Hypnosis & Hypnotherapy Blog

At a recent training session, students were learning how to use ideomotor signals on each other. 

Most new hypnotherapists worry that their client won’t respond to the signal request however our students, being interested in hypnotherapy and already knowing quite a bit about the subject, responded well.

The interesting part of the session came when Paul (name changed) was using this technique with Rebecca.

Having established the finger signals he decided to take Rebecca to a special place and asked her subconscious mind to bring forward a memory of a time when she felt really happy.

Many hospitals and clinicians now recognise the benefits of using hypnotherapy to help patients suffering from chronic pain and its accompanying anxiety and have long sought the help of professional hypnotherapists to teach them their methods.

This workshop is brought to you by John Sellars, who has worked extensively in this field, training physicians around the world to use the techniques he will teach you, including:

Giving a consultation to a new client is as important as the therapy itself. You need to know what and who you are treating. The initial contact that you have from a potential client is often via text, social media, telephone call or email. Occasionally they will visit you in person. You can ask specific and important information at this point and also why they wish to see you. However, don't use this information instead of giving a full consultation.

Why give a consultation?

Rapport in hypnotherapy

In engaging with someone in hypnotherapy, you must earn your client’s trust. Without trust there is no relationship. Without trust a person will not to let themselves be led into a trance and the therapeutic intention cannot be achieved. The client will leave dissatisfied and the therapist will feel deskilled.

Achieving rapport is central to any therapeutic relationship but is even more central to the practice of hypnotherapy.

We often receive enquiries from members about running their own group sessions and what an excellent way to generate more business, spread the word about the benefits of hypnotherapy and help others at the same time.
If you're new to group presentations the prospect can be a bit unnerving at first but once it's over, the feeling of euphoria (and relief) is second to none. Below are a few tips to help you prepare.

1. Practise what you preach. Yes, that means using self-hypnosis to overcome any doubts about your ability.  Presumably you are already a successful hypnotherapist, so you'll know the procedure of creating and utilising anchors and positive affirmations.  You've used them on your clients, so now experience the benefits for yourself.
2. Always remember, the majority of lay-people know very little about hypnosis.  Most of them will think of stage hypnosis and some might even ask if you'll make them ‘cluck like a chicken' (believe it or not, I'm still asked that question by clients).  Use this opportunity to educate your participants about the benefits, quote examples from your own sessions but be careful not to identify anyone, discuss success stories and any humorous tales relating to your sessions (changing just enough details to protect confidentiality).
3. Be prepared to answer questions and always do this honestly, admitting if you need to understand something in greater depth.
4. Keep your body language open and help to put your group at ease.  Remember, they probably all have at least one issue they'd like help with and are hoping you have the key to helping them with it. 
5. If you have any sceptics in your group, be welcoming towards them.  Encourage their questions and above all, never get defensive. 
6. If you're unable to answer a question directly, write it on the whiteboard and make a point of returning to the subject later.
7. Before commencing your session, explain that some people might not be as receptive as others so if they're not able to fully relax and enjoy the session, ask them to be considerate towards the others and to remain silent if possible.
8. Having your group close your eyes to begin with invites co-operation.  Most people find it easier to visualise when their eyes are closed but contact lens wearers could find this a little uncomfortable.  Remember that some people are also able to visualise with their eyes open.  You will be able to tell if they're ‘going along' with the session by the glazed look in their eyes.
9. In a large group you'll usually have one person who appears to resist, will keep their eyes open, look around at the rest of the group or be generally disruptive.  This is the one person who might unsettle you the most, but don't let them.  Everyone else is responding nicely, so you must be doing really well.  Congratulate yourself.
10. When the session is over, encourage participants to discuss their experience so that the rest of the group can exchange notes. 
11. Remember to take lots of business cards, brochures about your practice and other marketing material.
12. Give your group participants a small gift; this could be a laminated card with some affirmations relevant to your demonstration, a short hypnosis session on CD or something else that can be kept to remind them of your session.
13. Remember, word of mouth is always the best recommendation.  Make sure all your attendees have something positive to say about you.
14. On the odd occasion when a session doesn't work, clients (and group participants) are more likely to blame themselves than you.
15. At the end of the session you may find that some clients step back, waiting for an opportunity to talk to you privately.  If you have time, try to address their concerns at the time rather than asking them to phone you.  It has probably taken a lot of courage for them to discuss their problem.

If you need ideas on how to commence the actual hypnosis demonstration, there is a Group Induction script on Hypnotic World that you can download at:  https://www.hypnoticworld.com/hypnosis-scripts/inductions/induction-group

Take time out to relax and embark on a refreshing aquatic journey with dolphins in this playful audio accompaniment to meditation exercises or therapy sessions.

The workshops are aimed at students of hypnosis, newly qualified hypnotherapists and those who would like to brush up on their existing skills, to extend their theoretical knowledge through practical application.

