This past weekend (November 22-23) marked the conclusion of my first professional certification class. As of now, there are twelve newly-certified professional hypnotherapists ready to start offering their services. I didn't ask permission to name them, so I won't, but if any of them want to announce themselves, either in comments here or somewhere else, I'll help spotlight them.
I have to say, the class was a lot of work. Each of the 25 instructional units had to be designed and planned from scratch, and I've been making notes since the first day on how to do it better next time. The group was incredibly patient as we worked through our technical glitches and always ready to offer suggestions and to bring new things to the table for everyone's benefit. That all by itself was a magical thing.
With all that work done and improvement ideas noted, it would be a shame not to make use of it. So there will definitely be another online professional certification class in the spring. It will probably start in April, after NEEHU 6, and run through June.
I'm unspeakably proud of everyone in this group. Some of them had a lot of prior hypnosis experience from doing erotic mind play and had to make some adjustments to adapt their style to vanilla hypnotherapy. They all made that adjustment well, and the sometimes-grueling final exams (they had to do a live hypnotherapy session with a volunteer client) proved to me that these are some fine hypnotists in and out of the dungeon. It's an honor to be their teacher.
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Monday, October 27, 2014
Weekend Wrap-up
So ... as you probably noticed from the last couple of short posts, it was a busy weekend for me and sleepingirl. Now, I have time for a more relaxed description of what went down.
Our first official stop was at a college in Amherst, MA. (I'd love to plug them, but the contract they had me sign actually forbids me doing so without written permission, which I neglected to get. There are several colleges in Amherst.) We were invited by a student group that promotes education and healthy discussion of sexuality, kink, and related issues.
We found the venue without too much confusion and met our hosts, then proceeded to set up the space. Our plan was to do a three-part program. First, I would do Erotic Hypnosis 101 for the whole group. Then we would divide the group into tops and bottoms and have sleepingirl take the bottoms to another room for a talk on negotiation (from the bottom side), safety, and being a better hypno-bottom while I worked with the hypnotists on negotiation from the top, safety and ethics, and tips and tricks for developing your hypnotic style and presence. Then we would rejoin the groups for some mentored practice time.
Things didn't quite work out that way. The space really only had one room of usable size, so we hastily planned out how to manage that. Then the turnout was a lot less than we were expecting because of a schedule conflict (Parents' Weekend), so it turned into a much smaller group than planned. That actually helped, because it made it very easy to tailor our presentations closely to the interests of that group. For example, most of the group were switches, so we abandoned the split-up-into-two idea and simply took turns discussing aspects from both sides of the watch. The group was curious and full of great questions so we did a lot of demonstration and Q&A, and because they were much younger than the usual EEHU audience they didn't have a lot of first-hand experience, so we spent more time on basic techniques like different types of inductions. In the end, while we didn't do a lot of what we originally planned, we did give them what they needed and everyone left happy. I'm looking forward to returning in the spring.
The next event on our schedule was at The Society in Hartford CT. The Society is the venue for NEEHU, of course, so I'm very familiar with the space. The staff were wonderfully welcoming and a lot of good friends were there -- DaSade, sleepingirl and cckitten, AmHypnotic and MentalConfetti, LeeAllure, CalamityBrain, Decordazon, MrDream and ZanyM, Setsudo, and more. The Master Charles room filled up with people, most of whom I did not know. That meant I would be introducing new people to the erotic hypnosis community, which is always exciting.
The topic for the night was Subtle Suggestion: Combining NLP and Hypnosis. It's one that I've done a couple of times now but is still very much a work in progress. For the Society, I expanded the NLP material and did some simple exercises with the group before moving into the integration with hypnosis. The crowd was great; they participated, they played, they were lively and interested, and we had a great time. An exhausted sleepingirl was kind enough to be one of my demo bottoms (she knows how much I love playing with her mind), and I was fortunate to meet Mistress Rheea and do some demonstrations with her as well.
As it happens, one of the people who came to that class was Enlightenment14 (FetLife name). We talked before and after class, and he arranged for me to do a guest spot on Valley Free Radio (WXOJ, 103.3FM) the very next morning. I called in and talked to Rick Haggerty for about 30 minutes about erotic hypnosis, the community, and of course Mind Play. We didn't actually get to the NLP aspects, but from what I've heard so far the community who heard the broadcast was pleased.
If you didn't hear it, you can download or stream the audio of that show from their archive site. My spot is during the second hour, from 9:15 to 9:45 (which would be 1:15-1:45 of the recording).
It was a great weekend. Sleepingirl is a rock star for all the right reasons -- she is frank, very sharp, supremely talented, and really understands the nuances of being kinky, bottoming, and teaching. I loved co-presenting with her, and I hope we can do it more often.
Our first official stop was at a college in Amherst, MA. (I'd love to plug them, but the contract they had me sign actually forbids me doing so without written permission, which I neglected to get. There are several colleges in Amherst.) We were invited by a student group that promotes education and healthy discussion of sexuality, kink, and related issues.
We found the venue without too much confusion and met our hosts, then proceeded to set up the space. Our plan was to do a three-part program. First, I would do Erotic Hypnosis 101 for the whole group. Then we would divide the group into tops and bottoms and have sleepingirl take the bottoms to another room for a talk on negotiation (from the bottom side), safety, and being a better hypno-bottom while I worked with the hypnotists on negotiation from the top, safety and ethics, and tips and tricks for developing your hypnotic style and presence. Then we would rejoin the groups for some mentored practice time.
Things didn't quite work out that way. The space really only had one room of usable size, so we hastily planned out how to manage that. Then the turnout was a lot less than we were expecting because of a schedule conflict (Parents' Weekend), so it turned into a much smaller group than planned. That actually helped, because it made it very easy to tailor our presentations closely to the interests of that group. For example, most of the group were switches, so we abandoned the split-up-into-two idea and simply took turns discussing aspects from both sides of the watch. The group was curious and full of great questions so we did a lot of demonstration and Q&A, and because they were much younger than the usual EEHU audience they didn't have a lot of first-hand experience, so we spent more time on basic techniques like different types of inductions. In the end, while we didn't do a lot of what we originally planned, we did give them what they needed and everyone left happy. I'm looking forward to returning in the spring.
The next event on our schedule was at The Society in Hartford CT. The Society is the venue for NEEHU, of course, so I'm very familiar with the space. The staff were wonderfully welcoming and a lot of good friends were there -- DaSade, sleepingirl and cckitten, AmHypnotic and MentalConfetti, LeeAllure, CalamityBrain, Decordazon, MrDream and ZanyM, Setsudo, and more. The Master Charles room filled up with people, most of whom I did not know. That meant I would be introducing new people to the erotic hypnosis community, which is always exciting.
The topic for the night was Subtle Suggestion: Combining NLP and Hypnosis. It's one that I've done a couple of times now but is still very much a work in progress. For the Society, I expanded the NLP material and did some simple exercises with the group before moving into the integration with hypnosis. The crowd was great; they participated, they played, they were lively and interested, and we had a great time. An exhausted sleepingirl was kind enough to be one of my demo bottoms (she knows how much I love playing with her mind), and I was fortunate to meet Mistress Rheea and do some demonstrations with her as well.
As it happens, one of the people who came to that class was Enlightenment14 (FetLife name). We talked before and after class, and he arranged for me to do a guest spot on Valley Free Radio (WXOJ, 103.3FM) the very next morning. I called in and talked to Rick Haggerty for about 30 minutes about erotic hypnosis, the community, and of course Mind Play. We didn't actually get to the NLP aspects, but from what I've heard so far the community who heard the broadcast was pleased.
If you didn't hear it, you can download or stream the audio of that show from their archive site. My spot is during the second hour, from 9:15 to 9:45 (which would be 1:15-1:45 of the recording).
It was a great weekend. Sleepingirl is a rock star for all the right reasons -- she is frank, very sharp, supremely talented, and really understands the nuances of being kinky, bottoming, and teaching. I loved co-presenting with her, and I hope we can do it more often.
Sunday, October 26, 2014
More weekend coolness!
Sleepingirl's and my visit to Amherst went delightfully well -- so much so that I fully intend to return to Amherst next year. They are a great group of people.
