Monthly Archives: May 2005

The Secret Hypnosis Trance Inductions of Ormond McGill

I thoroughly enjoyed the DVD of The Secret Hypnosis Trance Inductions of Ormond McGill with plenty of never before seen techniques . . . well, the cover blurb says never before seen but that's not completely accurate . . . while quite a number of them have not been publicly demonstrated before, a few of them are described in McGill's incredibly comprehensive The New Encyclopedia of Stage Hypnotism which is pretty much THE classic for those interested in stage hypnosis (therapists and anyone else interested in hypnosis should have it too, it's that important and that comprehensive).

Of course, reading a brief description of a technique and seeing it demonstrated by one of the living legends of hypnosis is entirely a different thing. McGill has been performing and practicing hypnosis professionally longer than most of the big names and old-timers of the profession have been alive and he's still going strong and so it is truly a joy and an honor to have the opportunity to see him work his magick in live . . . well taped . . . demonstration.

While I don't think I will be using the Clock Dial induction anytime soon with clients, it is an interesting approach that I believe can be adapted to some interesting applications.…

Training . . .
. . . how to know if a trainer is appropriate for you

A bit on how to know if your hypnosis trainer is appropriate for you.

As to training, ask about specific trainers and do searches for comments about the person that are not just testimony on that person's site. Watch for promotional material that seems to be filled more with hyperbole and promotion than with actual information that is clear and concise. A number of trainers today have learned to create false testimony or to delete negative comments from their own forums (or not even let it be posted).

Organizationally, there are actually a few good ones but most still have some problems in balancing between wanting to make money by getting membership and providing solid training that leads to competence in the skills.

There are some trainers who are very good and who have very fine reputations and you will find good folks in many of the various organizations but don't chose your organization based only on the trainer or your trainer based only on the organization.

I have respect for a number of trainers who have reputations for very strong hypnosis instruction and I've found them to be forthright and honest and you will find a LOT of experienced hypnotists who trained with others who have publicly stated…

Hypnosis and Child Birth . . . another positive study

Yet another study with positive conclusions regarding the use of hypnosis, suggestion, and focused trance for childbirth . . . hypnosis helpful for pregnancy and childbirth:

Marion Andrew, a senior consultant anaesthetist at the Women and Children's Hospital in Adelaide, says women having their first child who learn self-hypnosis in the lead-up to labour are less likely to need an epidural than other first-time mothers. Dr Andrew told the annual scientific meeting of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists in Auckland at the weekend that there could be beneficial outcomes for use of hypnosis in pregnancy and childbirth.

Of course, we already knew that . . . given the large amount of data already demonstrating it, but it's always nice to see it confirmed.

If you're in Taipei and wish to learn self-hypnosis and other hypnotic methods for childbirth, feel free to look into resources here.

Who did you say you are? …

As a professional hypnotist, I recognise the importance of language, and even more so as a business networker. For example, the potential for improving your business and quality of referrals is directly related to how easily people remember you, isn' it.

And if you want to be truly remembered, you need to ensure the language you utilise is specifically directed to keeping you in mind. Now how grateful would you be to hear of a technique that keeps you remembered, long after that momentary networking hand-shake has been and gone?

The other day I attended a presentation skills workshop, and the room was full to the brim with business networkers eager to improve their presentation skills ... and some needed more help than others, of course.

But one thing I learned early on in my career as a hypnotist, is that if you use the right words, you'll get the right results ... and the more artful you can be with your words, the more predictable the results you can achieve.

"How do you do. And what do you do?"

"I'm an accountant"

"Oh"

The conversation stops before it's even begun.

"How do you do. And what do you do?"

"I'm a solicitor"

How aware are you now of the comfort of your left shoe … ?

Language is a funny old thing, isn't it. For instance, are you aware that we can all use language more effectively to influence others?

After you realise how important language is, you may begin to understand that the words we use can easily make a difference to the way people naturally respond to our suggestions and requests.

And this is true whether you want to influence behaviour in a hypnotherapy session, a sales presentation, a parent talking to a child, or a lover seducing their partner.

Just imagine for a moment some of the many easy yet powerful ways you can use this information ...

It has been said that there are certain language patterns that force the listener to accept your ideas and concepts as true, and among these are a group of words that may be described as "Awareness Patterns"

The Awareness Pattern includes the following types of words:

- Experience
- Aware
- Realise

Usually, saying any one of these words makes the listener start the mental process that you mention in the sentence - it is all to do with the deep structure of the linguistic pattern. As soon as the mind encounters the Awareness Pattern, it has to process the information to make…

Is it ethical to use Hypnosis for sports performance enhancement and improvement?

I've often wondered about the ethical use of hypnosis when applied to performance improvement - particularly when related to sports and business. After all, I've personally had comments from people saying "Isn't it cheating?"

As an example, last year I ran a half-marathon - the Great North Run to be precise. It all started just a few months prior to this, as I had been asked by a client if I used hypnosis for myself, utilising self-hypnosis to be confident or be motivated.

I automatically answered "Yes", because I'd previously used hypnosis and the NLP technique of anchoring to be confident when giving weekly presentations in front of my business networking colleagues.

It was only after claiming I used hypnosis for motivation that I realised that I did no such thing ... whoops! And as honesty and integrity are major criteria and values for me, I just had to do something about it, didn't I.

So I decided to get motivated for exercise, and as I always enjoyed running in my youth (am I that old?! ... it sounds it, doesn't it) I gave myself powerful suggestions for motivation for running.

It worked too well, didn't it, because I then became addicted enough to enter the Great North…

Meditation Gives Brain a Charge