This is a comprehensive guide to the basics of Mindful Hypnotherapy (MH), a new modality that delivers a mindfulness-based intervention within a hypnotic context. The book encompasses everything a clinician needs to know to fully understand and apply the approach in clinical practice. The result of a collaboration between a leader in the field of hypnosis and a mindfulness meditation expert, the book elucidates step-by-step clinical strategies and provides verbatim transcripts that professionals can put to use immediately. The resource first introduces the foundations of mindful hypnotherapy, supported by research evidence. Using a session-by-session approach, it describes how to structure sessions, evaluate a patient's hypnotic ability, deal with resistance, and create individualized clinical applications. Key Features: Embodies an innovation collaboration between a leader in hypnosis and a mindfulness expert Delivers verbatim transcripts of mindful hypnotherapy for immediate use Provides guidance on structuring sessions, setting goals, assessing hypnotic ability, dealing with resistance, and creating individualized treatment Guides the clinician in addressing specific psychological issues such as stress, anxiety, and well-being A Mindful Self-Hypnosis Daily Practice Log enables therapists to track progress Abundant case examples illuminate the process of mindful hypnotherapy and present real-life treatment interventions for a range of problems Includes guidelines for formulation of hypnotic suggestions and therapeutic metaphors related to mindfulness Provides an overview of training and personal growth as a mindful hypnotherapist

Why do we sleep? Are we sleeping enough? Do we suffer stress from "sleep debt"? Why do some of us struggle with sleep disorders? And how can we tackle sleep problems? These are the kinds of questions that make many of us toss and turn all night.
Jim Horne finds answers to these questions and many more in Sleepfaring, a journey through the science and the secrets of sleep. He reveals what goes on in our brains behind the veil of sleep, looks at body clocks, the values of napping, and the controversial question of "sleep debt," and also gives some hints from the latest sleep research that may just help you get a better night's rest. In recent years, the nature of sleep, our sleeping patterns, how much sleep we need, and the dangers of lack of sleep have become increasingly important, as people work longer hours, styles of working have altered, and the separation between workplace and home has been eroded by cell phones and the internet. From drowsiness at the wheel, to stress and insomnia, this is a subject that truly matters to people. Horne draws on the latest research in brain physiology, psychology, medicine, and the many social factors that contribute to sleep problems to reveal what science has discovered about sleep, and problems related to sleep-from snoring to sleep apnea. Nor does Horne shy away from controversy, challenging, for example, the conventional wisdom on the amount of sleep we actually need.
For anyone wishing to know more about the many mysterious processes that begin when we close our eyes each night, Sleepfaring offers a wealth of insight and information.

Understanding Dreams and Other Spontaneous Images: The Invisible Storyteller applies a contemporary interdisciplinary approach to dream interpretation, bringing cognitive anthropology, folklore studies, affective neuroscience, and dynamic systems theory to bear on contemporary psychodynamic clinical practice. It provides a practical guide for working with dreams that can be used by both individuals on their own and therapists working with clients. Erik D. Goodwyn invites us to examine key features of reported dreams, such as the qualities of the environment depicted, its familiarity or unfamiliarity, the nature of the characters encountered, and overall themes. This method facilitates an understanding of the dream in the full context of the dreamer's life, rather than interpreting individual, isolated elements. Goodwyn also introduces the mental process which orchestrates dreams, conceptualised here as the 'Invisible Storyteller', and explores how understanding it can positively impact satisfaction in waking life. As a whole, the book provides a collection of tools and techniques which can be referred to time and again, as well as a wealth of examples. Exploring dreams as a natural source of clinical insight, The Invisible Storyteller will appeal to Jungian psychotherapists and analytical psychologists, other professionals working with dreams with clients, and readers looking for a scientific approach to dream interpretation.

