CHPH Transcript Week 13
Week 13
Lesson Week #13 “A Birthday Treat” Igor:
Welcome to day three of the Conversational Hypnosis Professional Hypnotherapy Certification.
Students:
Program.
Igor:
Ah, one person’s passed.
Students:
[Laughter]
Igor:
Today you guys are so screwed.
Students:
[Laughter]
Igor:
You thought last night ended in a whiz and a bang, today you guys are so screwed. I’m laughing because I know what’s coming. You’re having a great time, but I’m just going to remind you of the warnings I’ve been giving you clearly throughout the week. By the end of today those conscious minds will have fallen off that thread. It will have snapped and you’ll be looking way up there through a long-long tunnel to the life you used to have. As long as you’re okay with a significant amount of confusion and an even greater amount of skill then you’re going to have a great time today. I’m going to encourage you all to just go with the flow, do what we ask our clients to do, which is trust your unconscious and remember; all you need to be able to do is the next exercise. If you can do the next exercise you’re in great shape. If for any reason you’re not clear about what you’re doing in the next exercise or there’s something not quite there then just ask a question and we’ll clear that up. Does that sound like a fair trade? Let’s have some quick announcements before we begin today. First of all, those of you with name badges or who have forgotten name badges could you just put them on? It’ll help everyone, especially if you have trouble remembering your own name it might be helpful if someone reminds you.
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- Microphones– There’s a large group here and just to help the athletic ability of the assistants running around. The easiest way of getting a microphone, which means you get to actually speak and ask questions when the time comes, is if you’re going to ask a question put your hand right up, don’t put it clear up here, because they might think you’re scratching your nose or your face and you’re not quite sure about things. Just put your hand right up there. The longer its up, the more likely it is you’ll actually get one. It’s up to you, your personal responsibility. If you want a microphone, you have to fight for it. - The next thing is just a reminder. Those of you who are thinking of doing certification, Cliff’s over there with a list waiting for you guys, so bring a shiny dollar. I know it’s expensive, but check your names out over there. If you don’t want certification go and have a look at how your name is spelled on the list because you’ll be getting an attendance certificate, assuming you make it through the week. If people find you like wandering the highway tomorrow like this – what’s your name? I don’t know I see a butterfly. Students:
[Laughter]
Igor:
Then it’ll be useful for us to have your name there so we can tell police who you are. In terms of other announcements, you’ll notice of course that we have this fine camera in the background. Can we just ask you to keep the area around the desk and that sort of area kind of free, because if people start congregating around there it does one of two things. One, it makes Mark very nervous, because the equipment may start falling all over the place and more importantly it also cuts off the view that you’ll be getting when you buy the DVD set. It’s all about being selfish. A couple of you have had issues in terms of finding restaurants in time to rush back here with indigestion because you’ve had to inhale your food, so we’ve decided we’re going to add another quarter hour to lunch. Hopefully that will give you a bit more relaxed time so you can
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travel there order a bit more leisurely and eat it without staking your stomach with food and come back. Thank you. You’ve read my mind. The final announcement I have is – where’s Diane? believe it’s your birthday today, is it not?
Hello Diane, I
Students:
[Applause]
Igor:
We have a very special birthday treat for you if you’d like to play. Do you want to come up to the birthday chair?
Students:
[Laughter]
Igor:
Give her a nice round of applause.
Students:
[Applause]
Igor:
Have a seat up here. How’re you doing? Nice and steady. Is that okay? We’ll do like the waiters do in the restaurants. Can I have everyone else come up as well please?
Students:
Really?
Igor:
Seriously, everyone come up. Just crowd around, get nice and close. You’re going to love this. By the end of this you’re going to be buzzing. Get nice and close. Get up on the stage, it’s all right it’s not just my space. Diane, the way to escape is just to close your eyes and escape all the way into trance. There you go, because it is your birthday and you’re surrounded by almost 100 hypnotists eager – that’s it – eager to give you a birthday present. In a moments time you’re going to begin to hear wonderful birthday messages. A little bit like when Cinderella had her birthday and all those fairies came and the fairy godmother gave her a special gift. Your unconscious gets to select the best of all the suggestions you’re about to hear. Just go ahead and continue enjoying that journey on your special day and just listen now to the voices and the things they have to say for you.
Student:
You’re wonderful, absolutely fantastic.
Student:
You’re going to have the best birthday ever.
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Student:
You’re amazing.
Student:
You’re great and having your family with is great.
Students:
[Voicing affirmations]
Igor:
Keep going.
Student:
You’ll find all the answers and know exactly what to do.
Student:
Your smile is a gift to everyone.
Student:
Remember everything you’ve learned here. peace of mind.
Student:
Experience joy and happiness always.
Student:
You’re getting better and better as a hypnotist.
Students:
[Voicing affirmations]
Student:
Your abilities shine throughout your body and life.
Student:
You’re beautiful.
Student:
You deserve infinite love.
Student:
You’re a gift to the people who know you.
Student:
You’re a beautiful gift to life.
Student:
You’re lovelier and more joyful every day.
Student:
You’re beautiful Diana.
Student:
Every cell is healthy.
Student:
There’s no gift like the present.
Student:
You’re a kind and wonderful being.
Student:
Be the best you can, happy birthday.
Student:
You’ll always have the world of affirmations at your command.
Student:
You’re the best woman in the world and I love you.
Have great health and
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Student:
You’re completely empowered, knowing this is a whole new beginning and there is no end.
Igor:
Happy birthday Diana. You have all those messages inside and the interesting thing is that your unconscious mind has heard more than one message within each one of those. Just as you discovered yesterday, how a simple symbol can mean so many different things. Each and every one of those suggestions can mean so many different things to you. You understand what I mean by that, don’t you? That’s right. Go ahead and enjoy that as long as you need to and you’ll know you’re ready to come back feeling refreshed, relaxed, alert and simply fantastic when your breathing comes back, your eyes open up and you just smile at all these people.
Diana:
Thank you.
Igor:
Good job. Thank you very much. I thought that was more fun than doing a traditional happy birthday song.
“How to Control Attention” Don’t think I’m letting you guys off the hook, because today we do special work with language. Let me ask you this; did you enjoy yesterday particularly what we built up towards, which was last night the dynamic mental imagery induction? Do you know why it’s called the dynamic mental imagery induction any ideas? Student:
Because you’re not just imagining something you’re imagining a process happening.
Igor:
Close. It’s called mental imagery because you’re using mental imagery whether or not you can see the pictures, it’s still there. It’s dynamic because you’re actually doing something with it you’re interacting. You’re not just throwing something at someone, you’re interacting with them and you’re actually inside their mind helping them do something it evolves dynamically. It’s not something you can plan, just like a conversation it’s not something you can plan.
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What you’ve done is you’ve learned the essence of conversational hypnosis. Think about it; all conversations have an element of interaction and all you have to do is discover at what point do you place attention and at what point do you shift attention. It’s a very simple principle to think about where attention goes, energy flows. You’ve also seen that it can be very sophisticated in the way that you apply it and have pretty dramatic results. Would that be a fair summary of your experiences? Would you be interested in finding a way of doing that without the vehicle? Yesterday we just gave you the dynamic induction. It’s just a process, a step-by-step vehicle that allows you to do something else, but you don’t actually need the vehicle it’s just an easy way to grasp the concept which is kind of shapeless and amorphous. Would you be interested in learning how to do that just with your language, with no structure in particular? Students:
Yes.
Igor:
Something you could do totally conversationally and something that pretty much everyone that you meet will end up thinking they’ve just been dragged down the rabbit hole by Alice’s white rabbit, even if there’s any kind of resistance. They decide to go into trance, but I don’t know if I should do it – what if you could use that very act of resistance as the process that gets them into trance? Wouldn’t that be something interesting to learn?
