Watch "Art Therapy" on Google Video

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Art Therapy

5 min 0 sec - Mar 15, 2006
Average rating:   (4 ratings)
Description: Art Therapy uses drawing, painting, moulding clay and sand-play and symbol work to reveal patients feelings and explore their issues.

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Watch "Erickson Style Hypnosis Arm Levitation" on Google Video

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Erickson Style Hypnosis Arm Levitation

9 min 55 sec - Dec 23, 2006
Average rating:   (4 ratings)
Description: Demonstration of arm levitation in the classic induction style of Milton Erickson. Hypnosis and hypnotherapy training. LearnClinicalHypnosis.com provides resources for learning hypnosis through DVD instructional courses. Richard K Nongard

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Watch "David Lynch: Consciousness, Creativity and the Brain" on Google Video

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David Lynch: Consciousness, Creativity and the Brain

1 hr 49 min 22 sec - Nov 6, 2005
Average rating:   (122 ratings)
Description: The inside story on transcending the brain, with David Lynch, Award-winning film director of Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks, Mullholland Drive, Inland Empire (filming); John Hagelin, Ph.D., Quantum physicist featured in "What the bleep do we know?;" and Fred Travis, Ph.D., Director, Center for Brain, Consciousness and Cognition Maharishi University of Management. [events] [artshumanities]

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where the podcast left off first one (on the second podcast)

where the podcast left off 2

where the podcast left off 3

where the podcast left off 4

where the podcast left off 5

where the podcast left off 6

where the podcast left off 7

New projects

More to come later

contentment and ambition

I'm not sure what I'm digging for, in this continual process of reinvention. Diamonds and goal are more worthy. There's an impossibility to having balance in life, just like the seasons struggle against each other or in the more tropical climates the ocean and the sky, so to am I a struggling man. In essence that's all life is at it's most fundamental level. Struggle. Some of these struggles remain unecessary, somehow today making myself more aware of that fact is necessary. I am also unsure whether or not the alien above is looking at his GPS system or about to abandon his vehicle. There is the sheer vanity of impossible odds with many of our pursuits, but still we give it our little bit. What if we gave it our all? Would the odds change.

love violence, violence love, hate love, love hate

Why do our brains have to work this way? The title of this post infuriates me. No matter how hard I try, the negative takes over. I think it's also this way with trauma. We learn negatives more easily than positives, like an ancient survival flight or fight technique. It takes a conscious effort for that neuroplasticity to really kick in. Memories. More important than possessions? You be the judge. Positive memories. More valuable than gold? May you spend your time contemplating the right things. Is the baby laughing or crying? Is the baby a baby, or something waiting to be transformed by every future experience it has, not only at that time, but by that specific experience until death. Oversensitivity to the environment though, may be just as harmful as living the life of ignorant bliss. This baby is like the lizard, that is ready to survive just after leaving the egg. The reptilian part of your brain is both friend and enemy. Keep your friends close, but enemies closer. Smoke that lizard, breathe in, exhale, repeat until you get it just right. Has the process of using language itself become traumatic?

crucified burning skeletons bleeding dust

Images. Archetypes. Symbols. Dreams. Fill in the blanks, like the receptors on your tongue, before and after the piercing. The house of cards was a church. Watch your tongue, more than you watch others. Watch your brain. Watch your feelings. The steeple was a syrringe. Santas head has been reversed. Inside the syrringes monstrous shapes, unrecognizable more protean than human. Everything you thought was true was a lie. Sometimes the genes you inherit aren't very friendly. This is a story of addiction, unfortunately it has no ending unless you can see a new beginning. Now, have a nice day; before Santa Claus comes comes and steals your soul. Oops, too late.

animal therapy

Are animals capable of insight? Just what is intelligence? The answer may be humorous. There are many pet therapists out there now working on little doggies, kitties, and everything in between trying to mold and shape behaviors. I think they're working more on the owners than the animals. Many people aren't capable of much in the way of humility, humor, or hubris. Many of these animals may have it more together than the owners. Coming soon to a theatre near you...fabulous fables, like aesop spinning a yarn,under a caffeine induced psychosis, like George Orwell under the duress of sleep and food deprivation....halitosis of the soul. These modern day animals are going to do more than talk, they're going to teach you the secrets of a successful modern day life and you will laugh even harder realizing how much the animals remind you of you.

letting go

Letting go. It's one of the hardest thing to do. All powerful therapy, I believe, to some extent relates to unlearning previous learnings anchored in the past due to whatever negative cause or emotion. That may be guilt, depression, codependency, fear of pain, whatever you call it, no matter what color of the mask. These are methods of behavior that do not work. Never did work. Yet still the illusion of working is holding strong. I hope your list of positive reasons to let go is much larger and more motivating than your negative reasons for holding on.

