Dr. James Bramson

• Impact of Global Warning: Disruption of natural balance, anxiety, ecological crises
• Rituals (scripts) for Earth Healing: Honoring elements and sacred spaces
• Vision Quest Through Hypnosis: Seeking guidance and solutions from spiritual realms or yourself
• Plant Medicine: Traditional knowledge for sustainable living
• Comedy and Satire: Effective tools for raising awareness, increasing openness, and promoting action
• Indigenous Wisdom: Examples of indigenous communities implementing practices for environmental stewardship
• Disproportionate Impact: Differential experience of people of color, under-resourced communities, and people of the Global South
• Cultural Appropriation: Ethical considerations in adopting shamanic practices

Dr. James Bramson

• Increases positive emotions: Awe maximizes the experiences of joy, happiness, and wonder, which contributes to overall well being
• Reduces stress: Experiences awe can help individuals shift their focus from personal concerns to a broader perspective, which reduces stress
• Increases life satisfaction: Research shows that people who frequently experience awe report higher levels of life satisfaction
• Enhances creativity: Awe can stimulate creativity by expanding cognitive process and promote novel thinking
• Improves relationships: Shared experiences of awe can strengthen social bonds and intimacy

Using hypnosis to induce a natural state of awe can be beneficial for individuals dealing with mental health challenges. It can be incorporated into mindfulness-based practices. The impact of awe on mental health and joy can extend our health span and not just our life span. It opens up possibilities for innovation, gives us more of a reason to be alive, can lead to more satisfying lifestyle choices and relationships, and contribute to overall well- being.

Dr. James Bramson

In the United States (and other countries throughout the world), there has been a growing political divide. The divide is as threatening as global warming and it can also induce fear and a sense of helplessness. For example, many pundits have speculated that former U.S. President Donald Trump is like a cult leader who has put a hex on half of the United States. Many have wondered if he studied hypnosis because so many of his followers appear to be in a trance state. The other half of the country wants him jailed and/or permanently muzzled. Yet these internal or civil wars are not unique to the United States.

Mass Hypnosis of a population has been studied by many scholars. The current global political crisis calls on us to break the trance. Otherwise, it may threaten our very existence. Mass Hypnosis on a Global Political level has led to endless strife, mind hacking, conflict, wars, protests, and the breakdown of morality, civility, family cohesion, and neighborliness. Social media, bots, and modern day algorithms often generated from AI pull us into political silos and chaos. We can stumble into a mind-numbing vortex where we can doom scroll to our hearts content. We are all click bate. We can be fed a news feed that satiates our hunger for confirmation bias. We can discover people on line who agree with our increasingly extreme and radicalized views of the world on many subjects including immigration, human rights, genocide, Israel, Gaza, Ukraine, etc. We can engage in the “otherism” of our people whenever they don’t agree with us. It is tempting to “unfriend” someone who does not view the world the same way you do.

What can be done? This is a complex problem requiring novel and thoughtful solutions. However, it is possible to develop unity consciousness and value driven
action steps through the science and art of hypnosis. Also, by understanding the stages of spiritual development (evolutionary consciousness) and the ACT model
(Acceptance Commitment Therapy), we can use hypnosis scripts that align our clients intentions, values, and actions. These techniques will help us resolve
conflicts, move toward peace, increase unity consciousness, and attain a higher purpose.

Dr Michael Goldblatt

Dr Doris Brett

This workshop will introduce you to the use of stories and metaphors in psychotherapy and hypnotherapy. You will learn why these methods can be so much more powerful than standard didactic methods of instruction, as well as how to find and create your own stories and metaphors and how to use them in therapy.

This workshop will discuss the original teaching tales, stories and metaphors – the repositories of collective wisdom?

• Stories told in ancient times, around campfires, at initiation ceremonies, while walking between camps, at religious ceremonies, tending cattle or seeking berries contain powerful messages about how to live, how to manage and understand the dangers, stresses, and confusions of everyday life.
• We take these stories and learn from them in modern times, although in a vastly greater variety of forms – ranging from books, films, internet memes and reality TV right through to our centuries-old bed-time and fairy stories.

Metaphors can range from the short and pithy, e.g. ‘One swallow doesn’t make a summer’, to the longer, fully formed narrative of the folktale. They can come from personal experience, from mythic stories, from our own unconscious in the form of dreams and from a myriad of other sources. They are a powerful source of learning in life and in therapy. Stories draw us in, to be nourished by their teaching, while lectures repel and diminish us.

We are made up of stories:

The stories we tell ourselves about who we are, the stories others tell us, the stories by which we understand our world, our relationships, our actions and reactions. These stories – our explanatory narratives – shape our experience of everything. Change the narrative and you change the experience.

This workshop will focus on therapeutic communication and change through stories, anecdotes and metaphors – a way of communicating that is more subtle, more captivating and more powerful than didactic statements, which are often resisted. Learn ways of communicating with your clients that enhance your therapeutic power in whatever modality you work in.

Dr. James Bramson

Dr. Doris Brett

Dr. Michael Goldblatt