Part 1
A few years ago, I earned continuing education credits by reading a book and taking a test on hypnosis and hypnotherapy. The book, which included articles by a number of academicians and practitioners, was disappointing. There didn’t seem to be clarity on what hypnosis is. There was little information or agreement on technique. I got the sense that in the end, hypnosis and self-hypnosis are essentially equivalent to relaxation procedures with the addition of suggestion. The researchers also acknowledged that very suggestible, sometimes histrionic, individuals seemed to have a different experience altogether from most people.

(In a seminar in college, we had a hypnotherapist visit to demonstrate techniques. His procedure had no effect on most of the class including me. I rolled my eyes, didn’t get it, assumed I wasn’t suggestible.)

I happened to mention the book to my father and discovered for the first time that in his early adulthood in the 1940s, he learned to induce hypnotic states. He did it essentially for entertainment. He disagreed with what I was describing, with what the 'experts' had to say. Hypnosis and deep relaxation were not the same thing. He told me various stories, including one about a fellow locked in his room who had to be rescued from his trance—

A year after this discussion, I was using relaxation techniques with a client. I added some suggestions at her request regarding goals she’d set for herself. I became curious about hypnosis again. The techniques from the book seemed little different from the lengthy process I'd been trained for relaxation. So, next time I talked to my parents, I asked my dad what was the specific wording he’d used in his party games sixty years ago. He quoted two short lines of imagery involving clouds and a countdown from ten.

As he started to count with no intent but to answer my question, the phone nearly dropped from my hand. I felt a grip in my head, the abrupt need to fall asleep right away. ‘That’s enough. Dad! Stop!’ Stunned. Four hundred miles away, he had induced in me in less than a minute a state it took half an hour to create for my client.

Perhaps it has to do with trust.

I just made a visit to Wikipedia and found no fewer than eight groups of theories on what hypnosis is and how it works. The jury is still out.