A Tribute to A. M. Wolff: 1917-2000

1.  TRIBUTE:

2. HYPNOSIS NOTES FROM A.M. WOLFF UNO COURSE:

3. QUITE RETIREE SPEND LIFE LIFTING OTHER:

1.  TRIBUTE: In the early 1980s, I took a course on "Self-Hypnosis" at the University of New Orleans. The instructor was A. M. Wolff (9-22-17-6-17-00) who had worked with the New Orleans Police and Fire Department (stress management and hypnosis classes). taught hypnosis courses at UNO and worked with athletes at Tulane University. He was an excellent instructor and has been an inspiration to me over the years. A few years ago, I was presenting a "Self-Improvement with Self-Hypnosis" seminar at Pendleton Memorial Methodist Hospital where I was a Chaplain and Hypnotherapist. One of the persons in attendance at that presentation was A. M. Wolff. It was a joy to introduce him to the class and to have the opportunity to say how much he had meant to me and my hypnotherapy career. A few weeks ago, I received an email from Mr. Wolff’s daughter, Lyndia Landry. She told me how good it was to hear her father referred in one on my articles on this website. It was then that I learned of his death. He was truly a good teacher of hypnosis and a good example through his work in the community and with the police and fire department.

2. HYPNOSIS NOTES FROM A.M. WOLFF UNO COURSE: (University of New Orleans): Even if you've never been to a hypnotist, you have probably experienced a form of hypnosis many times in your life. Such common experiences as day-dreaming, being totally absorbed in a book or becoming mesmerized by the lines of a highway on a long trip are forms of hypnosis. In many ways, hypnosis is very similar to sleep. It is a natural and very restful state. It has three separate and distinct levels: Light, Medium, and Deep. (Each of which can be further broken down.) But unlike sleep, hypnosis is a state of altered awareness that retains consciousness.

During Light hypnosis, a person feels listless and lethargic. In the Medium state, a hypnotized person feels even more relaxed. You can remember and reenact events from earlier times in your life and, at the hypnotist's suggestion, can even make parts of the body go numb. During Deep hypnosis, you can open your eyes and walk around without coming out of hypnosis. You can experience events from very early childhood. (This is called "regression," and I strongly suggest doing only under proper medical supervision.) You are deeply relaxed and feel a glowing sense of comfort and calm.

Although hypnosis has been practiced and studied fro centuries, it is still not completed understood. Hypnosis cannot be explained by any single factor because it is a process that crosses and interacts with many area of human thinking. It is a very subtle process in which the conscious mind is continually aware and is monitoring the activity of the subconscious mind. Yet, the conscious mind stand aside to let the subconscious mind deal with the present suggestions and inquires from the hypnotist.

It is this unique unveiling of the subconscious that makes hypnosis such a valuable tool in psychotherapy. Hypnosis can make the difference between a brief period of therapy and an extended one. with it, an experienced psychotherapist can gain access to repressed material much more rapidly than the lengthy process of analysis.

Hypnosis is also useful in reducing anxiety and in helping people overcome bad habits and phobias. In the field of medicine and dentistry, hypnosis can be used to help control muscle spasms and can also be used as an anesthetic.

(1) A HYPNOTIZED PERSON IS UNCONSCIOUS OR ASLEEP: A person is aware and conscious, even in the deepest levels of hypnosis.

(2) THE HYPNOTIZED PERSON WILL REVEAL SECRETS THAT WOULD NOT BE TOLD OUT OF THE HYPNOTIC STATE: While in hypnotic state one is fully aware of What is happening and what is said. One will not reveal anything he/she does not want to reveal.

(3) THE HYPNOTIZED PERSON IS UNDER THE COMPLETE CONTROL OF THE

HYPNOTIST: A person in the hypnotic state will not do anything against his/her will. Any

suggestion that is given is strictly censored by the conscious and subconscious mind.

(4) A PERSON MAY NOT COME OUT OF THE HYPNOTIC STATE: Most people come out of the hypnotic state quickly upon the count out of the hypnotic state or when the individual counts himself out of self-hypnosis. If difficulty occurs, it is usually because the person does not want to leave the relaxed state. If person is having difficulty come out of the hypnotic state, the hypnotist may say, "It is time to come out of the hypnotic state, but if you desire, you may stay in the hypnotic state, but I must tell you that for each minute of the second hour, I charge the same as for first hour." or "Your bladder is getting fuller and fuller." If a person continues to remain in the hypnotic state, they will drift into a natural and peaceful sleep and awake when it is appropriate for them to wake up or when someone wakes them up. In all of history, there is no record of an individual failing to come out the hypnotic state.

(5) A HYPNOTIZED PERSON DOES NOT KNOW WHAT IS BEING DONE TO HIM OR HER: False, one is aware of what is going on.