We had a fantastic turnout at The Society for my NLP and Hypnosis class, which was a further-developed form of my "Subtle Suggestion" class. It was great to reunite with dear friends that I see far too infrequently, and to start hatching a few plans for the interval before NEEHU 6 in March.
As it happens, I'm squeezing in one more appearance while I'm in town. One of the people who came to class tonight invited me to be a guest on Valley Free Radio for tomorrow morning's "Kickin' It for Peace, Culture, & Education" show. The show runs from 8-10am Eastern time; I will be on during the 9-10 hour talking about erotic hypnosis and NLP. The station streams online, so if you aren't in the Florence, MA area you can listen through the website.
-wg
We had a fantastic turnout at The Society for my NLP and Hypnosis class, which was a further-developed form of my "Subtle Suggestion" class. It was great to reunite with dear friends that I see far too infrequently, and to start hatching a few plans for the interval before NEEHU 6 in March.
As it happens, I'm squeezing in one more appearance while I'm in town. One of the people who came to class tonight invited me to be a guest on Valley Free Radio for tomorrow morning's "Kickin' It for Peace, Culture, & Education" show. The show runs from 8-10am Eastern time; I will be on during the 9-10 hour talking about erotic hypnosis and NLP. The station streams online, so if you aren't in the Florence, MA area you can listen through the website.
-wg
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
This Weekend
I'll be in New England this weekend (October 25) doing two appearances.
First, in the afternoon, the always-delightful sleepingirl and I are doing a 3-hour erotic hypnosis workshop for edu.kink, an organization in Amherst, MA that does weekly workshops on various aspects, of sex, sexuality, and kink. We'll be presenting Erotic Hypnosis 101, then splitting the group so that sleepingirl can give specific advice to hypnotees while I do the same with the hypnotists. Then we reunite the groups for mentored practice time.
Next, we drop in on The Society in Hartford, CT for an evening class on erotic NLP and hypnosis. This is a class I've done at MEEHU and WEEHU 2, and it's still evolving so it will be different from either of those. The class takes place during a play party (I believe we start at 9pm but I'm not positive), which is open to members of the Society and their escorted guests. There is a door fee of $20 for non-members, who must have a member with them.
Can't wait to see New England again!
-wg
First, in the afternoon, the always-delightful sleepingirl and I are doing a 3-hour erotic hypnosis workshop for edu.kink, an organization in Amherst, MA that does weekly workshops on various aspects, of sex, sexuality, and kink. We'll be presenting Erotic Hypnosis 101, then splitting the group so that sleepingirl can give specific advice to hypnotees while I do the same with the hypnotists. Then we reunite the groups for mentored practice time.
Next, we drop in on The Society in Hartford, CT for an evening class on erotic NLP and hypnosis. This is a class I've done at MEEHU and WEEHU 2, and it's still evolving so it will be different from either of those. The class takes place during a play party (I believe we start at 9pm but I'm not positive), which is open to members of the Society and their escorted guests. There is a door fee of $20 for non-members, who must have a member with them.
Can't wait to see New England again!
-wg
Sunday, October 5, 2014
WEEHU 2 recap
WEEHU 2 is behind us now, and what a weekend it was! There were challenges, both logistical and other. There were also awesome moments, and over the whole weekend the scales tip toward awesome pretty decisively.
For the second year in a row, travel to WEEHU was made way more difficult than it had to be by forces outside of anyone's control. Last year it was the shooting at, and subsequent closure of, LAX airport; this time it was the fire in the radar control tower outside Chicago, which caused ripples across North America with flight connections. Dani and I were stuck in San Diego for 3 extra hours (which wouldn't have been so bad if we weren't confined to Terminal 1 of the airport there), which caused me to miss both of my scheduled Friday afternoon classes. Fortunately Hypnoguru stepped into the void and ran "The Art of Teaching Hypnosis" and "Kinky Human Tricks" for me so there was no need to disrupt the schedule.
We did make it to San Francisco in time for the Friday night play party at The Citadel. The party's theme was "A Taste of Kink." There were experts there in a number of kinky disciplines: knife play, caning, single-tails, flogging, needle play. Professor X and I were there representing erotic hypnosis. People circulated through the space getting 5-minutes "tastes" of whatever they desired. There was a good mixture of people new and curious, experienced, and enthusiastic about erotic hypnosis and I had a ball doing 5-minute scenes with them. By the end of the tasting Dani and I had been up for 22 hours straight and were fading fast; we caught the WEEHU-provided shuttle back to the hotel and crashed.
Saturday morning proved hectic thanks to a busload of French tourists who had also stopped at the convention hotel for the night. The hotel restaurant was packed and the staff were clearly not prepared for it; breakfast took a little more time than anyone expected. The restaurant also wasn't really set up for large groups, so there was no real chance to commune with our fellow attendees over breakfast. We got onto the first shuttle and headed over to the Citadel to help open up.
The first class of the day for me was Erotic Hypnosis 101, and as usual I got a nice crowd of new and curious people. For the demo scene we did some voodoo doll play, with my Dani as the voodoo doll and troublethewater (her Fetlife name) as the volunteer. Both of them were delightful and we had a great time with it.
Next up, immediately following, was Subtle Suggestion, my NLP-and-hypnosis class that I added to my roster for MEEHU. I'd added material to the outline because I finished way early at MEEHU, and I still ended up with about 10 minutes extra. We spent it talking about other applications of NLP, working hard to stay out of therapy territory. I'm going to have to add some more material to this for NEEHU 6.
One thing I enjoyed about WEEHU 2 was that I did have more downtime than usual. It was good to have the chance to sit in on Hypnomaster_D's class on Global Suggestion, a technique he has developed for speaking directly with the subconscious and getting cooperation from it even without a formal induction. I'd heard about it and read some on Fetlife, but seeing it actually used and established with someone was fascinating.
After lunch with Lady Ru'etha and some friends at a place called Show Dogs (which was extraordinarily tasty!), I taught Hypnotizing the Analytical Mind, an expanded version of the Live Learning class I did on Hypbook in August. Rather than just teaching confusion inductions, this class takes a holistic view of working or playing with an analytical-minded person with emphasis on getting the basics right -- rapport, setting expectations -- before lunging into a complex confusion induction that may not be necessary or the best approach.
Another free period followed, and then it was time for Deeper, Faster, Easier, my hypnotee-oriented class on getting better at going into trance. There was a lot of interest in this one and we used the time well, teaching the audience self-hypnosis and doing some fractionation with them to help break down any barriers.
To close out the class day Dani and I sat in on LeeAllure's class on doing hypnoplay in public places. There are few things I enjoy more than watching Lee teach; her mischievous brand of hypno-sadism was fully on display in that class and it was a great cap on the day.
Dani and I had a mission for the Saturday night play party: to practice our dual inductions on as many volunteers as we could muster. It's one thing to practice at home with an empty chair; to make sure our timing and nonverbal cues were right we needed some live volunteers. As you might imagine, it was not difficult at WEEHU to find people willing to be tranced by us. Even with LeeAllure and DJ Pynchon offering dual inductions too, we had plenty of eager hypnotees to work with and it helped Dani's confidence tremendously. We also got a chance for some social time with the always-busy Mephki, which was a treat.
Breakfast was less hectic Sunday as the French tourists were gone. We got to talk with some of our fellow WEEHUers in the restaurant and rode the early shuttle with panavatar and Fleur, who was still limping from a serious ankle sprain on Saturday (one great thing about an EEHU is that Doctor Mephki is always in the house). We helped set up chairs for the final day of classes.
Dani and I indulged ourselves in another LeeAllure class, this one on hypnotic amnesia. Then it was time for what is usually the highlight of my EEHU, Kinky Human Tricks. The audience turned out to be small, which made it hard to develop the room energy that I usually get for KHT, but we had some great demos of sensation play and freeze play and of course the Five-Point Palm Exploding Orgasm Technique. I felt a little bad because my volunteer for the 5-point technique was building to it slowly and we ran out of time before she could get all the way to orgasm. Things like that happen sometimes because I don't generally pre-select my volunteers. It's worth the risk because even when I "fail" it helps people to understand that not everything works the way you want it to the first time out. I'd rather someone think, "Well, it didn't always work for Wiseguy either" rather than "How did I screw this up?" when faced with a similar situation on their own.
