This site is providing information about hypnosis! Hypnosis is an alternative medicine that can used for a wide range of issues, categorized under Illness (Mild Depression, Pain Management, Teeth Grinding); Daily Issues (Insomnia, Weight Loss, Phobia, Anxiety, Anger Management); Break Habits (Stop Smoking, Nail Biting, Quit Alcohol); Improve Performance (Sports management, Focus, Improve Concentration, Improve Memory). It is effective as can be seen here: "In 1970, a research conducted by Alfred Barrios found that hypnotherapy had a massive 93% success rate after only 6 sessions compared to only a 72% success rate with behavioral therapy (after 22 sessions on average), and only 38% success rate with psychotherapy (after an average of 600 sessions)."
Hypnosis is an alternative medicine that can resolve an array of issues faced in life. It is one among a few disciplines that is adopted to resolve a wide range of issues. Though it is used for many issues, it is generally effective in the many areas applied to.
This includes:
a. Illnesses – insomnia, irritable bowel syndrome, stop smoking….
b. Achieving goals – Get good study grades…,
c. Performances – Improve concentration, better memory….,
d. Sports – Better mental focus and discipline….
NLP is the study of patterns of excellence in various fields and disciplines.
And one of the disciplines it studied is hypnotherapy, in particular, Ericksonian hypnotherapy.
NLP can be said to be the culminations of various tools and techniques that are mostly that of a conscious approach.
Ericksonian hypnotherapy is using the unconscious communication techniques.
People who prefer to use a variation of techniques to achieve their goals or address their problems can look towards NLP. This is because it contains many tools to help one gets the desired results.
For instance, you can use Swish Pattern to eliminate a bad habit like nail biting. You can also use Anchoring to anchor yourself at a peak experience so that you can ‘recall’ these peak states at any time in the future.
If you are a person who would like to have only one tool and focus on it, then hypnotherapy is more suitable.
Similarly, hypnotherapy can eliminate bad habits and anchor for the future a particular state.
How do you predict future – future of yours as well as other people?
One reliable way is by looking closely at what you are doing today and tomorrow and tomorrow…,tomorrow…
Our future is a result of our today/tomorrows actions.
If what you do daily are about taking incremental but progressive actions towards something worthwhile, then your chances of attaining that goal will be high (though no guarantees).
It is good enough if we can simply increase the probability of success and makes it in our favour. This can be done through our actions.
By actions, I do not mean occasional, sporadic actions that are done by mood. This type of actions are not going to produce the results we want in life.
Same thing applies to “seeing into the future” of other people.
You will be surprised how accurate that could be.
It is that simple.
One definition of Influence is: the capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behaviour of someone or something, or the effect itself.
Is influence good or bad?
One simple way to evaluate is by looking at the impact on the person being influenced. Does it bring benefits to that person?
For eg. Teachers could likely be a person to influence students.
A teacher who is hardworking, have good character and personality and is knowledgeable definitely provides a good role model to the students.
However, not all students will be influenced. Perhaps only a minority – those who aspire to be teacher or be successful in life when they grow up will look towards the teacher’s action and behaviour as an inspiration.
Influence can happen in both circumstances;
1. The subject having a desire or goal in mind and sees the person around her as an influence.
2. Being influenced unconsciously, as in TV advertisement ( a housewife may not have thought of buying that product previously but ended up buying after the advertisement).
Both are considered ethical and as an influence, they are not detrimental to the subject.
If a boy picks up smoking from his friends, it is a bad influence. Because smoking is not appropriate for young age person and it is not good for the health.
Therefore, an influence is good or bad would depend on whether it has positive or negative effects on the influenced person and the surrounding people.
Hypnosis can be considered a form of influence, but a good influence.
People like to hear this phrase “it is not your fault”.
The tendency of human being is to assert that he or she is right most of the time. When challenged, they would defend themselves.
So it will come as a great pacifier if you were to use the phrase when making a speech or selling something. They would feel closer to you since they find that you understand them and stand side by side with them.
When you are on the same side as them, chances are they trust you more. A rapport could thus be easily build up.
If you wish to know more about self-hypnosis, you can see my reply to question asked in Quora about Self-Hypnosis.
Are you curious how many kinds of hypnosis exist around us?
If yes, click HERE to read my article contributed to SelfGrowth.com
Influence and Persuasion are a part of our everyday life. It is in fact an integral part of our daily life, be it we realize or not.
To get an understanding of these 2 skills, go to https://youtu.be/CVlpi2Zbac8 to have an overview.
Let me reveal to you a successful way to get people’s attention, even if their minds are preoccupied by many important matters. Would you wish to know?
But you can only be let in this secret in my next blog post.
For most people, they will react to the above with impatience, because we have just used one of the secrets to get the attention of people.
You see, every one of us at any moment is absorbed with our own thoughts (be it planning to do something, worry about something, finding solution to something etc).
This applies even to people who are reading a blog post or in a conversation or sitting there doing nothing.
They may physically be there but their mind is off to somewhere.
Therefore, getting people’s attention to what you are saying/writing is important. It is the first step to an effective communication.
Some authors called these “in a trance”, which is quite accurate. Trance is a state where your mind is absorbed in certain things.
Another word that describes this is Pre-occupied.
What you need is their attention out of the dozen things that are competing for their attention.
Only when they are focusing on what you are presenting, you are as good as not presenting at all.
They may not remember or only have only a vague memory of what you have said or done if they are attention-deficit towards you.
How then do you jolt them out of the trance?
One great technique that you can use is what I call the jigsaw puzzle. You give pieces of the complete picture. People will be curious to find out more.
This is especially so for the things they are interested in.
It is a fact that the human mind (the larger subconscious) likes the unknown. If the mind knew the whole picture, it will lose interest quickly unless there are more things to unfold before them.
Therefore giving bits of information would entice people quite effectively.
Have you seen movie trailer? This is an example of giving out some “exciting information” to get your attention.
Our mind is always trying to make sense of the world around us. By having a little data, this would trigger its curiosity to find data to complete the picture.
If the mind could not find the data, it will use its imagination faculty to imagine what is the missing thing.
Either way, whether you get people to think, imagine or look for something, you have gotten their attention.
You would have succeeded. But of course that is only the first step.
However without that first step, the outcome that you desire may not even be fruitful.
To comprehend hypnosis, you cannot leave out the unconscious mind. What then is the unconscious mind? See the metaphor at What Is The Unconscious Mind Like.
Utilisation is a term used in the Milton Model of hypnosis.
Like its literal meaning, it means “make use of something”.
For instance, if a hypnotherapist observes that his client’s facial muscles are tense and cannot relax well, he can utilise this situation by saying something like “tense facial and body muscles will add more stress to the body that create toxins that if not being properly discharged, can accumulate inside and harm the body. In order to benefit and enjoy a healthy body, it is beneficial for you to start relaxing all your muscles…”
This approach allows you to be creative in handling the situation.
“The frog says it can jump high and far.”
“The chair replies it feels comfortable sitting in this room.”
“The tree sings it’s way to freedom.”
Does the above sentences make sense? Not logically.
They are language aim at communicating with the subconscious mind. The subconscious knows that the things, animal and tree do not talk or sing. It does know that the statement carries a meaning aim directed at the listener.
There are a number of Presuppositions mentioned in NLP. One of them is:
This presupposition matches the beliefs of Milton Erickson, a hypnotherapist that was being studied by the founder of NLP.
Erickson believed in building close rapport with the client. That is why he was observant of the client’s body language (like the fluttering of the eyes). All these little and subtle body movements reveal the unconscious reactions from the client.
He clearly understood that people have different characters, personalities, experiences, preferences and so on. There is no one-size-fit-all model. Which is why he did not use the traditional hypnosis approach of direct suggestion. He knows some clients will resist.
Instead, he developed the approach of indirect suggestions which was perfect in the sense that the indirect suggestions were vague and did not give specific answer to the client. The client would have to search within himself to get the answer.
My understanding of his statement tells that a therapist (whether hypnotherapist or others), does require to be creative enough to be flexible in using the right approach.
I have answer a question on “is there such thing as an indefinite state of hypnosis in Quora.
If you are curious to know, here is the link:
https://www.quora.com/Is-there-such-thing-as-an-indefinite-state-of-hypnosis/answer/H-Kelvin
NLP or Neuro Linguistic Programming is the study of pattern of excellence and using tools and techniques to eliminate bad habits and demonstrate peak performance.
Hypnosis is about entering into a trance state and using suggestions to work with our unconscious mind.
But why people always bring these two fields of discipline together? This is because NLP is the study of pattern of excellence found in experts in the various fields and disciplines. And a reasonable chunk of NLP studies is based on the study of Milton Erickson, a renowned hypnotherapist. It is later developed into Milton Model in NLP.
