Bush Therapy

Bush Therapy

(A Ground Breaking Opportunity in Hypnosis)
Article by John Dutton

Hypnosis is possibly globally the most underutilized therapy of its kind and has so many unique opportunities to help in a world full of the need for help.

One of the areas that I believe has huge potential in Africa and possibly other countries is Bush Therapy.

I have been blessed to work with over 11000 people one on one using various techniques in Hypnosis and been able to conduct many years of research with some amazing findings and results, a few years ago while waiting at an airport to catch a flight to my lovely Indian ocean home town of Umhlanga situated near Durban in South Africa a fleeting thought came to mind.

Over the years I had conducted hypnosis in some strange places such as on a plane for a traumatized passenger, in a prison cell on an awaiting trial prisoner, in rehab centres, in the change rooms at a soccer stadium to calm a nervous player and a swimming pool to calm a nervous swimmer and at a car accident scene to calm a accident victim awaiting the arrival of an ambulance and the list goes on.

The Interesting factor was that I had no equipment, private office or couch to work on.  The idea struck me that in the beautiful country of South Africa millions of HIV/Aids sufferers live a life of anxiety worry and stress as they suffer, many in silence.  Thousands of these people live in the rural areas out in the bush little or no roads, no electricity, living in mud or reed huts with no means to get medical help no money and definitely no access to psychologists and social workers to assist in helping them cope with the trauma of HIV/Aids.

If I could work in so many different places why couldn’t I teach Practitioners to work under a tree with a client in the warm peaceful African bush?  I recruited a bursary student a 45-year-old black gentleman name Mahli with, a strong empathy to help a very basic education and little or no knowledge of Hypnosis.

After an intense 5 day workshop teaching him how to safely induct and how to use Hypnosis to ease stress and anxiety, Mahli was given 5 months to practice, write and exam and project which he did successfully with vigour and passion.  Mahli then had to visit a village out in a remote area in the valley of a thousand hills outside of an, a very beautiful place with rolling hills and greenery.

His first mission was to get permission from the local village Chief and the Sangoma (witch doctor) after much deliberation and discussion in fact weeks, it was decided the process would not interfere with spiritual values and a session was to be carried out on the Chief in his mud hut overlooking the beautiful valley.  The result was the session was extremely effective and the Chief granted Mahli consent with the blessing of the Sangoma to work on his tribe members.

At this stage I have a training module that works, I have a therapy that works, and I have people that want to be trained and people that want the help.

My next step is to find funding to take on this large undertaking, this I know is going to be very challenging, I need to train trainers and expand this even beyond the South African borders, my dream of Bush Therapy becoming a reality are so close but yet so far, I believe this is both ground breaking and unique in Africa, and with the millions of HIV/Aids suffers we could make a difference, even if it’s just a peaceful hour under a tree with a hypnosis practitioner as the African sun sets.

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