Student:
Now, believe it or not, you already have the primary tools that you need. Does anyone care to guess what the tools are that you will need to make that happen? H-Plus.
Igor:
Very good. [at easel] This has always got to be your status starting point. What else do you need? Who said that? Intention or attention?
Student:
(Inaudible)
Igor:
These two things together will create an almost infinite variety of hypnotic processes, both formal ones and more importantly more covert, informal, conversational whatever your word wants to be. We’re going to find out how to use this in an informal setting, in a covert setting, to get the result you want.
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Now, what are we putting our attention on? Where attention goes, energy flows. So we want the energy to go somewhere, what do we want the attention to go on? Students:
(Inaudible)
Igor:
Exactly. You want the attention on the unconscious. If more energy is flowing to unconscious processes what do you get? You get an unconscious context. Isn’t that what trance is all about? Trance is just, shall we say, the lowering of the dominance of the conscious mind, the critical factor things that interfere, a lifting of the dominance of the unconscious and then talking directly to that saying hey, do these things, change this little bit and then just return it back to the normal balance so they can get on with their day. Therefore, if you place attention on unconscious activity, if where attention goes energy flows is correct, then you surely would be elevating their unconscious activity, hence getting a kind of trance response. Do you see how that works? Don’t take my word for it. See the hypnotic experiences you’ve had so far and the ones we’re going to be having today will prove this. I’d like to talk to you about a couple of methods for doing this. You’re already familiar [at easel] with this right? That’s what we were doing last night, the implication of meaning. You’re already familiar with this that’s what we spent most of yesterday morning doing, a revivification. Can everyone see this? Maybe I should stand on this side. So you’re familiar with the implication and you’re familiar with revivification. These are maneuvers for getting the attention shifted to something which will allow you to create the context, which will get you the result that you want. Do you see how these things build up on top of each other? They’re not the only things you can do. Everyone, just become aware of your feet for a moment if you would, think about a pleasant experience as you feel a sensation in your feet. Now, you can hear my voice of course, as you feel that sensation in that foot and are thinking some pleasant thought.
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I’d like you to sense the other people in the room. What have I done with your awareness? Do you notice how I’m actually just– it’s like a little search light like a torch– saying have a look at this, have a look at that; right? It’s not rocket science, how am I doing it? Anyone? Student:
Awareness.
Igor:
Thank you. These are called presuppositions of awareness. You can call it attentional language if you want. [at easel] So what are the kind of words we’re talking about? See, hear, notice, think about, feel, sense, perceive, imagine – what was that?
Student:
Listen.
Igor:
Listen. Are there anymore? I’m sorry, what was that over here?
Student:
Remember.
Igor:
Remember, beautiful. We’ve got imagine here, what else? What was that?
Student:
Become aware.
Igor:
What was that one? Taste Now, this didn’t take you very long to create a pretty long list and of course there are other words like that. The key thing is you get that there is a connection between those words, there’s a similarity and that similarity is that it allows you to direct attention.
Student:
They’re more tactile.
Igor:
More tactile, it doesn’t matter if they’re tactile, some of these are and some are not. Some of these are totally sensory unspecific, so it’s not about whether you can feel something or not that’s just one slice of that pie. The pie is anything that you are capable of perceiving. That means your five senses and it also means that in this internal sense, which could be made up of these five senses, but it could be made up of something else instead. The key point is you now have language that allows you to point someone’s attention to where you want it to go. You have tools that allow you to make something of that and now you have the control you
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need in order to give someone a particular experience without having to have a formal structure around it. Does that make sense? It will make of course a lot more sense when we do an exercise. “Exercise: Unconscious Attention” Here’s what we’re going to do. Sure, why not. Find a partner. We’re only going to spend about five minutes apiece, so ten minutes in total. You’re going to start with H-Plus. Do you need any of this? You don’t need any of this, do you? It’s kind of simple, so we’ll just put the steps down so it’s easier to do. [at easel] 1. You start with H-Plus. Why do we start with H-Plus? You always start with H-Plus, exactly because without that nothing else works. 2. Number two ask the person about an experience that they’re having right now. I’m not talking about a memory necessarily I’m saying what are you experiencing right now. Scan your body and notice what you notice. They might tell you they’ve got a gurgling in their stomach, got a thought here, got a pain there, I feel good here – it really doesn’t matter what it is. As long as it’s an experience, whatever their mind happens to be on when you ask them that’s the experience. This not difficult so far, right then, this is where the ju-ju begins. You’re going to use your presuppositional language, your attentional language, let’s call it the ALs; you’re going to use the attentional language to move it to everything or anything that this isn’t. It doesn’t matter where, as long as it’s not where they were. that make sense?
Does
This is (X) this’ll be not (X). Then you do it again. This now, not (X) – let’s call that (Y), now you use your language to move them to not (Y). Do you see how you’re doing this? So wherever their attention is at, you’re now going to move it to where it wasn’t. Student:
Then are we getting their feedback of what their new point of attention is?
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Igor:
It’s only a game; when you get here sure but you don’t need that much feedback, because you’ll be showing them where to go.
Student:
What I’m not understanding is the first thing we’ve said is ask them to tell us where their attention is, then we’re going to move it –
Igor:
What are you sensing right now?
Student:
I am sensing the pen in my hand.
Igor:
The pen in your hand right. What’s happening to your foot?
Student:
It’s still resting on the floor.
Igor:
The foot is resting on the floor isn’t it? Have you really paid attention to your breathing?
Student:
Not until you bring it to my attention.
Igor: Student:
That’s right, but that breathing is continuing, isn’t it? Yes.
Igor:
What about your blinking? That’s right. Very good. By the way, notice the cataleptic hand and you thought catalepsy was hard, right?
Students:
[Laughter]
Igor:
Do you see how quickly this works? In any other context, you might say oh this guy is messing with me a little bit, but no one really realizes that something hypnotic is actually happening. This isn’t profound hypnosis. This isn’t like hallucinating dragons hypnosis, but it’s getting inside someone’s mind and it’s beginning to do it. This is not induction yet this is just an exercise to get you used to controlling attention. Does that answer your question?
Student:
Yes.
Igor:
Okay folks, any questions or are we just ready to dive in head first? Find a partner, five minutes apiece, just shift attention and see what happens. How do you use this? Did everyone enjoy this?
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Students:
Yes.
Igor:
It’s kind of interesting right? Notice how you don’t have to be drooling like an idiot to be in trance. It’s kind of fun, yes? This is just an exercise. This is not really an induction. This is not really a hypnotic process per se. What do you do with this? How do you use this?
Student:
For a party game.
Igor:
For a party game. Sure, why not. It’s fun and it makes the brain think. I like that. We’ll have to have a new seminar on party games. This is an example of a lot of different maneuvers you can do. Did you notice yourself accidentally switching sensory modalities? You see something then they feel something and how you have to take a real mental leap to be able to switch that way and it had an effect on you.
Students: Igor:
Did anyone try going from external to internal? Yes. Did anyone play with this, this is quite a fun one which not a lot of people think about; foreground and background. Right now you’re all looking at me, but what about the wall behind me? Without even shifting your attention, you can actually shift your attention without shifting your focus. You can see the flip charts, now you see me. Now you see the flip charts, now you see me. Flip charts, me. Flip charts, me. Isn’t that weird how that happens? I don’t even have to say it and it’s still happening. You have lots of tools in your toolbox for shifting attention, but you’ve got to have some kind of reason for using them. You have to have a roadmap inside your mind that says even though there’s not a formal structure I’m trying to achieve a certain thing with this. Would you like to know what that is or see what that is?
“Demo: Non-Awareness Set (NAS)” Can I have a volunteer please? Come on up. Give him a nice round of applause. Students:
[Applause]
Igor:
Sit in the magic chair, Brian. How’re you doing?
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Brian:
Fine, thank you.
Igor:
So how are you feeling right now?