Guess which one is not an alternative medicine:
a. Hypnosis
b. Traditional Chinese Medicine
c. Naturopathy
d. Medication for heart attack prescribed by a hospital doctor
e. Yoga
f, Herbal Medicine
g. Reiki
The answer is below:
d. Medication for heart attack prescribed by a hospital doctor – this is considered mainstream and not an alternative medicine.
A definition of the word “Inertia” says it is a tendency to do nothing or to remain unchanged.
People are prone to inertia, especially when it is time to take action. Instead of taking immediate action, they remain inertia or procrastinate.
Do you know that it actually takea a lot more effort to get pass inertia than when the momentum of action is already on?
Imagine a trolley filled with some heavy stuff. It stands there motionless (inertia) and if you were to move the trolley, you would need to expend quite a bit of energy to move it. However, once the trolley is already in motion, you do not really need as much of energy to push it.
In other words, starting anything could be tough at first but gets easy as time goes by,
It is a fact that not everyone wants to be hypnotized. Some people have a strong resistance towards being hypnotized.
If you were a hypnotherapist, what would you do? Just give up? Force the person to go into trance? Of course not!
What you can do is to adopt the opposite method of hypnosis known as indirect suggestions. People are resistant towards something because of their conscious mind. That mind is critical and does not easily believe in things. So instead of meeting it head on, we have to use a softer approach.
Example 1
Direct suggestion: Now close your eyes and relax.
Indirect suggestion: After a while, your eyes will be getting more tired, and you may then proceed to close your eyes.
Example 2
Direct suggestion: Start relaxing your leg muscles.
Indirect suggestion: In order to relax yourself and feel its benefits, you may begin to by relaxing your leg muscles.
Let me ask you a question? Would you prefer to work hard at your goal now and then enjoy later or shelf aside the hard work needed to attain your goal now and enjoy life first?
If you are the person who would set your goal and start taking actions towards your goal and keeping focusing on it, then you are have the right mental attitude. Sadly, most people adopt the wrong thinking by not willing to do anything working on their goal now and keep hoping that they can still achieve their goal later in life. In short, they postpone and postpone until it is too late.
Life is short! You are encouraged to condition or hypnotize yourself to think the right thinking so that you work hard now and enjoy your sweet success in the near future.
Milton Erickson defines trance state as Active unconscious learning.
First, he believes that hypnosis is of the unconscious or subconscious mind. And everyone has a subconscious mind that is filled with resources. What he needs to do is to learn to communicate with the patient’s subconscious mind, speaks its language and build a rapport. The patient will then draw out from his own experience the resources that provide a solution to his problems.
Emile Coue was a French psychologist and pharmacist who invented the “Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better” after he stumbled upon a patient who was cured by taking sugar pill instead of prescribed drug. This “self-healing” is known as Placebo Effect.
When a person believes something strongly, he will create a so-called Self-fulfilling Prophecy. For example, if you believe strongly that you can do a certain thing, your mind that believes in it will give command to the body to act it all out.
The self-hypnosis suggestions are probably used as a placebo effect.
People who studied hypnosis will know who is Dave Elman. He is one of the great personalities in the hypnosis field. His approach to hypnosis is that of a paternal style and using direct suggestions. His approach could be said to be the opposite of Milton Erickson’s indirect suggestions.
Direct suggestions does not mean the hypnosis has to be quick to successfully induce a trance on a person in seconds or minutes. In direct suggestions, the induction method could be either a quick one or a slow method.
By direct suggestion, it means the hypnosis is conducted in more of a one-way method. The hypnotherapist gives the suggestion and the client follows them.
His approach is best used by a well-trained hypnotherapist who knows his craft well.
The “Yes” technique is used in hypnosis induction.
For instance, a hypnotherapist may ask the following question:
a. I believe you have had a time when you feel happy (client will recall and say Yes)
b. During the happy moment, did your body feel more relaxed than uptight? (client knew the answer and say Yes).
c. Do you want to create a moment where you feel relaxed and happy. (client will obviously say Yes).
And so one question after another will lead and pace the client into a hypnotic state.
This method is also adapted by sales person in closing sales. Example, a sales person selling house could ask his client:
a. Do you wish to get back to home early rather than late?
b. If it could save you time on travelling, does it mean you have more available time for your family?
c. If you spend more quality time with them, would it improve your relationship?
If the client is a family-oriented person, improving relationship with his family will be important. It is hard for him to say no.
Paternal hypnosis refers to hypnosis that uses an authoritative approach.
The hypnotherapist controls the process by simply giving instructions to his client who then follow them.
Examples of authoritative style are:
a. Now close your eyes and go into trance.
b. Asking the hypnotized person to place his hand on the hypnotist’s hand and with a sudden pull of the hand, the hypnotized person’s hand dropped and was told to close his eyes and go into a trance.
This kind of hypnosis can work because of “Authority”. People always like to listen or at least pay attention to a person who is an authority in any fields. Subconsciously, they have already conditioned themselves.
If you have read my blog posts, you would know by now who is Milton Erickson. He discovered conversational hypnosis and used indirect suggestions as his approach in hypnosis.
His approach is considered a maternal style since he does not believe in commanding his client to follow his words. Instead, he believes that in each person there lies a deep reservoir of resources within his mind. When a person has problem, he could solve it himself since he has the resources available at any time. Thus, Milton’s role is that of a facilitator, gently guiding the person to tap into his own resources
For example, a question may be asked “have you had a time when you feel extremely confident?” This question will prompt his client to pull out from his mind’s library an experience that matches what is asked. Then he may be told to relive that experience. This is an example of using your own resources to solve your problem.
Suggestions are at the heart of hypnosis.
There is one kind of suggestions known as “Permissive Suggestions”.
The following are some examples of such:
> When you are ready, take a deep breath.
> As you close your eyes and listen to my voice, allow yourself to become relaxed.
> If you hear my voice, lift your index finger.
> If your eyes are tired, you may close your eyes.
Permissive suggestions are adopted with the thought of not wanting to sound commanding, demanding or giving instructions to the hypnotized person.
What is the key to hypnosis?
There is more than 1 key. There are a few.
It depends on what type of hypnosis we are talking about:
In hypnotherapy session, Relaxation is the key.
In stage hypnosis, the physical parts of our body is the key eg the eyes and the head.
In street hypnosis, subconscious related words is the key.
In self-hypnosis, Relaxation enhanced by music is the key.
Language Ambiguity is also a Milton Model aim at confusing the client in hypnotherapy.
Can you look at the ice (eyes) and starts to feel cold?
It takes years (ears) to listen carefully.
The sentences each contain a word that sound almost identical but has a different meaning. Ice and Eyes sound the same but mean different thing. This is to confuse the mind to believe that the Ice is the Eyes.
Conversational Posturate is one of the Milton Model’s subconscious language.
Put it simply, it is a question used in hypnotherapy that leads to either a Yes or a No answer.
Examples are:
Can you hear my voice?
The relaxation feels good, isn’t it?
Can you imagine a big balloon floating mid air?
We tend to take for granted things that are natural. And because they are natural, we simply do not think much about them.
Take for instance our digestive system. Just because it can digest food for us, sometime we may feel guilty of just swallow (gobble) food with little chewing. This is not healthy for our body. We are letting the stomach do the extra work to digest the food, robbing the blood from flowing to our brain when we need to do the thinking.
Another example is our eyes. We can work or play with ease because of our ability to see. Because of this, most people would tend to care less about their eyes. They do not give them sufficient interval rest, such as looking at a far distant every 20 minutes of work.
The same goes to stretching our brain and not giving it much interval rest. It is as good as saying that we are forcing our mind to stay at the conscious level and does not want it to go into the subconscious level.
There is a time for work and a time for play.
There is a time for sleep and a time for wakeful moments.
There is a time to sow and a time to reap.
There is a time for hot weather and a time for cold weather.
There is a time for joy and a time for sadness.
There is a time for brilliance and a time for folly.
There is a time for being hypnotised and a time for being de-hypnotised.
One side effect of hypnotherapy is dizziness.
This could be a small or a big matter.
Being giddy is rather a frequent occurrence that happen to many people. It could be a result of hungry, medicinal effect, playing games that spin the head, eyes rotate in big movements etc.
Just be sure that if diziness occur, do not aggravate it with caffeine or alcohol. Do not drive or walk about immediately. Sit and rest for a while before proceed with the walking or driving.
A quote for hypnosis:
“Hypnosis is the epitome of mind-body medicine. It can enable the mind to tell the body how to react and modify the messages that the body send to the mind.” ~ New York Times
Yes, hypnosis is a tool used for our body and mind control. Like in the example of your hand immersing into an icy cold water and the hand’s ability to withstand the coldness for a period of time. It clearly exhibits the power of mind tapped to regulate the body.
Earlier I talked about the term “Associated”. Here, we are going to talk about “Dissociated”.
