Mexican Beach Trance

In between Richard Bandler’s trance inductions, I spent time on the Puerta Vallarta beach doing self-hypnosis. Maybe you remember the “hear the waves crashing and watch the pelicans soaring” trance. Or perhaps you’re more familiar with the “feel the sun on my skin and don’t even pay attention to the sounds blending in the background” trance. It’s all about focusing attention, engaging various representation systems (seeing, hearing, feeling) and slipping easily and effortlessly into trance.

It doesn’t get much better than February, the beach, trance and Bandler’s week long program on Hypnosis as an Application to Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP). I was very curious about where NLP and hypnosis have evolved, 30 years later, for the provocative co-founder of NLP whose trademarks are humour, shock their socks off, evocative hypnotic language patterns, keen sensory acuity and stated commitment to results rather than popularity.

Highlights: The simultaneous translation (English in one ear, Spanish in the other) was a full enchilada double induction. The translators trying to keep up and co-trainer Gabriel Guerrero trying to explain Richard’s raunchy vocabulary to the predominately Mexican audience. And witnessing Bandler’s larger than life presence and presentation.