Ideomotor Response (Your own personal truth detector)
“Ideomotor phenomenon: is a psychological phenomenon wherein a subject makes motions unconsciously.”
The ideomotor response is an interesting tool used by hypnotherapists and others. It uses involuntary muscle movement to facilitate gathering information from the unconscious mind.
A simple method, that requires no trance at all, is to use a pendulum. This is something you can try for yourself. Find something that can be used as a pendulum, a necklace, or even just a small weight tied on the end of a string. Sit comfortably so that you may rest your elbow on your leg, the arm of a chair, or on a table. Just place yourself in a position where you can hold forearm and hand steady and motionless. Gently grip the pendulum between your thumb and forefinger so that it can hang straight down and move freely. Don’t move it, just let it hang there.
Now you must “set” the pendulum by letting your unconscious mind know what motion means to answer yes and what means to answer no. (You only have to do this once, the “set” will last a lifetime.)
Relax as much as you can and start thinking the word yes over and over. As you are thinking the word yes, just imagine the pendulum swinging front to back. Important: Do not swing the pendulum just think about it swinging. Very soon the pendulum will start swinging front to back seemingly all on its own. Once it is moving steadily front to back, start thinking the word no over and over and imagine the pendulum swinging left and right. Once again, do not physically do anything to make the pendulum change direction or affect it in anyway. Just keep your arm and hand relaxed and steady and imagine it changing directions and then wait for it to happen.
Continue using just your mind to change the direction of the pendulum from left to right to front to back several times. You may even add a non-response; if the answer to a question is unclear pendulum will swing in the circle. After you can reliably change the motion of the pendulum using just your mind, put it down, walk away and do something else for a while.
You now have your own “personal truth” detector. If you are ever in doubt of what you really think about something you can use the pendulum. You can write a question on piece of paper and hold the pendulum over it and observe its motion. Or you can just hold the question in your mind. Just remember you must simplify the question down to its essence and have it in a form that can be answered with a yes or a no.
This is just one kind of ideomotor response. There are many others. In a hypnotherapy setting (or any talk-therapy) it can be as simple as telling the client that his/her index finger will move for a positive response and the middle finger will move for a negative response. Then have the client sit back, close his/her eyes and discuss his/her issues. You can see if the ideomotor response is contradicting the verbal responses. This can help pinpoint where the motivations of the unconscious mind contradict and work against the desires of the conscious mind. The client may be adamantly telling you how much she desires to: lose weight, quit drinking, relieve chronic pain, etc. But the fingers are screaming no, No, NO!
Wes Graham C.C.Ht.
Psychosomatic is Not a Dirty Word
I want to reclaim the word psychosomatic. Many times when a physician, caregiver or therapist uses that word, regarding someone’s illness, condition or symptoms, that person believes that they are being accused of “faking it” That’s because, depending on the practitioner and/or their discipline, that could be exactly what they are thinking! But, it is getting better.
When the word was first coined in the 1860s, it really was a dirty 13-letter word doctors could use right in front of their ignorant patient to tell others “in the know” that the patient was a hypochondriac and it was all just “in their head.” Now, hopefully, those days have gone the way of leeches and bleedings.
The world of western style healthcare has, in the last few decades, really started to wrap their collective heads around the profound connection between mind and body. It is now accepted that some diseases have a physiological /emotional component. In some circles, my own included, the concept that all disease has a physiological /emotional component (if not cause) is being gradually accepted.
My personal belief is that the mind body connection is not a one-way street, but is in fact a circle or cycle. More exactly, in the case of ill health, it is a descending, self-amplifying closed feedback loop of stress, depression and disease. Real, physical disease.
It’s a downward cycle:
- If you meet someone with a chronic illness you can bet good money that it causes them stress.
- If you meet someone with stress, you can bet they will eventually get depressed.
- But, if you meet someone who is profoundly depressed, who wants to take the bet that a chronic illness won’t just “coincidentally” find them?
- Then, if you meet that someone with a chronic illness you can bet good money that it causes them stress.
