Elegance.
Precision.
Grace.
Elegance is the removal of
the unneeded, the act of stripping down until what's left is that of
total purity. It is coveted in the arts; the dancer whose flick of the
wrist is a gesture of beauty, the painter who captures perfectly the
essence of his subject in just a few strokes, the pianist whose song is
of such dynamism that it doesn't require the support of an orchestra but
instead stands alone in glory. It is coveted in the sciences; the
researcher meticulously plotting the human genes to unearthr the precise
function of each one, the engineer making the minute calculations
needed to ensure that the airplane will fly, the urban planner using
spacial efficiency to find the equilibrium between individual comfort
and city function. Elegance is a virtue of the optimum and is achieved
only by those who are the masters of their craft.
In the field of
hypnosis, elegance is crucial. Mostly due to the nature of the subject.
Namely, that the subject is the most important thing that could ever be
worked on: a human being. Because of this, the hypnotherapist cannot
afford to be crude or messy. There is no room for collateral damage.
Each move on the hypnotherapist's part must be well thought out in order
to achieve superlative results.
To illustrate this fact, we can
compare helping a client successfully stopped smoking to opening the
door of a locked room. One hypnotherapist may use a method of ceaseless
repetition to rid his client of the smoking habit: "You are a
non-smoker! You are a non-smoker! You are a non-smoker!" This is the
equivalent of taking a battering ram to the door and trying to knock it
down. It is coarse and harsh, and while it may get the job done
eventually, it takes a long time and can be a messy situtation. Another
hypnotherapist may use different methods, such as regression or parts
therapy.
He listens to his client's personal history with smoking
and reasons for wanting to quit. While smoking is a common behaviour,
every smoker has an individual relationship with cigarettes. By
personalising his sessions to meet his client's individual needs, this
hypnotherapist will achieve maximum results with no wasted energy. This
is the equivalent of finding the key and unlocking the door. It is the
elegant approach to hypnotherapy. And of course, this is applicable to
much more than just smoking cessation.
Another example of
elegance verses boorishness can be seen with induction techniques. Not
everyone responds in the same manner to each induction. While a certain
technique may receive a positive response from one individual, it may be
ineffective with someone else, regardless of how similar the people or
their problems may be. And so it is vital for the hypnotherapist to be
flexible with his inductions. He must pay close attention to the
reaction of his client and to consistently be testing to see how deep
into hypnosis his client is.
In fact, flexibility as a whole is
crucial to retaining elegance during a hypnosis session. This means not
working off of a script. Scripts take a one-size-fits-all approach;
given that every person and situation is highly unique, it is obvious
why scripts are less than ideal. Preconcived scripts leave no room for
the client to respond or for the hypnotherapist to customise the
session. If the hypnotherapist doesn't feel comfortable "hypnotising by
the seat of his pants" and needs to rely on some sort of system, then a
branching flow chart approach is more practical than a linear process.
This is because flow charts allow for a variety of potential responses
and results to each scenario as well as for greater modification to be
made on the hypnotherapist's behalf so that he may be able to meet his
client's needs.
In order to be adaptive, the hypnotherapist must
have a "toolbox" of methods available. This means being knowledgeable
about and comfortable using a variety of hypnotherapy methods from
different schools of thought. While it is understandable for the
hypnotherapist to have a preference or to even deem one certain
technique more "universally effective" than another, it is still
necessary to have as extensive a set of options to work from as possible
in order to best suit the client's situation. Some hypnotherapists find
it an asset to have studied various neuro-linguistic programming
tactics and to fuse them into general practice. Regardless, it is
essential to maintain an open mind when learning hypnotherapy and to
continuously broaden the pallet of skills from which to choose from.
As
previously mentioned, elegance is based upon purity, sacrificing
extravagance for quality. When it comes to hypnotherapy, the more
tailored a session is, the more elegant it becomes. And, also as
previously mentioned, to personalise the session the hypnotherapist must
be flexible and know which hypnotic tools best suit the situation. The
primary way of determining how to personalise the session is through
direct feedback from the client. The hypnotherapist must to know if he
is moving too quickly or slowly, or if his methods are effective or need
to be tweaked. Furthermore, it is not reasonable to rely on the client
to make mention if the hypnotherapist's techniques are failing to get
the desired result. Instead, it is the hypnotherapist's responsibility
to invoke feedback and dialogue to ensure that what he is doing is
productive.
On the whole, the hypnotherapist must remember that
while it is important to keep his client's desired destination in mind,
he needs to be flexible about the way he uses to get there. He needs to
be attuned to subtle cues during the session and react accordingly.
Hypnotherapy is not a rigid activity, like army boot-camp, meant to
mould a person into a predetermined shape. Instead, it is an opportunity
for a person to grow and come into their own as an individual. And it
is up to the hypnotherapist to be keenly aware of how to best allow this
event to take place.
Elegance is the surgeon who knows exactly
where to make the incision so as to repair the unhealthy organ without
damaging the surrounding tissue. It is the haiku poet whose short verse
strikes like a sword, unleashing a powerful wave of emotion upon the
reader. It is the judo master whose simple movement is so directed that
it knocks his bewildered assailant to the ground. And it is the
hypnotherapist who is so acutely aware of the details occuring within
the session that he is able to harmonise his practice with his client's
needs.
Luke Chao is the founder of The Morpheus Clinic for
Hypnosis, a leading hypnosis firm providing hypnotherapy training and
services in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Visit the Morpheus Clinic at:
http://www.morpheusclinic.com.