Things have come long way since the first person was ever hypnotized. We have learned so much more about hypnosis, patterns and the way our words affect suggestion and the way they affect the client.

This is the year 2009 and many of us are still using words that are causing hypnotists to shoot themselves in the foot. As we all know the media has really given hypnosis a bad rep over the years. While their are some good reports out there, certain movies and books have convinced people that what we do is magic or something from the occult.

The average person tends to think we have “super powers” or some type of control over people. So it’s important that we stop using certain words that give people the wrong idea about what we do. I also promise that if you start to change the words you use you’ll notice a strong difference in the way your sessions go.

Once again this is just my opinion and you are free to use whatever language you like, but how do you know what the results will be unless you attempt the change. All I am doing here is offering you an alternative. I want to give you something to think about before I list some of the words. Have you ever had a session that “you” thought went really well? Only to find out that a few sessions later your client has actually got worse or not improved at all.

How Can Words Hurt My Success Rate?

Yes, it’s possible the client rejected your suggestions, but could it also be the client was confused or didn’t understand something properly. This could cause the client to believe they we’re doing something wrong or that they we’re not in hypnosis. For instance, during the pre-talk you let the client know you are not asleep during hypnosis. Well as the hypnosis session concludes you tell the client when you count to 5; you will open your eyes and wake up.

The problem is you told the client they weren’t asleep during hypnosis, yet you told them to wake up. So the client goes home and as they are driving they start thinking to themselves. I must have done something wrong since he told me to wake up when I wasn’t asleep. Maybe I should have gone to asleep. It is at this moment that all your work has been undone.

I’m not saying this will happen with all clients and to be honest most of them may never even think about it, but why take the chance. I do recommend that if you do continue to use the wake up that you explain to the client ahead of time why you say wake up. This way once the sessions ends and emerges from hypnosis.

They will already know that they did what they we’re suppose too. The idea for this post isn’t mine alone and I didn’t even come up with the concept. I actually heard Gerald Kein talk about this subject before. I totally agree with his point of view. So I would like to give Mr. Kein credit for giving me the motivation to write this short article.

Words To Avoid

• Deep Sleep: When I say the word “sleep” I don’t mean the word we use to induce hypnosis. Many hypnotists will tell a client they will go into a deep sleep and this can cause problems. The problem is that hypnosis isn’t sleep and we don’t want the client to think hypnosis is sleep. I also recommend that you always explain to your client before hand that when we use the word sleep in our inductions we don’t mean actually sleep. Explain to them you mean a state of relaxation that is similar to sleep. Le them know the sub conscious mind understands this suggestion and it seems to work well with it.

• Awake or Wake up: This can cause all the work you do as a hypnotist to be worthless at the end of the session. The reason is that you are not asleep so how can you wake up. A person knows they are not asleep during because they will be able to hear you during the session. So when the person comes out he is going to start thinking it didn’t work because he told me to wake up when I wasn’t asleep, so I must have done something wrong. Instead of saying awake or wake up I recommend as do other Hypnotist to use the word “Emerge”. This word seems to work wonders and I promise your client won’t be wondering about it later. If you do like to use the word wake up, then at least explain the reason we say, “wake up” before the actual session begins.

• Under: When you tell someone you are going under it can be perceived as talking down to someone. You are “under” my control is a phase which most of our population has heard. Think about it for a min you are telling a person they are going under. So you may want to just let the person know you are going into hypnosis, or allow yourself to go into a nice state of hypnosis or even a nice state of relaxation.

• Command: When you tell people you are giving them a command they tend to think you are forcing them or being bossy. A command means you are in charge of them and they know you are not. I have found with a few clients the word command can work, but most clients will have an issue with this word on the Sub. Conscious level. I suggest using the word “suggestion” instead.

• Subject: When you call someone a subject it gives the impression they are beneath you or under your control in someway. Think about this for a moment. How would you feel if someone kept addressing you by this term. Subject can also imply you are running test or trying something out on somebody and for someone who may be new to the experience of hypnosis this is not the type of thoughts you want running around in there head.

Well these are just a few words or phases, which can possibly hinder a session or the level of hypnosis a person can enter. I learned this from Gerald Kein and put these changes into my practice and noticed an amazing change in the depth of my clients and the overall success of the sessions.

While these words have been used long before I was born and hypnotist have been successful with them I believe in moving forward instead of backward. I believe that to be taken as a serious professional by others that must move forward and work hard to erase the negative stereotypes within our profession.