After lunch (we went to the food court at the nearby mall), it was time for the class I'd been looking forward to most: Dual Inductions, presented by myself and my wife Dani. This was Dani's debut as a presenter, and she was everything I knew she could be. Our timing was good, her voice work was exceptional, and we dropped our volunteers with no difficulty at all. I'm unspeakably proud of Dani for showing the EEHU community that she has skills in her own right.
Our last class of the day, in the last timeslot, was All the Way Down, my class on really deep trance states. We were in the very comfortable upper lounge, which suited the topic nicely because this is the one in which I take someone into the Esdaile state to demonstrate how it can be done and why you would want to do it. I used Dani, as her reward for doing so well in the dual inductions class, and she enjoyed it quite a bit. I was also honored to meet Dossie Easton, who taught the shadowplay class on Saturday, and to have her sitting in for All the Way Down.
There was no formal plan for after-con dinner -- or, rather, there was a chaotic mix of partially-formed plans -- but Professor X took the initiative and got us a reservation for a large group at a kink-friendly restaurant she knew nearby. That gave us a chance to dine and chat with people we hadn't been able to get much time with, like Professor X herself and Hypnomaestro and SweetGasp (among many others). There were hugs, there were goodbyes, and there were see-you-at-NEEHUs.
It was a great time once again. Next year, I'm flying on Thursday instead of Friday!
-wg
For the second year in a row, travel to WEEHU was made way more difficult than it had to be by forces outside of anyone's control. Last year it was the shooting at, and subsequent closure of, LAX airport; this time it was the fire in the radar control tower outside Chicago, which caused ripples across North America with flight connections. Dani and I were stuck in San Diego for 3 extra hours (which wouldn't have been so bad if we weren't confined to Terminal 1 of the airport there), which caused me to miss both of my scheduled Friday afternoon classes. Fortunately Hypnoguru stepped into the void and ran "The Art of Teaching Hypnosis" and "Kinky Human Tricks" for me so there was no need to disrupt the schedule.
We did make it to San Francisco in time for the Friday night play party at The Citadel. The party's theme was "A Taste of Kink." There were experts there in a number of kinky disciplines: knife play, caning, single-tails, flogging, needle play. Professor X and I were there representing erotic hypnosis. People circulated through the space getting 5-minutes "tastes" of whatever they desired. There was a good mixture of people new and curious, experienced, and enthusiastic about erotic hypnosis and I had a ball doing 5-minute scenes with them. By the end of the tasting Dani and I had been up for 22 hours straight and were fading fast; we caught the WEEHU-provided shuttle back to the hotel and crashed.
Saturday morning proved hectic thanks to a busload of French tourists who had also stopped at the convention hotel for the night. The hotel restaurant was packed and the staff were clearly not prepared for it; breakfast took a little more time than anyone expected. The restaurant also wasn't really set up for large groups, so there was no real chance to commune with our fellow attendees over breakfast. We got onto the first shuttle and headed over to the Citadel to help open up.
The first class of the day for me was Erotic Hypnosis 101, and as usual I got a nice crowd of new and curious people. For the demo scene we did some voodoo doll play, with my Dani as the voodoo doll and troublethewater (her Fetlife name) as the volunteer. Both of them were delightful and we had a great time with it.
Next up, immediately following, was Subtle Suggestion, my NLP-and-hypnosis class that I added to my roster for MEEHU. I'd added material to the outline because I finished way early at MEEHU, and I still ended up with about 10 minutes extra. We spent it talking about other applications of NLP, working hard to stay out of therapy territory. I'm going to have to add some more material to this for NEEHU 6.
One thing I enjoyed about WEEHU 2 was that I did have more downtime than usual. It was good to have the chance to sit in on Hypnomaster_D's class on Global Suggestion, a technique he has developed for speaking directly with the subconscious and getting cooperation from it even without a formal induction. I'd heard about it and read some on Fetlife, but seeing it actually used and established with someone was fascinating.
After lunch with Lady Ru'etha and some friends at a place called Show Dogs (which was extraordinarily tasty!), I taught Hypnotizing the Analytical Mind, an expanded version of the Live Learning class I did on Hypbook in August. Rather than just teaching confusion inductions, this class takes a holistic view of working or playing with an analytical-minded person with emphasis on getting the basics right -- rapport, setting expectations -- before lunging into a complex confusion induction that may not be necessary or the best approach.
Another free period followed, and then it was time for Deeper, Faster, Easier, my hypnotee-oriented class on getting better at going into trance. There was a lot of interest in this one and we used the time well, teaching the audience self-hypnosis and doing some fractionation with them to help break down any barriers.
To close out the class day Dani and I sat in on LeeAllure's class on doing hypnoplay in public places. There are few things I enjoy more than watching Lee teach; her mischievous brand of hypno-sadism was fully on display in that class and it was a great cap on the day.
Dani and I had a mission for the Saturday night play party: to practice our dual inductions on as many volunteers as we could muster. It's one thing to practice at home with an empty chair; to make sure our timing and nonverbal cues were right we needed some live volunteers. As you might imagine, it was not difficult at WEEHU to find people willing to be tranced by us. Even with LeeAllure and DJ Pynchon offering dual inductions too, we had plenty of eager hypnotees to work with and it helped Dani's confidence tremendously. We also got a chance for some social time with the always-busy Mephki, which was a treat.
Breakfast was less hectic Sunday as the French tourists were gone. We got to talk with some of our fellow WEEHUers in the restaurant and rode the early shuttle with panavatar and Fleur, who was still limping from a serious ankle sprain on Saturday (one great thing about an EEHU is that Doctor Mephki is always in the house). We helped set up chairs for the final day of classes.
Dani and I indulged ourselves in another LeeAllure class, this one on hypnotic amnesia. Then it was time for what is usually the highlight of my EEHU, Kinky Human Tricks. The audience turned out to be small, which made it hard to develop the room energy that I usually get for KHT, but we had some great demos of sensation play and freeze play and of course the Five-Point Palm Exploding Orgasm Technique. I felt a little bad because my volunteer for the 5-point technique was building to it slowly and we ran out of time before she could get all the way to orgasm. Things like that happen sometimes because I don't generally pre-select my volunteers. It's worth the risk because even when I "fail" it helps people to understand that not everything works the way you want it to the first time out. I'd rather someone think, "Well, it didn't always work for Wiseguy either" rather than "How did I screw this up?" when faced with a similar situation on their own.
After lunch (we went to the food court at the nearby mall), it was time for the class I'd been looking forward to most: Dual Inductions, presented by myself and my wife Dani. This was Dani's debut as a presenter, and she was everything I knew she could be. Our timing was good, her voice work was exceptional, and we dropped our volunteers with no difficulty at all. I'm unspeakably proud of Dani for showing the EEHU community that she has skills in her own right.
Our last class of the day, in the last timeslot, was All the Way Down, my class on really deep trance states. We were in the very comfortable upper lounge, which suited the topic nicely because this is the one in which I take someone into the Esdaile state to demonstrate how it can be done and why you would want to do it. I used Dani, as her reward for doing so well in the dual inductions class, and she enjoyed it quite a bit. I was also honored to meet Dossie Easton, who taught the shadowplay class on Saturday, and to have her sitting in for All the Way Down.
There was no formal plan for after-con dinner -- or, rather, there was a chaotic mix of partially-formed plans -- but Professor X took the initiative and got us a reservation for a large group at a kink-friendly restaurant she knew nearby. That gave us a chance to dine and chat with people we hadn't been able to get much time with, like Professor X herself and Hypnomaestro and SweetGasp (among many others). There were hugs, there were goodbyes, and there were see-you-at-NEEHUs.
It was a great time once again. Next year, I'm flying on Thursday instead of Friday!
-wg
Saturday, September 6, 2014
WEEHU preview and other fun things
WEEHU is just around the corner!
The second annual WEstern Erotic Hypnosis Unconference will be held again at the Citadel in San Francisco. It is not too late to get tickets for this event, though it may be too late to get a room at the same hotel.
One of the things WEEHU has done this year is recruit a wider array of presenters and topics. I'll be there, of course, doing a half-dozen classes or so, but you will also see lots of Dr. Headcrash, HypnoMaestro, Lady Ru'etha, Felix Krull, LeeAllure, Professor X, Max, SweetGasp, sleepingirl, Max, DJ Pynchon, and others. It's going to be incredibly exciting.
