Hypnosis

Well said, karl. It made loads of sense. A tape would be great. Maybe next time at the Ember. Tapes always worked for me. The only way I got through my GCSE's and A-Level's were by taping me saying all my notes and revision into a tape and falling asleep listening to them.

ta very much Karl I appreciate the info and think I'll give it a whirl- I'll let everyone know how it goes!

I got a hypnosis tape off my uncle for my birthday which was supposed to make me a great writer, but it actualy desrupted my creative flow. I couldn't concentrate. I couldn't think of any ideas. Words I used to have to descride things have fallen out of my head. I still haven't fully recovered but I think the what ever effect it had on me is fading. I think it proves the very valid point that hypnosis is not entirly understood and can in fact be dangerous.

I am feeling sleepy.

Dear Karl I know it's a bit cheeky but just a quick question. I wanted to see a hypno- neuro linguist type fella about my motorway driving phobia and he said it would cost about £50 an hour for a couple of sessions. Is that reasonable? I may have to go on the game in order to pay for it if so.....different kind of lingus therapy Is there any type of qualification I should be looking for in a therapist of this type? only if you've got time. But others might benefit from this info too......

Okay, I've just got to reply here, even though I've a funny feeling it's going to upset someone. I studied hypnotherapy in Kona, Hawaii, and Copper Mountain, Colorado, where I worked as an assistant instructor. I've got a stack of qualifications (which I don't intend to list to here), letters after my name and I used to belong to various organisations which I can't be bothered with now. I also hold a Practioners Certificate in the Art of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP). I only mention this to demonstrate that when it comes to hypnotherapy I know what I'm talking about. I used to have my own small practice in Portugal. I do not do, and never have done, stage hypnosis, which is something completely different. Yes, of course, I believe in hypnosis. We all go into trance several times a day. Some more than others, it would seem by recent threads on this site. I believe that anyone can be hypnotised ..... if they want to, and I believe it's the easiest thing in the world to resist. No, I don't believe you can learn a foreign language through hypnosis, although sleep teaching can be a great help. A common misconception about hypnotherapy, whatever the challenge, is that it's a kind of miracle cure. "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, you're out, you'll never smoke again, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, wake up." It doesn't work that way. Direct command never works. You have to go deeper than that and talk to the metaphors and archetypes within a person's psyche. I'll finish by saying that not only is there no such thing as hypnosis, but that everything is hypnosis. Why do I get the feeling that this thread is going to lead me into trouble?

Karl, by Wiggins it makes sense. I am listening to tapes to fall asleep to learn Italian. I know how to read Italian but odd as it sounds I only know a few words when i speak it. I forget you see. But If you say everything is hypnosis then what is real? Why are some people easy to hypnotise and others not? To me it sounds like if you want to believe in something to help you it does. Like faith. You believe that you have been hypnotised to stop smoking and so you do. Seems like willpower but at a subconscious level.

What is Neural Linquistic Programming?

Technical term for a Head Butt, I think. May be wrong of course.

I've had hypnosis, and it worked for me. And like Karl says, a trance isn't this mystical, hard-to-achieve thing. Have you ever daydreamed? Well, that's a light trance.

