Rick Collingwood
When I was initially looking to learn hypnosis I was under the misconception that soon I would be able to walk up to people, look in their eyes, snap my fingers, and they would be entranced under my spell and completely at my beck and call; the reality couldn’t have been further from the truth. The day came to start the training and after formal greetings and introductions the so called training began by watching a video of an old man in a wheelchair (Milton Erickson) performing what is termed arm levitation. I remember thinking to myself, “Bloody hell, how am I ever going to learn how to do that?” Arm levitation is in fact one of the most basic things any hypnotist can do, and if they cannot, no matter what the accolade hanging their wall may say they are not a hypnotist in the true sense of the word.
Anybody can learn the fundamentals and the mechanisms of hypnosis and hypnotic inductions, but it has become so watered down by academia and poor quality training that much of what is termed hypnosis in the 21st century should more correctly be called relaxo-therapy, and where I did my first training I was taught a hotch potch of pseudo-science and relaxo-therapy. In reality learning hypnosis is like learning anything. Once the academic basics and practical methodology are understood, then becoming excellent and proficient is driven by persistence and desire. It takes a lot of time and experienced the desire must be fuelled by passion.
Rick Collingwood – Australia’s Premiere Clinical Hypnotist