What is meditation? What do people hope to get from practicing it and what do they really get? How can the effects of meditation be explained? And what are the best approaches to researching the psychology of meditation so we can understand more? This volume provides state-of-the-art answers to these questions. Contrary to commonly accepted wisdom, meditation comes in huge varieties and the reasons why people begin to meditate (and stay with it) are also numerous and diverse. Even mindfulness, which is often (wrongly) used as a synonym for meditation, comes in many forms. This book first describes the varieties of meditation in detail and then succinctly summarizes the beneficial effects found in the avalanche of studies available, especially in clinical contexts, and also explores recently emerging topics such as negative effects and the impact of ethics and spirituality. The author expertly provides theories of four main traditional meditation approaches, which has never been done before in this form, and gives a critical overview of Western approaches to explain the effects of meditation. In conclusion, he makes recommendations on how to improve future meditation research. This book is of interest to meditation researchers, mental health practitioners, students interested in meditation and mindfulness, and to everybody who seriously wants to know more about the topic.

What if you could dream 24 hours a day, even while awake? According to innovative psychotherapist Arnold Mindell, Ph.D., we already do. The seeds of dreaming arise in every moment of the day, in body symptoms, problems, relationships, subtile feelings, interactions, random thoughts, and fantasies. We're getting countless little cues from the unconscious every minute. All are signs from the world of dreaming. And, according to Mindell, we can be in this state of lucid dreaming all day long.

In Dreaming While Awake, Mindell shows how to become aware of these "flirts" from the dreamworld and how to interpret their message. The goal, he says, is to be wide awake and lucid 24 hours a day in the midst of this unending dreamfield of information.

Practicing 24-hour lucid dreaming:

• Helps you solve personal, physical, and emotional problems
• Serves as a preventive medicine for relationships and health, helping you catch the earliest warning signs before they turn into problems
• Helps resolve conflicts in relationships, families, large groups, corporations, even politics

Dreaming is the mystical source of reality, says Mindell. "My goal is to make the Dreaming roots of reality so accessible, so visceral, that your conscious mind will give you back your right to dream."

Dreams work on the emotional raw material of our life experience and an ability to work with them is an essential tool for the counsellor, psychotherapist and analyst. This book is the fifth in the series of SAP monographs that aim to provide a practical guide to core concepts and concerns in clinical practice. The book offers a simple, effective and practical method of exploring, understanding and working with dreams which illuminates the rich layers of their symbolic meaning. It outlines and explores the core theoretical models relating to dreams Jungian, Freudian and postKleinian as well as the findings from dream research laboratories and neuroscience. It charts and engages with the longrunning disputes and conflicts within and between these fields. The contemporary model outlined focuses on the network of associations related to the dream image and narrative, and unpacks the multiple layers and levels of symbolic meaning. This model is particularly helpful in showing how dreams can illuminate early patterns of relating that can otherwise be especially difficult to access. The book offers a comprehensive guide to the subject of dreaming and will be of interest to both trainees and experienced practitioners.

Across Victorian Britain, apparently reasonable people twisted into bizarre postures, called out in unknown languages, and placidly bore assaults that should have caused unbearable pain all while they were mesmerized. Alison Winter's fascinating cultural history traces the history of mesmerism in Victorian society. "Mesmerized" is both a social history of the age and a lively exploration of the contested territory between science and pseudo-science.
"Dazzling. . . . This splendid book . . . gives us a new form of historical understanding and a model for open and imaginative reading."--James R. Kinkaid, "Boston Globe"
"A landmark in the history of science scholarship."--John Sutherland, "The Independent"
"It is difficult to imagine the documentary side of the story being better done than by Winter's well-researched and generously illustrated study. . . . She is a lively and keen observer; and her book is a pleasure to read purely for its range of material and wealth of detail. . . . Fruitful and suggestive."--Daniel Karlin, "Times Literary Supplement"
"An ambitious, sweeping and fascinating historical study. . . . Beautifully written, thoroughly researched, and well-illustrated."--Bernard Lightman, "Washington Times"