This WEEHU will feature the presenter debut of my wife, Dani Fantom. She and I will co-present the session on dual inductions, in which we will double-team several willing volunteers into trance nirvana. Having Dani share the stage with me is something I'm very much looking forward to.
Other fun things ...
Last month, with all the other things going on, I forgot to mention that I was doing another Live Learning class on Hypbook called "Hypnotizing the Analytical Mind". That class is available for listening on Hypbook in the learning library. My friend HypnoMedia will be doing a class on September 17th on "History of Erotic Hypnosis." HM is the hypnokink community's leading historian and media expert, so this will be well worth attending.
My NGH Certification course is full, and will occupy a lot of my non-WEEHU time between now and the end of November. When we finish, 12 shiny new hypnotists will be ready to start practicing professionally. Yay!
Sleepingirl and I are also hatching a plot or two for the weekend before Halloween (that would be October 25 and 26). We will be doing classes for edu.kink in Amherst, MA and then appearing together at The Society in Hartford, CT.
The New England Hypnosis Group and I are working with NELA to bring an extended class to the Boston area in December. More details on this as we work them out.
Play safe and have fun!!
-wg
Friday, August 15, 2014
A Night with Sex Nerd Sandra
Last night (August 14th) I did my first live interview.
The host was this amazing lady: Sandra Daugherty, aka Sex Nerd Sandra. Her podcast, which is carried on The Nerdist Network, covers all things sexy and fun. If you aren't familiar with Sandra's work, you have a lot of catching up to do -- 150-plus episodes. Do it; it will be enlightening and fun at the same time.
Last night Sandra recorded a new podcast episode on erotic hypnosis at The Pinch, a club in northwest DC, in front of a live audience. Thanks to a couple of friends from the local Black Rose hypnosis SIG who made the introduction, I was Sandra's main guest for the evening.
We had a blast. Sandra asked some great questions about the basics to get us started, and then moved into some of the things she's been curious about. We talked about NLP and speed seduction, about consent and the hidden observer, and about the kinds of things people do with erotic hypnosis. My loving Dani came up for a short demonstration, which Sandra narrated for the podcast audience, and answered questions about her experiences as a hypnotic bottom.
Next my friends Tish and Gavin came up to talk about how they use erotic hypnosis in their relationship. Some amusing stories of minor mishaps and great "A-ha!" moments ensued, and then we wrapped up with some questions from the audience. After the recording part ended we trooped upstairs, where we answered more questions and hung out with the guests until it was time to go home.
For me, and seemingly for those who were there, it was an awesome time. Sandra is truly remarkable: smart, articulate, curious, playful, sexy ... everything you could ask for in a sex nerd and then some. Binge listen to some of her recent podcasts while you wait for ours to come out and you'll see what I mean.
Last night Sandra recorded a new podcast episode on erotic hypnosis at The Pinch, a club in northwest DC, in front of a live audience. Thanks to a couple of friends from the local Black Rose hypnosis SIG who made the introduction, I was Sandra's main guest for the evening.
We had a blast. Sandra asked some great questions about the basics to get us started, and then moved into some of the things she's been curious about. We talked about NLP and speed seduction, about consent and the hidden observer, and about the kinds of things people do with erotic hypnosis. My loving Dani came up for a short demonstration, which Sandra narrated for the podcast audience, and answered questions about her experiences as a hypnotic bottom.
Next my friends Tish and Gavin came up to talk about how they use erotic hypnosis in their relationship. Some amusing stories of minor mishaps and great "A-ha!" moments ensued, and then we wrapped up with some questions from the audience. After the recording part ended we trooped upstairs, where we answered more questions and hung out with the guests until it was time to go home.
For me, and seemingly for those who were there, it was an awesome time. Sandra is truly remarkable: smart, articulate, curious, playful, sexy ... everything you could ask for in a sex nerd and then some. Binge listen to some of her recent podcasts while you wait for ours to come out and you'll see what I mean.
Monday, July 28, 2014
NGH Certification Update
My first NGH certification class is a go. We have enough people committed that I can go ahead and invest time and energy into planning the 100-hour class, getting my WebEx account set up and tested, and all the other background preparations.
People who contacted me about the class received a draft syllabus over the weekend. We'll be covering a lot of material on hypnosis, hypnoanalysis, NLP, practice building, ethics and standards ... and a bunch of other miscellaneous things to boot.
There are still slots available, so if you're interested in becoming a certified professional hypnotist email me for the latest details.
People who contacted me about the class received a draft syllabus over the weekend. We'll be covering a lot of material on hypnosis, hypnoanalysis, NLP, practice building, ethics and standards ... and a bunch of other miscellaneous things to boot.
There are still slots available, so if you're interested in becoming a certified professional hypnotist email me for the latest details.
Monday, July 21, 2014
MEEHU Recap: Sunday
It was a long, long Saturday at MEEHU and a short Saturday night. That was unusual for me -- usually Dani and I go off by ourselves, play with each other, and turn in before the party even slows down (meaning, while it's still Saturday night). This year I stayed up late and played with people, so Sunday morning I was as zombified as everyone else. A common bond. ;^)
We had breakfast, during which I was playfully cajoled into doing a little hypno-bondage and a slow freeze on people sitting nearby. Then a large segment of us trooped into the first classroom to see Dr. Cunning Linguist, a nationally-known teacher of hypnosis and NLP, present on Erotic NLP. Dr. CL is new to the community (but not to the topic), and he was his usual engaging, humorous self. The class covered some of the basics of NLP and included a couple of enlightening demos, but he didn't really address the erotic applications until the very end. People enjoyed the presentation, but there was some honest feedback buzz about the lack of erotic content. I made mental notes for my own class, which had been moved to Sunday afternoon.
After Dr. CL I had a free period -- well, a period in which I wasn't teaching. I had some people looking for one-on-one time to ask questions or get pointers, so I spent the period doing that. Lunch time on the schedule was noon and the menu was lasagna; I don't eat pasta these days, so I figured I'd slip out and grab a Culver's burger while I was in the Midwest.
Fortunately I ran into Mephki on my way out. She stopped me and said that because of equipment issues in the kitchen, the 1pm classes were all being moved to noon -- meaning now -- and lunch would be at 1. Being Dr. Mephki, she also asked me if I had eaten and when I admitted I hadn't she brought me a bowl of nice, pasta-free chicken breast. (Thank you again, Mephki!)
And so I shifted gears and taught Confusion Inductions. I tranced the room using Terence Watts' From Five to Nine, which NEEHU-goers quickly labeled the "office supplies" induction. Then Lady Mesmer was kind enough to volunteer for me to demonstrate a rapid confusion induction using a pair of Chinese meditation balls. For the finale, I pulled out something I had discovered on my bookshelf a week or so before and found too fascinating not to use for this class: The Mystifying Induction, from Handbook of Hypnotic Inductions by Gafner and Benson (ISBN 0-393-70324-X). I've had this book for a decade plus and had totally forgotten about this delightfully, almost sadistically, confusing induction. I delivered it from an outline and notes and dropped my volunteer plus several audience members.
During the rescheduled lunch time I went over my outline for a new class, "Subtle Suggestion." It's about why and how to combine NLP and hypnosis for scenes. As I was finishing up, I overheard Felix Krull asking my neighbor SweetGasp to come join his panel on remote hypnosis, as several people who had planned to be there on the panel were unavailable. SweetGasp had not had lunch yet and, thanks to Mephki, I had, so I took Gasp's place to give her a chance to get food. With Felix leading and my voice starting to fade out (not in a good way), I let Spiral Turqoise, MissIsis, and Rose_Spells do the majority of the talking.
Next came the highlight of my teaching day: Subtle Suggestion. To my absolute delight, one of my favorite trance play partners was right there in front; her presence meant the demo I wanted to do would very likely work exactly as I had hoped.
