"Adult Education"  (MF,rom,mc) 1/5


Meg had one of those mischievous smiles on her face; that
should have been my first clue, but I missed it. I let
myself get distracted by the newsprint booklet she was
waving in my face instead.
"What's this for?" I asked, taking the booklet from her
hand. A quick glance told me it was the summer course
catalog from our local community college. You probably get
them too: a variety of short enrichment classes in various
things from cake decorating to small appliance repair, all
offered for a nominal fee to adults in the community. Meg
and I had both taken classes there before, so the college
had us on their mailing list.
"Look at this one," she said, pointing to an entry circled
in red pen:
Hypnosis for Couples
Learn to experience increased pleasure and intimacy
through mutual hypnosis. Includes discussion of
induction techniques, formulating effective
suggestions, and a practical demonstration. Couples
only. Instructor: Carol Sherman, CCHT. 3 sessions.
I looked back at Meg with raised eyebrows. "Are you
serious?"
"Of course." Her green eyes sparkled back at me. "Doesn't
it sound interesting to you?"
I read the entry again. "I suppose so," I granted, "It
doesn't really say much."
"Increased pleasure and intimacy through hypnosis," she
quoted in reply. "Couples only. How much more does it
need to say?"
I handed the booklet back to her with a shrug. She whacked
me playfully over the head with it and gave me an
exaggerated scowl. "Don't play innocent with me, Patrick,"
she scolded. "You spend as much time on the hypnoerotic
story sites as I do, if not more. I dare you to look me in
the eye and say you haven't fantasized about learning to
hypnotize me."
Well, she had me there. We'd only been living together a
few weeks when I came home one evening to find her on my
PC, surfing my favorite hypnofetish story sites. For a few
seconds my life flashed before my eyes: I braced myself
for a tirade about what a pervert I am, how sick I must be
to find that kind of depravity entertaining, etc. I think
she read that in my face, because she immediately jumped up
and hugged me tightly. "It's okay," she whispered into my
ear. "I have most of the same sites bookmarked on my
laptop." That's when I knew this relationship was going to
work.
Meg was still waiting for me to respond to her dare. I
looked up into her eyes and thought yes, it would be so
cool to see those eyes closing on my command, to take her
into a deep sleep and know she will obey my every wish.
"You know I do," I answered.
Taking my head into her hands, Meg treated me to a kiss
that put a lump in the front of my shorts. "I do too," she
replied. "That's why I've already signed us up. Don't
make any plans for Thursday the 18th, lover."
I reached up to her and cradled a breast in my hand,
squeezing just the way she likes. "You've got a date," I
said, pleased to hear the hitch in her breath.
"Maybe you'd better take Friday off too," she added,
reaching down to open my zipper.
On Thursday the 18th we set out to find the location listed
in the course pamphlet we'd received with our confirmation.
Not surprisingly considering the expected content, we
quickly discovered that the class was not being held on
campus; instead, the pamphlet directed us to a martial arts
studio a few blocks away.
We arrived 10 minutes ahead of the 7:00 scheduled start
time. A young woman met us at the door and led us to the
practice room. She looked to be in her early thirties,
with chestnut hair and the deepest brown eyes I've ever
seen.
"Hi. I'm Carol." Her voice was rich and sensual, and her
hand as it touched mine sent a small shock through my
system.
"I'm Patrick, and this is Meg," I replied weakly.
Carol flashed us a thousand-watt smile. "It's great to
meet you," she said. "The others are already here. Come
on back and get comfortable."
We followed Carol into the studio. Her thin workout
clothes displayed a beautifully proportioned figure. Meg
nudged me a little to make sure I wasn't paying too much
attention to those proportions.
The idea of holding a hypnosis class in a dojo seemed
strange to us at first, but once I saw the place it made
perfect sense. There was lots of floor space to work with,
for one thing. A generous supply of folded wrestling mats
was stacked up against the far wall, and I saw that five
other couples had already made little nests for themselves
using some of those mats. A giant mirror, presumably for
the benefit of karate students practicing forms, covered
the long wall.
Meg and I followed the others' lead and helped ourselves to
a few of the folding mats. They reminded me of my college
wrestling room pads - thick, dense, vinyl-covered, and
extremely comfortable for sitting, standing, or lying down.
