Interactive Hypnotherapy and Recording Your Dreams

In a previous blog, I outlined the three steps to incubating dreams and how they apply to therapeutic hypnosis.

Step 1: formulate a clear intention with feeling

Step 2: upon awaking notice what’s there without judging

Step 3: honor the dream by recording it

Honor the Dream

Saturating the conscious mind with an intention energized with emotion is an application of auto-suggestion. When your suggestion is accepted, you’ll have a dream. So you want to pay attention to what’s there as soon as you awaken.

The dream time, like the tide, recedes as the conscious mind steps forward. So lay still and listen to capture the dream. Write it down, rough draft, just as you recall it.

Once you have captured a dream on paper, you can record it in your dream journal for dream working.

The best journal I have found is a spiral-bound 350 page subject notebook. You can fold the pages right back, they’re sturdy enough for writing on your lap, and inexpensive to buy. I buy them by the case when they go on sale (usually right after the back-to-school sales end).

Their uniform size also makes it easy to file them away, too. They fit perfectly into a file storage box. I have dream journals going back to the early 1980’s stored in my attic!

Recording your dreams is akin to the uncovering process during age regression. The two most important questions you want to answer are:

1.    What’s happening?

2.    How does that make you feel?

Just as with the uncovering procedure, you want to use present tense. “I am walking down the aisle wearing a purple wedding gown.” This allows you to stay associated to what’s happening in the dream.

And just like hypnosis, the most important thing is DO NOT EDIT! Don’t try to figure anything out. Let the dream speak for itself. Let the subconscious mind speak!

The mark of a skilled regression hypnotherapist is the ability to stay naïve. The same is true with dream working. So record everything exactly as you recall it. It doesn’t have to make sense. Nor does it need to comply with the rules of time and space. If the dream starts with a wedding scene and ends with the first date on another planet, that’s the dream.

That’s the message using your subconscious mind’s own unique language.

Don’t worry if it seems convoluted. When you move onto the interpretive process, you’ll get to translate it all into plain English. But for now, stay present to the dream with a childlike curiosity.  And don’t  let your rational, logical, thinking mind get in there and monkey around with things.

Include every detail, no matter how small. Nothing in a dream is inconsequential. So if you notice a fly on the wall, write it down! Peripheral characters and objects may seem unimportant. But trust me, they’re not! 

Everything in a dream has meaning.

What time of the day or year is it? What colors are present? A sense that something is new or old and familiar is significant information. What does it remind you of?

Especially make note of feelings. As you move through the dream scenes different feelings can arise. How do you feel? E.g. scared, alone, angry, sad, guilty, tired, etc.

In my next blog I’ll share a simple dream interpretation technique.

Tip: To set up for the interpretive process, use double spacing to record your dream. This will set you up for making notes later.

Plan to join me in May 2012 on beautiful Vancouver Island, BC and learn how:

 - doing your own dream work can make you a better hypnotherapist!

- dream work can simplify age regression, improve your uncovering skills and help you get better results

- how much fun Dream Coaching is!

- you can increase your income by facilitating dream working classes. 

If you have already purchased the Complete System, The Devil's Therapy: from Hypnosis to Healing, you're in line for a KURAZEE deal! I'll only be offering this exlusively to members of the DTI forum! 

Sign up to receive my latest FREE downloadable report: How You Can Make An Extra $5,000 - $10,000 in Your Hypnosis Business.  (Yes, you really can!)

 www.devilstherapy.com

3 Steps to Incubating Dreams for Recreation & Problem-Solving

In the series, Star Trek: Next Generation, the crew of the USS Enterprise had a resource available to them that would allow them to learn new skills, develop their talents, take vacations, and consult with experts to find solutions to problems. 

This resource was The Holodeck where the onboard computer could generate any desired virtual reality holographically.

Far out, huh?

Well guess what? We all have our own personal Holodeck. And it is generating a series of virtual realities every night. We call them dreams.

So if you want to "live long and prosper" start programming your Holodeck to give you specific experiences! Want to take a holiday? Program it in! Want to improve a skill? Or discover a new talent? Program it in! Working on a problem you need some help with? Call upon your Inner Genius to counsel you with dream incubation.

