How can you make it almost impossible for your client to resist the pull of the image you’re creating? You want them to become completely immersed in their inner world, so what can you do to make it as real for them as possible?

Some therapists make the mistake of trying to describe every little detail of whatever the client is meant to be experiencing in visualization. I say “make the mistake” because it’s an incredibly difficult thing to get every detail right for that particular client. Let’s take an example. Suppose I suggest to a client that as they’re walking along the sandy path through a meadow, they can hear the sound of running water in the distance. They follow the sound, and it brings them to a small river. They walk along the river bank for a few minutes, with the river on their right, enjoying the sound of the water and the warmth of the sun on their skin. After a short distance, they come to some stepping stones, that lead across to the other side of the river…

At this point, half of you might be thinking, “OK – what’s wrong with that?” because my description will have fitted accurately what you were imagining. But the other 50% of readers will have experienced at least one moment of difficulty within that simple paragraph. Firstly, as you imagined following the sound of water and stumbling upon the little river, what if in your mind at that point the river was on your left? The next thing you’re told is that the river’s on your right. It can jar and irritate that you’re being told something that doesn’t match with what you’ve already imagined. The second point of difficulty… what if in your mind there were shady trees lining the riverbank? But the therapist tells you that you can feel the warmth of the sun on your skin.

Now in reality, if you have a good relationship with the client, and they trust you, and they’re willingly trying to make the hypnosis work well, they’ll probably just do a mental shrug and think, “Oh, ok, so the river’s actually on my right…” and carry on. But it’s not ideal, and for clients who find it difficult to visualize clearly, it makes it even more difficult. Also, if we can easily find two jarring moments in a short paragraph like this, just think how many there might be in a whole visualization, especially if you’re trying to be really detailed. One or two you might get away with, but the more often it happens, the less deeply your client will be able to immerse themselves in the visualization.

So, without going into huge detail, how can you make your visualizations as powerful as possible for the client? Here are a few key pointers to help you:

• Allow the client to picture everything for themselves, by being non-directive. Rather than telling them, “the beautiful staircase is made out of intricate, wrought iron, with delicate carvings of plants woven throughout the balustrade”, you can direct them to notice the details for themselves: “As you get closer to the bottom of the staircase, take a moment to look carefully at it. Notice what materials have been used to construct this staircase. Is it intricate or plain? Does it have open sides, or is there a banister or balustrade of some kind?” This way, whatever the client imagines remains “right” and can’t be jarred by your suggestions of something that doesn’t fit with what they’ve already pictured. You’re helping them to build up a detailed image of their inner world, and you’re giving them the key components that are necessary for whatever intervention you are using, but you’re not telling them exactly what it should look like. Later, an analysis of what they created can lead to interesting insights as to the symbolic nature of the different objects in their inner world. This wouldn’t be relevant if you told them exactly what to picture. This technique is particularly important and effective if you’re asking them to visualize an event or experience that they’re preparing for or dealing with. Only they will know what the relevant details really are

• If your client prefers a more directive, authoritarian approach, be really careful about the order of the descriptions you give. If we take the original example about the river, you can circumvent trouble by stating where something is, or is coming from, before saying what it is, so it arrives, fully formed and in the right place in the client’s inner world. So if the river being on the right, and the sunshine were both in some way important, our example might look more like this:

As you walk along that sandy path through the meadow, some distance away to your right you can hear the inviting sound of running water. You follow that sound, and soon you discover a small river running through the open, sunny meadow. Notice how the sunlight dances on the water. Turn so that the water is on your right, and walk along the river bank for a few minutes, enjoying the sound of the bubbling water and the warmth of the sun on your skin. After a while, you notice some stepping stones that lead across to the other side of the river…

Can you see how there’s far less margin for error here than in the original version? It takes a bit of thought and care, but is far less likely to cause the client irritation, or get in the way of their becoming fully immersed in the image.

• Use all of the senses. This is critical for really immersive visualization. Not everyone is particularly visual. In fact some people find it really difficult to conjure up a strong, visual image. But if you involve all of the senses, then it doesn’t matter whether you have a predominantly aural, visual or kinaesthetic client, you will have satisfied their needs, and you will be giving them the information or prompts they require so they can imagine the details vividly in their own way. So as well as talking about what they can see, get them thinking about what they can smell (the warm damp earth? The heady scent of flowers?), what they can taste (the salt of the sea on the air?), what they can hear (the singing of birds? The light bubbling of a stream? The hum of insects on a summers day?) and feel (the polished smoothness of a marble floor? The dry, powdery sand running through their fingers? The cool breeze against their skin?).

By including all the senses, you make it difficult for your client not to let themselves drift deeply into the place you’re creating with them.

• Give them time to explore for themselves. Once you’ve established the “place” that the client is visiting in visualization, giving them a few moments simply to explore and discover this place will help them to sink even deeper into the “reality” of the visualization.

• Ask them what worked. Feedback is such a useful tool. If you plan to re-use the same or similar visualization with the client, ask them what worked well, and whether anything got in the way. If it’s appropriate, ask them to describe some of the details they noticed within the visualization. You can mention one or two of these the next time, knowing that they will be consistent with the client’s image of this “place” or experience.

So there you have it. In short:

• Let them picture everything for themselves
• Be careful about the order you say things in – give locations and directions before giving detailed descriptions
• USE ALL FIVE SENSES (if you do nothing else, do this!)
• Give the client some time to explore their inner world for themselves
• Get feedback. Find out what worked for them, and use it again next time!

“But Josh,” I hear you say (well, you might not be saying it, but humor me please!). “What about street hypnotists and stage hypnotists? They don’t carry out a whole interview with people before hypnotizing them, and that seems to work just fine for them. Why should we bother?”

OK, you’ve got a point I suppose, and the fact is that nine times out of ten you might get by without the pre-hypnosis interview. But what I’d ask is, do you really want to use hypnosis to help people? Do you really want to maximize your (and their) chances of success? Do you want to go into your hypnosis session with them, confident that you’ve got a plan that will get the very best out of the session for both of you?

I’m hoping your answer would be, “Yes Josh” on all counts. In which case, I’d really urge you to take the pre-hypnosis interview seriously. Let’s look at 10 reasons why it’s a good idea:

• It gives a professional image. It makes it clear you’re viewing the client as a unique individual, rather than just the next person on the conveyor belt, and this will increase their confidence in you.

• You can get a clear picture of any previous experiences they’ve had with other hypnotists (clinical or otherwise) and ensures you can utilize anything that’s been particularly effective for them in the past, and avoid anything that’s been irritating, uncomfortable or ineffective.

• You can use the interview to check for any underlying medical issues they might have. This can be useful in ensuring you don’t do anything to aggravate an existing complaint, and also gives you the opportunity to suggest they seek medical attention (e.g. when someone wants you to help them with chronic pain, but they haven’t seen a physician to get the underlying cause of the pain diagnosed).

• It’s during the pre-hypnosis interview that you would check you’ve got the right contact information for them (useful for follow ups), including next of kin. I know, I know! It’s really unlikely to happen, but they might just decide to collapse with a heart attack as they’re leaving your practice. Now ok, we all know that calling for an ambulance is a good move at this point, but your client would likely prefer to have somebody they know with them or meeting them at the hospital, and when they’re lying unconscious on the floor it’s a bit late to be asking them who they want you to call and what the number is!

• It’s useful to check for phobias or even things they just don’t like very much – water, elevators, boats, particular animals, their parents (!). You can be sure to avoid these things in any visualization you decide to use.

• It gives both of you a little time to calm nerves and establish a rapport. Especially if you’re just starting out, you might find you’re just as nervous as your clients on those first meetings! Having a structure to discuss some practical things pleasantly before getting down to business helps break the ice and lets you both relax.

• It allows you to discuss exactly what your client’s hoping to achieve, which helps you really tailor your session for them, and also lets you do a reality check if necessary.

• I’m not saying you should, but some hypnotists offer to carry out an initial interview for free. This allows you, amongst other things, to assess the client and decide whether you’re happy to work with them. It gives the client the opportunity to decide, without having parted with any cash, that perhaps this isn’t right for them right now… or if they just don’t like the look of you, they have an opportunity to say, “I don’t think I’ll bother thanks very much!” It’s only 20 minutes of your time. You’ll almost certainly be fine working with virtually any one who comes to see you, but it’s good to have a “get out” clause with no commitment from either side and no offense given or taken.

• A very boring but important reason for carrying out an initial pre-hypnosis interview is to make sure you cover yourself in the highly unlikely event of anything going wrong. It may be unlikely, but it has been known for people to have heart attacks, strokes, even diabetic seizures while in hypnosis, albeit completely unrelated to the hypnosis. I’m assuming you’ve got professional indemnity insurance if you’ve actually set yourself up in practice. So if somebody decided to investigate the circumstances, with a view to suing you, your notes from the initial interview would show that you gathered all relevant information from your client, and took all reasonable precautions before deciding on your therapeutic interventions. Your insurers will like you!