REFERENCE / ETHNOBOTANYIn the traditions of every culture, plants have been highly valued for their nourishing, healing, and transformative properties. The most powerful plants--those known to transport the human mind into other dimensions of consciousness--have traditionally been regarded as sacred. When taken in a culturally sanctioned context, such plants can produce important insights into the nature of reality. In The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants Christian Ratsch details the botany, history, distribution, cultivation, and preparation and dosage of more than 400 psychoactive plants. He discusses their ritual and medicinal usage, cultural artifacts made from these plants, and works of art that either represent or have been inspired by them. The author begins with full monographs on 168 of the most well-known psychoactives--such as Cannabis, Datura, and Papaver--then presents minor monographs on 135 lesser known plants. He also explores plants used by indigenous people that have not yet been identified by modern botanists as well as plants and psychoactive substances known only from mythological contexts and literature, such as ephemeron, kykeon, and soma. He offers a thorough discussion (including 20 full monographs) of psychoactive fungi, referred to in ancient times as the "food of the gods" and used by shamans in many cultures for entry to the spirit world. He also covers psychoactive plant products from around the world--smoking blends, alcoholic beverages, snuffs, incense, and ointments. The author concludes with an analysis of the chemical constituents responsible for plants' psychoactive powers. He is careful to say, though, that the effects of isolated chemicalsubstances are not identical to the psychoactive effects produced by whole plants. Each plant contains a synergistic blend of active constituents--from the shamanic point of view, the plant's spirit. The text is lavishly illustrated with 670 black-and-white illustrations and 800 color photographs--many of which come from the author's extensive fieldwork conducted around the world. They show the people, ceremonies, and art related to the ritual use of the world's sacred psychoactives. CHRISTIAN RATSCH, PH.D., is a world- renowned anthropologist and ethnopharmacologist who specializes in the shamanic uses of plants for spiritual as well as medicinal purposes. He studied Mesoamerican languages and cultures and anthropology at the University of Hamburg and spent, altogether, three years of fieldwork among the Lacandone Indians in Chiapas, Mexico, being the only European fluent in their language. He then received a fellowship from the German academic service for foreign research, the Deutsche Akademische Auslandsdienst (DAAD), to realize his doctoral thesis on healing spells and incantations of the Lacandone-Maya at the University of Hamburg, Germany. In addition to his work in Mexico, his numerous fieldworks have included research in Thailand, Bali, the Seychelles, as well as a long-term study (18 years) on shamanism in Nepal combined with expeditions to Korea and the Peruvian and Colombian Amazon. He also was a scientific -anthro-pological advisor for expeditions organized by German magazines such as GEO and Spektrum der Wissenschaften (Spectrum of Sciences). Before becoming a full-time author and internationally renowned lecturer, Ratsch worked as professor of anthropology at theUniversity of Bremen and served as consultant advisor for many German museums. Because of his extensive collection of shells, fossils, artifacts, and entheopharmacological items, he has had numerous museum expositions on these topics. He is the author of numerous articles and more than 40 books, including Plants of Love, Gateway to Inner Space, Marijuana Medicine, and The Dictionary of Sacred and Magical Plants. He is also coauthor of Plants of the Gods, Shamanism and Tantra in the Himalayas, and Witchcraft Medicine and is editor of the Yearbook of Ethnomedicine and the Study of Consciousness. A former member of the board of advisors of the European College for the Study of Consciousness (ECSC) and former president of the Association of Ethnomedicine, he lives in Hamburg, Germany.

The brain functions like a computer composed of subsystems which in teract in a hierarchical manner. But it is not a single hierarchy, but a com plex system of hierarchies each of which has its very own and unique fea ture. One of these concerns the cyclic or rhythmic control of neuronal ac tivities which, among others, give rise to alternating states of wakefulness and sleep. The phenomenon of sleep still remains a mystery. The present monograph does not give us any new insights into its meaning and significance. Yet sleep research may not be the same after the appearance of this book be cause it gives us a comprehensive mathematical theory which opens our eyes to new insights into the mechanism of the rhythm generation that under lies the "wake-sleep" cycle. No one who has worked his way through this book can again look at ex perimental data without recognizing features which the "models" developed in its various chapters so strikingly reveal."

