NLP hypnosis techniques

How can you change someone’s life in just one week? UK Life Coach Tracy Giffen thinks she knows how. “Out goes the sergeant major approach of intimidation and bullying, crawling through mud and dawn marches,” she explains. “In comes inspiring fitness coaching making you feel motivated like never before and neuro-linguistic programming so the mind and body change together to deliver lasting results.” The process she speaks of is known as neuro linguistic programming (NLP) and it is beginning to take hold, not just in England but also in medical clinics, workout centers and workshops across the United States.

NLP was developed in the early seventies at the University of California at Santa Cruz. Scientists Richard Bandler and John Grinder were hoping to answer the question: “What makes people effective and successful?” One aspect of the study focused on language and how happy, successful individuals communicated. By analyzing how communication affected behavior, researchers were able to find some patterns. They found that certain words connected directly with people’s senses, emotions and memories. Often in NLP hypnosis, a patient will be put into a state of trance and told a story. In that story, vivid imagery will be used; for example a beautiful blue lake, white puffy clouds or a clear flowing stream. It is believed that these images will aid in their relaxation, imagination and transformation.

If you don’t think this works, then try thinking of a “rushing waterfall” or “dripping faucet” the next time you want to urinate. It works every time! In that instance, your thoughts are having a direct effect on your bodily functions and behavior. Joe Dispenza, chiropractor, researcher and author of “What the Bleep Do We Know,” studied the idea of mind over matter for years before he was given the ultimate test; a debilitating injury from a serious accident. He opted to pass up medical treatment and focus on the healing power of the mind and NLP hypnosis techniques. Sure enough, he returned to his normal activities within weeks. He is not alone on this. Even though medical science has not proven the underlying cause of these miracles, Dr. Dispenza believes it is only a matter of time before neuro linguistic programming becomes a serious science.

Neuro linguistic programming is big business in the United States. Workshops, seminars, e-books, audio tapes, DVDs and hypnosis sessions are all in a day’s work for the busy NLP therapist. It’s been used to help athletes prepare for the big game, to help patients get over phobias, to encourage weight loss in obese people, to train business professionals to be more successful and to cure physical afflictions. While the power of positive thinking has not been scientifically verified, many patients swear by the positive results they have seen in their lives.

Hypnosis techniques

The term “hypnosis” stems from the Greek word “hypnos,” meaning “sleep.” Hypnotherapy employs a number of techniques that create a feeling of deep relaxation in patients, which then leads to an altered state of consciousness known as a trance. Therapists use hypnosis techniques to open a gateway into the mind, where they can actually influence people on how to change their embedded behaviors. While it has not been proven beyond reasonable doubt, a number of patients have reported the use of hypnosis sessions to quit smoking, lose weight, overcome obstacles in their marriage and find a sense of empowerment.

In a hypnotherapy session, the patient’s body relaxes, blood pressure decreases, heart rate decreases, oxygenation of the blood increases and brain wave activity may be altered. By contrast, the mind becomes more attentive, more focused and more awake. While patients are in this deep concentration, they are more in touch with their emotional side, the left and right brain hemispheres are communicating better, mental gatekeepers open up and they are highly responsive to suggestion. A patient may be given a list of reasons to stop smoking or convinced to eat smaller portions. Perhaps a series of coping mechanisms can be directed into the subconscious realm to help a person calm down and overcome anxiety, anger disorders, stress or depression.

Hypnosis therapy is used to treat a wide host of ailments from mental to physical. Most recently, researchers discovered that the mind plays an important role in pain management, particularly with cancer patients or those undergoing surgery. Studies show that hypnosis meditation can lessen one’s need for medication and shorten recovery time. Thinking negative thoughts can lead to stress, which has powerful ramifications on the body.

It can disrupt a woman’s menstrual cycle, create a cold sore, make a person ill with a cold, disrupt sleep patterns, generate ulcers, facilitate hair loss, exacerbate psoriasis, lead to heart disease and contribute to obesity. Today, hypnosis sessions are used in treating obesity, asthma, anxiety, pain, sleep walking, thumb sucking, nail biting, smoking, inflammatory bowel disease, insomnia, addiction, warts, bedwetting, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, eczema, psoriasis, acne, migraines, stress, tinnitus, cancer pain, obesity, anorexia, bulimia, indigestion, phobias, depression and the pain of childbirth.

For hypnotherapy training, most people obtain a doctorate degree in medicine or psychology. Others receive a master’s in social work, psychology or therapy and have at least 20 hours of ASCH-approved hypnotherapy training. Six to eight week courses provide licenses to mental health professionals as well. To find a professional who practices hypnotherapy, one can look at a number of websites, including: The American Society of Clinical Hypnosis at www.asch.net, The Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis at www.sceh.us/index.htm or The American Association of Professional Hypnotherapists at www.aaph.org.