Actually from the words, you could have easily known their meanings. Dissociated can be explained using the cinema scenario. You are sitting in the cinema watching yourself (the new you) playing out the role on the screen. The “you” and the “new you” are 2 different person. You are watching the “new you”. This is meant by “Dissociated”.
Dissociated is akin to the you sitting in a seminar room and watching the speaker who is your idol speaking on stage. If you are mesmerized by him in the process, that is hypnosis.
Pass me the newspaper!
Please pass me the newspaper!
Could you pass me the newspaper!
Don’t mind pass me the newspaper. Thank you!
Which sentences above make you feel like passing the newspaper and which one not?
It is obvious. For me, I probably won’t pass the newspaper if I hear the first sentence. I am more obliged to do so if I hear sentences two to four.
Especially sentence 4 makes me feel good. First the word “don’t mind” is requesting you and giving you the decision power. Perhaps out of ego, most people would react favourably to “don’t mind”. It may seem that if they mind, that will make them petty.
And another magic word “Thank you” is expressed in advance before you bring the newspaper. When people hear these words, they will more automatically respond in a positive way.
Words are important because some words trigger our emotions positively and some negatively. Words are hypnotic!
Even boredom can be used as a hypnosis tool.
Yes, it is one of the natural induction method.
What happen when you are bored?
– Your Mind begin to drift away
– You stare blankly at something and your mind is also in a blank
– You yawn and yawn
– You don’t feel positive emotions like happy, enthusiastic, excited etc
Let us say if you start talking of a topic that your friend has no interest in, observe what he or she would do.
Boredom is a fast way to send a person into a trance. People may not detect that you are putting them into hypnosis because being boring is so natural.
To understand hypnosis, we need to know what are its characteristics.
You can find out at What Makes Up Hypnosis.
“Associated” is a term used in hypnosis and NLP.
It means the person is “stepping inside the body” and see things from inside out.
For example, imagine yourself sitting in a cinema watching at the big screen. The screen is playing out your role as a confident person. You are the actor. Now, see yourself stepping inside this new person on the screen and see what he sees and feels how he feels.
In other words, see and act as the new person as if he were you. This then is “Associated”.
If you were to find a hypnotherapist to address certain issues you faced, how do you look for one?
The things you could take note when seeking one are:
a. Is she certified by a proper and well-known hypnosis body?
b. Is the hypnotherapist willing to let you know about hypnosis and hypnotherapy before he starts a session with you?
c. She does not schedule the sessions more than what is necessary. If it takes 5 sessions to address the issue, then she should not go beyond that unless the clients choose to do so.
The deepest level of hypnosis is the third one – the person can see something when in reality there is nothing.
This is the 5th level of hypnosis out of the broadly categorised 6 levels of hypnosis.
a. The body does not feel pain or only a little pain.
b. Forgotten what is transpired during hypnosis session.
c. Can see something when there is nothing there.
Which of the above is the deepest level of hypnosis among tbe 3?
Answer will be given tomorrow.
Some people would say that in hypnosis, the hypnotised person holds the key to the success. There are others who say it is the hypnotherapist that determines the outcome.
Who then is correct?
The hypnotherapist is the person who has the knowledge and skills to guide in the hypnosis process. The client or patient is the one who is whose unconscious mind is going to respond to the therapist’s words. If the mind does not respond accordingly, he would not get the desirable results.
Indeed both are important for a successful outcome, but I would say the responsibility is more on the hypnotherapist’s shoulder. It is his ability to build close and trusted rapport with his client so that the client co-operates with him well that creates a real success.
Everyone has potential. This is an undeniable truth! But the truth is also not everyone found their potential and express it. So how do we tap into the sea of potential?
One effective way that we can use is hypnosis because it communicates directly with our subconscious mind which is the source of all our potential.
Hypnosis can do the following:
a. Improve your performance in area that you are already good at.
b. Uncover new abilities that you never thought of having.
c. Help to heal your illnesses (though not all illnesses applicable) and restore to good health.
d. Put you in certain state eg relaxed, powerful, confident state.
I can understand why some people are apprehensive about hypnosis – they lack clear understanding of it.
Fear not, for there is nothing to be afraid of. People are already subjected to hypnosis several moments in a day. This occurs naturally.
People are afraid because the hypnosis that they associate in their mind is stage hypnosis and hypnotherapy. These are done by inducement.
Whether induced or happen naturally, it is still hypnosis. To put it very simply, hypnosis is about consciousness. Whether you are in a conscious mind state or subconscious mind state, it is still part of our consciousness.
Are people afraid of consciousness?
You have heard of Stage Hypnosis.
It is quite common that people will think of a stage hypnosis being conducted on stage. In recent years, there is another form of stage hypnosis known as Stage Hypnotherapy.
It is the conduct of a hypnotherapy session just like in the hypnotherapy clinic except the setting is now on stage (even broadcast on TV).
The process is the same as normal hypnotherapy, only that it is no longer a private session but a public one. This form of hypnotherapy could be beneficial to more people since the person undergoing the session can testify how she feels about the therapy and whether there is any side effect.
Have you seen a circus show? Who are the performers? They are the trainer and the tigerx.
The trainer hokds a whip, cracks his whip and the tiger does the bidding. He commandx “sit” and the tiger sits; he commands stand with only 2 legs and the tiger complies.
If you see from the angle of strength and power, the tiger is definitely more superior. It has the brute force. But here, who gives the command and who follows the order?
As you can see, tge trainer though is weaker, has a stronger mind because he has a conscious mind that can think, analyse and comprehend, As a result, he gets tge right knowledge and gain dominion over the tiger.
The trainer is just like the conscious mind and the tiger is the subconscious mind.
Can we get rid of unwanted thoughts?
It is literally impossible to do so. The reason is because thoughts are something that appears out from nowhere (we cannot pinpoint where it comes from). All we know is it comes from our mind.
If you cannot know where your thoughts are, how can you prevent it from surfacing?
There exist many induction techniques to get people into a hypnotic state. It ranges from techniques that involves the eyes, the head, the hand, the posture, the muscles, the breathing, the arms and so on.
These techniques uses the relaxation of the mind and body or the use of words to put the person into state eg. the word sleepy, drowsy, dizzy etc.
Whether an induction is a fast one (ie it takes seconds) or a long one that takes 20 minutes or so, it revolves around mind/body and words.
Natural Hypnosis refers to hypnosis that occurs naturally without the inducement of a hypnotist. Eg when you are absorbed while reading a favourite book.
How frequent does it occur? The answer is very often. But the frequency also depends on individual and surrounding factors.
If a person does not sleep well or is in constant fatigue, then he may enter into hypnosis easily. It also does not matter the time of the day, for hypnosis can happen at any time.
You may have come across many definitions of hypnosis such as it is a heightened state of focus; it is relaxation; trance state and so on.
Here is my definition:
“When you are not in your conscious mind zone, you are in the subconscious mind zone. If you are there, you have entered into hypnosis.”
When we accept an idea and reinforced it by repeating it or using other references as support, it will then form a Belief.
One metaphor we could use to describe belief is:
The mind is like a cement. Ideas are written on it. The references that support this idea is like a fan used to fan the cement. The more supports your mind comes up with, the faster the fan swings and the quicker the cement hardens. Once it is hardened, it has formed a solid belief that is not easily breakable.
Now, you will need some tools such as a hammer to break it. It needs powerful force to do so because it is no longer fresh and soft.
Our memory is deeply seated in the subconscious mind.
When we recall a memory, it automatically plays out as per the subconscious way of responding based on the data of experience and events stored.
Since it is a response that does not require conscious thinking, it is a form of hypnosis.
Cold reading is about reading the mind of people you are not familiar with or a total stranger.
This skill is especially important for hypnotist in covert hypnosis.
Covert hypnosis is about having conversation with people in a way that he is talking directly to their subconscious mind. For instance in street hypnosis, a hypnotist would approach any street guy and starts a conversation.
He would then use his cold reading skill to find out more about that person. In other words, he asks questions that point him the direction of what the stranger’s thoughts are.
Question like “You like brown colour, right?” – this question is not asked in order to have the right answer but merely to prompt that person to give the right answer. In this case, he would reply either Yes or tells the hypnotist the colour he actually likes. If he says that he likes green, then the hypnotist would focus on something that is green in colour to “suit his taste”, things like grassland.
Of course one question cannot reveal much about the person. More questions have to be asked for the hypnotist to better know about her.
And this is nothing new. We ask question when we want to get to know a certain person.
Altered states are states other than the conscious or beta state. States like Alpha, Theta and Delta are altered state of consciousness.
The methods used for these states include hypnosis, alpha programming, meditation and sleep programming.
It is said that programming done in these states are 100 times more powerful than at conscious level programming.