And so on.
One disease or condition may have a stronger emotional component than another and the components of the downward cycle are not equal. They don’t affect all conditions and disorders the same, but I believe all the components will always be present to some degree. As far as how this concept applies practically, a downward cycle can start with any of the components; consequently, the repair can start with any of the components. This is particularly helpful when the disease, condition or syndrome is poorly understood by the medical community. If your local M.D. has a quick and effective solution, why not use it? If I have an infection that an antibiotic can easily cure, I use it (and I’m a real “alternative medicine” kind of guy.)
On the other hand, there are many afflictions that the medical and scientific communities really don’t have a grip on; they can’t really explain them and they can only treat the symptoms. In that case, we need to attack the other components of the cycle. Our bodies are amazing healing machines. We swim in a sea of pathogens; we defeat bacteria, viruses, mutated cells (cancers) every day and only fail when we are overwhelmed mentally or physically by the downward cycle. We just need to break the cycle somewhere, anywhere, to turn it around and eventually turn it into an ascending loop of both mental and physical, health and wellness.
All disease is at least a little psychosomatic. Hell, in many ways life is psychosomatic. So let’s reclaim the word, it’s too useful a word to be left derogatory.
Wes Graham C.C.Ht.
A Bridge to the Unconscious Mind
Why is it always about breathing? Whether you’re in a karate dojo, a yoga class or a hypnotherapist’s office, they’re always prattling on and on about breathing. “Take three cleansing breaths.” “Imagine your breath going here, going there.” Why all this focus on a bodily function that’s as basic as your heartbeat? It’s because breathing is different.
Your conscious thinking mind, for the most part, has no direct effect on most of the functions of your autonomic nervous system. You don’t “think” about secreting cortisol from your adrenal gland, you don’t “think” about your heartbeat and most of the time you don’t think about your breathing, but you can. Right now you can choose to breathe faster, slower, hold your breath. Try holding your heartbeat. (Go on, I dare you.)
The unconscious mind. (We really need a better name for it, as it is not “un” conscious at all, but let’s save that for another posting.) Okay, moving on, the unconscious mind does have an effect. In fact, it could almost be said that the autonomic nervous system IS the unconscious mind, with what we typically call the unconscious “mind” being simply the portion of the system that regulates behavior like the hypothalamus regulates body temperature. (Among other things)
It make very logical sense that when we want to pass information from the thinking mind to the unconscious “operating system” and vice versa, we use the few functions that are under the control of both system (breathing, eye blinking) as a bridge.
The language of the unconscious “mind” is a visual metaphor so you will find everyone from the Hypnotherapist in his office, the Yogi on the mountaintop, to the Massage therapist giving chair massages in the mall, telling you to “focus on your breathing,” visualize it as this color or that. See it going here or there. Breathing is a bridge between the conscious and the unconscious. This bridge runs both ways. You can “inhale” a healing light as well as “exhale” stress or pain.
We live in a time when science and logic seem to be at war with ancient wisdom that has stood the test of time. In this day and age so many alternative practices are looked down upon as metaphysical and so much “woo woo voodoo,” but when we truly understand the logic behind these practices, they can make sense and are as much physics as metaphysics.
Wes Graham C.C.Ht.
Depth of Trance, Who is in Control?
It is a common misconception, based on the representation of hypnosis on TV and in films, that a hypnotized subject is like a zombie under the Svengali-like control of the hypnotist. This image is also reinforced by the routines of stage hypnotists, whose use of a deep somnambulistic (similar to sleep-walking) trance states make for an entertaining show. The therapeutic use of hypnosis is quite different. In a therapeutic setting the depth of the trance is not nearly so important and mostly at the discretion of the subjects, whether they know it or not.
The hypnotherapist is basically a facilitator and guide; it is the clients that are ultimately the judge of what they need. For some, the experience they require for positive change is a deep, almost hallucinogenic trance state and that’s what they will naturally go to. For others, a simple game of “close your eyes and make believe” is exactly what they need and that’s what they will naturally go to. Both extremes and everything in-between can and will work for the clients if the hypnotherapist just allows them to go where they need to go and then just helps them deal with what comes up.