Ericksonian hypnosis

Breathing coaches, yoga instructors and doctors are nothing new to pregnant women. However, many mothers-to-be are now adding a hypnotherapist to their pre-natal planning. Hypnosis sessions aid in conditioning the mind to deal with stress and pain management better to ensure a more positive labor experience. “Hypnobirthing” founder Marie F. Mongan explains, “We will help you prepare for the birth your plan and want for yourselves and your baby, rather than the birth that someone else directs. We will help you look forward to your pregnancy and birthing with joy and love, rather than fear and anxiety.”

Pregnant women may need to find a hypnotherapist to help assist with the painful birthing process. Sure, everyone knows how to breathe, yet in times of great peril or pain, these psycho-somatic techniques can quickly be forgotten, leaving many women gasping for air or hyperventilating. Lamaze Breathing Techniques conjure up images of husband and wife in a yoga classroom setting, with the wife practicing healthy breathing patterns and the husband supportively going along with it. Similarly, one of the most common hypnosis techniques used to induce people into a state of trance is, in fact, relaxation breathing. Therefore, it makes sense that women would adopt some hypnotherapy training methods to help them relax through deep breaths of fresh air.

In addition to breathing, a pregnancy hypnotherapist can help the woman center on her physiological processes to aid in the birth process and find a sense of inner peace. Often times, maternal anxiety can cramp up the muscles, making the birth more difficult and painful. By relaxing and fixating on deeply embedded positive imagery, a woman will ease the baby out. It is believed that stored images and sensations with emotional attachments can actually trigger the release of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which naturally relieves pain and diminishing anxiety. Thus, the hypnosis techniques that have been practiced will come back during labor and assist the mother in having a smoother childbirth.

To find a hypnotherapist specializing in hypnobirthing, one can go to www.hypnobirthing.com/findaprac.htm to search for practitioners by state or even by country. Another good site to check out is www.natboard.com, which lists licensed, certified hypnotherapists of all types, including those for childbirth. Women may also choose to buy a hypnosis CD to guide them in the comfort of their own home. At www.gentlebirth.org, there are a number of resources to read up on hypnobirthing. The “Hypnobabies Home Study Course” (www.hypnobabies.com) for $139.99 is also highly recommended for mothers who cannot afford $400 for a course.

Hypnosis techniques

“You are getting sleepy… You are getting sleepy… You are getting sleepy.” The image of the man dangling the watch back and forth before the patient’s eyes is ingrained into our brains as the primary mode of hypnotizing someone. Once a person “goes under,” the hypnotist can get the unconscious to say or do just about anything on command. While hypnosis is accepted in the entertainment industry, the scientific community generally snubs such practices. Yet recent therapeutic trends suggest that the power of the mind cannot be discounted.

In 2000, Harvard researchers sought an answer to the question: Does being hypnotized change the brain? In their study, they asked a group of men to hold a brick out in front of them as long as they could, which was five minutes for most fully conscious subjects. However, under hypnotic suggestion, they held the brick out for fifteen to twenty minutes. Next, subjects were hypnotized and placed in an MRI scanner. A computer screen showed them patterns of yellow, red, blue and green rectangles and recorded their brain activity.

Then they were shown the same rectangles in shades of gray and were asked to imagine the colors. When they were not hypnotized, both activities showed brain activity on the right side only, but when they were hypnotized both the left and the right hemispheres responded. “What we have shown for the first time,” lead researcher Stephen Kosslyn concluded, “is that hypnosis changes conscious experience in a way not possible when we are not under hypnosis.”

In another study conducted in 2004, researchers at the University of Iowa, the Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine and Technical University of Aachen, Germany, measured blood flow in the brain under clinical hypnosis. They asked participants to touch a hot surface and report pain on a scale from 0-10. Next, under hypnotic suggestion, all subjects reported reduced pain (3/10) at previously 8/10 temperature levels. Additionally, assistant professor Sebastian Schulz-Stubner M.D. reported, “The major finding from our study, which used MRI for the first time to investigate brain activity under hypnosis for pain suppression, is that we see reduced activity in areas of the pain network and increased activity in other areas of the brain under hypnosis.”