Have you use electricity before? Sure you have! In order to use it, do you undergo training, take up courses or read tons of books? Definitely no!
All you have to do is know when and what to use. The “when” refers to the time you want to use it eg when you wake up you switch it on in order to see clearly. The “what” refers to the type of electricity you want ie. to use for boiling water, switch on TV or turn on the lamp.
Our mind is akin to electricity. We do not need to know how it actually works in order to use it. What we need to do is know the “what” – what method to use to turn on the mind power. The “when” is about the day/time you want to use it.
If you are using hypnosis as a method to switch on your mind power, then that is the “what”.
One single word can have other words that are synonymous in meaning.
The following is an illustration:
Explode (sound like a bomb or land mine erupting, which feels scary)
Flare up (the word “up” gives an impression that the temperature is rising)
Angry
Pissed off
Frustrated
These are words with meaning quite similar but the intensity is definitely different.
The level of intensity will give reader a different feeling.
If I say that I am pissed off compared to I want to explode. Which word gives great emotional intensity?
If there is one word that I like most and feel it should stands out from the many hypnotic power words such as “new”, “revolutionary”, “free”, “secret”, “outstanding”, “instantly” etc, it is this word SIMPLE!
Yes, “simple” should be a main hypnosis word that people like and pay attention to.
In fact, Nature is about simplicity. There is no complexity, difficulty, confusion. It is direct and to the point. The sun rises from the east – is this difficult to understand? I doubt so. The tide rolls in to the sandy beach and retreat back and it moves back and forth. Is this hard to comprehend?
Our society has hypnotised us into believing things are tough, difficult, complicated. It is time to de-hypnotised ourselves and focus on the word “simple”.
Simple, isn’t it?
Our mind favours things that we are familiar with. This has to do with comfort.
Most people take the same route to work and same route back from work. They hardly change. Why? Because it is something that they are familiar with and that is something they do on a daily basis. By doing it repeatedly, they now hardly have to think about it when they do the routine action. It takes the “work” out of their conscious mind.
The conscious mind is too small and restricted in its capacity. That is why it finds way to get itself free from overloading. By placing things in a habitual mode, it relinquishes its responsibility over to the subconscious mind.
Body language is part of the studies done in psychology and behavioural disciplines.
It is the unconscious response of a person. Much as the verbal communication is important, the often unnoticed portion which is our body response,are even more important.
For example, a person can nod his head in agreement but at the same time clutch his hand tightly and his hand muscles are stiffed. This body language reveals a contradictory messages.
Which one would you think is the real thought in the person’s head?
The body response are often more accurate depiction of a person’s thought.
When our body is in short supply of oxygen, we will feel lethargic and weak. Our mind cannot function optimally. This is because oxygen is the fuel to the brain for it to function well.
There will be giddiness with shortage of oxygen to the brain.
When we start to not be able to think with our left brain, it turns over to the subconscious mind.
Yes, hypnosis occurs when we are activating the subconscious mind.
The other day I was taking a train home. I have been taking the train and alighting at the same station almost every day. But on that day, I was deep in thoughts. But I was still consciously aware of the surrounding environment.
Somehow, I felt a sure sense that the next station is the one that I will get down. Without thinking, I step out the train but it looks quite different from the one I always alight. It is the wrong station!
I believe you have had this similar encounter before.
Then I began to track my thoughts to see how and what actually happened. The ‘facts’ I collected are:
a. I was in deep thoughts
b. I give little conscious attention on the station’s name being announced
Ah, this seems to perfectly fit into the definition of hypnosis. In hypnosis, the person is completely absorbed into one thing and has a focused attention on it. She excludes everything else and makes that one thing the main priority.
Business people or entrepreneurs are one of the people who need to handle tremendous amount of stress.
Unlike most people who work at a 9-5 job and whose main concern is about their own work, businessmen have to be concerned about every departments in his company. Though there are managers and staff in each department, the sole responsibilities still rest on the businessmen’ shoulder.
Besides, he has to be vigilant of competition and economic changes or political changes that may adversely affect his business.
Therefore it is pertinent that they not only need to de-stress but also manage stress effectively.
They can do so through a few sessions of hypnotherapy.
Sensory words are words that appeal to our mind and that invoke feelings.
“The happy meal”
Happy is a feeling word.
“A good atmosphere”
Atmosphere is a feeling word.
“Your taste bud feels great after tasting…”
Taste bud and tasting are taste words.
“This is definitely a hot product”
Hot is a kinesthetic word.
“Paint a picture of a beautiful garden”
Paint a picture and Beautiful are visual words.
“Vroom….vroom….he is starting the car”
Vroom is an auditory word.
Both NLP and hypnosis teach about sensory words because they are important in our life.
Read more HERE.
Nature has bestowed us with a wonderful planet and quite a number of great gifts, one of which is hypnosis.
A better way of viewing hypnosis is that it is a necessity for our life, without which we could not function normally.
Let me explain. Hypnosis occurs when we drift away from our conscious mind into the subconscious mind. We cannot forever operate our mind at the conscious level, even a short extended time will render us going crazy. This is because there are simply too many activities/events/ stimuli happening around us . Our conscious mind alone is unable to cope.
Thus, having a subconscious mind allow us to be free from information overload. It exists to work hand-in-hand with our conscious mind so that we can function properly and to truly experience and enjoy life.
Do you know that curiosity sells?
What are some of the blockbuster movies? Movies that sell and have great appeal to the market?
Star Wars? Jurassic Park? Harry Potter?
Yes, these are some of the movies only. And they sold very well.
The reason? One key element of the movies is Curiosity. People are always looking for something that is beyond them. Star Wars and Harry Potter are fictional stories. We don’t live in a fiction world and because of that, we are curious about how it was like and imagine ourselves being inside that world.
Though Dinosaurs are real but they have since extinct millons years ago. We are not able to find one today. Thus, it makes people curious what do these creatures look, where they live, how they behave and how they survive.
Yes. Hypnosis, like sleep, could be disrupted when there is loud noise. It is the same for many other activities such as reiki, meditation, daydream etc. We could be jolt out of it in the midst of any activity.
The disruption need not be noise. It could come in the form of a cockroach crawling on your hand.
A sudden physical movement like someone shaking you or an earthquake taking place would also disrupt hypnosis.
There is a book title “The One Thing” that mentions about focusing on doing one thing which will get you the big results.
I find that it is true. We can put this principle into hypnosis context.
When we identify an issue or problem that we need to resolve such as unable to sleep, we look for a hypnotherapist and undergo a few hypnosis sessions and see the sleep problem improves.
The issue or problem = Do the One Thing
Undergo 1st session of hypnosis = Take action
Turn up for subsequent sessions = Discipline required before you see the results
See the sleep problem improves = Get the results
When we communicate with our subconscious mind and our conscious mind is aware about it, it is hypnosis
When we communicate with our subconscious mind and we do so without being perceived by any of our 5 senses, it is called subliminal. Examples are advertisers flashing words in rapid succession such that you do not really see it with your eyes but are totally taken in by your subconscious mind.
The same applies to audio messages. The words are embedded in the music. You hear the music but not the words.
Both hypnosis and subliminal are aimed at influencing your subconscious mind.
In my earlier post, I mentioned a term called “Amnesia”. It means a temporary loss of memory which could happen during hypnosis.
There is another word associated with memory but on the other end of the spectrum, and that is “Hypermnesia”.
Hypermnesia is a vivid recollection of memory with attention to details as well. This could happen when a person is in trauma or in hypnosis. It is considered abnormal because it is unlikely that a person could have such good recollection of a particular event.
Some researches reveal that the ability to be hypnotized is a talent, like having a talent for music.
I do not see it that way. Whether a person can be hypnotized depends on a few factors that include an imaginative mind; willingness to follow the hypnotist’s instruction; having an open mind; how easily you could enter into hypnosis.
Look to children from the age of 8 and above. They are good candidates for hypnosis because most of them possess 3 out of the 4 factors listed above.
It has nothing to do with talent. In fact, just one factor alone may put a person into the ‘hypnotizable’ category and that is having AN OPEN MIND!
If you have an open mind, you are more ready to listen, accept and act on the idea.
Most people want success, and they want it fast. Worse still, some do not want to put in the hard work required for success at the beginning as well as in the future. They want to attain success but do not want to put in enough effort.
This is how people are hypnotized for failure.
Instead of failure, why not hypnotized yourself for success? The process is fairly simple – Put in the hard work from the beginning and keep doing it until you are successful and then keep up the hard work even after attaining success.
There is no secret of success in this world!
Almost everyone in this world has some fear about darkness. What if I tell you that people also has fear of light?
It is true.
We can easily make opinion or judgement or criticise people if we do not like their face, voice, ideas, opinion and a thousand things. This is not limited to a specific group, but include people who are successful, failure, of prominent status, rich, poor and so on. In other words, we criticise when we feel like doing it and it seems there is nothing inhibiting us.