• A good pre-hypnosis interview will give you lots of material you can use in the following session (and future ones if the client’s seeing you about longer term issues). Whether it’s details about their current smoking habits, or leisure pursuits they’re passionate about and wish they had more time for, or their relationship with their teenage son, it’s all useful stuff you can tune into and utilize.

So please, get a good format worked out for a useful pre-hypnosis interview that works for you, and make the most of this important useful tool with all your new clients. If you would like more hypnosis training articles like this one just let me know.

It’s finally Friday and I couldn’t be happier. It’s been a very long week and I’m looking forward to a relaxing weekend. I’ve been a little under the weather, but finally starting to get my strength back. So I thought I would take a stab at writing a new blog post so you all have something to read over the weekend.

In the spirit of the upcoming weekend which means a fresh start for us on Monday I decided I wanted to try something new and interesting here on this hypnosis blog. I thought it might be cool to start doing a series on the history of hypnosis. Now I don’t know how many of these post I’ll do so I guess that just depends on the feedback I get from all of you. So the first post in our series on the History of Hypnosis will be about Franz Anton Mesmer.

NOTE: The article below is not meant to teach or tell the entire history of Franz Anton Mesmer, but instead serve as a general history of the life of Franz Anton Mesmer

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The name Mesmer might just mean something to you if you’ve been learning about hypnosis. And even if it doesn’t, you’ll probably have used his name at some point without realizing it; we describe people as “mesmerized” when they are totally absorbed in one thing, captivated by it and oblivious to everything else.  So who was Mesmer and what did he have to do with hypnosis?

Franz Anton Mesmer – Who Was He?

Until I started looking into hypnosis seriously, I always thought of Mesmer as a rather flamboyant Victorian figure – but in fact he was around much, much earlier, and because of this, I suppose he could be forgiven for some of his idiosyncrasies – you’ll see what I’m talking about shortly! Let’s just say he did his bit to give hypnotism the reputation of having occult overtones and “charlatan” image that we still have to battle against today! So let’s take a quick look at this rather strange but fascinating character, who was perhaps his own worst enemy…

Mesmer was born in 1734 in Germany. He was a good scholar, studying theology and law before taking up medicine at the University of Vienna. Mesmer found himself fascinated by the work and thoughts of Sir Isaac Newton, and he wrote a thesis, inspired by Newton’s theories, suggesting the gravitational pull of the moon and the planets might affect the human body.

He came to believe there was a kind of invisible fluid that ran through space and matter, and that this fluid, or “ether” could be pulled by the gravitational force of the different astronomical bodies. This idea was disparaged by many in later years, yet it’s uncannily close to recent scientific theories about dark matter and string theory, so maybe he wasn’t so crazy after all! At the time, his theories were seen as quite plausible, and worthy of discussion in higher scientific circles.

At the age of 34 he found himself a wealthy widow for a wife. She was 10 years his senior and they set themselves up in grand style, living on a huge estate and enjoying many cultural pursuits. He seemed set for life.

The Start of Animal Magnetism

When he witnessed a Jesuit professor placing a powerful magnet on a woman suffering severe stomach cramps, and saw the cramps quickly fade, he was even more convinced that a gravitational or magnetic pull had a profound effect on human health. He began to use magnets in his own medical practice, convinced they were pushing and pulling the “ether” around the body. Being a bit of a megalomaniac, he would go through theatrical rituals, passing the magnets over and around the patients in melodramatic procedures… Who knows whether he thought these over the top  measures were necessary, or whether he realized they made the patients more ready to believe that he was somehow, rather magically “curing” them. Either way, he soon made quite a name for himself.

On one occasion when he bled a patient with leeches (don’t forget, we’re talking about almost 250 years ago – it was normal to bleed almost every patient in this way, for virtually any complaint!) – he noticed that the blood flow increased when he moved close to the patient and slowed when he move away. This convinced Mesmer that he himself was affecting the “tides” in the patient’s body. He believed he was acting as a magnet, and coined the phrase “Animal Magnetism”. He believed everyone had this Animal Magnetism, and that ailments were caused by a patient’s animal magnetism becoming depleted. He dispensed with the use of actual magnets, believing it was the physician who could bring about healing by transmitting their own, abundant animal magnetism to the patient.

How Fame Can Go To Our Heads

He was clearly a charismatic character, and produced a large number of remarkable “cures”. He did have rather a love of the dramatic, and became quite a celebrity, taking his “show” on the road, touring the royal courts of Europe and giving dramatic demonstrations of his “powers”. He loved to dress in deep purple robes, and wave his hands around theatrically, staring deeply into the patient’s eyes and speaking in deep, sonorous tones.

His showmanship and celebrity made him less than popular in medical circles, so Vienna’s medical elite were more than happy to jump at the chance of discrediting him when one particular case went wrong. Ironically, it was initially a rather successful case. A young, blind concert pianist came to him for treatment, hoping to be cured of her psychosomatic blindness. And indeed, she regained her vision under Mesmer’s treatment. However her parents were outraged on two counts.

One, their daughter’s piano playing seemed to deteriorate when she was able to see. And secondly, they received a kind of allowance, a royal pension, which would cease if the girl regained her sight. So they forcibly removed her from Mesmer’s house and insisted that the treatment was stopped. They also allowed rumors to circulate that he may have had an “inappropriate relationship” with the girl, which seems unlikely. Her blindness returned, her piano playing improved, and their quality of life was safe!

The End Of Franz Anton Mesmer…Sort Of

Mesmer took himself off to Paris, somewhat in disgrace, but continued to practice, and continued to court controversy. The scientific and medical establishment may have been right to accuse him of being unable to prove his theories, but they completely missed what was happening. After all, there’s little doubt that he was genuinely successful in a great many cases. What they failed to recognize, partly due to Mesmer’s egotistical and over elaborate rituals,  was that he was using psychological techniques, trance induction and hypnotic suggestion, which would later be developed by doctors like James Braid and James Esdaile into what we now understand as hypnosis.

So, we hypnotists today have a lot to both thank and curse Mesmer for. But there’s no getting away from the fact that he makes an interesting interlude in the history of hypnotism!

The other day I was catching up with an old friend from a long time back, who was raving about Transactional Analysis (TA. He’d just recently trained in it and he didn’t know how deeply involved with hypnosis I am (that’s how old a friend he is!). Every time I mentioned any kind of problem, or even anything about members of my family or friends, out it would come. “Ah!” he’d say knowingly. “They were in parent mode, rather than adult mode you see…” and off he’d go again.

Now I find the theory behind Transactional Analysis as interesting as the next person, maybe more so because I’m fascinated by any approach to human psychology, how our brains work, and anything that tries to explain the human condition. But the problem for me was that he was saying TA was the answer to absolutely everything. No other form of psychology or therapy or philosophy was given the time of day, and would have been regarded as inferior by him anyway. He was so over the top about it that I started to use my “relax and stay calm” anchor to prevent me from actually throwing him out the nearest window! (OK, that’s an exaggeration – but you get the idea!)

Hypnosis Isn’t The Only Game In Town

In my experience it’s a common problem though. Many therapists train in a particular discipline. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy’s particularly popular today and well regarded in medical circles. But there are all sorts of other mind-therapies too, most of them perfectly respectable and extremely useful; Jungian psycho-analysis; Rogerian therapy; NLP; Time Line Therapy; Gestalt therapy; Life Coaching; even Freud’s psychodynamic therapy still has its place… I could go on, and on.

My point is that people who train in each of these therapies often come to the conclusion that their particular therapy is the be all and end all – the answer to everything. But the human race is made up of individuals. What if you go and see a Gestalt therapist, and it just doesn’t seem to work for you? Or maybe you just don’t like the philosophy and approach? You probably just don’t go back. Or if you’re determined to sort something out, maybe you’ll go and find a different therapist.

Personally I think the best therapists I’ve seen in action are those that have trained in several different disciplines and can offer a range of approaches. They should be able to gauge what will most likely work for you, and use a mixture of approaches and techniques tailored to you as an individual. I know there’s still a place for specialists who have trained for years and become real experts in a particular field, to a level that a “Jack of all trades” couldn’t hope to master. And a good all round therapist should be able to recognize when a client could do with that level of specialism and refer them on. That’s what I think anyway. I know there’ll be some of you out there that probably disagree with me on this – hey it’s a free world.

But where does hypnosis fit in with this? Are we hypnotists just as bad, declaring that hypnosis is the way forward for absolutely everyone? Maybe some of us are. I know I’m sometimes guilty of evangelizing about hypnosis to the point of boring the pants off someone if I’m not careful, but the way I see it, there’s one big difference between hypnosis and a lot of the therapy approaches available out there. And that’s the fact that hypnosis isn’t a philosophy or a mode of thought, or an approach to the human condition – IT’S A TOOL.