NLP makes heavy use of anchors -- the ability to elicit an emotional state and then tie it to an unrelated touch, gesture, object, word, or whatever so that when that item/gesture is repeated later the emotional state comes back automatically. So I used my introduction to elicit a state of arousal, desire, lust, and pleasure, and anchored that state to myself and to the empty chair in front of me. Then, as I explained how NLP works and why one might use it in conjunction with conventional erotic hypnosis, I manufactured as many opportunities as I could to use words like pleasure, arousal, erotic, desire, and such. Each time I said one of those key words, I tapped the back of the empty chair. I watched my front row and I could tell that several of them were showing signs of interest in the chair. I chose the most responsive one and had her come sit in the chair. From my vantage point behind the chair I couldn't see her face when she sat down, but I did see her shudder. All that anchoring was doing exactly what I wanted. All it took was a few indirect suggestions to induce a good, strong orgasm.
As my demo volunteer started to orgasm, I instinctively did what I always do in demos like that -- I put my hands on her upper arms to make sure she didn't fall over. And it occurred to me that this is also a powerful way to create an anchor, which created what we like to call a Teachable Moment. I let my volunteer finish her orgasm and recover for a minute, then I explained to the class that when someone experiences a powerful emotional state, an innocent touch as that emotion peaks can become an anchor that triggers the emotional state when used. And I placed my hands on her upper arms again. She shuddered and moaned all over again, right on cue, and I gave her another orgasm. (And in the process held her up, as I always do, until she gasped out, "Will you please take your hands off my shoulders!?" -- she couldn't stop coming while I was inadvertently still firing the anchor. So I moved my hands to the tops of her shoulders instead until she was steady in the chair again.)
I actually hadn't prepared enough material -- we finished up 20 minutes early, so I did some general Q&A and then it was time for the final class of the day, "All the Way Down." This is the class I first did at NEEHU 5, about taking someone ridiculously deep and why that can be awesome. Since Dani was not at the con I recruited a demo bottom from the San Francisco contingent. The class was smaller than the others, which helped because my projected speaking voice was pretty much shot; all I had left was the hypno-voice, which doesn't carry well. My volunteer performed admirably, going into the Esdaile state with ease and coming out again on cue (not something one can always take for granted when people go into that state because it feels so good).
There was a general plan to have a group dinner at a steak and seafood house up the street. In the interim, I did some coaching and observing with another hypnotist and their demo bottom (really more observing than coaching -- the hypnotist knew what he was doing and just lacks confidence). We had a lovely dinner and came back for an unscheduled, informal Sunday night play party while we still had exclusive access to the floor. I did a couple of one-on-one sessions, one light-hearted and fun, the other a heavy impact hypno-flogging scene with multiple concurrent sensory illusions going along with it. At one point my scene partner panted, "Are you sure you're not a sadist?" I told her I'm not, but I can play one for a short scene. ;^)
I wandered down to the Rainbow Room, where a game of Hypnotic Truth or Dare was in progress. Lee Allure goaded me (okay, it took very little goading!) into taking a turn or two, then we retired to a private place for an extended friendly talk, something we almost never get to do when we're in EEHU mode. Come to think of it, parts of that talk are kind of hazy ... she may have exercised the blanket consent I've given her to play with my mind during down times.
With all the extracurricular play and the need to pack, I got exactly 2 hours of sleep Sunday night before it was time to get up and go catch a plane home. During the flight, I amused myself by compiling a few meaningless statistics:
My MEEHU
We had breakfast, during which I was playfully cajoled into doing a little hypno-bondage and a slow freeze on people sitting nearby. Then a large segment of us trooped into the first classroom to see Dr. Cunning Linguist, a nationally-known teacher of hypnosis and NLP, present on Erotic NLP. Dr. CL is new to the community (but not to the topic), and he was his usual engaging, humorous self. The class covered some of the basics of NLP and included a couple of enlightening demos, but he didn't really address the erotic applications until the very end. People enjoyed the presentation, but there was some honest feedback buzz about the lack of erotic content. I made mental notes for my own class, which had been moved to Sunday afternoon.
After Dr. CL I had a free period -- well, a period in which I wasn't teaching. I had some people looking for one-on-one time to ask questions or get pointers, so I spent the period doing that. Lunch time on the schedule was noon and the menu was lasagna; I don't eat pasta these days, so I figured I'd slip out and grab a Culver's burger while I was in the Midwest.
Fortunately I ran into Mephki on my way out. She stopped me and said that because of equipment issues in the kitchen, the 1pm classes were all being moved to noon -- meaning now -- and lunch would be at 1. Being Dr. Mephki, she also asked me if I had eaten and when I admitted I hadn't she brought me a bowl of nice, pasta-free chicken breast. (Thank you again, Mephki!)
And so I shifted gears and taught Confusion Inductions. I tranced the room using Terence Watts' From Five to Nine, which NEEHU-goers quickly labeled the "office supplies" induction. Then Lady Mesmer was kind enough to volunteer for me to demonstrate a rapid confusion induction using a pair of Chinese meditation balls. For the finale, I pulled out something I had discovered on my bookshelf a week or so before and found too fascinating not to use for this class: The Mystifying Induction, from Handbook of Hypnotic Inductions by Gafner and Benson (ISBN 0-393-70324-X). I've had this book for a decade plus and had totally forgotten about this delightfully, almost sadistically, confusing induction. I delivered it from an outline and notes and dropped my volunteer plus several audience members.
During the rescheduled lunch time I went over my outline for a new class, "Subtle Suggestion." It's about why and how to combine NLP and hypnosis for scenes. As I was finishing up, I overheard Felix Krull asking my neighbor SweetGasp to come join his panel on remote hypnosis, as several people who had planned to be there on the panel were unavailable. SweetGasp had not had lunch yet and, thanks to Mephki, I had, so I took Gasp's place to give her a chance to get food. With Felix leading and my voice starting to fade out (not in a good way), I let Spiral Turqoise, MissIsis, and Rose_Spells do the majority of the talking.
Next came the highlight of my teaching day: Subtle Suggestion. To my absolute delight, one of my favorite trance play partners was right there in front; her presence meant the demo I wanted to do would very likely work exactly as I had hoped.
NLP makes heavy use of anchors -- the ability to elicit an emotional state and then tie it to an unrelated touch, gesture, object, word, or whatever so that when that item/gesture is repeated later the emotional state comes back automatically. So I used my introduction to elicit a state of arousal, desire, lust, and pleasure, and anchored that state to myself and to the empty chair in front of me. Then, as I explained how NLP works and why one might use it in conjunction with conventional erotic hypnosis, I manufactured as many opportunities as I could to use words like pleasure, arousal, erotic, desire, and such. Each time I said one of those key words, I tapped the back of the empty chair. I watched my front row and I could tell that several of them were showing signs of interest in the chair. I chose the most responsive one and had her come sit in the chair. From my vantage point behind the chair I couldn't see her face when she sat down, but I did see her shudder. All that anchoring was doing exactly what I wanted. All it took was a few indirect suggestions to induce a good, strong orgasm.
As my demo volunteer started to orgasm, I instinctively did what I always do in demos like that -- I put my hands on her upper arms to make sure she didn't fall over. And it occurred to me that this is also a powerful way to create an anchor, which created what we like to call a Teachable Moment. I let my volunteer finish her orgasm and recover for a minute, then I explained to the class that when someone experiences a powerful emotional state, an innocent touch as that emotion peaks can become an anchor that triggers the emotional state when used. And I placed my hands on her upper arms again. She shuddered and moaned all over again, right on cue, and I gave her another orgasm. (And in the process held her up, as I always do, until she gasped out, "Will you please take your hands off my shoulders!?" -- she couldn't stop coming while I was inadvertently still firing the anchor. So I moved my hands to the tops of her shoulders instead until she was steady in the chair again.)
I actually hadn't prepared enough material -- we finished up 20 minutes early, so I did some general Q&A and then it was time for the final class of the day, "All the Way Down." This is the class I first did at NEEHU 5, about taking someone ridiculously deep and why that can be awesome. Since Dani was not at the con I recruited a demo bottom from the San Francisco contingent. The class was smaller than the others, which helped because my projected speaking voice was pretty much shot; all I had left was the hypno-voice, which doesn't carry well. My volunteer performed admirably, going into the Esdaile state with ease and coming out again on cue (not something one can always take for granted when people go into that state because it feels so good).
