Amy Marsh, Sexologist & Hypnotist

Category: Hypnosis-Professional Training

Intimate Hypnosis Training Center’s professional training

  • Catching My Breath After Catalyst Con West

    Catching My Breath After Catalyst Con West

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    I came (well, not literally, unfortunately). I saw. I presented. Yes, it went well.

    Erotic hypnosis workshops taught by Dr. Amy Marsh
    Erotic hypnosis workshops taught by Dr. Amy Marsh

    But you know, I wish I had attended the entire conference. I arrived on Saturday morning, a day after the festivities had started, and never did lose my “new-girl-at-school-trying-to-catch up-and-fit-in” feeling. But with all the urgent confusion in my personal life (divorce finalizing, home sale coming up…), I didn’t feel I could be away more than a night. Plus, I’ve got some chronic fatigue and chemical sensitivity issues that require a certain amount of pacing.

    Still, I wish now that I’d gone for a couple more days – attended a pre-conference workshop on Thursday (so I could bond with a few strangers) as well as Friday’s opening plenary, networking events, and so on. It would have given me time to adjust, meet and talk with people, and relax!

    CatalystCon West was a rich mixture, and there were too many good workshops to see. There were always at least two in each time slot that beckoned to me. Hard to choose! My favorite presentations were from Anna Randall & Richard Sprott (Black and Blues: When Bruises Become Bruised Feelings), Robin Wilson-Beattie & Bethany Stevens (Toys for a Sex-Abled Life), and Alex Morgan & Monique Darling (Yes, All Genders…). Carol Queen & Shar Rednour were erudite and amusing (Writing Sex & Pleasure…) and Samantha Manewitz was also very good on the topic of abuse in kink communities (Breaking Silence…).

    My Sunday morning presentation, Hot & Hypnotic – Five Ways Erotic Hypnosis Can Rock Your Sex Life, was a lot of fun. I felt very well taken care of by the conference assistants and tech support. I also had a brief chance to say hello to Dee Dennis, whom I’d never met before. And then my room filled with mostly unknown faces and I was off and running. I truly love talking about hypnosis and sex! I like to work the floor, move, and enjoy myself when I present. People seemed to mostly enjoy what I did, though a couple of ropes enthusiasts challenged me on my caution about mixing hypnosis and actual bondage (a caution mostly for newbies, I admit – and mostly founded on trust issues). I also did a group hypnosis script on consent, which people also seemed to appreciate.

    Tweets comments for my presentation hashtag #cconhot included “excellent presentation” (from @TantrikaVanessa) and an exhuberant “2 min power pose!” with a happy face (from @MissHelena007). Others tweeted about certain aspects of content – myths and benefits (@car_ireland), using hypnosis without realizing it (@Desire_Guru), and so on. @car_ireland and @MissHelena007 tweeted that they felt “excited” and @MissHelena007 kindly said I brought “a wealth of knowledge and experience to the party.” I am very grateful to these lovely people who took the time to say a few words about my workshop on Twitter!

    After my presentation, energizing as it was, I felt in need of something restorative: a nap, or a shower, a cup of cocoa, or something! But I’d had to check out of my room early that morning, due to the timing of my workshop, so there was no place to go and recover. Alas!

    After attending a couple more workshops, I was exhausted and socially saturated by the time Sunday afternoon’s grand finale rolled around (Tea with Joanni Blank). I’d had some great meals with colleagues, some nice interactions in passing, and now I was ready for home. I decided to leave without saying good-byes, and just get myself over to the Bob Hope Airport so I could collapse into an uncomfortable airport chair for an hour before take off.

    I was at the airport for several extra, unexpected hours due to the horrible fires in Lake County, which had caused flight delays and cancellations throughout California. While in my little sex conference bubble, I was unaware of what was happening in Northern CA.

    Immediately upon my return I was unexpectedly plunged into a friend’s local political campaign, designing his website, Facebook page, and so on. It’s consumed the last week and a half of my life, even in the midst of divorce and home sale details. Today is the first day I’ve had a chance to reflect on my experiences at CatalystCon West.

    Would I do it again? Probably – but only on the West Coast. I’m less and less inclined to travel at all, unless it’s to Hawai’i!