Funnily, we do not see ourselves in the same light as the successful, guru, expert and talented people when it comes to sharing our stories, experience and thoughts. For eg, we all are capable of writing a book but most keep this down and convince themselves otherwise. They think only some people are gifted in this area and they are just not one of them.
This is fear of light! It is conditioned (hypnotised) into us.
Now you realise this. What are you going to do about it?
Throw your heart over the bar and jump over it.
This statement means if you are passionate about something, your heart will give you tremendous energy to cross over the bar, even it is set very high. But without putting your heart into the goal, you may have difficulty following it through.
The heart refers to our passion and enthusiasm. You probably knew that in whatever we do, if we do not put our heart into it, we would not do it well and it may not last long. This applies to cooking, dancing, writing, exercise etc.
Passion is an intense emotion of love that comes from our subconscious mind.
Initial Sensitizing Event is the origin of the cause of a person’s emotional suffering such as a trauma.
For instance, it coukd happen at the age of 10 as a chikd. The chikd may have experiencsd an unexpected accident that leaves a deep emotional scar in his mind.
The hypnotherapist would regress the person to the qactual first cause of the event.
Is there such a thing as a Lifetime Hypnosis?
Well, it depends on how you interpret this question.
If you interpret it as hypnosis that can last a lifetime, then the answer is No. Hypnosis is only temporary. You need to get out of it to function normally in your daily life.
If you see it as hypnosis that occurs as and when, on and off during a lifetime, the answer is Yes. This is indeed how we experience hypnosis on a day-to-day basis.
One important condition for covert hypnosis (or conversational hypnosis) is a comfortable environment.
If a hypnotist were to corner a person or take the person to an unfamiliar environment, the person would feel insecure or even feel intimidated. Under this condition, the hypnotist will find it difficult to hypnotize that person.
It is a better choice for the hypnotist to allow the chosen person to choose his own venue as this would allow the person to feel much more comfortable and trusting. Since he is the one making the decision, he will feel more in control.
Study the following sentences:
Please pass me the magazine.
Hand the magazine over there to me please.
I appreciate if you could pass me that magazine.
Of the 3 sentences, the last one sound better, isn’t it?
People like to be appreciated or hear the word “appreciate”. It gives us a good and uplifting feeling. This is further enhanced by a kind phrase “if you could” – the person is not being told or commanded but gently ask to decide for himself if he wants to do it.
Hypnosis is the use of right words to win people over to your side.
I observed that the beach scene is a place where there are quite a number of hypnosis in action. To know more, go to A Hypnosis Scene.
Memory is basically divided into 2 areas – the storing and the retrieving.
Storing means how you code the memory, through what senses do you use.
In retrieving or recalling the memory, is there any key things that are built around this which can assist in your recall? Eg. Is there any outstanding thing that you could remember when say, you keep your key? Perhaps it is first tied with a bright yellow ribbon and placed in a bright yellow place. With these, you could associate and retrieve the information.
If you are engaging as many senses as you could while carrying out activity, chances are you could remember it later. But let us assume you are sort of in a daze while doing the activity, you have difficulty remembering it later. How to solve this?
Use hypnosis, since memory is stored in our subconscious mind. It can guide you step-by-step to recalling it.
Our society has successfully trained a majority of the people to detest failure and learn to fear failure as well.
We fear we will fail in new venture, such as setting up a business when all along we are an employee.
We fear we will make mistake and look bad, and therefore do not speak up just to avoid looking like a failure.
Our fear of failure sometime is so great that we become inertia.
This continuous programming begins when we are young, continues on in school and later into our working life. If we do not stop and take a hard look at this programming, we shall be contempt for life.
If this is something you do not wish for, it is time to transform your fear of failure. Look at it in another angle – if only we fail enough, would we then see success.
When something is said to be ambiguous, it means vague, not clear.
If a sentence is as such: “It is better” – it is ambiguous because there is no indication what does the “it” refers to and “better” as compared to what?
This kind of sentence is common in hypnosis script because it is meant to confuse the listener and send them into a hypnotic state.
Fear of rejection is a fear that majority of people have an issue with.
It may come in the form of:
– Fear of being rejected in love
– Fear of being rejected for suggestions
– Fear of being rejected for raising hands in class
– Fear of interview rejection…..
The fear can seem to be very real. However it is never easy to eliminate this fear.
Any fear, whether learned or acquired, can be treated. And one thing I must add – this needs to be tackled at the subconscious level for it to be effective.
You can always look for me if you need help.
There is always a way out in life.
She always help in charitable work in her community.
The word “always” is a hypnotic word from the Milton Model. It gives people assurance. It gives people an impression of @at all time / any time”.
2 key elements in hypnotherapy are drowsy and relaxed.
Does this mean hypnosis also must have these two elements? Let us take a look:
Stage Hypnosis – drowsy yes (as for relaxation, it depends)
Street Hypnosis – both absent
Mesmerising Hypnosis (watching pop star performs) – both absent
Focused Hypnosis (eg reading a book) – No drowsiness but may be relaxed
Belief though sometime seem like hard rock, is still subjected to change.
There are 3 ways you can change it:
a. Question your belief
b. Find strong enough reasons
c. Look at it from another angle
Now let’s take a look at one belief – You could be stuck in hypnosis.
You may question this belief: if you think you could be stuck in hypnosis, then you could also be stuck in sleep since sleep is at a level deeper than hypnosis.
Find strong enough reasons: Hypnosis is a natural state, you can’t possibly be hurt in something so natural.
Look at it another way: when we say “stuck”, it means lock at a place and cannot come out. So, by saying “stuck in hypnosis”, it means we cannot use our logical thinking anymore. Is that possible? Not unless we are in a coma, isn’t it?
By entering into a sleepy, drowsy state, effort is reduced to a minimum. The conscious mind is submerged to a great extent in a sleepy state……In this state, the negative thoughts, which tend to neutralise your desire and so prevent acceptance by your subconscious mind, are no longer present.”
The above is quoted from Dr Joseph Murphy!s book “The Power Of Your Subconscious Mind”.
Though it refers to the subconscious mind, it is also about hypnosis (look at the words “sleepy” and “drowsy”).
The conscious mind should be the first to use.
When we are learning new things, we put in conscious effort to research, analyse, reason and memorise. These are the functions of our conscious mind.
After some time of repeating the actions, we do it more effortlessly. The subconscious mind does the work for us automatically.
The same applies to remember new faces. First you make a conscious remembering using whatever method, and your subconscious mind surface it to you the next time you want to recall.
The same when you go for a tour. You consciously take in the images of the things, people and places. They then enter into the subconscious mind as memory. You recall using your subconscious mind.
There are many relationships between the discipline of NLP and Hypnosis.
One NLP Pressuposition states that “Life, mind and body are one system”.
It is a fact that our mind and body though are separate but they work together to run our life. The mind can affect the body and the body can affect the mind. They are inseparable in the sense of connectivity.
Hypnosis is a method that uses words and imagery through suggestions to influence and affect us. For eg a person had sleep issue. It is both a mind and body problem. The main cause could be in the mind, and that is why the body cannot relax and rest well at night. By influencing the mind, the body unconsciously responds to it and help restore the body rhythmic balance. This will result in a mind and body that can sleep well.
Parts therapy is one hypnosis technique used to resolve conflicts.
Basically there are the behaviour parts and the creative parts. The behaviour parts may give rise to conflict in any situation. For instance, you are at home doing nothing. One part of you want to do some exercises; another part wants to watch TV; another wants to have a quiet time. If you are sure what you want or is decisive enough, the conflict poses no real problem.
However, when you can’t decide, you will feel inner conflict. It is not much of a problem if the situation is like the above where you are just looking for things to do. In situation such as you have limited time and has several things to do by yourself, then you will fee stressful.
Parts therapy identify the issue and why it behaves as such, and then invites the creative part to come up with the solution.
In NLP, there is a term called Uptime and another term called Downtime.
Put it in another words, it means Conscious and Unconscious. The conscious mind is the surface structure where we use logical and rationale thinking. The unconscious mind refers to the deep structure since it is deep below the surface level.
Uptime is also referred to the Meta Model where specificity of language is required in order to make sense in communication. Downtime is about the Milton Model where it is general and non-specific. It is also known as the trance state.
People will act according to what they believe. In other words, their behaviours are caused by their beliefs.
There is a NLP Presupposition – “No one does anything inappropriate given the model of their world”. And their model is based on what they believe.
For eg, it is a hot day at 34 degree celcius. But you are having a cold and you are shivering a bit. If I tell you it is so hot, your reality (the fact that you are shivering) would convince you that it is not a warm day. What occurs in your reality is what causes your belief, even the truth is it is a hot day at 34 degrees.
