Exploring Hypnosis

This article was originally published on February 28, 2008

I chose this book to review because it is another of the books that changed the way that i do Hypnotherapy. The subtitle is Basic to Advanced Techniques for the Professional.

Until I read this book I had done mostly direct suggestion hypnosis and read or memorized scripts for clients. This book opened my eyes to other ways of helping my clients be successful with their hypnosis experience,

The book starts with describing the best ways to learn hypnosis and moves on to how to set up a Hypnotists office. In my opinion the meat of the book is when they discuss age regression and the use of the affect bridge. Actually Calvin Banyan has developed a system of Hypnotherapy based on these concepts called 5 Path Hypnosis. I have been certified in this method and have found it to be very successful. It is my opinion that nothing has been held back that would enable one to become more proficient in this craft.

There are many more concepts discussed in this book and I believe that even the most experienced Hypnotist can find some value in the pages. of thios book The book concludes with a script for a a modified Elman Induction that is very effective. I recommend this book for any practicing or aspiring Hypnotist or Hypnotherapist

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This article was first published on February 20, 2008

I was thinking about the average new client that comes into my office. Usually, they have tried several (or many) other solutions to their partiuclar problem. Many time hypnosis is a last reosrt. As I have discussed in an earlier post, they are sceptical and nervous. But most of all I think that they believe that the hypnotist has some type of occult power that will rid them of whatever issue that they have come to deal with.

Well, almost all of us would rather have someone take responsibility for our behavior. I would love to be able to take some type of magic pill that would take away all of my problems. I think that most of our new clients are hoping for just that. They hope that we can do some type of hocus-pocus and their problem will just go away. And for some of them, it does. But the truth is that for most of our clients, there has to be some type of personal responsibility on their part to solve their issues.

As a Hypnotist, I can offer support and and help provide tools that my clients can use to solve their problems but I cannot do it for them. I can offer interventions that I have been trained to use to help them The bottom line is that we all need to avail ourselves of whatever tools we can find and take responsibility for solving our on problems.

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This article was first published on February 21, 2008

88I enjoyed publishing the book review on Roy Hunter’s book. I intend to publish regular reviews of books on hypnosis, self-hypnosis, NLP, and other self-help books that I think would be of interest to professionals or the general public.

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This article was first published February 20.2007

I have decided to do my first book review of Master the Power of Self-Hypnosis by C. Roy Hunter, M.S. The book instructs the reader on how to use self-hypnosis to change areas of his or her life that they would like to change.

I need to tell the reader that I have met Mr, Hunter several times and have attended several workshops that he conducted. I have also read all of his books. Mr. Hunter is responsible for inspiring me to be the best Hypnotherapist I can be. I also feel that I have had the best training from Mr. Hunter that I have had in all of my hypnosis training.

The first part of the book educates the reader on the history and basic facts of hypnosis. The second part of the book informs the reader of the role of the Subconscious and how to program it. This part of the book also describes stress management. Part three describes the process of defining your goals for self-hypnosis and the process of putting them to work with self-hypnosis. Part four describes creative daydreaming, Part five describes how to inject power into your self-hypnosis.

The book ends with a set of questions and answers about self-hypnosis and a glossery of hypnosis term. Finally, Mr. Hunter a;sp provides some self-hypnoosis scripts and affirmations..

This book is well written and in my opinion is the best book of self-hypnosis available. It is clearly written and Mr. Hunter gets his point across clearly on all subjects. My only complaint is that Mr. Hunter is too modest. He attributes his skills to his mentor, Charles Tebbits. Mr. Tebbits was a great hypnotist and is one of the pioneers of modern hypnotism. Mr. Hunter studied under Mr. Tebbits but I believe that Mr. Hunter has taken what he learned from Mr Tibbets about the art of self-hypnosis and taken it to new heights. I reccommend this book to anyone who is serious about making real changes in their life.

