Monsters and Magical Sticks There Is No Such Thing as Hypnosis

This book is to modern NLP what the discovery of Jesus' tomb with him, his wife, and his son still in it would be to modern Christianity! I am not a newcomer to hypnosis or Neuro-linguistic Programming by any stretch of the imagination. I have taken NLP Practitioner, Master Prac, and Trainers Training and have done various other NLP and hypnosis trainings over the past decade. But more than that, I *USE* NLP on a daily basis, with myself, with those close to me, and with everyone I meet. NLP trainings, for some practical reason, are never complete; they tend to leave "holes" in the big picture for those attending the trainings (if they don't render you utterly psychotic in the process--some people just can't tolerate NLP-style training. By the time they find out they're one of those people, it's already too late and irreparable damage can be done. Trainings by the Society of NLP are the worst, by far). You are expected to go out into the "real world" and fill in those holes with actual experience. I still had a lot of holes that I hadn't been able to fill in. Until this book... Heller studied NLP when it was still new, back in the 1970s. He got the *real skills* back when they were still readily available from the originators. Nowadays, it seems most of the best-known NLP trainers and experts are only interested in selling you on their next seminar rather than actually teaching you something you can use. God forbid you should actually learn something and no longer need them, you know. I got more practical NLP knowledge from this book than I did from all of the NLP trainings I've attended *put together*. Heller doesn't have a "New Code of NLP" to sell, he's not trying to avoid having the uninitiated learn his "secret recipe," he's sincerely sharing what he has learned in a very entertaining, highly memorable style. The lack of theory that another reviewer complained so bitterly about is typical of NLP and Erickson-style teaching. He teaches you without overtly teaching you. Instead of dry, boring examples of theoretical dogma, Heller tells you stories about real people with real experiences that make the concepts very easy to understand and apply. Instead of pontificating over the technical and theoretical underpinnings of the etiology of the symptomatic complex, Heller simply says "this works, use this." And he's right. I would rather be able to do a particular skill without knowing exactly why it works than to know intimately why and how it works and not be able to do it at all. Wouldn't you? If you're looking in other "scientific" tomes for verification of his concepts, you're wasting your time. Hypnosis and NLP in particular are about the qualitative, subjective experience as the individual perceives it. Quite of a necessity, when you generalize those things to a level where they are readily testable and verifiable in a cross section of the population, you lose something vital to the concept. Human beings are all

This is one of my all time favorite books. Not only for hypnosis but for an overall understanding of NLP, therapy, and the implications of these modalities. Because of this book, I have gone back to school to become a hypnotherapist. If you have any curiosity as to how hypnosis works and what it is, buy this book before you get any others. I have over forty books on the subject and to this day, this has been the most inspirational and influental. The book also has many references to other authors that have been invaluable to me. Unfortunately he passed away but his legacy lives on. BUY THIS BOOK!!!

Maybe it's just me, but after reading many excellent books on the subject of hypnotherapy this one finally makes it all click, fall into place and clear as day (I hope the preceding sentence brings a smile to those who have already read it :) ). At first I was a skeptical of the 'everything is hypnosis' assertion but this book truly walks its talk and has made be a believer and a different person. During the course of reading it I had an insignificant, everyday little experience that was a real eye-opener that this book knows what it is talking about. I would be tempted to recommend that if you only read one hypnosis book then it should be this one, but I can't really do that based on my experience. As I said above, I have read a number of superb books on the subject and was already pretty familiar with most of the concepts, at least intellectually. I'm not sure if I had come to this book first that I'd have had enough background for me to grok it, so I do not believe it is a book for newbies. But I will say without hesitation that if you are a fan of the work of Erickson, Bandler, Grinder, Rossi et al then you won't want to miss this one!

Not only did I find this book instructive, but very entertaining to read. I highly appreciate the fact that this book treats hypnosis as a natural aspect of daily life and yes it can be used intentionally and covertly as in this story from the book:"One evening, a group of friends and I were having dinner at a local restaurant. Our waiter was very distracted and he appeared to be agitated and depressed. He was abrupt, slow and unfriendly. As a result, our service left a great deal to be desired. Since I wanted to have an enjoyable evening, I decided to "talk funny" to him in order to help him feel better. As he walked by our table holding a coffee pot, I touched his arm and said, "I'm sorry that you forgot that special night ... with that special person ... those exciting things that happened ... those very warm feelings that would embarrass you to talk about ... since we are all strangers."For a moment his face went blank; he looked up to his left; his face then lift up and he said, "How do you know about that?" He then smiled and began to laugh, and his whole attitude changed as if by magic. He said, "Wow. that was some night. I don't know how you know about it." The next time he came to our table, I said to him, "Wasn't it simply amazing that when you remember those happy, warm feelings, your attitude continues to change, and you continue to feel even better?"We received a delightful service throughout the rest of the evening. What was even nicer, was that as we left he told us that we were one of the nicest parties he had ever waited on. He also asked us to be sure and ask for him whenever we returned.Now, I have absolutely no idea as to what he hallucinated, but my communication resulted in his going back into his own history. He then found an experience that filled in the blanks, and that memory helped him to change his whole attitude in a matter of seconds. Of course, there's no such thing as hypnosis, and if there is, he should have gone deeper and deeper into a trance."