HPC - Transcript-Manual - DVDs - Part 2 (1)

Hypnotic Pain Control DVD Transcript Manual – Part 2

By Igor Ledochowski

Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

Table of Contents DVD #6 – Pain Control Demo – Russ - 6 Month Old Groin Injury .................................... 3 Demonstration 1 – Russ – Without Commentary ......................................................... 3 Demonstration 1 – Russ – With Commentary ............................................................ 13 DVD #7 – Pain Control Demo – Liz – Unidentifiable ‘Electric’ Shooting Pains In Legs & Back............................................................................................................................... 62 Demonstration 2 – Liz – Without Commentary .......................................................... 62 Demonstration 2 – Liz – With Commentary ............................................................... 75 DVD #8 – Pain Control Demo – Ralph – Chronic Thoracic Arthritis Of The Spine........ 125 Demonstration 3 – Ralph – Without Commentary ................................................... 125 Demonstration 3 – Ralph – With Commentary ........................................................ 136 DVD #9 – Pain Control Demo – Gary – Decades Of Pain From Damaged Nerves In The Head ............................................................................................................................ 179 Demonstration 4 – Part 1 – Gary – Without Commentary........................................ 179 Demonstration 4 – Part 1 – Gary – With Commentary ............................................. 185 DVD #10 – Pain Control Demo – Gary Part 2 & “The Dream Therapy Machine” ........ 217 Demonstration 4 – Part 2 – Gary – Without Commentary........................................ 217 Demonstration 4 – Part 2 – Gary – With Commentary ............................................. 229 Hypnotic Pain Control is the sole property of Street Hypnosis Publishing (including, but not limited to text, content, graphics, video and audio) and is protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws. You must abide by all additional copyright notices or restrictions contained in this law. YOU MAY NOT POST ON A WEB SITE OR CREATE A WEB FRAME AROUND ANY PART OF THIS SERVICE (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, TEXT, CONTENT, PHOTOGRAPHS, VIDEO AND AUDIO). YOU MAY NOT COPY, REPRODUCE, DISTRIBUTE, PUBLISH, DISPLAY, PERFORM, MODIFY, CREATE DERIVATIVE WORKS, TRANSMIT, OR IN ANY WAY EXPLOIT ANY PART OF THIS SERVICE, EXCEPT THAT YOU MAY DOWNLOAD MATERIAL FROM THIS SERVICE FOR YOUR OWN PERSONAL, NONCOMMERCIAL USE AS FOLLOWS: YOU MAY MAKE ONE MACHINE READABLE COPY AND/OR ONE PRINT COPY THAT IS LIMITED TO OCCASIONAL ARTICLES OF PERSONAL INTEREST ONLY. WITHOUT LIMITING THE GENERALITY OF THE FOREGOING, YOU MAY NOT DISTRIBUTE ANY PART OF THIS SERVICE OVER ANY NETWORK, INCLUDING A LOCAL AREA NETWORK, NOR SELL NOR OFFER IT FOR SALE. IN ADDITION, THESE FILES MAY NOT BE USED TO CONSTRUCT ANY KIND OF DATABASE.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

DVD #6 – Pain Control Demo – Russ - 6 Month Old Groin Injury

Demonstration 1 – Russ – Without Commentary Igor:

How are you doing, Russ?

Russ:

I’m doing great.

Igor:

Great. Can you all hear him okay? You may want to stand sideways a little bit so they can see you a little bit too and I can see you a little bit. It’s just makes it more personal. Plus you may spot things in terms of how Russ answers, but you can direct your attention here in terms of what we’re doing. It just means that it’s a little bit more engaging. There you go. So tell me, Russ – apart from carrying out this brief two-minute conversation with you before we began, I have no idea what’s going on with any of these people. So I need to have a normal conversation like I’d have with any other client to find out what’s happening. So what is happening?

Russ:

Thanks, Igor. For six months or so I’ve had trouble getting my leg out of the car and back into the car, and I have a doctor who’s actually my friend and he finally said it’s got to be slow-healing or an injury just like the Cowboy defensive back has. It will not heal. I have a lower back injury that’s chronic. It’s not bothering me today but I was almost crushed in an accident when I was a laborer actually. Also in my upper back – back to 1958, I remember when that started. It comes and it goes. Then as we started, I hadn’t thought about this but I approached you with a question. When I’m in the courtroom where I am quite a bit and even here, I

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual worry about my bladder because it’s possibly just age, but that would be something that I would want to see whether that could be improved. That’s my aches and pains. Igor:

Let’s take the idea of the bladder to one side because that’s really not germane to what we’re doing here. We can absolutely work with it, but that’s not the main purpose we’re here. Tell me the experience right now. There are three main areas. You have sort of the leg/groin injury. You have something going on in the lower back and something up on your shoulder. Is that correct?

Russ:

Right.

Igor:

Very good. How do you experience this now? Are any of them uncomfortable right now? Are they okay? How are they going?

Russ:

The groin thing manifests itself on the inside of my thighs, and last night even when I sleep, when I try to roll over I can even get a hip pain to where I think someone else would say gee, I might want to think about a hip replacement. It’s not a whole lot of fun.

Igor:

Can you experience it right now?

Russ:

I can’t feel it here, but if I get up on the stage I’ll feel it.

Igor:

What about in the lower back?

Russ:

No problem there at the moment.

Igor:

And your shoulders?

Russ:

No problem at the moment.

Igor:

Excellent. Very good. What is it you’d like to see, as a result, of all the work we’re doing today?

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

Russ:

If I can get rid of the pain in my groin area and the hips that would be wonderful.

Igor:

Excellent. Have a seat again for now. This is a kind of introduction. One thing just as a general comment, just as an aside that I would definitely make to the client here is, you realize that – actually you may as well keep this because I’m going to have a quick little chat with you as well. You realize that the sensation you’re having in your leg, in your groin area, it has a function. You’ve possibly injured yourself in some way and your body’s telling you that there are certain ways of moving that you don’t want to be doing or engaging in because it’s going to prevent your body from healing properly. So it has a purpose. Therefore, removing it entirely or removing it without leaving something in its place to remind you of keeping yourself healthy, that’s not necessarily a good thing either, right?

Russ:

So they say, but I don’t really care about what the true medical problem is. I’ll live with that. Perfect. Now a lot of clients will have that because when they’re in pain, they just want it gone and that’s exactly why the pain is still there. That’s exactly why the pain is still there, and I understand why you’re saying that. I really do. I really understand why you’re saying that because it’s not a nice thing to be walking around with that kind of sensation.

Russ:

That’s correct.

Igor:

It makes the smallest things difficult – coming up stairs, sitting down for breakfast, going to bed at night, getting up in the morning, going to the toilet in between. Every single action, you have to be more cautious, more careful, slower. I can understand that it’s really an unpleasant way to be living your dayto-day life, right?

Russ:

Right.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Igor:

Which is why you’d just rather have it just disappear.

Russ:

That’s true.

Igor:

So, aside from all the reasons you have, for it to disappear what are all the reasons for it not to?

Russ:

The reasons for it not to? Oh, I’ve considered well maybe I’ve got lung cancer or some such thing. I don’t think so but if I do, okay so be it.

Igor:

Your doctor’s already checked those things out. You’ve got a medical referral right here.

Russ:

I have a medical referral.

Igor:

So would it be fair to say your doctor has checked all the possibilities out?

Russ:

He doesn’t think there’s any chance in the world that that’s it.

Igor:

So if I understood you correctly, the diagnosis from the doctor – not from me – was that the mostly likely thing is you strained a muscle and it requires time to heal. It’s just taking extra time to do that.

Russ:

It’s his opinion it’s a groin injury of some sort.

Igor:

So to the extent that you keep pushing that particular muscle, its ability to heal will be slowed down or retarded or even prevented. Would that be fair?

Russ:

That’s fair. That’s fair. So here’s something for you to think about. Just consider this now. You can have anything you want in life provided you pay… attention. If you don’t pay attention, you’ll pay with pain. It is a simple signal to remind you to pay attention, and to the extent that you haven’t, I am not surprised… that you have. Now I have a feeling that something’s already beginning to shift inside as you make that realization, because to the extent that you pay attention and make a genuine commitment to yourself to pay attention, to take it a little easier for a while, will there be any reason left for that pain?

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Russ:

Less.

Igor:

Much less, right?

Russ:

Much less.

Igor:

You can teach your body to move in slightly different ways that will accommodate the healing of that particular part of the body, right?

Russ:

Right.

Igor:

And in doing so, aren’t you paying attention?

Russ:

I’m paying attention in that way.

Igor:

How is the groin doing now?

Russ:

It’s not bothering me at the moment.

Igor:

It’s not bothering you at the moment, is it? Was it a moment ago?

Russ:

It was sensitive.

Igor:

It was sensitive. So you’re telling me it’s already changing.

Russ:

I would say it might be changing. I think it’s changed.

Igor:

So it’s already changing, but you don’t quite know how it changed, do you?

Russ:

No.

Igor:

Yet there it is, right?

Russ:

Right.

Igor:

The only thing you do know is that you did one thing differently in the last five minutes that you weren’t doing before, right?

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

Russ:

That’s right.

Igor:

And what’s that?

Russ:

Paying attention.

Igor:

That’s right.

Russ:

Focusing upon it so I can alleviate it.

Igor:

That’s right. You’re learning to focus on yourself in a new way, in a very important way. In the past you were focusing on the sensation because you wanted to get rid of it and your body increased the sensation because there’s no way it wanted you to ignore it. But now that you’re paying attention, now that the message is being heard, there’s really no need for it anymore, is there?

Russ:

No need.

Igor:

Now I realize from time to time the sensation may return. It may return as just a sensation or as a mild experience of pain and you know why that would happen, don’t you? To get your attention. To remind you that what you’ve just engaged in is something you should probably not be doing for a little while, right?

Russ:

Right.

Igor:

So you’re maybe lying in bed at night, you feel like turning one way and suddenly you have a sensation. Nothing unpleasant but something that reminds you that you best keep lying the way you are or maybe turning a different way and you know what I mean by that, don’t you?

Russ:

I do.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Igor:

As you’re thinking of all these things, check back in with your groin and notice how it feels different. How is that?

Russ:

Feeling comfortable.

Igor:

It’s feeling comfortable already. How do you do that?

Russ:

By telling it I’m paying attention.

Igor:

That’s right. That’s right and it feels good to pay attention, doesn’t it?

Russ:

It feels good to have a different approach.

Igor:

That’s right. It feels a lot better than trying to ignore it, right?

Russ:

I can see the insight.

Igor:

And it’s not just the insight that’s important. It’s the experience that counts, isn’t it?

Russ:

The experience.

Igor:

I would like you to try a little experiment for me. Is that okay with you?

Russ:

Sure.

Igor:

What I’m going to ask you to do is I would like you to experiment with organizing your body in a way that you don’t normally do. Here’s what I mean by that. I’m going to ask you to get up in a moment’s time. However, I want you to experiment with getting up in a different way, paying attention to the sensations in your groin area so that you get up in as comfortable a way as possible. If you begin to feel a sensation, change your approach. Does that make sense?

Russ:

It makes sense.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Igor:

Now, it may take you a few minutes initially to work the approach out. I’ll happily coach you along with some ideas if you would want that, but if it’s okay with you right now I would like for you to start being curious about how your unconscious mind can show you other ways of moving your body so that you are paying attention in the right way again. Is that okay with you?

Russ:

That is fine.

Igor:

So go ahead and give that a go now. Notice for example, do you notice the speed with which you were getting up there?

Russ:

Yes.

Igor:

So before being in a hurry, right now it’s an exploration stage. What I’d like you to do is just first of all get in touch with all the different parts of your body that you need to be aware of in order to move. For example, you have feet, don’t you?

Russ:

Yes.

Igor:

Now you can have your feet out in front of you and experiment with that. Getting up that way might seem a little bit more tricky right now, right?

Russ:

Right.

Igor:

You can have your feet right underneath your chair. Something interesting happened there, didn’t it? That you can have your feet somewhere in between, so just shuffle your feet around until your groin feels the most comfortable, and let me know when you’re there, with the anticipation that you’ll be getting up at some point, of course.

Russ:

Okay.

Igor:

There you go. You have knees, do you not?

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

Russ:

I do.

Igor:

They could turn to the left – both of them – or they could turn to the right. As you pay attention to slowly moving from the left and right repeatedly, ask yourself the question where would they be most comfortable if I was to put enough weight on them to be able to lift myself up? Where might you end up?

Russ:

Probably to the right.

Igor:

I would agree. I can see it. Now of course your knees can’t lift your whole body. You need to shift your balance to allow the whole process to occur. That involves moving your torso, doesn’t it?

Russ:

Yes.

Igor:

Now you can move your torso forwards and backwards. You can move it side to side. I’d like you to very gently go side to side, forwards and backwards, whilst getting those knees into the position you had a moment ago until you find a place. Feel free to use your hand by the way as well as support, until you find a way where getting up is just a natural step forwards from where you’re already at. Just do that now. Go ahead, just slowly. How was getting up like that?

Russ:

That was much better.

Igor:

Much better than usual?

Russ:

I concentrated on not putting pressure on that main area and I got up without the pain.

Igor:

Exactly, so your body’s teaching you how to move to allow it to heal, isn’t it?

Russ:

Yes.

Igor:

And all you have to do is…

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

Russ:

Pay attention.

Igor:

Are you?

Russ:

I’m paying good attention.

Igor:

That’s right. Now I realize initially it will require a little more effort because you’re moving things more slowly. You’re learning about yourself in a slightly different way, but then you have lots of signals that will remind you of that, right?

Russ:

That’s right.

Igor:

So is it okay, will you spend maybe just a day exploring those different things?

Russ:

I’d be glad to, sure.

Igor:

In exchange for which you no longer need to have the painful sensations you used to. Would that be a fair trade?

Russ:

Fair trade.

Igor:

Feel good?

Russ:

I feel good.

Igor:

Congratulations.

Russ:

Thank you.

Igor:

Thank you, Russ.

Russ:

Thanks, Igor.

Igor:

Remember, slowly sit down in the same way.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

Demonstration 1 – Russ – With Commentary Igor:

Hello and welcome to this bonus set of DVDs. In these bonus DVDs we’re going to be breaking down those four pain control demonstrations that you’ve seen in the main program so that I can walk you step by step through all the things that I’m doing while I’m doing them and what I’m observing and so on. It’s kind of a little tour inside my mind. This first demonstration is with Russ. You will recall that all four demos – this one included – have already started with step one of the seven-step pain control model, which is with a medical referral. Everyone brought their medical referral letters in and everything checked out, so it’s fantastic. You’re about to see me launching into the rapport stage where I am starting to get a sense of where he is and how our relationship is. One thing you should note is that whilst we’re in a seminar and it’s all fantastic and it’s all very well, because we’re in a seminar rather than a one-to-one session, I already have a different relationship to the client – the patient – than I would normally have in a therapy room. The reason for this is because he’s already spent time with me. He’s actually gone through a six-day hypnotherapy practitioner program with me, so the rapport has already been built. Hence, the rapport stage here is relatively perfunctory. It’s pretty basic and all I’m really doing is I’m looking to check if there’s anything I need to fix before I begin, which in this case as you will quickly see there is not. I’ll stop as we go along on this as well, but notice I throw in a couple of tests along the way partly for the convenience of filming and so you can see it properly, but it’s also partly some covert tests to see how well is he responding to me?

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual How open is he to these ideas? Do I have to work harder or do I have to build more rapport, comfort and trust and so on, before he’s ready for me to suggest something that’s going to be crucial in the whole pain control movement? Watch that as we begin and I’ll pause as we go along to point a few of those things out for you. How are you doing, Russ? Russ:

I’m doing great.

Igor:

Great. You may want to stand sideways a little bit so they can see you a little bit too and I can see you a little bit. It’s just makes it more personal. Plus you may spot things in terms of how Russ answers, but you can direct your attention here in terms of what we’re doing. It just means that it’s a little bit more engaging. There you go. Let’s pause for a moment. Nothing really spectacular has happened so far but you will have noticed that I’ve done a couple of sort of covert tests as to how my relationship with Russ is doing. The couple of tests were basically, asking him to move over here, stand facing the audience, and then he turns around and faces me and talks to me directly. Really these are partly so that you get a better view watching the DVDs – I’ve got you in mind as well – but it also gives me a sense of how well is he responding to me? What’s he doing when I’m asking him to do these things? Is there any kind of resistance? Are there any questions in him? You can tell he’s very open about this whole thing. He flashes a lot of smiles. He’s very open about whatever’s going on inside him and so on. He’s happy to respond to these requests to kind of stand over here, turn this way and face me and so on. It’s pretty much like doing a stage induction in many ways – an instant induction. It’s just I’m looking once again to test the nature of the relationship because that rapport stage is important.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

Note however that because of the relationship we’ve already built up, I’m not going through the classic three conversations that most pain control clients will need you to go through. That’s something that’s of course covered in the DVDs overall, but it doesn’t fit here in this context. We will be having some of that conversation as part of step number three, which is the pain scale, but you’ll see that as we go along now. So tell me, Russ – apart from carrying out this brief two-minute conversation with you before we began, I have no idea what’s going on with any of these people. So I need to have a normal conversation like I’d have with any other client to find out what’s happening. So what is happening? Let’s just pause it there once again. We’ve clearly now gone through the first two steps. The medical referral was dealt with right at the start of the seminar. That’s pretty much just making sure that it’s dealt with. We’ve tested the rapport stage. Of course there’s some rapport building going on right now as part of step three, which is the pain scale, but that’s kind of what we’re getting into now. Remember, the importance of the pain scale is not just to have a sense of where is the pain from 1-10 so that you know when it’s diminished. It’s also to establish what kind of pains or quality of pains. What’s actually going on? Are there any physical elements that you need to take care of? In this particular demonstration you’ll see that the pain is actually directly linked to an injury. As a result, I know that just taking the pain away is not going to be enough. We’ll talk more about that when we get to that point. However, there is no way I would ever know that unless I let him just talk for a few minutes and kind of let me know what’s happening, where it is and so on.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual If you want to think of this in terms of the PCAT formula, we’re still firm in the P stage. In other words, the part where he presents the parameters and tells us what the problem is. He tells us what he’d rather have and that sort of stuff. Just listen on as Russ gives us his description, and ask yourself what bits of information are you going to hold onto? How would you work with this? Where would you jump in or be tempted to start introducing some of the ideas that you’ve already learned about him? Russ:

Thanks, Igor. For six months or so I’ve had trouble getting my leg out of the car and back into the car, and I have a doctor who’s actually my friend and he finally said it’s got to be slow-healing or an injury just like the Cowboy defensive back has. It will not heal. I have a lower back injury that’s chronic. It’s not bothering me today but I was almost crushed in an accident when I was a laborer actually. Also in my upper back – back to 1958, I remember when that started. It comes and it goes. Then as we started, I hadn’t thought about this but I approached you with a question. When I’m in the courtroom where I am quite a bit and even here, I worry about my bladder because it’s possibly just age, but that would be something that I would want to see whether that could be improved. So those are my aches and pains.

Igor:

Let’s pause the discussion here a moment. We’ve got a nice clear sense of what is happening to Russ. The kinds of things that I’m already picking up here on are number one this is a six-month thing. It’s not a massively chronic thing. It’s not a usual thing. Normally pain will last for anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, depending on how serious the injury is. Six months is not shall we say excessively chronic. It’s not to the point where it would necessarily be diagnosed as a chronic thing and so on; however, it’s serious enough that it’s definitely going in that direction.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

The thing is we’ve got a doctor’s diagnosis, which is this is a groin injury that’s having problems healing. This is important to me because it logs in the back of my mind the importance or responsibility that I have to educate the client in some kind of movement therapy whether, I’m asking him to go to physiotherapy or to just relax for a while to let the physical body heal. Maybe it’s a question of doing something else, which in this case, we’ll come onto the idea of the Feldenkrais Method. The point is I can’t just do the pain control. I have to give him additional tools to take care of the cause of the pain as well. The second thing that’s going on here or the next thing that’s going on here is he’s got additional pains. He’s got a pain in his lower back and in his shoulder. Remember, he’s mentioned even the shoulder is going back over 50 years – back to 1958. These things have been going on for a while, but because they’re not present right now I’m not going to focus on them. Here’s the reason for that. 1. The pain is not currently present. 2. The pain in the groin is. So I’m going to go after the pain that’s actually physically present because that’s going to be much more shall we say dramatic or more impactful on him. When that diminishes or when that is even overcome, it creates a wonderful moment for him to learn something about the power of his mind. The lessons he learns when he learns to shall we say shut down the pain in his groin injury are the exact same lessons he will need to deal with his lower back and his shoulder injuries as well in order to overcome whatever pain might be there. The chances are pretty high that given that those are pretty intermediary pains – in other words, they come and they go – they may well just disappear entirely from now on as he learns to pay more attention to his body.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

If he gets this pain in his shoulder, rather than trying to get rid of it as he has done in the past, he’s going to be more likely to pay attention to it and reorganize his body, especially if he’s gone down the path of the more physical therapy stuff that we’ve talked about. He’s much more likely to use those things he’s learned in order to readjust his body so that the pain disappears, which basically means he’s no longer putting strain on a weak part of the body. The final thing that he says is a complete irrelevancy. He’s talking about a concern he has about his bladder, about going to the toilet and so on especially when he’s in the courtroom. The reason I say this is an irrelevancy is not because I can’t work with that. I absolutely can. However, this is a pain control seminar. This is a pain control session. If I’m going to work with the bladder and if this is a one-to-one session in a therapy practice, I would take the bladder at the very end of the process – in other words, once we’ve proved everything has gone well with the pain and all the rest of it. Then if there’s spare time, I’ll deal with the bladder, or I’ll invite him to come back for a second session to deal with the bladder because we want to focus on one problem at a time and resolving one problem at a time. It’s fine to go forward with the other stuff as well, but you want to have some small wins, some small successes. It’s particularly important with a new client who is naïve about what hypnosis can do and so on because the confidence that they have in their mind in themselves is going to be a tremendous part of the healing process. It opens a lot of doors to the unconscious mind. Hence, I want to focus down to one simple easy to achieve victory. Once those victories starts coming, you’ll see very quickly they start snowballing into bigger and bigger ones.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Please carry on watching in a moment as the tape continues and watch just how conversationally I separate the issues. I’m not allowing the issue of the bladder to become a part of the issue concerning the pain so that I can have that freedom to work with the pain and get that easy victory I just mentioned. Igor:

Let’s take the idea of the bladder to one side because that’s really not germane to what we’re doing here. Allow me to just jump in here very briefly and just point out the very subtle or natural shall we say conversational thing we’re doing. We’re moving the pain to one side or rather we’re separating the pain from the bladder issue. The thing I want to draw your attention to is also watch my hand movements. They’re every bit as important as part of my communication as what I’m saying. I’m taking the idea of the bladder, which I’ve just represented by placing my hand somewhere in space, and then I just casually dismiss it. I just throw my hand to the side, which tells his unconscious mind to do the same thing. Take this issue of the bladder and just put it to one side. It’s something separate to what we’re doing here. Then of course we’ll focus much more onto what we’re here to do, which is to deal with the pain at hand. We can absolutely work with it, but that’s not the main purpose we’re here. Tell me the experience right now. There are three main areas. You have sort of the leg/groin injury. You have something going on in the lower back and something up on your shoulder. Is that correct?

Russ: Igor:

Right. Just notice how I’m constantly referring back to the client. I’m feeding back or creating a feedback loop here in terms of what he’s saying. This is for two reasons. 1. I want to double check that I understand correctly what’s going on.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual He’s got his pain in the groin. He’s got the lower back and he’s got that shoulder issue as well. That allows me to know that I’m actually working on the right stuff. 2. It does something for him also. It increases the rapport because I’m acknowledging that this stuff is going on. A lot of other people might dismiss his pain, or they might say oh, that’s not a big deal or just take a pill. They go straight into resolving it, which means he is probably feeling very not heard. It’s kind of like the rest of the world moving on by whilst he’s suffering, but no one actually is empathizing with his suffering, which isolates him more and so on. I’m not saying this is entirely the case because he’s very socially well adjusted and so on, but there’s going to be a tendency of that. With a lot of pain patients, pain tends to be very isolating because there’s only so much grumbling they can do before people start getting turned off and stop talking to them basically, or stop talking to them about that sort of thing because they don’t know how to deal with that. By feeding back to him – I hear you, this is where the pain is, this is where the uncomfortableness is and all the rest of it – I’m creating a feedback loop where he’s feeling heard and that relieves that pain of isolation. Another thing that happens at that point is that feedback loop starts cementing in. He likes what he’s hearing. In other words, he’s going to allow me to carry on saying these things and accepting them. It also creates an opportunity for me to begin to create subtle changes, which will happen in a few moments’ time as I start introducing some of the reframes in a couple of minutes’ time. By establishing this feedback loop of him giving me information and me returning the information, I’m creating a kind of yes set. It’s an opening for a piggyback set of suggestions and it takes care of the clients psychologically in the rapport stage. It enhances the rapport because finally the client is feeling that he’s being heard and understood by someone. How do you experience this now? Are any of them uncomfortable right now? Are they okay? How are they going?

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Let’s just pause here very briefly and just notice how we’re now firmly in step three – the pain scale. What I’m trying to establish here before we get into the pain scale is what pain is actually currently present. He’s told me a lot about how his shoulder and his back hurt and so on. A lot of times a client will come in and they will tell you I’ve got all these different aches and pains and so on. They’re usually at a level of seven and so on. When you ask them what it’s at now, they’ll go it’s only a two right now. You see, this is part of how they create the pain, or should I say how they create the suffering element of the pain. They’re remembering how bad it used to be and forgetting to experience the actual moment where it’s a much lower level of suffering; hence, a much greater level of relief. Hence, it becomes more and more chronic because when the physical pain is not high, the remembered pain is. So they’re suffering just as much. Then of course when the physical pain is just up there, they’re still suffering and then of course when it diminishes again, they’re remembering it again. So they’re still suffering. Basically, they never have a respite. They never have a time to pause and recover their strength and so on. What I’m doing here is once again I’m kind of checking in to see where we’re at. I’m going to go after the pain that’s present always as a starting point versus pain that’s absent. Partly because it’s very easy to test how the work is doing then. I’m getting his mind to start making the distinction and it’s also setting up certain ideas for the reframe later on, which is for example that the pain is only temporary. What’s happening right now? Well, right now these things aren’t troubling me. He’s already told me that the pain is temporary, even though his intellect may or may not have caught up to that idea yet. It’s offering me a lot of opportunities by asking that kind of question. Russ:

The groin thing manifests itself on the inside of my thighs, and last night even when I sleep, when I try to roll over I can even get a hip pain to

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual where I think someone else would say gee, I might want to think about a hip replacement. It’s not a whole lot of fun. Igor:

Can you experience it right now?

Russ:

I can feel it here, but if I get up on the stage I’ll feel it. Let’s pause here again for a moment and notice how he’s focused on the first set of the pain. We’ve got a little bit of extra information in terms of how movement causes the pain to intensify. We’re also learning that the pain is changing. In other words, when I’m asking him how is it feeling right now he says well, I can sense it but if I got on the stage I could really create it. Really he’s saying that the pain is actually at a relatively low level at this particular point in time. This is going to be important when we get to the actual solution part because we need to have a reference point. If what we’re doing works, then he must diminish the pain. If we want to prove that it works – which we need to especially with a chronic pain person; otherwise they’ll go home and they’ll recreate it again. If we want to prove that it’s working and create that faith and confidence in the client that’s going to allow them to have the relief for longer periods of time, then once again we need to have a reference point against which he can compare it. That’s what we’re doing right now. You’ll notice that as we carry on in a moment, we’ll do the same with the shoulder and back pain only as these happen to be currently absent we’re not going to be focusing on them particularly much because right now we’re going for that easy victory which is, the pain that’s present and making it become absent.

Igor:

What about in the lower back?

Russ:

No problem there at the moment.

Igor:

And your shoulders?

Russ:

No problem at the moment.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Igor:

Excellent! Very good. What is it you’d like to see, as a result, of all the work we’re doing today? Let’s pause again briefly and let me just point out the importance of the question I just asked there. Those of you who are familiar with the PCAT formula will of course recognize the parameters being sought after here. We know what the pain is – the problem – and now we’re looking for the outcome. What is he looking to do? The second thing about this is not just about what does he want out of this, which of course is to be pain free. That’s going to be a pretty predictable thing that people are going to ask. I’m also testing to find out part of what the problem is. You see, this is an old idea that the solution is the problem or rather his attempts at resolving the problem are causing it to get worse. I’m actually kind of testing a little bit about what he’s done to try and resolve this. What’s his mindset about? As a rule if he’s kind of denying the pain, pushing the pain, pushing through the pain, ignoring the pain, trying to overpower the pain, drug the pain and so on, it’s telling me that his mindset is trying to ignore the unconscious message. That’s going to be part of the work that we’re doing here. Also what if he has unrealistic expectations? What if there is some issue and he says ideally I’d like to be able to run a marathon tomorrow? Well, if he’s got a groin injury that might be a really bad idea. Once again I need to find out where his mind is at because there may be other things I have to correct in order for the pain control work to not only be effective, but also for it to be ethical – in other words, I don’t create a bigger problem by resolving the smaller one, in this case the pain. Typically, you will hear chronic pain control clients – in other words, clients who have chronic pain – use a certain kind of vocabulary. I want to get rid of it, destroy it, cast it out and be free of it and so on. This is an important element because they’re disowning a part of their own experience. To the extent that they disown it, it triggers the old adage what you resist will persist. What you accept you gain the power to transform.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Right now in a few moments’ time as we actually launch into the actual pain control methods – the reframes and all that sort of stuff – you will see exactly that process happening. Part of the reeducation process, part of the reasons for our three key reframes is so that we can get the client to stop resisting the pain but accept the pain, and in doing so gain the power to transform it. That little question I just asked is going to flush out some more of those ideas that are cementing the pain in that there’s something they need to suffer from. Just listen to Russ’s answers and see how much of the kinds of things we’ve just talked about that you can spot for yourself. Russ:

If I can get rid of the pain in my groin area and the hips; that would be wonderful.

Igor:

Excellent! Have a seat again for now. This is a kind of introduction. One thing just as a general comment, just as an aside…. I’d like to jump in here and point a few things out. Because of the nature of seminar, I’m actually teaching as well as demonstrating and so on. My initial intention has only been to interview the four clients, get a sense of where they’re at and once I’ve interviewed all four of them, just basically demonstrating the first three steps, then coming back to them in turn and doing the three reframes and then the actual hypnosis technique and so on. As it happened in the event in the live moment, I kind of got a little carried away and ended up doing the whole pain control demo in one piece. It was appropriate of course as well because people got to see the whole thing in action. The reason I’m pausing here though is because the comments I’m about to make as an aside are not an aside. This is an important principle as a hypnotist, and particularly as a conversational hypnotist. There are no asides in hypnosis. Even if you’re talking to two people and you turn to one person whilst the other one’s in trance and start talking to them about the person in trance, the person in trance will still hear you. They’ll hear every word you’re saying. They’ll absorb it and they’ll accept it as part of a suggestion.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

In the guise of teaching the group something about pain and the nature of pain, I’m actually already beginning some of the reframes that I will be doing. This is something you can use very handily if the client comes in with a helper or a supporter to comfort them. A lot of clients, especially with things like pain and so on, may not want to come in on their own. They may want to come in with a friend, a partner, a loved one, someone they can feel safe around whilst the hypnotist does something to them because hypnosis can still be a little scary for some people. If they do that, it’s a great thing because then you can turn to their friend – their protector shall we say – and in educating their friend, they’re of course getting the education too. Or in other cases if there’s only one person in the room, you can say the same kind of things directly to the client and they’ll still have a similar impact. It’s just in the context that you’re seeing it now, please don’t assume that the aside is something that’s aside from the therapy. The aside is part of the pain control therapy. It’s part of the beginning cycles of reeducating the client in terms of how his thinking is going so that his thinking is no longer promoting the suffering or the pain. It’s opening the mind up to the transformation that’s about to happen. … that I would definitely make to the client here is, you realize that – actually you may as well keep this because I’m going to have a quick little chat with you as well. You realize that the sensation you’re having in your leg, in your groin area, it has a function. You’ve possibly injured yourself in some way and your body’s telling you that there are certain ways of moving that you don’t want to be doing or engaging in because it’s going to prevent your body from healing properly. So it has a purpose.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Let’s pause the recording again for a moment and just point out that we’ve now moved onto stage four of the seven-stage pain control protocol. We’re now into the reframing stage. Notice that the first reframe I happen to be using in this particular instance is the idea of purpose. In other words, the pain has a purpose and that purpose is positive. From everything that he’s said so far, to him the pain is meaningless, it’s pointless, it’s just harmful so in other words, it hurts him and he wants to get rid of it. In order to not want to get rid of the pain and to be able to accept the pain, I need to reframe the idea that this pain is bad for him, that it’s harmful to him. I have to show that it has a positive purpose because when he has a positive purpose, we can explore that as the point of transformation. This is a very important thing and I want you to watch this as it happens live in the moment. As I present the general idea that pain has a purpose, which is to protect the body from harm and so on. It’s accepted. You can see him very happily saying yes, that’s right, this is true, this is so. As soon as I want him to accept that it’s true for him right now with this specific pain. His mind has actually made an exception to the general rule that pain is a useful signal from the body to protect it from harm. He’s made an exception from it and you can clearly hear him coming out with it in just a few moments’ time once I switch from the first level of the reframe, which is the purpose of the signal is positive, which he accepts quite happily, to can you accept that this is true about this particular pain? Watch what happens when I make that switch of ideas or shall we say I am part of the idea of the reframe. Watch him reject that out of hand at first, and I’ll show you how we deal with that in a moment when we get to that too. Therefore, removing it entirely or removing it without leaving something in its place to remind you of keeping yourself healthy, that’s not necessarily a good thing either, right?

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

Russ:

So they say, but I don’t really care about what the true medical problem is. I’ll live with that.

Igor:

There we have it. Here we have the root cause of his mindset, which is allowing the pain to become more and more chronic. The whole cycle is now becoming clear. The signal is there, he’s ignoring the signal, he’s doing things to put strains in the wrong parts of his body as a result of which of course is that he now is increasing the injury so that there’s a bigger pain signal and the whole cycle continues. We need to be able to break that cycle somehow, and that’s exactly what we’ll be doing here. That’s the whole purpose of this reframe as the purpose of the pain is a signal. We need to get him to understand that, because as soon as that happens you will see the transformation actually beginning at this point. The other two reframes – the idea of time and the idea of the sensation – are relatively minor and I may even skip one or two of them at times because at this time the idea of the purpose of the signal is the key one that is really causing him to develop the more chronic set of symptoms. Perfect. Now a lot of clients will have that because when they’re in pain, they just want it gone and that’s exactly why the pain is still there. This is a very important phase in the whole pain control moment right now. In fact this is the turning point. We have found the main problem, which is the idea of how he relates to the purpose of the pain signal, and he’s rejected our initial attempts at reframing it. He’s accepted it as a general idea, but he rejected it specific to him in this situation. I need to basically, get him to the point where he can accept it, so I’m using a little tactic here from the Rapid Reframing Master Class, if you’re familiar with it. I’m turning the objection on itself. In other words, his objection is I don’t care about that. I just want the pain gone. My reply is that’s why the pain is still there. In other words, because you don’t care about that, the pain will not go. The formula in his mind is I don’t care

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual about pain, I want it to go. My formula here is when you care about the pain, it will go and because you’re not caring about the pain, it can’t go yet. That’s the kind of mindset behind it. I want to be very careful about these sorts of things. The problem here is what I do not want to be doing is suggesting that he’ll be in pain forever unless he does what I say. That’s a terrible thing to suggest to someone. What I want to do however is give him a reason for why he’s been in pain up till now. By changing whatever he’s been doing up until now, he gets the chance to create some freedom for himself to move beyond the pain, which is exactly what starts happening. I would like you to observe a few things happening, as this happens. 1. I want you to notice just how Russ’s behavior changes. Watch how his eyes get more fixated, his breathing shifts and you can almost see his focus internalizing as he starts processing these ideas. He’s now as far as I’m concerned deep in trance, in a remedial trance that will help him resolve the actual pain control. As soon as I see that expression and that contemplativeness and that quiet accepting of the ideas I’m presenting – and remember it took a little bit of shock to push back on his rejection of an idea to get to this point. It’s kind of like an instant induction in some ways but as soon as I get those signals, I know that my doorway is open. I know that what I’m saying is starting to have an impact, so I’m running on the right course. 2. The other thing I’ll be doing is I’ll be very careful not to close that door by accident. How might I do that? Well, in one word arrogance. If I say ha, ha, ha, I know it all so much better than you, you silly man, you’ve been doing all these things and you’re wrong – no one likes to be wrong. No one likes to have their face

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual rubbed in how wrong they are. No one enjoys having someone else loitered over them telling them how much better they can do things and know things. If you want to do it that way well there’s a huge rapport breaker there. Can you work that way? It’s possible, but you’re adding obstacles that really aren’t necessary. What I’m doing here at the same time, as reestablishing my original reframe, the idea of the purpose of the signal is positive. In order to reestablish that reframe and I’m already beginning to induce that trance and so on, I’m also throwing in some ideas that are going to be platitudes, that are going to be placaters, that are going to be saying I’m with you on this. It’s rapport building stuff – I understand why you want this. I understand why you would think that. It’s very natural to think that. It’s very common to think that. You’re not wrong or bad or stupid to come to that conclusion, even though it’s not helping you or serving you. These are all shall we say emotional get-out clauses. It shows that I’m not attacking his self-esteem. I’m not attacking him as a person when I say that the idea is wrong. It allows him to separate his identity from the idea so that he can let go of the idea and preserve his identity. If on the other hand I make the mistake of becoming arrogant, then the idea will tend to collapse into his identity – that’s my idea, you’re attacking my idea, you’re attacking me – and now I have to work through all the defense mechanisms designed to protect the identity, which I do not want to do. To sum up, as we carry on with the video clip, please watch all those things happening. • Watch the response that Russ is giving us when he goes into a trance and starts contemplating these things.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual • Watch how I’m throwing out these placaters to make sure that he separates his identity from the idea so that he can change the idea without feeling that I’ve attacked his identity. • Notice how smoothly he accepts the ideas now because they don’t feel like an attack anymore. They don’t seem to be impinging on him that much anymore. • At that point you’ll also notice the first shift occurring in the nature of the pain itself. That’s exactly why the pain is still there, and I understand why you’re saying that. I really do. I really understand why you’re saying that because it’s really not a nice thing to be walking around with that kind of sensation. Right? Russ:

That’s correct.

Igor:

It makes the smallest things difficult – coming up stairs, sitting down for breakfast, going to bed at night, getting up in the morning, going to the toilet in between. Every single action, you have to be more cautious, more careful and slower. I can understand that it’s really an unpleasant way to be living your day-to-day life. I’d like to jump in here again and point some things out that I already mentioned to you a moment ago and you see them in action right now. Do you notice how, for the last 10 or 15 seconds or however long it’s been, that I have given him a litany of rapport building yes sets? You have this I understand how it’s painful to do this. I understand how it’s painful to do that. I understand how you get to this conclusion because of these things, and these experiences and these experiences. This is a technique that I call hypnotic mindreading. I know for a fact that pain is going to be very debilitating in many different ways, and I’m throwing those things out because they’ll build rapport and because they establish a yes pattern in the mind, which will counteract his earlier rejection of my idea, which is that the purpose of the signal is something useful.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

I’m throwing all those ideas out and of course by saying I understand how terrible it is the position you’re in, by empathizing with him as a person, I’m acknowledging and accepting him as a person. In other words, his identity is safe and yet I’m still challenging the idea that he presented. It’s a very emotionally binding way of challenging an idea whilst standing on the side of the individual. It’s a very powerful place to be because it’s you and me against the world. That idea by the way is the world harming you versus it’s me against you, and that idea is something that you have got wrong, it’s bad, you’re bad for even thinking it and I’m going to fight you for it until I win. That’s a very different mindset. I know people who can work that way and I’ve seen tremendous work being done that way. However, you are stacking the odds against you, making life a lot harder. Because we’ve had this crucial rejection a moment ago, I’m doing a few steps backwards in terms of I’m backpedaling to reestablish the relationship, reestablish the acceptability mindset – the yes mindset – to establish a deeper rapport by going on the identity level – I understand you, I empathize with you, I’m with you. At the same time I’m slowly leveraging towards the idea that just because all these things are painful, all these things are bad, all these things are debilitating and all these experiences are there does not mean you need to conclude whatever it is you’ve concluded. In fact when you conclude something else, you’ll have the freedom to do all these other things. That’s kind of what is subtly being implied here and that’s what I’m slowing build up towards. Which is why you’d just rather have it just disappear. Russ:

That’s true.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

Igor:

So aside from all the reasons you have for it to disappear, what are the reasons for it not to? I’d like to jump in here once again and just point out the turning point here. Up until this point – because we’ve found the key thing that we need to work through, the key issue that’s going to allow us to now easily resolve the pain with virtually any technique. Notice how I’m throwing in some Mind Bending Language now in support of the rapid reframe that started this whole thing earlier on. Just to remind that change has happened, we’ve had an idea – the idea that the purpose of the signal is positive. The idea in general was accepted but then rejected on the specific level of the pain or his specific pain right now. So, we did some backpedaling. I threw in a rapid reframe, which got him thinking, it got his mind opened, it stopped his thoughts for a little while that opened the mind up a bit. Then I softened the blow a little by throwing in all kinds of rapport building statements and hypnotic mind reads. All this leading towards an implication that even though all the information he used, to come to the conclusion that he just wants it to end is correct and useful and right and so on, there is another way of approaching this whole thing that he hasn’t considered yet. That’s kind of the implication there. Now comes the point of transformation. In other words, now that we’ve established or stabilized the mind and got a yes pattern again and his emotions are stabilized so that he doesn’t feel any threat in any way. I empathized with him to do all that, now I can come back to my original idea and I’m using mind bending language here in order to do that.