Q & A vs. FAQ and the winner is....I O U...

Don't you love Q & A's and FAQ's? I do not. Yet here is another one, I hope unlike any you've seen previously.

Is this for real going to help me to spend time here?

There are two versions, the real one, which I haven't written yet, since no one has asked me any questions, and the made up one which you'll find below. If you have a question, why not email me, take a chance and go against the authority of websites that would rather not deal with floods of email. This is not that kind of website. How you spend your time on earth, is your business though, not mine.

Do you have an "artist's statement"?

Okay, here it goes off the top of my head, are you ready? Your life is a work of art. What style? Art that is not purposeful is not art at all. The purpose of my art is to enlighten while simultaneously inspiring the viewer to new possibilities that stimulate the powers of the viewers imagination. I want the viewer to create something after they view what I have created, even if it's just a better chicken salad sandwich. Specifically, my presumption is that by others viewing my creativity they will become more creative themselves. I know that's asking a lot from an artists statement, but then how can a statement become a question without you even knowing it. Communication = Hypnosis
All of the art you see on this site is a talisman from a ritual of a powerful chaos magician. If that were the truth would you look at every image or would you click away in fear? What if I told you the rituals were for you? How many others do you know that avoid there own best interest and a better future?
And that's no bull. I have a vision of the films, scripts, and art here helping change the world, but that too is a tragic idealism from a reformed nihlist. You can't help but change even if you don't look at any art at all. The question is when all your time is over, will you have changed enough? You are the world.

Who are U?

The undefined indescribable mystery factor that is the secret ingredient in your horseradish and/or a catalyst for extinguishing one layer of your soul. I'm just a guy. Usually, a bit of a bored guy. A guy who gets mad and crys just like you. Okay, probably not just like you. I am the moon guy. No pun intended.

Does anybody read questions and answers and are your just another one of those sick psychic charlatans?

Seek not to know all the answers, but to understand the question as to why more questions may or may not be added later irregardless of any other diabolical forces at work. And you cheated when you asked two questions in one. Do not defy logic again or you will feel my minions. I see connections and even after that there are always more connections. YOU CAN HAVE MORE FUN TODAY, I DARE YOU!

Tornado Heart Girl

One night Grace had an extraordinary dream, a dream in which she had a tornado inside of her heart. It was even more extraordinary since in the dream she felt like her whole body was inside the heart of a tornado. But what was the difference? It was painfully confusing as the cruel winds whipped and bruised her all over her body as well as her image of herself. For this to change it took a decision that struggling wasn't worth the struggle and a realization that this lifetime was not forever.
This helped Grace make connections between the seen and the unseen. Just like the hot and cold fronts forming the tornado. Just like her relationship with herself was reflected in her relationships with others. Still this tornado that was both inside of her and outside of her continued to be puzzling.
But there were even more mysteries inside this dream. She set sail on a ship made of imagination over an ocean of anger. She wondered just what moved the depths below her. What was moving the angry waves? She saw the crest of a huge angry wave headed toward the front of the ship. There was no way to avoid the crash. Surely this would be the end of the dream. Instead though, it changed, the wave changed into a purple butterfly that landed on the end of her finger. He whispered to her.
"In order to grow you must risk to know yourself, just like a candle needs darkness to shine. You will lose your grip if you try to hold two opposite beliefs at the same time."
She looked at the ocean, which was calm now. She rose as if her hands had become the wings of a butterfly. She looked down and waved goodbye by flapping her wings. Would the waves know they were being waved at? She knew then what was below the waves of anger were two forces; pain and fear. Those were what propelled the waves of anger.
The next morning when Grace awoke the winds in her heart were silent. She knew she was a miracle even perhaps more of a miracle than the stars and clouds above her. She also knew that she was as electric as the lightning that pierces the darkness of the storm. This new knowledge freed her of the past once and for all; because from that moment on each new moment contained both the past and the future. Creating a better life was just a matter of making new choices, seeing new perceptions, and believing in new possibilities. None of the negative experiences she'd had in life before this moment mattered anymore.

