My Hypnosis Year In Review, Part 2

After a great day of family togetherness, exchanging gifts, preparing and eating a lovely meal, napping, taking an evening walk around the neighborhood, and evening cocktails and conversation with friends, I'm back at my desk on December 26th, ready to complete my hypnosis retrospective for 2008. We left off with June, which brings us to

July

The second installment of the "Communicating Hypnosis" series involves language patterns and marking out direct communication with the unconscious mind. A lot of fun and a great learning opportunity for myself as I revisit some of these fundamental skills.

Austin NLP features a special event with Leora Gaster on the Feldenkrais method. It's fascinating stuff, showing the ability to manifest somatic change very quickly. While Feldenkrais is body work, Leora has a strong NLP background in addition to her direct connection with the late Moshe Feldenkrais, so it's a delight to meet her and watch her work. Humbling, too, as the elegance in which she brings about change shows me a great deal of potential for my own growth and development in my area of treatment and expertise.

I also host the second meeting of Weight Management and physical fitness group. 100% return rate is an indicator of popularity!

August

This was a difficult month for me, made much easier by hypnosis. I had scheduled a long-overdue tonsilectomy, which was delayed multiple times due to insurance and COBRA issues. My plan was to get this taken care of well before the start of the Fall semester, but it ended up happening much closer to the first day of school.

I was less concerned about the surgery and recovery than I was about how my voice would sound following the surgery. While it took a couple of weeks to fully recover, I'm glad to say I think my voice is actually stronger and more resonant than before.

Thanks are due to all who supported me during this surgery, including my sweetie and family. Special hypnosis thanks are due to some close Ericksonian colleagues in town who recorded a great dual induction I used just prior to surgery, and a special thank you to Keith Fail for filling in on Part 3 of the Communicating Hypnosis series. Special virtual thanks to Tom Condon and Carol Erickson for their rapid pain relief CDs, which proved quite helpful the first few days following surgery.

September

I traveled to a convention in Dallas to present a hypnosis demo and work with a private client. Fun was had, new connections were made, and we entertained ourselves mightily despite a Cowboys loss to the Redskins.

The September Hypnosis meet-up taught by me centers around using catalepsy as a tool to provide hypnotists and their subjects with confidence-building ‘convincers’ for trance, as well as powerful diagnostic tools and means of leveraging powerful change and conscious-unconscious communication.

On the academic front, I get approval for an independent research project on exercise, motivation and choice.

October

After a 2 month hiatus, I resume the Weight Management and Physical Fitness Group.

At the Hypnosis Meet-Up, I follow up from last month's catalepsy work with some additional ideomotor exercises aimed at accessing the unconscious wisdom. We use the classic yes-no-not sure finger responses, Chevreul's pendulum, and conclude with some automatic writing.

The October NLP Meet-Up features a very moving bit of modeling regarding asking for support in a time of crisis. It's another wonderful example of watching an entire group of people able to appreciate excellence in an individual who disovered this skill in the midst of a time of personal loss in her life.

November

I could use some support of my own! School has triggered a weird Senior-itis vibe and I find myself a bit stuck in the midst of trying to wrap up my Senior Thesis. I finally get it done, thanks in part to a lot of other-than-conscious communication and hypnosis work, and I walk away with a lot of new learnings (and an A-minus on the final paper).

I conclude the year's Hypnosis Meet-Ups with a nice piece on Metaphors and a script culled from a recent trance experience on gratitude. I'm in the process of minor revisions and doing a recording of this, which I hope to post to this blog soon. It's a lovely way to change state, and fits in nicely with Jason Dixon's NLP meet-up theme on using NLP techniques to enhance Law of Attraction success.

I also do a private party to promote the use of hypnosis to enhance intimacy and erotic pleasure. The hosts put me in a corner bedroom, and curious clients stop in for 20-minute "taster trances." Lots of fun.

December

The ramp-up in assorted holiday parties means a bit of a ramp-down for my private bidness. I take the opportunity to play around with web conferencing software and host an impromptu hypnosis demo. I bring my guitar to the year-end NLP Meet-Up holiday party and perform my soon-to-be-traditional Meta Model holiday tune, as well as one of my non-NLP original tunes.

I begin mapping out plans for an even more abundant year of learning, meeting and helping clients, and limitless possibilities for personal growth and prosperity. A few things on the horizon include a relaunch of my website, a World Hypnosis Demo and pro-bono sessions, and more web conferences. Learning-wise, I'm hoping to attend the Global Hypnosis eSummit and probably take Tom Best's NLP Master Practitioner Certification. A one-day Stephen Gilligan supervision is planned as well.

Limitless potential, and lots of momentum to build on from this year's activities. Stay tuned, dear readers.