This workshops will give you all of the confidence you need to help your clients through the use of age and past life regression.

Each workshop is presented by leading hypnotherapist, John Sellars whose unique style of teaching makes our workshops interesting and easy to understand with many attendees returning again and again.

Birds of Paradise relaxation audio for use in hypnotherapy sessions and relaxation exercises.

Celestial Dream relaxation music for use in hypnotherapy sessions and relaxation exercises.

I previously gave a consultation to a client who was interested in having Gastric Band Hypnotherapy. I discovered that she suffered with type 2 diabetes and is insulin dependent. She has sleep apnoea, needs to lose 14 stone to have a healthy BMI and also suffers with general aches and pains due to her weight. In her consultation, she told me that she eats a healthy breakfast, then everything goes wrong. On a daily basis, she eats chocolate, cakes, takeaways and drinks alcohol. I asked her why she was eating this way, especially as she had diabetes. She said that she was just bored and in a habit. However, using my NLP skills, I knew that this wasn't all. I asked her a few more questions about her lifestyle, chatted about her children and then she told me everything.

Add relaxing background music and sound effects to your hypnotherapy sessions with the new Hypnotic World Media Player.

Enhance your gastric band weight loss sessions with this professionally-developed composition designed to be used as a background accompaniment to your session.

Making a gastric band hypnosis session sound authentic can improve your chances of helping clients to lose weight, which has the add-on effect of boosting both your results and your credibility as a hypnotherapist.

Working with the composer Colette Jonas, we have developed a unique set of audio recordings which combine hospital-themed sound effects with an original and evocative musical composition.

Confidence is the magical key that opens the door to many of life’s goals, be it happiness within yourself, meeting a new partner or new friends, or securing that new exciting job.

Self-confidence and self-esteem work hand in hand and can determine what you achieve in life, because they are basically a self-assessment of your worth.

The important thing to remember is that every person that has ever been born, was born equal; irrelevant of sex, race, physical ability or appearance; the key to success is confidence, and this is something that is learnt, and it is never too late to learn.

What to do if ideomotor signalling doesn't work with your clients.

This video features John demonstrating a rapid induction with one of the students of the Professional Hypnotherapy Course at our August 2017 workshop in Milngavie near Glasgow, Scotland.

Rapid inductions are an excellent way of producing an effective trance, particularly in a demonstration environment when every second counts. There is always a lot to squeeze into these workshops, and a rapid induction can work in a few minutes in comparison to the 20 or so minutes needed for a progressive relaxation induction.

Not all stress is bad, it can serve as a much-needed motivator to complete tasks and reach our goals.

However if stress is neglected, it can have a negative impact on your mind and body, as well as your life.

We all respond to stress in different ways, and many health problems can be attributed to psychological imbalances. Because of this, learning how to manage your stresses will lead to not only a healthier mind, but also a healthier body.

Major life changes such as moving house, divorce, changing job, bereavement or even going on holiday have been listed as stress-triggering events and will affect each of us differently.

New Year’s Eve is on the horizon, and as we all know, this is often accompanied with resolutions made with the best of intentions that are difficult to keep.

Only a small number of us will actually experience success and continue with new behaviour patterns past January.

We may decide to start on a healthy regime of exercising and losing weight and to start off with, our motivation is high – only for us to lapse at the first sign of temptation or stress.  The same applies to stopping smoking, quitting alcohol and so on.  What’s going on here?

A few weeks ago in November we held two workshops, a practical training workshop and a marketing workshop. A huge thank you to everyone who joined us!

On the Saturday for the practical workshop, Faith gave hypnotic demonstrations and attendees practiced inductions, testing how susceptable subjects were to hypnosis, effective hypnosis language patterns, ideomotor signals and more. We also had a special guest - one of our students had travelled all the way from the Falkland Islands and combined her holiday with the workshop tutorial so a big thanks to Carol and we hope to meet her again when she's next over here.  We were also joined by our volunteer, Stephanie, who helped by taking part in a past life regression session to give students an idea of how sessions can be carried out.  It was great hearing Stephanie's feedback, as well as discussions by other attendees who shared their own past life regression experiences.

How can Mind Power help us to achieve goals? Quite simply, we tend to get what we focus on. If anything in this life is achievable then by directing Mind Power it can be achieved. But first we have to BELIEVE that we can achieve.

If I want to do something and I tell myself I can't do it, then I will fail. Unless, by a small chance something miraculous happens to put my goal in my path. And even then, I may fail if I don't believe I can succeed.

But when I tell myself, 'yes I CAN do this' - 'it is a certainty that I can SUCCEED' - then I am already half way up the mountain. The summit will be reached by work and determination but knowing it can be reached makes that journey easy and enjoyable.

What happens when you hypnotize doctors, writers and teachers to forget the one skill that they take for granted?