Brian:
I’m relaxed and energized.
Igor:
You’re relaxed and energized.
Students:
[Laughter]
Igor:
That’s interesting. Relaxed and energized. Did you know you were going to be relaxed and energized when you sat up here?
Brian: Igor:
I had a feeling. You had a feeling. You didn’t know, but you had a feeling.
Brian:
Right.
Igor:
I’m curious, what’s happening over there?
Brian:
You?
Igor:
That’s right, did you notice that?
Brian:
No.
Igor:
That’s right, you didn’t did you; you really didn’t notice what was happening there and now that you’re looking, you’re just waiting to find out what was that that I missed?
Brian:
Yes.
Igor:
That’s right. What was that that you missed? They saw it. Did you guys see it?
Students:
Yes.
Igor:
That’s right they saw it. You’re looking and you’re really wondering, what happened over there? All the time you knew that you were going to feel relaxed and energized, but you didn’t know about that did you?
Brian:
No I didn’t.
Igor:
That’s right, there you go. You didn’t expect that did you? How do you feel about that happening? That’s right.
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Brian:
It feels nice, but unexpected.
Igor:
It does feel nice. It feels nice and unexpected. You’re looking over there and that finger is doing its thing. It feels nice and it is unexpected, isn’t it? You don’t even know when to expect the next one, do you? That’s right, there you go. What an unruly hand.
Students:
[Laughter]
Igor:
Surprising you with good feelings. I wonder what it’ll do next? I don’t know that’s right and you really don’t know do you?
Brian:
No.
Igor:
But you know it’ll feel good, don’t you? That’s it, there you go. That’s it. What’s happening now? I wonder what that means. Do you always have your finger pointing like that?
Brian:
No, not really.
Igor:
Not really, yet pointing it is. You’re feeling good right now?
Brian:
Yes, I’m feeling excellent.
Igor:
You’re feeling excellent. better you feel?
Brian:
Yes that’s kind of right.
Igor:
Kind of right. I’m surprised that hand hasn’t done a more dramatic motion yet. That would really be something wouldn’t it? There you go.
Students:
[Laughter]
Igor:
What was that? Did you expect that to happen?
Brian:
No, I didn’t.
Igor:
It looks like the rest of your body wants in on the action too. How are you doing?
Brian:
I’m doing fine.
So you mean the more that hand does the
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Igor:
You are doing fine, aren’t you? And that hand? There you go that’s it. That’s it, all the way. That’s it, all the way. There you go. That hand can continue to teach you about feeling good in surprising ways. You’ve been surprised by many things in life, have you not?
Brian:
Yes, I have.
Igor:
Isn’t it good to know that surprises can feel good? You never know when a surprise is coming your way, do you? You didn’t know when that hand is going to keep doing what it’s doing and teach you something even more. That’s right, important about surprises, the surprise of feeling good. There you go, even more fully. That’s it, there you go. What an uplifting experience. You really didn’t know that was going to happen, but you suspected. That’s right, you did, didn’t you? You didn’t know, but you suspected and you feel good and feeling better all the time as that hand teaches you in a surprising way. You’ve got to hand it to your unconscious, it really knows. Wonder what that means about your life. How many times can you look forward to a surprise that you don’t know is coming, but you suspect maybe waiting just around the corner? You really don’t know when the surprise is coming, because it wouldn’t be a surprise if you did. I wonder when your eyes will close. That’s right. There you go. That can make those good feelings even more so. That hand has obviously got something important to teach you about feeling good in surprising ways. Let’s face it you won’t touch that message fully until it’s completed its journey. There are so many surprising ways in which you can learn. Perhaps you’ll have a dream, perhaps you’ll just feel it intensely and perhaps something will happen that you really did not expect, but feels terrific. That’s it. You’re just going to have to wait, because that hand is going to take its own sweet time. With each passing moment, every ticking second that hand is making its journey and inside you’re making a journey too. That’s it, there you go. That hand is making its journey and you’re making a journey too. That’s it. There you go. There you go. Really learn that’s it. Really memorize this, because it’s for you and only for you, only for you.
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There you go. So close. That’s it. That’s it. That’s it. That’s it, the anticipation. That’s right, all the way now. All the way, there you go that’s it. It’s so good to relax, isn’t it? You understand what that was about, do you not? That’s right. Take the time to appreciate what your unconscious mind does and can do in surprising ways and then when you’re ready just bring yourself back in the natural way, which means your breathing shifts, you eyes open and you feel refreshed, relaxed and alert; simply terrific. Good job. Give him a nice round of applause. Students:
[Applause]
Igor:
Can we have a microphone or are you okay with listening this way? Can you hear me okay this way? Shall we get a microphone for him? How are you doing?
Brian:
Fine, thank you.
Igor:
Back with us?
Brian:
Yes.
Igor:
Okay, any questions?
Student:
To what extent did you choose the hand or did the hand choose you?
Igor:
I chose nothing. Seriously, I chose nothing. In terms of what I was doing, just in case you all are wondering this is called a non-awareness set. With a non-awareness set basically the only thing I went in with is I start with an experience, much like you did then I’m looking for anything that’s even vaguely hypnotic and putting attention on that. Initially, I was just putting attention on what he wasn’t paying attention to until something happens. That finger thing was just a gift, it was a real gift especially since he wasn’t aware of it I just told him this is a complete winner. Does that answer your question? Do you want to say anything about what your experience with that was?
Brian:
I was so surprised, because I didn’t see or feel anything then I was just curious to see what it was and it just started happening again; it was weird.
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Igor: Student:
I did promise didn’t I? Were you aware of your hand moving? sensation of that?
Brian:
I don’t know.
Student:
Did you feel you were contributing to it at all?
Brian:
At some level, but it just happened. level, but I didn’t do it.
Igor:
Incidentally, did you notice the nature of the motion? It was kind of slow at first and kind of jerky, almost like clockwork, kind of shaking and stopping in between?
I mean, what was your
I wanted it to happen at some
Those are characteristic motions for unconscious movements. You can get smooth unconscious movements, but you have to suggest that. When you get a reaction like that, you either have someone who’s trained and faking it or you have a genuine response. It’s very unlikely in therapeutic practice that someone will fake it just for the hell of it, it just doesn’t happen. It could happen, but it’s very rare. I’ve never seen it. Who else has one? Student:
Was that the emotional release when he did the big inhale and exhale what was that?
Igor:
We may as well ask him. Do you remember that big inhale you took? It’s okay if you don’t, by the way.
Brian:
I can’t really remember, but I just felt that I was thinking about what it was supposed to mean or if there was a meaning. It was clear when it came to me.
Igor:
The thing I didn’t do yet, I didn’t actually use any parameters. There was no purpose for him being here other than for a demonstration, so his unconscious ended up selecting a nice message for him, I presume when your hand touched your face, right?
Brian:
It was kind of lurking on the way up.
Igor:
Kind of growing as the hand comes up, like I’m getting closer, it’s almost there, it’s on the tip of my tongue, for Christ’s sake just do it! [Laughter]
Students:
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Igor:
Who else?
Student:
This is towards the process; when you said what’s happening there did you notice a movement in his hand first?
Igor:
I was basically seeing this. He was talking about his feelings, how he feels good and I was playing with that a little bit and his hand which was on his lap was doing this.
Student:
From here I couldn’t see it that’s why I was asking.
Igor:
You guys in the front row you saw the hand doing the finger tap. That basically told me that there was something going on and I checked if he was aware of it. He wasn’t, so I thought okay, I want a winner here. I have unconscious motion that he doesn’t even know about, so by putting attention on that, something pretty juicy is going to happen. It’s got to happen it can’t, not.
Student:
If he was conscious of the finger tapping, would you have capitalized on that or would that have been as powerful?
