Finding True Magic: Transpersonal Hypnotherapy / NLP

Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive and Inspiring
Review: This is a manual for those wishing to be hypnotherapists and for those who simply want to explore and understand the process for their own reasons. The book is divided into six phases, each of which cover different aspects of therapy, such as the basics, including induction; regression and past life; parts therapy; timeline; shame and addictive personalities; archetypes; the 'Shadow'; and several other topics.

Mr. Elias's approach is to integrate aspects of various approaches to hypnosis and therapy with spiritual actualization to resolve issues. This *is* a practical 'how-to' book, not just another book of scripts, or theory, or metaphors used by Milton Erickson that you will never be able to use in a practical or clinical setting. After all, you're not Milton Erickson, are you? I enjoyed reading the book, as will you. And more importantly, you'll learn more about hypnotherapy from this book than any other you're likely to find here... At least until I write mine. :-)

Rating:
Summary: At the Forefront of Emerging Mind/Body Therapies
Review: We found this a delightful book for several reasons. First,the text is very succinctly written, with almost an outline format in many sections to aid in reader's comprehension. Secondly, the author blends a mixture of Eastern & Western philosophical perspectives that promote a growing realization that healing can be quicker, less expensive, and more personal than a more traditional medical system has projected. Thirdly, we also feel that reading Jack's book makes us better prepared to work with a wider variety of clientele, which certainly will be to their and our benefit. Fourth, there is a wide breadth of topics covered here - lots of information requiring more than one reading, leading to the desire to discuss same with others in discussion groups if not attend a formal training program with Mr. Elias. Finding True Magic brings together many perspectives into a coherent and usable approach. It aims to find a person's healing, not just fix one's symptoms.

Rating:
Summary: A Journey Toward Awakening
Review: What is True Magic? Sogyal Rinpoche says the Tibetan mystic, Terton Sogyal, was not really impressed by someone who could turn the floor into the ceiling or fire into water. A real miracle happens, he said, if someone can liberate just one negative emotion. Most of us would be happy to liberate just one negative emotion for ourselves, and, if we are in one of the many helping professions, for others. Jack Elias' book, Finding True Magic, makes that kind of miracle accessible for professionals and for those seeking personal growth. True Magic, in Elias' perspective, can be found in the basic goodness of each individual. Grounded in uncompromising and unsentimental faith in innate basic goodness, he assembles a wealth of practical techniques that make the magic of healing profoundly inspiring and understandable. He makes simple observations and then explains how they transform and empower the therapeutic process and personal growth. Finding True Magic is a resource for therapists, a guide for individuals, and the manual for a comprehensive hypnotherapy training course. Elias writes in the genre of Daniel Goleman, Jon Kabat-Zinn and Mark Epstein: brilliant, passionate thinkers with a genius for interpreting and applying Eastern thought for the benefit of Westerners in the helping professions and those seeking to bring illumination to the dilemmas of their personal lives. He draws upon the experience of continuous study during his entire adult life with some of the major teachers of Eastern philosophy who have come to the West. These teachings have been deepened and integrated by his own meditation practice and in 10 years as a counselor, hypnotherapist and teacher. A radical key to Elias' therapy is his "de-hypnosis" approach. He assumes that therapy's goal should be to wake us up from unnecessary limiting trances, not simply to make ourselves more comfortable. For example, he states "Hypnotic processes are redundant...because we are always already in trance," and, "We think we live in the world, but we live in our minds." It seems so simple once you hear it, but recognizing that people are already in trance, that their problem is their trance, and that your job is to help them wake up from the trance, radically alters and empowers therapy. Elias takes this notion one quantum step further by declaring that the greatest limiting delusion, the most powerful trance distortion we experience, is the sense of being a separate fearful self. This false self trance, this "egoic minding process" as he calls it, is the cause of all suffering. Challenging this sacred territory of "who we think we are" is the quickest, most powerful way to dissolve problems and suffering, in Elias' approach. The goal of therapy is not simply to achieve relief of symptoms, but to dismantle this trance of fearful,isolated selfhood. Finding True Magic is an exposition of insights and techniques designed to de-hypnotize us from the tricks, delusions and resulting confusion of this inherently violent and fearful egoic process, freeing up the spontaneous energies and intelligence of healthy change, enjoyment and successful living. Some of the most immediately useful elements are 18 original scripts that can be used by students and therapists in traditional trance work or by individuals as a basis for healing meditation or journaling. Script topics range from self hypnosis for deep, healing relaxation to regression and past life therapy, resolving inner conflicts, pain relief, exploring the human relationship to archetypal energies, and more. Each script reflects the use of relaxation, healing imagery, and application of newly discovered inner resources that lead to ecologically sound, lasting solutions. The solutions and newly recognized resources which emerge spontaneously from the unconscious can be claimed as evidence of the individual's own inner strength and healing power. Solutions - and the ability to generate creative healing solutions - become permanent resources for future growth. Text, instructions, examples and scripts incorporate and teach the arts of hypnotic communication: trance induction techniques, deep relaxation, pacing and leading, neuro-linguistic processes, vivid use of metaphor, imagery and more. The whole approach relies on the natural way the mind perceives, interprets, stores, processes and retrieves sensory information to quickly resolve problems such as phobias, trauma relief, motivation and performance enhancement. The goal of all these techniques is to accomplish brief therapy that is based in natural mind/body healing capacities that are powerful, deep and transformative. Finding True Magic is a resource that makes this liberating kind of work possible for therapists of a variety of persuasions. It provides unforgettable insights about the role of the helper and illuminates the path of personal growth. Gifted writers somehow infuse their work with their own voices. Elias' voice is clear, touching and compelling in these pages, enlivening the text with passion for the material and revealing the depth of his own rigorous honesty and contemplation of the ideas he presents. Direct, articulate and poetic, his writing invites the reader - whether experienced therapist or lay person - to embark upon a journey toward awakening. Finding True Magic evokes fresh new understandings and insights with each re-reading.