the more skillfully an approach employed the power of suggestion, the better it performed.

there are many right ways to do therapy.

the process of focusing was more important than the content. Whether a therapeutic approach encourages no thoughts or deep thoughts, a quiet mind or a mind full of great possibilities, a focus on breathing or a focus on the vivid memory of a favorite place, the benefit across these varied experiential approaches is remarkably similar. The content

A suggestion can be defined as any communication device that is intended—directly or indirectly—to influence a specific outcome or response. For example, consider the open-ended suggestion to “experience fully whatever comes up,” a specific type of suggestion called a presupposition because it presupposes something will come up. If I tell you,

An example of the misguided use of suggestion concerns what many came to call the “memory wars,” which began noisily in the mid-1980s and reached a deafening crescendo in the mid-1990s. As therapists became more sensitive to the issue of childhood sexual abuse, a phenomenon that had historically and incorrectly been considered rare, the theory took

The purpose of hypnosis is to create a context in which the client can become absorbed and explore new awareness and new possibilities for transforming his or her experience, usually without judgment but always with a direction. Isn’t this immediately relevant to the effective use of mindfulness? In mindfulness, we strive to create a context in

it is not mindfulness that is therapeutic; rather, it is what happens during mindfulness that has potential therapeutic value. The new, helpful associations made during mindful experiences are what matter.

As research in the domain of hypnosis has already suggested, what makes an induction effective is the client believing it is effective. That is why the number of different types of inductions is virtually unlimited, and they all have the potential to work well with someone. In the same way a food awareness exercise can be understood from a

asparagus spear, or a piece of saltwater taffy. Just focusing on the various sensations associated with keeping something edible in your mouth without simply chewing and swallowing it as quickly as usual will have a noticeable and probably therapeutic effect. Is it the increased sensory awareness that is therapeutic, or the interruption of a usual