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This article was first published on Jamuary 28, 2008

It’s been while since I posted. I have been settling down with a new job and considering where I might want to go with this blog that would interest others. I have decided to post some reviews of the books I have found most helpful in my career as a Hypnotist. I will also talk about other subjects. I intend to post a review at least once a week with other articles that the reader might find helpful. Again, this blog is intended for the general public as well as the practicing Hypnotist. Please watch for my first review, a book about self-hypnosis by Roy Hunter.

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This article was first posted November 18, 2007

If any of us who have been hypnotized can look back to the time before that happened we would see that we had a lot of misconceptions about how hypnosis might feel or what we might do under hypnosis.

New clients are courageous

They come into our offices not knowing what is going to happen to them. They are probably under the impression that they are turning some amount of control over to the Hypnotist.

It is my opinion that the one thing people fear the most is the unknown. When a person who has never done hypnosis comes to my office they are entering unknown territory.

Once person has done hypnosis, they understand that all fear is unfounded.

A couple of stories

Actually, I guess there is a story to be told with each new client that walks in the door but

here are a couple that stand out in my memory.

A man came to me for smoking cessation. We did the pre-talk and everything seemed to be going normally. He agreed to do hypnosis but after several efforts and several different inductions he did not do hypnsois with me. We discussed the problem and he claimed to not know why it wasn’t working. We made an appointment for the following week but on the way out the door he said “You didn’t use a watch”. He then explained to me that you couldn’t be hypnotized unless the Hypnotist swung a pocket watch in front of your eyes.

I explained to him that that wasn’t true but he didn’t return for the next session.

Now that wasn’t fear but it does show how misconceptions get in the way.

Another example is that I bought a block of radio advertising time. When I found out which of the radio announcers was going to make my commercial, I offered to give him a free session of hypnosis so that he could experience the process and have a better idea of how to work the ad copy. He refused and later told the ad salesperson that he was afraid that I would hypnotize him and have him write a check for all of the money he had in the bank.

Every new client that walks in the front door has their individual fears about hypnosis. It is my job to discover the fear and explain the process. Hypnosis is about communication between the client and the Hypnotist. That starts with the pre-talk.

Tags: For the Professional, For the Consumer by The Hypnotist
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This article was originally posted on November 14, 2007

Hot topic of the day

For the last couple of weeks, maybe a little longer, there has been a lot of discussion as to what “hypnotists” should call themselves. Of course, there is always the term “hypnotist” . Well, actually, that’s what we are. Calvin Banyan has suggested the term “consulting hypnotist”. I’m not sure about that one. I don’t understand just how that fits in with what we do. By the way, this is one of the very few times I disagree with Cal.

I can freely call myself a hypnotherapist. Some hypnotists can’t in some states. But basically, I am a therapist, by license and when I do hypnosis, I am still doing therapy. I believe that I will continue to call my self a hypnotherapist unless someone has a label that I like better. I do believe that when doing hypnosis, the progress is more rapid than regular talk therapy. By the way, I also call myself a psychotherapist. I sometimes have to remind my friends that it is one word, not two.

More to come

The first several posts are topics that I felt somewhat compelled to cover. I’m not sure why and I do have a couple more of these. Tomorrow, I want to discuss the respect and admiration that I have for my clients. After these things are out of the way, I want to talk about the good stuff. The benefits we all get from hypnosis and the many ways to acquire those benefits.

Any one with comments, please post them. I will also read emails. If you want to discuss a topic here, let me know. I’m open. If you disagree with something I’ve said, let me know. I’ll consider your differing opinion and will sometimes change my mind. I don’t need to believe that I am always right. If I don’t change my mind, I’ll let you know why.

Good night.

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This article was first published on November 14, 2007

Purpose of This Blog

When I started writing this blog, I thought that it would be a good place for Hypnotists to get together and discuss some issues. As I got a little further into it, I thought that it would be a good place for the general public to explore hypnosis. Now, I think it woudl be a good place for hypnotists and the general public to get together and learn from each other.

