NEW BOOK!

Foreword

After a therapy session, I hand my
client a post-it note that highlights
what we have accomplished. These
mysterious hypnotic mantras find their
way to a wallet, a palm pilot, or a fridge
door. They help the person reenter a
replenishing meditation or mini-trance
and sometimes they become part of the
premises for the client to flourish.
I have taken comfort in the mind-
bending lines of the Tao Te Ching,
Rabbi Nachman’s Empty Chair and
Eduardo Galeano’s The Book of Embraces.
My own healers and mentors and
favorite poets have helped me revision
my course with the entrancing spin of
a phrase, smooth as a well-worn stone.

The confluence of these streams of
wisdom—worldly and spiritual—are
the heart of this work.
Please carry this little book with you
for those moments when suddenly you
do not know where to turn.
You may read these verses in the order
presented: There are ten verses in
each of ten thematic sections; or you
may open to a random page to see
what the book has to offer you in this
moment.
I hope you will find the counsel I wish
for you and I know you will discover
something more than I can know.

9. A Lesson from The Heart
I embroidered for my Teacher
a gift that he received
weeks before he died.
It appears to be an ordinary apple tree,
like one he described from his childhood,
but it is a representation
of the coronary arteries.
Your heart is an upside down tree
drawing nourishment from the earth
and rooted in the divine.
Even your broken heart
can be port of entry
for one who grieves.

Upcoming Esalen Workshop

Invisible Therapy Workshop

Esalen Institute: July 24-26

Call (510)845-1863 to Sign up

CEU's for PhDs, MFTs, and MSWs

In this workshop for therapists, educators, bodyworkers and other mental health professionals, you’ll learn how to recognize and track the stuck physiological states, or negative trances, that couples can’t stop triggering in each other every day. In fact, you can utilize these negative trances as the precise point for your subtle healing interventions, including shared reveries.

Invisible Therapy taps into body knowledge to sidestep habitual patterns of dialogue that prevent growth. Using hypnosis, the body leads and the brain follows; couples experience the process itself as pleasurable, thus the treatment models the delight they will know once they are liberated from their sticky patterns.

Invisible Therapy uses the couple’s unique language, images, and expressions, so it is minimally invasive, exploring only what is necessary without needlessly disturbing other aspects of their personalities or cognition. This seamless approach helps your clients feel comfortable and elicits maximal receptivity. The method is based on the idea that just because people come to us for help doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with them. It involves more fun, and less burnout.

Learning activities include role playing, live demonstrations, experiential practice, and lectures. You will leave the workshop with new tools for catching these transformative moments to help each member of the couple shift spontaneously from their perplexed state into a neutral meditation and then into an alternative state of mind. When they both shift simultaneously: the magic begins! For more information visit www.micheleritterman.com.

Michele Ritterman, PhD, wrote the classic text Using Hypnosis in Family Therapy. Hope Under Siege, with a foreword by Isabel Allende, applies psychotherapeutic principles to human rights. The Tao of a Woman applies hypnotic mantras to the spiritual realm.