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.

Today, we received our Intern Orientation from Cal and Maureen, and all I can say is WOW.

Everything here at the Banyan Center for Hypnosis (I'll refer to it as BCH from now on) is superbly organized with efficiency and effectiveness, and  with the client's best interest in mind.

I got my schedule to see clients assigned for Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and I'll be sharing office space with our good friend Mark, while Kelsey will be sharing Cal's. So we both got top-notch hypnotherapy offices and won't have any excuse to perform exceptionally well ;-)

My first client is scheduled for Monday evening (quit smoking 2-session), and I'm very excited to have the opportunity of helping someone achieve that goal (I myself just became a non-smoker recently through hypnosis). I'm a little bit anxious about performing my first session well, but am confident that with the knowledge that Cal shared with us during class, the session should go exactly as it should. 

It's hard to summarize what I've learned today, but if I had to sum it up in two sentences, it would be:

1. The importance, method and art of keeping client records.

2. When doing AR in special 2-session smoking cessation program, it's OK to have client modify SPE so that she doesn't actually light up that first cigarette. In 5-PATH, as you may remember, the ICT allows the little one to re-live the ISE EXACTLY like it happened, only with the knowledge necessary for such event not to negatively affect client). I know we covered this in Class, but somehow it didn't click well until today.

For those kind souls that have been asking me about the fires that are spreading across the Southland: The Santa Ana winds keep blowing heavy smoke everywhere, and sometimes it's hard to keep one's eyes and throat clear, but otherwise we've been largely unaffected by such terrible natural disaster (though there are theories that they were not completely naturally-caused, an arsonist might have started or contributed to them... this goes to show you how much our skills and abilities in hypnotherapy are needed in this world...).

That's it for today, I'll keep posting what I'm learning, feel free to ask me anything about my experiences and I'll be glad to respond here (within the constrains of confidentiality and common sense, of course).

 

 

 

Dear friends, just wanted to share with you the big news: I'm starting an internship at the Banyan Center next week.

 

That's right! Coming next Monday, I'll start to see clients and put into practice 5-PATH under the supervision of Cal.  Soon, I'll also have the opportunity to teach 7-PATH and assist Cal in the 5-PATH class.

 

Needless to say, this is a great chance for me to get experience and knowledge, and I promise to share with you as many details as possible about my experience, so we can all benefit from this opportunity. Your comments, questions and suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

 

Here we go!