  • “I Don’t Get Out Much” – But I’ll Be at These Fall Conferences

    “I Don’t Get Out Much” – But I’ll Be at These Fall Conferences

    Erotic hypnosis workshops taught by Dr. Amy Marsh
    Erotic hypnosis workshops taught by Dr. Amy Marsh

    I’m excited to be presenting at CatalystCon West this year. My topic: Hot and Hypnotic – Five Ways Erotic Hypnosis Can Rock Your Sex Life.  (Sept. 11-13, Burbank, CA). My Twitter hashtag for this event is #cconhot. 

    I’ve also been asked to present at the third annual Western Erotic Hypnosis Unconference, (Oct. 8-12 in Belmont, CA) but this is not yet confirmed. Part of the delay in confirmation apparently has to do with my request that the conference add “please be considerate and refrain from using fragrances” language to their awareness, website, etc.

    (CatalystCon already has “fragrance-free” as a standing policy for their entire conference! Why is this important? See this link to the late Julia Kendall’s list of the most common toxic chemicals found in scented products. )

  • Moving Forward on Founding the Intimate Hypnosis Training Center

    Moving Forward on Founding the Intimate Hypnosis Training Center

    It’s been a few years since I first dreamt about founding a sexological hypnosis training center – one which could provide truly exceptional training in the uses of hypnosis for sexual problems and enjoyment. I want to promote sexual health and well-being through well-trained practitioners!

    I am happy to say that I’ve successfuly jumped one bureaucratic hurdle in making this dream a reality! I received official word (as of April 8, 2015) that the CA Bureau of Private Postsecondary Education has granted my application for exemption for the Intimate Hypnosis Training Center. What this means is that the type of professional training that I intend to offer does NOT fit into a category requiring oversight by this particular agency. This is because (1) no class costs over $2,500; (2) IHTC does not and will not accept state or federal money for student tuition; and (3) IHTC does not and will not create degree-granting programs. Nope – it’s all strictly professional training, and while it’s a shame I won’t be able to offer financial assistance to students, it’s best to keep this operation simple and small. My focus is on delivering top quality, online and onsite hypnosis and sexology education. I’d like to avoid getting mired in unnecessary bureaucratic challenges.

    So, as of April 10, 2015, consider the Intimate Hypnosis Training Center as officially “launched,” even though I have a few more business-type hoops to get through. Another piece of good news – I have updated my course syllabi and submitted them to the American College of Sexologists International, so that people who take my training can also qualify for membership in that organization, with all its benefits, the directory, etc.

    Classes will start on June 1, 2015. Come study with me!

  • Five Great Ways to Use Personal Erotic Hypnosis

    Five Great Ways to Use Personal Erotic Hypnosis

    Erotic hypnosis workshops taught by Dr. Amy Marsh
    Erotic hypnosis workshops taught by Dr. Amy Marsh.

    I predict that erotic hypnosis will be the hot new erotic trend of 2014. There are so many great things you can do with it, for yourself and with your lovers. 

    Consenting adults use personal erotic hypnosis to enhance and enrich their sexual relationships. Erotic hypnosis is so versatile you can adapt it to any scenario: romantic;  tantric; edgy; and even kinky. Erotic hypnosis can help you increase (or decrease) all kinds of sensations, boost your fantasy life, and add multiple dimensions to any sexy role play. Use erotic hypnosis as foreplay or to intensify the hottest parts of your sexual encounters. Use it alone (erotic self-hypnosis), with a partner, or in a group. Like a trusty vibrator, erotic hypnosis can go just about anywhere… 

    Here are just five of the many great ways you can use erotic hypnosis:

    1. Getting in the Mood. If you’re too stressed to even think about sex, ask your partner to indulge you with a long, soothing progressive relaxation induction that gradually shifts into sensual, arousing imagery. This is as simple as reading a script, though you can certainly ad lib as you learn more about basic hypnotic techniques.

    2. Getting in the Groove. In order to become aroused and sustain that loving feeling, you need to stay on the right side of your parasympathetic nervous system (until you’re close to orgasm, which is when your sympathetic nervous system kicks into high gear). You can use hypnotic relaxation techniques to increase your sexual self-confidence and banish performance anxiety.