That’s all. It’s a mighty powerful tool, but it’s still just a tool. And what’s fantastic is that it’s such a versatile tool it can be used to enhance virtually every therapeutic process out there. It can make so many psychotherapies much more powerful, more effective and work so much faster.

Enhancing Other Modalities with Hypnosis

So in a way, maybe I am saying hypnosis is the answer to everything! I firmly believe that if all therapists (dare I say all health professionals?) were trained to use hypnosis effectively, every single form of therapy would be hugely enhanced, to say nothing of much better value for money!

Hey – maybe I’m just as bad as that old friend of mine. Am I annoying you yet? The difference (I hope) is that I’m not saying that hypnosis is better than other forms of therapy. I respect most kinds of therapy on offer out there, and I think there’s a whole army of people doing a great job. I’d just love them all to be able to do it even better with this amazing tool that we call hypnosis. And to be fair, as hypnotists I think we could probably all benefit from some training in some carefully selected psycho-therapeutic approaches, allowing us to offer a deeper level of support and understanding to our clients when it’s appropriate.

So maybe what I’m saying is “Hypnosis – not the answer to everything, but part of the answer to everything!” What do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts on the subject.

With technology making it easier than ever before to access the internet, the vast majority of people now turn to the net when seeking out a professional, like a certified hypnotist. Since this is now the case, it is more important than ever to consistently increase your visibility online so that you can attract people to your website and more importantly to your office. Here are a couple simple and free things that you can do to increase your online visibility.

The most basic way to increase your online visibility is to have your own professional website. If you don’t have a website yet, I would strongly suggest making it a top priority to get one up as soon as possible. It is easier than ever to create a website and open your virtual storefront online. Step one is to go get a domain name. To do this visit a website like godaddy.com and start searching for a good website name. Step two is to build the website. Since a website is so important to your business, I suggest getting one professionally done. However, if you don’t have the funds available then you can make one yourself for free.

Click Here To Find Out About John’s Hypnosis Business Coaching Program

There are many free website creators available online but I would suggest weebly.com because it is a very simple program to use.

Another easy thing to do that will increase your visibility online is to join as many social networks as you can, such as facebook and twitter. By creating profiles on social networks like these, it is like creating mini-websites for your business all over the net. Social networks are free to join yet the potential is unlimited in the amount of business it can create. A couple simple tips you can do to maximize your social network pages is to always list your website, add captions to pictures that are related to your business, and consistently add content. All of these things can help boost your search engine optimization, or your ability to be found on general searches like Google.

Finally here is something that is new, free, and can benefit every hypnotist immediately increase their visibility online. Recently, a new directory was created that is designed specifically for hypnotists, life-coaches, and NLP practitioners to help them get the word out about their services. Many of the top hypnotists have already signed up for a directory listing because it is free to join and it boosts online exposure. This is definitely something you should look into. For a free listing on this Hypnotist Professionals Directory click this link http://bit.ly/hypnodirectory.

Always remember that the golden rule of marketing is more exposure equals more business. Be sure to take daily steps to increase your visibility on the internet and watch your business take off. People need your help but they first must be able to find you. Do something great for your business right now. Take a few minutes and follow through with one of these steps or one that you have been putting off. Trust me your business will thank you for it.

Hypnosis Business Coaching

Yours Truly In Success,

John Weir BCH, CI
Author of “The Crash Course in Selling Hypnosis”
www.johnweironline.com
www.hypnosisbusinesscoaching.com

Since 2000, John Weir has been working full-time as a NGH Board Certified Hypnotist and Certified Instructor. In addition, John has a BA in psychology, a NLP Master Practitioner and Certified Life Coach. In 2008, John was awarded the NGH Charles Tebbetts award for “Spreading the Light of Hypnotism” and the honor of “Distinguished Practitioner” from Pnosis an online hypnosis magazine.

Over the past few years, John has been a member of the NGH faculty and is a regular presenter at the NGH Annual Convention and NGH Solid Gold Weekend, and was on the 2009 NGH Platinum Success Panel. John is the author of “The Crash Course in Selling Hypnosis” and the creator of numerous hypnosis audio programs including “The Mental Caddie.” To find out more about John Weir please visit his website www.johnweironline.com.

Weight loss.  The two words that either strike fear or bring joy to the hearts of hypnotists.

For some hypnotists weight loss is a wonderful opportunity. A weight loss client often comes in for multiple sessions over the long term, has clearly measurable results, and is a veritable walking billboard for you as a hypnotist, as all her friends and family ask her how she dropped the 50 pounds. A single success can be worth thousands of dollars in additional business.

For others weight loss presents a massive challenge. Either it’s because they find themselves overweight and so can’t seem to get the client to change, or they don’t have a concrete plan. Weight loss is often a complex issue with many factors involved, and nailing all of them can often be quite a challenge.

In this article I’m going to speak about weight loss in the context of my overall therapeutic approach, and I’ll be giving you some very clear and concrete suggestions on how to develop a program with weight loss clients. If you yourself have weight issues, you might find yourself applying these ideas to your own problem and dropping some excess baggage yourself!

The main challenge that I faced as a beginning hypnotist and therapist was the issue of context. Many times I conducted the ‘perfect session’ in the therapy room, yet later my clients would come back complaining that the change didn’t stick, or that in ‘real life’ there was no change. I quickly leaned that ‘real life’ and the therapy room were two different worlds, and the issues the client presented in the therapy room weren’t the actual issues the client was facing. Consciously they thought one thing, but reality was not like that.

To solve this, I developed a whole host of ways to bring ‘real life’ to the therapy room and have the symptoms join us right then and there so we could work on the real issues. The method that I find most effective is tasking.

When I task a client, I give them something to do in real life that I think will provoke the problem. When the client comes back the next week and tells me what went wrong, we can then work on that and make some very real progress. This makes sure that what we work on isn’t only something the client thinks is the problem, it is an actual block to their success. And so for example, when my social anxiety client reported back that he couldn’t complete his task of going over to one person per day and saying “hi”, I asked him what stopped him. We discovered that he had this voice that told him “stop!”.  Once we worked with the voice, his main problem was resolved.

Once you have this concept down clearly, you quickly realize that weight loss clients are very simple to work with. Instead of trying to analyze and figure out what is wrong in the therapy room, I give the client my very very simple “Think Thin Get Slim” plan to follow and send them out into the real world. The program includes a simple eating system, a belief change element which I usually do in the live session, and a very powerful process I developed called ABTC that works directly with the subconscious to instantly change emotions, cravings, and automatic thoughts. It also includes a self-hypnosis cd that reinforces the program and the changes made.

I then have the client keep track of what they experience when they find themselves having difficulty following the plan. Once I have that information, I work on that issue and send them out again. I once again have them notice any roadblocks, and in the next session we resolve those too.

Very often as the client drops more and more weight, different issues arise. It’s almost as if every layer of fat has its own reason for being there and its own story to tell. As the previous layer comes off, the next one gets its chance.

When I work on weight loss with this approach, my clients don’t gain the weight back. That’s because instead of simply pumping the client with motivation and suggestions, doing some age regressions and parts, and peeling the pounds off, we have worked through the real issues that the layers of fat have been hiding.

My starting schedule with weight loss clients goes as follows:

-Session one.

-One week break.

-Session Two.

-Two week break.

-Session Three.

-Three week break.

-Session Four.

-One month break.

-Session Five.

In this way, I see the client 5 times over a two and a half month period. That gives us plenty of time to work through whatever comes up and set the client on a smooth path going forward. The schedule is obviously flexible according to the needs of the individual client. If a client is having trouble, I will pack the sessions closer together. I use the above schedule as a general guideline.

And so to you the hypnotist who feels fear when you hear the words “Weight Loss” , know that those sorry days are over! Simply develop a comprehensive weight loss program that gives the client a clear set of tasks to follow, and then troubleshoot from there!

ThinkThinGetSlim Program

My ThinkThinGetSlim program is launching on Sunday Feburary 13^th at 9AM. When you order you will receive the instant download which includes:

• An audio interview that teaches you the entire system step by step.

• The program manual that makes it even more crystal clear.

• The super powerful self hypnosis audio that will completely reprogram your mind to the ‘thin’ mindset.

• A masterful belief creation program that will completely rewire your subconscious to make your change automatic and easy.

• The super powerful ABTC system which nearly instantly transforms emotions, cravings, and automatic thoughts.

• Instant access to the ThinkThinGetSlim private forum, where I Joe will personally be providing rock solid support and will be available to answer your questions to get you thin once and for all.

If you can make it to the bottom of the garish sales page my marketer placed up there, you’ll see that although the regular price is $297, for 72 hours after launch the price is slashed to $97.

The website is www.thinkthingetslim.com

Good luck and have fun!

