More Than Four Walls

Each year I have the opportunity to visit nearly 20 high schools in the Washington, DC area. 

I guest speak at psychology and health classes in Montgomery County to introduce hypnosis as a tool for confidence and stress management.  I also entertain at after prom and all night graduation parties hosted by Parent Teacher Student Associations (PTSA) in both Montgomery and Fairfax Counties.

It’s through this interaction with teachers, parents and students that I have come to appreciate: 1) the culture at each school is somewhat unique; yet 2) the commitment to foster a learning and growth environment is absolutely consistent.  As a father of three sons I find this comforting.

My experience last week provides an example of everything right with schools in this region.  I spent two days on campus at Our Lady of Good Counsel High School in Olney, Maryland to speak with psychology students about hypnosis as an altered state of consciousness.  The kids were engaged and inquisitive with many eager to try a basic hypnotic induction.

After my talk, the teacher who hosted me and I chatted with a couple of students about their hypnotic experience.  The conversation shifted to other areas of their life, such as college selection, peer interaction, etc.  I was so impressed with the kids’ maturity, as well as their focus on living productive and caring lives.

Early Sunday morning found me on-site to entertain for the after prom at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Maryland.  This is a unique public school as the student body combines kids who live in the neighborhoods with those who travel a great distance for the science and math magnet program.

During my nearly four hours at the after prom more than 75 kids gave hypnosis a try.  It was a lot of fun and I had a myriad of parents who were there to chaperone express their appreciation for my participation.  I also had the pleasure of meeting Blair’s principal.

What is the take-away?

The educational mission of a school is important, and there is a lot of pressure on administrators, teachers and parents to make good on the promise.  I’ve found that schools are much more than four walls.  They truly provide a community for students to thrive.  And that is what is happening!

And finally, I wanted to share “thank you” notes I received from two Good Counsel students who attended a couple of my talks on campus.  Each student volunteered for hypnosis several times.

I wanted to thank you for coming to our school and especially for hypnotizing me (3 times)!  The whole experience has been enlightening and extremely helpful.  Thank you for helping me to become more confident in both my studies and my athletics…I know that if you can convince me of my worth that I can (and have) convinced myself.

Thank you for making time for my psychology class.  It makes me want to continue to learn about psychology and learn about myself as well.              

Great Read on Mindfulness for Employee Wellness and Productivity

Here is a link to an interesting and informative article about the practice of mindfulness by organizations that seek to improve employee health, wellness and productivity.  The article is authored by two consultants from the Boston Consulting Group and cites mindfulness programs from innovative companies like SAP, Aetna and Bosch.

How Companies Can Instill Mindfulness

A Story of Tweens and Hypnosis

This past weekend I had the privilege of performing my Hypnotic Experience show at a birthday party for an 11-year-old.  Rather than accepting gifts, the birthday girl asked her family, friends and guests to make a donation to KaBOOM!, a charitable group that constructs playgrounds in underserved communities.  She raised more than $600 for this wonderful organization.  

Admittedly, I was a bit apprehensive about this show because the tween age group is atypical for me.  Most of my entertaining is for high school and college aged students, as well as young professionals and adults.  

Would the kids demonstrate the level of focus required for hypnosis?  How would the content of my pre-talk resonate with tweens?  How would parents react to a hypnotist?  These were questions I considered as I prepared for the show.

I elected to stick with my standard approach with some minor content adjustments, based on what I believed would resonate with tweens.  The party came together well and, based on the feedback I have received from the hosts, the Hypnotic Experience was a success.

Here are a few of my thoughts:

--Kids this age are just starting to develop the attention span that makes a 45 minute to an hour hypnosis show fun.  I made the right call to streamline the pre-talk content by cutting down on a couple of the anecdotes related to applications of hypnosis.

--Similar to older kids, tweens absolutely have an interest in hypnosis.  Rather than the health and wellness, academic or athletic benefits, it’s more of a natural curiosity.

--Nearly every kid in attendance volunteered to try hypnosis, which presented some challenges for me.  Of the 25 or so kids who participated, my guess is a handful truly reached a state of hypnosis with heightened suggestibility.

--Thankfully, the birthday girl was one of the kids hypnotized which allowed me to use a basic suggestion to demonstrate her creativity.  Her friends truly enjoyed that.

While I plan to stick with my performance niche, I do anticipate having the chance to introduce hypnosis to tweens when I perform this summer at the Arlington County Fair and Burke Centre Festival.  

Good Read in Soul2Work: Fear as a Root Cause of Stress

Through this blog I like to share articles I come across that offer insight and guidance on how to achieve a healthy and productive lifestyle.