The groundbreaking number 1 bestseller is sure to turn nightly bedtime battles into a loving and special end-of-day ritual. This child-tested, parent-approved story uses an innovative technique that brings a calm end to any child's day.

Do you struggle with getting your child to fall asleep? Join parents all over the world who have embraced The Rabbit Who Wants To Fall Asleep as their new nightly routine. When Roger can't fall asleep, Mummy Rabbit takes him to see Uncle Yawn, who knows just what to do. Children will join Roger on his journey and be lulled to sleep alongside their new friend.

Carl-Johan Forssen Ehrlin's simple story uses a unique and distinct language pattern that will help your child relax and fall asleep-at bedtime or naptime. Reclaim bedtime today!

This book presents a strong case for substance dualism and offers a comprehensive defense of the knowledge argument, showing that materialism cannot accommodate or explain the 'hard problem' of consciousness. Bringing together the discussion of reductionism and semantic vagueness in an original and illuminating way, Howard Robinson argues that non-fundamental levels of ontology are best treated by a conceptualist account, rather than a realist one. In addition to discussing the standard versions of physicalism, he examines physicalist theories such as those of McDowell and Price, and accounts of neutral monism and panpsychism from Strawson, McGinn and Stoljar. He also explores previously unnoticed historical parallels between Frege and Aristotle, and between Hume and Plotinus. His book will be a valuable resource for scholars and advanced students of philosophy of mind, in particular those looking at consciousness, dualism, and the mind-body problem.

How much of what we do is directed by conscious, deliberate decisions and how much originates in unconscious, automatic directives? This is the question explored in The Two of Me via an engaging combination of phenomenological subjective investigation and objective considerations of mental processes and specific structures. John Birtchnell puts forward the thesis that many more of our actions than we might imagine are determined unconsciously. Not only are unnoticed automatic actions motivated unconsciously, but also seemingly conscious or 'thought out' behaviours are actually determined and reinforced by unconscious exigencies. Even where we produce a reasoned discourse taking responsibility for why we hold certain thoughts, there is always the possibility that these explanations serve and follow from an unconscious driving force. The conscious mind seems to act as spokesperson for both itself and the unconscious mind. Investigating this dual aspect of the person, the book addresses the issue across a range of mental processes including memory, language, problem-solving, dreams, delusions, hallucinations and more complex constructs such as the arts, humour and religion.

As Alice in Wonderland discovered, cave entrances, tunnels, spirals and mirrors can transport people to strange worlds where anything is possible. Portals investigates how we move beyond the conscious and physical world using our senses, into other realities of the spiritual and the divine. Portals looks at the techniques used to alter consciousness practised by shamans, monks and other religious specialists. These include the use of drugs, as well as drumming, chanting and meditation. The book provides a new, anthropologically-grounded perspective on the wide-ranging questions about the realities of human consciousness and mystical, spiritual and religious experience.

An argument that the meaning of written or auditory linguistic signals is not derived from the input but results from the brain's internal construction process. When we read a text or listen to speech, meaning seems to be given to us instantaneously, as if it were part of the input. In Meaning in the Brain, Giosue Baggio explains that this is an illusion created by the tremendous speed at which sensory systems and systems for meaning and grammar operate in the brain. Meaning, Baggio argues, is not derived from input but results from the brain's internal construction process. With this book, Baggio offers the first integrated, multilevel theory of semantics in the brain, describing how meaning is generated during language comprehension, production, and acquisition. Baggio's theory draws on recent advances in formal semantics and pragmatics, including vector-space semantics, discourse representation theory, and signaling game theory. It is designed to explain a growing body of experimental results on semantic processing that have accumulated in the absence of a unifying theory since the introduction of electrophysiology and neuroimaging methods. Baggio argues that there is evidence for the existence of three semantic systems in the brain-relational semantics, interpretive semantics, and evolutionary semantics-and he discusses each in turn, developing neural theories of meaning for all three. Moreover, in the course of his argument, Baggio addresses several long-standing issues in the neuroscience of language, including the role of compositionality as a principle of meaning construction in the brain, the role of sensory-motor processes in language comprehension, and the neural and evolutionary links among meaning, consciousness, sociality, and action.