Joe

Joe K Fobes is a hypnotist and therapist with a private practice in NJ. He favors a direct and simple approach that delivers clear solutions to the most complex of issues. Constantly looking to push the boundaries of hypnosis and therapy, he mentors new hypnotists and therapists with his online mentorship program. He has also developed many effective new techniques and approaches that he uses in his hypnotic and therapy work. You can find him and his work at www.wikihyp.com and joef@wikihyp.com

I just wanted to take a quick moment out of my day and let you know about the upcoming National Guild of Hypnotists Solid Gold Weekend. My good friend John Weir is going to presenting there so if you’re able to make it please show him your support. Solid Gold Weekend is always a lot of fun and it’s your chance to hear some amazing speakers, topics and enjoy some awesome weather.

The dates for this event are Feb 25-27, 2011. John made a short video for you which I posted below and you can find out additional details at the National Guild of Hypnotists website which is located at http://www.ngh.net/.

If your interesting in speaking with John you can find him at his Facebook Fanpage: http://bit.ly/johnweirhypnosis

Have a great and amazing day!

Josh

WAIT!! Come back tomorrow to check out the newest post in John Weir’s series on business coaching for Hypnotists. John and I both have been getting great feedback from these articles.

In the past decade of working as a full-time hypnotist, I have come to realize that despite all the different approaches to creating wellness through hypnosis there are two things that every hypnotist has in common; we all have to wear two hats to succeed in this profession. The ability to successfully wear both of these hats, or fulfill these two roles, will be the determining factor in how far you will go in this field.

The first hat that we all must wear is the one of the helper. Since you are a hypnotist, I would make the assumption that you have the genuine desire to help people succeed and reach their goals. It is quite obvious that helping people create their desired improvements is our primary role in the profession and perhaps the easiest way to get your business to grow. However, it is the ability to wear the other hat in this profession that enables word of mouth to spread about your business and get people into your office.

Click Here For John Weir’s Hypnosis Business Coaching Home Study Program

The other primary hat that all hypnotists must wear, but the one most often forgotten about, is the hat of the entrepreneur. In order to get people into your office so that you can provide your life-changing service, it is essential that you embrace the entrepreneurial spirit in you. I would encourage you, like I do with all of my hypnotism students, to take the time to get educated on business especially sales and marketing with the same enthusiasm that they study techniques related to hypnosis. Follow the advice of Michael Gerber from The E-Myth, “Take time out to work on your business not just in your business.”

You Always Have Time To Learn A New Skill. No Excuses Please

When I first started my business at 19 years old, I felt very comfortable with my skills as a hypnotist but not so much with my new role as someone who suddenly found themselves self-employed. I can honestly say that I didn’t have the slightest clue on how to grow a business when I got started. I knew that I needed to find ways to let people know about my services however I didn’t know what to do or even where to start. Instead of an education from academia, I decided to get educated through what Zig Ziglar calls “automobile university.” As I cruised around in my car, I would listen to one audio program after another on different business topics in order to understand how to make my dreams become a reality.

Some of my favorite speakers that influenced me in business include Zig Ziglar, Tom Hopkins, Tom Peters, Stephen Covey, John Maxwell, Les Brown, and Anthony Robbins. Besides automobile university, it took a lot of persistence as well as trial and error on my part in order to get my practice to grow and make a living serving others. If you are in a similar situation as I was when getting started, I highly encourage you to turn your car into a university to begin filling your mind with ways to succeed in business.

Wear The Two Hats And Experience Serious Success

Understand that embracing your role as an entrepreneur is just as important to success as being a proficient hypnotist. Take time each day to develop both of these roles so you feel comfortable wearing the two hats of a successful hypnotist. Use your hypnotic skills and link tons of positive, fun energy to spreading the word about your business so that you have more opportunities to share your talents with others in need. When your business grows then that means you have the ability to be a positive influence in more people’s lives and expose more people to the power of the mind.

Yours Truly In Success,

John Weir BCH, CI
Author of “The Crash Course in Selling Hypnosis”
www.johnweironline.com

PS

In efforts to help hypnotists minimize the learning curve in growing their business I have been focusing my attention on helping the helpers create success. I teamed up with an internet marketing guru and we combined our proven strategies into a 6 week hypnosis business coaching course. If you are one of the serious hypnotists out there who truly want to build a successful practice then this course is the perfect thing for you. For details on the course visit www.hypnosisbusinesscoaching.com

Since 2000, John Weir has been working full-time as a NGH Board Certified Hypnotist and Certified Instructor. In addition, John has a BA in psychology, a NLP Master Practitioner and Certified Life Coach. In 2008, John was awarded the NGH Charles Tebbetts award for “Spreading the Light of Hypnotism” and the honor of “Distinguished Practitioner” from Pnosis an online hypnosis magazine.

Over the past few years, John has been a member of the NGH faculty and is a regular presenter at the NGH Annual Convention and NGH Solid Gold Weekend, and was on the 2009 NGH Platinum Success Panel. John is the author of “The Crash Course in Selling Hypnosis” and the creator of numerous hypnosis audio programs including “The Mental Caddie.” To find out more about John Weir please visit his website www.johnweironline.com.

In the last article we looked specifically at inducing analgesia. Today, in the last of this pain control series, I’m going to take you through some of the more general processes for dealing with pain in various circumstances. Indeed, although hypnosis for analgesia is often seen as the “exciting” part of pain control, what we’re looking at today are situations you’re likely to come across more often.

Hypnosis is frequently used to help people whose anxiety makes it almost impossible for them to bear the anesthetist’s needle for example, and many people with chronic pain will gain great relief from hypnotic pain management.

Preparing a nervous patient for surgery, dental work or injections

Some people dread the thought of dental work or surgery so deeply that they work themselves up into such a state that even a light touch will be translated by their brain into agony. This can be hugely frustrating for the medics dealing with these patients, and they must be tempted to treat the patient as though they’re making a ridiculous fuss over nothing (which of course they are in a way!). But of course the tension brought on by such a level of anxiety causes the muscles in the body to tense up and tighten to such an extent that, for example, the insertion of a needle genuinely is much more painful than in a relaxed patient.

As clinical hypnotists we can help this kind of client a great deal. The relationship between hypnotist and client is really important in this situation. Because the problem is mainly anxiety based, the client must feel comfortable with the hypnotist, and must develop a degree of trust. Ideally they will be taught self-hypnosis in a session or two before undergoing whatever procedure is planned. This also means they can use the techniques whenever they need to, without a hypnotist having to be present.

The key for these clients is to induce deep relaxation. They can be taught fairly rapid, progressive relaxation to carry out for themselves. They can also be given an anchoring signal to use to induce such relaxation almost immediately just by touching their fingers together, or whatever signal they choose to adopt for this purpose. They can be taken in hypnosis through whatever procedures they’re expecting to undergo. Use strong, visualization techniques to make the procedure as real as possible, while constantly reassuring and reminding them that while the procedure is being carried out, they feel safe and relaxed, knowing everything is fine. They can be taken in visualization to a beautiful, peaceful place, where they are so relaxed that whatever their body is experiencing just doesn’t seem important.

Whether or not hypnotic analgesia is then induced for the procedure itself, in patients like this the level of relaxation will make the whole procedure much more pleasant and trouble free. They will be able to deal with receiving injected anesthesia will little trouble, and will almost certainly be more co-operative throughout the procedure. Very often, once they have experienced a procedure in such a relaxed state, their fear will simply disappear from that point on, and future procedures will be easily dealt with by them.

Relieving chronic and general pain

Whether it’s just a passing headache, or the unrelenting chronic pain that accompanies certain conditions, the techniques outlined here can help. In the case of chronic pain, teaching self hypnosis is invaluable. This way the client can manage their own pain much of the time. You might also record a pain management session so that they can listen to you whenever they need to, at home or in hospital.

Substitution: a useful tool is substituting a painful sensation with something less painful. So for example if the client describes the pain as sharp, you might suggest that:

As you relax more, you will notice that the sharp, stabbing feeling of the pain changes subtly. In a strange way it becomes softer… fading more and more into the background… until it feels more like a dull, warm buzzing.

Similarly a raw pain can be translated into a tingling or a mild itch.

Dissociation: the client can learn to remove him or herself from the pain. They learn to step out of themselves, so that they’re outside of their own body, and therefore not experiencing the pain because it’s not happening to “them”. Or they can remove themselves completely, taking themselves in their imagination off to a different place altogether, leaving their body, and therefore their pain, far behind. This is a very effective technique, and useful as long as the client can take some time to be still and quiet.

Displacement: using clear suggestion, and having agreed with an alternative location for the pain beforehand, it can be hypnotically “moved” from where it is currently being experienced and shifted to an area where it’s more manageable, or even outside of the body altogether.