32

What is the idea here? Well, you have all these reasons to reject what I’ve said, but of course you have all these reasons for accepting it as well. Now I can’t say it quite as directly as that because if his logic kicks in, chances are I’ll kick start again the old logic circuit that says I don’t care about that; I care about not having the pain anymore. Hypnosis Pain Control Demonstrations ©Street Hypnosis All Rights Reserved

Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

What I need to do is create a new kind of logic, a new thought pattern that is going to allow him to interact with his own body in a new way, which is going to allow him to diminish or completely remove the pain. That’s kind of what the mind bending is starting to do. Please watch Russ’s response. I also want you to notice that technically speaking my little mind bending language trick failed. In other words, he contemplated the idea so briefly that he came straight back with a pushback. The original pattern failed in terms of causing a change. However, it doesn’t matter one little bit because in order for that little attempt to fail, the way he’s pushing back is going to give me more material to make it succeed. How does he push back? Listen on and think to yourself how would you deal with the kind of pushback that he’s giving me right now? Russ:

The reasons for it not to? Oh, I’ve considered well maybe I’ve got lung cancer or some such thing. I don’t think so but if I do, okay so be it.

Igor:

Your doctor’s already checked those things out. You’ve got a medical referral right here.

Russ:

I have a medical referral.

Igor:

So would it be fair to say your doctor has checked all the possibilities out?

Russ:

He doesn’t think there’s any chance in the world that that’s it. All right, let’s jump in here again and notice this is his second attempt at rejecting the idea. We’re getting closer to the hub now, but he’s still defending his original position. His defense has now become relatively spurious. In other words, he’s going on about I was thinking about maybe I have bone cancer and so on. If I allow his thoughts to continue down that path, it’s a very slippery, sliding slope. There are so many what if scenarios. I mean the mind can generate a billion

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual different what if scenarios, all of them disastrous, all of them destructive and all of them are going to increase the pain in some way or another. It’s a bad place to be in. I need to be able to out-frame that idea as quickly as possible. This is where the medical referral becomes a great handy piece as well. Aside from the ethics of needing a doctor to check a person out for health reasons before you work with them, the medical referral also gives you the right to appeal to a higher authority – in this case the doctor. The doctor’s checked you out. Did he say you have bone cancer? No, in fact the opposite – it’s almost impossible that I have bone cancer. Now I have the weight of science my side, as well as the weight of the reason that I’m beginning to present, which is slowly but surely diminishing the strength of his own argument. Notice that all these things may sound like very logical arguments like a debate in school and so on, not the kind of debate you have in a politician’s platform or something like that where people are preaching to convert you in some respects and it’s not a debate of logic. This is a debate of pseudo logic. His defense was I might have bone cancer. It’s not logical. It’s basically, a rationalization of an irrational thought, which in some respects all thoughts are irrational, I guess. It’s him trying to defend his position as to why he’s holding onto the pain the way he does. Because I know that it’s not rational, I know I can’t just point out that it’s irrational. Once again that might be a personal attack, which will be taken emotionally with the appropriate defense mechanisms. I get to appeal to an external authority – the medical doctor here – to say you realize that what you’re saying is not relevant here. Then he says yes, I realize it’s no longer relevant. Hence, all that he’s said there and the strength behind his argument starts to diminish.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual So if I understood you correctly, the diagnosis from the doctor – not from me – was that the mostly likeliest thing is you strained a muscle and it requires time to heal. It’s just taking extra time to do that. Russ:

It’s his opinion it’s a groin injury. Notice how we’ve developed that idea here. I use a little trick here where I say look, this is not my opinion. This is the doctor’s opinion. Once again it’s a great way to appeal to authority saying I have no interest in this argument. I have no interest in winning. I just want to understand the situation, and the situation is the expert opinion, the scientist in the room says that this is going on. Notice also how I’m kind of appending something to that. I’m actually teasing it a little bit. Up until now the conversation was the doctor has said you don’t have bone cancer, which is out-framing his objection that he might have bone cancer. What I’m also doing is I’m then attaching onto that general idea the confirmation that this is just a small thing. It’s only a groin injury and if it’s only a groin injury, well what does that imply? Number one it’s resolvable. Number two it can be healed. Number three whatever he’s doing right now is not allowing it to heal and that happens to be my best guess at what’s going on right now. By getting him to accept that medical opinion, shall we say, I’m opening the door once again to go right back to the original purpose reframe, which is the purpose here is to protect an injury so it can heal. As soon as you accept that, the pain will disappear.

Russ:

… of some sort.

Igor:

So, to the extent that you keep pushing that particular muscle, its ability to heal will be slowed down or retarded or even prevented. Would that be fair?

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Russ:

That’s fair. That’s fair. Notice how I’ve used a much milder form of mind bending language here. It’s actually almost invisible at this point and it sounds very logical because in the way I use mind bending language it’s always very logical. Once again I’m still reframing this core idea, and he’s slowly maneuvering himself into a position where he’s accepting the idea that by ignoring the pain, he’s doing behaviors that are making the injury worse, which means it can’t heal, which means there will be more pain that’s the chain that he’s beginning to accept now. It’s taken us a long time to get to that point, but very slowly it’s dawning on him the idea that it’s okay to accept the pain long enough for it to disappear. That’s the kind of idea being presented to him but we’re taking it step by step because we can’t let any objections stand between that and his pure acceptance of the idea. So here’s something for you to think about. Just consider this now. I want you to notice how in these last few seconds he seems to be calming down again. He’s not pushing back as much. Again his breathing has shifted a little bit downwards. He’s a little bit calmer, so whatever emotional stuff we stirred up when he started pushing back has started to recede. It’s not gone entirely yet, but it’s flowing in the right direction. Let’s put it that way. Now is the time that I’m going to present my next major move or reintroduce the idea of the reframe in a kind of mind bending way. It’s a bit of a classical standard reframe that I learned from John Overdurf I believe. It presents the same idea again in a slightly more hypnotic mind bending kind of way. What I want you to pay particular attention to though is the way I have just set that up. I’m not just presenting the idea to him casually because I’ve already seen him casually dismiss something.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

What I want to do is to have him really think about it because if he’s really thinking about it, it already forces his brain into a different gear, which allows me to create a little bit more hypnotic kind of context. Before I present the idea I say first, there’s nothing I expect from you. I don’t expect you to agree or disagree with this idea. What does that do? It turns the critical factor off a little bit because it says I do not need a conclusion from you. All I require from you is a contemplation of the idea. This is a very roundabout or slightly sneaky way of saying I need you to accept the idea without rejecting it because the analysis factor hasn’t been there. If he can contemplate the idea for a while without rejecting it, shall we say, as a knee-jerk reflex, that’s a tremendous victory because now the information has gotten past the critical factor and a true analysis can take place? He might still reject it by the way. It’s still very possible but now if he’s going to reject it, he will either reject it for sensible reasons or because there’s some other unconscious conflict going on, so either I uncover the unconscious conflict, which is great, or he has a genuine concern so there’s an ecological issue there, which is also great. Either way, that’s information I need to know if it exists. As it happens, it does not. Just watch in a moment’s time as I present the reframe to him once again in a different form, and in a form that is a very standard form for myself. Particularly, I want you to pay attention to the pauses because I’m actually saying many things to him at the same time, and the pause allows several layers of different meanings to emerge and allows his mind to almost be kind of caught up. It’s another way of creating a mind bending moment by presenting information that seems to have one thing being said and then right after the pause. It’s called on run-on sentence.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual There’s actually more information that’s still part of the same sentence that’s coming that actually changes the whole meaning of it, and then of course he has to reevaluate the whole thing. That kind of reevaluation process kind of trips the mind up a little bit, which is great because it means the critical factor is less likely to come and jump in and do something because he’s too surprised. He’s now just contemplating the idea in its raw format, which is exactly what I need it to be doing. You can have anything you want in life provided you pay… attention. If you don’t pay attention, you’ll pay with pain. It is a simple signal to remind you to pay attention, and to the extent that you haven’t, I am not surprised… that you have. Now I have a feeling that something’s already beginning to shift inside… Let’s pause right here. We are now at a watershed moment. We have now moved from the problem side of the equation – in other words, he’s having the pain, he’s fighting the pain, he’s resisting it and so on – into the solution side. It hasn’t entirely evaporated yet, but the transformation has begun. Notice how the little mini induction I presented here was all around the same idea which is, the signal has a purpose. Pain has an important message. If you listen to the message, the pain will go. If you ignore the message, the pain will stay. That’s essentially all that I’ve been saying. Because I’ve been using that little mind bending language opening, and because I’ve observed his mannerisms, his breathing rate, his focus, his gaze and all the rest of it becoming more and more hypnotic in that conversational sort of trance, I know that I’m now in a position to make more suggestions. That’s all that follow-up stuff you saw. You probably heard my voice quality changing, developing more of a sing-song sort of rhythm, the tonality shift down a little bit just like a did then, and the idea that I’m presenting in all of that is to reinforce that same key idea that he’s basically rejected three or four minutes ago.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

Basically, all this work has been around overcoming the objection to that idea from a few moments ago. Because all this stuff is happening, I can also make an educated guess. I don’t know this for a fact but it’s a pretty educated guess that the experience he’s got has shifted. How can I make this educated guess? Well, what I’m not saying is that his pain is gone. That’s too much of a step for me say right now; however, because I’ve observed trance mannerisms and I’ve seen him not rejecting the idea or pushing back on the idea in the way he’s been doing at other times, I have a pretty good idea that he’s in a conversational trance. I know that when someone’s in a conversational trance that they tend to feel more relaxed, more comfortable, a slight feeling of euphoria tends to develop and so on. I know these things tend to happen, so if I make an educated guess saying that changes are already happening aren’t they, well, on one level it’s totally true, we’re always changing anyways. But, in another sense I’m just mindreading once again what I see is already happening and there is that implication all the time that the pain control is beginning to work. It’s a presupposition being used in order to overcome the pain. Of course in the actual course itself you see how powerful presuppositions can be. … as you make that realization, because to the extent that you pay attention and make a genuine commitment to yourself to pay attention, to take it a little easier for a while, will there be any reason left for that pain? Russ: Igor:

Less. Let’s jump back in here again. Now we’re beginning to see that we’re on the slow path to progress. Has he resolved the pain entirely? Not yet, and you can tell this because when I throw that conversational postulate – is there any reason for it to remain – he shakes his head no. That’s an unconscious response, which says the unconscious mind is on my side and he consciously says less, which is an interesting conflict.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual The unconscious mind is giving me an incontrovertible no response. In other words, it’s agreeing with me. Yet his conscious mind is a little bit more cautious. This gives me more information again. It tells me that I can’t rush the process. I can’t just reveal and say ha, ha, fantastic, it’s all gone now. What I have to do is just slowly allow him or his conscious mind to catch up to the idea that his unconscious mind is already changing things. The transformation has already started to take effect. The changes are already starting to occur. He hasn’t paid attention to the sensation of discomfort or pain or anything like that for a while because he’s too wrapped up in the ideas I’ve present to him, which by the way is a form of hypnotic dissociation – another form of pain control. These are all kind of layered into the psychology of what we’re doing here. Then as soon as I see his response, I know I’m on the right path. I know that he’s in the program so to speak, and I also know that I have to keep going down this path in order for him to have his conscious mind catch up to the fact that good things are beginning to happen. Much less, right? Russ:

Much less.

Igor:

You can teach your body to move in slightly different ways that will accommodate the healing of that particular part of the body. I want to jump in here to point something out. The main reframe of course is the purpose – the purpose of the pain is to protect the body. What I’ve just said – the idea that you can learn to move in different ways to protect your body – kind of supports that idea of the reframe. However, there are many things going on at the same time. On the one side yes, I’m absolutely supporting my main reframe, which I need him to accept for this whole thing to work. On the other side, I’m throwing in an ecology check. In other words, when the pain is gone I know that I can’t have him

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual rushing around like a bull in a china shop. I need him to be more careful with his body so that it can heal. Once again this idea has got to be presented to him, and I’m presenting it to him right now so that later on when we get to that stage, it seems unfamiliar to him. It also is talking directly to his unconscious mind, which is basically, taking care of the unconscious concern. The concern of the unconscious mind is he’s running around and hurting me more. So I’m saying to him I understand. If you learn to move differently, however, you won’t need the pain anymore, will you unconscious mind? The answer is no. Of course, his conscious mind is responding to the logic of the idea, whereas his unconscious mind in terms of the emotion, the emotional content in his tonality, his response and so on is realizing that there is a point to the relief so he can safely let go of the pain. The emphasis here is on safely because his movement will change in order to accommodate the injury and allow it to heal. And in doing so, aren’t you paying attention? Russ:

I’m paying attention in that way.

Igor:

How is the groin doing now? I’d like to jump in here right now. We’re about six minutes or seven minutes into the whole process from starting from scratch, and already the transformation is taking a good step forward. What I want to point out here is this is the first time that I’ve taken his attention back to the groin since I asked about the pain scale. I needed the pain scale for a point of contrast, and this is the first time I’ve asked about it after that.

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Why now? Well, there are several reasons. Number one he’s already starting to accept all the reframes. I’ve given him plenty of opportunities to push back and he has not. Hypnosis Pain Control Demonstrations ©Street Hypnosis All Rights Reserved

Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

More importantly, in that last sentence notice how he has absolutely without any reservation accepted my idea. In fact he’s built on it. If you missed it, please go back and watch this. This is an important thing. I say because you’re paying attention to it, right? Not only does he accept the idea that paying attention can reduce pain, but he’s nodding his head unconsciously and he’s saying I’m paying attention in that way. What this tells me is he’s changed the nature of the relationship to the pain because before he could not, not pay attention to pay anyway. He couldn’t ignore it. He was trying to and that’s what was not working. What he’s saying is the quality or the type of attention he was placing on the pain was different to the quality or type of attention he’s placing on it now. How can the quality of attention change? Well, that all is a part of his attitude. As his mindset changes, as his attitude changes, as his ideas and thoughts about the pain change, his whole experience or relationship to the pain change, which means the quality of his attitude has changed. His attention has changed. So from being negative attention – I don’t want you – it flips to positive attention – what have you got to teach me; how can I listen to you? This is a crucial moment. Now the pain control is easy. As soon as I have this point, as soon as I have his mind in the right place – and notice I’ve got lots of little tests along the way and some of them he’s failed, he’s rejected me and I had to work a little harder. Then others like these ones now, he’s accepting them, so I know I’m on a roll now. At this point as far as I’m concerned I’m pretty much done. The rest of the session is cleanup work. The rest of the session is to make sure that: 1. First, he recognizes consciously the pain is gone. 2. Secondly, that he makes sure that when he leaves here it continues that way.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

3. Thirdly, that he does it in a safe way for his body by learning physical ways of moving and so on. 4. Fourthly, to cement in the mindset that he has right now. As far as I’m concerned, the hard work is over. Now it’s just mop-up and cleanup duty. It’s pretty straightforward kind of stuff. Russ:

It’s not bothering me at the moment.

Igor:

It’s not bothering you at the moment, is it? Was it a moment ago?

Russ:

It was sensitive.

Igor:

It was sensitive. So you’re telling me it’s already changing. Let me just jump in here. Notice how I’m really belaboring this point. I’m getting him to compare where he is now to where he was a moment ago. Hence, the importance of the pain scale that we talked about earlier on. By acknowledging that right now there’s a difference in his experience of his groin to just a few moments ago, literally just a few minutes ago, his conscious mind is getting the opportunity to catch up to the fact that things have happened. This is so important because the conscious mind is the one that’s going to be running the thought loops that are going to maintain whatever is going to be there. His conscious mind could create thought loops of more pain in the future, which will of course destroy the pain control session. His conscious mind can also create thought loops that say my God, I can’t believe this has happened, this is amazing, I’m so happy, and accept the idea of change and in so doing of course reinforce it.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual It’s kind of like creating a new belief system around the idea of pain relief for him. Of course he’s also getting the opportunity to check into his body and actually feel it because once the pain goes, it’s very typical for clients to try and make it come back again as their point of contrast – like my God, I can’t believe it went that easily. What if it doesn’t stay gone? That’s another kind of issue. I want to watch how he reacts. I want to watch what he says and does because if he gets into that mindset, that could be another little trap that I need to break. Just watch on to his reaction, but right now we’re just getting his intellect catching up to the fact that something’s happened, that it’s good, and that the unconscious mind gets to have free reign to let more of that sort of stuff happen. Russ:

I would say it might be changing. I think it’s changed.

Igor:

So it’s already changing, but you don’t quite know how it changed, do you?

Russ:

No. Another interesting part of the whole hypnotic negotiation we’re performing here, notice how when Russ responds to the idea that he’s changing it’s not, an unequivocal response. He’s not saying absolutely 100% I know I’m changing. He’s saying I think I’m changing. I believe I’m changing. So there could still be a doubt there. I want to make sure that doubt does not interfere with the unconscious processing that is going on and it’s creating the relief because the unconscious mind will have a conflicting set of instructions otherwise. One set of instructions is to do the pain relief, which is what we’ve been talking about all this time. Another one is this can’t work, which could be from his disbelief, which is a self-suggestion. I want to make sure that I create kind of

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual conscious/unconscious dissociation so that any doubts the conscious mind might have cannot affect the work the unconscious mind is doing. What I’m about to do now is called the non-awareness set, which is a classic form of the conscious-unconscious dissociation. There are many versions of the conscious-unconscious dissociation. This is just a very subtle one. Essentially, the idea here is I’m presenting the idea that change is occurring. He doesn’t know how it’s happening but it’s continuing without him doing something. Then slowly, I’ll build up to the idea that change will continue whether or not he tries to resist it. In other words, proving the unconscious mind is stronger and all the time I’m basically giving the unconscious mind permission to do the healing work outside of conscious awareness and outside of conscious influence in case there’s any, shall we say, negative ideas or doubts and so on that might undo that work. Yet there it is, right? Russ:

Right.

Igor:

The only thing you do know is that you did one thing differently in the last five minutes that you weren’t doing before, right?

Russ:

That’s right.

Igor:

And what’s that?

Russ:

Paying attention.

Igor:

That’s right.

Russ:

Focusing upon it so I can alleviate it.

Igor:

That’s right.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Another watershed moment just happened here. He is now taking responsibility for the change. When I’m asking him about doing something different in the last five minutes or so, this is an invitation once again to allow the conscious mind to catch up to an event that’s happening unconsciously already, which is the fact that the quality of the attention has changed. His whole attitude to the pain has started to shift, as a result, the pain is alleviated. The main thing to watch here is notice how unequivocal he is about the whole idea of his attitude changing. He’s totally 100% onboard with that. There is no hesitation, no doubt, no hedging language, no ifs or buts, no maybes, no probables. He’s 100% clear on the fact that he is now shifted his attitude, and he’s starting to explain to me my own ideas in a very different way, in a way that I would never explain them, which is perfect. He tells me that they’re now his ideas because he’s running with them. After all, Russ is the person who comes in with the idea that he can focus on the pain in order to alleviate it. I never actually made that statement. I implied it a huge amount, but I never actually put the dots together for him like that. He did that all by himself, which is another example of him accepting the idea whilst he’s doing it. You’ll also notice that the way he’s saying it is very different. His sound, his rhythm, his tonality – all these things have changed from when he was talking about it beforehand. That’s another great sign of what’s going on. Initially part of the maneuver was just to distract his conscious mind from the unconscious process so that it doesn’t interfere too much and he doesn’t get tempted to do something like shift his leg around so that he can feel the pain again and so on. It’s a bit of a distracting maneuver, but at the same time of course I’m using the distracting maneuver to cement some other part of the work in. In this case it’s

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual the idea that if you focus differently, if your attention changes, your experience changes. The pain disappears. The pain diminishes. He’s having that experience now. He’s buying into that experience consciously, and that’s a great place to be because now we can go for the full pain control itself. Notice as I carry on now that I’m going to take that fundamental shift in his mindset and I’m going to ratify it. I’m going to confirm it. I’m going to accentuate it. I’m going to encourage it. I’m basically doing another little mini induction, a little hypnotic blitz of these ideas that he’s now different, that he’s now improved, that he is now no longer needing the pain because he has changed and all these other things are happening. Listen as I put these ideas out to him in a more conversational hypnotic blitz kind of style. It really reinforces what’s going on so that his conscious mind gets more and more into the program now as his unconscious mind of course proves to him more and more the wisdom of doing so. You’re learning to focus on yourself in a new way, in a very important way. In the past you were focusing on the sensation because you wanted to get rid of it and your body increased the sensation because there’s no way it wanted you to ignore it. But now that you’re paying attention, now that the message is being heard, there’s really no need for it anymore, is there? Russ:

No need. This is wonderful stuff. Notice how he’s just said no need. There’s no need for me to have pain anymore. This is a beautiful moment. This tells me several things. He’s not in pain anymore. I haven’t specifically asked him about that yet. In other words, do you think you’ve changed completely, is the pain gone and

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual so on – but he’s volunteered it for me by saying no, there’s no need for the pain. This is another golden opportunity for him to push back if he had any fears or concerns or doubts that in the future the pain might come back again, which is a relatively common fear for people to have. His answer just told me that he doesn’t have that fear or that concern. However, because he doesn’t have that fear or concern doesn’t mean that I may not have it as a therapist. I want to make sure that when he goes home, this change sticks. As part of that, I’ve got to give him a coping mechanism if the pain comes back again, which might happen if the injury gets worse or if he does something – for example, he over-exerts himself or he does something that is going to damage him further and so on. I don’t want him to think just because he has a little twinge of pain again that suddenly the whole pain control has failed and the whole thing is now bad, it’s not working anymore and so on. This is called a recovery strategy. I want him to be able to recover from a relapse of some sort, so I’m going to give his unconscious mind some reasons or some tools for interacting with him on a conscious level. The pain now becomes a message. Essentially what we’re doing here is this. There’s no need for the pain, so you can be pain free for the rest of your life. However, you might experience some pain from time to time. If that happens, it’s probably going to be because your unconscious mind needs your attention to be somewhere, to not do something in particular like don’t move your leg that way and so on.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual That tells him then that in the future if he has pain, he doesn’t get disheartened and demoralized that it’s not working anymore. Instead he becomes curious about how he needs to change himself, his own behaviors, in order to alleviate the pain again. This is a very empowering thing for him of course because now he can go into the future and if things do go wrong, he can self-medicate. He can investigate himself and find a better way of doing things, which will relieve the pain again. Once again the power rests firmly with him now and not me because I won’t be there with him for the rest of his life really. Now I realize from time to time the sensation may return. It may return as just a sensation or as a mild experience of pain and you know why that would happen, don’t you? The only reason we’re going to pause here is I’ve pretty much done what I said I would do, which is to start introducing the idea that in the future pain can be a signal from the body to let him know that he may be overdoing things a little bit. However, what I also want to point out is how I’m introducing one of the other crucial reframes at this point. I didn’t want to introduce it upfront because in resolving the issue around the purpose of the signal of the pain, in negotiating that hypnotically, that already caused the pain relief to occur. However, the idea of relabeling the pain to a sensation is still an important one, and it will be very important in the recovery strategy so that he doesn’t get sucked into the suffering of the pain. He gets to be curious about the meaning of a sensation. So, those are totally different states of mind, whilst physically or physiologically the exact same conditions are occurring. That means the curiosity mindset is more likely to lead him down the path of the resolution versus the suffering mindset, which is more likely to reintroduce the wrong or the poor idea that I have to get away from the pain, I’ve got to fight the pain in some ways.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual By relabeling it a sensation and getting him to accept that, it gives him an unconscious tool in the future that if sensations do come back, he doesn’t have to suffer from them, which means he can free himself from them again without falling into old bad mental habits. To get your attention. To remind you that what you’ve just engaged in is something you should probably not be doing for a little while, right? Russ:

Right.

Igor:

So you’re maybe lying in bed at night, you feel like turning one way and suddenly you have a sensation. Nothing unpleasant but something that reminds you that you best keep lying the way you are… Let me jump in again and notice how we’re still developing this idea of sensation versus pain, and I’m really emphasizing that he can have a sensation without having to suffer from it. Secondly, we’re also introducing the ecology again in a more concrete sort of way. The example is you’re sleeping at night and you turn over, and there’s a sensation. Not a pain, a sensation that reminds you to lie still. Essentially what I’m saying is your body will teach you how not to move through that signal. If you listen to the signal, it won’t be necessary anymore. If you ignore the signal and turn over when your body’s telling you not to, sure the pain will come back because you’ll have exerted yourself in a way that’s going to damage yourself further. But if you listen and do what your body’s asking of you, then there won’t be any need for future pain anymore. That’s kind of an establishing of that ecology point of view and really getting him to understand it so that he can work with it on a day-to-day basis too. … or maybe turning a different way and you know what I mean by that, don’t you?

Russ:

I do.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

Igor:

As you’re thinking of all these things, check back in with your groin and notice how it feels different. Once again here is another check of the whole system. Up until this point, he’s been very enthusiastic, 100% onboard and he’s really accepting all these ideas. Given that he’s so positive and he’s been so accepting of all the ideas versus earlier on when he was actually pretty rejecting of them, I now go back to the groin and I take all this kind of change work as a new resource to apply to the groin. Notice how the groin has changed now or how it’s different now. This is a classic presupposition again, presupposing that further improvements have occurred. It is also an educated guess and a suggestion all rolled into one. Notice how he answers it in a much more unambiguous way, in a much more direct and purposeful way than before. Now as he starts doing that, as he for the first time actually says he’s feeling comfortable without any kind of language that hedges against it and says oh, it’s a little bit better or perhaps I’m doing it, perhaps something’s changing, I think it’s changing and so on, he is 100% onboard. I am comfortable. It has worked. Now I’m going to cement that in. How do you do that? That’s called a reality strategy. You’ll hear me saying it as we go into this in a moment. The whole purpose of me saying that is for him to now backwards rationalize an unconscious experience. The fact is his unconscious mind created the pain relief. He thinks consciously that his attention did that and it was part of the equation. This is the perfect situation. By asking him how he did it, I don’t care what the response is. I want him to either acknowledge that his unconscious mind is doing it, he has no idea how it happens but it does, and that gives him absolute faith and confidence in the future that someone’s on his side taking care of it for him.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

Or he can tell me that he’s done something specifically consciously on purpose to make it happen – in this case the attention – which is also perfect because now he can go into the future with full confidence that if the pain comes back, he’s got power over it by focusing on it differently. Whichever way he goes with it, it’s a win-win. It’s a beautiful double bind. Either he knows what’s going on – in which case he can do it again – or he doesn’t know what’s going on – in which case something that’s protecting him does know what’s going on and will continue to protect him in the future. How is that? Russ:

Feeling comfortable.

Igor:

It’s feeling comfortable already. How do you do that?

Russ:

By telling it I’m paying attention.

Igor:

That’s right. That’s right and it feels good to pay attention, doesn’t it?

Russ:

It feels good to have a different approach.

Igor:

That’s right. It feels a lot better than trying to ignore it, right?

Russ:

I can see the insight. I want to jump in here a little bit and make a couple of notes here. Notice how the change has pretty much taken effect right now. Notice how Russ has lit up as a human being. He’s much more smiley. His humor is there. He’s feeling relief. He should be feeling decent because it’s great. Now we come onto an interesting part. I wanted to out-frame the old mindset so that he can’t get back to it. I’m getting him to basically, publicly acknowledge the fact that his old way of thinking versus his new way of thinking, he chooses and prefers the new way of thinking.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

That’s going to go quite a ways towards inoculating him against going back to an old way of thinking once I’m out of the picture, once he goes home again and day-to-day life happens. Because, if his old style of thinking comes back again, he will correct himself and that’s one of the best things he can do for himself, but I’m not telling it to him outright. I’m letting him tell me by forcing a choice in this way. There’s one other thing that’s going on here that I want to point out to you because it’s something that caused me a little bit of concern during the session and would cause me concern again in future sessions with other people, but it’s probably marginal. In other words, it’s something that is minor enough that I could ignore it, but because I spotted it I still want to check it out because I can’t emphasize enough how even a tiny small little flaw in something can always come back and haunt you later on. It may never do so. It may be ignored for the rest of their life. It could also, be the little seed that grows into something else that destroys all the good work you’ve done. I spotted something that could be one of these little seeds and I’m now going to have to check it out. When I asked him that’s a much better way of doing things now, isn’t it, he says I can see the insight. What does that tell me? It suggests to me that it might be just a purely cognitive process. In other words, I think this is better. It could be a kind of an over-thinking kind of process, which has nothing to do with his body and his experience. I don’t want the insight to just be an idea or a thought divorced from his actual experience because his experience can always trump him if his unconscious mind gets a different idea. I want it to be linked to a physical experience, which is how I kind of checked next, which is how does it happen in your body? So the insight is linked to

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual something that’s actually occurring to you. It’s a physical experience rather than just an idea that he’s come to. And it’s not just the insight that’s important. It’s the experience that counts, isn’t it? Russ:

The experience.

Igor:

I would like you to try a little experiment for me. Is that okay with you?

Russ:

Sure. I’d like to jump in again. As far as I’m concerned, the pain control session itself is over. However, I have a little concern here because of the general mindset that Russ has been demonstrating throughout the session. He seems like a very dedicated person and someone who’s achieved a lot of things, which is great, but the problem is the same mindset that has caused him to be so successful over the years could also accidentally be harmful to him in this particular case. It’s the mindset of determination. Just to get through with it and just do stuff. If he’s willing to ignore the pain of his body, there are circumstances when that’s absolutely appropriate and the right thing to do, but as a day-to-day lifestyle it’s not a very healthy one because he’s more likely to continue straining his groin. In fact I know this because it’s what’s been happening for the last six months. It’s what his doctors told him as well. His mindset or his general attitude, especially at the beginning when he was pushing back on certain thoughts that we’ve already discussed, also demonstrates this. Just because he’s now paying attention to the pain differently doesn’t mean that he hasn’t other things that might still play a part of the picture. What I want to make sure that he does is he learns a new way of interacting with his body physically so that he moves more shall we say carefully or moves slightly

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual differently so that he’s got a chance to actually heal the physical portion of his injury. All the hypnosis in the world does not overcome physics. It doesn’t change the fact that a torn muscle will tear further when pushed beyond its limits. I want to go through a little educational process – just a few minutes – to teach his body to move slightly differently again. In a live client session, I might spend longer on this especially because we’d have more time. Right now we’ve spent about 10 minutes, only talking about the whole pain control thing, but in the case of the context of the seminar I want to give him just enough to realize that he can move differently and be comfortable with doing these things. To inspire him to go out and learn more about different methods, be it physiotherapy or Feldenkrais. There are many different approaches to this whole thing, but that he can go out there and explore them because he needs to learn a new way of working with his body so that all these other aches and pains don’t come back. In particular I’m thinking also about the shoulder and the lower back injury that he mentioned. By learning to move his body differently, by learning to be in his body differently, he will also be able to apply all the lessons he’s learned when it comes to the groin injury to his lower back and his shoulder so that overall as a human being he has grown and evolved. As far as the actual method I’m using right now, it’s relatively simple. I’m not going to make too many comments on it other than whatever hypnotic elements come out of it. Most of the interest here is for you to realize that I have a duty as a therapist to not just remove the pain, but taking care of a lot of the ecological issues around it as well, and I’m making sure that when he leaves he is more likely to leave taking care of his body than not.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual I’m also aware of the fact that we have some other pains in the room, especially the two other people in the room that have pains that may well be related to movement. I’m talking of course about Ralph and Liz. Ralph has got a back injury and Liz has got some un-diagnosable cause of her pain. If those are related to injuries as well or to movement problems, they’re listening in to what I’m doing with Russ, which means they’re also being educated in the same sort of way. That means when I get to them in their demos, I won’t have to do as much of those things because they’ve already received that lesson vicariously. What I’m going to ask you to do is I would like for you to experiment with organizing your body in a way that you don’t normally do. Here’s what I mean by that. I’m going to ask you to get up in a moment’s time. However, I want you to experiment with getting up in a different way, paying attention to the sensations in your groin area so that you get up in as comfortable a way as possible. If you begin to feel a sensation, change your approach. Does that make sense? Russ:

It makes sense.

Igor:

Now, it may take you a few minutes initially to work the approach out and okay with you right now I would like for you to start being curious about how your unconscious mind can show you other ways of moving your body so that you are paying attention in the right way again. Is that okay with you?

Russ:

That is fine.

Igor:

So go ahead and give that a go now. Notice for example, do you notice the speed with which you were getting up there? I want to jump in here once again to point out what I mentioned earlier on. Notice how, even though the pain’s gone, he’s changed the relationship to his

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual body and made a contract with his body to be more careful with it. He has a lifetime of moving in a particular way, which is a very determined, a very fast sort of way and so on, which means there is a lot of other unconscious programming that needs to be resolved as well. In this case it’s his desire to get up quickly. By becoming blank or unaware of his body it’s such an unconscious activity to get up in the way he’s used to getting up, that there’s no thought involved. I’ve got to break that down and reintroduce thought, the same quality of thought that overcame the pain, for him to be able to reeducate himself about how to walk, and move, and stand up and all these other things. My first test has failed. I’ve asked him to get up. I gave him the instructions to get up in a different way so that he’s paying attention and all of the rest of it. He’s about to rush through the whole thing, and I can see clearly that he’s more likely to basically put strain on his injured leg and the groin, and as a result the pain is more likely to return again. It’s not very ecologically sound. It’s not very healthy for him. As soon as I see that happening, I’m going to pause him. I’m going to slow him down. I’m going to physically coach him through the practice of experimenting the way I’d like him to, moving his kneecaps, moving his shoulder, moving his body weight, learning the physics of his body a little bit so that he can maneuver the physics, maneuver the forces into the other leg – the one that can bear those forces. By making his other side compensate temporarily for it, he gives his injured leg a chance to heal. That’s really what I was talking about earlier on. You can watch me doing it here. If you’re more interested in this sort of stuff, I strongly encourage you to learn a little bit about the Feldenkrais Method. There are lots of great videos and books out there. That gives you just the overall essence of what I’m talking about here. I’m not a Feldenkrais practitioner. I’m not certified or anything like that, but I do like the way that they use exploration of the body in order to teach you

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual how to move it in a better way. That’s essentially the essence of what we’re doing here. Russ:

Yes.

Igor:

So before being in a hurry, right now it’s an exploration stage. What I’d like you to do is just first of all get in touch with all the different parts of your body that you need to be aware of in order to move. For example, you have feet, don’t you?

Russ:

Yes.

Igor:

Now you can have your feet out in front of you and experiment with that. Getting up that way might seem a little bit more tricky right now, right?

Russ:

Right.

Igor:

You can have your feet right underneath your chair. Something interesting happened there, didn’t it? That you can have your feet somewhere in between, so just shuffle your feet around until your groin feels the most comfortable, and let me know when you’re there, with the anticipation that you’ll be getting up at some point, of course.

Russ:

Okay.

Igor:

There you go. You have knees, do you not?

Russ:

I do.

Igor:

They could turn to the left – both of them – or they could turn to the right. As you pay attention to slowly moving from the left and right repeatedly, ask yourself the question where would they be most comfortable if I was to put enough weight on them to be able to lift myself up? Where might you end up?

Russ:

Probably to the right.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

Igor:

I would agree. I can see it. Now of course your knees can’t lift your whole body. You need to shift your balance to allow the whole process to occur. That involves moving your torso, doesn’t it?

Russ:

Yes.

Igor:

Now you can move your torso forwards and backwards. You can move it side to side. I’d like you to very gently go side to side, forwards and backwards whilst getting those knees into the position you had a moment ago, until you find a place. Feel free to use your hand by the way as well as support – until you find a way where getting up is just a natural step forwards from where you’re already at. Just do that now. Go ahead, just slowly. How was getting up like that?

Russ:

That was much better.

Igor:

Much better than usual?

Russ:

I concentrated on not putting pressure on that main area and I got up without the pain.

Igor:

Exactly, so your body’s teaching you how to move to allow it to heal, isn’t it?

Russ:

Yes.

Igor:

And all you have to do is…

Russ:

Pay attention. Let’s pause here again. I’d like to point something out that is very important here. We’ve just spent two or three minutes, nothing very long, just teaching him about what I mean about learning to listen to his body in a different way, to explore his body in a different way in a very small exercise in the whole Feldenkrais Method that we mentioned earlier.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

Now what I want him to do is to attach this new experience, this new awareness of his body, this new awareness of moving his body in different ways into his understanding or his conceptualization that paying attention to his body will diminish the pain. By doing so, he’s not only paying attention in a more friendly curious sort of way, which is what made the initial pain disappear and become comfortable, but he’s also including with it the awareness of his body. So, when he’s getting up or moving and has a little bit of a twinge or something, a sensation that’s cropping up, he gets to spot it and change his behavior long before he damages himself. So, he has another reason for pain to reproduce itself. Really now that he’s learned a little bit about movement, I am attaching that to his overall strategy, which is to pay attention, and of course by getting him to say it, he’s the one who’s connecting the dots for me, which is a much more powerful way than me trying to connect them for him. I’m just leading him down the path where it’s easy for him to connect those dots. Then of course he’s going to be in a position where he can go home and build on this knowledge, build on the foundation that we’ve just created here. Igor:

Are you?

Russ:

I’m paying good attention.

Igor:

That’s right. Now I realize initially it will require a little more effort because you’re moving things more slowly. You’re learning about yourself in a slightly different way, but then you have lots of signals that will remind you of that, right?

Russ:

That’s right.

Igor:

Is it okay, will you spend maybe just a day exploring those different things?

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

Russ:

I’d be glad to, sure.

Igor:

In exchange for which you no longer need to have the painful sensations you used to. Would that be a fair trade?

Russ:

Fair trade.

Igor:

Feel good?

Russ:

I feel good. Let’s just pause here very briefly and notice how we’re really at the tail end of the session and we’re just wrapping things up to get there and reinforcing once again the attitudes and ideas that he’s learned. I want you to notice how I’m being very careful about how I talk about pain in any ways at all because it’s part of my reframe of the pain to a sensation thing. He gets to have sensations in the future, but I don’t want him to experience pain because that includes suffering. What I want to point out is how when I talk about the pain as an alternative universe, I do it very clear. I gesture with my hand, pointing away from him as a kind of indication that I’m pointing towards the past so that pain is the thing of the past now. The future is only filled with comfort or other sensations that will teach him how to move back into comfort. That’s kind of implication that’s going on here. I’m creating a very clear demarcation point between how he used to be and how he is now. It’s an important step because I don’t want to accidentally with my language or my gestures communicate something that’s going to collapse all the good work I’ve just done by reintroducing all the ideas and muddying the waters up. Congratulations.

Russ:

Thank you.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

Igor:

Thank you, Russ.

Russ:

Thanks, Igor.

Igor:

Remember, slowly sit down in the same way.

DVD #7 – Pain Control Demo – Liz – Unidentifiable ‘Electric’ Shooting Pains In Legs & Back

Demonstration 2 – Liz – Without Commentary Igor:

Do you want to stand up and give us your story?

Liz:

So a pain in my legs that started in one leg and traveled up and around and then settled in both legs, and its varying in intensity. Sometimes it’s very painful. Sometimes I have no pain.

Igor:

A couple of quick questions. Let me pause right now. Number one where is it right now? Where is it at?

Liz:

It’s kind of interesting. This morning because it’s in here and here which, is not that common.

Igor:

One a scale of 1-10, let’s say 10 is like excruciating agony. You really can’t even bear it and one is like you know, it’s just not a big deal. Where are you right now?

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

Liz:

Two.

Igor:

Okay, that’s fine, and you’ve seen a doctor about this. I’ve got your form right here. What did they say?

Liz:

They don’t know. They’ve tried everything. They said degenerating hip and arthritis and dah, dah, dah, something but none of that.

Igor:

Basically, they don’t know what to do about it but you have the experience of it.

Liz:

They check it out and nothing shows up.

Igor:

Alright, so whatever they tested, whether it’s the hip or the nerves or whatever, all those seem clear yet you still have the experience. Is that correct?

Liz:

Right.

Igor:

Excellent. The final question is when you came in this morning, was it at the same level it’s at now or has it changed over the course of what we’re talking about?

Liz:

No, it’s shifted.

Igor:

Where were you this morning and where are you now?

Liz:

This morning it was more like down here, which is where it is more often, and stiffer. Then as I was sitting in the chair and you were talking, I could feel like it seemed like a nerve sensation running through my leg, and then it stopped completely and then when I went to check out, I was really noticing it in here.

Igor:

Okay, so at what level would it have been this morning in terms of intensity from 1-10?

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Liz:

Probably four.

Igor:

And right now on the front it’s about a two. Is that right?

Liz:

Two, yes.

Igor:

Once again there is a great temptation, which I will resist for a moment because you can see how easy it would be to jump on what her unconscious mind’s already doing, right? It’s already started pain alleviation. You realize that, right? We’re halfway through the process. I have to pause it. Hopefully I’ll be able to come back to it in order to be able to show you some things, but you can already clearly see that it’s already happened, can’t you, right? Because you realize this as well, don’t you? You were at one point this morning and somehow something shifted, and the only thing you did was start to think differently, right?

Liz:

Right.

Igor:

Now I’m not going to suggest that you continue that because otherwise I’d have no demo subject. However, if you want to be selfish you can do it to spite me.

Liz:

Thank you. I appreciate that.

Igor:

Have a seat. Give them a round of applause, folks. Thank you very much. We’re coming to the technique phase now. We’ve kind of done all this. Would it be fair to say you’ve seen all this happen at least twice with real clients? a. The first time was with Russ where it was direct. In other words, we were talking in a direct conversation and it happened.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual b. The second time was with Liz, only we didn’t have the direct conversation. In teaching you about these ideas, the same experiences were occurring. Does that make sense? And your experience would have been very similar. You experienced the sense of pain and so on beginning to leave it. Is that correct? Liz:

Yes.

Igor:

Because once you’ve taken care of the things, the primal causes of it all, it all naturally starts calming down. Can I just ask you where you are now in terms of the sensations you have?

Liz:

Probably two.

Igor:

Still a two like from before and so on?

Liz:

Yes.

Igor:

So the question I have for you is, is two good enough for you or is this something that you want to explore and see where it takes you?

Liz:

I can explore and see where it takes me.

Igor:

Sure. What are you experiencing right now in terms of the sensations?

Liz:

It’s buzzy.

Igor:

Buzzy.

Liz:

And tight.

Igor:

All right so it’s buzzy and a little tight. Is it unpleasant or is it just a sensation at this point?