    3. Getting in Touch. When you’re “entranced,” it’s easy to experience an increase in sensual awareness and sensation by simply listening to your lover’s suggestions and succumbing to the power of your imagination. Trust me, your body will respond. Hypnosis plus touch is also a potent combination.

    4. Getting Hot! Deepen your sexual experiences on all levels – sensations, fantasies, variety, role play, and even hypnotic orgasms. Basic hypnotic skills can take you there.

    5. Getting Kinky. You can create wild and elaborate fantasy scenarios without spending a dime on equipment and toys. Use hypnosis to imagine and rehearse something you might want to try in the future, or to provide an extra dimension for your present fun and games.

    Erotic hypnosis also has a lot to offer people who have chronic illnesses and/or physical impairments that might make some sexual activities difficult. With erotic hypnosis, you can take your mind – and your sexual responses – where you body might not physically follow.

    Of course, erotic hypnosis should only be used in a responsible way, with a lot of trust and a lot of talking beforehand – working out most of what you want to try and experience, in advance, and getting clear consent for every part of it. There’s much more to be said on this topic – and about the basic hypnosis skills you must acquire – but for now, this is a glimpse into the benefits and uses of recreational, erotic hypnosis.

    Gustav Klimt Judith I, 1901 Öl auf Leinwand 84 x 42 cm

  • Why Do I Teach Erotic Hypnosis to Lovers?

    Why Do I Teach Erotic Hypnosis to Lovers?

    The short answer is: it’s another part of my sexological “bag of tricks.” But I think this question also requires a longer explanation.

    All sexologists, sex counselors, sex coaches, and sex therapists develop a menu of therapeutic strategems, tips, techniques, and recommended products, books, and media to share with our clients. Most of us give classes and workshops on everything from orgasms, oral sex, erotic massage, tantra, coping with pelvic pain, aging and sexuality, and so on. We’re always looking for new, effective ways to assist our clients and students with their sexual concerns.

    We also often give our clients “homeplay” exercises to do between sessions. For couples, there may be a sensate focus series, non-demand touch exercises for building trust and somatic awareness, first used by sex therapy teams like Masters & Johnson and Hartman & Fithian, and still in wide use today. For a man with rapid ejaculation, there may be a program of mindful masturbation exercises designed to build his capacity for “lasting longer.”

    As a sexologist, I often use hypnosis in my practice, and I teach self-hypnosis and other mind-body skills to my clients. And this is good. But there’s more that can be done!

    For the last couple of years I’ve envisioned a well-designed mini-course in erotic hypnosis techniques which could be just as helpful as many of my other sex counseling staples. I’ve been working on the design of this course and have now refined it so that it is user friendly, based on wisdom culled from both the hypnotic world as well as the sexological one.

    I am convinced of the value of this endeavor. Hypnosis is so versatile! For example, lovers could use hypnosis to:

    • help each other relax before lovemaking (especially helpful in dropping the stresses of the work day or family life);

    • restore and renew that new relationship sensation of being entranced with a lover; and

    • to shower each other’s subconscious with ego-strengthening, affirmative, appreciative suggestions that promote confidence in each other and in the relationship. Can you imagine anything more nourishing than relaxing in a light trance state while being showered on a daily basis with words of love and appreciation, pouring right into your mind and heart?

    I suggest that these are great additions to an expanded erotic hypnosis repertoire – which includes the ability to heighten sensation, enjoy “hypno-gasms,” create variety through hypnotic fantasy, explore power play, and so on. In other words, lovers can empower themselves and their relationships through the skillful, consensual use of erotic hypnosis.

    Erotic hypnosis can also be a valuable tool for people who have some kind of physical impairment or disability, but who’d like to enjoy the fullest possible sex life. Think about it!

    I believe too that erotic self-hypnosis is a powerful tool for understanding one’s own erotic nature and core themes. Too often people are as disconnected from this awareness as they are from their own, and their lover’s, bodies. Why not explore your own eroticism through a combination of self-hypnosis and self-pleasure, for example?

    This is the potential I see – and I would like to alert my colleagues in the sexology field about this. I am launching my extended Erotic Hypnosis for Lovers courses (first one on August 17th), and am hopeful that people will realize their value. Yes, there are plenty of people exploring and enjoying erotic hypnosis and doing very well on their own – but I’d also like this modality, as a structured program, to make its way into the hands of sexologists, counselors, and therapists – as well as clients.