The dimmer switch: in hypnosis, explain to the client that the pain receptor area of the brain is a bit like a light bulb in an electrical circuit. The stronger the pain, the brighter the light glows. But they can take control of that receptor area. It’s done its job, by flagging up that there’s a problem. The client is dealing with the problem, and getting the medical treatment they need, so they can “turn down” that warning light in their brain when the interpretation of the pain is too high. Ask them to imagine the receptor area as a small room, with the light in the center, burning brightly if the pain is strong. On the wall they will see a dimmer switch, and as they slowly turn down the switch, they will see the light gradually becoming dimmer, and as the light dims, they will notice the pain becoming duller, less intense, gentler and more manageable, until it is just a dull, soft sensation in the background, allowing them to get on with the things they want to do.

Take your time with these techniques. Lots of gentle, repeated suggestion will be most effective, and importantly, teach your clients how to use these techniques for themselves. There are few situations that you’ll come across as a hypnotist that are more rewarding than seeing the relief on the faces of clients who have been dealing with pain on a long term basis and have finally found a way of being virtually pain free at times.

Controlling Pain With Hypnosis Part 3 Conclusion

Well, I hope you enjoyed this series on Controlling Pain with Hypnosis as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you missed the first two articles in the series you can find them below:

Controlling Pain with Hypnosis – Part 1

Controlling Pain with Hypnosis – Part 2

Stay tuned as I have something really special planned in the next few days to help you take your hypnosis practice to the next level. All I can say is that I have special guest planned that many of you have been asking me to have back. So check back in the next day or so to see who I’m talking about and to learn how to take your hypnosis practice to the next level!

I promised in part one, where we discussed the phenomenon of pain control and pain management by hypnosis that in part two we’d look at some hypnotic techniques frequently used in this area. So here I am, back with five proven pain control techniques which you may want to learn to use. Actually, to be honest there are only two techniques described below and I’ve had to extend this into a three part article. I didn’t want to just give a cursory couple of lines to each technique.

You know I like to give examples that really give you an idea of how to use techniques, and I just couldn’t squeeze it all in! So look out for part 3, where you can read about the three other techniques!

In a short article like this I can only touch on the techniques, to highlight them and explain them a little, but I would urge you to look into them in more depth so that you can confidently offer this as part of your service, or if you’re not in professional practice so that you can effectively learn to control and manage pain for yourself.

Hypnosis Techniques For Controlling & Managing  Pain

I do need to just include a reminder that as clinical hypnotists we should never perform analgesia on chronic or acute pain unless it has been diagnosed and suitable medical treatment is also being given. Otherwise we may mask symptoms that indicate a serious underlying problem that needs to be seen to.

1. The bucket of ice technique – particularly good for hands or feet, and useful in preparation for having a cannula inserted into the back of the hand or wrist: Having induced a hypnotic trance, and while suggesting that the client continues to relax, suggest that they are beginning to lose the feeling in the limb in question. Suggest that it feels heavier and heavier, and then that the loss of feeling is almost as though they have put their hand into a bucket of ice.

Just imagine that now… that your hand is sitting in a bucket of ice… and notice the strange, cold, numb feeling of having your hand in that bucket of ice. You might remember how your hands felt when you were a child playing in the snow… your hand gradually getting more and more frozen… so cold, more and more numb. Feel the strange, tingling numbness of the ice around your hand until you can hardly feel your hand at all. And when you’re hand feels completely numb, just raise a finger on your other hand to tell me….

At this stage you would want to test lightly for analgesia, continuing to deepen the trance and suggest further analgesia if necessary. If the client does have feeling in their hand, you can suggest, “but you do feel less in this hand than the other, don’t you?” tapping the other hand to compare it with the “numb” hand. They will usually agree that there is some difference between the two, and you can use that to convince them that the hypnosis is beginning to work.

1. Glove anesthesia – fantastically useful in medical and dental hypnosis because it can be used to invoke numbness in any part of the body…

Relax the client, inducing an hypnotic trance in the normal way. Then your session might sound something like this:

Now I’d like you to concentrate on your right hand (usually the dominant hand is selected, depending on whether the client is right or left handed – you’ll see why later)…. And as you concentrate on that hand, you can notice little things like which parts feel warm and which feel cold. You might feel the arm of the chair under your fingers or the cool air moving against your palm… and as you concentrate on your right hand, you’ll notice a feeling of heaviness developing in it… concentrating on it seems to make it feel even more relaxed… and this makes it feel heavier… Just nod your head when your hand begins to feel heavy (or raise a finger on your left hand… whatever pre-arranged or commonly used signal you have agreed).

And now, as you keep concentrating on that hand, and as I stroke the back of that hand, you’ll notice it’s becoming numb… gradually you can feel less and less as I stroke it… (ask the client to indicate when they begin to feel the numbness) That’s right… it becomes more and more numb, almost like it’s going to sleep… it’s a pleasant, relaxed feeling … it would be far too much effort to move even one finger of that hand…it’s a curious feeling… that numbness, like anesthetic spreading through and over and around your hand, into the fingers, the palm and the back of your hand, and even around your wrist… and because of the numbness, although you can feel that I am touching the back of your hand, it’s almost as though you’re wearing a big, thick leather glove… it protects you and stops your hand from feeling anything much at all so even if I were to press lightly here… and here… with a needle, you can feel it, but It’s distant, leathery, as though I were just touching the needle against the thick leather of the glove… the feeling can’t penetrate the leather glove…So you can’t feel any pain when I touch the needle against that hand (initially touch with very light pin-pricks to help to compound the subject’s feeling of numbness)

When your client confirms a high level of numbness, that’s when you can use the “numb” hand to transfer the numbness and analgesia to any part of the body. You simply suggest that they can transfer the feeling of numbness from their hand to whichever part of the body they need to, simply by touching the hand to that part of the body. The numbness transfers, and the hand returns to normal. This is why the dominant hand is usually used if possible… if a client is strongly one-handed and we induce analgesia in the wrong hand, they would then have to use their weak hand to rest it against the area requiring anesthetic. While this is something that most people would still manage, the lack of fine motor skills that some people have in their non-dominant hand could lead to them poking themselves in the eye, punching themselves in the face, or transferring the analgesia to not quite the required area!

Controlling Pain with Hypnosis Part 2 Conclusion

Anyway, that’s more than enough to be going on with for now… in the next and final pain control article we’ll be looking at:

• General pain relief
• Preparing nervous patients for surgery, dental work or injections
• Managing chronic pain

In this new series of articles I’m going to be talking about Controlling Pain with Hypnosis. I want to give everyone an in-depth view at one of the more interesting fields of hypnosis in my opinion. So check out part 1 below and in a few days I’ll post part 2.

What an amazing concept – that surgery can be carried out under hypnosis, using no chemical anesthetic at all. It’s definitely been done. Breasts have been surgically removed and limbs amputated painlessly; impacted wisdom teeth have been taken out with little difficulty and no drugs. It’s exciting and slightly unbelievable, isn’t it? What’s more, although it might be more time consuming than using chemical anesthetics, there are very definite advantages to using hypnosis for pain control.

Benefits of Hypnosis For Pain Control

For one thing, there are no toxic effects, unlike virtually every drug-based form of anesthetic. The shock to the system is much less. The patient’s protective systems stay functioning throughout the procedure, so if they need a drink of water they can safely have one. If they vomit or need to swallow or spit out blood they can go right ahead. When they’re in recovery they’ll notice if things are too hot, too cold, twisted or uncomfortable. Any pain and discomfort after the operation can be easily relieved, and general recovery is likely to be swifter. So if the advantages are so obvious, and clinically proven, why the heck are we still using chemical anesthetics and inducing complete unconsciousness for 99% of all operations?

Unfortunately it seems that less than one in every five of us is capable of reaching the depth of analgesia in hypnosis required for painless major surgery. So this phenomenon, while a fascinating medical curiosity, remains just that, and it’s not looked on as a real alternative to more orthodox anesthesia.

While that might be frustrating, hypnosis does still have a major role to play in general pain control and pain management, and this is where most clinical hypnotists come in. We may not be able to produce complete anesthesia (the loss of all sensory perception) except in very rare subjects, but we can certainly help nearly all patients experience various levels of analgesia (the loss of the perception of pain). We‘re often asked to help with anxiety about pain, like people who are terrified of dental procedures, injections, or upcoming surgery. We’re also often approached about the management of pain, perhaps post operatively, or in relation to chronic pain or long term illness.

I need to stick in a health warning here. Obviously it can be a great relief to clients to find their pain massively reduced or gone. However pain, while unpleasant, is a very effective safety mechanism, alerting us to move away from dangerous and potentially damaging objects and situations, or telling us that there’s something wrong that we need to deal with. It’s this latter situation that we need to be careful about. Removing the perception of pain which has not been diagnosed and may be an important indicator of a serious medical condition could be extremely dangerous. However, predictable or chronic pain, assuming we know the underlying reason for it and the client is receiving the appropriate treatment,can be safely reduced or dismissed altogether, with only positive results.

The Hidden Observer

An interesting phenomenon which is still debated is the existence of what has been called “the hidden observer”. This is not only related to pain control in hypnosis, but is particularly relevant in this situation. The term “hidden observer” was coined by Ernest Hilgard, an American professor at Stanford University who spent many years researching hypnosis and was particularly interested in the area of pain control.