I have included below a link to a good one from Scott Mabry on stress management in a professional setting.  He appropriately identifies that the root cause of stress is often fear, and then offers a methodology to for a busy professional to find focus and balance.

The Power of Creating and Holding Space

Soul2Work Blog    

Are You Ready to Take the Game Winner?

Michael Jordan was the ultimate game winner.  Can performance in the clutch be learned? (Photo source: NBA.com)

 The clock ticks down in what seems like slow motion.  The score is tied.  The ball swings and, for a moment, the player stands open.

After an exhausting 90 minutes (plus overtime) it’s a shootout.  The player stands a few yards from the adversary – the goalie.  The game is on the line for each. 

Why do certain competitors crave that defining moment during a game when victory is sealed or snatched?  Are they simply wired that way?  Or, is this toughness something that can be learned?

The Washington Post’s Sally Jenkins explores this very question in an article entitled Secret to buzzer-beaters, especially on biggest of stages, is all in (mental) release.  It’s a wonderful read and incredibly timely as we are now in the throes of college basketball’s championship tournaments.

Here are a few interesting quotes from the article:

Sports psychologist Graham Betchart uses a variety of cognitive techniques, including yoga and meditation, to attain presence, that alert but restful state.

Somewhere along the line, stress got a bad name.  But stress is interesting and complicated, and the arousal it causes is a potential enhancer if you learn to use it.

A lot of people with a strong fear of performance ultimately become excited and good at it.  It’s a power a lot of people don’t realize they have.    

Teens Talk Hypnosis Part II: The Good, the Bad and the “Interested”

For the past five years I have had the good fortune of being part of the health curriculum at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Maryland.   

Nikki Marafatsos, the health educator, has developed a unique approach that incorporates a group of guest speakers to share with students different viewpoints related to stress management and overall wellness.

My entertaining talk introduces hypnosis, and its applications for stress and confidence.  I then perform a basic hypnotic induction for volunteers. 

Mrs. Marafatsos solicits feedback from her students about my talk and demonstration, which she then shares with me.  The comments are thoughtful, insightful and (brutally) candid.  It’s exactly what one would expect from a group of high performing teenagers.

Three years ago I published a blog post entitled Teens Talk Hypnosis:  The Good, the Bad and the Boring.  It continues to be one of the most popular articles on this Web site. 

I thought the time was right to once again share feedback from Whitman’s health students.  There is a lot of good…some bad…and (interestingly) a high level of interest in learning the practice of self-hypnosis.

The Good

I enjoyed the experience.  It opened doors for me to manage stress and I even used the strategy last night when going to sleep.

The guest speaker was very interesting.  It was very weird to get hypnotized, but afterwards I did feel very good.  I think this is a good to tool to se while playing sports or trying to sleep.

I enjoyed the presentation!  It was a really interesting way to combat stress.  Thinking about the active mind versus the unconscious mind is new to me.  I definitely want to use hypnosis or meditation in a daily routine.

I really loved the presentation and it actually worked!  Really cool!

He is a cool guy.  I was very attentive to what he had to say.  The hypnosis seemed to actually work on me.  I feel pretty weird.  Overall, it was a great experience.

It gave me a lot of new techniques to help with not only stress, but also sports.

He was very good and informative.  It was interesting to see how strong the mind is.

He is super cool!  I think that hypnosis is something that actually helps to relax and was kind of fun to watch.

Yesterday, I actually was able to sleep well, and have a productive day.  While being hypnotized, I felt stress free.

The Bad

He was very entertaining and uplifting, but he talked a lot and sometimes too fast.

He seemed to talk a lot and was kind of funny.  He could have explained what he did the volunteers after.

It was a good presentation, but he could have talked more quietly.

It was interesting, but kind of creepy.  It could be useful maybe, but I am not sure ow to do it on my own.

I thought the presentation was interesting, but he talked way too much.

The techniques he used seemed legit and helpful.  He could improve on his jokes.

The class was calm.  The presentation was alright, but I didn’t really like the speaker.  I don’t really see how it calming it can be if you are being screamed at by a speaker.

The Interested

It was interesting, but I wish I remembered how to do it to myself.

I liked his soothing voice, but I won’t be able to do it to myself.

It was good except he did not tell us how to do it so we can repeat it or gain something from it.

He didn’t involve everyone and he didn’t teach us how to help manage stress ourselves.

I really enjoyed it.  I didn’t learn how to self hypnotize though.

Great speaker and good presentation.  Curious to know how to do it yourself.

The feedback I would give is explain more how we can employ similar techniques without a hypnotist.