My Voice Will Go with You: The Teaching Tales of Milton H. Erickson by Sidney Rosen

Author:Sidney Rosen
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Publisher: Yasser Adnan
Published: 2010-12-05T14:00:00+00:00

The couple in this tale are similar, in many ways, to the young woman in “Sin.” Because of their rigid, constricting upbringing, they require very clear directive guidance in overcoming their learned limitations. They are also sufficiently respectful of authority to follow such a directive approach. But, we may wonder, “Why does Erickson tell this story to us? We are certainly sophisticated enough to know how to seduce a woman. Is there, perhaps, some secret message in the story?”

Of course there is. There are many messages. The most obvious one is that, once again, your best chance of enabling someone to change his responses is to tell him to do what he already is doing or, as in this case, is planning to do. Then you inject some difference, such as a change of scene and atmosphere. You don’t hesitate to give directions or supply information. (If you are the subject you get relevant information.)

The main point of this story is Erickson’s belief that we all have the capacity and resources within us to resolve problems and differences. Sometimes all we need is the stimulus of a slight change.

START THE BALL ROLLING

Now, a twelve-year-old girl is not a child. I had one on whom I illustrated a purely childish technique. She called me up on the phone and said, “I had infantile paralysis and I have forgotten how to move my arms. Can you hypnotize me and teach me?”

I told her mother to bring her over and her mother brought her over. I looked at the girl. For a twelve-year-old girl she had a very well developed bust, except that the right breast was under her arm. I had the mother strip the girl to her waist and I looked over her entire torso to see what the muscles were.

I told her that three times a day she ought to sit in front of a mirror, nude to the waist, and make faces at herself.

Now, will you draw down the corner of both sides of your mouth?

Now, do it again and feel the skin of your chest move. I can do it on only one side of my face.

And I told her to sit in front of a mirror three times a day, twenty minutes, and draw down the corners of her mouth. In other words, contract the platysma muscle.

And she asked me, “Do I have to sit in front of a mirror?”

I said, “Where would you like to sit?”

She said, “I’d like to imagine a TV program.”

And so she was watching an imaginary program on an imaginary TV. And she started exercising the platysma muscles, and she enjoyed watching the imaginary TV while making faces.

Now, when you start one muscle moving there’s a tendency for that to spread to other muscles. You try to move just one finger. You start to spread the movement, unintentionally. Her arms began to move.

Now, the right breast migrated from under her arm to one side of her chest. She is now a lawyer, practicing law.

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