While Meg and I were getting situated, Carol stood apart
from the group and made a few notes in a personal
organizer. Nodding to herself, she closed the book and
tucked it into a slim portfolio case. "Everyone's here
now," she announced, "We can get started."
Call me an idiot if you like - until that moment, I didn't
connect "Carol Sherman, CCHT" with that voluptuous
creature. I was expecting some scholarly, kind, Angela
Lansbury type. The reality turned out to be more like
Catherine Zeta-Jones. Not that I minded, of course.
"I want to thank you all for coming tonight," she began,
that silky voice grabbing our collective attention easily.
"I'm your instructor for this course. To my patients and
colleagues, I am Dr. Sherman; in here, though, I like to
keep things casual and friendly, so please just call me
Carol."
I felt myself nodding automatically as she continued.
"As you know from the course description, this workshop is
about hypnosis for couples. I've been a practicing
hypnotherapist for about five years now, and for the last
two I've specialized in treating sexual dysfunctions in
both men and women. In that time it's been my pleasure to
teach hundreds of couples how they can use hypnosis to
enhance their love lives. If you stay with me and work
together over the three sessions in this class, I promise
you that the experience will change the way you think about
sexual pleasure."
A quick glance around the room showed everyone nodding,
their eyes focused directly on Carol. My cock stirred a
little as a small part of my mind connected Carol with
sexual pleasure.
"But first," she continued, "I need to make sure that you
all understand some important things about what we will and
won't be doing here. You will be practicing hypnosis on
each other, learning to use the hypnotic state for erotic
purposes. Each of you will learn to drop into a deep
trance on command from your partner. Sharing that power
brings a new depth of intimacy to relationships, but it
requires absolute trust. If you don't share your partner's
interest in erotic hypnosis, or if you are not sure you
want to let your partner guide you into a trance and give
you suggestions, then you should not be here. I'd rather
see you invest your time in improving your relationship or
at least doing something you can both enjoy.
"At the same time, there are limits to what I can teach you
in three evening sessions. Don't imagine that having taken
this class qualifies you to start hypnotizing people at
dinner parties. If you're going to do that, you owe it to
your friends and yourself to get proper training first."
Carol paused a minute to let it all sink in. "Now listen
to this very carefully," she continued. "The hypnotic
suggestions we use in this class will be limited to things
that have proven safe and effective for our purpose. They
will involve creating and controlling desire, causing or
enhancing physical sensations, and overcoming inhibitions.
I'm sure you are all aware that hypnosis is also used
medically to help people lose weight, stop smoking, and
things like that. That's called hypnotherapy, and it takes
years of practice to become proficient at it. We will not
be conducting therapy in this class."
Carol's eyes swept sternly over us all, making contact and
asking an unspoken question. Each of us nodded while
meeting her gaze. "I am very serious about this," she
added. "Just because your partner agrees to go into trance
for you, that does not give you license to try and
'improve' his or her personality. If you do try, the most
likely result is that it won't work and the violation of
trust will seriously damage your relationship."
The point made, Carol seemed to relax. The smile returned
to her face as she moved on to the last item. "Finally, I
noticed some of you looking nervous when I mentioned that
we would be combining hypnosis and sex. Let me assure you
that my lesson plan does not call for anyone to have
intercourse during the class. The idea is that what you
learn here you take home and use in private."
I took a quick look around the room and saw several people
looking relieved. The idea had never occurred to me, but
apparently it had to them; I guess that proves I'm on the
wrong side of 35.
"So much for the preliminaries," Carol said. "Does anyone
have questions before we go on?"
The question was barely out when a voice from across the
room shot out, "What if you can't be hypnotized?" We all
looked at the speaker: a slim blonde woman, early
twenties, in a designer warm-up suit. The man next to her
sat perfectly still and watched her, almost seeming to fade
into the background. Her voice was strong and sure,
causing me to wonder if she was asking or challenging.
Carol turned to face the speaker. "You're Ellen, right?"
"Yes."
"That's a fair question, Ellen," Carol replied
diplomatically. "Every so often in hypnotherapy, a patient
comes along who is highly resistant to hypnosis. Most of
the time the resistance comes from misconceptions about
what hypnosis is, or fear of losing control. Some people
are just very analytical by nature and have a hard time
letting their subconscious take over. It's been my
experience that once a patient has been educated about the
hypnotic state and any latent fears or doubts have been put
to rest, anyone who is willing can enter hypnosis."
