My Mentors
Many of my clients and students like to claim I am a genius because of the changes which I helped my clients accomplish. But it wasn't genius …. Hard work and persistence working toward the client's outcome..
The series of techniques I devised didn’t come that easy. It wasn't due to some high hat logical progression. It was simply, working harder and more relentlessly than anyone else, pushing through the client’s pain threshold (and many days, my own too) and keeping the prize, the client's possible outcome in mind.
Like a masterful chef who borrows from a recipe here and there, I experimented with techniques from the greatest healers of all time, it was more of an early creative, improvisational skill I had. I was able to take bits and pieces, snippets of techniques, from everything I read, from some of the greatest therapists, counselors, hypnotists, authors throughout time … matter of fact, I’ve learned something from practically everyone I’ve ever met, including my clients and combine them in a long changework session that had a beginning and ending although the middle was always a chaotic hotbed of emotions. A tug of war between the client and me.
What I will take credit for, have that no one practiced in this professions, was the discipline and patience. The discipline and patience to go one on one, through 2-9 hour, mind-numbing, marathon sessions …. Crafting individualistic sessions, Throwing the book of techniques.
This is a good place to talk about some of my mentors. I was fortunate. I was in the right place at the right time, my life was becoming a series of lucky coincidences, not taking in account that because I had started the largest free, viral hypnosis and nlp practice group, the heads of hypnosis organizations courted me because, although I had nothing to sell, I filled their classes with an influx of youthful students.
Many of my clients asked for this list over the years for their own further study …. Here goes.
George Bien: George was a wonderful old school hypnotist/hypnotherapist as well as accomplished jazz guitarist and lecturer. George knew more techniques and therapies than anyone I had ever met. He was a good friend for many years. It was because of him that I did long sessions as he was an experimenter in the hypnosis modality.
Michael Anthony Hurley … Michael was a fountain of knowledge from Sedona, hypnosis, nlp, eft, relaxation therapy all the way to vitamin therapy. Mike Hurley was a former police captain in Bayonne NJ who, starting at an early age, spent hours using early, self help techniques to overcome his own stuttering and insecurities. He was the picture of health and used these techniques to craft a muscular body well into his 70s. Michael was the hypnotist’s hypnotist. He was the guy other hypnotists called upon when their family members needed a hypnotist.
He taught me a lot in the field of straight hypnosis. He was the only hypnotist in they hypnosis area that kept the greats in touch (because they were too busy competing).
Anthony Robbins … aka Tony Robbins … Tony was more inspirational for me than anything else. I really didn’t learn much from him. I met him back in his early days when he was doing firewalks on the streets of NYC. As a kid, in early cable days, Tony was on the air on one cable station 24/7 around the clock.
Gerald Kein: An amazing hypnotist and character who I learned more in the hypnosis arena from than anyone else … and I’m not the only one. Many of the greats were protégé’s of Gerald Kein. Gerald took all the mystery out of hypnosis techniques. He broke techniques down, made techniques simple to master and was a great story teller.
Stephen Parkhill (author – Answer Cancer) … Stephen was the biggest influence as to my technique and the avenue of hypnotherapy I began to persue. Stephen Parkhill, another protégé of Gerald Kein, was a healer extraodinaire.
Gil Boyne
Delores Krieger – “Therapeutic Touch”
Leo Buscaglia
Mark Cunningham
Jose Silva
Paul Grivas and Cliff Panetta