As is often said, all hypnosis is Self-Hypnosis. Either consciously or unconsciously, it is always voluntary. The process of calling, setting the appointment and sitting down with a hypnotist is a significant part of the initial hypnotic induction. Yes, I, like most hypnotherapists, will start with some basic inductions and tests. This gives me a feel for how the client responds (where they want/need to go), but more importantly, it gives the client’s unconscious mind a reference point for the tools and experience of hypnosis that has already begun just by being there.
Wes Graham C.C.Ht.
What is Hypnosis?
What is Hypnosis, that’s a good question. This is the explanation of the basic concept of hypnosis that I use in some of my recorded programs.
Thanks for listening,
Wes Graham C.C.Ht.
Past Life Regression, my two cents
According to some of my friends this photo looks an awful lot like me. Apparently I was an infamous madam in Denver circa 1860. I don’t have any recall of it and have my doubts.
When using Hypnotherapy to resolve an issue, it is common to help the client search their memories for an initial sensitizing event (ISE), the earliest underpinnings of the mental/emotional factors of the issue. Every now and then, when doing this process, even without actively trying for a past life regression, we find that the ISE appears to have occurred in another, previous lifetime.
This has caused quite a bit of debate among hypnotherapists (and everyone else) and I doubt any definitive “Is it real or is it Memorex” answer will be found. Most of the time the debate ends with an “agree to disagree” arrangement and that might be the best we get for now.
Personally, I have no problem with the concept of Past Lives; I’ve had clients retrieve memories from past lives that certainly seemed real and rational to me. There has been difficulty in obtaining empirical proof, but I believe that can easily be explained by multiverse theory now being postulated by physicists, what I call the” it really happened, just not in this universe” solution.
To me, the real answer is that it doesn’t matter. As a therapist it makes no difference if the ISE happened in this life, a past life, another universe, a parallel dimension or is complete fiction. It’s in the client’s mind and if resolving it moves them forward, that is all that matters.
Wes Graham C.C.Ht.
On the Road Again
I’m busy this week preparing to hit the road (or skies in this case) for another great audio adventure. I and my gear will be visiting what may be (In my humble opinion) the most energetic place on earth, The Big Island of Hawaiian. I’m going to spend a couple of weeks knocking around the rain forests, beaches and Lava flows of this amazing place and I hope to bring back some very cool recordings to go into my upcoming projects.
A New Age Heresy for the Modern World
The other day I was doing a walking meditation. For those of you who are not familiar, I basically put myself in a meditative state, opened my awareness to all the Qi energies surrounding me and then take a long slow walk, trying to interact with as much of the life energy around me as possible.
Now, I live in Texas and it is still very much summer here, so of course the temperature was on the high side of 100 degrees. I’ve develop a mental trick for dealing with the heat, instead of fighting against it, I envision myself being solar powered. I just accept the sun’s heat and mentally pull its Qi energy through my skin, into my body, into my core and down to power my legs.
That’s not as odd as it first sounds, when you accept the fact that inanimate objects have their own Qi energy signature, then our old friend Sol has the largest Qi signature in our little corner of the galaxy. (Note: Please use common sense when doing this. We live in physical bodies and in a physical world and you can exceed said bodies’ capabilities and injure yourself.)
I was doing my walk along a nature trail that winds through the center of my suburban neighborhood. Along the way, I kept getting distracted by the sound of traffic when I came close to major streets. This got me thinking; just as the sun’s heat and radiation can be changed from a negative to a positive, could I do the same with the traffic noise? As I continued walking I let my mind ponder the sounds of traffic and its creation by the car’s engine and its motion down the street.
Many people meditate while focusing on a lit candle. Everything that makes up the candle comes from the Earth. The flame is taking wax, either processed in the bodies of bees or refined from ancient plants and dinosaur bones, and changing it to heat and light energy. That transition has a Qi signature that we feel when focusing our attention on the flame.
