Herbert A. Parkyn

Herbert Arthur Parkyn (December 24, 1870 – December 22, 1927) was a Canadian psychologist, author, and early ice hockey organizer who became a prominent figure in the New Thought movement in Chicago and a leading proponent of auto-suggestion. In 1896 he founded the Chicago School of Psychology, the first institution in America to teach and accredit doctors in the practice of hypnotism and suggestive therapeutics. The school and its free daily clinic became a leading center for research, education, and treatment in the mental sciences. Dr. Parkyn trained and worked with many influential figures of the New Psychology movement, including his protégés William Walker Atkinson and Sydney Blanshard Flower, as well as collaborators such as Dr. William Xavier Sudduth, Thomson Jay Hudson, and Stanley LeFevre Krebs. Parkyn was also part of establishing The Hypnotic Magazine, the first journal in the country dedicated to the study of hypnosis, and later launched Suggestion magazine, which became one of the most influential periodicals of advanced thought. With his book Auto-Suggestion, he introduced the systematic study of self-suggestion through affirmations, preceding by decades the international recognition later given to the work of Émile Coué.

In addition to his medical and publishing career, Parkyn was a prominent college athlete, winning championships in both hockey and football. He is widely credited with organizing the first international hockey game and played a significant role in establishing the sport as a major fixture in Canadian and American athletics. Parkyn was also involved in forming and running several large companies, including the Motzorongo Plantation Company and The Black Sands and Gold Recovery Company.