Igor:
Sure if he was conscious. One thing is a form of conscious/unconscious association. If he was conscious about the finger tapping, I’d ask him, are you doing it on purpose? If he said no, it’s just happening, I’d say oh you knew it was happening, but it wasn’t you? Then I’d capitalize on it that way. If he was doing it on purpose, yes I want to lift it and put it down again then I’d probably move on to something else. It’s rare. You saw the nature of it if you saw it; it was a nervous characteristic, probably because you guys were all looking at him. It’s not something people choose to do consciously as a rule.
Student:
(Inaudible)
Igor:
I actually started the same way you guys did. Did you see a little bit of H-Plus? Did you see me asking for his present experience, how are you doing right now? I’ll teach you a couple of questions you can ask for that in a moment, but really I’m looking for where his attention is right now. What is his experience right now, because that tells me where I can go, which is basically not there.
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Student:
I notice as he’s sitting there, he’s just holding the microphone and the arm isn’t moving at all, could this be considered an example of catalepsy?
Igor:
Yes, it could.
Student:
So we do this all the time in ordinary life.
Igor:
We do it all the time.
Student:
I’ve had some people say that they didn’t get it during the hypnosis, but there it is.
Igor:
To go one step further, you may have noticed that when you were asking him questions about his experience he’s actually trancing out all over again. It’s natural, it just happens. This is the beauty of doing conversational hypnosis versus more formal types of hypnosis. People don’t realize it’s happening, so there’s nothing to resist. It just happens they fall into it. You have to be sharp enough to watch, observe and know when something is happening, so you realize okay, I’m here now that’s what yesterday was all about. So you can talk with someone, interact with them and notice when something is actually happening. Does that make sense?
Student:
If you found yourself in a situation where nothing was happening in the arm, but you asked him to actually look at it long enough, would something occur?
Igor:
Absolutely. Now you’re taking the path or more of a suggestion, you can actually do that, but the point of the non-awareness set is you capitalize on what’s actually there rather than trying to make something happen. You can make something happen with no problem at all, but what we’re doing here is basically using like whatever resistance you might use as a form of induction. If he says basically I can’t be hypnotized, I’d say that’s right, you don’t think you can be hypnotized, but what are you experiencing right now? He says well, I feel a little tense here. Did you choose to feel tense there? Of course, not.
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So you mean something is happening, some feeling is making you be tense there and it’s not you I wonder what that means therefore, nothing, can not happen. Anyone else? Okay, is there anything you want to say before we release you into the crowd? Brian:
No.
Igor:
There you go, give him a round of applause.
Students:
[Applause]
Igor:
Thank you very much. So do you all want to do that?
Students:
Yes.
“Exercise: NAS Warm Up” [At easel] Here are the steps. That’s making sense now, right? This is the non-awareness set or you can call it non-attention if you want, I just call it non-awareness and it’s my set, so I get to name it what I want. The first thing you do is you ask an orienting question. It just tells you this is the platform from which we need to leave. This is the platform where the train is right now and the train is about to leave the platform forever. We’ll have a look at some of those orienting questions a little later on. You can make up your own for now, just play with it. The next thing you do and you probably heard me do this as well, is you’re going to use your echo effect. This is something you should be well practiced in by now. echo effect. You all heard or saw me use that, right?
Use the
You know what this is what we’ll do now. For now, once you’ve done the echo effect, go back to the shifting attention. When you get to the echo effect, write down whatever this is. I’ll explain why later. Ask an orienting question, you’re going to echo it back, you’ll write it down.
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Then you’re going to shift their attention. From here you just cycle right back to there. You’ll write down whatever they say, echo it back, write it down, shift their attention, echo it back, write it down, shift their attention and do that loop maybe four or five times. Does that make sense? Student:
No.
Igor:
What are you experiencing it right now?
Student:
Confusion.
Igor:
You are confused, aren’t you?
Student:
I am. Is this the same thing you’re actually doing?
Igor:
How are you feeling inside, other than confused? Beyond confusion, what else are you?
Student:
I’m getting a crick in my neck.
Igor:
You’re getting a crick in your neck. So you’re confused and you have a crick in your neck. What’s happening there? A little lower.
Student:
My arm is on my stomach.
Igor:
Your arm is on your stomach. Does that answer your question?
Student:
Ah…
Igor:
What’s happening there? Arm on stomach, okay now we move onto this…
Student:
It’s not a loop, it’s a cascade down and down, correct?
Igor:
Yes, you’re just basically repeating this. repeating these steps that’s all.
Student:
I see.
Igor:
We’re talking about going back to a step rather than looping a step.
It’s not a loop you’re just
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Student:
I understand thank you.
Igor:
I’m sorry, my visual information was lacking. exercise?
So do you all get the
I want you to write down all the different kinds of things that people tell you. It will be things they see, hear, feel, sense, think about, notice and don’t notice. Does that make sense to you guys? I just want you to write a list, maybe four or five items and I’ll show you how to use that in a moment’s time. Does that cool to you? You just need five minutes for this. Just take five minutes with a partner, go both ways, I won’t switch you around or anything like that just go both ways, get a nice list. Importantly, before you start– settle down – we have one question and one more bit of instruction. The important bit is, when you have four or five items on the list for both of you, come back on your own and sit down so we can actually continue, because this is just a half step into something more important. Is that okay with you? This is not a time for a chit chat thing. Rashid:
I know that last step, the AL stand is just shifting attention, but I’ve been asked and I’ve been asking a couple people, what does AL actually stand for?
Igor:
I’m sorry AL just stands for attention shifting language. It’s basically any of this; a revivification, unawareness thing, changing a sentence, as you’re feeling the arm what else are you seeing?
Rashid:
Thank you.
Igor:
Any of these maneuvers is fine. Off you go.
Student:
When you’re having the person notice other parts, other things and other feelings, they don’t need to be related?
Igor:
No, not at all.
Student:
It can be the most ridiculous thing?
Igor:
Absolutely. What we’re looking for now is taking a journey through people’s non-conscious experience.
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Student:
Basically it’s the exercise yesterday doing extraneous…
Igor:
Kind of, but it’s still within their range of experience. We’re not talking about oh notice how there’s a satellite flying in space, because that’s outside their range of experience. It would be in their physical experience, something they can actually hear but they weren’t paying attention to, something they can actually feel but weren’t paying attention to or something they could actually be thinking about. It’s got to be something that is within their range of experience rather than something that exists in the universe.
Student:
Right, but each experience is totally separate from the last one.
Igor:
Absolutely.
Student:
I don’t know if it was common to anyone else, but I noticed when I was writing the responses down it kind of took me out of state.
Igor:
Sure, it does and that’s totally normal. I don’t normally recommend that people take notes whilst their doing a therapy session, because it puts you in a very different mental space. What you’ve done right now is just a set up so I can show you how to actually use this to do the non-awareness set. You haven’t done a non-awareness set yet this is just a set up exercise. We’re like halfway into beginning it. You’re about to see where we’re going with this, this is going to be a lot of fun.
Student:
I feel like perhaps I’m cheating a little bit on these exercises, but as my partner is asking questions I find that that is the easiest way for me to turn the table and get into his unconscious process.
Igor:
That can actually happen, yes. This is why conversational hypnosis works so well. Whenever someone talks to you they’re really telling you about themselves, but that’s not part of what we’re doing today. One last question, then we’ll actually start using this stuff.
Student:
One thing I noticed is that yes/no questions seemed to be kind of a dead end. I had better experience if I asked open-ended questions, like what are you feeling?
Igor:
Exactly. This is a very important point.
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You all have a list of like three to five answers you got when you shifted attention. How do you use this to induce a trance? Remember, we’re looking to use implication, revivification, shifting of awareness, maybe senses any of these things, all with the H-Plus frame. What do we do to actually get a trance? What is the maneuver we’re trying to do? Any ideas? So you ask someone a question, hey how are you feeling right now? They say this. How do you use that as a trance induction?