Now, I’m making no judgments on the role of the automobile in modern society, pollution etc., but cars are a currently inescapable part of modern life. This may be New Age heresy, but think of it this way: everything a car is comes from the earth (no Martian car parts) and its engine is taking ancient plants and dinosaur bones and changing them into heat, light, motion and sound energy. Does that not also produce a Qi signature?
Unless you’re lucky enough to live on a mountaintop, this “mechanized” energy is going to be present in your life. So, like the sun’s energy, can this be used (energetically) in a positive way? I began to take in the energies of the traffic and it at least seems to work. I know, one experiment does not prove anything, but I intend to look into this further. I wouldn’t be surprised if I ended up meditating on a freeway overpass soon, just to try it out.
I’d love to hear others’ take on this.
Wes Graham C.C.Ht.
PS below is a short clip I recorded near my home.
Change: your mind, your energy, your body, your life
“We are stardust, we are golden, we are billion year old carbon”-Joni Mitchell
In a very real sense there is nobody on earth who is more than 15 years old. To be more precise there is NO BODY on earth that is more than 15 years old even though every single “thing” we are has existed since the creation of the universe.
The carbon atoms that we base our bodies on are just passing through us on their long journey from their formation in the heart of a supernova to their end at the heat-death of the universe. We’re just borrowing them for a microscopically brief time.
We are what we eat.
We are literally made of what we eat, drink and breathe. The cells of our bodies continually exchanged with the world around us and eventually with the universe as a whole. Some cells, like those in our digestive system, may only live 4 or 5 days while your skin may be 2 or 3 weeks old. There is not a drop of your blood older than 4 months and your liver is less than a year. Your bones top out the list at 10 to 15 years, and even though our neurons do not replicate at the cellular level, they do exchange on the atomic scale and are probably younger than our bones. So, why are scars permanent? Why do we grow old, grow sick and die?
Three years ago I had an operation that left a large scar. I know that there is not a single molecule of that original scar tissue left, yet the scar is still there, why? The answer is consciousness and memory. Every single cell in our body is a self-contained organism with its own, albeit, rudimentary, energy, consciousness and memory. While a cell in the undisturbed skin right next to the scar has identical DNA, the cell contained within the scar “knows” to reproduce a scar cell. More than that, since skin sloughs off from above and reproduces from basal cells in a deeper layer of the skin, that scar cell must communicate the information to another cell below it, telling it that it must reproduce as scar tissue.
“Where the mind goes”
Memory, communication, consciousness and energy—to me that equals “mind” and since “where the mind goes, the energy flows” to me that equals scar tissue, cancer cells, tumors or healthy vibrant cells.
Just believe you’re getting healthier and you will. It’s a concept so utterly simple that, of course, our conscious, rational minds make it damn near impossible. The universe may live in the quantum light of Einstein and Hawking, but we (our physical bodies) mostly live our lives in the universe of Sir Isaac Newton. If you fall down you go boom, if you cut yourself you get a scar, and if something doesn’t kill you first, you grow old and die anyway. For a way around some of this, at least a way to optimize our health and energy balance beyond what can be delivered by scalpel and pill, the west must look east.
As I mentioned in one of my first postings, it has been shown that you can “think” away a wart. Our mental energy can compel a wart cell to reproduce as a healthy skin cell even though a wart cell has a virus actively “telling” it to reproduce as a wart cell, so why not other “bad” cell structures?
It might not be easy, but the humble wart shows us that the greater energies of our unconscious mind can and do influence the individual consciousness and energies of our component cells. This concept has been suspected and believed in eastern cultures since there have been eastern cultures, but even there, only rarely is it actualized. So, for us not raised with it, it may take a bit of practice.
We are basically figments of our own imagination. If we can change our minds we can change our energy. If we can change our energy we can change our bodies and change our lives.
Wes Graham C.C.Ht.
hypnoenergetics 