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Liz:

It’s an unpleasant sensation.

Igor:

It’s a sensation that happens to currently be unpleasant, is that correct?

Liz:

Yes, currently it’s unpleasant.

Igor:

Can you all hear okay by the way? Is the sound coming through okay? Let’s just pay a few moments’ attention in knowing what you’ve already experienced, realizing how quickly your body’s shifted and I also realize there are times when it has been more intense in the past than others, and times when it’s diminished almost to nothing, right?

Liz:

Yes.

Igor:

So it’s important for you to realize that your unconscious mind has done all this for you, and one of the biggest ways is by changing your attitude, your stress levels and all these other things. As you think about it like that, just notice the sensation in your legs and notice that your unconscious mind can already start doing something now. What is that exactly? What is that?

Liz:

Releasing?

Igor:

It’s a releasing, isn’t it? Did you expect it to be there?

Liz:

No.

Igor:

I have to thank your unconscious mind because I asked for it to pause earlier on if you’ll recall, and it did that and I’m very grateful that it did that because it’s easier for them to see stuff if I don’t do it sort of magically. Do you know what I mean?

Liz:

Right.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Igor:

It’s releasing, isn’t it?

Liz:

It is.

Igor:

And you’re kind of enjoying that, aren’t you?

Liz:

Yes.

Igor:

It’s a very pleasant sensation, isn’t it?

Liz:

It is.

Igor:

Isn’t that interesting?

Liz:

Yes.

Igor:

How quickly something unpleasant can flip, turn around and be more pleasant than you realize, right?

Liz:

Yes.

Igor:

Is it continuing?

Liz:

Yes.

Igor:

My feeling is it’s gone beyond zero now into the negative numbers, right?

Liz:

Yes.

Igor:

So you’re starting to feel as good as you used to be bad before, right?

Liz:

Right. No. I don’t know about that.

Igor:

I understand. The simple idea is it’s starting to feel good now, isn’t it?

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Liz:

Yes.

Igor:

Interesting, isn’t it?

Liz:

It is interesting.

Igor:

How did you do that?

Liz:

I don’t know.

Igor:

That’s right. That is the correct answer. You have no idea, do you?

Liz:

No.

Igor:

Yet there it is. It’s happening, right?

Liz:

Yes.

Igor:

And you’re pretty happy about it, aren’t you?

Liz:

I’m very happy about it, yes.

Igor:

See, the thing is the thing you’ve done for yourself and the thing I want to thank your unconscious mind for is you’ve taken a whole new attitude to everything. You’ve started listening and paying attention. There are things going on and you realize from time to time you’ll have aches and pains like every other human being does, but the beauty here is as this is transforming right now, something inside you can start to just rewire. To have a completely different attitude shift because all your legs were trying to do is get your attention. They have that now, don’t they?

Liz:

Yes, they do.

Igor:

They do, and would it be fair to say you now have happy legs?

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

Liz:

Right now, yes.

Igor:

That’s because they have your attention and it’s the right kind of attention, isn’t it?

Liz:

It is.

Igor:

Now my sense is that from time to time you may have something you need to learn. I don’t know if there is something else going on inside there that you need to learn from or if it’s all been resolved. I don’t know if you have an instinct about that right now or if you really don’t know. Where would you say you are at this point?

Liz:

I’d say I’m moving towards the resolve.

Igor:

You’re at the point of almost resolving it. You can feel it happening almost in the background, right?

Liz:

Yes.

Igor:

Let that continue for a while because in the same way as you can feel it resolving, you’ll also know when you’re done and I want you to be convinced about this. I want you to really know that when you leave here, it’s not just like oh it happened for a few minutes. When you leave here, it’s solid. It’s something that you can take forward in your life, and the only way to do that is to really learn something, even if you don’t know what it is that you’re learning. Right now you’re learning many things. You’re breathing of course. That’s right. It’s good, isn’t it? And you can feel that happening, can’t you?

Liz:

Yes.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

Igor:

And it’s all happening outside of your awareness and that’s where it should be and do you know why? It’s because that’s where the problem was in the first place. The very part of you that was responsible for running the problem is now responsible for giving you those happy legs. Isn’t that a comforting thought?

Liz:

That’s cool.

Igor:

How are you doing right now?

Liz:

Really good.

Igor:

Has that resolving thing completed yet or is there still a little bit more? So you’re actually testing the experience right now?

Liz:

Yes. It’s resolving.

Igor:

It is resolving, isn’t it?

Liz:

It’s resolving.

Igor:

It is resolving and there’s no hurry for that to happen. The key thing is I don’t know exactly why your legs and your nervous system were getting your attention, and you don’t know exactly why either. It’s clearly working what’s happening right now. From time to time it may need your attention again, so can we make an agreement with yourself that if it needs your attention, it need not do it in such a painful manner as it did in the past. It can get your attention in different ways and, provided you pay attention, you’ll never need to pay another way. Does that make sense to you?

Liz:

Awesome.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Igor:

Have you got that part? I have a sense that it’s now completing more fully, right?

Liz:

Yes.

Igor:

Exactly. How are you doing right now?

Liz:

Good.

Igor:

Are you sure?

Liz:

Yes, I’m sure.

Igor:

As you think about your future, were there some things that would set you off more than others – like maybe the weather changes or something like that, or did it feel more random to you? I don’t know.

Liz:

No, more random but weather sometimes, more random.

Igor:

Okay.

Liz:

I never could quite…

Igor:

Figure out a pattern for it?

Liz:

No.

Igor:

That’s fine. It’s often the case. It’s not a big deal. What’s more important really is the relationship you have now specifically to your legs, but also the whole cycle that you had before. Doesn’t it feel different now?

Liz:

It does feel different.

Igor:

Check it out. There you go.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Liz:

Excuse me while I check this out.

Igor:

I want to emphasize something here. Just like with Russ, his body was trying to heal something and it needed time to move in a certain way to allow that to happen, correct?

Liz:

Yes.

Igor:

Doctors have checked you out and there’s nothing that they can find that’s wrong but as we have heard, there may or may not be other things your unconscious mind is trying to get attention for. So just because they haven’t found it doesn’t mean necessarily there’s nothing there, and just because it was there doesn’t necessarily mean that something is there to find. Do you see where I’m going with this? I don’t really know if anything physical there needs your attention, but you now have a signal. In fact I’d like your unconscious mind to give you a very clear signal if it needs your attention there again, how it can do it so you know to pay attention. Whether that means to go to the doctor or something else or just to be more careful, just pay attention. Do you feel that signal coming up now? Something different, something unambiguous, something you can clearly sense, and it may be there’s nothing there left. It could just be that the experience you had before was just like a phantom limb type thing. I don’t know but it’s good for you to be convinced that whatever happens going forward, you have everything that you need. Do you know what I mean?

Liz:

I do.

Igor:

Why don’t you just close your eyes for a few moments? You can put the mic down if you need and really pay full attention to everything going on inside, both the real pleasantness of having gone through this whole issue, and the rest of your body too.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual So, you get a real sense of what’s going on inside there so that any time in the future should you need to pay attention and perhaps be more careful with your body, it will tell you and you will pay attention. And if for no apparent reason at all your legs start to get real happy to demonstrate to you that you do have an unconscious mind – that’s right – then you can have that too. You can feel those signals beginning to find their own rhythm, can you not, to manage them sometimes stronger, sometimes weaker, sometimes going in one direction and sometimes the other, correct? Liz:

Yes.

Igor:

Really pay attention to those things so that you learn to recognize them in the future. If you recognize them and pay attention in the way you’ve learned to do now, then there really is no more reason for a pain to ever return in that particular way again, right?

Liz:

Right.

Igor:

Just do that for as long as you need to and then come back whenever you’re ready. This is a different way of doing the test cycle and to also make sure there are resources in place because there is no direct relationship between the sensation that she was having beforehand and there being some kind of physical problem. It may be that was just like a phantom limb pain. The problem’s already gone but the neurology has forgotten to shut off, or it could be that something else is going on. I don’t know. What this gives her is a mechanism for paying attention without having to go down the path of agony. Does that kind of make sense to you? It just makes it a lot easier, plus in doing it this way it also takes care of the potential for a concern – what if I leave here and it stops working?

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Do you have any doubts about it stopping working after you leave here now? Liz:

No. I don’t have any concern about it stopping?

Igor:

Really? How come?

Liz:

Because there’s more of a...

Igor:

Do you see what she’s describing here? That’s the unconscious process at work. It’s difficult to put words onto it because she has no idea what she’s doing, but she’s doing it and she knows she is, but she has no clue what it is, right?

Liz:

Right, that’s for sure. I have no clue what I’m doing.

Igor:

But you know you can do it, right?

Liz:

Right.

Igor:

Here’s the thing. Just pause whatever that process is for a second – just for experimenting – and then start it again. You have no idea how you did that, do you? But you can. Isn’t that crazy? You can do something at will and have no idea what it is or how you’re doing it. What a bizarre world we live in, but it’s good to know that isn’t it?

Liz:

It is.

Igor:

And it’s good to have that confidence, isn’t it?

Liz:

It is. Thank you.

Igor:

Do you feel like you’re done?

Liz:

I do.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Igor:

Really?

Liz:

Yes, really.

Igor:

You’re not kidding me?

Liz:

No, I’m not kidding you.

Igor:

Are you absolutely sure? You’re not being nice to me here because we’ve got a camera and everything?

Liz:

No.

Igor:

Really?

Liz:

Yes.

Igor:

Don’t lie to me.

Liz:

I’m not.

Igor:

I don’t like to be lied to.

Liz:

I don’t lie.

Igor:

Okay, in that case I guess you’re done. Give her a round of applause. Thank you so much for that. Thank you very much.

Demonstration 2 – Liz – With Commentary Igor:

Welcome to Bonus DVD 2 of the Hypnotic Pain Control DVD series. On this DVD we have another client called Liz, and a very interesting set of pain control we’re doing here because it’s a nonspecific one. In other words, the

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual pain is mutable, it changes a lot, it shifts around a lot and so on and there’s no real neurological reason for it as far as the doctors can tell. As you recall, there are seven steps to the pain control method. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

The medical referral. The rapport stage. The pain scale. The reframe. A different reframe. Another reframe.

Then once you’ve got those six steps in place, we can launch into any of the pain control techniques that we’ve covered in the DVDs also. The reason I want to mention this again is so you have it uppermost in your mind because when we go onto Liz, we’re going to have initially the first sort of warm-up chat, and then we’re going to skip to a later portion of the seminar in which we do the actual pain control itself. I want you to know this because we’ll be doing even in the initial meeting conversation a lot of the steps already, and that’s going to be one of the things we’ll be showing you in a moment’s time. Keep that in the back of your mind. Keep those seven steps clear and then we’ll launch straight into the first segment. Do you want to stand up and give us your story? Liz:

So a pain in my legs that started in one leg and traveled up and around and then settled in both legs, and it’s varying intensity. Sometimes it’s really painful. Sometimes I have no pain.

Igor:

A couple of quick questions. Let me pause right now. Number one where is it right now? Where is it at?

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Let’s jump in here as the first step. Of course we’ve already done the medical referral. We’ve got the letter, and this is of course the rapport stage. We’re building rapport here by talking about the pain. She’s getting a chance to talk a little bit about what it is, the quality of it and the experience of it. This is of course useful information for me too as the therapist because I need to know what kinds of things are happening. Is it very rigid? Is it very changeable? Is it a very flexible sort of thing and what her general attitude is around it and so on? Generally speaking, what I can tell right now is as she talks about the pain, she’s actually kind of reconstructing in some degree because she talks about it moving around inside her body and so on. Look at her eyes and the way they defocus. They’re internalizing so that she can have access to those experiences and then later on to memories also. However, overall her attitude is relatively positive. It’s relatively relaxed, which tells me that some interesting things are already happening in terms of the pain. Her relationship’s either already changed because of something I’ve said – because remember, she has also heard this half-hour introductory talk we had in the first place, which means she’s already been warmed a little bit to the whole idea of pain control. It’s kind of like a pre-talk almost and if this was a client live in a session, that hadn’t had that sort of pre-talk to warm them up, what I would be expecting at this point, is the very fact that she’s coming to see a hypnotist. That means she’s put a lot of faith in the process, which means her unconscious mind is already, shall we say, actioning on the whole pain control idea because it’s already ready to respond to it. This is a very positive sign as far as I’m concerned. The next thing I’m doing here – and this is the other reason I’m stopping at this point – is because pain is such an all-consuming sensation for people, they can talk for a long, long, long time about their pain and they can give you

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual all kinds of varieties and changes and all kinds of different things and circumstances and whatnot. Some people want to do that. Some people actually need to do that just in order to vent a lot of the emotional frustration that comes with pain. If they need to vent – and this is something you’ll have to judge in a moment – then let them rant on for a while and let them really vent and listen to them carefully and pay attention. You may well spot some other things along the way that will be useful too but it’s really a venting exercise to decrease the emotions surrounding the pain and keeping it in place as well. In this case because Liz has such a positive attitude, the general rant and the venting aren’t so massively important. So I’m just going to get a general sense of what’s going on in terms of the shooting pain and the style of pain and where it’s going and so on, and then I’m going to start zeroing in and this is what I’m doing here. Rather than letting her vent too much about pain in general – what happens normally – what I want to know once again is what is happening right now. The only pain I’m really concerned about, especially when I’m starting with a chronic pain control patient is what pain is present right now. If they come to me for pain control but have no current pain, that’s a lot trickier to deal with, although in a sort of sports example and so on there are other things you can do that are a lot easier. We’re talking about remedial pain here. We’re talking about someone who is in pain who is suffering and wants to get out of that pain. Hence, typically it will be either chronic pain or it will be an accident that you’ve just witnessed either in the home or out in public somewhere.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual That’s the kind of pain that we’re dealing with here, which means we’re interested primarily in the pain that’s present and not in the pain that they’re afraid of, that they’re afraid might be coming back at some point. It’s fine to deal with that other kind of pain, that anticipatory pain shall we say, but that’s going to be a lot easier to deal with once you’ve proved that you as a hypnotist can do this and that this method works by eliminating or massively decreasing a current pain. That’s what I’m going to be doing right now, I’m pausing her to stop the venting process. She doesn’t need that much of it there’s not that much emotion that needs to come out and I’m going to start targeting in on what’s going on right now so that I know what we’ll be focusing on for the session when we come onto it. Liz:

It’s kind of interesting this morning because it’s in here and here, which is not that common.

Igor:

One a scale of 1-10, let’s say 10 is like excruciating agony. You really can’t even bear it and one is like you know 6:57, it’s just not a big deal. Where are you right now? Let’s jump in here again very briefly. I just want to point out how quickly we’ve gone through all the way to stage three of the seven-step process for pain control. Step one is the medical referral. That’s been dealt with already. The rapport stage has been relatively brief. This is that venting process we’ve already talked about, and once again primarily the reason for that is because we already have the rapport. Liz has been to a different seminar already, so we’ve already got that relationship going and because of where it took place in the context of this seminar, which is maybe about half an hour or an hour into the program, there is a relationship to what we’ve been talking about already.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual There’s stuff that’s already happened in that sort of pre-talk that allows the rapport to be built, and all this means that I have to work much less to get that rapport stuff going. With some clients the rapport stage will take you 20 seconds, pretty much like this, and with other clients you may have to spend a whole hour just building rapport before they trust you enough, they feel comfortable and safe enough around you to be willing to trust you with their pain because that’s a very serious thing. Please don’t think that just because you’re seeing a lot of these rapport stages being taken care of relatively smoothly that you’ll be rushing through that stage. It’s a very critical and important stage, and you just have to deal with each person and each patient wherever they happen to be at. Liz:

Two.

Igor:

Okay, that’s fine, and you’ve seen a doctor about this. I’ve got your form right here. What did they say? Just to pause here again to point out the purpose of this question. What we’re doing here really is looking to see if there’s anything else in terms of the ecology and of what’s surrounding the pain, I need to be aware of. Recall how in one of the previous demonstrations we had a gentleman who had a groin strain. Now I need to know that because I can’t just take the pain of the groin strain away or the groin injury away and then let them round around happily, damaging themselves further. In this case I’m again looking to see what is the doctor saying about the nature or the cause of this pain because once again I want to know do I have to be cautious in any way to make sure that there’s other stuff being done to keep the client safe without the pain?

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual As it happens there is no neurological reason the doctors can find for it, and so we’re relatively safe to progress straight to the pain control and remove it as best we can without any concerns that there will be knock-on effects or negative consequences, as a result, of doing this. It’s an important question to ask because if I don’t ask, I might never know. Liz:

They don’t know. They’ve tried everything. They said degenerating hip and arthritis and dah, dah, dah, something but none of that.

Igor:

Basically, they don’t know what to do about it but you have the experience of it.

Liz:

They check it out and nothing shows up.

Igor:

All right, so whatever they tested, whether it’s the hip or the nerves or whatever, all those seem clear yet you still have the experience. Is that correct?

Liz:

Right.

Igor:

Excellent. The final question is when you came in this morning, was it at the same level it’s at now or has it changed over the course of what we’re talking about?

Liz:

No, it’s shifted.

Igor:

Let’s pause it there once again. This is another important question. Again, we’re still at step three of the process, the pain scale. However, we’re beginning to slowly move towards step four, the reframe stage. In particular, the question I’m asking here; is this pain this morning when you came in the same as it is now or has it shifted? What this is beginning to do is give me some leverage so that when I get to the reframe that pain is only temporary, that it shifts, that it’s mutable, it’s

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual changeable, if it shifts up and down then we can shift it all the way to nothing or next to nothing in the course of the session. That’s kind of part of that idea that the reframe is going to present. In order to do that, I want to find out what are her beliefs around it, what her experience is around the pain. Given what she said, I’m already pretty sure that this is a very flexible kind of pain because it shoots around. She’s already said that – it’s unusual today because it’s in this place and it’s not normally there and that sort of stuff. I still want her to acknowledge that where she is now and where she came in from today – there’s a difference. That allows me to instantly go to the reframe – this is temporary, this is mutable, this is changeable and so on. You’ll see in a moment how she actually recognized that. In fact she’s just recognized that as well right here. This gives me a lot of leverage again. It’s giving me a lot of scope to work with it and typically as soon as I hear that, I would want to dive right in and go straight to the other reframes as well, but I’m holding back a little bit here just to show you how the whole thing can look. Where were you this morning? Where are you now? Liz:

This morning it was more like down here, which is where it is more often, and stiffer. Then as I was sitting in the chair and you were talking, I could feel like it seemed like a nerve sensation running through my leg, and then it stopped completely and then when I went to check out, I was really noticing it in here. Let’s jump in here once again because I’d like to point out something important that Liz just said which I’m filing in the back of my mind for use in a moment’s time. When asking about where was it this morning, where is it now and so on, she talks about her experience while she was listening to the opening lecture to the hypnotic pain control.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

Recall the opening lecture of the pain control is actually a hypnotic lecture, which I presented with all the different frames – pain is mutable, pain is temporary, it’s only a sensation, its purpose is a positive signal, it can be changed. All these ideas that we’ll be using as part of the method itself were actually presented to you in the form of stories, examples, research studies and so on in that opening sequence. So I’m expecting some positive things to occur just from those ideas alone because that’s the whole point of doing a hypnotic lecture versus just an informative lecture. This is exactly what I was hoping for. Liz says that while she was sitting there, her pain changed. It intensified and then it had this thing, it shifted around and then it stopped. This is crucial. As soon as she says the words ‘and then it stopped’ or ‘then it went down to very small amounts or almost nothing,’ I have something to work with. Now I can use the conscious-unconscious dissociation – maybe in the form of a non-awareness set, maybe supported by some presuppositions – to basically point out that the unconscious mind already has the power to stop the pain. It’s done it. It did it right there. You can’t argue with an experience you’ve already had. By throwing that question out there, letting her talk about this a little bit and that coming out, I have to file it in the back of my mind, because as soon as I can get her to consciously recognize that she’s already unconsciously succeeded, my life has just become a lot easier. And, the pain control becomes very straightforward because the mind is right at that point already. Now, because I asked a comparative question, in other words I still don’t quite know what the scale difference is between when she walked in, in the morning and where she is now. Because some of the pain has returned a little bit again, I’m going to focus on that part a little bit because I want to know a clear contrast between where is it now and where was it before.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual However, I have filed in the back of my mind that she’s already admitted – albeit she may be unconscious of it – that the pain stopped for a while, which means she’s already succeeded with the pain control. Now all we need to do is to take that portion where her unconscious mind stopped the pain for a while and expand it to encompass the rest of her life, and she will be pain free from that point onwards. Igor:

So at what level would it have been this morning in terms of intensity from 1-10?

Liz:

Probably four.

Igor:

And right now on the front it’s about a two. Is that right?

Liz:

Two, yes.

Igor:

Once again there is a great temptation, which I will resist for a moment because you can see how easy it would be to jump on what her unconscious mind’s already doing, right? It’s already started pain alleviation. Let’s look at what just happened here. We’ve got the client to acknowledge that she’s already starting pain alleviation unconsciously without realizing how. Remember, that whilst I’m in a seminar here – so I’m teaching an audience and pulling some things out for the audience to learn as well, there nothing happens in hypnosis that isn’t a suggestion in some respects. Even though I’m educating the audience about the fact that this has already occurred, I’m actually giving an indirect suggestion to Liz for her to accept the idea that pain control has already occurred. By talking to the audience about it, it allows me to gauge her reaction a little bit and see where she’s at. As it happened, she sort of lights up a little bit and she kind of realizes yes, it’s already starting to happen, which makes life just so much easier.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

Now I have the mental energy, the door’s wide open and everything is pointing in the right direction. Creating pain control from that point onwards is relatively straightforward. I do resist it a little bit because I want to do a full blown demo later on, but really this is the point at which the waterslide happens. The avalanche is about to kick off. It takes very little effort to make it succeed at this point. If you’re asking yourself how can I do this in my own private practice with a client, I don’t have an audience there to talk to and demonstrate some of these things that are happening so that I can do one of these stage whisper asides that they can hear and they’ll respond to, well the answer is two-fold. On the one side, remember that many hypnosis clients want to bring in a friend or someone to look after them so they can feel safe whilst they’re doing the session, in which case you can educate the friend as the aside, and then of course the same thing already happens. If this approach appeals to you, you can also suggest to the patient or the client to bring someone in when they come to the session. It’s very simple. On the phone call say great, you’ll be coming in for so and so. I want you to know that if you’d like to bring in a friend or a family member, someone to support you, someone to be with you during the session so that you can have some moral support there as well, I’m very happy for you to bring someone like that. Is that something you’d like to do? By phrasing it like that, a lot of people might just say oh yeah, that’s a great idea. You know, I will do that. That’s a very simple way of getting someone to bring in someone so that you can do these stage whispers aside for indirect suggestions. Of course, you have the added advantage of having someone in the room that can be very supportive and so on, so it’s a nice thing to be able to do. You don’t need to do it either. In other words, there are many pain control

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual sessions – in fact I’d say most pain control sessions that I have done have been without an audience and just on a one-on-one basis and there were none of these asides. I just basically, say it directly to the patients and point out to them do you realize that these things are going on, and then just see how they react to it. Usually they’re very open to accepting it, and if they’re not we can negotiate around that pretty much as you saw me doing on Bonus DVD 1. You realize that, right? We’re halfway through the process. I have to pause it. Hopefully I’ll be able to come back to it in order to be able to show you some things, but you can already clearly see that it’s already happened, can’t you, right? Because you realize this as well, don’t you? You were at one point this morning and somehow something shifted… Just as we talked about in the previous bit of the commentary, I’m just doing exactly what I do with the one-to-one client, with no ability to do any kind of asides. I’m pointing out directly to the client do you realize that this is already happening? Of course, there’s a little frame control going on here by pointing out that you’re not doing it, you’re not responsible for it, your unconscious mind did this and you got to enjoy the benefits of it. What I want you to notice is not just what I’m saying, which of course is very simple and pretty direct suggestions/comments shall we say. What I’d like you to really pay attention to is Liz’s reaction. Do you see how she lights up? Do you see how delighted she is? That’s what happens when someone in pain suddenly realizes that there is hope, that they can genuinely overcome this problem and that it’s not going to be that difficult or arduous or hard or it’s going to take forever and so on.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual That’s what happens when someone develops some faith and conviction about the whole process. That’s a wonderful sign when that happens because once again your job has just become a huge amount easier. … and the only thing you did was start to think differently. I’d like to pause here again just briefly to point out something that I’m doing here, which is again a little similar to what we did on Bonus DVD 1 with Russ. Seeing as the unconscious mind is already responding, we have a lot of that wonderful positive energy there and we’re halfway through the steps, so we’re probably at about step four of the seven-step process. This time our first reframe isn’t the purpose of the signal. We’re talking about time. It’s only a temporary signal. It can be changed and so on. Because of the dramatic nature of the change she’s already experienced, we’re basically adding the reframe that it’s already happened. You’ve already managed to resolve the problem. Now it’s just a question of making it more permanent essentially. Because she lights up with that so much, I want to now cement in that element of the scale to create a little wedge in consciousness so that she can get back to it anytime she needs to. Whilst what we’re about to do is not necessarily giving you the entire version of that, I’m creating the opening that I can come back to later on and really do pain control very, very quickly. How do I do that? Once again I’m using a little bit of ambiguity – a run-on sentence – in order to create a mind bending moment to let her mind go down one path and then present what I call an agreement reversal where her mind’s going down one direction and then suddenly you switch direction on her.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Of course what happens inside the brain is for a moment it doesn’t know what to do with the new information, so it kind of has a mental reset and allows the new suggestion to have that much more impact. How do I do all this? It’s very simple. All you had to do was think… differently. Of course the emphasis is that you’re doing something differently inside your mind. Because I’m getting her to think down one path – all you have to do is think – and then subtly switch it down to the idea of differently, it starts to unclog the mental pipe work shall we say and it creates a nice fertile ground for suggestions and so on. Everything I saw from that point forward is going to be extra potent, because we’ve created a mind bending moment. My following suggestions and my follow-up reframes and so on are going to be sitting in some really fertile ground, they’re going to have a much more powerful impact on the person, which is why I’m going to do what I’m about to do, and we’ll talk about it when we get to that point. Right? Liz:

Right.

Igor:

Now I’m not going to suggest that you continue that because otherwise I’d have no demo subject. However, if you want to be selfish you can do it to spite me. As we promised you, we created a mind bending moment earlier on and now I’ve got to take advantage of it by throwing some wonderful suggestions in and seeding some ideas that will be useful to us. The reason I’m pausing here is the suggestions I’m presenting here are: 1. You can carry on doing this on your own.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual 2. I hope you don’t do too much of it so that we still have a demo that we can do later on. Let me explain why we’re doing this. There are a couple of reasons for this. The idea that whatever positive work has already taken up to this point can continue in unconsciousness long after the session is over is a wonderful idea or suggestion to present to your patients or your clients. Why? Because now they can take the power of the session home with them and continue working on that sort of stuff. It’s a great catchall kind of provision. The time it’s presented is not when they’ve had no experience of change. You can do it and it will have some impact absolutely. However, if you present it right after they have a major shift or a transformation – you’ve had a medium-sized shift here. You’ve had a bit of a transformation here in terms of her mindset and your attitude and all that sort of stuff. All that mental energy that’s running around now in the form of happiness and excitement, I would like to channel that into the seed, the idea that this is positive work and that it can happen unconsciously even though we’re not necessarily working on it in the part of this session. It’s a great place to take someone to if you’re running out of time in a particular hypnosis session. You can pause it at a convenient point and throw one of these catchall provisions in there saying the unconscious mind can carry on working with it. Now I have put in constraints saying I hope you don’t do too much of it. Why have I done that? This is kind of a double-edged sword. Either way I win whichever way this goes. On the one side I have a subtle implication. I don’t want you to do too much of this, which is basically, an implication that you will be doing some of this

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual anyway. That reinforces my previous suggestion to keep working at this unconsciously. Of course, the other side of it is too that I don’t want too much of it to occur because I genuinely want to be doing a pain control demo for everyone, and if I fix all these things so subtly that no one actually sees it because of the seminar context, then there’s very little teaching that can occur. There’s a little bit of a selfish reason or rather a group reason for doing that also, but whichever way it falls is actually almost irrelevant at this point. Why? Because if she comes back and the pain’s entirely disappeared and she doesn’t know how she’s done it, I can still demonstrate on how to cement that process in and the audience will see – as you will have seen – just how powerful a simple suggestion like that can be. If on the other hand, as it happens in this case, the pain diminishes but doesn’t actually completely eradicate, that’s fine because then we can just remove it as part of the actual demonstration and she still has that general idea that the unconscious mind can do all this work and carry on maintaining it when she goes home. There’s a dual purpose for suggesting that there, which is actually a very useful thing to do in general. Recall the main idea here is I want to leave the client with the impression – the suggestion – that the unconscious mind can do all this work outside of conscious awareness because then all they have to do is wait, and then eventually something will happen and that will take me down the direction of pain control. You’ll see a different demo where I do exactly that kind of approach. It’s called the presupposition for pain control. You’ll see that actually working there as well. Liz:

Thank you. I appreciate that.

Igor:

Have a seat. Give them a round of applause, folks. Thank you very much.

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We’re coming to the technique phase now. We’ve kind of done all this. Would it be fair to say you’ve seen all this happen at least twice with real clients? The first time was with Russ where it was direct. In other words, we were talking in a direct conversation and it happened. The second time was with Liz, only we didn’t have the direct conversation. In teaching you about these ideas, the same experiences were occurring. Does that make sense? And your experience would have been very similar. You experienced the sense of pain and so on beginning to leave it. Is that correct? Liz:

Yes. I’d like to jump in here again and just talk a little bit about what just happened over the last 30 seconds or so. If you recall in terms of the actual seminar, the live experience, we did the whole meeting and greeting, the rapport stage shall we say, earlier on. Then we paused for a while and then came back to each individual client and we actually did the pain control session. Because there’s a window of time between the rapport building and the actual session that we’re starting here, I basically have to go through the steps I covered previously all over again, albeit very quickly. I’m doing steps one, two, three and four very quickly again, and then we’ll use that as the platform to move on from there. Essentially what those last 30 seconds of a summary were is kind of like a small revivification. I’m basically, looking to see where is the client at? When I say you recall we did this, this, this and this and what was your experience of that, I’m seeing how quickly and easily she can access the successes that she’s already had. If she can access them quickly and easily, as is going to be the case in a moment, then we’re pretty much set to go. We can go straight into the rest of the session, throw in a couple of the extra reframes that we haven’t done yet and then do the pain control.

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If, on the other hand, she was struggling with it then I’d have to do a little bit more of the revivification, bringing those old memories back to life again before I started the work. I basically, want to have the same rich fertile ground to work in as we had generated earlier on during the sort of meet and greet part of the exercise. Igor:

Because once you’ve taken care of the things, the primal causes of it all, it all naturally starts calming down. I hope you spotted the little indirect suggestion there again. Once again watch my hand movements when I’m moving the pain away from the client, and then my gestures towards the client are when I make suggestions like calming down and so on. Again that’s just a little reminder to show that everything we’re doing is constantly reinforcing the main suggestion, the main message that we’re presenting, which is you can change, you will change, it’s easy to change, the pain is mutable and the pain can be diminished, if not entirely then eradicated. Those are the main themes of the ideas, and this is a very casual way to reinforce that once again in the context of a hypnotic lecture. Right now it’s kind of a summary version of the hypnotic lecture but the same ideas are being presented. Constantly I’m keeping half an eye on the client to check how she’s reacting. Is she accepting these ideas or is she kind of a little well I’m not so sure about that; that doesn’t really match my experience. As long as they’re accepting them and there’s that positive vibe and so on going through, we’re in a good place and the work can continue. Can I just ask you where you are now in terms of the sensations you have?

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Liz:

Probably two.

Igor:

Still a two like from before and so on? Again, let me just point out very quickly we’re now at step three – the pain scale – and again it’s just part of the revivification partly to make sure that I know where we’re at because if in the meantime her pain’s reduced down to a one, then I’ve got something different and I’ve got something else to work with. If it stays stable – which it has done here as a two – then I’ve got to take a different way. If you recall that double-edged sword that we talked about, we’ve definitely come down on one side of it. There’s been little or no change since she sat down, which is great because now I can complement the unconscious mind or thank it for following my other suggestion, which is don’t do it yet but save it for when we do it in public. Either way, it doesn’t matter. It makes it very easy for me to work with. However, this is where it’s come down and unless I ask that question, I don’t know where it’s come down so I don’t know where to go with it next.

Liz:

Yes.

Igor:

So the question I have for you is, is two good enough for you or is this something that you want to explore and see where it takes you?

Liz:

I can explore and see where it takes me.

Igor:

Sure. What are you experiencing right now in terms of the sensations? What is it I just did there? Why am I asking if we can pause it there and leave it or if she wants to explore something further? There are a couple of reasons for it.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

Number one Liz is in a hurry. She needs to be leaving the seminar soon and I want to make sure that her mind is on what we’re doing rather than on anything else. If she was at a good enough place to leave it, that’s fine as far as I’m concerned. I’m not going to dictate terms to the client. However, I want to make sure that she’s invested in the process of yes, let’s see where this goes and let’s see what we’re going to do with this. It also of course shows that wherever we leave things at, you’re going to be in a good place. We freeze the sensation at two. That’s much better than the fours and the sixes and stuff we’ve had before. However, I’m working my way back into the idea and I want her to take personal responsibility for the change so that she realizes I’m involved in this process too. Again, I have to figure out what’s going on right now. If I do not know what is happening right now in terms of what type of pain, what location of the pain, what intensity of the pain and so on, then I have no raw materials to work with. That’s basically, what the last minute or so has been working up towards. It’s getting us to the place where we are finding an opening again where we can go great, that’s what we’ll jump on, which is the direction we’ll be taking this particular pain control in. Right now I don’t have that yet because I had the old version of it, which was the pain diminished without her realizing and it happened unconsciously. That’s great and I can bring that back to life and I can use that. However, if I just asked the question where you are now, what’s happening right now and she gives me a nice full answer, whatever comes out of that answer is going to be live. It’s going to be fresh. It’s going to be purely unconsciously generated and that’s always my preference to work with that kind of stuff.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Can I bring material to life, revivify it and use it that way? Sure I can, but my preference is always work with what’s there rather than what I suggest to be there because what’s there is already unconscious, and the unconscious is going to be doing all the work. That’s kind of my philosophy of the whole thing. It doesn’t mean you have to do it that way. It can be done other ways. It’s just my preference. Liz:

It’s buzzy.

Igor:

Buzzy.

Liz:

And tight.

Igor:

All right so it’s buzzy and a little tight. Is it unpleasant or is it just a sensation at this point?

Liz:

It’s an unpleasant sensation.

Igor:

It’s a sensation that happens to currently be unpleasant, is that correct?

Liz:

Yes, currently it’s unpleasant. I’d like to jump in here again to point out something important. Recall the first minute has been us working back up to step four of the seven-step process, recovering the ground that we covered earlier on just to make sure we’re in the right territory again. Now I want to cover my other reframes. The one that we’ve just dealt with here is the idea of labels – the sensation rather than the pain. It’s a sensation you’re experiencing. It’s not a pain. Because she’s saying no it’s still painful, I’m trying to present the idea that this is just a sensation and we can get away from the idea of the value judgment

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual that its pain and suffering and so on because pain is a value judgment at that point. What am I doing here? The first attempt kind of failed. I said so you have this sensation. Is it pleasant or unpleasant? She said it’s an unpleasant sensation. The problem with this is that it’s mixing two different worlds that I don’t want her to be mixing in her mind. The world of pain and the world of sensation are being mixed together in her mind right now and it’s not a good idea. It’s not something I want. I want a clear demarcation. You either have pain or you have a sensation. When you have pain, you suffer. When you have sensations, you do not. Those are the ideas I would like her unconscious mind to start accepting. Because my first attempt was mildly rejected, I’m going to come back with another reframe of the idea and this time in the form of so you’re experiencing a sensation which currently happens to be painful. Think about what that does. It currently happens to be painful. There is an implication that at some point that sensation will cease to be painful. In other words, the suffering aspect will have gone. Really, that’s the key to pain control. You can have someone having intense sensations, but if they’re not suffering from them that’s okay as far as they’re concerned. In fact as far as most people are concerned. Once you get to that point of them being okay with sensation, typically it will evaporate anyway because its purpose has been served. That’s not always the case but it’s very frequently the case. We’re taking the reframe there, and please notice how two things are occurring. Liz once again lights up at the idea of the reframe. She likes it. Her unconscious mind enjoys it. It’s saying yes, I prefer that way to the path I was going down earlier on, so I’m going to accept that path.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual That lighting up and her repeating those things with that emphasis is a great sign that the suggestion has been accepted. At this point I make a little aside to the audience, which is kind of reinforcing it to Liz but it’s also, to demonstrate to the audience exactly the kind of point we’re talking about right now. Igor:

Can you all hear okay by the way? Is the sound coming through okay? Let’s just pay a few moments’ attention in knowing what you’ve already experienced, realizing how quickly your body’s shifted… I hope you caught that little suggestion I just slipped in there. Notice when I said your body has already shifted, of course it’s a reminder to the past. It’s kind of one of those piggyback statements that lets her say yes, that’s already happened to me because I’ve already acknowledged that that’s happened in the past, but it’s also once again a suggestion – your body has already shifted and it will continue to shift. It’s kind of a hidden implication that we’ll be building on there. Everything I’m saying, every gesture you’re making and everything you’re saying should support your main theme, your seven-step process, wherever it is you’re leading the person towards. Notice how everything is stacking up. We’re building a house very, very carefully out of very small building blocks because once those little building blocks are in place, everything else becomes very easy to build very, very quickly. … and I also realize there are times when it has been more intense in the past than others, and times when it’s diminished almost to nothing. Once again notice how we’re using our mannerisms to enhance the suggestion. Pain is always pointed away from the client. I’m pushing it away from us in terms of interaction. Pleasure, relief, success or transformation is

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual always with us. I’m pointing at the client or bringing it into the relationship that we’re having. My hand is out when I’m talking about pain from the past, from previous things. I’m moving it away in time. Then of course you’ve had changes and it’s become diminished, calmed down over here. Those hand movements are part of the suggestion and once again its part of those building blocks we’ve already talked about. Right? Liz:

Yes.

Igor:

So it’s important for you to realize that your unconscious mind has done all this for you, and one of the biggest ways is by changing your attitude, your stress levels and all these other things. As you think about it like that, just notice the sensation in your legs and notice that your unconscious mind can already start doing something now. And there we have it. The entire session, the two minutes we’ve been talking so far have built up to this point. You can think of the first two minutes that we’ve been talking – and all the suggestions we’ve talked about of course are still accurate and true – but you can think of that maneuver in the bigger picture as one big yes set. You did this? Yes. You experienced that? Yes. You had this? Yes. You succeeded there? Yes. The sensation happens to be painful now? Yes. Of course I’m having a yes set but it’s also a loaded yes set. It’s loaded with little ideas, little suggestions that are constantly tweaking the client towards the idea of a therapeutic outcome.

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Now we’ve actually presented the main suggestion, which is to say it’s already changed in the past; it can change right now. Hypnosis Pain Control Demonstrations ©Street Hypnosis All Rights Reserved

Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Check in with the sensation now – because remember it’s no longer pain. It will never be pain again unless they bring it up. Check in with the sensation in your body and tell me what’s happening now. Essentially, this is again a form of presupposition. We’ve used that stacked or loaded yes set and we’ve added in a very simple suggestion that you can do it all again with the implication that you can do more of it this time. Because, if you brought it down to a two, if you’re going to do it all again, it’s going to be less than a two now. So check in with them and find out what’s happened whilst we’ve been talking. Of course it goes back to the main theme, which is your unconscious mind is changing outside of your awareness. Again it does not matter how she responds at this point because whether it’s positive or negative – in other words, nothing’s shifted and you go great, and you take it down that path or something shifted, in which case you go great, and you take it down that path. What matters is that you’re constantly checking back in with the experience and whatever their live experience is. That’s the next building block. As it happens in this case, a shift occurs that is positive, as a result, of that maneuver, which is relatively as expected. However, what might you do if it goes the other way and she says no it’s still a two, nothing’s really changed? Then you can go down the route of a non-awareness set or actually really do all kinds of different things. One example would be the non-awareness set – so you really think that nothing’s happened yet. You have two different implications there. You think it’s not happened but really it has, and it’s not happened because it’s not happened yet. It’s just a question of time before it does happen, one path in particular you could take it down.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Another path could be to negotiate in terms of purpose. So as you think about whatever the pain is, what’s it doing for you so that as soon as it’s done it, it can start diminishing again, which goes back to one of the reframes we’ve talked about? It doesn’t matter what the response is. What matters is that whatever the live response is will be your next steppingstone to the ultimate resolution. In this case it’s very straightforward. Most cases will be pretty much like this because your foundational work leads them step by step in the right direction. What is that exactly? What is that? Liz:

Releasing?

Igor:

It’s a releasing, isn’t it? Did you expect it to be there?

Liz:

No.

Igor:

I have to thank your unconscious mind because I asked for it to pause earlier on if you’ll recall, and it did that and I’m very grateful that it did that because it’s easier for them to see stuff if I don’t do it sort of magically. Do you know what I mean?

Liz:

Right.

Igor:

It’s releasing, isn’t it?

Liz:

It is.

Igor:

And you’re kind of enjoying that, aren’t you?

Liz:

Yes.

Igor:

It’s a very pleasant sensation, isn’t it?

