The Happy Drunk Reviews- Dance Like a Goddess-Hypnosis for Bellydancers

I have been just itching to Happy Drunk Review this CD, Dance like a Goddess, Hypnosis for Bellydancers. Now, before we get started there are a few things you need to know.  
  1. I already do recorded meditations regularly, so I am familiar with this whole thing. This review is coming from someone who goes to Disneyland every year as opposed from someone who it is their first time. I have done meditations/regressions/hypnosis sessions with Jonathan Goldman, Dr. Brian Weiss, The Meditation Podcast, and numerous other piles of the good, the bad and the downright ugly.
  2. I am also a practicing witch ( see my other blog ) so even though hypnosis is not at all affiliated with any religion, it is often lumped in with the Pagan/New Age crowd. My take on this will have the added influence of my own two spiritual cents. Can't help it. Its what I do.
    Sooooooooo, all of that aside I LOVED this CD! My normal guided meditation protocol is that I record the CD onto my Ipod ( or download it), go into my bedroom, cut off the lights, put a pillow over my eyes ( the less sensory stimulation the better), and just listen. I have found that lying down is much easier than sitting when doing anything like this.
   First, he leads you through a series of visualizations, which basically you imagine being in a field with the sun overhead, stepping up stairs that light up with each color of the rainbow, etc. This lasts for roughly half of the hour long CD, and if you are not used to it you may be thinking " what does this have to do with dance?". The idea is to get you to fully relax and open up so that you are as receptive and relaxed as you can be. My advice is to just go with it, and think of it as a free mental massage.....it IS very relaxing.
After the first half of visualizations you get into the "dance" part of the CD. GOOD STUFF!  More visualizing ( stepping into a dance circle, visualizing a favorite dancer, etc.) and he really turns it on with the background music and his voice. That is one thing I really loved about this CD, his voice. Not only is it not annoying like most meditation CD's ( although this is hypnosis), but he MEANS it. His voice can be soothing, powerful, distant, and many other things. He utilizes tone and cadence, and other tools that most CD's lack. This guy obviously knows what he is doing with his voice, and there is ENERGY behind his voice. I have done meditation CD's in the past that sounded like someone was dryly reading from a script, and luckily there isn't even a hint of that in this.
      My favorite-est part is the last 15ish minutes when he repeats over and over ( think brainwashing), powerful dance statements. My favorite is " I love to practice the dance frequently". I don't want to give too much away but each statement is one that I believe as dancers we can all use. They are empowering and it certainly can't hurt to tell ourselves uplifting, confidence building statements over and over again.
   If you are thinking, this is all nice and good, but where will I get an hour to myself every day?, most people do this before bedtime. It is ridiculously relaxing and it helps you sleep better, too. So give it a try.
     Does it work? Here is when it gets complicated. I found that as I heard it the first time I was surprised to discover that " I didn't believe" the statements about myself. My mind wanted to fight it. It was very odd. But the more I used it I noticed that the mental resistance that I usually feel when I start to practice or dance started dissipating, and I think that after several weeks of use, I have totally assimilated the statements. Which for a semi-co dependant, slightly OCD, very neurotic, somewhat insecure, and perfectionist to the point of crazy bellydancer like myself, that ain't no small feat. Imagine all that you believe in your heart about yourself as a dancer ( if you are self actualized enough to even know it), is erased, and in its place are all the things that we WANT to believe about ourselves as dancers. That we are powerful, rhythmic, beautiful embodiments of the music. That is the kind of stuff I want to regularly pump in the old grey matter, I don't know about you.
        Lastly, I did not do this nightly, I would say I averaged about twice a week, and that seemed to be enough. I will continue to do this regularly to reinforce.
    Yay James! Yay Hypnosis for bellydancers!


      So I am thinking another CD....Hypnosis for Bellydancers part 2. How bout " I get better and better at zils every day"....and stuff like that.
      I am only half kidding.