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Lesson Week #13 “A Birthday Treat” Igor:
Welcome to day three of the Conversational Hypnosis Professional Hypnotherapy Certification.
Students:
Program.
Igor:
Ah, one person’s passed.
Students:
[Laughter]
Igor:
Today you guys are so screwed.
Students:
[Laughter]
Igor:
You thought last night ended in a whiz and a bang, today you guys are so screwed. I’m laughing because I know what’s coming. You’re having a great time, but I’m just going to remind you of the warnings I’ve been giving you clearly throughout the week. By the end of today those conscious minds will have fallen off that thread. It will have snapped and you’ll be looking way up there through a long-long tunnel to the life you used to have. As long as you’re okay with a significant amount of confusion and an even greater amount of skill then you’re going to have a great time today. I’m going to encourage you all to just go with the flow, do what we ask our clients to do, which is trust your unconscious and remember; all you need to be able to do is the next exercise. If you can do the next exercise you’re in great shape. If for any reason you’re not clear about what you’re doing in the next exercise or there’s something not quite there then just ask a question and we’ll clear that up. Does that sound like a fair trade? Let’s have some quick announcements before we begin today. First of all, those of you with name badges or who have forgotten name badges could you just put them on? It’ll help everyone, especially if you have trouble remembering your own name it might be helpful if someone reminds you.
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- Microphones– There’s a large group here and just to help the athletic ability of the assistants running around. The easiest way of getting a microphone, which means you get to actually speak and ask questions when the time comes, is if you’re going to ask a question put your hand right up, don’t put it clear up here, because they might think you’re scratching your nose or your face and you’re not quite sure about things. Just put your hand right up there. The longer its up, the more likely it is you’ll actually get one. It’s up to you, your personal responsibility. If you want a microphone, you have to fight for it. - The next thing is just a reminder. Those of you who are thinking of doing certification, Cliff’s over there with a list waiting for you guys, so bring a shiny dollar. I know it’s expensive, but check your names out over there. If you don’t want certification go and have a look at how your name is spelled on the list because you’ll be getting an attendance certificate, assuming you make it through the week. If people find you like wandering the highway tomorrow like this – what’s your name? I don’t know I see a butterfly. Students:
[Laughter]
Igor:
Then it’ll be useful for us to have your name there so we can tell police who you are. In terms of other announcements, you’ll notice of course that we have this fine camera in the background. Can we just ask you to keep the area around the desk and that sort of area kind of free, because if people start congregating around there it does one of two things. One, it makes Mark very nervous, because the equipment may start falling all over the place and more importantly it also cuts off the view that you’ll be getting when you buy the DVD set. It’s all about being selfish. A couple of you have had issues in terms of finding restaurants in time to rush back here with indigestion because you’ve had to inhale your food, so we’ve decided we’re going to add another quarter hour to lunch. Hopefully that will give you a bit more relaxed time so you can
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travel there order a bit more leisurely and eat it without staking your stomach with food and come back. Thank you. You’ve read my mind. The final announcement I have is – where’s Diane? believe it’s your birthday today, is it not?
Hello Diane, I
Students:
[Applause]
Igor:
We have a very special birthday treat for you if you’d like to play. Do you want to come up to the birthday chair?
Students:
[Laughter]
Igor:
Give her a nice round of applause.
Students:
[Applause]
Igor:
Have a seat up here. How’re you doing? Nice and steady. Is that okay? We’ll do like the waiters do in the restaurants. Can I have everyone else come up as well please?
Students:
Really?
Igor:
Seriously, everyone come up. Just crowd around, get nice and close. You’re going to love this. By the end of this you’re going to be buzzing. Get nice and close. Get up on the stage, it’s all right it’s not just my space. Diane, the way to escape is just to close your eyes and escape all the way into trance. There you go, because it is your birthday and you’re surrounded by almost 100 hypnotists eager – that’s it – eager to give you a birthday present. In a moments time you’re going to begin to hear wonderful birthday messages. A little bit like when Cinderella had her birthday and all those fairies came and the fairy godmother gave her a special gift. Your unconscious gets to select the best of all the suggestions you’re about to hear. Just go ahead and continue enjoying that journey on your special day and just listen now to the voices and the things they have to say for you.
Student:
You’re wonderful, absolutely fantastic.
Student:
You’re going to have the best birthday ever.
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Student:
You’re amazing.
Student:
You’re great and having your family with is great.
Students:
[Voicing affirmations]
Igor:
Keep going.
Student:
You’ll find all the answers and know exactly what to do.
Student:
Your smile is a gift to everyone.
Student:
Remember everything you’ve learned here. peace of mind.
Student:
Experience joy and happiness always.
Student:
You’re getting better and better as a hypnotist.
Students:
[Voicing affirmations]
Student:
Your abilities shine throughout your body and life.
Student:
You’re beautiful.
Student:
You deserve infinite love.
Student:
You’re a gift to the people who know you.
Student:
You’re a beautiful gift to life.
Student:
You’re lovelier and more joyful every day.
Student:
You’re beautiful Diana.
Student:
Every cell is healthy.
Student:
There’s no gift like the present.
Student:
You’re a kind and wonderful being.
Student:
Be the best you can, happy birthday.
Student:
You’ll always have the world of affirmations at your command.
Student:
You’re the best woman in the world and I love you.
Have great health and
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Student:
You’re completely empowered, knowing this is a whole new beginning and there is no end.
Igor:
Happy birthday Diana. You have all those messages inside and the interesting thing is that your unconscious mind has heard more than one message within each one of those. Just as you discovered yesterday, how a simple symbol can mean so many different things. Each and every one of those suggestions can mean so many different things to you. You understand what I mean by that, don’t you? That’s right. Go ahead and enjoy that as long as you need to and you’ll know you’re ready to come back feeling refreshed, relaxed, alert and simply fantastic when your breathing comes back, your eyes open up and you just smile at all these people.
Diana:
Thank you.
Igor:
Good job. Thank you very much. I thought that was more fun than doing a traditional happy birthday song.
“How to Control Attention” Don’t think I’m letting you guys off the hook, because today we do special work with language. Let me ask you this; did you enjoy yesterday particularly what we built up towards, which was last night the dynamic mental imagery induction? Do you know why it’s called the dynamic mental imagery induction any ideas? Student:
Because you’re not just imagining something you’re imagining a process happening.
Igor:
Close. It’s called mental imagery because you’re using mental imagery whether or not you can see the pictures, it’s still there. It’s dynamic because you’re actually doing something with it you’re interacting. You’re not just throwing something at someone, you’re interacting with them and you’re actually inside their mind helping them do something it evolves dynamically. It’s not something you can plan, just like a conversation it’s not something you can plan.
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What you’ve done is you’ve learned the essence of conversational hypnosis. Think about it; all conversations have an element of interaction and all you have to do is discover at what point do you place attention and at what point do you shift attention. It’s a very simple principle to think about where attention goes, energy flows. You’ve also seen that it can be very sophisticated in the way that you apply it and have pretty dramatic results. Would that be a fair summary of your experiences? Would you be interested in finding a way of doing that without the vehicle? Yesterday we just gave you the dynamic induction. It’s just a process, a step-by-step vehicle that allows you to do something else, but you don’t actually need the vehicle it’s just an easy way to grasp the concept which is kind of shapeless and amorphous. Would you be interested in learning how to do that just with your language, with no structure in particular? Students:
Yes.
Igor:
Something you could do totally conversationally and something that pretty much everyone that you meet will end up thinking they’ve just been dragged down the rabbit hole by Alice’s white rabbit, even if there’s any kind of resistance. They decide to go into trance, but I don’t know if I should do it – what if you could use that very act of resistance as the process that gets them into trance? Wouldn’t that be something interesting to learn?
