Much of my initial work as a hypnotherapist is to dispel some
of the myths about hypnosis. Many people,
even when they
come in to see me, have a lot of misconceptions about the
process. They think I’m going to wave my hand in front of
their face, and they’ll go into never-never land. Then they
think I’m going to take control of their mind, and erase all
their problems in one session. Some people want me to do
this, and some are afraid of having me in control. So the first
thing I do is explain what hypnosis is, what it isn’t, what it
can and can’t do. Periodically, I even hold a free hour long
mini-class, open to the public, to educate about hypnosis.
Some years ago, I was at a party. A man came up and we
started talking. What do you do? he asked. I’m a
hypnotherapist, I replied. Oh. Well, you can’t hypnotize me,
he said, as he began scanning the party for someone else to
talk to. You’re absolutely right. I can’t hypnotize you. I don’t
hypnotize anyone. By following my instructions, they
actually hypnotize themselves. That got his attention.
That’s the first thing I tell my clients. All hypnosis is self-
hypnosis. If they don’t follow my instructions, they won’t be
hypnotized. And if they try too hard, they won’t be
hypnotized. It’s sort of like falling asleep at night. If you
try to will yourself to fall asleep, you’ll just wake up even
more. Hypnosis is a letting go. Letting go of the details of the
day. Letting go of the concerns. Letting your analytical mind let go of its hold on you. Just being in the here and now. Some people are afraid of letting go. They think it means that
someone else will be in control. I reassure them that they are
always in control of the process, and that they only go as
deeply as they feel safe doing. Generally, a client will drift
into a light state the first time. The second time I see them,
they go deeper because they https://www.thecollegeofnlp.com/ realize that I’m not going to do
anything weird, like make them cluck like a chicken.
In hypnosis, I’m merely a guide. I can lead a client where
they want to go, but only if they want to go there. If they’re
not dedicated to the change they want, then I can’t help them.
I’ve had smokers come to me and say, I’d really like to want
to quit. But I still love smoking cigarettes, even though I
know I should quit. Take away the craving. I send them on
their way and tell them to come see me when they’ve decided
to quit. Hypnosis is a tool that can help them through the
process of quitting, but it can’t make them quit. It’s not a
magic wand. I can help a client move from point A to point
B, but they’re the one that gets to walk the path. Hypnosis can
make it infinitely easier. It can make a mountain into a
molehill, and make changes happen very quickly. But the
person has to really want the change, and be willing to deal
with all of the other aspects of that change. For instance, a
woman wanting to lose weight decides to reduce her
consumption of sweets. After hypnosis, she loses her desire
for them, but finds that it was an enjoyable part of the meal
with her husband. She gets mad at me because I took away
the enjoyment.
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