Thursday, August 7, 2008

an experience in hypnotism

How I found myself sitting in a reclined chair listening to a man with a south african accent telling me to "breath in and out... I'm going to count down from 5" is a long story.

I suffer from severe nocturnal bruxism. In other words - I grind my teeth in my sleep. Apparently I'm not alone - according to Wikipedia, 30 to 40 million Americans grind their teeth during sleep.
So I've seen SO many people about this. I've been to the dentist, who gave me a mouth guard, which I ground down. And I've been to the doctor. I've been treated with massage therapy and chiropractic care. I've been at a loss at what to do next...

Then it hit me... hypnotism! Surely because it happens in my 'sub-conscious' there would be something in hypno-therapy that would cure me.

So my good friend Lauren accompanied me to the hypnotist's house. He spent an hour talking about his political and social views (a South African living in NZ) before spending 12 minutes talking me through a meditation ("hypnotism") where he repeated affirmations and relaxation instructions. He then burnt it to CD, "treated" Lauren for her nail-biting, performed a few magic tricks (i'm not joking), then I paid him $75 and we left.

I'd recommend Yoga and Meditation over hypno-therapy any day...

2 comments:

Mike Reeves-McMillan said...

I can certainly see why you were unimpressed. Is the "hypnotist" a member of any professional assocation? If so, you might want to report him - he's clearly bringing the profession into disrepute.

Anonymous said...

Oh -- I see you met Dave!