Student:
Now, believe it or not, you already have the primary tools that you need. Does anyone care to guess what the tools are that you will need to make that happen? H-Plus.
Igor:
Very good. [at easel] This has always got to be your status starting point. What else do you need? Who said that? Intention or attention?
Student:
(Inaudible)
Igor:
These two things together will create an almost infinite variety of hypnotic processes, both formal ones and more importantly more covert, informal, conversational whatever your word wants to be. We’re going to find out how to use this in an informal setting, in a covert setting, to get the result you want.
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Now, what are we putting our attention on? Where attention goes, energy flows. So we want the energy to go somewhere, what do we want the attention to go on? Students:
(Inaudible)
Igor:
Exactly. You want the attention on the unconscious. If more energy is flowing to unconscious processes what do you get? You get an unconscious context. Isn’t that what trance is all about? Trance is just, shall we say, the lowering of the dominance of the conscious mind, the critical factor things that interfere, a lifting of the dominance of the unconscious and then talking directly to that saying hey, do these things, change this little bit and then just return it back to the normal balance so they can get on with their day. Therefore, if you place attention on unconscious activity, if where attention goes energy flows is correct, then you surely would be elevating their unconscious activity, hence getting a kind of trance response. Do you see how that works? Don’t take my word for it. See the hypnotic experiences you’ve had so far and the ones we’re going to be having today will prove this. I’d like to talk to you about a couple of methods for doing this. You’re already familiar [at easel] with this right? That’s what we were doing last night, the implication of meaning. You’re already familiar with this that’s what we spent most of yesterday morning doing, a revivification. Can everyone see this? Maybe I should stand on this side. So you’re familiar with the implication and you’re familiar with revivification. These are maneuvers for getting the attention shifted to something which will allow you to create the context, which will get you the result that you want. Do you see how these things build up on top of each other? They’re not the only things you can do. Everyone, just become aware of your feet for a moment if you would, think about a pleasant experience as you feel a sensation in your feet. Now, you can hear my voice of course, as you feel that sensation in that foot and are thinking some pleasant thought.
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I’d like you to sense the other people in the room. What have I done with your awareness? Do you notice how I’m actually just– it’s like a little search light like a torch– saying have a look at this, have a look at that; right? It’s not rocket science, how am I doing it? Anyone? Student:
Awareness.
Igor:
Thank you. These are called presuppositions of awareness. You can call it attentional language if you want. [at easel] So what are the kind of words we’re talking about? See, hear, notice, think about, feel, sense, perceive, imagine – what was that?
Student:
Listen.
Igor:
Listen. Are there anymore? I’m sorry, what was that over here?
Student:
Remember.
Igor:
Remember, beautiful. We’ve got imagine here, what else? What was that?
Student:
Become aware.
Igor:
What was that one? Taste Now, this didn’t take you very long to create a pretty long list and of course there are other words like that. The key thing is you get that there is a connection between those words, there’s a similarity and that similarity is that it allows you to direct attention.
Student:
They’re more tactile.
Igor:
More tactile, it doesn’t matter if they’re tactile, some of these are and some are not. Some of these are totally sensory unspecific, so it’s not about whether you can feel something or not that’s just one slice of that pie. The pie is anything that you are capable of perceiving. That means your five senses and it also means that in this internal sense, which could be made up of these five senses, but it could be made up of something else instead. The key point is you now have language that allows you to point someone’s attention to where you want it to go. You have tools that allow you to make something of that and now you have the control you
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need in order to give someone a particular experience without having to have a formal structure around it. Does that make sense? It will make of course a lot more sense when we do an exercise. “Exercise: Unconscious Attention” Here’s what we’re going to do. Sure, why not. Find a partner. We’re only going to spend about five minutes apiece, so ten minutes in total. You’re going to start with H-Plus. Do you need any of this? You don’t need any of this, do you? It’s kind of simple, so we’ll just put the steps down so it’s easier to do. [at easel] 1. You start with H-Plus. Why do we start with H-Plus? You always start with H-Plus, exactly because without that nothing else works. 2. Number two ask the person about an experience that they’re having right now. I’m not talking about a memory necessarily I’m saying what are you experiencing right now. Scan your body and notice what you notice. They might tell you they’ve got a gurgling in their stomach, got a thought here, got a pain there, I feel good here – it really doesn’t matter what it is. As long as it’s an experience, whatever their mind happens to be on when you ask them that’s the experience. This not difficult so far, right then, this is where the ju-ju begins. You’re going to use your presuppositional language, your attentional language, let’s call it the ALs; you’re going to use the attentional language to move it to everything or anything that this isn’t. It doesn’t matter where, as long as it’s not where they were. that make sense?
Does
This is (X) this’ll be not (X). Then you do it again. This now, not (X) – let’s call that (Y), now you use your language to move them to not (Y). Do you see how you’re doing this? So wherever their attention is at, you’re now going to move it to where it wasn’t. Student:
Then are we getting their feedback of what their new point of attention is?
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Igor:
It’s only a game; when you get here sure but you don’t need that much feedback, because you’ll be showing them where to go.
Student:
What I’m not understanding is the first thing we’ve said is ask them to tell us where their attention is, then we’re going to move it –
Igor:
What are you sensing right now?
Student:
I am sensing the pen in my hand.
Igor:
The pen in your hand right. What’s happening to your foot?
Student:
It’s still resting on the floor.
Igor:
The foot is resting on the floor isn’t it? Have you really paid attention to your breathing?
Student:
Not until you bring it to my attention.
Igor: Student:
That’s right, but that breathing is continuing, isn’t it? Yes.
Igor:
What about your blinking? That’s right. Very good. By the way, notice the cataleptic hand and you thought catalepsy was hard, right?
Students:
[Laughter]
Igor:
Do you see how quickly this works? In any other context, you might say oh this guy is messing with me a little bit, but no one really realizes that something hypnotic is actually happening. This isn’t profound hypnosis. This isn’t like hallucinating dragons hypnosis, but it’s getting inside someone’s mind and it’s beginning to do it. This is not induction yet this is just an exercise to get you used to controlling attention. Does that answer your question?
Student:
Yes.
Igor:
Okay folks, any questions or are we just ready to dive in head first? Find a partner, five minutes apiece, just shift attention and see what happens. How do you use this? Did everyone enjoy this?
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Students:
Yes.
Igor:
It’s kind of interesting right? Notice how you don’t have to be drooling like an idiot to be in trance. It’s kind of fun, yes? This is just an exercise. This is not really an induction. This is not really a hypnotic process per se. What do you do with this? How do you use this?
Student:
For a party game.
Igor:
For a party game. Sure, why not. It’s fun and it makes the brain think. I like that. We’ll have to have a new seminar on party games. This is an example of a lot of different maneuvers you can do. Did you notice yourself accidentally switching sensory modalities? You see something then they feel something and how you have to take a real mental leap to be able to switch that way and it had an effect on you.
Students: Igor:
Did anyone try going from external to internal? Yes. Did anyone play with this, this is quite a fun one which not a lot of people think about; foreground and background. Right now you’re all looking at me, but what about the wall behind me? Without even shifting your attention, you can actually shift your attention without shifting your focus. You can see the flip charts, now you see me. Now you see the flip charts, now you see me. Flip charts, me. Flip charts, me. Isn’t that weird how that happens? I don’t even have to say it and it’s still happening. You have lots of tools in your toolbox for shifting attention, but you’ve got to have some kind of reason for using them. You have to have a roadmap inside your mind that says even though there’s not a formal structure I’m trying to achieve a certain thing with this. Would you like to know what that is or see what that is?
“Demo: Non-Awareness Set (NAS)” Can I have a volunteer please? Come on up. Give him a nice round of applause. Students:
[Applause]
Igor:
Sit in the magic chair, Brian. How’re you doing?
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Brian:
Fine, thank you.
Igor:
So how are you feeling right now?
Brian:
I’m relaxed and energized.