If you read this, I encourage you to leave comments, both positive comments and constructive criticism. I haven’t written much in the way of conversational writing for quite some time. Most of my writing has been for reports and evaluations. This is technical stuff and that has probably carried over into my writing in this blog. Please bear with me. I am working at making my writing more conversational.

Mission Statement

I guess the mission statement for this blog would be “To bring Hypnotists and the General Public together for the common good.”

If we can do anything to educate the Layman about the process of hypnosis or remind the Hypnotist of the uncertainty that the layman feels before that first session, than this blog will have served it’s purpose.

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This article was originally posted November 13, 2007

Kinds of Training

There are all types and various lengths of hypnosis training availabel today. The National Guild of Hypnotists (NHG) requires that you receive 100 hours of training from one of their Certified Trainers. There are programs that will certify Hypnotists after a weekend of training. I recently saw some posts by an individual that received his training free by watching videos online.My opinion

I believe that you should train for the longest period of time that is available to you. If you are a consumer, you should inquire about your Hypnotist’s training.

Why?

Anyone can learn to hypnotize. You can learn to do hypnosis with someone by reading a book. Most people already know how to hypnotize theirselves. They do it several times a day without even realizing it.

The problem is that the Hypnotist should know what to do after the hypnosis starts. There are specific ways to word suggestions. He or She should know what to do if there is an abreaction or what to do if the session takes an unexpected turn.

The more we know about our craft the better.

I am authorized to do hypnosis with my clients because I am a Licensed Professional Counselor. Even though I had no training in hypsosis, I could have read a book and done hypnosis with my clients. I wasn’t comfortable with that so I sought out training and became certified by the NGH. I continue to expand my knowledge by attending frequent trainings.

There is a movement afoot to get Hypnotists recognized as a seperate profession. I am in favor of this and encourage everyone to act in the most professional manner of which they are capable. This includes continued training

Tags: For the Professional, For the Consumer by The Hypnotist
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This article was first published on November 2, 2007

To begin with, the National Guild of Hypnotists requires it’s members to obtain continuing education. After that, I believe that it is in the best interest of the hypnotist and his or her clients to obtain as much training as possible. It is considered unethical to practice techniques that you are not trained to perform.

I have attended several NGH conventions in New Hampshire and Massachusetts with mixed results. There are so many presenters and it is difficult to assess the value of their presentations to your situation by reading a brief description. There have only been couple of presenters that I thought I had not received anything of value from their presentation. I now attend the Solid Gold Weekends in Las Vegas. To date I have been very happy with the results of these trainings.

There are many excellent hypnotists that are willing to share knowledge of the craft of Hypnosis.
I have several favorites but there are many others that are probably equally as gifted. My favorites are : Roy Hunter, Calvin Banyan, Gerald Kein, Shawn Brookhouse, and Don Mottin.

Roy Hunter is a disciple of Charles Tibbets. Mr. Tibbets was a major influence on hypnosis in the 20th Century. He wrote a major book on hypnosis called “Miracles on Demand”. Roy Hunter has followed in Tibbets‘ footsteps but I believe that he has taken Tibbets‘ work far beyond where Tibbets left off. The first two books I read after certification were Hunter’s ” The Art of Hypnosis” and the “Art of Hypnotherapy“. Both are highly recommended.

Gerald Kein owns a Hypnosis School in Florida and publishes a lot of training material of value. I personally use his technique called “Ultra Height Hypnosis” on a regular basis and have been very successful.

Calvin Banyan is influenced by Gerald Kein and Roy Hunter. He is one of the rising forces in the field at this time. He has written several books and other training materials. I personally have trained and been certified in his method of therapy that he calls “5 Path Hypnosis.” I use this frequently and it has proven to be valuable.

Shawn Brookhouse is from England and frequently comes to the US. He often lectures on Ericsonian Hypnosis and should not be missed if the opportunity arises.

Don Mottin is a trainer and hypnotist that works mainly in direct suggestion. I tend to minimize my involvement in direct suggestion but Mottin is a wealth of information and the information that one gets from him can be useful in many ways.

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