(G) ONLY WEEK MINDED PEOPLE CAN BE HYPNOTIZED. The more imaginative and intelligent a person is the easier to hypnotize. Anyone who can think, reason, and communicate can be hypnotized.

(7) HYPNOSIS MAKES A PERSON WEAK MINDED AND WEAK WILLED. Hypnosis tends to do just the opposite.

(8) HYPNOSIS IS ANTI-RELIGIOUS. Hypnosis is neither religious or anti-religious. It can be used for good or bad depending on the hypnotist and the subject.

(9) THERE IS NO DANGER ATTACHED TO THE USE OF HYPNOSIS. Basically that is a true statement, but one using hypnosis beyond their training and knowledge may cause harm.

(10) THE SUBJECT MUST BE IN A DEEP STATE FOR HYPNOSIS TO BE SUCCESSFUL. Self improvement and overcoming bad habits can be successful treated in the light or medium state.

(11) A POST HYPNOTIC SUGGESTION LAST FOREVER. A post hypnotic suggestion may not be followed at all or may last a few minute to a life

1. THE LAW OF CONCENTRATED ATTENTION. When spontaneous attention is concentrated on an idea, it tends to realize itself. While conscious attention is desired in the waking sate to secure full effect from suggestion, it is the attention of the subconscious mind which is sought during hypnosis and this part of mind is ore easily reached if there is not conscious attention.

2. THE LAW OF REVERSED EFFECT: Whenever anyone is in a state of mind in which he thinks, "I should like to do this but "cannot", he may wish as much as he pleases, but the more he tries, the less he is able. The result of this law is seen in the person with insomnia who tries to go to sleep. The harder he tries, the ore wide awake he becomes. A similar situation arises in the induction of hypnosis. The more the subject tries to cooperate actively - the harder he ties to become hypnotized - the less the chance there is of inducing the trance, since passive or directed co-operation is essential. This law must be remembered when phrasing a suggestion - for instance, in the test where the subject is told to try to open his eyes but that he cannot because they are glued together. The harder he tries, the tighter they stick.

Coue' said, "When the imagination and the will are at war, the imagination invariably wins. The force of the imagination is n direct ratio to the square of the will."

3. THE LAW OF DOMINANT EFFECT. An idea always tends towards realization,... At any given time there is available in the brain only a certain amount of energy which is always attracted to the strongest emotional wish-feeling then present. To achieve the greatest result from a suggestion, it must be attached to an emotion of the instinct groups having such energy capacity as to surmount any other than likely to be active in the mind. Affirmations are far stronger than negatives when making suggestion.

1) ANALGESIA: An absence of pain, but an awareness of touch and pressure.

2) ANESTHESIA: Total absence of touch, pressure and pain.

3) AUTOHYPNOSIS: A self-induced state of hypnosis. (self-hypnosis).

4) CATALEPSY: A condition of inability to more muscles on suggestion.

5) HYPERESTHESIA: Acute sensory perception.

6) HYPERPRAXIA: Increased muscular ability.

7) HYPNOIDAL: A very light state of hypnosis.

8) HYPNOTHERAPY: The use of hypnosis in psychotherapy.

9) HYPNODONTICS: The use of hypnosis in dental work.

10) NEGATIVE HALLUCINATIONS: A lack of awareness of objects or persons actually, physically present. On suggestion, any or all oft he five senses may be involved. The subject will not see hear, smell, taste or feel genuine stimulus.

11) OPERATOR: The hypnotist.

12) PLACEBO: A device without any real therapeutic value, which, however, due to suggestion with which it is given, has an effect.

13) POSITIVE HALLUCINATION: A state in which the subject believes that he sees, tastes, hears, or feels a suggested stimuli that is not in reality present.

14) POST HYPNOTIC SUGGESTION: A suggestion given in the hypnotic state that will be executed in the waking state.

15) RAPPORT: An attitude of trust and confidence, a feeling of empathy, between the subject and operator usually signified by the subject responding only to the suggestions of the operator.

16) RATIONALIZATION: Self-justification by giving acceptable, although not true, reasons for actions.

17) REFRACTORY: Denotes a subject offering resistance to hypnosis.

18) REGRESSION: The ability of a subject on suggestion to relive or re-experience past events.

19) REVIVIFICATION: Regression in which past experiences are relived to a more intense and profound degree.

20) SELF-HYPNOSIS: A self-induced state of hypnosis. (Auto-hypnosis).

21) SOMNAMBULE: A subject capable of producing profound hypnotic phenomena.

22) SOMNAMBULISM: The deepest state of hypnosis.

23) SUBJECT: the person in hypnosis.

24) WAKING HYPNOSIS: Production of the hypnotic phenomena in waking state.

1) Capable of comprehension and concentration.