Igor:
You’re relaxed and energized.
Students:
[Laughter]
Igor:
That’s interesting. Relaxed and energized. Did you know you were going to be relaxed and energized when you sat up here?
Brian: Igor:
I had a feeling. You had a feeling. You didn’t know, but you had a feeling.
Brian:
Right.
Igor:
I’m curious, what’s happening over there?
Brian:
You?
Igor:
That’s right, did you notice that?
Brian:
No.
Igor:
That’s right, you didn’t did you; you really didn’t notice what was happening there and now that you’re looking, you’re just waiting to find out what was that that I missed?
Brian:
Yes.
Igor:
That’s right. What was that that you missed? They saw it. Did you guys see it?
Students:
Yes.
Igor:
That’s right they saw it. You’re looking and you’re really wondering, what happened over there? All the time you knew that you were going to feel relaxed and energized, but you didn’t know about that did you?
Brian:
No I didn’t.
Igor:
That’s right, there you go. You didn’t expect that did you? How do you feel about that happening? That’s right.
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Brian:
It feels nice, but unexpected.
Igor:
It does feel nice. It feels nice and unexpected. You’re looking over there and that finger is doing its thing. It feels nice and it is unexpected, isn’t it? You don’t even know when to expect the next one, do you? That’s right, there you go. What an unruly hand.
Students:
[Laughter]
Igor:
Surprising you with good feelings. I wonder what it’ll do next? I don’t know that’s right and you really don’t know do you?
Brian:
No.
Igor:
But you know it’ll feel good, don’t you? That’s it, there you go. That’s it. What’s happening now? I wonder what that means. Do you always have your finger pointing like that?
Brian:
No, not really.
Igor:
Not really, yet pointing it is. You’re feeling good right now?
Brian:
Yes, I’m feeling excellent.
Igor:
You’re feeling excellent. better you feel?
Brian:
Yes that’s kind of right.
Igor:
Kind of right. I’m surprised that hand hasn’t done a more dramatic motion yet. That would really be something wouldn’t it? There you go.
Students:
[Laughter]
Igor:
What was that? Did you expect that to happen?
Brian:
No, I didn’t.
Igor:
It looks like the rest of your body wants in on the action too. How are you doing?
Brian:
I’m doing fine.
So you mean the more that hand does the
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Igor:
You are doing fine, aren’t you? And that hand? There you go that’s it. That’s it, all the way. That’s it, all the way. There you go. That hand can continue to teach you about feeling good in surprising ways. You’ve been surprised by many things in life, have you not?
Brian:
Yes, I have.
Igor:
Isn’t it good to know that surprises can feel good? You never know when a surprise is coming your way, do you? You didn’t know when that hand is going to keep doing what it’s doing and teach you something even more. That’s right, important about surprises, the surprise of feeling good. There you go, even more fully. That’s it, there you go. What an uplifting experience. You really didn’t know that was going to happen, but you suspected. That’s right, you did, didn’t you? You didn’t know, but you suspected and you feel good and feeling better all the time as that hand teaches you in a surprising way. You’ve got to hand it to your unconscious, it really knows. Wonder what that means about your life. How many times can you look forward to a surprise that you don’t know is coming, but you suspect maybe waiting just around the corner? You really don’t know when the surprise is coming, because it wouldn’t be a surprise if you did. I wonder when your eyes will close. That’s right. There you go. That can make those good feelings even more so. That hand has obviously got something important to teach you about feeling good in surprising ways. Let’s face it you won’t touch that message fully until it’s completed its journey. There are so many surprising ways in which you can learn. Perhaps you’ll have a dream, perhaps you’ll just feel it intensely and perhaps something will happen that you really did not expect, but feels terrific. That’s it. You’re just going to have to wait, because that hand is going to take its own sweet time. With each passing moment, every ticking second that hand is making its journey and inside you’re making a journey too. That’s it, there you go. That hand is making its journey and you’re making a journey too. That’s it. There you go. There you go. Really learn that’s it. Really memorize this, because it’s for you and only for you, only for you.
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There you go. So close. That’s it. That’s it. That’s it. That’s it, the anticipation. That’s right, all the way now. All the way, there you go that’s it. It’s so good to relax, isn’t it? You understand what that was about, do you not? That’s right. Take the time to appreciate what your unconscious mind does and can do in surprising ways and then when you’re ready just bring yourself back in the natural way, which means your breathing shifts, you eyes open and you feel refreshed, relaxed and alert; simply terrific. Good job. Give him a nice round of applause. Students:
[Applause]
Igor:
Can we have a microphone or are you okay with listening this way? Can you hear me okay this way? Shall we get a microphone for him? How are you doing?
Brian:
Fine, thank you.
Igor:
Back with us?
Brian:
Yes.
Igor:
Okay, any questions?
Student:
To what extent did you choose the hand or did the hand choose you?
Igor:
I chose nothing. Seriously, I chose nothing. In terms of what I was doing, just in case you all are wondering this is called a non-awareness set. With a non-awareness set basically the only thing I went in with is I start with an experience, much like you did then I’m looking for anything that’s even vaguely hypnotic and putting attention on that. Initially, I was just putting attention on what he wasn’t paying attention to until something happens. That finger thing was just a gift, it was a real gift especially since he wasn’t aware of it I just told him this is a complete winner. Does that answer your question? Do you want to say anything about what your experience with that was?
Brian:
I was so surprised, because I didn’t see or feel anything then I was just curious to see what it was and it just started happening again; it was weird.
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Igor: Student:
I did promise didn’t I? Were you aware of your hand moving? sensation of that?
Brian:
I don’t know.
Student:
Did you feel you were contributing to it at all?
Brian:
At some level, but it just happened. level, but I didn’t do it.
Igor:
Incidentally, did you notice the nature of the motion? It was kind of slow at first and kind of jerky, almost like clockwork, kind of shaking and stopping in between?
I mean, what was your
I wanted it to happen at some
Those are characteristic motions for unconscious movements. You can get smooth unconscious movements, but you have to suggest that. When you get a reaction like that, you either have someone who’s trained and faking it or you have a genuine response. It’s very unlikely in therapeutic practice that someone will fake it just for the hell of it, it just doesn’t happen. It could happen, but it’s very rare. I’ve never seen it. Who else has one? Student:
Was that the emotional release when he did the big inhale and exhale what was that?
Igor:
We may as well ask him. Do you remember that big inhale you took? It’s okay if you don’t, by the way.
Brian:
I can’t really remember, but I just felt that I was thinking about what it was supposed to mean or if there was a meaning. It was clear when it came to me.
Igor:
The thing I didn’t do yet, I didn’t actually use any parameters. There was no purpose for him being here other than for a demonstration, so his unconscious ended up selecting a nice message for him, I presume when your hand touched your face, right?
Brian:
It was kind of lurking on the way up.
Igor:
Kind of growing as the hand comes up, like I’m getting closer, it’s almost there, it’s on the tip of my tongue, for Christ’s sake just do it! [Laughter]
Students:
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Igor:
Who else?
Student:
This is towards the process; when you said what’s happening there did you notice a movement in his hand first?
Igor:
I was basically seeing this. He was talking about his feelings, how he feels good and I was playing with that a little bit and his hand which was on his lap was doing this.
Student:
From here I couldn’t see it that’s why I was asking.
Igor:
You guys in the front row you saw the hand doing the finger tap. That basically told me that there was something going on and I checked if he was aware of it. He wasn’t, so I thought okay, I want a winner here. I have unconscious motion that he doesn’t even know about, so by putting attention on that, something pretty juicy is going to happen. It’s got to happen it can’t, not.
Student:
If he was conscious of the finger tapping, would you have capitalized on that or would that have been as powerful?