Eyes of the puppy

Once there was a puppy with a lot of problems or what some of the older dogs called "issues". For one, he was small. For two, he was lost. For three, he was always getting made fun of by the other dogs for all kinds of reasons. He thought he could get the other puppies and older dogs to stop making fun of him if he made fun of himself. He clowned around, but even this made him sadder. This was no way to solve his problems. So he decided to take a walk.
Instead of walking home from the school the way he always did, instead he took the long cut. He had never taken the long cut, but he had heard of it. Still he didn't know what to expect. Amazingly, about half way through the long cut, he came to a dark tunnel. He wasn't a cat, but still his curiousity got the best and worst of him.
"Go ahead, you'll find a secret to help solve your problems, " his curiosity told him.
He walked into the cave. Soon, he had t o use his nose and ears to tell where he was going. Without even thinking about it, he began to feel his way through the cave. He got a scared feeling, as if someone or something was watching him. His hair stood up straight. He turned around, but he couldn't even see light from the entrance to the cave. He started to whimper and tears streamed down his already wet nose. He wondered if his family would even miss him after all of the trouble he'd caused. He didn't have any friends that would miss him. He began to panic. He didn't know how he was going to get out of this cave. He began to howl. He howled and howled until he was sweating and tired. How in the world was he going to get out of this cave? Why in the world had he went in?
How would you help the puppy get out? What would you tell him to do? What if the puppy was just an alien in disguise. What is the reflection when you look in someone elses eyes? The mother ship isn't waiting. You're on your own.

Another Place

There is place within and without the wings of language, where everything is possible. This place that is both everywhere and nowhere at once is both the source and foundation of every possibility you have yet to grasp even in your dreams. But ahh then, isn't this dreaming a waste of time. No, not at all bounced the monkey down the tree using his head as a leg. How so? How not? Now your not so hot that you can't trot like a dog that forgot what it was like to be a horse and now you wonder why he can't bark? Work can be like play even work on the most serious of things, which is of course the no thing of spiritual matters, the basis of how everything in your mind as well as what comes out of it changes matter just because just is a matter of opinion pealing onions and bunions while eating funyons.
The plot is thickening like blood as even the wound you don't feel begins to heal. The energy of you and the sun are one in the same like father and son. Place your hand to the flame in the sky. Just one more way to be your own best friend, the straw that made the camels back strong enough to put on another sack of straws, that which tipped the scales toward critical mass of love that knows no bounds. And isn't love a wonderful feeling to be bound to that's bound to increase the more you share with the world. Take control of that eight pound universe within your skull.
Are you lost yet? Good. The first step toward finding your way is admitting your lost. The dream has begun to change or was that reality that just passed you by without even giving you enough time to wave goodbye? Hello opportunity. Hello responsibility. Hello yellow jello fellow. Is what you're doing helping you yet? If you be for you who be against you because that who is before you is the God who never ignored you even when.....
And now you just sit there wishing you had a different obituary, too bad bitching won't do any good now even if you know all the female dogs in a six mile radius on a first name basis.

Different Seeing=Different Doing

Most people if you asked them would say that a cube has six sides. Most people would be right. But only right according to what the definition of a side is. What if each ridge that connected the sides (sorry I don't know exactly what this is called) was also a "side"? How many sides are there to a story? Two? Right? Wrong! Wongdidddy wong wong wong! It always depends on how many people were there at the experience? The story might even change based upon who is not there.
Hmmmm? So what are you trying to say here? Or did I just say nothing at all? And where is here exactly? Depends upon what it is in relation to or compared to. Isn't it strangely how everything even you and I are connected in such intangible ways?
A simple experiment that I have used effectively with clients is to take a ball or a cube or some object and write the word "experience" on it. I then take this object and do something with it. If it's a ball, I might spin it on the table or throw it to the client. I then ask the client a question.
"How many ways could we look at this experience or as far as that goes any experience we ever have in our life?"
Usually, there is no response at this juncture. So I get the ball back and do something else with it. Something, a little more comical perhaps like spinning it on my head or if the object I'm using is a balloon I might pop it somehow. If it's a balloon we would then look at our experience that formerly we were always having trouble with. For example, the balloon was always following us around, bumping into us, and or causing us problems ( you might have the client take a string and tie the balloon to their wrist or something and have them walk around for awhile to illustrate this) and now that it's deflated look how managable it is. You might want to go on and disect your balloon and take only the positives or the learning that you received from the "experience" and discard the guilt or any other negative emotions that are asssociated with the experience.
Remember, I didn't tell you inhale helium for more effective sessions. But who knows?

