A. Introduction

Steve lankton wrote, “Metaphors are the looms over which we stretch our experience. There is something about stories and metaphors that has a profound effect on listeners: they teach, inspire, guide, communicate, are remembered, and, most of all are everywhere! I see stories or complex metaphors as more than a description of one thing in terms of another. They are an altered framework within which listeners can entertain novel ways of experiencing.” 

RB wrote, “It is my contention that the most effective use of metaphor, of stories, is in the precise use of vague language.” All poets know this, and we can learn from them. See, e.g., Frost’s “Two Roads Diverged in a Yellow Wood” and a discussion of poetry in hypnosis later in this class.

There are many books on the use of metaphor. The three I recommend are my own book (Metaphoria, 2002), George Burns’ book (101 Healing Stories Using Metaphors in Therapy, 2001), and Lankton & Lankton’s book (Tales of Enchantment, 1989).

I believe that the way to effectively teach is not to lecture but to provide experiences as described in this Native American Proverb, “Tell me and I forget. Show me and I may not remember. Involve me and I’ll understand.” 

B. Basic Metaphors

Before beginning a session with a client I use Mary Goulding’s opening question, “What are you willing to change today? Just let that question rattle around in the back of your mind during this session.” Also, I frequently tell clients at the beginning of a session that I tell a lot of stories. Therefore, I will begin this class with reading to you two Erickson stories from my biographical play about him (Battino, 2008). Then I will tell you two stories.

1.Scratching Hogs (Rosen, 1982, p.59)

Erickson: One summer I sold books to pay my way through college.  I walked into a farmyard about five o’clock, and interviewed the farmer about buying books.  

Farmer: Young fellow, I don’t read anything.  I don’t need to read anything.  I’m just interested in my hogs.

Erickson: While you’re busy feeding the hogs, do you mind if I stand here and talk to you?

Farmer: No, talk away, young fellow, it won’t do you a bit of good.  I am not going to pay any attention to you; I am busy feeding the hogs.

Rosen: What did you do?

Erickson: And so I talked about my books.  Being a farm boy, I thoughtlessly picked up a pair of shingles lying on the ground and started scratching the hogs’ backs as I was talking.

Farmer: Well, I swear.  Anybody who knows how to scratch a hog’s back, the way hogs like it, is somebody I want to know.  How about having supper with me tonight, and you can sleep overnight at no charge, and I will buy your books.  You like hogs.  You know how to scratch ‘em the way they like to be scratched.

Erickson: It was an excellent supper, too!

  (Rosen, 1982, pp. 46-47)

Rosen: You have a horse story.

Erickson: When I was a young man a strange horse wandered into our family yard.  The horse had no identifying marks.

Father: I don’t know whose horse this is.

Erickson: I can return it.

Father: Okay. But, I don’t see how.

Rosen: What did you do?

Erickson: I simply mounted the horse, led it to the road, and let the horse decide which way to go.  I only intervened when the horse stopped to graze, or to wander into a field.  It eventually turned into the yard of a neighbor several miles down the road.

Farmer: How did you know that horse came from here and was our horse?

Erickson: I didn’t know—but the horse knew.  All I did was to keep him on the road.

Rosen: That seems to be the essence of your approach to therapy—keep them on the road.

Find a way of being comfortable now, and close your eyes 

or look off into the distance while I tell you two stories.

3. A Trip to a Guru

4. Growing a Rose

C. Discussion of the Two Stories

The trip to the guru starts out with someone wanting an answer or guidance from a wise man. Traditionally such a person is in a cave on a mountain. So it is going to take an effort to get to the guru, this needs persistence. Once the guru is reached his wisdom re the petitioner’s need is presented io vague terms with many suggestions and images. The petitioner fills in his/her own details.

Growing any kind of plant involves skill and patience. Roots are needed and water and nourishment and sunshine. Roses also grow thorns to protect themselves. The rose’s fragrance can be generalized to important scents from the listener’s past. Take in a deep breath through your nose and go back in time to childhood. (The sense of smell is in the most primitive part of the brain!)

