that I can use in the direct suggestion part of the session. It’s so important to use their language in order to come up with statements that they can embrace and imagine. Once I suggested the word happy to a client as a part of an affirming statement. The client said, “Not happy but joyful.” I suggested the word joyful as a part of an affirming statement for another client, and she said, “Joyful isn’t the right word. I’d say happy.”

The other day a client emailed me to let me know that our session had been successful. She wanted to know what she could do to reinforce the success. I suggested repeating an affirmation while in self-hypnosis, and I provided a statement as an example. She wrote back and said that reading that statement brought tears of joy to her eyes. I was moved by this, but not surprised; it was her language that I had used.


Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 40 other followers