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Liz:

It is. I’d like to jump in here again briefly. Notice how Liz’s face is lit up. This is a typical reaction that happens when transformation occurs, when a shift occurs and the unconscious mind starts releasing whatever blocked up things were going on inside the mind, inside the body and so on. Another thing I want to point out is because I put a constraint on the unconscious mind earlier on, and because it has actually followed my suggestion, I’m going to be very careful to be respectful of the unconscious mind and thank it for it. Basically, she was willing to delay her healing in order to be of use to us as a group so that we could learn from the experience. I’ve really got to acknowledge that and treat the unconscious mind with respect. Especially when I’m working with people, I really treat the unconscious mind as another individual, another human being, and one that needs to be particularly looked after. If you think about an unconscious mind as being a very eager to please six or seven year old child, that gives you a good idea. If they do a good job, you’ve got to say that’s a good job. You know what, let’s do that again; or let’s do more of that. That’s the attitude I have in the back of my mind, and that’s why I have to pause and acknowledge the unconscious mind when it’s doing something like this. Of course the session becomes that much easier because now the unconscious mind becomes more and more eager to please. It’s just part of its makeup. If on the other hand if you start punishing it and saying that’s not good enough or you dismiss it, or if you say that’s just really terrible, it demotivates the unconscious mind. It breaks that rapport and it makes hypnosis a lot more difficult to do.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Can it still be done? Sure. There are all kinds of strategies you can use to polarize the unconscious mind and resist you all the way into change and so on, but that’s not something that we’re covering here and to be honest with you it’s a lot easier doing it this way than the other, so we may as well make life easy for ourselves. Igor:

Isn’t that interesting?

Liz:

Yes.

Igor:

How quickly something unpleasant can flip, turn around and be more pleasant than you realize, right?

Liz:

Yes.

Igor:

Is it continuing?

Liz:

Yes.

Igor:

My feeling is it’s gone beyond zero now into the negative numbers, right?

Liz:

Yes.

Igor:

So you’re starting to feel as good as you used to be bad before, right?

Liz:

Yes. Let’s pause here again and have a look at what just happened there. First, you’d be right in thinking that we’ve just done the full pain relief process. We have gone through essentially the six steps, all the reframes. The one step we kind of skipped a little bit and treated a bit casually was the idea of the purpose of a signal. That’s partly because it was covered in terms of the lecture in general, and partly because it’s less relevant here in terms of

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual what we’re doing because there’s no physical harm that any doctors could find. The purpose becomes a little more ambiguous. Whilst we could take it down that road absolutely, I chose not to. If it should become more of an issue, it would definitely come back and bite me on the tail, which is fine because as soon as it does that, I know to pay attention to that a little bit more. As it happens, it wasn’t as necessary, so we fudged that step a little bit. What is important though here is again I want you to notice the escalation ladder. In other words, I have a sense that it’s continuing. This is a non-committed statement. I’m looking for a reaction and it’s a suggestion at the same time. Yes it is continuing or no it’s not. What happens if she says no, it doesn’t continue? The answer is simple. You accept that and go that’s right, it’s not continuing because it stayed pretty much exactly the same way, hasn’t it? Yes. Actually, no it’s gotten worse. That’s right, it has gotten worse and I wonder why that is. Could it be that it’s getting stronger in order to show you how strong it is when it has resolved entirely? I don’t know. Well, shall we find out? The point is it doesn’t matter which direction it goes in. Any response is fine. However, I’m working at it in increments. I can’t just say now it’s going to be as positive as it was negative straightaway. It’s too much of a risk that I don’t want to necessarily run because I want to use every step or have every step along the process acknowledged by the client so that she’s following with me. So it’s continuing? Yes. That’s right. Is it getting better? Yes. That’s right. I have a sense the sensation’s already disappeared and gone into negative numbers. What are they implying? Given our cultural understanding of how numbers work, when its negative numbers, well if its positive pain, what’s negative pain? That must be pleasure. Again it’s an indirect and implied suggestion. Yes it has. Now it’s feeling as good as it used to feel bad.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

These are all true statements. However, those true statements weren’t true until I made them. This is a classic piggyback set of statements using the yes ladder. Some people know this as pacing and leading. I’m very meticulously leading the client – or Liz in this case – along that path, each time ratifying baby steps. Then when we get to the big transformation once again you see how she lights up a second time. There’s her second realization. Her conscious mind has caught up to another suggestion that’s being accepted. That means that really within less than three minutes of doing this session just in terms of what we did here, the pain is entirely disappeared and now she has pleasure again. The reason by the way I went down that particular road is partly because of Liz’s responses – so I’m just following her response – and partly this idea of phantom limb pleasure. This is an idea I got from Milton Erickson who worked with a patient with phantom limb pain. In a similar way that we’re talking about right now, he got the person to understand that if he has phantom limb pain, he can also have phantom limb pleasure. Rather than eradicating the pain, why not just make it pleasurable? That’s what we’re doing here, and the reason I’m doing it here is because it is a kind of phantom pain. There is no reason for it. There’s no neurological damage. There’s no physiological damage. No one really knows what’s going on, so we may as well turn it into something wonderful. Liz:

Right. No. I don’t know about that.

Igor:

I understand. The simple idea is it’s starting to feel good now, isn’t it?

Liz:

Yes.

Igor:

Interesting, isn’t it?

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

Liz:

It is interesting.

Igor:

How did you do that? Good things have happened so far. We’ve had some nice pleasure going on there. You notice a slight mind bending moment where the unconscious mind was onboard with things. You could tell because she was laughing and having a good time with it, but her conscious mind was a little tied up on the idea. She couldn’t quite process the idea fully, which is fine. It tells me that her intellect hasn’t quite caught up to the idea fully yet, and I don’t need it to. I’m not going to interfere with that process just yet because I’d rather have the unconscious mind do all the work and be responsible for it and the conscious mind to just be happy to trust the unconscious mind in that work. As her conscious mind didn’t quite catch up to the idea I presented to her, I’m not going to belabor it. I just skipped across it – oh that’s fine, I don’t need to know. Here’s a simpler way of looking at it. I presented a different idea that she can consciously easily accept, and of course it’s a reinforcing suggestion. Now I’m taking this as a cue to go back into the non-awareness set – the idea that something’s happened, you have resolved this issue unconsciously, you have no idea how you did it, yet you have done it. It’s a classic form of the conscious-unconscious dissociation. Why am I doing this? We’ve already succeeded, so why would I go down this path? The reason for it is because I would like her to have the absolute conviction and the actual experience that this session and the work we’ve done here will continue after the session, so she knows that when she wakes up in the morning it’s not all back to square one again.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual She’s still going to have that pain relief and a week from now she’s still going to have the pain relief. A month from now, a year from now, 20 years from now the pain relief will still be good. She needs to have that as a conviction inside her, and the only two ways I know of creating that are on the one side I can give her a conscious tool – when in pain, do this and it relieves the pain. That gives her a sense of control. On the other side, I can also do what I’m doing here, which is build a deeper relationship of trust between her conscious and her unconscious mind where basically the conscious mind goes all right, you deal with it and I’ll enjoy it, and they’re happy to trust each other on that. 1. In my opinion, if you can get someone to that position it’s far more powerful because first of all, the person never has to do anything to be pain free again. 2. Secondly, you have healed the primary issue, the primary problem in virtually any therapeutic issue you might come across, which is a rift between the conscious and the unconscious mind. You see, if the conscious and unconscious mind are working in perfect harmony and someone has a problem, the conscious mind goes let’s solve that and the unconscious mind goes okay and it’s done. You have solved many problems this way just by thinking about them and realizing it’s not a problem. That is an example of the conscious mind doing something and the unconscious mind accepting it and relieving the symptoms immediately. When that doesn’t happen, that means there’s disconnect between the conscious mind and the unconscious mind. I’m seeking to heal that disconnect in this particular instance when it comes to the issue around pain. Liz:

I don’t know.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Igor:

That’s right. That is the correct answer. You have no idea, do you?

Liz:

No.

Igor:

Yet there it is. It’s happening, right?

Liz:

Yes.

Igor:

And you’re pretty happy about it, aren’t you?

Liz:

I’m very happy about it, yes.

Igor:

See, the thing is, the thing you’ve done for yourself and the thing I want to thank your unconscious mind for is you’ve taken a whole new attitude to everything. You’ve started listening and paying attention. There are things going on, and you realize from time to time you’ll have aches and pains like every other human being does… I’d like to jump in here again and once again notice how we have continued on the process of healing the rift between conscious and unconscious. In other words, the unconscious mind is doing something positive for you now, and you – conscious mind – are loving it, aren’t you? You can tell because she’s smiling, she’s agreeing, she’s having a great time and she has no concept of how it’s happening. This is a powerful part of the non-awareness set. Because she has no idea how it’s happening but it’s continuing to happen despite her interference, it creates a tremendous amount of trust, a tremendous amount of conviction that this is actually working. That’s a good place to leave someone.

107

The next thing I’m doing here as well is I’m leading it a little bit into the idea of a recovery strategy. Once again, just like with Russ, because we have pain which is a big deal in a lot of people’s lives, I don’t want the slightest twinge of Hypnosis Pain Control Demonstrations ©Street Hypnosis All Rights Reserved

Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual something to trigger fear again that the pain’s coming back. Because that’s the path where they split or dissociate from their unconscious again and it could recreate the pain just by fearing it. It’s true that many people have these self-fulfilling prophecies. They create what they fear the most. In order to build in a recovery strategy, one of the things I have to make her aware of and make sure that she can accept is that from time to time there will be pain, discomfort and so on, but it’s not necessarily the same pain. It’s not necessarily related to this. It’s just a part of the human experience. Human beings will from time to time experience aches and pains and some form of suffering. It’s part of the human experience. It doesn’t mean that you will stay there. I want to check out how she reacts to those ideas. Right now she’s accepting them very freely and smoothly. If on the other hand I saw any hesitation, any doubt, any concern, I must explore that and just as we did with Russ reframe it or negotiate a reframe, because those pitfalls could undo all this work when I’m no longer there. I’d rather know upfront and fix it than have someone come back six months later and say it didn’t work, you failed; or worse still thinking it didn’t work and it failed and never coming back again, because it could be something that’s really easy to fix. … but the beauty here is as this is transforming right now, something inside you can start to just rewire, to have a completely different attitude shift because all your legs were trying to do is get your attention. They have that now, don’t they? Liz:

Yes, they do.

Igor:

They do…

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Notice how we’re continuing with the hypnotic lecture in the form of a hypnotic blitz to really reinforce these ideas that this change is continuing. You’ve changed your relationship to yourself, which is why the pain can now go away, and of course, protect into their future. If you recall, we didn’t spend much time around the reframe that the purpose or the message of the pain is a signal. We’re weaving that now into this particular lecture because again I’m covering all possibilities. I want to make sure that no stone is left unturned and that she has a very clear strategy for the future. The strategy of course is very simple, which is pay attention to the signals from your unconscious mind, learn from them and then you will not need to suffer from them. … and would it be fair to say you now have happy legs? Liz:

Right now, yes.

Igor:

That’s because they have your attention and it’s the right kind of attention, isn’t it?

Liz:

It is.

Igor:

Now my sense is that from time to time you may have something you need to learn. I don’t know if there is something else going on inside there that you need to learn from or if it’s all been resolved. I don’t know if you have an instinct about that right now or if you really don’t know. Where would you say you are at this point? I want to pause here again and talk a little bit about what you just saw happening. This is an important step here. If you’ll recall, the doctors have no idea why Liz was in pain. Liz has no idea why Liz is in pain.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual If we accept our presupposition that one of the main purposes of pain is that it’s a signal from the unconscious mind that you’ve got to pay attention to something that’s gone wrong, typically that going wrong would be something going wrong in the body. You may have an injury. You may have a disease or a parasite that needs clearing. It could also be something else. It could be an emotional issue expressing itself in pain. A lot of people will develop pain as a signal from the unconscious mind that they’re living the wrong lifestyle or they’re handling a particular aspect of their life in the wrong way. I have no idea what the purpose of this particular pain was, my concern is that if we just turn the pain off and leave no coping mechanisms for whatever purpose the unconscious mind had for generating the pain, then it might express itself either, in another way or it might still come back and undo whatever we did. Or worse still that there is an organic problem there we’ve missed, that doctors have missed and it’s going to get worse, as a result, of masking the pain that would otherwise come. What we’ve just done in this last little segment here is begin to build like a sensitive machine inside that basically says either you’ll find out what this is, or if it’s really important it will find a way of expressing itself – be that in your dreams, be that through other signals. In other words, you get to learn from your unconscious mind. The message will not be lost just because we have muted the signal. This is a key thing because it goes back to the same ecology thing. With Russ for example on Bonus DVD 1, we were pretty sure what it was. He injured his groin and now standing up and walking and all these different things were a problem for him. It makes a lot of sense. It seems like a very clear-cut case.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual This is different. I need to build in safety mechanisms to make sure that the pain control does not accidentally end up creating a bigger problem than the pain was in the first place. As you listen on, I’d like you to listen to Liz’s answer because this is going to be a very important part for me as a therapist to pay attention to, which is that something was clearly happening. The pain did not come randomly. The unconscious mind is anything but random. We have no idea what it is. It could be an emotional thing. It could be something like that. It could be just something that needs to heal. I don’t know. The point is that by making those suggestions, I have presented the unconscious mind the option to resolve it outside of consciousness in the same way as it resolved the actual pain itself. That’s exactly what’s going on here. Listen on and you’ll hear Liz saying that she has a sense in the back of her mind that something’s happening, something’s resolving. She doesn’t know what it is but it’s resolving. That’s really kind of good enough for me. It’s very congruent, especially given our interactions to this point. I can tell that she’s got a lot of trust in her unconscious mind. There are a lot of good instincts going on internally. I’m pretty happy to realize that she’s not just saying this to please me. She’s actually genuinely investigating it and having an inner sense, an instinct that says yes, healing is occurring at whatever level is appropriate. That’s a good thing for me to check out. I now feel comfortable that I can move on. Listen out for that and you’ll hear that interaction, the reinforcing of that healing process and making sure that we are covering all angles when it comes to the client’s health and personal safety. Liz:

I’d say I’m moving towards the resolve.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Igor:

You’re at the point of almost resolving it. You can feel it happening almost in the background, right?

Liz:

Yes.

Igor:

Let that continue for a while because in the same way as you can feel it resolving, you’ll also know when you’re done and I want you to be convinced about this. I want you to really know that when you leave here, it’s not just like oh it happened for a few minutes. When you leave here, it’s solid. It’s something that you can take forward in your life, and the only way to do that is to really learn something, even if you don’t know what it is that you’re learning. Right now you’re learning many things. You’re breathing of course. Let’s jump in here once again. You can see there’s a lot of dense stuff that’s going on here. As we talked about a little earlier on, my aim here is to make sure that Liz leaves here with: a. b. c.

an attitude of conviction that this is working; it’s solid so it will last her lifetime, and that this is something that’s done in an ecological way that it’s done in a way that’s safe for Liz.

Of course, we spent the last minute or two just giving a little hypnotic lecture, a little hypnotic blitz around the idea that the unconscious mind can resolve whatever the underlying issue is as well. We’re throwing in all kinds of suggestions here about learning without knowing what you’re learning. What does that say? What I’m saying is your unconscious mind can do all the right stuff without your conscious mind needing to interfere with it. It gets to catch up with insights after the process is long over; because that’s really the way the mind typically works, anyway.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Insight does not precede change. Insight follows change, if it happens at all. I’m leaving the room open for that. Now I’m going to start attaching this to a lot of concrete things. Why am I doing this? Because this idea of insight, this idea of learning without knowing what you’re learning can be a little wishywashy otherwise if there’s nothing concrete to attach it to. So I’m going to start attaching it to physical things like her breathing. Notice how as soon as I do that, her conscious mind gets to catch up to like oh my God, something really is happening here, I get to have an involvement with this again, and that’s when she starts laughing because it’s a very I guess pleasurable thing. It’s a very enjoyable thing to realize that you’re part of this transformational process. She gets to experience the magic in action and she’s enjoying that a great deal. I want to weave that back into the idea that the unconscious healing is continuing so that her conscious mind doesn’t feel left out of that particular loop too much. It becomes a symbiotic relationship. That’s right. It’s good, isn’t it? And you can feel that happening, can’t you? Liz:

Yes.

Igor:

And it’s all happening outside of your awareness and that’s where it should be and do you know why? It’s because that’s where the problem was in the first place. The very part of you that was responsible for running the problem is now responsible for giving you those happy legs. Isn’t that a comforting thought?

Liz:

That’s cool.

Igor:

How are you doing right now?

Liz:

Really good.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Igor:

Has that resolving thing completed yet or is there still a little bit more? So you’re actually testing the experience right now?

Liz:

Yes. Let’s jump in here again. This is a great example of everything we’ve been talking about. We’ve gone full circle. We’ve done the whole hypnotic blitz with the hypnotic lecture and the resolution and so on. Now that I’ve done this for a while and I have a sense that a lot of good things are happening, I go right back to my basic strategy, which is always to ask what’s happening now? What’s going on? Where are we in this process? I need to know where the client is at so that I’ll know where to go from here. My sense is that we are either done or very close to being done. However, I can’t know this until the client acknowledges it. The irony is if they acknowledge it, then they will seem like oh my God, how did you do that because this is happening? In other words, my asking what’s happening now ends up having the force of an indirect suggestion, an implication of change. If however I’ve missed something and there’s something that requires a little bit more time, then it’s fine because I’m just checking in with the process. If they go, no, no just give me a few minutes longer, okay I’ll shut up for a while as you continue that process. Either way is fine, but I must check in with my client before we’re done so that I know that the process is all the way complete. Please notice how charmed and charming Liz is with her self-discovery here that this stuff is really taking, this stuff is really doing something different. Recall that this is very quick. We’re only at about five or five and a half minutes into the whole process, and yet the pain control is well and done by this point, the sensations have changed and a lot of unconscious healing is

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual starting to go on. We’ve done a lot of work in a very short period of time just because our foundation was set up properly. Liz:

It’s resolving.

Igor:

It is resolving, isn’t it?

Liz:

It’s resolving.

Igor:

It is resolving and there’s no hurry for that to happen. The key thing is I don’t know exactly why your legs and your nervous system were getting your attention, and you don’t know exactly why either. It’s clearly working what’s happening right now. From time to time it may need your attention again, so can we make an agreement with yourself that if it needs your attention, it need not do it in such a painful manner as it did in the past. It can get your attention in different ways… Let’s jump in here once again and notice what’s happened in the last few moments. It’s been a reinforcing cycle. Liz has said yes it’s still resolving. It’s still a process. We may be towards the tail end of it but we’re not done yet. I’m going to say great, carry on with it, just as we talked about before. I’m going to reinforce that now of course to keep her conscious mind a little busy with other stuff as well by throwing some extra ideas out there. I’m going to reinforce it with a bit of a hypnotic lecture, and I want her conscious mind to start thinking about some new ideas so that she has some extra things she can take with her out into the real world. One of the things I want to have here is – because again we don’t quite know what the issue was, whether it’s physical or psychological or something else. I want to make sure that the pain does not have to come back in the same form, in the form of suffering, and that she can learn whatever she needs to learn. She can pay attention to whatever her conscious mind wants her to pay attention to without the suffering – in other words, without the pain.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

What we’re doing right now is basically, creating a little paradigm shift inside her mind to say you don’t need to experience pain anymore. All you have to do is pay attention, and your unconscious mind can make itself known in so many different ways so that when you pay attention to it and learn from that, the need for pain is gone now. It’s no longer necessary. That’s essentially what we’re doing here. We’re creating a little unconscious learning machine so that suffering and pain can be a thing of the past. Once again I would like to point out to you the hand gestures I made. With pain, my hand gestures outside of us, outside of our relationship as client and therapist. As soon as I start talking about pleasant sensations, about learning, about things like that, my hand comes back in again to either point at the client or point at this relationship, this feedback loop that we’re creating. Once again I’m creating this clear distinction – pain is a thing of the past. The future is about learning, it’s about appreciating signals, it’s about sensations, it’s about a better relationship with your unconscious mind, but it is not about suffering or pain. Those things are over now as far as we’re concerned. I’m reemphasizing that point whilst of course building in those safety mechanisms. … and, provided you pay attention, you’ll never need to pay another way. Does that make sense to you? Liz:

Awesome.

Igor:

Have you got that part? I have a sense that it’s now completing more fully, right?

Liz:

Yes.

Igor:

Exactly. How are you doing right now?

Liz:

Good.

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Igor:

Are you sure?

Liz:

Yes, I’m sure.

Igor:

Good. Now we have pretty much completed the pain control process. The pain is absent. She’s feeling great. Whatever underlying stuff was resolving seems to have resolved now. We’ve got a fully committed conscious mind saying yes, this feels like it’s resolved. We threw a few extra little things in that second process to help the resolving to make sure that the unconscious mind had the sense that just because the pain has gone does not mean you’re going to be muted. That you can’t be heard anymore, and that was one of the final pieces that it seems were necessary so that the unconscious mind was willing to get a sense of completion. Now we’re pretty much done. What I’d like you to pay attention to now is what follows because whilst we’re done with the session per se, this is only six minutes. We’ve got lots of time left to do other things. One of the things that I want to do now is I want to test, especially because of the ambiguous nature of the pain – we have no real source for it – I want to make sure that when she goes home, there’s not a chance in the world of it coming back. So I’m going to start testing. I’m going to ask for different situations where it’s arisen in the past and how she thinks it’s going to happen in the future, situations she might have been afraid of. I want to flush everything out as possible. The other thing I’m doing is I’m also looking for client conviction. In other words, I’m going to annoy my client a little bit. I’m going to be asking about

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual this scenario and that scenario and this scenario and that scenario until the client says I get it already, come on, I’m done, I’m finished, just let me go. When a client starts trying to convince you that they’re done, when they’re trying to convince you that they feel complete, that it’s all over and so on, that’s a great position to be in. It’s a much better place to be in than trying to convince your client that it’s all going to be okay. No, honestly when you leave now, it will carry on working. What about if this goes wrong? Well, don’t worry about it. It will be fine, just trust me. That’s a terrible place to be in as a therapist. By using hypnotic reversal, I’m going to be testing so thoroughly that the client ends up saying to me you know what, I’m done. I get it. Just let me go will you? Then I’m going to be very happy because she has now taken responsibility for the change and for the future, which is a great place to be in.

Igor:

As you think about your future, were there some things that would set you off more than others – like maybe the weather changes or something like that, or did it feel more random to you? I don’t know.

Liz:

No, more random but weather sometimes. More random.

Igor:

Okay.

Liz:

I never could quite…

Igor:

Figure out a pattern for it?

Liz:

No.

Igor:

That’s fine. It’s often the case. It’s not a big deal. What’s more important really is the relationship you have now specifically to your legs, but also the whole cycle that you had before. Doesn’t it feel different now?

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Liz:

It does feel different.

Igor:

Check it out. There you go.

Liz:

Excuse me while I check this out.

Igor:

Something I do want to emphasize here, is just like with Russ, his body was trying to heal something and it needed time to move in a certain way to allow that to happen, correct?

Liz:

Yes.

Igor:

Doctors have checked you out and there’s nothing that they can find that’s wrong but as we have heard, there may or may not be other things your unconscious mind is trying to get attention for. So just because they haven’t found it doesn’t mean necessarily there’s nothing there, and also just because it was there doesn’t necessarily mean that something is there to find. Do you see where I’m going with this? I don’t really know if anything physical needs your attention, but you now have a signal. In fact, I’d like your unconscious mind to give you a very clear signal if it needs your attention there again, how it can do it so you know to pay attention. Whether that means to go to the doctor or something else or just to be more careful, just pay attention. Do you feel that signal coming up now? Something different, something unambiguous, something you can clearly sense, and it may be there’s nothing there left. It could just be that the experience you had before was just like a phantom limb type thing. I don’t know but it’s good for you to be convinced that whatever happens going forward, you have everything that you need. Do you know what I mean?

Liz:

I do.

Igor:

Why don’t you just close your eyes for a few moments? You can put the mic down if you need and really pay full attention to everything going on

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual inside, both the real pleasantness of having gone through this whole issue, and the rest of your body too. So, you get a real sense of what’s going on inside there so that any time in the future should you need to pay attention and perhaps be more careful with your body, it will tell you and you will pay attention. And if for no apparent reason at all your legs start to get real happy to demonstrate to you that you do have an unconscious mind – that’s right – then you can have that too. You can feel those signals beginning to find their own rhythm, can you not? To manage them, sometimes stronger, sometimes weaker, sometimes going in one direction and sometimes the other, correct? Liz:

Yes.

Igor:

Really pay attention to those things so that you learn to recognize them in the future. If you recognize them and pay attention in the way you’ve learned to do now, then there really is no more reason for a pain to ever return in that particular way again, right?

Liz:

Right.

Igor:

Just do that for as long as you need to and then come back whenever you’re ready. So, we’ve done a bit of testing and reinforcing this really important part, which is that you can listen to your unconscious mind and it has a method of expressing itself so that you don’t have bring the pain back at any time in the future. This is kind of part of the test cycle as well, because we’ve talked about this at length beforehand. But, because it’s part of the test cycle, when I said look I’d like your unconscious mind to give you a signal, she seemed to have difficulty getting something. I decided to spend a little bit longer and do a little bit of an

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual induction to make her more aware of those internal sensations so that it facilitates that process a little bit. It’s just a belts and bracelets; do I need to do that? No, I think it would work just fine without it. However, I don’t want to take any risks, and given that we’ve only just spent six or seven minutes up to that point resolving the whole thing anyway, we have plenty of time to just throw in a little bit of extra induction to make sure that the good work we’ve done sticks. Seeing as we’ve got the time, we’re going to start playing with that a little bit more, giving her extra tools and building those tools so that they’re very clearly within her conscious grasp as well as her unconscious means of expressing themselves. This is a different way of doing the test cycle and to make sure there are resources in place because there is no direct relationship between the sensation that she was having beforehand and there being some kind of physical problem. It may be that was just like a phantom limb pain. The problem’s already gone but the neurology has forgotten to shut off, or it could be that something else is going on. I don’t know. What this gives her is a mechanism for paying attention without having to go down the path of agony. Does that kind of make sense to you? It just makes it a lot easier, plus in doing it this way it also takes care of the potential for a concern – what if I leave here and it stops working? Do you have any doubts about it stopping working after you leave here now? Liz:

No. We’ve done a little bit of an aside there so that we’ve reinforced this idea of the relationship between the conscious and the unconscious mind. Notice how while she’s been silent and integrating all those things, I’m giving another one of these hypnotic asides that we’ve talked about.

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I’m educating the audience, which is fine. It’s actually true everything I’m saying. In fact it’s something that I am very convinced about, but of course because she’s a human being and she has ears and she can listen, whilst she’s resolving or she’s doing whatever work she’s doing inside, that part of what I’m saying to the audience will of course reinforce that as well. As soon as she returns from that, it’s time to go back to the testing phase and getting her to stop pushing back – in other words, testing different scenarios to the point where she goes yes, I’ve got it already, now let me go because I’m done in every way imaginable. We’ve had that little interruption. Now we’re going back to our testing cycle again because the blip we noticed earlier on has been taken care of now. Liz: Igor:

No. I don’t have any concern about it stopping? Really? How come? I’d like to just point out that little question there – how come, or how do you know or even the question of why. This is part of something called the reality strategy. I want Liz to consciously start to backwards rationalize the change that’s happened. If I ask her have you changed and she goes yes, well how do you know? Well, I just have. 1. It tells me first, that she’s got conviction about it. 2. Second, if she starts making up reasons like well, I feel this thing and that and I know that going into the future all these things are going to happen. Basically, she’s giving me justifications for the unconscious change. I don’t care what the content of the justification is, whether it’s because I can feel my angel guide being with me, because I can feel my neurons reorganizing or,

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual because it is some other thing that may be going on. I honestly don’t care what the reason is. What I care about is that a reason has been created, even if the reason is I don’t know; I just know. That’s a great example of them having conscious conviction about an unconscious process. By asking those questions like why and how come and so on, I’m actually cementing the change in by getting them to tell you this is now real, this is why it’s real and this is how it’s real and so on. That’s kind of a little bit of the pushing I’m doing right now to get her to take ownership more and more of the change that’s occurred. As a little aside, be careful of asking those questions at the wrong times because if I ask the why question – it’s not that asking someone why, is a bad thing. It’s just that typically why is asking them to justify the reason why things are going wrong. That tends to cement in it. If someone says I’m depressed and you go oh really, why are you depressed, well what they’re going to do now is say well because the world’s so terrible and these things are happening. They’re going to give you all these reasons, and that’s going to make it more reasonable and it’s going to make it more likely that they stay depressed at that point in time. That’s what the why has done. There’s nothing wrong with asking the question why. It’s more a question of when do you ask the question why? The question why I asked or the how comes and all that sort of stuff that you’ll see me doing here are purely and simply to make something get cemented in more rigid so that it stays there. In this case, what’s staying there is the conviction of change and the experience of change. Liz:

Because there’s more of a...

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

Igor:

Do you see what she’s describing here? That’s the unconscious process at work. It’s difficult to put words onto it because she has no idea what she’s doing, but she’s doing it and she knows she is, but she has no clue what it is, right?

Liz:

Right, that’s for sure. I have no clue what I’m doing.

Igor:

But you know you can do it, right?

Liz:

Right.

Igor:

Here’s the thing. Just pause whatever that process is for a second – just for experimenting – and then start it again. You have no idea how you did that, do you? But you can. Isn’t that crazy? You can do something at will and have no idea what it is or how you’re doing it. What a bizarre world we live in, but it’s good to know that isn’t it?

Liz:

It is.

Igor:

And it’s good to have that confidence, isn’t it?

Liz:

It is. Thank you.

Igor:

Do you feel like you’re done?

Liz:

I do.

Igor:

Really?

Liz:

Yes, really.

Igor:

You’re not kidding me?

Liz:

No, I’m not kidding you.

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Igor:

Are you absolutely sure? You’re not being nice to me here because we’ve got a camera and everything?

Liz:

No.

Igor:

Really?

Liz:

Yes.

Igor:

Don’t lie to me.

Liz:

I’m not.

Igor:

I don’t like to be lied to.

Liz:

I don’t lie.

Igor:

Okay, in that case I guess you’re done. Give her a round of applause. Thank you so much for that. Thank you very much.

DVD #8 – Pain Control Demo – Ralph – Chronic Thoracic Arthritis Of The Spine

Demonstration 3 – Ralph – Without Commentary Igor:

Do you want to stand up?

Ralph:

I’ve had chronic back problems for a bunch of years.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

Igor:

Upper back? Lower back?

Ralph:

Primarily – actually it originally started thoracic.

Igor:

So the middle upper shoulder blade area.

Ralph:

Right, and now the world I’m in is I was in pretty much almost constant pain for about six or eight months, and I decided to go see a doctor. The MRIs show arthritis L1-S1.

Igor:

That’s just the labels they give to different bits of the spine.

Ralph:

Basically, the entire lumbar spine is arthritic. Good news is nothing structurally wrong. Bad news is the arthritic pain won’t go away, so they say.

Igor:

Right, can you see where people practicing defensive medicine this is something they have to tell people because of litigation and so on, but it’s not really serving their clients entirely, is it? I can’t tell you oh yes of course we’ll make it go away, we’ll cure it like that, because for starters I would probably be arrested and spend a good long time in jail for trying to help, which is something I’d rather not do. By the same token, I can’t allow the client to latch onto that belief as complete because otherwise what the heck’s he doing here? So the condition will continue but what is it you’re hoping from hypnotherapy at this point?

Ralph:

In reality I mean it varies from mild discomfort through I can barely walk on it.

Igor:

Excellent. So in your own experience you realize there are times when it’s worse and there are times when it’s better. Is that correct?

Ralph:

Correct.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Igor:

Whether or not the doctors are right about the underlying condition remaining, it’s reasonable to presuppose that you can spend the rest of your life with less rather than more, if not nothing at all because that’s just a lot of less, isn’t it?

Ralph:

Right, so the objective for me is on the bad days to be able to push it open.

Igor:

Excellent. Let’s pause it there. On a scale of 1-10, where is it right now?

Ralph:

Two, three.

Igor:

Two or three, so it’s okay.

Ralph:

It’s kind of floating.

Igor:

On a bad day, where would it be?

Ralph:

Sometimes I can barely put weight on my leg.

Igor:

So it would be like a 9 or 10, right?

Ralph:

A 10, yes.

Igor:

Excellent. Have I already started doing work? Yes because we saw the biggest stumbling block – and you saw how much emotion he put into the idea that it will always be there. It will never go away. That is the biggest idea that I need to be able to challenge without necessarily saying you will have cured, you will have this, because I can’t do that. I can’t say that. You appreciate that, right? I have no idea where it will go. I really have no idea where this would go, but I do know one thing 100% for sure. Regardless of whatever happened in his back, his body, his mind has the capacity in combination with lots of different

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual systems that are present to make the rest of his life comfortable enough to enjoy it, go through life and so on. Make sense? Thank you very much. You can stay where you are. That’s fine. You can have the camera there so they can see you. When we started earlier today, you said the sensation in your shoulder was at what level? Ralph:

No, it was the lower back.

Igor:

Lower back, sorry. What level was it at?

Ralph:

About a three or four.

Igor:

Where is it now?

Ralph:

Actually a little bit higher.

Igor:

What is it now? Give me a number.

Ralph:

Five.

Igor:

A five. Just lean back in your chair for a moment, would you, where you just feel more comfortable and tell me when you notice a shift beginning to happen, just the first step of that shift. Notice first, I haven’t done the full conversation with him. I haven’t checked in with him yet whether all my start-up frames are fully absorbed. Does that make sense? But I’m still using the presupposition and notice what happens. What’s happening now?

Ralph:

I feel a shift in the pain.

Igor:

There’s a shift in the back, isn’t there? Now you had no idea it was going to come, did you?

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Ralph:

No.

Igor:

You have no idea how you did that, do you?

Ralph:

No.

Igor:

Yet there it is, isn’t it?

Ralph:

Yes.

Igor:

Do you see the non-awareness set starting to come up here? That’s where the non-awareness set really lives and breathes its best. I wonder what will happen if you continue that. Do you think it will drop a whole number? There you go. What did you do?

Ralph:

I don’t know.

Igor:

And what number is it at now?

Ralph:

Probably three.

Igor:

You dropped two whole numbers? How do you do that? That was like less than a minute. Do you think it will continue?

Ralph:

Probably.

Igor:

I would tend to agree. What’s happening now?

Ralph:

It’s even lower.

Igor:

Even lower. What’s the number now?

Ralph:

A little bit less than two.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Igor:

A little bit less than two. You’re good at this. Did you know you were this good?

Ralph:

No.

Igor:

You had no idea, did you?

Ralph:

No idea.

Igor:

No idea at all. Yet there you are doing it with expert ease. It’s still going on, isn’t it?

Ralph:

Yes.

Igor:

I wonder if it will reach a zero all the way or, if your unconscious mind will take a leaf out of Liz’s book and go the other way in time. What just happened there?

Ralph:

I don’t feel it.

Igor:

You don’t feel it.

Ralph:

I can just barely feel it.

Igor:

Right, so like it’s a sensation. Remember the friend I had with the sensation of a thumb there? Would you call that pain in any way, shape or form?

Ralph:

Not really.

Igor:

No, it’s just a reminder that you need to take care of your back, right?

Ralph:

Yes.

Igor:

Is that a good reminder to have?

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Ralph:

Yes.

Igor:

Did you expect it to happen so quickly?

Ralph:

Not at all.

Igor:

How do you do that?

Ralph:

Don’t know.

Igor:

How did that work? Yet it’s clearly working, right?

Ralph:

Oh yeah.

Igor:

You’re sure about this?

Ralph:

Yes.

Igor:

You’re not messing with me about this?

Ralph:

No, I wouldn’t do that.

Igor:

I’m glad to hear that. There it is. Just check in again. What level is it at now?

Ralph:

I don’t feel it.

Igor:

You don’t feel it, do you?

Ralph:

No.

Igor:

Now are you willing to make this commitment to yourself, to your unconscious mind, to your physical wellbeing to pay attention to your back? In other words, to take it easy on your back, to not strain your back because clearly it’s getting your attention about stuff, right?

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Ralph:

Yes.

Igor:

And it’s important to give that a chance to heal to the extent that it can physically heal, and to the extent that it cannot, to be comfortable that you’re going to take care of it despite whatever may be going on in there, right?

Ralph:

Right.

Igor:

Is that a commitment you can make?

Ralph:

Yes.

Igor:

How are you going to engage in fulfilling that commitment? What are you going to do differently now? How are you going to live your life differently to make sure that you’re looking after that back like that?

Ralph:

Pay attention to it.

Igor:

Pay attention to it. I have a sense that if your back needs your attention it can do something. What do you think it will be if it needs your attention because you’ve forgotten for whatever reason?

Ralph:

I’m not sure.

Igor:

Just pay attention right now. What’s happening there? What’s that? It’s definitely not pain, is it?

Ralph:

No.

Igor:

But it’s curious, isn’t it?

Ralph:

Kind of almost like a little low grade electrical sort of signal.

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Igor:

Exactly. Like a little low grade electrical sort of signal. Just, basically, saying hey, hello I’m here. Just pay attention and as soon as your attention goes to it, do you need a signal anymore?

Ralph:

No.

Igor:

Now watch what happens then. There you go. Pretty quick, isn’t it? You’re good. You’re good. That’s fast, isn’t it?

Ralph:

It’s amazing.

Igor:

Better than medication, isn’t it?

Ralph:

Definitely.

Igor:

Note I’m not saying you don’t ever take medication. Please do not even consider that I would even imply that because there are appropriate times for that sort of thing, right?

Ralph:

Right.

Igor:

And I’m not the person to make any comment either way. That’s your medical advice and your own personal opinion and so on, right?

Ralph:

Right.

Igor:

What I am referring to, though, is that your body can do a better job than most external influences. That’s just proved it to you, hasn’t it?

Ralph:

Yes.

Igor:

How do you feel about that?

Ralph:

Good.

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Igor:

It’s pretty cool, isn’t it?

Ralph:

Yes.

Igor:

Did you think it would happen so quick?

Ralph:

No, not at all.

Igor:

That’s why it didn’t but isn’t it good to know that you can be wrong sometimes?

Ralph:

Yes.

Igor:

As you look into your future, I have a sense that in the past when you looked forward you kind of brought this backache along with you, right?

Ralph:

I tried not to but might have.

Igor:

But you can’t help it some respects, right? What does your future look like now?

Ralph:

Comfortable.

Igor:

Comfortable. That’s a good word, isn’t it?

Ralph:

Yes.

Igor:

Just close your eyes and I’ll leave you in there for a while. I’ll just take your microphone back as you do that. Just close your eyes and really feel that comfort. Please do not open your eyes again until you are firmly convinced that whatever it is you just learned to do will be there for you as the days turn into weeks, the weeks into months, months into years and your whole life goes

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual before you with that kind of comfort. Then, realizing that from time to time discomfort can still come in because that’s what part of life is about, but it will not be anywhere near what it was before in relation to that area on your back. This makes sense, doesn’t it? So just carry on with that all in your own time. Do you see the presuppositions in action? Did I do anything? I did a huge amount but that wasn’t here. It was in my preparation of it and then I just presupposed it – I wonder when it’s going to change. As soon as a little bit of change, it just goes back to the question we had here. How do you reframe the idea that it’s permanent? You can presuppose it. When some little bit shifts, let me know when it happens. Just stand up and we’ll get a mic to you. Is this useful to you? Student: What I thought was really cool about that whole thing… Igor:

You did a great job. Feel good? It’s kind of profound isn’t it after a while? Let me just pass it back so that everyone can hear you.

Ralph:

It’s very strange. There’s just a feeling of complete at ease and peace and comfort and everything that goes along with the pain not there.

Igor:

It’s good to know you can, isn’t it?

Ralph:

Yes.

Igor:

You did a great job. Honestly, you did a really good job. [Applause] Yes, I think he deserves it.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

Demonstration 3 – Ralph – With Commentary Igor:

Welcome to Bonus DVD 3. In this one we’re going to look at the third pain control client. This was Ralph, who’s got some issues with his spine and back. He has been diagnosed as having an arthritic spine or joints in the spine, and so there’s a physical thing there. When we talk with Ralph, it’s going to be a slightly different session than we’ve done with other people, partly because of just the way the nature of the interview fell, and partly because just to show you how hypnosis can be done in so many contexts and ways imaginable. Once you really have those first six steps of the seven steps of the pain control method down, the seventh step is easy. The seventh step, which is the technique, is what everyone focuses on. Hopefully, you’ll see here how with relatively little technique, you can get a lot done because all the work is done before you get to the point where you have to use it. When you watch the introduction of the meeting with Ralph, again we’re going to be starting with the first two phases. The medical referral is pretty much assumed. We dealt with that right at the beginning of the seminar. We’re going to be going through that whole rapport stage. Just listen in as we talk about a couple of things we’re interested in. 1. I’m taking up my level of rapport with him as a person. 2. I’m letting him vent a little bit in terms of what’s going on. 3. This goes into a little bit of the pain scale part of it as well. I’m checking out what are the physical limitations of what we can do? If you compare this once again to Bonus DVD 1 with Russ, there was a physical limitation built in. If he has a groin injury, then that means there are certain movements he should not be doing because that will make the groin injury worse and not actually healing at that point anymore.

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Whenever pain is present, that’s always going to be one of my prime ideas or questions I’ve got in the back of my mind. What is this person not physically allowed to do for a while to allow healing to occur, if at all? Again, I’m going to be listening out for that in terms of what he’s telling me. Again, I’m allowing him to vent. I want to hear how much emotion is there and what mindsets he’s stuck on and so on because as soon as I hear that something is stuck in terms of his mindset, I want to be able to jump in there and deal with it or question it or start out-framing in some way. Just listen to the introduction and we’ll jump right back in again as soon as something interesting has happened there. Igor:

Do you want to stand up?

Ralph:

I’ve had chronic back problems for a bunch of years.

Igor:

Upper back? Lower back?

Ralph:

Primarily – actually it originally started thoracic.

Igor:

So the middle upper shoulder blade area.

Ralph:

Right, and now the world I’m in is I was in pretty much almost constant pain for about six or eight months, and I decided to go see a doctor. The MRIs show arthritis L1-S1.

Igor:

That’s just the labels they give to different bits of the spine.