2) Possess a desire to be hypnotized.

3) Motivated to be hypnotized.

4) Belief or faith in possibility of hypnosis.

5) Willingness to cooperate.

6) Confidence in the operator.

3. QUITE RETIREE SPEND LIFE LIFTING OTHER: (A. W. WOLFF): BILL GRADY: FROM THE NEW ORLEANS TIME-PICAYUNE FEB 22, 1997):

It is written in stone that prettily wrapped candies will be laid out with perfect symmetry on the hall table of A. M. Wolff’s condominium in The Carol, a large and secure St. Charles Avenue high-rise. And they’ll stay perfect until some chocolate-loving imp - not Wolff, God forbid, but maybe a certain visiting kid who vaguely understands that "Uncle A. M." is a very important man - plucks a few from the table and wrecks the arrangement. Which is fine, because with disorder there could be no order. In that case, Uncle A. M. would not be a well-heeled certified public account with a secure financial portfolio of ultra-conservative investments.

Anyway, the visit ends with the kid and his dad at the condominium door. Neither are related to Wolff so the kid cannot comprehend the look of affection that passes between his father and the old man with the rosy complection and black-framed glasses. It’s nothing, really, just the face the old man quietly put the father and two other young men through medical school or college out the goodness of his heart. That’s all. Wolff would rather not speak of it. So, after father and son are gone and the condominium is quite, he puts the candy straight again.

He was, needless to say, an employer’s dream: industrious, self-effacing, highly intelligent. What greater accolade could he have received than this: they trusted him with their money. When Wolff retired in 1985 as vice-president-comptroller-treasurer and member of the board of directors of the New Orleans based Wemco neckwear company, he received unprecedented award of a chubbyhole-for-life at the business’ South White Street building. He visits his tiny office three or four times a week, driving to Wemco in his 1991 Chrysler New Yorker.

In an age of hyperefficiency, Webco is guilty of wasting space. Why give an office to a man who has no duties? "I don’t know why," said the meticulously dressed Wolff, 79, sitting with elegant unease on hi sofa, with hansom antiques and an Oriental rug of muted design spread before him. He seems at once repelled and drawn to subject of conversation: himself. "I think it’s very nice of them to me an office. Yes, yes, maybe they like me. Could be, but I don’t think about things like that."

Briefly then, the Wemco office staff like to see him around. In their world of starched collars and measured coffee breaks, A. M. Wolff is by all accounts a non-threatening entity. "The man has no ego." said Steven Latter, the comical proprietor of Tehague’s Restaurant who once worked with Wolff at Wemco. "When I was at Wemco, he helped me. When I went into business for myself, he always had the answers. I call A. W. every two or three weeks. I also like to remind him that I’m hoping to be in his will, so if I’m quoted in the newspaper, I’d like the part abut the will to be included. I might as well push it."

Another of Wolff’s acquaintances, his girlfriend, lives on the 10^th floor of the Carol. Leone Marks, daughter of the prominent New Orleans businessman and civic leader Leon C. Simon, remembers Wolff as an office boy as her father’s business, United China and Glass, back in the late 30's. She took little notice of him. He was one of thousands of Depression boys walking to work in the mornings to save the 7-cent streetcar fare. He took his pay home to his mother, who worked in the ladies dresses department at Gus Meyer’s on Canal Street. His fat her was long gone. Wolff does not speak of him. "We didn’t have a pot to pee in." Wolff said. "We lived on Milan Street. My mother was a hard-working lady. She raised three kids in the days when you didn’t have single parents."

After high school, Wolff went to work in the daytime and to Soule Business College at night to study accounting - the art of keeping tabs on money, the very thing he did not have. He was not depressed. "The younger generation will never understand that period. You never outgrow it, no matter how old you are." said Wolff. "You always have the feeling that something bad is going to happen. The stock market’s going to crash." He let out a playful, but quickly stifled, giggle.

Having been oversees in World War II, as a hospital supply officer. Wolff returned to New Orleans, attending night school at Tulane University, where he earned a degree in accounting.

Wolff joined Wembly, the forerunner of Wemco, in 1958. By then he was well on his way to the safe harbor he sought. It was also about the time he discovered hypnotism, the ultimate tool of self-control. For more than 40 years, Wolff has taught athletes, police officers, firefighters and other ho to hypnotize themselves to reduce the effects of stress and other conditions. When Sam Pulitzer, founder of Wembly, developed prostate cancer, he went to Wolff, who taught him hypnosis to lessen his pain.

"All of his adult life, A. M. has been doing for other folks and he can’t stand it if somebody does for him," Marks said. "Don’t build me up," Wolff said, "I don’t want to look good. I’ll have a terrible letdown when its over." (Durbin: No A. M., not a let down but a lift up. You helped many including myself and I shall always be grateful.)