There was a general plan to have a group dinner at a steak and seafood house up the street. In the interim, I did some coaching and observing with another hypnotist and their demo bottom (really more observing than coaching -- the hypnotist knew what he was doing and just lacks confidence). We had a lovely dinner and came back for an unscheduled, informal Sunday night play party while we still had exclusive access to the floor. I did a couple of one-on-one sessions, one light-hearted and fun, the other a heavy impact hypno-flogging scene with multiple concurrent sensory illusions going along with it. At one point my scene partner panted, "Are you sure you're not a sadist?" I told her I'm not, but I can play one for a short scene. ;^)
I wandered down to the Rainbow Room, where a game of Hypnotic Truth or Dare was in progress. Lee Allure goaded me (okay, it took very little goading!) into taking a turn or two, then we retired to a private place for an extended friendly talk, something we almost never get to do when we're in EEHU mode. Come to think of it, parts of that talk are kind of hazy ... she may have exercised the blanket consent I've given her to play with my mind during down times.
With all the extracurricular play and the need to pack, I got exactly 2 hours of sleep Sunday night before it was time to get up and go catch a plane home. During the flight, I amused myself by compiling a few meaningless statistics:
My MEEHU
- Classes/panels presented/joined: 10
- Private non-erotic hypnosis sessions done: 5
- Consultations: 2
- Copies of Mind Play sold: 12
- Hypnotic play dates: 6
- Casual hypno-encounters (short trances between classes): 17 estimated
That's not counting the people I hypnotized during classes for demo purposes. No wonder my voice is shot. But it was SOOOOOOO worth it!
Only 2 months until WEEHU!
Only 2 months until WEEHU!
Sunday, July 20, 2014
MEEHU Recap: Saturday
For my first time at any EEHU, I was still up at the end of the play party. Then I took the time to write yesterday's recap post, which made for a very short night. Still, I managed to wake spontaneously 15 minutes before the alarm was set to go off; I took that as a cosmic nudge.
Downstairs in the breakfast area, the MEEHUvians were stirring. I grabbed some eggs and made the rounds, saying good mornings and catching up with people. Some time after 8 the meeting room was opened for us and, thanks to a misunderstanding with the hotel staff, the actual, intended MEEHU breakfast was served. Oops!
Then started a very long, busy, happy day. The room was packed for Erotic Hypnosis 101, and I was delighted to see a majority of the faces were people I didn't know or recognize -- newbies!! I just love seeing the proof that this community is still growing.
During the 101 class it hit me that while I'd arranged to have a box of print copies of Mind Play shipped ahead for sale, there was no central vending table at MEEHU -- people were vending from their own rooms. Which was fine, except that I wasn't going to be in mine 90 percent of the time. SweetGasp saved me by very kindly adding my books to her vending area. I so owe her a thank-you gift.
After the 101 we segued into Your Hypnotic Self. Same room, many of the same people as 101. It was substantially the same as the online class I presented in May on Hypbook, but I added a dash of NLP to help switches make the transition between top and bottom headspaces.
A free period at noon gave me an opportunity to wander and mingle with the people who weren't in classes. I chatted with a few people and then slipped into Sleepingirl and Lady Mesmer's subjects roundtable to offer moral support. I was joined by Dr. Cunning Linguist, who was getting to know the community.
At lunchtime I found Lee Allure and we plotted our afternoon session on dual inductions. Then it was time for a mentored trance workshop. Something like 40 people gathered to participate, but only one of them -- my friend Rita -- was an experienced hypnotist. We, did some general questions and answers and then Rita helped me move through the group advising and coaching. I ran into a group of people who had not actually had their first trances, either giving or receiving, yet so Rita ended up doing a lot of the circulating while I worked with the first-timers, teaching them the simple hand-drop induction. The workshop went incredibly fast; I was actually about to start an induction on another first-timer when HypnoMaestro came in to point out that time was almost up and we needed to clear the room for the next class. I gave the couple I was about to work with a virtual rain-check and moved on to my favorite class, Kinky Human Tricks.
Kinky Human Tricks is like a mini improv show; every time I do the class it is new and different, depending on the volunteers I get and the mood of the room. This room was packed -- there were people standing in the doorway -- and the people playful, which is an awesome combination. I started with my favorite "PLEAsuuuuuuuure!" trigger using a volunteer, and while I was establishing and exercising that trigger someone else, on whom I'd demonstrated that trigger at NEEHU, started writing too. Her subconscious had apparently decided that it would be fun to re-activate the old trigger that had ended with NEEHU. Spontaneous things like that are SO much fun!
We did some puppet play, using a teddy bear provided by Daja to control a pair of volunteer puppets, and moved into memory play. A round of Pop Quiz led to Daja coming up to demonstrate the Blank trigger and the hypnotic teleport. I love doing demos with Daja; her natural playful brattiness brings out mischievous side and we play off each other so well. It's exhilarating and fun every time we do it.
Autumn HypnoTy made the supreme sacrifice of volunteering for the demonstration of my (in)famous Five-Point Palm Exploding Orgasm Technique. Which was good, because I'd owed her a hypnotic orgasm at NEEHU and didn't get a chance to make good on it. We can now mark that one Paid in Full. ;^)
When KHT ended, there was an extended break before the next classes, which gave me some time to work with. Daja brought someone to see me who wanted to try a confusion induction and asked me to do the honors; of course I was happy to do it. Then I ran into my raincheck couple from earlier and took care of them, too. Finally, I grabbed the NovaPro and took it to the Rainbow Room, where HypnosisEnthusiast was finishing up his hypno-improv workshop. We set up the machine in DreamElf's room, and I gave her some instruction on how to use it and a sample "ride" of her own first, but I had play dates and really couldn't spend the evening babysitting the Nova Pro.
By the time I was finished, it was well into dinner time. I grabbed some of Mephki's delicious pork ribs (no, not Mephki's actual ribs, you pervs!) and actually found Mephki herself in the lounge area eating. Mephki is so busy at an EEHU that finding her sitting still is almost as common as a legitimate Bigfoot sighting, so I happily plotzed down near her so I could catch up with her. We were joined by MissIsis and Dr. Cunning Linguist, which made for a delightful and relaxing dinner group.
The play party had already started, but I owed my love Dani a phone call so I was late to the party. I had a couple of tentative "let's do something together" arrangements, one of which never came to be, and in the process ended up doing several more impromptu scenes with people, some coaching for a new hypnotist working with an experienced bottom, and then dropping in on DreamElf to find a hypnotic free-for-all in progress as a half-dozen people rapidly dropped, triggered, and messed with each other in a delightfully chaotic fashion. She put the Nova Pro to very good use, which gave me a nice, warm, happy feeling.
I popped into the Red Room because I thought I'd seen Lee Allure there, but I was mistaken; the lady I found there looked sufficiently like Lee at a distance, but was one of the many first-timers at MEEHU. And as it happened, she had not been hypnotized by anyone yet and really wanted to experience it. Of course we took of that, and then talked about setting up a possible visit to Iowa to do a group class for them. That would be fun to do.
At this point I'd been running nonstop for about 17 hours, talking for most of that either to a group or in hypnotizing individuals. My voice was starting to go, and my body wanted to drop. I said goodnight to the die-hard folks still wandering the hall and, now that this post is done, I'm going to finally let myself go to sleep.
A happy, contented, holy-crap-did-I-hypnotize-a-lot-of-people-today sleep.
-wg
Downstairs in the breakfast area, the MEEHUvians were stirring. I grabbed some eggs and made the rounds, saying good mornings and catching up with people. Some time after 8 the meeting room was opened for us and, thanks to a misunderstanding with the hotel staff, the actual, intended MEEHU breakfast was served. Oops!
Then started a very long, busy, happy day. The room was packed for Erotic Hypnosis 101, and I was delighted to see a majority of the faces were people I didn't know or recognize -- newbies!! I just love seeing the proof that this community is still growing.
During the 101 class it hit me that while I'd arranged to have a box of print copies of Mind Play shipped ahead for sale, there was no central vending table at MEEHU -- people were vending from their own rooms. Which was fine, except that I wasn't going to be in mine 90 percent of the time. SweetGasp saved me by very kindly adding my books to her vending area. I so owe her a thank-you gift.
After the 101 we segued into Your Hypnotic Self. Same room, many of the same people as 101. It was substantially the same as the online class I presented in May on Hypbook, but I added a dash of NLP to help switches make the transition between top and bottom headspaces.