While demonstrating hypnotic “deafness” to a class of students, Hilgard was asked whether perhaps the now “deaf” student, could perhaps hear at a deeper, unconscious level, even though he demonstrated no awareness of the sounds around him. Hilgard decided to test this theory by using an ideo-motor response which indicated that indeed the student had been able to hear everything that was going on. Under hypnosis he was able to recount every sound made and word spoken, even though he had shown no reaction to sound at the time – even very loud, sudden noises that had been made right next to his ear.

This raised the question as to whether a subject hypnotized to feel no pain, was still aware of pain at some level. A series of sophisticated experiments followed, and demonstrated through automatic talking, writing and ideo-motor responses, that in fact pain was reported at normal levels, even though the subject experienced little or no pain consciously.

Hilgard and his wife came up with the concept of a “hidden observer” – a part of the mind which is always aware of the pain being experienced by the hypnotized person even when the person reports no conscious pain at all. The pain is still present, but hypnosis appears to circumvent the interpretation of that pain. It seems that the pain is experienced as somehow disassociated from the subject, or irrelevant and unimportant.

The theory of the hidden observe lends itself to many hypnotic situations where the subject is often aware at a deep level of everything that is happening, yet can only recall the details when taken back into a deep hypnotic trance.

Controlling Pain with Hypnosis Part 1 Conclusion

The whole subject of hypnosis for pain control is a fascinating area, which is still not entirely understood. Maybe one day we’ll discover enough about it to really be able to offer it as a genuine alternative to drugs for the vast majority of people. It’s a huge area of study, but hopefully I’ve given you a useful background summary here. In part 2 of Controlling Pain with Hypnosis I’ll outline some of the techniques that can be used for hypnotic pain control. If you found this article interesting you should love the next one!

As many of you know I get tons of questions each days about Hypnosis.  These questions range from beginners to Hypnotists who have been practicing for years. Out of all the questions I receive the question I get asked more then any other one is how to do instant inductions.

You would think I would get asked how to work with certain problems or how to even hypnotize someone, but nope. The big question I get from newbies and professionals more than any other question is how to perform instant and rapid inductions. I can’t blame the people who ask this question as Instant inductions are awesome and a very powerful tool for every Hypnotist to process. Having the ability to hypnotize someone within seconds can come in really handle. Especially when dealing with clients who like to “think to much”.

Well, a good friend of mine named Blake Thomas recently interviewed Hypnotist Jeffrey Stephens about the subject of Instant Inductions and I thought I would share it with all of you. The interview is really good and covers a lot of information on performing quick inductions.

Click Here To Watch Jeffrey Stephens Talk About Quick Inductions

For those of you who don’t know Jeffrey Stephens I’m quite surprised. I recommend Jeffrey products to every Hypnotist I know as he has some really great insights and techniques. He has one of the better online hypnosis trainings which I personally feel can add value in some form to any Hypnotist.  You can click the following link to  read an in-depth review of Jeffrey Stephens Online Hypnosis Video Course.

Well, enough talk from me. If you want to check out this video interview with Jeffrey Stephens just click the link below. I hope you get some useful information out of it.

Click Here To Watch Jeffrey Stephens Talk About Quick Inductions

Joshua Houghton

P.S.

If you’re interested in learning more about Jeffrey Stephens and his unique style of hypnosis I recommend you check out my review of his Hypnosis Video Course. You can check out that review by clicking HERE.

Here we are, at the final part of this mini-series about deepeners. By the time you’ve finished reading this part, assuming you’ve looked at the first three articles in the series, you’ll have a nice, reliable bank of 10 methods for deepening the level of trance that your hypnosis clients experience.

Deepeners Part 1

Deepeners Part 2

Deepeners Part 3

Deepener 9 – Limb phenomena

Here’s one which, as you gain in confidence, you can develop and take to different levels. It’s helpful for clients who want to be certain that they really have been hypnotized. It involves making the limb (usually the arm) feel very light and rise up in the air, then returning the normal feeling of weight to it so that it lowers back to rest on the arm of the chair, or into the subject’s lap, with an accompanying feeling of deep relaxation. Having induced a certain level of trance, you might say something like:

I’d like you to focus your attention on your right arm now. Feel how relaxed it is. Notice the sensation of the leather beneath your palm (or whatever appropriate description would match the subject’s experience) and let your whole arm relax even more, resting more heavily against the arm of the chair. More and more relaxed… so relaxed that it almost feels as though it’s quite detached from you…

And now imagine that arm becoming lighter and lighter… until there’s hardly any sensation of weight in that arm at all… so light… feeling weightless…  light as a feather… so that if you let it go, it can begin to float upwards, almost as though it is attached to a balloon, that effortlessly lifts your arm up into the air, lighter and lighter… imagine there’s a string round your wrist attached to that balloon, gradually lifting your arm up so that it can float gently, higher and higher… that’s right… (even if the subject’s arm hasn’t moved yet, they will be experiencing a feeling of lightness in the limb… you may have to repeat the suggestions of lightness a few times more, or even lift the arm a fraction, saying “see how light it is and easy for me to lift,” just to start the motion upwards, but in most cases this will happen quite readily)

Having induced the feeling of lightness and the raising of the arm, you can simply talk the weight gradually back into the arm, and suggest that it gently lowers back down as it returns to normal. Please remember to return the limb to “normal”. If your client walks out at the end of the session looking lop-sided, you’ll know you forgot!

As the feeling of weight returns to the arm, you can say how, as it lowers, your client is falling deeper and deeper into trance or relaxation, becoming deeply, deeply relaxed and enjoying that pleasant sensation.

This can be taken further by inducing a rigid arm, suggesting the arm is stuck to the chair, and/or complete arm catalepsy (total inability to move any part of it)… just be certain to return the limb to normal when you’re done!

Deepener 10 – Feedback Technique

I’ve included this one because, although there’s nothing exciting or dramatic about it, it’s an excellent one to have up your sleeve for clients who are nervous and/or have difficulty going deeper than a superficial level of trance.

If someone seems to only enter a very light trance, the feedback technique simply involves asking them to describe in detail the sensations they felt when going into that light trance. This can be quite different for each individual. By carefully noting what the client was feeling and in what order, you can take them back into trance, describing what they are going to feel, in the same order as before. It seems there’s no resistance to these suggestions because they reflect what the client has already experienced and expects to experience again.

This confirmation of the client’s experience helps them to go deeper into trance each time, as they recognize what you are telling them, and therefore accept that they must be going into trance. You can repeat the procedure of waking them, discussing anything new about their experience this time, and then inducing trance again, utilizing the new information. Each time, the level of trance achieved should be noticeably deeper.

Deepeners Part 4 Conclusion

Throughout these articles I’ve tried to give a fairly detailed idea of how the deepeners work and examples of the wording you might use. But in this final installment I want to emphasize the importance of getting to know the nature and flow of a technique, then using words and phrases that are natural to you.

When I first started to learn this hypnosis stuff, I would sit with my “clients” (thankfully just my fellow students!) and read, word for word, the scripts we were given by the college. Although they were excellent, reliable scripts, some of the language just didn’t sit naturally with me. As a result, although they worked reasonably well, I couldn’t get into that “flow” which is part of the magic of being a hypnotist. And because the words weren’t natural to me I would stumble and hesitate at times. My very compliant fellow students were extremely tolerant (we were all in the same boat, and they were just as bad!) but I’m glad they were not paying clients!

As my confidence grew I began to follow the general structure of the scripts, but in my own words. Just this simple action led to my subjects experiencing a much deeper level of trance. I would go so far as to say that for novice and student hypnotists, this shift to using your own, natural language is a deepener in itself! So I urge you to make these techniques your own, and have fun with them – responsibly of course!

I hope you enjoyed this series on Deepeners and took something away from it, even if it was just a small nugget of information. If you really want to learn a lot more about deepeners then I recommend you check out my friend Sean Michael Andrews DVD program called Deepening The Trance. It’s excellent program that really takes you further into the world of deepeners and other techniques to really make sure you’re able to get a really great level of trance within your client.

7 Popular Myths Panic Attack Myths

The following a guest post from my friend Mark Tyrrell who is a therapist, author and trainer, and co-founder of HypnosisDownloads.com which is one of the most popular hypnosis websites in the world.

As we all know Hypnosis can work wonders with people who suffer from Panic Attacks. I actually had a problem with Panic Attacks for years until I got helped by a Hypnotist. Ever since then I’ve never had a problem again. Panic Attacks are a common problem Hypnotists work with and so it’s important to understand what they are, how they work and how to separate the truth from myth.

So in this post Mark shares with us 7 popular myths about Panic Attacks which will be helpful for you to know in case you ever do work with a client who suffers from Panic Attacks.