    Klimt-IntimateHypnosis

  • Professional Reviews of IASHS Intimate Hypnosis Syllabus

    Professional Reviews of IASHS Intimate Hypnosis Syllabus

    2014-2015 Syllabus

    2026 Update: The original course was updated and expanded as “Hypnosis for Sex Problems” at IHTC

    Coming across these early reviews now–which I’d frankly forgotten–I am gratified by the comments of two extremely accomplished hypnotists, Richard Nongard and Michael Ellner, and proud of the work I’ve done since to make my current Hypnosis for Sex Problems (HSP) course the very best it can be. HSP is based on that first course of mine–Intimate Hypnosis: Sexological Hypnosis Skills, which I taught as an elective certificate course at the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality in San Francisco, CA.

    Later, I revised and expanded the scope of that course, and began to teach it through my Intimate Hypnosis Training Center (IHTC). I make revisions and updates every year or two, to try to stay on top of both sexological and hypnotic research and trends.

    Professional Training in Using Hypnosis for Sex Problems

    The early reviews

    After reviewing the syllabus, here’s what two top hypnotists are saying about the Intimate Hypnosis-Sexological Hypnosis Skills certificate course which I am currently teaching as a distance-learning program through the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality:

    “The Intimate Hypnosis training couse offered by Amy Marsh, EdD, DHS, ACS, CH  is a comprehensive, well-organized and sexy program that will benefit a wide range of licensed and non-licensed helping professionals and the people they are helping. I highly recommend it! “

    —Michael Ellner, Diplomate – International Medical and Dental Hypnotherapy Association. Author of Bedside Manners: A Pain Clinicians’ Guide to Effective Medical Communication and co-author of the Quantum Focusing guided self-help e-book series.

     “I thought the course was well thought out, well planned, and comprised of valueable modules and learning perspectives.  As an LMFT I can assure any professional, sex and sexual understanding is a major part of many other contributing presenting problems, and a comprehensive course like this would be valuable to anyone.”

    —Richard Nongard,  LMFT, CCH, Award-winning NLP and hypnosis trainer. Author of Magic Words in Hypnosis – The Sourcebook of Hypnosis Patter and Scripts and How to Overcome Hypnotic Difficulties and Medical Meditation – How to Reduce Pain, Decrease Complications, and Recover Faster from Surgery, Illness and Disease.

    I am grateful to both for taking time from their busy schedules to review the syllabus! Thank you, Michael Ellner and Richard Nongard!

  • Announcing Intimate Hypnosis – Sexological Hypnosis Skills.

    Announcing Intimate Hypnosis – Sexological Hypnosis Skills.

    This 150-hour certficate course is now ready to launch through the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality. This course has been my “brain child” for the last year and a half, and I am ready for this “baby” to take its first toddling steps out into the world. This is a professional-level training course to promote greater expertise in using hypnotism to address sexual concerns. Hypnotists, sexologists, sex coaches, sex counselors, and sex therapists may all find this course to be useful continuing education.

    It has the advantage of being a mostly distance-learning program, so students may come to it from all over the world. There is a one-week intensive scheduled for the final phase of learning, Oct. 24-30, but students who cannot travel also have the option of completing the entire course at home. Please contact me at dr.amymarshsexologist@gmail.com for more information.

  • Teaching Two Classes at Sex Coach U

    Teaching Two Classes at Sex Coach U

    Here are the promotional videos for my two classes at Sex Coach U.

    This class teaches about 10 hours of sexological and erotic hypnosis material to students enrolled in sex coach training. Here is the Intimate Hypnosis teaser, filmed and edited by Dr. Robert Dunlap, a sexologist and documentary filmmaker (Red Productions):

    This class teaches about 10 hours of introductory material regardin the effect of toxic chemicals on sexual health, function, and behavior. Clinical Ecosexology teaser, also filmed and edited by Dr. Robert Dunlap:

    I am extremely happy about working with Dr. Patti Britton and Dr. Robert Dunlap of Sex Coach U – two of the nicest and most dedicated sexologists on the planet. They, along with Ava Durga of Creative Sexuality Education Corp., have really brightened my life these last several months! I look forward to a long and creative association with them all!