Similarly, if someone believes that hypnosis is fake or is some mind control method, they would not trust hypnosis.
Changes made at the belief level will affect how people view hypnosis or anything.
Being stubborn is a weakness.
If you are stubborn in ateas that you know will get you to nowhere, then it won’t do you any good. Yes, sometimes we need to stick to what we know. The main point is if by being stubborn does not help you, improve you, does you good, then sticking to your stubborness is non beneficial.
Stubborness is a result of what one beieves in and refuses to change. If it affects your life negatively or disempower you, now it is time to use your conscious mind to make a decision to stop it and then use a subconscious technique to help you to release it.
Using hypnosis to turn off your weakness and replace it with good traits is one subconscious technique.
You have probably seen a hypnotist approaching his target in a train. He starts a casual conversation and also asks that person which station he is going.
The conversation carries on a while and then the hypnotist asks the person again which station he is going. Most of the people tested could not remember where they are going. They get carried away in the conversation.
Street hypnosis is the use of covert hypnosis. It is a little like magic – instead of using props, the hypnotist uses words to divert a person’s attention so that there is a ‘blind spot’.
We are constantly bombarded with many things in our environment. Our mind will filter out majority and give attention to those that are more important. For instance, few people would stop by to look at a flower grown at the side of a busy walkway.
When too many things happen and we need to process them, our mind become overwhelmed and would turn away from these stimuli.
Take for example that you are typing on a computer rushing some work, and the phone is ringing. Someone then steps into the office asking for direction (and it happens you are the only person there). Just three things that happen at around the same time could possibly make you lose focus.
This is environmental hypnosis and is a common phenomena in our daily life.
Do you wish to get attention from the people you are speaking to? Well, we all want that.
One way you can do it is through hyperbole. It is an exaggerated expression.
For eg, you say: My workloads are like tons of bricks on my shoulders.
What would be the effect?
a. You get people’s attention because you exaggerated that your workload is so heavy that it weighs in tons. Although this is not literal, people immediately understand what you mean.
b. People would form images of bricks on shoulders when you say that.
If you are looking at ways to just get attention, this is a great way. It is different from covert hypnosis since it is not used to persuade or coerce people. But it is similar to covert hypnosis as both aim at getting people to focus their attention.
We have 2 consciousness.
Which consciousness should come first?
And your answer is ….,.
(See the answer in subsequent post)
Inferred suggestion is also called Indirect suggestion.
It is commonly used in hypnotherapy because the words are directly communicated with the subconscious mind.
For example, in treating a client with an anger issue, the suggestions could be:
“All people like to hear words that are positive and kind.”
The use of “all” means everyone, and that naturally includes the client himself.
“Do you like to be uplifted or demoralised?”
This allows the client to have a choice to ask himself the question and gets the answer from himself. He is not being forced to take any suggestions.
“Everyone in this world has his or her own problems which they have to face.”
This suggestion makes the client feels optimistic since everyone has problems to face, and so is he. Thus, there is no need to feel too overwhelmed.
How would you response to the word “revolutionary”?
I believe most people like this word because what it means could be “new”, “latest”, “up-to-date”, “changing”.
This word has its power to get people’s attention and induce our expectation. Our mind is open to new things and this word fits right in.
Although part of our mind likes to stay in the comfort zone, it also likes to seek new things.
You are walking on a street. An old lady comes up to you and asks you how to go to Point A. You tell her the direction. She thanks you and you continue your walk.
Question: Do you judge the lady for where she is going? No, right? You are not concerned about where and why she goes there.
Yes, this is how our subconscious mind works. What you input into it, it had no judgement or preference whatsoever. It just gives you the answer, just like you give the old lady your answer.
When we attend to something, we are giving it our attention. To attend means we are using one or more of our 5 senses.
If there is a plate of chicken rice in front of you, and you are hungry, you are likely to gobble down the food without paying much attention to what you eat.
If you are to be a judge for a food contest, and a similar dish is placed in front of you, what would you do? You will smell the food aroma, look at it closely for its colour and presentation, you will slowly taste it with your taste bud and feel its texture. You are engaging 4 out of your 5 senses (all except touch). You are attending to it.
When we attend to something, we are using our conscious awareness.
Affect Bridge is a regression.
Imagine a bridge that connects 2 ends, one end is the present time and the other end is the time where the first cause of the event/emotions occured.
The person is then regressed to that time and relive the memory.
Affect Bridge is effective in resolving emotional issue.
Have you a time where you felt drowsy? Definitely!
Recall a time where you took fever or running nose medicine and you felt drowsy. What is it like?
– your mind cannot concentrate well
– you don’t feel like thinking
If you got work to do, you still force yourself to think and concentrate even the medicine is taking effect.
Drowsiness is just like hypnotic state. You do not feel like thinking. In hypnosis, you can still force yourself to come up to wakeful state. In hypnosis term, it is known as “emerge”.
Like drowsiness, hypnosis can be a situation where the person felt too drowsy (relaxed) and just feel like closing their eyes. Though drowsy, it is unlikely that the person will fall asleep because the hypnotherapist’s words keep the person’s mind engaged.
“When our subconscious mind accepts an idea, it begins to execute it.” Joseph Murphy
Isn’t this what happen in hypnotherapy? Our mind is in a state of heightened awareness and is very receptive to the positive suggestions planted by the hypnotherapist. It accepts without judgement or logical deduction. There is nothing standing its way.
Just the opposite, if the conscious mind is at the forefront, it will stand in the way for the idea to seep into the subconscious. It will form a barrier and thus keep most of the useful ideas and suggestions outside.
If you look at things that are natural, you would see a pattern. They need to be expressed.
However, it is important also that you express it healthily and constructively.. For example, when you feel hungry – you don’t eat twice or three times as much as your normal intake just to avoid being hungry. You express it by taking the appropriate amount of meal. The same for sleep. To avoid sleep deprivation, you don’t sleep twice as long (16 hours instead of 8 hours). You still need to express it appropriately.
At a supermarket queue, if you are approached with:
*Can you let me go first?”
*Can you let me go first as I am rushing to work. I am already late.”
Most people would response favourably to the second one.
The reason? The reason is because there is a REASON.
When people do not give any reason, it is too general and we have to depend on our subconscious mind to feedback to us. Normally it will not be a positive one. The response we get could be that the person is trying to take advantage of us.
When a reason is given, and the person is polite, we know the answer immediately. In this situation, we are more likely to say yes.
There are a few reasons:
a. We want to help people.
b. We want to show our kindness.
c. We feel obliged (especially you have a trolley of items and that person has only 2 items).
When people talk about the mind operating consciousness, they are referring to the conscious mind. That is why there is a term called ‘altered consciousness’. It means consciousness other than the conscious mind, such as the apha level.
A more complete way of seeing the operating consciousness is that it comprises both the conscious and unconscious.
Most people have a misconception that our mind operates on the conscious level. In fact, a large chunk of time while we are awake, we entered into the subconscious level. It is a two-way communication between the conscious and unconscious.
What is Bruxism? In simple term, it means teeth grinding.
What is the cause of this? Generally it is caused by stress and anxiety during waking hours, though the grinding occurs during sleep. The stress and anxiety are stored in our subconscious mind and they resurface when we are relaxed.
Bruxism may not be easy to treat.
If you have it and nothing works well as a treatment, try hypnotherapy.
One success habit that can be found in successful people is that they see themselves succeed in their mind long before they achieve their actual success.
Their minds are constantly obssessed with the goal that propel them to take actions after actions and persist in the face of lack of encouragement.
One accurate way of putting it is – They hypnotize themselves for success!
Did you get the answer to the question that I posed in my earlier post – what is the ONE thing we human being are after?
Here is the answer – emotional feelings.
Emotional feelings can be classified into positive and negative as well as controlled and automatically triggered. I believe we all want to feel positive feelings like love, caring, happy etc and being able to do so at will rather than they just happened to us.
Isn’t it great if you knew of a way and an effective one?
Hypnosis is able to help us anchor positive feelings that we want so that they can be “called up” at will.
Please open up your mind! This is one way to be more intelligent.
If you keep an open mind, what new information that comes your way would not be rejected outright. Your mind will withhold any kind of judgement or criticism or analysis. It stands neutral and takes in things as “what is”, not what you think ought to be.
Without imposing restraint and constraint on this new information, the data would then gets through to the other side of the mind – the subconscious mind.
The subconscious mind will take over the duties and act upon it.
There is ONE thing that all human being are after.
Guess what?
See the answer in my next post.
If you were to attend a stage presentation, which scenario would you prefer?
Scenario 1:
Presenter goes on stage and say Hi and then introduce himself, talks a bit more and go right into the subject.
Scenario 2:
There are smokes coming from the top and bottom of the stage. You can see someone walks to the centre of stage. The person starts drawing something on a big flip chart. When the smoke subsides, you see a big face crazy frog smiling at you. He then asks the audience a question.