Another use for clinical hypnosis is smoking cessation. In 2007, North Shore Medical Center and Massachusetts General Hospital ran a study regarding the effectiveness of stop smoking hypnotherapy, versus those who quit cold turkey, those who received nicotine replacement therapy or those who received nicotine replacement therapy and hypnotherapy combined. Just over six months later, researchers found that 50% of those treated with hypnotherapy alone were nonsmokers and 50% of those treated with NRT/hypnotherapy had quit fully, compared to 25% in the “cold turkey” control group and 15.78% in the nicotine replacement therapy only group.

Discover more about how to hypnotize someone here.

How to hypnotize

Learning how to hypnotize an individual is not a magical experience for the mystics, nor is it a skill acquired through years of schooling. Hypnotherapy training can easily be done with a book or two, a subject and the desire to learn hypnosis techniques. Perhaps there is someone in your life you would like to help through hypnosis. This method is said to relieve pain, reduce anxiety and help people with weight loss, smoking cessation and emotional issues. Or maybe you would like to make some extra money on the weekends performing hypnosis sessions for small audiences. The basic gist of hypnotizing someone is to get them to relax, at which point their brain waves will slow and their creative, unconscious side will emerge.

The first step for successful hypnosis sessions is the induction. Learning to hypnotize someone is based on convincing that person to abandon their waking state and slip into a more suggestible state of trance. Not everyone can be hypnotized, certainly not without their consent, but you will find that most people are willing to relax, breathe deeply and visualize certain things. A common script for visualization centers on the parts of the body you want your subject to relax. You might say, “Start by relaxing all the muscles in your forehead… let all the cares, the stresses, the anxieties of this day melt away… feel your forehead relaxing deeply to feel the tingling of relaxation… feel your neck become warm with the deep relaxation as you take a deep peaceful breath and just let go…”.

When learning how to hypnotize for the stage, mastering the art of suggestion is crucial. A post hypnotic suggestion will be given during the induction that will predict your subject’s behavior once he or she “awakens.” So, for example, a hypnotist may say, “When I count to the number five, it will appear that your hand has a life of its own and is speaking to you, but only when I count to the number five.” Or another example might be, “When I snap my fingers, you will start singing the National Anthem as loud as you can.” The subject may be fully aware of what he or she is doing but have little power to resist the impulse. Subjects often feel disturbed with confusion, anxiety or nervousness until they complete the command, as directed.

If you want a more hands-on approach while learning how to hypnotize, there are a number of seminars, workshops and hypnosis training sessions you may take. A four-day clinical hypnosis workshop offered by the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis costs $210 for students, $395 for society members and $595 for non-members. The Ultimate Stage Hypnosis Seminar costs between $1,587 and $1,987, which will include membership, food and materials (DVDs, books, scripts and marketing plans). Some hypnotists, like Debra Berndt, offer half-day mini-retreats for $55 to train people how to attract healthier love into their lives or learn the basics of self hypnosis. Lastly, the super serious may attend hypnosis training in a school setting. The Academy for Professional Hypnosis Training charges $2,000 for tuition, although a four-week distance learning course through the Hypnosis Motivation Institute can be completed online for free!

Hypnosis meditation

Clinical hypnotherapy is an amazing study where a person is induced into a state of trance so he or she can better manage painful sensations or emotions. Therapists use this treatment to prepare for surgery, to recover from trauma or to deal with chronic pain related to cancer or something like fibromyalgia. Hypnosis meditation has been a popular study since the seventies, when New Age philosophy bloomed. Yet many maintain that it is this “occult” or “mystical” application that hurts the credibility of hypnosis as a legitimate scientific study.

Let us look at the application of clinical hypnotherapy to treat chronic pain such as fibromyalgia or cancer patients. In one study, 35 cancer patients were assigned to three groups: clinical hypnosis, cognitive behavioral training and placebo (Syrjala, 1992). During hypnosis, patients were relaxed and received a post hypnotic suggestion to reduce pain, nausea and anxiety, while given healing phrases and imagery aimed at helping them cope. The behavioral therapy group was relaxed and explored the meaning of their illness, while working toward cognitive restructuring. The placebo group saw a normal physician/therapist. Compared to the other two groups, the hypnosis group saw a significant decrease in pain and used less medication.

Another type of clinical hypnotherapy is known as “hypnoanesthesia,” a practice which dates back to the 1800s, before modern day anesthesia was developed. In 1990, researcher Eron Grant Manusov found that hypnoanesthesia (without chemical induction) is feasible in only 10-16% of the population, but works surprisingly well in suggestible patients. Other tests showed that patients given chemical anesthesia were able to receive hypnotic suggestions while in a state of trance, so that they had reduced hospital stays, needed less medication and required less anesthesia in future procedures.

