“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

FIRST HYPNOSIS SESSION, JANE

(These notes are not included in the Seth material, for obvious reasons, although Seth may refer to these sessions. The notes are a summary, written from memory; later a tape recorder may be used.

(One thing caught me unprepared, and perhaps came close to interrupting the session. As I began talking steadily my voice began to become very dry. I am not used to speaking so steadily, although Jane later said that she too had noticed a voice stain in her first session with me, until she became more relaxed and used to the idea. Luckily there was a little wine left in one glass; as I finally became so hoarse I could hardly talk, I began to sip this, and it helped a great deal. A glass of water handy, I thus learned, will be standard in sessions after this. At one time I simply had to stop talking because my voice gave out. Jane said she was aware of this, and that the break almost snapped her out of the relaxed state she was entering.

(I told Jane before we began that we would not stress tests to prove hypnosis, that these could come later if we chose. I was confident that I could induce a good sound relaxation and at least a light trance state, and we achieved this and more. Especially in the beginning I did wonder at times at my progress, but continued following my ideas without allowing any doubts to become bothersome. Once Jane’s eyes closed at the start of the session they remained closed until I told her they would open at the end.

(At my suggestion Jane began to flex her feet, then her hands. For a few moments she let her hands lay at her sides, but since there is tension in the upper arm muscles, her arms cannot lay fully relaxed upon the bed when she is flat on her back; after a few minutes she again crossed her hands, and told me later that this was more comfortable. Of course I noted that even after my suggestions, her arms did not fully relax, but I had not stressed that she would achieve any great or startling improvement; this first session was more to learn how to proceed, and during it I tentatively tried several different approaches.

(By now I had learned that she could speak under hypnosis without difficulty, a point we had wondered about to at least some extent. I thought she was in a light trance state and Jane later agreed that she was, that she felt very relaxed. Often as I spoke to her I told her she would have full memory of what transpired when the session was over. When it was over, she told me her memory of parts of the session was somewhat hazy— reinforcing the idea that she was hypnotized, if somewhat imperfectly, and that my control was not all it will be in future sessions.

(I began to tell Jane that she was now going into a deeper trance. This proved effective, I soon learned. Jane said she had no particular feeling of entering a deeper state, but when I brought her out of it at the end of the session she had a very definite feeling of rising, of leaving it to return to full consciousness.

(Before the session I had reminded myself that if we came upon strongly emotional material I would attempt to guide Jane through it, by helping her to express it but not become overwhelmed by it should it prove very painful. This is why I had earlier told her she could remember what transpired during the session. I also had in mind that should it seem necessary I could suggest that things too strongly charged could be temporarily forgotten upon awakening. We did not reach this point however.

(Then, Jane continued, still crying, we had returned to Sayre, then Elmira, where I had worked full time for three years, then became very sick for a year. [It was during this period that Jane’s hypnosis sessions with me had proved most helpful.]

(One thing I would like to explore in these sessions is what effect past-life memories can play in present personality patterns, and my attempt to get Jane to regress a couple of years was a first halting step in this direction, that was not successful. But already I can see several other ways to approach this, and expect no trouble.

(The balance of the session tonight after these two important revelations, consisted of an interchange between us that stressed reassurance upon my part,; including the statement, repeated often, that Jane now understood she didn’t need her symptoms any longer, that they could begin to disappear. I made strong efforts here to tell her of my love, and to impress upon her that our travels had also been enjoyable and adventurous along with their hazards, and that whatever we had done was done together; no one should feel blame. Yet it was now apparent that Jane felt a sense of blame, even shame; at the start of the deeper trance state she told me she felt I was mad at her all the time because I had worked full time at Artistic, etc; I tried to counter this by pointing out to her the benefits we had both obtained from this.

(I was more open and reassuring with Jane during this session than I have been for some time, and I told her I realized this was a fault on my part, and that I would do my best to remedy it.

(The session ended at about 10:45 PM. Since Jane was by now much more relaxed I thought it a good time to end. After beneficial suggestions as to her state of well-being, I told her that when I had counted to ten, slowly, that she would be out of trance and could open her eyes.

(As stated, this worked well, and as I counted Jane felt herself rising or lifting toward waking consciousness; the effect here was much more pronounced than when I had suggested she enter a deeper state, as described earlier. After the session Jane said she felt she had been in at least a good light trance state, and possibly a little deeper. I agree with this.

(I think that more suggestions would have induced an even deeper state with her, and that probably amnesia could have been induced in this deeper state had I so desired. After the session Jane said she felt very relaxed, although I believe she has induced as good a state in some of her self-hypnosis sessions. I did not give her a key word, for instance, to speed up future inductions, but plan to do so when I have more experience.

(We believe the session a success for a first attempt. It seems Jane has strong emotional energy blocked up behind the symptoms, and that we released a little of it this time; the crying certainly was of benefit here.