Congress feedback

Coming to Iran and the Mashhad International Congress was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and also one of the most impressive professional events I ever attended. Beginning a conference with a prayer felt strange, wearing a headscarf all the time felt strange, but feeling the compassion and openness of the audience deeply touched my heart. Every single speaker was welcomed with warm applause, listened to with interest, and honoured with further questions after their talks. Iranian colleagues were eager to share their knowledge and also to be photographed together with us. Seeing and listening to the international faculty gave me a strong feeling of belonging. The organizing team was very caring, Mehdi Fathi and all the young assistants made us feel at home. This was some-times not so easy because an important religious festival took place at the same time with hundreds of thousands of pilgrims walking the streets and visiting the holy shrine of Imam Reza.
It is impossible to write about the journey before the conference and all the visits of so many cultural sites, all of them highlights to me, like the grave of Hafiz -the 14th century poet- the graves of the Zoroaster’s on top of hills and towers and all the beautiful gardens, palaces and mosques, some of them hundreds of years old. My senses were so over-whelmed, because I could not stop listening, watching, feeling and touching all the beauty.
And I am deeply grateful for the feeling of being at home that our Iranian colleagues gave us. Of course, we could feel some of the tensions in the society, but what counted for me was the personal contacts and openness and the ability to connect and feel that we all were united in our wish for peace.

Susanne Leutner

Congress feedback

It was a great honour for me to be a member of the 1st. asian Hypnosis Congress in Mashhad in October 2019. It was amazing to feel a warm welcome on our arrival at the airport in Mashhad, by students of the congress who gave each of us a red rose and made us thus feel meaningful and so appreciated. Everything was very well organized. It was amazing to realize that 1000 participants gathered in the main hall and at the congress opening, standing up for the national anthem and waiting for lectures and workshops taking place every day from 8.30 am until 7pm. It was the first time, that I attended a congress with short lectures, each of them lasting 30 minutes. So I could get a really inspiring range of different hypnotic approaches in different fields of medicine and psychotherapy from different countries in the world.
Dr. Medhi Fahti formed, together with his team a family of all of us. It was this great hospitality, friendliness and interest that opened my heart and made this congress an extraordinary experience. Despite a lot of worldwide conflicts, the atmosphere of the Congress gave hope, that people share the wish for cooperation, mutual respect, curiosity and warmth for each other. I wish, we can continue our way the spread the spirit of Mashhad to other congresses.

Elfie Cronauer
Psychologische Psychotherapeutin

Already the second time I was allowed to travel to Iran last year. The organisation of the visa, especially the first time, took a lot of energy, but it was worth it in all respects. Once you are in the country, you are surprised daily with hospitality like I have never experienced before. The people are curious, friendly and very helpful.
The trip before the congress was organized by Najmeh Kazemi like two years ago and was a complete success. At any time I felt safe, amazed by the beauty and diversity of this country and touched by the people.
The congress was a great high-light for me personally. As one of the youngest speakers, I was able to present to this large and appreciative audience and was overwhelmed. It was a great honour for me to be there with all these wonderful people and to be part of this great hypnofamily.

Sabrina Mattle

We really succeeded in realizing our ISH motto: “Building Bridges of Understanding”.
And we can only hope that the atmosphere of our congress will spread around in politics. Let’s hope that the atmosphere of this congress will permeate important politics.
For Iranian colleagues it was important to show that in Isfahan and in other cities Muslims, Christian and Jewish people live together in peace since hundreds of years.
This time we also visit a Fire Temple – as the original religion in Iran that may have originated as early as 4000 years ago, prior to Muslim times was Zoroastrianism. The day of Yom Kippur celebration we visited a synagogue and a Jewish participant from Ger-many decided to pray with the Iranian religious group while the others waited in a coffee shop.

Bernhard Trenkle

It was a real pleasure for me having met all the fantastic faculties and hypnosis professionals in Iran.
This congress has finally given me the real possibility of entering this wonderful world of clinical Hypnosis.
Somehow, I felt the need to complete my professional activity with this valuable tool.
Even more, a long time ago, I felt that I was missing something about this and it was not only knowing about Hypnosis but that hypnosis would pass through me.
Since that time my private and professional life has changed completely. And I like to share some of the special moments I lived there with very talented people.

Marcello Romei