For nearly four decades, Trancework has been the definitive textbook for thousands of professionals undergoing training in the art and science of clinical hypnosis. Now in its 5th edition, this classic text continues its legacy of encouraging sound clinical practice based in established scientific research. This latest edition incorporates new studies and emerging topics within the field of hypnosis, including new chapters on depression and the construction of process-oriented interventions. Readers can expect to receive a comprehensive overview of current developments in the domain of hypnosis, an in-depth consideration of the practical and ethical issues associated with its use, and a greater appreciation for its many therapeutic applications. This thorough, engaging text equips professionals with the essential skills to change clients' lives by using hypnosis to enhance treatment of both medical and psychological issues.

There is no other book that looks at EMDR or Cognitive Hypnotherapy as a treatment for performance anxiety.

This book concerns the nature and character of conscious thinking from a philosophical perspective. One main aspect of conscious thinking addressed by the contributors is the phenomenal character involved in undergoing an episode of thinking or, in other words, the question of what it is like to think a certain thought, what has been called 'cognitive phenomenology'. This contested phenomenal character constitutes a form of phenomenal consciousness that needs clarification and further consideration within consciousness studies, cognitive psychology and philosophy. The present volume brings together chapters on the topic that contribute to clarify the notions and questions involved in the discussion, expanding the scope of the debate on cognitive phenomenology to other relevant aspects of conscious thinking and related domains. Several different topics are treated in the book, such as the relation of cognitive phenomenology with rationality, with the self, with attention or with the notion of cognitive access, as well as consideration of particular kinds of experiences of recognition and the so-called 'aha' experiences. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Philosophical Explorations.

An argument that consciousness, more widespread than previously assumed, is the feeling of being alive, not a type of computation or a clever hack.In The Feeling of Life Itself, Christof Koch offers a straightforward definition of consciousness as any subjective experience, from the most mundane to the most exalted--the feeling of being alive. Psychologists study which cognitive operations underpin a given conscious perception. Neuroscientists track the neural correlates of consciousness in the brain, the organ of the mind. But why the brain and not, say, the liver? How can the brain, three pounds of highly excitable matter, a piece of furniture in the universe, subject to the same laws of physics as any other piece, give rise to subjective experience? Koch argues that what is needed to answer these questions is a quantitative theory that starts with experience and proceeds to the brain. In The Feeling of Life Itself, Koch outlines such a theory, based on integrated information. Koch describes how the theory explains many facts about the neurology of consciousness and how it has been used to build a clinically useful consciousness meter. The theory predicts that many, and perhaps all, animals experience the sights and sounds of life; consciousness is much more widespread than conventionally assumed. Contrary to received wisdom, however, Koch argues that programmable computers will not have consciousness. Even a perfect software model of the brain is not conscious. Its simulation is fake consciousness. Consciousness is not a special type of computation--it is not a clever hack. Consciousness is about being.

Hypnosis: A Brief History crosses disciplinary boundaries to explain current advances and controversies surrounding the use of hypnosis through an exploration of the history of its development. examines the social and cultural contexts of the theories, development, and practice of hypnosis crosses disciplinary boundaries to explain current advances and controversies in hypnosis explores shifting beliefs about the nature of hypnosis investigates references to the apparent power of hypnosis over memory and personal identity

The first new volume of Dr. von Franz's legendary Zurich lectures to be published since 1980. Title #76 in the series Studies in Jungian Psychology by Jungian Analysts. Edited transcript of lectures presented at the C. G. Jung Institute in Zurich. Features in-depth studies of six fairy tales -- one each from Denmark, Spain, China, France and Africa, and one from the Grimm Brother's collection -- with references to parallel themes in many others. Featuring the symbolic, non-linear approach von Franz is famous for, it offers unique insights into cross-cultural motifs, as well as being an invaluable resource for understanding dream images.