Crossroads And Decisions

Ways of Using Stories, Art, And Films In Therapy

Probably one of my favorite methods for using therapeutic stories is to pick out about ten or so stories that will be of benefit to the client (thus you have stacked the deck) and then just read all of the titles of the stories to the client. Ask him or her if there are two or three of those that sound interesting, then ask them to choose the one they would pick if they were only going to get to listen to one of the stories. Or if you have a different philosophy, you might have the client tell you some of his favorite stories, music, or movies from various times in his or her life.
Read the story and you may prompt the reading by asking the client if the story could apply to their life in some way or if there was some reason why they thought it was so likeable to them. You can do this either before or after you start the reading. Remember when you're reading to emphasize certain sections and be sure to make it entertaining. If you want you can even act out the story with the client by asking him or her to become a character in the story, much in the same way that dream work is done by asking one to become various objects and charcters in a dream. The secret is to tie current issues of the client into the story, then rewrite the script some how. Contemplate how it would feel together to be able to have an alternative ending to the story.
After your done, give the story a minute or two to sink in. If the client doesn't have any reaction to the story. You can then ask them again what they thought about the story in very general categories such as what they liked and didn't like about it. If this opens the client up a bit, then you can move on to more specific issues of the client. If the client still doesn't want to discuss the story, you may have to pick another story. Ask if the client would like to hear another or read one on their own. No matter what, give the client all of the other stories to read before the next session.
Think of all the stories that have ever been written down. Now think of all of the anecdotes that have never been written down. Even classic fairy tales can be used effectively with all types of clients. I would suggest for you to develop a story file that has different stories for different types of clients. Here are a few suggestions for developing your story file. There are also three stories at the end of the publication that may be useful. The idea is the same with art, films, tv shows, cartoons, jokes, and stories of any type.
ANGER---
RELATIONSHIPS---
SELF ESTEEM OR DEPRESSION---
TRAUMA---
ALCOHOL/DRUGS OR OTHER ADDICTIONS---
ADHD---
FEAR/ANXIETY---
GOALS/PROCRASTINATION---
NEW SKILL ACQUISITION

One of many manifestos

We hold these truths to be truths that shall never be let go, we hope you never need any evidence that these truths are anything but the truth. But then again, who are we? To tell you. Anything. Would you like to join us? Chaos isn’t just a theory. Chaos is good therapy.

1. We believe that counseling/psychotherapy is a process that can be improved daily.
2. We believe that strategy and creativity is the basis of implementing more effective, efficient, and helpful methods of activating the patients own internal healing process.
3. We believe that each client is a unique individual whose strengths should be celebrated and exploited within the process of healing.
4. We believe that arbitrary distinctions between various theories and psychological frameworks are only valuable if backed by volumes of research that supports a particular theory as being the "best" for a specific type of client or problem. This is known as eclectic electric shock treatment.
5. We believe that consistency and complacency are two fine destroyers of innovation and progress. In short, trying new things is the best way to get new results.
6. We believe that counseling/psychotherapy should and can be a fun explorative process that should and can give significant results and rewards for both client and clinician.
7. We believe we can revise our manifesto and our treatment strategy and our minds as we see fit any time we want to.
8. We believe in guerrilla mental health warfare. We train constantly to become more effective spys, saboteurs, and assassins of all that contributes to negativity, depression, war, and/or a myriad of other behavioral and physical health disorders. Thus the mental and physical are one in the same and we are working toward a day when our world has no need for counseling/psychotherapy because each person has the resources to solve their own problems.
9. We can be as many imaginary and real friends as I can stick a fork in.

Old and New

The secret shuriken of ninja psychotherapy has just struck your temple.

This site has been a dream for sometime. Putting the reality to it (flesh on the bones if you will) continues to be an obsession. The energy behind these thoughts at this time on the brevity of life. Along with the ironies of life continues to be reflected like fragments of something unnameable from a lost civilization. But aren’t we also a future lost civilization. This sacrifice of mine, planting these seeds, never to harvest the souls that digest them. I wonder about the person out there reading this right now. Was your day as stress filled as mine? How are you going to make it through the next? What can you do differently that would mean the most to those you love? You will find no poison seeds here only growth, compassion, hope, love, faith, magic, creativity, and positive energy in various guises. You are a pioneer, a prospector, digging for new connections. Some of them have more potential than you first imagined, one new possibility is mproving psychotherapy through the use of surreal art. Fishing on the seas of the unconscious. Forget. Harvest. Soul Fruit. Tastes Good. Thank you. Sweet Dreams.

Focus / Intentions

This blog has been created with the intention of improving the effectiveness of counseling/ psychotherapy through the use of creative new methods or at least old methods used in a new way. It is focused on benefiting both behavioral health practitioners, as well as the clients, that they serve. The word "serve" in the previous sentence is in itself a metaphor of how a therapist is supposed to act in his or her job. You could see the role of therapist as compared from many different angles at this site and you could even question the various roles of what it means to be a patient. It is hoped that any dialogue and feedback created here will give both groups more ideas and insight, reduce stigma, help clarify psychological or therapeutic concepts, and improve communication. To keep with the theme of the site, provide a bridge that leads both healer and patient to a land of new tools and outcomes. I believe that creating more creative interventions that focus on breaking down abstract concepts into concrete ideas that can be applied within the real world. In short, taking "talk therapy" and giving it more substance. Games, Art, Stories, Drama, Songs, and everything in between is permitted. The assumption is that for some on both sides of the bridge or fence is that the process of counseling and psychotherapy could use a "shot in the arm" or at least a "daily supplement". I will do my best to avoid the "use of quotes" from here on out. Thanks for coming along to enjoy the rides here. May morethan4metaphors per image be yours to multiply meanings however you will.