A free period at noon gave me an opportunity to wander and mingle with the people who weren't in classes. I chatted with a few people and then slipped into Sleepingirl and Lady Mesmer's subjects roundtable to offer moral support. I was joined by Dr. Cunning Linguist, who was getting to know the community.
At lunchtime I found Lee Allure and we plotted our afternoon session on dual inductions. Then it was time for a mentored trance workshop. Something like 40 people gathered to participate, but only one of them -- my friend Rita -- was an experienced hypnotist. We, did some general questions and answers and then Rita helped me move through the group advising and coaching. I ran into a group of people who had not actually had their first trances, either giving or receiving, yet so Rita ended up doing a lot of the circulating while I worked with the first-timers, teaching them the simple hand-drop induction. The workshop went incredibly fast; I was actually about to start an induction on another first-timer when HypnoMaestro came in to point out that time was almost up and we needed to clear the room for the next class. I gave the couple I was about to work with a virtual rain-check and moved on to my favorite class, Kinky Human Tricks.
Kinky Human Tricks is like a mini improv show; every time I do the class it is new and different, depending on the volunteers I get and the mood of the room. This room was packed -- there were people standing in the doorway -- and the people playful, which is an awesome combination. I started with my favorite "PLEAsuuuuuuuure!" trigger using a volunteer, and while I was establishing and exercising that trigger someone else, on whom I'd demonstrated that trigger at NEEHU, started writing too. Her subconscious had apparently decided that it would be fun to re-activate the old trigger that had ended with NEEHU. Spontaneous things like that are SO much fun!
We did some puppet play, using a teddy bear provided by Daja to control a pair of volunteer puppets, and moved into memory play. A round of Pop Quiz led to Daja coming up to demonstrate the Blank trigger and the hypnotic teleport. I love doing demos with Daja; her natural playful brattiness brings out mischievous side and we play off each other so well. It's exhilarating and fun every time we do it.
Autumn HypnoTy made the supreme sacrifice of volunteering for the demonstration of my (in)famous Five-Point Palm Exploding Orgasm Technique. Which was good, because I'd owed her a hypnotic orgasm at NEEHU and didn't get a chance to make good on it. We can now mark that one Paid in Full. ;^)
When KHT ended, there was an extended break before the next classes, which gave me some time to work with. Daja brought someone to see me who wanted to try a confusion induction and asked me to do the honors; of course I was happy to do it. Then I ran into my raincheck couple from earlier and took care of them, too. Finally, I grabbed the NovaPro and took it to the Rainbow Room, where HypnosisEnthusiast was finishing up his hypno-improv workshop. We set up the machine in DreamElf's room, and I gave her some instruction on how to use it and a sample "ride" of her own first, but I had play dates and really couldn't spend the evening babysitting the Nova Pro.
By the time I was finished, it was well into dinner time. I grabbed some of Mephki's delicious pork ribs (no, not Mephki's actual ribs, you pervs!) and actually found Mephki herself in the lounge area eating. Mephki is so busy at an EEHU that finding her sitting still is almost as common as a legitimate Bigfoot sighting, so I happily plotzed down near her so I could catch up with her. We were joined by MissIsis and Dr. Cunning Linguist, which made for a delightful and relaxing dinner group.
The play party had already started, but I owed my love Dani a phone call so I was late to the party. I had a couple of tentative "let's do something together" arrangements, one of which never came to be, and in the process ended up doing several more impromptu scenes with people, some coaching for a new hypnotist working with an experienced bottom, and then dropping in on DreamElf to find a hypnotic free-for-all in progress as a half-dozen people rapidly dropped, triggered, and messed with each other in a delightfully chaotic fashion. She put the Nova Pro to very good use, which gave me a nice, warm, happy feeling.
I popped into the Red Room because I thought I'd seen Lee Allure there, but I was mistaken; the lady I found there looked sufficiently like Lee at a distance, but was one of the many first-timers at MEEHU. And as it happened, she had not been hypnotized by anyone yet and really wanted to experience it. Of course we took of that, and then talked about setting up a possible visit to Iowa to do a group class for them. That would be fun to do.
At this point I'd been running nonstop for about 17 hours, talking for most of that either to a group or in hypnotizing individuals. My voice was starting to go, and my body wanted to drop. I said goodnight to the die-hard folks still wandering the hall and, now that this post is done, I'm going to finally let myself go to sleep.
A happy, contented, holy-crap-did-I-hypnotize-a-lot-of-people-today sleep.
-wg
Saturday, July 19, 2014
MEEHU Recap, part 1
The first MEEHU easily measured up to the NEEHUs and WEEHU before it. It was exciting, it was exhausting, it was intense, it was fun. There were ups and downs, but thankfully far more ups than downs.
Thursday
Flew in to Midway in the mid afternoon. MEEHU actually had activities scheduled for daytime Friday and I had promised to be on hand early. The trip was a little bit of a bummer because, for the first EEHU ever, my sweet Dani was not with me. She had to miss this one for work reasons, breaking her record of perfect EEHU attendance stretching all the way back to NEEHU 1.
I met up with Setsudo at Midway. We were supposed to also meet a friend of mine from Abu Dabi, but her flight was severely delayed -- as in, about 3 hours delayed. We drove to the hotel and she ended up taking a cab later.
We arrived just in time to meet up with a large group of fellow attendees and join them for dinner at a nearby German restaurant. Great food, authentic German music -- including, at one point, an Alp horn (huge wooden horn; you may see one and think "Riiiiiiiicolaaaaaaaaaaa!") -- and, as you'd expect from this group, awesome company. I got to meet some people whom I'd only known online and reconnect with old friends. It was a great start.
Friday
The hotel provided breakfast after a fashion. People filed down, more now than there were for dinner. My friend Rita was there, recovered from her flight ordeal, and I enjoyed introducing her around and seeing her connect with people I like and admire. Then, a rare treat for me, an opportunity to attend the first unofficial class of the weekend, led by HypnoMaestro. We riffed with hypnosis, played with hypnotic strawberries and Nutella, until it was time for lunch.
A large number of the group went out to lunch in Naperville, which is about 20 minutes away. Things took a bit longer than expected, as can happen when 25 people converge on one spot and the staff isn't expecting it. My 1:30 class, "The Art of Teaching Hypnosis," didn't actually have an audience until about 2:25. So we did a compressed version of it so that we could hand over the room to Spiral Turquoise on time.
Turq led a very interesting discussion on the subjects of modeling consent and the relative merits of using pre-screened, pre-negotiated demo bottoms for demonstrations vs. picking volunteers on the fly. There are, as you might expect, pros and cons to each and in the end the conclusion, as so often happens with hypnosis, was "it depends on the circumstances." But talking about those circumstances, and having different experiences and ideas come out, was highly valuable.
I started to go to the Mentored Trance Practice to help out as a mentor, but part way up the hallway I encountered someone who was in a visibly agitated state. She was having an anxiety incident and needed care, so I took her into a nearby room, sat her down in a comfy chair, and went into hypnotherapist mode until she felt better.
In between all this, a plot was formed. Miss Sasha, an old friend of HypnoMaestro's and someone I'd met a couple of years ago, was at her first EEHU and had an idea for a role-playing scene she wanted to do. She needed two men she felt comfortable enough with to describe the scene, and she chose me and LeadPrism. The scenario sounded fun and interesting -- an interrogation scene, with Prism and myself as the interrogators. We went out for dinner to discuss and negotiate details.
We got back to the hotel just in time for HypnosisEnthusiast's stage show. Eighty people packed into the room for the show, which was up to HE's usual standards of quality and fun. And, to makes things that much better, Sasha was in the show. So when it ended she was highly fractionated; Prism and I took advantage of this to hypnotically waylay her (with prior consent) and do the interrogation scene.
That scene blew my mind, in the best ways. It was my first experience co-topping with a male, and his first as well. We played off each other quite successfully, with me as Bad Cop and Prism as Worse Cop. We had a list of Sasha's hot buttons, pressed them all plus discovered a couple of new ones, and the result was a scene that left us all very happy.
After the scene and aftercare I was going to join people in the social space, when I encountered Confessor_K in the hallway. We'd talked the night before at dinner about hypnotic amnesia; she was interested in experiencing that. So we ducked into my room, leaving the door open, and had some fun with memory play. K is amazingly talented, and took to short-term amnesia easily. We had a great time playing Pop Quiz, teleporting her around the room, and causing my shirt to change colors spontaneously. It wasn't an illusion -- I actually had several shirts of the same style but different colors; I simply froze K's mind in mid sentence, changed my shirt, moving my pen and glasses to the pocket, returned to my original position and unfroze her. To K it appeared as if my shirt kept changing color.