Ralph:

Basically, the entire lumbar spine is arthritic. Good news is nothing structurally wrong. Bad news is the arthritic pain won’t go away.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Igor:

Let’s just jump in at this point. I hope you noticed how important jumping in here really is. So far we’ve got some useful information. We’ve seen a little bit of venting. He’s given us a little bit of a history. He’s not hugely attached to it so far in terms of what’s happening. There’s a little bit of extra attaching to the idea that this is medical, the arthritis will never go away, this is the problem and that’s how it is. Now the phrase that really concerned me, the one where I really had to pause things – and you’ll see how I deal with that in a moment – is this one you just heard, which is the arthritic pain will never go away. That is a classic clash with one of our key reframes, which is that the pain is temporary, it will change over time and if it changes over time, it means it can change permanently towards the better – in other words, to have an absence of discomfort. When he has his mind locked on the idea that the pain will always be there, that makes my life hard because it clashes with the reframe that I need him to understand in order to make the session easy. The first thing I have to do as soon as I hear that – I will very rarely let it run on. If it runs on, it’s just because they really have some emotional stuff to get out, but I will always revisit it. In this case I’m pausing him to revisit it right here. That mindset must be reframed, out-framed, broken in some way as quickly as possible because that’s part of where the whole pain control thing starts becoming difficult if that idea has not been challenged. Watch as I challenge this. In fact as soon as I start challenging it, you’ll see that his mind automatically starts reframing himself. He starts taking a half a step back from that statement.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual He’ll say something along the lines of or so they say. He hasn’t completely reversed his position on the idea, which is because his intellect is still afraid of the past experiences of the pain. However, he’s taking an emotional step back from the commitment, so that gives me a little bit more freedom to start challenging it and loosening it up and so on. That’s a very good place to be. If he hadn’t done that of course I’d spend much more time negotiating that idea in pretty much the same way as we negotiated it with Russ back on Bonus DVD 1. It’s an idea that I can’t allow to grow. It’s not very healthy and it will prevent the good work we’re about to do from happening. Russ:

… so they say.

Igor:

Right, can you see where people practicing defensive medicine this is something they have to tell people because of litigation and so on, but it’s not really serving their clients entirely, is it? I can’t tell you oh yes of course we’ll make it go away, we’ll cure it like that, because for starters I would probably be arrested and spend a good long time in jail for trying to help, which is something I’d rather not do. By the same token, I can’t allow the client to latch onto that belief as complete because otherwise what the heck’s he doing here? Let’s jump in here again. We’ve already started the reframing process, as you’ve probably become aware. This should be old news to you by now. My aside to the audience is actually educating the client also. It’s an indirect suggestion to the client. Once again, I’m using the audience as a platform, partly because I’m educating them and partly because it allows me to challenge the client’s belief in a less emotional, less direct and less confrontational sort of way. So, he has the privilege of changing his own mind without seeming to have been forced into it, especially this whole idea of being forced to change your mind in public. It’s very rare that people like to do that sort of thing.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual You’ll notice there are a couple of frames that I’ve used here. One is the frame of defensive medicine. Sad but true that in much of the Western medical model, doctors have to practice this sort of defensive medicine because they don’t understand this idea of hypnotic communication and so on. They’ve erred too far down one end, where now they’re actually creating a kind of nocebo as opposed to a placebo. A placebo is something that is an idea, which is a suggestion, which when the mind attaches to it they will heal, as a result, of that idea. A nocebo is the opposite. It’s a negative suggestion that creates problems, as a result, of the idea being accepted by the person. Defensive medicine has caused ideas to be presented in a way that could be harmful and in this case have allowed the pain to maintain itself over a period of time and I’m educating him about that. I’m giving him the reason why doctors have to say that so that his mind has a reason to out-frame it and go I get it, this is not 100% true, it’s just something they have to say because otherwise they get in trouble with the insurance company, which I think is part of the truth as well. Now it’s part of the mindset of the doctor because it’s been trained into him in medical school of course. The next thing we’ve got to do is to start offering him alternatives – in other words, alternative points of view and so on. Right now we’re just doing the challenge. I’m using the audience for it and then I’m going to check in with the client to see how he’s doing with that challenge in a moment, and we’ll kind of take it from there. So the condition will continue but what is it you’re hoping from hypnotherapy at this point? Ralph:

In reality I mean it varies from mild discomfort through I can barely walk on it.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Igor:

Excellent. This is good. Let’s pause very quickly again just to point out – do you see how my little hypnotic aside actually got him reframed? He’s now already telling me the key idea that I’m trying to reframe him with, which is that it’s temporary. Sometimes it’s stronger. Sometimes it’s weaker. He’s already acknowledging that. The fact is he knows this is true. It is part of his experience. What I’m more interested in at this point is creating that mental fluidity so that he’s not married to the idea. He’s not attached to the idea that there will always be arthritic pain because that’s what the doctors said. That’s the idea that I’m having to challenge. As soon as he’s saying sometimes it’s worse and sometimes it’s better, that’s fine. Now he’s got fluidity again and so on. The nice thing here is because we have good rapport and have presented this idea in a sort of gentler way. It’s given him a chance to change his mind, to reframe himself and say oh actually what I meant was really this softer version of it, which is just fine because now the work we need to do together is much easier. He’s publicly committed to this idea that sometimes it’s worse and sometimes it’s better, and that’s given me the foundation to allow my reframe to take place. So we’re in good shape at this point. Now just to be entirely on the safe side, because he said it spontaneously and I don’t want it to be lost, I’m going to basically, feed back to him exactly what he said. Oh, so you’re telling me that sometimes it’s better, sometimes it’s a little worse, but sometimes its better? Yes. So you’re telling me that sometimes it is better, is that correct? That’s what you’re telling me? Yes. Whilst I may not belabor it that much in this particular case because he’s quite flexible, with

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual some people I may well spend two or three minutes just belaboring that point, saying you are telling me you believe this, is that correct? That nails them into a position that says yes I’m committed to this position. I want them to be committed to that so that if later on they turn around and say it’s always worse, I say hang on a second. Didn’t you say a moment ago that sometimes it’s better? You did say that, didn’t you? Yes I did. Well, is it true or isn’t it? Well yes it is. So when you say that it’s usually worse, what you’re saying is that sometimes it’s worse but sometimes it’s still better, right? Well yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. It allows me to create that leverage point and I can’t let it escape his consciousness because this is where his intellect is important. His conscious commitment to a position will either, make life more difficult, make his thoughts kind of refuse an idea and bring the critical factor online. Or, in this commitment here being more flexible to it, the critical factor is less likely to come online when I start throwing other ideas out because they can be fed onto something that already exists. As a rule remember it’s easier to attach knowledge to something that’s already there and accepts it than to try to force some idea through that contradicts something that’s already there and accepted. That’s one of the things that the critical factor is designed to do – to reject information that you already consider to be true. It’s called the confirmation bias. I want that confirmation bias to work in my favor, which is why I’m belaboring the point in a moment and saying okay great, you have this realization that sometimes it’s weaker. Is that what you’re telling me? Yes it is. I am getting him to confirm that is the case, which allows me to now use the confirmation bias to attach further ideas and further suggestions and have them more naturally and more easily be accepted by him.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual So in your own experience you realize there are times when it’s worse and there are times when it’s better. Is that correct? Ralph:

Correct.

Igor:

Whether or not the doctors are right about the underlying condition remaining, it’s reasonable to presuppose that you can spend the rest of your life with less rather than more, if not nothing at all because that’s just a lot of less, isn’t it?

Ralph:

Right, so the objective for me is on the bad days to be able to push it open.

Igor:

Excellent! Let’s pause it there. On a scale of 1-10, where is it right now?

Ralph:

Two- three.

Igor:

Two or three, so it’s okay.

Ralph:

It’s kind of floating.

Igor:

On a bad day, where would it be?

Ralph:

Sometimes I can barely put weight on my leg.

Igor:

So it would be like a 9 or 10, right?

Ralph:

A 10 yes.

Igor:

Let’s jump in here again and notice how smooth things started going once we to challenge that main idea and reverse his position. He’s started accepting a lot of other additional ideas, which kind of support our reframe that it’s only temporary just by that little challenge there.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Notice how I’ve gone from him telling me that sometimes its better and I started really emphasizing it. So you’re saying sometimes really its better. I’m emphasizing that one. And then sometimes it’s a little worse. Notice how my voice trails off. It’s weaker, so I’m putting more energy, more attention, more emphasis on the idea that it’s getting better sometimes – which is true – and less attention, less energy, less conviction on the idea that it’s worse sometimes. Then we’re getting to step three, which is the pain scale. Notice we’ve actually skipped ahead a little bit to the reframes just because of the nature of the conversation we had, but I still need that pain scale. I still need to know where it’s at now. I still need to know what kind of ballpark we’re playing in. Is it normally a nine or a 10 and now it happens to be a two? This again gives me more of a sense of what we’re playing with and so on, plus of course in terms of the PCAT formula – the parameter stage – he’s also giving me the idea of where he wants to be, which is when the worst day comes, he wants to be able to make it better. Now we have a nice sort of foundation on which to build things. Excellent! Have I already started doing work? Yes because we saw the biggest stumbling block – and you saw how much emotion he put into the idea that it will always be there. It will never go away. That is the biggest idea that I need to be able to challenge without necessarily saying you will have cured, you will have this, because I can’t do that. I can’t say that. You appreciate that, right? I’d like to just jump in here a little bit and point out again the hypnotic aside that we’ve been using naturally throughout the whole course, just because of the context that we’re finding ourselves in. I’m again reemphasizing, I’m out-framing his ability to go back to this idea that it’s permanent. I think he’s pretty much accepted it now. I’m just

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual belaboring the point to prevent any future backsliding should it get to that point. I’m just adding more impetus to this new idea. Of course, if this were a one-to-one session, I could just as easily go directly to him and say these things directly to him. It’s just at that point I’d be going much more slowly step by step, getting an agreement each step of the way to make sure that I don’t lose him at any point. That’s kind of like the more micromanaged kind of negotiation style. As it is, I’m just reemphasizing something that we’ve already succeeded with. Also there’s another little frame I’m putting in here that I think is going to be important, especially with this particular type of client, and that’s this idea that I cannot promise a resolution to this. The reason I’m saying this by the way is because medically that’s true. I can’t make any promises and claims about being able to help absolutely everyone and totally demolish pain at any point and every point. Even if I were to believe that – which I think is an extreme thing to believe anyways – I still couldn’t have said it for legal reasons. What I’m doing here, is because he’s got a lot of emotions attached to the idea that pain is there. He wants the pain to be gone and we’ve started to soften that idea up a little bit, I’m also presenting the idea that I can’t promise you a resolution, although it’s going to be very likely that he’ll get it. I want to create a positive attitude without actually having to directly say or imply this will absolutely 100% work, because it’s something that is a bit of a legal nightmare to get yourself into. Plus, of course, ethically it’s a bit of a nightmare because you can’t make promises that you can’t keep. You can’t get someone’s hopes up and not keep it at the end. It’s a very careful ethical line that you’re running, between creating a positive expectation, which is crucial and making an absolute promise to get a specific result which, in most countries, would land you pretty much in jail if you did that consistently. Ethically speaking I think it’s also quite questionable

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual because you get people’s hopes up, and if you don’t actually deliver on those promises it can cause all kinds of other issues as well. As soon as we’ve got all those things established, I’m checking back in with the client to make sure he acknowledges my limitations in terms of what I can and cannot promise. However, then we go right back again to this idea of presenting the overall frame, which is this is going to be positive, good stuff is going to happen, you’re already succeeding at this, it’s just a question of accentuating something you can already do. I have no idea where it will go. I really have no idea where this would go, but I do know one thing 100% for sure. Regardless of whatever happened in his back, his body, his mind has the capacity in combination with lots of different systems that are present to make the rest of his life comfortable enough to enjoy it, go through life and so on. Make sense? Thank you very much. Allow me to pause it here again and have a little look at what we’ve just talked about here. If you recall, we can’t promise that you will specifically have pain control and that you will remove the pain and you’ll never experience it again. It’s a promise that we cannot make for legal and ethical reasons. However, what we can do is present our conviction that he has the capacity to do that for himself. It’s a very subtle difference to say human beings all have the capacity – no matter what is physically or organically wrong with them, they all have the capacity to live out life in comfort despite whatever might be going wrong rather than saying you as an individual will have no more discomfort despite whatever’s going on. The conviction and general trait that something’s very defensible, with the research we’ve done in terms of there’s a lot of research around pain and

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual pain control and how pain works. There’s a lot of theory around pain with the pain gates and the morphiates that are created by the body and so on. Based on those sorts of things, you can make that statement. Notice how the statement does not promise you that you will have pain control, but it does create the expectation regardless without over-promising something. In my opinion, that puts you right on the proper balanced edge between overpromising something and being pessimistic about something. You’re not going down the classic defensive medicine approach and saying you’ll probably suffer from this for the rest of your life. You’re not going down the overoptimistic you’ll never have to suffer from this again because I’ll fix it. You’re right in the middle and saying you can fix it. I know you can. You have the capacity as a human being to do that. Provided you have the same kind of body and the same kind of brain as everyone else does – which you do – then the mechanisms are built in. It’s just a question of can we discover how to activate those mechanisms? Now that’s where the skill comes in with me and the skill comes in with him to navigate through his mind to get to that point. It’s a subtle point but one I feel I have to emphasize because of all the implications that come with it. You can stay where you are. That’s fine. You can have the camera there so they can see you. When we started earlier today, you said the sensation in your shoulder was at what level? Ralph:

No, it was the lower back.

Igor:

Lower back, sorry. What level was it at?

Ralph:

About a three or four.

Igor:

Where is it now?

Ralph:

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

Igor:

What is it now? Give me a number.

Ralph:

Five. I’d like to just jump in here and pause the action because just as we’ve seen before with Liz, we have a split interview. In other words, we did the original rapport building and pain scale and a little bit of the reframing already earlier on when we did the meet and greet. Now we’ve moved on in the seminar. We’re now several hours into the seminar beyond that point, so I have to revivify and I’ve got to bring back to life the original experience so that we can go from wherever we were leaving things at earlier on at that point. As part of that, I’m also keeping my own my clear, so you may notice how I make a mistake. My memory was that the pain was up in his shoulder somewhere but actually it was down lower in his back. He corrected me, which is good. It means I’m zeroed in on what I need to be working on and he’s zeroed in on what we need to be working on. We’re back in that general atmosphere. Notice it only took a few seconds to get to that but it’s important because we’re now starting from the point of common ground, of common agreement.

Igor:

A five. Just lean back in your chair for a moment, would you, where you just feel more comfortable… I’d like to just pause it here very quickly just to see if you spotted that. I actually said just sit back in your chair and make yourself a little more comfortable or so you can be more comfortable.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual There are a couple of things going on there. 1. There is of course a suggestion. Sit back in your chair and be more comfortable. It’s a simple suggestion, which by itself may or may not do that much, but why not add it in there as a reinforcement of what we’re about to do? 2. The other reason for saying that of course is remember his pain is in his back. That means that when he puts strain on his back, that’s when it’s going to be accentuated. If he’s leaning forward, there’s going to be more strain on his back than if he sits back in the chair and lets the spine align more naturally or find a more comfortable position and so on. It’s both an instruction to physically take the strain off his back – in general off his spine – and it’s a suggestion for some form of pain relief to begin as well. Notice that as we go into this particular demonstration, what I’m going to be doing is actually relatively little. It’s all going to be presupposed and the rest of it is going to be just basically, his reactions. Literally, within a few seconds of starting the session, the pain relief will already begin. Believe it or not, he’s giving me the opening for it. Recall that just a few moments ago he said it’s actually increased since we’ve been here. That might be just because of the way he’s been sitting or because he’s had to sit around for a while. Who knows why? It doesn’t really matter. It may seem like a problem that he’s gone from a four to a six, but actually I’m perfectly happy with it. It’s just another proof that pain is temporary, that pain is mutable and that pain can be changed. That’s going to be one of our key approaches to using the presupposition because if it can change upwards, then it must be able to change downwards because that’s what’s happened anyway.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual …and tell me when you notice a shift beginning to happen, just the first step of that shift. Notice first, I haven’t done the full conversation with him. I haven’t checked in with him yet whether all my start-up frames are fully absorbed. Does that make sense? But I’m still using the presupposition and notice what happens. What’s happening now? Let’s jump in here again and notice just how quickly we’ve done something. Basically I’ve asked him, pretty much cold with minimum rapport and minimum revivification to get him back into that zone, to check in with his body and tell me as soon as the pain sensation or whatever has shifted. Technically I’ve done this a little bit out of sequence. I haven’t done my reframes properly. I haven’t finished my seven steps and so on. This is more to demonstrate the power of presuppositions within pain control as cleanly and as purely as we can do. However, notice how very quickly things already start happening. I don’t know what’s happening – it could be going up or it could be going down – until I check in with him, which is what I’m doing right now. I’ve presented the presupposition, the suggestion that it will change. It’s loaded in favor of it going down a bit, but I’m fully open to it going up a bit also or even staying static wherever it is. What I need to do is to wait for him to tell him that a shift has occurred and then I can come back in. As soon as he tells me a shift has occurred, he’s basically, telling me pain is temporary. Then I can attach all kinds of ideas to that and bring it down a notch and another notch further and so on, as we’ll be doing in a few moments’ time. What happens when he says nothing has happened yet, it’s not changing at all? Well then he hasn’t followed the instruction. I say great, it hasn’t changed yet. So what do you think needs to happen for it to begin to change one way or the other? I don’t know. That’s right, you don’t know.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Now for those of you who are familiar with the non-awareness set, I’ve just opened the doorway for the non-awareness set, for a conscious-unconscious dissociation to occur, so really it does not matter what he responds. Any of those responses will be adequate. Each one offers a different range of opportunities. Of course, the simplest one – especially given what we’re demonstrating here, which is the presupposition – is for him to say oh my God, it’s gone from five down to a four now or four and a half, or whatever he ends up saying. The point is it’s now changing and it’s changing in the right direction. Am I going to be mortified that it’s only changed a little bit? No. I don’t care if he says you know what, it’s still a five but it seems like a smaller five than the last time we talked. That’s great because it’s going in the right direction. Well, let’s see what happens when it continues. These are the ideas I’m presenting. I’m doing very, very little interference and most of it is just based on him checking inside. You see, the secret here with the presupposition is not only does he accept the implied idea that it will change and it will change towards something positive, but also by him paying attention to himself in a different way, it’s forcing that same quality of attention that we’ve been talking about. Recall Russ once again. How at first his attention on his body was very negative – I want to cut it out. I want to ignore it. I want to dominate it. I want to destroy the pain and do what I want to do anyways. Now we’ve shifted that attention in terms of with Russ to the point where he’s curious about his body, where he’s paying attention in a more kind, caring, curious and learning sort of frame of mind. What we do with this presupposition when we say check in and tell me when it changes is we’ve switched his mindset. He’s now curious and going all right, I’m not sure what you’re up to but sure I’ll give that a go. His mindset switched from God there’s that pain again and I really don’t like it to well, is it

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual going to go up or is it going to go down? I don’t know. I wonder what’s going to happen. You can already hear the way I’m kind of acting it out for you a little bit that there is a fundamental shift in the mindset. Remember, it’s that shift in the mindset coupled with the quality of attention that it generates that makes pain control easy to do, and the presupposition already creates that context for him. The reason I’m mentioning all this is because you’ll see Ralph doing exactly what I expect, which is he pays attention to himself in a different way. The presupposition works fantastically and bit by bit we’ll coach him all the way down to a zero. You’ll see that happening as we go through this. However, I want you to be aware that sometimes it doesn’t happen like that. It’s not very frequent but it’s still something that can happen. What I’m still doing is I’m still paying attention to my client. I want to see how he’s paying attention to himself. You’ll see in a moment when we carry on and the camera cuts to Ralph, you’ll see him having almost a childlike expression where he’s just nonplus – like what is this, this is great, I didn’t expect this to happen, this is amazing – which is an even better version of the mindset than we’ve just discussed. What if he’s sitting there and you can almost mind read it – his expression gets more tense and he’s looking at us going nope, nope, it’s not going, it’s getting worse now, I don’t like it. Clearly my presupposition at this point has failed because it hasn’t changed the quality of his attention. He hasn’t changed his mind set. It hasn’t made him curious about the sensation. Instead he’s shocked or appalled or terrified or horrified by it. Then I know that I could come in and try something different in order to switch his mindset again, and that’s really what those three reframes – the

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual purpose, the time and the label of sensations – those three reframes are primarily there to change that mindset, so I’m constantly looking out for that. It’s a longer aside for you but it’s important for you to realize this. The magic in the presupposition is not just what you’re saying. It’s his response to what you’re saying, and the response is on two levels. 1. He’s accepting the idea that it will change and that it will change in a positive direction. That’s just assumed, it’s just a question of long it will take. 2. This is crucial and something that’s often missed out. The main reason it works is not just because he accepts the idea. It’s in the accepting of that idea that his mindset shifts and now a different quality of attention goes to the problem, and now the unconscious mind has more freedom to resolve it because the quality of attention has changed. Ralph:

I feel a shift in the pain.

Igor:

There’s a shift in the back, isn’t there? Now you had no idea it was going to come, did you?

Ralph:

No.

Igor:

You have no idea how you did that, do you?

Ralph:

No. I’d like to jump in here once again. You may notice that we really belabored the earlier point about the presupposition. That’s really because it’s such a smooth transition that it’s very easy to miss. It seems almost like magic if you don’t really know what the psychology behind it is. What I want you to notice in terms of what just happened here are a couple of things.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

1. You’ll notice how I’m emphasizing this non-awareness set type idea. You don’t know how he did it or where it came from but it came anyway. This starts to heal the relationship with the unconscious again. Recall, he has spent a lot of his lifetime, a lot of his back pain time hating his unconscious mind for giving him pain, essentially hating a part of himself for being in pain. I need to change that around because what you resist will persist, and what you accept you can transform. So I’m going to kick into the non-awareness set a little bit here to start healing that attitude that he had so that he starts being proud of his unconscious, being glad that he has it again, being in a more cooperative frame of mind than the resistive one. 2. The other thing that’s happening is notice how with each question I’m asking, his eyes kind of gaze off into the distance a little bit or go up a little bit. What he’s doing is he’s physically checking inside his body to see what’s going on. He’s checking whether what I’m saying is correct. This is important because each time I ask that, each time he goes back inside and checks this, he’s actually doing it again, which means he’s actually accentuating the quality of that attention and I’m slowly but very discreetly, very indirectly coaching him on the right mindset, the right attitude to allow more of that to happen. Watch as we continue with that and the whole effect starts to snowball more and more and more. Igor:

Yet there it is, isn’t it?

Ralph:

Yes.

Igor:

Do you see the non-awareness set starting to come up here? That’s where the non-awareness set really lives and breathes its best. I wonder what will happen if you continue that.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Did you catch that one? I wonder what will happen if you continue that. What’s going on here? This is an extension of that presupposition. I’m actually implying that it’s going to continue. Let’s face it, his attention or whatever he’s doing right now has created a certain result, and that result is the pain is diminishing. It may be a small amount but it’s diminishing, which is fine. Now I’m saying I wonder what will happen if you continue that. Remember, the unconscious mind reasons through association. The association is I do something – although I’m not sure what that is – and the pain has diminished, albeit a small amount. I wonder what will happen if you continue that. Well, if doing X means I get Y, doing more of X means I get more Y. That’s the implication that’s going on. It’s the kind of logic that the unconscious mind finds very easy to understand, almost irresistible to the unconscious mind. Hence, I’m pretty safe in knowing that once the transition happens in the right direction, it’s just a question of how fast and how far we can go with it. Occasionally some blocks will come up along the way, which we need to negotiate our way around, but usually this is enough. In Ralph’s case you’ve seen it be pretty much all that we need to do because the basic idea is there and the experience – he can’t argue with his own experience, which is it’s working – starts to snowball the effect. As it works more, his confidence grows. As his confidence grows, his mindset changes more and more towards a new mindset. As that changes more and more, the quality of his attention changes more and more. As that quality of attention changes more and more, the pain decreases more and more. You’re creating a virtuous feedback loop, a circle in which the more time he spends doing it, the more his conviction grows and the more the pain decreases, which proves his convictions are right even further and so on. Do you think it will drop a whole number? There you go.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Just as I said a moment ago – I wonder if it will continue, and of course it did continue – now that I have his agreement, he’s in a yes set of mind. Remember, each little victory that I have is a yes, as part of a yes set that’s done behaviorally, in terms of his experience. Now I’ve had a good number of yeses under my belt. It’s a good number of successes. The pain is diminishing – small but it’s diminishing. It’s continuing. His confidence is growing. So I have a lot of yeses under my belt and a lot of victories. Now I can take a small risk, and the small risk is I wonder if it can drop a whole number. What does a whole number mean? Who the heck knows? All I know is he started at a five and I’d like him to be at a four or maybe even a three or something like that. It’s a proportional change in the pain as he’s experiencing it. Because of all the things that have happened up to this point – I mean we’ve only been going for about a minute so far, but it’s created a conviction very, very quickly and I’m surfing on that wave. Now I’m putting a little bit of an accelerant into the engine. I’m making it a little bit faster, and of course you can see how: a. his unconscious mind loves it; and b. his conscious mind is just delighted by that suggestion because first of all he experiences the result – that’s the unconscious result – and second of all he notices it and he’s pleased by it. That’s why he’s sitting there laughing and going this is amazing, it’s actually happening and I have no idea how I’m doing it, but I’m clearly doing it. That’s a wonderful almost magical healing state of mind for him to be in. What did you do? Ralph:

I don’t know.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Igor:

And what number is it at now?

Ralph:

Probably three.

Igor:

You dropped two whole numbers? Let’s jump in here again and notice how my tone has shifted significantly. At the beginning I was kind of all casual and a little bit more curious, like I wonder what’s going to happen. Now I’m more excited, like it’s changed two numbers? What’s going on? Clearly you can hear from my tone and the way I’m expressing myself that I know what’s going on and I’m kind of acting surprised. He knows I’m acting surprised. I know I’m acting surprised. You know I’m acting surprised. The point is this is a great place in which to start introducing humor. What I’m really doing is I’m kind of acting out what’s going on inside his mind. He’s going oh my God, what’s going on here? If those changes are happening too quickly, there’s a slight risk with some people that they might get scared by it. By throwing in that little bit of humor – humor is a great way of breaking down anxiety with de-potentiating fear. So I’m going to start accentuating the humorous side of it because then that has an extra resource that goes into the cycle. Now he’s going to laugh and I’m going to laugh, and that’s going to go back into the mindset, the mindset changes the attention even further and so on. Now he’s laughing at his pain in many ways because he’s literally laughing it away. I’m encouraging that by going first and being shocked by it, more shocked than he is in a playful sort of way so that my attitude starts infecting him as well and he gets to have permission to laugh more. He’s got more permission to be amazed by it. He’s got more permission to enjoy the whole craziness of the situation where an intense pain is

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual disappearing in front of his eyes. He’s doing it, yet he has no idea how or what he’s doing to do it, and that’s a really healing mindset once again. We are in a classic non-awareness set at this point, although the way I’m delivering it is very non-classically. In fact if most people watched this interaction not knowing anything about conversational hypnosis, they would have no idea that anything hypnotic is occurring right now. They’d just think, it seemed an odd interaction that seemed to have hit on a lucky spot in some ways. That’s just fine. We don’t need to have people understand what’s going on. All we need them to do is to have the experience. This is a great way, you can work with pain, for example, in situations where overt uses of hypnosis are not allowed, for whatever reason. How do you do that? That was like less than a minute. Do you think it will continue? Ralph:

Probably. We’ve just hit another little watershed here. I’m no longer asking him an open-ended question – I wonder what will happen if you continue, which implies that it will continue to drop. Then my next one was a bigger risk, which was I wonder if you can drop by a number. Again it’s not a committed position. Now I’m asking him to take some form of responsibility in this process. Up to this point, I have uninvolved him in the process. I’m saying it’s happening anyways. It’s just that you have no idea what you’re doing to make it happen. Now I want to give him a little sense of control over it. That’s why I’m asking him do you think it will continue? That’s me basically, asking his conscious mind to heal the relationship with the unconscious mind. I’m asking the conscious mind are you developing some trust, some faith and conviction in the healing powers of your own unconscious mind.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual The more enthusiastic or directed his answer is to that, the more that relationship has healed. Right now we’ve got a strong response but not strong enough. He says probably. The way he says probably is with animation. He’s got some conviction in there. It’s very positive, so that’s a good thing. We’re maybe six- or seven-tenths of the way there. We’re very close. However, that word ‘probably’ is still a hedging of your bets. I’m not entirely sure but I’m becoming surer essentially. I want to make sure that the probably becomes a definitely, so that’s one of the little hidden tests I’m throwing out there. He’s starting to heal that relationship. He’s starting to take more responsibility for this whole thing. He’s not entirely sure that he can maintain this on his own yet and that this is going to keep going regardless. That’s why he’s saying probably. That’s fine. I mean we’ve only been going about a minute or a minute and a half at this point, so we’re in exactly the right sort of place. However, I know that I want to keep moving down that particular path, and as we continue with the demo you’ll see me doing exactly that. Igor:

I would tend to agree. What’s happening now?

Ralph:

It’s even lower.

Igor:

Even lower. What’s the number now?

Ralph:

A little bit less than two.

Igor:

A little bit less than two. You’re good at this. Notice how we’ve now again hit a few of the watersheds. Not only is the pain continuing to diminish as we continue to talk – I’m not really adding that many more suggestions right now. I’m just letting him carry on with it and feed back to me and describe to me how that process is going. The

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual momentum has built up. The unconscious mind is working that way, so I’m just letting it carry on for a bit. What I’ve just done now though at this point where we just paused is I’m congratulating him. I’m ratifying the changes. I am praising him essentially. Why? Recall, the unconscious mind is much like a child. It needs praise. It wants acknowledgement. It wants to know that it’s been heard and appreciated and so on. Seeing as the unconscious mind has done such a tremendous job – even if he was stuck at a pain level of two for the rest of his life, that’s not necessarily a bad thing compared to where he was before. Of course that process can continue to improve, which is fine. The point is at this point the unconscious mind has done a great job. It’s demonstrated consistent action. It’s kept going. It’s continued to go and I expect it fully to keep going down that way. Give it a pat on the back. Say you’re doing a great job, keep going down that road, whatever it is you’re doing keep doing it, and even if you don’t know what it is, keep doing it anyway. Well, I don’t know what I’m doing. I know you don’t know what you’re doing but you must be doing it because it keeps dropping, doesn’t it? Well, yes it does. That’s kind of the mindset I’m putting in there. He is getting more and more in touch with his unconscious mind, more and more confidence in his own mental processes, and I’m now ratifying everything that’s going on and I’m praising the unconscious mind to ensure that continues as smoothly as possible as we carry on. Did you know you were this good? Ralph:

No.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Igor:

You had no idea, did you?

Ralph:

No idea.

Igor:

No idea at all. Yet there you are doing it with expert ease. Let’s just jump in here once again. I want you to notice how we’ve moved from praising back to suggestion again. What’s the suggestion here? The suggestion here is you continue to do this with expert ease. Why am I using that word expert? There’s a very specific reason for it and the reason is this. Up until this point even though it’s been very short and we’ve only been working about two minutes at this point, most of the stuff has happened outside of conscious awareness and we’ve emphasized the fact that his conscious mind has no control. It has no influence. It has no say. That’s partly because I don’t want the conscious mind to interfere. That’s where his conviction used to be – that this is going to be painful and it’s going to stay painful forever. However, I also want to give him a sense of control. The more control he feels – and this is true in general in pain – the more control someone feels over their situation, the less they will suffer no matter what that situation happens to be. If you choose to walk up to the whipping post and get whipped, it’s a very different experience than if you’re forced into the whipping post to get whipped. Whilst the physics are the same, the psychology is totally different and the mind/body reaction is completely different. By using the word expert – expert ease – I’m basically, giving him control again. I’m giving him the sense that I am in control of this process even though if consciously I don’t quite know what it is that I’m doing.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual It continues to enhance the desire to connect with the unconscious mind because he can probably start sensing in the back of his mind that he’s doing something and whatever that something is, is good, but not know fully consciously what it is that he is doing, which is fine. In the future if he needs pain control, he just goes oh look, my unconscious mind is doing something. I’ll let it do that because I now trust that process. I’m not going to fight that process, so I’m going to be good with it. That means that the unconscious mind has freedom to do what it needs to do, to not only make this change but to maintain it and to make sure it stays in a healthy parameter. Recall, he actually has physical damage. He actually has a physical condition, which may or may not ever disappear. So we want to make sure that he doesn’t move in ways that are going to make things worse for him. It’s still going on, isn’t it? Ralph:

Yes.

Igor:

I wonder if it will reach a zero all the way or if your unconscious mind will take a leaf out of Liz’s book and go the other way in time. What just happened there? You’ve just witnessed a beautiful moment here. First of all I’m sure you all clearly spotted the suggestion, which is we’ve had all this length of time – two minutes and it seems quite long I guess – to reduce the pain from a five to less than a two and it’s still continuing, but I want to speed things up a little bit more. Just like I asked him will it jump a whole number I wonder, now I’m basically going straight for the gold – I wonder if it will drop down to a zero – in other words, pain free. When I get there, why not just go the other way, why not have pleasure instead of the pain that you used to have?

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

The thing I have to fall to my advantage, which is fantastic in this particular example, is Ralph being in the seminar saw Liz have exactly the same experience. If you recall from Bonus DVD 2, Liz went from that pain shooting through her body to some kind of phantom pleasure shooting through her body. Because Ralph witnessed that, that’s going to create some kind of priming effect. His unconscious mind is going to start understanding that as a possibility for him also. Just by mentioning that, it becomes a suggestion to do that. Then of course you just clearly saw him sitting there laughing suddenly. I don’t know exactly which of those two suggestions he took. Did he take the suggestion to reduce it down to a zero, or did he take the suggestion to actually go past zero into actual pleasurable sensations? Because I don’t know at this stage – I have a suspicion but I don’t know for a fact – I have to use my magic phrase again. What’s happening now? What just happened? I’ve seen a strong reaction from the client and as a rule of thumb as a hypnotist, I think you should train yourself to always pause whatever you’re doing and ask the client what just happened as soon as you see any kind of strong reaction, whether it’s positive or it’s negative. The information that will come at that point is going to be absolutely crucial to a successful outcome in the session. Hence, right now that’s exactly what I’m doing too. Ralph:

I don’t feel it.

Igor:

You don’t feel it.

Ralph:

I can just barely feel it.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Igor:

Right, so like it’s a sensation. Remember the friend I had with the sensation of a thumb there? Would you call that pain in any way, shape or form?

Ralph:

Not really.

Igor:

No, it’s just a reminder that you need to take care of your back, right?

Ralph:

Yes. Once again let’s just jump in here and just see what happened there. We now see which of the two suggestions he took. He went down to the let’s bring it down to a zero rather than the pleasure. Maybe some pleasurable sensations were in there too but it doesn’t matter. Either way, he took the suggestion that was most appropriate to him. He has a sensation left. Now remember, even though we’ve informally reframed the idea of the sensation rather than the pain, purposeful signal rather than the tortuous experience, those reframes weren’t presented to him directly and I haven’t had a chance to check them out on him directly because we haven’t talked about it. We kind of jumped ahead a little bit straight into the presuppositions just to demonstrate how powerful presuppositions can be. They alone can fix everything even without all the other stuff that we want to do for good solid work. Because I skipped all those stages, I’m going to start introducing them here again. He’s now gone to zero pain. Now I’m going to start reframing what that sensation is. It’s no longer pain? No. Could you call it pain? No. In no way, shape or form, right. So there’s a sensation and it’s okay to have that sensation, right. We’ve gone from pain to sensation, which is just fine. The label reframe is pretty solid at this point.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

The next thing we do is the purpose or the signal of the body. The body still gets to express itself and say hey, pay attention here, but it doesn’t have to do it with pain anymore. This is very important. In part because it shores up and solidifies all the good work we’ve been doing – the pain you felt in the past was just a message, pay attention to the message and the need for the pain will disappear – but it’s also an ethical or an ecological point as well. He still has the same physical condition in his back. The arthritis is still there. There are no magic wands I can wave to make that go away, maybe his body can break it down, as a result, of the work we’ve done here and diminish the arthritis. It has been known to happen. But I’m also on notice that because something physical is going on, I do not want to put him in a position where he starts ignoring his body and damaging himself even more than before. So I’m now emphasizing this idea of it’s just a signal from your body because you still have to treat your back with respect, right? Yes. I’m now taking this opportunity to fix my “mistakes.” Because I skipped ahead, I’m now reintroducing my crucial three reframes at this stage and checking that there’s full acceptance in terms of what the client here is doing – what Ralph here is doing. Igor:

Is that a good reminder to have?

Ralph:

Yes.

Igor:

Did you expect it to happen so quickly?

Ralph:

Not at all.

Igor:

How do you do that?

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Ralph:

Don’t know.

Igor:

How did that work? Yet it’s clearly working, right?

Ralph:

Oh yeah. As far as the pain control goes, we’re pretty much done. We’re now into the solidifying, the conditioning phase and the testing phase. What we want to be doing here is – I mean let’s face it, we’ve been working for less than three minutes and the pain has already disappeared. What I want to do though is I want to make sure that this stays good once he leaves here, that whatever else needs to happen happens so that once he leaves here he: a. physically takes care of himself; and b. no longer suffers from any pain. So, there are extra things that we want to be doing here. Right now I’m developing the conviction that this is going to continue. How do we do this? We go back to the one thing he cannot deny – that it’s happened. It’s already happened and because he doesn’t know how he made it happen, it kind of implies or I’m going to be implying myself that something else is taking care of him. Do you trust that thing? Do you like that thing? Can you let it keep doing its thing? Yes. Fantastic! That’s once again back to what we’ve talked about already – healing the relationship between the conscious and the unconscious so that the conscious has full faith and conviction in the unconscious process continuing outside of this session so that the pain relief can continue beyond this.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

Will some adjustments be required of that? Absolutely, but because he has faith in the unconscious mind, he can let it get on with whatever he needs it to get on with to make sure that he gets to live his day-to-day life unperturbed, and the unconscious mind does it in a way that’s going to be healthy for him and as healing as possible. Listen on as those conditioning cycles have a few tests thrown in there as well – are you sure about this, how do you know and so – because that’s all that goes on during this whole conditioning cycle. It’s about cementing the change in. It’s about empowering the client to take responsibility for that change so that he knows it will maintain outside of this therapeutic context. It’s about testing to make sure that if anything could go wrong, it’s going to go wrong here so that when he goes back out into nature so to speak, he’s got the highest chances possible of it succeeding. Also of course we’ll have some form of a recovery strategy, which basically means that he gets to check that some part of him will reintroduce pain control again if things don’t go quite the right way and so on. Just notice how we do this kind of subtly by saying I wonder what’s going on now. Just check in again, is it still happening? Again the best recovery strategy is for an absolute conviction at the conscious level that by focusing on the unconscious mind and making requests, it will do what you ask of it. That’s what we’re building up right now. Igor:

You’re sure about this?

Ralph:

Yes.

Igor:

You’re not messing with me about this?

Ralph:

No, I wouldn’t do that.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Igor:

I’m glad to hear that. There it is. Just check in again. What level is it at now?

Ralph:

I don’t feel it.

Igor:

You don’t feel it, do you?

Ralph:

No.

Igor:

Now are you willing to make this commitment to yourself, to your unconscious mind, to your physical wellbeing to pay attention to your back? In other words, to take it easy on your back, to not strain your back because clearly it’s getting your attention about stuff, right?

Ralph:

Yes. Once again let’s just jump in here. This should be a no brainer what we’re doing right now. I’m creating a contract between his conscious and unconscious mind for the wellbeing of his physical sense because of all the reasons we’ve already talked about. This is no different from what we did with Russ. With Russ we just had to negotiate it a little bit more to get to this point. With Ralph we got to the pain control bit much more quickly, which means we’ve got to negotiate or make the agreement, that contract, subsequently because it’s just part of the ecology check that we’re putting in there. I don’t expect any kind of problems with it; otherwise the pain would have not disappeared as easily as this, however, for the completeness of the work it’s one of the steps that I have to make sure I emphasize. We don’t want him to get so elated with his new found relief that he goes and does something silly, which would not be good for anyone.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Igor:

And it’s important to give that a chance to heal to the extent that it can physically heal, and to the extent that it cannot, to be comfortable that you’re going to take care of it despite whatever may be going on in there, right?

Ralph:

Right. One of the other things that we’re doing here now is we’re reintroducing the idea of healing. Because it’s something physical going on here, I can’t promise anything in terms of the physical healing, but then the literature does show that hypnosis can have a very positive effect on arthritis and in some cases clearing it up altogether. It’s worth putting in the expectation that the unconscious mind can heal as much as can be healed, and he can adjust his lifestyle so that whatever can’t be healed doesn’t need to trouble him any further. This is kind of the bit we’re doing at this point. It’s similar to what we did with Liz in Bonus DVD 2 where we got her to get a sense that the healing is going to occur in the background and whatever it needs to resolve is resolving. We’re doing something similar here because let’s face it, at three minutes or three and a half minutes into the whole process, we’ve got plenty of time to throw in extra bonus gifts shall we say, so it’s worth a go. The worst that will happen is he’ll stay pain free for the rest of his life while still having the arthritis, so it’s a tremendous success. Then if we can get additional healing on top of that – which is quite possible actually – then we may as well go for it seeing as we have all this time to do all this stuff. We’ve got all this good momentum flowing in our direction, so we may as well attach all kinds of other bonus gifts onto it.

Igor:

Is that a commitment you can make?

Ralph:

Yes.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Igor:

How are you going to engage in fulfilling that commitment? What are you going to do differently now? How are you going to live your life differently to make sure that you’re looking after that back like that? Let’s just jump in here again and notice how we’ve got all the commitments. The contract’s been made. He’s already agreed to it and that’s fantastic. I’m taking it a step further now because I’m doing a little test here. I want to make sure that his understanding of what that commitment means matches my, shall we say, own requirements for him to stay healthy. If you recall back in Bonus DVD 1 with Russ, he made a commitment to pay attention to himself, which is great and it worked, but then when it came to actually physically getting up, he got into an old pattern and got up very quickly and there was a risk of that undoing all the work. He didn’t necessarily do it at that point. That would be something that over time could deteriorate the good work we did. So we taught him a new way of physically moving and exploring motion to allow that healing to continue. With Ralph here, we want to do the same sort of thing. Now that he’s committed to this contract between the conscious and the unconscious, I’m asking him to demonstrate to me that he understands what that commitment actually entails, so he can walk me through what are you going to be doing differently so that you can have this healthy relationship with your body and be pain free?