Igor:
Sure if he was conscious. One thing is a form of conscious/unconscious association. If he was conscious about the finger tapping, I’d ask him, are you doing it on purpose? If he said no, it’s just happening, I’d say oh you knew it was happening, but it wasn’t you? Then I’d capitalize on it that way. If he was doing it on purpose, yes I want to lift it and put it down again then I’d probably move on to something else. It’s rare. You saw the nature of it if you saw it; it was a nervous characteristic, probably because you guys were all looking at him. It’s not something people choose to do consciously as a rule.
Student:
(Inaudible)
Igor:
I actually started the same way you guys did. Did you see a little bit of H-Plus? Did you see me asking for his present experience, how are you doing right now? I’ll teach you a couple of questions you can ask for that in a moment, but really I’m looking for where his attention is right now. What is his experience right now, because that tells me where I can go, which is basically not there.
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Student:
I notice as he’s sitting there, he’s just holding the microphone and the arm isn’t moving at all, could this be considered an example of catalepsy?
Igor:
Yes, it could.
Student:
So we do this all the time in ordinary life.
Igor:
We do it all the time.
Student:
I’ve had some people say that they didn’t get it during the hypnosis, but there it is.
Igor:
To go one step further, you may have noticed that when you were asking him questions about his experience he’s actually trancing out all over again. It’s natural, it just happens. This is the beauty of doing conversational hypnosis versus more formal types of hypnosis. People don’t realize it’s happening, so there’s nothing to resist. It just happens they fall into it. You have to be sharp enough to watch, observe and know when something is happening, so you realize okay, I’m here now that’s what yesterday was all about. So you can talk with someone, interact with them and notice when something is actually happening. Does that make sense?
Student:
If you found yourself in a situation where nothing was happening in the arm, but you asked him to actually look at it long enough, would something occur?
Igor:
Absolutely. Now you’re taking the path or more of a suggestion, you can actually do that, but the point of the non-awareness set is you capitalize on what’s actually there rather than trying to make something happen. You can make something happen with no problem at all, but what we’re doing here is basically using like whatever resistance you might use as a form of induction. If he says basically I can’t be hypnotized, I’d say that’s right, you don’t think you can be hypnotized, but what are you experiencing right now? He says well, I feel a little tense here. Did you choose to feel tense there? Of course, not.
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So you mean something is happening, some feeling is making you be tense there and it’s not you I wonder what that means therefore, nothing, can not happen. Anyone else? Okay, is there anything you want to say before we release you into the crowd? Brian:
No.
Igor:
There you go, give him a round of applause.
Students:
[Applause]
Igor:
Thank you very much. So do you all want to do that?
Students:
Yes.
“Exercise: NAS Warm Up” [At easel] Here are the steps. That’s making sense now, right? This is the non-awareness set or you can call it non-attention if you want, I just call it non-awareness and it’s my set, so I get to name it what I want. The first thing you do is you ask an orienting question. It just tells you this is the platform from which we need to leave. This is the platform where the train is right now and the train is about to leave the platform forever. We’ll have a look at some of those orienting questions a little later on. You can make up your own for now, just play with it. The next thing you do and you probably heard me do this as well, is you’re going to use your echo effect. This is something you should be well practiced in by now. echo effect. You all heard or saw me use that, right?
Use the
You know what this is what we’ll do now. For now, once you’ve done the echo effect, go back to the shifting attention. When you get to the echo effect, write down whatever this is. I’ll explain why later. Ask an orienting question, you’re going to echo it back, you’ll write it down.
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Then you’re going to shift their attention. From here you just cycle right back to there. You’ll write down whatever they say, echo it back, write it down, shift their attention, echo it back, write it down, shift their attention and do that loop maybe four or five times. Does that make sense? Student:
No.
Igor:
What are you experiencing it right now?
Student:
Confusion.
Igor:
You are confused, aren’t you?
Student:
I am. Is this the same thing you’re actually doing?
Igor:
How are you feeling inside, other than confused? Beyond confusion, what else are you?
Student:
I’m getting a crick in my neck.
Igor:
You’re getting a crick in your neck. So you’re confused and you have a crick in your neck. What’s happening there? A little lower.
Student:
My arm is on my stomach.
Igor:
Your arm is on your stomach. Does that answer your question?
Student:
Ah…
Igor:
What’s happening there? Arm on stomach, okay now we move onto this…
Student:
It’s not a loop, it’s a cascade down and down, correct?
Igor:
Yes, you’re just basically repeating this. repeating these steps that’s all.
Student:
I see.
Igor:
We’re talking about going back to a step rather than looping a step.
It’s not a loop you’re just
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Student:
I understand thank you.
Igor:
I’m sorry, my visual information was lacking. exercise?
So do you all get the
I want you to write down all the different kinds of things that people tell you. It will be things they see, hear, feel, sense, think about, notice and don’t notice. Does that make sense to you guys? I just want you to write a list, maybe four or five items and I’ll show you how to use that in a moment’s time. Does that cool to you? You just need five minutes for this. Just take five minutes with a partner, go both ways, I won’t switch you around or anything like that just go both ways, get a nice list. Importantly, before you start– settle down – we have one question and one more bit of instruction. The important bit is, when you have four or five items on the list for both of you, come back on your own and sit down so we can actually continue, because this is just a half step into something more important. Is that okay with you? This is not a time for a chit chat thing. Rashid:
I know that last step, the AL stand is just shifting attention, but I’ve been asked and I’ve been asking a couple people, what does AL actually stand for?
Igor:
I’m sorry AL just stands for attention shifting language. It’s basically any of this; a revivification, unawareness thing, changing a sentence, as you’re feeling the arm what else are you seeing?
Rashid:
Thank you.
Igor:
Any of these maneuvers is fine. Off you go.
Student:
When you’re having the person notice other parts, other things and other feelings, they don’t need to be related?
Igor:
No, not at all.
Student:
It can be the most ridiculous thing?
Igor:
Absolutely. What we’re looking for now is taking a journey through people’s non-conscious experience.
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Student:
Basically it’s the exercise yesterday doing extraneous…
Igor:
Kind of, but it’s still within their range of experience. We’re not talking about oh notice how there’s a satellite flying in space, because that’s outside their range of experience. It would be in their physical experience, something they can actually hear but they weren’t paying attention to, something they can actually feel but weren’t paying attention to or something they could actually be thinking about. It’s got to be something that is within their range of experience rather than something that exists in the universe.
Student:
Right, but each experience is totally separate from the last one.
Igor:
Absolutely.
Student:
I don’t know if it was common to anyone else, but I noticed when I was writing the responses down it kind of took me out of state.
Igor:
Sure, it does and that’s totally normal. I don’t normally recommend that people take notes whilst their doing a therapy session, because it puts you in a very different mental space. What you’ve done right now is just a set up so I can show you how to actually use this to do the non-awareness set. You haven’t done a non-awareness set yet this is just a set up exercise. We’re like halfway into beginning it. You’re about to see where we’re going with this, this is going to be a lot of fun.
Student:
I feel like perhaps I’m cheating a little bit on these exercises, but as my partner is asking questions I find that that is the easiest way for me to turn the table and get into his unconscious process.
Igor:
That can actually happen, yes. This is why conversational hypnosis works so well. Whenever someone talks to you they’re really telling you about themselves, but that’s not part of what we’re doing today. One last question, then we’ll actually start using this stuff.
Student:
One thing I noticed is that yes/no questions seemed to be kind of a dead end. I had better experience if I asked open-ended questions, like what are you feeling?
Igor:
Exactly. This is a very important point.
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You all have a list of like three to five answers you got when you shifted attention. How do you use this to induce a trance? Remember, we’re looking to use implication, revivification, shifting of awareness, maybe senses any of these things, all with the H-Plus frame. What do we do to actually get a trance? What is the maneuver we’re trying to do? Any ideas? So you ask someone a question, hey how are you feeling right now? They say this. How do you use that as a trance induction?
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