The Mechanic, The Engineer, and The Magician – Nathan Thomas

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in Hypnosis Lessons

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of spending 6 days with master hypnotist Igor Ledochowski in Sydney, Australia.

I was assisting at his advanced conversational hypnosis training program, and noticed him tell a metaphor which I had seen him share a couple of times before.

The metaphor explains the three levels of hypnosis ability:

1: The Mechanic
2: The Engineer
3: The Magician

Looking at the IAYH Forums, and noticing the discussions there, I think this is particularly relevant because it will help you break out of the newbie cycle, and get firmly locked onto the path to mastery.

The mechanic follows instructions. He or she learns something, and follows it rigidly with little room for creation, innovation or adaptation.

Provided things fit the exact model you learned, the mechanic gets some results, and can have some success.

The next level is the engineer.

The engineer dissects, extracts, and deduces.

By looking at the surface level of a technique, you can see what is really going on.

You can extract the real process at play, and change, adapt and rearrange steps to suit new environments or situation.

And engineer looks at process, not just technique.

The next level is the magician.

The magician goes beyond technique AND process. The magician has reached a level of pure unconscious competence, and can work ‘magic’ without having to think or plan.

True mastery is a balance between the engineer and the magician.

When you can work magic – achieve moment of spontaneous brilliance – then deduce what’s really at play, teach it, and do it again whenever you choose, then you are among the masters!

I have seen far too many people get stuck on the mechanics. For many of you, it’s time to start thinking like an engineer.

Eventually, it will be time to relax into the spontaneous flow of the magician.

When you are there, remember at some point you’ll need to let a little part of the engineer back in, so you can take your unconscious insights and skills, and share and apply them again and again.

Keep this learning curve in the back of your mind as you learn more about hypnosis, and notice at what level your thinking is.

Because you’re a human being, this won’t always be a smooth linear progression from A to B to C, but the structure will be there somewhere.

I hope this will help make your journey a little easier for you, and illuminate the next few curves in the road for you.

Looking forward to reading more of your adventures in the forums!
Cheers,
Nathan Thomas

PS

You can steal some free training from Igor Ledochowski himself at his new website, here.

You may also like to read:

  1. What is Hypnosis – Nathan Thomas
  2. An Excercise In Thought – On Being a Hypnotist and Doing Hypnosis – Nathan Thomas
  3. How To Beat The Background Noise – Nathan Thomas
  4. Mastering Hypnotic Phenomena – Nathan Thomas
  5. How To Create Spelling Binding Hypnotic Pretalks – Nathan Thomas
  • Chris

    I’m already familiar with this idea from Igor’s hypnotic hero’s journey masterclass, and even though it is a very good description, I want to add two more things.

    First, I hate scripts and I know that you and Igor feel the same about them. Using scripts keeps you at a level below the level of techniques and mechanics, you’re not doing anything except memorizing people’s words. So try to stay away from scripts.

    Second, the magician is the most difficult level to describe, but recently I read a blog post on hypnothoughts that pretty much described it. A magician is someone who will move beyond the principles that he was taught, and he can allow hypnosis to be a power that manifests his positive intent, and that’s what makes some people great.

    Chris

  • http://www.subliminal-artist.com Raymond Doetjes

    I do not like the word “magician” in this metaphor it’s ill chosen for people who have any conception of magic :D

    I would be more comfortable with the word artist. The only thing that makes an artist a creative artist is knowledge and experience. Knowledge and experience that flow without initial constrictions and inhabitations. After that moment of “conception” it becomes very much an engineering job.

    So basically becoming an artist (or magician) means going through the ranks of mechanic, engineer over and over and over again until suddenly that moment is there that your mind comes up with that one unique idea. When you work out that idea it becomes mechanics.

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