LCCH News Autumn / Winter 2004

My wife was very supportive and has encouraged me throughout, but she still is my worst hypnotic subject. At first I found it difficult to experience hypnosis myself. I was so keen to learn from my fellow student's, their techniques and voice intonations, that I simply didn't relax mentally enough to get the full effect and I know some of my fellow students were experiencing similar feelings.

Never the less, two occasions stick out in my mind that happened quite early on, once, when I had to leave early, having to keep rubbing my 'numb' cheek all the way home in the car after a practice with pain relief.

And another time when practicing post hypnotic suggestion, when after the 'finger snap' I remember briefly thinking 'why have my eyes shut so quickly?' Before, almost instantly, effortlessly, and much to my surprise, finding my self back in a trance.

The Tutors on the courses were very knowledgeable and approachable, and we learnt, not only from the curriculum but from their wealth of knowledge and experiences too. My tutorial sessions were supportive throughout the course with Dorothy Chippendale who kept us all in order and was always there with advice and encouragement. Thank you, I learnt a lot from you all.

I also learnt from my fellow students too, as we travelled along the way together, discussing the techniques, our experiences, discoveries and preferences, as well as the many laughs we had (how on earth did the tutor s cope?). Everyone in the group very different, but with so many things in common too, and I miss them all.

As the diploma course went along, even the most resistant of us were going deeper into trance, perhaps due to a combination of the techniques getting more sophisticated, our confidence in our own abilities growing or just being more relaxed and comfortable with each other and with being hypnotised.

Then the exams came along and any confidence we may have had quickly disappeared. My worst fear came true in the final written test, my mind turned to mush, I think time took a holiday because it disappeared and my pen took on a life and direction of its own and didn't stop writing until the ink ran out. If there was an award for scrawled gibberish I would have won hands down. It's a good job a three week treatment plan is not that rushed in the 'real world'.

Before the end of the Diploma course I was already making a start in practice and I was having great success with my new found skills. It was just as well the clients had their eyes closed though; otherwise they would have seen the sweat on my brow.

	News from Leeds

Dorothy Chippendale Course Director, North East, writes: With ongoing Certificate and Practitioner courses, one Diploma just finished and another Diploma and another Practitioner starting soon life is buzzing here in Leeds. Just as well I practice self-hypnosis regularly (as I have for over 40 years) to prevent myself becoming too stressed! Below are articles by two students following their journey from 'raw' students to qualified, professional hypnotherapists. Students, looking happy and relieved, after taking the Diploma exam on 4th September at Leeds Metropolitan University. With one of the examiners, Angela Everett, at centre front. Andrew Strathearn How did I get here? No, this is not my first words on waking after a boozy night out, nor my first words to the casualty nurse after engaging in DIY. But it is a question I have asked myself about hypnotherapy. My first experience of Hypnosis was not a good one. A club I frequented in my early twenties, near London, had a stage hypnotist as the Saturday night entertainment. The 'show' had a distinct sexual bias, not that I'm a prude, but I felt so embarrassed for the people that I knew, being humiliated on stage, that I left before the show ended. Despite many opportunities I didn't attend another, for over twenty years, so, I was certainly not out looking for a career in hypnosis. So how did I end up practicing hypnotherapy? I am however, an avid reader and often will browse a library and select interesting looking books on just about any subject, and so it was, that I came to read a book by Ursula Markham on past life regression. I found the subject and the possibilities fascinating, so I set out to find out more about this 'other' kind of Hypnosis. Looking around, I found out that there was more of it about than you'd think, and that just maybe, I'd like to find out a little bit more about it. So, I checked he Internet for more information and suitable training and the LCCH seemed the most professional, so I enrolled on the certificate course. Then, once the potential uses of hypnotherapy had been shown to me on the certificate course and the many ways it could help people, the diploma course naturally followed on.				My wife was very supportive and has encouraged me throughout, but she still is my worst hypnotic subject. At first I found it difficult to experience hypnosis myself. I was so keen to learn from my fellow student's, their techniques and voice intonations, that I simply didn't relax mentally enough to get the full effect and I know some of my fellow students were experiencing similar feelings. Never the less, two occasions stick out in my mind that happened quite early on, once, when I had to leave early, having to keep rubbing my 'numb' cheek all the way home in the car after a practice with pain relief. And another time when practicing post hypnotic suggestion, when after the 'finger snap' I remember briefly thinking 'why have my eyes shut so quickly?' Before, almost instantly, effortlessly, and much to my surprise, finding my self back in a trance. The Tutors on the courses were very knowledgeable and approachable, and we learnt, not only from the curriculum but from their wealth of knowledge and experiences too. My tutorial sessions were supportive throughout the course with Dorothy Chippendale who kept us all in order and was always there with advice and encouragement. Thank you, I learnt a lot from you all. I also learnt from my fellow students too, as we travelled along the way together, discussing the techniques, our experiences, discoveries and preferences, as well as the many laughs we had (how on earth did the tutor s cope?). Everyone in the group very different, but with so many things in common too, and I miss them all. As the diploma course went along, even the most resistant of us were going deeper into trance, perhaps due to a combination of the techniques getting more sophisticated, our confidence in our own abilities growing or just being more relaxed and comfortable with each other and with being hypnotised. Then the exams came along and any confidence we may have had quickly disappeared. My worst fear came true in the final written test, my mind turned to mush, I think time took a holiday because it disappeared and my pen took on a life and direction of its own and didn't stop writing until the ink ran out. If there was an award for scrawled gibberish I would have won hands down. It's a good job a three week treatment plan is not that rushed in the 'real world'. Before the end of the Diploma course I was already making a start in practice and I was having great success with my new found skills. It was just as well the clients had their eyes closed though; otherwise they would have seen the sweat on my brow.

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