Dream incubation is as easy as setting an intention.

The first step is to formulate a clear intention. Decide on a theme or subject you’d like to have a dream on. Then write it down!

If you’re working on a problem, write down all the details and facts related to the problem. The idea is to saturate your conscious mind with the idea. As you drift off to sleep, the critical factor goes into abeyance, allowing your consciously-held intention (and all the relevant data) to drop down into the subconscious mind.

Emotion is the motivating power of the subconscious mind, so be sure to bring up any feelings associated with the issue. And stay focused on that single theme until you fall asleep.

When you do, your subconscious mind, the most powerful, goal-achieving mechanism in the universe, will go to work. This is what a night time dream is. It’s your subconscious mind working behind the scenes - while you sleep!

The second step is to look for the dream immediately upon awakening. Instead of rolling out of bed with a “carpe diem” attitude, lay still and notice what’s there. Give the dream time to surface.

Whatever comes, don’t judge. Just write it down. Rough notes is fine. Just write it down!

Sometimes I wake with a song.  Sometimes it’s just a picture, or a vague sense of a scene. Or a mood.  Whatever is there, I write it down.

And as soon as I start putting pen to paper something interesting tends to happen. More comes. The story starts to flesh out. The feeling gets stronger. And the next thing you know I’ve got a full-blown epic movie. 

And it's all about me!

The third step is to write it down exactly as you recall it. The conscious mind may want to analyze and reorganize events so they make sense. Don’t let it! Remember, the subconscious mind uses the language of images and emotion. Logic is not helpful at this stage. (Later it will make sense.)

So, step 1: formulate a clear intention and let yourself feel it!

Step 2: notice what’s there without judging

Step 3: honor the dream by reporting it exactly as it is presented, without editing.

These same steps apply to therapeutic hypnosis.

Think about it. The first step in addressing a client’s issue is to establish the therapeutic goal. And as emotion is the motivating energy of the subconscious mind, there must also be a strong desire to achieve that goal. The subconscious mind will then act on the energy of your request.

So if you’re wishy-washy about losing the weight, breaking free of some habit, or resolving any problem you are faced with - you’re not yet ready to work on that issue. Similarly, you must be sincere in your desire to have a dream about your chosen theme or issue.

The second step is to focus inside and notice what’s there. Hypnosis requires focused attention. So any awareness of feeling or emotion is connected to the feeling part of the mind. The stronger the emotion, the deeper the hypnosis.

To begin, it might be an awareness of feeling or sensation in the body. Thoughts may surface in association to feelings. There may be a picture symbol. Or the client may spontaneously regress into a scene from the past. Whatever arises, we don’t judge it. We allow it into consciousness as valid information from within.

The third step relates to the uncovering process which occurs during an interactive hypnosis session. What we must teach our clients to honor what the subconscious mind has to say.

The way to honor the subconscious is to simply report what’s coming up without trying to think or judge or figure it out. First impressions are more important than being “right” or trying to come up with an answer that makes sense.

Trying to figure things out just brings in the conscious mind. And that just gets in the way. We want to stay focused on the feeling part of the mind because the conscious mind doesn’t have the answers. (If it did the problem would have been resolved by now, right?)

I’ll go deeper into the uncovering process in my next blog on Recording Your Dreams.

Until then, pleasant dreams!

Dream Working really can make you a better hypnotherapist!

Some of you have been asking, 'What's happening behind the scenes?'

I have been spending a lot of time in my personal holodeck coming up with ways to make it easy for you to join me for the first DTI-VI-2012. 

You're going to LOVE what my subconscious mind has given me! (As they say in Mexico, "almost free!")

I can't give you the details just yet, but soon, very soon.... 

So for now, share the dream and plan to be here in May on beautiful Vancouver Island!

Be a better hypnotherapist!