Ralph:

Pay attention to it.

Igor:

Pay attention to it. I have a sense that if your back needs your attention it can do something. What do you think it will be if it needs your attention because you’ve forgotten for whatever reason?

Ralph:

I’m not sure.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Igor:

Just pay attention right now. What’s happening there? What’s that? It’s definitely not pain, is it?

Ralph:

No.

Igor:

But it’s curious, isn’t it?

Ralph:

Kind of almost like a little low grade electrical sort of signal.

Igor:

Exactly. Let’s jump in here again. Something very important has just happened here, a pattern we’ve repeated that you’ve seen happen with Liz, for example. We’ve got his commitment to pay attention to his body. We get a sense that if his body needs to get his attention – because we’ve muted the unconscious voice by taking care of the pain, we still need to give the unconscious a way of expressing itself and Ralph a way of knowing that the unconscious mind is expressing itself so that he can pay attention to it. This is part of the health cycle that we talked about. What we’ve done here is I’ve asked him to find a signal from the unconscious mind that is not painful that can be used instead of pain but he knows to pay attention to it. Now – and this is relatively typical – Ralph has no idea what that signal will be. Of course the unconscious mind gets to choose it. Nor did Liz. We spent a little bit longer on that idea of that signal and got him to focus in on it. At first he denied it – I don’t have anything I don’t know what it is. That’s fine. Just pay attention and notice what comes up. I’m reinforcing that quality of attention. Then something started happening. He didn’t say it out loud but you could see his expression changing a little bit. Hence, what’s that? What’s happening? What is that you’re getting?

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Then when he described that electrical currently sort of feeling, that’s a perfect signal. It’s neither painful nor ignorable – in other words, he knows it’s going on. As soon as that signal comes in the future, you’ll know it’s time to change my posture, time to change something, time to really pay attention and listen to this. That’s really the main thing I’m looking for. I’m looking for him to have a safety valve, lines of communication with his unconscious mind that his conscious mind actually recognizes – I don’t want him to start ignoring it – so that there’s no need for pain ever to return again in that area. All that needs to happen is the signal comes, he pays attention, he learns and he moves on. It becomes a very natural way of dealing with things. This is my way of hypnotically coaching him to having that signal so that safety is always served. Listen on as we go through that coaching process even further, and notice how we’re switching the signal on and off, on and off, so that he has a reference point. If it’s on all the time, he might become so accustomed to it that he forgets to pay attention to it. I want it to be on and off so that it’s like yes, I can live a normal life, that’s fine. Oh, what’s this? Oh, what did I just do? Oh yeah, I’m going to take it easy. You know what I won’t be doing that anymore now. That’s kind of the thing that we’re creating here. I’m now coaching him to be able to switch the signal on and off, not at conscious will but at an unconscious will. His conscious mind gets to have the pleasure of having an unconscious conversational. That’s why you’ll probably see him sort of smiling and laughing with surprise because he’s consciously not doing it. It’s his unconscious mind that’s sending these signals, and that’s a strange but a very pleasurable thing to know that your unconscious is talking to you very directly.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Like a little low grade electrical sort of signal. Saying hey, hello I’m here. Just pay attention and as soon as your attention goes to it, do you need a signal anymore? Ralph:

No.

Igor:

Now watch what happens then. There you go. Pretty quick, isn’t it? You’re good. You’re good. That’s fast, isn’t it?

Ralph:

It’s amazing.

Igor:

Better than medication, isn’t it?

Ralph:

Definitely.

Igor:

Note I’m not saying you don’t ever take medication. Please do not even consider that I would even imply that because there are appropriate times for that sort of thing, right?

Ralph:

Right.

Igor:

And I’m not the person to make any comment either way. That’s your medical advice and your own personal opinion and so on, right?

Ralph:

Right.

Igor:

What I am referring to, though, is that your body can do a better job than most external influences. That’s just proved it to you, hasn’t it?

Ralph:

Yes.

Igor:

How do you feel about that?

Ralph:

Good.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual You can see clearly what we’re doing here. He’s taken ownership of this thing more. Now, what I want to do is cement the changes in again. When I’ve asked that question how do you feel about that, that goes back to the reality strategy. As soon as he starts having thoughts about an experience, those experiences become more real to him. By say yes I feel good about this, he cements this in and he cements in overall with a positive, a very resourceful kind of state. Not only is he reinforcing what’s happened, he’s reinforcing and adding stuff on top of it. This is a very good thing or a very good habit to get into. Not just rationalizing the responses, but actually having an opinion about them, to evaluate them, to judge them. When they are judged in a positive manner, they increase a little further. What he’s, basically, doing now is I’m indirectly coaching him to do the same ratification process that I’ve been doing when I’ve been congratulating his unconscious mind, praising it and so on. I’ve done it several times by now. You’ve probably spotted it. I’m getting him to start doing that too. When he says I feel good about my ability to do that, he’s basically, praising himself. When he’s praising himself, he’s actually praising his other self, his unconscious self. Now he’s again learning a method of interacting with himself, which is going to be a great skill for him to have over his lifetime. Igor:

It’s pretty cool, isn’t it?

Ralph:

Yes.

Igor:

Did you think it would happen so quick?

Ralph:

No, not at all.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Igor:

That’s why it didn’t but isn’t it good to know that you can be wrong sometimes?

Ralph:

Yes.

Igor:

As you look into your future, I have a sense that in the past when you looked forward you kind of brought this backache along with you, right?

Ralph:

I tried not to but might have.

Igor:

But you can’t help it some respects, right? What does your future look like now?

Ralph:

Comfortable.

Igor:

Comfortable. That’s a good word, isn’t it?

Ralph:

Yes. We’re in the final stages here. We’re just doing the last sort of mopping up stuff. We’re just basically, making sure that this stuff goes into his future. Notice how when I’m asking him what does your future look like or what’s it going to be like, he goes and internalizes a little bit. He’s really thinking about it, which once again takes all his experiences and spreads it outside of the context he’s in, which is in a seminar room. He’s going to be able to spread it out into the real world, his day-to-day life so that little things in his day-to-day life now get to remind his unconscious mind to keep doing it. That’s part of what the conditioning and testing cycles are all about. Notice, of course, as we’re going through that testing cycle, because he’s not bringing up any problems with it we’re going to throw in a little bit of an induction to go with it to generalize his change, so it has the as great a chance

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual as possible of lasting a lifetime out in the real world. To overcome any obstacles, in terms of like the recovery strategies he may need to have where little things shift around, letting them shift around and then getting back into the whole confidence that the pain control will take. That’s going to be the key thing, and the induction you’re about to hear is to just help facilitate that process of transferring the changes from the seminar room or the therapy room into the everyday world. It doesn’t take very long. It’s a simple little blitz. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it as well. Igor:

Just close your eyes and I’ll leave you in there for a while. I’ll just take your microphone back as you do that. Just close your eyes and really feel that comfort. Please do not open your eyes again until you are firmly convinced that whatever it is you just learned to do will be there for you as the days turn into weeks, the weeks into months, months into years and your whole life goes before you with that kind of comfort. Then, realizing that from time to time discomfort can still come in because that’s what part of life is about, but it will not be anywhere near what it was before in relation to that area on your back. This makes sense, doesn’t it? So just carry on with that all in your own time. Do you see the presuppositions in action? Did I do anything? I did a huge amount but that wasn’t here. It was in my preparation of it and then I just presupposed it – I wonder when it’s going to change. As soon as a little bit of change, it just goes back to the question we had here. How do you reframe the idea that it’s permanent? You can presuppose it. When some little bit shifts, let me know when it happens. You did a great job. Feel good? It’s kind of profound isn’t it after a while?

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Let’s jump in here again just for the last time. There’s nothing particularly amazing that I’m doing at this point. We were done a long time ago. The rest was just the solidifying the changes and so on. What I do want to point out here though is I’ve sent him off on a hypnotic journey. He’s had a little bit of an induction. He’s going through the process and I told him not to come back until he’s convinced that this is something that will last him a lifetime, which is a nice way of creating kind of a bind or a double bind. Either he stays in trance or he comes out, which already proves that the change will stick. What I want to point out though is that as soon as he comes out of trance, I have a huge responsibility to be right there for him. So I pause the actual question right in the middle of the question because I need to put my attention right back on the client. I know there’s a little window of opportunity when his eyes open where he’s extra suggestible. That’s the point at which I have to really congratulate him and just make sure that everything is very positive. I’m also checking in with him indirectly by congratulating him and saying these things and so on. I want to see his reaction. If there’s any point anything that I think is a hesitation or anything other than totally positive, this is the time to catch it still because it’s still in your room before it goes out into the outside world. The good news is it’s only taken a few minutes here. We’ve been seven minutes in total for the whole session. If you include the little introductory meet and greet type stuff, we’ve been doing 10 minutes. So even if it’s a completely cold client who doesn’t know you from anyone and you have to spend half an hour building rapport, it’s not a big deal. The pain control is done in about 10 minutes anyway, so you have a lot of scope, a lot of abilities here.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Coming back to the idea of what we’re doing now, as soon as they come back out of the process, you’ve got to be there for them with a big smile, with a lot of praise and a lot of ratification of the positive nature of what they’ve been doing because they’re more suggestible at this point. You want to check in with them to see how you are doing now, what’s going on, are you done, do you feel complete and that sort of stuff so that you can put a nice rounding edge to the whole session. Let me just pass it back so that everyone can hear you. Ralph:

It’s very strange. There’s just a feeling of complete at ease and peace and comfort and everything that goes along with the pain not there.

Igor:

It’s good to know you can, isn’t it?

Ralph:

Yes.

Igor:

You did a great job. Honestly, you did a really good job. [Applause] Yes, I think he deserves it.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

DVD #9 – Pain Control Demo – Gary – Decades Of Pain From Damaged Nerves In The Head

Demonstration 4 – Part 1 – Gary – Without Commentary

Igor:

Gary, would you like to start? Just give a half face so people can see you a little as well. Hey Gary, everyone say hello Gary.

Gary:

Hello everybody.

Guests: [Hello Gary]. Igor:

It feels like an AA meeting doesn’t it? Gary, do you want to tell us a little about what’s happening in terms of the pain you’ve come to talk about?

Gary:

I suffer from chronic pain. The first time I felt an ‘attack’ was when I was 12 years old. I’ve spent most of my life trying to cope with it through medication and meditation. It took 25 years before I remembered what caused this pain, which I’ll share with you. My older brother and I would go out and play on the banks of Cottonwood Creek and I was out there pounding on the rocks with a hammer while he fished. I was pounding so hard I hit my head with the hammer and thought that was amazing, it almost knocked me out. I was going to go ask my brother if I left a spot and as I walked up behind him he cast his line out into the creek, but the fish hook caught me in the back of the neck. He tried to pull it out but wasn’t able to, so he cut the line and I ran home. Something that’s not clear to me is that there was a woman at my home that was a nurse. I don’t know if she just happened to be there or if she was a neighbor that someone sent out for, but she came into the bathroom where I was standing over the sink with this fish hook in my neck.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

She pushed it through so she could cut the barb off and pull it out. When she did that she damaged one of the nerves in my neck, the lesser occipital nerve. I know this because when I was about 25 I had some exploratory surgery to figure out the problem and they found a lot of scar tissue along that nerve, which they cleaned up. That was good for about six months where I didn’t feel any pain, but after that the pain returned. That’s my story. Igor:

Excellent. Are you experiencing it right now or is it something that comes and goes?

Gary:

I have some discomfort now.

Igor:

On a scale of 1 to 10, where is it right now?

Gary:

It’s about a four. It’s kind of the stage that it’s at that if it gets any worse than this I would consider taking medication.

Igor:

I understand that’s excellent. If I understand you correctly it comes and goes. In other words, sometimes it’s at like a 1 or 2, sometimes a 9 or 10…?

Gary:

Sometimes I’m totally pain free.

Igor:

Okay, but sometimes it’s higher than this as well, correct?

Gary:

Sometimes I’ve felt a 10 and at that time I have to tell you I want to die.

Igor:

There’s a lot we can do with this, hopefully we’ll get to it. I would really like to dive in right now but I would rather give you a method than to dive in, but the temptation is very high.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Gary, can I ask you a quick question? You talked to us about what you had going on in the back of your head because of the accident you had as a kid, right? Where is it right now in terms of the pain level? Gary:

It’s about a 4.

Igor:

Can you describe the sensation for a moment for me?

Gary:

It’s like a burning dull pain.

Igor:

Like a burning dull pain, right?

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

Could you please close your eyes for a moment? Pay attention to that sensation there. Tell me if it starts diminishing already, but pay attention to whatever is there. Of course, he’s already wise to what’s going on here so either he’ll work one way with it or, if he’s smart his unconscious mind will start diminishing. Has it happened yet?

Gary:

No, not really.

Igor:

That’s right it hasn’t, very good. Where is it you like to go to relax, do you have some place that you really enjoy?

Gary:

Yes, to the beach.

Igor:

What kind of beach?

Gary:

Sandy beach.

Igor:

Sandy beach…so you’re there on that sandy beach and there’s water over there, the temperature in the air and you can enjoy that kind of place can you not?

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

Now, if a really important person in your life were to meet you on this beach specifically and only to help you with the sensation you had in your head for some time now, who would that person be do you think?

Gary:

My wife.

Igor:

Your wife, that’s a good choice your wife. So your wife would be on that beach specifically to help you, right? That would be a good thing to have wouldn’t it?

Gary:

Yeah.

Igor:

Is she there yet?

Gary:

Yeah.

Igor:

Of course she is, right there. I don’t know if you’ve noticed this but she has something for you, a cooling substance. It could be like a gel or ointment, have you spotted what it is yet?

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

It’s a tube of ointment. A tube of ointment, did she make it herself just for you?

Gary:

I don’t know.

Igor:

You don’t know do you. You really don’t know. I wonder what will happen if you take what’s in that tube and begin to apply it to the back of your head. Can you feel the soothing coolness there, kind of like a minty sensation or possibly stronger then that? Can you feel that now?

Gary:

Yes.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Igor:

What’s happening now in terms of the sensation in the back of your head?

Gary:

It’s cooling the back of my head.

Igor:

It is cooling isn’t it?

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

Is that cooling process intensifying as you apply it?

Gary:

No, it’s just on the surface.

Igor:

It’s just on the surface right. So, what level would the sensation in your head be right now? It’s dropped has it not?

Gary:

What level, it’s still at a four.

Igor:

It’s still at a four, so despite the reduction in burning you’d still call it a four is that what you’re saying?

Gary:

Yes, the cooling is on the surface it’s not deep.

Igor:

So something is missing isn’t it, to allow that cooling sensation to enter? Something to allow that cooling sensation to enter; you’ve applied it on the top but it hasn’t quite reached the right spot yet has it?

Gary:

Right.

Igor:

That’s right and that’s why your wife is here. There you go. What’s she doing now?

Gary:

She’s rubbing it in.

Igor:

She’s rubbing it in. She’s rubbing it in. Can you feel that beginning to penetrate the skin?

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

Is that a relief?

Gary:

It feels good.

Igor:

It does feel good doesn’t it? Allow that to continue. Let her really rub in that ointment and feel the coolness that it brings. Is it bringing the numbers down yet?

Gary:

No.

Igor:

So what is happening?

Gary:

It feels good and it’s relaxing everything around the area, but the nerve still hurts.

Igor:

The nerve still hurts right, so this is preparing you for the healing. It’s opening things up to make the healing possible, but hasn’t quite addressed the actual cause yet, is that what you’re saying?

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

It feels good to be open and ready like this doesn’t it?

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

Like you’re ready for something right?

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

Yeah, what’s that what just happened? Yeah, that was it. What is that? Let it go, drift it back, let it drift.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Let your mind drift way up and that experience be all the way over there. Let it drift Gary. That’s it much better, let it drift Gary. Are you letting it drift? Talk to me, let it drift, there you go you’re doing great. You’re doing a good job. I know this is intense Gary, let it drift all the way, all the way. Good. This is a really good job. Talk to me, what’s happening now? Gary:

I don’t know what that was all about.

Igor:

You don’t need to know, just tell me what you experienced. It was intense wasn’t it? You still feel the aftermath a little bit right?

Gary:

I got really hot.

Igor:

I understand, you’re doing good.

Gary:

I completely overwhelmed with emotion.

Igor:

I understand, you’re doing a great job Gary, do you know why? Let that emotion drift off into the distance so only bits come in at a time. One little bit at a time, can you do that? That’s it, just one little bit and notice how with each wave it’s a little weaker, so it’s easier for you to manage. You’re getting more in control of that process right. You’re doing a really good job Gary. Let that continue, but at your rate and pace. There’s no speed required here. There’s no time required here, because you know that I’m going to stay right here until you’re done right? You realize that.

Demonstration 4 – Part 1 – Gary – With Commentary Igor:

Welcome to bonus DVD 4. In this DVD we’ve got the final subject is Gary, with whom we’ll be using some imagery. As before we’re going to start with a little

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual interview session, which is what you’re about to watch and moving on from that we’ll get into the actual session. This is an interesting session and I’m pleased for you that I’ve had a chance to record it because this is what would normally be called a “problematic” client. What you’ll see is that I have to work very hard to make the pain control session work. That’s good for you to see because not everything is always 100% easy and straightforward. The other reason it’s useful for you is because Gary’s response is– one of the classes I did with was pain control– pain is sometimes a symptom of something else of a more psychological issue. In this case it’s exactly that, there’s some kind of psychological need the unconscious mind hasn’t resolve for whatever reason and the pain keeps coming back despite surgery and all kinds of other things, so it clearly has an important role to play. We’re about to discover what that role is and help relieve the pain by relieving the emotional burden behind the pain. However, this is a very dramatic demonstration. There is a lot of emotion there and when we get to that point I’ll walk you through what we’re doing, why we’re doing it and so on. It’s a great demonstration because not only am I working very hard but it’s an example of what will happen if the unexpected happens. What do you do if things don’t go as smoothly as the other three demos did, which were straightforward and didn’t require that much effort? What happens in those slightly more problematic cases? The other reason it’s useful for you to watch is because we’re really on the verge of an abreaction. There’s so much emotion involved that Gary, the client, is close to a full blown abreaction being overwhelmed by all the emotions that are flooding out and we need to carefully manage that emotion so he doesn’t get overloaded by the whole thing. Again, you’ll see a variation of the abreaction drill, those of you who are familiar with it, which we use to help him manage the emotions in a good way. All that will be explained as we get to those sessions. For the moment, I just wanted to share with you that this is a very exciting session. It was an

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual interesting session for me to do and I’m excited to be able to present it to you and to walk through it. Because, with so many things happening in an unexpected fashion, it’s really a nice piece of work for you to get to grips with, because you’ll see the different maneuvers we’ve talked about. We’ll see how, just by keeping going and using the client’s experience as a starting point, you can’t go wrong. You will invariably end up in the right place, provided you are willing to listen to the client and you have some principles under your belt so you know which direct to go and so on. This is what’s going to happen here. Before we launch into the actual session itself, comes the interview. If you recall, we have a seven step process and the first three steps we’ll do before the reframes is more or less what you want to be doing in the interview stage which you’ll see in a moment’s time. What I’d like you to do as we’re going through this is to see if you can spot some of the warning signs that maybe something else could be going on as well. This will be an interesting exercise to train your own minds, because when you’re working with your own clients you never know what you’re going to get. With more experience you’ll be able to start having an instinct or sixth sense about when you might be getting in trouble with someone and when you’re not. This is a useful thing for us to develop as therapists and even if you don’t develop it straight away and you get surprised that’s not a big deal. You’ll see me getting surprised at one point and totally switching track, at which point of course, the other skills start coming in and it starts resolving. So, it’s a very useful thing to be in, either you can predict there might be something interesting going on here or, you get caught by surprise, in which case you just use the principles you’ve learned and make it work anyway. This is a useful session. When we come onto the interview right now, just listen to the story and to what things he’s saying and when we get to those points I’ll point out to you things that should have been little warning signs that we need to tread with

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual caution, because something else might be going on. The interesting thing is, Gary was the first person I interviewed in terms of the seminar, and was also the last person that I worked with. I found this strange because I had originally intended to work with Gary first. However, for some reason, my own unconscious mind kept delaying when I would work with him. I used someone else who seemed more appropriate for whatever point we were making and now in retrospect, I know why and I’ll pull out some of the reasons that triggered my alertness without me being conscious aware because I had my hands full in dealing with the seminar and other things as well. Gary, would you like to start? Just give a half face so people can see you a little as well. Hey Gary, everyone say hello Gary. Gary:

Hello everybody. [Hello Gary].

Igor:

It feels like an AA meeting doesn’t it? Gary, do you want to tell us a little about what’s happening in terms of the pain you’ve come to talk about?

Gary:

I suffer from chronic pain. The first time I felt an ‘attack’ was when I was 12 years old. I’ve spent most of my life trying to cope with it through medication and meditation. It took 25 years before I remembered what caused this pain, which I’ll share with you. My older brother and I would go out and play on the banks of Cottonwood Creek and I was out there pounding on the rocks with a hammer while he fished. I was pounding so hard I hit my head with the hammer and thought that was amazing, it almost knocked me out. I was going to go ask my brother if I left a spot and as I walked up behind him he cast his line out into the creek, but the fish hook caught me in the back of the neck. He tried to pull it out but wasn’t able to, so he cut the line and I ran home. Something that’s not clear to me is that there was a

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual woman at my home that was a nurse. I don’t know if she just happened to be there or if she was a neighbor that someone sent out for, but she came into the bathroom where I was standing over the sink with this fish hook in my neck. She pushed it through so she could cut the barb off and pull it out. When she did that she damaged one of the nerves in my neck, the lesser occipital nerve. I know this because when I was about 25 I had some exploratory surgery to figure out the problem and they found a lot of scar tissue along that nerve, which they cleaned up. That was good for about six months where I didn’t feel any pain, but after that the pain returned. Let me jump in for a moment. You’ve seen the whole kind of warm up and really, in terms of the rapport stage just like with the others I haven’t had to do a huge amount of rapport. I begin with a little humor just to release the tension a bit, Gary was the first person to stand up and talk, so there might be some tension with him being in front of the audience and what not. Then he tells his story, which is quite interesting and slightly gruesome when it comes to the fishing line, etc. The interesting thing is this. He’s had exploratory surgery as he said where they found scar tissue on his nerve. That in itself already makes me think maybe there is a belief much like you’ve seen Ralph have, for example, where because there was physical damage then I can only have pain. This is not my fault. There’s nothing that can be done about it it’s just a damaged nerve; therefore, pain must be present. If that belief does exist then something we’d have to explore more, then it has to be broken down and that’s just something in the back of my mind here. The next thing, which is interesting and is something that I could have half caught but didn’t think about fully and then later on came back and reminded me that there’s more to be explored. It’s an interesting thing he said there, which is he had exploratory surgery, they cleaned up whatever scar tissue they found there as best they could and then for about six months he was pain-free.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Therefore, something happened in that six month window where the pain was totally gone and then it came back. What does this tell you? If pain is absent for six months and suddenly returns, for those six months nothing has happened in terms of the scar tissue and so on, but the nerve is pretty much the same unless he received some type of blow to the head or something like that. There is no physical difference between him at the end of that surgery being pain free and six months later being in pain again. This tells us there’s something else going on and that’s worth exploring. Now, because I didn’t explore that and went straight to the imagery for the demonstration, that’s where I got caught on the wrong foot and stuff started happening, which will unfold as we go through the whole session. That’s an interesting discrepancy, a warning sign that says there’s something here, explore this it’s interesting. It may become nothing and I could be totally wrong about that, in which case fine it was worth exploring but nothing came of it. Or, it could be everything and I suspect, in this case, there would have been more indications of shall we say, the more interesting session that was about to come. Gary:

That’s my story.

Igor:

Excellent. Are you experiencing it right now or is it something that comes and goes?

Gary:

I have some discomfort now.

Igor:

On a scale of 1 to 10, where is it right now? Okay, let me jump in here right now. This by now should be a simple thing for you to understand. We’re now back into our simple pain control system and at step three. We’ve had the medical referral, step one. We’ve built some rapport and let him vent about the story of the pain and so on, which is step two, dealt with. Now we’re into step three, which is asking what the present pain is that’s right here in front of us right now. Then, getting that scale of 1 to 10 to give us a

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual measuring stick to check it out later on to see what’s happened and be able to sense whether something has changed or not. So far this is straightforward I just wanted to point it out because the same routine is running regardless of what’s going on. Gary:

It’s about a four. It’s kind of the stage that it’s at, that if it gets any worse than this I would consider taking medication.

Igor:

I understand that’s excellent. If I understand you correctly it comes and goes. In other words, sometimes it’s at like a 1 or 2, sometimes a 9 or 10…?

Gary:

Sometimes I’m totally pain free. All right, let’s jump in here quickly. Once again you should be familiar with what we’re doing right now. We are now at the reframing stage and have already introduced something that is interesting information for me, of course, but also begins the idea of reframing the temporary nature of the pain and that’s one of the standard opening 12:52 you see. It’s happened before and this is the one that seems to be coming out at this point. This really gives us enough information for the interview starting stage. We’re now getting into the therapeutic part of the process, which is with the reframes and where that leads us, which is why in a moment you’ll see me pausing things a little bit to get ready for the main session. Sometimes it’s higher than this as well, correct?

Gary:

Sometimes I’ve felt a 10 and at that time I have to tell you I want to die.

Igor:

There’s a lot we can do with this, hopefully we’ll get to it. I would really like to dive in right now but I would rather give you a method than to dive in, but the temptation is very high.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Gary, can I ask you a quick question? You talked to us about what you had going on in the back of your head because of the accident you had as a kid right? Where is it right now in terms of the pain level? Gary:

It’s about a 4. Now we are into the actual pain control session. We’ve moved on from the rapport building and fact gathering stage into the therapeutic stage, shall we say. Note how the therapeutic stage still has a lot of fact-gathering going on. Right now we’re reestablishing where we left things off. Where is the pain right now? How are you feeling right now? My intention is to give a quick demonstration of imagery in action and since we’re coming to the end of the day I thought I’d do a quick resolution on this. My intention and the reality of things will be a little different. It’s not a big deal, I just end up working with whatever the client presents, which is what you’re about to see happening in five to ten minutes. Can you describe the sensation for a moment for me?

Gary:

It’s like a burning dull pain.

Igor:

Like a burning dull pain, right?

Gary:

Yes. All right, I’d like to jump in here for a second and talk a little bit about what just happened there. You may notice that I’ve deviated from the standard plan a little. I’m asking him about the sensation and what kind of sensation it is and so on. Why am I doing this? There are several reasons. First, the “technique” we’re about to us, using imagery to resolve a problem, requires us to have something or use a symbol of some sort to be able to counteract the effects of the actual pain. It’s a version of creating anesthesia or something like that. So what I’m doing is gathering the information I’ll need to

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual create the opposite experience so the opposite experience cancels out the experience of the pain and so on. It’s a simple practice. What I want you to note is that I got a little sloppy at this point and have dived straight into the actual pain control session. What I haven’t done is to check his acceptance of the temporariness of it and there’s a little of that from early on but not much. I haven’t checked the other reframes out either, for example, the meaning of the pain. What’s the purpose of the pain? I suspect that’s where a lot of the warning signs are showing there’s more to this than first meets the eye, would have come out again and put me on notice to tread more carefully than what I’m doing. In the end it doesn’t matter much because we still get to the same place from a different route. The reason I’m saying this is that I want you to notice how the route changes because I’ve changed the seven steps. I’ve left some of the steps out and haven’t really investigated whether or not he has accepted a lot of these re-frames ahead of time. That means I haven’t had a chance to actually have any of the warning flags come out that tells me I have to do more work before we go there. Therefore, when we start the pain control you’ll see how I get “resistance”, the method does not work. I want you to know this isn’t because the method is invalid it’s a great method, it’s because I haven’t laid the foundations properly. I had made an assumption which came back at me, that because of the demonstrations we did before, because I had reiterated the same points so many times before, that Gary as a client had already accepted these ideas, having been in the seminar the whole time. However, what I didn’t do is check out whether my assumption was correct by asking him and getting an actual reaction. That little misstep didn’t give me the warning signs that I needed that I had more work to do, and as a result, initially the pain control starts to fail. You’ll see it happening. This is important, because even though it starts to fail, there’s no big deal there’s always another and another step. I can always catch up to the things that I missed by doing other things, which is what’s about to happen.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

Whilst the seven step process is there to make life easy for everyone, for me, you and everyone else who wants to use it, it’s not the gospel truth and the only way that pain control can be done. So, even if you miss a few steps along the way, rest assured, if they’re important the client will tell you not consciously, but unconsciously as you’ll witness. Could you please close your eyes for a moment? Pay attention to that sensation there. ell me if it starts diminishing already, but pay attention to whatever is there. Of course, he’s already wise to what’s going on here so either he’ll work one way with it or, if he’s smart his unconscious mind will start diminishing. Has it happened yet? Gary:

No, not really. Let’s jump in right here. Look at what happened there. This is technically a failure. I have presented a classic presupposition to check in and let me know if it’s started changing yet. Once again, based on all the experiences we’ve had so far and him witnessing other people reducing the pain so quickly and so on, this should really have worked. Why is it not working here? Very simply, because I haven’t done my foundations or groundwork properly and as a result, I missed something of great importance to Gary. There is a purpose behind the pain. A purpose that hasn’t been touched on yet, as a result of which, we can’t relieve yet because we’re going in the wrong direction. I don’t know this yet, but I’m about to get a very strong sense of it. What you’re seeing, when Gary says no, not yet, is a classic failure. You’ll notice how, unlike Ralph or any of the others who could have internalized and said oh my God yes, there’s a small shift. There is no chain whatsoever, but a kind of resistance going on there. Initially I’m not too fast, I’m just going to let something else emerge and something else emerge again, but eventually, as I start taking whatever response

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual he gives me and using that for the next step. Eventually his unconscious mind says this is what you need to do, and that’s what we’re heading towards. So, notice how the presupposition was presented. I did my classic hypnotic aside to the audience to encourage the presupposition from being accepted and it was clearly rejected and quite rightly so, because I’ve missed something important. What I’d like you to note as we move on is how I deal with that rejection, that failure. As far as I’m concerned it’s no big deal. In fact, I will instantly switch position and say something along the lines of, that’s right it hasn’t changed at all its staying the same, basically, feeding him back what he’s doing. If the pain increases then that’s what I feed back. If the pain decreases then that’s what I feed back. If the pain stays constant, that’s what I feed back and use as my platform for the next step. Listen on and watch that simple process happening. That’s right it hasn’t, very good. Where is it you like to go to relax, do you have some place that you really enjoy? Gary:

Yes, to the beach.

Igor:

What kind of beach?

Gary:

Sandy beach.

Igor:

Sandy beach…so you’re there on that sandy beach and there’s water over there, the temperature in the air and you can enjoy that kind of place can you not?

Gary:

Yes. Good, so now we’re getting into the second step and next part of the method, which is the imagery. Notice how I’m building up the very simple scene, for which he’s choosing all the content. It doesn’t take long for me to present that scene.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual You’ll notice the quality of his yes is a little different from what we talked about before. The trance is beginning to take. It’s starting to do its thing and I’m just using very simple and relative vague language. At a beach I know there will be water, temperature and so on, but what I don’t know is whether its day or night and those are questions I have to ask him. As a hypnotist, this should be relatively straightforward to us. We only suggest what we know his experience is going to match and then let him ride that wave a little bit. Right now we’re setting the scene, creating a safe place where he can begin the exploration that we’re about to go into. Now, one of the reasons I’ve taken him to a safe place is two-fold. One, it’s safe and less likely that something unpleasant is going to happen. If it does happen then he’s got more resources and is stronger inside, in order to deal with it. Two, the method I’m about to employ I’d like to demonstrate to people is the imagery or symbolic method of working with pain. By taking him to the beach or some kind of safe scene it instantly already shows me how well he deals with symbolic instructions or imagery. If he says I can’t imagine anything, then I have to go down the route of oh, when I say imagine I don’t mean scenic pictures, but something different. As it is, he very easily goes there as most people do and enjoys that scene, which means I’m now ready to introduce the actual therapeutic metaphor, symbol in imagery form. Now, if a really important person in your life were to meet you on this beach specifically and only to help you with the sensation you had in your head for some time now, who would that person be do you think? Gary:

My wife.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Now we move onto the second step of this whole imagery technique from a place of safety. We’re now coming up with a symbol, a person that’s of great importance to him, someone who is going to help with this particular issue. What we’re doing is investing in a person I don’t know who it will be yet, although his wife seems a very good choice. I’m investing in this person a special metaphoric or symbolic meaning and there’s a presupposition in it that this person will help you resolve the pain. Therefore, whoever he selects, whoever his unconscious mind presents to him as the ideal person to help him through this will mean that at some level the unconscious mind has already accepted that he will get through this as some level and in some way. In fact, that’s what ends up happening, however, there are a few more twists and turns we have to take along the way. So, we have that place of safety where he can exist for a while. We’ve tested and he’s okay with the whole imagery idea of things and now we’re going to introduce a symbolic person, something else, a power animal, cartoon character or a figure from history, it doesn’t matter too much but someone who it is presupposed will be able to help him relieve this pain. You can already see classically see how it’s a presupposition disguised in the form of imagery or imaginary situation. Your wife, that’s a good choice your wife. So your wife would be on that beach specifically to help you, right? That would be a good thing to have wouldn’t it? Gary:

Yeah.

Igor:

Is she there yet?

Gary:

Yeah.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual So, we completed stage two now and I’d like to point out a couple things that I’ve been doing here, because again they’re a little different than other things, although the principle is identical to what you’ve been learning all along. Once he accepts the idea of his wife being the correct symbol, I once again launch into the feedback loop. So your wife that’s right, your wife is the right person. Your wife would be the right person to help you heal, is that what you’re telling me? Recall on one of the earlier bonus DVDs where I talk about how I want to cement people into a position. I want him to commit to saying yes, this is what I believe or yes, what’s going on right now. What I’m having him do here is asking Gary to commit to the idea that his wife, or the symbolic wife inside his mind on that beach is the right person to help him through this, this is a good thing, he wants this to happen and therefore it will happen. These are the complex of ideas. By feeding this idea back to him and asking him to confirm that he’s going to take ownership and responsibility for the interaction that’s going to ensue. That maneuver will do a lot of good, in terms of ensuring that the work we’re about to do is likely to take and work in the right way. There are no guarantees, of course, we still have to take a few extra steps before we get to the resolution; however, it’s a great and solid foundation which will make it more likely than not that it’s going to happen. If it doesn’t happen, as in this case, the foundation is still there and still a platform that allows you to launch in slightly different directions until you find just the right spot at which the resolution can come. Of course she is, right there. I don’t know if you’ve noticed this but she has something for you, a cooling substance. It could be like a gel or ointment, have you spotted what it is yet? Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

It’s a tube of ointment.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

Okay, this is another interesting part. Remember up to this point I’ve been doing most of the suggesting. I said someone is going to come. He filled in that blank, which means he’s taken responsibility for choosing the person in this case it’s his wife. Then I asked, is she here yet? Implying that she would be there eventually and of course, she’s there already, which is great. That means he’s working quickly with this whole thing. It’s really using the presuppositions in another way. At this point, we’re taking the presuppositions to the next step. I want his unconscious mind to create the right kind of healing symbol. I know the fundamental part of the pain that’s painful is a burning sensation, so we’ll present a symbol that will counteract burning. What counteracts burning? In our everyday experience we know its coolness, soothing and that sort of stuff. So, I present him a choice of different things that his wife could bring, all of whom have that same characteristic which is soothing and cooling to counteract the burning, painful sensation that he feels in the back of his neck or head. By choosing whatever that’s going to be, his unconscious mind is already saying this is going to work at some level. Once again, it actually does work at some level it requires a little extra work to make it work because we’ve missed something of importance for him, which doesn’t matter too much because ultimately it comes out anyway and we’re still only a few minutes into the whole process. A tube of ointment, did she make it herself just for you? Gary:

I don’t know.

Igor:

You don’t know do you. You really don’t know. Let’s pause here quickly. The whole idea of presenting this tube of ointment as something she may have made personally just for him is just to raise the emotional levels a little bit and make it more personal to him. His wife is a very

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual special person to him, someone very close to him and someone he has a lot of trust and faith in, otherwise he wouldn’t have selected her to be on the beach with him to do this work. By adding the extra personal touch to someone who’s already very personal, it puts more mojo into the symbol of the tube of paste that he’s chosen to help relieve the pain. What I’m doing is increasing the meaningfulness of the symbol, in this case that tube of paste or ointment that he’s using, in order to ensure that it has a stronger impact because the more meaning something has the more impact it has on us because the unconscious mind attaches more to it. And given the unconscious mind is creating the pain, having a strong enough symbol for anti-pain will diminish, reduce and ultimately eradicate the pain. It’s what ends up happening, but in an unexpected way. So listen on to notice how I feed back whatever he’s saying. I constantly feed it back and use whatever responses it gives me as the platform to build the next step from. I wonder what will happen if you take what’s in that tube and begin to apply it to the back of your head. Can you feel the soothing coolness there, kind of like a minty sensation or possibly stronger than that? Can you feel that now? Gary:

Yes. Let’s pause here. So far everything seems to be going according to plan. We’ve got a symbol. It’s a powerful symbol. He’s accepted it. It’s spontaneously created another symbol that tube or ointment that he’s going to be using, so far so good. Now he’s actually applying the ointment. Notice as I’m asking him to apply the ointment, the symbol for healing, how I’m adding extra suggestions to make it a little more potent. I’ve asked him to notice if it feels cooling and soothing. I add the idea of mint. Why minty? Because in our own experiences of everyday life once again, mint is something that has a cooling sensation. When you apply mint to something, eat mint or wash with peppermint wash, you have that cooling or tingling sensation that covers your skin.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

I’m triggering that association of coolness. I could have even suggested, for example, that the ointment has been in a refrigerator or freezer to cool it down and asked if he could sense that coolness. Again, I’m using our sense of natural associations to trigger an association to coolness to counteract the sensation of burning that he said the pain has. So far it’s working, because the burning sensation seems to be reducing; however, for a strange reason the pain isn’t reducing. This is yet another sign that we’ve missed something and we have to go there. Notice how we can expand the symbol as we get to that point to take care of whatever we’ve missed. What’s happening now in terms of the sensation in the back of your head? Gary:

It’s cooling the back of my head.

Igor:

It is cooling isn’t it?

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

Is that cooling process intensifying as you apply it?

Gary:

No, it’s just on the surface.

Igor:

It’s just on the surface right. All right, so this is a great place we’ve just reached here. We presented a symbol for healing, which is the cooling ointment and it’s working. He’s saying it’s working. He’s accepted that it’s working and yet, it’s not working, because we’ve missed something. This is a big hint that I’m missing something else that I need to go towards and we will find in due course. He’s accepted the idea, yes. Can you feel it soothing? Yes. Is it intensifying? No, it’s on the surface. Now, the unconscious mind communicates wonderfully in symbolic or metaphoric form. This is a great symbol or metaphor for what’s

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual actually happening. We’re only treating the surface of the problem, the pain isn’t the real problem it’s the symptom, the surface of what the real problem is. The real problem is some emotional thing that’s been caught up inside him that you’ll see releasing very shortly and that’s the part that we have to address, so all my attempts at going directly after the pain are more likely to fail because we’re missing the purpose and meaning of the pain. We’re missing its intention or his need for it as a way of reminding him possibly to deal with something in his life. Hence, the symbol which is going directly after the pain is, at this point seeming to fail. It’s working. He’s accepted it. He feels the cooling so there’s some form of relief there, but it’s not working because it’s not getting past the surface level into the actual problem itself. Now, in the same way as Gary’s unconscious mind can present to me a metaphorical statement ‘it’s only on the surface’. That suggests to me or is putting me on notice that I’m missing something that I need to get towards, I can also use a metaphorical communication in the same way and level to say great, let’s change the process of what we’re doing here so we can reach under the surface with the symbol. In other words, the nature of the symbol will change to reach under the surface. We’re going to go beyond whatever the surface level of pain is the burning to what’s beneath it, which is when the first opportunity to getting at the real problem comes. Listen out as that develops and unfolds and we’ll pause again when we get to that point to point out some of the interesting things happening there. So, what level would the sensation in your head be right now? It’s dropped has it not? Gary:

What level, it’s still at a four.

Igor:

It’s still at a four, so despite the reduction in burning you’d still call it a four is that what you’re saying?

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Gary:

Yes, the cooling is on the surface it’s not deep. I want to jump in here briefly and point out that spectacular little failure I just had there. You’ll notice how I presupposed has that pain started dropping already. I’m presupposing it because he’s already saying there’s some soothing and all I’m looking for is a very small change that I can build on. His unconscious mind however has a very different idea. Because I haven’t yet reached the level at which the real problem exists, it’s refusing to play ball. So, he says yes that it has cooled, yes the burning has reduced; however, the pain is the same level because once again, remind me because I missed it the first time, it’s only on the surface. The reason I’m pausing here is because this is a wonderful example of how many times the unconscious mind tells you exactly what you need to know to get the resolution. If you miss the first time that’s okay he’s going to tell you a second and third time, maybe even a fourth time. They’re going to keep telling you this until the client themselves lose faith in you and leaves and you can’t really do anything more at that point. However, rest assured you have plenty of opportunities, especially with a lot of rapport. You will have a lot of opportunities to get it right. So once again I’m now getting the message that it has to go beneath the surface. I missed it the first time, went for the quick fix, which hasn’t started dropping yet, the presupposition and the unconscious mind put me firmly in my place saying no you missed a point. Go back a step and do it again, you’re only at the surface, let’s get beneath all that. Notice how I’m not fazed by it, even though I made a mistake. I know it’s a mistake, it’s basically just going down the particular path and I really don’t see it as a mistake, all I’m concerned with is information and all I’m concerned with is, what is his reaction and what happens next. This is what’s happening right now and in the context of the other little failures ahead of time or before this, plus his general open accepting attitude.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual He’s accepted the beach, the symbol, the coolness and healing aspect of that, which puts me in an interesting position of realizing something else is going on because he’s not resisting me or the process, so I haven’t failed at the rapport level, I’ve failed at another level and that’s when I have to switch tracks to go somewhere else. It just gives me information and that’s why I don’t need to be fazed and why this has to keep rolling, until the right door presents itself open to me and we can step through it together to a resolution. Now, please listen on as I suddenly realize that I have missed the boat, that I have missed something important and as soon as I realize that, based on the message he’s giving me back repeatedly, once I pick up on the message and run with it. I feed back to him just what he’s asking for then things begin shifting a little bit. Notice how we’ll start working with that as we go along with it and how he responds differently when I start adding that extra little step and listening to his communication, which is essentially unconscious, even though his conscious mind is describing what’s going on. So something is missing isn’t it, to allow that cooling sensation to enter? Something to allow that cooling sensation to enter; you’ve applied it on the top but it hasn’t quite reached the right spot yet has it? Gary:

Right.