"You mean you've never had someone you couldn't put under?"
Ellen's tone was openly skeptical now, but Carol seemed
unconcerned.
"It's not really a question of putting someone under," she
explained patiently. "Going into hypnosis is a process
that happens entirely within a person's own mind. I can't
make you or anyone else enter a hypnotic state. What I can
do, what I will do, is teach you how to enter that state
yourself or in response to a suggestion from your partner.
If you want that to happen, Ellen, it will happen; if you
don't, it won't. The outcome is always what you want it to
be."
Nice, I thought. Now if she doesn't go under, it's her own
fault.
"Are there any other questions?" Carol asked. When nobody
spoke, she continued. "Okay. Now I'd like to take a
break. I'm asking each of you to please go and use the
bathroom, I want you comfortable with no interruptions for
the rest of the session. Be back here in ten minutes,
please."
It was closer to fifteen minutes before everyone had taken
care of business and settled back into their chosen spots.
There was a lot of nervousness on display, as well as
anticipation. Ellen, I noticed, was the quietest of us;
she simply sat and waited, arms folded, with a closed look
on her face.
With the buzz of a half-dozen whispered conversations in
the air, Carol stepped over to a small side table and
pressed a button on the boom box that rested there. From
the box came a strange sound: light, airy, yet very
soothing, it wasn't really music but it wasn't just a
simple tone either. We all fell silent almost immediately,
feeling the odd series of notes flowing around and through
us. Carol gave us a few moments to adjust to the change,
then turned to address the class.
"I suppose I could start out by giving you a long,
technical lecture on how to help someone enter hypnosis.
In doing these classes, though, I've found that it all
makes much more sense if you actually experience the
hypnotic state first. I'd like for everyone to lie back
and get comfortable, please."
There was some shuffling around as we adjusted ourselves
into position. The ceiling, I noticed, had a number of
colorful dots on it. "Choose a spot on the ceiling,"
Carol's voice told us, "and focus on it." There was a dark
blue dot near the middle of my field of vision, so I fixed
my gaze on it and waited for more instructions.
Carol's voice grew smoother, softer, more seductive as she
began to talk us into trance. "Everyone take a nice, deep
breath now. Hold it . hold it . and now exhale,
completely, slowly, and let yourself sink into the mats.
Very good, everyone. Now breathe in again, deeply and
slowly. Hold it. And exhale, slowly, completely, feeling
yourself sinking a little further into the mats." She had
us do this several times, each time exhorting us to relax
and let the mats support us.
"Notice how very settled, how very comfortable, you feel
right now," she continued. "Pay very close attention to
your body right now. Notice the feel of your clothes
against your skin, the softness of the mat below you, the
gentle motion of the air around you. Concentrate on these
sensations, just concentrate and listen. Think of
relaxation only; any other thoughts that might come to you,
just let them come and pass like a summer breeze.
"Notice that you can still hear the music playing in the
background. It's a special rhythm designed to help you
relax. If you like, let the music enter your mind and
soothe you, relaxing you by degrees as you float along on
the waves of sound. You can concentrate on that if you
like, listening closely to the music, and to my voice.
Listen, relax, and enjoy."
The music was enticing, I decided, and vaguely noticed
myself letting out another deep breath as I focused my
attention on the strange, comforting sounds flowing out of
the boom box. Carol's voice faded a little, but I could
still hear her clearly.
"As you watch your spot on the ceiling, you will find that
your eyes become tired from staring so long at one place.
They begin to water, to strain, to blink. That's perfectly
okay. Eyes get tired, especially when they are focused so
well in one place, as yours are now. It's okay to feel
tired, sleepy, groggy, drowsy. Okay to feel the lids
growing heavy, trying to blink, trying to close. Soon you
will find that you can no longer hold your eyes open; they
will blink, quickly at first, and then more and more often,
until they simply no longer wish to remain opened at all.
And that's fine too. Don't make any deliberate effort to
close your eyes or to keep them open; just let them close
or blink whenever they want to, and you'll drift into a
wonderful, pleasant place of relaxation. Just let yourself
go.
"As we go along, I want you to be aware of your breathing
and each breath you take. Each time that you exhale, let
your neck relax, let your shoulders drop, let your hips and
thighs go loose. It will feel wonderfully good."