• Discover the WHY’s to regression hypnotherapy. (What you're doing should makes sense!)
• Learn ways to work with night dreams, day dreams, and THIS dream! (Is there a difference?)
• Become a Dream Coach and Dream Healer.
• Learn how being an alien will improve your uncovering results. (Nanoo-Nanoo!)
• Learn how you can make more money by facilitating self-hypnosis and dream working classes. (But only if you want ...)
• Have a blast making new friends!
• Discover how much you already DO know! (You're basically brilliant!)

www.devilstherapy.com

PS My apologies if you've visited the website and found it a bit scrambled. We're still working out the glitches. So thanks for your patience and DO check it periodically for updates. Good stuff is on its way!

Budweiser's American Dream , Law of Attraction, and the Gospel of Greed

This adorable video reminds me of Joseph Campbell who said that it wasn't until he was advanced in years that he was able to look back on his path in life and realize that he had been guided by unseen hands.

It also reminds me of the saying that the Universe never gives us more than we can handle.  So if you've put yourself in the harness and it feels like you've taken on too much, take heart. You don't have to do it alone. 

Help comes in many forms. It may come through dreams or intuitions. Signs or synchronistic messages. It may come from friends or complete strangers. 

Like Lilou Mace.

Yesterday, Bob and I decided to go on a "Sea Cruise." Just for the fun of it. We've both had our shoulder to the harness and needed a time out to reconnect. So, we hopped the ferry to Vancouver, then caught the City Bus to the Bridgeport Exchange where we got onto the Sky Train.  We rode the Sky Train out to the airport, then caught a hotel shuttle back to the Sandman Inn, where we had lunch before making our way back to the ferry.


It turned out to be an interesting theme day.

The two-hour ferry trip gave us plenty of time away from the daily demands. Time to chat and read. That's when I started reading Lilou Mace's e-book. 

Lilou (pronounced Lee-Lew) writes about how she got fired from her job. And instead of feeling "this is awful" - fear, anger and despair - she made a conscious choice to perceive what was happening as a "good thing." 

She didn't know how it was a good thing, but she decided to see it as an adventure. And it got her feeling excited about where all this might be leading her. (It eventually led her into her dream job!)


So rather than feeling a sense of loss, Lilou embraced her sense of adventure! She set her intention to live life  from a place of passion, fun, inspiration, and purpose. What she calls "juicy." I found myself thinking, "Yah, bay-bee, I want me some of THAT!"


One of the things she wrote was, "I am 100% responsible. If I am not feeling good then I need to change something." This is such a great statement! It's now hanging on my office wall! We're not responsible for the world of outer things. We're responsible for how we feel about those things. Taking 100% responsibility is a choice to no longer be a victim to external conditions. 

As Forrest Gump said, "Shit happens." The world is simply the out-picturing of collective thought. So don't take it personally. You didn't create the war, or the recession, or the government bailout scheme. You didn't create poverty, or human traffic. 

At least, not on your own.


You contribute to it. We all do, by participating in the global system which generates it. An example of this is the concept of investment. The idea of making money by simply investing it is ludicrous. If you understand what money actually is, this is apparent. But that's not a diatribe I want to engage in at this time. The Buddha would say, "what is, is." And we all act out of our current level of consciousness. Sometimes ignorance is bliss.


Bob and I got talking about Kevin O'Leary. He has his own TV show now. We used to watch him on Dragon's Den and he made my skin crawl. 

O'Leary is a little man with a lot of money. His religion is greed. Apparently, he feels entitled to treat anyone beneath him like a maggot. "Greed is good," he says. 

It seems Greed has replaced God. And if you're not following the Gospel of Greed, O'Leary's Inquisition will gladly have you burned at the stake as a "loser."


Little Kevin is not the devil. He's merely one of the minion preaching the Gospel of Greed. Like Tom Vu, he uses guilt, shame, and criticism to add weight to his sermon. If you don't have a big yacht and lots of beautiful women clamoring for your attentions, you're a L-O-O-Z-A-H!


What they don't mention is that money can't buy everything. Sure, it can buy you better health care. So if you need a new heart you'll probably get on the list. But it won't buy you a soul. 


And that's what Lilou tapped into. 

