A Better Trance By Karina Gaete Llanos
What if your inner self had the key to succeed?
What if your thoughts shifted you to a new more rewarding career?
You could easily lose those extra pounds, pass an exam, or halt compulsive shopping well before you reach the cash register.
What would it be like to easily accomplish your most heartfelt dreams and goals? Hypnosis Hall of Famer, and UCLA lecturer, Shelley Stockwell-Nicholas, PhD, answers these questions in one word; “Hypnosis!
She explains it this way; “Hypnosis wakes you up from a limiting trance and puts you into a better trance!”
And Stockwell should know; she has been hypnotizing people for over 50 years and her twenty-seven best-selling books on the subject are used in hypnosis schools around the world.
I first encountered Shelley over 15 years ago and here are my notes from that encounter: It’s 6:45 a.m. in the South Bay. The morning is cold and the mist is intense. The weak rising dawn light uncovers the thick redwood frames of a wide colorful glass door. Shelley, wearing a business suit, opens the door and, with a welcoming, contagious smile, invites me into her comfortable office. She’s been writing for two hours this early dawn about her passion: hypnosis.
Today’s schedule includes some service work in the DaVinci Design School in Hawthorne, California– where she will talk about hypnosis to four groups of 35 eighth graders each.
Dr. Shelley, as she is widely known, holds a PhD in Transpersonal Psychology from the International University of Professional Studies and is the President and Founder of the International Hypnosis Federation (IHF), who’s motto is; “Changing the world for good one person at a time. Stockwell personal motto; “If it’s not fun, I won’t do it!”
The renowned Hypnotherapist has served as President of the American/Canadian Board of Hypnotherapy, President of the Los Angeles Chapter of the National Guild of Hypnotists and serves on the board of the International Medical and Dental Association.
Curiosity was the trigger that took Stockwell– a former TWA stewardess and Miss Redondo Beach Chamber of Commerce– into hypnosis. “I could not figure out how I could go to a hypnotist who talked to me for a few minutes and got me to stop eating sugar with just a few words… It made no sense. I had to know why this hypnosis worked. So, I went on a quest. In those days (the early 70’s) there were no books on how to do hypnosis; only books that praised it was great and miraculous. I went back to the funny little man who hypnotized me in the first place and paid him to teach me. In fact, he knew little about hypnosis but I didn’t know that at the time. One year and lot of money later I learned little except how to count backwards to one hundred and say suggestions like ‘don’t eat sugar.’ I began hypnotizing pilots and flight attendants and they were getting fabulous results. I thought there has to be an easier way to do this and eventually I could hypnotize someone in 30 seconds with what I call my ‘Stockwell 30 Second Zap’ and more positive suggestions that evoked even better results.”
Dr Shelley remembers the beginnings of her career, “At the time, the hypnosis organizations were nepotistic and good-old-boy networks. The biggest group was a tight click of self-righteous sexist fellows who refused to recognize women in the field. Many were hell-bent against bringing intuition and spirit in the field. They reflected the culture of the time.”
She then became misty eyed as she talks about one old timer, her friend and co-author of four of her books, Ormond McGill. “He was one of a kind. He began his hypnosis career when he was 12 and continued teaching and writing until he died at 93,”
McGill and Stockwell decided to start the International Hypnosis Federation to be an inclusive, holistic organization to support the good work of those interested in mind, body and spirit well-being.
Shelley fills the room with laughter as she talks about the time she and McGill hypnotized a dozen chickens in a bid to get into the Guinness Book of World Records; “We were in Nashua, New Hampshire. I was a regular on a radio talk show “Night Orange” and they arranged the event. The mayor gave the invocation. The children of the community, a farmer from a neighboring town brought the chickens and we had 12 hypnotists who were the chicken hypnotist. When you hypnotize a chicken, they just stay still… and none of them will ever smoke again– unless of course they become smoked chickens.
We were in the parking lot and so were the television cameras and Associated Press. It was a media event! I appeared on the front page of the local newspaper in living color looking at a chicken and saying ‘you are getting sleepy.’ Another photo was on page three of USA today and David Letterman featured our fine, feathered feat.
The local hypnosis organization freaked out. I never understood why; we touted the good work of hypnotists worldwide, hypnotized the children to get better grades and the adults to be more successful in reaching their goals. It was a delightful and fun way to teach a powerful tool to many. Hypnosis helps you be present with your thoughts and your mind and you become a master of your mind or a mastermind. That is why I go to schools and teach hypnosis to students. What hypnosis does is wake you up from limiting ideas and lets you access your innate unlimited potentials.”
She explains to me the yin/yang concept of thought. Bad behavior and negative attitudes, and good ones all come from one source… you. “The stories you tell yourself and the attitudes you embrace ultimately become self-fulfilling prophesies. “Let’s say that you are a compulsive shopper who has to buy things. You charge off and get little charge out of charging for stuff you may not really need. Pretty soon shopping becomes a behavior that you create and re-create as a recreational activity. That is where hypnosis comes in. You change your self-talk and give up attitudes that no longer serve you well.
“A lot of behavior programmed or hypnotized into us,” Stockwell-Nicholas says. “If the teacher says you cannot draw a straight line and you are a terrible artist; that is bad hypnosis. If the teacher says ‘You are very talented, amazingly creative and that your drawing is good; that is positive hypnosis. That’s why I do service work at educational institutions at high schools, colleges and elementary schools. Both teachers and students benefit. If you learn self-hypnosis it becomes a defense against inadvertent or accidental hypnosis so you do things that are in your best interest.”
Hypnosis and positive communication are useful skills for professionals because what they say has a direct effect on the outcome and those who use it recover faster and have little or no need for drugs. Dentists and doctors for that reason often refer their patients to a hypnotist or train in hypnosis themselves. “The best way I can put it is “Hypnosis is a cool tool for almost everything you do.”