Igor:

That’s right and that’s why your wife is here. There you go. What’s she doing now?

Gary:

She’s rubbing it in.

Igor:

She’s rubbing it in. Let’s pause for a moment. We just made watershed moment. We’ve just evolved the symbol. Notice how, even though the idea of the wife, ointment and so was failing, was just reaching the surface. The unconscious mind is very flexible, as

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual soon as I picked up on the importance of reaching beneath the surface of having missed something and I start acknowledging that we’ve missed something, there’s something extra we need to do here, these presuppositions now which acknowledge the situation which is that we have missed something of importance. They tell the unconscious mind oh I get you, yes I’m hearing, I’m listening I’m paying attention to you and that means that Gary’s unconscious mind is more willing to play ball, it feels more validated, someone’s listening and the message is coming out, fantastic! And, I can still convert the situation there’s nothing wrong with the situation of the wife or of the ointment, all we need to do is add to it the quality that was missing, which is to go beneath the surface. Now, we’re about to do what may seem like a complex maneuver that’s actually very simple to do or say, which is we’re going to change a symbol, changing the sensation of burning to soothing and coolness to a symbol of going beneath the surface. It’s the same symbol, but by changing our presuppositions, by changing the nature of what we’re saying and interacting with, the symbol converts and becomes just as useful a tool for digging under the surface. In this case I’m presenting to Gary a situation where he spontaneously comes up with a solution, which is that my wife has to start massaging it in. This is a wonderful example of the unconscious mind in action. It knows the solution already, you just have to encourage it to start going down that path and creating the opportunity to heal and so on. So, we’ve gone from the soothing ointment, which is only on the surface to spontaneously having it rubbed in by someone he cares for and loves, someone he feels safe with. All of which will be very important when we get to the emotional release stage that’s about to surprise all of us, because it will allow a lot of dramatic emotions come out in a safe way. She’s rubbing it in. Can you feel that beginning to penetrate the skin? Gary:

Yes.

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Igor:

Is that a relief?

Gary:

It feels good.

Igor:

It does feel good doesn’t it? Allow that to continue. Let her really rub in that ointment and feel the coolness that it brings. Is it bringing the numbers down yet?

Gary:

No. Something interesting just happened there. We’ve listened to the unconscious mind. We’ve now mixed in additional ideas about going under the surface and you can clearly see that something positive is happening. He seems to be relaxing with lesser tension in his face, his voice sounded less strained and he’s accepting all the ideas that yes, this is soothing the burning. Yes, this feels good it’s good. He’s accepted all those things and he’s talking about the relief it brings to have that ointment massaged in and the burning reduced beneath the surface and so on. Yet, although it’s very reasonable for me to take that extra step and say, tell me when the number comes down or have those numbers come down yet, which is a simple implication for the numbers to come down and the pain to recede, he says no, the pain is still there at the same level. What’s going on here? How can he be simultaneously experiencing a great deal of relief which you can see in his mannerisms and is also acknowledging what he’s talking about and yet the pain remains rock solid and constant? The only way this could happen is if the pain is related to something else yet again, something other than that surface masking of the pain and so on. So, we’re digging deeper beneath the surface, getting closer and closer to the real problem, the one we need to be solving, but we’re not there entirely. So far what we’ve done is we’ve gained the unconscious minds trust and maybe a little bit of begrudging respect because we’ve managed to listen to it. When it told us

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual to go somewhere else it gave us the hint or roadmap of where to go, we followed it and he’s responded positively by allowing some relief to flood in and so on. However, his unconscious mind is remaining constant on the idea that the pain is still the same as before. This is yet another communication to tell us you’re getting closer, that’s why I’m allowing the relief to come in and so on, but you still haven’t addressed the real issue which is why the pain will be 100% constant. Notice though, how the nature of the pain is about to change. We’ve gone from a burning sensation and in a moment you’ll hear him say the nature of the pain has changed, the intensity at the level of 4 is a constant. However, the nature has changed and this is a great breakthrough because again it tells us the burning sensation around the edges and so on, that was probably a test the unconscious mind put for us so that it could check out…are you going to pay attention to me? Are you going to respect me? Are you going to listen and treat this whole thing seriously, with integrity and so on? If you pass the surface level test and listen to me guide you through that then I’m willing to trust you with this bigger issue that we’re about to get to that’s the test we’ve passed. I don’t know this yet what I do know is that despite the other things we’ve done right we’re still missing something. The only thing I can do is repeat the same formula we did a moment ago, which is saying great, that’s right something is missing and we need to go after that. That’s when things start happening. Watch as that scene unfolds. So what is happening? Gary:

It feels good and it’s relaxing everything around the area, but the nerve still hurts.

Igor:

The nerve still hurts right, so this is preparing you for the healing. It’s opening things up to make the healing possible, but hasn’t quite addressed the actual cause yet, is that what you’re saying?

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Gary:

Yes. I want to jump in here, because something very interesting just happened here. Do you notice the quality of that yes? Do you notice how much relief or whatever else you want to put into it? There’s a very different way he said that yes to the way he’s talking about how the nerve is still sore and so on. What this tells me is that we’ve just hit pay dirt. There are a lot of emotions there that he doesn’t realize what he’s done with it, but clearly it’s almost like a relief that we’ve just reached the place we need to be and some part of him is relieved and happy that we’ve gotten to this place. We’re not finished the work yet by any means, we’ve actually only just got started in the work and reached the level that we need to be working at; however, I want you to notice how many different ways the unconscious mind can present to you information. In this case, it’s the quality of his response that tells us we’ve just reached a different level and now interesting things can happen, so we’d be right in thinking that because very interesting things do happen and that’s about to start happening right now. It feels good to be open and ready like this doesn’t it?

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

Like you’re ready for something right?

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

Yeah, what’s that, what just happened? Yeah, that was it. What is that? Let it go, drift it back, let it drift. Let’s jump in again. As promised we’ve now hit pay dirt. What I’d like to talk a little bit about before we get into what’s happening here is I just wanted to point out something which is very important. We’re about five minutes into the process, five minutes into a conversation at this point and for the first four of those five minutes we made lots of mistakes. I missed a lot of things or we were

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual going after the wrong thing and we had to slowly move away to towards the right thing. The reason I wanted to mention this is because even though I’ve made technical mistakes and even though I went after the wrong thing to start with, because I didn’t do my interview properly at the beginning possibly, maybe it wouldn’t have even come out in the interview, who knows? The point is, how quickly, four or five minutes really isn’t that long a time at all. So in that short period of time we managed to fix all the mistakes and move on to the right place. How? By listening to the unconscious mind and constantly feeding back to us and learning from it, paying attention when it’s steering us down one path or another. Coming onto what’s going on here right now, once we hit pay dirt and once I heard that heavy sigh I’m going yes, I knew I was in the right place. I knew I was at the right level, so I started belaboring the point. I used my presuppositions and suggestions again that we’re in the right place, it’s a relief, it’s good to be here and finally we can resolve it. So these all suggest that we’re about to do the real work. What happens as soon as I go through a cycle of that? The emotions start coming out, you can see it happening. Initially, I’m going to encourage that. That’s right, that’s it. This is where you need to be. We’ve hit the point where we need to be it’s a dramatic releasing of things; however, I’m beginning to notice that as good as it is to reach this place and finally find where we need to get to in order to relieve the underlying stuff, I’m also noticing that he’s getting closer in abreaction. That’s the point at which negative emotions overwhelm him and take him to a dark, frightening and unpleasant place, typically one with some type of childhood regression and so on. At this point I could have gone into a full blown regression as well, however, it wasn’t the appropriate moment for it. It’s not what we were demonstrating and I want him to relieve that emotion in a different way, so I’m going to work with him in a slightly different way.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual The first step no matter what I do, whether I’m choosing to go through the regression or down a different path as is the case here, the very first step is that I have to make sure the client is safe. Because his emotions are starting to overwhelm him in somewhat of a negative way, since he’s starting to cry a little bit, I need to make sure that I can distance him from those emotions so he’s back in control. So we’ll use the abreaction drill to make the suggestions that the emotions are moving away over there and notice over there is in the distance where over here is closer. Out there vs. in here…we’ll use language like that, we’ll use symbols like that and you’ll see me working quite hard because these emotions, now that the door is open want to come out. It’s fine for them to come out, but they need to come out in an orderly fashion so they don’t damage him further on the way out. We could have gone down the whole hell fire and brimstone route to therapy but that’s painful and not necessarily a healthy way to deal with it. Therefore, we’re going down the middle path where we let the emotions out but we let them out in a smooth transition. Right now you’re about to see me working quite hard to get to the point where those emotions are in control so that he can release them in his rate, at his pace in a way that he can tolerate so that it’s a safe thing for him to do. Listen on as that happens. Igor:

Let your mind drift way up and that experience be all the way over there. Let it drift Gary. That’s it much better, let it drift Gary. Are you letting it drift? Talk to me, let it drift, there you go you’re doing great. You’re doing a good job. I know this is intense Gary, let it drift all the way, all the way. Good. Let’s jump in here again. We’re right in the middle of the version of the abreaction drill to separate his experience from that emotional overwhelm that’s beginning to occur. What I want you to notice from that last segment is Gary’s expressions. You should see little waves of emotions coming out. In other words, my suggestions are beginning to work, the emotions are moving away.

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He calms down, breathes a bit more easily and then suddenly another wave of emotion starts emerging, almost like a mad rush comes out and it intensifies and the boundary between him and the emotions start deteriorating, then these suggestions come back into reestablish that boundary and he comes down again. Then another set of emotions come out. That wave/cycle will happen for a while. It doesn’t matter though because I’m there to support Gary, to make sure this whole process happens in a safe way for him, so if I need to make the suggestions go help stabilize him, I will. I’ll be like the plaster cast that you put around a broken limb to support it whilst it’s healing. At other times I’ll just shut up and let him deal with it so he’s empowered to run with it. I want him to run with as much of it as he can handle and as soon as it looks like he’s getting overwhelmed with it again and so on, I’ll step back in and assist him in the process. Here are a couple very important things you should know about this whole process, this is as true for the abreaction drill as it is in terms of what we’re doing here. This is kind of an invented piece I’m doing here, in order to help him through this. Notice how I’m staying calm, because if I panic, if that stress comes into my voice that will suggest to him that bad things are happening on top of the bad things that are already happening that will make the whole thing worse. It basically, suggests to him that I’m out of control He already feels out of control, so now there are two people out of control, and no one can do anything safely which is a panic causing situation. If I stay calm and know what’s going on, if I keep my faith in him saying I know you can do this that’s it, just put it over there that’s it, over there. I’m being very insistent. I’m being very firm, but also calm. In other words, I know this is not such a big deal and know this will work out just right.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Think of the attitude that a nurse might have when treating a patient in the emergency room. The patient might be very scared, the nurse takes one quick look at the injury and realizes it’s just a flesh wound, maybe it’s a scalp wound which bleeds a lot but it’s not life threatening or dangerous. Therefore, the nurse will give him reassurance that it’s fine; just sit still so I can clean it up. Sit still so we can clean this up now, that’s good. Just sit still, very good now we’re cleaning it up, that’s good. As far as the nurse is concerned he/she, it’s a routine everyday job and not really a big deal. Of course, there are some safety considerations so they need him to sit still and be calm, etc. so they’ll tell him very precisely this is what I need from you right now and that’s how I view what we’re doing here. That’s how I view working with abreactions and so on, which is we’re very calm, in control, it’s not a big deal and is all within our powers to contain. However, you need to listen to me, that’s it, there you go, now that’s what we’re doing. The other thing I’m doing is, I’m realizing the unconscious mind being the rough age equivalent of a five or seven year old child, in terms of emotional development shall we say, the unconscious mind needs a lot of reassurance because something frightening is happening. What do you do with a frightened child? You say that’s right you’re doing good. Keep going a little further. Yes, that’s it good. More than that that’s it, that’s the classic coaching or unconscious coaching paradigm if you want to think of it that way. We’re coaching the unconscious mind through how to find that ideal balance between. We’re releasing the emotion, which we really worked so hard to get to the point of and, doing so safely so that Gary doesn’t get overwhelmed by it or traumatized by the whole thing that’s supposed to de-traumatize him in the first place. Keep watching then as we get back to Gary and the interaction. We’ve only just started the beginning of this really rather dramatic demonstration. We’ve cut through all the blind alleys relatively quickly and now we’re really at pay dirt, where all we have to do is manage the transition of the emotional release, in order to allow the healing to occur beneath the surface.

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Of course, the metaphor is very blatant at this point, and at the end of this process I guarantee as soon as those emotions start coming out that at the end of whatever that’s going to lead towards, there would be a significant reduction of the pain and we’ll watch how that whole thing evolves. Igor:

Let those emotions out slowly, one bit at a time. That’s it. Is it a relief having those emotions come out? Yeah, just a bit at a time, one bit at a time, let it come out bit by bit. Not too much at once, talk to me Gary what’s happening now? You’re doing a great job you’re really doing a good job. Let’s just pause here again and talk about what’s been happening here. The same stuff we talked about earlier on is continuing. He’s still going through those waves of emotions and he’s going to be going through those waves for most of the session which is fine. What I want to point out right now is how I need to get in touch with the client to get a response from him. Head nods are fine, that’s all well and good but I also want to have his intellect kick in to a certain extent. Why? When an abreaction typically will regress the person at some significant level to some earlier event and whether his conscious mind has any contact with what that is, is irrelevant. Sometimes someone can regress unconsciously where part of the experience has regressed, but in their conscious mind all they can sense is the overwhelming emotions of it where everything else seems to be blocked, usually for protective reasons. I don’t know which of those is happening and it doesn’t matter to me, what I do know is that as soon as his intellect kicks in again and he can talk about that more rationally, a lot of resources will come to bear to help resolve the situation and so on. So I need to get Gary to start talking to me. You’ll notice that initially, like right now, it’s very difficult for Gary to actually get any words out. The emotions are so strong they’ve actually shut off those parts of the brain that allow him to speak. His throats probably constricted. He’s struggling for words. He probably wants to say something but he can’t find the words or can’t say the

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual words, so he’s still clearly balanced on that knife edge between relieving emotions which we want him to do and be overwhelmed by them. It’s a good place for him to be right now. However, I’d like him to take a step back from that edge a little bit, so he’s more in control of that process, so I’m going to kick in his intellect, which is something that in hypnosis we try to diminish. We’re trying to get his intellect sidelined to stop it from interfering and now I want it to interfere. I want his adult persona to establish itself a little more to help him cope with this whole process and help him manage his whole thing and act as a resource. Initially, it’s a bit trickier to get him to that point, but notice that as soon as we get him to the point where he can start talking again, interesting things start happening. This is a really good job. Talk to me, what’s happening now? Gary:

I don’t know what that was all about.

Igor:

You don’t need to know, just tell me what you experienced. It was intense wasn’t it? You still feel the aftermath a little bit right?

Gary:

I got really hot.

Igor:

I understand, you’re doing good.

Gary:

I completely overwhelmed with emotion.

Igor:

I understand, you’re doing a great job Gary, do you know why? Let that emotion drift off into the distance so only bits come in at a time. One little bit at a time, can you do that? That’s it, just one little bit and notice how with each wave it’s a little weaker, so it’s easier for you to manage. That was quite a dramatic little moment that just happened there. The kinds of things I want to point out though are, what do you observe happening? Notice

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual that when Gary starts speaking his voice is still quite frail, of course, he’s still in a strong aftermath of a shock and within that a little bit, but notice also that when he starts speaking a lot of the emotional symptoms start reducing. His breathing rate shifts slightly. His tension in his face starts easing slightly. He seems much more in control. As soon as he stops talking either because the emotions have already come which cuts him off again or because he stopped talking which allows emotion to come again. It’s difficult to judge which of the two was happening at the time, but whichever it is, when he stopped talking he got sucked back into that experience a little more and that reality, that more emotional overwhelm reality starts reestablishing itself. Which is when I go back to my hypnotic coaching and make sure we separate the emotional release over there, way into the distance and you over here experiencing that and managing it in a safe way bit by bit and so on. So, by getting him to speak we’re actually easing the transition a little bit. However, getting him to speak is quite a chore because I’m competing against the emotional overwhelm that’s going on there and that’s going to be going on for most of the session backwards and forwards. It’s still worthwhile going after it, even though it’s difficult to get because each time he gets it I create a stable platform for him again and that’s his launching pad and is an island of safety in that stormy sea. Then he gets back into the sea and we have to paddle through the water a little more until we reach another island and so on. That is going to happen for a while, just watch and you’ll see it continuing. I want to point out first how the emotion comes in waves and we can give him responsibility at times by talking and describing to us what’s happening and then other times I need to assist the process by encouraging him and so on. Igor:

You’re getting more in control of that process right. You’re doing a really good job Gary. Let that continue, but at your rate and pace. There’s no speed required here. There’s no time required here, because you know that I’m going to stay right here until you’re done right? You realize that?

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I’m going to jump in again to point out the importance of what I said there. You know that I’m going to be right here right now, and I’ll stay here as long as it takes. The client Gary is in a difficult position. It’s a frightening position and he is handling it very courageously; however, as all of us know because we’ve all been frightened at some point, having someone there to support us, even if we’re doing something we find challenging and frightening in some ways, that’s something that’s tremendously comforting. It’s a great resource to have there. Because we’re in a seminar and a lot of people are there, I don’t want him to feel under pressure to have to deal with it straight away, which could add to him doing it more quickly or too quickly. I want him to be completely at ease and focused on the task, at hand, which is to get through this emotional storm that’s coming up and release the emotions that are clearly pent up in the background. I want him to know that time is of no consequence, because I’m not going anywhere, we’re not doing anything and we’re going to stay right here until he reaches a safe place, one in which all of this can be resolved, paused or whatever. It tells him we’re on the right path so let’s just keep traveling along it, because we’re going to good places, as well as letting him know this process can carry on for as long as it needs to until we get there. Eventually, I will have to cut it short because we are at a seminar. If this was a private client session at some point another client may be coming in, so I would have to cut it off and you’ll see when we get to that point how we handle it. Please also bear in mind that we’ve only been going for about seven minutes so far for the whole session, so in terms of a private session, we still have plenty of time to do a lot of decompressing, emotional release and so on. For the moment though, because of the context we’re in, I need to put a couple feelers out to let them know that his response is appropriate, it’s good, it’s fine and I don’t want him to be embarrassed and add that weight of embarrassment to all the other stuff he needs to be dealing with.

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DVD #10 – Pain Control Demo – Gary Part 2 & “The Dream Therapy Machine”

Demonstration 4 – Part 2 – Gary – Without Commentary Igor:

That’s it you’re doing a really good job. Really good job, slowly, one step at a time let it drift it again. Take a pause when you need to, take a pause, there you go. Let it drift off into the distance. Is it off in the distance again? Pause, breathe, breathe, you’re doing great. That’s quite something isn’t it? Let me know if you want to continue or if you want to pause it for longer, it’s up to you. Which would you rather do Gary, continue?

Gary:

I’m ready.

Igor:

Are you ready to continue again?

Gary:

Yeah.

Igor:

Again, let it come in just a bit at a time, just a little bit. Let it flow through you clearing out because this has been damming up. It’s kind of like the pressure of water in a dam over time, isn’t it? And you’re releasing it now at last. You don’t have to carry that around anymore, do you? It’s literally been in the back of your mind, in the back of your head for all these years and it’s time to let it go one careful piece at a time. You’re doing a good job, Gary. You’re doing a really good job, a really good job. Let it continue. Let it continue. There you go. There’s a little more.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Notice how it’s a little easier each time, isn’t it Gary? Yes. A little bit amusing on the beach. How much of that emotion is left at this point? Just give me an indication. Gary:

A little bit.

Igor:

A little bit, so maybe like less than a fifth, less than an eighth?

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

Okay, just let it come. It’s easier this time because the first one was a bit shocking I realize. It will drain all the way through and when it’s totally clear, you let me know. Just breathe. Do exactly what you’re doing. I know it’s quite something, isn’t it? Yes, a little unexpected. I understand but you’re doing a good job, a real good job, a little bit more, just the last few pieces. You may as well do a thorough job because you came all this way and prepared yourself. Your wife is there to help you, so you may as well do a thorough job, right? It’s fine to not know what anything is about. It’s just enough to know that it’s releasing, isn’t it?

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

Yes, very good. Very good. How far through are you now? Anything left or are you just recovering now?

Gary:

Just a little bit.

Igor:

Just a little bit. Just take your time. I’m not pushing. I just need to know where you’re at, that’s all. There’s really no hurry. Take all the time in the world.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Maybe you get to enjoy the last little bit as well because it’s kind of weird thrill ride, isn’t it? Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

Yes. It’s definitely an easing, isn’t it? Yes. That’s it. It’s good to get that off your mind, isn’t it?

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

How are you doing right now, Gary?

Gary:

I’m okay.

Igor:

You are okay, aren’t you? You are okay. It was a surprising experience but aren’t you kind of glad you came through the other side of it now?

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

Yes and how does your body feel? Is there a real sense of relief there?

Gary:

There is.

Igor:

There is, isn’t there?

Gary:

It got so hot it burned the pain almost all out.

Igor:

That’s right. You got so hot the pain was almost burnt out, right?

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

What happens now? What’s going on in the back of your head right now? Notice…

Gary:

It feels much better.

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Igor:

Doesn’t it?

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

The number’s just come down for the first time since we started talking, hasn’t it?

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

And it’s going to continue right on doing that because everything that was trapped inside has come out now, hasn’t it?

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

I’d like you to do something with your wife now, something pleasant on the beach. You don’t have to tell us what it is, and if it’s bad, please definitely don’t tell me what it is, but just have some time. Just spend some time as you continue to allow that healing to continue. Can you do that?

Gary:

Okay.

Igor:

And there’s no hurry because she came all the way here at this point in your life to help do something really important, right?

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

So really acknowledge that. Spend time with it and let the healing continue. What number is it at by the way right now?

Gary:

One.

Igor:

It’s a one, isn’t it?

Gary:

Yes.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

Igor:

Did you expect that was going to happen?

Gary:

No.

Igor:

No, yet there it is, right? Let it continue all the way, all the way, and do something with your wife, something to show her how much you care. It could be as simple as holding hands as you walk down the beach, or whatever seems appropriate right now as the sensation in the back of your head continues to heal until you no longer need it, right?

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

Yes, and when you feel that process is completed, call my attention again and just talk to me at that point. I’ll talk elsewhere in the meantime, but please you have no need to pay any attention to that, no need to pay attention to any of the sounds around you until you feel complete. Even though I’ll talk elsewhere, you finish that until you’re satisfied that whatever just began has gone all the way through to completion. You understand what I mean by that, don’t you? Just enjoy the company of your wife right there. Does visualization not work? We saved the best to the last, didn’t we? But notice I didn’t really bring the symbols on. I gave an option. I gave an offer – like a healing ointment or a balm. He took it, right? Did it work? No, it did not. He accepted the suggestion. He accepted the suggestion but in itself that particular symbol was my fish in his dream, so what did he do? It’s only on the surface. She’s massaging it. It’s cooling down but it’s still the same pain, right? What did I have to do? I accepted his visualization, his symbolism. What was he telling me? Well, it feels ready for something. So I jumped on that – that’s right, it feels ready for something. Now that needs to be healed.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Wasn’t that the point when all the emotion came out? Did I know that was going to happen? Not a clue. What’s happening now Gary? Talk to me Gary. Talk to me Gary. Let the emotions fade again off into the distance, way into the distance Gary, way into the distance way into the distance. That’s it. Just like the other waves. Are they more in the distance now Gary, more under control? Yes? Breathe, breathe, breathe off in the distance, just one step at a time. What was that? What just happened? Just talk to me. Gary:

There’s a lot bottled up there.

Igor:

There’s a lot bottled up there, yes. So here’s a question I have for you Gary, and you tell me what you want to do at this point, okay? Whoa, whoa, whoa, Gary way in the distance, out way in the distance. Let it fade. Let it fade way out there, way out Gary. Gary talk to me, way out in the distance, way out. Is it receding again? There you go. Breathe and fade it in the distance. It will maintain like a whole new pattern in the distance away from you. Can you do that now Gary? Do that. That’s it. You’re doing a good job. Way in the distance. Now as I talk to you, that will stay there Gary in the distance. How old are you right now Gary? In this room with me, this year, how old are you? Talk. How old are you? Okay, put it in the distance. I want the adult Gary in the room right now – adult Gary – and those emotions in the distance where they belong for the moment. We can come back to them later, okay? Back to them later, off in the distance, off in the distance, you’re on this beach safely with your wife and with me. There you go. That’s it. Deep breaths, off in the distance, you’re here with me on the beach and your wife.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Let them off in the distance, and we’ll put a little seal around them for now. Is that okay with you? Just put a seal around them to leave them there for the moment because you have an important choice to make before we go anywhere near this. Is that okay with you Gary? Good. You can sense them off in a distance in a safe place. Is that correct? Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

That’s where your unconscious mind needs to leave them for now. Clearly there’s a lot of stuff going on there. Isn’t that right Gary? Isn’t that right? Talk to me again. How old are you by the way? How old are you?

Gary:

Fifty-five.

Igor:

Fifty-five, right? When was your birthday? The whole world will know now. When was your birthday? When was your birthday?

Gary:

March 29th.

Igor:

March 29th, and we missed it. That was very selfish of you not telling me. Okay, so we have all those things happening somewhere off in the distance in a safe place, right? And it’s got some relation to the stuff that released in order for the pain to go away. Isn’t that right?

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

How is the back of your head feeling right now by the way?

Gary:

It’s much better.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Igor:

It is, isn’t it? Now you have a choice to make at this point. There’s of course a lot of stuff that needs to come out, and because of the time and the place you’re involved in and so on, can we make an agreement with your unconscious mind? Is that okay with you?

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

Here’s the agreement. Over the period of the next few weeks, you’re going to have some dreams. They will be very safe dreams Gary, very safe dreams. In each dream something will happen that feels a little intense, and that’s going to release a little bit of that emotion. Then the next night there will be another one and another one, but it will always be only a small enough amount that you can continue the rest of the night comfortably and restfully. You know what I mean by that, don’t you?

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

Exactly. Now notice what’s happened already to that far off sense of emotions. Do you see how that’s getting to an ever safer place now preparing to work through your dreams with you? Because you realize that there are sometimes when an elephant has to be consumed over a period of time, and this is one of them, isn’t it Gary?

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

It is. You didn’t realize there was that much stuff there did you? What an experience, eh? What an experience. Are you willing to work with your dreams in this way?

Gary:

I am.

Igor:

And to do it just one step at a time so it’s only enough to release and feel that good feeling, but then it gets shut off again back in the safe place so that the

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual rest is for another night. So you always deal with it one bit at a time until it’s all gone, but it doesn’t have to happen in one day or even one night. You have a whole lifetime ahead of you, don’t you Gary? Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

In the meantime you know it’s happening, because feel the sensation in the back of your head. Isn’t it almost miniscule now – that pain?

Gary:

It’s much smaller.

Igor:

Much smaller. Can you hear him? It’s much smaller, isn’t it? It’s actually very easy to live with that for the time being, isn’t it?

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

Now I don’t know if that sensation will disappear entirely at the end of your whole healing process. I really don’t know. I have a suspicion and I think you know what my suspicion is, don’t you?

Gary:

I do.

Igor:

But how could I possible know and how could you possibly know? Here’s one thing I do know Gary. I’m going to put something in your hand in a moment just so you can wipe your face if you want to. It’s up to you. You don’t have to if you don’t need to. Would you like to know what it is that I do absolutely know? And you’ll recognize it when I tell you. Whether or not whatever is left of the sensation, of whatever pain you used to have in the past, whether that disappears entirely or not is 100% irrelevant at this point, isn’t it, because as soon as those emotions have gone, either you have the sensation and it won’t bother you or the sensation is gone, which won’t bother you.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Either way you win, don’t you? Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

So the only thing left right now is the healing, isn’t it?

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

It’s just the healing. Are those emotions back in a safe place now?

Gary:

They are.

Igor:

And you’re kind of free for the time being, right? And you’ve made that commitment to your unconscious mind to sleep, have you not?

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

Here’s how you’re going to prove your commitment Gary. I’d like for you to make sure that for at least the next week – probably the next two weeks – you make sure you get to bed early. I don’t know if you’re normally a late hour or not, but whatever your normal bedtime is, make sure you get to bed a little earlier than usual because you have some work to do, right?

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

If your wife says hey, can you do the dishes, not tonight honey, I’ve got some work to do. Exactly, and go to bed in good spirits. You’ll start off with some good dreams just to set the scene, right? Then the intensity will come and just like you breathed through it now, you’ll know exactly how to deal with it and it will pass, only just enough for you. How are you doing right now?

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Gary:

I’m okay.

Igor:

You are okay, aren’t you?

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

Are you glad you did this? Are you glad you did this Gary?

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

Yes, I thought you would be. Is your wife still there?

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

Have some quiet time with her away from those emotions, some real quiet time because that’s part of the healing too, isn’t it?

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

Just rest there comfortably with your wife. Maybe you want to talk to her about what just happened until you know that the process you’ve begun will happen safely, so you don’t have to deal with it all once, right?

Gary:

Right.

Igor:

Have a chat with her and when you’re done, just call my attention again. Is that okay with you? I’ll talk elsewhere. Just make sure you’re in a good place and you are, aren’t you Gary? Yes.

Gary: Igor:

You can see – this is a wonderful example by the way of how strong a role the emotions have to play in the pain. Isn’t it? By the way, when we talk about the abreaction drill, do you begin to understand what I mean by it now and how much you have to work with it?

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual I’m going to thank Gary’s unconscious mind whilst he has some private time with his wife for a while because without this demonstration, the abreaction drill just seems like a fun little thing that we did, but you see what it looks like in action right now. Did we pull him out of the experience though? Not really, just enough to deal with what we needed to deal with here, but he came specifically for this, didn’t he? I have his permission for it. He didn’t realize what else was happening, as a result, of it but I have specific permission for that. How are you doing Gary? Still recovering process going on, yes? Good man. You just carry on. I’m just checking in to make sure that he knows I’m paying attention. He’s just been through a pretty interesting time. Once again, do you recall – and this is going back to the regular hypnotherapy we’ve talked on at other times – how you don’t want to rush the client through the change. Do I want to rush him through all those emotions? No because he’s not ready for all of that yet. Maybe if we had three hours, we’d sit down and we’d release a little bit and we’d relax, we’d release a little bit and relax, maybe. I suspect at some point he’d want to just take a timeout and say that’s enough for today. It’s like running a marathon, isn’t it Gary? It’s like running a marathon, eh? Good man. You had a good time today but next time it will be a little bit faster. You know that. Are you back with us? Gary:

The heat expanded over my entire body.

Igor:

Of course it did.

Gary:

When the heat began to dissipate, then I….

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Igor:

That’s when the emotions came, right?

Gary:

Yes, it is.

Igor:

Let me shake you by the hand. It was a real pleasure working with you because that wasn’t easy to do, was it? All the way back from trance, look at me, all the way back. Let the beach fade away. All the stuff we talked about in there is gone, right? It will do its own thing on its own time. Right now you need to just rest and breathe. Sara, would you maybe have a walk with Gary around the deck just to chill out, just to get a different thing? I have a sense you would enjoy that right now, right? Sara has some water for you, so have a nice drink and then just enjoy what is actually quite a beautiful sunny L.A. day, and then come back to us when you’ve had time to acclimatize again. Is that cool with you? Good job. Well done. You did a really good job.

Demonstration 4 – Part 2 – Gary – With Commentary Igor:

That’s it. You’re doing a really good job. Really good job, slowly, one step at a time let it drift it again. Take a pause when you need to, take a pause, there you go. Let it drift off into the distance. Is it off in the distance again? Pause, breathe, breathe, you’re doing great. That’s quite something isn’t it? Let me know if you want to continue or if you want to pause it for longer, it’s up to you. Once again I want to jump in here. There’s nothing really that fresh or new or exciting in terms of what we’re doing. We are really now in the grist of the mill. We’re really getting to the heart of the matter and there are no real, clever maneuvers that we can pull, at this point, no stunts. There’s nothing other than

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual to just sit it through and let the emotional release continue to kind of happen and drain. It’s doing its job and it’s doing a good job of it. What I do want to point out; however, is that this is a very taxing and demanding task that Gary’s engaged in. It may not seem like it. It’s not been very long. It’s only been about two or three minutes that he’s been doing this so far. Someone without really understanding what’s going on here might say it’s only three minutes. You could do a half an hour of this. I mean I could run a marathon and still be fit and strong and so on. What I want to make sure you realize is that the emotional burden he’s going through right now – that whole release process – is like running a marathon. It’s like running an ironman race. It is exhausting and when he gets physically and emotional exhausted in handling that, it becomes a little trickier to deal with the same emotions that keep coming. It’s like running a marathon and then being asked to run another one. It’s psychologically draining. What we do here then is we give Gary the choice to take a rest. It’s okay, stay on the island for a while. Let the storm blow for a bit but relax, rest, recover your strength, and when you feel up to it, you can continue or if you decide you’ve had enough for a day, fine. We’ll pause it there. We’ll do some safety stuff around it and you can come back to this another time when it’s safe again. It’s very important to give them that choice because you do not want to exhaust your client. You don’t want to push your client beyond their capacity to handle the amount of change that’s going on because otherwise you end up traumatizing them and they’ll never want to handle that stuff again. You’re going to work at the pace and the rate that your client can handle, not the pace and the rate that you want him to be able to handle things at.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Watch on and you’ll notice that after a brief pause, a little bit of respite to catch his breath again and so on, Gary very bravely decides to dive back in again and carry on with this very important work. Which would you rather do Gary, continue? Gary:

I’m ready.

Igor:

Are you ready to continue again?

Gary:

Yeah. Again, let it come in just a bit at a time. Just a little bit. Let it flow through you clearing out because this has been damming up. It’s kind of like the pressure of water in a dam over time, isn’t it? And you’re releasing it now at last. You don’t have to carry that around anymore, do you? Good. We’re back into the process of releasing emotions here. What I want to point out is some of the language I’m using here right now. I’m basically pacing or acknowledging his experience, which is lots of emotions coming out and it’s intense and it’s also relieving. The reason I’m doing this is partly just to acknowledge that I know where he’s at. It’s also partly to reinforce it. You see, I don’t really know Gary very well and I don’t entirely know how he’s going to react to all this stuff. Some people might feel this emotional outburst and go oh my God, this is terrible. Where is all this emotion coming from? I’ll be stuck in this forever. What I’m presenting to him here is a reason to hold onto something that he can intuitively acknowledge as being correct, which is the idea that all this emotion is releasing now, and that releasing will bring a relief. It’s a healing process he’s going through right now, even though it’s a pretty intense one. I don’t want him to get a sense that he’s just having strong emotions

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual and they’ll keep coming back. It’s like someone having a temper tantrum. The temper tantrum doesn’t solve anything. They’re just going to have another tantrum later on. This is something very different. This is something that is spending the emotion that’s been pent up, its releasing it and so on. That’s the idea that I want to get him to accept. I think it’s pretty much true anyways, but I don’t want his conscious mind to accidentally interfere with that process. The second thing I’m doing as I’m presenting the suggestions is that I’m also open to him resisting the idea. I’m open to him saying no this is terrible, I wish it would stop and so on because if that comes back, if I get that pushback, then I will know that he’s added something into the mix that’s not actually going to allow those emotions to release. He’s creating a holding pattern, which is one of the ways that pain gets created as well. If he resists it, it will persist. So I’m giving him an opportunity to resist me, to resist the idea that this is relieving, that this is valuable work and so on because if that idea is already there, then I need to flush it out to be able to handle it. As it happens, I’m very fortunate that idea is not there. It’s rarely there by the way, but it can be there and so my flushing out process just ends up having a very positive reinforcing suggestion of general healing and so on, as opposed to flushing out anything negative that we have to deal with. It’s kind of a double device. On the one side it tests to make sure that everything is going well. On the other side it’s a suggestion to ensure it’s all going well. Igor:

It’s literally been in the back of your mind, in the back of your head for all these years and it’s time to let it go one careful piece at a time. You’re doing a good job, Gary. You’re doing a really good job, a really good job. Let it continue. Let it continue. There you go. Let’s jump in here and just have a little look at what’s happened. Notice how the emotions have already calmed down a huge amount. It’s almost like the relieving process is going on.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

Imagine you have a heavy bucket of water and you’re pouring the water out. Initially the bucket feels heavy and it’s weighing you down and so on, but by the time you get towards the end of the water flow, it gets lighter and lighter and lighter. What it seems like right now is that Gary’s at that very light stage where the emotion’s drained out and he gets to start experiencing the relief of it and so on. As soon as that happens, we need to have a little chat to ensure that he has the right mindset around what just happened. That’s something you’ll be seeing happening in a moment. However, the one thing I do want to warn you about is that all is not over. This is a false ending to the process. At the time, there are no indications to show us that more is yet to come. As far as I’m concerned, we’re reaching the tail end of this whole situation and we’re getting to a very good place. As it turns out – and this is why it’s so important to have a continued conversation with your client, especially after these big more emotional sorts of releases. It’s to check in where they’re at because if more is yet to come, then you need to be able to handle that stuff as well. You will never always know what’s going on. It’s impossible to predict. Nine times out of 10, what you’re seeing right now would have been the end of the situation. The pain would have reduced to zero. He would have had a phenomenal relief. He would sit there smiling and happy and feeling fantastic. Nine times out of 10, or maybe 90 times out of 100, that’s exactly what would happen. In this case more is still to come, so it teaches us to be alert. It teaches us to realize that it’s not over until it’s over and to teach us to keep testing and keep talking and keep that interaction going so that you know where you’re at in that process at every stage. There’s a little more.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

Notice how it’s a little easier each time, isn’t it Gary? Yes. A little bit on the beach. How much of that emotion is left at this point? Just give me an indication. Gary:

A little bit.

Igor:

A little bit, so maybe like less than a fifth, less than an eighth?

Gary:

Yes. Okay, just let it come. It’s easier this time because the first one was a bit shocking I realize. It will drain all the way through and when it’s totally clear, you let me know. Just breathe. Do exactly what you’re doing. I know it’s quite something, isn’t it? Yes, a little unexpected. I understand but you’re doing a good job, a real good job. A little bit more, just the last few pieces. You may as well do a thorough job because you came all this way and prepared yourself. Your wife is there to help you, so you may as well do a thorough job, right? It’s fine to not know what anything is about. It’s just enough to know that it’s releasing, isn’t it?

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

Yes, very good. We’ve seen the emotions starting to calm down. This is the calm before the next storm of course, which we’ll come onto very shortly. However, what I want to point out here is how we’re starting to negotiate the meaning of what’s happened. Those of you who have read the book by Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search For Meaning, will know that human beings have this immense capacity of dealing

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual with virtually any situation. Even something that was as horrifying as the concentration camps of Nazi Germany could polarize people. Some people were crushed by it. Other people developed a real appreciation for life out of it. How can one person be traumatized and another person be elevated by the exact same experience? The answer is by the meanings that we give to that situation. This is something that is really true of pretty much any problem you can consider. It’s the meaning we give that problem that makes it a bad thing. If you think about pretty much anything that you would dislike in your life, you can virtually guarantee that someone out there will enjoy it. If you look through history or psychological literature or just look at daily life, you’ll know there are people who enjoy all kinds of bizarre things. Some people enjoy pain. Some people enjoy being humiliated. Some people enjoy failure and actually seek after it. Is that the norm? By no means. Do those people have some kind of psychological issue? Possibly. It doesn’t matter one way or the other. The point is that a human mind is capable of taking the exact same situation and making it amazing or making it terrible. Why am I saying all this? We’ve just gone through a very intense experience here with Gary. A lot of people, especially if they’re men and especially men in the Western world, tend to repress their emotions. They feel like crying in public is a bad thing, emotionally expressing yourself is a bad thing and showing weakness, in particular something that is overwhelming, is a bad thing. What I want to make sure of is that I inoculate Gary against accidentally allowing some form of embarrassment or social stigma to creep in and damage the good work that he’s done.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual If he were to start feeling embarrassed about an emotional outburst of this intensity, that embarrassment would feed into the work and taint it in some way. What I want him to feel is absolute relief, pride, anything that’s positive because as soon as he starts having a positive evaluation of the experience, the experience itself becomes even more healing. If his evaluation has negative added to it, the healing will at best be limited, and at worst be undone entirely. What we’re doing right now is we’re giving him lots of reasons, lots of rational frames and reframes just in case he’s tempted to be embarrassed about having shown so much emotion in a public setting. As soon as he attaches to that positive idea – the other way of looking at it – then it ensures that the good work he’s doing actually remains good work. Was it strictly speaking necessary? Probably not. I suspect Gary pretty much appreciated the absolute value of what he was doing and so on. However, we don’t want to leave anything to chance. If there is going to be some kind of a negative idea or attitude attached to the whole experience he’s just had, I’d like to flush it out right now so that it can be handled again and dealt with before he comes back out of trance. Otherwise we might leave a seed – a negative seed – planted in there that could cause damage in the long term. Very good. How far through are you now? Anything left or are you just recovering now? Gary:

Just a little bit.

Igor:

Just a little bit. Just take your time. I’m not pushing. I just need to know where you’re at, that’s all. There’s really no hurry. Take all the time in the world. Maybe you get to enjoy the last little bit as well because it’s kind of weird thrill ride, isn’t it?

Gary:

Yes.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Igor:

Yes. It’s definitely an easing, isn’t it? Yes. That’s it. It’s good to get that off your mind, isn’t it?

