HYPNOSIS
Years ago I learned to hypnotize but did little with hypnosis; I did use it to help ease my personal emotional pain after divorce and again after breaking up with a lover, to relieve pain in my left heel (plantar fasciitis), to relieve lower back pain of a pen pal, to regress a few friends to earlier times. Fascinating ability, hypnosis.

Exactly how hypnosis works is unknown. The latest word I have on scientific effort is that it defies scientific description. The brain is involved, but researchers have yet to fully define the constituent regions of the brain, to say nothing of the interplay of those constituent regions. Yet we know hypnosis works -- better with some people than with others, apparently depending in part on the subject's pre-conceived notions about hypnosis.

Don't confuse the use of hypnosis for entertainment with its use in weight loss, cessation of smoking, pain relief, relaxation, ease of emotional pain, and other applications. There is a question if the entertainer indeed hypnotizes his subject, if it is not in fact an unwritten agreement between hypnotist and subject. Recall how much time the entertainer needs to "hypnotize" his subject; an initial hypnotic induction usually requires significantly longer, and, if the entertainer spent that much time, he would lose the attention of his audience through their impatience. Also recall that the subject paid to be entertained and apparently considers his participation as part of what he paid for.

I have edited my original discussion of hypnosis to emphasize its use in pain control, and the edited version appears if you click here. (The edited version is more pertinent to your present interest, but the original is available at another web site by clicking here.) I insist you read one of them before spending any of your coin on my recordings for uses of hypnosis; in fact, your results will be improved if based on the understanding of hypnosis either of these will provide. Obviously, since I cannot monitor your usage once recordings have left my hand, I cannot be responsible for any results, good or bad, resulting from your possession or use of these recordings.

The strategy I have used is first to explain (as best I can) what it is and how it works, demonstrate, and proceed with an induction based on progressive relaxation, then plant the suggestions appropriate to the purpose of this hypnosis, and break the trance. Because of your heightened suggestibility during your trance, in applications such as weight loss or cessation of smoking or improving assertiveness, you catalog these suggestions into your subconscious mind, where they have the effect of being recalled whenever triggered by routine occurrences in your comings and goings and reminding you of your choices and your reason for undertaking hypnosis. There is no brute force element that forces a specific response; you may if you choose ignore the suggestions although there is that reminder, arising from your subconscious mind, of your purpose. Repeatedly ignoring the suggestions will result in progressively weakening their value, a fact that should be intuitively obvious.

The explanation I offer for the use of hypnosis in relief of pain is this: We know that all nerves in the body are susceptible to stimulation continuously (full time 24/7); when stimulated they transmit nerve signals upstream via the spinal cord to the brain. But the nerves are not connected directly to the portion of the brain that gives rise to the sensations you experience; they go through a filtering process that may be termed the "subconscious," which forwards to the cognitive portion of the brain only what seems warranted or needed. Thus the number of nerve signals reaching the cognitive portion is limited to what the subconscious selects for transmission. Under hypnosis we plant in the subconscious suggestions that result in suppression of selected nerve signals so they don't reach the cognitive portion. Thus your mind is instructed to ignore certain nerve impulses originating in that specific part of the body that was the focus of attention during your trance. A crucial element is formulation of suggestions since that is what you are left with after your session. The suggestions I have formulated for pain relief are applied during your session and you afterward have a tool you can use as needed for recurrences of pain. These suggestions have been successful, but not universally or with equal relief, and I cannot offer an explanation for the variation except that a client may have allowed himself to be distracted, or his pre-conceived ideas may be in conflict and therefore hinder reaching an adequate hypnotic trance, or prior instructions to his subconscious may conflict with suggestions presented during his trance.

Tapes (3) for pain relief (generic) in any part of your body. The set includes a tape each for introduction (to discuss hypnotism in general and describe the technique -- with its limitations -- applied under hypnosis), a hypnotic session including the technique for relieving pain, and a refresher for later use after you have mastered the technique offered. For a more complete discussion, click here.
$30US for the 3 cassette set; see above for P&H.
I am discontinuing this offer and will donate tapes on hand free of charge ($8 P&H, please) until the supply is exhausted, subject to the conditions
1) You tell me you have read and understand what I say at this web site about hypnosis, and
2) You agree to tell me within 30 days your experience with the tapes.
Thereafter I will offer tapes only as requested.

Tapes (3) for relief of phantom limb pain. Set as described above but specialized to phantom limbs, a product of amputation. For a more complete discussion, click here.
$30US for the 3 cassette set; add $5 for 3 CDs; see above for P&H.

I have withdrawn my offer to sell tapes using hypnosis for pain relief. It was a decision long in the making but I wish to direct my attention to other activities. Some people can be helped; others can be harmed; it depends on your mind-set: If you believe hypnosis will help, it will; if you believe it can't or won't, it indeed won't; if you are indecisive, I cannot predict.