Frankly Shocked first, but only because I read it last. Yes, absolutely demand to see certification. This thread is old enough now that I feel safe in citing my own. 1) I'm a Master Hypnotist (Let me get clear about that. It doesn't mean I'm a master at the art of hypnosis. It was just the first qualification I picked up past my Neuro-Linguistic Programming foundation skills). 2) I'm a Certified Hynotherapist (I trained in sexual abuse for this, and actually ended up working a lot with survivors. I didn't want it that way. It's just the way it happened). 3) I'm a Clinical Hypnotherapist (that's medical issues) 4) I'm a Hypno-Anaesthesiologist (which gives me letters after my name and means I could work in hosptals if I so chose, which I'd never do. It's kinda neat to be able to take pain away). 5) I'm a Transformational Hypnotherapist (which goes a lot deeper along the lines of psychic and spiritual issues, not to mention past life therapy). 6) I'm a Pratictioner in the Art of Neuro-Linguistic Programming. So that's me. But notice something ..... I'm proud of it. I trained hard, came through some sticky situations that would have scared a lot of people, and I'm proud of my qualifications. My point is that if you ask any genuine practitioner or therapist to show you their qualificatoions they'll no doubt be more than pleased to show you. If you ask a cowboy, he'll get annoyed. Do nothing without first seeing the guys certification and current membership to any professional bodies. And do nothing if you feel in any way uncomfortable. £50 an hour is a fair price, although it should only take one session. Two's okay, though, if he feels you may need a follow-up. I used to charge £40 an hour (or 5000 esc in Portugal) and £40 for the first session, no matter how long it took. Most sessions would last about one and a half hours. This may seem steep, but bear in mind that until a practitioner builds up a successful practice, he may be surviving on about six clients a week. And with the overheads of renting an office and the extremely advertising necessary to get your name about, that doesn't leave much money to pay the mortgage. Think on this, though. Let's say you had a very serious issues, like motorway driving phobia for instance. Or maybe you were raped when you were a little girl. Who knows? One guy says he can fix you for £20. And the next guy says he can clear some of these issues and give you a bit more space, but it's going to cost about £300 altogether. Who are you going to go with. By very nature of the fact that he's charging you £300 would make most people feel he knows what he's talking about and can genuinely help. £50 an hour is fair. Miles is right. All of us go into trance several times a day. Trance is not a coma. It's a perfectly safe state of mind. And nobody can make you so anything you don't want to do when you're in trance. In some ways, you're even more aware of what's going on in the room. Have you ever driven home, yet couldn't remember the drive? You were in trance. Have you ever got off an elevator on the wrong floor? You were in trance. Have you ever been so deep into a book or a film that you were unware of anything else happening in the room? You were in trance. Yet in all these situations you were safe. Nobody could take your wallet out of your pocket. If you needed to visit the bathroom, you did so, and then came back downstairs and right back into trance again. You didn't run any red lights on the way home or crash into the car in front. You were safe. James, NLP is many things. The neuro side of it is body & mind. The linguistic side of it is, fairly obviously, language. It's about creating choice. NLP is all about choice. If you have no choice, you're dead. If anyone tells you they have no choice, that's utter bollocks. You always have choice. But one choice isn't choice at all. And neither is two choices. That's known as a dilemma. In every situation you need three or four or five or six or more choices. That's choice. NLP is about creating those choices. And remember this, when you've used up absolutely all your available choices in a situation ..... you haven't. But how does NLP create choice? Very simply: 1) By having the sensory acuity to notice what result your getting in a given circumstance. 2) By having the flexibility to change until you get the result you desire. NLP is about creating outcomes. Not goals. Because you don't always achieve your goals, but you do always get an outcome. How? By phobia cures, by swish patterns (bad habit cures), by building "anchors" and by collapsing them, by moving backwards and forwards over your timeline, and by all sorts of trance work. NLP also teaches you advanced body language skills. But no need to feel uncomfortable around me. I'm not sussing everyone out wherever I go. I've got beter things to do with my life. I did, however, discover that I had a natural talent for the trance work, so decided I better learn how to do it properly. That's why I went to Hawaii. And the linguistic side of it? NLP teaches you to pick out the deletions, distortions and generalisations in people's speech patterns. Not, as some might think, to win arguments. But more to get to a client's root cause. Example: Client - "They never give me a chance." Unspecified referential index. He hasn't specified who he's refering to. Who's they? Therapist - "Who?" Client - "My family." Generalisation. Therapist - What, ALL your family?" Client - "No, not all my family. Just my wife, I guess." Very simple example, but is it making sense? There are loads of books, hundreds probably, but I can recommend an excellent introductory one if you're interested. Spag, what you say makes great sense (I believe in going to sleep listening to self-hypnosis tapes, by the way. Actually, I've got three tapes on the market and there's one you might enjoy. If I hear you're ever going to show for an ABCtales event I'll bring a copy along for you). Where was I? Ah yes, believing in it. You're right. If I charge £40-50 an hour, I'll charge maybe £300 for stop smoking sessions. Why? Because stop smoking has a failure rate, and so you don't really want to do too much of it when you're building a practice. But also becaue if you fork out £300 you're going to make every effort to make sure you get your money's worth and that it works. Trickery? Maybe, but it's all trickery remember. Salespeople actually use many of the same techniques that Hypnotherapists use. Only they don't know it. Or rather, they call it by a different name. Talking of which, understand that there's nothing new here. NLP was discovered, not invented. The Native American Shamans believe that if something bad happens to you, then you leave part of your soul back there. They do a technique called "soul retrieval." NLPers do a technique for regaining your lost power called "change personal history." There's very little difference. One thing you're wrong about, though. At a subconscious level there is no will power. That's why these techniques are so phenomenal. You're going in and touching people where all there buttons are pushed. There's no will power involved. It cuts it out. If something bad has ever happened to you, you're no longer responding to that event, but to your memory of that event. And that can be changed. And if you don't believe that, then perhaps that a belief you may wish to change. So what we do in, say, a rape instance is to trick the subconscious into believing the event ended differently. The subconscious is prety stupid. It will virtually believe anything you tell it to. At a conscious level, you still know the event happened. But at a subconscious level, where all your buttons are pushed, it doesn't matter any more. We've emptied your bag a little bit. Does all that make sense?

OK Karl, when can you fit stuart masturbator in and how much is it gonna cost?

I'd like to answer all these questions, but it really is getting late and I'm knackered. I'll see if I can respond during my lunch-break tomorrow.