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).

Yours in the Path.