I have tapes on hand. They will be donated free of charge as long as supply lasts to those who meet these three conditions:
1) You are a veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces who has suffered an amputation resulting from your military service,
2) You tell me you have read and understand what I say at this web site about hypnosis, and
3) You agree to tell me within 30 days your experience with the tapes.

I have written a number of organizations interested in veterans offering tapes using hypnosis to relieve phantom limb pain, with almost no response. So the preponderance of attention seems to be dictated by either disbelief, lack of concern, or vested interests. I yield to the collective response.

BALLROOM DANCING

(1) My web page at www.rationallink.org (click on it to go there) gives introductory instruction in the four most popular ballroom dances, foxtrot, waltz, rumba and swing. It includes a syllabus that requires either (1) interaction with your computer or (2) printing, numbering paragraphs and rifling through the pages to follow the sequence of instruction. That is, of course, free of charge. For $10US (postpaid in the US) I offer the same book reorganized to put informtion and instructions in the correct sequence -- lies flat where opened -- or for $4US I will e-mail you the URL and password. See note (below) about means of payment and addresses.\

(2) A follow-up book of dance instruction with more figures in the basic dances plus introductory figures in ChaCha, Tango, Samba and Triple Step Swing. Cost is $30US (post paid in the U.S.) for a soft-back book that lies flat where opened or $12US for the URL and password so you can print it yourself.

(3) A book of further instruction in all eight dances plus introduction to a number of dances for which music must -- at least in clubs in Atlanta -- be requested is in preparation. Information will be posted here when the book is ready.

(4) Some folks are tempo-handicapped. I also offer to lend you a cassette tape that will help you learn to recognize a tempo and move your body to it; the tape also includes examples of dance music. (I cannot sell or rent the tapes because of copyright concerns, but I can lend you a tape for $15US, which covers postage and handling plus deposit of $10US, which will be returned to you upon my receiving return of the tape in good condition in its box.)

NOTE on payment: I am not presently set up for electronic payment (except PayPal). To reach me by e-mail, use as subject "I read your post about . . .," and click here.

TEN COMMANDMENTS
This version of The Ten Commandments refers to the first four as religious in nature and therefore not suited to public display, then lists the other six in contemporary English. You may copy from my main web site free of charge and print it on any substrate your printer will allow. I have printed two versions, one with adornment along top and left edges, on simulated parchment; both are shown at my main web site as links from the page Displaying the Ten Commandments; neither version has the printed lines at top and bottom as downloaded by your computer.
$1US each in lots of 10; see above for P&H.

SQUARE DANCING
Learning to square dance is best done in a series of lessons by a qualified instructor wih participation of experienced dancers ("angels") formed in squares (grouping of four couples in the form of a square).
There are three booklets: (1) Indoctrination, (2) Basic and Mainstream and (3) Plus

(1) Initial Indoctrination into the American folk dance known as square dancing. Resale of the booklet reprinted 1989 by New England Caller, Inc., available from Palomino Records, Inc. Includes historical development of square dancing, description of square dancing, attire, etiquette, levels or plateaus (Basic, Mainstream, Plus, Advanced, Challenge). Every square dancer should have (or read) a copy.
$1US; should be combined with booklet Basic and Mainstream or Plus; $3US P&H within the Continental United States if purchased separately.

(2) Basic and Mainstream levels of square dancing:
Resale of the booklet (10th printing, 2003) from Palomino Records, Inc., which was reprinted from SQUARE DANCING, Official Publication of the Sets in Order AMERICAN SQUARE DANCE SOCIETY. The booklet describes Basic and Mainstream levels of square dancing as endorsed by CALLERLAB; it includes definitions, styling and timing and is generously illustrated with over 450 illustrations (both artist's drawings and photographs). It is an invaluable assist in augmenting instruction by a square dance instructor and later in reviewing calls and their movements as adopted by members of Callerlab.
$3US; only one charge of $3US for P&H if purchased with Indoctrination, else $3US within the Continental United States if purchased separately.

(3) Plus level of square dancing:
Resale of booklet (reprint 2004) from Palomino Records, Inc., with over 150 illustrations, being the Official Publication of The Sets in Order AMERICAN SQUARE DANCE SOCIETY. The booklet presents the Plus Program as adopted by CALLERLAB. It includes definitions, styling and timing and is generously illustrated with over 150 illustrations (both artist's drawings and photographs). It is an invaluable assist in augmenting instruction by a square dance instructor and later in reviewing calls and their movements.
$2US; only one charge of $3US for P&H if purchased with booklets Indoctrination and/or Basic and Mainstream; else $3US within the Continental United States if purchased separately.

(1)+(2)+(3) All three square dancing booklets described above ordered together, $9US including P&H within the Continental United States.