Mark Hoult discovers that you’re getting sleepy is a myth when considering hypnosis and goes further to discover that some practitioners of hypnosis find parallels with their work and practice of martial arts . . .

We’ve all heard the stories about stage hypnotists who put people into deep trances and have them clucking like chickens or crawling around on all fours barking like dogs. And we’ve seen the Hollywood version of hypnosis, which shows subjects becoming so completely unconscious that they are unaware they have been hypnotized, and later respond to “suggestions” planted while they are “asleep.” But although there are graduated levels of what people have come to call “hypnotic trance,” the common stories about hypnosis are in fact myths, says Hypnotist Bob McKellar. In fact, hypnotism has nothing whatsoever to do with putting people to sleep, says McKellar, a former police officer and a practitioner of Kung Fu. “That’s a fallacy, that’s a myth; we don’t put people to sleep, we put them into a state of relaxation and we help them to move to where the problems are that they need to correct, and then we bring them back.” McKellar says under hypnosis “you’re always aware of where you are, you can stop the session anytime you want to, and you can just get up and walk away if you want to; it’s totally under your control.” McKellar is always dispelling the myths and fallacies that have built up around the subject of hypnosis. But that doesn’t mean the reality is any less wonderful, effective or even, at times, mysterious. The process of hypnosis is simpler than most people imagine. But at the same time it offers some interesting glimpses and insights into the mind, and perhaps even into reality itself. “We’re born, and the rest we make up,” McKellar says. “Everyone’s in a trance, so my job as a hypnotist is not to put you in a trance, but to wake you up.” McKellar’s approach to hypnosis owes something to his early immersion in Shaolin Kung Fu. He has studied the martial arts for 40 years, and believes the physical, mental and spiritual discipline of Kung Fu has a connection to the healing skills used in hypnosis. “The Shaolin Kung Fu is relevant because it teaches you to be in touch with yourself, as well as with those around you,” McKellar explains. McKellar has also studied a related discipline called Reiki, which he says is “a means of channeling the universal energies into the person for their own personal use.” He stresses the energies can’t be directed. “We can only give it to you, and where your body needs it, is where it will go.” In addition to Kung Fu, Reiki and hypnosis, McKellar has studied Neuro Linguistic patterning, which he calls “the psychology side of hypnosis.” Studying through the National Federation of Neuro Linguistic Psychology, based in Venice, Florida, McKellar took an intensive 160-hour program that gave him his Masters level in that discipline, which he uses in conjunction with hypnosis to treat patients who want to lose weight, quit smoking or deal with a life-crippling phobia. Hypnosis can also help relieve stress, help people sleep, remove writer’s block, enhance athletic performance, improve study habits, enhance memory and help with both male and female sexual dysfunction. There is no great mystery to hypnosis. McKellar stresses that the key is relaxation. And everyone is capable of being relaxed and receptive to the knowledge that can lead to understanding and recovery. “I firmly believe, and have believed for many years, that no matter how bad off you are, your inside mind, your superconscious or subconscious, knows exactly how you got there, and how to repair it. It does not hold anything back, and it knows the answers. The conscious is there to protect the subconscious, and the subconscious is there to protect us.” Hypnotism is essentially “total relaxation,” a state we can slip into even while watching television, he notes. That means a person who has been hypnotized is still aware of outside stimuli. But during a therapy session it is up to the therapist to ensure the subject remains calm and relaxed. Of course the subject’s attitude is important. “If you stay relaxed, it’s because you want to,” McKellar says. “If you want to be relaxed you will be relaxed, and then we will be able to take you into such a level of relaxation that we’ll be able to work wonders.” McKellar says some patients either do not know, or do not want to acknowledge, the source of their problem. But most people know what’s causing their problem and know how to go about solving it, if not at the conscious level, then at the subconscious level. McKellar and other hypnotists don’t need to feed or suggest solutions to their clients. They need to be good listeners, and they need to be ready to help their patients attain a state of self-realization.
“The words I feed back to you are not mine, they are yours, and that’s why they mean so much to you when you enter into a relaxed state,” McKellar explains. “What I have to do as a hypnotist is to lead you through those paths and through those puzzles, in order to bring it to the surface. And all I need to know is that you know the problem. People often say they don’t, but people certainly do know the problem, and they know a perfect way of getting rid of it, and that’s where I come in. As a hypnotist, I just walk them through the process.” During a typical session McKellar will begin with what he calls “intake.” That’s the process of gleaning information from the client, including his past experiences. The information supplied by the client is then used to set up a “script.” And then the client decides how he or she wants McKellar to proceed. This initial input from the client is essential, because it is their words that will become important when they are in a state of deep relaxation, McKellar says. Hypnosis can be used for anger management, and even to address attention deficit disorders and Turret’s Syndrome, McKellar says. In fact hypnosis can be used to do a topical freezing, he says. But perhaps the most widespread problem he sees is lack of self-esteem. It is an issue he sees being raised in connection with many other problems, including depression and paranoia. They are all related, he says. McKellar stresses that hypnosis is not a cure-all super science. He is not a psychiatrist or a physician, though he will consult with both when necessary. He knows when to draw the line. “If you are on medications, then you stay on medications; if you are under a doctor’s care, then you stay under a doctor’s care.” What McKellar has learned is that people are “always giving up control.” Every day of our lives “we capitulate,” and the process gets worse as we grow older. And in one way or another “we’re all stuck in a rut,” he observes. “We can all use the help, even if it’s just to sit down and talk and have tea.” McKellar, who has “always wanted to help people in one way or another,” confesses he is often himself quite amazed at the results he gets from hypnosis. And he never ceases to get satisfaction from seeing the faces of his clients light up when they feel a particular burden being lifted. “It’s incredible; it just makes me feel great when the client gets up from the chair and looks at me and says, ‘Bob, I feel better now, and I think I’ve got this licked.’ That makes me feel great. That’s what I’m in it for. And it’s sometimes just unbelievable how good this works.”

While there are certain issues brought up in the article that I would not agree with (I would suggest that much of the benefit of Reiki practice comes from suggestion and note that it is not a martial art per se), the dispelling of certain mythis are very much a good thing.

If you would like to experience hypnosis for yourself, you know where to go.

All the best,
Brian