We did ultimately join the larger gathering in the social space for a bit and then I called it a night. A freakin' AWESOME night. ;^)
Sunday, June 29, 2014
NGH Certification
I alluded to this in my previous post, but it's time for more details. (Yay!)
Email me (wiseguy35@gmail.com) to get yourself signed up. As long as we have at least four I'll hold the class starting in mid September 2014. It's going to be an exciting adventure for everyone who participates.
This fall I will be offering the full National Guild of Hypnotists certification course in hypnosis/hypnotherapy. Students who complete the course will be certified by NGH and qualified to practice hypnotism professionally. The course is 100 hours of instruction, including roughly 80 hours of classroom time and a minimum 20 hours of between-session assignments and observed practice. Topics covered include:
- When, and when not, to use hypnosis
- Lots of inductions, deepeners, and emergings (of course!)
- Forming effective suggestions
- Handling abreactions
- Advanced hypnotic techniques including:
- Age regression
- Parts regression ("parts therapy")
- Time line
- Specific approaches to the most common requested therapies:
- Smoking cessation
- Weight loss
- Stress management
- Basics of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), including how to integrate NLP and hypnosis together
- How to start, manage, and grow a professional hypnosis business
- How to teach an adult-ed style self-hypnosis class
- Since I am only offering this distance learning course to the erotic hypnosis community, we will be able to include additional material that is not part of the NGH standard curriculum, if you get my meaning.
My class will be offered online as a distance learning course. We will "meet" online for 10 class days, scheduled on 5 non-consecutive weekends, using a web video conferencing service. In order to participate you will need a computer -- Linux, Mac, or Windows, though iOS and Android tablets may also work -- with web cam, microphone, and speakers. A good headset is recommended. You will also need volunteer "clients" that you can practice with, sometimes live and sometimes recorded. When you pass the final exam, which is practical in nature (you will demonstrate your skill by working with a volunteer), you receive a certificate from NGH identifying you as a Certified Hypnotist (or Hypnotherapist).
The tuition for this course is $1295 per student. Included with that are your first year's membership dues in NGH and a package containing the class manuals, sample promotional material, and DVD videos on practice building, promotion/marketing, motivation, and demonstrations from well-known NGH instructors. I may also add a couple of things to that package.
Email me (wiseguy35@gmail.com) to get yourself signed up. As long as we have at least four I'll hold the class starting in mid September 2014. It's going to be an exciting adventure for everyone who participates.
-wg
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Catching Up
Way too long without a post. There is so much to catch up on!
NEEHU-5
Most of what I would say about NEEHU 5 has already been said by others. It was exciting ... it was fun ... it was delightful. I met a lot of new friends and revisited many old ones. It was NEEHU.
I particularly enjoyed seeing so many new presenters at NEEHU 5. Occasionally in a discussion someone will remark how *EHU has mostly the same presenters all the time (not always in a negative context), and there's really nothing I can say to that because I'm one of those same presenters. I teach a lot, because it's what I love to do. So I was delighted to see people like Professor X, who not only volunteered to present but chose a gutsy and difficult topic and presented it in a lively and highly effective way. I hope we get more first-time presenters and that the new blood stays around, so that those of us in the "old guard" can relax and enjoy seeing our lessons carried on.
Coming Up ...
There is a lot coming up in the next few months for me and for the community.
This Friday, May 23, I'll be doing an online class on Hypbook as part of their Live Learning series. The topic is "Your Hypnotic Self," which is a class I taught at WEEHU 2013 and am planning to repeat at the inaugural MEEHU in July. Class starts at 8pm Eastern time. If you can't make it then, Hypbook will be recording the class and posting it in their learning library.
The next big thing is MEEHU, taking place July 18-20 in Glendale Heights, IL (just outside Chicago). You can get details at the MEEHU Fetlife group or from http://www.meehu.org/. MEEHU is the first Midwest Erotic Hypnosis Unconference, put on by the local community in the spirit of NEEHU and WEEHU. I'll be there, of course, along with a lot of well-known names from *EHUs past and present. It will be an awesome time.
Looking further ahead, WEEHU 2014 is beginning to take shape as well. It will be held the last weekend of September at the Citadel in San Francisco, CA. Registration is already open. Details are at http://weehu.org and on FetLife.
NGH Certification Course
I'm starting to formulate a plan to offer the National Guild of Hypnotists (NGH) certification class in a distance learning format, so people don't have to travel physically for multiple weekends for it. The NGH curriculum is a solid platform that teaches the methods and techniques of professional hypnotism. There is no kinky content on the syllabus, of course, but a class full of erotic hypnosis enthusiasts is bound to wander into that territory repeatedly. Just sayin'. ;^)
The class will likely happen in the fall, assuming enough people are up for it and I can work out a suitable platform for teaching it. If you want to suggest a service that will let us connect up to, say, 8 people with audio and video so we can hold a class that includes inductions, demonstrations, and practice sessions I'm very open to hearing your ideas. Please email me (wiseguy35@gmail.com).
That about catches me up. It's going to be a very busy -- and very exciting -- rest of the year!
-wg
Monday, March 17, 2014
NEEHU is Coming!
NEEHU 5 is less than two weeks away now. Time to start getting excited!
For those who are unaware, NEEHU is the seminal erotic hypnosis event organized by the delightful Mephki and members of several local erotic hypnosis groups throughout New England. This will be the fifth NEEHU, and it's been my privilege and pleasure to be at all of them, teaching and coaching and doing whatever else looks like fun at the time.
NEEHU draws people from all over the globe: East Coast, West Coast, Canada, Texas -- heck, last year we had someone come all the way from Australia. They come for the community, for the interactions, for the classes, and for the opportunity to meet and play with each other.
Looking at the schedule grid for this year tells me this is going to be exceptional even by the high standards set by previous NEEHUs. The schedule has been expanded to include activities and classes during the day on Friday. That means even more chances to learn from people like HypnoMaestro, Lady Ru'etha, Marc Cabot, Lee Allure, MrDream, ZanyM, Dr. Headcrash, Hypnobruce, and more. I see several new-to-NEEHU names on the presenter roster as well; it will be exciting to see them in action.
As usual, I'll be doing a lot of teaching at NEEHU 5. I'm on the schedule to do:
For those who are unaware, NEEHU is the seminal erotic hypnosis event organized by the delightful Mephki and members of several local erotic hypnosis groups throughout New England. This will be the fifth NEEHU, and it's been my privilege and pleasure to be at all of them, teaching and coaching and doing whatever else looks like fun at the time.
NEEHU draws people from all over the globe: East Coast, West Coast, Canada, Texas -- heck, last year we had someone come all the way from Australia. They come for the community, for the interactions, for the classes, and for the opportunity to meet and play with each other.
Looking at the schedule grid for this year tells me this is going to be exceptional even by the high standards set by previous NEEHUs. The schedule has been expanded to include activities and classes during the day on Friday. That means even more chances to learn from people like HypnoMaestro, Lady Ru'etha, Marc Cabot, Lee Allure, MrDream, ZanyM, Dr. Headcrash, Hypnobruce, and more. I see several new-to-NEEHU names on the presenter roster as well; it will be exciting to see them in action.
As usual, I'll be doing a lot of teaching at NEEHU 5. I'm on the schedule to do:
- Hypnosis 101 (intro for beginners and the idly curious)
- Kinky Human Tricks (popular uses of erotic hypnosis)
- Deeper, Faster, Easier (tips and tricks to learn to go into trance more deeply and easily)
- Brain Overload (all about confusion and overload inductions)
- Sleep Now! (Instant inductions)
- All the Way Down (about taking people to very deep levels)
I'll also be participating in Marc Cabot's writing roundtable, hopefully at least one of the ethics panels led by HypnoMaestro, mentored trance practice, and assisting at the dual inductions practice session.
When I'm not teaching I love to meet, talk, and play with people so if you see me between sessions please do chat me up. And if you haven't got your NEEHU ticket yet, what are you waiting for? ;^)
-wg
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