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“I didn’t even know it was a panic attack! I thought I was going to die, I felt like I couldn’t breathe, and I was sweating even though it was a cold day. And as for my heart, I thought it was going to explode through my chest. I have never been so terrified. In the end I felt humiliated!”

I’ve heard these words or a variation on them many times from the thousands of people who have spoken to me about their panic attacks. So one of the first things to do when treating someone for panic attacks is to reassure them as to what panic attacks are and what they are not.

Here are the top seven myths about panic attacks (which will also serve as major reframe “reassurers”:

Myth 1: “I’m afraid I might die during a panic attack!”

Especially during the first panic attack when they don’t necessarily know what’s happening, people fear that they are going to die, because it all feels so dramatic. I remember when I was a kid seeing a washing machine juddering up and down on full spin. My mother reassured me that this was a natural part of the machine’s cycle. It looks dramatic, even scary, to a young child, but washing machines are designed to do this.

When the body is in “panic mode”, it’s doing what it is supposed to do (just at the wrong time). If a person were ill enough to die due to a panic attack, they would have been ill enough to die at any time of the day or night, regardless of how tense or relaxed they were. We are all “designed” to be able to panic.

Myth 2: Having panic attacks is a sign of “going crazy”

Many people fear they are going crazy during a panic attack or that this might happen. Someone experiencing genuine psychosis (hearing or seeing things that are not there and believing in them) might have panic attacks in addition to their psychotic illness, but fearing that having panic attacks is a sign of psychosis because some psychotic people may experience them is like worrying that because some psychotics wear shoes, wearing shoes is a sign of “going crazy”. Panic attacks are not a sign of going “mad”; they are a sign that background stress levels are temporarily too high in a person’s life and that one more stressor has set off the alarm reaction, triggering the fight or flight response.

Myth 3: You can totally lose control during a panic attack

Panic attacks can come on fast. In fact, they are meant to come on fast; imagine if it took half an hour to summon up the energy to flee from a falling tree! It sometimes feels as if the subconscious mind has taken your conscious mind by surprise. And it’s this that gives people the feeling of being out of control.

It certainly can feel hard to “think straight” during a panic attack (because during an emergency, thought needs to be as simple as possible: “run or fight”), but people don’t totally lose control as is so often feared. One woman I worked with told me how, before leaving her car in a traffic jam during a panic attack, she searched for and found her cell phone, checked she had her purse, and remembered to lock the car – all whilst in the height of panic. The “thinking brain” doesn’t disappear during panic, which is why people don’t do “crazy things” like jump through glass windows. You still have your rationality.

Myth 4: Panic attacks are caused by a “chemical imbalance”

There is nothing abnormal about having a panic attack, any more than a car alarm is abnormal if it goes off. But some people believe (and perhaps it’s in drug companies’ interests to strengthen this myth) that panic attacks are caused by “faulty genes or brain chemicals”. There is no evidence for this. Certainly some people may be naturally more anxious than others, but we evolved to panic. Which is why the human race is still here; we’ve had to be very good at running away in the past.

Myth 5: During a panic attack it’s hard to get enough air

The symptoms of panic aren’t really “symptoms” at all, but rather characteristics of exercise. During panic, your body has the wrong message that it needs to do some heavy exercise; so it makes you breathe fast, speeds your heart rate, produces sweat, and sends blood away from digestion and into the legs and arms for running or fighting. All these “symptoms” would feel perfectly natural if running in the gym, but not when we’re sitting on a bus; of course breathing as if we’re exercising hard when we’re not is going to feel pretty weird.

People often fear “running out of air” because breathing so fast (hyperventilating) can make you feel breathless. But during hyperventilation, too much oxygen is breathed in, decreasing the carbon dioxide concentration in the blood, which in turn can produce numbness, tingling, chest pains, and dizziness if continued. None of this is dangerous, but it feels dramatic.

So gulping down too much air can make us feel breathless. A simple way to stop hyperventilation in its tracks is to hold your breath for the count of 10. This “resets” your breathing and normalizes carbon dioxide levels again.

Myth 6: It’s always obvious to other people

Well, it might be, but it might not be. In fact, oftentimes other people just don’t notice. I recall having a horrendous panic attack (yes, I’ve been there, along with one in four of the population) in a crowded environment years ago. I felt sure people around me must have noticed. Surely; how could they not? But my colleague – someone I was right next to during this event – expressed amazement when I later confided what I’d experienced. The fact is, people are unobservant and much more concerned with what they imagine people might be noticing about them.

Myth 7: Panic attacks are hard to stop once they’ve started

It’s a common worry that all you can do during a panic attack is “wait for it to blow over”. Actually, your body doesn’t want to waste all that energy and if it gets one hint that it doesn’t need to, it will switch off nature’s alarm system. This is why behaving “normally” during a panic attack, perhaps by continuing to talk to people or even forcing yourself to smile, sends the signal to your subconscious mind that it doesn’t need to panic.

When we panic, we breathe in but don’t spend much time breathing out (just as when running). Breathing in arouses us and makes us alert; whereas the opposite, breathing out, happens when we relax. So purposefully breathing out slowly and longer than your in-breath will make it impossible to continue panicking; like trying to drive a car with the hand brake on. With practice, the more you stop panic attacks in their tracks, the less they’ll bother you.

Some people believe that once you’ve had panic attacks, you’ll always be prone to them. This is just not true. With a combination of relaxation training, hypnotherapy, and cognitive and behavioral therapy (CBT), you can very easily stop them forever, as I did and have done for countless others.

Mark Tyrrell is a therapist, author and trainer, and co-founder of the world’s largest hypnosis website where he has created a download for panic attacks.

Mark is also co-founder and Creative Director of Uncommon Knowledge and helped establish a highly regarded diploma course in evidence-based hypnotherapy and psychotherapy. He has trained thousands of therapists.

This contest has now officially ended. I will be announcing the winners in the next day or so. If you are the winners I’ll notify you by e-mail soon. Thank you to everyone who took part in my Streetnosis giveaway.

Over the last couple of weeks on my newsletter and blog I’ve been dropping hints about the newest project from one of my friends and mentors, Reg Blackwood. Well, over almost 6 months of waiting and planning Reg has finally released Streetnosis.

If you’re a regular reader of this hypnosis blog then you know Reg is a fan favorite and frequent guest writer here. Reg is an amazing Hypnotist and trainer with over 10 years of hand on experience in the fields of Street, Clinical and Stage Hypnosis. His experience as a Street Hypnotist gives Reg a unique insight into Hypnosis and how to apply it within almost any situation instantly. No hour long pre-talks or spending 30 minutes getting to know his volunteer. We’re talking about deep trance within seconds!

Beside being a walking library of hypnosis information Reg is also just a nice guy. When no one knew who I was and no one wanted to help me with the learning process when I started out Reg reached out and helped me out when no one else would. Reg’s background as a comedian combined with his hands on experience makes him a wonderful instructor who can keep you entertained as well as teach you some serious stuff. If you’ve seen Reg’s last project called Hypnosis Happens then you know I’m telling the truth. You can read my review of Hypnosis Happens by clicking the link below:

Hypnosis Happens Review

Here is a small video that gives you a little bit more information about Streetnosis:

Streetnosis is a unique project as it’s a complete training course on Street Hypnosis which is something you don’t see offered much on the internet which is odd since Street Hypnosis is so popular nowadays. In addition, Reg offers something completely unique to this project which I’ve never seen done before. He actually teaches you Hypnosis backwards.

Yes, backwards.

It’s a unique way of teaching created by Reg which allows you to learn hypnosis in a much more complete way. You’ll have a much deeper understanding of Hypnosis when done.  As Reg claims you’ll now know Hypnosis backward and forward. Funny!

I Thought It Was Time For A Change

I was given early access to a full membership of  Streetnosis by Reg so I could check it out and to be honest I’ve been a bit of overwhelmed by the scope and detail of this new project. Reg has really outdone himself and published Streetnosis on a new platform which gives the Reg the ability to add new information and provide more value to his students. Obviously I could go on and on about Reg and his credibility, but his reputation in this business speaks for it’s self. I am planning to do a complete review of Streetnosis in the near future so stay tuned for that as well.

I know this may seem a little odd to some of you as I usually do a review when someone I trust launches a new product, but I’ve decided to do something a little different this time. I hope you enjoy it and if I get good feedback I’ll do more of these type of post in the future. It’s time for me to move on and in doing so let me tell you how you can win 1 of 3 free Basic Access Memberships For Reg Blackwood’s Streetnosis.

In addition, I know a lot of you don’t care about giveaways and would rather just purchase Streetnosis outright which means you have no need to win a free basis access membership since you’ve already bought it. Well, I have something special for those of you who purchase Streetnosis too. So keep reading below to get all the details.