My head was full of the music from the boom box. The tone
had changed slightly, I thought - the rhythm had slowed
ever so slightly, the pitch lowered just a hair. A warm,
comfortable feeling began to flow through my body.
"I'm going to count to three now," Carol's voice continued,
"and when I reach three, if you haven't already closed your
eyes down, I want you to close them at that time. You will
always be able to open your eyes again if you really want
to, but please leave them closed until I ask you to open
them. One . two . and three, everyone let your eyes close
now, let your neck relax, let your shoulders drop, just
letting everything go. As we go along, you're going to
find that your mind starts to wander around to other
thoughts and other places, and that's okay. Any time you
find your mind wandering about, simply bring it back and
focus your attention on my voice or the music, and you'll
drift a little faster and a little more deeply relaxed than
you were the moment before."
I had a pretty decent buzz going already, thanks to the
music and the soothing tones of Carol's voice. My body was
heavy and limp, but I could feel the wrestling mat
underneath me supporting me, making it possible to let
every muscle go. My mind wandered for a second, then I
realized Carol was speaking again.
"I'm going to mention several muscle groups of your body,
and as I mention these groups of muscles I want you to
focus your attention there, really concentrate, and relax
each group of muscles that I mention."
Starting with the face, Carol called out every major muscle
group and body part from head to toe. For each group she
told us to concentrate, focus, relax this and that part,
feel the part becoming heavy, loose, and lazy. I kept
drifting off to some other place, only to catch myself and
refocus on Carol's instructions.
Once she had gone through all of the muscle groups, Carol
led us in another series of slow, deep breaths. Each
breath in filled my body with peace, and each breath out
let me melt down farther and farther in to the soft, safe,
comfortable mat.
Carol's voice had become so distant I found it hard to make
out what she was saying. Something told me that was okay,
though, so I simply let her voice merge with the low,
thrumming tones of the music in my head. I felt my various
muscle groups relaxing again, head to toe, like the lights
being turned off in a skyscraper floor by floor.
A pattern of colors began to swirl before my eyes, and I
felt myself floating down into the middle of whatever it
was. It turned out to be a hammock, stretched between two
trees, waiting to be occupied. I was in a small woodland,
with grass under my feet and enough trees to provide
pleasant shade. There was a small stream nearby; the
bubbling sound of the water running by made the place all
the more peaceful. I climbed into the hammock and lay
back, swaying slowly in the warm breeze. I watched the
tree limbs as I rocked back and forth, the sounds of the
water still in my ears, feeling safe and comfortable.
Perfectly contented, I closed my eyes and let out a long,
slow breath. From somewhere right behind me Carol spoke
some more. Firm, gentle hands pressed down on my shoulders
and the world melted away.
My rest was rudely interrupted by the familiar BWAAAP of my
alarm clock. Instinctively I rolled toward the sound and
reached out with an arm to silence the obnoxious little
box, only to realize that it wasn't there. My mind
cleared, and I saw that we were still in the dojo. The
alarm sound stopped before I could locate the real source
of the sound.
"Welcome back everyone," Carol said. "Take your time,
don't be in a hurry to start moving around. Take a minute
and pay attention to how you feel: peaceful, relaxed, at
ease."
She was right, I felt as if I'd had a long afternoon nap.
I looked over at Meg and took her hand; her face radiated a
kind of serenity that echoed my own feelings. A slow, easy
look around the dojo told me that the other couples were
experiencing the same thing. Well, all of them who were
left - the skeptical Ellen and her companion were gone,
their mats returned to the pile at the back of the dojo.
"What happened to them?" I asked, pointing toward the empty
spot.
"Ellen and Matt have decided not to continue," she
explained without explaining. "I agree with their choice.
And now that you've all had a chance to get reoriented,
let's talk about what you just experienced."
Carol then launched into an informal lecture on the basic
theory of hypnosis. She described how people actually go
into and out of various trance states normally every day
when they drive, watch television, read, dance, or do
almost anything that requires concentration. "That ability
to focus on one thing or sensation, so that other sounds
and stimuli are blocked out or ignored, is what a trance
really is," she told us. She went on to explain some of
the more important principles regarding the hypnotic state:
that people can always choose to end the trance if they
wish; people can also choose to reject a suggestion if it
conflicts with their moral sense or doesn't feel safe; and
that post-hypnotic suggestions wear off if they are not
used regularly. "We've all read or heard of stories in
which someone drops into a trance by hearing some random
phrase that they were conditioned to years before," she
said. "It makes an interesting fictional device, but it
could never really happen."
