This is an Audio recording of the workshop on this subject - 1 hour 31 minutes

Presenter: Jane Parsons-Fein, LCSW, DAHB, FASCH

In the Room with Milton H. Erickson, MD was videotaped by Jane Parsons-Fein from October 3-12, 1979 in Phoenix, Arizona. The DVDs include enhanced sound and subtitles, focusing exclusively on Erickson working with his students. Going beyond Freud, Erickson said, "Trust your unconscious. It knows more than you do." The goal of this workshop is to give participants the opportunity to allow themselves to experience their unique trance states with Milton Erickson. Erickson conversed with the unconscious of his students. Experiencing how Erickson shifts his inner states in a continuous flow of unconscious communication is the closest participants can come to learning hypnosis from Erickson himself.

His case histories are metaphors for life itself: unfolding, shocking, surprising, humorous, and tragic. They are full of wisdom and paradoxical truths. Erickson, clear about the negatives in life, moved with them with wit, humor, and acceptance, expressing his commitment to the human possibilities for joy. Erickson used confusing elaborations, seamlessly subtle language, and the beats of silence to distract, interrupt the flow, and deepen the experience of trance. He said, "Don't try to imitate me...It's a false pretense and the patient knows it...Develop your own technique...Be your own natural self." We can be astonished at his deceptive simplicity and integrate what we experience into our own ways, rhythms, and perceptions. When the therapist is comfortable with his/her own unconscious, the patient/subject knows it and can feel safe and work well with his or her own creative unconscious.