Living juicy is living a soulful life. It's living 100% responsible for feeling good. Kevin O'Leary will surely argue that he feels great. He sleeps like a baby on his million dollar mattress every night. And I say, sleep on, Kev.


"The soul is dead that slumbers." - Henry Wadsworth


I pity O'Learly. At least, the O'Leary I have in my head. After all, it's my dream. The Kevin O'Leary that's marketed on TV is a Big Jerk that gets massive ratings. For all I know, he could be a closet saint financing orphanages and school lunch programs. But I kind of doubt it ...

Shift happens.


Lilou writes, "anything that feels good will help to you shift your energy." 


Well, Kevin makes my skin crawl. My stomach does a slight roll and my heart winces every time he opens his mouth. I don't like bullies. So I want to shift my focus to things that feel better. Things that inspire, that spark the "juice." 

That's the place I want to make decisions from. Not from "should", or "have to", or "you'd better, or else." The only thing fear and common sense has ever given me is misery, pain and despair. Too much darkness. 


I read a great sign the other day. "Please do not open the door. It lets the darkness out." 


I'm going to be the Rebel, the Contrarian that goes counter-culture, by opening the door to my heart and mind. I'm letting the dark thoughts and feelings OUT. Maybe this is opening a Pandora's Box. But if you know your mythology, you'll remember that once all the spites were released, something yet remained. Hope. And that is a light.

This is soul work. 

 As a dream worker and a hypnotherapist, I work with images. So, as I wrote, numerous Tarot images came to mind. 

The Rebel is Key 4, the Emperor. He (or she) lives by his own rules, not by the cultural values or opinions of others. True rulership is self-rulership. Self-authority. That's being 100% responsible.


The 5 of Cups depicts disappointment. When I did the Satir Transformational Healing Training I realized this is a place I hang out in. It's just never good enough. The 5 of Cups is an image of Pandora's Box. All the spites have been released in one's outer life. The evidence appears as loss, spilled milk, not the results you had hoped for. 

Lilou lost her job. she could have focused on all the evidence for feeling bad - scared, angry, disappointed, alone, frustrated, guilty. It was all right there - an opportunity to feel really shitty. 

But, "Shit happens."  And the whole story hadn't yet been read. The movie wasn't over yet.

In the next scene, the two remaining cups become evident. They're full of "juice." And they are there now, contained in this moment of apparent loss.


This is so much more than just finding the good. 

It's about trusting in the Plan to which your life has purpose, which defines your Path. And when you're on your Path, you feel good. And that is being in alignment with God, what Julia Cameron calls "Good Orderly Direction." That's the best we can hope for. 


There's no need to ask for anything because it is already given. That's what the 5 of Cups shows. We just need to do a one-eighty to be able to see it. 

The problem is that the negativity of the world and of our personal life events fits with our perception of how life should be. It fits with our beliefs. Our expectations.

But there's more to life than what we perceive ...


By releasing the loss - the uncomfortable feelings that life has dished us up a big bowl of toenails - we can shift the energy and discover what's left. 

What's left brings Hope. The Light. And the Light contains all the juice. So open the door, let the darkness out. Because, like Motel 6, G.O.D. left the LIght on for you.


The Light is depicted in Key 9, the card of the Hermit who carries a lantern to light his way as he makes his way up the mountain. There's a suggestion of striving in this card, but it's the inner quest, not worldly achievement that's depicted. 

We each climb the mountain alone. That's how Wisdom is achieved.


When Moses went out into the desert he 'went up the mountain' daily. Eventually he had his burning bush experience and his life's purpose was revealed to him. It was there, in the cave of his innermost mind, that he "saw the Light". 

Like Moses, the Hermit is an archetype of soul searching, finding sufficient Light - joy, inspiration, purpose, JUICE - to guide you in your own life. Joseph Campbell called it "following your bliss." 

However you do it, that's your teaching. Your belief.


"My life is my teaching." - Sai Baba


Your conscious beliefs or aspirations or how much material wealth are not the measure of your worth or wisdom. It's what you demonstrate. That's your actual level of consciousness. 

It's how you light your way.

www.devilstherapy.com