A 2005 clinical hypnotherapy study done at the University of Iowa found similar findings using magnetic resonance imaging, that there is “reduced activity in areas of the pain network and increased activity in other areas of the brain.” The primary sensory cortex, the brain’s pain center, showed limited functioning. On the other hand, the left anterior cingulate cortex and the basal ganglia lit up with overwhelming activity. The left anterior cingulate cortex is the area of the brain associated with heart rate, blood pressure, reward anticipation and decision making processes. The basal ganglia, which are a group of nuclei in the brain, comprise the motor control, cognition and learning center of the brain. No wonder clinical hypnosis can change a person’s beliefs and behaviors! The researchers concluded that these regions may be an inhibition pathway to block pain signals from reaching higher cortical areas responsible for pain perception. The limitation of hypnosis techniques is that it’s believed only 10% of the population is highly hypnotizable, another 80% may be hypnotizable and another 10% cannot be hypnotized at all.

Patients undergoing hypnotherapy or stage hypnosis move from their normal waking state to a stage of deep relaxation, where they breathe deeper, their body feels heavier and their mind starts to become more absorbed. Next in the state of trance, the subject will feel deeply engaged in the words or pictures the therapist shows and there is disassociation from critical thoughts. The patient is then open to suggestion and will react and comply with the hypnotherapists suggestions. Following the experience, patients often report feeling euphoric and like they had just had the best night of sleep ever, even though the session only lasted a few minutes.

Both physical and mental maladies can be treated with Hypnosis Hypnotherapy sessions. The mind can play a vital part in pain management, particularly in patients with serious illnesses or those undergoing surgery and studies have shown that hypnosis meditation can reduce a patients medication requirements in addition to shortening recovery time. Negative thoughts can lead to stress, which in turn can have effects on the body. Complaints such as colds, interrupted sleep, stomach ulcers, outbreaks of psoriasis, disrupted menstrual cycles in women, hair loss and cold sores can all result from stress stimulated by negative thinking. Hypnosis sessions are used to address all manner of health related problems including asthma, anxiety, the pain of childbirth, eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia, sleep disorders such as bedwetting, sleep walking and insomnia, thumb sucking, nail biting, smoking, inflammatory bowel disease, fibromyalgia, spastic colon, eczema, psoriasis, acne, migraines, stress, tinnitus, cancer pain, indigestion, phobias, depression and obesity.

The trouble with hypnotherapy is that not everybody is receptive to hypnotic suggestion. The subject must be an broad-minded, willing participant who pledges to remain attentive, set aside skepticism and go along with what the therapist is saying. A common misconception is that hypnotists can mesmerize someone, plant suggestions and cause the person to act against their free will. The procedure itself is mysterious, although there must be a certain level of agreeableness before healing can come about.

Under hypnosis

Hypnosis has been used for various ailments ranging from obesity to smoking. The premise behind hypnosis is that when one is under hypnosis, an altered state of consciousness occurs; their attention is more focused and they are more open to suggestions. This is the way in which hypnotists will usually help someone who is struggling with an addiction or other affliction. No matter why a person has gone to a hypnotherapist, they may have some doubts about the true helping nature of the art of hypnosis. Many myths surround this unusual, but effective, mode of treatment and if one is not careful, then they may not get the sufficient help they need because of their beliefs.

One of the first things that is widely believed about hypnosis is that while a person is under hypnosis, they surrender all of their freewill. This is totally false. While a person is in a hypnotic trance, they only experience a more aware state of concentration. Their attention will be focused more on the process at hand and their personality, along with all of their other normal mannerisms, will still exist. A person will never lose their freewill during hypnosis and a hypnotherapist will never manipulate a person in such a way while they are in a trance. This is another myth about being under hypnosis. The therapist is only available to serve as a guide on the journey to overcoming whatever affliction a person may have.

One of the main myths that exist about hypnosis is that anyone can be hypnotized even if they do not want to. This is, again, very far from the truth. If one is not willing to experience hypnosis, then more than likely they will not be able to benefit from a series of hypnosis sessions. Even if one really desires to be placed in a trance, they still may not be suited for this form of treatment. Not everyone can be placed in a hypnotic state. Another myth that is also associated with hypnosis is that while under, one can lose all consciousness and subsequently develop amnesia. This is true for a very small fraction of people who try this alternative treatment. Some do experience spontaneous amnesia, but usually almost everyone will remember what happened while they were in a trance.

Because of the advancements in mental health, many myths can be dispelled about hypnosis. If one does a little research they will come to understand how hypnosis, an innovative form of therapy, can help almost anyone looking to overcome any negative behaviors.