Imagery International, a professional association for guided imagery practitioners, asked me to speak on a panel of hypnotherapists for their telechat about hypnosis and imagery. I have included my notes here outlining my thoughts about the similarities and differences between the two fields, and how I use imagery in my hypnotherapy practice. (more…)
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.
As a part of my continuing education as a hypnotherapist, I am taking a class through the Core Strengths Coaching Program at San Francisco State’s College of Extended Learning. The class is called Cultivating Core Strengths, Resilience and Optimism.
One of our homework assignments was to take the “Via Signature Strengths Survey” at authentichappiness.org, a site developed by Martin Seligman, Ph.D., Director of the University of Pennsylvania Positive Psychology Center, and author of the book Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment.
After analyzing your responses to 240 multiple-choice questions, the survey identifies your “signature strengths.” While it is not a perfect instrument, I do feel it is worth taking. Whether or not you agree with the results, you are sure to engage in meaningful self-reflection.
To take the test, you must first register with authentichappiness.org. (It’s free.) Once you are registered, look for the “VIA Signature Strengths Survey” under “Engagement Questionnaires” in the center column of the home page.
Upon completing the survey, the site will generate your top five strengths. If you would like to see your ranking for all 24 strengths, go to: http://www.authentichappiness.org/all24/.
Seligman’s book also includes the survey and instructions for scoring:
Over the holidays, my husband and I holed up in a little cottage at Mar Vista on the coast of Mendocino County. We brought our favorite pans, laptops, and a stack of good books. I decided to take a break from hypnosis books but was pleased when hypnosis made an imaginative and significant appearance in a novel I was reading. When Nietzsche Wept, by renowned therapist and author, Irvin Yalom, is about a fictional encounter between two historical celebrities: Josef Breuer, the Austrian physician who discovered the “talking cure” and became one of the founders of psychoanalysis, and philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. A young medical student and friend of Josef Breuer, Sigmund Freud, is also an important character along with Lou Salomé, a young woman with whom Nietzsche had a stormy relationship and who later became a novelist and well-known writer on philosophy and psycholanalysis.
When Nietzsche Wept is intellectually stimulating and offers a detailed look at the practice of medicine in 1882 and the birth of psychoanalysis, which, in part, evolves from the practice of mesmerism/hypnosis. It is also a satisfying story with characters that are are sensitively drawn.
I also enjoyed another of Yalom’s novels, Lying on the Couch and am inspired to move on to his non-fiction work.
I am certified by the National Guild of Hypnotists and have found this book by Banyan and Kein, both NGH instructors, to be a terrific review of the fundamentals of my certification training program. I highly recommend this for professionals, especially for NGH graduates. Those who are considering a career as a hypnotherapist might also find this interesting.
When Dave Elman was just eight years old, his father, a student of hypnosis, was dying of cancer. He was in a great deal of pain and Elman was not allowed to go in his room. One day, a well-known stage hypnotist, an acquaintance of Elman’s father, came to the house. When he left, Elman was free from pain, and he was able to spend the last days of his life playing with his son.
Elman later became a hypnotist and focused his career on training thousands of doctors and dentists to use hypnosis with their patients. This book includes his discoveries and techniques. It’s a classic textbook and highly readable. I couldn’t put it down! A great read for professionals and those who are interested in learning about hypnosis.
Handbook of Hypnotic Suggestions and Metaphors by D. Corydon Hammond (1990)
This book is a treasure for professionals. It is 602 pages and includes techniques and scripts for all areas of hypnosis: pain management, preparation for surgery, medical conditions, dental disorders, self-esteem and confidence, fears, emotional disorders, sexual dysfunction and relationship problems, weight control, smoking, addictions, and habits, concentration, academic performance, athletic performance, artistic expression, working with children, and age regression. I’ve got a copy at home and one at the office. I refer to it all the time to get ideas for working with clients.
After watching Calvin Banyan’s vidcast interview of Roy Hunter, I became very excited about parts therapy and immediately ordered Hunter’s book, Hypnosis for Inner Conflict Resolution. Hunter recommended Gordon Emmerson’s Ego State Therapy (see below), so I got that as well. These books are nicely written and practical. Since reading them, I have used parts therapy with success and find that clients typically walk away from these sessions with greater self-awareness and insight.
In parts therapy, the hypnotherapist takes on the role of a mediator and facilitates communication and resolution between the motivating part of the client’s subconscious—the part that desires change, and the conflicting part—the part that resists change.
This book is similar to Hunter’s book, above, but there are some differences in their approaches. I recommend getting one or the other to start with. If you are a practitioner who will be using parts therapy, you might find it useful to have both.
This is a wonderful book for anyone interested in doing self-hypnosis for weight control, nonsmoking, stress reduction, phobias, natural childbirth, health problems, pain control, self-esteem and motivation,improving learning, enhancing creativity, sleep, anxiety and panic, healing adult survivors of child abuse, loss and separation, surgery, and depression.
Each issue has its own chapter, which includes a discussion, questions for reflection, and a script that can be personally tailored and read into an audio recorder. This book is designed for a general audience, but professionals will get ideas for working with their clients.
Both Guided Imagery and Staying Well with Guided Imagery (below) are wonderful resources for anyone interested in learning to use the imagination to heal themselves physically or emotionally. These books are designed for a general audience and include discussions about how imagery works and scripts that can be read into an audio recorder. Professionals will get ideas for working with their clients.
