Cath,

The first time I was hypnotised was almost twenty years ago when I went to a hypnotherapist for help with a problem. I can’t remember now how I made the decision… presumably someone recommended her… but the first session had an almost instant result and I was hooked.

I’m most interested in past-life regression. I’ve been back to incarnations as a Saxon tapestry weaver, a herbalist in a Puritan household during the English civil war and an eighteenth century stable boy. In at least one of them I recognised someone I know in my present life. These experiences were invaluable during the writing of The Winter House.

On a more general level, I use creative visualisation which, if you go into deeply enough, is a form of self hypnosis. I first learned the technique when I was studying paganism. Now I apply it to my writing. I can create a scene in my mind and keep it there for an indefinite period. Then I can pop in and out of it whenever I want. I go into the head of whichever character has the POV, and I am in the scene. I’m not just imagining what it’s like to be that character. I become that character. Then when I get home from work and start writing, it’s like remembering something that’s actually happened.

Dee

Dee - this sounds very intense, the experience of 'holding' the scene and then being able to view it from different perspectives - walk round it even and see it all as a piece simultaneously. Which, for me, brings back the issue of confidence. As in 'how do I know I'd be able to find my way home'? Likewise, but more so, with past-life regression - did you ever get the feeling you were going to stay there for ever, in Saxon times or the 17th, 18th centuries ... Is there a simultaneous awareness of who you are now while experiencing this?

Just curious - and nosy! - please don't feel obliged to answer. It's a bit of a cheek me asking on such a personal isue.

Joe

Joe, I don’t mind at all.

During PLR my biggest problem is coming out of it too soon. I’ve never had the feeling that I’d be stuck, but it did happen to me during a guided meditation I was taking part in. Perhaps I should clarify the difference: by PLR I mean I believe I regressed to a real time and place that I experienced as a different person, and by GM I mean going to an imaginary time and place that I have created in my own mind. The actual process of getting there is more or less the same.

When I got stuck in this GM I was aware of myself sitting on a sofa, but I was also half way back from another place which, to be honest, I didn’t want to leave.

During PLR I am always aware of the dual existence. That’s how I can recognise people and know who they are in this life.

If you want to try any form of hypnosis, I strongly advise you to start under the supervision of an experienced practitioner. Google for hypnotherapists, rather than hypnotists. They lean more towards the therapeutic, rather than theatrical, aspects of the practice.

Dee

I was treated by a hypnotherapist a couple of years ago...at the time I didn't realise how powerful it was and to be honest was rather disappointed - although it was incredibly relaxing, I didn't feel I'd made the "movements" I'd been looking for.
But then - just as the therapist had said - even after I stopped going, the recollections still kept coming, and I did make the most amazing breakthrough...
So I'd heartily recommend it, though as Dee says, you MUST make sure you go to a reputable registered practitioner. Not something to be messed about with.
x
tc

I heard somewhere that some people are capable of being fully hypnotized(10%). The majority are semi-hypnotizable(80%). And some people are incapable of being hypnotized(10%). I wonder if there is any truth to this.

I went to a hypnotherapist when I was 16 years old. I was only semi-hypnotizable. I felt like I was trying too hard to become fully entranced. I was still slightly aware of my live surroundings when I was under. But I did discover some unique images while under the hypnosis.

I probably wouldn't have tried these techniques in Mslexia if I hadn't previously been for psychotherapy and knew how to put myself into a light trance in the first place.

Dee, your visualisation technique sounds similar to what I do, but I just hink of it as playing the movie in my head. I'll run the scene over and over, looking at it from different angles, seeing what happens, what it looks like from the different POVs. It's only when I don't bother to do this that I have trouble writing the scene!

Cas

Silver, when I was hypnotised I was always FULLY aware of what was going on around me..I would just sort of get into a state where though I could hear things, it wwas kinda tooo much bother to do anythinng about them and I was just happy to float on!

I tried Ericsonian hyp recently, to help with a phobia I've developed about tube travel - I was told it was a much deeper level of hypnosis- and there when I tried to come out of it, I really didn't want to and it was quite a struggle.
It was very odd, the therapist didn't even do the usual trance inducing 'mantra' he just said," Now you will go into the trance", and I thought, "yeah, right!" but, bugger me, I did! I tried to resist, but it was hopeless.
Did it cure the phobia? Well,it helped an awful lot and got it under control, though recently it's crept back and I think I need to have some more sessions...maybe this time I'll try and compose a poem when 'under'!
x
tc

What an intruiging thread! Im really interested in the ways in which psychology and psychotherapy can be used in creative writing. I actually work for an organisation which trains psychotherapists and counselling psychologists, so I'll have to get hold of the article, it's sure to engender some sort of debate. Never been hypnotised personally but i would consider it.

On a similar matter, has anyone read a book called the Therapeutic Potential of Creative Writing by Gillie Bolton? It's got lots of suggestions for excercies to trigger ideas, and I've found it particularly useful.

L

Haven't read it, but I've heard of it. I believe it's on my wish list at Amazon (with 700+ other titles!) Sounds even better now.

700! I thought my 80+ was being greedy!

Hee hee...

It's hell to navigate.

Yeah, I remember seeing that Gillie Bolton book on my MA reading list and thought it looked interesting. It's going on my wish list too....