Dave Dobson

Dave Dobson, Funshop 2006

I used to send him blonde jokes. Dave's Joketree is the BEST for funnies and punnies.

I fell asleep to his Beach tape for almost 20 years before I ever studied with him in person. I had just finished massage school and there was no logical good reason for me to go spend the very next week on an island in his Funshop—except that I’d always wanted to and it was his last one because he really was retiring this time. Again.

There was so much that I learned from him that I didn’t know I learned until much later. That’s the way it was with Dave. He is the gift that keeps giving. I ran into some old Tony Robbins friends from my firewalking days and told them I’d gone to Dave’s Funshop. Kay smiled and said, “How much of it do you remember?” That’s the big joke, because I didn’t.

It was after working with him that I finally finished my Healing Labyrinth Path script. I started it with All right, let's get comfortable . . . just like he does on his beach trip. I put a lot of things in there for Dave, and anyone who knows Dave would be able to guess what they were. My favourite inside-just-for-Dave was You might make a funny face if you ate a dandelion. The story goes that when he was a baby he ate a dandelion. Once. I sent him the CD and asked for his feedback. He said he kept falling asleep. :-) Really? THANKS, Dave! My friend Robbie said when she saw our picture, “He looks like a teddy bear.” I said, “Oh, he’s a bear, all right! But underneath that, he really is a teddy bear.” I told Dave that and he looked confused and said, “I don’t know how to take that.” I said, “It means I really do like you.” Not that Dave cared or needed anyone to like him. But I did.

The first day he told me to hang up my beliefs on the coat rack for the week. “I don’t want them and they get in the way of your learning,” he said. Or something like that. Really, did I mention I don’t remember? He taught me how to say hello Other-Than-Consciously; the rest of your communication beyond words. One of the first things I did when I created my blog was to post some things for him. He wrote back and said, "Bye the bye, since you used the term "other than conscious communication"on your blogger page, you have my permission to use the term "Dobsonian hypnosis" when referring to some of your training experiences."

English Camp

One of my favourite Funshop experiences was English Camp. Ah, English Camp. Fond memories. Dave sent us off to play at English camp after a Tuxedo trance (formal, close-your-eyes) where we were regressed to the age of 3. It’s amazing how much you miss as an adult. We climbed trees and ran through the woods and played on the floating dock. Dave said that one year one of the participants sat in the water on the shore in his business suit and splashed around “as happy as a clam.” He also suggested that we would find a treasure there. And do you know what I found? I found a piece of pottery with a tiny child’s fingerprint embedded in it. I later was in a museum there and saw other pottery pieces—200 years old that matched the one I had. WOW. Plus I found TONS of rocks. I was wearing cargo pants and every pocket was filled—more so than a usual rock gathering trip.

I can see Dave in Heaven now. After greeting "Our Designer" (he didn't say God) OTCly, he might run into Milton Erickson. They were contemporaries and developed similar techniques independently of each other. I was joking with John that Erickson would say, “Seeing you reminds me of a story….” And Dave would say, “No! Seeing YOU reminds ME of a story!”

To see more stories about Dave, his life partner Barb has created a space for people to leave comments. He used to sign his emails to me, cyasometime. cyasometime, Dave. B.G.P.