My own work of hypnotherapy and hypnosis in my work toward healing and understanding of the Human-Visitor relationship has just taken a giant new step.
I just got done with my free repeat of the training in 5-PATH® hypnotherapy and the 7th Path Self Hypnosis® technique - a combination that I will refer to as the "path methodologies." I have a lot of very, very positive things to say about this set of techniques. Since I have adopted them, I have found that clients have been increasingly successful in resolving the issues they have come to see me for.
In addition, I am once again reminded of what an excellent teacher Susan is. She is a superb teacher at multiple levels and I would recommend her to anyone wanting to learn the path methodologies. Susan teaches the them as originally developed by Cal and Maureen Banyan. She complies closely to the guidelines they set for teaching and practicing these methodologies. And one of the things she stressed was how the founders heavily frown upon deviations from the original methodology. More on this later...
There are many differences between the training I took from Kevin Hogan ten years ago, and what I've learned from Susan. Both have been excellent teachers, and while Kevin is no longer teaching hypnotherapy certification (he now teaches persuasion techniques par excellence), Devin Hastings has effectively picked up his teaching work. The biggest difference is that when I took my original certification classes ten years ago, Kevin taught the ability to conduct a complete piece of therapy from start to finish in one session. The class was heavily focused on practical work in real situations and by the time you got done with the class, you had some real experience dealing with real issues.
In classes with Cal/Susan, it was deliberately stressed - we are not doing hypnotherapy here. When practicing regression, one did not go back on difficult times, only happy ones. While this does give one practice in the mechanics of hypnotic regression, it does not give the context of being able go back on an issue. One doesn't develop the ability to use the many reframing techniques available with hypnotic regression. At the conclusion of the class, I noted that the beginning students still needed to get the feel of the full session, the context of each step within the whole process, something that they had a clearer picture of in my original training.
The downside of my original training of ten years ago was that while one understood the context of each activity within the hypnotherapy process, the methodology, itself, was single-session oriented. For small pieces of work, this was great. However for larger work, I found it didn't emphasize the strategy of work over multiple sessions, following that strategy from benchmark to benchmark, start to finish.
The beauty of the path methodologies is that at any stage of the game, you always know where you are. At the core is a five-phase process, beginning with the pretalk and interview, then hypnotic regression and reframing, followed by forgiveness of others and self (chair therapy), concluding with parts mediation work. While I believe that there is sometimes too much emphasis on the strict order of phases and rules within each phase, this sequence works well 99% of the time. Upon adopting this framework, I found that most areas of my work have become easier and more effective.
Along with this is the emphasis on self-hypnosis and meditation called The 7th Path®. I've found this to be extremely effective, both for myself and for my clients. So I heartily recommend it - as usual, with a few caveats. The biggest caveat I've noted is that there are quite a few rules associated with it and, while I've tended to take these with a grain of salt, the originators of the path methodologies are quite adamant that the rules be followed. On this point, I have sometimes needed to turn the other cheek. In addition, the originators have tended to be quite proprietary about practice of this teachnique.
I won't go into details on specific quibbles, as there are a fair number of minor issues involved. I will simply suggest that the difference between spirituality and religion is that in my view, spirituality focuses on metaphysical concepts and experiences. It is generally deeply intuitive, and is largely about relationships between the individual and the Higher Power.
Meanwhile, in religion, the spiritual aspects can become bounded by rituals, icons, rules and leaders. In extreme cases, the rules may become the complete focus, and failure to follow these will result in negative consequences. This is what I picture as fundamentalism and, at its worst, the cult.
As I conduct path work with clients, I think alot about this. How much latitude does the hypnotherapist have with these methodologies? Which rules are important and which can be treated as softer guidelines? In my case, I try to stay out of the orbit of any particular school or teacher, so I feel freer to adapt any particular tool in my toolbox to fit the situation. But for anyone who does this, I suggest being very circumspect when talking with the teacher of that particular methodology. The teacher is often very focused on teaching the methodology and so, for very good reason, the purity of that methodology may be quite important to him/her.
In any technique or spiritual path, there are many tradeoffs. In study of several hypnotherapy and meditation traditions, I have now seen the similarities and differences, along with the balances inherent in each. And in each, I have found a similar/analogous yet widely varying combination of strengths and issues.
In the realm of healing and metaphysical study there are truly many techniques, traditions and beliefs. And with these come a host of schools, rules and paths. In traveling one's own path, each seeker and healer must understand how each school relates - how each affects their own path, their relationship to their world and Higher Being. What is their own latitude of practice, and how strongly should they adhere to the rules of the school.
