The Magician's Workshop
Why Call This
'THE MAGICIAN'S WORKSHOP'
​
by Trayce
Catering2Us Creator
Magicians were like the first neuroscientists
and psychologists,
as they figured out the
parts of people’s minds that are vulnerable
to trickery !
Instead of wands and quick hands, Erickson pioneered the use of short stories, anec-dotes, jokes, puns and riddles, as well as asking people to do weird tasks, to entertain their conscious mind in a dis-tracting way so it wouldn't block the new positive, in-structive messages, he was at the same time sending to their unconscious mind.
The
MAGICIAN'S
WORKSHOP
The mind is a maze, with bottlenecks, blind alleys, ditches, and booby traps. Like a Sherpa, a guide who shows the way through dangers to the summit, I lead participants through a series of surprising questions and discussion topics at an energizing pace, building confidence in their own self-expression and help-ing to draw out stories they didn’t know they had.
At the end of the session, participants are often surprised by how calm and focused they are, as they inwardly write and collect ideas in their own heads. Even if it never gets down to paper, an interesting new thinking process has been introduced. Then there will be those who want to learn to do their own tricks, and write a memoir to share with Catering2Us !
There's a
script
​
I've created a script for the Magician's Workshop, that I myself read from, word-by-word (every workshop mixing in original comments and new stories). This comes from my years of teaching short scriptwriting. I love when you get the words just right, how impactful they can be.
And if you have a script,
you can constantly be improving upon it. Also by perfecting a written script, I hope to find others, who'll go through the workshop,
and want to learn to facilitate the Magician's Workshop themselves, adding their own
signature touches.
Each month I will offer
(6) one hour, free intro to writing a short memoir sessions, that I call ‘the Magician’s Workshop’, because
the techniques in it
are based upon
the principles of
which was founded by Milton Erickson.
When Erickson was a sickly teen in a Nevada mining town in the 1900s, he watched spellbound as a travel-ing entertainer put audience members un-der a spell and they did want the entertainer told them to do. When the act was over, the entertainer told the hypnotized to not re- member what happen-ed.
But young Erickson thought, what if you hypnotized someone to act in a new way, and then told the person as they were waking up to continue to remember what had happened? And could you teach an average person simple hypnotic techniques to put themselves in a state where they would be more open to change? In the 1960s Erickson founded the school of therapeutic hypnosis.
WE
CAN
ALL BE MAGICIANS
Magic Therapy, the teach-ing of simple magic tricks, is being used with both kids and senior citizens for mental well-being and to enhance skills. Under the guise of learning how to tell a short story about one's own life, I believe everyday people can be taught techniques and be given exercises to help them discover the magic of understanding what is in one's own head (and the other person's head as well), and how to use it for the good.
For our communities, families, relationships,
we need
to learn
how
thru
words
to be
magicians.
​
​
I consider myself a really good peer teacher. Meaning I have a little bit of learning, but am no expert. What I do know a lot about is myself and other working people, and about the stuff inside that holds us back. Growing up a little adult amidst a difficult childhood; to working in rape crisis, with battered women, and running classes for men and couples on probation for family violence; to studying acting than guerilla filmmaking, and stumbling into teaching short scriptwriting at community locations for over twelve years including for seven years at NYC College of Technology's Continuing Ed., while mostly supporting myself as a cater waiter -- over these different lifetimes I've been absorbing, sharing, and analyzing stories.
With Catering2Us I hope to spread the magic
that happens when we learn how to tell our own
own stories with passion, skill and imagination.