Next we discussed how hypnotic inductions actually work.
Carol went over the major modes of perception - visual,
auditory, and kinesthetic. "Visual people," she explained,
"have a strong ability to see things with their
imaginations. They can invoke an image and describe it in
great detail. Auditory people are very attuned to sounds.
Kinesthetics are very good at focusing on their own bodies,
sensing their own movement, position, and location. During
the induction we used earlier, I included elements of all
three. Unless you are very unusual, each of you should
have found that one type of instruction seemed to work
better for you than others. Maybe you found the rhythmic
sound from the CD player particularly soothing; maybe
staring at the dot seemed to focus you more; maybe it was
easiest for you to focus on the various sensations around
your body. Everyone is different, but knowing how a person
perceives the world makes it much easier to help them into
hypnosis and to form workable suggestions." Then Carol
turned to me. "Patrick, what elements in the induction
today worked best for you?"
She had caught me off guard; I had to yank my eyes back
from the graceful curve of her shoulder and think fast.
"The auditory," I answered. "The visual imagery of the
hammock and the wood were also pretty vivid, but it was
mostly the music and your voice that really put me away."
Carol smiled approvingly and looked to Meg. "The sound was
okay," Meg offered, "but it didn't really do much for me.
The whole relaxing thing, concentrating on specific body
parts and noticing all the different sensations, that was
the thing that really worked for me. I had a hard time
visualizing the woods, but I could feel myself swinging in
the hammock very well. I guess that makes me a
kinesthetic, right?"
Carol nodded and turned to the next couple. We watched and
listened as the other couples related their experiences.
Most of them turned out to be visual types, plus one or two
auditory. Meg was the only kinesthetic in the group.
"Before we end the session for tonight," Carol continued,
"I want to demonstrate for you one more principle of
hypnosis: it gets much easier with practice. Everyone
close your eyes and think back to when you were hypnotized
earlier. If you are visual, remember the images you saw
and how you felt as you looked at them; if you are
auditory, try to recall the sounds from the boom box and
let them take you back into deep relaxation; if you are
kinesthetic, remember the sensations of your body relaxing,
melting into the mats, growing heavy and loose. Relax your
feet everyone, your feet and now your calves . let the
relaxation spread up your legs . to your hips . " Her
voice dropping back to the low, sensual tones of a while
before, Carol guided us all through another progressive
relaxation. I was gone before she got all the way through,
the memory of that sound replaying through my head.
When I woke up again I felt invigorated. My body tingled
with a quiet excitement. I looked over at Meg and noticed,
as if for the first time, the delightful curves of her
breasts under the sport top she was wearing. I put a hand
on her back, partly to draw her to me and partly to find
out if she was wearing a bra underneath. She wasn't, I
concluded as out lips met in a hot kiss that put Miracle
Grow in my shorts. I was only half aware of Carol's voice
in the background. "Our final item tonight is a small
demonstration of post-hypnotic suggestion," she was saying.
"I planted a fairly simple suggestion; you should be
feeling its affects right now, so I don't think I need to
tell you what it was. Please try to remember this one
thing, though: if you possibly can, I'd like each of you
to find some quiet time each day and practice putting
yourself back into hypnosis. You'll find it gets easier if
you practice every day."
Carol saw us all nod, but we weren't really paying much
attention to her. With a light sigh and a broad smile, she
dismissed us. "Everyone drive carefully, and I'll see you
here next Thursday."
Meg and I separated reluctantly, our eyes wandering back to
each other's bodies often as we gathered our things and put
away the mats. I did look around enough to notice that we
were not the only couple acting this way. The 'small
demonstration' was clearly working in a big way.
As we headed out the door, Carol stopped us for a quick
aside. "It's unusual to have only one kinesthetic person
in a group," she said to Meg. "I'm a kinesthetic too;
remind me next week and I'll teach you a couple of special
techniques."
We thanked Carol and said goodnight, our minds mostly
occupied with our own special techniques, which we intended
to put into practice as soon as we got home.