In A Guide to the World of Dreams, Ole Vedfelt presents an in-depth look at dreams in psychotherapy, counselling and self-help, and offers an overview of current clinical knowledge and scientific research, including contemporary neuroscience. This book describes essential aspects of Jungian, psychoanalytic, existential, experiential and cognitive approaches to dreams and dreaming, and explores dreams in sleep laboratories, neuroscience and contemporary theories of dream cognition. Vedfelt clearly and effectively describes ten core qualities of dreams, and delineates a resource-oriented step-by-step manual for dreamwork at varying levels of expertise. For each core quality, key learning outcomes are clarified and resource-oriented, creative and motivating exercises for practical dreamwork are spelled out, providing clear and manageable methods. A Guide to the World of Dreams also introduces a new cybernetic theory of dreams as intelligent, unconscious information processing, and integrates contemporary clinical research into this theory. The book even includes a wealth of engaging examples from the author's lifelong practical experience with all levels and facets of dreamwork. Vedfelt's seminal work is essential reading for psychotherapists, psychologists, counsellors, and even psychiatrists, and could well be a fundamental textbook for courses at high schools, colleges, universities and even in adult-education classes. The book's transparent method and real-life examples will inspire individuals all over the world who seek self-help or self-development - any reader will be captivated to discover how knowledge of dreams stimulates creativity in everyday life and even in professional life.

Why we dream: the definitive answer tells the remarkable story of how Joe Griffin discovered how and why dreaming evolved in mammals and helped us unravel what our dreams actually mean. Thanks to Griffin's work we now know what dreams are doing for us: they keep us sane, or, in certain circumstances, can drive us mad (psychotic). And this knowledge opens up wonderful new possibilities for humanity: greater creativity; improved mental health and deeper understanding of who we are. Griffin and Tyrrell convincingly show that dreaming is vital for mental health and that the brain state we associate with dreaming (the REM state) also has crucial importance for when we are awake. This understanding of the REM state explains not only how our brains construct a model of reality, but also explains hypnosis, how creative behaviour works, and why we develop mental illnesses such as depression and psychosis.

Hypnosis has recently experienced a surge of popularity in the scientific community and the general public and is currently being used to deal with a wide range of disorders. IN this elegantly written book, Dr. Peter Brown draws on the latest developments in cognitive psychology, anthropology, ethnology, and neuroscience to offer a new explanation for how hypnosis works and how it can be applied. Brown argues that the ability to hypnotized and be hypnotized is closely related to brain functions that are uniquely human-especially to our ability to communicate with others. He begins by looking at the way communication has evolved, especially our use of facial expression and the tonal aspects of speech to synchronize interactions. These features were particularly important for the transmission of culture in oral societies before the advent of writing. He next considers the changes the brain undergoes during hypnosis, proposing that hypnotherapy can be understood as the interaction between two fundamental brain functions: the rhythmic alteration in level of consciousness that the brain undergoes throughout the course of the day, and the capacity to use metaphor, imagery, and analogy to understand ourselves and the world. Brown discusses some of the clinical uses of hypnotherapy, in particular the exploration of multiple personality disorder (which can be characterized as spontaneous self-hypnosis as a means of coping with trauma) and the role of hypnosis in treating medical illness. In his final chapter he deals with how language may be used in hypnotherapy, with examples from the work of eth late Milton Erickson, one of the most influential clinicians and teacher sin contemporary hypnosis.

"The groundbreaking masterwork that launched psychoanalysis." -- "Time." Why do we dream? And what do our dreams signify? The monumental treatise that transformed the Viennese neurologist into a "cause celebre, " this exploration of the dream world features dozens of fascinating case studies and Freud's engrossing analyses of actual dreams.