To read Hypnose-Japon is to be willing to think outside the box.
This book is an invitation to a genuine dialogue between two worlds: hypnosis and Japan. Not being familiar with Japan, I discovered this country from a new angle: its ancestral culture.
Bruno Bréchemier succeeds in creating original resonances between therapeutic practice and culture, between the language of the unconscious and Japanese traditions. It’s this comparative and transversal dimension that makes the book so fascinating: it’s not just about reading about hypnosis, but about discovering how, through hypnosis and the cultural traditions of Japan, human beings are invited to connect with a dimension greater than themselves.
A book to read slowly, to savor, to nourish one’s hypnosis practice with a broader cultural and philosophical reflection.
Stéphanie Berthaud
What a pleasure, as a hypnosis practitioner, to read Hypnosis-Japan and to find so many resonances with my own practice and vision of hypnosis.
Before this reading, I knew little about Japanese culture, and I was particularly struck by certain concepts such as “MA”—those suspended moments beyond space and time—by meditative silence, and by attention to the body.
These ideas deeply echo what I consider fundamental in hypnotic accompaniment: the quality of presence, listening to the inner rhythm, and opening to a reorganization of inner life.
The hypnotic relationship, centered on trust and security, finds a wonderful parallel in the Japanese metaphor of “silk threads”, symbol of the relational bond. Similarly, the expression “reading the air” can evoke the practitioner’s art of perceiving the non-verbal, of capturing what is silently manifesting itself in the other person.
The Japanese ideograms for hypnosis are also rich in meaning: they combine the symbols of “the human gathered”, “the eye”, “the mountain” and “the bird”. For me, these representations evoke unconscious communication, focus, the sacred symbol (Milton Erickson’s beloved mountain) and the sensation so often experienced under hypnosis: taking height, or letting oneself be carried along by the lightness of the air.
Many other examples could illustrate this astonishing encounter between an altered state of consciousness and a culture’s state of being. I invite hypnosis professionals and curious minds alike to pursue this discovery, which is full of resonance and surprises.
Hyacynthe Duclos
The connection between Japanese culture and hypnosis may seem somewhat arbitrary. But it is not! The way the author weaves bridges between these two worlds is both relevant and inspiring for anyone interested in either one. A remarkable work, distinguished by its originality and subtlety!
Philippe Honigman
To open Bruno’s book is to enter a space where you discover a new landscape.
Two worlds come together, one inhabited by Japan, the other by hypnosis.
Bruno describes the strong links he weaves between the two worlds, setting up an unexpected, enriching dialogue for those who let themselves be carried along, as we become the passengers in his story.
The text is punctuated by graphic signs that guide and punctuate our progress: Japanese kanji.
Bruno weaves a web of similarities between Japanese culture, the discipline of hypnosis and the art of Japanese calligraphy. When we read the text, we have the impression of hearing Bruno speak to us, his language clear and fluid.
There’s also a library of incredible books at our disposal, an inexhaustible space for discovery!
Evelyne Julienne
How can I sum up Dr Bruno Bréchemier’s book in a few words?
But when I read it, I had the sensation of being faced with a new kind of book, like a boat bound for an unknown land.
At first glance, one might think of a didactic book, a comparative analysis of the kind you see on so many bookstore shelves.
It’s a double journey to this country at the end of the world and to this therapeutic practice, but also, and above all, it’s a journey that plunged me into the depths of myself, into a state of almost meditative calm, an unparalleled experience.
I was touched by the writing, beautiful and sober, lulled by the poetry of the words.
Hypnosis-Japan is a delightful stroll in counterpoint, a gentle scholarly plunge between reverie and understanding of this elsewhere to be discovered. An enveloping book that puts hypnosis in perspective with Japanese culture and thought.
It’s a book that’s always close to me now, that I reread to extract myself from the outside world and find myself in myself again, that I savor in little touches like an exotic delicacy, that I take up again to remind myself of just how complex and magnificent human beings and cultures are, machines that we’ll never finish exploring.
It is a book that will no doubt inspire you just as much as it inspired me.
Cécile Poisson
With this book “Hypnosis-Japan, a resonating encounter”, Dr. Bruno Bréchemier bridges East and West. Concepts like, for example “Ma” (space, time suspens, human connection) that we also find in Japanese Calligraphy, Tea Ceremony, Martial Arts which are all integrated in the daily life of Japan, are resonating with the praxis of hypnosis.
It is like Bruno is talking to you and taking you on a journey, on a “voyage”, a path to Japan, to hypnosis, to yourself.
In “Hypnosis-Japan”, Bruno B. digs out of his rich medical knowledge sources and describes powerful principles on how hypnosis combined with the Japanese way of living, can heal wounds not feasible with normal medical practices.
In addition, “Hypnosis-Japan, a resonating encounter” gives all readers a different intriguing perspective on the Japanese culture.
Anne Podevyn
This book is revolutionary. Revolutionary by its intelligence and beauty.
It is the best book I have ever read and the only one that makes sense to me.
In my life, I have only met people damaged by childhood trauma, people from all social and cultural backgrounds.
But how are they treated? Very poorly.
With drugs that only make their health worse, or not at all for most people, which engenders wandering, hurtful because hurt, unactualised beings.
Dr. Bréchemier shows us, by illuminating the practice of hypnosis with the riches of the Japanese culture, that we carry within us a treasure that we need only exhume to be saved.
In this globalized world, where everyone drinks Coca-Cola, it is time, as he says in one of his interviews, to share the best of cultures. He thus introduces us to the Japanese philosophy, which resonates with hypnosis.
After the democratization of the practice of meditation, time has come for healing through hypnosis, thanks to Dr. Bréchemier’s lifelong exploration.
Indeed, he has always proceeded as any good Medical Doctor should, with a holistic approach of health, attentive to his patients and has always sought out the best remedies combining traditional Western medicine, Chinese medicine through his practice of acupuncture and homeopathy throughout his career as a General Practitioner before dedicating himself to hypnotherapy.
Contacted by Dr. Bréchemier in my capacity of an English coach for managers to maintain his C1/native speaker level, each of our sessions pertaining to his book enabled me, through his answers to my questions, to touch on the Beautiful, the Good and the Truth, the values which the philosophers of ancient Greece advocated one should live by. No less.
The writing is dense in the sense that it contains several layers of meaning, and I still refrain from rereading this book in order to save myself the intense pleasure of savoring it again, just as others envy those who have not yet read Proust for having this great joy ahead of them.
The themes addressed, the body, the mind, the memory, the senses, are so accurately dealt with that each time you touch on them during your reading, you say to yourself: eureka! That’s it!
Viktor Frankl wrote a book that had a global impact: Man’s Search for Meaning. Dr. Bréchemier has brought us this “meaning” with “Hypnose-Japon, Rencontre en résonance” that I would translate as “Hypnosis-Japan, Encounter in resonance” if Doctor Bréchemier grants me the great honor to translate his work in English, for the world to know.
Lastly, as a teacher, I was very sensitive to the connections that can be made between hypnosis, teaching and art when reading this book, knowing that teaching is an art.
If there were only one book to read, it would be this one.
Ms Tailor