What is your preference? I bet you would have chosen scenario 2. Why?
– it is unique, unlike the usual boring way of presenting.
– audience would feel curious and want to find out more. This gets their attention.
– The presenter asks a question: is my drawing funny? It engages the audience and they must come up with either a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer
The presenter has got the audience’s attention from the start – isn’t this hypnosis?
Hypnosis’ importance as a therapeutic method began in the 50s.
Entering into the 21st century, it has created more awareness to the general public.
Much could still be done! The reasons why we should promote hypnosis are:
a. To dispel the myths of hypnosis.
b. It is natural.
c. It is effective in many areas.
d. It is quite safe.
e. It is not that expensive.
If you were to spread about hypnosis, just make sure you understand it first. Your knowledge about it could influence other people. If you have been reading my posts, you would have a fair understanding of it.
Are you the type that procrastinate?
Procrastination is not a very serious issue. But you need to think carefully if you are not being fulfilled in your life because it can thwart your goal if not addressed.
Imagine you set some goals at the start of the year and comes the year end, you have not attained your goals – not because you don’t have the talents or abilities, only because of your procrastination.
What a waste, isn’t it?
Now I have a solution for you – you just need to set one goal and this ONE goal can help you get the other goals realized.
The goal is: make an appointment to see your hypnotherapist OR buy a “Stop procrastination” audio and download for immediate usage. See the results for yourself!
Habits are something that is automatic after we have done consciously for a period of time eg, a few weeks to months.
Habits are often labelled as “hard ingrained”. Why is that so? Because when something done over a period of time, it consolidates inside the subconscious mind and is ready to surface to our conscious mind at any time.
Upon consolidation, it becomes hard. It is harder to break it away after that.
Imagine a small lump of sticky substances. Each action produces a few such substances, They are initially separate from one another. Through time, they begin to attract to one another and stick like SUPER GLUE. The more actions we take doing a particular thing, the more substances are produced. And the substances that are in set pieces stick to form one big mass.
This explains why when it comes to breaking habits, most people face difficulties.
You are sitting in a cinema watching a movie. This movie plays out what happened in your real life. You saw the movie and concluded that some parts are good and exciting while some are not what you wanted.
Life is like a movie. You are the director and the script writer. You change the script content whenever you like. Eg. if you are smoking a lot and wish to stop the habit, you just need to change the script content from smoking to some healthy lifestyle. Then you act it out in your life. You can do so through hypnosis audio tape that re-programs your unwanted habit.
Similarly, you can have a hypnotherapist to help you with relevant suggestions (new script content) and input into your subconscious mind (re-direct the movie).
After some time, you would then successfully play out your new role in life (healthy lifestyle instead of smoking)!
Hypnosis can be likened to the concept of content and context.
The suggestions that are input are the content.
The context are the place and channels in which you put your content, in this case it is the subconscious mind (place) and through hypnosis (channel).
Self-hypnosis refers to hypnosis that you apply to yourself. It could be that you go through the process through self-inducement or using a hypnosis tape.
To do it yourself, the simple procedure is:
a. Lie down on a recliner or bed. Take a few deep breath.
b. Relax your entire body starting from your feet, ankle, lower part of leg, knee and upwards to body and then to eyes, head.
c. Rehearse a few times to yourself the suggestions you want to input. Eg, I am self-confident / I am positive and optimistic.
d. When completed, say to yourself that you are now regaining your energy; you feel alive and you are now ready to open your eyes (and proceed to open your eyes).
e. Do a few stretch.
Often you could hear the phrase “out of the mind”. This means go crazy.
Most people interpret “out of the mind” as literally getting out of the mind. In reality, it means stopping all the thinking (be it words, numbers, symbols or images) and letting the mind go blank. The words “out of” means getting away from our conscious mind and into another mind. This “another mind” could be subconscious mind or some higher self consciousness.
When we stop all thoughts, our consciousness will have to shift to somewhere else. It cannot be in a void. We could really go crazy if we are in a void for long.
Do you get agitated and become angry easily? The key word to note is ‘easily’. It is nothing wrong to be angry. You just need to know that being angry for little things and too often or easily is not a good thing.
There are many ways to temper your angry emotion, such as taking a deep breath; see things differently; empathize; take things easy etc. Are they good? I would say it really depends on individual and the things that make you angry.
Hypnotherapy is another way that not only temper your uncontrolled emotion but help you to eliminate it. It is a method that does not analyse the what and why of your anger.
If you have tried other ways and they are not effective, give hypnotherapy a try.
When I started my blog, I wrestled between creating daily short blog post or writing long articles.
It is a dilemma. And I finally committed to writing short post.
The reason why I hesitate is because to create short post is SIMPLE BUT NOT EASY. To me, it is easier to write long articles with 600 or more words. It is because you just need to focus on one topic and expand on that topic. Furthermore, it is known that blog post with long articles is good for Search Engine Optimization.
You need to think of 7 topics for your short posts for every 1 long article. For example, if I write long articles, I just need to do it once a week. But for short posts, I have to be creative to come up with 7 topics every week.
The number is compounding as it gets larger, eg. 10 long articles means 60 topics required for my short post and 100 long articles means 600 short posts.
Perhaps Google should consider giving short posts some credits!
The objective of a suggestibility exercise is for stage hypnotist to quickly find out who is suggestible or willing to listen and follow the instruction. This is crucial because if it is not done properly, it can spell a failure for the hypnotist.
Actually it is not difficult to come up with such a test. One way is to find someone who knows how to snap fingers (and most people knew). Give instructions that he can put his thumb to index finger or to middle finger. When you say snap the finger, he shall do so. After a few times, stop for a while and then resume the same instruction, only this time asks him not to make any sound when snapping the finger.
After that, alternates your command for the snapped finger to produce sound and not to produce sound.
It is simple, isn’t it?
But you will be surprised that not everyone could follow such simple exercise.
As it is said: A picture is worth a thousand words.
This is because pictures and images are the compartments of our right brain, and our right brain is the portal to our subconscious mind.
Let us say if you were to describe your house in words to someone, do you think it is as good as you draw a picture showing the bedrooms, storeroom, kitchen, bathroom etc?
When you use words, people are using their own interpretation and comprehension. This can end up to be the wrong thing from the intended message.
Don’t get me wrong – words are still required and useful for our daily communication, it is just that in situation where words fall short, pictures could be a better choice.
Occasionally I do create images in my blog post too! But it is meant more for stimulating readers’ right brain.
Majority of people would look up to and are prepared to listen to someone who is either famous, popular or reputable or all of the combinations.
For hypnotherapist, the same would apply.
Certified – You probably are already being certified if you are a hypnotherapist.
Certification Body – Are you certified by a reputable organisation such as the National Guild Of Hypnotist? It is acknowledged as the leading hypnosis organisation and has more than 20,000 members.
Writer – Do you write or even better, are you an author? Do you have published ebook or physical book?
Committee Member – Are you sitting on a hypnosis related committee?
All these help in positioning you as a professional hypnotherapist to the public.
If you ask people if they know that there are 2 types of consciousness, most people knew.
Ask them how often are they in the subconscious mode, most will guess about 50% of the time.
Let’s take a look:
If you add up the 8 hrs of sleep and 5 hrs of “escape”, that is already more than 50%.. We have not included the time that you are absorbed into doing the things you like such as reading your book of interest or involve in some activities you are passionate of. When you are focused on this activities, your mind enter into hypnosis – which means it enter into the subconscious mode as well.
You visit a dentist to clean your teeth or solve your dental problem.
You see a medical doctor when you are sick or to do body check-up.
You see a psychiatrist if there is a mental problem.
You see a counsellor when you have issues like addiction or relationship.
Do you also see a hypnotherapist because you have an issue to resolve? Not really. You can see her even without any issue, but purely for the sake of relaxation. As I have put in my earlier post that relaxation is now considered a luxury to people. They either do not have the time or do not know how to relaX.
It is imperative to relax, whether you feel like it or not. It is for your mental and physical well-being.
A hypnotherapist could arrange her hypnosis session in a way that gives the client confidence and get more familiar with hypnosis.
It is sort of like an orientation. You begin with a Pre-talk to find out the client’s issue. And you deliberately put your first session for every new client to be a Confidence/Positiveness session.
Not only does this gives them confidence about themselves and hypnosis, the familiarization forms a base for the client to look forward to the subsequent sessions. The subsequent sessions will deal with the main issue that the client faced, such as stress or eliminate alcohol addiction.
Just be sure to explain how you intend to go about the hypnosis session to your client before the session begins.
Majority of the people like to see or hear the superlative words:
“The fastest car you ever come across.”
“The cleanest room you have lived in.”
“The strongest liquid that can eradicate stubborn stains.”
