NEHG Study Group Meeting

This week I went to my first meeting of the New England Hypnosis Group study group (their 2nd), which is another great initiative by Photojoseph to promote hypnosis in Boston (along with the HypnoMunch). The idea is that everyone reads a couple of sections from Mind Play by Wiseguy, and then we have a presentation and discussion focusing on specific topics.

There were 12 people in a private apartment, including a good mix of people who were primarily hypnotists and who were primarily hypnotees.

The topics we talked about were myths about hypnotism, abreactions (the rare negative emotional reactions people can have during hypnosis) and how to deal with them, the eye fixation induction using shiny objects, the floating-in-space deepener, and a little bit of short term amnesia (the pop quiz). So we covered a ton of ground - it went a little long, but I certainly got a lot of education value. Some of the interesting things that came up:

•  Good questions to have in any pre-chat are phobias, allergies (which are things that are fearful for very real reasons), and anything else that should be avoided to have the most pleasant and awesome trance experience.
• Probably a good idea to get those negative questions out of the way first and then discuss the positive things the hypnotee wants out of a trance, so the phobias etc are not the last things on the hypnotee's mind when they go under.
• In discussing how the subconscious mind does not process negatives very well, one attendee suggested a very poor suggestion would be, "You're in a room, and there's no snakes." (hilarious)
• One attendee had actually had an experience of having a bad reaction under hypnosis - underlining how rare it is, that she was the only one in the room with firsthand experience -  and described how well the hypnotist had calmed her down and led her out of it.
• One attendee suggested that we reread the section on dealing with abreactions every time we refer to the Wiseguy book, so as to always have the steps close to the front of our mind.
• The floating in space deepener posed obstacles for the minds of some of the people in the room: one was concerned about the lack of oxygen up there, while another was nervous about burning up on reentry. I reflected that while you can't control what your hypnotee's mind will bring into the mix, the more you learn about the idiosyncracies the better an experience you can create.

After the lecture/discussion, there was an opportunity to get some practice. I hypnotized Photojoseph, who was an unusual hypnotee in that he would make adjustments and occasionally speak as though not in a trance at all. But he assured me that he had gone some ways into trance - he just has so much experience that he has such a strong idea of what he wants to feel like at each point. He had a nice experience floating up into the sky, although I need to spend some quality time with Google Earth if I'm going to describe what you would see properly. He chuckled through trance at me mentioning Washington DC before we had covered New York City.

I also had the chance to test the reinduction trigger I had been working on with a partner. We were both a little disappointed that it no longer had any effect, despite it working very well in the initial session only 72 hours earlier. But I take it as valuable feedback, and I will be very curious whether certain things will make it more long-lasting, like simple repetition of the trigger-installation, the technique used for introducing the trigger, or the aptitudes of the partner - perhaps some are able to hold onto suggestions for longer than others.

I would recommend this series for anyone seriously trying to learn hypnosis, or to be a good hypnotee by learning about the hypnotist perspective. Unlike the munches, which are primarily about connecting people and giving basic information, the emphasis is on sharing our experiences on focused topics. Also unlike the munches, there's a chance to put these ideas into play in private. It is meant to be held on the 2nd monday of each month. The next event listing doesn't seem to be up yet, but you can check the listings on the fetlife New England Hypnosis Group page.