Hypnotherapy and shamanism. (Walk in Balance).

In the old days, when people lived in small villages, each tribe or community had a person who performed a special service. Remember, this was when there were no physicians, as we now know them. There were certainly no social workers or psychologists or psychiatrists. This person, who might have been referred to as the shaman, medicine man or woman, curandera, or even "witch doctor," combined features of what are now different specialized occupations. They treated physical illness, but also mental and emotional turmoil, and spiritual crises. They, in fact, were the original holistic practitioners in that they did not differentiate between mind and body. In lieu of a rabbi, priest, or minister, the shaman was also intermediary between the human world and the world of spirit.

In the introduction to The Language of the Birds, editor David M. Guss says, "This shaman's flight, which makes things whole, does so with the power of song. For this ecstatic journey is above all a linguistic one. And it is with this in mind that Rothenberg and others have referred to the shaman as `proto-poet, for almost always his technique hinges on the creation of special linguistic circumstances, i.e., of song and invocation.' Accompanied by dram or rattle, by drugs, costume, and dance, the shaman enters his trance through the power of his words and once there receives the special message he has set out to learn. This message--special in both form and content--is delivered in another language, the secret, esoteric one that spirits and animals use in their own world. This is the language of transformations and Magic Words, the language of the unconscious and the underworld, the one that shamans speak to one another, and refer to as the `Language of the Birds.'"

Contemporary practitioners of hypnotherapy, particularly those influenced by the work and approach of Dr. Milton H. Erickson, depend to a large extent on their ability to a) enter into trance along with their clients, and b) to invoke trance and powerful changes in trance, through `special linguistic circumstances.' Hypnotic language patterns often "invent" their own grammar.

Our minds are conditioned to receive verbal communication in certain "grammatically correct" patterns. When we receive communications that have been coded differently, it creates confusion and opens the door for new and creative ways of thinking. I encourage my hypnosis students to "put more poetry" into their inductions. Do you ever think to sing, chant, or whisper to your clients, while they are in trance?

Consider also "... this message--special in both form and content--is delivered in another language ... the language of transformations and Magic Words ..." When delivering verbal inductions, I have noticed a certain rhythm and cadence develops, seemingly all by itself. As I allow my conscious mind to withdraw into the background, my unconscious begins to supply a surprising thread of images and metaphors ... often with internal rhyme and rhythm! It feels, at best, like I am not doing it, but rather, it is coming from some source data-bank, that has been accessed by entraining with my client (pacing, breath, posture, etc.) and silently asking for help. If I were a traditional shaman, I might be petitioning particular personal spirit and/or animal guides to help me. At times I will do this, but mostly it is a more general opening up to the personal/collective unconscious ... for instance, "Please Creator/Spirit, let that which is for the highest good of this being be made available for the two of us in our co-creation."

In addition, 21st century hypnotherapists treat a wide range of presenting problems, including purely physical ones, such as migraine headaches, skin rashes, high blood pressure; and purely mental ones, such as phobias, lack of self-confidence, low self-esteem, etc. (Although the author does not believe that there are any presenting problems that are "purely" physical or "purely" mental/emotional, for the sake of simplicity, this distinction has been made.) In the field of transpersonal hypnotherapy, many ancient and esoteric practices, such as channelling, skrying, and past/future life accessing, have been incorporated, as well.

The techniques of the imaginative hypnotherapist, like those of the ancient shaman, may utilize unusual objects or artifacts in the treatment room, sound and light machines to induce alpha-theta brainwave states, burning of sage or incense or aromatherapy to anchor state-dependent learning in the limbic system, playing of special trance-inducing musical sounds, which are outside of the client's normal reality.

I have spent the past decade investigating how to introduce and incorporate specific shamanic practices (such as "journeying" using frame dram, or singing bowls), with hypnosis clients--when appropriate. All of these, as well as a particular special tone of voice and pacing, when inducing and utilizing hypnotic trance are ways of making a distinction to the client's unconscious mind, that one is now entering a place where the normal laws that govern physical reality are temporarily suspended. The magical child in each patient responds to magic. To engage the client's mind and achieve the temporary suspension of disbelief, the contemporary hypnotherapist, as well as the shaman, should be prepared to do whatever it takes to create such an environment.

While the conscious mind may insist on orderly, logical explanations, it is the unconscious that must be reached for true healing to take place. Both the hypnotherapist and the shaman recognize this and use language of myth and poetry, metaphoric imagery, and confusing grammatical and syntactical construction to bewilder and bypass the conscious mind, and reach the unconscious directly.

[c] 2001 EnTranceWays/Peter Blum * PO Box 1027 * Woodstock, NY 12498 * 845-247-8839 * [e-mail] * www.Soundsforhealing.com