How To Win 1 of 3 Basic Access Memberships For Streetnosis

• STEP #1: You need to click the following link which will take you to the sales page of Streetnosis. You need to read it over and check out what Reg is offering with this project. I’m not saying you have to read the whole sales letter, but I want you to get an idea of the type of stuff Reg will be teaching in this course and the type of value he’ll be providing you. You may think you can skip this step, but if you do I promise you won’t win a copy. You’ll need to know this information in order to complete the second part of this contest.

Streetnosis Sales Page

• STEP #2:  In the comment area below you need to write a few sentences on how you think Streetnosis can help you become a better Hypnotist or take your hypnosis practice to the next level. Obviously you can figure this out from reading the sales page.  I ask that you please try to keep your answer shorter than 3 paragraphs as I’m sure I’m going to be pretty overwhelmed by the number of entries.

• STEP #3: That’s all you need to do to enter this contest. Within 48 hours I will pick 3 different comments and those 3 people will win a free basic access membership for Streetnosis. Once again, this contest will only run for 48 hours so please hurry so you don’t miss out. You need to also make sure the e-mail address you use is valid as I will be contacting the winners by e-mail after the contest is over.

• NOTE: Please remember that this contest is for 1 of 3 Basis Access Memberships for Streetnosis. If you choose you can always upgrade to a full membership later on. The full memberships gives you a lot more, but don’t worry. You’ll get a lot of awesome stuff with the basic membership package as well.

Contest For Those Of You Who Purchase Streetnosis.

As I mentioned above I know some of you will end up just buying Streetnosis outright instead of waiting to get a free basic membership. I know this happens because I tend to just buy stuff as I’m one of those people who want it now instead of waiting. I didn’t want those people who buy right night to miss out so I have a completely different giveaway for you. Two lucky buyers will win Speed Trance by Richard Nongard and John Cerbone or Inducing The Trance by Sean Michael Andrews.

So let’s find out how to win one of these 2 awesome hypnosis training programs.

NOTE: Since these are physical DVD’s I will be mailing to the winners this contest will only be made available to purchases within the United States. Due to a number of different reasons I can’t offer this giveaway to buyers outside of the United States. This rule ONLY applies to this contest and not the free giveaway of Streetnosis.

Here are the steps you need to follow to enter this contest.

• STEP #1: After you purchase Streetnosis through any of the links on this page please forward a copy of your receipt to my e-mail address which is joshuahoughton1 at gmail.com (spelled out to minimize spam) with the subject line “Streetnosis Giveaway”

• STEP #2: After you forwarded the receipt to me please leave me a comment in the comment section below on how you think Streetnosis can help to make you a better Hypnotist.  Just write a few sentences and let me know your thoughts. Obviously I recommend you read the sales page for this part, but I hope you did anyway before buying the course. I also advocate that you read the sales letter before buying any product.

• STEP #3: Somewhere within the comment box please make sure you provide where you are from. You don’t need to give me full mailing details yet, but please post what state you are from.

• STEP #4: That’s It! You are all set and within 48 hours I’ll pick two people who win either a copy of Speed Trance or Inducing The Trance.

Let’s Get This Free Giveaway Moving

Well, that’s all there is to the contest. As you can see it’s pretty simple and straight forward. If you follow the instructions above we shouldn’t have any problems. I just thought I would try something different and hopefully generate some positive buzz for a product and teacher I really believe in.

The 48 hours starts tomorrow at 10:00 am, but you can start posting now to get an early start. I also ask that you only post once in the comment area. Posting more then once will get you disqualified from the giveaway. So please the rules carefully and get started. I can’t wait to see who wins this free giveaway and I truly believe Reg Blackwood can help you take your abilities to the next level with….

A LITTLE BONUS JUST FOR THE HELL OF IT

Technically the two videos below have nothing to do with the contest, but they are just plain funny. Reg Blackwood shows he is more then just a Street Hypnotist…He’s a Street Hypnotist who can rap. Reg made these videos just for fun and they are pretty good so I thought I would post them here so you could check them out. Feel free to leave Reg feedback and let him know what you think of the videos.

Reg Blackwood’s Street Hypnosis Rap Part 1

Reg Blackwood’s Street Hypnosis Rap Part 2

I guess you’ve made it through Deepeners part 1 and Deepeners part2, and you’re back for more deepeners. Here as promised we’ll explore some that utilize physical sensations to increase the depth of trance in your subject. They’re similar to some (and indeed can be used as) effective inductions.

I don’t know about you, but when I read detailed scripts like the ones here, I find myself relaxing with them… I nearly fell asleep while writing the Vogt’s fractionation below… whether it was the highly effective nature of the script or that I was boring myself to sleep… I’ll let you be the judge!

Deepener 7 – Eye open and closure

You’d think that waking your client up when you’ve just put them into hypnosis would disrupt the level of trance. However, it can actually be used to deepen the trance, by making the subject aware of the effort required to open the eyes and the relief of closing them again. Your deepener might go something like this:

Well done… you’re beginning to relax really well now… I’d like to help you relax even more… physically and mentally… and to do that… in a few moments…I’ll count to three, and ask you to open your eyes… you’ll find it takes a bit of effort to do that… because the muscles around your eyes are already relaxing so well… they don’t really want to open… and then, after you’ve opened your eyes… when I ask you to close them again… it will be such a relief to allow them to close… you’ll feel twice as relaxed as before… and that relaxation will affect your whole body. We’ll do this three times, and each time you’ll find yourself drifting deeper and deeper into relaxation… So when I count one…two… three… on three you’ll open your eyes… and when you close them again… you’ll be twice as relaxed as you are right now…

And one… two… three… opening your eyes now… noticing how much effort it takes… those relaxed muscles have to activate to open your eyelids… that’s right… eyes opened… even though they would rather stay closed… and relaxed… let your gaze rest softly on something just in front of you (if there is a suitable object or point that you can refer to for the client to focus on, then mention it). And now, allow your eyes to close…. And let the relief and relaxation of closing them sweep right through your body… twice as relaxed as before… twice as comfortable… sinking down deeper… it’s so nice to just… let go… feeling your whole body slip deeper and deeper into relaxation, and your mind drifting deeper and deeper into trance… that’s right….

You repeat this doubling of relaxation/ trance depth, until on the third request to close their eyes, you can suggest that the muscles around their eyelids just don’t want to open again right now… they’re much too relaxed.

Deepener 8 – Vogt’s Fractionation Method

This is similar to the eye opening and closing outlined above, but can be particularly helpful for clients who need evidence in order to believe they really have been hypnotized. It just requires a little confidence on the part of the hypnotist! There isn’t really room here to go into detail about the technique in its entirety but here is a slimmed down version of this deepener based on the script from Hartland’s Medical and Dental Hypnosis:

In a moment I’m going to wake you up by counting from one up to five. When I reach five and you wake up, your eyes will be open, but while I’m talking to you, you’ll start to feel very drowsy and very, very sleepy again… you’ll find it really hard to keep your eyes open… and you’ll just want to drift off to sleep… your eyes will feel very, very heavy… and they’ll want to blink… in fact they’ll begin to blink… and you won’t be able to stop them from blinking… and as they do… you’ll feel more and more sleepy… more and more drowsy… and your eyes will want to close… as you feel more and more relaxed and sleepy… in fact, they will close… and you’ll drift off into a deep… deep state of blissful relaxation… a much, much deeper state than you’re feeling right now… so when I count up to five and you wake up… you won’t be able to keep your eyes open for very long at all… because you’ll feel so very, very tired… so very, very drowsy that they’ll soon start to blink… and close…. And you’ll fall into a deep… deep… sleep

When the subject is then woken up, their eyes will begin to blink, or will remain half closed… and this quite natural state is what we utilize… if they blink, you’ll say something like:

There you are… your eyes are starting to blink… because they feel so tired and drowsy… they’re feeling heavier and heavier… and they just want to close…

If they don’t blink, but remain half-closed and sleepy, you might say:

That’s right… notice how sleepy and drowsy those eyes feel… they don’t really want to stay open… because you’re feeling more and more sleepy as I’m talking to you… more and more drowsy… your eyelids are feeling heavier and heavier… and you can’t help but let them close… and you’re falling into a deeper and deeper sleep…

If you deepen the trance even more using a countdown or visualization, then wake the client again, when they drift back into trance they’ll go even deeper and faster, and be more open to your therapeutic intervention. Before waking them up, you can suggest that when you mention the word sleep, they’ll be unable to resist closing their eyes and drifting off into a deep, deep, relaxing sleep.

One More Article On Deepeners Coming Your Way

In the final part of this series on deepeners, to complete your basic collection we’ll take a look at limb levitation and heaviness, and the Feedback Technique… see you in part 4!

Josh

P.S.

As I mentioned before I highly recommend you check out Deepening The Trance by Sean Michael Andrews if you want to learn even more about Deepeners. I’ve cover a nice bit of them in this series of articles so far, but there are many more you can learn and apply. Well, I just wanted to let you know about this resource as it’s my job to inform you of really great training and resources. See you for Deepeners Part 4 in just a couple of days.