In the telling you need to put in appropriate pauses for the listener to develop his/her own interpretations and imagery. Certain words and images are emphasized. 

The words and images used and the story itself are not directly related to the client’s concerns. Instead, they are related and parallel. That is, you are guiding your client indirectly to discover their own realistic solutions. Metaphors are most effective when they are subtle. 

Develop your own stories so you have a store of ones that can be general or relevant. Here are a few themes: weaving, cooking, sailing, building anything, growing plants like tomatoes or flowers like roses, and variations of well-known fables. Joseph Campbell’s “Hero’s Journey” metaphor is the classic one, and is frequently used in various forms to fit the client. (My book “Metaphoria,” 2002, contains many examples of metaphors in Chapter 4, pp. 79-118.) The references in Part A are great resources.

Comments and Questions

D. Poetry and Metaphors

The very first workshop I did at an Erickson hypnosis conference was on poetry and hypnosis. They both share the use of imagery and the precision use of vague language. Such language leads to the listener carrying out a transderivational search with their mind to accommodate the imagery. And, those searches lead to individually significant images and feeling and memories. (See Snyder, E. D. (1971). Hypnotic poetry. Octagon Books.) Here are some poems I have used at appropriate times with clients:

Into this world and why not knowing, 

Nor whence like water willy-nilly flowing,

And out again like wind along the water, 

I know not whither, willy-nilly blowing.

The moving finger writes and having writ, 

Moves on; nor all your piety nor wit

Shall lure it back to cancel half a line; 

Nor all your tears wash out a word of it.   Omar Khayyam (The Rubiyat)

Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice.

From what I’ve tasted of desire, I hold with those who favor fire.

But, if it had to perish twice, ice is also good and would suffice.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence;

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by, 

And that has made all the difference.      Robert Frost

Consider how these poems affect you and enjoy their imagery. RB

*E. Guided Metaphor    *Postponed to a later class.

My book (Battino, 2002) contains details on how to use and do the guided metaphor approach. I developed it to use with mid-life crisis clients who were having difficultly in figuring out what to do with their lives or finding meaning in their lives. I will now guide you through a guided metaphor session which is in four parts. This requires you to write down answers to three questions. I am going to arbitrarily allot you time to respond to each query. 

*F. Commentary on Guided Metaphor   *Postponed to a later class.

You will have noted that the first part is writing a brief biography and life story. When working with a client you write down the client’s life story as s/he tells it to you so that you can tell them back details in their own words. (You do this for all three writing parts.) This is not hard to do since we have all had to write brief resumes in various circumstances, The second part of writing their life story (as they would have liked it to be) is shorter. The third part about how their life would be (note tense) different is about their desired future: it is effectively an AS-IF dream or wish or old desire. 

The Fourth part of guided metaphor is to tell your client back (when they are relaxed or in a trance state) the three stories they have told you using their language where possible. The most important point here is to spend most of the time on their own vision for their future and putting in as much detail as possible. That is, in the retelling reversing the time spent on each section. This reifies and solidifies their vision for themselves.]

H. Some Further Comments - Again!

1. Pause Power - Clients need time to process what is going on in the hypnosis portion of the session. Add many pauses so that they can do this internal work. In essence, they drift off when a particular suggestion is significant to them, and then return to hearing you. 

2. Special Words or Phrases - The “magic” word that I like to use when doing hypnosis is “somehow.” That is, somehow these changes will occur, and the client then fills in how this happens! Other good word are “and,” “when,” and “then.” In Michael Yapko’s 5^th edition of “Trancework” he emphasizes how the query “how” initiates change. That is, “How do you or did you do that.” Example: “How are you depressing yourself (changes a noun to a verb).”

3. Expectation and the Placebo Effect - My expectation and thus that of my clients is that we will be able to resolve what troubles them in one session. Also, note that the Placebo Effect is in the background in ALL therapy sessions, i.e., both clients and we expect change!

I. Next Session: Moving/Mirroring Hands, As-If Approaches, The Therapeutic Alliance, and Chatting. Ideomotor finger signaling possible.

J. Closing Healing Meditation   THANK ROB AND ATTENDEES!