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

How are you doing right now, Gary?

Gary:

I’m okay.

Igor:

You are okay, aren’t you? You are okay. It was a surprising experience but aren’t you kind of glad you came through the other side of it now?

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

Yes and how does your body feel? Is there a real sense of relief there?

Gary:

There is.

Igor:

There is, isn’t there?

Gary:

It got so hot it burned the pain almost all out.

Igor:

That’s right. Let’s pause here again and just pay attention to the real watershed moment that just happened here. It’s something that could easily be ignored but really has to be jumped on. Remember, the whole purpose of this session was pain relief. Gary has suffered chronic pain for most of his life, certainly all of his adult life. That’s a pretty terrible burden to carry with yourself. I can’t let go of the fact that as good as all this emotional release and healing that he’s doing is, that his primary reason for coming here was to relieve the pain.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Gary just spontaneously gave us the metaphor, the symbol for relieving the pain. He’s just said it got so hot that it burnt the pain out. That’s something I’ve got to jump on. I’ve got to acknowledge the fact that he’s found the path to pain relief. Has it relieved all of it? Well, I don’t know yet. We’re about to find out. The point though is that he has found a way of dealing with it and diminishing it. If he says the pain’s burnt out, what does that say? It’s no longer a four. That constant, which has been at that level of four throughout the entire process – in fact it’s been there pretty much the entire day because when he was talking about it earlier it was a four, it’s a four now and it will be a four forever as far as we’re concerned – that’s changed now. He said it’s burned the pain out or almost out. It means it’s diminished, and that has to be acknowledged. It has to be ratified. It has to be emphasized or celebrated so that we can then carry on doing more work. We can use that as the launch pad for extra stuff. What this means is we have now had an incontrovertible moment of unconscious change. Once you have that one moment and you can jump on it, even if that burning out of the pain was only by one point – it’s gone from a four to a three. Now we finally have that progression that we’ve used in other examples with the presuppositions, where you can say great if it can go from a four to a three, then it can go down to a two and go down to a one and so on. That’s the idea that we have to jump on and cement in his mind so that we can have absolute pain relief in the long term. You got so hot the pain was almost burnt out, right? Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

What happens now? What’s going on in the back of your head right now? Notice…

Gary:

It feels much better.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

Igor:

Doesn’t it?

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

The number’s just come down for the first time since we started talking, hasn’t it?

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

And it’s going to continue right on doing that because everything that was trapped inside has come out now, hasn’t it?

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

I’d like you to do something with your wife now, something pleasant on the beach. You don’t have to tell us what it is, and if it’s bad, please definitely don’t tell me what it is… All right, we’ve just hit a watershed moment. The pain has finally reduced. As we promised, we’re going to jump on that and ride that pony for all it’s worth. We’re taking it in the right direction and he’s accepting all those suggestions. This is fantastic. Now because there’s been so much stuff that’s been going on there, I don’t want to be too serious about the whole thing. Also right now my mind is feeling like we’re getting close to the end. I’m not right about this but from all the indications, we are pretty much at the end of the whole pain control process here. Before I bring him out of trance, because such dramatic stuff has happened, I want to give him a really fun pleasant experience of being in hypnosis because I don’t want it to be associated with just intense negative emotions, even if it’s a relieving process.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual That’s a bad association to have to trance in general. Trance should be a safe place, a fun place, a happy place and then a place he can get to do some good work too. To do this I’m sending Gary off on a little hypnotic adventure to have some fun with his wife on the beach and to enjoy himself. This way we’re creating bookends. He started the whole process on the beach having fun. He’s ending the whole process on the beach having fun. To ensure that we’ve really lightened the mood, I’m also throwing a joke in there as well purely to get him to add that as a resource, add that into the whole mix of things. It prevents him from getting too serious about the whole thing. Of course it shows you very clearly that it’s very possible to make people laugh in trance and not break it. I like to use humor in my work as much as possible. It’s entertaining for me, it’s entertaining for the client and I think humor is one of the most underrated therapeutic tools possible. I hesitate to think of any situation in which humor at one level or another would not be absolutely appropriate to help the situation, to help the healing process along. … but just have some time. Just spend some time as you continue to allow that healing to continue. Can you do that? Gary:

Okay.

Igor:

And there’s no hurry because she came all the way here at this point in your life to help do something really important, right?

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

So really acknowledge that. Spend time with it and let the healing continue. What number is it at by the way right now?

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Gary:

One.

Igor:

It’s a one, isn’t it?

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

Did you expect that was going to happen?

Gary:

No.

Igor:

No, yet there it is, right? Let it continue all the way, all the way, and do something with your wife, something to show her how much you care. It could be as simple as holding hands as you walk down the beach, or whatever seems appropriate right now as the sensation in the back of your head continues to heal until you no longer need it, right?

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

Yes, and when you feel that process is completed, call my attention again and just talk to me at that point. I’ll talk elsewhere in the meantime, but please you have no need to pay any attention to that, no need to pay attention to any of the sounds around you until you feel complete. Even though I’ll talk elsewhere, you finish that until you’re satisfied that whatever just began has gone all the way through to completion. You understand what I mean by that, don’t you? Just enjoy the company of your wife right there. So far, everything seems to be great. We are at what looks like a very natural end to the session. I’m presenting the same kind of suggestions to Gary that I presented to the others in the pain control, only because it was clearly an emotional event that stimulated the pain, as opposed to the others which were more physically oriented and I want the healing to continue at the emotional level.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual We’re creating a kind of conscious-unconscious dissociation. Consciously he gets to enjoy the trance and enjoy spending time with his wife, which is a time for him to recuperate, to rest, heal and that sort of stuff, whilst unconsciously the healing is continuing. We have a nice split where he doesn’t have to do anymore, he doesn’t have to do the whole mopping up operation and he gets to enjoy himself as that happens in the background. It’s a very nice sort of clean-up kind of suggestion to give. However, because of all the suggestions around healing and so on and continuing the process and making it complete and so on, this is what ultimately ends up opening the second wave of emotions, clearly indicating to us that there’s a lot more under the surface than we even suspected at first. That’s fine. It’s all a good thing. Flushing these things out and having them release and heal and so on – these are all great things to occur. What I want to point out to you is how the suggestion is here about mopping things up and cleaning them up so that it can be all completely released and so on. Basically, I am telling the unconscious mind that if there’s anything left over, make sure you bring that up too and deal with it now. So, there’s no surprise that when something was left over, and there was quite a bit aside from that first bubble of emotion, I guess there’s another bubble somewhere else and the unconscious mind decided to take that and go sure, all right, we’ll do that. You’ll see how the initial calmness will eventually fade into the next shall we say – well, it wasn’t really an abreaction but the next wave of emotion and release – and then we really have to work to maintain the cycle. Really everything you’ve seen so far just gets repeated on a different level to keep doing the good work.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Does visualization not work? We saved the best to the last, didn’t we? But notice I didn’t really bring the symbols on. I gave an option. I gave an offer – like a healing ointment or a balm. He took it, right? Did it work? No, it did not. He accepted the suggestion. He accepted the suggestion but in itself that particular symbol was my fish in his dream, so what did he do? It’s only on the surface. She’s massaging it. It’s cooling down but it’s still the same pain, right? What did I have to do? I accepted his visualization, his symbolism. What was he telling me? Well, it feels ready for something. So I jumped on that – that’s right, it feels ready for something. Now that needs to be healed. Wasn’t that the point when all the emotion came out? Did I know that was going to happen? Not a clue. What’s happening now Gary? Let’s jump in here again. As far as I was concerned when I was starting to talk to the audience and so, we were pretty much done. Gary’s just going to take the last few minutes to finish up whatever he was doing, and then he would have been back by now and smiling and everything is good. The problem is that it’s not quite how things turned out. I noticed that as I was talking to the audience – and you could probably see from all the flashes back and the camera cutting back and forwards to Gary’s face – that he went through this initial stage of calm and it’s all good, but then the emotion started coming back. There was another emotional wave coming again. As soon as I saw that emotional wave getting stronger, I had to pause what I was doing and do really exactly what we’d been doing before, which is check in with the client again and ask him what’s happening now? Until I know what’s happening now, I don’t know what to do next. This is what we’re doing right now. I spotted some strong reaction and because the reaction is getting stronger – I don’t know if it’s good or bad. I suspect it’s going to be some kind of negative release like before, but I don’t know. I have to check in and ask him. Based on what he says, I can then decide on what the next step will be.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

Please notice I’m asking for a verbal response, which tells me that he’s relatively shall we say in control of the situation. As soon as I ask for a verbal response, I do not get it. The emotion continues and it’s locked his ability to speak again. That tells me that something very strong is happening again. We’re kind of back to a similar position as before. Probably a different set of emotions, but even so there’s a lot of stuff there that needs to come out. Because he can’t answer me, well that in itself is an answer, which means I instantly go back to my abreaction drill and back to that emotional release cycle that we’ve set up earlier on, where the emotion is way in the distance and only coming out one bit at a time. Really what it turns out is that as much relief that achieved up to that point, that was just the first wave. He’s had his moment of respite and now he gets to come back and fight the second battle, having won the first one. Talk to me Gary. Talk to me Gary. Let the emotions fade again off into the distance, way into the distance Gary, way into the distance, way into the distance. That’s it. Just like the other waves. Are they more in the distance now Gary, more under control? Yes? Breathe, breathe, breathe off in the distance, just one step at a time. What was that? What just happened? Just talk to me. Gary:

There’s a lot bottled up there.

Igor:

There’s a lot bottled up there, yes. So here’s a question I have for you Gary, and you tell me what you want to do at this point, okay? Whoa, whoa, whoa, Gary way in the distance, out way in the distance. Let it fade. Let it fade way out there, way out Gary. Gary talk to me. Way out in the distance way out. Is it receding again? There you go. Breathe and fade it in the distance. It will maintain like a whole new pattern in the distance away from you.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

Can you do that now Gary? Do that. That’s it. You’re doing a good job. Way in the distance. Now as I talk to you, that will stay there Gary in the distance. How old are you right now Gary? You should notice that in the last few seconds, events have taken a turn for the dramatic, much more dramatic. The emotions have become much more intense and they’re again threatening to overrun Gary. So again I become much more insistent to move those emotions to the one side and put him back at a point of control Now at this stage, I ask what seems like a very curious question and a bit of a non sequitur – how old are you Gary? Why am I doing this? 1. First, I want a verbal response from him. If he starts talking, it’s already engaging parts of his brain and his neurology that are going to lift him out of this experience to some extent. 2. I want him to be able to acknowledge in his own mind, as well as out loud, his current age as an adult because right now he’s been sucked into a regression and it really is not that uncommon for someone with this kind of emotional response. This kind of emotional overwhelm occurring to answer that question with something like oh, I’m six years old or I’m seven years old, which basically tells me they have spontaneously regressed. I want to keep him out of that regression until I can help them manage that regression in a therapeutic and useful way, so that question – how old are you – has a double value. On the one side if he is being sucked into the regression and he tells me what his age is, I can disagree with him and say no, not in that memory. How old are you right now in this room, the adult person? That basically, changes the regression back to him being the resourceful adult and so on.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual If on the other hand he actually gives me his correct age, that again creates a demarcation point between my experience now and whatever this other thing is, which isn’t me now, and allows him to separate himself from that and create that dissociation, which again helps him to cope with the experience. It’s a nice little trick that you can throw in there to help stabilize someone out of the regression, and that’s exactly what we need to be doing at this point because he is very clearly being sucked into something pretty big. Igor:

In this room with me, this year, how old are you? Talk. How old are you? Okay, put it in the distance. I want the adult Gary in the room right now – adult Gary – and those emotions in the distance where they belong for the moment. We can come back to them later, okay? Back to them later, off in the distance, off in the distance, you’re on this beach safely with your wife and with me. There you go. That’s it. Now this really nicely demonstrates exactly what we’ve been talking about. Notice how when I ask him his age that he doesn’t want to speak. Then I ask him his age again and again and again, and he starts shaking his head and making some kind of verbal noises along the lines of that’s not important, this is not relevant and so on, because he’s very clearly being sucked into that other world, the world where those emotions hold sway. I very clearly need to work hard to keep him out of that world long enough to be able to respond to it with his resources, as a resourceful adult. So far so good, I worked a little bit harder and I’m beginning to get him into that stage. To assist that process – and it’s in part because of the way he’s responding, shaking his head no, he doesn’t really want to let ago, he doesn’t really want to be in this room right now. It’s kind of a little mind read here – I’m giving him extra reasons.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual You see, those emotions are clearly important. Clearly something’s happening there that needs his attention. That’s why it’s happening now. We’ve asked for it and we’ve gotten exactly what we asked for. What I want Gary to realize is that just because he’s going to be the adult in the room dissociated to some extent from those emotions – so the emotion is over there and he’s over here – does not mean that he doesn’t have to deal with those emotions. I want him to know that he can still be resourceful and let those emotions off in the distance so that he can come back to them afterwards and handle them differently when he’s got the right shall we say tools in place to handle them safely. That gives him an extra reason, an extra impetus to leave the emotions. The unconscious mind doesn’t feel like oh my God, if he pushes me away again I’ll never have my say because he’s pushed me away his whole lifetime. I’m saying no, that’s not the case at all. You will get a chance to express yourself. You will get a chance to let your message out and all the rest of it, just not right now. Right now Gary needs to be the adult. Gary needs to be resourceful. Gary needs to get his stuff together again so that he can interact with whatever needs to come out in a much better way. That’s the point at which he starts calming down again and easing off and so on. It’s because we’ve dealt with that possible unconscious concern that if he stops now, then he’ll never deal with it. Once that fear has been allayed – at least at the unconscious level – it’s much more likely that the unconscious mind will let go of him so that he can sit there comfortably and have that interaction at a different level. Whether that’s 100% the case or not, we will never know. However, that’s kind of where my instinct led me and clearly the result shows that it worked. Whether it

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual worked for that reason or another, we’ll never necessarily need to know but it is my thinking. Hence, I’m sharing that with you now. Deep breaths, off in the distance, you’re here with me on the beach and your wife. Let them go off in the distance, and we’ll put a little seal around them for now. Is that okay with you? Just put a seal around them to leave them there for the moment because you have an important choice to make before we go anywhere near this. Is that okay with you Gary? Good. You can sense them off in a distance in a safe place. Is that correct? Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

That’s where your unconscious mind needs to leave them for now. Notice how we are continuing that negotiation. We are solidifying Gary’s position as being in control, calm on the beach and so on and the emotion is over there. We’re throwing some extra symbols in there to make sure the emotions don’t reach out and grab him too quickly. We’re putting a seal around it. We’re saying we’ll deal with that in a minute but first you have to do something else, and so on. The reason for this is I need to have a negotiation with Gary, partly because this is starting to go into other territories that go beyond the scope of what we’re doing here. It’s partly because we’re in a seminar and I can’t spend the next hour releasing emotions because we’re going to get kicked out by the hotel soon. So I need a certain kind of a negotiation to occur and I need to have a stable place in which to create that experience. That’s what you’re about to watch happening. I’m going to have that negotiation with him. I’m going to talk to him and I’m going to give him options.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual I’m not going to get him to ignore that for the rest of his life again by any means. He’s come here for therapeutic relief and that’s exactly what we’ll be dealing with. However, we’re going to take the whole context into mind and the limitations that that presents, and that’s kind of one of the things that we need to be addressing here. To do that, we’re separating those things as we’ve talked about already, but I’m preparing for that important discussion to occur right now. If nothing else, even if this was a therapy session and I still had plenty of time left over before the next client came, I still would want this negotiation to occur because the emotions are intensifying, and I want to make sure that Gary chooses to go down this path and that he’s not forced down this path. No one can ever be forced into making a change. That would be as violating to that person as the original problem itself might have been. To sum up, we are creating a stable point at which Gary has become conscious enough, his intellect has kicked in enough that he has a genuine choice to make between carrying on in one way or another. Or, pausing things entirely, packing it away again safely and making sure that this is something that he can deal with at another point, at another time if he decides that right now is again too much for that. Clearly there’s a lot of stuff going on there. Isn’t that right Gary? Isn’t that right? Talk to me again. How old are you by the way? How old are you? Gary:

Fifty-five.

Igor:

Fifty-five, right? When was your birthday? The whole world will know now. When was your birthday? When was your birthday?

Gary:

March 29th.

Igor:

249

March 29th and we missed it. That was very selfish of you not telling me. Okay, so we have all those things happening somewhere off in the distance in a safe place, right? Hypnosis Pain Control Demonstrations ©Street Hypnosis All Rights Reserved

Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

And it’s got some relation to the stuff that released in order for the pain to go away. Isn’t that right? Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

How is the back of your head feeling right now by the way?

Gary:

It’s much better.

Igor:

It is, isn’t it? Now you have a choice to make at this point. There’s of course a lot of stuff that needs to come out, and because of the time and the place you’re involved in and so on, can we make an agreement with your unconscious mind? Is that okay with you?

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

Here’s the agreement. Over the period of the next few weeks, you’re going to have some dreams. All right, there we have it. Notice how we managed to bring Gary back to a central point where he’s focused, balanced and where the emotions are no longer disturbing him. Given the context that we’re in with the seminar and so on, he can accept that we can’t carry on with the full blown ending to the session because we’ve already gone way over the time limit that we already had originally. Now comes a really important part, and this is what you’re hearing happening right now. Let’s imagine you’re in a session just like this one, only all this stuff happens in the last 20 minutes or so. You have a client waiting outside already, so you can’t let that person wait for too long. You can’t spend the next two hours with this client because you have a whole day booked full of people. What do you do?

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual What I like to do is to, basically, pause things, put everything on the mental pause button, and allow the person to come in again maybe next week or the next day or something like that and make another appointment where we can really deal with that properly. Meanwhile, I want the unconscious mind to start doing work for us. Why? Well, why not? Let it happen outside of consciousness in a way that’s not going to be disturbing to the person so that when we come back for another session, it’s really quick and easy to deal with. I’ve often found that doing it this way means that in the second session, really it’s much less dramatic, it’s a real no brainer, very quick and sometimes it’s as quick as 10 or 15 minutes for it to be dealt with. Sometimes they come to the second session and whatever issue they’ve been dealing with in the back of their mind so to speak has resolved. They just tell me it’s all good, it’s gone, it’s done. So we spend 20 minutes talking about it and doing some testing and conditioning in a nice little trance, and the client’s done at this point. What I’m about to do here is a kind of a dream machine, but not the dream machine induction. It’s almost like a mechanism where he can do therapy in his own dreams carry on this process in his own dreams. The reason for this is because being at a seminar it’s very unlikely I’m going to see Gary again for some time. He’s not going to come the next day because I’m going to be flying off somewhere else and I can’t do this sort of work over the phone. Then again I don’t want to be sending Gary off in the wilds with a job half left undone. That’s really not a nice thing to leave him in either. So, the compromise we’re going to reach – and you’ll hear it happening in a moment – is that his unconscious mind can carry on working away at this, resolving this outside of his awareness in his dreams so that some consciousness can be involved in it if he needs it. But, to do so only at a very safe rate so that

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual there’s no risk of him being overloaded by it and emotionally overwhelmed and so on. If he then chooses to see another hypnotherapist or another therapist to deal with the rest of it, great, that’s fantastic. If he chooses not to, he still has an approach to continue to allow the healing to occur and of course the associated pain relief. That’s the session you’re about to see and the reasoning for it, is we’ve gone beyond the time limits of this particular seminar and we need to be able to pack this away safely. So, we’re doing something that is going to help Gary to continue to digest whatever this emotion is in a safe pattern outside of the context of the seminar room so that we can carry on with the seminar that everyone else in the room has paid to come here for. They will be very safe dreams Gary, very safe dreams. In each dream something will happen that feels a little intense, and that’s going to release a little bit of that emotion. Then the next night there will be another one and another one, but it will always be only a small enough amount that you can continue the rest of the night comfortably and restfully. You know what I mean by that, don’t you? Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

Exactly. Now notice what’s happened already to that far off sense of emotions. Do you see how that’s getting to an ever safer place now preparing to work through your dreams with you? Because you realize that there are sometimes when an elephant has to be consumed over a period of time, and this is one of them, isn’t it Gary?

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

It is. You didn’t realize there was that much stuff there did you? What an experience, eh? What an experience.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

Are you willing to work with your dreams in this way? We’ve set up this idea of the dream therapy machine and presented it to Gary. Notice how at this point, especially given how important and how significant this work has been in the end, I am now no longer leaving any stones unturned. I’m not rushing the process in any way. I’ve gone back to a very methodical approach to it. One of the things I mean by that is I am checking every single piece that I’m suggesting with Gary. For example, you can do this in your dreams only one tiny little piece so you’re safe. You know what I mean by that, don’t you? Yes. Are you willing to do this? Yes. Are you willing to carry on with this? Yes. Is this a good idea for you? Yes. I’m checking every single little piece because there’s clearly too much emotion here for me to leave anything to chance at this point. We’re creating this dream therapy machine for Gary and we’re explaining to him exactly how it’s going to work so that he realizes it’s safe. Notice how by doing this – and of course through the suggestion of it as well – the other emotions that were threatening to overwhelm him just a few short moments ago have receded again. They have become willing to take a back seat, so to speak, because my mind read at this point is – and again this is something that is largely un-testable –that whatever part of him was responsible for those emotions, whatever part had seen this opportunity finally released them and was grabbing the bull by the horns and running with it. The same part that was afraid that if it stopped now, it would never get a chance to release this stuff and hence started overwhelming him – that part now feels validated. It goes oh great, I can pause all this now and still have a mechanism for me to do what I need to do, which is to release this material and heal it and so on. By

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual acknowledging that need shall we say, that part of him, its purpose right now in terms of creating this crazy emotional response has diminished. It’s willing to take a back seat. It’s willing to calm down and now feed through that dream therapy process we just talked about and of course that’s going to make Gary’s life a lot easier. We can pause the session safely and carry on with the seminar. Gary has a release valve that he can do his dream work, his dream therapy when he goes home and that part of him that’s responsible for making sure he does take care of all this stuff, well it’s validated. It knows that good stuff is going to happen, so it’s an all around win-win solution for everyone. Gary:

I am.

Igor:

And to do it just one step at a time so it’s only enough to release and feel that good feeling, but then it gets shut off again back in the safe place so that the rest is for another night. So you always deal with it one bit at a time until it’s all gone, but it doesn’t have to happen in one day or even one night. You have a whole lifetime ahead of you, don’t you Gary?

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

In the meantime you know it’s happening, because feel the sensation in the back of your head. Isn’t it almost miniscule now – that pain?

Gary:

It’s much smaller.

Igor:

Much smaller. (Can you hear him?) It’s much smaller, isn’t it? It’s actually very easy to live with that for the time being, isn’t it?

Gary:

Yes.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual I want to stop here a second and just talk about what just happened there. Notice how I’m, basically, negotiating with his unconscious mind. Gary is sitting there and these emotions are happening, and we’ve presented his dream machine for a resolution for him. This is fantastic. He’s accepted that idea, which is good. Now we’re going to use the pain that was the original message in the first place as his symbol, as his signal for letting him know how well he’s doing, which again is a very good thing because we’re just using what’s already there. I mean the signal was there in the first place to get his attention and it got his attention, and now all the work is being done. Seeing as we’re using this signal as part of the therapeutic process – it becomes like a temperature gauge to see how well he’s doing – I also want to make sure that when he leaves the session, when he leaves the seminar room that he’s got some significant relief from this. We’ve already known that he’s gone down to a one, maybe actually less than a one at this point. What I want to make sure of is that he doesn’t go home and have to suffer with it anymore. You heard him speaking how fed up he was with all this thing, and even though it’s at just a level of four or six, sometimes even 10, he was seriously considering taking heavy duty medications to resolve this issue. In other words, he’s getting close to the breaking point. I don’t want him to get to that breaking point anymore. I don’t want him to have to suffer anymore, so part of the negotiation really is you only keep enough of that sensation – notice how we’ve already reframed it from pain to sensation – to let you know that the work is carrying on. Then when it’s done, it can disappear. Meanwhile that sensation will only stay at a level where you don’t need to suffer from it. Why have him suffer? The message is being heard. He’s doing the work that his unconscious mind wanted him to do, so what is the point of him suffering anymore when he’s no longer ignoring it?

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual It’s a very important thing as far as I’m concerned because I really don’t like people to be in pain. I don’t like them suffering and so on, so whilst we’re going to be using the signal as a part of the therapeutic machine we’re building up inside his mind, I want to make sure that it’s something that’s going to be useful for him and not something that’s going to diminish the quality of his life. I want him to leave this session not only feeling the relief, but being able to enjoy his life much more richly and fully than before even though he’s not completed the work yet. That’s going to be more motivating for him also because then he’s not going to be in a hurry to finish the work. He doesn’t have to finish it in one night so that he can finally get rid of the pain. If it takes six months, it takes six months. If it takes a year, it’s not a big deal. Meanwhile that year is going to be filled with so much more relief than he’s had in his whole life anyways, that it’s going to be worth it to him. At the end of the year, when it’s finally done and he wakes up one day and it’s all gone and it never comes back, so much the better. The point is it’s now allowing him to eat the elephant one piece at a time, and given the size of this particular elephant, I think that’s a very important thing to do for him. Igor:

Now I don’t know if that sensation will disappear entirely at the end of your whole healing process. I really don’t know. I have a suspicion and I think you know what my suspicion is, don’t you?

Gary:

I do.

Igor:

But how could I possible know and how could you possibly know? I just want to pause it briefly and talk about what I just said there – I don’t know if this will ever go away and so on. What am I doing here? I’m clearly putting a suggestion in that last little piece of whatever sensation he’s got left will disappear eventually, which is fine because that’s one of the reasons he came here for.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual However, what I don’t want to be doing is over-promising something again, something that I can’t actually deliver on. I can give him the expectation that it will happen without actually making the promise that it will happen. One of the reasons for this is let’s say for whatever reason that neurological damage that’s there still does flare up from time to time and becomes part of that recovery strategy we talked about. If it flares up – let’s say it’s bad weather, it flares up and it’s a little irritated and has a little flare – I don’t want suddenly a lifetime of having that pain suddenly come flooding back again and he goes oh my God, no, it’s coming back, what have I done? That mindset is something that I want to inoculate him against. We’re going to help him diminish the pain to the point – or the sensation at this point – where he can happily live with it for the rest of his life. Then there’s no pressure on him. There’s nothing but curiosity about what it means and what he can do with it. If it should resolve all the way, great, that’s fantastic. Of course I’m definitely suggesting that it will happen. However, I’m not promising that it will happen. This is called covering all possibilities. Whatever happens – does the sensation remain, he’ll be happy. Does the sensation go, he’ll be happy. Whether it stays or it goes, he’ll be happy. The one thing that won’t happen, which is kind of presupposed by those things is that the pain will come back and intensify as it did before. We are cementing in this idea that he’s going to reduce the sensation to a tolerable level, one which doesn’t bother him anymore. Meanwhile he can carry on doing the good work that he’s doing by relieving the actual trauma that’s lying underneath it all. At the end of the whole process, he should be in a position where he doesn’t even care whether the sensation is there or it’s not there. It’s irrelevant to him now, which makes it even more likely that it can go.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual Here’s one thing I do know Gary. I’m going to put something in your hand in a moment just so you can wipe your face if you want to. It’s up to you. You don’t have to if you don’t need to. Would you like to know what it is that I do absolutely know? And you’ll recognize it when I tell you. Whether or not whatever is left of the sensation, of whatever pain you used to have in the past, whether that disappears entirely or not is 100% irrelevant at this point, isn’t it, because as soon as those emotions have gone, either you have the sensation and it won’t bother you or the sensation is gone, which won’t bother you. Either way you win, don’t you? Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

So the only thing left right now is the healing, isn’t it?

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

It’s just the healing. Are those emotions back in a safe place now?

Gary:

They are.

Igor:

And you’re kind of free for the time being, right? And you’ve made that commitment to your unconscious mind to sleep, have you not?

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

Here’s how you’re going to prove your commitment Gary. I want to jump in here now. As we’re in the clean-up phase, I want to talk a little bit about what we’re doing here now. Clearly you’ve heard me go through this out-framing process – whether the sensation disappears or not is irrelevant; the healing is what really matters. That’s called out-framing because it’s no longer about the pain. It’s about something completely different. The initial problem has become irrelevant and so

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual its need to remain becomes more irrelevant, making it more likely for it to just disappear. What I want to do now though is to really cement in this contract he has with his unconscious mind. He’s essentially doing the same thing that I asked Russ to do when learning the Feldenkrais Method, to learn to move his body differently. He’s doing the same thing that I asked Liz to do when learning to pay attention to her body differently and so on. He’s creating a contract, an agreement with his unconscious mind, which is helping him to cement the relationship at a much healthier level. In order to do this, I want his conscious mind to have some involvement to basically, prove to the unconscious mind that it’s committed to this whole process. I’m going to give him a task, a therapeutic task to engage in, one which is going to help the whole process that we’ve already set up – in other words, help the dream machine to develop. The reason I’m doing this is that it’s further proof to the unconscious mind – and to me of course – that Gary is serious about this. If I find Gary balking at and refusing the idea I’m about to present to him – the commitment he’s got to make, the bit where he makes a little sacrifice – then I know there’s some other stuff left that I have to manage before I can let him go. I’m still risking that everything I’ve just done will be undone because this other little thing is in its place blocking it, and if it’s blocking it then the unconscious mind might go fine, you want to play with me, here’s your pain right back. That’s the last thing in the world I want to have happen. So to ensure that Gary’s conscious mind is going to show a commitment to his unconscious mind that he’s part of the process, you’re now working together, and so the unconscious mind can carry on with its commitment, which is to do the unconscious dream therapy as we’ve already outlined.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual It’s a nice balanced way of doing this thing, and of course you’ll hear what that is in a moment. I’d like for you to make sure that for at least the next week – probably the next two weeks – you make sure you get to bed early. I don’t know if you’re normally a late hour or not, but whatever your normal bedtime is, make sure you get to bed a little earlier than usual because you have some work to do, right? Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

If your wife says hey, can you do the dishes, not tonight honey, I’ve got some work to do. Exactly, and go to bed in good spirits. You’ll start off with some good dreams just to set the scene, right? Then the intensity will come and just like you breathed through it now, you’ll know exactly how to deal with it and it will pass, only just enough for you. How are you doing right now? There we’ve just laid out the entire dream therapy process. We’ve created a little power loop for him to do this whole process safely. He’s going to be doing work consciously, he’s got some involvement in it, he’s making a commitment, and unconsciously we’ve taken him through a sequence of steps to make it more likely that it’s done safely than the overwhelm he’s experienced in the past. How do we know this? 1. He’s going to go to bed in the right mindset. That already sets the ball going. 2. He’s going to start with some pleasant dreams, so he gets to anticipate having a good night’s sleep, which is a good thing to do. The pleasant dreams are kind of like creating resources in hypnosis so that he comes from a good place. It’s the equivalent of the beach he’s at right now, it’s a place of safety before the actual work begins.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

Then the work comes and notice again, we are creating suggestions that the stuff that’s going to happen – the emotions that are going to arise and so on – will all be within his ability to cope with. He’s going to be able to deal with them and he knows how to deal with them at the same time. This is a very important step so that he doesn’t get overwhelmed and the boundaries don’t get dissolved like they were happening here earlier on in the session. 3. Finally, of course, he has to continue with a good night’s sleep. This is more of an ecological thing so that he’s got to work, he’s got to be able to have a life and earn some money and so on, so I don’t want him to be debilitated for six months where he has a crazy night’s sleep, can’t work, can’t concentrate, gets fired, has no income and so on. That’s a really poor way for someone to basically improve themselves. Instead I would like for Gary to be able to live his life as normal. That’s one reason he came here for. He’s got diminished pain. His ability to enjoy life increases. He gets to go to work and do all his normal things and so on, only in his dream time he does this bit of dream therapy too, and then at the end of the dream therapy he goes right back to healing sleep, natural sleep so that he can awaken refreshed in the morning. That’s a very important part as far as I’m concerned so that the healing process doesn’t interfere with his day-to-day life too much. Once I’ve established all of this, then I go right back to my default position. I check in with the client and find out what’s going on. How are you doing? What’s going on right at this moment? In doing so, it tells me how has he accepted this? Are there any rejections going on? Is there any pushback I’m getting? As it happens – and you’ll hear and see in a moment’s time – I don’t get any of that but I have to check. I have to give the

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual opportunity for the unconscious mind to send me one of its signals – to say no, you’ve missed something – if I have missed something. It’s the very thing that was happening at the beginning of this whole session that allowed the session to occur in the first place. So I’m creating another opportunity for the unconscious mind to tell me whether, or not I’ve missed something if I have. Gary:

I’m okay.

Igor:

You are okay, aren’t you?

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

Are you glad you did this? Are you glad you did this Gary?

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

Yes, I thought you would be. Is your wife still there?

Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

Have some quiet time with her away from those emotions, some real quiet time… Let’s jump in here again. Clearly we’re getting to the tail end of the session. As we did before, we’ve reached a calm spot, a nice island of peace, a place where we can very naturally pause this whole proceeding. Just as we did earlier on, I don’t want him to just come straight out of trance with that trauma still fresh in his mind. I’d like for Gary to experience some pleasant hypnosis, some real calming hypnosis, some soothing hypnosis and allow the emotions to kind of recede from consciousness further and further away again.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual So in exactly the same way and for exactly the same reasons as earlier on, I’m going to give him some time on the beach with his wife. This time however, notice I’m emphasizing certain subtleties – some quiet time with your wife. What does quiet time imply? It implies those emotions aren’t coming back. Remember before the suggestion was some healing time. Spend some time with your wife whilst you continue to heal or do whatever you need it to do to heal. What it needed to do to heal was to have more emotions more come, which is exactly what it did. We haven’t got time for those emotions to come up here anymore because we have to carry on with the seminar or we leave the seminar half undone. Hence, I’m giving him some quiet time with his wife this time for the same reasons earlier on but knowing now that more work needs to be done for the actual healing part, I switch the suggestion from healing to quiet in order to prevent those emotions from arising at this point again. They have a different venue in which they can express themselves now. Just notice as we carry on playing this clip how I really set that up in terms of his experience, and also importantly how I constantly check in with Gary to make sure that he’s onboard with everything that I’m saying. There’s going to be a very interesting thing that’s going to happen in a moment’s time – and you’ll hear it when it does – and that’s part of this whole process. It’s the classic bind, which is carry on doing all this stuff, carry on having this quiet time and talking to your wife and having whatever experience you’re having – and here’s the key part – until you know that this dream therapy is going to happen safely. Once again I’m emphasizing the safety aspects purely and simply because I’m not going to be there to pull him out of the soup next time. I want to make sure that whatever happens, there is no soup for him to fall into.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual One of the simple ways of doing that is to say stay in trance and don’t come back out until that dream therapy that you’re going to be doing in the future is going to be something that’s going to happen absolutely safely. … because that’s part of the healing too, isn’t it? Gary:

Yes.

Igor:

Just rest there comfortably with your wife. Maybe you want to talk to her about what just happened until you know that the process you’ve begun will happen safely, so you don’t have to deal with it all once, right?

Gary:

Right.

Igor:

Have a chat with her and when you’re done, just call my attention again. Is that okay with you? I’ll talk elsewhere. Just make sure you’re in a good place and you are, aren’t you Gary?

Gary:

Yes. You can see – this is a wonderful example by the way of how strong a role the emotions have to play in the pain. Isn’t it? By the way, when we talk about the abreaction drill, do you begin to understand what I mean by it now and how much you have to work with it? I’m going to thank Gary’s unconscious mind whilst he has some private time with his wife for a while because without this demonstration, the abreaction drill just seems like a fun little thing that we did, but you see what it looks like in action right now. Did we pull him out of the experience though? Not really, just enough to deal with what we needed to deal with here, but he came specifically for this, didn’t he? I have his permission for it. He didn’t realize what else was happening, as a result, of it but I have specific permission for that. How are you doing Gary? Still recovering process going on, yes? Good man. You just carry on.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

Just notice how I’m giving some indirect suggestions to Gary as well, as we’ve been talking about it, thanking his unconscious mind for the demonstration and so, which is I think a very respectful thing to do anyways. Then because I’m seeing Gary still kind of sitting there and having his moment of – he’s still of course recovering from all the shock – I’m going to keep checking in with him to make sure that everything’s in a good place. I’m not going to belabor the point. As soon as he kind of waves me away, I move off again back into whatever else I’m doing, but I am keeping half an eye on Gary because this is a very important stage. This is an important thing that’s happening here and I want to make sure that again he’s safe at every step. It’s better to be extra cautious than to allow something else to slip in, and at this point I’m making sure that I keep every single parameter under control to make sure that the session has exactly the impact that we want it to. As the clip continues, just watch on as I sort of speak back to the audience again as well, and I’m constantly keeping an eye out for Gary to check when he comes out of trance because I know that at the time he comes out of trance is going to be a very crucial moment. It may only be a minute or two that we have interaction, but I want to make sure I’m smiling, I’m congratulating him and I speak kind of casually about what just happened. I’m acknowledging that it was intense but without getting all dramatic about it like oh that was terrible. It’s more kind of like wow that was something you did a good job there. I need that message to be there when he opens his eyes and looks at me because he’s still very suggestible at this point. He thinks that he’s out of trance but that trance hangover, that trance experience is still kind of floating around in the air, and that’s a great time for positive suggestions to be added into that.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual So, when he comes back out I want to have a little interaction with him. You’ll see it happening in just a few moments’ time. Just look out for it because it’s a small but a very important piece of the work here. It lets me check in with him once again, it lets me see where he’s at instinctively, it lets me put some more suggestions in there about how good the work he’s been doing is all about, and it gives Gary a chance to respond. Again if there’s going to be any pushback, I want it to be happening there so that I can respond and deal with it before he goes out of my sphere of influence, before he leaves the seminar room and so on. Just watch that clip all the way through. Very little other than that is going to happen at this point. It’s just really a tying up process, so you should be able to understand it. Just enjoy seeing the nature of that interaction when you get to that point. I’m just checking in to make sure that he knows I’m paying attention. He’s just been through a pretty interesting time. Once again, do you recall – and this is going back to the regular hypnotherapy we’ve talked on at other times – how you don’t want to rush the client through the change. Do I want to rush him through all those emotions? No because he’s not ready for all of that yet. Maybe if we had three hours, we’d sit down and we’d release a little bit and we’d relax, we’d release a little bit and relax, maybe. I suspect at some point he’d want to just take a timeout and say that’s enough for today. It’s like running a marathon, isn’t it Gary? It’s like running a marathon, eh? Good man. You had a good time today but next time it will be a little bit faster. You know that. Are you back with us? Gary: Igor:

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual

Gary:

When the heat began to dissipate, then I….

Igor:

That’s when the emotions came, right?

Gary:

Yes, it is.

Igor:

Let me shake you by the hand. It was a real pleasure working with you because that wasn’t easy to do, was it? All the way back from trance, look at me, all the way back. Let the beach fade away. All the stuff we talked about in there is gone, right? It will do its own thing on its own time. Right now you need to just rest and breathe. Sara, would you maybe have a walk with Gary around the deck just to chill out, just to get a different thing? I have a sense you would enjoy that right now, right? Sara has some water for you, so have a nice drink and then just enjoy what is actually quite a beautiful sunny L.A. day, and then come back to us when you’ve had time to acclimatize again. Is that cool with you? Good job. Well done. You did a really good job. Let me just jump in one last time and just talk a little bit about that last little segment. We’ve already talked about how important it is to be there for the client when he comes back out of trance. There are a couple things I want to point out... 1. First, is the casual nature of that conversation. 2. Secondly, because it was such an intense trance he was in. You may have noticed that he was being kind of sucked back into it. He started thinking about the beach, thinking about the emotions, and that kind of was starting to pull him back into trance.

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Hypnotic Pain Control Demonstration DVD Transcript Manual What I want him to do right now is be out trance, to create a demarcation point for the whole experience. I sincerely hope that you spotted my little hypnotic blitz there where I basically reached back in and said no, all the way out of trance, let that scene fade and let yourself just come back here and let the other stuff happen in the background as it needs to. I don’t want him dropped back into that trance. I want that clear demarcation point. A couple of other little interesting things that you might find useful in your own practice as a hypnotherapist in general, not just the pain control. 1. The first thing is we’ll of course bring him tissues and stuff to dry his face. 2. Secondly, the glass of water is actually a very useful thing to give to someone. It’s a very calming influence. It’s very grounding to be able to consume something and water is basically innocuous. If anyone’s allergic to water, they have a really big problem, so you can offer pretty much anyone a glass of water and be safe with it. It’s a good little ritual to get into as well to get a little sip. It brings them back to reality. It brings them back into their body in a different way. The next thing I’m doing – and again if I was in a therapeutic setting in my office rather than in a seminar where I have people to help out with this: 3. I’d want to sit with the client outside of the therapy room. Whatever the therapy room is, I’d maybe have a chat with him for a few minutes or I might go for a five- or 10-minute walk with him around the block and just have a casual chat about life, the universe and everything, and anything but the session. I want a really careful seal to grow around that session, which means that the interaction we have has to be about anything but that. Of course, his interests will be to ask what about this and what about that? I’ll go oh you know what, just let your unconscious mind deal with this now. You trust it, don’t you? Yes. So tell me, what do you like to do for fun?

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I would constantly want to redirect his attention away from that trance to allow that seal to grow more and more richly and allow all the suggestions and all the work we’ve done to be implanted at a level where his consciousness won’t interfere with it. This is going to be very important. Whenever you have a really strong emotional shall we say session like this, a very deep trance session like this, you can’t just release your client into the wild. You’ve got to spend five or 10 minutes with them afterwards as well to make sure that they’ve become fully reintegrated into the moment so that they don’t walk out being a little spaced out, they don’t accidentally cross the road without looking for cars and that kind of stuff. On the one side there are therapeutic reasons for it, which is to create that hypnotic seal between the hypnosis session and real life. Then, on the other side, I want to make that he’s totally back in control of his full faculties so that when he walks back outside in the world, if he’s going to drive home I want to make sure he’s safe to drive home. If he’s going to walk home, I want to make sure it’s safe to walk home and cross the roads and do all that sort of stuff. It’s a nice way to end the session up in general.

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