“The smartest handphone that make you smart.”
Very few people would reject superlative words. Maybe these words satisfy their ego!
I wonder if you could spend the next few minutes to read about my profile in this blog before you make your exit?
What would your reaction be after reading the above? Most people would feel okay to do so. It is because the word “wonder” has the element of curiosity. People are by nature curious! They can understand your curiosity because they themselves are also curious.
Add to that, “wonder” is not being commanding or demanding. It comes across as being not sure if people would do what is requested (like an obedient child waiting for his mother to say yes to him to eat the candy).
Do you know that our brain remember things better that are either the first or the last?
For example, there are 10 contestants numbered 1 to 10. Each of them has made their performance according to her given number. Who are you more likely to remember? For most people, yes, the first and last. Unless those in the middle are unique that make them stand out, chances are people won’t remember them well.
This may be psychological but it is true.
When we learn new things, how would our mind normally react?
Confused
Frustrated
Fearful
Why are the above emotional responses common? This is because our conscious mind is restricted. It also likes to be in a familiar environment and stays inside the comfort zone. But learning new thing always start off being uncomfortable. That is why the conscious mind resists. Then how come sometime we can succeed in getting over all these and continue the new exploration?
There are a few factors:
Passion and purpose reside in your right brain.
What is it like to be thoughtless? Thoughtless is holding no thoughts of any kind, be it words, ideas or images.
Being thoughtless, even for a while, is good for our conscious mind. According to statistics, a person on average have 60,000 thoughts going in and out of the mind. Many are repetitive. If the repetitive thoughts are positive, it is still alright. If it is negative, it is not beneficial to us.
Therefore it is good to be thoughtless once in a while.
Our conscious mind needs a break at intervals. One good way of ‘escape’ is through hypnosis. This is because the person who is in hypnosis does not need to use his conscious mind, thus giving it a precious chance to relax.
While it is relaxing, the subconscious mind will do its work. And upon emerging from hypnosis, the subconscious mind relieves of its duty and hand it back to the conscious mind.
In order to go into hypnosis, one usual way is to relax.
But you also get a great deal of relaxation during hypnosis, especially the long deprived relaxation due to the daily hectic work schedule.
There is no contradiction here: you can relax to get into hypnosis and you can get relaxation in hypnosis.
There is a one-word definition to define hypnosis and that is SUBCONSCIOUS.
Another quote from Albert Einstein:
Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex – it takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.
Einstein is talking about people who like to use or talk about big and complicated things so as to impress people. The real genius are those who simplify things and refuse to indulge in the herd mentality – where people just move in group without much of their own thinking.
There is a famous quote by a famous person – Albert Einstein about our Imagination:
Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.
This is also why good treatment for the mind, body and soul do not really do much breakdown and analysis or need a chunk of theories. It, however, requires that you use your imagination.
Does that sound a bit familiar? Uh….,uh…..isn’t this hypnosis?
One good hypnosis induction method is letting the hypnotized person imagine a beach scene.
A beach scene is effective for relaxation with the following conditions:
a. It is before sunrise or at sunset hours.
b. It is quiet and you are the only person around.
c. The beach is clean and has clear water.
There are compounding effects in a beach scene. One relaxation is stacked on another. It induces further relaxation. They are:
– The soft white sand
– The windy breeze
– The incoming tide
– The rustling of the tree
– The vast sky as you look up
– Birds chirping
Anxiety when viewed in proper perspective is good for us. It keeps us alert and normal.
The problem comes when we are overly anxious.
It may begin with frequent normal reaction to stressful things in life until it becomes a habit. Some examples are:
Some people sleep 5 hours and wake up feeling energetic and ready for a new day.
Some people sleep more than 8 hours and still feel lethargic, restless and tired.
This shows that it is not how many hours you sleep that matters. What is important is the quality of sleep. If your sleep is shallow, you can’t really get a good restful sleep. If yours is deep sleep, you are bound to feel great the next day.
But how to get a good night sleep? There are many ways that people would advise – drink milk before you sleep; don’t eat after 8 pm; don’t watch TV before you sleep; have a wash with warm water etc..
This really depends on individual. If your mind is stressed out, probably the above won’t help much.
Our eyes are constantly strained to look at things that are short distance. Examples are looking at the computer, the mobile phone and watching television.
This result in tired eyes.
One good remedy is to close the eyes to relax. Tired eyes can make our brain a bit dis-orientated and lose focus. This is why a pendulum is used in hypnosis (so that the eyes will become tired staring at it swinging left-right).
But please take caution to close your eyes only at appropriate time and place.
Scenarios A – The word “sudden” and “loud” indicate the likelihood that a person would get shocked and go into hypnosis.
Scenario B – The word “admiring” and “soft” indicate the person enjoys the scene and is not surprised at all. When you enjoy something, you are likely to enter into hypnosis.
Scenario C – The thunder/lighting has been going on for 10 mins, there is no surprise element. This is the scenario unlikely for hypnosis.
Which of the following scenarios are more likely to send a person into a hypnotic state?
a. There is a sudden and very loud thunder/lightning.
b. Standing at the window admiring the soft thunder/lightning from afar.
c. Doing house work and there is thunder/lightning going on and off for 10 mins.
Answer will be given tomorrow….
Most hypnotherapists would believe that deep hypnosis is achieved through a session of long induction that takes at least 20 mins, if not longer, until a deeply relaxed state is reached.
This is true but it is not the only way.
Our mind can automatically ‘place’ us in a state of deep hypnosis without being deeply relaxed. It works like pressing a button and there we are at that state. In scientific term we call it a “Trigger”.
“Suppose you are fit and healthy, do you think you would continue your present lifestyle?”
“Suppose you are generous, would you at least give her a helping hand?”
“Suppose you have all the resources inside you, do you think you can come up with a solution to this problem?”
The word “Suppose” does not come across as intrusive. It allows your mind to think freely and come to your own conclusion. People will hardly reject you because you do not position yourself as being authoritative or commanding.
If you are a hypnotherapist and you are conducting hypnotherapy on a client, in the middle of the session, a few cars are honking away. Though not too loud, it sure interrupts your session. What would you do?
This will test your creativity. Depending on what the client’s issue is, you could tell your client something like:
“The car honking is a wake-up call to your habitual pattern change. After the honking has stopped, you will get deeper into hypnosis and your subconscious mind shall help you in getting over your current unwanted habits…..”
In NLP, there is a technique known as Mirroring. It is about mimicking other people’s behaviour.
One aspect of the mimicking is using body language. This is close to Covert Hypnosis that uses words to influence people’s unconscious mind. For mirroring, you use body language in a subtle way. This will make the other party more comfortable with you. It will not occur to that person that you are intentionally mirroring his movement, otherwise you get the opposite effect.
It is meant to influence relationship and communication.
Hypnotherapy is the use of hypnosis as a therapy to directly access our subconscious mind by bypassing the critical conscious mind.
It is like a traffic light. When hypnosis is in progress, the traffic light turns red (just as the gate at the conscious and subconscious mind is shut). The cars (critical info / judgement) are all waiting at the gate (traffic light) to go over the traffic light. This is like the critical info waiting to enter the subconscious mind.
However the hypnotherapist’s suggestions are only allowed to enter via a small opening (like a small pedestrian walkway). All cars are stopped and not allowed to pass except the pedestrian who can still walk pass the traffic light without obstruction.
Hypnotherapy though is effective, does not really help in people that are psychosis and of any mental disorder type.
These people can easily get triggered and enter into the conditions of mental disorder. Especially hypnosis is about by-passing the conscious mind and go direct to the subconscious, it is even more dangerous for this group of people.
The words of the hypnotherapist could be misunderstood as some negative voices trying to harm them.
As such, they are best left to psychiatrist or mental doctor for treatment. Perhaps medication is a better choice.
Our brain literally stores every single moment and event that we experience. It is stored in our memory bank. The thing is sometime we may have difficulties recovering some of these memories in order to find out what actually happened in order to heal them. Our memory has failed us.
To put in proper perspective, our memory is always intact. It never fail us. It is the method we use that is not so effective. For instance, you vaguely know that a certain emotion is trigger by a certain event when you are still young. But you could not recall the age and exact happening. Based on the normal recalling, it has failed you.
However, you could adopt another way to help you uncover those buried memories. One effective way is using hypnotherapy.
Timeline Therapy is a technique used in NLP. I ts objective is to help people to eliminate negative emotions and empower them to project a positive future.
It is a little similar to Age Regression used in hypnotherapy. Age Regression is aimed at people’s traumatic experience and the healing of it.
Let’s say a person has an anger issue. Using timeline, he can go back to a time where he experienced the anger to get it resolved there. If he is able to identify what is the starting cause of all his anger inside him, then he can go right to the root cause and get it resolved once and for all.
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